Musicians Live is a proposed live music concert series designed to aid in new artist exposure, specifically for students and graduates. The series will take place from May to August yearly as it coincides with student breaks. The concerts will feature genres ranging from classical, folk to Jazz and Blues. The aims of this project are to provide work and performance opportunities for students and new graduates as work and payments are generally scarce for these groups. I also wish to aid the community through music by boosting young people and new talent.

The concert will be hosted in medium sized local venues around Leeds, the capacity of 200 to 300 will ensure an intimate atmosphere and enable new artists to be prepared for larger venues by building confidence. If successful it will become a yearly regular event and potentially stretched to other student cities and other venues around the UK.

Business Objectives:

Year 1 (short term)

• To produce 8 concerts over four months, 1 concert alternative weeks.
• To achieve an average of 75 to 85% attendance rate for all concerts.
• Financially, either break even or be able to make a small profit at the end to contribute to future events and projects.

Year 2-3 (medium term)

• To continue in the same cities such as Leeds and retain loyalty with venues used before to keep familiarity and regular business for local venues.
• Increase concerts to every week to become 16 concerts over four months.
• Working with larger venues in other student cities such as Manchester and Birmingham to work with more students.

Long- term objectives

• To develop the series into a consistent yearly event and a brand.
• To establish firm relationships with educational facilities to create even more opportunities through sponsorships, funding, and recommendations from the educational professionals for their students.

Target audience:

• People age 18 to 35/ 40, mostly University/ Conservatoire students and graduates from other universities also young professionals within the creative music industry.
• Those who study Classical, Folk, Jazz or any other genre of music not often performed or marketed who wish to get their name out there as a new artist and earn payment for their talent.
• Local music groups and the community that wish to support new musicians and attend affordable live music events within their local community.

Demand for new talent and affordable live gigs grew after the pandemic and right now during the cost-of-living crisis, many wish to discover new artist in smaller venues for a reasonable price. These people in the community wish to support more people in an age of time where the individual is praised instead of the community. My concert series will provide lower ticket prices, opportunities for young and new artists for performance experience and understanding of the legal and contractual side of the creative music industry.

Competitor Analysis:

• Regular established indie artists hosted in venues.
• Festivals or other concert series within the summer months.
• Independently created festivals or events.
• Concert series such of as the University of Leeds concert series (Leeds.ac.uk, 2026) and others such as the Edinburgh concert series.

We can differentiate by:

• Focusing solely on students graduates and young professionals who require work in the creative industry.
• We focus on Classical, Jazz, and Folk, Roots and Blues.
• Specifically, and consistently hosting these events within student cities and near to student accommodations or universities.

Operational plan:

I am planning to produce 8 concerts across four months, two concerts a month on alternate weeks. Each concert will have a duration of two hours and will consist of four acts per event. This means each artist or group will have 25 minutes to perform their set, and because of this, they will be equally marketed. There will be an interval (income opportunity from refreshments) after the first two acts. The venues will be a small to medium venue that has an average 2-300 person capacity. The requirements for this venue will include stage and sound equipment, a licenced bar, accessibility compliance, safety and licencing compliance also.

My preferred choice for this venue will be the Belgrave Music Hall (Belgrave Music Hall & Canteen, 2026) within the Leeds City centre. It has a 1-200 capacity, with 100 people seated however 300 can comfortably fit standing. The reason this venue was selected was due to its location within the local community; it is well known for hosting students lead performances. there are food and drink facilities as well as correct licencing. This venue also has a PA system, microphones, air conditioning, and two dressing rooms for the artists to prepare within. This venue is available to hire from,12:00 PM to 4:00 PM for £200 as 1/2-day hire. There is however an issue with accessibility, as there are steps surrounding the venue, although contacting the team and investigating the possibility of access constraints would be an option to confirm any potential solutions.

Team Structure:

Requires a small operational team:

Event Director:

The events director would oversee managing the entire project, producing and ensuring that the budget constraints are met, booking the artists, working with stage management, and ensuring any tech requirements are documented and completed.

Marketing manager:

The marketing manager will be designated to work with social media to market the event, design any posters or any physical marketing media, oversee tickets, such as the website for buying tickets and the audience personal engagement with the marketing and the event.

Event Staff:

The event staff will oversee ticketing, security and health and safety throughout the event, and front of house staff such as door security or bartenders.

Freelancers will be hired for photography and videography which then will meet with the marketing team to include within the marketing for later or future events.

Marketing strategy:

For the marketing strategy there will be a heavy focus on digital platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. These sites are the future for marketing and the easiest way to get the attention of the target demographic. The content within these digital platforms would be exclusive artist interviews before the event, videos or pictures of rehearsals or anything specific to the individual to support the event.

Marketing will also be collaborating with partnerships such as universities, university societies, or radio stations such as the local BBC. This will maximise the reach and provide eyes on the event, as the marketing will not just be mainstream it will also be within the universities. This will provide opportunities for either artist’s or people who would enjoy attending the event. Posters and other physical ways of marketing will also be created and displayed in locations such as other music venues, university communal areas and highly visited social areas.

Regarding ticket sales, the biggest part of our ticket sales will happen online with event ticket platforms or even the venues website itself. Social media will also be used by the marketing team to add links that will provide easy access to the ticket websites.

Project Timeline:

Pre-production:

• Develop concept, Hire Staff, Secure dates and venue, Create Branding and Marketing plan.
• Book artists, confirm operational and technical needs, launch marketing campaign.
• Consider safety needs and accessibility compliance
• Open ticket sales, confirm staffing and event administration.

