Music Venue Trust’s annual report was launched in Scottish Parliament yesterday (Wednesday) with a special event for politicians, policy makers, venues and key stakeholders.
The latest report from the UK music venue charity has found that Scottish grassroots music venues subsidised live music by £14m (€16m/$19m) in 2024.
A survey of the 70 members of the Music Venues Alliance Scotland (MVA Scotland) found that they had staged more than 14,000 live events comprising over 128,000 individual artist performances. These acts were enjoyed by roughly 1.6 million live music fans, and the total direct value to the Scottish economy was over £45.4 million.
However, grassroots music venues operated on a profit margin of just 0.48% with 43.8% of them reporting a loss in the last 12 months. The sector as a whole effectively subsidised live music activity in Scotland to the tune of £14m.
Additionally, the whole of the UK has witnessed a steep decline in locations utilised for primary and secondary touring circuits. Only one location in Scotland remains on the national touring circuit – Glasgow – with even the capital of Edinburgh struggling, according to MVT.
Some of the towns and cities to have dropped the primary and secondary touring circuit include Bath, Cambridge, Dundee, Hull, Newport, Portsmouth, Windsor and York.
The numbers
MVT’s annual report also shared that grassroots music venues across the UK held a total of 16,352 ticketed and art form events, with 91,149 of these being ticketed live music shows.
However, grassroots venues have witnessed a decline in audience visits, as they held fewer live music events. The decline in the value of tickets sold also relates to a significant decrease in the number of high value tickets for national touring acts that have been replaced by local events with lower per-ticket values.
One trend that has also continued to impact smaller venues include business rates. MVT has worked with UK nations to understand the impact of various approaches towards business rates relief.
Business rates without any relief still existed in Scotland throughout 2024, resulting in additional £780,000 in pre-profit taxation for Scottish MVA members in excess of their English counterparts. Venues in Wales saw their rate relief cut from 75% to 40% in April, resulting in additional costs for Welsh MVA members of £127,000.
England has followed suit and cut relief to 40% from 75%, meaning business rates in England will go up by 140% for grassroots music venues. This will create an additional £7m pre-profit taxation according to MVT.
With Music Venue Trust having been founded in 2015, chief executive Mark Davyd reflected on the last decade. He said: “The 2024 Annual Report recognises that after 10 years of work by MVT a very broad consensus has been built among politicians, industry, artists and the public that grassroots music venues must be protected, supported, encouraged and nurtured.
“In 2025 and beyond, we have to see that consensus brings forward positive, practical interventions in the real world. Venues, despite all the very welcome good intentions and acknowledgements they are receiving for their vital work, are still closing, still under extreme and totally unnecessary financial pressures, still failing to be recognised, as everyone agrees they should and must be, when the government designs policy, taxation, and legislation.
“It isn’t good enough to keep saying how much we all value them, we’ve got to practically do something about it. We need action not words.”
With the launch event taking place in Scotland, the charity called on Members of Scottish Parliament (MSPs) to enforce business rates relief for all grassroots music venues under 1,500 capacity.
“In Scotland, MSPs have an immediate opportunity to deliver that action,” said Stina Tweeddale, Scotland coordinator at Music Venue Trust.
“They can act right now to ensure that the commitment that every grassroots music venue under 1,500 cap would receive rate relief in 2025-26 actually happens. At the moment a significant number of key venues will be excluded from that relief, against the commitment made by Scottish government and against the best interests of live music in Scotland.”