There’s No Business For Show Business – Brooke Harwood

The British theatre industry reportedly employs around 290,000 people (as of 2018), making it one of a significant employer within the UK live sector as a whole. With the continuing disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, theatre has undoubtedly taken a substantial financial hit as a result of the virus. LMX research intern, Brooke Harwood, writes here about the efforts made to save a beleaguered theatre industry and the theatre companies’ determination to provide beloved festive shows in 2020.  

Mediation and Liveness in DJ Performance – Kim Ramstedt

This week’s blog by Kim Ramstedt is a discussion of issues related to the study of superstar DJs and follows the recent death of Swedish DJ Avicii. Superstar DJs frequently perform on the main stages of pop music festivals, and festivals built predominantly around DJ performances and electronic dance music attract record amounts of visitors. Yet, popular discourse around large-scale …  

Throwing A Lifeline To Grass Roots Music Venues – Horace Trubridge

Throwing A Lifeline To Grass Roots Music Venues – Horace Trubridge

Horace Trubridge, Assistant General Secretary of the Musicians’ Union reflects on his experience of music venues and the increasingly challenging environment in which they operate. He suggests that if a healthy grass roots live scene is key to the emergence of the talent which fuels the music industry, shouldn’t the industry be doing more to help?  

The Audience – Simon Frith

Live Music Exchange’s Professor Simon Frith discusses the audience as a collective and then questions its sociological role in concerts and the problems that attracting an audience poses for promoters, arts organisations and academics as they engage in audience building and audience research.  

Staying behind after the show… – John Sloboda

Today’s guest contribution is by renowned scholar Professor John Sloboda, a leading writer on the psychology of music, Emeritus Professor at Keele University and Research Professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Here he introduces research into Understanding Audiences and post concert events which allow creative musicians to elicit feedback from audience members in a constructive environment.