Event Phase:

• Follow through the plan and produce 8 concerts over 4 months.
• Watch over ticket sales and audience feedback.
• Adjust marketing as concerts are underway.
• Ensure health and safety obligations are fulfilled.

Post-Production Phase:

• Financial Analysis of Expenditure
• Analyse audience and sponsor feedback
• Begin planning for expansion and next year.

Financial Plan:

Projected forecast of the estimated costs per event:

• Venue Hire – £200
• Artist Fee – £200
• Session Band/ Accompanist – £200-£300 per person (specific timing dependency) (Musicians Union, 2024)
• Sound and Technical Staff – £400
• Marketing – £400
• Security and Venue Staff – £ 300
• Insurance and Licensing – £200
• Total per event: £2000.
• For all 8 events: £16,000

The capacity for seated will be 100 to 150 people, the average ticket price will be £10 to £15. The student discounted ticket price will be £7.

Potential Revenue per event: £2100

Additional Revenue:

Additional revenue – merchandise, sponsorships from universities, and brand partnerships. Estimated extra revenue would be £2000 to £4000.

Total Estimated Revenue: £19,800

Total Estimated Costs: £16,000

Estimated Profit: £3,800

Legal Requirements:

• Public entertainment licence – Between £129 to £515 per year (Melody Rights, 2025)
• Alcohol licence (venue responsibility) – Belgrave currently has this
• PRS for music licence- Belgrave currently has this

Insurance:

• Public liability insurance – £125 for the year for £1,000,000 cover. (Yurday, 2020)
• Employer liability insurance – estimate £75 per event for £1,000,000 cover.
• Equipment insurance – estimate £300 for the year.

Contracts are needed for artists, venue, staff and sponsors. These will outline performance requirements, payment and cancellation terms.

Health and Safety:

The events will comply with health and safety regulations such as:

• Prior risk assessments
• Crowd management plans.
• Emergency procedures and drills such as fire, injury or other public safety emergency requiring contingency plans.
• Fire safety compliance.

Future Development:

• Expand the concerts to be in other student cities across the UK and not just in Leeds.
• Recording performances for future marketing purposes and for online streaming.
• Collaborating with additional sponsors, brands and Educational Facilities to promote and improve opportunities.
• Doing specific events around student composers and other genres such as contemporary and pop/R&B.

Conclusion:

Musicians live! aims to create an inclusive and uplifting environment for students and graduates looking to begin their careers. It will promote new talent for the world to see and support local live entertainment demand. This plan combines extensive research into the financial, legal and operational planning to be able to produce this event. This event has the potential to become a recognised brand across the UK and music industry, in addition to this, it has the possibility to create many more opportunities for new musicians within the creative music industry.

How the Group feedback aided my improved Business Plan

The group feedback was incredibly useful at aiding the creation of my business proposal and the success of it, a few of the suggestions and what I decided to do with them are in the following paragraph.

The original name for the concert series was Young Musicians Live, however when this was pitched there was a consensus that it suggested that it was featuring under 18s, so I amended it to Musicians Live. I added a session band or accompanist to my budget and estimated costs to make it easier for payment of the student artists, for rehearsal and overall budget fluidity. The session band would also benefit from this process as it provides employment opportunities. The artists that will be working with the band will gain exposure and form relationships with those session players that may also lead to future work.  The overall price of the tickets was another area of the feedback that was incredibly important, the group discussed that to achieve more ticket sales from students, offering a discounted option would be favourable. This lower price would attract many more students to attend the event.

As for future development, feedback included delivering an event one night per month in each city to dedicate to student composers so that they can perform their works in a showcase. As well as providing specific dedicated genre concerts, such as a whole concert with classical or jazz and incorporating contemporary and pop/ R&B within the concert series. The feedback also urged me to research further into the initial funding and how this would be procured to develop the events. This feedback helped me to refocus and reshape my business plan. As a result of this essential feedback, I was better able to highlight my initial idea, redevelop the plans and continue to consider the target audience and customer base.

Bibliography

Belgrave Music Hall & Canteen. (2026). Bookings – Belgrave Music Hall & Canteen. [online] Available at: https://www.belgravemusichall.com/bookings/. [Accessed 17 Mar. 2026]

Belgrave Music Hall & Canteen (2026). Private Hire – Information [online] Available at: https://www.belgravemusichall.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/BMH-26-PRIVATE-HIRE-FEB-26-11.02.pdf. [Accessed 17 Mar. 2026]

Leeds.ac.uk. (2026). University of Leeds International Concert Series | Live music concerts in Leeds. [online] Available at: https://concerts.leeds.ac.uk/ [Accessed 17 Mar. 2026].

Musicians Union (2024). Live Music Industry Support | Gigs & Live Performances | The MU – Musicians’ Union. [online] Musiciansunion.org.uk. Available at: https://musiciansunion.org.uk/working-performing/gigs-and-live-performances/live-engagement-rates-of-pay/national-gig-rates. [Accessed 24 Mar. 2026]

Melody Rights. (2025). How Much Does a PPL Licence Cost in the UK? Free Calculation. [online] Available at: https://melodyrights.com/how-much-does-a-ppl-licence-cost-in-the-uk. [Accessed 24 Mar. 2026]

Yurday, E. (2020). Average Cost of Public Liability Insurance 2021. [online] www.nimblefins.co.uk. Available at: https://www.nimblefins.co.uk/business-insurance/public-liability-insurance-uk/average-cost-public-liability-insurance-uk . [Accessed 24 Mar. 2026]