I have spoken this morning to many promoters of shows in London and the UK.

The position is as follows.

Most are reporting a 50% drop on expected advance sales for events this autumn and winter.

For shows put on sale recently that figure is even higher. Only guaranteed sell out shows are selling in any numbers.

The SWINE FLU hype and panic is seemingly stopping people buying tickets in advance. Perhaps the Michael Jackson cancellation and the recent Music Festivals going under ( and not paying refunds because they are in administration )

If you promote in a venue PLEASE can you put down your current experiences in this thread honestly to see if this is very widespread.

I feel that this forum is the best place to get a full picture of the UK live music industry and whether SWINE FLU is having a massive impact - and where the impact is being felt.

I believe like many that the disease is being hyped out of all proportion with the small number of people who have got it. But the hype effect is many millions of pounds of negative PR against going out to venues - theatres - sporting events for the casual visitor.

It wont close down major events but it could stop everything else if we dont get ahead of the curve on this.

The Music Industry is already in a fragile state and the LIVE part has been the most buoyant part during the last few years but SWINE FLU threatens all of that if the venues are half empty of worse this autumn/winter.

Thanks in advance for your contribution to this discussion.

from experience in the north live shows have been selling slower than in previous years for months,

club nights have been doing extremely well consistently.

more to do with the recession i would say

club nights are a guaranteed good time, assuming you go to well known, well populated ones, in a time when people need the feel good factor... dancing and drinking with your mates to good tunes will NEVER go out of fashion....

live gigs, especially the lesser known bands are more of a gamble with your cash when times are hard, hence the more established bands doing well, and the lesser known bands finding it harder to shift tickets.

all this bull about swine flu is just blame mongering.

what teenager/young twenty something has ever been scared off going out because of the snifles?

honestly, the music industry blame culture is getting worse, if people do their jobs and do them well, the industry as whole would be better off.

time for alot of people to wake up and stop pointing the finger.

I think there are only two significant reasons (1) The Economy (2) Lack of suitable talent touring. I'm sure Swine flu doesn't even make a Top 10 list

In my opinion it's the economy by a distance.

and its the economy thats stopped the talent touring...

if the acts dont have label £££support, then they can't always make it work....

oh yeah, and greed plays a part too....

Good points.

But have you any figures for advance sales in September to December ? are these good ? bad ? indifferent ?

At this precise moment in time Swine Flu has no impact I would say. But on future spending plans I have found some evidence that people are being cautious. I admit it could be a worsening economy or fear of losing jobs that is leading this.

Interesting that the cheaper club nights are booming - unplanned night outs at weekends are now becoming the norm or planned festival visits for big bands.

Live music increased revenue last year by 4.7% because the Police - Elton - Prince and higher ticket prices. This means the lower end of the market must have contracted in 2008 already. Hence the venue closures seen early this year with 3 barflys closing - the Charlotte - 7 - The End - Astoria complex - Metro - and many others. The effect of these closures should have meant other venues doing better this year.......