Visit Britain says nearly half of the average live music audience is made up of tourists, with visitors from abroad spending an average of £910 while attending festivals and £602 going to concerts. Domestic music tourists spent, on average, £396 while attending festivals and £87 going to concerts.
The report also says that overseas tourists account for 6% of music tourism visits and 20% of music tourism spending. London attracts 28% of all music tourists in the UK, with 1.8 million people visiting the capital. Visit Britain chief executive Sandie Dawe said: "This report confirms that the UK's music scene has significant international appeal and that music tourists spend lots of money and travel across the whole of Britain. This will act as a catalyst for us all to ramp up our activity and forge better relationships with festival organisers, promoters, venues and producers to raise awareness of our amazing music scene across the world."
Jo Dipple, chief executive of industry body UK Music, which helped prepare the report, said, "It's clear our music industry is doing a great job for the British economy, encouraging 6.5m tourists who generated £2.2 billion last year."
Church News - The music industry has a "culture of demeaning women" that forces stars to sell themselves as sex objects, according to singer Charlotte Church. Church said she was "pressurised" into wearing revealing outfits in videos by male executives when she was 19 or 20. Now 27, the star said young female artists were routinely "coerced into sexually demonstrative behaviour in order to hold on to their careers". She made her comments during BBC 6 Music's annual John Peel Lecture. Her stinging attack on sexism in the music industry comes amid a heated debate over the sexual imagery used by pop stars like Miley Cyrus and Rihanna.
Farewell - Philip Chevron, the guitarist with The Pogues, has died aged 56. "After a long illness Philip passed away peacefully," a message on the band's website said. "He was unique. We'll miss him terribly. Dublin town, and the world, just got smaller." Chevron was treated for head and neck cancer in 2007, but a new inoperable tumour appeared in August 2012. Born Philip Ryan in Dublin, he formed punk band The Radiators From Space in 1976 before joining The Pogues, who became best known for their 1987 Christmas hit single Fairytale of New York featuring Kirsty MacColl.
(Jim Evans)
