Spring 2002. For the first time in almost forty years, UK artists are entirely absent from the US Billboard Chart of Top 100 singles.

It's deemed a matter of such serious concern that even the government has become involved in a bid to get the British stars back in amongst America's stars and White Stripes.

British music hasn't always fallen upon deaf ears: there was a time when they fell for our limey lyricism and charm. In 1964 The Beatles held the top five places. Twenty years on in May 1985 new romantics like Duran Duran and Culture Club dominated across the pond holding 8 out of the top 10 slots. But these days the tide seems to have turned. Only Craig David's recent singles have managed to make the grade stateside. It's the same story in the album charts with just Craig and Ozzy Osborne flying the flag. So why have the Americans stopped loving us? Could it be an unofficial trade embargo because we sent them Anne Robinson?

Beatle infestation. Ozzy 'MTV' Osbourne hanging in there...

Peter Asher, a British recording artist now a senior record exec in LA points out that, much like Marmite, some products just don't transfer well to the States. Is this because it's not spread thickly enough, because they don't like the taste, or just because they don't understand what hell it is?

Look at dance music. The British pop scene has been dominated by dance for over a decade, yet in the US it's still a niche market. Instead they've stuck with home-grown genres such as rap, nu-metal, r&b and country. The same applies to our successful guitar bands such as Travis and the Stereophonics. They haven't faired well either, perhaps Britpop is just too Brit. And with their own pop princesses the Americans don't need Hearsay - do we need Hearsay?

The chart system is different too. Unlike our Top 40, the Billboard is comprised of 75% airplay and 25% sales. To get airplay you need money. Money to market the band, to push it to the radio stations, TV channels and press right across the country and they don't have a dominant national station like Radio 1 to make it easy. That's money that small UK labels don't have and that the bigger labels seem unwilling to risk.

So what is the British music industry doing about it? "Make or Break", a cross-industry report published this week, investigates potential support for our music in the US. It recommends establishing a UK Music Office or "British Music Embassy" in New York to represent our interests in much the same way as the successful British film office does in Hollywood.

The 'embassy', aided by Government funding, would support British artists and offer joint marketing, promotion and lobbying initiatives. Ironically the hope is to emulate the success of Dido, who sold 6 million copies of her album No Angel to the Yanks.

Quite literally The Invisible Band. Dido, an example to us all...

Meanwhile, over here, nearly half of our Top 40 comprises of American nu-metal, rock, hip-hop, r&b and pop acts. This reflects the playlists of big stations like Radio 1 - and we only buy what we hear. In Canada and France, stations are forced to support French language music in order to keep it from becoming an endangered species. Perhaps British radio should be encouraged to champion home grown talent. If we're not playing it, why should they?

But does it matter if Coldplay don't make it big in America? The US is a big place and takes time to break, involving constant touring and interviews. That's time not spent in the UK or recording another album. If we're still producing creative forward-looking music should we care?

Maybe, because there's a danger that major labels won't sign new British bands if they don't believe they'll perform in the biggest market in the world. And as cutbacks at EMI and Virgin force them to downsize their rosters, that's certainly possible. That can't be a good thing for British music. SF 13 June 02