Louis Walsh gives the public his thoughts on the Irish music scene!
Speaking at the RDS on Saturday October 2nd 2010, Louis Walsh – the veteran manager of multi-platinum pop acts like Boyzone and Westlife said he had to “grovel” to Irish stations to get his artists’ records played. “They think they’re doing you a favour by playing an Irish record,” Walsh said, adding that he believed the airplay issue to be the single biggest problem facing the Irish music industry at the moment. We totally agree with Louis on this one.
All of us at Music Scene know that it is so hard for Irish acts to make an impact or even achieve some recognition nowadays. We even decided to set up this website with the hope of increasing the popularity of the Irish music scene.
Walsh also told the Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan, who was also participating in the Communications and Music debate, that a strict quota system should be introduced to ensure Irish acts get airtime.
“I turn on the radio – and we’ve got about 10 radio stations (in Dublin) – and they all play the same top 40 records. They’re not playing any new songs by any new bands. The only time I see a new band here is on The Late Late Show. We’ve got so many new bands, and I don’t mean pop bands. I mean all bands. But we might as well be in America or the UK. Honestly, it’s very frustrating. (As a result) there are people out there and no-one’s going to sign them. The oxygen of the business is radio,” said Walsh.
Go on Louis – Music Scene will back you up on this topic!
