# BBC Music

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This article is about the branding used by the BBC. For the magazine of this name, see [BBC Music Magazine](/source/BBC_Music_Magazine).

**BBC Music** is the arm of the [BBC](/source/BBC) responsible for the music played across its services.[1] The current director of music is Lorna Clarke.[2]

Officially it is a part of the BBC's [Radio](/source/BBC_Radio) operational division; however, its remit also includes music used in television and online services. It was established in its current form in 2014; however, the BBC had already been using the BBC Music brand to refer to its online music content and some live events beforehand, including a now-defunct record label.

## Launch

BBC Music had its official launch at 20:00 on 7 October 2014, with a [simulcast](/source/Simulcast) of a specially-commissioned cover of the [Beach Boys](/source/Beach_Boys)' 1966 song "[God Only Knows](/source/God_Only_Knows#BBC_Music_version)".[3] Produced by [Ethan Johns](/source/Ethan_Johns), it featured a [supergroup](/source/Charity_supergroup) of singers such as [Chris Martin](/source/Chris_Martin) (of [Coldplay](/source/Coldplay)), [Stevie Wonder](/source/Stevie_Wonder), [Kylie Minogue](/source/Kylie_Minogue), [Dave Grohl](/source/Dave_Grohl) (of [Foo Fighters](/source/Foo_Fighters)), [Elton John](/source/Elton_John), [Pharrell Williams](/source/Pharrell_Williams), [One Direction](/source/One_Direction), and [Brian Wilson](/source/Brian_Wilson) ([The Beach Boys](/source/The_Beach_Boys)) accompanied by the [BBC Concert Orchestra](/source/BBC_Concert_Orchestra).[4] It was released as a single and reached number 20 in the [UK Singles Chart](/source/UK_singles_chart).[5]

## Responsibilities

BBC Music is responsible for the music played across the BBC. It has direct editorial control of the music content of the BBC's six national music radio stations [Radio 1](/source/BBC_Radio_1), [1Xtra](/source/BBC_Radio_1Xtra), [Radio 2](/source/BBC_Radio_2), [Radio 3](/source/BBC_Radio_3), [6 Music](/source/BBC_Radio_6_Music), and the [BBC Asian Network](/source/BBC_Asian_Network), as well as organising live music events for each of the stations. These include [Radio 1's Big Weekend](/source/Radio_1's_Big_Weekend), *Live in Hyde Park* and *In Concert* for Radio 2, the [BBC Proms](/source/BBC_Proms) (including the various "Proms in the Park" events), and the BBC 6 Music festival.

Many of the BBC televisual music programmes and documentaries are now co-produced with BBC Music, with a BBC Music [ident](/source/Station_identification) often being played between the regular channel ident and the start of the programme. It will also coordinate the BBC's coverage of other live music events such as the [Glastonbury Festival](/source/Glastonbury_Festival), [T in the Park](/source/T_in_the_Park), the [Reading and Leeds Festivals](/source/Reading_and_Leeds_Festivals), and [Celtic Connections](/source/Celtic_Connections) amongst others.

It is responsible for the BBC's online music database, collating every music track played across the BBC's national radio stations and a larger amount of the music played on the BBC's UK television channels.

This included looking after My Tracks, formerly BBC Playlister, an interactive, personalisable music service that allowed users to create playlists of music that had been played across the BBC using existing online platforms [Deezer](/source/Deezer), [YouTube](/source/YouTube) and [Spotify](/source/Spotify).[6] It also featured playlists created by BBC radio DJs and presenters such as [Jo Whiley](/source/Jo_Whiley), [Greg James](/source/Greg_James), [Steve Lamacq](/source/Steve_Lamacq), [Zane Lowe](/source/Zane_Lowe), and [Fearne Cotton](/source/Fearne_Cotton). This service was discontinued due to low usage.[7]

Additionally, it coordinates the production of the [BBC Music Awards](/source/BBC_Music_Awards) and also oversees [BBC Introducing](/source/BBC_Introducing), an initiative to get less well-known and unsigned artists played on local and national radio.

## See also

- *[BBC Records](/source/BBC_Records)*
- *[BBC Music Magazine](/source/BBC_Music_Magazine)*
- *[BBC Sounds](/source/BBC_Sounds)*

## References

1. ["BBC - BBC Music - Media centre"](https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/bbcmusic). BBC Media Centre. 16 June 2014. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20141018212351/http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/bbcmusic) 18 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 March 2015.

1. ["Lorna Clarke"](https://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/whoweare/lorna-clarke). *www.bbc.co.uk*. Retrieved 2023-08-17.

1. ["BBC - BBC Music launches with God Only Knows - Media centre"](https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/lovebbcmusic). BBC Media Centre. 7 October 2014. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20150414055425/http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/lovebbcmusic) 14 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 March 2015.

1. ["BBC - The Artists - Media centre"](https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/lovebbcmusic/artists). BBC Media Centre. 7 October 2014. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20150607091904/http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/lovebbcmusic/artists) 7 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 March 2015.

1. ["GOD ONLY KNOWS"](https://www.officialcharts.com/songs/brian-wilson-various-artists-god-only-knows/). *Official Charts*. 2014-10-18. Retrieved 2024-12-16.

1. ["BBC Launches Playlister, A Social Music Service With Spotify, YouTube And Deezer To Tag Tracks Heard On BBC – TechCrunch"](https://techcrunch.com/2013/10/08/bbc-launches-bbc-playlister-a-social-music-service-with-spotify-youtube-and-deezer-to-tag-tracks-heard-on-bbc/). *techcrunch.com*. 8 October 2013. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20170706132808/https://techcrunch.com/2013/10/08/bbc-launches-bbc-playlister-a-social-music-service-with-spotify-youtube-and-deezer-to-tag-tracks-heard-on-bbc/) 6 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 7 May 2018.

1. ["What happened to My Tracks? | BBC Sounds"](https://web.archive.org/web/20210221141832/https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/help/questions/recent-changes-to-bbc-sounds/my-tracks-closure). *www.bbc.co.uk*. Archived from [the original](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/help/questions/recent-changes-to-bbc-sounds/my-tracks-closure) on 21 February 2021. Retrieved 2024-12-16.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [BBC Music](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Music) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Music?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.