Live music industry fears 170,000 job losses by Christmas

Britain's live music industry could shed 170,000 jobs in little more than two months without a further lifeline, ministers have been warned.

Industry body LIVE said the sector was close to tumbling off a cliff edge amid government plans to withdraw the furlough scheme as venues remain shut.

It said the £4.5bn live music sector will suffer a wave of redundancies and an exodus of talent because it will no longer qualify for any job support from the beginning of November.

The industry cannot take part in the Job Support Scheme because only businesses forced to close by new pandemic restrictions can apply, the organisation said.

With live music being shut down since March, it now predicts the industry's income will plunge 81pc this year.

In a new report, LIVE said the "twin tsunamis of mass redundancies and talent drain" will "imperil any successful relaunch in 2021 or beyond".

It added: "The impact of the pandemic is felt at every level of the business: in grassroots venues; local communities that lose their regular fundraising events; the suspension of concerts, tours and residencies; organisers forced to cancel their annual festival; arenas and stadia that shutter or pivot to become NHS facilities."

LIVE said three quarters of workers were still on the furlough scheme, while 15pc had left the sector for good. With no support, it expects one in two workers to leave by the end of the year.

That will include 26,100 full-time workers and more than 140,000 freelancers and crew, who have already been out of work since March.

LIVE added: "Most recently the ending of the furlough scheme and the sector’s exclusion from the extended Jobs Support is a hammer blow when considered with the new tier system of lockdowns and further restrictions on the industry restarting.

"In effect the Government is now withdrawing support for those companies and jobs it does not consider viable in the short term, while also limiting the ability of the live music industry to relaunch."

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