Is Liverpool a global music city?
Challenges, reflections and solutions from the Liverpool music community.
A listening project by LJMU, Bido Lito! magazine and the Liverpool music community.
May - November 2017
LIVERPOOL,
MUSIC
CITY?
Is Liverpool A Global Music City?
Challenges, reflections and solutions
from the Liverpool Music Community
A listening project by LJMU, Bido Lito! Magazine
and the Liverpool music community
May - November 2017
1.0
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
Photography ©
Andy Hughes
The purpose of this project was to provide the
Liverpool music community with a platform to
discuss the challenges and opportunities facing
the sector as we move into 2018, 10 years on from
the 2008’s Capital of Culture celebrations.
This project is not intended to provide a
masterplan or a road map for the future. It
is purely intended to demonstrate the music
sector’s ability to galvanise, its appetite for
a collective solution and a desire to work in
dynamic partnership with the city to shape a new
music future for Liverpool.
Photography ©
Keith Ainsworth
1.1 Team
This report and the underlying
research was undertaken by a multidisciplinary
team at Liverpool John
Moores University (LJMU), Bido Lito!
Magazine and the Liverpool music
community.
1.2
Method
A live ‘Liverpool, Music City?’
public discussion was held on 4th
May 2017 at Constellations in the
Baltic Triangle, Liverpool. Five
themes were explored: ‘Music in the
City’, ‘Music Tourism’, ‘New Musical
Talent Development’, the city as
a ‘Music Industry Hub’ and ‘Music
Education’ at the event. Participants
were asked to provide their written
comments about each of the themes.
233 participants attended the event,
representing in excess of 100 music
organisations and 264 responses were
collected. To support this public
discussion an online survey was
available for those who could not
attend the event to express their
views and 312 responses provided
online. In total, 573 responses
and 749 comments were collected and
analysed using content analysis
coding.
1.3
Key ‘Music in the City’
findings
The most consistent issues cited by
the music community when considering
the challenges to Liverpool’s live
music culture are issues surrounding
property, the closure of venues
and wider challenges of the built
environment – such as noise complaints
and developer power. Key issues and
ideas for potential ways forward were
provided that could offer innovative
solutions.
1.4.
Key ‘Music Tourism’
findings
The project data shows an overwhelming
consensus around the need to develop
Liverpool’s music tourism experience.
This focusses strongly on the need
for new strategies that bring the
city's heritage offer much closer to
the vibrant year-round live music and
festival offer. A wealth of ideas
were provided about how this could be
undertaken.
1.5.
Key ‘New Musical
Talent Development’
findings
Artists need time and space to develop,
alongside structured and innovative
development programmes and artistfriendly
city policies. There is a
need to open up access to Liverpool’s
music culture – both in terms of
audiences and artists – to people of
all backgrounds. The ongoing financial
challenges to artists are raised
consistently. Ideas for new solutions
were provided that contribute to this
development.
1.6.
Key ‘Music Industry Hub’
findings
This work has helped to highlight
the diversity of music businesses
currently operating in the city,
with a full spectrum of labels,
publishers, music manufacturers,
production companies, studios,
engineers, managers, marketers,
PRs, venues, distributors, agents
and musicians themselves keen to
participate in the process. There
are the starting embers of a music
industry in the city, but this
urgently needs support. There is
a consistent call for a long-term
strategy to support the sector, led
by the sector in partnership with the
city and our universities.
1.7.
Key ‘Music Education’
findings
The project demonstrated the desire
and appetite of the music sector to
become much more involved in music
education in the city. There is a
need to develop local audiences
from the youngest age and provide a
platform for artists under the age of
18. Positive links between the NHS,
support services and the local music
sector need to be further developed
and better co-ordinated, as do work
experience and support opportunities
within the local music industry.
1.7
Conclusions
This project has been an exercise
in listening, in engaging the
music community in conversation,
harvesting ideas and experiences
and gauging the sector’s appetite
to take its place at the centre of
a collective new approach to music
policy in Liverpool. The process has
demonstrated – with fervour, breadth
and volume – a music community
insisting on being part of a new
collaborative approach. This is also
evidenced within the dataset, with
the need for greater strategy and coordination
consistently emerging as
a prevalent theme in each of our five
areas of focus.
This project has also demonstrated
that the music community is ready to
take its seat at the table, to work
in collaboration with the city and
craft a new future for Liverpool,
with music rightly embedded at its
heart.
2.0
INTRODUCTION
2.1
Craig G Pennington,
Publisher, Bido Lito!
Magazine.
‘Liverpool, Music City?’ Project Lead
A buoyant Music Cities movement has gathered pace
over recent years, a new sphere of thinking that
intersects music, urban policy and planning. We
see cities across the world – from Groningen to
Adelaide – creating innovative new frameworks
which place support for and the development
of their music sectors and communities at the
heart of their city vision. In contrast, we have
up until now witnessed an absence of strategic
planning around music policy in Liverpool.
This project is intended to present
fundamental and incisive questions to
Liverpool’s music community, paving the
way for a new form of sector-led leadership
around music policy in the city.
This project is intended to present
fundamental and incisive questions to
Liverpool’s music community, paving
the way for a new form of sector-led
leadership around music policy in the
city.
But first, as a community we need
to ask some searching questions; is
Liverpool a global music city? What
does music really mean to Liverpool
as we move into 2018, 10 years on
from 2008’s Capital of Culture
celebrations? How is music valued?
How healthy is Liverpool’s music
ecology? Is Liverpool’s Music Tourism
offer truly world-class and what role
does new music play within it? In
terms of its policies around noise,
planning and the role of music in the
built environment, does Liverpool
have a global music city outlook?
How good are we at developing the
next wave of artists in the city?
Is Liverpool an international hub
for music business? How joined up is
the city’s music industry and music
education offer?
We want to challenge our city’s
music community to come together and
develop a shared, collective vision
of a music future for our city.
Liverpool has a deep and unique
relationship with music. Few cities
in the world have music at the heart
of their city’s being, their people’s
identity and their economy in the
way Liverpool does. Music represents
a huge opportunity to reimagine what
Liverpool may be in the future,
both for the city itself and for our
relationship with the world.
For observers outside of the inner
workings of Liverpool’s music
community the sector could seem
somewhat impenetrable; a web of
complex entangled relationships,
a mesh of freelancers and small
organisations, a tension between
commerce and creativity, a hotchpotch
of vested interests, a fallback
position of ‘us versus them’.
Historically, such observations
would not have been without base;
entrenched divisions and internal
politics have in the past stifled
collaboration and collective action.
But, things have changed:
1) The traditional music industry has
collapsed.
2) Rampant gentrification and
development has changed the face of
the city, presenting huge challenges
to live music in the city.
3) Local authority budgets have been
slashed.
At the same time, the global Music
Cities movement is placing music
centre stage as forward-thinking
cities embed music at the centre of
their civic futures.
Currently, Liverpool is way behind.
We believe that Liverpool can forge
a new future by understanding,
prioritising, supporting and
galvanising its music sector. But,
the music community needs to be at
the heart of the process. The top
down approach has failed. A new era
of collaboration between the city,
city-region, universities and the
music community – from the grassroots
DIY venue to the international artist
manager – is needed.
The top down approach has failed.
A new era of collaboration between the
city, city-region, universities and the music
community – from the grassroots DIY
venue to the international artist manager –
is needed.
‘Liverpool, Music City?’ is a project
designed to listen. It is here to
give a platform to the voices,
ideas, opinions, observations and
experiences of the people who
understand Liverpool’s music sector
better than anyone; the music
community itself.
This project is not intended to
provide a masterplan or a road map
for the future. It is purely intended
to demonstrate the music sector’s
ability to galvanise, its appetite
for a collective solution and a
desire to work in dynamic partnership
with the city to shape a new music
future for Liverpool.
