2023 was “worst year for venue closures” while “no one in music industry seems to care”, say MVT

nme.com:

NME about how 2023 was the “worst year for venue closures” – calling upon the upper echelons of the industry to contribute and for the government to introduce a mandatory ticket live on arena and stadium gigs.Earlier this year, it was revealed that the UK was set to lose 10 per cent of its grassroots music venues in 2023.

An MVT report from January warned that grassroots gig spaces in the UK were “going over a cliff” – shutting off the pipeline of future talent without urgent government action and investment from new large arenas.The latest stats from the MVT show that this year saw 125 grassroots venues shut down in 2023 – causing a loss of 4,000 jobs, with 14,500 events no longer possible and 193,230 opportunities lost to musicians.One of the more high-profile gig spaces to shut its doors was Bath Moles.

The legendary venue – who hosted early gigs by the likes of Oasis, Radiohead, IDLES, Ed Sheeran, The Cure and The Smiths – announced that it would be closing its doors due to the cost of living crisis earlier this month.Speaking to NME, owner Tom Maddicott explained how the end of the venue was “quite sudden”.“Trade has been down,” he said. “We had a good year after the pandemic and then it just dropped off.

The end was quite rapid. People just aren’t going out as much and we can’t afford to pay the bills. It’s as simple as that.”However, Maddicott said that it was “totally possible” for venues like Moles to remain in operation if the music industry adopted the suggested ‘Premier League’ model like UK football does – where the upper echelons pay back and invest in the grassroots.“If that was in place, then we wouldn’t be in this situation,” he argued. ” n France, it’s compulsory for a 3.5 per cent levy on all arena and.