The Beating, Bruised, and Brilliant Heart of Live Music in 2025
What 8,000 fans just told the industry — and why it can't afford to ignore them.
The Music Fans Voice survey 2025 isn't just another data dump. It's more than 8,000 music fans across the UK stepping up to tell the industry: "If you don't protect the grassroots, you're killing live music." Full stop.
The CMS Select Committee Report of May 2024 was clear: There should be a fully funded, government instigated, Fan Led Review of Music. Fans should be central to what music is about, and their voices should be heard. The Government said no (actually, they said not to almost everything that they were directly told they needed to do that had any sort of cost attached to it). So the music industry worked together with Metro Mayors and local authorities to do everything that could be done without the government taking that lead, creating a comprehensive set of questions that were independently managed, delivered, and assessed; the Music Fans Voice Survey.
The results are impressive and they point the way forward that live music fans want to see across a number of policy areas and initiatives. And they also tell us that way forward includes exactly what the committee suggested: There needs to be a full Fan Led Review. The gap between what Fans want to see and what the industry is actually doing has never been wider. Fans’ voices haven’t been listened to. We need to see a mechanism emerge where that voice is a central part of the conversation.
In the meantime, while we wait for the Government to take that lead and create the platform to amplify that voice, what do the Survey results tell us?
70% of fans say supporting local artists and scenes is the main reason they bother leaving the house at all. It's not about chasing clout or hashtags — it's about loyalty. Real, messy, glorious loyalty.
And fans feel it, too. 94% said they feel safer at grassroots gigs than at the big shiny events. Probably because your local 250-cap venue isn't pretending to "curate an experience." It's just music, sweat, and that slightly sticky floor everyone pretends not to notice.
The problem? These places are vanishing. Since 2020, 58% of fans have seen a local venue or club close. And every time it happens, another thread in the live music ecosystem snaps. You can't just build a "new" grassroots scene out of nowhere. It's not LEGO.
Fans get it. They're crying out for more local events, better transport options, and proper funding before it's too late. They're even willing to pay for it: 93% would happily chuck an extra £1 on a stadium ticket if it meant saving the grassroots, supporting venues, artists and promoters. Not because anyone asked them to. Because they know what's at stake. Most are happy for it to be bundled into the face value or added transparently as a service charge to arena and stadium tickets. They don’t care how you do it, they just want it done. This isn’t some abstract “good cause.” Fans know that without the grassroots there are no future headliners, no future tours, no future scene.
Honestly, if you've spent even half an hour working in the grassroots sectors, none of this data is surprising. We've been screaming it into the void for years while everyone else fiddled about with VIP lounges and ticketing algorithms. Meanwhile, the heart of live music has been slowly starving.
Grassroots music venues are everything to fans. They're where the community is, where the culture lives, and where the next generation of legends will be born. Lose them, and you lose it all. No amount of "immersive experiences" or nostalgia tours is going to patch that hole.
Fans aren’t just turning up at grassroots venues — they're basically setting up camp. Weekly, monthly, whenever they can scrape the cash together. They're dragging their mates along, buying t-shirts, making memories that don't come with a "platinum package" price tag.
They're the places where people meet their best friends, fall in love, find their tribe. They're where you show up heartbroken and leave with a new favourite band. They're the spaces where ordinary nights turn into the stories you tell for the rest of your life. No slick corporate event can recreate that, no matter how many lasers or Instagram walls you throw at it.
Without grassroots venues, the industry isn't "at risk." It's done. No next wave of bands. No local scenes. Just endless reboots of whatever's trending on TikTok and nostalgia tours for artists who haven't written a new song since 2012.
Grassroots music venues aren't optional extras. They are the living, breathing heart of live music. They're where legends are made, where communities are forged, where ordinary nights become extraordinary memories.
Fans aren't being difficult when you ask them these questions. They're literally handing over the blueprint for survival based on what they know to be true and what needs to be done. Fund grassroots directly. Protect them from developers and noise complaints. Make it affordable, make it accessible, and maybe — just maybe — live music won't turn into a theme park version of itself.
The "Music Fans Voice" survey isn't a polite suggestion. It's a last warning: Save the grassroots, or get ready for an industry built entirely on tribute acts and meet-and-greets with influencers pretending to DJ.
What you can do:
READ: Get the Music Fans Voice Survey HERE
SHARE: Use your social media to promote the Music Fans Voice Survey results
DEMAND ACTION: Write to your MP and ask them to read the survey results, act on what fans want, and demand the full Fan Led Review.