British Music Experience
The British Music Experience is a registered UK charity and the country's only dedicated Museum of Popular Music, operating a single venue in Liverpool's Cunard Building. It serves tourists, families, school groups, and corporate clients through interactive exhibits, educational workshops, and venue hire.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2009
- HeadquartersLiverpool, United Kingdom
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What British Music Experience does
The British Music Experience is a registered UK charity (charity number 1125752) and the country's only dedicated Museum of Popular Music, operating a single physical venue in Liverpool's historic Cunard Building on the waterfront of a UNESCO City of Music. Founded around 2009 by music promoter Harvey Goldsmith CBE (best known for organising the 1985 Live Aid concert), the museum charts the rise of British popular music from its jazz roots through to the present day across eight defined eras spanning 1945 to present. The permanent collection comprises more than 600 stage outfits, instruments, handwritten lyrics and memorabilia, supplemented by a digital archive of approximately 6,000 images and video clips. Interactive installations include a Boy George holographic performance, an Interactive Studio with real instruments (guitar, drums, keyboards) connected to guided learning stations, plus Dance The Decades, Hey DJ and Vocal Booth exhibits.
The museum runs a direct-to-consumer business model with multiple revenue streams. General admission tickets (Adult £20 advance / £22 walk-up; Child £12.50 advance / £14.50 walk-up; Concession £19 advance / £21 walk-up; Family £52.50 advance / £58.50 walk-up) are valid for one year from purchase and grant access to permanent galleries plus temporary exhibitions. Ancillary income is generated by a separate-access Star Café & Bar (Illy coffee, alcoholic drinks), a merchandise store selling band t-shirts, vinyl and memorabilia, corporate venue hire (Main Space and Discovery Zone with up to 350 capacity), paid talks and special events, Gift Aid on eligible admissions, and curriculum-linked education workshops including SEND-adapted sessions. Marketing is conducted through the website, social channels (Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok), an email newsletter and TripAdvisor, where the venue holds a 2025 Travellers Choice award.
The institution maintains an active programming slate, with recent temporary exhibitions including "Live Aid 40: Music, Power & Unity" (June 2025–January 2026) and "Don't Believe The Hype" on the Arctic Monkeys' debut album (January–September 2026). Operations rely on 51–100 paid staff plus a volunteer programme (recruitment closed for 2026 due to capacity), with no parent company, subsidiaries, or external funding rounds disclosed and revenue not publicly reported.
British Music Experience firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- British Music Experience
- Legal name
- British Music Experience
- Website
- https://britishmusicexperience.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2009
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- The British Music Experience is a registered UK charity and the country's only dedicated Museum of Popular Music, operating a single venue in Liverpool's Cunard Building. It serves tourists, families, school groups, and corporate clients through interactive exhibits, educational workshops, and venue hire.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
British Music Experience industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Cultural Museum
- NAICS
- Museums (712110), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (7121)
- SIC
- Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Specialty Museums (e.g., Maritime, Aviation, Sports, Music, Film) (THAJADAF)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Performing Arts & Cultural Event Venues (Theaters, Museums) (THAHAAAG), Performing Arts & Music Lessons (Dance, Drumming, Instrument Lessons, Theater) (THAJAKAC)
Keywords
Where British Music Experience is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Liverpool
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
British Music Experience business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Supply Chain
Revenue model
- Admission Tickets: Entry tickets for museum admission with tiered pricing for adults, children, concessions, and families. Valid for one year from purchase date.
- Venue Hire: Corporate event hire of gallery spaces including Main Stage (350 capacity) and Discovery Zone. Catering and hospitality services for private functions.
- Event Tickets: Charged ticketed events including talks and special exhibitions (e.g., Chris McClure & Andy Nicholson conversation at £12)
- Merchandise Sales: Merch store selling band t-shirts, books, vinyl, jewellery and memorabilia. No museum ticket required to access.
- Food and Beverage: Star Café & Bar serving hot paninis, toasties, cakes, Illy coffee, specialist teas, alcoholic and soft drinks. Open to general public without museum ticket.
