Liverpool City Region Music Board Contributes to EuroCities Culture Forum Meeting

On the 14th of October, Liverpool City Region Music Board was represented by Board members Dr. Mat Flynn, and colleagues Grace Goodwin, and Richard Anderson at the EuroCities Culture Forum Meeting held in Birmingham.

The central theme of the 2023 event was ‘Future Proofing Culture,’ and it marked a significant occasion as it brought together music mapping teams from Liverpool, Birmingham, Newcastle, Rotterdam, and Milan for the first time in an in-person gathering. The primary objective of the meeting was to launch the collaborative live music mapping project’s website, which can be found at livemusicresearch.org.

The absence of reliable and comparable data has been recognised as a fundamental issue in the pursuit of establishing a competitive, equitable, and sustainable European music ecosystem, as indicated in the Music Moves Europe report of 2015. In response to this data gap, the Live Music Mapping Project (LMMP) was conceived.

This project is a result of a collective research initiative that spans both academic researchers and non-academic organisations within the UK and the EU. Its core focus is to investigate the consequences of changes in the globalised music economy, as well as national-level transformations, on localised cultural, social, and economic entities, particularly from the perspective of cities and regions.

The primary goal of this research initiative is to disseminate its findings to the general public, policymakers, and all stakeholders involved. It also aims to identify best practices and potential solutions to the diverse challenges confronting the global live music industry at local and regional levels.

During the event, the LCR Music Board team was invited to present their Liverpool City Region Music Venues Map, which currently encompasses over 600 active live music venues. This presentation generated significant interest, particularly as it stands as the most developed mapping project within the EuroCities network. It effectively serves as a blueprint for future mapping endeavours by other cities.

Dr. Mat Flynn provided an insightful overview of the venues map’s various filters and beta versions, demonstrating how it can be utilised to showcase venue clusters, venue types, and events like open mic nights. He also highlighted the map’s capacity to reveal the connections between house price data and cultural businesses. Furthermore, Mat illustrated the map’s potential for informing policy decisions, citing its recent contributions in campaigns to reinstate the night bus service and oppose late-night parking meter charges in Liverpool City Centre.

For those interested, the EuroCities Culture Forum Meeting was recorded and is available for viewing here.