UK culture minister Chris Bryant says the live business had made “substantial progress” on a voluntary ticket levy and ruled out the need for government intervention at this stage.

Bryant provided an update to MPs at a meeting of the Culture Media and Sport Committee in parliament this morning (13 May).

The session, which examined the progress made to bolster the grassroots music sector in the UK, heard from a host of industry figures including LIVE CEO Jon Collins, Music Venue Trust (MVT) chief Mark Davyd, AEG Presents UK boss Steve Homer, Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) CEO David Martin, the National Arenas Association’s Nancy Skipper and Marit Berning of the Music Managers Forum (MMF).

UK trade body LIVE announced last month that its LIVE Trust has garnered over £500,000 (€587k) in pledges since its launch in January. The Trust receives funding from a voluntary contribution of £1 per ticket from arena and stadium shows with a capacity of over 5,000, with the funds going to support the grassroots ecosystem.

Artists including Pulp, Diana Ross, Mumford and Sons and Hans Zimmer have pledged ticket contributions from their UK tours.

While Bryant told CMS chair Caroline Dinenage that he’d “prefer us to have achieved a lot more by now”, he added: “We hoped to make substantial progress by the first quarter of 2025 and we have made substantial progress. 

“We’ve said that we want it to be a voluntary levy because it’s quicker to achieve – anything that has to require statute takes forever and a day. I don’t know when the next King’s Speech is going to be, so I don’t know when we would be able to legislate.”

“We’re very clear that we would [implement legislation] if this weren’t to be proceeding – but it is proceeding”

He added: “We’re very clear that we would [implement legislation] if this weren’t to be proceeding – but it is proceeding. We’ve got to where I hope we would get to by now. I’d like us to go a bit faster over the next phase. I’d like more people to sign up. I understand that obviously lots of people who are performing now came to their arrangements 18 months, two years ago, about their tour, but there are lots of people who are thinking about touring now.”

The Labour MP and LIVE jointly wrote to CMS ahead of the evidence session, reporting that the industry had made “tangible progress” since the government backed the levy in its response to the committee’s report last November, albeit, they recognised there was “further to go to deliver widespread levy adoption and distribution of funds through the LIVE Trust”.

“By now, if we’d not been able to write to you jointly yesterday to say where we’d got to, I would have been very cross, and I would be saying, ‘Right, well, I’m looking at legislation, can we start drafting it?'” said Bryant. “But we’ve not got there, and I’m very optimistic that this is going to work. I think it’s been a good idea. I think there’s lots of goodwill behind it in the industry, and I think a lot of artists and their management companies will sign up in fairly short order.”

Bryant added that there were “some things that we’ve still got to overcome”, including getting the charity “completely up and running, because it’s not just about the money coming in, it’s about the money going out”.

“But honestly, I have been impressed by how we’re getting there,” he said. “Are there people who could do a bit more? I think Live Nation might want to step up a bit more. They’re a very, very big player in this world… But I just want everybody who’s considering a big tour in the UK in the next year or so to sign up, and then I think we’ll have millions of pounds going to smaller grassroots venues.”

Asked if receiving £1 million in pledges was a realistic goal for the Trust before the end of 2025, Bryant replied: “I’d prefer to see more than a million by the end of the year, partly because I want to see more tours happening in the UK.

“I hope that some money might be going out before the end of the year, but I don’t want to hurry them so fast that the Trust ends up losing trust, if you see what I mean, because I think that that will be counterproductive in the in the long term.”

“It places a burden on artists… They’re either criticised for potentially increasing ticket prices or they’re criticised for not supporting the grassroots”

Earlier in the two and a half hour meeting, MVT chief Davyd lamented that “too many people in the industry” saw the levy as some sort of charitable donation.

“It’s not charitable, it’s simple R&D,” he said. “And the way the music industry is conducted now, we don’t have enough commitment to R&D in the live side… Other countries are getting this right.”

Martin, meanwhile, said the FAC, which penned a joint open letter with the MMF last year calling for a blanket ticket levy, believed “what we have right now is a system of artist-led donations, not a levy”. He noted that “about 8%” of UK shows above 5,000-cap that had gone on sale since November had implemented a donation.

