Music industry calls on Jeremy Hunt to slash VAT for gig tickets

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Leading UK music industry figures are calling on Jeremy Hunt to slash the VAT fee on gig tickets and create a “vital lifeline” for venues below risk of everlasting closure.

UK Music, the umbrella organisation that represents Britain’s industrial music industry, is asking the chancellor of the exchequer to use his Budget on 6 March to lower the present VAT fee to 10 per cent, consequently providing a lift to music followers, artists and venues.

Gig-goers within the UK at present have to pay 20 per cent VAT on their tickets, virtually double the EU common and triple the speed of nations akin to Belgium (six per cent) and Germany (seven per cent).

“We urgently need to see some action from the Chancellor in the Budget to support the UK music industry at what is an immensely tough time for many venues and for those working in our sector,” UK Music’s interim chief government Tom Kiehl mentioned in a press release.

“Cutting VAT on tickets to 10 per cent would be a vital lifeline and could mean the difference between saving and losing some of our most loved music venues, which are key parts of many local economies and communities.”

The name from UK Music follows warnings of an impending catastrophe for grassroots venues which have been crippled by the price of residing disaster, hovering vitality prices and large monetary losses attributable to the Covid pandemic.

Around 125 grassroots venues have been misplaced ceaselessly final yr, in accordance to a grim report from the MVT, together with the historic Bath institution Moles, which helped Ed Sheeran, Radiohead and Oasis launch their careers.

Their demise threatens the UK’s once-thriving stay music ecosystem, which in 2022 nonetheless managed to entice an estimated 14.4 million “music tourists” who spent a complete of £6.6bn, in accordance to UK Music’s newest Here, There and Everywhere report.

Auro Foxcroft, supervisor of distinguished grassroots London venues Village Underground and eartH Hackney, instructed The Independent that any help from the federal government could be “really well-received”, and that in the end it might solely serve to profit the federal government themselves.

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“At the moment, we’re losing an incredible amount of grassroots music that underpins the huge success story that is UK music as a whole, from chart-topping artists, arena and stadium tours, festivals, and the one in seven albums sold around the world that is by a UK artist,” he mentioned.

“Every artist that you’ve ever loved, and any artist that you’re yet to fall in love with, will have started out in a grassroots music venue.

“Without those, there is no incubator of new talent, there is no talent pipeline, and there is no world success story for UK music. It all starts with these grassroots venues, and right now they need support – because as we’ve seen, they’re closing down at a rate we’ve never experienced before.”

Foxcroft mentioned that even venues such because the 700-capacity Village Underground – which has hosted Mercury Prize-winner Arlo Parks, Brit Award-nominated rock band IDLES, and Spanish Grammy winner Rosalia, who lately headlined the O2 Arena – had to combat tooth and nail simply to keep open.

“In some ways, it’s harder than it was during lockdown,” he mentioned, citing the price of residing disaster, provide prices, and a diminished disposable revenue amongst younger music followers. “You’re expected to pull a rabbit out of a hat just to keep things going, and that’s why we’re seeing so many venues closing.”

Foxcroft mentioned that, together with the VAT fee discount, the MVT plan for a “very modest” tax levy on bigger capability music venues was the best choice to rescue grassroots venues from extinction.

“It’s very similar to what they do with Premier League and grassroots football, and in other countries around Europe. That would solve the problem, if the government is prepared to act.”

UK Music’s name for a VAT discount was additionally welcomed by Mark Davyd, CEO of the Music Venue Trust, who mentioned that it might launch roughly £2.5m into the grassroots scene.

More importantly, he mentioned, it might create the revenue hole wanted to allow arenas and stadiums to provide a tax levy to additional assist assist the grassroots venues, the place future stars first lower their enamel in stay performances.

“The current government has done a number of positive interventions into the sector,” Davyd instructed The Independent. “The issue we now face is that none of these interventions have been sufficient to tackle the real structural problems we are experiencing in the live music industry.

“The biggest companies are returning record revenues and profits while the grassroots is collapsing. Anything the government can do would be welcome, but we need real change within our own industry to address the challenges at grassroots level. If a VAT cut could push key stakeholders towards that action it would be warmly welcomed.”