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According to the Director General of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the BBC needs to 'make sacrifices' in order to focus on its programming - thats the crux in his bid to close the Asian Network and 6Music, as well as cut spending across the Corporation's web presence.

In an interview today, Mark Thompson claims that the timing of this is a coincidence in reference to the Conservative party's political agenda.  Next steps include the public being consulted on the proposals of closing these stations but he maintains that the BBC is quite firm in its beilef that popular music can be brought to the larger audience better just through Radio1 and Radio1.

"The trouble with 6Music is that its got a relatively small audience right now ... if we built that audience up, we run headlong into mainstream media in this country."  In reference to the Asian Network, Thompson claims that the diverse audience it has is under-represented by the station and can possibly be better served in other ways, without the station[!].

This whole kerfuffle [sp?] about the BBC Asian Network possibly being shut down has created a flurry of tweets and facebook status updates - small snippety shouts of anguish and sympathy. I haven't found too many large editorial pieces but was pleased to come across Electro-East show-host Nerm's blog post today sharing his thoughts on the topic.

According to the Times Online,we can expect closure of the BBC Asian Network and its 6Music digital channels sometime soon.  Apparently the beeb's £3.6 billion annual license fee has become too large to competitively allow rival networks to have fair access to potential listeners' ears. 

The BBC has added new stations to its network for years now - attempting to reach all sorts of listeners accross the UK as well as internationally, via the iPlayer website. One such station has been the Birmingham-based BBC Asian Network, whom we've partnered with in the past to promote the Indian Electronica Festival in the UK.  The Asian Network is home to radio personalities such as Bobby Friction, Pathaan, Nerm and Sonny Ji - all proponents of progressive South Asian-flavored electronic music forms.

Though no official statement has been published by the BBC press office,the only word about the Asian Network they've dropped this week has been to announce the launch of a new Asian Chart Show to be presented by Bobby Friction - this past monday.

It seems very strange that the Times should report the network's closure only days afterthe establishment of a major industry chart for South Asian music in the UK and we'll be keeping an ear to the ground for developments in this story.In the meantime, you get get involved in the discussion on Twitter by using the #saveasiannet hashtag - here's what people are saying:

One of the graphic designers who's done a ton of work to support the Indian Electronica/Asian Underground music scene in London is Kunal Anand.  Through his Cabein firm, he's designed flyer artwork and websites for the likes of the Shiva Soundsystem and Bobby Friction but he doesn't just do commercial/client work.

Cabein occaisionally releases limited-edition t-shirts and artwork.  The latest of which is The Reaper - an excellent work available in a high-res canvas print @ 72x94cm (mounted on a wooden frame).  We highly recommend peeping Cabein's shop and ordering your copy of The Reaper today!

The BBC Asian Network is soon to launch their 'official' UK-Asian chart show. The idea comes from both a recognition that there is no single place to judge popularity of South Asian artists in the United Kingdom, as well as a need to further justify the Asian Network's existence to the BBC at large.

Establishing a chart is smart for the Asian Network in that it will hopefully reflect the objective popularity across the UK of the music it airs.  That will bode well in the face of executive questions over whether the BBC can continue funding the venture.  Even smarter was their choice to have Bobby Friction host the show.  He's a radio personality with international appeal and a fanbase which knows him as passionate about showcasing the most innovative sounds being produced by South Asians in (mainly) the UK.

We're keen on seeing the genre trending reflected in this new Chart - which will be recorded and reported by a firm called 'the Official Charts Company' - who will aggregate sales statistics from approximately 30 online retailers selling to the region.

I do wonder however, what 'Asian Music' qualifies as and how these sales reports will accurately reflect the diversity within this not-necessarily advertised racial grouping.

BBC Asian Network broadcaster Bobby Friction hit Nevada's Black Rock desert for Burning Man last year and footage has just been put up @ the BBC - peep it below:

Brooklyn's Sub Swara crew just finished up a remix of this new Mos Def track called 'Quiet Dog' to be included in the next edition of music mag, the Fader.  You can download the track on the Fader's blog or just give it a listen below...

In true SS style, the track's all dubsteppy and dare I say, perhaps would sound best with just the chorus and not the main rap in it (it all gets a bit too noisy/muddled with his full rhyme on), then again apparently this was a rush-commision so I shouldn't be too harsh. :P

Cheers to Sita Wadhwani of CNN's 'local' website for Asia, CNNgo.com, for writing up indianelectronica.com and featuring an interview with our Director (ahem, myself!) :)

Check it out here...

I just got a killer remix of TQ's new track called 'Electronic' - the remix comes by way of Sonny Ji, who hosts the BBC Asian Network's Bhangra Mixtape show (ground-breaking in mashing up dancefloor 4/4 vibes with bhangra). He's done a great job with this one so I thought I'd share it - you can embed the player below in your own blog/website:

ELECTRONIC - Sonnyji's Electro Fix Mix by indianelectronica