{"id":224840,"date":"2026-01-21T06:26:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T11:26:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2026\/01\/21\/over-half-of-u-k-grassroots-venues-unprofitable-in-2025-says-music-venue-trust-3\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T06:26:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T11:26:26","slug":"over-half-of-u-k-grassroots-venues-unprofitable-in-2025-says-music-venue-trust-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2026\/01\/21\/over-half-of-u-k-grassroots-venues-unprofitable-in-2025-says-music-venue-trust-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Over Half of U.K. Grassroots Venues Unprofitable In 2025, Says Music Venue\u00a0Trust"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tMore than half (53%) of grassroots music venues in the United Kingdom were unable to turn a profit in 2025, according to the annual report of the Music Venue Trust<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tReleased Tuesday (Jan. 20) at the industry body\u2019s annual conference, which took place at London\u2019s V&A Museum, the report details how the grassroots live sector contributes over \u00a3500 million ($671 million) annually to the U.K. economy but its structure remains precarious.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe report details how, throughout the year, the U.K. government changes to national insurance and business rates resulted in a loss of 6,000 jobs \u2013 a 19% contraction in the overall workforce. The Music Venue Trust (MVT) described the tax burdens as \u201cunsustainable\u201d, with freelance and casual roles hit hardest, dropping from an average of 20.7 to 7.6 per venue.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tMusic Venues Trust Respond to Coldplay\u2019s Donation to the U.K.\u2019s Grassroots Scene: \u2018This Money Will Achieve a\u00a0Lot\u2019\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tIn its headline findings, the report states that the majority of grassroots music venues (GMVs) in the U.K. are now \u201cone financial shock away from crisis\u201d, while the national touring circuit continues to contract. The average profit for a GMV was just 2.5%, a figure the charity described as \u201ccritically low.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOver the past year alone, 30 GMVs permanently closed, and 175 U.K. towns and cities, home to an estimated 25 million people, no longer receive regular touring shows by professional artists (classed as the \u2018significant touring circuit\u2019 by the MVT). Destinations with populations exceeding 100,000 not receiving \u2018significant tours\u2019 include: Leicester, Hull, Portsmouth, Stoke, and entire regions across Wales, Scotland and the South West.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe have reached the limits of what venues can absorb on margins of 2.5%,\u201d said MVT chief executive and founder Mark Davyd<\/strong> in a statement. \u201cThis sector has done all it can to keep music live in our communities, it now needs permanent protection, structural reform, and leadership that recognises grassroots venues as essential national infrastructure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat obviously needs to come in the form of a coherent strategy from the government, but they are not the sole solution. The music industry itself is in the last chance saloon with regards to the levy; if voluntary industry action does not deliver by June 2026, the government must legislate.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe MVT plays a critical role in maintaining the pipeline of live music by protecting the grassroots venues where artists build audiences and gain touring experience. As operating costs rise, through targeted campaigning and policy work, the Trust works to help prevent closures and secure the long-term economic and cultural value of GMVs.<\/p>\n

\n\tPositive highlights from the report include the number of people attending gigs at a grassroots level, which rose by 13% in 2025 with 21 million fans checking out shows. Average ticket prices at GMVs, meanwhile, saw a minimal rise, increasing by just eight pence to \u00a311.56 ($15.54).<\/p>\n

\n\tA voluntary \u00a31 levy on tickets for arena and stadium shows with more than 5,000 capacity has also been adopted by major artists including Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Gorillaz, Kneecap, Lorde, Mumford & Sons, Pulp, Radiohead, Sam Fender and Wolf Alice. The move resulted in 8.8% of the tickets on sale at this level in 2025, helping to generate funding for GMVs.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2026, the MVT is set to develop Liveline, a national touring programme in partnership with live charity Save Our Scene <\/strong>and the Association Of Independent Promoters<\/strong>, designed to address the root causes of the touring crisis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe MVT will also expand its venue support team, which offers advice and urgent cash to GMVs, while investing \u00a32 million into a number of targeted programmes. These projects include Venue MOT, Off The Grid, Stay The Night and Raise The Standard, which focus on infrastructure resilience and operational improvement across the grassroots ecosystem.<\/p>\n

\n\tDavyd said: \u201cFor 10 years Music Venue Trust has explored the best ideas from around the world, worked with our sector to understand what would make the biggest difference to them, and brought forward innovative, groundbreaking ideas that we can now deliver practically.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis is no longer just about rescue, it is about working with our partners and colleagues, including the crucial role to be played by the LIVE Trust, to deliver investment and reform that restores the infrastructure that music careers are built on.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Aller \u00e0 la source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than half (53%) of grassroots music venues in the United Kingdom were unable to turn a profit in 2025, according to the annual report of the Music Venue Trust. Released Tuesday (Jan. 20) at the industry body\u2019s annual conference, which took place at London\u2019s V&A Museum, the report details how the grassroots live sector […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-224840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musique","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224840\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}