Live Music

Lord Brennan of Canton Excerpts

Thursday 2nd July 2026 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Brennan of Canton]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the contribution of live music to the UK’s culture and economy.

[Lord Brennan of Canton (Lab)]

My Lords, I start by drawing the House’s attention to my declaration in the register of interests, including my membership of the Musicians’ Union and the Ivors Academy. It will not surprise a number of colleagues here that I will take this opportunity of a debate about live music to talk and plug my fan-led review of live and electronic music, which came out earlier this year.

I was commissioned by the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee of the House of Commons, and it was a pleasure to be able to speak to music fans in conferences, round tables, venues, clubs and festivals right across the UK. I know the House is very familiar with some of the facts about the contribution of music to our economy and with the fact that, as outlined in my review, the live sector in 2024 was worth £6.7 billion to the UK economy.

One fine example of that from my own part of the world is the Green Man festival in Wales, which takes place in August. It is a proudly independent festival, run by the remarkable Fiona Stewart, who was recently profiled in the Times, and it sells out each year in half an hour, without anybody even knowing who is going to be playing at the festival the following year. It contributes £28 million to the Welsh economy, as well as doing great work in the community through the Green Man Trust, its charitable arm. I think that is proof positive that what music fans want to maintain is that independent spirit in an ever more corporate world, and that came through very strongly in my fan-led review.

I hope my noble friend the Minister will take this in the best possible spirit, but I do not want this to be a review that gathers dust on a shelf somewhere in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. I want the Government to go through it, and when they come back to appear in front of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee in the Commons—I believe I might also be making an appearance in that time—I would like to hear very positive responses to the bits of the report that are recommendations for the UK Government. The report contains recommendations for the industry and for local authorities, but it also contains recommendations for the UK Government, and I hope they will take it on board.

I am as aware as anyone that, when you change the lead singer in your band, it does not always go well. But I have been encouraged so far by some of the mood music that is around politically in relation perhaps to a change in the Administration, in government, as to the Government’s approach to music. It has always been positive, but I hope very much that I detect something else in the air now that we are getting a new lead singer, and I hope that means my report will very much be taken to heart by the Government.

It contains what I call the seven essentials of live. The first is celebration. We should celebrate the incredible contribution that live music and electronic music make to our economy and culture—not just as a money-making exercise but as a public good in and of itself. There is growing evidence of how live music contributes to our well-being in this world of screens, social media and so on. It is something very special and that came across powerfully in the review.

The second essential was around ticketing. A number of us were slightly disappointed that the Government published a draft Bill rather than an actual Bill in relation to the King’s Speech proposals to tackle the issues around secondary ticketing. I hope that that will be given greater priority as we go forward. Fans are crying out for action to be taken around secondary ticketing and on ensuring that anti-competitive forces in the primary ticketing market are not taking hold and driving up prices unnecessarily for fans—or adopting practices such as surge pricing in the music industry world.

The third of the seven essentials is about the importance of the grass-roots music scene to the live music sector in this country—not just as the research and development of the music industry, bringing forward pipeline of talent for the next generation of great musicians that this country will produce but as something that is a good in itself. The grass-roots music scene is very important in and of itself, even for those who will never become the great megastars of the future. One of my recommendations in the report that the Government could take on board in its ticketing legislation, if it is just a draft Bill, concerns the live levy that has been introduced. It was introduced for larger venues such as stadiums and arenas to contribute a small amount of the ticket price on a voluntary basis to support the grass-roots music scene, which fundamentally holds up the whole system. That could be made a statutory levy if it is shown that the voluntary levy was not working. The Government have committed previously that if it is not getting to a level of 50% by this summer, they will look at it. I strongly urge them to look very closely at the statistics to see what is happening with the voluntary levy. Is it working on a voluntary basis? Are the big players putting their hands in their pockets and making their contributions? If not, the Government should live up to their word and make it a statutory levy.

The fourth of the seven essentials of live is about safety. There are several recommendations in my report for the UK Government, including asking them to develop a new level of accreditation for security staff at live venues. The fifth is around accessibility. Some venues, as I found in undertaking this review, have excellent accessibility credentials and facilities, but it is too patchy across the sector. Fans report very different experiences from time to time at different venues. One of my recommendations is that the UK Government could help to develop a disability access kitemark for live music venues.

The sixth essential is transport. Lots of cities around the country now call themselves music cities, but can you get a bus home at the end of the gig? You cannot be a music city if people cannot get home at the end of the gig. The report calls for the Government to lead research into economy mobility gaps between cities, towns and rural communities and for local government to do its bit around transport to make sure that you can get a bus at the end of the gig.

The final of the seven essentials is about giving music fans a real voice. Too often, their voice is not listened to and is not heard. It asks the Government to start a seed fund with the industry to set up a music fans association in line with the Football Supporters’ Association, which has been very successful in getting football fans’ voices heard, and to commission an annual survey.

I know that this is a very popular subject and wish that we had longer. However, I ask the Minister to take on board everything within my fan-led review and respond in kind positively, if not now, then when the Minister—whoever the Minister is—appears before the Select Committee in September.