Musicians' Union (UK)

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MU

Musicians' Union
Founded	1893
Members	31,000
Country	United Kingdom
Affiliation	TUC, STUC
Key people	John F. Smith, general secretary
Office location	London
Website	www.musiciansunion.org.uk

The Musicians' Union of the United Kingdom is the second largest musicians' trade union in the world. It was founded in 1893 and represents the interests of working musicians in Britain.

Until the 1980s however, the Musicians Union had a vastly disproportionate influence on the cultural life of Britain. Their insistence on the Needle time agreement between themselves and the BBC directly led to the establishment of Offshore Pirate Radio stations from the early sixties onwards. The relaxing of the Needle Time regulations meant that broadcasters in the UK were freed from the restrictive practice insisted on by the Musicians Union.

[edit] The Jazz Ban

Jazz in particular suffered from the restrictive practices of the musicians' union. For over twenty years, following Duke Ellington's extremely successful visit in 1932, American jazz musicians were prevented from performing in the United Kingdom. Fats Waller and Art Tatum did visit in 1938 and 1939 respectively, but had to be treated as 'variety' artists in order to circumvent the ban, and in 1949 Sidney Bechet had to be present 'by chance' at a concert given by trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton's band in order to perform with the British musicians.

After an exception was made in 1953 to allow the Stan Kenton Orchestras to perform a benefit conference after the east coast floods of that year, restrictions gradually subsided; American musicians, such as Dave Brubeck in 1958, were able to perform in the UK again via an exchange system. Jazz benefited from the growth in the United States of an interest in British popular music, and visits by American musicians became more frequent, although broadcasts by American on BBC Radio remained blocked until 1983.^{[citation needed]}