Browsing Tag

Cost-of-Living Crisis

Young People Are Being Priced Out of the Nightlife Economy – And It’s a Disaster for More Than Just the Music Industry

Posted on 23 February 2025

For an increasing number of young people in the UK, the nightlife economy is slipping out of reach, and not by choice. The UK’s Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) recently conducted a survey of 18-30-year-olds, and the results paint a grim picture. A staggering 61% of the 2,001 respondents admitted they are going out less frequently than they did a year ago. Meanwhile, 68% reported that the current economic climate has forced them to reduce their social outings.

The financial burden of a night out is heavier than ever. Skyrocketing rent, inflation, and stagnant wages mean that a ticket to a gig or a club night is now a luxury rather than an expectation. Between entry fees, drinks, and transport, the cost of a single evening can be equivalent to a week’s worth of groceries or an electricity bill. For many, the decision is simple: staying in is the only affordable option. This has major consequences for the live music industry, already on its knees after the pandemic, but the ramifications stretch far beyond the venues and artists feeling the financial pinch.

The Loneliness Epidemic: A Generation Left Disconnected

Nightlife has long been one of the primary ways young people connect, form friendships, and experience real-world interaction. With fewer opportunities to meet people in person, a generation is retreating further into isolation.

The consequences of this shift are already evident. The UK is experiencing a loneliness crisis, and younger demographics are disproportionately affected. The shift towards remote working and studying has already reduced organic social encounters, and the loss of nightlife as a space for connection only exacerbates the problem. Socialising is increasingly restricted to the digital world, which, while convenient, lacks the depth and spontaneity of in-person interactions.

The psychological effects are devastating. Loneliness is linked to higher rates of depression, anxiety, and even physical health problems. Young people who are unable to afford social experiences are missing out on formative life moments—dancing with strangers to their favourite song, discovering new music in a club, or simply sharing a pint with friends after a long week. These experiences help form social skills, confidence, and a sense of belonging—elements that no online platform can truly replace.

The Music Industry’s Bleak Future

For decades, nightlife has served as the breeding ground for musical innovation. From punk in dingy basement clubs to the rise of dance music in underground raves, the night-time economy has always been integral to the UK’s musical landscape. If young people can no longer afford to participate, the repercussions will have ripple effects for years to come.

Grassroots venues are already in crisis. With fewer attendees, ticket sales are dwindling, and venues are struggling to justify the cost of staying open. Many are being forced to shut their doors permanently. This isn’t just about economics—it’s about cultural erosion. If young people are absent from nightlife spaces, there’s no new generation to drive musical evolution, no fresh faces to support emerging artists, and no organic growth for new scenes.

The pipeline from local gigs to mainstream success has always relied on an active grassroots ecosystem. Without it, we risk losing the next wave of groundbreaking artists before they even have a chance to be heard. The major labels and streaming platforms don’t invest in unproven talent—they wait until an artist has built their own audience. If the spaces for that audience to exist are vanishing, so too is the opportunity for artists to grow organically.

The Online World: A Poor Substitute for Real Connection

As young people spend more time online and less time in real-world social spaces, the cultural landscape is shifting—and not for the better. Social media, once hailed as a tool for connectivity, has become a breeding ground for division, misinformation, and polarisation. Instead of fostering genuine relationships, many online interactions are driven by outrage, algorithms, and echo chambers.

The absence of in-person interaction makes it easier for harmful narratives to take hold. The rise of online extremism, conspiracy theories, and xenophobia isn’t a coincidence. When people aren’t engaging with diverse groups in real life, they’re more susceptible to manipulated narratives that fuel division. Historically, nightlife and music have served as spaces where different backgrounds collide, where new ideas are exchanged, and where community is built. The decline of these spaces means fewer opportunities for people to challenge their perspectives and break free from the silos of online discourse.

It’s not just about missing out on fun nights out—it’s about the long-term social consequences of a generation growing up with fewer real-world interactions. If young people can’t afford to participate in communal experiences, we risk an increasingly fragmented society, where online engagement replaces genuine connection, and misinformation thrives in the absence of reality checks.

A Crisis That Demands Action

The current trajectory is unsustainable—for young people, for nightlife, and for the wider cultural landscape. The government’s lack of intervention in the night-time economy is short-sighted at best. Without support for venues, transport infrastructure, and fair wages, the decline will only continue.

The NTIA’s findings confirm what many have long suspected: young people are being priced out of nightlife, and it’s not just about affordability. Safety concerns, particularly for women, are another significant factor keeping people at home. The rise in spiking incidents, harassment, and concerns over public transport at night make the already expensive proposition of going out even less appealing. Addressing these issues requires a multi-faceted approach, from subsidised public transport to stronger safety regulations for venues.

For the music industry, the warning signs couldn’t be clearer. If the spaces for discovery and connection disappear, the long-term damage will be irreversible. But this isn’t just about the industry’s bottom line—it’s about ensuring that young people have access to the cultural experiences that shape their lives. The solution requires investment, policy change, and a recognition that nightlife isn’t just a luxury—it’s an essential part of a thriving society.

