The BBC ran an item on their website last week: “Grassroots live music venues suffer ‘most challenging year’, report says.” The BBC loves a negative news story, and there’s no getting away from the fact that venues have closed, and people have lost their jobs. But the Music Venue Trust’s annual report, which is heavily, and selectively, quoted by the BBC paints a picture of a sector taking its future into its own hands.
Despite reporting it two weeks earlier, nowhere in the BBC’s recent article does the Crowdfunder that kept The Sound Lounge in Sutton open get a mention. As a great example of community action, raising £35,000 in a day, and with another £11,000 raised since it shows the strength of support for grassroots venues.
The problem is not about pulling in the punters. It is about the burden heaped on small businesses of all sorts over the last few years. Top of the list are utility bills. In March 2022 we closed our own hotel (and music venue) in Scotland. The prospect of electricity jumping from £6,000 per year to nearly £20,000 was a key part of the decision. Lack of staff is another issue. The behaviour, particularly of some large pub chains, over lockdown took hundreds of thousands of people out of the sector. On top of the impact of Brexit on staff availability this has reduced those wanting to work in the sector dramatically. Hannah White acknowledges this problem on the Sound Lounge’s Crowdfunding page.
“Keiron and I lost quite a lot of our staff when we came from our autumn tour so since October, without the money to replace staff we lost, we have been covering shifts to ensure everything keeps running. But it’s been really hard on us physically: opening up in the morning and working til close and not getting home until 2am – working on average 70hrs a week between the physical shifts and admin. We don’t get days off and we can’t really afford to pay ourselves what we need to survive personally”.
Many venue owners will recognise themselves in those words, including my sister struggling to keep open in Scotland. While the minimum wage has been a good thing for improving life for low-paid workers, the cost falls disproportionately on small businesses. VAT, especially the gap between having no VAT to claim on food bought, but having to charge it on meals served is another cost that hits small venues excessively hard.
So, it’s difficult, and as Hannah White alludes to, mostly done for love by the business owners. But the MVT’s report has plenty of good news, total audience visits up from 21 million to 23 million year on year. £500 million contributed to the economy, and 180,000 events run in 2023.
What can we the gig-goers do to support grassroots venues?
The MVT report highlights that venues in towns with populations smaller than 200,000 do less well than in larger cities. So, attending gigs in places like Bath where venues like Chapel Arts have trouble attracting enough ticket sales early enough. Local hero Matt Owens told me late in 2022 on the back of a pulled show there that he was concerned about putting on gigs because so many people buy at the last minute.
- Action point 1: Buy tickets early so that the gig goes ahead.
Many artists hold down day jobs and travel miles to do low-paying gigs because they love it. They make it pay at the merch table. My beautiful carved wood Lost Trades bookmark sees good use and Polly Paulusma, and Kathryn Williams’ latest CDs bought from their own hands at Le Pub in Newport are somehow just that bit more special.
- Action point 2: Buy merch, and if possible, pay in cash so they don’t get hit with card fees.
Spread the word on social media. You are looking forward to the gig, so tell others about the artists and venues you love. Support the venues and artists with a follow and get involved in their conversations.
- Action point 3: Follow AUK’s channels: Twitter/X Facebook Instagram and like, share, and comment on our regular posts on upcoming live shows.
- Action point 4: Buy artists’ music where it counts for them. Bandcamp, physical CDs and vinyl, and leave Spotify to Taylor.
We love live music at AUK. One of the joys of writing here is going to gigs, talking to the artists and understanding how much the support of our readers means to them. It’s worth remembering that we, and most of the other web and even some print magazines are also writing for love. Keeping the website spinning costs time and money, so please consider hitting the info page at the top and clicking support, or let an advertiser know where you learnt about their album or show.
In addition to running the Sound Lounge Hannah White turned in one of the standout albums of last year in ‘Sweet Revolution‘. Here’s her AMAUK song of the year winner ‘Car Crash’ performed on her very own stage.
Sat to Hannah’s left in the video is Holly Carter. One of many musicians who travel the country working with other artists, as well as on her own music. She recorded this song at one of Bristol’s best, most atmospheric, grassroots venues. The Bristol Fringe.
You can read the whole MVT annual report here.
