THE CULTURAL VALUE OF LIVE MUSIC FROM THE PUB TO THE STADIUM: GETTING BEYOND THE NUMBERS By Dr Adam Behr, Dr Matt Brennan & Professor Martin Cloonan

Research by The University of Edinburgh and The University of Glasgow Part of the Arts & Humanities Research Council’s Cultural Value Project The Cultural Value of Live Music from the Pub to the Stadium

Acknowledgements Key Findings The authors are grateful to the Arts • The weakest point of the live music ecology at present is and Humanities Research Council’s the small to medium independent venues. Cultural Value project team for providing the funding which made • Policymakers need to pay more heed to the economic this research possible. We would and cultural contribution of smaller venues. Local regimes also like to thank UK Music, the often focus their attention on major developments whose Musicians’ Union and PRS for Music for their assistance and co-operation key beneficiaries are larger businesses. in carrying out the work. • Greater harmonisation of regulatory regimes and their We extend thanks to all the members implementation across the UK will benefit independent of the advisory board for their ideas and assistance and, particularly, all of the and major operators alike. people who took time out from their busy • The need for a more ‘joined up’ approach across council schedules to be interviewed. The qualitative nature of this research means that we services is widely acknowledged but not always fully needed the perspectives of a multitude of implemented. different stakeholders in British live music and their willingness to speak to us was • Competition between cities drives investment in invaluable to this project. infrastructural projects, yet one of the side effects of such Finally we would like to thank the Reid regeneration can be a more difficult environment for School of Music and the Research & Knowledge Exchange team at the venues without the commercial or political wherewithal University of Edinburgh for their logistical to adapt quickly to ‘gentrification’. support whilst developing the proposal and undertaking the research. • It is these smaller spaces that provide both performance and social spaces for rising acts. They feed into an area’s Disclaimer ‘local character’ – its musical history – in a way that We should note that although makes them difficult to replace. This social aspect of UK Music, PRS for Music, the independent venues, along with the relationships that Musicians’ Union and various venues have contributed to this project derive from it, is the seed-bed from which a town or city’s in important ways, the opinions musical reputation grows. expressed and conclusions drawn are our own and not representative of any other bodies. Getting Beyond The Numbers Front cover and below | 1 Tinariwen at the Howard Assembly Room, Leeds. FOREWORD Both images © Tom Arber

This project is part of a long-standing It was this type of dialogue that informed Nevertheless, as our title suggests, there programme of research that began our proposal to the AHRC when it is more to investment in live music than with work on the role of live music launched its Cultural Value project. In line raw capital injection – as important as with the overarching aim of the research to that is. Live music in the UK is a complex and promoters, conducted between investigate cultural value beyond pounds, web of stakeholders – private and public 2008 and 2011 by the Universities of pence and tickets sold, we wished to organisations, councils, policymakers, and Edinburgh and Glasgow and funded provide an account of the broader value of participants in musical activity across the by the Arts & Humanities Research live music, the range of ways in which it is full gamut of genres – with the common Council (AHRC). expressed and the variety of people who ground of a need for appropriate and produce it. viable spaces for shows to take place. This led to the formation of the Live Music Exchange (www.livemusicexchange.org), However, the wider picture is not as Practising musicians make their way from a web hub which produced a series of uniformly rosy as might be hoped. Whilst the smallest rooms to the largest open events geared towards promoting more the sector as a whole has proven robust, spaces, and this variety of venues is crucial substantive discussions and productive and policymakers have paid increasing not only to their own career development links between academia and the live music attention to its role as a driver of tourism, but to the cultural lives of audiences industry. the UK’s national identity and civic across the country. The relationships cohesion, many venues are still struggling. between these spaces, and their civic and Our research activities took place against The news media abound with stories of social milieu, go beyond the financial. a backdrop of increasing significance of long-standing venues closing or under Interdependence and mutual support exist live music, and a growing realisation of threat, and the climate of austerity has in ways that are often hidden, as are the the crucial contributions that it makes to eaten into the finances available to both obstacles and aids to live music provision. both the UK’s economy and its social fabric. producers and consumers of live music, as The Live Music Act 2012 was a landmark It is these hidden relationships and their well as the local and national institutions piece of legislation, freeing up spaces potential benefits that we hope to tease that support them. across the country for gigs and arising out as we use this report to open a out of a spirit of co-operation across the conversation around music and the spaces sector – from grassroots campaigners to in which it takes place that moves beyond the representatives of the upper echelons the numbers. of the industry. 2 | The Cultural Value of Live Music from the Pub to the Stadium Below Iron & Wine at the Howard Assembly Room, Leeds. Image © Fotofillia Getting Beyond The Numbers | 3 INTRODUCTION

The general remit of this research and performing companies) and the councils and their different departments, derives from its parent project – the ‘enthusiasts’, for whom concert promotion policymakers at national level, small, large AHRC’s investigation into Cultural is more a labour of love than it is their and multinational businesses – the list is primary source of income. long. Value, across the heritage and the arts sectors nationwide. With the Of course, all sorts of people are drawn Yet whilst economic accounts are crucial arts at the forefront of government into the orbit of live music and the to making the case for the value of live cuts, the AHRC’s programme seeks boundaries between these categories are music, they do not provide the complete porous. Our key concern in the current picture. A qualitative approach in addition to broaden the way in which we talk project was to produce a more concrete to the figures allows for a more nuanced about the contribution of culture picture of this ‘ecology’. To illustrate understanding of the people behind to the life of the nation, beyond how the different stakeholders across them, along with those areas in need of economic criteria and beyond the live music sector work together, or support, absent from headline figures, and straightforward delineations between separately, to produce a value chain from the conversations that can take place to commercial activity and public the grassroots to the apex of commercial provide that support. activity we asked the following questions: subsidy. What follows is a series of illustrative • What do they have in common? examples drawn from extensive stakeholder Our own investigations have suggested • What are the relationships between interviews. We begin with a brief overview that live music can be thought of as an private sector and public sector parties to of the general situation in the UK and then ‘ecology’, whereby different venues – of all live music? move onto case studies featuring venues sizes – display interdependence, alongside • How do they interact to produce value across a range of sizes and operational different promotional practices. In the first for artists and audiences alike? phase of the research, we focused on one models in three locations across the UK – venue (the Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh) and Reframing the discussion Camden, Glasgow and Leeds. Finally, we examined the range of musical activities use these vignettes to outline initial findings that took place within it. In particular, it is It has become increasingly apparent from this research trajectory and point home not just to a range of genres, but that reductionist notions of ‘commercial towards areas of interest in the relationship to a variety of promotional models: the activity’, ‘state subsidy’ and ‘investment’ between the private and public sectors in commercial operators, who put on concerts do little justice to the web of interactions live music. to make money; the state-subsidised between the myriad parties involved in sector (characterised by national orchestras live music production: artists, venues, local

‘ Live music’s important. It nurtures our talent and develops their trade… I think it’s an important part of a developed society, that we recognise our cultural achievements and can actually partake in them, and the more we can open that up to people, the better.’ Mike Weatherley MP MP for Hove & Portslade; Intellectual Property Advisor to the Prime Minister 4 | The Cultural Value of Live Music from the Pub to the Stadium THE NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

