THAT MUSIC REACHED YOU THROUGH PARENTS, PIRATE TAPES, DJS AND CLUBS. WHY ARE INDEPENDENT AND COMMUNITY RADIO STILL IMPORTANT NOW?
Konny Kon: It’s an alternative. Radio is almost redundant in some aspects now. For us, radio was where you discovered music through DJs, whereas I feel like radio DJs are now chasing what’s happening online: “That’s hot online, so we need to play it.” Independent and local radio are still tapped into showing people things they don’t necessarily know.
Everyone is struggling to be heard. Unless you’ve got a bunch of money to throw at it, it’s really hard. There are more opportunities, but you’re competing with so much other stuff. It’s important to have DJs showcasing music that isn’t playlisted on daytime radio. Even on some specialist mainstream shows, people are dictated to about what they play. Independent radio can help those still struggling to be heard.
Tyler Daley: Coming from street soul, it was just as exciting – if not more exciting – to hear something by someone you’d never heard before. We grew up on tapes where a song would get dropped in a club, nobody had heard it, it would get three or four reloads, and off the back of that become a massive song.
It isn’t easy right now because people have to work, but as a selector, it’s your job to educate people. I was educated by DJs. That’s where I got my music knowledge: from other DJs I respected. The community side of radio still retains that somewhat, whereas I think it has been lost everywhere else.
THERE’S BEEN DISCUSSION ABOUT WHETHER STATIONS SUCH AS 1XTRA DO ENOUGH TO SUPPORT NEW BLACK BRITISH MUSIC, RATHER THAN RELYING ON FAMILIAR US R&B AND POP. FROM WHERE YOU’RE SITTING, DOES NEW BRITISH SOUL GET ENOUGH VISIBLE SUPPORT?
Konny Kon: 1Xtra and other radio stations are under pressure to be commercial and stay funded, so it’s not just their fault. Consumers dictate it too. I DJ in clubs quite a lot and don’t necessarily get to play the music I want. You can see people leave or the energy die down when you play too much stuff they don’t know. For the age group 1Xtra is aiming at, mid-2000s R&B is probably what most of them want to hear. They could playlist daytime music that people don’t know, but listeners might turn off, in the same way that people in a club want familiarity and nostalgia.
That goes back to why independent radio is important: it can showcase music without the same pressure. 1Xtra has the tough job of serving as many people as possible. Would I like to hear more UK, independent and underground music there? Of course. I’d love to be playlisted and supported more, because I’m sure that if people heard it a hundred times, they’d end up liking it.
Tyler Daley: I don’t remember a time when it wasn’t like that. We grew up on pirate radio because nobody else was playing anything we liked. The music we’re into is specialist, and it’s the specialist DJs’ job to push it and get certain songs into the mainstream. We create our own hype through the internet, specialist DJs and community radio. That’s our fight. I can’t see the other side changing too much.
IF TWO YOUNG ARTISTS LIKE YOURSELVES WERE STARTING OUT IN MANCHESTER IN 2026, WOULD THEY HAVE BETTER OPPORTUNITIES THAN YOU HAD, OR HAS GRASSROOTS CULTURE BECOME HARDER TO EXIST IN?
Tyler Daley: I think it’s way easier. There are a lot more artists now, so there’s definitely more competition, but you can go straight to the consumer. As long as you’re consistent, have a bit of a plan and have some good music, you should be able to find a fanbase. It has its own obstacles, but in terms of opportunities and the ability to do things yourself, it’s massively different.
Konny Kon: I agree. When we started, there was zero opportunity. Everyone moved to London to try to make it. There were no record labels and no promotion; everything was in London. Even then, with the type of music we make, you were trying to reach America or the wider world. Now you can do it yourself. You just need to find the people who are into it.