Results of the European Live Music Census are in: The Resilience and Current Challenges of Europe's Live Music Scene

The results of the first European Live Music Census provide a topical overview of the live music scene across five European cities: Vilnius, Heidelberg, Mannheim, Helsinki, and Lviv. The census gained valuable insights into the current welfare and needs of the European live music scene, providing relevant impulses for local authorities, policymakers and stakeholders alike.

The first European Live Music Census was conducted in October 2024 by the Open Music Europe (OpenMusE) project joining together an international team of researchers from the University of Turku in Finland, the SINUS-Institute in Germany, Music Export Ukraine and Music Export Fund in Lithuania. The census captured a simultaneous, real-time snapshot of the local live music ecologies, combining field work and surveys of audiences and venues. The results of the first pan-European census calls for structural and regulatory clarity and societal support and recognition across the census cities while bringing forth a comforting view shared by audiences and venues - live music is considered a unifying force, bringing people together in times of increasing polarisation, economic uncertainty and conflict. The first pan-European census found, that while live music is universal, its fate is often shaped locally. The following are selected findings from each of the five participating cities.

The Live Music Census broke new ground in Vilnius as it was the first to map out and categorise all live music venues in the city and the first to listen to gig-goers' and venue owners' views. In Vilnius live music venues are highly valued and there is generally a strong demand for protecting them from closure as opposed to leaving them to stand alone in a free market. Cost for tickets is considered to be very influential on attendance of a live music event and is generally considered to be too high by attendees. Dining out on the same night as attending a live music event is a strikingly common practice, showing live music's impact on the wider hospitality industry.

"[A healthy local live music scene is important] for socialising, meeting, dating, connecting, culture, breaking the routine, fortune telling, smiles, nightlife" (audience member, Vilnius)

Due to a low number of events taking place on census day in Heidelberg, the results are not substantive enough to conduct a representative analysis. However, as with the remaining cities, live music venues have been mapped and are accessible via the OpenMusE project website.
In Mannheim live music venues are facing significant challenges, with the most important being regulations, public complaints, and unpredictable attendance rates. The latter has been a significant challenge since the Covid-19 pandemic, with venues observing important changes in night culture. Despite these challenges venues remain optimistic. The optimism is justified as audiences in Mannheim rate the live music scenes in their city positively and support their cultural and social value. Nevertheless, the majority of respondents attend live music events rather infrequently, with the highest barriers being time conflict and ticket prices. Increased live music in pubs and lower prices could boost attendance.

"A place where different cultures come together, a place where people can leave their everyday lives behind, a place of encounters." (venue, Mannheim)

The accessibility of live music is a major concern for Helsinki venues and audiences. Rising ticket prices, the late starting time of gigs and a lack of information were all cited as reasons for not attending live music events more often. Audiences suggested that a good public transport system was a prerequisite for a thriving live music scene. The smaller spaces providing live music within Helsinki are vital for a diverse local live music ecology. Such smaller venues were overwhelmingly people's favourite place to see live music and were seen as providing a diverse range of genres. The economic importance of live music has been recognised elsewhere and was clearly evident in audiences (where tourism was cited as an important issue) and in venue responses.

"Music makes a city a home." (audience member, Helsinki)

Lviv's live music scene is active despite the ongoing invasion: the number of events now surpasses pre-war and pre-pandemic levels, with all venues adding a surcharge which is used to support those affected by war. Currently young women dominate the live music scene with 76% of Lviv's live music audience being women under 30. This is due to many men being away to serve in the military. Despite high attendance, young audience's limited spending power threatens the continued existence of today's live music scene. Additionally, venues struggle with artist diversity as foreign acts are unable or reluctant to tour in Ukraine and key music professionals are joining the military, resulting in a critical skills gap cannot be bridged by funding alone.

"Nowadays, we need something to distract us from reality, at least for a while, and this is already a big thing for a person. Such events allow us to do this and it's very cool and I'm glad that there are such concerts in Lviv!" (audience member, Lviv)

The Live Music Census data is now available to everyone via the OpenMusE website www.openmuse.eu, providing stakeholders and live music enthusiasts with the opportunity to view, compare and make use of the Live Music Census results. The data is displayed in an accessible way, with live music maps and interactive dashboards to visualize the results.
The Live Music Census is published as part of the pan-European project Open Music Europe (OpenMusE). The OpenMusE project will run from January 2023 to December 2025 with the aim of making the European music industry more competitive, fair, sustainable, and transparent. OpenMusE involves stakeholders and researchers from 11 EU countries and Ukraine.

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This release was published on openPR.