In one sense, the most obvious What is ‘investment’? Regional variations national stakeholders are those The need to support the grassroots, The key individual concerns regarding with a national reach – the UK then, applies beyond the needs of the legislation and its implementation vary Government, the large multi-venue grassroots. But it is here that the matter of across the spectrum of live music, and from businesses, promoters (for instance what constitutes investment in live music venue to venue. However, a key issue in Live Nation along with its associates becomes blurred. Whilst capital investment terms of whether a music scene thrives is and assets, including Academy Music is difficult to come by in a time of austerity the way in which UK wide concerns are Group and its 0 branded venues), investment can take many forms, as the treated, and legislation implemented, at 2 Live Music Act 2012 illustrates. local level. national representative bodies (like UK Music and the Musicians’ Union) Hindrances and opportunities exist Those venues owned or operated by larger and national collection societies (PRS beyond the purely financial realm. The companies (e.g. The Academy Music surrounding regulatory framework, and its Group’s O Venues) have an advantage for Music). 2 implementation, can have a huge effect on over the smaller independents and not just But each city has its ‘headline’ spaces – the health of businesses small and large, because they are able to call on economies often developed in conjunction with and and music provision across the board. The of scale in their business management majority owned by local government – overarching issue is that it is difficult to and a nationwide network regarding the serving the international touring industry, disentangle ‘culture’ from ‘commerce’. As booking of tours. They are better able shaping urban and suburban spaces and Lord Clement-Jones notes, ‘The arts are not to weather and respond to the specific driving regeneration. These spaces involve an expensive luxury, they’re what makes demands of local policymakers and their a significant outlay from, and input to, this country tick… Where do you separate officers. civic life. They are the major nodes of culture from the creative industries? You The Live Music Act 2012 has reduced the industry – and its most visible – but can’t, and people gravitate between each the bureaucracy around entertainment in the long term they are impossible to of them’. disentangle from the smaller operators. licensing, yet there still exists a huge A key consequence of this is that there are breadth of variation in how local councils As Guy Dunstan of the Birmingham NEC several areas with a huge impact on live respond to the existing instruments in Group and National Arenas Association music that don’t necessarily refer directly to place. A good example is the Clean puts it1, ‘I think some of the issues and it, and these cut across local and UK remits: Neighbourhoods and Environment Act where the support is needed is at the • Licensing 2005, which allows local councils to smaller end of the scale, and at the • Noise abatement designate areas in which a license must be grassroots level. Because we’re reliant • Skills and training bought to hand out flyers. Small promoters on artists being developed through that • Policing are poorly placed to meet this cost, placing network and scaling up to arena acts’. • Health and safety their potential success or failure at the hands of local government. The ways in which these are implemented ‘ What you want to see can make the difference between a healthy The smaller independent operators and a struggling local live music scene – are also at the sharper end of noise is acts that have been and apply equally as local and nationwide abatement regulations, for instance, not developed and are concerns. least because the cost of complying with council responses to complaints is harder It is our goal here to open a discussion to absorb. Again, the extent to which learning their trade about the merits of moving from a merely negotiation and flexibility come into play quantitative conception of investment can be something of a ‘postcode lottery’. through the smaller towards a more holistic picture of how the venue network.’ private and public spheres intersect, and how value can be enhanced from these Guy Dunstan interactions. NEC Birmingham National Arenas Association

Notes 1. All quotes are from interviews carried out as part of this research. Interview respondents are listed in the Notes on Methodology at the end of this report. Getting Beyond The Numbers | 5 THE NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

This is not to suggest that the larger Problems for independent venues look beyond landmark arena projects to the companies and the venues that they spaces nurturing the acts that hope to one operate are not subject to local variation. It is these independents that are most day play them. Paul Latham – President, Live Nation UK – sensitive to the interpretation of what There is a need for balance between what notes that matters have improved in the constitutes unacceptable noise, and how Leeds band Hope & Social’s Rich Huxley – UK, but that there is still scope for more officers balance the concerns of residents drawing on extensive experience of putting standardisation in terms of local practice: and businesses. Without the financial on shows in publicly and privately owned ‘You’ve still got specialities. You might find, wherewithal of big business, they are also spaces – calls ‘the shiny’ projects, along somebody focuses on crowd dynamics, subject to rising property prices and rates. with councils’ non-commercial cultural somebody focuses on pyrotechnics, Music venues are notoriously precarious and educational remits, and creating an somebody’s bothered more about access businesses to run and stories abound environment where musicians can meet and egress. It comes, again, with local of well-loved local venues falling by the and play on their own terms. This means flavour’. wayside as regeneration takes hold. The Duchess of York, in Leeds, is a good bearing in mind that venues – as well as Varied ownership models example of this – now a Hugo Boss shop. local residents – have rights. Although Every major city in the UK seems to have its perhaps difficult to deploy, taking account Councils undoubtedly contribute to live own legendary venue which has been lost. of the ‘right of first occupancy’ would be music provision, directly and indirectly. one way of addressing this. Their contribution to landmark projects Protecting these venues – the so called The situation varies between cities, and such as the Leeds Arena and Glasgow SSE ‘toilet circuit’ – might not be within local across venues. Our aim here is not to Hydro is well documented. Council related councils’ remit. Yet they contribute to provide a comprehensive account of the organisations also operate venues that the local economy as well as the national whole sector, which contributes £662 house companies such as Opera North circuit. Although new initiatives, notably million to the UK economy3. The following in Leeds and the Royal Scottish National the Music Venue Trust and Independent case studies provide a snapshot of the Orchestra2. Venue Week, are starting to provide a voice for this part of the overall ecology, activities and concerns of the people The other side of this is that there are it is also incumbent on local authorities to behind such headline figures. council owned venues operated by companies such as Live Nation (e.g. ‘Some of the situations certainly look harsh where Southampton 02 Guildhall) catering to the more ‘commercial’ end of the market. you’ve got one resident making a complaint against Benefits flow both ways from these models – companies like Live Nation are able to a venue that’s got hundreds of people around it leverage their expertise and contacts to minimise the risk of running venues which who aren’t complaining and the local authority have are subsequently less likely to operate at a loss. At the same time, council controlled chosen to serve this notice...There doesn’t seem to companies can use the investment in state always be a very consistent approach to it.’ funded performers that they house to provide access to cultural events for their Kelly Wood, Live Performance Official, Musicians’ Union constituents. The gap in both local and national policy pertains to the role of those commercially run venues without operational links to either councils or larger UK chains. These fulfil a crucial role in providing a forum for those commercial acts too small for the chains, yet sit awkwardly in between the pillars of ‘commerce’ and ‘culture’.

Notes 2. The Leeds first Direct Arena is 100% owned by Leeds City Council, and leased to SMG. The Glasgow SSE Hydro Arena is owned and managed by SEC Ltd, a company in which Glasgow City Council has a 91% stake. The Leeds Grand Theatre & Opera House Ltd operates venues in Leeds (including the Grand Theatre & Opera House and Howard Assembly Room). It is a registered charity, owned by the council and governed by a Board of Trustees comprised of five elected members of Leeds City Council, one of whom is Chair of the Board. The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, City Hall and Old Fruitmarket venues are operated by Glasgow Life, a company and registered charity which receives funding from and delivers services on behalf of Glasgow City Council. 3. UK Music (2013), The Economic Contribution of the Core UK Music Industry, UK Music, p.10 6 | The Cultural Value of Live Music from the Pub to the Stadium Below The site of The Roundhouse has hosted countless iconic acts since its inception in the 1960s and been an important part of the local cultural economy since CAMDEN re-opening in its current form in 2006. Image © Will Pearson

Camden Borough is internationally In 2012 there were 5,532 ticketed concerts presence in Camden where it runs The Jazz renowned as a vibrant site of live licensed by PRS for Music in Camden (see Café and The Barfly. Smaller groups also music. Camden Town in particular is Table 1, below). In addition to this, of thrive there – Bugbear Promotions books course, a huge range of free events – many acts for The Dublin Castle and nearby Hope a hub of live music activity ranging facilitated by the Live Music Act 2012 – & Anchor in Islington. from small pub rooms up to The contribute to the local atmosphere that Other notable venues include the 1,500 Roundhouse, at a capacity of 3,000. makes it an iconic location for live music. capacity Koko (formerly Camden Palace), Camden alone accounted for seven of the Promotional models in Camden the Electric Ballroom and Dingwalls, which Top 100 venues in the UK (by concerts is operated by pub and entertainment put on) according to PRS data released in Provision in Camden covers a range of company IntertainUK. The Roundhouse is 4 2012 , with another four in neighbouring promotional and ownership models and the largest venue in Camden – a charity, Islington. London accounted for 30% of genres. MAMA & Company, the UK’s with a focus on nurturing creativity in the Top 100. second largest venue operator, has a strong young people. As well as this variety, Camden’s strength, to a large extent, derives from its history, Table 1: Ticketed concerts returning to PRS for Music in Camden in 2012 as independent venues draw international footfall – and contribute to the tourist Venue Type Number of Concerts economy – due to the famous names that Arenas & Stadiums 0 have played there in the past.

Mid-level Venues (Capacity 2,500+) 138 Notes 4. www.prsformusic.com/aboutus/ Theatres (Capacity 1,000 - 2,499) 853 press/latestpressreleases/Pages/ Clubs (Capacity Under 1,000) 3,751 Top100UKmusicvenuesrevealed2012. aspx No Capacity Information 788

Parks 2

Overall 5,532

Source: PRS for Music Getting Beyond The Numbers Below | 7 The Dublin Castle has been a music venue since 1979 and has given early CAMDEN CASE STUDY exposure to numerous acts, such as Madness, The Arctic Monkeys and THE DUBLIN CASTLE Amy Winehouse (pictured).

