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NME that comments made by Manchester’s Co-Op Live Arena about grassroots venues are “disrespectful and disingenuous”.Earlier this week, the executive director of the major new 23,500 capacity venue said that some smaller venues in the UK are “poorly run” and dismissed calls for a £1 ticket levy on all gigs arena-sized and above.Gary Roden told the BBC he believes the levy is “too simplistic”, and says it should fall on the government rather than major arenas to support the live music ecosystem.“If the conversation stops being ‘Give me a quid’ and quite aggressive – if it changed to be, ‘What can we do together to help?’, that’s where I think we start to get into that apprenticeship conversation and all those different things that we want to work through,” he said.In response, Mark Davyd, CEO of the Music Venue Trust, has told NME that he believes Roden’s comments are “disrespectful and disingenuous”, while also highlighting the irony of making such “ill-judged, unnecessary and misleading” remarks on the week that their own venue was forced to postpone their own launch, due to a number of logistical problems.“It is regrettable that the owners of Co-Op Live have consistently declined invitations to engage properly in the discussion about the future of the UK’s live music ecosystem so that the team there could have a full understanding of the challenges and issues facing the grassroots music sector, venues, artists and promoters,” Davyd said.“This lack of willingness to play a role in that ecosystem unfortunately leads them to make ill-judged and poorly considered comments about the sector’s approach to the discussions, the professionalism of the people running the venues, the possibility for [Co-Op Live commercial partner]

A post shared by Tunbridge Wells Forum (@twforum)Recently, it was announced Alien Ant Farm and CKY had become the first American band to add a £1 ticket levy to their UK tours.It follows a similar move by Enter Shikari last year; last May, the band shared details of a 2024 run of UK tour dates, where £1 from each ticket sold was donated to the Music Venue Trust.Other companies have launched similar initiatives. Independent ticketing company Skiddle announced in October it would donate 50p of every ticket sold towards saving grassroots music venues, while taxi firm FREENOW pledged to donate £1 from every ride to the cause.Ticketmaster have introduced a Music Venue Trust charity upsell option, enabling fans to make direct contributions to MVT when purchasing tickets.

stand-up performances from Peter Kay on April 23 and 24. Following a test event with Rick Astley, however, the comedian’s gigs were postponed until April 29 and 30 due to a failed power test.A Black Keys gig that was scheduled for April 27 later had to be pushed back to May 15, and the Kay dates were delayed for the second time.Last night (May 1), A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie’s concert was cancelled at the last minute because of a “venue-related technical issue” before it was confirmed that Olivia Rodrigo’s shows at the Co-Op Live this Friday and Saturday (May 3, 4) had been postponed.

BBC, Mark Davyd (CEO of the Music Venue Trust) said he was to meet with the Co-Op Live once the venue was up and running. The meeting comes amongst the furore with Co-Op Live’s executive director Gary Roden, who suggested some grassroots venues were “poorly run” whilst discussing the case for a £1 ticket levy to preserve them.Davyd later criticised Roden’s comments, pointing out the average age of the artists booked to play at the venue was 52: “The average length of time it takes for a British artist to be booked to headline the Coop Live Arena from the date of the release of their first album is 30 (THIRTY) years.

BBC recently, where he discussed the proposed £1 ticket levy on all gigs arena-sized and above, to help secure the future of grassroots venues and artists.Roden said that he was “very aware it’s a hot topic”, and that he was “embracing the conversation”, but that he believed the levy was “too simplistic”.The report suggests that he thinks support should come directly from the government, and added that while he acknowledges the financial pressures on small venues, he thinks some of them are poorly run.“If the conversation stops being ‘Give me a quid’ and quite aggressive – if it changed to be, ‘What can we do together to help?’, that’s where I think we start to get into that apprenticeship conversation and all those different things that we want to work through,” he said.“We’ve got a list of ideas that we’re currently forming, and I think once we’ve been open six months or a year, we’ll be really able to add something very significant to the grassroots system in Manchester.”2/521.7% of all the shows will be performed by artists over retirement age. 8.6% of all the shows will be performed by artists under the age of 30.

