The Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) and Musicians' Union (MU) have published an open letter to the government and the UK's live music industry in response to the “cost of touring crisis” facing artists and performers.
Although evident at all levels of live music, this crisis is particularly acute at grassroots shows, according to the letter.
A report by the Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee of MPs earlier this year found that artists, independent promoters and grassroots venues should all benefit from a ticket levy applied to arena and stadium events.
The Committee’s report recommended that a voluntary levy to support grassroots live music should be introduced by September 2024, although this has not been implemented by the government.
“Despite a small number of artists generously donating a proportion of their ticket revenue to the Music Venue Trust, we still lack a sustainable funding mechanism that could help address shortfalls in the grassroots music sector,” stated the organisations.
The FAC and MU suggested that a blanket levy would ensure a consistent and reliable flow of funding, and allow for a fair distribution to all relevant parties at grassroots level for the long-term future. It would also facilitate direct funding for artists to help plan tours with more financial security.
Artists and fans are being encouraged to show their support for the open letter by signing this petition.
David Martin, CEO, Featured Artists Coalition, said: “In March, I gave evidence before the Culture Select Committee, alongside Lily Fontaine from the Mercury-winning band, English Teacher. We made it clear to MPs that any solution to the ‘cost of touring crisis’ facing UK grassroots music must involve the direct funding of artists.
“The Committee agreed, and concluded that a proposed levy on arena and stadium shows must benefit artists and independent promoters – as well as grassroots venues.
“However, since the publication of their report, the FAC has become increasingly concerned about the direction of travel. Today, we call on the government to help get this conversation back on track to deliver the £1 ticket levy that grassroots live music so desperately needs. We are also asking fans, artists and the wider music industry to sign our open letter to save grassroots touring.”
Kelly Wood, head of live, the Musicians' Union, said: “If artists can’t rely upon a healthy and financially viable grassroots live sector, the industry as a whole suffers. We urgently need to see the introduction of a robust and sustainable funding mechanism, allowing artists to carry out tours without significant risk. Without this kind of support, we will lose artists from the music community, and the talent pipeline will be severely disrupted.”
You can read the open letter in full below:
The Musicians’ Union (MU) and the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) are the UK trade union and the trade body that represent artists and performers. Our organisations protect their rights and interests, ensuring they are fairly represented and paid within the recorded and live music sectors.
In recent years, our members have been hit hard by disruption in the live music market. Covid-19, Brexit and the increased cost of US visas have presented a perfect storm of challenges.
Additionally, domestic touring has become extremely challenging, as the cost of living crisis bites both in respect of audience affordability and devastating increases in costs.
The impact of this crisis should be of grave concern to the live sector and the wider music industry.
Given this situation, we welcomed the Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee’s inquiry into grassroots music venues. As made clear by the work of bodies such as Music Venue Trust (MVT), grassroots venues have faced a challenging economic environment. Our organisations recognised that challenge and support the measures and funds that have been implemented to ensure that venues are viable during an acute period of pressure.
However, just supporting venues in itself will not save grassroots music.
The entire ecosystem needs support, and especially the artists and musicians who perform on the stages in those venues. This is how we will develop new artists and audiences, ensuring that it's viable for artists to progress through the live sector - from grassroots venues to arenas.
As MVT’s Mark Davyd told the Select Committee, “ My members will all tell you one of their biggest concerns is that artists cannot afford to tour…venues are standing empty when they could be putting bands on because bands cannot afford to put on a show.”
This has been borne out by increasing numbers of tour cancellations, where artists have venues booked for tours, but simply cannot make the finances stack up.
We were therefore encouraged that the Select Committee supported the arguments put forward by the FAC, alongside Lily Fontane of Mercury-winning band English Teacher, and by MVT, namely that the crisis in the grassroots extended to the whole of the ecosystem, and explicitly artists.
The Committee recognised that “collectively artists are the largest employers in the live music industry”, and indeed that without artists being able to afford to perform in venues, the live sector could not solve the crisis it currently faces, no matter how well funded and protected venues are. The Committee also recognised the need to support new promoters.
The artist-fan relationship is the fundamental basis of the live music industry. Without performances, the sector cannot exist.
UK artists are facing a cost of touring crisis - and our organisations are clear that the challenges facing artists are as critical as those facing venus, requiring as much attention and investment to solve. Artists have not had access to the raft of measures that have been made available to other parts of the music industry over recent years. They have in fact, been locked out of support mechanisms, compounding the position the UK artist community finds itself in in 2024.
The key recommendation from the Committee’s report was that the live music industry cooperate to introduce an arena-level levy, to raise funds to reinvest into artists, promoters and venues at the grassroots end of the sector, thereby protecting the live sector and enabling a pipeline of new artists and audiences for the good of the whole of the live sector.
The FAC and MU welcomed this commitment. The levy must be implemented on a blanket basis, so that the responsibility is shared across all of those that contribute to the live industry. While it is remarkable that some artists have voluntarily come forward to offer individual support, this burden should not be placed at the door of individual, British artists on an “opt in” basis. This blanket approach will ensure a level playing field for UK artists and that the whole of the live sector shares the cost of investing in the future of live music in the UK.
Not only is this the fairest way, it is the most sustainable, providing a clear collection mechanism. This model would serve to future-proof the sector by ensuring direct access to funding for all parties involved in grassroots live activities, in particular artists.
This is important to ensure that we are developing new artists, new audiences, and new scenes, in a safe, diverse and inclusive environment. The driver for new music movements comes from artists and their fans, and we must power that, in order to drive the future of the sector.
However, we are concerned about the industry’s ability to enact the mechanism voluntarily. In its absence, donations made by arena-level artists won't necessarily lead to direct funding opportunities for artists performing at grassroots level. Therefore, we believe that the government should retain the option to intervene and implement a statutory levy. Our organisations will campaign to bring forward such steps if necessary.
The music industry’s direction of travel since publication of the Committee’s report should be a cause of alarm.
Unless we return to the consensus position of May 2024, where the entire grassroots sector can benefit from a ticket levy, we risk causing irreparable harm to British music.
We are encouraging artists, fans and the wider industry to show their support for this open letter by signing our petition.
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