Privately owned (by Henry Conlon, The value of local history ‘ We get people travelling son of the founder of the venue) The The benefits to the area as a whole Dublin Castle is a pub – a free house from local and international trade derive from Japan who come – that has an exclusive arrangement directly from this network of independent to The Dublin Castle with independent promoters Bugbear venues. Importantly, it is their distinct and to book for the 150 capacity space independent identities that, in aggregate, because they know behind the public bar. sustain this appeal. What makes Camden work as a live music hub is ease of access that Amy Winehouse As part of the Camden Inner London but also a history and, crucially, a sense Licensed Association (CILLA) it is also a that history could be made again. As played there and she good illustration of the importance of Salgueiro notes, ‘The reputation is the used to frequent the dialogue between local businesses in history… I do believe that because of the their dealings with the council and police. amount of venues, because of its historical bar. And they sit down Licensee Mariana Salgueiro describes the importance, because it’s easy to get to, mutually supportive nature of the local from pretty much anywhere, I think the and they’re thinking venues and other businesses. industry, the music industry would ask you “I’m drinking where ‘We’re quite helpful with one another. We to play in Camden… Sometimes I believe support each other’s licenses, so if someone that bands play there just to say that she drank”. And I think wants to go on till later, even if we know they’ve played in Camden, or just to say it will affect our crowd, we always go and that they’ve played in a particular venue that makes you feel support their cases. The main venues are all where these major artists have performed. I majorly involved.’ think that that gives it its uniqueness’. that you’re part of that CILLA also does charity work, and involves This sense of musical history applies beyond scene which you want to a longstanding network of contacts that musicians, and the music industries. It has fostered this dialogue, again tied to the feeds into the local economy, and the belong to.’ history of the area. This co-operation is a wider tourist economy, as a result of the Mariana Salgueiro necessity. Despite good relations, venues musicians who have frequented the area in Licensee sometimes feel a sense of pressure from the past. The Dublin Castle council and police – and a broader feeling that venues are the first to shoulder the blame for public order problems and mess.

Image © David Colbran / Alamy Image © grenville charles / Alamy 8 | The Cultural Value of Live Music from the Pub to the Stadium Below Large promoters use venues like The Barfly for up-and-coming acts. Band such CAMDEN CASE STUDY as Muse, Coldplay and Oasis (pictured) played the venue before going on to achieve international recognition. THE BARFLY Image © i4images premium / Alamy

Another relatively small premises, If there is room for improvement, it is But the extent of how far the integration The Barfly (220 capacity upstairs, 200 in the way that local government is of the major companies feeds into even the downstairs) is also a good example structured. This is not necessarily amenable smaller venues is notable. ‘Competition’, in to venues, with too little communication some ways, is less competitive than may at of the contribution that local venues across licensing, environmental health and first seem to be the case. As David Byard, make to the area. policing. There is a general feeling that Assistant General Manager at The Barfly Along with CILLA, and business-led a more consolidated system would be a puts it, ‘It’s the way the whole industry community forum Camden Town benefit, although CILLA partly fulfils that works as well. Our biggest competitors... Unlimited, it contributes to the ‘Quiet role. are Live Nation, who obviously are a Streets’ initiative. This sees door staff promoter who we want to book talent staying on for an extra half-hour at The major promoters with us, they’re a ticketing agent who we weekends, at the businesses’ expense, and the local scene want to sell our tickets. But they’re also running a chain of venues who are in direct to minimise anti-social behaviour. Again, The Barfly also illustrates, however, the competition with us. So it’s that strange however, this illustrates the grey area pervasive influence of the big companies in sort of parallel of working with them, but between venues fulfilling their obligations local scenes, and the interconnectedness of them being the competition.’ under licensing and environmental health the live music industry in general. regulations and going ‘the extra mile’ The operations of the commercial sector, Mama runs six venues in London and three because of a lingering sense that they then, reach down to ground level, regionally, as well as several festivals and might be perceived as the source of participating in the same local networks as a team of promoters. It holds a long-term problems. independents, suggesting that ‘grassroots’ lease on the premises of The Barfly with and major players are not as distinct as the They are expected, rather than required, to its own promoters filling approximately narrative of ‘commerce’ vs ‘community’ make these contributions – an assumption 70% of the shows there. Most of the rest might suggest. that the onus is on the venue. From having are taken up by other major promoters extra work in clearing up plastic glasses – e.g. Live Nation, SJM, Metropolis and after Camden Calling to paying door staff Kilimanjaro. ‘ The old mixing desk from to monitor the streets, venues soak up hidden costs and responsibilities as a part All of these organisations aim to develop here is in the head office of maintaining good local relations. relationships with artists over the long- term. It therefore suits them to have a at MAMA and it’s got a list Nevertheless, those relations broadly are smaller 200 capacity venue like The Barfly good with the local authority. Individual to feed through to the larger spaces. Again, of artists who have been officers are helpful over matters like the roster of past acts contains today’s Temporary Event Notices, for instance, stadium headliners. mixed through this desk. where an email calling for an amendment to an application will come in, rather than And it’s Oasis, Razorlight, a rejection. Muse, Coldplay. Those stadium bands. And they’ve all been here at some point in their early career.’ David Byard Assistant General Manager The Barfly Getting Beyond The Numbers Below | 9 Mama & Co run six London venues, including The Barfly and The Jazz Café in Camden. Image © Mama 10 | The Cultural Value of Live Music from the Pub to the Stadium CAMDEN CASE STUDY THE ROUNDHOUSE

One of only two 3,000 capacity Dave Gaydon, Head of Music at The Its relationship to the other venues venues in London (the other is Roundhouse, explains, ‘It’s a very tiny in Camden is also cordial. Informal The Troxy, in East London), The industry - well, it’s a massive industry, but conversations about the appropriateness of controlled by very few people. And for me, potential acts and promoters are part of the Roundhouse is owned in Trust and it’s about accepting that that’s the way the mutual support network. More concretely, operated as a charity founded by live music industry works, and maintaining The Roundhouse uses other Camden Sir Torquil Norman who bought the the close relationships I have with those venues – including the Dublin Castle and building, then derelict, in 1996. Its five or six people in the industry. Because The Barfly – for its off-site educational key remit is providing arts access, without them, we wouldn’t have any projects. shows’. education and opportunities for 11 Although logistics mean that a good many to 25 year-olds. Private and public of the young people that come through It is here that the intersections between its doors are from North London, it is not commerce, the third-sector and The Roundhouse both provides and exclusive in this sense. Its Youth Strategy state support become apparent. The receives ‘in kind’ benefits. Its charitable Team works on schools partnerships and on Roundhouse was initially heavily supported status means that it receives pro bono outreach across London and beyond. legal work and discounts from sound by the Arts Council with the intention At national level it is also connected to and lighting suppliers for shows that it that it would become self-sustaining. Creative & Cultural Skills and used as part promotes. But its relationships to other As its commercial activities have grown, of a technical training programme. Creative promoters, alongside its charitable status, direct Arts Council funding has dropped & Cultural Skills is, itself, Chaired by Paul also mean that it can leverage the activities to around 8% for its core activities. It still Latham, of Live Nation. receives support for its activities as an of the commercial operators to support its Arts Council ‘Arts Bridge’ organisation work. The Roundhouse can be seen as a paradigmatic example of how live music (essentially supporting staff), working to By holding onto 70% of ticket stock for all works as an ecology. Within one venue support the Arts Council’s goal of providing of its shows, including external promotions, are examples of inputs from national a link between schools and arts provision. it has built up a large database. This was a state funding bodies, private charitable struggle at first, but once it had established The Roundhouse’s commercial music donations, hard edged commercial activity itself as a charity and not just, as Gaydon programme operates at a profit, all of and charitable outreach work, as well as puts it, ‘a big round rock and roll venue’ which goes to support its charitable a longer term focus on training in the live it has been able to operate a quid pro activities, as does the income generated music sector. At the same time, this venue quo whereby other promoters allow it to from corporate hires. Within the live music maintains both commercial and informal retain the ticket stock in exchange for The programme there is a delicate balance relationships with its neighbours. Just Roundhouse putting out their shows on its between a remit to provide diversity and as commerce and culture are difficult to mailshots. This has also been reciprocated the high financial target necessary to disentangle, it looks likely that we need when needed, on request. support the charity. to reformulate our conception of how the An iconic venue since its inception in External promoters, and producers, also private and public sectors interact in live the 1960s, The Roundhouse maintains give their time to speak to and work with music. relationships with the major promoters – an the young people on the Roundhouse’s inevitability given the rarity of its capacity educational and training programmes. size in the capital, and also the nature of Again, commercial and educational the industry; although able to promote activities are not completely distinct. The shows itself, it relies on external promotions Roundhouse operates a highly regarded for approximately 70% of its main space video streaming service, run by its trainees, shows. which is one of the services it offers to acts and promoters using the space. Getting Beyond The Numbers | 11

