Dr Simon Strange discusses The Rural Music Project at the Night Time Economy Summit 2025.
Walking into the Hockley Social Club from the industrialised streets of Birmingham for the Night Time Economy (NTE) Summit 2025, I immediately bumped into an old colleague of mine, formerly Robbie Williams’ manager, and immediately dived into a discussion on the state of the music industry and education.
This set the tone for an engrossing couple of days networking and learning, my colleague providing introductions to Grassroots Music activists and Arts Council contacts.
The NTE run by the Night Time Industry Association (NTIA) was a dynamic event, full of industry panels on sustainability, accessibility, licensing, the state of culture, to UB40. The sounds of DJs and frantic discussions sizzled, with delegates utilising the headphoned silent conference system so that multiple panels could exist in harmony across the various spaces of the social club.
On day two I presented on the Rural Music Project, hopefully an AHRC-funded programme researching music ecosystems away from larger city hubs, looking at areas of Scotland and East Devon to determine community desires and explore the elements necessary to enliven dormant music scenes.
There will be a series of workshops utilising art school pedagogical techniques to engage the young and old interested in making music. Roundtable events will pit industry and community groups together to define how to maximise resources, with sustainability and logistics central.
The aim is to develop a template for rural music ecosystem development, presented in the form of an interactive documentary (i-doc). In support of the Live Music Mapping Project, the Rural Music Project will start to map music ecosystems outside major cities, providing an overview of where rehearsal spaces, recording studios, venues and retail outlets exist.
Mapping music ecosystems will provide information to support infrastructure provision through town planning and transport links, reviewing how these rhizomic systems interact.
Music ecosystems, the conditions that allow music to be successful and impact communities, are less widely researched outside major cities. Music in countryside locations in the UK is on its knees; music services being disbanded and venues closing at an increasingly rapid rate.
Conversely, according to the 2024 UK Music report, the value of the music industry to the UK economy in 2022 was £7.6 billion with 216,000 people employed. Almost two thirds of people stated that local music venues are essential to their community, demonstrating the economic and social impact of the music industry on UK lives.
The NTE Summit 2025 was the first opportunity to discuss plans for The Rural Music Project with music industry delegates, and the NTIA will be a central supporting body moving forwards.
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