The launch of the #LetTheMusicPlay campaign has revealed many important statistics about the state of the music industry in the UK at the present time.
The UK Live Music Market is one of the biggest in the world
According to PWC, by value of ticket sales, the UK’s live music market was the 4th biggest in the world in 2019.
By per head of population, the UK was the 2nd biggest live music market in the world.
Government support in other countries
But, despite the global influence and economic importance of British live music, government support for the sector continues to lag behind other countries.
The German government recently announced €150m in financial support for live music as part of a €50bn package of grants and loans for the cultural sector, and France has announced a further €50m to ‘build support plans’ for the live music industry.
The regional impact in the UK
Data shows that the biggest economic impact from the live music shutdown is likely to be felt regionally, where concerts and festivals have been proven to bring huge benefits.
Ed Sheeran’s four shows at Chantry Park in 2019 boosted the Ipswich economy by £9m.
One sell-out full capacity night of live music in Birmingham would generate £3m for the local economy.
Festivals
TRNSMT festival in Glasgow generates a local economic impact of £10 million.
Glastonbury Festival generates more than £100m a year for local businesses and charities Belladrum Festival in Inverness, Scotland’s biggest camping festival, contributes £5million each year to local economy.
Grassroots
The Great Escape festival in Brighton generates £16 million worth of business for artists, managers, songwriters, producers and production services.
Today’s situation
References
The economic research was commissioned by the live music and theatre industry, and was carried out by Media Insight Consulting in June 2020.
The figures for live music build on UK Music’s established annual Music By Numbers report by including creative talent, ancillary services, and spend around events.
The PWC figures are from their UK edition: Entertainment & Media Outlook 2019-2023.
