Sam Fender has donated his £25,000 Mercury Prize winnings to the Music Venue Trust.
The donation will support the charity’s ongoing work protecting and securing the future of grassroots venues across the country.
Presented with the Mercury Prize last month in his hometown of Newcastle for his third album People Watching, Fender is donating the prize to MVT in recognition of the vital role grassroots venues played in his early career.
“I wouldn’t be doing what I am doing today if it wasn’t for all the gigs I played around the North East, and beyond, when I was starting out,” said Sam Fender. “These venues are legendary, but they are struggling.”
The Music Venue Trust describes grassroots venues as the research & development department of the UK’s £5.2 billion a year music industry, investing over £160 million every year into the development of new talent, both on stage and behind the scenes. They operated on a profit margin of just 0.48% in 2024 with 43.8% of them reporting a loss, according to MVT.
This is an incredible gesture by Sam, demonstrating once again that artists absolutely understand how vital grassroots music venues are to their careers and to their communities
Mark Davyd
Mark Davyd, CEO and founder of Music Venue Trust, said: “This is an incredible gesture by Sam, demonstrating once again that artists absolutely understand how vital grassroots music venues are to their careers and to their communities. We are honoured to accept this donation and will ensure every penny of it makes a direct difference to the campaign to keep live music at the heart of our towns and cities.”
Sam Fender’s 2024 arena tour raised more than £100,000 that was distributed, by MVT via its Liveline Fund, to support 38 grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.
Speaking at the time, Fender said: “It’s brilliant to see that the money raised from the arena tour is making a real difference to so many venues. The grassroots circuit has been decimated over the last 10 years or so and the idea that money from shows in big venues supports the smaller venues, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just common sense.”
PHOTO: JM Enternational/Getty
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