Mapping live music urban ecologies – potential and challenges.

Abstract

Music makes a significant economic contribution and is a source of cultural sustenance across cities and regions (EC 2006; IFPI-Oxford Economics, 2020), drawing attention - and bringing both economic and cultural capital - to localities. Each regional context produces a complex live music ecosystem of musical and non-musical actors and concerns - from venues, promoters and musicians to licensing, health, policing, and transport. This chapter explores the contextual and theoretical aspects of researching live music in urban spaces, through use of the live music ‘ecologies’ (Behr et al. 2016). It provides the background to, and an overview of, research and knowledge exchange in this area with an aim of evaluating them from the perspective of their potential and challenges in informing music industries and facilitating evidence-based policymaking that combines the interests of the live music sector, and broader night-time economy, with their urban and civic contexts.