Photography ©
Keith Ainsworth
2.2
LJMU
Multi-Disciplinary
team of researchers
Principal Investigator: Dr Jan Brown
(Liverpool Business School)
Researchers: Professor Ian Fillis
(Liverpool Business School)
Mr Kevin Johnston
(Faculty of Engineering and Technology)
Ms Dominique Aspey
(Centre for Entrepreneurship)
The project arose out of the collective music
research interests of members of staff at LJMU
who are based in different deaneries and faculties
within the university. For this project, the
principal investigator was Dr Jan Brown from the
Liverpool Business School.
From the Liverpool Business School
perspective, the importance of
supporting collaborative community
research was highlighted by Dr Jan
Brown who stated that ““As the
principal investigator for this
project I have been impressed by
the enthusiasm of the participants’
passion to get involved and have an
active voice in the development of
music in the city. We at LJMU are
eager to support the development
of such an important part of
Liverpool’s identity, – music –
and we look forward to becoming
long-term partners with the music
community as it develops both now
and in the future. By working as
part of a multi-disciplinary team
at LJMU consisting of members of
the Liverpool Business School (Dr
Jan Brown and Prof Ian Fillis),
Faculty of Engineering and Technology
(Kevin Johnston) and Centre for
Entrepreneurship (Dominique Aspey),
we have been able to provide
advice and guidance from different
perspectives and we feel that this
has helped us to provide support and
build connections that can develop
into long-term partnerships in the
future.”
The timely nature of the report was
identified by Prof. Ian Fillis who
noted that“the Liverpool Music City
project is extremely timely and
important for the city, its citizens
and other interested stakeholders
in the industry and wider cultural
and creative industries. This
important project coincides with work
on the formation of the Cultural
Entrepreneurship Research Centre at
Liverpool John Moores University.
As Professor of Entrepreneurship
I am delighted to be involved in
moving the ‘Liverpool, Music City?’
Project forward. This report is an
important step towards realising our
longer-term goals, including the
raising of the profile of the music
sector in Liverpool, nationally and
internationally.”
The importance of partnerships to
LJMU was identified by the Dean
of the Liverpool Business School,
Timothy Nichol, who remarked that
“we are very aware that innovations
and enterprise are key drivers
of growth in the city. As an
innovative business school based
in the heart of Liverpool we are
keen to develop partnerships with
communities, business and industry.
The relationship with the music
community is one such partnership we
hope to develop over the long term as
it develops and adapts to meet future
challenges and opportunities.”
From the Faculty of Engineering and
Technology perspective, the pride in
being involved with such research
was highlighted by Karl Jones
(Programme Leader for BSc Audio &
Music Production, Dept of Electronics
and Electrical Engineering for
stated that “I’m proud that we are
contributing to this valuable report
and to the resurgence of the sleeping
giant that is the Liverpool’s music
community.”
From a Centre for Entrepreneurship
viewpoint Dominique Aspey believes
that “An ever increasing number
of our enterprising students and
graduates want to build businesses
in audio and music production, music
videography and music journalism.
We need a robust music industry
ecosystem if we want to keep graduate
talent and entrepreneurial mind-sets
in Liverpool. This report plays a
big part in understanding the current
state of the ecosystem and what we
need to do, not just to keep it
buoyant but actively flourishing and
make Liverpool the place to start a
music-related business.”
Photography ©
Michael Kirkham
3.0
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
This research project and the ‘Liverpool, Music
City?’ event arose from discussions between LJMU
and members of the Liverpool music community
about exploring the Liverpool music ecosystem.
From talks with members of the music community
it became evident that there was an interest in
coming together to discuss successes to date and
potential ways the community could work together
to grow the city’s music ecosystem in the future.
As LJMU is a civic university and the LJMU multidisciplinary
research team has a specific interest
in cultural entrepreneurship, the academic team
were happy to support such an event and research
project. The role of the LJMU research team was
to provide research advice and support in the
collection and analysis of the public discussion
data.
Once it was established that such an
event and project was of interest
to members of the Liverpool music
community, an article was written
in Bido Lito! Magazine in March
2017 (see appendix 6.1). To coincide
with this article, a new website
liverpoolmusiccity.co.uk was launched
that gave details of the project and
provided a link to an online survey/
questionnaire (see appendix 6.2
for details), as well as providing
details of a public discussion event.
Taking the themes of ‘Music in the
City’, ‘Music Tourism’, ‘New Musical
Talent Development’, the city as
a ‘Music Industry Hub’ and ‘Music
Education’, following suit from the
Bido Lito! article, the online survey
was completed by 56 participants
between 27th March to 16th October
2017. It currently remains live.
312 responses were analysed from
the online survey/questionnaire
(see Table 1). The live ‘Liverpool,
Music City?’ public discussion
event was held on 4th May 2017 at
Constellations in the Baltic Triangle
in Liverpool. The event took place
from 6:30-9:00pm with live music
post-event, but informal discussion
remained active late into the night.
233 participants from across the
city’s music community, representing
in excess of 100 music organisations,
attended the event and 264 responses
were collected in total (see Table
1).
The five main themes (‘Music in the
City’, ‘Music Tourism’, ‘New Musical
Talent Development’, the city as
a ‘Music Industry Hub’ and ‘Music
Education’) were used as discussion
topics in five pods (see appendix
6.3 for details) with discussions led
by industry experts in these areas.
LJMU academics captured the main
issues live on mind maps displayed
at the event, and participants
wrote their reflections down on A5
cards that were handed to the LJMU
academic at the end of each session
for post-event analysis. At the end
of the event, all of the A5 cards
were collected and collated by the
LJMU academics and their content
was inputted onto an electronic
spreadsheet for analysis. Each
response was analysed using content
analysis for emerging themes. It
should be noted that many responses
included comments on more than
one theme and this is reflected in
the difference between the ‘total
responses’ and ‘total comments’
columns in Table 1.
In total, 749 comments were
identified, coded and categorised as
shown in the results below. In some
themes, sub-themes emerged and these
sub-themes have been identified in
the findings. All comments were given
equal weighting.
The full dataset is included
in Appendix 6.5 (available at
liverpoolmusiccity.co.uk) with a
summary table included in each
section of Chapter 4. The most
prevalent themes in each section have
been demonstrated using comments
drawn from the dataset in Chapter 4.
It should be noted that coding of
qualitative data into themes is
subject to coder interpretation,
but, as professional researchers, we
(LJMU) followed a strict protocol for
the data coding, input and analysis.
For this project, one coder (Jan
Brown) input and coded all the data
to ensure consistency with other
researchers checking the coding
process for rigour.
In order to represent the key
themes that emerged from the data
bar charts were used to provide
readers with an easy to understand
visual representation of the data.
Specific quotes were then selected to
‘speak’ for each theme. These quotes
were selected from a wide range of
participant comments to allow the
diversity of views voiced to be
represented in the report. It should
be noted that some of the quotes
were slightly amended to rectify
grammatical errors, however the
integrity of the original statements
has been maintained throughout.
It is hoped that the researchers at
LJMU are seen by the Liverpool music
community as active and supportive
partners of their community and we
hope that this project is just the
start of many more in the future.
This research project produced a rich
data set and further analysis of the
data is encouraged in the future.
The dataset used in this analysis
is open sourced and is available for
further analysis to be undertaken by
interested parties in the future.
Photography ©
Michael Kirkham
4.0
FINDINGS FROM
ONLINE SURVEY &
PUBLIC DISCUSSION
The following chapter details responses to both
our online survey and data harvested at our
‘Liverpool, Music City?’ public consultation
event, as outlined in the Research Methodology.
The central themes that emerge within each
of the five areas are explored and delivered
through a selection of quotes from members of
the Liverpool Music Community in relation to
each section (a full open source data set is
available at liverpoolmusiccity.co.uk). The role
of this project has been to listen, providing a
much needed platform for a community to share and
reflect upon its collective experience.
