The UK autumn budget: Music industry reacts with venues and nightclubs at risk

nme.com:

here.Watch Reeves deliver the 2024 Budget speech below (skip to 39:17 for the business rates relief address).Last week, the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) found that UK clubbing could be “extinct” by the end of the decade, with new figures showing that 37 per cent of all clubs across the country have permanently shut since March 2020 – an average of three clubs a week and 150 per year.

If the trend continues, all spaces in the UK will have closed their doors by December 31, 2029.The NTIA also weighed in on today’s announcement, criticising the government and sharing that even though Reeves extended business rates relief for night-time economy businesses in the Autumn Budget by an additional two years at a reduced 40 per cent, the benefit is negated due to the tax hikes which threaten the sector’s financial stability.NTIA CEO Michael Kill said in a press release: “We are in one of the toughest trading environments the UK has seen in decades for our sector, fraught with a legacy of challenges from previous crises.“While the Chancellor has listened to our plight, the extended business rates relief is a minor concession amongst the array of tax increases and fiscal shifts, which will take some time to evaluate and consider regarding sector impacts.

However, in simple terms, it is still double the contribution of the current business rates.”The Association of Independent Music also discussed the Chancellor’s decisions, with Gee Davy, AIM’s interim CEO saying: “Much more support is needed to alleviate the pressures on already super-squeezed independent labels and related music businesses.

These homegrown businesses are the beating heart of music – the principal investors in emerging artists and the UK music sector’s.