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The Edinburgh Live Music Census Report Launched Today – Adam Behr and Emma Webster with Matt Brennan

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Today sees the launch of the report from Edinburgh Live Music Census Pilot Study.

You can access the full report here.

In June of this year, researchers from the Live Music Exchange conducted the UK’s first live music census. Surveys of Edinburgh’s musicians, audiences and venues – in tandem with observational data collected across the city on June 6th ­– fed into the report we’re launching today.

We will be discussing findings at the City of Edinburgh Council’s Culture and Sport Committee on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday is the national Venues Day, organised by the Music Venue Trust, where some of the issues affecting Edinburgh and cities across the UK that are raised in our report – and by the Music Venue Trust’s work – will be discussed.

The key recommendations and findings from our research are below.

Details of the public meeting of the City of Edinburgh Council Culture and Sport Committee, including the Council’s ‘Encouraging Live Music in Edinburgh’ report to the committee and the meeting agenda for 20th October, can be accessed here.

There is more information about Venues Day at the Ministry of Sound, London, here.

Below are key recommendations and findings from our research that we will be discussing on Tuesday.

Key recommendations to Edinburgh City Council:

  • Change the licensing clause – stipulating that amplified music be ‘inaudible’ in neighbouring residential properties – to refer to ‘nuisance’ or decibel-level (through negotiation with Licensing Board).
  • Adopt the ‘agent of change’ principle as guidance for informing planning decisions around venues and advising residents, and work towards its enactment by the Scottish Parliament in law[1].
  • Ensure that the city council’s forthcoming refresh of its cultural policy recognises both the economic and cultural value of live music to the city, and promise to do what it can to protect small to medium capacity music venues in particular in this challenging climate.

Key findings

  • Edinburgh currently has a minimum of 267 venues offering live music including music played by DJs.
  • The most prevalent types of venue in Edinburgh are pubs/bars.
  • We estimate that on Saturday 6thJune there were approximately 11,500 people attending at least 86 live music events in Edinburgh.
  • The total average annual spend at live music per person for a typical live music fan is £1,120 (including tickets, food and drink, transport)
  • Approximately £170,000 was spent at venues with live music on the night of the Census (approximately £90,000 on ticket sales alone).
  • The total estimate of spend on live music in Edinburgh per year (including tickets, food/drink, and travel) is at least £40 million.
  • We estimate that musicians and DJs in Edinburgh are paid at least£2.9 million per year at the sub-set of venues visited on Census night.
  • Assuming minimum wage, we estimate that venue and production staff are paid at least£2.6 million per year at the sub-set of venues visited on Census night.
  • 44% of musicians reported that their gigs had been affected by noise restrictions (NB: These may have included noise restrictions imposed by venues).
  • The Census indicates that there is a high level of self-policing is taking place amongst Edinburgh venue operators with regard to noise issues.
  • Moreover, the city licensing regime’s ‘inaudibility clause’ frequently cropped up in the qualitative comments of the surveys, suggesting that it has a ‘chilling effect’ on venues’ preparedness to put on live music and the kind of music they will provide.

Work on the Edinburgh study was part of a much longer, and ongoing, conversation. It was initially inspired by work carried out in Melbourne and we’re grateful to Dobe Newton and the Melbourne team for sharing their observations.

The members of the Edinburgh Council ‘Music is Audible’ working group, the Music Venue Trust and the wider community of musicians in the city also provided vital insights. There is still a great deal of scope for improving the situation in Edinburgh – as elsewhere – but the kind of dialogue that has taken place over the last year is an important step in the right direction.

The Live Music Exchange team will be pursuing further research in this area so watch this space for more updates and get in touch to keep the dialogue going.

[Click here to read or download a full copy of our report]

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[1] Agent of Change says that the person or business responsible for the change is responsible for managing the impact of the change. This means that an apartment block to be built near an established live music venue would have to pay for soundproofing, while a live music venue opening in a residential area would be responsible for the costs.

Definition taken from: http://musicvenuetrust.com/2014/09/what-is-agent-of-change-and-why-is-it-important/

 

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  1. Pingback: The Live Music Scene: The Edinburgh Live Music Census 2015 - 7ahead

  2. Dear Adam, Emma & Matt,
    Congrats on your excellent work!
    Terrific report, and I’m sure it’ll provide an important reference for more informed policy and regulation.
    Thanks for the ‘nod’, and happy that our Melbourne work helped.
    Cheers,
    Dobe Newton
    Melbourne Live Music Census

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