Better news for UK music industry

IQ reports that at least four new music venues will open in London in 2016, as the grassroots sector begins to rebound from recent troubles. DHP Family recently acquired ex-MAMA & Company venues The Borderline in Soho and The Garage in Highbury from Live Nation, while Steve Ball’s Columbo Group snapped up Camden’s The Jazz Cafe and The Barfly from the same company. The Jazz Cafe recently reopened, with The Barfly to be relaunched as The Camden Assembly in the coming months. 

And Music Week reports that more than one in three attendees at live music events in Britain last year were music tourists – an increase of 16% on 2014. A total of 10.4 million music tourists attended UK festivals and concerts in 2015, of which 767,000 were from overseas, reveals UK Music’s Wish You Were Here 2016 report, released today. Foreign concertgoers bought £38m worth of tickets and spent an average of £852 each (up 13% on 2014). The report also revealed that music tourists spent a total of £3.7 billion in 2015, with 39,034 full-time jobs reliant on the sector. It was also strong year for British live music in general, with 3.7m people attending a festival and 24m at least one concert 

http://www.iq-mag.net/2016/06/london-resurgent-capitals-venues-fight-back/#.V1qswLsrKM8