Frank Turner has announced his attempt to break the record for the most shows played in 24 hours in honour of the Music Venue Trust.In celebration of his upcoming 3,000th show and the release of his 10th album ‘Undefeated’ on May 3, Turner will attempt to play 15 shows of minimum 20-minute sets on May 4. Sponsored by taxi app FREENOW, Turner will travel circa 500 miles to play shows from Liverpool to Southampton.Turner says of his challenge: “With nearly 3000 shows under my belt, I’ve never been one to do things by halves or shirk a challenge – I once played all 50 American states in 50 days, for goodness sake.

full report into the state of the sector for 2023, showing the “disaster” facing live music with venues closing at a rate of around two per week. Presented at Westminster, the MVT echoed their calls for a levy on tickets on gigs at arena size and above and for major labels and such to pay back into the grassroots scene, arguing that “the big companies are now going to have to answer for this”.The Featured Artists Coalition – a trade union body representing the needs of musicians and artists in the UK – then wrote to NME to argue that while the survival of venues is “essential”, any kind of ‘Premier League’ model to be adopted by the industry needs to take into account keeping creators in pocket and being able to exist, as well as ways to open up the world of music to different genres, backgrounds and audiences.“What good is it keeping venues open if artists can’t afford to perform in them?” asked FAC CEO David Martin.Now the debate has been taken to the UK government, after last Tuesday (March 26) saw the Culture Media & Sport Committee hold evidence sessions with figures from across the industry to see what can be done.“The first impact we need to realise is that is 125 communities that have lost access to live music on their doorstep,” Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd told the hearing.

Oasis‘ debut UK tour, it’s been revealed that only six of the venues they played remain open today.In a new report from the BBC, nine of the 15 venues from Oasis’ 1994 tour for ‘Supersonic’ have now stopped putting on gigs or have closed. This includes the recently shut Moles in Bath, which closed last December after a 45-year run.

Glastonbury line-up poster has been edited to remove every artist that started their career in grassroots venues – and hardly any names are left standing.The first taste of the festival’s 2024 line-up was shared on Thursday (March 14), with Dua Lipa, Coldplay and SZA topping the bill.But as revealed by the Music Venue Trust’s edit of the poster on social media, the vast majority of the dozens of names announced so far started their careers coming through the small music venues that now find themselves straining under unbearable pressure in the UK in 2024.Yesterday I was read a quote from a senior figure in the live music industry which ran as follows: “We don’t see any problems in the pipeline for developing the next Ed Sheeran's etc due to grassroots music venues closing, the headliners are still coming”I call bullshit. https://t.co/vGe4RlBUIx— Mark Davyd (@markdavyd) March 16, 2024Only names such as Nigerian afrobeats superstar Burna Boy, the K-pop group SEVENTEEN and Camila Cabello, who rose to fame on the US version of The X Factor, remain when the direct beneficiaries of grassroots venues are taken away.Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd commented on the edited poster, writing on X/Twitter: “Yesterday I was read a quote from a senior figure in the live music industry which ran as follows: ‘We don’t see any problems in the pipeline for developing the next Ed Sheerans etc.

Muse, Stormzy, Lewis Capaldi, Ed Sheeran and Dua Lipa.“The MTV EMAs is one of the biggest global music celebrations, bringing together local and international artists to create iconic performances for fans around the world,” said Bruce Gillmer, President of Music, Music Talent, Programming & Events, Paramount, and Chief Content Officer, Music, Paramount+. “With music at the very heart of Manchester’s rich creative heritage, this vibrant city – with the state-of-the-art Co-op Live – will guarantee a supercharged 2024 show.”Councillor Bev Craig, Leader of Manchester City Council, added: “As a city that is known the world over for our legendary music scene, MTV could not have picked a better place for this year’s EMAs.“With the expertise, experience and reputation we also have for delivering successful, world-class events, we’re confident Manchester will provide a superb platform for the best MTV EMAs yet, and look forward to welcoming MTV and the global music community to our city for what is set to be an epic celebration of music and artists.

UK Music, which is the collective voice of the UK music industry, has urged Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to cut VAT in the spring Budget to throw the sector a “vital lifeline” and save venues that are threatened by closure.Tom Kiehl, UK Music’s Interim Chief Executive, has asked Hunt to use his Budget next Wednesday (March 6) to lower the current 20 per cent VAT rate on tickets to 10 per cent as a “boost for consumers, music professionals and venues”.The request to slash VAT is among the recommendations that UK Music has made to the Government in its Budget submission, which outlines the support the sector needs to grow (read it in full here).Currently, music fans in the UK must pay 20 per cent VAT on their tickets – almost double the EU average (10.3 per cent) and around triple the rate in countries like Belgium (six per cent) and Germany (seven per cent). ‌ The 20 per cent rate is the third highest rate of cultural ticketing in Europe. Gig-goers pay more tax on UK tickets than anywhere else in Europe, except Denmark and Lithuania.The calls come amid growing concerns for the future of grassroots venues.

