Small venues are the future
of live music

This advocacy is the result of a collective effort led by the partners of the Better Live, Footprints and Landscape projects — bringing together music networks, venues, festivals, universities and ecological experts from across Europe.

In a time of global warming and shrinking resources, it calls on the music sector to rethink live music through a systemic transformation — one that finally recognizes the key role of small venues (under 300 capacity) and medium-sized venues (under 2000).

A Model at
Breaking
Point

Behind the extravagance of mega-concerts in stadiums and arenas lies a huge logistical machine, generating the travel of audiences over hundreds of kilometers.

These events weigh heavily on the carbon footprint of the cultural sector and concentrate a large share of budgets, fees and media attention on a handful of already overexposed artists.

Meanwhile, all across Europe, thousands of small venues and festivals host the vast majority of concerts, sustain artists and support them from creation to performance. Yet these structures face a double challenge: attracting and retaining their audiences, while dealing with chronic financial difficulties.

In a world facing an unprecedented
 climate crisis, this imbalance has
 become untenable.
Live music now stands at a crossroads. Faced with ecological, social and economic emergencies, it is not only a matter of transforming the model: it is up to all of us — audiences, artists, organizers — to rethink our practices, make a conscious choice and actively shape the future of music.

1% of concerts capture
34% of live music revenues1

Like global inequalities — where the richest 1% own nearly half of the wealth2 — the live music market is polarizing.
A handful of mass music events concentrate budgets, resources, fees and attention on a few already overexposed headliners.

Choosing gigantism is to forget that 99% of concerts
 take place in human-scale venues.

Humanscale venues sustain artists.

In Europe3, the vast majority of concerts are held in small venues and local festivals. These places are vital anchors for cultural life and for artists’ careers: they sustain musicians, provide spaces for creation and offer accessible programming.

Unlike the big arenas run by the entertainment industry, they nurture welcoming and inclusive spaces, foster intergenerational social ties, and remind us that culture is a pillar of social life. Yet despite their essential role, these places remain fragile4.

Defending small venues means defending the future
 of live music everywhere, for everyone

1  CNM Report – Live Music Performances in 2024
2 The Guardian – 25 July 2025 – “The Guardian view on global inequality : the rising tide that leaves most boats behind”
3 LIVE DMA – May 2023 – “Survey Facts & Figures of the Live Music Sector”
4 Rising costs, pressure from gentrification, regulatory constraints, declining attendance, and the consequences of recent global crises (pandemic, inflation, climate emergency, political instability) – LIVE DMA – February 2025 – “Live Music Challenges in European Cities”

The ecological arguments

An ecology of small-scale live.

Studies5 show that audience transport accounts for up to 80% of a concert’s carbon emissions.
The bigger the music venue, the farther audiences travel, which significantly increases mobility-related emission.

Choosing small venues means
 bringing music closer to people
 and shrinking live music’s carbon
 impact.

Shaping the future of touring, together

Today, too many international tours still rely on an intensive model: repeated plane trips, scattered itineraries and only a few concerts once on site.

Yet another way already exists. All across Europe, venues and festivals are cooperating to group concerts together, reduce travel and bring artists closer to audiences. This human-scale model reduces the carbon footprint while allowing more artists to play, more often, in more places, for more people.

International touring is vital for artists to share their music and build connections across borders — and it is precisely small venues that make this circulation possible and sustainable.

But this future — as desirable as it is — will only last if the live music sector acts collectively, at local, national and European levels.

Reinventing tours means putting
 cooperation between artists,
 audiences and venues at
 the heart of live music.

5 Landscape Study – September 2024 – “Audience travel in live music venues”

Supporting small venues
is a political choice.

Today, few people realize that preferring mega-concerts over small venues is already shaping the future of live music.
As the climate warms and political uncertainty grows, one question stands out: what live music do we want for the future?

What live music do we want for the future?

A) Live music serving gigantism, for just 1% of concerts?
B) Or live music that lets more artists play, across more territories,for everyone?

Supporting small venues
means choosing:

a lively, diverse culture accessible to all
unwavering support for artistic diversity and for artists themselves
a long-term model built on proximity, cooperation and fairness
welcoming, inclusive spaces that put people and community fifirst
a fairer distribution of resources, benefifiting more artists
a concrete response to the climate challenges ahead
a betttter spread of cultural life across all territories

Another live music future is possible. Let’s build it together.