Live Musik Kommission Verband der Musikspielstätten in Deutschland e.V.

Allgemeine Informationen

Concerts and live music acts are a huge part of the European culture as they take place in essential cultural and social sites where people can meet and exchange.

On February 3, 2018, live music venues all over Europe open their doors to an audience that might not be familiar with the live music activities. They introduce their visitors to the work accomplished during the daytime necessary for a concert at night. The participating music venues chose how they want to create their Open Club Day: guided tours through the entire venue including the backstage areas, exchange with staff and volunteers, introduction to the different professions and activities, workshops and participatory activities, live acts, etc.

The Open Club Day aims to raise awareness about the reality of the daily work in a live music venue among its neighbors, local cultural players, authorities, and policy makers. By highlighting daily activities of music venues, the Open Club Day offers the right circumstances for a constructive exchange than can help to clear up negative stereotypes that are so often cultivated about live music venues and nightlife.

Live music venues and clubs are continuously facing challenges related to the evolutions of audience practices, music aesthetics, new technologies, cities & regional development, regulation, economic models… In this context, the grassroots venues are the most fragile, yet vital for talent development, music diversity and expression. Still, they manage to adapt with innovating DIY forms and social economy models.

The Open Club Day intends to highlight the importance of live music venues and clubs all over Europe. In 2015, Live DMA’s 2109 member venues attracted over 56 million people attending over 381.000 music performances organized by the more than 49.000 venues employees. The live music venues’ activities go beyond live music programming. Just 17% of Live DMA member venues exclusively devote their activity to live music programming only, while 56% engage also in social & educational activities, 47% provide tools and space for musicians and 47% support artistic projects. The live music sector contributes significantly to added social value by giving everybody the opportunity to take part in a collective adventure. In 2015, over 81.000 person shared their passion for live music by their voluntary engagement in music venues

By joining forces, cooperation projects like the Open Club Day can create positive repercussions on a national and local level for the live music sector and have a real impact on the recognition of music venues being significant contributors to culture.