Photo: Judith Burrows

The Editor's Box Ian Anderson's comment column

We were extremely proud – and more than a little surprised – when we heard that Womex are to present fRoots, representing the independent press, with the Womex Award For Professional Excellence this autumn. This is decidedly thrilling, and not only because it’s the first award of any kind that we’ve had in 31 years of publication! It’s a timely and welcome indication that the business side of the scene does still appreciate the role that the specialist press plays, something that I had begun to doubt of late.

It couldn’t have come at a better time. The music industry has been battered by the downside of digital technologies – the unthinking assumption by the public that all music and information should now be up for grabs, for free, and the boggling explosion in the amount of both that’s now available at a click. It has seemed as if even people working outside the mainstream have become so blinded by the novelty and ‘cool’ness of it all that they’ve forgotten the strengths of the traditional media and the many benefits of symbiosis. Yet as the information haystack has grown so huge, a focussed, community activist magazine like fRoots is more vital than ever to its readers as a needle-finder, filter, in-depth cumulative resource and inspiration to enthusiasm. These roles are particularly important now that everybody seems to have less time, and many will have less money as the recession enters its second dip.

Many a non-mainstream artist has screwed their career by turning their backs on their hardcore audience in an attempt at the mythical crossover success, only to find that they didn’t know what they’d lost till it was gone. And so it may be with the industry and magazines. Specialist titles have been falling like flies, particularly in the USA where venerable Sing Out! is literally the last one left standing among folk/ world publications. Even they had to make an emergency appeal to readers last year and it was very heartwarming to see from Mark Moss’ current editorial that they’ve raised $100,000 from 800 donors, proving just how much that the readers, at least, still value a great magazine.

Here at fRoots we really appreciated the artist friends who contributed their services to our fRootsenanny fundraiser in January, and the loyal readers who’ve taken out Lifetime subscriptions. Needless to say, in the apparent absence of a folk and world music loving oligarch we could use lots more of those as the tax man gets more ravenous and funding for parts of the live music infrastructure gets axed, taking advertising with it. Please see our appeal page

But on we go: enjoy your festival season and we’ll meet again in mid-September (double issue, right?). Our good news lights the recession gloom and good music lifts the soul. There’s a boundless supply of the latter right now. I’m always pleased by what we can let you hear on our fRoots CDs but hand-on-heart I reckon that this issue’s fRoots 35 is one of the best I’ve ever compiled. Don’t bin it unplayed!