Leisure 29 fleurets.com What are the biggest threats facing the industry? With the continued growth of festival markets, bands and artists do not tend to tour in the summer. This makes the trade very seasonal for live music and consequently to be a successful live music venue it is crucial that you have a secondary income stream either through regular club events or having a multi-purpose venue space that can be used for weddings and private events over the summer. GRAHAM WALTERS What is your role/company? I’m Chief Operating Officer of UK venues for Live Nation Entertainment and Academy Music Group Ltd. I have been working in the live music business for over 25 years now. Collectively, we own and operate 22 venues nationwide in 14 major cities, with capacities ranging from 250 up to 7,500. Many of our venues are of significant historical importance, some with Listed status and we have four prime sites in the capital, including the O2 Academy Brixton and O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire. What are the biggest threats facing the industry? Increasing rents is an issue, and it’s also becoming more challenging to find suitable buildings. Licensing and planning laws are ever-changing, as is the rise of more city centre and residential housing nearby to live entertainment venues, a subject that has given rise to the Agent of Change Principle to protect music venues. What are your predictions for the industry going forwards? Music has never been more varied and musical trends evolve so much faster than they used to, which is partly down to streaming, digital services and social media. Bands play our much larger venues far more quickly than they would have say 10-20 years ago. Production values are now incredible, with limitless possibilities in staging, special effects, technical, sound, lighting and video. As technology advances, there are far more opportunities to evolve in the live industry for sure, from how fans connect with artists, to developments we’re seeing in Virtual Reality, but the passion for the live experience in-person will long continue. Digital advancements will also improve the ticketing systems further. Our partners at Ticketmaster are constantly working to improve technology to get tickets directly into the hands of fans. What is your role/company? Over 15 years ago I created Propaganda, the UK’s biggest weekly club night. We occasionally feature live music at the event, and Ed Sheeran has even played. We also co- own several live music venues with the promoters MJR. Our flagship and first venue was Tramshed in Cardiff, which launched in 2015 and has a 1,000 capacity as well as events space and a boutique cinema. Following its success we have purchased The Warehouse in Leeds, Plug in Sheffield, The Assembly in Leamington Spa and former Rainbow Warehouse in Birmingham, which we are reopening shortly as The Mill. What changes have you witnessed in this time? The growth of online music platforms and YouTube has had a positive impact on the live music industry. Never has there been such easy access to music. Subsequently, listeners are easily able to find new artists, which in turn means that artists are getting bigger quicker. With the widely-reported decline in music sales, live touring has become more crucial to artists and for many it has become their predominant income stream. DAN ICKOWITZ-SEIDLER What are you predictions for the industry going forwards? People continue to crave live music experiences which can not be replicated online, I think we’ll continue to see growth in the live music sector despite a challenging climate in some other areas of the entertainment industry.