Keeping live music alive: Naomi Pohl on the plight of the Strictly Band

Strictly Come Dancing is back on the nation’s screens again. Key to the success and popularity of the show since the first series in 2004 has been the house band. Its members are essential, not just for working with and responding to the dancers, but also for creating the trademark atmosphere that draws audiences in series after series. However, their jobs are now under threat. Strictly’s production team has halved the usual number of live musicians appearing on the show and is refusing to reinstate the full band following social-distancing measures put in place during the pandemic. Cutting live music deprives the audience of the full high-energy atmosphere that Strictly fans know and love and reduces paid work for freelance musicians now and in the future.

The shrinking of freelance opportunities and live performances by UK orchestras is a worrying, ongoing trend I’ve witnessed across the Arts sector while I’ve worked for the MU, particularly since the pandemic. Within the last year, orchestras from the Welsh National Opera to Northern Ballet and the English National Opera have been under threat. Cuts in pay, working hours, performances and touring are affecting both contract musicians and freelancers and creating significant job insecurity that many may struggle to recover from. The average musician in the UK earns £20,700 a year – a shocking figure revealed in our Musicians’ Census data last year.

The Musicians’ Union has been on the frontline advocating for all the musicians facing these job or pay cuts, and my role involves campaigning, lobbying the Government and working with fellow music industry and arts organisations to address these issues. We find it deeply disheartening that highly skilled, experienced and dedicated musicians should have to fight for jobs that they’ve had for so long. It is a slippery slope and when any job, performance or tour disappears there is an unseen, unquantifiable, but very real impact on audiences and on the UK’s musical ecosystem.

The Strictly musicians share these worries, and many used words such as ‘betrayed’, ‘sad’ and ‘astounded’ when relaying their feelings about the current situation to the Union. It’s clear that as well as having a financial impact, fighting for their role in the band has taken an emotional toll.

Of course, nothing can replicate the quality and talent of a musician. Being in the studio live, in person, as each couple dances, the band carefully observes the dancers competing. If, for example, one dancer starts late or injures themselves halfway through, the band can adapt accordingly to ensure everything runs smoothly (or even stop, if needed). Additionally, having such a band presence is key to inspiring future generations of talent to enter the music industry in future. Strictly, which has a current viewership of 5.5 million, offers a hugely influential platform for musical talent to demonstrate their mastery. And with the show attracting people of all ages, who knows what young person could be watching and inspired to study music or an instrument. To me, it’s little-known benefits like this that make live music, and the musicians that deliver it worth the investment. One of the Strictly band members even shared that this is exactly how they got into the industry: ‘Actually seeing musicians instead of just hearing them lit a spark in me that would have otherwise been totally denied, given my background’. I believe stories like this may sadly become less common if we roll back opportunities for musicians to perform live music, and thus connect with their audience in real time.

Following extensive negotiations between the Union and the BBC, the production has offered to retain the full band for just four key episodes from a previous total of 14, but is refusing to reinstate them across the full series. While they haven’t announced the change on the show, it is apparent when you watch it that the full band are no longer in shot.

Negotiations by the Union continue with the BBC and we hope that they’ll reconsider their position so the band can go back to performing live for all episodes across the series.

If you would like to show your solidarity with the Strictly band, you can sign their petition here.