Digital Discourse: Sammy Andrews outlines how AI could revolutionise live music

Regular readers will know that I’ve explored AI here before. However, I recently took part in a panel discussing its potential for the live music industry and, whilst we’re familiar with the challenges the technology poses, there are ways it can help, too. Lately, AI has made significant strides in transforming various sectors and live music is no exception. So, here are some ways AI could help to revolutionise the world of live events... PERSONALISED FAN EXPERIENCES One of the biggest advantages of AI in live music is its ability to deliver personalised experiences to fans. It can analyse vast amounts of data, such as fan preferences, attendance records and social-media interactions. AI-powered recommendation systems can suggest concerts based on a fan’s music taste and location, and AI chatbots can assist attendees during events with everything from line-up information to scheduling and purchases. ENHANCED EVENT SECURITY Ensuring the safety of live music attendees is paramount and AI technologies, such as facial recognition and predictive analytics, can significantly improve security measures. Facial-recognition systems can identify potential threats by scanning crowds for individuals with malicious intent or those banned from the venue, and predictive analytics can help organisers anticipate and mitigate risks by analysing data points, such as weather forecasts, social media and historical incident data. By leveraging AI technology for security measures, concert organisers can create safer environments and minimise disruptions.STREAMLINED MANAGEMENT AI can streamline processes, saving time and resources for organisers. For instance, AI-powered event-management platforms can automate scheduling, seating arrangements and vendor coordination, whilst AI-driven marketing tools can analyse audience data for promotional campaigns, targeting fans with personalised messages and offers. By automating repetitive tasks and providing insights, AI can empower organisers to plan events more efficiently.AUDIOVISUAL EXPERIENCES AI is also revolutionising the audiovisual aspects of gigs. Sound-processing algorithms can adjust audio levels in real time and AI-driven visual effects can enhance live spectacles with lighting or stage effects, enabling artists to deliver truly unforgettable performances. PRICING STRATEGIES AI-powered dynamic-pricing strategies are on top of the list for ticketing companies. By analysing factors such as demand, artist popularity, venue capacity and sales data, AI algorithms can optimise ticket prices. This approach ensures that tickets are priced competitively to maximise revenue and guarantee that events are accessible to a wide range of fans. It can also help organisers combat scalping and ticket reselling, as AI algorithms can adjust prices based on market demand. PERFORMANCE OPTIMISATION AI technologies can play a role assisting artists in optimising their performances and connecting with their audiences. For example, AI-driven analytic tools can analyse live performance data – such as fan reactions and song preferences – to help artists tailor their setlists and stage performances to better resonate with their fans. AI-powered coaching platforms can also provide feedback to artists during gigs or rehearsals, helping them improve their overall performance quality.PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS FOR TOURS Planning a tour involves many logistical challenges, such as arranging travel, selecting venues and scheduling. AI-powered predictive analytics can analyse factors such as historical ticket sales, demographic data and artist popularity trends. So, by forecasting demand and identifying potential logistical challenges, AI algorithms can help organisers make data-driven decisions to maximise tour profitability and minimise risks.SUSTAINABLE EVENT MANAGEMENT AI technologies also have the potential to play a crucial role in making live concerts more eco-friendly, optimising energy usage, reducing waste and lowering carbon emissions. AI-driven smart lighting and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems can adjust energy use based on occupancy levels and environmental conditions, whilst AI algorithms can also optimise waste management by identifying opportunities for recycling and reducing single-use materials. By adopting AI sustainability initiatives in event-management practices, concert organisers can demonstrate their commitment to environmental stewardship, whilst also reducing operational costs and enhancing brand reputation. Clearly, AI technology offers huge growth and innovation to the live music business as it evolves. And, by embracing AI-powered solutions, the sector can create engaging and sustainable events that delight fans, empower artists and drive success. The future of live concerts looks bright, promising new opportunities for collaboration, connection and creativity in the world of music –perhaps the one area where human connection and artistry will still (hopefully) be prized above all.

Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd’s monthly deep dive into live music’s biggest issues… With so many pressures building up on the grassroots music ecosystem, it is sometimes lost how resolvable some of the challenges are. Take, for instance, the issue of inappropriate taxation of the network of venues that play host to new artists. In 2023, the UK’s grassroots music venues (GMVs) operated on a 0.5% profit margin. Thirty-eight percent of all these venues reported a loss in that year. As business entities, it might therefore be expected that the tax payable within this network would be insignificant – and in terms of taxes payable on profits, that is true. On a total sector turnover of £501,101,118, just £475,000 made its way to the Treasury in the form of corporation tax, an effective 0.09% tax to turnover cost. But this is far from being the only tax demanded from the sector, with other pre-profit taxes being key elements of the unsustainable financial burden of trying to run a GMV. The Department For Culture, Media And Sport’s Creative Industries Sector Vision released in June 2023 asserted the position that GMVs are the ‘centres’ of research and development for the UK music industry. However, whilst R&D is a key element of this government’s policy to deliver growth, attracting multiple tax incentives and breaks to support it (and which provide incentives to invest in the UK’s future prosperity for almost every aspect of the economy), there are no tax breaks actually offered to R&D in live music. Instead, the government continues to demand pre-profit taxation from venue operators, directly removing cash from the ecosystem that any well-designed tax regime would seek to leave in their hands to boost investment. The first of these demands arises from the VAT on tickets. UK GMVs pay one of the highest rates of VAT per ticket of any country in Europe. The UK didn’t take the opt-outs from standard VAT rates, which were available to it as a member of the EU prior to Brexit, and has not since identified a reduced cultural VAT rate as one of the rarely seen benefits of Brexit. Concert attendees pump money into night-time economies. The Mayor of London’s Rescue Plan For London’s Grassroots Music Venues progress report in 2017 identified that for every £10 spent in a GMV, £17 was being spent elsewhere in the economy – in pubs, bars, restaurants and on transport. Other governments have reduced the tax burden on tickets to get people out to more shows, but the UK, even after identifying GMVs as essential R&D, demands that for every £10 spent on a ticket, the Treasury will take £1.67. After writing off any reclaimable VAT within the operation of the business, VAT in the GMV sector amounts to around £10 million a year. The second pre-profit tax is part of a wider societal challenge about how the government acts towards the physical economy and the digital economy. Occupying a physical space for business purposes has a long history of taxation: if your business is conducted from bricks and mortar, you will pay a premises-based tax. Since new economies have emerged, the government has been persuaded to resist any such taxation in the digital space, which has created challenges for GMVs, pubs, bars and shops – just about everyone who has chosen to run their business from a physical location. By failing to consider the scope of taxation so that it created a balanced system between physical and digital, the government has effectively rewarded businesses who exist in digital spaces, with a tax break that’s unavailable to the occupiers of physical space. If all GMVs in the UK paid the full business rates demand associated with their premises, it would cost £28 million. Business rates relief in England currently offers a 75% reduction, but in Wales, this was reduced to 40% on April 1 and on mainland Scotland, there is no relief at all. The end result is that in 2024/25, the GMV sector will pay circa £10 million after all reliefs have been received. Just these two taxes – neither of them related to any profitability in the sector – create a pre-profit tax burden of £20 million in the next financial year. In the grand scheme of the finances of the music industry, this may seem a relatively trifling amount. In the grassroots sector, eliminating both of these anti-investment and outdated taxes would transform a 0.5% profit margin in 2023 into a 4.4% profit margin in 2024. That’s still perilously tight and it certainly wouldn’t solve all the problems, but if the government really believes in its own Creative Industries Sector Vision, it has plenty of scope – just in these two taxes – to play its part in improving the financial sustainability of theUK’s grassroots music venues.

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