UK Live Music: at a Cliff Edge
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Live music Industry Venues and Entertainment UK live music: At a cliff edge Carey & Chambers (October 2020) Contents Executive summary 3 The current context 3 Key statistics 3 Research methodology 5 Summary of findings 5 Sectoral analysis 6 The live music ecosystem 6 Artists and artist managers 7 Booking agents 7 Promoters 9 Grassroots music venues 9 Concert halls, arenas and stadia 11 Festivals 11 Ticketing 13 Technical supply services 13 The broader ecosystem 14 Professional services 14 Crew 14 Support services 14 Conclusion 15 Report authors 16 Case Studies: Our People 8, 10, 12 2 Live music, Industry, Venues & Entertainment UK live music: At a cliff edge Executive summary The current context The live music industry – which was worth £4.5 billion to the UK economy in 2019¹ – is one of the business sectors worst affected by the coronavirus pandemic, being among the first to close and very likely to be the last to fully reopen. Key statistics n In 2019, live music contributed £4.5 billion to the UK economy² n Revenue has been almost zero since March and 2020 revenue will fall by 81% compared to 2019³ n In 2019, live music supported 210,000 FTEs including 52,000 full time, salaried roles n 76% of live music employees were supported by the furlough scheme, as of August 31st, 2020 n 55% of permanent roles will be lost by the end of the year (28,600 jobs), while temporary and freelance roles have already been decimated Continued 1 Carey and Chambers (June 2020) 2 Carey and Chambers (June 2020) 3 Carey and Chambers, Live Music Survey, September 2020 3 Live music, Industry, Venues & Entertainment UK live music: At a cliff edge Executive summary The current context (continued) Sector employment Following the lockdown in March and the ongoing UK In 2019, the live music industry accounted for 210,000 Government restrictions on public assembly, event FTE6. However, the operational structure of the industry capacities and operational curfews, many of those requires higher staffing (whether self-employed, working within the live music sector (ranging from freelance or zero-hours) on event days, but lower levels artists, booking agents, promoters, venues, festivals of employees retained on an annual basis. The total and the various support agencies and their staff) have number of full time employees is relatively small in received no income at all. proportion to all of those whose employment is centred around the live music industry. The devastating global impact of COVID-19 on the live music industry has seen major international promoting This serves to make the easy identification of direct group CTS Eventim report a Q2 2020 quarterly revenue job losses in the industry harder to define. And in fall of 97%4, while market leader Live Nation reported a particular as beyond these directly employed roles similar figure in the same period5. These results reflect sits a supply chain of interdependent businesses also the immediate impact of COVID-19 on even the biggest affected; from food, drink, and camping equipment players in the sector. sold at festivals, to the hotels and travel sectors servicing music tourists year round. The impact of the pandemic is felt at every level of the business: in grassroots venues; local communities that Our research reveals that there are 52,000 full-time lose their regular fundraising events; the suspension of postholders at risk in the UK right now. Of those, 55% concerts, tours and residencies; organisers forced to (28,600) are expected to have been made redundant by cancel their annual festival; arenas and stadia that Christmas without additional Government intervention. shutter or pivot to become NHS facilities. Overall, UK Further, these are people with specialist skills who will live music income will fall 81% in 2020, while revenue struggle to find meaningful work at a similar level, or at has been close to zero since March comparable terms. The UK Government has supported the national The impact on the other 158,000 roles has already economy with a number of initiatives, some of which been catastrophic due to the sector being effectively have also benefited the live music industry. The key closed since March, and with little activity expected support offered was via the furlough scheme which has before Q2 2021. There is simply no work for the vast been incredibly important until now in retaining majority of these individuals. Some may have had other a majority of the sector’s directly employed FTE, their employment which they have been able to scale up, skillset and their experience within the industry. others will simply leave the sector entirely. Results of the £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund are The crew employed in many crucial support roles yet to be understood, but the application criteria (including riggers, lighting technicians, sound precluded many in the sector from applying. engineers, caterers and transportation) rely on music Additionally, the reduction in VAT on tickets to 5% was or live events for