The Culture, Media & Sport (CMS) Committee of MPs, chaired by Dame Caroline Dinenage, has held a session on the progress made in supporting the grassroots venues sector.
The committee made a splash with its 2024 report that backed a voluntary levy on arenas and stadiums, which was subsequently adopted by the UK government. It follows a long campaign on the issue by Music Venue Trust.
That £1 levy model has now hit £500,000 in funds committed, MPs were told today following support by acts including Katy Perry, Mumford & Sons, Pulp, Sam Fender, Coldplay and more. It represents about 8% of eligible shows.
On the current schedule, funds would start to be distributed to grassroots venues in 2026
Jon Collins, CEO of LIVE which administers the LIVE Trust to distribute funds, said: “This time next year we will pass a million [pounds] – and I would hope with a healthy autumn we would be in the multiple of millions. The momentum is there.”
Mark Davyd, CEO of Music Venue Trust, told MPs: “There are already 22.3 million tickets on sale for arenas and stadiums in this country. That's £22.3 million we could be spending right now.”
Sir Chris Bryant
Sir Chris Bryant, Minister for Creative Industries, Arts and Tourism, said a mandatory levy was still on the table for the government if the voluntary system is not adopted. It’s one of a few areas in music the government is looking at including secondary ticketing, while negotiations are set to continue on improving EU touring for UK acts.
“I’d prefer to see more than a million by the end of the year,” he said of the levy. “I want to see more money going in because some of this is urgent, we can’t hang around.
“There are several areas where I’ve said that we might choose to legislate. Another area is in the remuneration of musicians and artists [from streaming]. If we have to legislate in that sphere, we will. And, of course, we’re looking at legislating in the secondary ticketing market.”
I just want everybody who's considering a big tour in the UK coming up in the next year or so to sign up to the levy
Sir Chris Bryant
Specifically on the levy, Sir Chris added: “We’re very clear that we would [implement legislation] if this weren’t to be proceeding
“I’d like us to go a bit faster over the next phase, I’d like more people to sign up. I guess Taylor Swift is going to be thinking about another tour soon, I hope she’ll sign up. U2 must be thinking of a tour – we’ll be doing it with or without you.”
That was one of a few cracks made by the minister, along with an opening reference to Harry Styles and a nod to Don Henley.
“I'd prefer us to have achieved a lot more by now,” said Sir Chris. “I said in my letter of November of last year [to the committee] that we hoped to make substantial progress by the first quarter of 2025, and we have made substantial progress – that's good. Look, I want to say to Harry Styles when you're thinking about your next tour, please sign up. I know it's not always up to the artist, it may be a whole series of people who are making the decision, but please sign up.”
“The worst thing of all is if we get to the end of year and we're still on the kind of numbers you talked about earlier [in the hearing], because I think people would then say the levy is dry,” said Sir Chris to laughter in the room.
Despite the warnings over a mandatory system, Sir Chris said a voluntary model was preferable.
“We've said we want it to be a voluntary levy because it's quicker to achieve,” he told MPs. “The feeling in the meetings is there are still some things to overcome, we've still got to get the charity completely up and running... But honestly I have been impressed by how we are getting there.”
Asked about who he wanted to see a greater commitment from, Sir Chris said: “Are there people who could do a bit more? I think Live Nation might want to step up a bit more. But they're a very big player in this world.
“I just want everybody who's considering a big tour in the UK coming up in the next year or so to sign up, and then I think we'll have millions of pounds going to smaller grassroots venues.”
Wolf Alice's Joff Oddie, FAC's David Martin, Music Venue Trust's Mark Davyd and Globe Town's Marit Berning
MPs heard that Live Nation’s DF Concerts has participated in the levy with Mumford & Sons’ tour.
“They [Live Nation] could sign up 100% and help in relation to Ticketmaster and in relation to any of the acts they are representing,” added Sir Chris. “They have been part of the conversation and we’re having a bit more of the conversation here now.”
Music Week has requested a comment from Live Nation/Ticketmaster.
