Live DMA, as part of its Live Style Europe I project going from 2017 to 2021, and now Live Style Europe II, organizes each year Working Groups on thematics chosen by its members who are national or regional live music associations.
These Working Groups intend to gather live music professionals with the aim of sharing their expertise and experience on a certain topic. The information gathered is then formalized into a resource and/or methodology which can be consulted and applied by live music professionals in different contexts (different countries or different typologies of venues, for example). These Working Groups also allow us to create a community of live music professionals and fuel trans-national exchanges and networking. Find on this page all information about past and ongoing Working Groups!
2017/2018
During this Working Group, around 30 participants worked together on the topic of audience development and audience diversity in a music venue. The aims of the Working Groups was to identify common topics, and to brainstorm potential tools and methodologies, as well as to exchange best practices and to work out concrete action plans for the development and implementation of the tools and methodologies they imagined.
Output: creation of the Try-Angle tool · creation of the inclusion & diversity resource
2017/2018
The Working Group of more than 20 participants focused on the question of “the value of music venues to local authorities”. The participants tackled the question from different angles and perspectives in order to come up with concrete recommendations.
This Working Group was the first organised by Live DMA. It intiated a great cooperation spirit between the members, followed by projects such as the Music Moves Europe Cooperation projects. The creation of resource platform also came out from this Working Group, with a focus on Music & the City relations.
Outputs: creation of the Resource Platform · MME – Cooperation of small music venues’ projects
2021
The Working Group “Bookers in live music venues: towards a European Fair Practice Code?” aim was to see how booking topics and challenges are evolving and define what type of strategies could be implemented to follow these evolutions and cope with them.
After COVID-19, it was an important subject to tackle, as booking practices were moving a lot considering the multiple challenges music venues, clubs and festivals had to face.
Output: · Post-covid challenges in the live music scenes across Europe · FACTS & FIGURES – Programming live music in Europe (late 2023)
2020
Live DMA members decided to work on the topic of cooperation & representation of live music venues, clubs, and festivals within the music sector. This decision was motivated by the common observation that policy makers and institutions are pushing the whole music sector to cooperate and speak with one voice. Members also noted that especially smaller live music scenes often lack of consideration from other actors in the music ecosystem. Speaking with one voice makes the sector easier to grasp for decision makers and can facilitate communication with public authorities. Competition models could transform into cooperation, small actors might have more weight when facing giants and negotiating with other sectors.
Output: · Paths of Cooperation, How the Live Music Sector in Europe Joins Forces
2019
In February 2019, Live DMA organized a Working Group on the topic of sound regulations in Europe. The aim of this Working Group was to achieve an inventory of the various sound regulations ruling the European live music scenes and exchange on the various difficulties these regulations bring to the live music sector. This Working Group highlighted the many disparities in European sound regulations and confirmed the idea that most of these regulations are not adapted to the realities of the sector and they can threaten the diversity and liberties of the music venues, clubs and festivals as well as artistic diversity.
Outputs: · White Paper “Music is not Noise” · Recommendations for local authorities · Recommendation for live music venues & clubs · Panorama of sound regulations in Europe · World Health Organisation on safe listening guidelines · Noise regulations in Europe