“The problem we have with an artist-led system of donations is two-fold,” he said. “It’s unpredictable, and we don’t have the right amount. We don’t have the maximum amount of money coming in to support the grassroots, but additionally, it places a burden on artists… They’re either criticised for potentially increasing ticket prices or they’re criticised for not supporting the grassroots.”

Speaking after the session, MMF CEO Annabella Coldrick said an “incredible” amount of work had gone on behind the scenes to get the LIVE Trust up and running.

“But now that it’s operational, and with distribution mechanisms like the FAC’s UK Artist Touring fund – backed by the MMF – being developed in parallel, it’s imperative that the entire industry can come together quickly and ramp up the investment into grassroots touring,” she said. “If that momentum can’t be achieved on a voluntary basis, then we urge the government to legislate and make the contribution mandatory.”

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

UK culture minister Chris Bryant set out the government’s priorities for the music industry in an appearance at the International Live Music Conference (ILMC).

The MP welcomed delegates to kick off the 37th edition of the gathering, which is being held this week at London’s Royal Lancaster. Bryant began his address with a message aimed at overseas visitors.

“If there’s anybody here who has a contact with anybody in a European government, could you just please tell them it is absolute nonsense that British artists can’t tour effectively across the whole of the European Union,” he said. “It’s not just that you’re losing out on amazing British artists, it’s also that some music festivals in Europe really need those British artists to be able to flourish. And so if you could have a word with your governments, I’d be really, really grateful.”

In the wake of Labour’s election victory last summer, Bryant explained that he was tasked with devising a 10-point plan for music by the government.

“It’s already a 27-point plan, which I hope we’ll be able to publish in June,” he said. “We want to make sure that every single child in every single school in this country has a chance to play a musical instrument, has a chance to act or take part in drama or in dance, or has a chance to paint or sculpt and exercise their artistic self-expression. And we also want to make sure that there’s better remuneration for artists.”

“There’s nothing more special than seeing somebody in a tiny venue who then goes on to be an enormous success”

He continued: “One of the reasons that this industry has flourished so phenomenally in recent years is, of course, artists are going back on stage, and I’d like a bit more of a mix. I’m 63, I know it’s difficult to believe! But there are artists who are performing [that are] much older than me. It would be nice if more of the younger artists were able to take those big stages and those big arenas, and part of that is making sure that there’s a proper remuneration for them in the era of streaming, and that’s one of the things we’re working on.”

Just before Christmas 2024, Bryant held a roundtable meeting with senior figures from the UK live business following the government’s plea to the live industry to introduce a voluntary ticket levy to support the grassroots music sector. He offered an update on the subject at ILMC.

“We’ve already said that we’re very keen, as a government, on an arena levy for big arena tickets – a £1 levy that will go to fund smaller music venues around the country, and I hope we’re going to have progress on that soon,” he said. “I’m really hopeful that we’ll be able to do this, because I’ve always believed that music, like all the creative industries, is an ecosystem. You only get the Paul McCartneys and the Elton Johns, if you also have the people right at the start of their career coming on in every single generation.

“There’s nothing more special than seeing somebody in a tiny venue who then goes on to be an enormous success. We want to make sure that we’ve got that mixture of massive venues and small venues where you can have the intimacy of the experience.”

“We’ve got a consultation that’s ongoing on to how to tackle the secondary ticketing market in the UK, and we’re determined to make it fairer for fans”

Bryant also commented on the government’s highly-anticipated consultation into the secondary ticketing market, which launched last month.

“One of the things that has undermined your industry in the UK over the last few years has been the secondary ticket market, where the artist and the venue have said that the ticket is worth £100, and it ends up being sold for £5,000 or £10,000 or £15,000 or whatever,” he said.

“We’ve got a consultation that’s ongoing on to how to tackle the secondary ticketing market in the UK, and we’re determined to make it fairer for fans.”

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Following a meeting with the government, IQ understands the UK live music industry is edging towards a deal which would see more stadium and arena tours agree to include a contribution towards grassroots support.

Yesterday’s ministerial roundtable meeting with culture minister Chris Bryant MP followed the government’s plea to the live industry to introduce a voluntary ticket levy to support the grassroots music sector in its response to the Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) Select Committee’s report.

