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Brits love independent venues and see music as vital to their mental health, survey finds
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 23 August 2022
New research has revealed that British people like music. So that’s good news. In addition to that information, the survey carried out on behalf of transport app Free Now – the new sponsor of the Mercury Prize – also has lots and lots of insights into Brits’ listening habits and feelings about music. So sit back and get ready for a stats party. Because everyone loves some stats, right?
One such stat is that 66.8% of the people researchers polled reckon that independent music venues are a vital part of their local town or city and should be supported. Good news for Free Now, which is also working with the Music Venue Trust to underwrite the cost of 120 grassroots gigs around the UK in the coming months as those very venues face a raft of challenges, including the post-COVID recovery and cost of living crisis.
Commenting on this, MVT CEO Mark Davyd says: “The results of this survey demonstrate once again how important music is in our communities and to people at a very personal level. Two thirds of people stated that their local grassroots music venue was vital to their town or city, a view that was echoed in the very practical ways that the music community got behind venues during the pandemic and took direct action to ensure they would not be permanently closed by the COVID crisis”.
“The grassroots music sector is facing incredibly tough times with the energy crisis and the cost of living challenges compounding the impacts of the pandemic”, he goes on. “This survey demonstrates again how important these venues are and how much it matters to people, and it’s great to see companies like Free Now recognising that value with direct action campaigns bringing more music opportunities to more people”.
While the survey does delve further into live music – with London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Glasgow voted as having the best ‘scenes’ in the country – the research is far more wide-reaching than that, looking at how music affects people’s lives more broadly.
More than four fifths of those surveyed – 85.7% – said that music is vital to support their mental health, with 65.2% saying that they listen to music every single day, and 83.6% saying that it is their most consumed form of entertainment – above movies, socialising, reading or exercise. In fact, 74.1% said that it was an essential part of their exercise regime. Just 2% of people said that they listen to music less than once a week.
As for where people listen to music, the most common answer was while in transit – which will no doubt please the transport app that commissioned the survey. 68.5% of people said that they listen to music while on the move. Over two thirds – 69% – reckon that music is an important part of any travel plan, and 63.2% have playlists made specifically for road trips. Also, taxi drivers take note, 39.8% said that they had given drivers ratings based on the quality of the music played in the car.
After transport (and presumably walking), the most popular places to listen to music were the kitchen, the gym and the shower.
Commenting on the study, Free Now’s General Manager Mariusz Zabrocki says: “The importance of music was never in doubt but it’s great to see confirmation of just how vital it is to people’s daily lives and, of course, especially interesting to Free Now to see confirmation of what a big part it plays in travel plans”.
“We know more than most that live music has had an incredibly rough few years with the pandemic and incoming cost of living crisis”, he goes on. “We are proud to play a part in supporting the music business both via our partnership with the Mercury Prize 2022, celebrating some of the best new music in the UK, and helping ensure the long-lasting survival of UK music venues via our year-long commitment to support the Music Venue Trust members”.
People were also asked where they discover new music the most, with streaming services coming out top with 60.1%. After that was radio at 55.1% and social media at 44.9%. However, 36.7% said that they still mainly discover new music “in person”. It’s not clear if that means via word of mouth, at gigs, or just bumping into new bands on the street.