The headline data below (Table 1) shows the huge
amount of responses collected. The passion with
which the music community has embraced the project
has been welcome and the breadth and scope of
the ideas, experiences and reflections that come
through over the following five sections shows a
community ready to play a key strategic role in
its future development.
TOTAL PARTICIPANTS
Table 1
Online
Survey
Public Discussion
4th May 2017
TOTAL
RESPONSES
TOTAL
COMMENTS
Music In The City
56
55
110
167
Music Tourism
52
49
101
117
Artist Development
49
64
113
164
Music Industry Hub
45
47
92
113
Music Education
43
47
90
121
Other Issues
35
N/A
35
35
Other Ideas
32
N/A
32
31
GRAND TOTAL
312
264
573
749
Key:
Total Responses = Total number of responses to each question
Total Comments = Total number of comments made i.e. an individual
response often included a comment on more than one topic.
4.1
Music in
the City
What do you think are the main challenges facing
live music in the city and what do you think could
be done to help address them?
72 62 11
STRATEGIC ISSUES AROUND
MUSIC IN THE CITY
ISSUES AROUND
PROPERTY & LAND
A NEED TO DEVELOP
& EDUCATE AUDIENCE
10 9 3
BETTER SUPPORT OF
BRAND DEVELOPMENT
BETTER SUPPORT
FOR MUSICIANS
BROADEN THE
MUSIC OFFER
4.1
Music in
the City
Property Challenges and Agent of Change
Given the starting point and motivations behind
this project, it is perhaps no surprise that
issues surrounding property, the closure of venues
and wider challenges of the built environment
– such as noise complaints and developer power
– are the most consistent issues cited by the
music community when considering the challenges
to Liverpool’s live music culture. There is
also an appetite for greater clarity around
the overall ambitions for areas of the city in
which live music and club culture thrives; the
idea of allowing these areas to be filled with
residential developments, inevitably leading to
flash points such as those we have witnessed
already, seems ill-judged at best. There needs
to be a more detailed understanding of the role
music venues play in the local ecology and, the
idea of Liverpool adopting the Agent Of Change
principle – ensuring developers have an obligation
to soundproof new developments adequately – gains
consistent support.
“I won't be the only person to say
that competition between venues and
developments driven by increases in
the cost of land and rent has been onesided,
and that trend doesn't seem likely
to reverse any time soon. The Council,
the Mayor, and Metro Mayor must stay in
touch with venues and artists and, at the
very least, enter into dialogue with them
over future development in creative areas.
At best, perhaps some kind of cultural
pledge (in the same vein as the 'University
City 2020' aims) that would guarantee an
affordable niche for venues and artists is
possible.”
Stuart O’Hara, Musician
“The main challenges facing music venues in
Liverpool, and indeed any city of culture, is the
fact that music venues are constantly being
threatened with closure. Often because of the sound
disturbance, unruly behaviour or other 'trouble'
that venues might bring. However, in recent years
venues have been threatened with closure due to
attracting people and students to their area and
therefore making the area desirable. This problem
of gentrification is fairly new, but, it's happening
incredibly fast and venues across the country are
being replaced with Starbucks, student flats etc. The
Council need to stop this from happening – new laws
need to be put into place for venues to be protected.”
Katherine Cantwell, Heavenly Recordings
“Venue noise versus residential
developer – there needs to be better
co-operation in terms of licensing,
sound insulation (on both sides), as
well as increased communication [and]
clarity from the city on a planning
level in terms of city zoning. [There
has been a] pushing aside of all
the venues from Ropewalks to the
Baltic to make way for commercial
[developments], then the Baltic is
starting to fill with residential
[developments] – what/where next?”
Anonymous, Music Business Worker.
“There is no clear line of
communication between developers and
venues.”
Rory Ballantyne, Technician and
Broadcaster
“Agent of Change needs to be adopted
across Liverpool.”
Becky Ayers, Liverpool Sound City
Chief Operating Officer
“Music venues should be recognised by
the Council and government as very
different from regular bars – more
as a cultural destination – and given
appropriate, separate regulations.”
Clarry Mowforth, Venue Manager,
Invisible Wind Factory
“Development of accommodation blocks,
student or otherwise, have seen us
lose places such as The Kazimier
and the rise in accommodation being
built within the Baltic Triangle now
jeopardises the Baltic's future as a
live music hub within Liverpool due
to noise restrictions.”
Erin Culling, Audience Member
4.1
Music in
the City
Strategy and Support
It is clear from the data that the Liverpool music
community needs assistance and support to be able
to survive and flourish. The current situation
is far from healthy and is unsustainable. But,
reassuringly, there is an appetite within the
sector to work collectively; both in terms of
collaboration between music organisations and
businesses, and collaboration between the sector,
the city, universities and other key players.
Future strategies around developing music in the
city need to have the sector – at all levels, from
the grassroots upwards – at the table.
“How do we redefine ourselves as a city? Find a
balance, harness what we have and can have, as
well as what is inevitable. Evolving more. Ensuring
we can adapt to change. Unify – use the collective
voice. Make our ideas transferrable – clear
messages that convey and support the importance
we place on arts, music and culture.”
Daniel Martindale, Venue Manager and Musician
Photography © 2.2 John Johnson
“Venues need to join together and
push for protection.”
Anonymous
“Liverpool stands in the precipice
of opportunity but has a history of
shooting itself in the foot. Don’t
destroy the possibilities.”
Marc Jones, Medication
“There seems to be very little
support for the upkeep of venues
(aside from commercial ones – even
then, they're struggling) and recent
events have seen the city support
development of commercial outlets
rather than [support] the maintenance
of cultural significance.”
“Working together is key. It's
getting over this idea of
competition. The most convincing and
persuasive way to prove that arts,
culture and music is worth investing
in is presenting a united front.”
Anonymous
“Liverpool is small and, as a result
of that, there is competition between
similar events. Could we put that
to one side for a common cause?
Hopefully.”
Bill Price, Camp and Furnace
Chris Meehan, Sentric Music
4.2
Music
Tourism
Do you think Liverpool makes the most of its music
tourism offer and what could be done to improve it?
We need to develop
the offer & find
better/new ways
to communicate the
experience
A need for a new
strategy
& statistics
Taxes & Monetary
Support
66 23 7
NEED TO DEVELOP
STRATEGY & MARKETING
14 7
DEVELOP BEYOND THE HERITAGE OFFER
AND REPRESENT THE CURRENT MUSIC SCENE
OTHER
4.2
Music
Tourism
Developing and Communicating the Experience
The project data shows an overwhelming consensus
around the need to develop Liverpool’s music
tourism experience. This would see the city build
on its existing offer – heavily based on The
Beatles and a ‘nostalgic’ view of music tourism
– and much more closely integrate the city’s
buoyant, 365 days-a-year live music scene and
vibrant niche festival offer. Once developed, this
vision needs new marketing platforms and digital
techniques to communicate the offer effectively
locally, nationally and internationally to a
diverse range of potential visitors.
Market…
“Link big hitting tourist attractions to the
everyday. Calendars, listings and maps that
are universal, not run by one section… but
by an almost anonymous body. It's about
promoting the personality and emerging
leftfield of our city.”
Nick Booton, Designer
Capitalise and connect…
“There are three main areas:
1. Capitalise on festivals and big events by linking
the grassroots music more effectively.
2. Make the "everyday" music offering more visible
to non-music tourists
3. Fragmentation is the biggest barrier to presenting
a citywide music offer for visitors.”
Barry Dallman, Musician’s Union Official and
Musician.
Photography ©
John Johnson
“If I think of music tourism in
Liverpool, the only thing I'm aware
of is The Beatles and even that seems
outdated. There needs to be some form
of connection to the underground and
grassroots events and experiences.”
