UK music industry calls on government to slash VAT on tickets for survival
nme.comUK Music, which is the collective voice of the UK music industry, has urged Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to cut VAT in the spring Budget to throw the sector a “vital lifeline” and save venues that are threatened by closure.Tom Kiehl, UK Music’s Interim Chief Executive, has asked Hunt to use his Budget next Wednesday (March 6) to lower the current 20 per cent VAT rate on tickets to 10 per cent as a “boost for consumers, music professionals and venues”.The request to slash VAT is among the recommendations that UK Music has made to the Government in its Budget submission, which outlines the support the sector needs to grow (read it in full here).Currently, music fans in the UK must pay 20 per cent VAT on their tickets – almost double the EU average (10.3 per cent) and around triple the rate in countries like Belgium (six per cent) and Germany (seven per cent). The 20 per cent rate is the third highest rate of cultural ticketing in Europe.
Gig-goers pay more tax on UK tickets than anywhere else in Europe, except Denmark and Lithuania.The calls come amid growing concerns for the future of grassroots venues.
A recent Music Venue Trust (MVT) report showed the “disaster” that struck these venues nationwide last year.The findings revealed that 125 UK venues abandoned live music in 2023 (approximately two per week) and that over half had shut entirely.
At the time, MVT CEO Mark Davyd said: “This is a disaster: 16 per cent of the grassroots music venues in this country closed in the last 12 months.
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