LIVE music shows and festivals generated £313 million for the economy of the North-East and Yorkshire last year, a report has revealed.

As more than 10,000 music fans gathered at the Deer Shed Festival, near Thirsk, this weekend and thousands of others attended a Kaiser Chiefs gig in York, music industry lobby group UK Music revealed live shows supported 600 full-time jobs in the North-East and 3,072 in Yorkshire.

The study revealed the North-East generated £51 million from music tourism visits in 2015, with 216,000 visitors, while Yorkshire - with a large contribution from North Yorkshire - saw 669,000 music tourists, of which 183,000 attended festivals.

If found the proportion of live music audiences who were visitors to the North-East was 28 per cent, while in Yorkshire it was 36 per cent. In Newcastle alone, 153,000 people visited the city to see live music.

The report highlighted venues such as the Newcastle Metro Arena and festivals such as the Sage Gateshead’s annual SummerTyne Americana, Mouth of The Tyne, Down to the Woods in Sedgefield, and Whitby Goth for “not only bring money and tourists into the region, but also helping entertain the local communities”.

A Deer Shed spokeswoman said the demand for live music and its other attractions showed no sign of abating and its event had grown from a capacity of 1,000 people to 10,000 people over the last seven years.

She said: “Because of this, we now have 32 mostly local vendors and a similar number of local retailers trading at the festival. This weekend almost all local hotels are fully booked with performers and Deer Shed audience members.”

Due to their local economic impact, the increasing number of festivals such as the Mod and Ska event near Bedale and Willowman, near Thirsk, councillors in North Yorkshire say they have been keen to try to help accommodate those running them wherever possible.

James Murtagh-Hopkins, of UK Music, said events that catered for specific audiences, such as the family-oriented Deer Shed Festival were key to the growing success of the industry.

He said: “There’s something for kids, there’s something for famililes, there’s good food, there’s a better mix of entertainment. All kinds of elements go into it so it is curated more for the visitor. As there is a lot of competition individual festivals have to be unique in their programming and something like Deer Shed has done really well.”