According to consumer analysts Mintel, the British have spent over 2 billion pounds on concerts and music festivals this year – an increase of 45%. Of all the leisure sector industries, music concerts and festivals has shown the most dominant growth thus far with that 45% increase from 2010 to 2015. In the meanwhile, music sales are down – which speaks to what artists must pursue now to be profitable – namely touring.
Per Mintel’s findings: forty per cent of Brits have attended a music festival or concert in the last 12 months with seven percent going at least once a month.
Michael Oliver, senior leisure analyst had this to say regarding the leisure industry: 
Despite the challenging trading environment of the past five years the leisure industry is expected to surpass £80 billion in 2015. The market has been driven mostly by price increases as operators’ cost bases have risen steadily as a result of sharp rises in utility costs and increases in the minimum wage. The live music industry has shown the strongest rate of value growth between 2010 and 2015. The main reason for this is the increased focus placed on performing live by recording artists, as a result of declining revenues from the sale of recorded music.
While the numbers provided don’t give a detailed breakdown into which genres of music make up the total £2.1 billion it would be safe to assume that electronic music, which has dramatically grown over the past five years in accordance with the uptick in music festivals, may have contributed a large amount to the leisure industry’s growth in the UK.
H/T: Western Daily Press