Karis Griffiths, Venue Owner and
Freelance Events
“The challenge is to merge the past
with the present in a way that is
innovative and forward-looking rather
than giving the impression of a
nostalgia-fest.”
Andy Von Pip, Music Journalist
“[We need] joined up thinking.
People visit for The Beatles and the
football – direct them off the beaten
track to watch new artists, [attend]
nights and events, and experience
Liverpool's culture and creativity.”
Christina McKenna, Music Lecturer
“There's loads of potential still
untapped – people who like The
Beatles visit the city. They are
music fans. As well as the usual
tourist offer, there should be
alternatives promoted as part of
the identity of the city. The
main festivals and venues need to
work closely together to achieve
a critical mass of promotional
activity that lifts the programme and
attendances to higher levels.”
Anonymous
“[We need] one central social media
platform to search for gigs in the
city.”
Helen Maguire, Venue Owner, Maguire’s
Pizza Bar
“There is not enough widely available
information about current music
venues and live acts, only in
music magazines and posters around
Liverpool. Liverpool as a whole
doesn't showcase its music enough to
tourists or the general public.”
Anonymous
“Again, The Beatles dominates, and
press coverage of the full range of
musical activity within the city is
very limited. If the most current and
most creative music-making coming out
of the city was put on the map via
decent journalism on a local but also
on a national/international level,
the outside perception of Liverpool's
music scene, as being all about The
Beatles and a scattering of other
fairly successful pop/rock bands,
could be changed.”
Neil Campbell, Musician
“A properly coordinated and
communicated approach and offer would
have much greater impact, including
economic impact, and help maximise
the potential of being a designated
Unesco Music City.”
Anonymous
4.3
Artist
Development
What are your thoughts on how well new musical talent is
developed in Liverpool and what else could be done to
support emerging talent?
Issues around
access to
(and
availability
of) space
A need for
greater
co-ordination
& diversity
Finance
pressures
Time &
combinations
Platforms
& hubs
Investment
25 21 7 24 8 7
A NEED FOR MORE TIME, RESOURCES
& SPACE TO DEVELOP
A LACK OF ARTIST DEVELOPMENT
INFRASTRUCTURE
Marketing,
PR & listings
Understanding
value
& business
Promotion
of talent
13 7 5 24 23
A NEED FOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT,
MARKETING & PROMOTION
OTHER
EDUCATION
& ADVICE
4.3
Artist
Development
Time, Resources and Space
Artists have always needed time and space to
develop their craft and a successful music city
will be one in which an artist is afforded such
commodities, alongside structured and innovative
development programmes and artist-friendly city
policies. Our data suggests there is work to do
in this area. There is also the ever-constant
tension between music viewed as a creative,
cultural output and as a financial commodity.
For Liverpool to fully realise its position as a
global music city, music needs to be considered
more broadly than purely being viewed in economic
terms and tourist spend. There is a need to open
up access to Liverpool’s music culture – both
in terms of audiences and artists – to people
of all backgrounds. There is also a strong sense
of a stark financial challenge to artists at all
levels; the market failure of the music industry,
a lack of paid gigs, low attendances and the
ongoing influence of pay-to-play gigs make it more
difficult than ever to gain a foothold in the
sector.
Greater Co-ordination, Knowledge Development and
Diversity…
“There are key people and companies that do a
great job here but much more needs to be done to
support local talent and small businesses and provide
more networking opportunities, cross-regional
support and awareness of the city’s vibrant music
scenes and industry connection. The same funding
goes to the same folks and is often squandered on
bands and projects that have zero realistic potential
of making any kind of foothold in the industry. There
needs to be a fairer, more democratic way of allocating
funding, and raised awareness of access to
these materials to all involved in the region's music
business, with equal support given to a much broader
array of projects and musical genres than is currently
given.”
Jamie Otsa, Promoter and Music PR
Photography ©
Nata Moraru
“Our biggest problem is a lack of diversity.”
Shaun Ponsonby, Music Journalist
“Artist development relies on access.
Measuring new talent is important
but the biggest issue is reaching out
to all artists. We need mentoring,
better education on the enormous
potential of collaboration and
research affecting policy. Right
now, the music 'scene' and music
'business' feel too disparate – hence
[there are] some group fears of
them not working well together i.e.
quashing of creativity and monetising
creativity.”
Aoife Robinson, Fundraising and
Development
“Actually, things like Merseyside
Arts Foundation and LIMF Academy
do a great job at development and
over the past few years it's shown,
with more industry eyes on artists
up here than in years. Plus the
festival scene is good which helps
with artist/audience development.
It's the venues beyond all else that
need support. Some music industry
wide frequent (quarterly?) meetings
would be helpful though – the thing
that lets down bands is knowledge of
the nitty gritty like PRS, royalties,
licensing, touring et al (which
admittedly Sentric are posting some
great information on) that would be
super helpful and easy to implement.”
Andrew Ellis, Artist Consultant and
Manager
“More conscious effort for
representation of different
socioeconomic identities. More
opportunities to grow organically, to
fail, experiment. Artist development
should not be framed only in
'financial success' terms.”
Jon Davies, Musician and Promoter
“New music in Liverpool right now
is very middle class – more working
class artists and those from modest
backgrounds need support, and they
aren't getting it.”
Anonymous
“The Liverpool music community is
very narrow and has been for a long
time. It is predominantly white,
straight, male and band-orientated.
Though the likes of Bido Lito! have
improved music coverage in the city,
as well as started discussion about
improvement, it is still painfully
slow in its development. Women are
not encouraged, BME artists are
not encouraged, certain genres are
not encouraged. As a result, they
will not apply to play festivals or
to write for Bido Lito!/GIT, they
will not put themselves forward for
support slots at venues (even if they
knew how to) because realistically,
is anyone going to give them a chance
when those making the decisions
aren't like them?”
Christina McKenna, Music Lecturer
“Musical talent is developed through
a capitalocentric view – in part with
the emergence of LIPA as the largest
influence of the music landscape,
which contorts the community towards
artists incubated in the city for
music as career, rather than music
as experience. There needs to be
much more transparency about where
musicians come from, how capital
flows through the music industry, and
a conscious attempt to rebalance the
music scene”
Anonymous
“We need community rehearsal spaces.
Instrument amnesties. Education
about music. Advice. Ability to learn
vocational skills.”
Matthew Hogarth, Music Journalist and
Promoter
“
More affordable rehearsal spaces
that people can form a community
from. Spaces free for public and
bands – youth centres, recording
studios. Help around music mentoring.
Community venues.”
Louisa Roach, Musician and Merseyside
Arts Foundation
Time and Space…
“It is most necessary to allow space and
time. The challenge is how to justify that to
parties whose interest is financial rather
than cultural. Being able to measure and
demonstrate value arms people/artists with
the tools to confront that challenge.”
Al Groves, Music Producer
4.4
Music
Industry Hub
Do you believe Liverpool is a nationally/
internationally significant music industry hub,
and what could be done to encourage new music
businesses to start up or relocate here?
We need more
joined up
thinking,
partnership &
co-ordinated
strategy
Central
resources &
marketing
Infrastructure
& support for
the sector
Events &
programmes
General
48 12 3 2 1
WE NEED A NEW STRATEGY
& CO-ORDINATION
17 16 6 8
BETTER DEVELOP
MUSIC OFFER
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
FOR THE SECTOR
BUSINESS
OPPORTUNITIES
OTHER
4.4
Music
Industry Hub
Strategy and Co-ordination
This work has helped to highlight the diversity of
music businesses currently operating in the city,
with a full spectrum of labels, publishers, music
manufacturers, production companies, studios,
engineers, managers, marketers, PRs, venues,
distributors, agents and musicians themselves
keen to participate in the process. There are
the starting embers of a music industry in the
city, but this urgently needs support. There
is a consistent call for a long-term strategy
to support the sector, led by the sector in
partnership with the city and our universities.
