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AUGUST 2017
More Bad News for Small Venues in the UK Allan McGowan am@vip-booking.com The recent study by UK Music shows audiences for concerts and
Sage Gateshead
festivals up to a record 30.9 million, bringing £4bn in to the economy, and showing that there is further evidence that the live sector is one of the most vibrant and profitable parts of the music industry. The study also indicates that it is through ticket sales and merchandise that most musicians generate the majority of their revenue. However much as these figures are evidence that more people than ever are flocking to watch live music, with attendance at concerts and festivals at an all-time high, there is still reason to worry about the future of small venues, the acknowledged grassroots of our business.
developments in inner cities are seeing the venues hit with noise
The report also found that there was a sharp fall in the amount of
abatement orders. It is feared that, without funding, many more could
money being spent at smaller venues – those with a capacity of below
go the same way. Clubs in other parts of the country have also closed
1,500. These are the venues that have been closing in their droves
in recent years.
over the past decade, declining by 35% in London thanks to rising
Whitrick said the trust had been encouraged by the council to make
costs, pressures from property developers and strict licensing laws.
a series of applications for almost half a million pounds, which would have been used to upgrade venues and help promote the sector.
The chief executive of UK Music, Michael Dugher stated that the
Similar initiatives have worked in the past. “ACE was so open to
smaller venues were a “vital part of the live music industry”, and
the idea of why this was needed and it was really encouraging. We
promised that, “UK Music will continue to campaign to safeguard
thought we were winning the argument about these clubs being
smaller music venues, many of which are fighting for survival.”
cultural venues, and so this feels like a slap in the face.”
However the drastic situation has not been helped by the recent
It appears that ACE has returned to favouring the funding of ‘high’
decision made by Arts Council England (ACE) to reject an application
as opposed to ‘low’ art. Of the £1.6bn allocated to arts organisations
for funding from the charity set up to defend their interests, leading
in the latest funding round, about £367m went to those in the music
to the strong possibility that more live music venues face closure in the
sector. But 85% of this went to opera and classical music, according
next few years. Beverley Whitrick, the strategic director of the Music
to the trust. (See Big Winners Chart below) £28m has been set aside
Venue Trust, said she could not “even begin to guess” how many
for contemporary music by ACE in 2018–22, £5m goes towards music
clubs will close before the next round of funding in 2022.
education, a further £2.5m has been given to festivals and promoters and £1.5m to recording studios. Only two venues concentrating
Since 2007, more than half of London’s 430 live music venues have
on contemporary music being funded by ACE are Band on the
closed. Business rates and rents are rising, while new residential
Wall (340-cap.) in Manchester and Café Oto (200-cap.) in London. Both received National Portfolio funding in 2015–18. (London’s
Beverley Whitrick
Roundhouse received £3.8m, but is defined as ‘combined arts’.) Incredibly, 50% of the hole of the 2018–22 contemporary music budget – £14m, or £9,622 per day – has been awarded to one venue: Sage Gateshead, a mixed contemporary/classical music venue and centre for music education in the north-east of England, operated by the charity North Music Trust. Pink Floyd’s drummer Nick Mason said recently, “Live venues are one of the few places where a new band can actually make a living, and
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