Census to track UK’s live music scene gets under way

THE organisers of the “world’s first live music census” were surprised at the amount of activity during a 24-hour survey of performances across the UK.

An “army of music lovers” took to Britain’s streets to track performances in cities across the country from lone buskers to stadium concerts from midday on Thursday.

Co-lead on the project Matt Brennan, of the University of Edinburgh, said it was too early to reveal conclusive results but said there had been “enthusiastic” reports from volunteers.

He added: “I was surprised by the diversity, there’s just a huge level of musical activity going on.

“It shows the importance of gathering data on this to assess the health of live music, economically, socially, culturally,” he said.

Mr Brennan was based in Glasgow for the census and said there was “big engagement” across different genres in the city.

“I started out at an organ recital at noon yesterday, spent a chunk of the night at the centre for contemporary arts, and ended up in an indieclub called Nice’n’Sleazy at 1.30am.”

He added: “My co-investigator is now walking up and down Buchanan Street in Glasgow counting buskers.

“It’s ongoing and we are trying to catch as much as we can.”

The UK Live Music Census, led by the universities of Edinburgh, Newcastle and Glasgow, aims to quantify the challenges the UK industry is facing and inform policy to help it flourish.

Results of the census, which also includes an online survey open for the next three months, are not expected until later this year.