The UK’s music fans enjoyed an extra 1,500 live music events in 2024 as the industry celebrated a record-breaking year, although Liverpool was perhaps the biggest loser in a year that saw the birthplace of the Beatles buck the national trend by hosting eight per cent fewer events than the previous year.
Recent studies from The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) have highlighted how the music industry recently saw a 20-year high, with total spending on music reaching £2.4 billion. A new report from the body also revealed that 2024 saw record-breaking ticket sales for electronic music events, raising £163m alone, while the economic contribution from music festivals is up by 14% to £646.2m.
Sales of physical albums across all formats (vinyl, CD, cassette, etc) also increased year-on-year for the first time since 1994, rising by 300,000 copies to 17.4m. On the back of that news, WHSmith announced that it has begun selling vinyl records again, for the first time in 30 years, due to rising interest, with John Lewis the latest retailer to announce it will be selling vinyl as it has witnessed growing sales of turntables.
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New data collated by analogue to smart speaker device company A2D2, has now shown the UK held 23,713 in 2024, a 7% increase from 22,195 events in 2023.
Newcastle was by far the biggest beneficiary of the 2024 gigging boom, hosting an extra 509 events up to 837 events from 328 in 2023, an increase of 155%.
Other big regional winners included Sheffield, which witnessed a 57% increase in action and hosted 498 live music events; Leeds, which increased its events by 200, a 15% growth to reach 1,500 live performances in 2024, and Manchester with 12% growth, home to 2,800 events in 2024.
At the other end of the spectrum, Liverpool saw fewer music events to attend after losing 74 within a year. This could partially be explained by previous analysis from A2D2, which showed the North West region had the most venue closures last year, with 19 venues sadly closing their doors.
The biggest loss for Liverpool came during the summer season between July and September, with 82 events lost in the three-month period. December was also a difficult month, with the Christmas season seeing 35 fewer events in 2024. Data from this time showed half (49%) of Brits cut back on visiting hospitality venues, and one-third planned to host friends and family at home instead over Christmas.
Dundee was another live loser in the region. It’s loss of 35 events for the year was only about half that of Liverpool, although from a smaller base – down from 176 to 141 – its 19.89% was worse than that of the North West musical giant and recent Eurovision host city.
Pete Fealey, founder of A2D2, who started his career as a sound technician, touring with a range of music artists across the UK including Confidence Man and Louise Redknapp, said: “It’s disheartening to see a decrease in music events in certain cities, especially Liverpool. Recently, I’ve been touring and noticed more artists doing smaller venues that are off the beaten track but these venues don’t always sell out. Organisers use previous events to determine interest for future events so having events that don’t sell out may be a part of the problem.
“A city without music events risks losing more than just entertainment; it can mean losing a vital part of its cultural identity, economic vibrancy, and community spirit. The impact can create a stifled creative scene and a less connected population. Music events bring people together, foster creativity, and inject life into urban spaces. Their decline can leave a void that’s hard to fill. If you want to keep your local music scene alive, you need to support local venues.
“It’s great to see the majority of cities thriving, and hopefully this comes back to cities like Liverpool in the future.”