A policy framework is needed from the city
region to aid the sector’s development and it is
encouraging to see the start of this with the
commissioning of a music sector strategy report
by Culture Liverpool. The businesses here already
demonstrate the fact that, if we get this right,
a thriving music industry hub will drive jobs and
investment.
There is also a need to raise awareness of the
opportunities that are here already and a need for
more structured frameworks and opportunities to
bring the sector together. This leadership needs
to come from the businesses already based in the
city, as these are the businesses and individuals
that understand first hand the urgency of the task
at hand.
A thorough mapping exercise of the sector is also
urgently needed. Hopefully this process can be
started through the upcoming music sector strategy
report, commissioned by Culture Liverpool.
“Lots could be done – property here is already
relatively cheap, but what other incentives in the
form of tax breaks, reduced rent and rates etc.
- could be put forward to encourage location/
relocation/growth? Channel 4 and Guardian both
looking at moving out of London – music industry
could do the same. What can we learn from Media
City in Manchester for film and TV – satellite
offices? Encourage better talent, with better jobs,
better prospects, better salaries. Stop losing
graduates to London. Liverpool is not just any old
provincial city, it is a globally recognised brand
largely down to it's music export – play on that
beyond tourism. Be to London what Nashville is to
LA.”
Anonymous, Venue Owner
“As Peaches said: ‘The rules and
norms of the music industry need
to die'. I think business will
come if there's funding available.
It's definitely a hub of musicians,
producers, songwriters and music
lovers, so let's make something to
connect it all together.”
Marie, Musician and Music
Professional
“For a while I've thought that
independent labels should move out of
London to a northern city – they'd
become profitable overnight as costs
dropped! There are some interesting
music technology companies [in
Liverpool] – Sentric and Ditto, for
example. [There’s] my own company,
Freeman PR. We could perhaps create a
forum that brought these together and
highlighted their presence, in a bid
to draw [independent labels and music
businesses] in. If people coming to
the UK for business trips could see
that there are two music PR firms, a
publisher, half a dozen labels etc.
based in Liverpool, then they'd look
at spending a day here for meetings.
Sound City brings industry into the
city once a year, but do they trade
on the fact that there are major
contemporary music businesses working
day in day out here? I'm not so
sure.”
Sam Hinde, Freeman PR
“Liverpool could be a music industry
hub, we have great potential, but so
do other cities. We need a strategy
and an incentive.”
“Liverpool is soaked in music history
and I see now more than ever that
Manchester and Liverpool in particular
are catching up to London in terms
of development and growth. It could
be relatively cheap for new music
businesses to start up or relocate
here, and Liverpool is a really
condense city which I think always
increases the sense of community as
well as there being obvious practical
benefits. I don't think Liverpool is
necessarily a music industry hub, but
there is definitely potential.”
Erin, Audience Member
“Liverpool has solid hub foundations
but a strategy that makes new music
a definitive part of the city's
regeneration plan, in the same way as
heritage music, would be beneficial.”
Mathew Flynn, Music Lecturer
“There's not a critical mass of
publishers, promoters, management,
agents in the city. They need
cultivation through start up
incentives and skills development,
starting at school and [going] through
to higher education and postgraduate
education. Funding for higher risk
ventures should be identified. The
Picket used to act as a live hub and
starting point, there's no equivalent
now.”
Anonymous, Musician
Gordon Okafor-Ross, Music
Professional
“Yes, I think it is, but there needs
to be much stronger partnerships
with the Council and other public
sector bodies. [It’s] nice to see
LJMU involved in this, as I would
suggest the universities are crucial
to developing the hub – as venues,
hotbeds for developing talent (more
rehearsal spaces for students?), and
as centres for academic research.”
Dan Copley, Audience Member
“The heritage industry overshadows
contemporary music in Liverpool.
Is it possible to formalise
informal networks? Can people work
together? The older generation are
concerned that it’s not possible
for people to collaborate and work
together – younger generation are
more optimistic. What is the music
industry? Recording, live, publishing
and musical instrument makers/sellers
and retailers, logistics etc.? Sounds
like a map of what's already here
could be useful!”
“There are some great businesses –
Sentric and Ad Lib are big employers.
We need to market Liverpool as a
music business friendly city and
support businesses to come here.”
Kevin McManus, British Music
Experience
“Music resource centre required.
Events calendar to avoid clashes.”
Paul Duhaney, Africa Oye
Emma Webster, Researcher
“As a Londoner I see Liverpool as a place
with economic freedom – cost of living is
low and so [there’s] more opportunity to
create business and freelance.”
James Zaremba, Promoter and Radio Station Director
4.5
Music
Education
Do you think the Liverpool music community plays a
significant role in music education in the city?
How could this be done better?
Better
knowledge &
connections
between
sector and
schools
A need
for music
education
from a young
age
Connecting
offer,
people &
institutions
Activities &
workshops led
by the sector
Strategic
thinking
Mentoring
General
23
19
7
3
19
7
4
A NEED FOR BETTER KNOWLEDGE &
UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THE SECTOR
CAN BE INVOLVED
BETTER LINKS
& CONNECTIONS
Shows, venues
& studios
Produce
something
great
General
Central
co-ordination
Social &
economic
value
9
5
5
4 2
14
POTENTIAL NEW
WAYS OF WORKING
ENCOURAGE
MORE
DIVERSITY
4.5
Music
Education
Knowledge, Connections and Links
From a Younger Age
This project has demonstrated the desire and
appetite of the music sector to become much more
involved in music education in the city. This
is particularly evident in relation to primary
education, an area which currently sees little
sector engagement. The squeeze of music education
from the national curriculum and formal schooling
presents sector involvement as a necessity,
especially if we are going to fill a growing local
music industry with musicians and entrepreneurs
of the future. There is also a need to develop
local audiences from the youngest age and provide
a platform for artists under the age of 18 through
underage-targeted events and positive performance
opportunities with venues. And this is all before
we even begin to consider the hugely beneficial
health, social and emotional wellbeing benefits
associated with vibrant music communities.
Positive links between the NHS, support services
and the local music sector need to be further
developed and better co-ordinated, as do work
experience and support opportunities within the
local music industry.
“We have a world famous orchestra, studios,
contemporary bands... and history that
spreads across all communities. With music
being cut from school budgets, perhaps we
need to come together to provide music experience
days that schools across the city
region can sign up for sessions at (I'm a governor
on a school finance committee. Today,
they have just taken ANOTHER 40% out of the
budget for next year). There is not going to be
much arts and culture in schools in two years
time, and with some under privileged areas in
need of service, perhaps traditional and contemporary
music organisations in the city can
fill that void.”
Sam Hinde, Freeman PR
“I think if musicians went into
schools or youth centres it would
be more inspiring than if industry
bodies went in – perhaps if there
was a city run rehearsal complex
then part of the deal of being in
there could be to pay back by doing a
certain number of visits or workshops
in schools?”
Kate Stewart, Promoter
“It would be good to see all areas of
music within the city get involved
with youngsters – start individuals
off at a young age with the skills
and knowledge. They need to know that
they have options. Liverpool Girl
Geeks are making waves in the tech
industry, educating young girls that
tech could be a genuine career option
for them, I don’t see why a group
similar to this for music education
purposes wouldn’t have the same
successes.”
Erin, Audience Member
“Opportunities for young people to
get involved. Being told from a
young age that being in the industry
is a real job. Making opportunities
accessible to all, no matter what
backgrounds.”
Karis Griffiths, Venue Owner and
Freelance Events
“Having role models to aspire to is
so important, getting music industry
to speak is an easy thing that music
organisations can do.”
Becky Ayers, Liverpool Sound City
Chief Operating Officer
“More placements in music businesses
should be available to young people.
Mentors.”
Keith Ainsworth, Photographer
“The education system is failing… we need alternative
structures that grow from the voluntary sector
working with music industry at all levels through
mentoring, placements and opportunities.”
