Young grime-pop star Tinchy was at the London launch of new campaign Music Matters late last week, alongside names such as Bernard Butler (musician and producer formerly of Suede fame), The Kinks’ Ray Davies, The Noisettes, Daisy Dares You, and songwriter Guy Chambers…

There was further industry support from Blur and Gorillaz manager Chris Morrison, 7Digital CEO Ben Drury and HMV’s Gennaro Castaldo.

At the launch, the music stars and other industry-heads, were united in their support for the new ‘education campaign’ which is set to go nationwide. The idea is that the new initiative will “remind listeners the value of music”, designed to help fans identify authentic music retailers on the internet. Organiser Niamh Byrne, from record company Universal, said she hoped the scheme would help “cut through” the challenges the industry faces.

Accompanying the launch a Music Matters logo (see above) is set to feature on a number of music download websites; the plan to help users “identify legitimate sources”. Representatives from the Music Matters website are urging legitimate music websites and retailers to support the project and sport the official logo to show that they are operating legally.

A series of videos explaining why buying music legally matters have also been commissioned by Music Matters. Below is the campaign’s introductory video:

Speaking at the event, which had a discussion panel featuring representatives from the music industry, grime star Tinchy said: “All this helps explain how music matters and the value of it. It takes time for everyone to understand that, it takes time, but you’ve got to start somewhere.”

http://whymusicmatters.org

Words by Liam Tootill

Tags: Grime, Pop, Tinchy Stryder