15 Minutes To Shape The Future of Live Music in the UK
An incredibly important moment for music fans to have their say
How many times have you been stung by ridiculous booking fees, or had to leave a gig early else the last train home would be long gone? Does going to gigs now feel that different to how it did when you first started going to shows and yet the price of everything seems to have rocketed for the same experience?
Ever feel like the government never listens to music fans? And that the music industry never listens either? Well, for the first time ever, there's been a survey commissioned in the UK, to give music fans a voice.
Take 15 minutes to make your voice heard. Fill in the survey now or bookmark it for later: musicfansvoice.uk
I believe this first of its kind survey - backed by metro mayors and local authorities across the UK - is an incredibly important moment for music fans to have their say. So much so that I've spent a few days over the last few weeks helping get this out into the world, and thousands of music fans just like us, have already filled it in and had their say.
As you may have picked up from reading this newsletter over the past year, I see ginormous systemic issues being discussed by people in positions of power but music fans do not have a seat at those tables... until now.
If you listen to committee hearings (yeah, I'm so cool that I often have Parliament TV on in the background) or see research put out by the music industry, there are loads of assumptions of what people who go to gigs and clubs and raves and festivals think and feel, but there's not the data to back up what's being said.
Music fans deserve more than just vibes and corporate data lost in a maze of confirmation bias - especially when business interests lead their analysis and dictate how their data is presented.
For instance, I'm pretty sure most of us feel a bit stung by the baffling additional booking fees and the sudden introduction of dynamic ticketing, especially when from our research it seems prices rarely/never get cheaper, only more expensive. And yet, this week, the boss of Ticketmaster told the government that their tickets are "very fairly priced" (source: BBC News).
The Music Fans' Voice survey covers everything from merch to food to your habits.
For instance, when I filled it in, I underscored that I would go to more gigs if public transport wasn't so expensive and if the trains didn't stop before the headline set has finished - greater use of trains and buses would also be brilliant for a show's carbon emissions. I would definitely attend matinee gigs if promoters put them on but they're so rare. I used to love the Saturday afternoons DiS put on at Notting Hill Arts Club, and would love a show on a Sunday where I'm not getting home at 1am before starting work on a Monday morning.
To be fair, knowing what time a show starts and ends, would be nice, so I can plan and ensure I don't miss the support band or decide not to go to a show because of assuming it'll end at 11pm.
If you're anything like me, you probably miss the UK's thriving music press (remember when you could pick up The Fly in every venue and newsagents would have 3 shelves of magazines to choose from?) but it’s rarely mentioned in the wider conversation about the 'grassroots music crisis' around venue closures and artists struggling to make touring break even, let alone profitable. As someone who has looked into it, a lot, the media (be that in print, online or audio) isn't something where funding is easy to access or there are many oppotunities.
Advertising is also a big issue for music media and not just because a lot of audiences who are tech savvy often have on ad-blockers. The live industry has increasingly focussed budgets that once went to print and radio into Facebook and Google ads but at what cost? And if there is grant money floating around, is it right that a lot of it ends up offshore with orgs that poured millions into Donald Trump's campaign or finds its way into the pockets of toxic 'influencers' or botfarms?! This is one of the reasons I recently helped set up The Association of Music Editors, and I'll share more on that soon.
I could go on and on, and on...
The survey should only take 15 minutes and you can take part to ensure your voice is heard, here.
Tip: If you don't have time now, add a reminder "hey Siri/Google, add a reminder to fill in the music fans' voice survey on [insert time and date you think you'll be free]"