Live Music
Lord Vaizey of Didcot Excerpts(1 month ago)
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Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Con)
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Brennan, on his epically superb speech. I declare my interest as a trustee of the KOKO Foundation. As all noble Lords know, KOKO is a fantastically cool music venue in Camden. In fact, it was made live music venue of the year.
Stemming from my involvement with KOKO, I want to make a point about businesses in general. KOKO has never received a penny of government money. Since its creation, it has created about 10,000 jobs, paid £80 million in taxes and helped the regeneration of the area. But the recent increase in NI means that KOKO now has to attract 4,000 additional customers a week in order to meet its NI bill. At the same time, KOKO has set aside £500,000 for the foundation to help local people; it works with the Department for Business and Trade in welcoming foreign Governments to look at hospitality; and it has helped in many other ways. My point is more general: every time the Government impose taxes on business, they are harming or impacting venues such as KOKO.
Everybody knows the importance of live music. The recent Harry Styles tour, for example, generated about £1.1 billion in revenue beyond the actual events. However, we cannot be complacent about the success of the major live music industry in the UK. We did not go ahead with the Sphere—that was nothing to do with this Government—but the London fireworks are falling behind. Major countries in the world see live music and events as central to diversifying their economy. It is incumbent on the Government and on local government to work more closely with the private sector.
I echo the points that have already been made about secondary ticketing and flag the point about visas for musicians, which is becoming a particularly thorny issue for many involved in the live music business.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Twycross) (Lab)
My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Brennan of Canton for initiating this important debate and all noble Lords for their valuable contributions. It is clear from the number of speakers how much passion and expertise there is among noble Lords for music. I may struggle to respond to all the points and questions during the debate but will follow up in writing where required. Unlike my noble friend Lady Hyde of Bemerton, however, I will not use lyrics to make my point. I think the noble Lord, Lord Parkinson, might have got a few in as well.
There can be no doubt among noble Lords of my noble friend Lord Brennan’s passion, talent and expertise, both as a performer and as a staunch advocate for the music sector over many years. I have been told we cannot encourage him to use any excess time to entertain us in your Lordships’ House, but hopefully we will find another time in the near future.
To quote my noble friend, I agree that everyone’s lives are enriched when they gather with others to enjoy live music. The sheer joy brought by our country’s performers from popular music, through folk, country, rock and jazz to some of the foremost classical performers is unparalleled. This Government are committed to protecting one of our country’s most valued and valuable sectors.
As my noble friend Lady Dacres said, British music has changed not just this country but other countries around the world. That reflects what my noble friend Lady Gill said about the richness and diversity of music within our rich and diverse country.
I commend my noble friend Lord Brennan for his recent work chairing the fan-led review of live and electronic music, launched in the other place by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, which the Government warmly welcome and which I thoroughly enjoyed looking through. Fans and music lovers are at the heart of our live music ecosystem. The Government will be responding to the report’s recommendations shortly, alongside our upcoming music plan, which I will come on to. I can commit to my noble friend, however, that we do not intend to let his report and the views of fans gather dust.
As many noble Lords mentioned, music is a fundamental part of our nation’s life, with human experience sparking inspiration. As my noble friend Lord Brennan said, there is a benefit to our general well-being and our mental well-being. It is also a universal language that connects us across generations, backgrounds and communities. It is vital that all fans, wherever they live, have access to live music. Whether it is thousands gathering for a mega stadium gig, as I did last night at Wembley to hear Shania Twain and Harry Styles—I was fortunate enough to be there—or neighbours packing out a local pub to hear a local band, live music fosters a powerful sense of community in all its forms, bringing different generations together in shared spaces. It deepens local pride, connects our communities and gives a powerful voice to our national story, not least to Wales, as my noble friend Lady Wilcox of Newport said.
I welcomed the example given by my noble friend of the importance and value of music in her hometown of Newport. Those points were echoed by my noble friend Lady MacLeod’s description of the festival in Skye. As the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, said, music strengthens our society.
A number of noble Lords, including the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, and my noble friends Lady Wilcox, Lady Gill and Lady MacLeod, reflected on the positive economic impacts of live music. The music industry makes an incredible contribution to our economy; a record-breaking £8 billion in GVA in 2024 generated £4.8 billion in export revenues and supported over 220,000 jobs across the country. The suggestion that we use it to finance the defence plan is an interesting point made by the noble Lord, Lord Parkinson, which I will pass on. Indeed, the Government’s industrial strategy explicitly identifies our creative industries as one of eight priority growth-driving sectors, fully backed by our 10-year creative industries sector plan to support long-term growth.
The noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, asked what the Government would do to work with the private sector. To fulfil our ambitions for the UK to be the best place in the world to create and invest in music, we are delivering on our commitment to a dedicated music plan. We will soon set out how this Government are working hand in hand with the industry to unlock talent, empower entrepreneurs and give our creative businesses the definitive conditions they need to thrive. We are backing this commitment with a landmark investment, our new £30 million music growth package, which more than doubles previous government funding for the music industry.
My noble friend Lord Brennan highlighted support for grass-roots music and a number of noble Lords spoke about the importance of strengthening our grass-roots infrastructure. We have this at the heart of our music growth package, alongside boosting domestic touring and expanding international exports. Ultimately, this will support at least 40,000 creators and professionals across the UK over the next three years. The noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, and my noble friends Lady Dacres and Lord Watson of Invergowrie also mentioned grass roots. Alongside government investment, there is a vital role for industry here, too. We are actively backing the live music sector’s £1 voluntary ticket contribution, led by the LIVE Trust, to ensure that success at the top is reinvested into the grass-roots spaces that forge our global headliners. In relation to the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, I agree. We recognise the significant role played by charities and, indeed, the LIVE Trust is one of the foremost examples that the noble Baroness shared.
My noble friend Lord Brennan of Canton and other noble Lords asked what will happen if the industry fails to adopt the voluntary levy at scale. While we welcome the significant progress made by the LIVE Trust, we have been absolutely clear that we are prepared to explore legislative options if necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of our world-leading live music.
Noble Lords, including my noble friend Lady Keeley, raised creative education for our young people. The Government are committed to ensuring that every child has access to a quality creative education, with £13 million over three years for the National Centre for Arts and Music Education and our £37.8 million music and dance scheme. The noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, referred to the Every Child Can programme. DCMS is rebuilding opportunities through that £132.5 million programme, which will ensure that every young person has something to do, somewhere to go and someone who cares. That obviously includes access to music education—a point made by my noble friend Lady Keeley. The Government are committed to revitalising arts education, including music, through reform of the national curriculum. Arts Council England supports national youth music organisations to help talented young people from less privileged backgrounds access high-quality music and dance training.
The noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering, asked about strengthening the agent of change in planning policy to better protect grass-roots music venues from noise complaints. The Government are currently consulting on strengthening the National Planning Policy Framework to ensure consistent application of the agent of change principle by local authorities.
Noble Lords, including my noble friends Lady Hyde and Lady Gill and the noble Baronesses, Lady Wheatcroft and Lady Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury, and the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, all raised issues arising post Brexit, including European touring. Helping touring artists is a manifesto commitment. The UK and European Commission have jointly committed to supporting UK-EU cultural exchange, specifically recognising the vital activities of touring artists at the inaugural UK-EU summit. It is very good to have the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, back to continue the debate on EU touring, artists and other matters that he has championed over the years.
Following the Prime Minister’s resignation, we have agreed with the EU that it will not be possible to go ahead with the summit on 22 July. We will, however, continue to discuss options with the EU for the summit to take place at the next and earliest opportunity. The noble Baroness, Lady Bonham-Carter, asked a range of EU-related questions. The only thing that I can say to the noble Baroness in this context is: please watch this space. I hope we will continue to discuss that and I hope I will be able to come back with some firm commitments at a later date.
My noble friend Lady Gill raised AI—I apologise if other noble Lords raised it. We are backing the sector with targeted investment while building safeguards around AI. We remain firmly committed to protecting creators while supporting AI innovation. We are launching a consultation on digital replicas later this year, establishing a taskforce on AI labelling and launching a working group for smaller creative organisations to drive progress.
Noble Lords, including my noble friend Lord Brennan, raised secondary ticketing. We are tackling industrial-scale ticket touting head-on. Through our upcoming secondary ticketing legislation, we will destroy the touts’ business model once and for all, protecting hard-working fans from being ripped off. We are working at pace—a phrase I do not like, but I have said it out loud now—and I will continue to push for this to be published at the earliest stage, not least for the purpose of my response in the Sporting Events Bill. We are working at pace to publish a draft Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny in this Session to ensure that our measures are truly effective and, more importantly, enforceable and future-proof.
