Music venues across England and Wales are celebrating a huge victory following the government’s announcement to reduce Business Rates for small and medium-sized grassroots music venues by 50 per cent.
More than £1.7million will be released back into the grassroots live music sector, which has endured a prolonged crisis illustrated by the closure of 35 per cent of grassroots music venues in the last decade.
The extension of the relief will see 230 grassroots music venues across England and Wales benefit, with the average saving per venue equating to a reduction in overheads of £7,500 per annum.
It follows other wins for the sector including a new ring-fenced fund announced by Arts Council England in May 2019, which released £1.5million of subsidy into the sector, and changes to planning guidance and the legal framework across the UK which have brought additional protections for music venues from developers and noise complaints through Agent of Change.
Welcoming the news, Music Venue Trust’s Strategic Director Beverley Whitrick said: “This is a much needed and long overdue boost for Grassroots Music Venues.
“Music Venue Trust has been working hard with the government on this issue for the last four years and it is a huge breakthrough for us and the members of the Music Venues Alliance.
“We’d like to thank our partners at UK Music and Musicians’ Union for their support and help in getting this over the line.”
The government, the Cultural Sector and the live music industry have all acted in the last 12 months to address the challenges to the music sector but calls are now for the recording, streaming and publishing interests to play their part.
Music Venue Trust’s founder said major influencers; PRS for Music, PPL – Phonographic Performance Ltd, Universal Music UK, Warner Music UK, Sony Music UK, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon.com Music and Google Music (with YouTube) need to “come to the table” and tell them what they are going to do to make sure that significant and positive actions need to happen.
Mark Davyd, CEO and Founder of Music Venue Trust added: “This latest announcement from government is another foundation stone in the support Music Venue Trust is building so that we can deliver a vibrant, sustainable, world class grassroots music venue sector to artists and audiences.
“There’s still a lot to be done on this specific issue, and we look forward to working with the governments in Scotland and Northern Ireland to make sure that GMVs across the UK have a level playing field when it comes to Business Rates and Public Subsidies.
“Billions of pounds in revenue are being generated in the music industry from the music that is tested, developed, finds its audience and emerges from these vital spaces.”
