Events boss makes grassroots music venue plea in interview with BBC's Steve Lamacq

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The co-owner of an Ayr music venue has pleaded with bands and promoters to not forget about smaller town venues. Tracy Anne McGregor, of Carrick Street’s Venue38, was one of six venues invited — and the only one in Scotland — to speak at Music Venue Trust’s Venue Day last month.Music Venue Trust (MVT) is a UK charity which supports over 900 grassroots music venues across Britain for the benefit of venues, communities and upcoming artists.Tracy was interviewed by BBC Radio DJ Steve Lamacq in front of hundreds of people, including agents, promoters.

government departments and funding bodies, where she discussed that many venues in outlaying areas are often overlooked in favour of the big cities.She said: “I was making a case for the fact that agents, promoters and bands tend to bypass us and concentrate on putting shows on in Glasgow and Edinburgh.“I was wanting to put that across because some of the other MVT members in Scotland have the same issue.“Agents and promoters tend to bypass these areas, which have a huge captive audience, and send them to Glasgow and Edinburgh because they think that’s just the only places that exist in Scotland.“But we’ve got a fantastic PA system installed, we’ve got a stage; we are as good as any venue that is up in Glasgow.”Tracy said Ayr’s history of putting on sell-out shows with huge names is a driving force for her and partner James Bunten to continue to push for popular artists to come to the town.The Ayrshire Live app is available to download now.Get all the local news in your area – plus features, football news and the latest on the coronavirus crisis – at your fingertips 24/7.The free download features the latest breaking news and exclusive stories while you can customise your page