A Manifesto For Grassroots Music

Music Venue Trust calls on the next Parliament to act quickly and deliver:

1. £1 grassroots investment contribution from every arena and stadium ticket sold to support Grassroots Music Venues, artists and promoters
2. A fan-led review to fully examine the long-term challenges to the live music ecosystem
3. The agent of change principle in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) to be put on a statutory footing at the earliest opportunity
4. A reduction in VAT on cultural ticketing in GMVs to 0% and reduce VAT on cultural ticketing in the live music industry to the European average (5–7%)
5. The creation of a specific business rates premises definition for GMVs and the removal of properties satisfying that definition from the requirement to pay business rates

In the words of the Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) Select Committee:

“…grassroots live music venues, the local, limited capacity venues integral to the pipeline of creative and professional talent and key fixtures of our communities, are now facing a crisis of soaring costs and closures. Artists, and the people who rely on them for business, are facing a cost-of-touring crisis and finding opportunities squeezed. Promoters are less able to put on shows or make them financially viable. Festivals, electronic music venues and even academies and arenas are not insulated from the impacts.”

We support the CMS Select Committee’s report into Grassroots Music Venues that laid out the policy environment needed to protect, secure and improve the valuable network of UK GMVs

In 2023, more than one venue closed every week. Of the 366 small music venues Ed Sheeran played while learning his trade, at least 150 are now closed. Another 72 Grassroots Music Venues significantly reduced or ended their live music offer in 2023. 38% of GMVs in the UK made a loss in the last 12 months. The sector operated on a 0.5% profit margin overall while running live music events at a £115 million loss.

All of this can be changed if the next government delivers these five simple steps

We call on all political representatives, from all parties, to seize the moment and drive forward this change. We have a chance to save UK Grassroots Music Venus from the crisis they currently face, and we should not let it slip.