Fan-led review of live and electronic music

A fan-led review of live music has been launched by MPs, with the aim of improving the sustainability of grassroots live and electronic music to safeguard the success of the wider UK music industry. The review will be undertaken by Lord Brennan of Canton, a member of the previous committee who published reports on the future of UK music festivals and economics of music streaming . The review will bring music lovers together to discuss ideas to protect the industry and ensure it works in the best interests of fans. It will consider the music fan experience, from the provision of live and electronic music through to considerations of safety, examine the sustainability of venues, and explore the barriers to touring faced by emerging artists. It will also look at the effectiveness of existing policies and how different levels of government support live music. The review, announced by Culture, Media and Sport Committee Chair Dame Caroline Dinenage at the SXSW London festival, was one of the recommendations from the predecessor committee’s report on grassroots music venues (paragraphs 20-23), published in the last Parliament. The report amplified concerns by venue operators, touring artists and independent promoters regarding the financial precarity of the grassroots music sector, with venues shutting at the rate of two a week and artists struggling to make tours viable. The committee also heard that fans are “massively underrepresented” in policymaking for the sector and concluded that “a comprehensive review of the live music ecosystem is needed to fully explore the long-term challenges and the interventions needed to protect it”.