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A recent Instagram post highlighted the increasing trend for gig-goers to buy tickets for performances at the very last minute. It was one of several cries from the heart I’ve seen recently both from the musicians and the venues where they play. Most survive on a financial knife edge, so here are a few reasons why lovers of live music should take note and buy in advance. Some of these are painfully obvious. Others less so.
The Venues:
Nearly 800 late night music venues have closed in the UK since 2020. That represents more than 26%. We are losing too many vital community assets.
In January, a BBC investigation found that half of remaining grassroots venues never make a profit.
Although the rate of closure has slowed this year, you have to ask yourself ‘from what level?’. This insanely creative country has lost so many venues there aren’t too many left to lose.
All of these venues understand that no business has a right to survive, or even make a profit, but all of them try, and all of them carry common cost burdens.
Grassroots music venues lost approximately 6,000 staff in 2025. That’s around 20% of the total. Venues have had to cut staff numbers in order to survive.
Many venues have changed their focus in order to survive, with music now just part of their offer.
Advance ticket sales enable venues to do a whole range of things, from being able to pay touring artists a fair rate, to employing more staff, publicising events, ensuring a profit, and having a greater degree of certainty that they can sustain their business.
The Musicians:
Up to 50% of musicians earn less than £14,000 a year from their creations, so most need to support their craft with other work.
The necessary ‘other work’ means that touring is often restricted to weekends, holidays, close to home or occasional live streams.
Full time touring musicians need to cover their costs, so they require a performance fee. Many don’t get near the £189.55 Musicians Union rate for an evening performance.
Some costs are obvious (accommodation, travel, subsistence), some less so (insurance, equipment maintenance, the cost of creating merchandise, and of course, time)
The number of venues is declining, and that means fewer opportunities to perform. Venues provide the performers. Performers bring in the punters.
An additional threat is the increasing number of tribute bands, taking up spaces that were once dedicated solely to original music. I have mixed feelings about this. Punters like tribute acts so why not? Playing in a tribute or covers band keeps musicians in practise. So any objection I have is more with the rising numbers than with the existence of tribute acts.
The Essential Support of Gig-Goers:
The Covid pandemic accelerated the changing ways in which we consume music and attend music events. Many of the points raised above have been impacted by lower sales, streaming rather than buying, watching live streams rather than attending the local venue, punters seeming to prefer to see expensive arena gigs and other ‘I was there’ events.
Setting aside the idiocy of paying thousands to see one of the world’s stellar bands these days, an average arena gig ticket is likely to cost around £100. You can see ten high quality acts for that same amount of money. In attending an arena gig, it’s more likely that you will know the performer’s music, and I get that. In attending a local venue means that is less likely, but it does carry a sense of added anticipation and discovery.
Music is consumed mainly via the streaming services, which means that sales of CDs, vinyl and other merchandise are at best sporadic. If a musician knows they will be paid £200.00 for a performance and there’s a likelihood of £50 of merchandise sales, it helps them to keep on touring, and to keep creating music. Too many great songwriters and musicians have given up altogether because they can’t make music pay.
Absolutely none of this is rocket science. So with apologies to the already long-converted, please support venues and musicians in the following ways:
Many of us do some of that that when we see an arena gig, so what stops us doing the same at local grassroots venues? Food for thought, but please go beyond holding the thought and support grassroots music in any way you can afford to do so.
Peace.
John