Total consumer spend on live music in the UK reached £6.68 billion last year, according to trade body LIVE, which is a 9.5% increase year-on-year, and over £2 billion more than 2019 before the COVID pandemic shut down the sector for eighteen months.
These are the top level stats in a new report from LIVE, which brings together organisations representing artists, promoters, venues, festivals, booking agents, ticket agents and event production companies. Crunching data relating to 55,000 shows and events, the report confirms there were lots of gigs and lots of tickets sold last year, so that - on average - “one gig took place every 137 seconds across the UK”.
But, of course, it’s no secret that in live music one end of the market - arena and stadium shows - is booming, while artists, promoters and venues operating at the grassroots are often really struggling. Festivals are also having a hard time of it amid surging production costs, with LIVE revealing that - while concert turnover rose 12.2% last year - festival spending was up just 1.9%.
Launching the new report, LIVE CEO Jon Collins explains that, “while UK live music continued the post-lockdown trend of strong performance for the biggest names at the biggest venues”, at the same time “pressure built across our grassroots as venues closed, tours were cancelled or cut back, and festivals called time”.
It’s hoped that the new voluntary ticket levy scheme will help ensure that the boom at the top supports the grassroots more, with a levy charged on arena and stadium shows used to provide funding to artists, promoters and venues at the grassroots via a new trust set up by LIVE.
But the live sector is looking for more government support too, including the Association Of Independent Festivals’ recent call for tax relief for festival promoters.
Collins notes that the government has been engaging with the live sector quite a lot in the last year, but says that - to ensure the live sector can “continue to delight audiences for decades to come” - both industry and government needs to “protect and nurture the ecosystem” .