Viewpoint
really are going to change. That the live music industry will finally recognise the value of the stages it’s built on, that we might be able to turn survival into sustainability. That hope has kept a lot of doors open in the last 12 months. But it won’t keep them open forever. The next phase of Music Venue Properties (MVP) is here. It’s called Own Our Venues, and it’s not a campaign or a concept or a press release. It’s a serious, structured, community- led takeover of the buildings that house the UK’s most vital live music spaces. It’s already working. In phase one, five venues were saved, £2.87 million raised and over 1,300 investors joined the movement. Now, we’re going further. Another seven venues are lined up, including some of the most iconic ones in the country – Esquires, The Joiners, The Sugarmill, The Pipeline, Peggy’s Skylight. All facing the same problem. Good operators, communities, great artists – and a landlord with different priorities. That’s the bit people still don’t seem to get. These closures aren’t about bad business decisions or failing to adapt. These venues are closing because they don’t own the buildings they’re in and they are at the mercy of rising rents, expiring leases and property developers with no interest in what’s happening on stage. And they really don’t care who played there in 1997 or who might be playing there next week. If you’re in this industry, you know this. You’ve seen the statements, the crowdfunding, the closure announcements. You’ve seen the stats and you’ve read the reports. But you’ve also seen the tweets, the ones that come after each closure: “This is so sad”, “Where will new artists start now?”, “Something must be done”. Well, this is the “something”. MVP buys the building, takes it off the open market, gives the venue operator a long-term cultural lease and locks in affordability. It writes in expectations around sustainability, diversity, community impact, keeps the rent where it needs to be, and reinvests profits into improving the space, not extracting from it. And this is a proven model. Since 2022, MVP has secured five venues. Over 9,000 performances a year are protected and over 1,000 events are secured. It has unlocked £1.04 million in grant funding, including
Y
ou can’t pay bills with hope. We’ve all said that a lot in the last year – venues, fans, promoters and artists all clinging to the idea that things
Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd’s monthly deep dive into live music’s biggest issues...
SEEDS OF HOPE
support from the UK Government’s Community Ownership Fund.
“There are more venues in crisis now than at any point in MVT’s 10-year history –
more than during Covid...” MARK DAVYD MUSIC VENUE TRUST
STATE OF THE (INDIE) NATION:
A monthly update on the ongoing closure crisis facing the UK’s grassroots music venues, which MVT tackles through its Emergency Response Service of experts: legal, licensing, planning, development, financial, property and noise gurus...
Emergency response service cases in the last 12 months: 203 Ongoing cases: 46
GMVs closed in the last month: 6
GMVs opened in the last month: 1
On May 15, MVP launched its second community share offer. The target is between £1m and £5m, which is enough to buy another wave of venues and take another real step towards creating a National Trust for Music Venues that can protect the infrastructure this sector is built on. This is how we make sure the grassroots ticket levy – when it comes – actually lands. Not in higher rents or increased extraction, but in improving venues, sustaining talent and building the future. It’s not about saving a few pubs with a PA system; it’s about making sure that artists still have somewhere to start and to grow. The truth is brutal: there is no pipeline without these spaces. There is no next Mercury winner without the open-mic night, or festival headliner without the Tuesday night support slot. We all want new talent, but if you’re not investing in where it comes from, you’re humming a hopeful chorus over a collapsing verse. There is no glamour in this part of the industry, but this is the work. This is the bit that matters. Venues do have hope again. Not because the financial model makes sense – it doesn’t – but because they finally believe that real support, real change, real money is starting to appear. But the momentum is fragile. There are more venues in crisis now than at any point in MVT’s 10-year history. More than during Covid. This isn’t a fire that’s been put out; it’s a fire that’s just stopped spreading – because we started throwing water on it. Take the buckets away and the blaze returns. There’s no time left for meetings about how terrible it all is, and you shouldn’t need me to tell you about it. This phase of the Own Our Venues project is a chance for everyone in the industry to do something that makes an actual difference. Whether you’re an artist, manager, label, DSP, promoter, publisher, brand or a fan – you can be part of the solution. You can invest, spread the word, amplify the message and challenge the complacency. If we lose more venues, we don’t get them back. And we don’t just lose buildings. We lose communities, access, talent – we lose the foundation of everything we claim to care about. Music doesn’t begin at the first hit single. It begins in rooms that we have let struggle for far too long. Protect that room, or don’t be surprised when the rest of it crumbles.
You can’t put a price on culture, but you can put a price on saving it. Hope has lit the match. But now? We need to fan the flames.
66 | Music Week
musicweek.com
PHOTO: Katie Frost
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