Festivals an economic success story

Music Tourism…. an economic powerhouse. The music industry has this week released a report appropriately named “Here, There and Everywhere” which of course references the classic Beatles song from 1966 but also sums up the presence of music in the UK.

The report looked at the impact of live music, particularly since the end of the pandemic restrictions and found the following:

• Total number of music tourists attending live music events across the UK in 2022 was 14.4 million.  
• Total number of foreign music tourists in 2022 was 1.1 million. 
• Total number of domestic music tourists in 2022 was 13.3 million. 
• Total music tourism spending in 2022 was £6.6 billion. 
• Total employment sustained by music tourism in 2022 was 56,000. 

Interestingly, the report considers that the sector has room for further growth if there is the right support. As licensing solicitors, we are often in detailed discussions with the environmental health teams of councils when making applications for large festivals to small local events as to the potential impact of the noise generated when it becomes a public nuisance and what tolerances need to be accepted if the area wants the benefit of “music tourism”.

This is where the recommendations are very interesting as the report proposes a toolkit for local councils on how to build their own music communities: 

• Use data to ensure music is at the heart of planning and licensing policy. 
• Create a register of available spaces and places to support music activities. 
• Enshrine music and the local community in regeneration and development. 
• Set up or support city-wide music advisory boards. 

If any of these recommendations were adopted, it would materially change the application landscape but from a very selfish perspective, an awareness of the economic value of music tourism in licensing policies would be very welcome.