Challenges remain for grassroots music venues, small festivals, and up-and-coming artists as industry calls for reintroduction of lower VAT rate on tickets

LIVE, the voice of the UK’s live music industry, has today published data showing the sector’s contribution to the UK economy last year exceeded £6 billion for the first time.

LIVE’s annual UK Live Music report shows live music continued to recover from the pandemic and tackled challenges including high inflation, the cost-of-living crisis, and post-Brexit touring issues to achieve a year-on-year uplift of 17% since 2022 and an increase of 35% on the pre-pandemic, 2019 figures. Live music also supported jobs for nearly 230,000 people last year – 20,000 more than the entire attendance of Glastonbury Festival and an increase of 9.4% since 2019.

The increased economic impact reinforces the industry’s position as a key economic driver for the UK with the data analysis from research agency CGA by NIQ covering more than 55,000 gigs, concerts, festivals and events. The growth in the sector last year was driven largely by concert revenues which jumped by 19% year-on-year and accounted for nearly three quarters (73.5%) of the total, boosted by the tours of major artists, such as Beyoncé and Coldplay.

The data shows how live music’s social, cultural and economic contribution is experienced right across the UK. In 2023, London accounted for nearly a third (30.6%) of total live music revenue while Manchester took the second highest at 7.4% and Glasgow took the lead in Scotland with 5.5% of the UK’s share. Other cities in the top 10 included Edinburgh, Birmingham, Cardiff, and Belfast.

Despite the positive headline figures, significant challenges remain for grassroots music venues, small festivals, and up-and-coming artists which are vital to the future of the live music industry. Festivals and grassroots music venues closed down at an alarming rate with 36 festivals cancelled and 125 grassroots music venues permanently shut last year.

LIVE is calling on the Government to reduce the current rate of 20% VAT on tickets which is damaging and uncompetitive compared to other European markets. LIVE supports the recommendation in the Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s report on Grassroots Music Venues (May 2024) that Government should introduce a temporary cut to VAT to stimulate grassroots music activity while undertaking a comprehensive economic analysis of the impact of a cut to VAT on all concert tickets.

Jon Collins, CEO, LIVE: “2023 delivered significant growth for many sections of the live music ecosystem. We had some of the biggest names in music sell out tours and festivals across the UK, but we also saw pressure build up across our industry, leading to grassroots music venues and festivals left with no choice but to close down in the face of rising costs.

“We welcome the commitments made by the Government to put the creative industries at the centre of the UK’s economic growth plan. Reintroducing a lower rate of VAT on tickets would bring the UK into line with international competitors and would be pivotal in unlocking the economic potential of our industry. With a lower rate of VAT on tickets, we could see the sector grow further, supporting more jobs, generating more investment, and putting on more gigs, festivals and tours for people to enjoy.”

Steve Lamacq, Chair, LIVE: “Our live music sector is world-class offering concerts, festivals, gigs and more to suit every music taste. Last year, we saw much of the live music sector triumph over adversity; faced with a spike in costs as a result of inflation, the cost-of-living crisis and labour shortages, fans had more concerts and festivals than ever to enjoy. However, we cannot forget that urgent action is needed to support the many grassroots venues, artists, and festivals which continued to struggle last year.”