British music legend Peter Hook (Joy Division/New Order) to discuss future of live music with UCLan academics in online seminar

8 June 2020

Live online streamed event to look at the prospects for live music during COVID-19 and beyond.

Legendary Joy Division and New Order bassist Peter Hook and Graham Massey, co-founder of electronic music pioneers 808 State, will join other musicians and University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) academics this

Thursday (June 11) in a live online seminar to discuss the future prospects for live music during and beyond the COVID -19 pandemic.

Peter and Graham will be joined at the event, to be streamed live on Youtube from 2pm, by Liam Ogburn from fast rising British band ‘Working Men’s Club’.

Also joining the live discussion will be leading venue and festival operator Aaron Mellor, Teresa Moore from a Greener Festival as well as UCLan lecturer and music industry consultant, Tony Rigg.

The group will look at the challenges now facing the live music industry, particularly in light of the current Coronavirus crisis and how musicians and live venues will adjust as they attempt to move forward beyond the pandemic.

Since March 21st all live music venues in England have had to close their doors to visitors, with the prospect of any potential re-opening in the months remaining very uncertain. 

The live stream will also look at the importance of digital technologies and the role it will occupy within live music moving forward.

"Bringing these great minds together to discuss the challenges to be overcome and opportunities to innovate can only serve to enhance our knowledge and understanding, helping us to rehabilitate this culturally and economically important industry."

The seminar will coincide with the official release of a new book called ‘

The Future of Live Music’ co-edited by Tony Rigg and fellow UCLan academics Professor Ewa Mazierska and Dr Leslie Gillon, which explores numerous key themes that will help to make sense of the ‘during’ and ‘post-covid’ live music environments. Published by Bloomsbury Publishing, the book also features contributions from prestigious academics from around the world, many of whom will also be discussing the themes within the book live at the seminar.

Tony, who also directs Preston’s Jazz and Improvisation Festival, said: “The challenges being faced by the live music industry are numerous and complicated. Bringing these great minds together to discuss the challenges to be overcome and opportunities to innovate can only serve to enhance our knowledge and understanding, helping us to rehabilitate this culturally and economically important industry.”

The live seminar will give the chance to viewers to put their questions on live music to the panel during the event via adding to the comments on Youtube underneath the video.

‘The Future of Live Music’ is published on the day of the online seminar, Thursday June 11 and can be watched ‘live’ via this link.