The UK live music industry experienced a double-digit expansion in 2023 despite far-reaching operational difficulties for many festivals and grassroots venues, per a new report. Photo Credit: Nainoa Shizuru
Revenue from concerts and music festivals grew by double digits in the UK last year, when the domestic live entertainment sector nevertheless grappled with “soaring costs in multiple areas,” according to a new report.
That report was just recently published by LIVE (Live Music Industry Venues & Entertainment), which produced the analysis in collaboration with NielsenIQ’s CGA. As a whole, the UK live music industry is said to have achieved a 17% year-over-year jump in “total market value,” which came in at $8.04 billion/£6.1 billion (topping £6 billion for the first time) and factors for “full value in revenue and employment terms.”
Concerts made up the lion’s share of the total ($5.91 billion/£4.5 billion) and, against the backdrop of well-documented operational hurdles for festivals in particular, grew their revenue by 19% YoY (compared to 12% YoY growth for festivals at $2.10 billion/£1.6 billion), the resource shows.
“Some of this increase was generated by higher ticket prices, which have been inevitable in light of the soaring costs of labour, energy and other key inputs for event organisers,” LIVE acknowledged. “However, it is well above the rate of inflation throughout 2023, and reflects a strong programme of live events and a steady improvement in consumers’ spending confidence as the year went on.”
A breakdown of revenue attributable to UK concerts and festivals between 2019 and 2023. Photo Credit: LIVE
By city, Central London accounted for 28% of the identified 2023 UK live music industry revenue, followed by Manchester (7.4%), Glasgow (5.5%), Birmingham (3.6%), and Edinburgh (2.2%) to round out the top five, according to the report.
Additionally, in terms of the hard numbers behind the UK’s live space in 2023, pop, rock, and indie acts are said to have commanded over 56% of the sector’s revenue.
Meanwhile, on the employment front, the just shy of 230,000 employees (49,357 permanent, the other 180,000 or so “casual”) working in live last year marked a modest increase from 2022 but a 9.4% boost from pre-pandemic 2019, the report notes.
Shifting to the not-so-positive components of the UK live music industry in 2023, LIVE CEO Jon Collins also acknowledged that the year had seen “36 festivals cancelled and 125 grassroots venues closed.”
Unfortunately, the troubling trend has seemingly continued into 2024, with reports last month pointing to the cancellation of 60 UK festivals on the year, for instance.
Notwithstanding these clear-cut operational difficulties and those faced by grassroots music venues, however, diehard supporters are continuing to shell out eye-watering sums to see certain commercially prominent acts perform live.
Consequently, when it comes to which tours are hitting commercial milestones and which are being nixed, the preferences of undiscerning fans appear to be playing a greater role than ever.