Recommendation 6

HM Government Deferred

The Government recognises the cultural and economic value of grassroots music spaces at the heart of local communities. Grassroots venues enable fans across the country to access live music. They provide a platform for artists, sound engineers and promoters to learn their trade, incubating the talent needed for the national and international success of the UK’s music sector. We are deeply concerned with the rate of closures in the grassroots sector, and want to work with industry to enable a sustainable grassroots music sector. We agree with the Committee’s recommendation that the music industry should introduce a voluntary levy on arena and stadium tickets to support grassroots music venues, artists and promoters. We believe this would be the quickest and most effective mechanism for a small portion of revenues from the biggest shows to be invested in a sustainable grassroots sector. This would create social and economic value not only for the grassroots sector, but also for the health and future success of the UK’s live music ecosystem. Our view is that a small industry-led levy within the price of a ticket would benefit fans in accessing local music venues, provide greater opportunities for up and coming talent, and benefit the UK’s live music ecosystem as a whole. To build confidence with fans, the music sector should make sure there is clear and transparent communication to fans about the voluntary levy, and how it will support the grassroots music sector. We welcome steps already taken by the live music sector, coordinated by the umbrella industry body LIVE (Live music Industry Venues & Entertainment), towards the establishment of a voluntary industry levy and a charitable organisation to manage and distribute its proceeds. However, there is more to do to agree concrete proposals and implement a cross-sector approach, with buy-in from across the live music ecosystem. We want to see a voluntary levy come into effect as soon as possible for concerts in 2025. We welcome the example set by artists such as Coldplay and Sam Fender in donating a proportion of their upcoming tour revenues to support the grassroots sector. We encourage the music sector to invest in an independent evaluation to assess the effectiveness of the impact of a voluntary industry-led levy in supporting the grassroots sector. We believe it is appropriate for the sector, rather than government, to take responsibility for assessing the effectiveness of an industry-led levy. We will work with the sector as a critical friend on assessing the impact of the levy. The Government understands there is recognition across the music industry of the need to support a sustainable grassroots sector, and the benefits this brings to the UK’s music ecosystem. We urge the live music industry, and in particular the biggest commercial players who will have the biggest impact on the success of an industry-led levy, to act now, and to do so swiftly. The Government is ready to use its convening powers to bring people to the table in short measure to start this process if that is thought necessary. The Government will also consider progress made on the implementation and effectiveness of a voluntary levy and whether further action is needed to support a sustainable grassroots music sector. We note action taken in France to introduce a statutory levy and we will continue to monitor developments in other jurisdictions. We reserve the right to return to this matter if no satisfactory progress is made.