Manchester and music go hand in hand, with discussions about the city invariably mentioning its musical impact on the world. It’s the second largest live music economy in the UK[1], with 215 live music venues offering something every night of the week in different corners of the city. You can see smaller bands in the Northern Quarter, cutting their teeth and honing their craft, sing along at the party in Albert Schloss, catch DJs and experimental music at The White Hotel, or see a global phenomenon packing out Co-Op Live. During summer there’s always a diverse festival offering, including Sounds From The Other City, Manchester Psych Fest, Manchester Folk Festival, Manchester Jazz Festival, Parklife and Heaton Park summer concerts, just to name a few. For all of this undeniable activity, many questions remain. Do the grassroots musicians, promoters and venues, who make up the backbone of Manchester music culture, feel supported? Is what they are doing sustainable? Are they part of the conversation? Does the grassroots music scene know we have a ‘Greater Manchester Music Commission’? How do they feel about the Beyond The Music festival/conference? Do they feel the benefit of the £1 Co-op Live ticket levy that Music Venues Trust use to support small music venues and artists?
These conversations are just snippets gathered from the Manchester grassroots music scene. I also caveat this whole piece with the fact I usually focus on seeing bands; the city naturally has a diverse musical offering beyond this. However, these chats are definitely reflective of what I hear when speaking to musicians, promoters and venue owners from various musical communities across the city. I’ve been part of the Manchester music scene for just over fifteen years and have been going to gigs regularly during that time. I’ve been excited to see new venues open, new festivals pop up, promoters grow and create such special scenes, new bands find meteoric fame. I can’t think of a better UK city to see all your favourite acts in such a manageable way. Manchester is almost always included on European/Worldwide tours, the venues are all easy to get to, and they have the capacity to host any act at any level.
A hub of the Manchester music scene is The Peer Hat, located just behind Stevenson’s Square. It puts on a huge array of music and was recently shouted out in i-d magazine by TTSSFU, “We go to this place called Peer Hat. That place is wild. Everyone you know goes in, and you see them come out in a different form.” When watching a night of DIY punk, put on by local promoters ‘Taste Supreme’, the night featured a mixture of bands from across the UK. Nobody was refused entry due to lack of funds, showing the generous spirit of these events, where the promoters are often lucky if they break even. When speaking to one of the bands before the gig, I asked about the £1 ticket levy at Co-Op Live. They felt it’s the least Co-Op Live could do and that they’d just love to see it translate to a decent house drum kit in the local venues. Many musicians are no strangers to the practical difficulties of getting their gear to venues. They agree how much easier it would be if venues had a well maintained backline, with one saying, “If I saw a sticker on a drum kit saying provided by Manchester City Council, I might start to think they actually care about grassroots music.”
This summer saw many Manchester musicians do benefit gigs for Medical Aid for Palestine. One of the city’s breakthrough acts, Westside Cowboy, have put on regular gigs under the banner ‘No Band Is An Island’. Bands also pulled out from MIF’s Festival this summer due to Aviva’s ties to insuring Israel weapon manufacturers. This is concurrent with the global trend of artists pulling their music off Spotify, restricting streaming in Israel and speaking out against the ongoing genocide, culminating with the ‘Together for Palestine’ concert at Wembley Stadium at the end of summer.
Manchester’s recent successes focus on its ability to build housing and offices quickly, but this has come at a high cost. The creative energy that once filled its old factories, providing affordable studios that helped drive the city’s cultural and economic boom, has now led to their redevelopment, leaving few places for musicians to work and create. In recent years, we’ve seen Marlsbro House bought by Boohoo, kicking hundreds of musicians out in the process, who had previously used the building as studio space for over a decade. We’ve seen musicians forced out of Brunswick Mill studios to make way for developers, and having to relocate to Salford Crescent after nearly two decades in the Mill. These seismic shifts in the city’s fabric are felt as a huge loss for many local musicians. There are alternatives, like ‘hire by the hour’ spaces, but these often feel soulless and lack the community spirit built over years in studios. Luckily, there are brilliant charities like the John Hall Foundation, which offer free rehearsal spaces for bands, but they are unable to help everyone. If you speak to most musicians, they just want a place that feels like their own to store their gear, nothing fancy, just somewhere to make loud noise.
