Fans spent a record £6.68bn on live music in 2024

A surge in arena and stadium concerts helped drive consumer spending on live music events to a record £6.68 billion last year, up 9.5% on 2023, according to research commissioned by industry body LIVE.

Published today, 3 September, LIVE’s (Live music Industry Venues and Entertainment) 2024 annual report involved analysis from 55,000 gigs, concerts, festivals and events, and shows that the sector enjoyed a stellar year but a small rise in festival spending fell far behind the surge in concert revenue.

LIVE said that while festival spending only rose by 1.9% last year to £1.7bn, concert turnover jumped 12.2% to £5bn. Concerts attracted 75.3% of live music spending, two percentages points more than the previous year.

The report attributed the minimal growth in festival spending to some events struggling to sustain themselves through an extended period of high-cost inflation, an issue it suggested could be offset if Government introduced a “much-needed” festival tax relief.

Among the report’s other findings are that in 2024 the live music industry employed more than 234,000 people, up 2.2% year-on-year, with 78.8% of the jobs in live music being casual or freelance.

According to the report, a gig took place every 137 seconds across the UK in 2024, with mainstream pop music by the likes of Taylor Swift and Charlie XCX accounting for 32% of consumer spending on the top 2,000 concerts of the year.

LIVE reported that some 23.5 million music tourists enjoying live music in the UK last year, with London attracting 28.9% of all expenditure in 2024.

Despite the success at the top end of the market, LIVE reiterated the perilous state of the grassroots music sector and the need for the LIVE Trust – a funding programme founded on a voluntary £1 ticket contribution on arena and stadium shows with a capacity over 5,000.

LIVE CEO Jon Collins said, “2024 was a standout year for LIVE as we took our seat at the top table of Government.  While UK live music continued the post-lockdown trend of strong performance for the biggest names at the biggest venues, while pressure built across our grassroots as venues closed, tours were cancelled or cut back and festivals called time.  And yet, as the figures in this report show, we can be a driver of that growth in all regions, towns and cities across the country. Live music is a joyous experience and venues and festivals of all shapes and sizes, operated by world-class teams and showcasing world-class established and emerging talent, will continue to delight audiences for decades to come as long as industry and Government protects and nurtures the ecosystem.”