09.12.2014: Live music is the lifeblood of the music industry and that is why UK Music wholeheartedly supports Venues Day on Tuesday 9th December at the Southbank Centre.

Gathering representatives from 120 venues across the UK with a cross-section of delegates from arts and music this one-off day will consider and develop policies to let British venues flourish.  Venues represented include Dingwalls, The Windmill, The Leadmill and The Kazimier.
The day will see a stellar line-up of panels debating and discussing the key issues facing venues operating in the UK today.

Jo Dipple, CEO of UK Music, will join Mark Davyd from the Music Venue Trust, John Robb Industry blogger and musician and Rob Challice, partner at CODA Agency, on a panel to discuss what the future looks like for live venues up and down the UK.  They will consider how venues be protected and promoted by the wider industry and its policy makers.

Jo Dipple, CEO of UK Music said; “Since the passing of the Live Music Act, support for the live music industry has become even more central to our policy development.  We host a UK Live Music Group which is chaired by Live Nation’s Paul Latham with CODA’s Rob Challice. Paul and Rob’s guidance has turned the group into a pro-active forum for the live music sector. It has a strong agenda to support the future growth and sustainability of the live sector.  That goal is adopted by the UK Music Board.

UK Music’s research programme has armed the live music industry with unique analysis to show what a powerful influence live music is on the UK economy. In 2013, the live sector contributed almost £800million to UK GVA as recorded in our Measuring Music report.

UK Music has also shown the cultural impact live music has, specifically with overseas tourists in our Wish You Were Here report.  We found that overseas tourists spent nearly £250 million in the UK, contributing directly to the £2.2 billion of output generated by music tourism. We are repeating this in 2015 and hope that the findings will support some of the outcomes from Venues Day.

Venues are the essential part of the music ecosystem. They give bands the chance to perfect a craft, nurture audiences and evolve into future headline acts.”