Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if her Department will hold a consultation on support for live music.

His Majesty’s Government is committed to supporting our grassroots music venues, which play an absolutely crucial role in our world-leading music sector and developing homegrown talent.

That is why we are supporting live music through a range of measures. This includes an additional £5 million to Arts Council England’s (ACE’s) successful Supporting Grassroots Music fund, as set out in the Creative Industries Sector Vision in June. This £5 million expands and extends ACE’s existing grassroots fund, open since 2019, and takes our total investment in grassroots music through the fund to almost £15 million. This fund will enable venues to increase support for young and emerging artists, improve equipment and physical infrastructure, and support venues to become more financially resilient and develop new income streams.

This is in addition to other government support provided to the live music sector, including over £3 million during the pandemic from the Emergency Grassroots Music Venues Fund. The Culture Recovery Fund also provided over £200m of support for live music venues, and further support was provided through the £800m Live Events Reinsurance Scheme, alongside the cross-sector grants, loans, and reduction of VAT on tickets to 5%.

Through ACE, the Government has also supported the Music Venue Trust’s ‘Own Our Venues’ initiative, providing £500,000 which will help the Trust acquire the freeholds of grassroots music venues at risk of closure. DCMS Ministers attended the opening of the first acquisition, ‘The Snug’ in Atherton, Greater Manchester, in October.

Music venues are also eligible for the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Rates Relief, with a 75% relief up to a cash cap limit of £110,000 per business. This relief was extended for a further year during the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement last week. DCMS and DLUHC are also working closely with the sector to revise planning guidelines to ensure that new developments engage with existing music venues before being built.

We have no plans to impose a ticket levy. Industry-led discussions are ongoing regarding increased support for grassroots music venues from larger events and venues.

We understand that the DCMS Select Committee will shortly be launching an inquiry into live music, and we will consider the Committee’s report once it is published.