I appreciate the wealth of expertise illustrated in today’s debate and the commitment to making sure that our fantastic, world-class live music sector is supported. I look forward to future discussions, with my noble friend Lord Brennan and others, to take forward this agenda.
Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Con)
My Lords, I know that the noble Lord, Lord Brennan, is going to sum up, because we have time.
Oh. Can we not use the remaining seven minutes for more points? I had such an incredible point to make.
2026 FIFA World Cup: Replica Kit Pricing
Lord Vaizey of Didcot Excerpts(2 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Baroness Twycross (Lab)
Absolutely. Whichever club noble Lords support—I support a club that has, sadly, been relegated—the joy that was apparent from all supporters, including the Prime Minister, at Arsenal’s victory is just uplifting. Congratulations to them and to all their supporters.
Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Con)
My Lords, as a Chelsea fan, I take this opportunity to congratulate Arsenal on winning the Premier League and to commiserate with Spurs on their imminent relegation.
I have to say that I am confused by these exchanges— a retailer inviting government interference on prices, a Conservative doing the same and a Scotchman inviting English interference in Scottish sport. I do not know which way to turn. However, while I appreciate the sentiment of regulating sports shirts, where does this end? We know that the Government are apparently planning to regulate prices in supermarkets on eggs and milk, which has been roundly condemned by retailers. Will that extend to season tickets and Sky Sports subscriptions? It is a dangerous road that the Minister is being invited to travel down.
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
It is also a road that is full of mythology and misunderstandings about where the Government are going. The Exchequer Secretary was emphatically clear this morning that capping supermarket prices is not something that the Government are considering, although clearly the price of food is of deep concern to many people, given the rising cost of living, and is something that the Government share their concerns on.
Broadcasting: Recent Developments
Lord Vaizey of Didcot Excerpts(6 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Con)
My Lords, I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in this debate. I briefly declare that I am the co-chair of the All-Party Group on Creators, which means I meet a lot of YouTube influencers. I am also a broadcaster on Times Radio. In fact, I should be plugging my show right now on Times Radio—it is on Fridays at 10 am—but I have chosen instead to listen to some excellent speeches.
I thank the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, for securing this important debate, and also say how thrilling it was to see the noble Lord, Lord Razzall, appearing as the noble Baroness, Lady Bonham-Carter. I know it is something he has wanted to do for years, although I gather that the noble Baroness, Lady Bonham-Carter, will later be appearing as the noble Lord, Lord Razzall. I feel like I am in the middle of a pilot for a new BBC comedy series.
Back in 2009, when I was still the opposition spokesman, I suggested to a media analyst that the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 should merge. She told me I was a complete idiot—but I was obviously making a point about scale. Although we are still a large, medium-sized country, we know we need scale in broadcasting. The BBC cannot compete—that ship has sailed—against the global streamers such as Netflix, Apple, Amazon Prime and, of course, YouTube, which we never talk about, but which has become the absolute Goliath in terms of media broadcasting. So, what we are really debating here is how we secure the future of the BBC in this new ecosystem.
Of course, the BBC is not the only game in town when it comes to producing high-quality British content. It is also worth pointing out that it is not just the licence fee that funds high-quality content. The tax credits for film and television, which the last Government introduced but which have been secured by this Government, are also vital in securing good quality British content. But the BBC really is, as far as domestic broadcasting is concerned, the only game in town.
It is incumbent on all of us to support the BBC. We can be critical friends of the BBC, but we should be careful what we would lose without it. I really react with astonishment and a bit of horror when I see people supporting the move by President Trump, for example, to sue the BBC because they happened to have watched BBC News the night before and disagreed with its tone or supposed bias. The BBC is an incredibly important institution.
When I did charter review with John Whittingdale, we had a very easy time of it. There was not really much we needed to change. We changed the regulation from the BBC Trust to Ofcom, but otherwise we effectively kicked the challenges the BBC faces into the long grass. These challenges are now more real today than they have ever been.
I will make three or four suggestions of areas we should look at. We seriously need to look at a structural separation of BBC News and a merger with the World Service, with its own board, charter and chief executive. I, for one, would welcome the BBC investing properly in local news, which is so important with the death of local newspapers. The BBC has to accept that, realistically, there is no more money. It has to cut its cloth. I was always a bit sceptical of people who said that, because everyone pays the licence fee, the BBC must do everything—and I accept that, by doing a lot, it actually raises the quality of what the BBC produces. However, the BBC seriously needs to look at the breadth of services it provides.
