Kate Nash joins a growing list of high-profile supporters for the charity which works to protect, secure and improve the UK’s Grassroots Music Venues. Musicians including Sir Paul McCartney, Coldplay, Enter Shikari, Frank Turner and Catherine Anne Davies, broadcasters including Steve Lamacq MBE and Gemma Bradley, and patrons from industry and politics including Sony Music’s Jason Iley, John Whittingdale MP and Kerry McCarthy MP have already demonstrated their commitment to saving and protecting GMVs. See the full list here https://www.musicvenuetrust.com/patrons/
Kate, who recently gave an impassioned speech and performance at the January launch of MVT’s Annual Report at the Houses of Parliament, said: “I love grassroots venues, I wouldn’t have the career I have today without them. I value music and art across all levels. Protecting the grassroots is an investment in the future of UK culture. If we lose the grassroots, we lose the birth, growth and development of future artists.”
As well as Kate, joining MVT’s existing list of patrons are MP for Brighton Pavilion Sian Berry, live music agent Summer Marshall, Robert Kilpatrick, CEO and Creative Director, Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA), Neal Thompson, Co-founder, FOCUS Wales, and Colin Newman, Artist & Independent Label Manager.
MVT’s recently published Annual Report, which was launched at The Houses of Parliament in January, demonstrated that despite a range of recent positive activity such as the continued success of Music Venue Properties (MVP), which has now secured freehold ownership of five GMVs, and the publication of a Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) report that made strong recommendations to support grassroots music, it is clear that significant work is still needed to prevent a continued decline of the sector.
A survey of the 810 members of the Music Venues Alliance (MVA), who employ over 30,000 people throughout the GMV community, found that they staged over 162,000 live music events comprising almost 1.5m individual artist performances given to a total audience of just under 20 million. The total direct value to the UK economy from these events was £526m. However, on average GMVs, 33% of which are now registered as not-for profit entities – a 29% increase in not-for-profit registration since 2023 – operated on a profit margin of just 0.48% with 43.8% of them reporting a loss in the last 12 months. This means that the sector, as a whole, effectively subsidised live music activity to the tune of £162m.
The report also highlighted the huge decline in locations on the UK’s primary and secondary touring circuits. In the 30 year period between 1994 and 2024 those touring locations have collapsed, with an average tour in 1994 including 22 dates and the equivalent tour in 2024 consisting of only 11 dates. In 2024, just 12 locations, all of them major cities, remained as primary and secondary touring circuit stops, acting as regular hosts to grassroots tours.