- Donations and Gift Aid: Charitable donations with Gift Aid scheme where BME receives £0.25 per £1 spent on eligible admission tickets.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Adult ticket (16+ years) |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Child ticket (5-15 years) |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Concession ticket (Senior 65+, Student) |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Family ticket (2 adults + up to 3 children) |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels7 records
British Music Experience product offering
Product offeringCore offering
British Music Experience operates a permanent museum of British popular music located in the historic Cunard Building on Liverpool's waterfront. It offers paid admission to galleries spanning eight eras of British music history (1945 to present), interactive digital displays including a Boy George hologram and instrument studio, temporary exhibitions, educational workshops for schools, and ancillary revenue through a café, gift shop, and venue hire.
Product overview
The British Music Experience is a single unified product: the UK's Museum of Popular Music located in Liverpool's Cunard Building. The core museum experience consists of permanent galleries spanning eight eras of British music history (1945-present), supplemented by interactive displays including the Interactive Studio (guitar, drums, keyboards), Boy George Hologram, Dance The Decades, Hey DJ, and Vocal Booth. Add-on modules include the Star Café & Bar (food service), Merch Store (retail), Education Workshops (school field trips), Venue Hire (corporate/private events), Pop-Up Tours (guided tours), and rotating Temporary Exhibitions (currently Arctic Monkeys). Entry tickets are valid for one year and include access to all permanent galleries, interactive areas, and temporary exhibitions.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- British Music Experience Museum The UK's only dedicated Museum of Popular Music, located in Liverpool's historic Cunard Building. Features galleries, interactive displays, and artefacts spanning British music history from 1945 to present day. Entry tickets are valid for one year.
- The Eras Exhibition Permanent galleries spanning eight eras of British music: 1945-1962 Rock n Roll, 1962-1966 Beatles/British Invasion, 1966-1970 Experimentation, 1970-1975 Glam, 1975-1985 Punk, 1985-1993 Dance/Techno, 1993-2004 Britpop/Indie, 2004-Present Digital.
- Interactive Displays Interactive exhibitions including Interactive Studio with real instruments (guitar, drums, keyboards), exclusive Boy George Hologram, Dance The Decades, Anatomy Of A Pop Star, Hey DJ, Vocal Booth, and Where It's At.
- Star Café & Bar Café and bar located off the main entrance foyer, serving hot paninis, toasties, cakes, Illy coffee, specialist teas, and a range of alcoholic and soft drinks. Open to the general public without museum ticket.
- Merch Store Gift shop selling band t-shirts, books, vinyl, jewellery, memorabilia, and items from temporary exhibitions. Open 10am to 5pm. No museum ticket required.
- Education Workshops Field trips and interactive workshops for school groups including Pop Culture, Pop Culture: Rewind, and Euro Pop Culture. Adaptable for SEND and university visits with specialist guided tours for Art, Design and Fashion students.
- Venue Hire Event venue rental within the Cunard Building featuring the Main Space (12.6m x 12.2m with 4.3m stage) and Discovery Zone. Suitable for receptions, talks, dinners, and performances with multi-functional AV and lighting facilities.
- Pop-Up Guided Tours Guided tours conducted daily at 11.15am and 2.15pm, led by museum crew members. Included with general admission ticket.
- Don't Believe The Hype - Arctic Monkeys Exhibition Rotating special exhibition featuring unseen images, shoot artefacts, and original inspiration for the cover of Arctic Monkeys' debut album 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not'. Included with all general admission tickets.
- BME Quiz Monthly music quiz held in the Star Café testing knowledge of pop and rock music across the decades. Free to join, held on the first Wednesday of each month.
- Sunday Album Playback Weekly event playing classic albums in full at midday every Sunday in the Star Café & Bar. No museum ticket required to attend.