I spoke to Liam, the drummer in Chemtrails, a Manchester DIY punk band who regularly tour Europe. He highlighted the difference between playing in the UK and the rest of Europe. Liam feels that it’s generally obvious European promoters have more money to spend and seem better supported by local authorities and funding models, allowing them to better look after the bands, ensuring they are paid, fed, and have accommodation. He reflected that it sometimes seems a shame for Manchester to lean so heavily on its past musical heritage when there is so much going on right now. I can relate to that point. My fear is that Manchester could become a theme park of its former self, culturally trading on nostalgia instead of nurturing what’s happening now, and what could come next. There’s a closed circuit of bigger British indie bands who take smaller carbon copies of themselves on tour, giving them exposure but doing little to move the culture forward or reflect what’s really going on. Liam also spoke about the difficulties of keeping a band afloat. Even though one of the band’s latest songs was featured in EA’s Skate video game, one of the most highly anticipated games of 2025, the money from that immediately got sunk into paying for their new album. He also shared how they are lucky as a band to all have full-time flexible jobs, which helps pay for recordings, merchandise and a touring van. But not all bands, especially those starting out, have that.
Max Neville is a recent Salford university graduate who set up Broken Knees Promotion, originally for a university module. Now, over a year later, Broken Knees Promotion is still putting on an array of music ranging from grunge to hardcore. Max is a musician and producer himself. When asked what he feels he’s got out of Broken Knees, he said how he feels more connected to bands on the scene and that it has led to multiple professional opportunities for himself to record, produce and play live. In terms of funding opportunities to help them out, Max noted that the only resource they know of is PRS, saying that, “People say there are loads of funding opportunities out there, but it’s difficult to know where to start,” but also expressing, “I’d know exactly how much money I’d need and what it’s for.” When asked what would help them most, Max highlighted funding towards venue hire, which would allow him to create a better deal for the artists. Finally, I asked Max how they find working within the grassroots Manchester scene. He spoke of his love for Manchester and how it has, “everything you could want for music”, but there’s also the difficulty of getting people to shows in the first place, “Small promoters are practically begging people to come out and support the music,” hinting at the impacts of the cost of living crisis.
Generally speaking, not many musicians I spoke to after any gig I went to this summer knew of the Greater Manchester Music Commission. Those who had heard of it were only aware because they knew people on it, but even they were generally unsure of what the Commission does. As for the Beyond The Music festival/conference, many saw the ticket price and scoffed, with a few attending smaller gigs that evening within the city related to the conference, but said it felt generally disconnected to the actual Manchester music culture.
It’s still an undeniably exciting time to live in the city, but it’s obvious talking to bands, promoters and music venues that if we’re serious about the importance of music in Manchester, we need to step up and support it. Musicians don’t traditionally go and seek out funding and help. They’re often artists who submit to the ‘labour of love’ financial model, but incremental actions can help everyone out. YES Manchester announced their ‘Support The Supports’ initiative that provides a £1 discount on drinks while support acts are playing. This isn’t feasible for all venues, but it’s got the right kind of spirit. Manchester proudly defines itself as a music-loving city built upon the foundational voices of socialism, feminism, and progress. We need to safeguard those ideals as the city rapidly changes shape under the forces of private investment. One way of doing this is to invest in culture on a grassroots level: more affordable rehearsal rooms; investment into music gear for small venues; easily accessible funding pots which small promoters are actively told about; taking inspiration from what our European neighbours are doing right, and so much more. Forever over-quoted but forever shrewd, our Tony Wilson stated his intention on Hacienda’s membership form: ‘To restore a sense of place’. I believe we need to work harder to nurture this sense of place before we lose what we’ve got.
[1] https://www.musiccitiesnetwork.com/knowledge-management-1/manchester-music-economy-report
