Our CEO, David Martin’s end of year round up

As we head into Christmas, our CEO, David Martin shares some insightful words about the past year at the FAC, and our aims moving into 2024.

“It’s never been easy being an artist. Never will be. 

As well as the guts to share your talent and hold it up to public scrutiny, there’s the nerve-wracking demands of creation and performance. Of putting yourself out there. Of conjuring music in private, and taking the results to your audience - risking rejection or indifference. Introspection lies at odds with self-confidence and self-belief, yet somehow we expect all three from the artists that we love. 

Making a livelihood as an artist is even more challenging. In a global market, where 100,000 tracks are uploaded to streaming services each day, where attention spans are like TikTok videos, and where everyone has the entire history of music at their fingertips, it’s incredibly tough to gain a foothold. There’s no shortage of talent out there, but only a few gain attention and build the momentum needed to live from their art. 

These realities drive what the Featured Artist Coalition does, and what I want us to do more of in the future. 

It’s why we strived hard to make our board, our Ambassadors and our membership as representative and as diverse as possible, with artists from across all genres, backgrounds and career stages. 

And it’s certainly behind the campaigns we’ve instigated and the advocacy work we’re involved with, whether on our own or as part of the umbrella organisations we are members of, like the Council of Music Makers, International Artist Organisation,UK Music or LIVE. 

Take the 100% Venues, for example. The scandal of artists having to pay onerous commissions to venues when selling tour merchandise is hardly a new development. This has been a burning issue for years, and raised publicly in recent times by artists including Tim Burgess, Peter Hook, The Lovely Eggs, Dry Cleaning and The Big Moon. 

However, off the back of COVID, when artists were denied from working, cut adrift from their audiences and - unlike other parts of the live industry - received nothing from the Cultural Recovery Fund, the idea of having 25% of their hard-earned merchandise revenue (+ VAT!) syphoned away felt more than unfair. It was economically unsustainable. 

And even more so, when you consider that artists are arguably the biggest employers in live music. As well as attracting audiences and filling venues, it is from the artist’s pocket that managers, agents, musicians, engineers and crew get paid. It’s their performances that fill the PRS coffers and ensure songwriters can receive their rightful share of performance royalties. For the biggest artists, where financial risks are even greater, they’re often keeping a small army on the road.   

Through 100% Venues, I think the FAC has achieved three things. 

First, we’ve helped consolidate the disquiet about this issue, we’ve helped amplify it, and we’ve kept it on the public agenda. Secondly, we’ve been constructive. We’ve accumulated support from the industry, and we’ve compiled a really practical list of venues that charge 0% commission. And thirdly, we’ve started conversations. We’ve brought people to the table. 

Off the back of this momentum, and despite the lack of surrounding publicity, it was particularly pleasing to see the Academy Music Group take the decision to reduce commissions to 15% at their largest venues. 

It’s not perfect, it’s not 0%, but it’s a hell of a welcome step in the right direction. And, most importantly, it will result in substantial sums of revenue being retained by the FAC’s membership when they perform in those rooms - revenue that will help them keep tours on the road, and allow them to invest in themselves, their creativity and their wider teams.  

We will continue to push for more progress in 2024. I'd certainly like some of the UK’s arena venues to take a leaf from AMG’s book and come to the table, particularly when it comes to support acts. Personally, I don’t think support acts should pay any commission on merch sales, anywhere. For all our futures, they need all the help they can get. And if  the grassroots and independent sector can be universally supportive of our campaign, then I can’t see why the largest venues can’t do likewise. 

These same principles run through the FAC’s involvement in work around reforms of music streaming, AI, and international touring. Our job is to make life easier for artists, and to help the wider industry understand and acknowledge what artists want. 

I also think we can play an important role in upskilling artists, and providing routes to funding. Although the music business often appears to be dominated by a handful of global corporations and platforms, in reality it’s a constellation of cottage businesses - usually centred around the artist and their immediate team. We no longer operate in a market where artists need to sign their rights away. These days, record labels are more likely to be rights`partners’ than ‘owners’. 

In itself, that is progress, and it’s also why initiatives like the FAC’s Step Up Fund are so important. Through the generous support of Amazon Music, Step Up has allowed us to help 21 fantastic artists since 2022 with funding and other assistance. For some, it’s a means to an end, enabling them to complete and expand existing projects and retain their independence; while for others, it’s helped them to sign a label deal, as Elkka has done with Ninja Tune, Tara Lily has done with Tru Thoughts and Amie Blu has done with 0207 Def Jam. 

This is the future as I see it - artists taking control of their own destiny, agreeing the partnerships that work for them, and generally rebuilding the industry on better and more equitable terms than what came before.“

CEO, David Martin