‘ My remit is, I have to make money in order to be diverse. To give me the freedom to be diverse, I have to do ‘x’ amount of commercial shows that will deliver enough profit to be diverse, but then I can still be diverse within the commercial programme. It’s just about clever working with, and targeting, the right promoters.’ Dave Gaydon, Head of Music, The Roundhouse

Photograph Commercial use of The Roundhouse supports a wide range of educational and outreach activities. Image © Stuart Leech 12 | The Cultural Value of Live Music from the Pub to the Stadium Below Glasgow city centre supports a huge range of music, in a wide spectrum of venue capacities. GLASGOW Image © Campbell Mitchell

Glasgow is home to 8 of the Top 100 of private and public investment – such – run by a Board of Governors which also venues (by concerts put on per year) as at the Scottish Exhibition & Conference serves as the Board of Directors for the 5 in PRS data released in 2012, placing Centre and its new SSE Hydro Arena . company. it second in the UK after London. The PRS Top 100 UK venues list reflects the The city itself has a significant stake in interconnectedness of private and public other top venues. The Scottish Exhibition In 2012 there were 2,030 ticketed concerts investment. The iconic King Tut’s Wah and Conference Centre (No.69) – which providing a PRS return in Glasgow (see Wah Hut (No.9) is owned and operated by now includes the Hydro Arena – is owned Table 2, below), a headline figure that is DF Concerts, Scotland’s largest promoter. and operated by Scottish Exhibition Centre the tip of the iceberg for a city with an DF itself is majority owned by Live Nation Ltd (SEC Ltd) a private company limited by international reputation as a live music hub. Gaiety, a partnership of Live Nation and shares. Glasgow City Council is the largest Promotional models in Glasgow the Irish promoter Denis Desmond. The shareholder with 91%. ABC (No.14) and O Academy (No.95) are 2 A different aspect of city involvement is Glasgow is the biggest city in Scotland, part of the O chain of venues, owned and 2 represented by Glasgow Life, a Community so it’s no surprise that it supports the full operated by the Academy Music Group in Interest Company and registered charity set spectrum of venue sizes and many different which, again, Live Nation has a majority up in 2007 to deliver cultural and leisure types of promoter. This range covers stake. services on behalf of Glasgow City Council. DIY ventures, publicly supported concert The education sector is represented by the Amongst its venues are the Glasgow halls, club spaces and mid-scale venues, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (No.33) – a Royal Concert Hall (No.33), Glasgow City both independents and those linked to charity and company limited by guarantee Halls (No.43) and Kelvingrove Gallery and international companies along with a mix Museum (No.84).

Table 2: Ticketed concerts returning to PRS for Music in Glasgow in 2012 Table 3: 2012/13 performances and attendances Venue Type Number of Concerts Venue Type Performances Attendance

Arenas & Stadiums 103 Concert Halls 301 264,000 • Royal Concert Hall Mid-level Venues (Capacity 2,500+) 93 • City Halls Theatres (Capacity 1,000 - 2,499) 790 • Fruitmarket

Clubs (Capacity Under 1,000) 762 Prominent 492 743,000 Commercial Venues (estimate) (estimate) No Capacity Information 282 • SECC

• O2 Venues Parks 0 • Barrowland

Overall 2,030 Source: Glasgow Cultural Statistics Digest, 2013 Source: PRS for Music

Notes 5. The Arena is sponsored by utility company SSE Ltd, formerly Scottish & Southern Energy. Getting Beyond The Numbers Below | 13 The music venue at the Glad Café is popular with local bands and GLASGOW CASE STUDY increasingly so with touring acts. Image © Ag Architectural Photography THE GLAD CAFÉ

The Glad Café is a Community Business Scotland, a charity and limited The pros and cons of public bodies company. This is a membership company Interest Company in the Southside Although benefiting from state support that received Scottish government money of Glasgow. As part of its remit to at a financial level, particularly at arms and support from Creative Scotland. It is put profits to work for the local length, The Glad Café illustrates the also sponsored by Scotrail. community, its owners have set up problems that music venues have in dealing the Glad Foundation. This provides, In-kind contributions with large public bodies. Having already amongst other things, affordable installed soundproofing upon converting Crucially, the Glad depends on the time the premises, they shut for a month at the music lessons for young people. and in-kind contributions of both artists beginning of 2013 to completely reline the The 120-capacity music venue occupies a and Glasgow companies. Its PA system is room, so that it is a ‘box within a room’ in space behind the café. Both were set-up provided by SSK Conferences and Events order to address complaints. and are run by the local Smillie family. Still on a part donation basis. The Arts & Happy to comply with the conditions of in the process of making its name, it serves Business Scotland grant is match funded planning consent, and keep in with the mainly independent and DIY promoters. against other in-kind contributions, neighbours, they nevertheless found the The bulk of the Glad’s shows are promoted including those from SSK and Create48, process trying. Environmental Health, for by local bands, or co-promoted by the which has done work for the company. instance, would not come out to measure venue and artist. It has strong relationships The Glad Foundation has received money levels at their request, but only upon a with promoters at the Mono and Nice n from Creative Scotland, although this is receiving a complaint, making it harder to Sleazy venues in the city centre. Larger ringfenced for specific initiatives, such as measure overall levels of noise and Glasgow operator PCL has put on shows the Brazilian Rhythm & Song project, and establish a meaningful long-term dialogue there, although less so since it opened cannot contribute to supporting the venue with neighbours. This has now been its own venue, Broadcast, suggesting business. alleviated by the extra insulation, but that in the long run, consolidation of at considerable extra cost to the venue. ownership could eat into the trade of sole The venue and café employ the equivalent Rachel Smillie explains, ‘A typical night independent operators. of 15 full-timers, as well as the services might be three bands, playing for forty of a bank of volunteers, with staff costs minutes each, so we were saying, ‘Come Indirect state support being the main ongoing outlay. They may out when we’ve got noise on, and then we struggle to pay for an assistant for venue The Glad illustrates the role of the third can discuss it’. manager Joe Smillie next year without sector and, by extension, indirect state another source of income. Success in terms The Glad has had a very positive support at the edges of the popular of local appeal, interest from international experience with the council’s Planning music scene. With a ten-year lease on its agents and the support of artists is difficult and Regeneration Department, but mixed premises, it was set up with the help of a to translate into financial stability. Business results from Environmental Health and loan from Social Investment Scotland, a manager, Rachel Smillie, notes, ‘Keeping the Licensing Board. Whilst Glasgow City Social Enterprise and not for profit provider the show on the road is a constant Council is strong on supporting live music of business loans to the third sector. Other challenge. Although we feel we’re very at the top level, and as part of its overall inputs are grant funding from Arts & busy...it’s very hard to make a profit’. brand, smaller operators can struggle to navigate the maze. ‘ It would be great if the council was more open to creative discussions. If they could be a bit more open and flexible.’ Rachel Smillie Business Manager The Glad Café 14 | The Cultural Value of Live Music from the Pub to the Stadium GLASGOW CASE STUDY GLASGOW LIFE: GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, CITY HALLS AND OLD FRUITMARKET

Glasgow Life is a clear example of revenues, and is a Glasgow Life brand. Like the orchestras, Glasgow Life is very state as well as civic money feeding Smaller commercial venues benefit from active in music education and outreach into the local ecology. Public money the overspill of shows from the main work – again covered by its fee from the concert halls, so state investment in a major council. It programmes elsewhere in the funds the halls through the fee that ‘city brand’ event also brings bookings to region and built into the rejuvenation it receives from the City Council for the commercial sector. of the Royal Concert Hall is a model to operating them but Glasgow Life provide free events, like London’s South The same applies to the Glasgow Jazz officers are also encouraged to look Bank Centre post refurbishment. Festival, which receives money from at commercial opportunities. the Council and Creative Scotland but The city overall has benefitted enormously The venues’ biggest clients are the state is monitored by Glasgow Life as part of from landmark events – from the Burrell funded national orchestras and BBC its contract with the Council. Again, the Collection in 1983, then the Garden Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Scottish festival is based mainly at the City Halls Festival in 1988. Glasgow’s role as City Government money is a significant factor (Grand Hall, capacity 1,036) and Old of Culture in 1990 was a turning point in the refurbishment of the Glasgow Royal Fruitmarket (standing capacity 1,200) – in shaping its cultural life in a post- Concert Hall, due its status as the home Glasgow Life venues – but the overspill industrial context. Government and city to the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. from concert halls into smaller commercial investment in this year’s Commonwealth This will see a new 600 seat venue, and venues is significant. Games continues this pattern and has also refurbished 400 and 100 seat spaces sheltered Glasgow Life and its venues from alongside the existing 2,475 seat space. Working with the city the worst effects of cuts at UK level.