Bryan Biggs, Artistic Director, The Bluecoat
“Children need to be able to follow their own
creativity. Liverpool needs more hubs to facilitate
creative endeavours.”
Yousef, Circus
“We need funding for venues to host underage gigs.”
Helen Maguire, Venue Owner, Maguire’s Pizza Bar
5.0
ROUTES FORWARD
This project has been an exercise in listening,
in engaging the music community in conversation,
harvesting ideas and experiences and gauging the
sector’s appetite to take its place at the centre
of a collective new approach to music policy in
Liverpool. The process has demonstrated – with
fervour, breadth and volume – a music community
insisting on being part of a new collaborative
approach. This is also evidenced within the
dataset, with the need for greater strategy and
co-ordination consistently emerging as a prevalent
theme in each of our five areas of focus.
The original ‘Liverpool, Music City?’ Bido
Lito! article called for a new organisation, an
independent Music Office run by Liverpool’s music
community, for the good of Liverpool’s music
ecosystem. A completely democratic and transparent
entity, run by a nominated and elected committee
of representatives from across the Liverpool
music sector. It would not serve self-interest.
It would be a truly honest broker. It would not
be run by the Council, but work with the city and
our universities to bring about positive change
and develop innovative music policy that sees
music valued and prioritised across all aspects
of city life. Whatever the structure of such an
organisation and the specific remit, we have
demonstrated as a sector we are ready to raise to
the challenge.
Following our ‘Liverpool, Music City?’ event on
4th May 2017 – which has provided the data for
this project – Liverpool City Council (through
Culture Liverpool) commissioned BOP Consulting
to produce a report on the music sector of the
city. The report seeks to “outline the importance
of the sector to the city, provide an analysis
of how the sector currently operates and suggest
ways of enabling it to reach its potential to meet
City and City Region priorities.” (Liverpool City
Council)
We welcome this move from the city and await the
report’s findings and suggestions - due in the
coming weeks - with anticipation.
This project has demonstrated that the music
community is ready to take its seat at the table,
to work in collaboration with the city and craft
a new future for Liverpool, with music rightly
embedded at its heart.
6.0
APPENDICIES
To access the full set of appendices, visit
liverpoolmusiccity.co.uk
6.1
Project launch via
Bido Lito! Magazine article
LIVERPOOL, MUSIC CITY?
Call to action piece written by Craig Pennington
in Bido Lito!, the Liverpool independent music and
culture magazine. Initially published on Thursday
23rd March 2017:
Is Liverpool really a global music city? Ahead of a public
discussion at Constellations on 4th May and a research project into
the health of Liverpool’s music ecosystem conducted by LJMU, Craig
G Pennington makes the case for a Liverpool City Music Office, run
by us – the city’s music community.
On 17th February 2017, the world’s first Music Tourism Convention
took place in Liverpool. Drawing in speakers and delegates from
Tennessee to Berlin, Amsterdam to Jakarta, Perth to Pontypridd,
the event provided an opportunity for cities around the world to
share their knowledge and experience of utilising music as a tool
in attracting the tourist buck to their shores. The event was broad
and enlightening; from blues trails across the southern states of
the USA to grassroots organising in Paraguay, it re-imagined the
role of music and tourism in struggling city districts.
The view many of these visitors held of Liverpool (or the version
of the city positioned at the event) was striking; our city as a
beacon, a world-class music tourism destination and a truly global
music city. But, is that really the case? True, our city has a
world-class music heritage, as well as a bubbling music tourism
industry selling that version of itself, but is Liverpool really a
global music city today?
At Bido Lito! we have consistently lamented a lack of joinedup
thinking and strategic planning around music in Liverpool.
Cities across Europe – Utrecht, Groningen, Mannheim to name but
three – with little or no music heritage, invest heavily in
specific departments to support and develop music in their city.
This support is considered and planned across artist development,
music education, music business development, music-friendly city
policies, city planning, tourism – practically each and every
element of city life – to ensure that music can flourish, bringing
its associated social, cultural and economic benefits to the city.
And, importantly, this support is developed and implemented in
partnership with the city’s music makers, educators and industry.
We believe that the time has come for this to happen in Liverpool.
At the end of 2015, Liverpool was awarded the status of UNESCO
City Of Music “…due to music’s place at the heart of Liverpool’s
contemporary culture, education and the economy – from the vibrant
live music scene to tourism, music management courses and digital
businesses”. According to UNESCO, the award is intended, “…to
focus cultural policy and activity in relation to music in the
city, delivering a more joined up and visible music offer.” Over a
year on, and despite the best efforts of a small number of underresourced
individuals, this agenda is yet to kick in. Like many
music organisations in the city, we see the need to embrace this
moment. This is an opportunity to rethink what music means to
Liverpool and create a new, community-led approach to music policy
in the city.
We all know that Liverpool City Council faces a precarious
financial future. Mayor Joe Anderson confirmed at February’s
Culture Sector Consultation that the austerity agenda is on course
to result in a £470 million real term loss to the city between 2010
and 2020. Council tax revenues remain painfully lean; Liverpool
has 70,000 more people than Bristol but receives £38million less
in council tax revenue because of lower property values. It is
unrealistic to expect the City Council to provide strategic
leadership around the city’s music agenda when such acute pressures
exist on them to provide core services. They are also detached from
the music culture that we, as a community, intimately understand.
Leadership needs to come from the people best placed to deliver
it; us, the music community of Liverpool. We need a Liverpool
City Music Office; a strong, independent voice that can champion,
support, and ultimately, invest in music in the city.
But first, we need to ask some honest questions. What does music
really mean to Liverpool in 2017? How is it valued? How healthy is
Liverpool’s music ecology? Is Liverpool’s Music Tourism offer truly
world-class and what role does new music play within it? In terms
of its policies around noise, planning and the role of music in the
built environment, does Liverpool have a global music city outlook?
How good are we at developing the next wave of artists in the city?
Is Liverpool an international hub for music business? How joined up
is the city’s music industry and music education offer?
Fundamentally, what is the future of music in our city? Who is
protecting it and who is fighting for a future with music at the
centre of the civic agenda?
When we think of the numerous and various flash points over the
years Bido Lito! has been active, it is hard to make the case
for Liverpool – in terms of the built environment, at least
– to be considered a city with music truly at its heart. From
noise abatement notices to planning decisions, and fracas around
busking to council rates fallouts, venues such as The Kazimier,
Static Gallery, 24 Kitchen Street, Constellations, MelloMello,
Wolstenholme Creative Space, Nation and a whole raft of others have
had their run-ins with the city. The particular issues at play
across each of these situations are diverse and specific, but what
is universal is the situation that results; a venue pitched against
the bureaucracy of the City Council.
This doesn’t work for anyone, least of all the venues concerned.
It also does little to help the council understand the subtly of
the issues at play and the potential impact on our city’s music
ecosystem. Because the reality is that there are few areas of
civic life that don’t have an impact on music in the city, a point
referenced in The Cultural Value of Live Music report – produced
by Dr Adam Behr, Dr Matt Brennan and Professor Martin Cloonan of
Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities – “licensing, noise abatement,
skills and training, policing, health and safety, highways… lots of
areas have a huge impact on live music that don’t necessarily refer
directly to it.”
We need a Liverpool City Music Office to act as an honest broker,
a positive mediator between the city and the music community. This
organisation will navigate the bureaucracy of the City Council
on behalf of the music community, but also work with the council
to help them understand the broad ranging impacts of policy
and decision making on the city’s music culture. The Liverpool
City Music Office will lobby the council positively, and work
in partnership with the council (but not for them) on behalf of
the music community to pre-empt flash points before they occur,
ultimately seeking to create a situation where Liverpool truly is a
city with music at its heart, considered and prioritised across all
aspects of civic life.