Peter Kay has been announced as the opening act at the UK’s new largest indoor arena in Manchester.The Bolton comedian will perform on the opening night of the 23,500-capacity venue at Co-op Live on April 23.Liam Gallagher, Take That, Nicki Minaj, Olivia Rodrigo and Keane have also been announced to perform at the venue in the coming months.Co-op general manager Gary Roden said Kay was the “perfect” opening act for the venue, who “embodies what this city is about” (via BBC).. @peterkay_co_uk will be the first act to perform at Co-op Live, the UK’s largest live entertainment arena, on 23 April 2024!Tickets on sale 10am Friday 23rd Feb✨https://t.co/Ffro2jrrJb pic.twitter.com/dZbWWal9IW— Co-op Live (@TheCoopLive) February 19, 2024“When you think of Manchester, it’s hard not to think of Peter Kay,” Roden said.

Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Harry Styles to pay a levy to help the nation’s small and medium-sized live music spaces.Angus Robertson, SNP Culture Secretary, has said he would consider the tax amid concerns over the future of arts funding in Scotland.It came after he was questioned in Holyrood by Green MSP Mark Ruskell, who suggested that the introduction of just a £1 levy on each ticket could help raise over a million pounds per year.Robertson went on to say that “new thinking” was needed in terms of arts funding in the country.He explained: “We have gone through a pivot point during the pandemic; there has been a change in social behaviours and there has been extreme distress in the arts and cultural sector.“We acknowledge that and we have tried to support the sector through that difficult period.”Robertson added: “The levy proposal is worthy of further consideration.”The Music Venue Trust (MVT) said 120 grassroots venues have closed across Britain in 2023 alone, and that Scotland is “disproportionately” affected (via The Times).Those in favour of the levy have suggested that the additional £1 would go unnoticed by most concertgoers as tickets for these huge shows usually have high prices to begin with.However, critics have claimed that the tax could further price out those on lower incomes because these concerts are already expensive and come with additional fees.Tickets for Taylor Swift‘s upcoming ‘Eras Tour’ dates at the Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, for example, cost £109.40 for general standing access.

Fatboy Slim, says a beloved Brighton venue faces a “slow death” if planning permission for a new development is allowed to go ahead.More than 1200 people have objected to a planning application for a commercial building next to the Prince Albert pub, located on Trafalgar Street in the city and more than 14,000 have since signed a petition objecting to the plans.The plans would see an existing car rental premises demolished to make way for a four-storey building (via the BBC). The plans will go before Brighton and Hove City Council on Wednesday (November 1).Cook played a surprise gig at the venue on Monday (October 30).

Music Venue Trust (MVT) have said that grassroots venues in the UK are heading for “disaster” without intervention as more venues face closure – repeating the call for large arenas to invest back into the grassroots.Speaking on a panel about the future of grassroots music at Manchester’s inaugural ‘Beyond The Music‘ conference on Friday (October 13), Mark Davyd, CEO of MVT, said over the last 12 months, “127 music venues of the grassroots type have stopped programming live music or closed down entirely” – something he described as a “fucking disaster” – despite the fact 2023 has been “the best year in history for live music receipts” with the industry making over £765million in 2022.Davyd, who was speaking on a panel alongside representatives from Manchester’s AO Arena, Manchester’s Co-op Live, MIF/Factory International and Rachael Flaszczak, Managing Director of The Snug – a venue that was recently saved by MVT under its new ownership scheme – said “it’s completely unacceptable that our music industry is letting music collapse underneath it while it’s making the maximum amount of money it’s ever made in the history of music.”He continued: “That is ridiculous. It’s totally unacceptable to me.

Music Venue Trust (MVT) to help support UK grassroots venues.Ticketmaster will now have a Music Venue Trust charity upsell option, enabling fans to make direct contributions to MVT when purchasing tickets. Music Venue Trust helps to support grassroots venues.The upsell will launch on Venues Day 2023 (October 17), an initiative that’s been sponsored by Ticketmaster since 2016.

NME about how the situation is “as dire as it can be” with more than one grassroots venue closing in the UK every week.Last week NME reported that the UK stood to lose 10 per cent of its grassroots music venues in 2023, as calls grew louder for the “major leagues” of the music industry and larger venues to do more to pay into the ecosystem and save them.Now, the MVT has doubled down on that call as well as shared an open letter to demand that the UK Government extends business rate relief for its members after 78 music venues closed their doors over the last 12 months, with many more set to follow.“Between us finishing our report at Friday at 5pm and coming back at 10am on Monday morning, two more venues closed,” MVT CEO Mark Davyd told NME, paying tribute to Jimmy’s in Liverpool and The Brass in Hastings, which both announced their closure on Saturday (September 23) and Sunday (September 24) respectively.A post shared by Jimmy's (@jimmys)Davyd continued: “Our report shows that we’ve gone from 960 venues in October of last year to 835 that are actually operating. That’s 125 less and a 15.7 per cent decline.

