Festival Boost is Music to my Ears….

Scotland has always enjoyed a healthy, vibrant music scene – we just can’t get enough of the stuff.

However, with T in the Park organisers recently revealing that they would be taking a break in 2017 to reassess, it got many Scottish music fans worrying about the state of the music industry here.

Some fear that it’s part of a trend of festivals disappearing for a ‘temporary’ hiatus but then failing to reappear, with the likes of RockNess and Wickerman springing to mind.

So the announcement of TRNSMT, Scotland’s newest and freshest music festival from the team behind T, is to be warmly welcomed.

The great news for music fans is the exceptional line-up which has been announced for TRNSMT’s debut year with headline performances from Radiohead, Kasabian and Biffy Clyro set to take place over the three days in July.

Throw in the likes of The 1975, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Twin Atlantic and London Grammar and you already have a stellar weekend in store, with plenty more to be announced in the coming months.

Better still, TRNSMT will be taking place at Glasgow Green – a tried-and-tested spot for some of the country’s biggest gatherings, and most recently home to Radio One’s hugely successful Big Weekend.

Glasgow will undoubtedly enjoy the boost in profile that such a big influx of visitors will bring, but more importantly, some serious economic benefits. The city remains Scotland’s musical capital, with half of the country’s ‘music tourists’ attending gigs there - and it’s easy to see why, with such amazing venues available as the Hydro, Barrowlands, O2 Academy, O2 ABC, King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Hampden Park, and many more.

At Strathallan Castle in Auchterarder, T suffered from infrastructure issues, exacerbated by thousands of campers trying to enter and exit, which essentially added up to one huge traffic jam.

TRNSMT will eliminate those issues at a stroke as it will be a non-camping festival with fantastic transport links, which also means that visitors travelling from afar will give a welcome boost to accommodation providers the length and breadth of Glasgow.

Room occupancy during the weekend of the festival will no doubt soar, boosting the Scottish hospitality sector, and the country’s coffers to boot.

Restaurants, bars and shops will also receive a major shot in the arm from the music event. In fact, it’s thought that Glasgow will benefit to the tune of £10million.

 TRNSMT will also help to address the economic shortfall that Scotland will now face due to the cancellation of what was Scotland’s biggest music festival.

Every year the local economy in Perthshire would benefit from around 2,000 jobs being created, 720,000 visitors, and a boost of some £15million. Though not on the same scale, TRNSMT can still look to carve off a significant slice of the same pie.

Music UK’s ‘Measuring Music 2016’ report concluded that the music tourism economy in Scotland is worth an impressive £300m, and DF Concerts’ latest festival will undoubtedly help to make a healthy contribution to the 2017 results.

On a similar note, I was intrigued to see the announcement that the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, more famously known as the SECC, has been renamed as part of a wider concern that will become the Scottish Event Campus (SEC).

This will comprise of the SEC Centre, the SEC Armadillo and The SSE Hydro which will soon be identified as Glasgow’s major music hub.

The change is the beginning of a rebrand due primarily to the rise of music events taking place in the Hydro, with a total of 107 performances being staged there alone last year.

The Hydro now largely supports a music tourism economy that’s worth £105m to Glasgow, which serves to highlight just how big a success story it has been.

Let’s hope TRNSMT can perform just as well and that T can return soon in style, providing a double boost. That would be music to everyone’s ears.

 

SIDE

It’s not long now until this year’s highly anticipated Scottish Variety Awards, and I’m proud to be on the judging panel for this wonderful showcase of indigenous talent.

Glasgow’s Crowne Plaza hotel will host the glitzy evening on Saturday March 25 in aid of DEBRA and The Second Chance Project.

As part of an eclectic celebration, everything from Scotland’s best new comedian, musicians, up-and-coming sportsperson, venue and business will be recognised, to name just a few categories.

In the latter category, there are some particularly outstanding new enterprises vying for the big prize, including a company that I’ve been personally involved with for some time.

Property Technology Ltd is a spin-out from Edinburgh University and it’s no coincidence that it has just secured £150,000 worth of funding from Scottish EDGE and IBM after both noted its high-growth potential.

That’s a huge vote of confidence for this young company’s innovative software Apply.Property, which is significantly reducing administrative burdens and harnessing faster transactions for estate agents.

With my commercial property hat on, I’ve been providing mentoring support and early stage fundraising advice to creators Sam Wazadzki and Bilal Khan with a view to developing the software further.

I firmly believe that it has vast potential to shake up the commercial property  space and that it is already revolutionising how estate agents respond to viewing enquiries, enabling consumers to book property viewings 24/7 and make offers online.

The fresh funding will only help to enhance those capabilities and supplement its features in line with the needs of agents.

It’s an exciting time for Property Technology Ltd, and I’ve no doubt you’ll be hearing much more about this truly home-grown success story.

 

LAUGH

A planned overhaul of UK train ticket pricing can’t come soon enough in my book – it might go some way to making up for the comically shocking service that Scotland continues to endure.

In the current climate, there’s simply no guarantee that our train network will get you where you want to be at the time you need to be there, so the prospect of long-overdue cheaper fares is to be welcomed.

It’s thought that a new system will immediately locate the cheapest fares possible, generating significant savings, with the initial benefit being seen by people travelling between Scotland and south-west England.

With the right pricing incentive in place and greater efficiency, I might even consider leaving my car behind – but I won’t hold my breath.

 

WEEP

It was incredible to discover last week that Donald Trump had sacked the acting US Attorney General for failing to defend his controversial travel ban.

Sally Yates was fired for “betraying the Department of Justice” after she told lawyers not to defend the ban in court. The message was clear – it’s Trump’s way or the highway amid a bullying regime that’s determined to impose its will on the world.

To any right-minded person, his ban flies in the face of basic human rights while arguably fanning the flames of terrorism, rather than dampening them.

It wouldn’t be tolerated here for a second, and I was proud to see demonstrators out in force across Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee to underline the collective belief that immigration remains the lifeblood of our economy.