MU representative Kelly Wood told delegates at the Live UK Summit in London that musicians can no longer simply arrive at a gig and expect all the promotion and organising to be done for them.
And, while Wood welcomed the Live Music Act that has lifted red tape for small music venues, she urged musicians, publicans and venue managers to work together to make the most of the new opportunities.
Under the Act, small venues in England and Wales under a 200-person capacity no longer need local authority permission to host live music between 8am and 11pm. This has led to speculation that up to 13,000 more small venues could start staging live performances for the first time.
The MU has produced a Live Music Toolkit to help pubs and venues understand the logistics of hosting live music events, and Wood said it was now the job of musicians to help publicise this important resource.
‘We need help distributing the kit – which is certainly a job for musicians. Part of the reason that live music is increasingly important is because recorded music is really hard to make money from, certainly for grassroots musicians. So there is a real pressure on the live music scene to help musicians get out there,’ she said.
‘Musicians are going to have to accept that a lot of people who are going to be employing them aren’t necessarily promoters from the music industry. It’s primarily going to be publicans and small venue managers.
‘That’s why they need to work together on everything; the gig, selling tickets, the whole lot. The traditional sentiment of “I’m the musician, I’m going to turn up and you’re going to sell the tickets and there’s going to be an audience for me” doesn’t really stand up now.’
Dr Martin Rawlings from the British Beer and Pubs Association (BBPA) was also on the Arise Valiant Pub session at the summit. He explained that a lot of publicans simply don’t know much about live music. ‘They quite like the idea of it, especially now smaller events have been deregulated, but they don’t really know how to put it on. We’re trying to help them with that.’
The BBPA has been working with PRS for Music on a number of initiatives to support pubs put on live music, including the Music Makeover competition, which offers funding to pubs wishing to set up or improve their live music facilities.
Barney Hooper, from PRS for Music, said: ‘The Live Music Act is a step in the right direction to help pubs and smaller venues host live music. We’ve lost so many pubs over the last few years that it’s really dented the capacity for live music at a grassroots level. Moves like this are definitely a step in the right direction and we will do what we can to encourage and support more small live music events.’
And, while Wood welcomed the Live Music Act that has lifted red tape for small music venues, she urged musicians, publicans and venue managers to work together to make the most of the new opportunities.
Under the Act, small venues in England and Wales under a 200-person capacity no longer need local authority permission to host live music between 8am and 11pm. This has led to speculation that up to 13,000 more small venues could start staging live performances for the first time.
The MU has produced a Live Music Toolkit to help pubs and venues understand the logistics of hosting live music events, and Wood said it was now the job of musicians to help publicise this important resource.
‘We need help distributing the kit – which is certainly a job for musicians. Part of the reason that live music is increasingly important is because recorded music is really hard to make money from, certainly for grassroots musicians. So there is a real pressure on the live music scene to help musicians get out there,’ she said.
‘Musicians are going to have to accept that a lot of people who are going to be employing them aren’t necessarily promoters from the music industry. It’s primarily going to be publicans and small venue managers.
‘That’s why they need to work together on everything; the gig, selling tickets, the whole lot. The traditional sentiment of “I’m the musician, I’m going to turn up and you’re going to sell the tickets and there’s going to be an audience for me” doesn’t really stand up now.’
Dr Martin Rawlings from the British Beer and Pubs Association (BBPA) was also on the Arise Valiant Pub session at the summit. He explained that a lot of publicans simply don’t know much about live music. ‘They quite like the idea of it, especially now smaller events have been deregulated, but they don’t really know how to put it on. We’re trying to help them with that.’
The BBPA has been working with PRS for Music on a number of initiatives to support pubs put on live music, including the Music Makeover competition, which offers funding to pubs wishing to set up or improve their live music facilities.
Barney Hooper, from PRS for Music, said: ‘The Live Music Act is a step in the right direction to help pubs and smaller venues host live music. We’ve lost so many pubs over the last few years that it’s really dented the capacity for live music at a grassroots level. Moves like this are definitely a step in the right direction and we will do what we can to encourage and support more small live music events.’
