UK trade body LIVE has warned significant challenges remain for the live music sector despite reporting another record year for the industry.
The organisation has published its 2024 annual report, which incorporates analysis from 55,000 gigs, concerts, festivals and events, with data showing that one gig took place every 137 seconds across the UK in 2024.
Mainstream pop music accounted for 32.1% of consumer spend from the top 2,000 concerts – a year-on-year increase of 4.7 percentage points – with total consumer spend reaching a new peak of £6.68 billion (€5.73bn), up 9.5% year-on-year. The figure also represented a 28.2% increase on 2022 and over £2bn more than in 2019, the last full year before Covid.
While festival spending only rose by 1.9%, concert turnover jumped significantly by 12.2%. Concerts attracted 75.3% of live music spending in 2024 – nearly two percentage points more than in 2023 – in part, due to a slowing of growth in music festivals, as well as the volume of big-name stadium and arena headline tours by the likes of Taylor Swift, P!nk, Bruce Springsteen and Charli XCX.
London attracted 28.9% of all expenditure in 2024, down slightly year-on-year, while the opening of Co-op Live helped Manchester make up some ground. Glasgow was the UK’s third biggest city for live music, despite having a much smaller population than fourth-placed Birmingham. Elsewhere, Cardiff overtook Edinburgh to become the fifth highest earning live music city in 2024.
“2024 was a standout year for LIVE as we took our seat at the top table of government”
However, as considerable issues remain for grassroots music venues, small festivals, independent promoters and up-and-coming artists, LIVE has played a pivotal role throughout the last 12 months in working with government and the wider music industry to advocate for policies to improve trading conditions and develop sustainable funding solutions.
“2024 was a standout year for LIVE as we took our seat at the top table of government,” says LIVE CEO Jon Collins. “While UK live music continued the post-lockdown trend of strong performance for the biggest names at the biggest venues, pressure built across our grassroots as venues closed, tours were cancelled or cut back and festivals called time. And yet, as the figures in this report show, we can be a driver of that growth in all regions, towns and cities across the country.
“Live music is a joyous experience and venues and festivals of all shapes and sizes, operated by world-class teams and showcasing world-class established and emerging talent, will continue to delight audiences for decades to come as long as industry and government protects and nurtures the ecosystem.”
Live music employed more than 234,000 people in the UK in 2024 – a 2.2% increase year-on-year, with the data indicating that approximately four in five (78.8%) jobs in live music are casual or freelance.
“With the launch of the LIVE Trust, we hope to make sure that those crucial small venues can survive and flourish”
Following the 2024 Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) report calling for an industry-led voluntary solution to the crisis in the grassroots music, the LIVE Trust was established to build on the work of the Music Venue Trust to manage a funding programme founded on a voluntary £1 ticket contribution on arena and stadium shows with a capacity over 5,000.
With trustees now appointed and commitments already secured from a number of high-profile artists performing stadia and arena shows throughout 2025 and 2026 the LIVE Trust says it is confident it can soon begin offering financial support where it is needed.
“It is a really exciting time for live music,” says LIVE chair Steve Lamacq. “More and more people have enjoyed going to gigs over the past year. There’s more shows, more choice and incredibly one live gig every 137 seconds. It’s testimony to the fact that live music brings people together and provides experiences and memories that will stay with us for years to come. Whether that’s a mega star in a stadium or an up-and-coming band or artist playing their heart out in your local grassroots venue, live music is the most exciting, immediate and sometimes life-changing part of the music industry.
“With the launch of the LIVE Trust, we hope to make sure that those crucial small venues can survive and flourish so that they can continue to nurture the acts that’ll be filling venues and headlining festivals in years to come.”
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The post LIVE report reveals record year for UK concert business appeared first on IQ Magazine.