Although widely regarded as a crucial stepping stone into the industry for smaller and up-and-coming artists on local circuits, these venues are disappearing rapidly for a number of reasons. The cost of living crisis, combined with a general lack of government support - and significant changes in attitudes to how we consume music itself - has had a massive impact on smaller venues on the UK’s tour circuits, and the pressure is being felt. So, it doesn’t come as any shock to hear that independent and local venues are struggling.
Fender’s act is undeniably a generous one. It shines a light on the issues facing the UK’s live music sector today, but it also raises other points: should it take an artist donating their own major winnings to keep the industry afloat? Is the struggle for local and independent venues to operate an indicator of a wider shift in our relationship with music itself? And in an age where Lily Allen has publicly stated she makes more money selling pictures of her feet than she does via song streams, what is the reality for artists making music as a career?
What is happening to grassroots venues?
Fender has long been vocal in his support for independent and grassroots venues (having previously generated over £100,000 for MVT during his 2024 arena tour via MVT’s Liveline Fund). With NME reporting a grassroots music venue lost every two weeks in 2024, and The Guardian reporting a drop of 125 venues from the 960 still in existence in 2023, it is clear that venues are in trouble. This is especially true in less populated areas, with MVT stating in their 2024 annual report that: “for some areas, like Scotland and Wales… swathes of the country have been cut off altogether, resulting in people having to travel further or simply being unable to access live music at all”.
Whilst there are a number of schemes in place by the UK government and local authorities designed to support grassroots venues, it is clear that it is not solving the enormous issues the industry is facing. To help, a huge number of artists have opted to donate £1 from every ticket sold from their UK tours to MVT, such as Enter Shikari, Katy Perry, Mr Scruff, Getdown Services, and The Last Dinner Party, as just a few examples.
Further, Opus Kink released a 24-track compilation album ‘A Hideous Collective’ to create funds for MVT and the UK Artist Touring Fund, following the closure of Brighton’s Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar where they first performed. And in 2024, Coldplay pledged 10% of the proceeds from their 2025 UK tour to MVT’s Liveline Fund, in partnership with Save Our Scene.
Clearly, artists recognise the importance of these venues in providing the foundations for their early careers, and are gladly doing their part to keep them alive - but with them continuing to close, what are the alternatives for trying to break into the industry?
What are aspiring artists doing instead?
A counter-argument could be that our attitudes to how we consume music are changing. Streaming music is now widely regarded as the norm, and viral trends have proven time and time again that with just one lucky break, an artist’s song can be the next big hit online. Before social media, artists relied on touring to (almost physically) build up a fanbase, but now, aspiring artists can create a fanbase from their phone. In the last few years, the world has seen a huge influx of aspiring artists coming from the online world, with TikTok and Instagram now seen as marketing essentials. With fewer venues open (and with people having less money to spend), social media is now the tool with which one can grow an enormous following very quickly, with far less financial strain than touring a country. Ice Spice, Lola Young, Addison Rae - even Justin Bieber, back when he was uploading videos of himself singing on YouTube - all used social media and virality in one way or another (even if unintentionally) to propel themselves to stardom. On balance, social media exposure does give up-and-coming talent from a wider range of backgrounds a better chance of finding success, especially those without the funding or industry connections possessed by some of their counterparts.
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And whilst we have seen some incredible come-ups of young viral music stars, the question must really be asked: have they really got the true fanbase and support system to make this career a successful one?
One huge benefit of having a touring circuit, especially beginning in grassroots venues and then working up, is growing a true support network of people who will come to the shows again and again, not just once because an artist is currently popular. When an artist goes from making music online to performing in stadiums in a matter of months because they happen to get picked up, how many people watching are truly supporters? There seems to be a growing trend of ‘flash in the pan’ artists - those that emerge from tiny online spaces, blow up, and then encounter a series of problems (mental and physical health issues, exhaustion, harassment, etc) because they haven’t been given the true support to sustain this as a career.
That being said, even established artists with long careers behind them are already feeling the pressure as well. The flipside of Spotify’s dominance and streaming now taking over current listening habits is that several artists have spoken out about the poor pay they receive for plays (just $0.004 per stream on average), and the struggle to generate an income to continue touring.
Kate Nash recently took to OnlyFans with her campaign Butts for Tour Buses to make money to fund her upcoming tour. A vicious cycle is created, in which, due to the economic climate, both artist and listener have no cash to fund each other, or, as MVT CEO Mark David puts it: “Bands cannot afford to pick up the cost of touring, venues cannot afford to turn the fucking lights on, agents are becoming incredibly averse to risk on behalf of their artists, managers are averse to risk as well, artists want to be out on the road and getting these audiences but this touring sector is as far as it can go without completely toppling over”.
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The stadium tour effect
Another ominous thought is that, with fewer and fewer venues available to play in, it only leaves the larger ones that can withstand the tide, with much steeper prices. A major point of controversy, especially this year, has been the blatant increases in how much fans are being charged for tickets, and with more and more independent venues closing (especially in more deprived and remote parts of the country), this drastically reduces the options for people wanting to see live music.
The Oasis tour of this year was a perfect example of fans being taken advantage of in the name of making money. After hitting fans with the somehow-legal ‘dynamic pricing’ for tickets after their waiting in online queues for hours, the band still managed to sell out five homecoming gigs at Heaton Park, Manchester. For fans who couldn’t afford to spend their savings to see the duo live, a short-lived option was to watch these gigs from a vantage point dubbed ‘Gallagher Hill’ - until this was shut down with large fencing after the first couple of shows. MVT used this opportunity to remind Oasis fans that only 11 of the 34 grassroots venues the band performed in on their first tour are in operation today, and although £250,000 was donated by Manchester City Council to local venues after the shows at Heaton Park, the irony to price-gouge fans and then block them from seeing the shows for free from a faraway hill is pretty tough to swallow.
It isn’t just Oasis, though - The Guardian reported that Beyonce charged up to £858.10 for a ticket when she played the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this year, whilst tickets for Billie Eilish’s show at the 02 Arena were around £245 (although, it should be noted that Eilish did donate $11.5m from her 'Hit Me Hard and Soft' tour to The Changemaker Program). Whilst fans did flock to see these bigger names, there have still been reports of half-empty stadiums and tickets being sold for a fraction of the price last-minute due to poor sales. In other cases, tours were even cancelled altogether. Is this really going to be the new normal? It feels as if there is a certain monopolisation occurring in the music world. The well-trodden tour circuits and venues for local talent are being left to crumble, whilst the big names that dominate the remaining spaces are gladly hiking prices up, leaving fans with limited options.
In summary, the UK's live music sector is precarious right now, but Sam Fender’s donation to Music Venue Trust, hopefully, will bring yet more awareness to the grassroots cause. Grassroots venues aren't just a staple for local communities, but pillars upon which the entire UK music industry depends. They are experimental spaces where future icons cut their teeth and people can enjoy live music without having to spend ridiculous amounts of money, and even as our listening habits shift and the music culture changes, these venues need to be protected. You can donate to the Music Venue Trust here.
Megan FitzGerald
Images: Oasis by @aalishatakesphotos, Getdown Services by @gabbo_film,
The Last Dinner Party by @rosamayh_, Billie Eilish by @jaydengraphss,
Kate Nash and Lola Young by @inlydseyes, Sam Fender by Sarah Louise Bennett,
Coldplay by @emmgibbphoto
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