Christopher BarrettThe value of the UK’s live music industry will not return to pre-Covid-19 levels until 2023, according to auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
PwC’s newly published Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2020-2024 report predicts the UK live music sector will generate £400m in 2020, a 74.5% fall on the £1.58bn generated in 2019.
It suggests the industry’s revenue from ticket sales and sponsorship will jump 105% in 2021 to £829m but not return to the level achieved in 2019 until 2023 when PwC expects the UK’s live music industry to generate £1.58bn.
PwC predicts worldwide revenue from live music will jump 82.6% in 2021 to more than $19bn (£14.8bn), as concerts resume.
Mark Maitland, UK head of Entertainment and Media at PwC, said parts of the media sector have been hit very hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly in-person activities or those reliant on advertising revenue: “This will drive a 7% decline in sector revenues in 2020, but in recent months we have already seen improving performance, and as such, we expect the sector revenues to return to 2019 levels in 2021.”