Tuesday 13 May, 10am,
Committee Room 16
The Culture, Media and Sport Committee will
examine what progress has been made to bolster the grassroots
music sector in the UK, with Creative Industries Minister, , and industry and artist
voices including Wolf Alice guitarist, Joff Oddie, on Tuesday
13th May.
Last year, the Grassroots Music Venue (GMV) sector had a combined
value of £525 million, employed over 30,800 people and hosted
187,000 events with a combined total attendance of 26.6 million.
Despite this, individual venues had an average profit margin of
less than 0.5% and are closing at a rate of one every two weeks.
The number of artists touring across the UK and abroad has also
fallen by as much as 74% compared to pre-pandemic figures.
In 2024, the previous Committee published a report calling on the
sector to agree a blanket, voluntary levy as quickly as possible,
charging £1 on arena and stadium tickets, to support venues,
emerging artists and independent promoters. This has been widely
supported within the industry, with artists including Diana Ross
and Ed Sheeran driving the move forward through contributions and
pledges.
In the first part of the session, artists and sector
representatives could be asked about the current state of the
industry and what support they believe is needed to reverse the
current issues it faces. MPs could examine the challenges faced
by touring artists and may seek to understand how an increasing
reliance on freelancers is impacting the sector.
This session will allow MPs to explore the progress that has been
made in the uptake of this levy, and if a statutory levy is
needed. The need for greater regulation of the ‘secondary' or
resale ticket market could also be discussed.
MPs will then question Sir and the Deputy Director for
the Creative Industries at the Department for Culture, Media and
Sport. Questions could examine the impact of changes to business
rate reliefs and seek clarity on what the Government hopes to
achieve with its 10-Point Plan for Music.
Witness
From 10am:
· Marit Berning, Founder and
Music Manager, Globe Town, and Board Director, Music Managers
Forum (MMF)
· Mark Davyd, Chief
Executive, Music Venues Trust (MVT)
· David Martin, Chief
Executive, Featured Artists Coalition (FAC)
· Joff Oddie, Co-Founder,
Wolf Alice, and Director, FAC
From 11.00am:
· Jon Collins, Chief
Executive, Live Music Industry and Venues and Entertainment
(LIVE)
· Steve Homer, Board
Director, Concert Promoters Association (CPA), and Chief
Executive, AEG Presents UK
· Nancy Skipper, Operations
Manager, National Arenas Association (NAA)
From 11.45am:
· Sir MP, Minister for Creative
Industries, Arts and Tourism
· Alastair Jones, Deputy
Director for the Creative Industries, DCMS
ENDS
Note to editors:
This session follows on from the work of the previous Committee,
its 2024 report called for a new
levy on arena and stadium tickets and a cut in VAT to support
grassroots music venues across the country. In response, the
Government supported a voluntary levy, stating it hopes to see
‘tangible progress' by the
first quarter of 2025 to meet the timeline of a levy coming in as
soon as possible for concerts.