Quantifiable outcome
- Access valid for one year from purchase date
Companies that use British Music Experience
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
British Music Experience technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
British Music Experience partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Bands, Estates and ManagementcoreSupport from music industry including bands, their estates, and management companies who have provided artefacts, stage outfits, and instruments for the museum's collection. This support enables the museum to maintain its unrivalled collection of British music memorabilia.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
British Music Experience competitors and assessment
Company assessmentRegional players
- Tate Liverpool: Art gallery and museum on Liverpool's Albert Dock, part of the Tate network. Comparable as a Liverpool cultural attraction competing for tourist and school-group audiences, but with a different (visual art) content focus.
- National Museums Liverpool: UK charity group operating multiple Liverpool museums including Museum of Liverpool, Merseyside Maritime Museum, and International Slavery Museum. Adjacent peer sharing the same city tourism ecosystem and competing for school group bookings and cultural-tourism footfall.
Direct peers
- The Grammy Museum: Los Angeles-based museum operated by the Recording Academy, focused on recording industry history with rotating exhibits and educational programming. Comparable as a music-genre museum with similar temporary-exhibition cadence and learning/education programmes.
- Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum: Nashville-based music heritage museum with permanent galleries, artefact collection, educational programmes, and venue-hire spaces. Comparable scale and operating model as a single-location music museum with curated artefacts and rotating exhibits.
- ABBA The Museum: Stockholm-based museum dedicated to a single iconic music act, with interactive exhibits and memorabilia. Directly comparable in scope: dedicated popular-music museum with interactive displays, artefact collections, and a similar GTM motion targeting tourists and families.
- The Beatles Story: Liverpool-based museum dedicated to The Beatles and British music heritage. Most directly comparable peer: same city, overlapping music-museum theme, similar target audience of cultural tourists and school groups, and competing for the same Liverpool leisure wallet.
- Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Iconic US music heritage museum in Cleveland. Directly comparable as a permanent music-museum attraction with rotating exhibitions, artefact collections, educational programming, and an event-hire vertical — but operating at materially larger scale and broader geographic reach.
- The Musical Museum: UK-based museum of mechanical and self-playing musical instruments in Brentford, London. Comparable as a niche UK music-themed museum with artefact collections and educational programmes, though smaller scale and a different sub-genre focus.
- Motown Museum: Detroit-based museum housed in the original Motown Records studio (Hitsville U.S.A.), focused on a specific era and label's musical legacy. Comparable as a single-site music museum with deep artefact collection, school group programming, and event-hire opportunities.
Broad incumbents
- Madame Tussauds: Globally scaled celebrity-figurine attraction with wax-museum heritage. Comparable as a high-traffic, single-category museum experience with tiered pricing, venue hire, and global brand recognition — though operating at significantly larger scale and broader category scope.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
British Music Experience social profiles
Digital presenceBritish Music Experience financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
British Music Experience leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
British Music Experience funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
British Music Experience M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about British Music Experience
What does British Music Experience do?
British Music Experience operates a permanent museum of British popular music located in the historic Cunard Building on Liverpool's waterfront. It offers paid admission to galleries spanning eight eras of British music history (1945 to present), interactive digital displays including a Boy George hologram and instrument studio, temporary exhibitions, educational workshops for schools, and ancillary revenue through a café, gift shop, and venue hire.
Is British Music Experience a public or private company?
British Music Experience is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was British Music Experience founded?
British Music Experience was founded in 2009. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is British Music Experience based?
British Music Experience is headquartered in Liverpool, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does British Music Experience make money?
Six revenue lines are on record. Admission Tickets are the primary driver. The others are venue Hire, event Tickets, merchandise Sales, food and Beverage and donations and Gift Aid.
Who are British Music Experience's main competitors?
Regional players on record are Tate Liverpool and National Museums Liverpool. Direct peers are The Grammy Museum, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, ABBA The Museum, The Beatles Story, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, The Musical Museum and Motown Museum. Madame Tussauds is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does British Music Experience have an API?
No public API is recorded for British Music Experience.
What industry is British Music Experience in?
British Music Experience's product category is Cultural Museum. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAJADAF, Specialty Museums (e.g., Maritime, Aviation, Sports, Music, Film), with a secondary code of THAHAAAG, Performing Arts & Cultural Event Venues (Theaters, Museums). Its NAICS code is 712110 and its SIC code is 7900.