Growing the music sector in Liverpool

Since 2015 Liverpool has looked at how to change the narrative around itself as a music city. While celebrating our music heritage we needed to showcase the diversity of our current music offer and the strength of our music industry sector. The establishment of a Music Board and a Music office put the building blocks in place for a Music Sector Development programme which would show that the music industry could be a key economic driver. We already had a good base on which to build with companies such as Sentric, Ad Lib and Modern Sky based in the city region.

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Background

Liverpool has always been known as music city, but this was largely based on its music heritage and in particular The Beatles. Around 2015/16 it became more evident that there was a growing music industry. We knew that music tourism (again Beatles focused) contributed significantly to the visitor economy but there was a need to do more around the Music sector.

In 2015 we successfully bid for UNESCO Music City designation, and this led to the commissioning by the City Council of a music strategy and a piece of mapping work. As a result, it became clear that public sector intervention could have a massive impact on the growth of the music sector. (This was also influenced by the success of the City Council managed Liverpool Film Office).  A Liverpool City industry Music Board was set up reporting into the Metro Mayor and alongside this a Music Office was established based in Culture Liverpool in the City Council but reporting into the Music Office and the Mayor.

The Music Office (in practice one person) worked with the Music Board to develop a music industry strategy and action plan which was also informed by wider sector consultation across the City Region. This formed the basis for a bid for £2m of Strategic Investment Funding (SIF) which was approved in March 2020 just days before the first pandemic lockdown. The Music Office and Music Board immediately demonstrated their effectiveness by getting approval to use £150k of the initial allocation to deliver a Covid Emergency fund for music businesses with the process completed by the start of June 2020.

Alongside this there has also been a clear strategy to move away from a narrative that is focused on music heritage. The city has actively gone after major events and had the BBC 6 Music Festival in 2019 and Radio 1’s Big Weekend in 2025. Of course, we also bid against a number of other UK cities to win the right to host Eurovision in 2023.  

Liverpool did not have a major festival, so in 2012 we created our own in the shape of Liverpool International Music Festival (LIMF).  This ultimately showed the major promoters that we were a city that could support large scale festivals and when Live Nation set up the annual On the Waterfront festival and In The Park, we were able to stop producing LIMF. In addition, Liverpool Football Club opened up Anfield for shows so that major artists that had never played the city or hadn’t played it for over 40 years now appeared here, including Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones and Tayor Swift.

We have also run campaigns such as Discover the New Beat which shows the strength and diversity of the current Liverpool music offer:

Objectives

To demonstrate that:

  • public sector interventions could support significant growth in the music sector
  • the music sector was a serious economic industrial sector that shouldn’t be seen as something that was about culture alone
  • growth could be achieved with an inclusive approach
  • small investments in businesses and artists could make a huge difference
  • interventions led by sector intelligence are much more effective than public sector driven interventions which do not relate to how the industry works
  • there is a need to be agile in your interventions and that a certain amount of limited risk should be accepted by the funder.

Overall the aim was to achieve sector growth, support businesses to grow, to support skills and talent development, create jobs and increase GVA and to do this in an inclusive manner. All of this was achieved.

Approach

The establishment of a Music Board and a Music Office staffed by someone with sector experience meant that the sector strategy and then business case for funding were based on real local industry intelligence. 

Data proved that there was a case for making an intervention that would lead to growth. 

Due to the sector relationships of the individual in the Music Office and the Music Board members it was relatively easy to bring the sector on board. 

Impact

Impact
An independent impact report was commissioned which provides evidence of the huge impact the programme had despite the disruption of the pandemic. 
The impact report provides all the data on GVA growth and jobs created but overall, the programme proved that the music sector should be viewed as a sector that can drive economic growth. The economic mapping report that was commissioned shows the scale of the sector is larger than we previously believed and highlighted how we can support further growth

It showed the impact that small investments can have a significant impact on music businesses and artists, and how you can support sector growth in an inclusive manner providing pathways into the sector from all parts of the community 

The University of Liverpool have acknowledged that they were successful in their c£7m  Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funding bid for the Music Futures programme because of the work done through the Music Sector Development programme. This showed that we were as a city region committed to the growth of the sector, had a public sector that understood its importance and had an infrastructure through the Music Office and Music Board that was effective in connecting to the sector.

Lessons learned

There is now a better understanding of the sector by policy makers/funders and its economic potential. This will hopefully make it easier to secure further funding from, for example, Creative Places Growth Fund. 

It is vitally important to continue to meet with music businesses, artists etc. It is time consuming but is the best way to keep abreast of industry needs, challenges, opportunities. 

There is a need to be flexible and have funding that allows you to be agile in response to a complex sector. 
The programme demonstrates the need to be agile and to take some measured risks which the public sector doesn’t always find easy. If you have a Music Office staffed by someone who understands the industry, then the risk is minimised. Processes need to be streamlined and be fast moving if support for the music sector is to be effective.

In hindsight

  • We would have built a small delivery team rather than being reliant on a one person Music Office. This would have increased effectiveness of delivery but would also have build capacity with more people aware of how to succeed in the role that brings the music sector and public industry together. 
  • There was a plan to introduce a ticket levy which could have supported the work of the Music Office, but this idea has now been introduced nationally by the LIVE Trust and MVT. 

Effectiveness

The sector development programme has been incredibly effective. 

It has supported the growth of the sector and led to it being viewed by policy makers locally as a genuine economic driver which is worthy of investment. 
It led directly to the awarding of almost £7m of AHRC funding for the University of Liverpool led programme, Music Futures, which is aimed at supporting innovation and the growth of music tech in the Liverpool City Region. 

It has demonstrated the effectiveness of small investments (grants) into music businesses and artists.

The mapping report has given us the most detailed understanding of the scale and make up of the sector, highlighting where the city’s strengths are that can be built on as well as showing areas where further work is needed. The study clearly shows the pathway to a £1bn music economic in Liverpool by 2035. The methodology itself developed with the support of the Strategic Investment Funding is now being seen as the go-to model for music sector mapping and has been commissioned elsewhere in the UK.

Recommendations

The classic music city model involves establishing an industry board working alongside a Music Office and Liverpool is another example of how this simple model is effective. The music office needs to be staffed by people who are rooted in the music industry and who can manage the needs of the sector with the requirements of public sector funding. 

Data on the sector backed up by intelligence from the industry board and sector consultation should determine priorities and activity. 

Be clear on if you are supporting music to enrich the cultural life of a city region or if you are supporting it as a growth sector which will generate GVA and jobs. 

Further information