Overview

At the heart of your music making is the people, whether that's members, potential members or audiences. But if you're struggling to attract new people or keep your current people engaged, could there be barriers that you're unaware of?

Use the resources below to review and make the changes you need to welcome more people.

These resources aren't exhaustive, and we're constantly reviewing, updating and adding to them. We would be happy for you to contact us with suggestions. 

Booking professional musicians can be financially challenging for many leisure-time groups. Making Music offers members specially reduced or subsidised rates to make booking and engaging artists more affordable.

Philip and Dorothy Green Young Artists subsidies

The Philip and Dorothy Green Young Artists (PDGYA) scheme enables young musicians at the start of their careers to gain vital performance experience across the UK, while Making Music members can engage some of the very best young musical talent at a reduced cost. 

We know that many of our member groups operate on a tight budget. Working with our corporate members, we’ve collected more than two dozen discounts, subsidies and offers to help our members save on everything from sheet music to booking artists and making recordings. 

Although governments' Covid measures are no longer in place, the virus is still prevalent in the UK and it may take some time until things are completely back to normal. So we've updated our Covid resources and added new ones to help you, as we learn to live with Covid

Marketing is a broad term and covers a huge range of activities. From researching potential audiences to composing social media posts, choosing your group's 'brand colours' to deciding on ticket prices: these activities all feed into how your group is seen; how potential members, audiences and supporters feel about it; and whether they decide to engage with you.

We know one of the biggest worries music groups have is the long-term financial health of their group. Even groups who make a surplus each year can have that nagging thought: ‘what happens if something goes wrong next year?’ More money would mean less worry and more stability, and perhaps more importantly it would mean more opportunities to try new things and ways of enjoying making music.

At Making Music we work with over 3,700 music groups around the country so we have a pretty good overview of what’s out there, how running a music group works, and some of the common challenges that groups face today. Even with so many groups already out there we hear from people interested in starting up new groups all the time.

Being the musical director (MD) of a group is a diverse role with a lot to think about from conducting, arranging music and developing the group to leading, inspiring and encouraging cohesive working.

A committee is a group of enthusiastic people who care about their group or organisation, want to see it thrive and are willing to take responsibility for making that happen. A committee position requires good organisational skills, a willingness to give up some spare time and the ability to co-operate with others. 

Whether you are performing, writing, rehearsing or recording music, you’ll probably need to be covered by a licence. But knowing where to start, what you should consider and what you need to do can be confusing. This resource will introduce the permissions and licenses you may need and how to get them.

Even if your group has never needed a licence it’s worth taking some time to understand music licensing because: