FAC Insights: The three Cs for a thriving DIY music ecology
FAC Insights is a forum for us to showcase and share long form pieces looking at various parts of the music industry and the society that shapes it. Pieces take the form of videos, interviews, discussions, articles and more.
This month, we’re thrilled to feature Will Dutta, Chief Executive and Composer, Sound and Music as he highlights work of the organisation.
The three Cs for a thriving DIY music ecology – by Will Dutta, Chief Executive and Composer, Sound and Music
The UK’s music ecosystem is powered by the grassroots. This is not a rhetorical flourish – it is a structural truth.
Every breakthrough artist, sound, or movement we celebrate can trace its roots back to DIY scenes: small rooms, borrowed gear, unpaid labour, and a handful of people compelled to make something happen where nothing yet exists.
These scenes do not just incubate talent; they shape how music sounds, how it is presented, and who feels invited to participate.
At Sound and Music, we have spent the last few years listening closely to the people building these cultures from the ground up. What we have learned is both inspiring and sobering: despite extraordinary creativity and resilience, the conditions for DIY grassroots music to thrive are increasingly fragile.
The compulsion to create against the odds
One of the clearest patterns we see is what we have come to describe as compulsion.
Scene-makers rarely begin because conditions are favourable. They begin because they feel they have to. Whether it is a new-night curator, a collective founder, or a self-producing creator, the story is often the same: a gap in representation, a lack of space, or a sense that their music or sound might not fit in existing structures.
Our research into scene creation highlights how much rests on the shoulders of a small number of individuals. It only takes one or two people to catalyse a new culture – but that concentration of responsibility also creates precarity. Burnout is common. Financial risk is normalised. Too often, success is achieved in spite of the system rather than because of it.
The learning here is clear: we cannot rely indefinitely on individual goodwill as the engine of cultural innovation. If we value the outcomes, we must also value – and support – the process.
Communion: Why participation matters
Equally vital is what happens on the other side of the stage: communion.
DIY scenes thrive because they create a sense of belonging that is rare elsewhere in the cultural landscape. These are spaces where audiences do not just consume work; they feel part of it. They recognise themselves in the music, the room and the people around them.
This sense of communion is especially significant for communities that have historically been marginalised or excluded. Grassroots music scenes often function as informal infrastructures of mutual support, identity and peer learning. They build confidence, develop taste and create social bonds that extend far beyond a single event. And these are not simple things to measure.
This value is routinely overlooked in funding models and impact frameworks, which tend to privilege scale over depth, and outputs over conditions. One of our strongest conclusions is that if we want scenes to flourish, we need to get better at recognising – and resourcing – the social and cultural conditions that allow them to exist at all.
Contribution: a shared responsibility
This brings us to the third C: contribution.
There is now broad consensus that grassroots music matters. Organisations like Music Venue Trust, Featured Artist Coalition and LIVE have done vital work in making that case, and creators’ voices are increasingly part of the conversation. But consensus alone is not enough.
If the grassroots underpins the entire music ecosystem, then responsibility for sustaining it must be shared across that ecosystem.
From our learning, several actions stand out:
Access to affordable space is foundational. Reasonable hire rates and flexible use are essential if creators are to experiment, fail and try again
Skills for self-production must be taken seriously. Curating, fundraising, marketing and audience development are not “extras” – they are survival skills. These need sustained investment and peer-led knowledge sharing
Wider creative roles need pathways too. Writers, photographers, promoters, and producers are all part of scene ecology, yet often lack development routes
Industry must invest earlier and more locally. Major promoters, funders, and platforms benefit directly from DIY culture and should take greater responsibility for nurturing it – particularly outside London and major urban centres.
Perhaps most importantly, support needs to be place-based. Scenes do not emerge in abstraction; they are rooted in specific cities, towns and communities. Centralised solutions rarely reflect local realities.
A call to action
Despite everything, the optimism remains. Creators continue to build, audiences continue to gather and new sounds continue to emerge. The question is not whether DIY grassroots music will survive – it will. The question is how much potential we are willing to lose along the way.
I would encourage anyone reading this to ask themselves where they sit within this ecology – and what contribution they can make. Whether you are a creator, funder, promoter, policymaker or platform, the future of UK music depends on how seriously we take the conditions that allow culture to begin.
About Sound and Music
Sound and Music is the UK’s accelerator for new music and sound. Our mission is to be the base camp for anyone in the UK who wants to make, experience or support new music and sound to shape the modern world.
We deliver artist-centred development programmes and essential funding to young, emerging and innovative creators breaking new ground across music-making in the UK. We lead research, campaigns, networks, archives and collections to further originality, discovery and equity within music. Reducing barriers and championing inclusion underpins everything we do, driven by our sector leading Fair Access Principles.
Sound and Music is supported by Arts Council England and proud to be a National Youth Music Organisation.
Find out more at www.soundandmusic.org or @soundandmusicuk