A few weeks back the Daily Mail ran an article reporting on how riot police had to be called to a party in Marble Arch, London after a Facebook event called “NICOLAS CAGE Marble Arch Mansion Party THIS THURSDAY” had ‘gone wrong’.
The Daily Mail article is symptomatic of the hysterical attitude that the mainstream media has to Facebook based events, and to parties thrown by London’s youth in general. As authorities continue to aggressively clamp down, young people inevitably find new ways of circumventing these impositions as hacking mentality becomes more mainstream.
As we’ve already explored, young people have an affinity for music as a form of expression. A recent study from MTV Sticky found an unsurprisingly strong correlation between youth and music in that 76% of young people would rather live without sex than music for a week while two-thirds would choose music as their one luxury, over a phone or TV if they were stuck on a desert island. Dizzee Rascal has noted numerous times, most recently at the Brit Awards, that music kept him away from crime in his youth, “I’d make sure I’d be in the studio or at a rave performing”. While young MCs are still rising from the street to stardom, an authoritarian clamp down on music by the police is not encouraging London’s young people to steer away from crime, and is not a constructive way to prevent violence.

Online protests, through mediums like Facebook, are in some ways becoming more validated, as the BBC trust recently admitted it would take such protests as a sign of “massive public concern.” Plastic People, a London nightclub at the centre of Dubstep, a musical genre born of London’s youth, has been threatened with closure following a review of it’s license by police. The club which in many ways represents a strong and recent cultural heritage for many young Londoners was recently immortalized by Four Tet in both a track from his new album and in a mix. Plastic People has nurtured London’s young musical talent for 16 years and immediately received online support, with a Facebook group emerging which had more than 10,000 members within a couple of weeks. An online petition has also emerged with many DJs and music journalists using the Twitter hashtag #saveplasticpeople to create a swell of public awareness , which will hopefully cause those decision-makers to create some kind of constructive compromise.

While Plastic People’s threatened closure is not directly linked to the Metropolitan police clamp down on the genre Grime, which is connected to the genres often played at Plastic People; the use of Risk Assessment Form 696 represents a trend of unconstructive dialogue between the police and young people. Guardian and New Statesman journalist Dan Hancox believes “it’s no exaggeration to suggest that the period 2004-09 represents a systematic and deliberate attempt by the Metropolitan Police to remove music performed largely by young black men from the public sphere.” While one section of the form reportedly reads “Music style to be played/performed (eg Bashment, R&B, Garage)” the section that reads “Is there a particular ethnic group attending? If ‘yes’ please state group” was recently replaced by “Who is the target audience” and it still demands every performer’s name, address, date of birth and phone number. Failure to submit the form could result in six month a prison sentence or a £20,000 fine. The passports of promoters and MCs have been known to been held onto by police under 696.
The form has recently banned Bashment and Funky House in Brixton, while popular London club Cargo was warned not to play any Grime and up-and-coming star, Giggs has had his tour banned amid police fears. Yet there must be a future compromise, away from blanket censoring, as the mindsets that are now enacting youth behaviour will inevitably become more social norms as young people grow into positions of authority themselves.

Matt Mason, author of The Pirate’s Dilemma: How Youth Culture Is Reinventing Capitalism recently tweeted “to start a pirate radio station you used to need a boat or seafort. Then just an antenna and a block. Now you just need an app” and it seems like the same young London music scene that is being squeezed by authorities is doing just that, in using innovation to reach their fans. The previously mentioned MTV Sticky study found that 43% of teens are listening to music on their phones most days compared to 20% of those over 20 while the computer remains the most popular device for listening to music with 85% of those surveyed listening to music on their computer in the last week, rising to 94% of teens. London’s Dubstep pirate radio station Rinse FM, which is trying to legitimize itself through creating a petition to have a license granted (which has produced some debate in itself) has recently produced it’s own iPhone app to tie into this youth segment who are using their phones to listen to music regularly. With creative control in their own hands, the young DJs of London’s post-Dubstep landscape have taken it upon themselves to use platforms such as ustream to stream live video sets from their bedrooms, directly to the young people awaiting them. Chatrooms in which fans can ask for shout-outs and what the names of dubplates and white labels are, allow for two-way interaction and add to the pirate radio feeling, in a trend that doesn’t seem to be slowing down (see list of channels at the bottom).

There are threads that those in authority are beginning to clamp down up on youthful musical activity shown by Google’s recent deletion of well known blogs without warning and Warner threats to pull away from Spotify, yet there are signs that with innovative unidirectional access platforms and passionate voices, youth will continue to strive to have their music played out.
To support Plastic People you can sign the petition here
Below are some ustream links to DJs who are currently dominating London’s young Bass music scene:
Oneman who is regarded as starting the trend with his Yard Sessions
Jackmaster and his Drexciya special
SpaceBass Yardcasts





































