Liverpool's Music Scene

Music Promoter Marc Jones recently described to the Liverpool Post the change he's witnessed in how Liverpool musicians progress through the city's venues. Artists used to start at small venues, building a following and gaining experience. Then they graduated to a mid-size venue, around 500 capacity, then to 1000 capacity and so on, working their way up through larger venues. The variety of spaces created a clear path for artists to evolve. Now, however, these mid-size stepping stones are often few and far between. In Liverpool, the small venues with a max 300 capacity exist, but to jump from that to the M&S arena or Anfield stadium is impossible.

Unfortunately, the gap is widening, in part because we measure every venue by the same economic standard. How can a small grassroots venue compete with Anfield's £31 million boost to the economy? However, this isn't just about Liverpool's venues; it reveals a deeper problem with how we measure music's value altogether.

Music creates value for individuals, communities, and society in countless ways. The problem is, when we evaluate music concerts, venues, community groups or lessons, we often primarily focus on their financial impact. Reporting figures like ticket sales, economic boost to local businesses or jobs created. Areas in music which don't create big economic numbers are not only struggling, but because they're measured inaccurately, they are seen as a drain, not a valuable resource.

Think about the grassroots venue where someone discovers their passion for music, where a community finds its voice, and where young people develop confidence and creative skills. These spaces are struggling, and it doesn't help when they're reduced to their economic profit.

As a teenager, every weekend I would be at different small venues, spending all my money on affordable gigs. It was my first taste of independence. I made friends seeing the same people doing the gig circuits travelling around Sheffield, Leeds and Manchester. I felt like I was creating my own identity and taste for the first time outside of music from my parents or the radio. However, none of that shows up in balance sheets or economic impact reports. So how do we measure music in ways that capture what it contributes?

The Social Impact of Music and Culture

I'm researching this problem as a Music MRes student at the University of Liverpool, working in collaboration with RealWorth, a social value consultancy, and MusicFutures, a research programme working to grow Liverpool's music ecosystem. Specifically, I'm focusing on understanding and measuring the social value that culture generates, the ways cultural activity contributes to people's lives, communities, and society.

Through my background in Sociology and Social Policy, I'm used to thinking about how people interact with systems, much like the music industry. And how can we improve these systems through things like effective methods of measuring value?

Liverpool is the perfect place to explore this question. I've lived in Liverpool for five years now, and the music scene is a big reason I keep coming back. It's got a rich history and has been England's UNESCO City of Music since 2015. It also has an exciting community and local music, which should be shouted about. But it's also struggling. How is a UNESCO City of Music struggling?

Part of the answer lies in understanding what we're currently measuring and what we're missing. Social value measurements can used as additional evidence to economic value. For example, if a community choir is valued only on its profit of £10, you could assume it's a bad choir. However, if someone asked the singers how the choir brought them together as a community or taught them skills about teamwork, the value of the choir would increase.

This is what RealWorth pioneered. Social value frameworks can show this by measuring changes in skills, improved wellbeing and community development, which are all impacted by culture. But they're not quite the full picture. When applying their traditional frameworks to cultural programmes, RealWorth identified gaps in popular methods. First, while effective in other contexts, are limited in their application to culture, second, these frameworks can be confusing and even inaccessible to smaller organisations who could benefit from them. My research is working on this gap, trying to adapt and clearly communicate a social value framework, which can then be applied to capture cultures value.

Cultural Value Indicators as Vehicles of Measurement

How I'm solving this for now is by developing a set of culture-specific value indicators; ways of measuring what music and cultural activity contribute beyond economics. Think of indicators as the signposts that decide what is recognised and valued. Right now, music is measured through two lenses: economic indicators (profit, jobs, ticket sales) and sometimes general social value indicators (wellbeing, skills, community engagement).

Economic indicators tell us something important, but they miss the social value that cultural activity creates. They can't capture how an artist's first performance builds confidence, or how a community coming together through music strengthens social bonds. The challenge is measuring these social outcomes in ways that recognise culture's unique role in creating them.

Tailored social value indicators can capture artists' development, community building, creative skills development, experimentation and cultural infrastructure, the specific social outcomes that cultural activity generates. The human outcomes that emerge specifically through cultural participation and engagement. These aren't intangible, unmeasurable concepts. They happen in Liverpool every day, at community centres, lessons, and gigs. Social value measurement gives us the tools to make these outcomes visible and demonstrate their importance to funders and decision-makers.

So, when a grassroots venue wants to keep its licence or a community centre wants funding, they shouldn't have to compete on economic impact alone. Cultural Value Indicators could generate a language to show more of their contribution.

Most of my research so far has involved reading, attending conferences, and learning from diverse experiences within the music futures network. But now I get into the exciting part of talking to people who make up the music scene in and around Liverpool. I want to hear about the value they experience and create that current measurements miss.

The goal isn't just academic research. It's developing practical tools that cultural organisations can use. When venues apply for funding or when community programmes report to stakeholders, they need evidence. Right now, they're often limited to economic metrics alone, which doesn't reflect their true contribution. Social value measurement offers a way to better demonstrate their impact on people and communities. This research aims to make that process clearer and more accessible for cultural organisations who need support.