Music industry risks excluding working-class talent, says Tinie Tempah

The music industry risks becoming a more hostile place for working-class artists, musicians including Tinie Tempah and Skye Newman have said.

Without work to save small music venues that act as cradles to nascent music scenes – as well as specific efforts to find and promote talent from diverse backgrounds – the industry is likely to miss out on the next big thing, they argued.

“If you don’t have different sort of scenes in different parts of the country, then of course your music industry is not representative,” Tinie Tempah told the Guardian on the red carpet of this year’s Ivor Novello awards for excellence in British and Irish songwriting.

Newman, who grew up on council estates in south-east London and its surrounds, said the industry lacked space for working-class artists. “It’s just one of them things, it’s this world. I do understand it takes a lot of money to go into this job, and people don’t realise that. It takes a team and it costs a lot, so I do see why it’s harder for us.

“But that is not a fair thing, and there should be more things implemented to help people like us – more programmes to find talent in places where they’re struggling and need it. Because, at the end of the day, we need it. We need it. This changed my life.”

Newman has spoken passionately in the past about wanting to lower a ladder to people who come from similar backgrounds to hers. In February she told the Guardian: “There could be so much more love and education put into people who have less because there is so much knowledge in those places; there’s so much talent but they don’t get the same opportunities.”

Skye Newman at the Ivor Novello awards on Thursday. Photograph: Ian West/PA

Tinie Tempah has emerged as a champion of smaller music venues in recent months. He has worked with the Save Our Scene campaign, among others. “We’re almost losing a bit of our soft power. If you think of like this tiny little island and how much music we’ve contributed to the whole world, it’s insane,” he said.

“All of these small venues have created a way for seeds to blossom and develop and bloom. Just imagine as a talent, being able to go out on the road, do your 10,000 hours, make your mistakes, fumble your lyrics, get booed, get cheered. It’s almost like a training ground. And if I never had that as an artist, I probably wouldn’t be standing here today.”