Gig going is up drastically from five years ago, and it is believed that the spread of information via the Internet is a key factor in this.

39 per cent of people questioned put the ease with which they can find out about gigs online down to their regular live music habits. A third of those questioned believed there are simply better bands around in 2006.

According to a survey conducted by Oxfan to celebrate their Oxjam event this month, 37 per cent of us attend at least one gig every month, compared with 21 per cent in 2001.

While this is good news for music site's such as ours, along with the vast number of online ticket outlets, the survey, which sort the views of 2000 music fans, reveals that public opinion on the quality of our music venues is not so strong.

Just 10 per cent believe the quality of venues has risen in the past five years.

Another interesting stat to come from this is that there are around five million musicians in the UK, currently performing in 1.25 million bands.

Oxjam continues throughout October, with the likes of Scissor Sisters and Kasabian performing.

Recently Ben from Cooper Temple Clause told us about his bands involvement.

"When we were at V we did an NME signing tent and some guy approached us on the way up there and spoke to Kieron about it, about what they were doing and what they were hoping to do with it and asked if we'd be willing to lend our support. We're only doing a little amount but they seem very happy with it, we'd like to do more if we had time. It's small things like doing this Oxjam DJ set and charging people on our guest list so they're not getting in free and the money goes to Oxfan."

Read the full interview
Here.

Find out more about Oxjam
Here.