Politician Attacks “Crazy Loopholes”

Michael Hedges October 17, 2014 Follow on Twitter

Quotas legally requiring radio broadcasters to broadcast music locally produced or performed in a national language periodically rise to broad debate. The music industry generally loves the idea and radio broadcasters generally hate it. Supporters and critics often cite French and Canadian music content broadcasting laws as proving their respective points.

There is, too, an Irish content quota for radio broadcasters. It’s voluntary and rather flexible; 20% of music broadcast on public and commercial radio stations should be, in some way, Irish. Record a drum track in Dublin and an album qualifies as Irish content even if all other parts originated in New York, Hollywood, London, Sydney, Paris or Ulan Bator. Irish radio stations also have a 20% speech quota.

Changing those rules has long simmered. The heat was raised a notch by Labour Party Teachta Dála (member of the lower house of parliament) Willie Penrose suggesting all radio stations be required to broadcast 40% Irish content. “Stations such as (public broadcaster) RTÉ and other commercial stations should have a quota for the amount of Irish music played and they should step up to the mark,” he said, quoted by Irish Times (October 8). “We are more vulnerable than any other EU country as we are very near England and as many of ours singers generally sing in English we are more exposed and susceptible to the cultural influence of England and the US than any of our EU partners.” He spoke of dispensing with those “crazy loopholes.”

Promoting the Irish music business is a great idea, said fellow TD Jan O’Sullivan, speaking for Communications Minister Alex White, but changes in rules must be “consistent” with European Union (EU) and Irish law. “It is believed that a quota system for music could not therefore be based simply on the nationality of the musicians, singers or producers, thus discriminating against works produced by nationals of other member states. Such a move was considered in the past but fell foul of EU law on this basis.”

“If the French can do it, why can we not do it,” whinged Deputy Penrose. Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia also have language-based music quotas for some or all radio broadcasting.

The French music quota regulation is based on the French language, not production source or authorship. People in France overwhelmingly speak French, just as people in Ireland overwhelmingly speak English. There is a quota for European television production under EU rules, which consider radio broadcasting entirely local and, therefore, exempt from single-market audio-visual content rules.

“A quota system not based on a nationality criterion, but with a cultural motivation such as the defense of the official language of a Member State, would be considered to restrict fundamental freedoms,” said European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes in 2011, responding to Irish MEPs seeking guidance on music quotas for radio broadcasters. “As far as the French quota system is concerned, it does not refer to nationality but to the original language of the songs to be promoted.”

Promoting national interests, economic and cultural, is always a lamppost for politicians. And criticism of EU single-market rules always attracts the most stridently nationalistic. But music fans in the digital age are, generally, free to access favorite or, hopefully, creative output through a wide variety of platforms.

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