The Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA) continues to call on BBC Radio Scotland to undertake meaningful consultation with Scotland’s music sector and audiences, and publish a clear strategy for how it will meet its public service remit to support Scottish music discovery and development.
Since first raising concerns in our open letter of November 2025, more than 300 artists and organisations have added their voices to this call, highlighting the vital role that presenter-led specialist programming plays in nurturing emerging talent and sustaining Scotland’s music ecosystem.
Now, a new independent analysis report submitted to the CEEAC Committee provides concrete evidence of what’s already being lost. The full report includes methodology, source playlists and supporting data.
Musician and campaigner Stephen McAll (Constant Follower) has published a comparative report examining BBC Radio Scotland’s late night playlists from 1st-15th January 2026 against the same period in 2025. Using BBC published playlist data, the like-for-like analysis shows:
- New music plays down 69%
- New Scottish music by independent artists down 67%
- Overall Scottish music played down 26%
- A marked increase in 1980s and 1990s catalogue music, while music from all other decades declined
Late night specialist spaces have historically provided first national plays, advocacy from trusted presenters and the credibility needed for artists to progress into touring, funding, festivals and label opportunities. Stephen’s findings point to a significant, measurable reduction in those pathways.
While BBC Radio Scotland has stated that specialist music remains a cornerstone of its output, the SMIA believes that these figures exemplify the urgency of our existing requests: a pause to the changes, consultation with the sector and transparency around how Scottish music, particularly new and independent voices, will be supported going forward.
To explore the findings in more detail, we spoke to McAll about the report, its implications for artists and what he feels needs to happen to ensure Scottish music continues to be actively supported through public service broadcasting.
What prompted you to carry out this analysis of BBC Radio Scotland’s late night output and what were you hoping the data would clarify?
The BBC’s decision to replace curator-led late-night shows on Radio Scotland with playlist-based programs removes a rare space where trusted voices with deep local knowledge could champion new Scottish music and explain its significance. This change shifts the station from engaging public service radio toward generic background programming based on “flow” using “mainstream, easy listening” catalogue music. The significance for the future of Scotland’s young artists was immediately apparent to me when I heard about it.
Being played on the BBC gives you two things at once. First, it gives you actual ears, people hearing your music in a context that still carries weight. Second, it gives you validation you can point to elsewhere. You can say, this has been played on BBC Radio Scotland. That one line changes how funders, promoters, festivals, PR, and the wider industry look at you. There is no other station in Scotland that is significant like this in industry eyes. If the presenter adds a quote, that becomes a piece of proof you can lift straight into press and applications. Even without the quote, the play itself is the stamp.
I wanted the data to clarify one thing: what is actually being broadcast now compared with before. Not what the BBC says it is doing. Not the intention. Just the reality of the playlists. So I compared 1st to 15th January 2025 with 1st to 15th January 2026, using the BBC’s own published late-night playlists, counted and categorised the same way throughout.
Looking at the January 2025 and January 2026 comparison, which findings feel most critical to you and why?
The finding that matters most is how sharply the amount of new music fell. In the first two full weeks of the new schedule, overall new music plays dropped by 69%. New Scottish independent releases dropped by 67%. Overall Scottish music, new and old combined, dropped by 26%.
That tells you something fundamental has changed. This is not taste shifting gradually or one presenter favouring a different sound. It is a structural drop in how often new work is being put in front of listeners. When that happens in the only part of the schedule that regularly introduces new Scottish artists, the effect is immediate and severe.
For someone outside music, those numbers might sound abstract. For an artist, they describe the reduction of opportunity. Fewer new tracks played means fewer artists getting that first moment of recognition, fewer chances to say “this was played on BBC Radio Scotland”, and fewer starting points for everything that follows.
The figures matter because they show, very clearly, that the space where new Scottish music used to appear has been significantly reduced, not just reshaped.
The report shows a 69% drop in new music plays alongside a rise in older catalogue. Taken together, what does this shift mean for emerging Scottish artists trying to build visibility and momentum?
It means the station has become more backward looking. Late-night used to be where you could hear what was happening now in Scotland. When new music drops away and older catalogue fills the space, that sense of a living, current culture is lost.
For an emerging artist, visibility does not come from a single spin. It comes from being heard more than once and being placed in context by someone listeners trust. When that disappears, momentum becomes much harder to build. You might still make good work, but it has fewer ways to reach people in a meaningful way.
The rise in 1980s and 1990s catalogue music is not a problem in itself. The problem is what it replaces. When older music crowds out new releases in the one place that used to introduce new Scottish artists, fewer people get that first foothold. The result is not just fewer plays, but fewer careers getting started.
This is where I get personal because it is not abstract. Constant Follower got our first meaningful play in the late-night space. That quote went to funders. Funding helped make the first record. We could not afford to do it otherwise. That is the chain. Break the chain, fewer artists get through.
Late-night specialist shows have traditionally acted as a development pathway for Scottish talent. From your perspective, what disappears when those spaces are reduced?
What disappears is that key link in the pipeline for Scottish artists, the link that provides legitimacy. A specialist presenter is not just filling airtime. They are saying, I have listened properly, and, from all the hundreds of other new tracks I get sent and find, I want you to hear this particular one. That act of attention is what turns a radio play into something that can change an artist’s prospects.