Enter Shikari’s £1 per ticket sold donation to the MVT when they perform in February 2024. There will also be opportunities for additional fundraising activity for GMVs via tickets for events at ASM Global venues.Mark Davyd, the CEO of Music Venue Trust, said in a press release: “We want to thank ASM Global for being the first arena operators to respond to our call for support from the live music industry to deal with the crisis engulfing grassroots music venues.“This is an incredibly important first step towards ensuring that when an artist emerges from the grassroots sector, everyone shares in the success they generate once they reach the very top of the industry.

Enter Shikari have announced the dates of a UK tour in 2024 – including a number of arena shows – with plans to donate £1 from every ticket sold to the Music Venue Trust to support grassroots venues in each city they visit.“Grassroots music venues in the UK are under existential threat”, says frontman Rou Reynolds. “Every time we lose another one we lose a vital part of our culture”.“Bigger venues that benefit from the productive pipeline that grassroots venues provide need to support these smaller venues, as do the artists that have come up through them”, he adds.

Access All Areas, the final contract for the development is predicted to be signed this summer and on-sight developments are expected to begin in January 2024.Last month, upcoming arenas were put under scrutiny when pressures mounted, encouraging them to invest back into grassroots music spaces – or else not be allowed to open.Launched by the Music Venue Trust, a 2022 annual report laid out the value of the sector and highlighted the danger that the UK economy faced if smaller venues did not receive support from arenas or other high-capacity locations.“I’m putting the music industry on notice: we are over the edge,” Mark Davyd, sharing the report at the Houses Of Parliament. “We’re not near the edge, we’re over the edge and we’re tumbling down.

over 75 per cent of its £2.5million target to take public ownership of nine grassroots venues “but there’s only five days until its final deadline of March 30th to secure the remaining investment needed,” said the organisation.“#OwnOurVenues is the first step in a long-term campaign to take control of the freeholds of UK grassroots music venue premises and bring them under a protected status of benevolent ownership.”“The initiative is seeking to acquire nine venues in its first phase. On completion of the purchase, the venues will be offered an immediate rent reduction and help contribute to building repairs and insurance, while also guaranteeing long-term security and market-resistant rents.”“Since its launch, hundreds of individuals, companies and organisations have already pledged their support to the project.”5 days to go! Help us end one of the biggest problems facing Grassroots Music Venues: ownership.

launched by the Music Venue Trust last year is closing in on its £2.5million fundraising target.The project, which was launched in May 2022, aims to secure the long-term futures of grassroots venues by purchasing the venues’ freeholds to bring them under community ownership. It has previously been likened to “The National Trust, but for venues’”and is based on the Community Share model that has been used to protect the future of pubs, post offices and sports grounds.Now, the MVT has said it has raised £1.8million of the necessary money and has set a deadline of March 30 to secure the remaining investment needed to start purchasing venues.

MVT stood in parliament and told MPs and the music industry that we have a very serious problem with Grassroots Music Venues and it was going to need decisive action,” Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd recently told NME.“One Grassroots Music Venue is closing every week. If the government don’t act on Energy Bills before 1 April, that number will rise.

Details of the scheme and what constitutes a grassroots music venue can be found here, with applications to be filed here. Funding for the initiative comes from the MVT’s Revive Live tour, which took place this summer and saw Charli XCX, Paolo Nutini, Sleaford Mods and more perform at small venues around the country.Of the new fund, Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd said: “We have been working on music industry based funding support for Grassroots Music Venues since 2018.

Ed Sheeran has backed the Music Venue Trust’s (MVT) ‘Own Our Venues’ campaign, which highlights the need for ownership in the UK’s grassroots music venues.The initiative was first announced in May, following the news that legendary venues North London’s Nambucca and Sheffield’s Leadmill were closing their doors or under threat, respectively.The ‘Own Our Venues’ campaign is built on the Community Share model, which has previously formed a successful way of protecting local pubs, post offices and sports grounds. The MVT has identified nine venues to be involved in a pilot project, with further venue freeholds to be secured as and when they become available.Once venues have been purchased, an immediate rent reduction will be offered, while help will also be given towards building repairs and insurance.