A mix of music Glasgow Life and its venues benefit from This stems from a long-term strategic close relationships with the Glasgow recognition of the importance of cultural The orchestras each promote 20 to 40 Marketing Bureau and Glasgow UNESCO activity to a city’s well being. As Chief concerts per year, meaning that they drive City of Music in terms of promoting the city Executive of Glasgow Life, Bridget the shape of the year – and the week – at as a whole. This overarching attention to McConnell, puts it, ‘The benefit of working the concert halls. The rest of the calendar the city’s cultural life feeds into the health in Glasgow over the last couple of decades is taken up by commercial hires, often of its overall music ecology in a general has been that [policymakers] do subscribe by large promoters like DF Concerts and way insofar as it provides landmarks for to the idea that supporting culture in the Regular Music. As well as receiving direct cultural provision. city is a good thing.’ commercial input into its venues through As Svend Brown, Glasgow Life’s Head of McConnell and Jill Miller, Glasgow Life’s hires, Glasgow Life has worked on city- Music, explains, ‘If you take the Glasgow Director of Culture, cite a generally based events – such as Glasgow Loves Royal Concert Hall… everyone thinks of ‘empathetic approach’ in the Council. This Christmas and the BBC Proms in the Park it as quite a posh building… The truth of is clearly of direct benefit to the city’s high – with DF Concerts and Regular. the matter is that this building is home to cultural institutions and, by association, The intersection of public and private classical music for forty or forty-five nights to other venues, but the difficulties investment is also evident in Glasgow’s of the year, and for most of the rest of the encountered by the Glad Café suggest Festivals. Celtic Connections, in particular, year it’s used by rock bands, middle aged that the benefits of this vision are not receives money from the city and Creative impressionists [and] whatever else. It’s a always felt as strongly at ground level by Scotland, as well as significant box office very, very multi-use hall.’ independent operators. Getting Beyond The Numbers | 15

‘It’s a matter of civic pride. A lot of people are very proud of having a building like this in the middle of the city. It’s a really visible, high-up icon on the two busiest streets bang in the middle of Glasgow.’ Svend Brown, Director of Music, Glasgow Life, referring to Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

Far Left Glasgow City Halls, home to the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Image © Glasgow Life Left The Old Fruitmarket is a venue for Celtic Connections and Glasgow Jazz Festival. Image © Glasgow Life This Page Feist at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, which houses the Royal Scottish National Orchestra but also hosts a huge variety of other music. Image © Graham Parsons 16 | The Cultural Value of Live Music from the Pub to the Stadium GLASGOW CASE STUDY SCOTTISH EXHIBITION & CONFERENCE CENTRE AND SSE HYDRO

The majority Council-owned SEC The new arena is a mix of public money for major touring acts. The presence of Ltd, which operates the SECC and investment from SEC Ltd itself. The the Hydro plugs a gap in the high end of venues and the new 13,000 capacity company paid for the largest share of the the spectrum of venues, and in addition to roughly £116 million project, partly through obvious commercial benefits to SEC Ltd, Hydro Arena, is a clear example of loans and also through the sale of assets. has fed into relationships with Glasgow economic input from the city and the A £40 million gap in funding was made City Marketing Bureau in promoting consequent regenerative effect. up by the public sector, with a £15 million Glasgow as what SEC Ltd’s Director of Live It has strong corporate links, with a contribution from Glasgow City Council Entertainment John Langford calls, ‘a top strategic partnership with AEG and a £15 and £25 million from Scottish Enterprise. end music city’. SEC Ltd ascribes its good general relations million injection in naming rights from SSE, The partnership with AEG is beneficial (its with the Council partly to its successful as well as sponsorship from Heineken and AEG Facilities division operates the O and commercial operation of the venues – it 2 Coke. Its 2012 review cites an economic Wembley Arenas in London), although does not need continuing operating impact of £4 billion over ten years, and it has no formal relationship with other 6 subsidies. This commercial emphasis does its value in ‘bed nights’ and nearby venues run by AEG in terms of touring feed into the venue’s character – until the redevelopment is a significant factor in the routes that would bring an act from, naming rights were sold, it was spoken of regeneration of Glasgow’s dockland. say, the O in London to Glasgow. AEG as Scotland’s ‘National Arena’. 2 This is, however, only made possible with Live (the promotional arm of AEG) is not public money. The original SECC was built Putting Glasgow on the map contractually obliged to book the Hydro, with money from the Scottish Development although the strategic partnership with Association and the additional ‘Armadillo’ The SECC and Hydro’s non-economic the parent company is obviously aimed Hall, in 1997, with money from Glasgow contribution to the city, and to Scotland, is at bringing content into the venue. It also City Council. in terms of putting Glasgow on the map operates with other major promoters,

Notes 6. ‘Bed nights’ is a hotel industry term used as a measurement of occupancy. A bed night refers to one person occupying one bed for one night. Getting Beyond The Numbers Below | 17 The SECC first opened on the north bank of the River Clyde in September 1985. Image © Nigel Young

notably Live Nation, and between 70% and see whether any mutually beneficial SEC Ltd sees its main competition as 80% of its programme is promoted by Live relationships regarding content ideas coming from other sectors, notably Nation or Live Nation partner businesses and placements for Events Management sport, rather than other music venues in (e.g. SJM, DF Concerts). courses are possible. This has the potential, particular. Consequently, it views its role if enacted, to more closely align the in Glasgow as making it competitive, The naming rights do not directly drive commercial activities of the SEC Ltd venues commercially but also more widely, as a city bookings, although the marketing collateral with the young people who populate the internationally – in comparison to places of SSE (which is also entering into a naming smaller venues, as opposed to the more like Austin and Nashville. rights deal with Wembley Arena) and its occasional customers of the arenas. customer base are an indirect benefit. The capital injection into the building Although they illustrate the need for The SSE Hydro Arena also affords the Hydro lower operating public money to get such large spaces costs, which makes it more competitive to up and running, SEC Ltd and its venues has helped to cement promoters. operate at a profit suggesting that the initial investment pays off in the economic Glasgow’s place on the Education and training potential regeneration of the environs, with 224 international touring circuit, performances and 976,024 visitors in the Given the international appeal of the year up to 20127. This commercial success, Hydro, and other SECC venues, it is and is currently placed 4th and its impact, looks likely to continue with less apparent what their relationship to the Hydro, although the cultural benefit to on the Pollstar ‘Top 100 Glasgow’s local music scene is in terms the city and its musical practitioners is less of support for fledgling acts. They are, immediately obvious. Worldwide Arenas’. however, moving towards conversations with local educational institutions to

Notes 7. SECC Corporate Review 2012, p.13 18 | The Cultural Value of Live Music from the Pub to the Stadium Below Rokia Traoré at the Howard Assembly Room, which brings jazz and world music to the city, and the region. LEEDS Image © Tom Arber

Leeds has a strong base across all Public support that Leeds City Council The 2,300 capacity O2 Academy is too musical forms, and the city is a gives to the annual Live at Leeds Festival, large a space for most local acts and good example of how investment in which takes place across many venues, primarily serves touring bands. However, helps to foster these relationships and the arrival of the O has had a deleterious public spaces has fed into both the 2 build the commercial sector in Leeds. Live effect on the Refectory at Leeds University commercial and state sectors. at Leeds itself benefits from such in-kind Union, which has seen bookings fall. In PRS for Music collected returns from investments, not least from time given particular, it is unable to compete with

452 ticketed events in 2012 (see Table 4, from staff and students at higher education the O2 in attracting touring acts, due to below). institutions such as Leeds Metropolitan the relationship that AMG has with the University. major promoters, particularly in relation to planning tours. Promotional models in Leeds Higher education also provides key city The commercial sector in Leeds is centre venues in the form of The Stage Public sector activity is also represented by characterised by close relationships (1,000 capacity), at Leeds Metropolitan Leeds Grand Theatre and Opera House Ltd, between the independent venues in the University and Leeds University Student which operates the Grand Theatre (1,550 city centre, and beyond, such as Oporto Union, which operates venues on campus, capacity), the Howard Assembly Room (120 capacity), The Brudenell Social Club including the 1,000 capacity Stylus and (300 capacity), the City Varieties Music Hall (400 capacity) and The Cockpit (500 2,100 capacity Refectory. These serve both (467 capacity), Hyde Park Picture House capacity). local and national promoters and the range (275 capacity cinema) and Leeds Town Hall of venues in Leeds University Student Union (1,200 capacity). It is a company owned Futuresound, which runs The Cockpit and caters for locally based and touring acts. by Leeds City Council. Leeds City Council The Wardrobe, promotes in smaller venues, also owns the Arena, which is operated and the arrival of the Leeds Arena, where it by SMG, part of a major international put on Vampire Weekend, has allowed it to company based in America. move up a gear.

