I thank the Vice Chairman and other members for giving us an opportunity to address the joint committee on the subject of supporting the contemporary Irish music industry and nurturing new emerging talent. I am the head of 2FM, RTE's second radio station and the primary popular music and entertainment station within RTE. I am joined by my colleagues Mr. Kevin Linehan, executive producer with responsibility for music programming on RTE Television; Mr. Ian Wilson, radio producer, who has 30 years' experience of the Dave Fanning sessions, is the founder and former chairman of the European Broadcasting Union's Eurosonic group and continues to be the driving force behind 2FM's sessions, live concert recordings, dance and alternative music programme productions; and Mr. Rory Coveney, a senior manager in RTE's corporate communications department. Between the four of us, I hope we will be able to address the committee's questions which we will endeavour to answer as fully as possible.
RTE is the biggest employer of musicians in the country. It houses the RTE Concert and RTE Symphony orchestras. RTE also pays recognised rates to musicians for use of their recordings on radio and television programmes across the board, records live concerts and delivers huge quantities of music programming to our European Broadcasting Union colleagues via the programme exchange scheme, all of which is recorded, mixed and transmitted to the highest international standard. We have a long-standing, far-reaching and ongoing commitment to the Irish music industry in all its shapes and sizes.
The world is changing fast and the world of music more than most. For much of the past 50 years radio was the primary means of music discovery for most people. It was radio that invented the "Grand Ole Opry" in the United States, BBC and pirate radio in the United Kingdom that brought the sounds of the 1960s to millions and RTE radio that discovered and nurtured acts, from U2 through Sinead O'Connor, to The Cranberries, The Divine Comedy, The Frames, Mundy and so many others.
The past five years have seen a seismic shift in the music industry and how music is discovered, consumed and enjoyed. The explosion of the Internet, from MySpace to LimeWire and from iTunes to Pirate Bay, has meant that while radio is still an important, relevant and vital place for new artists to be found and played, its dominance for music is not what it was. Musicians have changed their focus to an on-line future and are struggling to find ways to make themselves heard and earn a living in a global musical village where everything is available and much of it is free.
Radio, music radio in particular, faces real challenges in this environment. No longer the sole way to discover new music, radio must engage differently with our audiences to ensure that there is still a value to our output. We must continue to provide exclusive content, premium services and real engagement if we are to remain relevant to the music hungry listener.
RTE radio, in particular, does this by providing the listener access to the best acts live in session or recording their concerts, by bringing the best new and emerging talent to air and on-line and by engaging with our audience's need for additional information through on-line musical databases, archives and many other initiatives. To illustrate this, I will outline some figures for the committee.
In 2009, RTE Radio 1 broadcast 20 hours coverage of the major music festivals in Ireland, including Fleadh Ceoil na hÉireann, the Willie Clancy Summer School, and so on. Some 37 acts performed live and were interviewed on "Today with Pat Kenny" on Radio 1's prime time. Programmes such as "Risin' Time", "The Ronan Collins Show" and "The John Creedon Show" consistently play a high proportion of Irish music of all vintages. John Creedon's show, for example, can play upwards of 30% Irish music on a nightly basis. "Arena", Radio 1's arts programme, recorded 45 music sessions in 2009, some 25 of which were Irish artists. Other music programmes on Radio 1, from "Roots Freeway" to "South Wind Blows", "Fáilte Isteach" and the in-concert series feature well known Irish acts in large numbers.
On our arts and music station, Lyric FM, meanwhile, more than 1,000 pieces by Irish performing groups and more than 2,000 pieces by Irish artists, composers or performers were broadcast last year, and several Lyric FM programmes do regular acoustic sets and interviews with Irish artists as diverse as Jack L and Altan.
Lyric FM record label has to date released more than 20 CDs with a focus on Irish artists, past and present. Lyric FM composer in residence, Ms Elaine Agnew, has been commissioned to compose three new pieces in the next two years, renewing her relationship with the station, while the station also offers scholarships for aspiring musicians to the University of Limerick among many other initiatives to support a range of musical talent as a matter of course.
Raidió na Gaeltachta's involvement with contemporary traditional and modern Irish music is long held and deep rooted. From its sponsorship of Siansa Gael Linn, broadcasting sean nós from Oireachtas na Gaeilge to its involvement with the Willie Clancy summer school and the Fleadh Ceoil, Raidió na Gaeltachta has also released a number of CDs highlighting the talent on view at these events.
In the evenings, too, Raidió na Gaeltachta provides contemporary Irish music to a younger audience through Anocht FM. Since the station relaxed its rules on English language lyrics in 2005, this four hours of music programming seven nights a week features a wide range of new, emerging and established Irish talent.