five organisations representing the UK hospitality sector penned an open letter to the UK government amid the ongoing cost of living crisis. They highlighted “rocketing energy prices” that were forecast to become “a matter of existential emergency” this year, and demanded urgent government action to prevent a catastrophe to UK culture.Mark Davyd, MVT CEO, spoke to NME at the time about the true threat posed by the looming price hike.

five organisations representing the UK hospitality sector penned an open letter to the UK government, highlighting “rocketing energy prices” that are forecast to become “a matter of existential emergency” later this year – and demanding that the government act soon to prevent a catastrophe to UK culture.Music Venue Trust (MVT) CEO Mark Davyd spoke to NME at the time about the true threat posed by the looming price rise. He compared it to the COVID pandemic, which at one point saw 93 per cent of the UK’s grassroots music venues under threat of being closed forever due to losses caused by restrictions.Mark Davyd explained: “It feels weird to say it, but unlike during COVID when you could go, ‘OK, we need to raise some money now because in a year’s time the venues will be open’, we can’t do that now because they’ll have to pay another electricity bill next year and the year after that, obviously.

COVID pandemic unless the government takes immediate action.Earlier this week, five organisations representing the UK hospitality sector penned an open letter to the UK government, highlighting “rocketing energy prices” that are forecast to become “a matter of existential emergency” later this year – and demanding that the government act soon to prevent a catastrophe to UK culture.In the hospitality sector, operators are facing average annual bill increases in the region of at least 300 per cent, meaning that many businesses and jobs in the sector are “at grave risk”.Now, Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd has spoken to NME of the true threat posed by the looming price rise, comparing it to the COVID pandemic which at one point saw 93 per cent of the UK’s grassroots music venues were under threat of being closed forever due to losses caused by restrictions.“Without action from the government, we are now modelling that this will close more venues than the pandemic,” he argued. “We don’t see any other outcome.”He continued: “It feels weird to say it, but unlike during COVID when you could go, ‘OK, we need to raise some money now because in a year’s time the venues will be open’, we can’t do that now because they’ll have to pay another electricity bill next year and the year after that, obviously.

NME, MVT Ownership Coordinator Matt Otridge said of the Own Our Venues campaign: “It’s essentially a not-for-profit, charitable organisation that allows us to raise funds via community shares, which then allows anybody who invests money to be a part of that society. So it’s very equitable – one investment equals one vote at AGMs – it’s completely community focused, and it’s a good mechanism to promote longevity and community aspirations.”He continued: “We’re calling this bit the pilot project, and we’re hoping that eventually it will grow and grow into a point where we have hundreds of venues that are owned by Music Venue Properties and hundreds of venues that would benefit from having a landlord that literally can’t be motivated by profits because it’s a not-for-profit organisation, as well as a landlord that shares their ambitions in seeing more money going back into the circuit.”If the music community wants grassroots music venues to be protected, to be secure, to be improved, to be everything they can be for the future of live music, then the music community must #OwnOurVenues— Music Venue Trust (@musicvenuetrust) April 26, 2022Recent calls for music venues to own their own buildings instead of separate landlords have been growing louder, especially with Sheffield’s iconic The Leadmill under threat.

revealed earlier this month ahead of the Chancellor’s Spring Statement on March 23.VAT is currently charged at 12.5 per cent on tickets for live events but Rishi Sunak is restoring the tax return to its pre-pandemic level of 20 per cent.Music Venue Trust boss Mark Davyd wrote on Twitter: “Super soar-away non-sale sale final closing day! Tomorrow the U.K. Government will return to taxing live music gigs with one of the highest rates of VAT on tickets in the world.

COVID worries are causing audience numbers to decline at live shows.Today (December 13), industry experts reported that up to 40 per cent of fans are not showing up to UK gigs due to worries over the Omicron variant, saying that it is “decimating the whole industry”.In response to the worries, MVT boss Mark Davyd has said that action must now be taken by the UK government in order to protect grassroots venues.“Regardless of any restrictions or vaccination campaigns, the fact is that grassroots

coronavirus pandemic.The BBC Radio 6 Music DJ praised Davyd, who is behind the successful #SaveOurVenues campaign which has so far raised over £1.2 million for the 556 venues at risk of closure, in a new interview.The impact of those funds was bolstered last month by the UK government announcing emergency grants to the first 135 venue beneficiaries of its Culture Recovery Fund.Speaking to Music Week, Lamacq praised the work of Davyd and the MVT as “unbelievable”.“If Mark doesn’t get an MBE at

coronavirus lockdown.Over 400 grassroots music venues in the UK are at imminent risk of closing for good as a consequence of the ongoing health crisis.