The characteristics of the challenges we face are specific in their
nature to our city, but on the whole not unique. According to the
Live Music Rescue Plan, commissioned by the Major of London, “35%
of London’s grassroots music venues have been lost since 2007”.
Bristol’s Live Music Census, completed in 2016, celebrated the
fact that “live music generates £123m of revenue towards the local
economy”, but pointed out that “50% of the city’s music venues were
affected by development, noise or planning issues.” Furthermore,
at the time of going to print, Live Music Exchange embarked on the
first UK Live Music Census, a move to quantify for the first time
the nationwide challenges the industry is facing, and inform policy
to help it flourish.
The work of UK Music and The Music Venues Trust around the ‘Agent
Of Change’ principle has been positive too. The principle revolves
around the commonsense idea that a person or business responsible
for a change (i.e. a new building development) is responsible
for managing the impact of the change; meaning that an apartment
block to be built near an established live music venue would have
to pay for soundproofing, while a live music venue opening in a
residential area would be responsible for the costs. This is a work
in progress though and has yet to be fully enshrined in UK Law.
Liverpool can be – and needs to be – a national leader in adopting
the principle, given the unique role music plays in our city’s
social, cultural and economic fabric.
I have written on various occasions that our city’s small and
medium-sized venues are the maternity ward of Liverpool’s music
ecosystem. It is a point that’s reiterated in The Cultural Value
of Live Music report: “It is these smaller spaces that provide
both performance and social spaces for rising acts. They feed into
an area’s ‘local character’ – its musical history – in a way that
makes them difficult to replace. This social aspect of independent
venues, along with the relationships that derive from it, is the
seed-bed from which a town or city’s musical reputation grows.”
Yet, in Liverpool – and gentrifying cities around the western world
– they are the spaces most under threat.
And this issue scales right up to the top of the live music food
chain. Liverpool’s Echo Arena is owned by Liverpool City Council:
it is the property of the city. Arenas around the country are
reliant on small venues to incubate and develop the talent of the
future, a point not lost on Guy Dunstan of the National Arenas
Association: “Where the support is needed is at the smaller end
of the scale and at the grassroots level. Because we’re reliant
on artists being developed through that network and scaling up to
arena acts.” Liverpool, along with other arena venue cities across
the UK, needs a flourishing live music scene to fuel their live
arena schedules of the future.
Liverpool is a city at a crossroads. Devolution will broaden the
scope of what Liverpool can mean in many ways and, in a post-Brexit
UK, we will sit as an outward looking, internationalist city in an
increasingly isolationist country. We are in a global competition
for bright young minds and our music culture is key to keeping the
best of those here and attracting the best from around the world.
It is our way of selling the dream, a point again emphasised in The
Cultural Value of Live Music report: “A strong music community has
also been proven to attract other industrial investment, along with
talented young workers who put a high value on quality of life, no
matter what their profession.”
The challenge is set for our city, and I believe the challenge
is set for us, the music community, to seize the opportunity
and create positive change. As The Cultural Value of Live Music
document puts it: “Policymakers could better account for the
cultural and economic output of small venues. Awareness of the
value of live music to their towns and cities if often reflected in
major developments whose main beneficiaries are larger businesses
or other sectors (notably the service industry). Many local
councils appreciate the need for a more ‘joined up’ approach but
this has long been voiced without being consistently implemented.
Competition between cities is intense and whilst this drives
significant investment in infrastructure projects, one of the
side effects of such regeneration can be a tougher environment for
venues without the commercial or political wherewithal to quickly
adapt to gentrification”.
In her opening address to the Music Tourism Convention in February,
Sally Balcombe, the CEO at Visit Britain, enthused that “Our goal
is to make the UK the number one music tourism destination in the
world.” Given our obvious head start with the Fab Four, Liverpool
is well placed to benefit handsomely from this vision. The Beatles
are a fabulous conversation starter, an initial motivation to
convince a would-be tourist that Liverpool should be the next stop
on their global trip list. There is an opportunity to leverage The
Beatles to broaden the spread of would-be visitors to the city. We
see this each year with Liverpool Psych Fest; 70% of the festival’s
annual audience comes from outside the North West and, of that, 30%
comes from abroad. The fact that the festival happens in Liverpool
is an additional motivating factor for the incoming audience;
they will check out The Beatles Story and sample the rest of our
city’s offer during their trip. But how, as a city, can we do this
better? How can we join up the city’s diverse music festivals and
vibrant ‘seven nights a week’ music offer with the tourist dollar,
yen or euro? Currently, with a lack of cohesive and collaborative
thinking, the city is missing out.
It is also important that we plan for and understand the changing
face of the modern traveller. The Airbnb phenomena tells us
something about the motivations of the millennial tourist. People
want to go beyond the headlines, off the beaten tourist track and
experience the places they visit like a local, enjoying a truly
authentic, immersive experience. The Beatles may help to bring
someone here in the first place, but it’s the experience people
have when they are here that matters. So linking up the city’s
fantastic day-to-day music offer with tourism makes complete sense
– especially if we want them to come back. The millennial traveller
will be the principle tourist in 20 years time. We need to get this
right.
Beyond live music in the city and music tourism, there are a number
of key elements that are central to our status as a global music
city: Artist Development, Music Business Development and Music
Education. These are areas in which the Liverpool City Music
Office will be proactive, instigating change. Here are three
points that I feel need to be addressed:
1) How well do we develop new musical talent in Liverpool?
True, there are higher education and university institutions
that successfully develop talent in a formal academic setting.
Projects and organisations such as LIMF Academy and Merseyside
Arts Foundation (to name but two) have played a fantastic role
over recent years in helping artists to navigate their way to
the next stage in their career and understand the changing
face of the business they are ploughing into. But, there is
scope for much further growth and development in this area,
opening up such opportunities to a wider range of artists. A
vibrant Liverpool City Music Office would empower organisations
working with emerging talent to expand their activity, opening
up access to artist development services to all of our city’s
musicians. We need to better understand what musicians need,
what support is required to empower artists, helping them
to develop in a way that fits with the creative vision of
what they wish to achieve. We need to marry up artists more
productively with local, national and international music
industry infrastructure. We need to invest in open source
resources for collaboration and wider development of the music
ecosystem.
2) Is Liverpool a global music industry hub?
Because, if we truly are a globally significant music city, it
needs to be. There are numerous international music businesses
based here, but there could be more. Many, many more. We need
to better understand the music businesses that are based here,
how they can be supported to grow, and how they can be marketed
internationally. We need to target new music business that can
be encouraged to come and make Liverpool their home. We need
to understand how we can make Liverpool a world-class music
city to base a music business in. In a digital, interconnected
world the opportunity is there. Globally speaking, Liverpool
is comparatively cheap to live and do business in – this is
certainly the case in comparison to London. If we get our
strategy right and can make Liverpool a truly great global
music city, the sales pitch to encourage music businesses to
base themselves here will be an easy sell.
3) What role does Liverpool’s music community play in music
education in the city?
True, universities and higher education institutions have made
great strides over recent years, embedding their courses and
cohorts within the fabric of the city’s music industry. But,
does this extend to our city’s schools? It needs to. It is
in school when the music bug really takes hold. Children in
Liverpool city region schools today are the musicians, moguls,
mavericks and music-obsessives of tomorrow. We need to bring
schools and the Liverpool music community much closer together,
developing deep and productive relationships that will have an
ongoing positive impact on the lives of young people, and the
music fabric of the city, for years to come. Again, there are some
amazing organisations working in this area. The Liverpool City
Music Office will empower these organisations to expand their
activity, improve access and increase their impact, for the good of
the city.
It is imperative to reaffirm the point that this vision for a
Liverpool City Music Office is inherently different; it will be run
by Liverpool’s music community, for the good of Liverpool’s music
ecosystem. It will be completely democratic and transparent, run by
a nominated and elected committee of representatives from across
the Liverpool music sector. It will not serve self-interest. It
will be a truly honest broker. It will not be run by the council,
but will work with the council to bring about positive change
and develop innovative music policy that sees music valued and
prioritised across all aspects of city life.
