PSA: Nurturing Live Music From the Roots

PSA: THE BIGGER PICTURE

NURTURING LIVE MUSIC FROM THE ROOTS

This month we’re rounding up the action from Venues Day 2018.

Research and development, R&D, it drives industry. Not many of us get to see it in action, we generally only see the hits rather than the great ideas that just didn’t make it into production, and we don’t really get the chance to see the honing of new product. Live music’s different though, get away from the choreographed churn of arena-friendly hits and you have every opportunity to discover some rough diamonds, songs in the raw, bands developing, the real original t-shirt and a selfie with the singer who sold it to you.

The price of this experience? Negligible compared to the online dash for the latest tout-fest, with tickets viagogone in seconds, 6 months before you get to see the show. In fact, you can probably pop into a live music R&D department tonight, they’re known nowadays as Grassroots Music Venues (GMVs) and they’re under threat.

Should we, the production people, be bothered? Too right we should, for they are where our next generation cut their teeth too, it’s where all manner of tips are shared, mistakes made, skills honed. It’s why we’re keen to support the work of the Music Venue Trust (MVT), the organisation set up to protect GMVs from very real threats.

HER LOVE (OF GMVs) IS COOL From the growing number of artists that have become endorsees and supporters of MVTs work, Wolf Alice’s Ellie Roswell (pictured) delivered an opening address that epitomised the very essence of the Grassroots Venue scene, creating success from zero knowledge of the business, from open mic slots at the, here’s the killer, now closed Purple Turtle in Camden through a tour that took in the venues that they played when they were starting out to a mind boggling world tour schedule sprinkled with a dash of Mercury Music Prize along the way (quick dash from Bangkok to pick it up, leg it back to Oz to continue tour).

Like she said: “When it seems as though the government doesn’t care about such things, it shouldn’t just be down to the likes of the people at the Music Venue Trust to campaign for their importance and lend a helping hand. Musicians can be perhaps one of the greatest helps of all. Last summer my band and I made a conscious decision to play in the venues where we’d first been given some of those early opportunities. Sometimes you think the world is against you when you’re making the grind in those early days of touring. It is easy to forget that just by being at these little

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PSA: THE BIGGER PICTURE

venues, there is someone cheering you on – the venues themselves! And you know, the dinner you get made by the owner of the Kasbah Coventry or the invitation to return back to play the Guildford Boileroom despite having sold a total of zero tickets, might just have been that saving grace for you and your band.”

DRINK TO THE FUTURE (OF GMVs) One of the early MVT initiatives was, and still is, Fightback, a fund created to provide emergency assistance to GMVs facing seemingly insurmountable problems such as noise complaints, nearby redevelopment or business rate hikes. Fightback fundraisers have included a series of shows, more upcoming shows and the sale of artist-designed, limited edition t-shirts. The next Fightback fundraiser is a Fightback Beer, the profits from which are ploughed back in to this vital support system. If lager’s your tipple, drink it if you see it; if lager is on the rider, make it Fightback Lager, the band will understand.

There’s no wonder that Venues Day is a sell out, MVT are constantly active on all fronts, having played a leading role in the successful fight to change planning laws and engaging artists and parliamentarians to keep the foundations of the live music business actually strong and actually stable is all good, but there’s still a chasm between what goes into GMVs and what comes out; not every successful band returns to sell out shows at venues that put them on when ticket sales were seriously south of break even. But they have a plan.

PROPOSING THE PIPELINE What funds this R&D thing? The successes usually, perhaps, with the help of a little tax relief; if we think of our music industry as a single company, the money from the success doesn’t seem to be making its way back to the R&D department. MVT CEO, Mark Davyd outlines the need for a solution: “Music Venue Trust strongly believes that our own music industry understands that these venues are vital to the future of the health of the whole industry.

“Last week in Parliament, we heard directly from artist representatives who know this, and today at Venues Day we’ve heard repeatedly from artists demanding action to support the venues that are vital to their development. We’ve heard a lot from key stakeholders, from government through Arts Council, live music industry partners and major record labels, about how these venues need support. We’ve heard a lot about what can’t be done, and what the obstacles are, let’s move past that. These discussions, some with positive results, haven’t resulted in the decisive direct action that is needed. We have to restart this conversation from the basics, and move quickly to practical action everyone can support.

“In a thriving and expanding £4.4 billion music economy, UK Grassroots Music Venues have been closed down for the sake of £2,000 in legal fees, £10,000 of programming money, or £20,000 of infrastructure investment. Less than 0.1% of the UK music economy invested into the grassroots would permanently end these problems.”

Beverley Whitrick, MVT’s Strategic Director continued: “We can’t let this

continue. Across Europe we have seen direct action taken, by government, the music industry and the cultural sector. We are reaching out to our own music industry, government and the cultural sector and asking them to join us and take the lead on this. Let’s stop talking about all the obstacles and start from the basics: We are asking you to sign up if you believe you should be part of the solution we need.”

The proposed solution comes in the form of a Pipeline Investment fund, something that can take shape only with the backing of the wider music industry. To that end, the MVT has issued a statement of intent, a key step in reaching consensus, it reads thus:

We, the undersigned, are committed to the concept of the creation of a Pipeline Investment Fund within the UK Music Industry. We agree that such a mechanism is vital to the sustainability of our grassroots touring network, which we consider is essential to the future health of the UK Music industry.

Funds generated by the Pipeline Investment Fund should be used to support activity in the grassroots sector of the music industry to include (but not limited to): 1) Investment into modern, sustainable sound and lighting for Grassroots Music Venues to permanently reduce venue costs and increase profitability.

2) Investment into the physical infrastructure of Grassroots Music Venues, to address issues of access, capacity, health and safety, and artist facilities.

3) Acquisition of the freehold of grassroots music venues so that they can be placed into protected ownership and permanently leased back to local communities.

4) Support for new and emerging artist touring costs through a grant application process.

5) Creation of a training and apprenticeship programme for support roles within grassroots music venues.

6) Support for central legal, licensing and planning advice related to music venues, and for campaigns to ensure that future legislation recognises the economic, cultural and social value of those venues. The fund would be administered by the established UK registered charity Music Venue Trust. The charity will establish advisory boards from within the UK music industry to guide and oversee its investments in each of the chosen areas. The charity will provide a full, annual, public report on all income and expenditure related to the Pipeline Investment Fund. Since its formation, the Music Venue Trust has helped GMVs rise to huge challenges; sustainable support across the board is no small undertaking, but the financial support required is tiny in comparison to the rewards felt by the wider economy. Of course, we’ll be signing up to the statement of intent, we’ll also be offering the benefit of our contacts and experience in some areas. Look, learn and get involved: www.musicvenuetrust.com TPi www.psa.org.uk