With concerts and festivals unlikely to be able to take place again until next year, UK Music area leading a campaign for Government support, backed by 1500 artists including Sir Paul McCartney, Ed Sheeran, Iron Maiden and Dua Lipa. <\/p>\n
Stars from the UK\u2019s live music sector, alongside thousands of crew and venues, have issued an urgent plea for support from the UK Government during what would have been the UK\u2019s world-famous festival season.<\/p>\n
One of the first industries to be hit by the outbreak of Covid-19 in the UK, live music is likely to be one of the last to return with concerts and festivals unlikely to take place again in the UK until 2021 at the earliest<\/p>\n
In the joint letter, the artists say: \u201cUK live music has been one of the UK\u2019s biggest social, cultural, and economic successes of the past decade. But, with no end to social distancing in sight or financial support from government yet agreed, the future for concerts and festivals and the hundreds of thousands of people who work in them looks bleak.”<\/p>\n
Venues, concerts, festivals and production companies added \u00a34.5bn to the economy in 2019, and supported 210,000 jobs across the country, demonstrating the vital economic contribution of live music. However hundreds of redundancies have already been made, with the potential for tens of thousands to follow. The letter goes on to state: \u201cUntil these businesses can operate again, which is likely to be 2021 at the earliest, government support will be crucial to prevent mass insolvencies and the end of this world-leading industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Centre for Music & Audio Technology is proudly a UK Music Academic Partner<\/a> and wholly supports the Let The Music Play campaign.<\/p>\n Find out more on the UK Music web pages <\/a>and show your support on social media using #LetTheMusicPlay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"