FAC and MMF respond to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee report grassroots music venues report
On Saturday morning, the Culture, Media & Sport Committee published their long-anticipated report on grassroots music venues - following an inquiry which centred, predominantly, on whether arena and stadium shows should be helping subsidise grassroots touring via a £1 ticket levy.
Our CEO, David Martin and MMF vice-chair, Kwame Kwaten, both appeared in Parliament to give evidence, alongside Lily Fontaine, from the band English Teacher.
Both their testimony and the FAC & MMF written submission are quoted substantially in the final report which makes a number of recommendations to the Government.
The most important of these is actually a broadening of focus - that, alongside small venues, the beneficiaries of a levy must include artists, managers, independent promoters and others integral to the production of live shows.
“While the scope of our inquiry initially focused on the crisis of grassroots venue closures, evidence we have received and data from across the industry show that the crisis has extended to, and in many ways is mutually reinforcing, challenges to artists and the wider ecosystem.”
To ensure the sustainability of grassroots live music, we need a grassroots music fund. All boats need to be lifted. As well as politicians, the entire industry is aligned on this point.
The Committee recognised that artists, in particular, shoulder the largest burden of costs - that they are the “biggest employers within the industry”, and face a "cost of touring crisis".
“Given that artists are collectively the sector’s biggest employers, the crisis also has a ripple-out effect on the professionals who rely on artists to make their own livelihoods, such as tour managers and technicians, and business partners such as managers and agents, who do not get paid if a tour does not make money.”
In terms of the mechanics around the levy, the Committee wants the live industry to have a system in place by September 2024.
This would be coordinated through the umbrella organisation LIVE - of which both FAC and MMF are board members - and implemented voluntarily at all large-scale shows across the whole sector.
The levy should be “outside” the ticket price, ensuring it does not impact artist settlements and is not subject to tax or licensing deductions.
If the industry cannot agree on a mechanism or if, after 12 months, a voluntary system is not delivering sufficient revenue, the Committee recommends that the Government intervenes and introduces a statutory levy.
Other key points of importance are:
The Committee fully backs the 100% Venues campaign, and urges all venues and trade bodies to engage and work towards ending punitive merchandise commissions.
Artists and managers need better access to arts funding - ensuring they can qualify for a greater range of funds, and that processes are simplified.
“David Martin highlighted that over the past four years, interventions such as business rates relief, the Culture Recovery Fund, furlough, local authority grants and the SGM Fund were all not available to artists. Kwame Kwaten of the MMF added that these were therefore also unavailable to managers.”
There should be a targeted and temporary VAT cut on tickets for grassroots live music events
The Committee recognised frustrations with some of PRS for Music’s licensing processes, notably the practice redistributing unallocated ‘Black Box’ revenues by market share, alongside the importance of ensuring songwriters and composers are properly paid. These should be resolved, where possible, via the upcoming 2024 Tariff Review.
A fan-led review into live and electronic music should be set up this summer to examine the long-term challenges to the wider live music ecosystem
In response to the report, FAC and MMF issued the following statement, welcoming all the Committee’s recommendations - particularly the expanding scope of the fund - and committing to working towards its delivery by September 2024.
David Martin, CEO, Featured Artists Coalition & Annabella Coldrick, Chief Executive, Music Managers Forum said:
"As the organisations representing artists and managers, we wholeheartedly endorse all the Committee's recommendations.
Most important is their recognition of the 'cost of touring crisis', and that the benefits of a ticket levy must flow down to artists, managers, and independent promoters - as well as to grassroots music venues. The entire ecosystem needs support. While we still believe this mechanism should be mandatory, the clock is now ticking to get a process in place before September 2024.
We are also delighted to see the Committee endorse the 100% Venues campaign, and hope this will trigger action from the UK's largest live music venues to overhaul outdated practices on merchandise commissions. The sale of T-shirts, vinyl and other physical products represent a crucial income stream for artists. It is only fair that they should retain the bulk of that revenue."