Live music sounds sweet as venues stage revival
The clamour to save London’s dwindling number of live music venues has long created a din louder than Motörhead at full rip.
Slick, large spaces such as the Roundhouse and Shepherd’s Bush Empire have captivated the middle-class fan happy to shell out £40 as CD buying has evaporated.
But, over the past decade, 40% of London’s venues have shut as the economic crisis, developers’ rapacious desire for prime property and rising tuition fees have hurt smaller venues.
However, a deal this month by respected promoters DHP to buy MAMA group venues The Borderline in Tottenham Court Road and The Garage in Highbury are eye-catching.
Both house fewer than 600 people and follow recent deals for Camden’s Jazz Café and Barfly. What’s more, the Music Venue Trust reckons there are as many as seven new venues planned for London.
In contrast to live music festivals, prospects for venue owners are looking up.
Glastonbury, which takes place next week, made just 50p per ticket from its 200,000 attendees last year and a proliferation of similar, mid-sized festivals has watered down the potential of the market, sending some festivals bust.
By contrast, the introduction of the night tube, new planning laws which stipulate that developers adjacent to venues must take responsibility for noise control and promises by Mayor Sadiq Khan’s to protect arts in the capital may just have changed the tune.
