We call on the TUC to back MU campaigns against replacing live music with recordings in theatre, and to urge the Secretary of State for Culture to increase arts funding. Image: The MU.
This concerns a critical threat to musicians’ jobs in the theatre industry.
First, some background. London’s West End is the pinnacle of theatre around the globe, but its impact extends far beyond the capital. Nationally, theatre contributes nearly £2.4billion to the UK economy every year in Gross Value Added. It sustains over 230,000 jobs. It also helps to keep many towns and cities alive and thriving, while bringing important messages, inspiring art, empathy, community and joy to people in all the nations and varied regions of the country.
I’d also like to explain what KeyComp is because I know most people will not have heard of it. And with the TUC’s support, we’d actually like to keep it that way.
Many of us will fondly remember Year 7 music lessons, piled into a room full of keyboards, pummelling the “DJ! DJ!” buttons when we were supposed to be learning about classical harmony. On a more restrained day, we might have got as far as selecting a harpsichord or a cello from the list of options and making up a tune.
You press one key on the keyboard and it makes a sound. Using KeyComp, press that same key once and you get something completely different – pre-recorded sections of music, whole melodies or strings of chords. In other words, you don’t just get the sound of different instruments, you get whole chunks of music that were recorded at some point in time and are now mapped onto what you're doing digitally. As you play one bit of melody, several other pre-recorded bits will be “following” your tempo and layering themselves over your playing.
The power to replace musicians with a single machine
With KeyComp, a musical which has been written for a few dozen instruments might only feature a couple of those instruments in the pit alongside one KeyComp operator triggering all the rest. For example, a recent tour of a much-loved Disney musical had reduced the band down to six live musicians plus KeyComp replacing a further 20; no wonder Disney is the wealthiest media and entertainment company in the world.
Not only this, but the actual job of triggering all these bits of music in quick succession is in fact very difficult, nothing like playing a piano in the normal way and so stressful for the operator. On top of that, they struggle to find cover for holiday or sick days because other keys players are (justifiably) unwilling to take on such a stressful role. I have heard of more than one having to quit their job. After all, if they mess up, the audience clearly hears an absolute car crash. Even worse, when they nail it, the end result sounds quite good.
Last year, Northern Ballet declared it would replace its live music with recordings at all performances going forward. The MU led a successful campaign against this and managed to get the decision reversed but, as a smaller union, it took a huge amount of our resources, staff time and funds to pull that off.
We need the TUC to help us fight this issue every time it resurfaces.
People want theatre and art made by humans
As much as AI terrifies me, as a musician, it is my firm belief that people will want to see impressive things done live by humans, in fact more and more, as they get fed endless AI-generated slop. I consider myself lucky that I work in the theatre sector, where the very fact that everything is coming together perfectly in real time is the magic that people pay to watch.
More people are now attending theatre shows in the UK than at any point on record. Last year, 17.6 million theatregoers attended a West End show - which is just shy of a 15% increase compared with pre-COVID figures - and 37 million visits were made to a theatre elsewhere in the country. This is the glimmer of optimism that keeps me going.
But with KeyComp replacing us in droves, it feels like technology is coming for our jobs from every angle and audiences are being sold a cheap, artificial version of the advertised show.
Taking inspiration from our friends on Broadway
The existential threat KeyComp poses is clear: it has been banned on Broadway, banned in several US cities, and banned in Hamburg, the very city where the software company is based. The Australian media, entertainment and arts union is pushing to ban it there too. For us, it is like Starlight Express running as a driver-less train.
That's why we're calling on the TUC to:
- Support the MU campaigns when live music is replaced with recordings on theatrical productions
- Write to the Secretary of State for Culture to emphasise the importance of an increase in arts funding, which has been at a standstill for many years, in order to properly fund the live experience.
We'll also be taking these asks to decision-makers directly at Labour Party Conference at the end of September.
Show your support for musicians in theatre
Finally, next time you go to a musical or pantomime, please show your appreciation for the incredibly talented musicians in the pit.
But don’t just clap - turn to a stranger next to you and say, “Wow, the band sounded great, didn’t they?” A tiny favour, to keep our existence in people’s consciousness.