Of the thirty-eight venues interviewed for this research, fourteen self-identified as primary use music venues; eighteen as pubs and clubs that hosted live music; one as a nightclub and five as ‘other’ spaces that typically ran as rooms for hire or multi-use spaces. Table 2 shows the median capacity, events per month and venue age by city and by type. These figures give some sense of typical venues interviewed for this research. Importantly, they also describe the size and the type of venue that most respondents to our consumer survey identified attending to experience live music (see Figure 8).

Most venues remunerated performers with some combination of door deals, guarantees and riders (typically food and beverages supplied to the performers). A very small number of these also offered some artists a share of the bar or other earned income. Six of the venues interviewed operated as a space for hire available to independent promoters who were responsible for paying performers. Half of the venues interviewed reported having workers in their venue that they didn’t pay for; including technicians, security, door staff, promoters, merchandise vendors and kitchen staff. These staff typically sub-contracted to performers and promoters, or ran as independent businesses within and by the permission / licence of the venues themselves.