Those shows created a bridge. Between an artist and an audience, and between an artist and the wider industry. A presenter introduction could become a quote. A quote could become legitimacy. That unlocks gigs, festivals, funding, management, PR, labels. When those spaces are reduced, that bridge is weakened or removed entirely. And the cultural economy that relies on good new music coming through weakens.
There is also a quieter loss that is harder to replace. Curator-led shows were shaped by people embedded in the Scottish music scene, hearing work early, often before anyone else cared. That early belief is how scenes are nurtured and grow. Without it, new artists are left waiting to be discovered elsewhere, usually later, and usually by people who are not paying attention to what is happening here now. And usually at great expense. There’s another discussion to be had about how this disproportionately affects those from working-class or disadvantaged backgrounds.
And there’s a generational point here too. I have three young daughters, all musical. If Scotland’s national radio closes the one door that historically helped new Scottish artists get heard, where are my daughters meant to get their first play. Not in daytime. Not on commercial radio. Not on a streaming algorithm. This is the only route we have had that consistently turns local work into national recognition.
Since submitting the report to the CEEAC Committee and seeing the BBC’s response, what do you feel still hasn’t been properly addressed, and what concrete steps should come next?
What still has not been addressed is the gap between the BBC’s language and the evidence. The response talks in broad terms about supporting Scottish music, but the first two full weeks of the new schedule show sharp drops in the exact areas that define support for new artists: new music, new Scottish independent music, and the number of individual Scottish artists being played.
If the BBC believes this change still supports Scottish music, it needs to explain how that claim sits alongside a 69% fall in new music plays and a 67% fall in new Scottish independent plays. It also needs to explain, plainly, what now replaces the role late-night used to play for artists at the start of their careers.
The next steps are practical rather than rhetorical. The BBC should publish a clear commissioning rationale for the change, consult properly with the music sector and listeners, and reinstate a meaningful curator-led late-night programme with presenters given real editorial freedom to introduce and champion new Scottish work.
This is public service broadcasting. These spaces should not be treated as disposable.
You’ve noted that some artists feel unable to speak out. How important is collective action in this moment, and what would you say to those who feel caught between advocacy and opportunity?
I understand the fear completely. If you are early in your career, or you depend on repeat BBC plays, speaking out can feel like you are putting future opportunities at risk. In an already fragile industry, that is not paranoia. It is a rational response to how power works.
That is exactly why collective action matters. When people speak together, the focus shifts away from individuals and onto the issue itself. It spreads the risk and offers a degree of protection that no single artist has on their own. When hundreds of voices say the same thing, it becomes much harder to dismiss or quietly sideline.
It also matters because silence has consequences. If these changes are accepted quietly, they settle in and become permanent. Then the next generation inherits a landscape with fewer ways in and no memory of what was lost. Speaking together is not about burning bridges. It is about refusing to let an essential part of the ecosystem disappear without challenge.
Finally, what do you feel needs to happen to ensure Scottish music continues to be actively supported through public service broadcasting?
Scottish music needs active support, not reassuring language. Active support means making space for new work, taking risks, and letting trusted human voices explain why something matters. That is what public service broadcasting is for.
This is not theoretical for me. I only made my first record because late-night radio gave me credibility when I had none. I had songs and no money. I recorded one track at home on cheap kit and sent it to Roddy Hart and Vic Galloway. They played it and said something kind. That gave me enough validation to secure funding. The album happened, and it was shortlisted for Scottish Album of the Year.
That first record alone directly involved at least 41 people in paid creative work, before you even count the label or manufacturing. Fifteen musicians. Ten videos made with seven filmmakers and animators. Six photographers. Four PR teams. Artwork, design, engineering, live crew. One play can start that chain.
In the first two weeks of 2025, late-night Radio Scotland played 24 new tracks by independent Scottish artists. If even a portion of those plays triggered similar chains of work, that represents hundreds of paid creative roles being activated across Scotland in just two weeks. Extrapolate that over a year, over 5 years and you begin to see how this functions as a key pipeline for Scottish culture in general.
In the first two weeks of 2026, that number fell to 8. That is not an abstract percentage drop. It is a sharp reduction in how often those chains can even begin.
If public service broadcasting wants to support Scottish music in any meaningful way, it has to protect that first point of belief. Remove it, and everything that follows becomes rarer, smaller, and harder to sustain.
Analysis by Stephen McAll – submitted to the CEEAC Committee and reported by The Herald,The Sunday Times and The National – provides evidence of a growing loss of opportunity for emerging and independent Scottish artists.
We reiterate our call on BBC Radio Scotland to undertake meaningful consultation with Scotland’s music sector and audiences, and to publish a clear strategy for how it will continue to support Scottish music discovery and development.
Further Reading:
- SMIA Open Letter to BBC Radio Scotland
- The Guardian: Musicians criticise BBC Radio Scotland’s decision to axe specialist late-night shows
- The Herald: Pressure piles on BBC Scotland as 300 music stars demand rethink
- The Herald: BBC accused of ‘sleight of hand’ over Radio Scotland revamp
- The Times: BBC is ‘slamming gate in the face of future Scottish musicians’
- The National: Impact of changes at Radio Scotland on music output is as we predicted