Bands and Brands

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At first glance the scene could be from any one of several generations of London rock gigs: a flurry of plastic beer tumblers flying through the air as the band strikes up its biggest hit and the lead singer dives onto the uplifted hands of the bouncing Brixton Academy crowd. But closer inspection pinpoints the scene as part of a surging — and financially secure — live pop-music scene in 2006.

What are the clues? First, the sign above the door says Brixton Carling Academy, incorporating the name of the biggest-selling beer in Britain and main sponsors of the 77-year-old south London venue. As the Kaiser Chiefs play their closing-time anthem I Predict a Riot, it's not just any beer flying through the air, it's Carling — the only [an error occurred while processing this directive]beer for sale in any of the 16 music venues across Britain that the Molson Coors�owned brand has exclusive pouring rights for. Second, it's not just lads downing the lager; roughly half the 5,000-strong capacity crowd now holding Chiefs' frontman Ricky Wilson aloft are female. And far from a finale, this is just the first in a series of sold-out shows featuring 19 bands, held in relay at eight venues across London over 24 hours over a late April weekend. The Carling Live 24 logo is everywhere, including the livery on the coaches, limos and taxis waiting outside to whisk the fans to north London for the next show, Ian Brown — at the Carling Academy Islington.

Of course, beer and rock music have been acquainted for a while. But at a time when technology is forcing the recorded sector to rethink the fundamentals of how music is produced, consumed and paid for, increasingly it's the communal experience of a concert that consumers are willing to splurge on — and companies want to be associated with. As lead sponsors of the Academy Music Group's eight medium-sized venues across Britain and a giant duel-sited rock festival, Carling is in the right place at the right time. As the biggest single investor in British live music, Carling spends around $13 million a year promoting it. "Live music in the U.K. is in an absolutely strong place," says Martin Coyle, head of sponsorship for Coors. "Three million people are going through the venues each year, and the Carling Weekend sold out within a day."

While comprehensive data is hard to come by, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that live music is healthier than ever. The Performing Rights Society collected $24 million last year in songwriters' royalties from live, ticketed pop events in Britain — more than double the amount collected in 2000. The eFestivals website lists over 300 festivals of all genres for 2006 in Britain, compared to just 62 in 2001. Feargal Sharkey, former singer with Northern Ireland's pop punks the Undertones, and now head of the British government's Live Music Forum, says, "While other sections of the music industry have gone through some growing pains over the last couple of years, the live-music industry has just been getting bigger and more successful."

And it's not just Britain. According to Stéphane Gambetta, marketing director for the annual music-trade get-together MIDEM, "Live is becoming an increasing revenue stream and also a big part of the global music industry." Figures compiled by the Association of German Concert Agencies (IDKV) show that since 1999, Germans have been spending more on attending live music events than on CDs (j2.7 billion in 2003, compared to j1.78 billion). There are 167 festivals listed on German events website meinestadt.de between May and August alone. In Spain the Summercase Festival, which rotates lineups between Madrid and Barcelona, joins a crowded schedule just one week before the well-established Festival Internacional de Benicàssim (FIB), where the likes of Scissor Sisters, Madness and Franz Ferdinand will keep the four-day (and night) party going on a beach near Valencia.