Perhaps the most obvious point of reference when thinking of RTE and the Irish music industry is my station, 2FM. As RTE's second station and the most listened to music and entertainment station in the country, we are understandably the focus of much attention in this regard.
Since its inception more than 30 years ago Radio 2, as it then was, and 2FM more recently, has been at the forefront of discovering, nurturing and highlighting the best of Irish rock, pop, dance and contemporary music. Over the years we have recorded thousands of sessions with Irish acts of all kinds and work is currently under way to make this archive available on-line for the first time since its original broadcast. Last year alone, 2FM recorded 64 sessions with Irish artists and paid more than €20,000 in fees to the musicians for these recordings.
2FM is an ever-present force at the major Irish music festivals. We record, contract and transmit two full weekends of live performances across the year on 2FM featuring the best of Irish and international acts, and will continue to do so in the year ahead. Last year we recorded 31 Irish acts on the IMRO stage at Oxegen and shared these recordings with the BBC and our EBU colleagues, and made them available on-line. Working with our colleagues in BBC Northern Ireland, in particular, has proven an efficient mechanism for both parties to ensure the sharing of Irish musical talent on a 32-county basis.
We have also been an avid supporter of the EBU's Eurosonic festival since its foundation 12 years ago and have regularly sent Irish acts to perform at this most important European music symposium. Last year we sent two acts, Fight Like Apes and The Coronas, and in 2010, we sent So I Watch You From Afar, and supported its attendance at the Eurosonic festival.
2FM's commitment to dance and alternative music is also unrivalled. We commission ten mixes by Irish DJs a month and last year paid more than €12,000 in fees for these commissions.
However, we also recognise the changing face of our audience and their new multimedia environment. For this reason, 2FM is directly involved with two of RTE's DAB stations, 2XM and Pulse, and this engagement will lead to further opportunities for emerging Irish talent in the coming 12 months.
The need to expose the general audience to new talent has been recently addressed by 2FM with "The Gerry Ryan show's" new Undercurrents series, which sees 2FM's biggest programme, with more than 300,000 listeners daily, committing to play one new unsigned act every week. The response to this initiative has been so big that the DAB channel 2XM has undertaken to broadcast a half hour a week of other contenders for this coveted slot every Friday at noon.
Even in the station's most competitive part of the schedule, Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., 2FM's support for Irish music continues. This part of the day operates a music play list — songs selected by the staff of 2FM to fit the station sound. The core of this play list is the A list and B list of songs. Numbering approximately 50 in total, these songs form the very core of the 2FM station sound. While a play list of its very nature changes weekly, currently 20% of this play list is Irish. This 20% features real diversity, from Bell X1 to the Delorentos, from Boyzone and Jedward to a brand new Donegal band, The Plea, 2FM continues to have new Irish rock and pop at its very heart.
The 2FM website hosts the only on-line resource for discovering Irish bands via the Artist database. Not only this, but the site has also featured sessions, festival coverage and, in particular, recordings from the IMRO stage at last year's Oxegen festival. All of the on-line content focused strongly on Irish acts and artists offering valuable exposure via the audio and video recordings made at these events.
To this wealth of support for Irish acts, I want to add the strength and depth of RTE television. From "The Late Late Show" to "Come West Along The Road" and from "The Café" to "When Under Ether", "The View" and many other shows, RTE television boasts a wide range of programming supporting every type of musical genre.
Some facts and figures might help bear this out. Taking the flagship show, "The Late Late Show", as a prime example, in the 2007-2008 season, it featured 113 musical acts in performance, of which 70 were Irish. Last season, 2008-2009, "The Late Late Show" featured 114 acts, 81 of which were Irish. From Tommy Fleming to The Undertones, from The Dixies to Imelda May, "The Late Late Show" has a long and ongoing history of support for the Irish music industry. I could go on citing examples across the television schedules where Irish music and Irish musicians are supported and nurtured, and I, Kevin Linehan and my colleagues can elaborate further during the discussion.
Before I conclude, I would just add that it is particularly relevant to discuss RTE's role in Irish musical life at this time as in October 2010 RTE will engage in a week-long organisation-wide event in support of the Irish music industry. From Monday, 11 October to Sunday, 17 October, the first annual celebration of the enormous range and outstanding quality of RTE's contribution to Irish musical life will take place. Programming of live concerts and broadcast events on radio, television and on-line, drawing on RTE's music archives, is currently under way and will be announced in the coming months.
I hope these details have given the committee some insight into the depth and range of RTE's support for contemporary Irish music and the industry as a whole.