Table 4: Ticketed concerts returning to PRS for Music in Leeds in 2012 Venue Type Number of Concerts

Arenas & Stadiums 0 Mid-level Venues (Capacity 2,500+) 2

Theatres (Capacity 1,000 - 2,499) 149

Clubs (Capacity Under 1,000) 136

No Capacity Information 163

Parks 2

Overall 452

Source: PRS for Music Getting Beyond The Numbers Below | 19 Oporto hosts both local and international talent on Call Lane. LEEDS CASE STUDY Image © Oporto OPORTO

Situated on Call Lane, a busy city them on their way up, and then it’s given Part of the issue here is a clash of centre street with numerous pubs, to a promoter with no real concern for cultures between live music and council clubs and venues, 120 capacity that band. They’re just told that maybe administrators, whose job is to protect they’ll make some money out of them so residents but who can sometimes lack a Oporto shows how small venues they’ll just put on this first show where sense of how a small venue operates. The exist in a network of relationships [the promoter] won’t necessarily make any burden here, however, rests on venues. with larger organisations. They have money.’ Oporto received complaints, via the council, close, informal, relationships with about nights on which they could prove Futuresound, who will put on events The advantage of integration they had not put on live music. there that are unsuitable for their This also shows the advantage, right The initial run of complaints was also own larger spaces. across the sector, of integrating different predominantly from a single resident who Although run as a pub, Oporto has an types of businesses. Oporto benefits had ‘moved in knowing that we existed, in-house promoter, Nick Simcock, who from Nick Simcock’s other music business and started complaining straight away’ manages its calendar for Leelex Ltd which activities and track record, as well as the despite conciliatory offers, such as paying operates five other pubs. His network and relationships that come with them. He says, for him to go out to dinner while the gig background in live music – he is a former ‘We can punch above our weight. The trick was on. of that is the longer you do it, the more promoter at Sheffield Student Union and The same applies to policing. An initiative success stories you’ll have and the better operator of a record label, Dead Young to deal with the late night drinking crowd your CV, per se, looks. And having other Records – serves as a link between the on Call Lane led to a mobile unit at the strings to your bow does help with that. local and wider scenes. MAMA group also end of the street, which adversely affected Because I release records, and manage a promote at Oporto, and comparable Leeds early evening trade. Marking off the area couple of bands, that gives an extra line of city centre venue Nation of Shopkeepers. with cones, to prevent the late night credibility to it, because people have heard crowd from moving into other areas, also But it also illustrates the difficulty that of those bands outside of Leeds.’ smaller venues without direct support caused an increase in incidents as different from majors have in appearing on the Noise and disorder: groups of people were encouraged to stay radar of international touring acts, which the burden of proof in the same area. The police, just doing sometime might play larger venues that are their job, noticed that there were a lot of potentially less appropriate for them. However, as with the Glad Café, the incidents and reported this news back, thus relationship with neighbours and council reinforcing the policy, and its detriment to As Simcock explains, ‘Agents or required expensive mitigation. With the venue. managers will be like, “We’ve decided in soundproofing deemed insufficient, It took a concerted effort, and filming the a management meeting that this band eventually the owners of the bar bought late night flow of people, for Oporto to needs to do a Leeds show”. They should the flats above which they now rent to illustrate its case that marking off the area be hitting Leeds on this tour, so they’ll just staff. The impact on programming was was not alleviating the problem and, in go to their ‘go to’ people. And that can also significant. ‘There was three months some cases, was making it worse. Perhaps make it difficult when you would really where we had to cancel every gig that had it is inevitable that the broader remit like to work with a band, and nurture a drumkit’, says Simcock. of the police leads to a different set of priorities regarding crowd flow. But closer dialogue with the venues at the heart of the operation could have provided more effective management of the situation. ‘We can punch above our weight. The trick… is the longer you do it, the more success stories you’ll have and the better your CV, per se, looks.’ Nick Simcock In-house Promoter Oporto 20 | The Cultural Value of Live Music from the Pub to the Stadium LEEDS CASE STUDY GRAND THEATRE & OPERA HOUSE AND HOWARD ASSEMBLY ROOM

The Grand Theatre & Opera House The touring circuit ‘ You programme some and Howard Assembly Room are The element of public money has a direct the home to Opera North and as impact on programming and the Grand stuff that you know is such benefit indirectly from both Theatre & Opera House Ltd venues are going to sell a lot of Leeds City Council and Arts Council illustrative of a touring circuit the straddles England money – Opera North commercial acts and national companies. tickets and then some receiving £740,000 from the City In particular, it serves jazz, folk and world Council and £10 million from the music acts that operate commercially stuff you programme but to smaller audiences than their rock Arts Council (from a total of £18 and pop contemporaries. The Howard because you think it’s million that goes into Leeds). Assembly Room, for instance, will do cross- what you should be Like the other Grand Theatre & Opera promotions with jazz and folk festivals in House Ltd venues, the Howard Assembly the region, to plug into the touring circuit. doing, you should be Room also gets a grant from the City As Charlie Rowley of the Howard Assembly exposing your audience to Council and benefits from in-kind Room explains, ‘If they’re performing here, contributions such as officer time, advice because it’s only a hop, skip and a jump, it, giving the audience the on capital projects and council insurance. the smaller festivals can afford to take these As with Glasgow Life, there is a feeling international artists who they otherwise opportunity to see that that the existence of a company distinct wouldn’t be able to afford’. from the council allows it to be more fleet work. So it’s all a balance.’ footed in terms of raising revenues from An enabling role Charlie Rowley other sources. General Manager Whilst the need for commercial income Howard Assembly Room This financial and indirect input from drives more ‘popular’ shows, these also the Council does provide a cushion allow for less commercially viable ‘high Below of commercial support. Nevertheless, culture’ events that don’t receive direct The Tallis Scholars at the relationships with the commercial sector, subsidy, or less populist ventures from Howard Assembly Room. like the Glasgow Life venues, come about commercial acts. Rowley regards this as Image © Brian Slater through the venues’ need to make up the an ‘enabling’ role, and smaller commercial difference with commercial hires and other outfits benefit from the fact that a publicly commercial activities. As with Oporto, and supported venue can use its status to most commercial venues, a significant mitigate risk by bringing international source of income is through the bar. artists to the area. Artists benefit from the opportunity to produce works with a niche appeal that strictly commercial promoters either would not or, at the smaller end, could not take a risk on. Public subsidy both enables and requires this mix, the commercial programming alleviating the financial risk on more esoteric events, which are put on to serve a remit to provide diversity to the local audience. Getting Beyond The Numbers | 21 LEEDS CASE STUDY LEEDS FIRST DIRECT ARENA