their livelihood. They will be most hard also warmly welcomed by the industry, but very few hit, and are least likely to be able to find comparable tickets for new events have gone on sale since March, employment in other sectors. The PSA estimates and so the benefit is yet to be felt. approximately 10,000 event production roles will disappear by the end of the calendar year. Most recently, the Government has confirmed the ending of the furlough scheme while the Jobs Support The twin tsunamis of mass redundancies and talent Scheme as currently outlined will have little to no effect drain facing the UK’s live music business will imperil on the cliff-edge of redundancies facing the sector. any successful industry relaunch in 2021 or beyond. In effect the Government is now withdrawing support Continued for those companies and jobs it does not consider viable in the short term, while also limiting the ability of the live music industry to relaunch. 4 corporate.eventim.de/en/news-media/news/detail/News/cts-eventim-achieves-balanced-ebitda-in-hy12020-in-the-midst-of-the-coronavirus-crisis-and-thanks/ 5 prnewswire.com/news-releases/live-nation-entertainment-reports-second-quarter-2020-results-301107033.html 6 Valuing Live Entertainment, Carey and Chambers (June 2020) 4 Live music, Industry, Venues & Entertainment UK live music: At a cliff edge Executive summary Research methodology Summary of findings7 This paper refers to a combination of published industry UK full year live music industry revenues will fall by 81%, data and primary research. The research cited has compared to 2019. Nearly 3-in-5 of employees in the been carried out in collaboration with the various trade sector are currently on a furlough scheme (76%), with bodies working in live music in the UK. This collaboration 15% of the workforce having already left the sector. allowed us to gather a representative sample of companies at each stage of the value chain and assess If there is no sector-specific ongoing Government the impact of COVID-19 on their revenues, their current support, it is expected that 55% of live music employment levels utilisation of the furlough scheme, employees will be let go before the end of the calendar the impact of the Job Support Scheme, and their year. Freelancers and self-employed workers will also projected future employment levels without continued be forced to leave the sector, having been similarly government support. affected with their annual income having fallen by 88%. We note that CEBR has recently released a report for If, as projected, 55% of employees are let go, that the Arts Council predicting the impact of Covid-19 on equates to 28,600 full time roles, in addition to more music. This is based on SIC codes, which regularly than 150,000 FTE roles for freelancers, crew, and other struggle to capture difficult to measure industries. The support staff that have ceased to exist since March. fragmentation of the live music value chain meant that SIC code analysis gives a picture that is incomplete at Beyond the initial economic impact, once people best. Consequently, the approach was taken to start leave the sector, a significant skills shortage would from the impact on industry sectors and deliver a be created, hampering the industry’s ability to weighted average of industry micro data to accurately successfully relaunch in the period post-COVID. reflect the catastrophic impact of Covid-19 on the live music industry. Similarly, the devastating impact on the live music ecosystem would mean that some artists, promoters, venues, and festivals who fall away at this time may never return to the industry – which was previously a great British success story. 7 These figures are based on representative surveys of each sector of the live music ecosystem, carried out in partnership with their representative trade bodies. Research carried out in partnership with The Entertainment Agents’ Association (TEAA), Association of Festival Organisers (AFO), Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), Concert Promoters Association (CPA), National Arenas Association (NAA), Production Services Association (PSA), Music Venue Trust (MVT), Association for Electronic Music (AFEM), British Association of Concert Halls (BACH), Music Managers Forum (MMF), Featured Artist Coalition (FAC) 5 Live music, Industry, Venues & Entertainment UK live music: At a cliff edge Sectoral analysis: The live music ecosystem Value chain Description Revenue % of staff % year end drop on Furlough redundancies Artists and The artists on stage, and their -64%* managers management teams -- Booking agents Live agents, booking shows on -82.4% 52.9% -41.6% behalf of artists Promoters Event organiser, who pays the -78.4% 66.5% -56%** artist and rents the venue Grassroots Small local venues -75.1% 70.5% -60.4% music venues Concert halls, Larger music venues -74.0% 78.8% -55.9% arena and stadia Festivals Multi day, typically open air, -90.2% 75.5% -51.2% seasonal events Ticketing Suppliers of ticketing services -86.7% 49.8% -43.9% companies Technical supply The suppliers of staging, lights, PA, etc.