The Music Venue Trust has again called for an industry-led ticket levy scheme to support the grassroots live sector, following the announcement of the closure of Nottingham music venue The Chameleon.
Noting that MVT has already set out how such a scheme could work, its CEO Mark Davyd adds that "there’s too many people in our industry looking in the other direction and hoping this problem will just go away".
Management at The Chameleon revealed last November that they were facing an uncertain future because their landlord was selling the building they occupy.
"We unfortunately still have rather considerable debts accrued during COVID hanging round our necks", they added at the time, "and business hasn’t exactly been great this year, what with the latest crisis".
In a new statement earlier this week, they said, "Unfortunately, the time has cometh. The building has been sold (pending all the legal stuff obvs). The sale is expected to be complete within 60 days which brings us to the end of March. We’ve made the decision to call that our final date".
"There has been small talk of sticking around", they went on, "but quite honestly, the business isn’t viable in its current location and with costs of literally everything rising constantly, we can’t justify carrying on and just amassing more debt".
It's no secret that grassroots venues have faced significant challenges ever since the COVID pandemic, with surging running costs, and the cost of living crisis making it difficult to increase ticket prices.
A report published by MVT last month stated that grassroots music venues closed down at a rate of two per week last year. The grassroots sector at large generated revenues of £500 million in 2023, but many venues struggled to break even. The sector combined operates on a 0.5% profit margin, the report found, and that was only because of subsidy through grants and donations.
MVT has proposed a levy on tickets for large-scale shows so that the booming top end of the live sector can subsidise the grassroots. Such a levy already exists in France. Ideally the levy would be delivered through an industry-led scheme, though MVT has said that, if one cannot be agreed, politicians should look into introducing a support levy through legislation.
Speaking to the NME about the closure of The Chameleon, Davyd said: “The extraordinary strain being put on individual venue operators to try to keep live music alive in our communities is completely unsustainable. If we do not have an industry wide solution to get these venues the financial support they need then closures like The Chameleon are absolutely inevitable".
“There’s too many people in our industry looking in the other direction and hoping this problem will just go away", he added. "Music Venue Trust has literally put the solution right there on the table in front of everyone and everyone knows what it is. Every week we don’t get it done is another week with more venue closures in it".