Academic publishes new research on the future of live music events

As coronavirus rapidly enveloped the world and forced national lockdowns in multiple countries, live music events were forced into an unwelcome hiatus.

The loss of live performances was quickly replaced with digital shows as musicians reacted to the unprecedented circumstances unfolding before them.

As the world struggled to come to terms with the evolving performance landscape, Adrian Bossey, Head of Business and Experience Design at Falmouth University, was conducting research into how digital events can improve the sustainability of the performing arts.

Adrian has a commercial background as an artist manager in the music industry. He has previously managed Carter USM, who were the first artists to integrate large screens and live filmed content into a headline performance at Glastonbury Festival.

His research, which was published to the International Journal of Event and Festival Management in April, considers new digital futures for the music industry. It reveals, for example, that audience travel for the live music sector accounts for 43% of the entire UK music industry’s Green House Gas emissions.

Adrian’s paper 'Gatekeeper perceptions on adopting environmentally sound information and communication technology-enhanced live performances to improve the sustainability of music festivals' evidences an urgent need to upgrade the music festival industry for sustainability, and demonstrates the capacity to do so via digital solutions.    

At Falmouth Adrian teaches students from Cornwall Business School on innovative courses including BA(Hons) Creative Events Management and BA(Hons) Sustainable Festival Management.

Adrian told us, “Over the two years that I worked on this research the uptake of digital events altered exponentially and the perceived importance of sustainable events also grew substantially, making it a fascinating time to carry out this investigation.”

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