More than 1.5 million Britons abandon music ambitions as seed venues disappear

With local live music on the decline, the Seed Sounds Weekender is returning to restore live music to pubs and seed venues across the UK.

The festival aims to combat the declining number of pubs and seed venues across the UK, which is making it harder for emerging artists to perform. The UK has lost around 11,000 pubs, bars and grassroots venues since 2019, leading to over 1.5 million young Britons abandoning their ambitions to perform live music, according to nationwide research.

“Local venues aren't just where bands cut their teeth - they're the foundation of any real culture,” said Matty Healey of the 1975, who backed the first edition of Seed Sounds Weekender. “Without them, you don't get The Smiths, Amy Winehouse, or The 1975. You get silence. Music doesn’t start in arenas or boardrooms - it starts in back rooms, pubs, basements and independent spaces running on the belief in something bigger.”

Polling of over 1,500 UK adults found that 17% of Britons now have to travel over 30 minutes to access a venue that hosts live music at least once a month. Meanwhile, 31% say that fewer local venues are hosting live music than five years ago. Despite this decline, 57% of Britons say that live music in pubs and hospitality venues is part of what makes British culture special.

Yet, if the UK continues to lose around 35-40 venues per month, a further 2,000 venues will be lost by the end of the decade.

This shrinking venue network is already impacting young people’s ambitions to perform live; polling of UK young adults found that while 54% have wanted to perform live music, 28% say that they have either given up or scaled back ambitions because of a lack of suitable nearby venues. Yet, demand for live music remains strong, with 63% of young people saying they would be more likely to go out locally if pubs hosted live music regularly.

The Seed Sounds Weekender, the UK’s largest multi-venue music festival, is set to transform over 1,000 pubs, bars, restaurants and hotels across 20 towns and cities into live stages for over 2,000 performances.

Taking place April 24-26, the festival is backed by an industry-wide coalition aiming to halt the spread of live music deserts by restoring seed music venues at scale. The coalition includes 19,000 seed artists and 2,000 venues, including hospitality operators such as Stonegate Group, New World Trading Company, Arc Inspirations, Bootlegger, Katie O’Brien’s and Heartwood Collection sites across the country. The festival is presented by live music marketplace GigPig.

For the second year, Manchester’s Oast House has been chosen as the festival’s Main Stage.

“Seed venues are where British music begins - in pubs, bars and back rooms,” said Michael Forster, co-founder and CEO of GigPig. “If millions of people are living beyond the easy reach of live music, we are narrowing the next generation before they even start. These figures also show how much appetite there is for live music at a local level. At a time when Britain’s pubs, bars, and wider hospitality sector are struggling, the public sentiment is overwhelmingly clear: live music will bring people through the door.”

"The pub circuit was where it all started for me. I'd play cover sets and throw in some original songs whenever I had the nerve,” said Jamie Webster. “Even after I signed my first record deal with Modern Sky UK, pubs and bars were where I'd try new things: I played my first single, Weekend In Paradise, in pubs before it was released to see what the reaction was like. The audience was only about 20 or 30 people, but there's nothing more honest than that. Seed music venues are so important for that reason: there's no hiding behind a big production or high up on a stage. It's just you, your songs and the audience. That's where you find out who you are as an artist. The music community must back the seed space."

Image Credit: Pexels: Matheus Bertelli