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DUBAI: Music trade bodies have accused the BBC of making “arbitrary and disproportionate” changes to its broadcasting and streaming of live music events following the controversy around Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury performance.

During the punk rap duo’s set at the festival on June 28, they led the crowd in pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli military chants like “free, free Palestine” and “death, death to the IDF.”

The BBC livestreamed the performance in full leading to a backlash from the government.

BBC Director-General Tim Davie ordered the content to not be featured in any other coverage. However, due to a technical issue the stream was available on the BBC iPlayer for about five hours.

Davie and BBC chair Samir Shah have both apologized. The BBC said in a statement: “Warnings appeared on the stream on two occasions and the editorial team took the decision not to cut the feed. This was an error.”

Music industry trade bodies and experts now say the BBC is overreacting.

“The BBC is absolutely fundamental to the continued success of British music and particularly vital to supporting our new and emerging artists’ development,” said David Martin, head of the Featured Artists Coalition, a UK trade body that supports music artists.

The FAC supported the network’s public service broadcasting remit, which understandably came with responsibilities and standards, he said.

“If those standards have been breached, then there should be appropriate guidelines to follow. But the idea of preemptively grading artists according to their risk factor feels arbitrary and disproportionate and a dangerous step toward censorship.”

Such an approach could “curtail artistic freedom” and “inadvertently punish those who are simply expressing their views,” he said.

Naomi Pohl, general secretary of The Musicians’ Union, stressed the importance of the BBC and its role in the music industry.

“It’s such a shame there has been this shadow cast over this year’s Glastonbury coverage, because it has had fantastic viewing figures. It’s been all over iPlayer and people have been tuning in live,” she said.

“We need to talk to the BBC about it directly. But I don’t want to see any broadcasters now broadcasting fewer live events because they don’t want to take the risk. The whole of the music industry will be feeling that, because it’s so crucial to us to have the BBC.”

A BBC spokesperson said the broadcaster stood by its decision to make changes to livestreaming music performances.

“We will continue to bring audiences a range of music performances, both live and on-demand and we respect artists’ freedom of expression,” the person said.

“However, Bob Vylan’s offensive and deplorable behavior on one of our Glastonbury livestreams was completely unacceptable and we are sorry it appeared on the BBC.

“This is why we have made immediate changes to livestreaming music events and these, alongside our editorial guidelines, will shape our plans going forward.”

DHAKA: When Shahid Sardar started his Facebook page four years ago, he wanted to share his experience aboard a fishing boat. He did not expect the millions of views he would soon attract as he tapped into a content niche that is rapidly gaining popularity among Bangladeshis: life at sea.

Sardar, 35, lives with his wife and son in the coastal Chittagong district in south-eastern Bangladesh. He started to work as a fisherman in 2013, after leaving a job at a hospital canteen in the capital, Dhaka.

As the chief cook on a vessel with a 50-member crew, Sardar sails across the Bay of Bengal on month-long voyages in search of fish. When his videos documenting deep-sea fishing methods and daily life on the boat began gaining traction, he expanded his content to show various marine species found in Bangladeshi waters — many of which are not widely known.

“I think people generally enjoy fish, especially the kinds caught at sea, which are not usually found in local markets,” Sardar told Arab News.

“The beauty of the deep sea also draws people to my videos. For most viewers, these sights are rare and unfamiliar. They don’t have this experience themselves.”

Posting as BD Fisherman on Facebook, he has more than 360,000 followers. His other account, Fisherman Shahid, has another 240,000.

When two of his videos went viral in December 2023, Facebook approved monetization for his page.

“My first video that went viral showed a bulk of yellowfin tuna and some shrimp. The fish were just dropped on the deck ... it was the rainy season. People liked that video a lot. Within 24 hours, it got 3 million views,” he said.

“As I started receiving some money from the videos, I became more motivated to keep uploading and people started liking my videos more and more.”

He now earns an average of about $500 a month from his two pages. That is in addition to his salary of $120 per voyage, plus bonuses based on the catch — about 60 cents per tonne of fish sold in the market.

“In my locality, everyone knows me as Fisherman Shahid. Wherever I go, people come to me just to know how they can earn through making videos and posting them on social media platforms,” Sardar said. “Recently, the friends of my 7th-grader son also visited my home to learn about my video making.”

While for fellow fishers, Sardar’s content has been an inspiration to start their own pages, for some other followers, like Zaved Ahmed, a Bangladeshi migrant worker in ��������, watching his videos is a reminder of his own roots.

“I was born in Cox’s Bazar, a coastal area of Bangladesh, and fishing was our family’s profession. Since 2023, I have been living in Jeddah, which is on the coast of the Red Sea. It seems that sea life is something in my blood. That’s why I love watching Sardar’s videos,” he said.

“Whenever I watch his videos, my mind travels to the sea with the fishing boat, as if I were experiencing it with my own eyes.”

But most of those who follow Sardar and other fishermen-influencers have never experienced life at sea.

Watching it on their mobile or laptop screens helps them connect with the sector that each year contributes about 3.5 percent to Bangladesh’s GDP and is the main source of animal protein in the Bangladeshi diet.

“I think most people generally love the sea, but they don’t have the opportunity to witness the mysteries of the deep sea,” said Karimul Maola, a follower of Sardar from Chittagong.

“Through Sardar’s videos, I’ve learned about many seafish that were previously unknown to me. Also, his videos have given me some idea about how a fishing vessel normally operates — something most people don’t know about.”

There is a similar sentiment among the followers of other Bangladeshi fishermen who have shot to social media fame.

On the page of Ehsanul Haque Shaon, a fisherman who has 172,000 followers on Facebook, one follower says watching his video was “like the Bay of Bengal live in front of my eyes!” while another says in amazement that watching the content made them realize that “life is very interesting.”

“How we survive on a boat in the Bay of Bengal,” a video on Fishiib, a YouTube channel focusing on showing the life of fishermen in the Bay of Bengal, has received more than 10 million views in six months.

“I am truly amazed by how these fishermen adapt to life at sea. They face constant challenges like harsh weather and limited resources, yet they find ways to survive and thrive,” one viewer said.

“Their resilience and ability to work together as a community is truly inspiring. It’s a glimpse into a way of life that most of us can only imagine.”