Why has the total number of British artists touring fallen by 74%?

Companies like Live Nation are rubbing their hands together at these metrics because that’s simply all they see them as: metrics. For them, it isn’t about culture; it’s about business. Those artists who aren’t going on tour are none of their concern because they’re currently clinging to the bottom rung of the industry’s ladder and have little to offer them since they don’t have the power to draw in a stadium-filling audience. 

If you consider that Live Nation made an annual profit of $22million in 2024, that sort of sum would frankly be enough of a buoyancy aid for the grassroots music scenes up and down the country to continue operating, and this article could stop here and have a happy ending where I don’t flip the fuck out. An injection of moolah would undoubtedly be beneficial to the long-term survival of the industry, that is, if the bigwigs didn’t choose to pocket the lot.

Yes, the successes of those at the top ought to be commended to some extent, as the money being spent on live entertainment in this area has increased by 35% since the pandemic. Then again, so has the cost of merely being alive, and when you’ve got almost 50,000 people registered as self-employed musicians in the UK along with a quarter of a million working in the industry trying to give them a platform, is it any wonder why people aren’t going to gigs anymore, or why there aren’t any gigs for the struggling artists to play?

Far Out recently examined why podcasts are selling out shows at large venues and arenas, yet musicians aren’t, and a combination of shifting attitudes and a pandemic-induced comfort seemed to be the prevailing reason for this trend. In an interview with psychologist Dr Michael Swift, he claimed that “the pandemic didn’t just put things on pause; it made us rethink how we spend our social and emotional energy,” and this could be linked to why bands aren’t being invited to play at larger venues.

However, another reason for this is a lot simpler – podcasts are an inherently middle-class medium to consume, and those who are invested enough in watching people chat about a niche topic on stage for two to three hours have the disposable income to do so. At the consumer end, live music is a comparatively classless art form, with grassroots music scenes often having been seen as a place of congregation for working-class communities, meaning that we’re stripping the affordability of gigs from those on a lower income.

Venues and festivals are calling time on operations left, right and centre, and so if there’s nowhere for bands to play, then of course we’re going to see a decline in the number of tours taking place, especially domestically. This aspect of the industry is not reflective of the figures that would suggest that it’s currently booming, and what the government need to realise is that the culture that regular people consume is not as homogenous as some berk in a suit might assume. Radio-friendly acts in large venues have mass appeal; a one-person power electronics act performing in a dank basement does not – but does that make it any less culturally important?

You’ve got to remember that those who are privileged enough to do reunion tours in stadiums started life in small venues. Given how the independent venues have always been the ones propping up the higher end by supplying them with the next big thing, then where are the next big acts of the future going to come from if they have nowhere to play?

Want more damning statistics to make you feel a sense of dread about the state of the industry? Nightlife in the UK has shrunk dramatically, with 70% of venues that were open in 2005 now having closed. Yes, the wannabe Mary Whitehouse who bought a flat above the nightclub might now be able to live in peace, but in what world is it benefiting anyone when people can’t enjoy themselves once in a while? Staying at home is only going to damage not just the industry, but the economy as a whole.

Coming back to the statistics that artists can’t go on tour anymore, this came as a result of three major events that caused the country to hit an economic stumbling block: Brexit, the coronavirus, and rising inflation rates. Everything costs more for artists as a result of this triple threat, and they’re being punished for it because they simply can’t afford to do a tour, at home or overseas, without haemorrhaging money.

57% respondents to the UK Music survey said they couldn’t take on the European dates they’re offered, while one in three stated that they can’t even sell merch at European shows without making a loss, something that always used to be a reliable alternative source of income due to how the profits used to be received directly. On top of this, 65% of respondents said they’ve been receiving fewer invitations to travel for tours, and as mentioned, the total number of UK artists booking tours is down by almost three-quarters of its pre-pandemic size.

It would be great to draw this article to a close with a positive outlook, but with little funding aside from the great work that charitable organisations like the Music Venue Trust offer, everything does look a little too bleak for me even to consider wearing the rose-tinted glasses. Besides, it shouldn’t have to be said that the existence of culture shouldn’t be propped up by the consumer; it’s a valuable part of society that should always have enough funding to survive without grovelling to the little man for loose change.

Maybe I’d have more respect from mega corporations or governing bodies if they chose to prevent live music from becoming an extinct art form, but when they’re so inherently driven by greed, the natural response is to feel as though they’re actively willing for it to collapse. Other countries, such as France and the Netherlands, have managed to find solutions to this issue by offering grants to artists to perform overseas, and will directly prop up venues with parachute payments that keep business afloat, so why are Brits so reluctant to do the same?

All of this is reflective of a society which has been left rolling about on its arse for decades of political parties and news outlets deceiving the public. They want you to think other things are the problem, and continually find a scapegoat to blame society’s ills on before moving on to their next victims, without ever addressing how the things that would improve people’s quality of life could be ameliorated. Sure, education, affordable housing and increasing employment rates might be more pressing issues to tackle, but entertainment and leisure are a big part of everyone’s lives, and live music is the sort of commodity that people seek comfort from. 

The live music industry might be broken, and we might constantly feel as though we’re being asked to fix it, but ultimately, we’ve been left powerless to prevent its collapse. The money is there, but it’s in the wrong hands, and until someone with power is able to come along and revolutionise the entire system that it is driven by, it’s going to be a taxing few years of fighting for a return to a more positive climate.

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