Live Music Venue Best Practices Research: Help Shape the Future of Live Music in Africa
🎶 Three Surveys. Three Perspectives. One Stronger Music Ecosystem.
We’re inviting venue owners, musicians, and promoters to participate in groundbreaking research being undertaken by Concerts SA. Your experiences will inform Africa’s first comprehensive Best Practice Handbook for Live Music Venues – a practical, free resource launching in 2026.
đź“ť CHOOSE YOUR SURVEY
Venue Owners & Managers
Time: 30 minutes
Share your operational experiences, challenges, and needs as the owner and/or manager of a venue that presents live music – whether sometimes or all the time. The survey convers just about anything and everything that a live music venue could be – from a specialist live music space through to bars, hotels, museums, community halls and even cruise ships and trains!
Tell us about:
- Your venue’s story
- Your audiences / customers
- Artist selection and relations
- Operational challenges and creative solutions
Musicians & Artists
Time: 10 minutes
Tell us about your experiences performing at venues and what makes for positive artist-venue relationships.
Tell us about:
- Working conditions at venues
- Payment practices and agreements
- Technical and hospitality standards
- What makes a venue artist-friendly
Promoters
(anyone who organises live events, bringing together artists, venues and audiences)
Time: 10 minutes
Share your experiences and perspectives on venue operations and the live music ecosystem.
Tell us about:
- What issues are most important to you in choosing to work with a venue
- Dealbreakers: what will make you say no to working with a venue
- Navigating between artists and venues – agreements and payment practices
- Small improvements that could have a big impact
Why Your Voice Matters
Every night across our continent, live music venues bring communities together, launch careers, and keep our music alive. But running a music venue whether formal or informal –Â or working with venues as a musician or promoter – comes with unique challenges.
This research will:
- Create practical, evidence-based guidance for venue operators
- Capture what works (and what doesn’t) from real experiences
- Share models of best practice and ways of working in both formal and informal spaces
- Make findings accessible to policy-makers who can support the sector
- Build a stronger, more sustainable live music ecosystem
- Ensure diverse voices from across South Africa and Africa are represented
Your Information is Protected
We take your confidentiality seriously:
- You are not required to identify yourself
- All responses are strictly confidential
- Data will be analysed and published only in aggregate form
- Individual venues, musicians, or promoters will NOT be identifiable
- Survey data is processed by the Concerts SA research team only
Share This Research
Know a venue owner, musician, or promoter who should participate?
Connect With Us
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Venues, musicians, and promoters each have unique perspectives on the live music ecosystem. Separate surveys allow us to capture these different experiences while keeping each survey focused and efficient. The venue survey is longer because venue operators have the most consistent operational knowledge to share.
Choose the survey that reflects your primary role in relation to live music venues. For example, if you’re a venue owner who occasionally performs, complete the venue survey. If you’re primarily a musician who occasionally promotes shows, complete the musician survey. If you have the time and energy to also complete a survey relating to a secondary role you play – eg a musician who also occasionally organises pop-up live music events – feel free to do so!
Absolutely yes! We want to hear from ALL types of venues – from bars and community halls to dedicated concert venues and cruise ships, from urban to rural, from established to brand new. Diversity of experiences makes the research (and the handbook) more valuable.
Yes. While we are based in South Africa, we have an active presence across Southern Africa and are actively seeking perspectives from the wider continent. We hope that the handbook will be relevant continent-wide.
The handbook will provide:
- Practical guidance on legal compliance, licensing, and regulations
- Business model insights and financial management strategies
- Programming and artist relations best practices
- Approaches to marketing and audience developmentÂ
- Real case studies from venues like yours
- Solutions to common operational challenges
- Resources and contacts for ongoing support
Yes. Survey participants who opt in will receive a summary of key findings before the handbook launches.
No. Your contact information will only be used by the Concerts SA research team to send you the handbook and research updates (if you opt in). It will never be shared with third parties without your explicit consent.
