As we kick off a new year, I just wanted to take this opportunity to say a sincere thank you for your support.

2025 was an incredibly busy year; and in many ways a pivotal one for the FAC, as we continue to expand the range of services we provide and reposition what we do as an organisation. Although campaigning and advocacy remain at our core, I hope in the future we can also be recognised as a body that makes a tangible difference in terms of funding, creative investment and knowledge-sharing.

Key to this evolution has been the success of the FAC’s flagship Step Up Fund. With generous support from our friends at Amazon Music, over the past four years Step Up has provided more upcoming, independent artists with early-stage financing to drive forward a diverse range of creative projects.

This unprescriptive approach, which encourages artistic activity, has played clear dividends. And as with previous cohorts, 2025’s awardees - 4am Kru, Arz, Balancing Act, BINA., Crae Wolf, Edbl, Ellie Dixon, Jadu Heart, Mellina Tey and Namesbliss - are all benefitting from the freedom and confidence that the fund inspires. Given how over-subscribed Step Up has been, we were subsequently delighted when the Amazon Music team offered an end-of-year boost that provided another five individuals - Nia Wyn, lleo, Richard Carter, Maya Lane and Gigi Moss - with free studio time and engineer support at their Breakthrough Lab facility at the renowned Metropolis Studios.

These experiences will stand us in good stead when we launch the UK Artist Touring (UKAT) Fund in the coming months. Established as our response to the grassroots touring crisis, and as a way of ensuring artists are not forgotten in this conversation, the UKAT Fund will plug directly into the LIVE Trust, the independent body that collects revenue from £1 donations on large-scale live shows. We have developed the initiative with help from our friends at the MMF and MU, and with backing and expertise from Arts Council England.

With so many artists struggling with the costs of putting on live events, we hope the UKAT Fund can provide a welcome shot in the arm and ensure more shows stay on the road - effectively providing an accessible and transparent source of tour support.

Although still relatively early days for adoption of the levy, the Trust has made great strides in encouraging promoters, venues, agents, managers and artists to embrace the idea that a small per-ticket contribution can make a significant difference to the livelihoods of those who rely on live performances for their income. Parliament and government have been clear that these £1 contributions should become the norm on all large shows across the next year. As the FAC has been reiterating for a number of years, artists and audiences are the two mainstays of live music. If they’re struggling with costs, then nothing in between those poles can function. Tickets won’t be sold, venues won’t get booked, workers won’t be employed and touring will not happen.

From our perspective, it is therefore vital that as many artists as possible receive a fair share of the contributions collected by the Trust; and that that funding triggers further economic and cultural activity, just as it has with Step Up. The launch of UKAT will mark the start of a process, not the end. The development of an open, accessible and ambitious fund of this type will be an evolution, and we will learn, adapt and collaborate further as we analyse and assess outcomes and feedback. It’s an exciting journey, which we will be honest and transparent about. I look forward to working with our members, friends and partners across the sector as we shape UKAT into something that will bring positive knock-on implications for career development and the health of the UK’s wider music industry.

Complementing these funding initiatives, the FAC has also been engaged with a range of community-building and development work.

For instance, working with Arts Council England and PPL, we recently concluded a series of Artist Days in Bristol, Newcastle, Leicester and Leeds - encouraging local artist communities to come together to share ideas and business practices.

In partnership with the social network WeAre8, we’ve developed a new series of showcase events to provide live opportunities; and with the University of Hertfordshire, we are now two years into our programme of Propeller Sessions, allowing upcoming artists to create professional quality recordings and assets for free. Additionally, we have been proud to partner with the Amex Unsigned programme, providing advice, support and a network to the brilliant work that the initiative is already doing in supporting developing artists.

I am ambitious that we secure more of these partnerships in 2026, and that we continue to expand the ones we already have. We will also continue to roll out our 101 sessions and Insights series, ensuring artists are provided with up-to-the-minute information and education about key areas of the music business.

None of this will be a distraction from the FAC’s campaigning work - whether that’s pushing for artist-centric reforms in areas like streaming or AI licensing, lobbying for concessions that would ease European touring, or supporting the crackdown on online ticket touting - or our mission to place artists and artists’ interests at the frontline of these debates.

But the foundations we laid in 2025, will see even greater dividends in 2026 and beyond.

I look forward to working on this mission as we head into another important year for the FAC’s evolution.

FAC CEO, David Martin's message for a new year