Oh, by the way, welcome to National Music Week. I should have said that yesterday, but I forgot. As previously reported, NMW is a programme of educational events that are taking place in 2000 schools across the country teaching kids how to download all their music for free. Or was it why they shouldn't download all their music for free? I forget. The whole thing was formally launched yesterday by Matt Willis and All Angels, both of whom are taking part in the previously reported schools music chart promotion thing, whereby participating school kids will be able to download a free track by one of ten artists, with a chart being formed based on the number of downloads.
Commenting on the whole thing, Marc Jaffrey of government backed Music Manifesto, one of the groups supporting NMW, told the Beeb: "There's a real desire to explore listening. Young people have thousands of songs in their pockets in their iPods but the question we have is - how well are they being supported to really hear what they're listening to? At the heart of music making is the capacity to really hear rhythm, to hear harmony, to hear melody, and to really consider their own judgements."
And for those cynics out there questioning the motives of major record labels supporting a campaign which, by as way of a coincidence, provides a free platform for promoting upcoming new releases in the classroom, Jaffrey adds: "No artist is gaining anything from this. Yes they're getting publicity, yes they're talking directly to young people, but they do that week in, week out. They don't need schools to do that. It's not about flogging their latest single, it's about being part of a broader campaign about listening and backing it up with quality resources". I bet you cynics feel silly now.