Mark Davyd praised key promoters for supporting the levy.
“I would pick out AEG [Presents],” he said. “I would particularly pick out SJM, who have done a lot of work on this. And I would pick out Kilimanjaro. Those are three promoters who are really making it happen. And I think going through the history of this, it would be disrespectful of me not to praise Enter Shikari, Coldplay. Sam Fender, Katy Perry, there are lots, right the way down to smaller [shows]. Mr Scruff put a £1 levy on his tickets and he was playing small venues. So it is possible to do it.”
“I think we've achieved quite a lot,” said Steve Homer, board director, Concert Promoters Association (CPA) and chief executive, AEG Presents UK. “There's still more to come, but I do think the response throughout the industry from a range of different artists, both homegrown and international as well, has been very good, very strong.”
“It’s a great start and I think we’re just in that early phase of it,” he added in response to questioning from MPs. “The early adopters from promoters, artists, managers, agents are all there so now we’re just waiting for everyone else to catch up.”
Asked about imposing a blanket levy, Nancy Skipper, operations manager, National Arenas Association (NAA), said: “It's possible, from an arena point of view, we can add the levy, but we would be in an administrative capacity. So we don't have any decision-making on whether it's added – if the show asks us to add it, then we would add it. So from an admin point of view, we can do it, but it does depend, from our side on the buy-in from all of the other parts of the ecosystem which come before us.”
Touring pressures faced by artists
Earlier during the hearing, MPs were told of the pressures faced by artists touring grassroots venues and in relation to the levy.
Wolf Alice's Joff Oddie
“When my band, wolf Alice, were doing the grassroots touring scene 12 years ago, it was unbelievably tight,” said Joff Oddie, co-founder, Wolf Alice, and director, FAC. “For years, it was a loss leader, and that's typically how it goes. We would sleep on people's floors when we're outside of London. Most of the people he worked with were doing stuff pro bono, in the hope that if we did start making money they could earn commission later on – management, agents, sound crew. I put my student loan into funding a tour. Twelve years ago, the numbers didn't stack up. And now, it's unbelievable.
“I'm sure everyone here can attest to all the things that artists pay for. The enormous pre-tour list: rehearsal spaces, manufacturing merchandise, musical tech equipment, making stuff tourable, higher costs, insurance, production costs, travel, van, hire, crew costs, session musician fees, fuel, accommodation, per diems, management commission – typically 20% net, agent fee – 10% gross, venue merch commissions, accounting fees, storage. It's a huge amount of things that artists have to pay for in order to go out on the road. We just about made it work. I can honestly say I'm not sure how wolf Alice would make it work today.”
I can honestly say I'm not sure how wolf Alice would make grassroots touring work today
Joff Oddie
“That is very much my experience,” said Marit Berning, founder and music manager, Globe Town, and board director, Music Managers Forum (MMF). “Over the last 12 months, I personally oversaw three grassroots tours in the UK, as well as a bunch of tour supports with much bigger artists for my roster of emerging artists. And all of those tours, even if they were sold out, none of them turned a profit.”
While the tour levy aims to support the grassroots scene, Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) CEO David Martin sounded a note of caution about the demands made on those touring acts helping to fund the initiative.
“The FAC firmly believes that what we have right now is a system of artist-led donations, not a levy,” he told MPs. “We have artists being burdened with the decision-making around whether shows at the 5,000-capacity and above levels should pay into a levy to support the grassroots.”
“The problem we have with an artist-led system of donations is twofold,” he added. “It's unpredictable, and we don't have the maximum amount of money coming in to support the grassroots. But additionally, it places a burden on artists. They're the ones whose name is on the top of a press release which says ‘x artist has donated’. Additionally, if they don't donate, they risk being criticised for not paying into the levy. So artists are doomed if they do, and doomed if they don't. They’re either criticised for potentially increasing ticket prices, or they’re criticised for not supporting the grassroots.”
PHOTO: The Blinders performing at The Ferret, which has just been protected under the Music Venue Trust Own Our Venues scheme (credit: Michael Porter)
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