Oxjam - the making-music spin-off of the Oxfam charity - recently conducted a survey of more than 2,000 music lovers across the UK. And the results make for some fascinating reading...
According to their figures, there are around 5 million musicians in the UK, currently performing in 1.25 million bands. One in four Britons are either currently or were once in a band.
Seven per cent of people even say they have already written their potential smash hit, representing a total of 3.5 million chart-toppers waiting to be discovered in households across Britain. That´s enough to fill the Top 40 for more than 20 generations.
Over half of bands (52%) are born from a simple love of music - just 4% believe they will be able to make a full-time living out of playing music, and only 1% of bands form with the intention of becoming famous.
LIVE MUSIC
The survey found that live music is more popular than ever amongst the British public - 37% of us now attend at least one gig every month, compared with 21% five years ago.
At the other end of the scale, just 20% of Britons rarely or never attend gigs: in 2001, this figure stood at 39%.
The success of live music lies in its unique appeal: 31% of us prefer the thrill of live music to listening to recorded music in any form.
39% of us say that we attend more gigs than five years ago due to the new-found ease with which we can find out about music through online phenomena such as MySpace.com.
A third believe that there are simply better bands around than five years ago, although just 10% say that the quality of music venues has risen accordingly.
More than anything, the figures - if you believe them - are a testament to the UK public's desire to make music for fun.
Obviously, we believe that. You do to. But do these figures strike you as realistic for the whole nation?
Hurrah! The UK loves music!
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