As with the SECC Halls and SSE direct investment into the city, primarily in The UK’s size means that competition is Hydro, the 13,000 capacity Leeds its Northern Quarter. This includes a £35 intense for international acts. The hope, Arena was made possible by public million Hilton Hotel development and the which bookings so far appear to be occupancy of a vacated Leeds Metropolitan bearing out, is that the First Direct Arena money. The model is different, University Building by a Premier Inn. will promote Leeds into a different league, however, and rather than the giving it a chance to join the ‘trunk circuit’ operation of the venue being spun A city centre arena of London, Birmingham, Manchester and off into a company in which the Glasgow. It was awarded the New Venue A crucial aspect of the Arena project is council has a stake, it is leased to of the Year title at the 2014 Stadium its location in the city centre, not only in Business Awards. SMG. terms of bringing third party investment Both city and UK money fed into the £83 but through direct revenues from the This is not just a matter of civic pride. It is million project, with contributions from neighbouring carpark, owned by the also a means of tapping latent demand the Regional Development Agency (and Council. This has 1,250 spaces and and bringing people to arena shows who so, ultimately, the Treasury) and Yorkshire operates on a daily basis from 7am to 7pm, might not travel to Sheffield or Manchester. Forward (£10 million). Leeds City Council filling all of those spaces again on concert Likewise, it is a way of extending the use of contributed £22 million (£11 million nights. the city centre. Head of City Development, Martin Farrington, gives an example. ‘The directly, £11 million from the value of the Like the Glasgow Hydro Arena, the value benefits are [in] the breadth that you get. land) and the rest was leveraged against to the city’s grassroots musical life is less I remember when Leonard Cohen played, the rental income, over 25 years, from clear-cut, although venues like Oporto there was the interesting point in a city SMG. have remarked on a more active nightlife that’s learning to adapt with an arena, that across the city since it appeared and it has In addition to the baseline rent (which rises there was Fresher’s Week in full swing, and a relationship with Leeds Metropolitan according to the RPI), SMG also pays a at quarter to eleven, they clashed with the University regarding training. Whilst there profit share to the council as a percentage Leonard Cohen audience, who were fifty- nevertheless remains some scepticism at of turnover. In its first year of operating, the five to seventy-five, coming into the city. the grassroots about how far local acts and Arena made a surplus of £350,000, with a And Leeds would not have had, before the venues will benefit from a project aimed at surplus of £500,000 so far this year. arena, ten or eleven thousand people of top-end touring acts, the long term impact fifty-five to seventy five, going into the city Like the SEC Ltd venues, the ‘headline’ on the city’s identity as a music destination centre at 11 o’clock.’ benefits are in urban regeneration, and is likely to be positive. the Arena as so far brought £50 million of ‘ I think it’s demonstrated in the first year that there’s a lot of latent demand in Leeds, there’s a lot of people going to events in the Leeds First Direct Arena, that would not have gone to events in other arenas, because they’re outside of their catchment areas.’ Martin Farrington, Head of City Development, Leeds City Council 22 | The Cultural Value of Live Music from the Pub to the Stadium THE OVERALL PICTURE

The live music sector in the UK is Market failure at this end is in the size of There is room for a more ‘joined up’ shaped in no small way by its size. the initial capital investment required. This approach, recognised by councils but not Competition amongst cities at the applies in terms of direct contributions felt by venues, who often bear the brunt from local councils, as with Leeds and of regimes that put the burden of proof, upper end of the commercial sector Glasgow, and the value of the land. AEG, and capital outlay, on them in terms of is intense, with London, Birmingham, for instance, benefitted from inheriting managing competing claims regarding Manchester and Glasgow forming approximately £120 million in infrastructure noise and the management of crowds in the main route for the premier from the Millennium Dome but turned public spaces. international acts, and other cities what was a hitherto widely derided investing to place themselves onto development into a successful venue – the New initiatives O Arena – winning International Venue that circuit. 2 The struggle of these independents is of the Year at the 25th Annual Pollstar now becoming apparent. Historically, Awards in 2014. Once the capital costs for Integration one of their problems has been the lack set-up are addressed, often from the public of a unified voice. Recent initiatives like Across the range of capacities, integration purse, commercial operations help to turn a Independent Venue Week and the Music with other aspects of the live music location around. business is important for driving trade. This Venue Trust seek to address this. The integration and capital resources of the applies locally to the relationships between The Music Venue Trust’s goal is to leverage biggest promoters also have an undoubted independent local venues and promoters the historical status of venues to place effect in terms of overall provision. Live and to their relationships with the larger them on the Register of Community Nation, for instance, is able to invest in operators. It also means that major Value, which stipulates a six-month period venues that might not otherwise survive, operators – like Live Nation and AEG Live – before the sale of a building to allow like the Manchester Apollo, and preserve are thus able to take on venues that were the community to place a bid. It is also them as music venues. Venues that Live previously run by local councils, minimising leading a campaign for a review of Noise Nation and its partners operate also feature risk due to their international relationships. Abatement Legislation to place greater heavily on the touring circuit at the mid- emphasis on the fact that venues in situ level and upwards. Public investment and prior to neighbours moving should have the commercial sector Local councils and a claim to continue their operations. The The major promoters benefit from public independent venues ‘right of first occupancy’ has been debated money in the long run. Market failure in in New South Wales and Western Australia live music is often seen as state subsidy Local councils are increasingly aware of the and could be worthy of consideration 8 for classical and other less commercial contribution of live music to their cultural here . forms of music. But, with the exception provision. But this tends to focus on their of Newcastle, all of the arenas were built ‘big picture’ projects and high culture ‘ The UK is the most with considerable input from public money. remits at the expense of independent Benefits flow both ways. As long as the operators who deal more often with competitive market venues are run successfully, they bring the environmental health and licensing investment to the area. departments whose priorities lie elsewhere. in the world.’ Paul Latham President UK Live Nation

Notes 8. Cloonan, M. (2007), ‘Lessons from Down Under? Popular Music policy and decentralised government in Scotland and Australia’, Scottish Music Review, 1:1, p.34. Getting Beyond The Numbers | 23 THE OVERALL PICTURE

Laws of unintended consequences The importance of dialogue Skills and training Just as noise abatement rules place the As with local councils and venues, dialogue This is one key area in which the major onus on venues, often regardless of the is crucial and the Production Services operators are feeding back into the public fairness or otherwise of the case, all Association is currently calling for an impact sector. Live Nation’s support for Creative legislation can have an effect on cultural assessment of the proposed change. As & Cultural Skills and abolition of unpaid provision. Lenthall puts it, ‘Nobody, no government internships is a welcome investment in the department, sets out to destroy an industry. next generation of industry personnel. The The Health & Safety Executive has proposed If we were killing a thousand people a year Memorandum of Understanding regarding the removal of an Approved Code of and it was going to cost the sector half a training opportunities between SMG / the Practice, which provided an exemption million quid a year to stop that happening, First Direct Arena and Leeds Metropolitan for the live events sector (for activities I’m in. But that’s not what’s happening University is another example of how like constructing marquees) under its here. It’s something that isn’t going to benefits can accrue for a local area beyond Construction (Design & Management) prevent what isn’t happening anyway. It’s large-scale investment from multinational Regulations. This could mean that any just going to create paperwork and not businesses in city centres. event with more than one contractor (such have a positive effect on the ground.’ as a lighting and a sound technician) could The movement of personnel across private be required to appoint a Principal Designer Policing costs are also a matter of growing and public sectors is a key driver of this, and a Principal Contractor. concern for major promoters and festivals as they bring their relationships to bear on as the charges for Special Police Services their activities. The subsidised venues, Arts With 8,014 music events returning to the at events rises. Given this situation, and Council and Trusts such as the Roundhouse PRS in Camden, Glasgow and Leeds alone with independents feeling pressure locally, have long been active in this education in 2012, including those in small venues, there is a growing need for negotiation and outreach and there is scope for the the potential administrative cost associated between the live music sector and public commercial relationships between these with making such appointments, or bodies without a specifically cultural remit if spaces and the industry heavy hitters to subsequent fine upon failure to do so, those bodies are not to have an unintended build the skills base. could incur significant costs on the sector chilling effect on provision. as a whole, with a disproportionate effect on Small to Medium Enterprises. Andy Lenthall of the Production Services ‘ Being a good neighbour is a reciprocal process. Association points out that this is also not in line with the sector’s good safety record. We believe this is a common sense approach - if you hate sport, why move next to a football pitch? If you hate music, why move next to a live music venue?’ Mark Davyd, CEO, Music Venue Trust 24 | The Cultural Value of Live Music from the Pub to the Stadium CONCLUSIONS

As shown by debates over the Many local councils appreciate the need Further Reading licensing of entertainment – and for a more ‘joined up’ approach but • Behr, A. and Brennan, M. (2014), ‘The Place payment of artists – surrounding this has long been voiced without being consistently implemented. Competition of Popular Music in Scotland’s Cultural the 2012 Olympics, live music between cities is intense and whilst Policy’, Cultural Trends, forthcoming in print – available online at: www.tandfonline.com/ feeds extensively into cultural life as this drives significant investment in well as the cultural economy. This doi/pdf/10.1080/09548963.2014.925282 infrastructural projects, one of the side • City of Sydney Live Music and Live project provides a snapshot of that effects of such regeneration can be a Performance Taskforce (2013), Live Music relationship. We have sought here to tougher environment for venues without Matters: Planning for Live Music and illustrate the breadth of this activity the commercial or political wherewithal to Performance in Sydney in a range of contexts behind the adapt quickly to ‘gentrification’. www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/__data/ assets/pdf_file/0005/157514/Live-Music- headline numbers. The rationales behind large-scale arena and-Performance-Action-Plan-2013.pdf projects, and public investment in them, Areas of concern vary across the overall • Cloonan, M. (2007), ‘Lessons from often feature their positive impact on ecology – such as ‘pay to play’, generally at Down Under? Popular Music policy and local businesses. These benefits are clear. decentralised government in Scotland and the small to medium end of the spectrum However, equally evident from our research Australia’, Scottish Music Review, 1:1, pp. or the secondary ticketing market, generally is that supporting smaller spaces for live 18-34 further up the ladder. Nevertheless, the events also has long-term impacts - it • Cloonan, M. (2011) ‘Researching Live Music: problems live music faces at various levels develops the talent which goes on to fill Some thoughts on policy implications’, are intertwined. Meanwhile the role that International Journal of Cultural Policy, 17:4, larger spaces. all venues play in fostering musical talent pp.405-420. is clear. • Cloonan, M. (2012) ‘Selling the experience: Areas for dialogue The worldviews of British concert Pressure points There is also a need for a stronger dialogue promoters’, Creative Industries Journal, 5:1/2, pp.151-170. between the live music sector and public The weakest point of the live music • Frith, S. (2013), The Social Value of Music bodies. Regulations and legislation that ecology at present is the small to (in the context of European regeneration these public bodies enact can have medium independent venues. This policy), keynote address to the European unexpected and potentially unfortunate situation could be mitigated by greater Music Council Annual Forum, April 19 results for live music provision – as harmonisation of regulatory regimes and 2013. http://livemusicexchange.org/blog/ evidenced by the Clean Neighbourhoods their implementation across the UK. This is the-social-value-of-music-in-the-context-of- & Environment Act, Construction (Design european-regeneration-policy-simon-frith/ particularly the case with regard to noise & Management) Regulations and wider • Frith, S. Brennan, M., Cloonan, M., and abatement where taking more account of concerns about how best to police live Webster, E. (2013) The History of Live Music ‘right of first occupancy’ has the potential music. in the UK: Volume 1: From The Dance Hall to benefit the local music ecology. A more to the 100 Club, The History of Live Music in consistent overall approach may also Beyond contributing to national and Britain, 1950-1967, Farnham: Ashgate. benefit the major operators, making it local economies, music venues of all sizes • PRS for Music, (2012) Top 100 UK easier for them to deal with the logistical provide a cultural resource of immense Music Venues, www.prsformusic.com/ needs of international tours. social value. This is manifest not only in aboutus/press/latestpressreleases/Pages/ their offer to audiences but increasingly in Top100UKmusicvenuesrevealed2012.aspx Policymakers could better account for • Myerscough, J. (2014), Glasgow Cultural relationships with educational and training the cultural and economic input of small Statistics Digest 2013 Edition, Glasgow Life bodies – a positive step in building the UK’s venues. Awareness of the value of live • SEC Ltd. (2013), 2011/2012 Corporate skills base. music to their towns and cities is often Review reflected in major developments whose Such contributions are tied to more general • UK Music (2013), The Economic Contribution of the Core UK Music Industry, main beneficiaries are larger businesses or institutional relationships between private UK Music other sectors (notably the service industry). and public organisations in the musical • Webster, E. and Behr, A. ‘What makes ecology, which are worthy of further for a healthy musical city?’ http:// investigation, especially since they pertain livemusicexchange.org/blog/live-music-101- to the cultural sphere at large. 6-what-makes-for-a-healthy-musical-city- emma-webster-and-adam-behr Many of these and other relevant resources and posts can be found at www.livemusicexchange.org. Getting Beyond The Numbers | 25 NOTES ON METHODOLOGY

The primary focus of this study was to provide a • Fiona Anderson, Trusts & Statutory Manager, The Roundhouse qualitative account of venue operators in the UK. Our • Corinne Bass, Associate Bridge Programme Manager, The Roundhouse main method was therefore semi-structured interviews, • Svend Brown, Director of Music, Glasgow Life; Director, Glasgow UNESCO City of Music whose aim was to provide equal space for stakeholders • David Byard, Assistant General Manager, The Barfly from across the live music ecology – nationally and locally. • Lord Clement-Jones, All Party Parliamentary Group on Music This meant finding a balance between subsidised and commercial • Mark Davyd, CEO Music Venue Trust operations and policy personnel at local and national level. Space • Jean Dent OBE, Board of Governors, Leeds Metropolitan University; did not permit direct quotes from every interviewee. However, former Director of City Development, Leeds City Council the perspective of all of them was taken into account in our • Guy Dunstan, Birmingham NEC Group; Chair, National Arenas Association consideration of the picture as a whole. In particular, contributions • Peter Duthie, Chief Executive, SEC Ltd from Westminster policymakers and organisations with a national • Martin Farrington, Director of City Development, Leeds City Council reach (such as Live Nation and the Musicians’ Union) fed into this • Dave Gaydon, Head of Music, The Roundhouse overall view. • Jef Hanlon, Promoter • Mike Heaton, Embrace, The Hop (music bar), Leeds Whilst our goal was to get ‘beyond the numbers’ rather than • Sharon Hodgson MP, MP for Washington & Sunderland West; All Party duplicate the useful work done by bodies like UK Music and PRS Parliamentary Group on Music for Music, we also wished to place the voices represented in this • Susan Holden, Principal Projects Officer, Entertainment Licensing, study into a broader context. In this regard, information provided Leeds City Council by PRS for Music was a useful means of providing a sense of the • Rich Huxley, Hope & Social minimum scope of live music activity in each city. These figures, • Stephen Keeble, Venues Manager, Leeds University Student Union based on returns to the PRS from different capacity brackets, are • Tom Kiehl, Director of Government Relations & Public Affairs, UK Music a baseline figure for ticketed shows – the trunk from which many • John Langford, Director - Concerts, Events & Ticketing, SEC Ltd smaller events grow out. • Paul Latham, President UK, Live Nation The details provided by our interviewees give a sense of the extent • Andy Lenthall, General Manager, Production Services Association of the connections between people behind these basic figures, and • Cluny MacPherson, Chief Officer – Culture & Sport, Leeds City Council the network of relationships that they represent. We are grateful • Bridget McConnell, CEO, Glasgow Life to PRS for Music for providing this framework for the range of live • David McLaren, Head of Policy, The Royal Parks music activity. • Jill Miller, Director of Culture, Glasgow Life • Sam Nicholls, Lecturer, Leeds Metropolitan University; Board Member, All figures not listed as sourced from the PRS were received directly Leeds Music Hub from our interviewees or the literature cited. We are also grateful • Charlie Rowley, General Manager, The Howard Assembly Room to UK Music and the Musicians’ Union for access to the people • Mariana Salgueiro, Licensee, The Dublin Castle who make these events happen. Venue operators, promoters and • Nick Simcock, Oporto; Dead Young Records policymakers are busy people, not always available within the short • Joe Smillie, Venue Manager, The Glad Café lifespan of a project like this and the involvement and support of • Rachel Smillie, Business Manager, The Glad Café these bodies in facilitating contact made a large number of these • Morris Stemp, North of England Regional Organiser, Musicians’ Union interviews possible. • Matt Wanstall, North of England Regional Officer, Musicians’ Union Whilst we have inevitably synthesised a range of perspectives to • Mike Weatherley MP, MP for Hove & Portslade; Founder, Rock the House, produce this report, and the conclusions are our own, the insights All Party Parliamentary Group on Music and advice of the following people has been of enormous value • David Webster, London Regional Senior Organiser, Musicians’ Union and will continue to feed into the ongoing work of which this • Kelly Wood, Live Performance Officer, Musicians’ Union marks the start: • Lucinda Yeadon, Executive Member for Leisure & Skills Leeds City Council This report is available online at www.livemusicexchange.org For further information, please e-mail [email protected] Designed by Red Empire. Printed in Glasgow by J Thomson Colour Printers on 100% recycled paper.