Original Music, Live Clubs and Festivals: defining the sector to shape policies protecting live music

KeepOn LIVE’s mission has always been to support original live-music venues. But what exactly are these places? To protect and develop any entity, reality or value, you first have to name it and recognise it. Over the years, the work of defining Live Clubs has been essential to recognising them and building policies to protect them. For Festivals, the reflection is still ongoing and even broader.
But what unites these spaces? What is the deep bond at the root of their social, economic and cultural value? The fact that both programme, in different roles, Original Live Music. We therefore cannot avoid defining the latter precisely and tracing its links with the places where it is performed.

In this talk we will present the first findings of the research carried out with the University of Bologna (Department of Cultural Heritage – Master in Intangible Heritage). The contribution offers an integrated reading of the live-music chain: Original Music is its creative content; the Live Club the permanent cultural infrastructure for experimentation; the Festival the temporary device that amplifies and spreads its value.
Clarifying the core of Original Live Music is the decisive step to connect the deeper impacts of these spaces and to guide institutions (Ministries, Regions, Municipalities) and stakeholders (collecting societies, majors, etc.) in building the conventions and support policies that are essential for the venue sector.