The ideas set out above are merely a starting point. They are a set
of key areas in which we believe the Liverpool City Music Office
needs to be active, working towards positive solutions. But the
agenda needs to come from you, Liverpool’s music community. We
all need to feed into the vision for what the Liverpool City Music
Office will be.
In order to begin this process, we will be hosting ‘Liverpool,
Music City?’ on 4th May at Constellations, in partnership with
Liverpool John Moores University. The event will be an opportunity
for the music community to come together and share their ideas
around what the Liverpool City Music Office will be, the functions
it will perform and the agenda it will pursue. It will also be
the starting point for a new piece of academic research by LJMU,
looking at the health of Liverpool’s music ecosystem. In advance
of the event, please visit liverpoolmusiccity.co.uk and share your
views and ideas about the issues currently facing music in our
city.
Photography ©
Stuart Moulding
6.2
Digital Survey launched
– 27th March 2017
Digital research survey (via Survey
Monkey) created by Jan Brown and
embedded onto liverpoolmusiccity.
co.uk website to collect initial
comments resulting from the article
in Bido Lito! The digital research
survey was launched on Thursday 27th
March 2017.
Digital Survey Structure:
LIVERPOOL, MUSIC CITY?
Please share with us your views and
ideas about the issues currently
facing music in our city but don’t
feel pressured as none of the
questions are compulsory. Feel free
to answer only the bits that are
important to you.
Live Music In The City.
“What do you think are the main
challenges facing live music in the
city and what do you think could be
done to help address them?”
Music Tourism.
“Tell us your thoughts about whether
you think Liverpool makes the most
out of its music tourism offer.”
Developing New Musical Talent.
“Tell us your thoughts about how
well you think new musical talent is
developed in Liverpool and what else
could be done.”
Is Liverpool a Music Industry Hub?
“Tell us your thoughts about whether
you believe Liverpool is a music
industry hub and what could be done
to encourage new music businesses to
start up, or relocate here.”
Music Education.
“Tell us your thoughts on the role
that the Liverpool music community
plays, and could play, in music
education in the city.”
Other Important Issues.
“What other areas or issues in
relation to music in the city should
we be considering?”
Anything You Would Really Like Us
to Know About?
“Any views you would like to
share?”
Any Great Ideas?
“Any ideas, big or small, you would
like to share?”
Tell Us About Yourself
“Are you currently (tick all
that are relevant): an audience
member, a musician, a venue owner/
operator, a promoter, other (please
specify).”
Tell Us About Yourself
“In the future would you like to
be (tick all that are relevant):
an audience member, a musician, a
venue owner/operator, a promoter,
active in a music business, working
in music education, working in
tourism, other (please specify).”
Tell Us About Yourself
“Gender: male, female, prefer not
to say, other (please specify).”
Tell Us About Yourself
“How Old Are You?: under 16 years
old, 16-19 years old, 20-29 years
old, 30-39 years old, 40-49 years
old, 50-59 years old, 60-69 years
old, 70-79 years old, 80+ years
old, prefer not to say.”
Help Us Keep In Contact With You
“Contact Details: name, city/town,
email address, phone number.”
Help Us Keep In Contact With You
“Can you make it to the ‘Liverpool,
Music City?” event on 4th May at
Constellations?: yes, no, comment.”
Help Us Keep In Contact With You
“Would you be interested in being
part of future discussions?: yes,
no.”
Thank you for taking part in our
survey.
6.3
‘Liverpool, Music City?’
Event Structure - 4th May 2017
18:00 – Introductions from Bido Lito!
Magazine, Berlin Club Commission,
Sound Diplomacy and LJMU
18:30-21:00 – PUBLIC DISCUSSION VIA
ROUND TABLE CONVERSATION ‘PODS’.
The whole group is split into 5 sub
groups. Each group is focussed on
one of five key themes and led by
industry experts in those respected
areas.
5 POD FORMAT – 15 MINS DISCUSSION PER
POD.
LIVE MUSIC – Experts: Pamela Schobeß
(Berlin Club Commission), Rebecca
Wild (Constellations)
Academic: Jan Brown
ARTIST DEVELOPMENT –
Experts: Louisa Roach (Merseyside
Arts Foundation / She Drew The Gun),
Chris Bye (Arts Council England)
Academic: Will Stockley
GLOBAL INDUSTRY HUB –
Experts: Chris Meehan (Sentric
Music), Craig Thompson (Syndikat)
Academic: Domique Aspey
TOURISM -
Experts: Ffion Lewis (Sound
Diplomacy), Catherine Hurley (BME)
Academic: Ian Fillis
2 X ‘Industry Experts’ per pod
to start the discussion with the
participants. LJMU Academic allocated
to each pod. Academic to take brief
notes of the key themes that are
emerging during the conversation.
These themes to be input onto an
electronic mind map that is being
projected onto the wall.
At the end of each 15min discussion
participants will be asked to write
down their key thoughts onto A5
cards and hand the cards back to the
experts and academic on that pod.
LJMU academic to collect all cards
from the evening and pass back to Jan
Brown to collate.
Participants will be reminded that
if they have any further thoughts
that they can add those thoughts
to the conversation via the
liverpoolmusiccity.co.uk site under
the contribute section.
Jan Brown to input data and code for
analysis and presentation in final
report.
All data to be available
electronically to the Liverpool music
community.
MUSIC EDUCATION –
Brian Campbell (LIPA 6th Form),
Nadeen Kemp (LIPA 6th Form)
Academic: Kevin Johnston
21:00 – LIVERPOOL – UK LIVE MUSIC
CENSUS
DATA CAPTURE:
5PM: Pod Expert Briefing. Jan Brown
to hand out a summary sheet of key
issues raised via online survey to
date
6.4
Organisation
List
The following list shows a sample of the Liverpool music
organisations who have engaged with this project via the online
survey or by having representation at our ‘Liverpool, Music City?’
event on 5th May 2017. It is not comprehensive and is supplemented
by a large list of independents, freelancers and audience members.
3B Records
80s Vinyl
81 Renshaw Street
Abandon Silence
ACC Liverpool
Africa Oye
Arts Club
Arts Council England
Astral Coast Festival
Baltic Creative CIC
BBC Radio Merseyside
Beautiful Ideas Co.
Bido Lito!
Bluecoat
British Music Experience
Buyers Club
Camp and Furnace
Ceremony Concerts
Chibuku
Circus
Constellations
Culture Liverpool
Deep Hedonia
Deltasonic
Dig Vinyl
Elevator
ENRG
FACT
Fallen Industries
Fiesta Bombarda
Freeman PR
God Unknown
Harvest Sun
Hug Management
I Love Live Events
ICCaT
IFB
Institute for Popular Music,
University of Liverpool
Invisible Wind Factory
Kazimier
Leaf
LIMF
LIPA
Liverpool Calling
Liverpool International Jazz Festival
Liverpool Music Week
Liverpool Philharmonic
Liverpool Psych Fest
Liverpool Sound City
Liverpool Vision
LJMU
Maguires Pizza Bar
Make Liverpool
Marketing Liverpool
Medication
Mellowtone
Meraki
Merseyside Arts Foundation
Modern Sky
Northern Lights
O2 Academy
Open Circuit Festival
Parr Street Studios
Pirate Studios
PMS
Sentric Music
Skeleton Key
Skiddle
Smithdown Road Festival
Sound Of Music Podcast
Static Gallery
Tandem PR
The Label (Edge Hill University)
The Music Manual
Threshold Festival
UpItUp
Viper Label
VMS
War Room
Yeah Buddy
A new future for Liverpool,
with music rightly embedded at its heart.
LiverpoolMusicCity.co.uk