Live music fails to hit the high note with gig royalties down a third
Live music royalties from gigs were down by almost a third last year, despite many gig goers flocking back to their mosh pits.
Revenues from live shows fell by 29 per cent to £8m in 2021, compared to £11.3m the year before. More pressingly, this was a 85 per cent plunge from pre-pandemic levels in spite of the slow but steady return to normality thanks to venue re-openings and live music comebacks.
PRS for Music, which collects royalties for over 160,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers, including Ed Sheeran, said the postponement of big hitting tours from Elton John and the Eagles scuppered a full industry boom.
Whilst live music failed to deliver for some music creators’ pay cheques, online royalty revenues rose 46 per cent to £268m. Music streaming also accounted for the largest proportion of online revenue in 2021.
Nonetheless, the ongoing growth of streaming on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music plays into the ongoing concerns around the marketplace.
The UK competition watchdog launched a study in January asking whether the music streaming market is working well for music lovers