If things don’t change, the consequences will be felt far beyond the empty dancefloors and shuttered venues. A generation without real-world social spaces is a generation left to navigate an increasingly hostile digital landscape alone. And that is a crisis none of us can afford to ignore.

Article by Amelia Vandergast

How Musicians are Paying for the Cost of the Cost-of-Living Crisis

Posted on 20 March 2023

Earlier this week, the Guardian disrupted its doom-harbingering narrative to portray how the Manchester music scene is weathering the cost-of-living crisis and creating communities away from the sonic nostalgia that chokes the city. Apparently, the writer didn’t get the memo about Disorder; the new tawdry Joy Division-themed bar that would have Ian Curtis spinning in his grave if he caught wind of how his tragedy of a legacy is being perpetuated.

While there is no disputing that there is a handful of acts making fresh waves across the Hacienda-branded landscape, the rose-tinted view doesn’t feel like the full picture. When you push aside the music mascot of a Mayor, Andy Burnham, with his BBC Radio phone-in sessions support independent artists, you will see an infrastructure crumbling. With affordable practice rooms repurposed for extortionate housing (R.I.P. Brunswick Mill) and Night & Day is still struggling to remove their abatement notice. Even after the person that made the original complaint has moved out and there have been no further complaints. It seems like Andy Burnham could be putting his mayoral powers to better use to address these issues, rather than pratting about playing radio DJ!

To shed an even more insidious light on the reality for professional musicians, a recent survey conducted by the booking platform, Encore found that 26% of professional musicians are now skipping meals to make ends meet. For what it is worth, the national UK average is 14%.

Inflation and higher energy bills aren’t the only sources of economic hardship in the UK and EU either. The economy is slowing, and there are signs we haven’t reached the peak of the decline.

64% of the 301 professional musicians surveyed disclosed that they booked far fewer gigs in the past 12 months, and even if bands can garner the interest of bookings, 39% of artists claimed that their existing tour dates are being cancelled due to the economic crisis. Want the cherry on the touring dystopia cake? 79% of artists felt restricted in how far they could travel due to the rising fuel costs.

Following the survey, the CEO and founder of Encore, James McAuley, had this to say:

“The Budget this week is one of the most important for musicians in recent times. The vast majority of musicians are still recovering from the devastating impact of the pandemic on their livelihoods, and Brexit has made touring significantly harder and significantly less viable for musicians.

Rishi Sunak and Lucy Frazer mustn’t neglect the impact of the rising cost of living on our musicians. Energy companies are making record profits while our musicians are reporting skipping meals, taking on additional jobs, and switching off their heating. Government confidence in the live music sector is low, and it’s not a surprise that 90% of the musicians we surveyed don’t have faith in the government’s ability to handle the Cost of Living crisis.

Live music is one of Britain’s greatest exports. The Budget on Wednesday is an opportunity for the government to demonstrate that it values British musicians’ contributions to the economy. Now is the time for strong and decisive action to ensure our thriving industry, which contributes so much to the economy, isn’t left behind.”

It comes as no surprise that 68% of musicians claim that the financial pressures have adversely affected their mental health, and with over half of the artists surveyed revealing that they felt forced to take a second job, the mental health of artists is only going to diminish further when burnout hits and trying to make an impression in an overcrowded industry becomes secondary to the banalities of non-creative work.

The Guardian article made one hell of a song and dance about how female-identifying artists are thriving, making an example of Loose Articles, Witch Fever and Red Stains, who found the scene they are in to be supportive, but that doesn’t correlate with the fact that young and female artists are the ones that are most likely to have holes in their touring calendar in 2023. It was only in June 2022 when a Kerrang article highlighted how Witch Fever was struggling to make ends meet, despite having day jobs and support slots for My Chemical Romance.

“The current cost of living crisis will widen the gap between people who can afford to build a creative career and people who can’t because they need their basic needs met,” sighs drummer Annabelle Joyce, who often travels back from gigs overnight to hold down shifts at a fashion retailer. “It’s a concern on an individual level, a social level and a music industry level.”

While the token efforts of creating communities around accessible music certainly shouldn’t be dismissed, it benefits no one to paint a city with toxic poverty and insinuate that artists are winning in this current hellscape of an economic climate. Ultimately leading artists to believe that if they are failing, then it is of their own doing, not the fault of this impossible climate they to try to make a mark within.

Since musicians were overlooked by the government when they drafted their bullshit Brexit deal, which only worked to appease racists and disaster capitalists, the outlook is going from bad to worse. Let’s not forget these impediments that were infringed on UK musicians post-Brexit:

The requirement of visas and work permits to travel and perform through the European Union, making it more expensive for UK artists to tour in Europe in addition to limiting opportunities and income.
The potential loss of funding through EU programs, such as Creative Europe, which allowed hundreds of artists to undertake projects and advance their music careers.
The limited access to the EU market; before Brexit, approximately 60% of all UK music exports went to EU countries before additional barriers were put up, limiting growth opportunities.

There is no room to wonder why 90% of the musicians surveyed feel unconfident in the government’s ability to handle the crisis and level the playing field. And while I would love to be as optimistic as the Guardian writer, who probably had an agenda to push his positivity puff piece, if there was ever a time to have a healthy dose of realism, it is right about now.

Article by Amelia Vandergast