First music census to snapshot the UK’s £3.5bn music scene

The UK will today hold its first live music census aiming to take a snapshot of the general public's musical choices and tastes, how they engage with music, the formats they prefer to changes in musical trends. The UK Live Music Census is led by the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newcastle. It is hoped the survey will help measure live music's cultural and economic value, discover what challenges the industry is facing, and inform policy to help it flourish. From midday today for 24 hours a volunteer army of music lovers will track performances in cities across the country, from lone buskers to massed choirs and from pub gigs to stadium concerts. There will be coordinated censuses in Glasgow, lead by the University of Glasgow's Professor Martin Cloonan, Newcastle, Oxford, Leeds, Southampton and Brighton. The music industry is worth £3.5bn to the UK economy, and creates almost 101,600 jobs, according to UK Music. And yet the full picture of what the public is listening to and how they listen and interact has never been fully and accurately surveyed.