Culture Minister to speak at LIVE Awards

LIVE is delighted to announce that Culture Minister Ian Murray MP will be joining us at the LIVE Awards next month to mark the significant progress made this year in establishing the LIVE Trust. Given the crowded policy agenda and the work that has gone into the Trust, it is significant that the Minister has chosen to join us. Of course, the LIVE Awards is an incredible evening so the Minister will also get to see firsthand how excellence is standard in UK live music – from our agents and promoters to venues and festivals – including boundary pushing innovation in operation, inclusion and sustainability.

You can see the full list of nominees here and the winners will be announced at the LIVE Awards ceremony on Wednesday, 10th December at Troxy in London. With 600 guests expected to enjoy dinner & complimentary drinks, and proceeds supporting the ongoing work of LIVE, there are plenty of reasons to be there. The LIVE Awards is always one of the highlights of our year and we look forward to another fabulous evening.

To secure your seat, book here.

LIVE Venues: Crackdown on touts is music to our ears

One of LIVE’s key legislative goals has moved a significant step closer to being delivered after the Government announced their plans to tackle ticket touts.  The proposals include new rules to make it illegal to resell tickets for live events above original cost which should put tickets directly into the hands of fans as the measures will end industrial-scale ticket touting 

The new rules announced today make clear that: 

Ticket resale above face value will be illegal – this will be defined in legislation as the original ticket price plus unavoidable fees, including service charges 

Service fees charged by resale platforms will be capped to prevent the price limit being undermined 

Resale platforms will have a legal duty to monitor and enforce compliance with the price cap 

Individuals will be banned from reselling more tickets than they were entitled to buy in the initial ticket sale 

The new rules will apply to any platform reselling tickets to UK fans, including secondary ticketing platforms and social media websites. Businesses who break the regulations could be subject to financial penalties of up to 10% of global turnover from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), under new powers introduced the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act 2024. 

Commenting for LIVE, CEO Jon Collins said, “LIVE fully supports the government’s decisive action to clamp down on ticket touting and put fans back at the heart of live music.  For too long, exploitative resellers have treated fans like cash machines, hoarding tickets and inflating prices, while contributing nothing to our industry.  This crackdown is a vital step toward fans securing gig tickets at a fair price and artists, promoters and venues being properly supported.  This is the moment when money stops lining the pockets of touts and starts going back where it belongs - into the hands of those who create and enjoy live entertainment.”

LIVE was also pleased to see an important acknowledgement by Government of the role of the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers (STAR) in convening the sector to establish best practice in the primary market.

LIVE Venues: Live Events Energy Scheme continue to build support

The Live Events Energy Scheme (LEES), a collaborative partnership between LIVE, Ecotricity Business, A Greener Future (AGF) and the Music Venue Trust (MVT) continues to win support across UK live music as it uses an energy basket model to make it easier for music venues to procure green energy.

Future Yard, the award winning grassroots music venue in Birkenhead, has hailed how LEES has helped them take a major step forward on its sustainability journey.  Put simply, LEES allows the venue to benefit from the collective buying power of the wider live music industry, accessing 100% renewable energy at rates that would previously only have been available to large-scale operators.

Future Yard’s backing of LEES is further amplified by AEG Europe’s decision to join the scheme in October 2025.  With major venues like The O2 Arena now powered by Ecotricity’s deep green energy, the scheme’s reach and impact has grown significantly.  This not only reinforces the credibility and momentum of LEES across the live events sector but also demonstrates how the basket model delivers tangible financial advantages and that collective action can level the playing field and accelerate sustainability across the sector.

Scan now to discover how the Live Events Energy Scheme can help your venue.

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LIVE Talks: From Momentum to Movement - Breaking Barriers in South Asian Live Music, Hosted by Sania Haq

Earlier this month, LIVE was delighted to partner with award-winning inclusion specialist and music researcher, Sania Haq for another of her insightful, data rich and opportunity laden analyses of the South Asian live music scene in the UK.  With a younger audience base and wealth of cross-genre artists, the message was clear, there is demand to be tapped in to and talented supply to access meaning a wealth of opportunities for venues, festivals and promoters.  Over the past year, South Asian live music has continued to grow in visibility, with artists selling out major UK venues and curated spaces at festivals spotlighting South Asian creativity. 

In this follow-up to 2024's "From Melas to Stadiums" session, Sania explored how we can move beyond celebration to sustainable change.  From breaking bottlenecks in the talent pipeline to addressing affordability and audience demand, this session unpacked the practical steps needed to support South Asian live music at every level.

As with all of our LIVE Talks, this session was free to access and a recording is available in our LIVE Talks archive.

LIVE Touring: LIVE briefs MEPs on the opportunities available from EU touring reform

As part of LIVE’s long standing efforts to secure meaningful reform of the post-Brexit touring arrangements that hamper so many UK artists, companies and crew, CEO, Jon Collins joined Naomi Pohl, General Secretary of the Musicians’ Union to brief a delegation of MEPs in London for the annual EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly.  This was a tremendous opportunity to land key messages around the need for reform with influential voices in Brussels.  Together Jon and Naomi discussed the challenges for artists and crew, carnets, cabotage and merch restrictions.  

The MEPs were clearly engaged, had a raft of follow up questions and shared our desire to remove barriers for the EU and UK creative industries.  Several of them brought up the issue of touring artists when they met with members of our Parliament earlier this week.

LIVE Commits to Supporting Parents and Carers Through the PiPA Pledge

LIVE is proud to have signed the PiPA Pledge. This commitment reflects our belief in fostering a progressive, flexible culture not only within our own organisation but across the entire live music sector. We understand how essential it is to support parents and carers at every level of the industry, and we’re dedicated to helping create environments that are inclusive, supportive, and truly welcoming for everyone.

The pledge follows Five Principles:

Recognise

Champion

Balance

Evolve

Celebrate

If your organisation would be interested in joining, please find more information on the PiPA website. We hope this opens up conversations across LIVE members and organisations about inclusive practices.