The noble Lord, Lord Hall, mentioned the importance of religious programming and children’s programming. We introduced the content fund, which had a short shelf life but was apparently quite successful. It may be that part of what the BBC does is provide content for other programmers, focused on where the market has failed, such as children’s programming. We need to have a debate about how much of the IP the BBC now keeps. We had a trend of pushing it out to independent producers. If we want the BBC to be more commercially successful, let us look at that.
We need to be more open-minded about subscription—I know that I have to wind up, but I will need to speak for another 15 seconds—but in my view that opportunity should be put forward by the BBC, not by the Government. I would counsel against changing the licence fee. It is very tempting, but the public will see any change as a new tax, not an alternative tax.
BBC Leadership
Lord Vaizey of Didcot Excerpts(8 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Baroness Twycross (Lab)
The Secretary of State for Culture said in the other place yesterday that if we did not have the BBC, we would have to invent it. It has a proud history of over 100 years, and it can have a proud future, hopefully, of more than 100 years going forward. I concur with the noble Lord’s sentiment. Some 94% of UK adults use BBC services each month. The majority of people still believe that it is effective at providing trustworthy news. In an age of misinformation and disinformation—when we have hostile states attempting to confuse the whole context in which we are operating—it has never been more important. But we want it to be the absolute best it can be: we want that gold standard.
Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Con)
My Lords, I declare my interest as the presenter of a yet-to-be award-winning radio show on Times Radio. My noble friend Lord Parkinson asked the Minister whether it is still the case that one can be director-general and editor-in-chief of the BBC. Is it not time now to consider a fundamental structural reform of the BBC, in which BBC News and the World Service are made completely structurally separate from the rest of the BBC, with their own chief executive, their own board and their own accountability?
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
I refer the noble Lord to the charter review. As part of the review process, the Government expect to publish the terms of reference and launch a public consultation in due course. In relation to the point around the specific role of the director-general and whether different parts should be distinctly separate, I anticipate that in the first instance that would be a conversation for the board, and then for the board with the Government. It would also be a matter for the charter review in due course.
UK and EU Trade: Arts and Creative Industries
Lord Vaizey of Didcot Excerpts(10 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Baroness Twycross (Lab)
I repeat that this is a high priority. A number of noble Lords asking questions today have highlighted how complex this is in terms of reducing the bureaucracy. I can only reiterate that large parts of the Civil Service are working very hard to ensure that the bureaucracy is reduced. It remains a priority for this Government and for DCMS.
Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Con)
My Lords, touring artists are important for not only the UK economy but our soft power. Can the Minister update the House on the progress being made by the UK Soft Power Council in putting together a coherent and effective soft power strategy for the UK?
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
I agree that they are an important part of soft power. I revert to the noble Lord on specifics around the UK Soft Power Council, which he has managed successfully to segue to from a quite specific Question. I will write to the noble Lord in due course.
Parthenon Sculptures: Return
Lord Vaizey of Didcot Excerpts(1 year ago)
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Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Con)
My Lords, this legislation is a throwback to the time when our national museums were little more than adjuncts of the Office of Works. As they gained their independence, the Government at the time quite rightly wanted to stop that. The trustees and leaders of our national museums have shown, admittedly with substantial government support over the years, that they are more than capable of running their own affairs. This legislation is well out of date. There is precedent. The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art works extremely well in reviewing objects that are poised to leave the country and deciding whether they are part of our heritage. Surely setting up something like that to review contested objects would be a wonderful way to independently assess these very contentious issues.
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
The noble Lord will be aware that the British Museum operates independently of the Government, and so decisions relating to its collections are, within the law, a matter for its board of trustees. I know that the British Museum recognises the strength of feelings on this issue, and the museum is actively pursuing the possibility of a new partnership approach with Greece. I repeat that we as a Government do not have any plans to amend the law.
Live Music Industry: Support
Lord Vaizey of Didcot Excerpts(1 year, 1 month ago)
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Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Con)
My Lords, I declare my interest as a governor of an independent school—and give way to the noble Lord.
Lord Watts (Lab)
I am grateful to the noble Lord. Can the Minister hear the noise from today’s discussion, in which Members are raising all sorts of problems that the cultural industries face? Do we not need a complete strategy that deals with all these issues, and do we not need to be clear about how we are going to support the arts and culture in the UK?