As well as key industry representative bodies, senior figures from some of the UK’s leading promoters were in attendance, including Live Nation, AEG, SJM and Kilimanjaro Live.

“The first roundtable with the minister was the culmination of a lot of hard work by the live music sector,” said LIVE CEO Jon Collins. “Our focus now is to continue to work together to put in place a robust plan for the newly launched LIVE trust and to accelerate the process of directing much needed funding to the grassroots music sector. It was heartening to hear the minister once again endorse the government’s desire to support grassroots venues, festivals, artists and promoters.”

Music Venue Trust (MVT) founder and CEO Mark Davyd also struck an upbeat tone in the wake of yesterday’s discussion.

“We want to thank the LIVE team for all the hard work to reach a consensus on pushing ahead with the much discussed grassroots contribution from every arena and stadium ticket sold,” he said. “The meeting with minister for culture Chris Bryant was a great example of the whole ecosystem pulling together to create an outcome that, ultimately, benefits all of us working in the live industry and everyone who loves live music.”

The current direction of travel stops short of the ‘levy’ called for in various industry campaigns and focuses instead on close collaboration ahead of tours, aimed at significantly increasing the number of projects that include grassroots support.

“A grassroots music fund cannot be dependent on voluntary artist donations“

However, the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) is maintaining its call for a blanket ticket levy, having previously set out its stance in its joint open letter with the Musicians’ Union in October.

“I’d like to thank minister for culture, Chris Bryant, for engaging with the sector on the grassroots music levy,” FAC CEO David Martin tells IQ. “Whilst it’s clear that there are different perspectives within the industry on how to tackle the crisis, the minister has tasked industry representatives with demonstrating they can collectively introduce a £1 levy from large arena and stadium shows, to support grassroots artists, promoters and venues, with the objective that this approach will become blanket across all shows.

“The critical word here is levy. A grassroots music fund cannot be dependent on voluntary artist donations.  Such an opt-in ad hoc system would create uncertainty and the potential for an uneven playing field for UK artists on British soil. Furthermore, it places the burden of decision-making on individual artists rather than sharing it across the industry.

“However, we welcome the attempts to try to progress the situation. We are also pleased that the whole sector has agreed that funds distributed to artists should be equivalent to those distributed to venues, in order to stimulate vital performances and industry growth.”

Bryant said earlier this month that the government wants to see ‘tangible progress’ by the first quarter of next year to meet the timeline of increased grassroots support coming in as soon as possible for concerts in 2025. While IQ understands that the minster expressed his understanding that with many 2025 tours now announced it may take some time for new schemes to come onstream, he reiterated the threat of potential statutory action if insufficient progress is made.

MVT announced in November that it is teaming with live music advocate Save Our Scene to launch the Liveline Fund to handle donations to the grassroots ecosystem from companies, organisations and artists.

Frank Turner recently became the latest artist to donate £1 from every ticket sold for his upcoming UK tour to support local independent music venues, following similar pledges from acts such as Sam Fender, Katy Perry and Coldplay, who will donate 10% of proceeds from their 2025 stadium concerts in England to the MVT.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

The UK government has urged the live industry to introduce a voluntary ticket levy to support the grassroots music sector in its response to the Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) Committee’s report.

Published in May, the CMS report recommended an arena-level levy, administered by a trust led by a sector umbrella body, to be put in place “before September 2024” to safeguard grassroots venues. But it is yet to come to pass despite acts including Coldplay, Sam Fender and Enter Shikari having each pledged donations.

Nevertheless, ministers say they now expect the sector to take forward proposals for a voluntary levy, which they want to come into effect as soon as possible.

The response stopped short of committing the Government to a statutory backstop, instead pledging to use its “convening power” to generate an industry-led solution.

The Government refused to accept the Select Committee’s recommendation that it should institute a fan-led review of music and also knocked back the long-requested VAT reduction, called for both by industry and the Select Committee.

Trumpeting it as “one of the UK’s most valuable and yet undervalued cultural assets”, creative industries minister Sir Chris Bryant said the rest of the touring business will “wither” without a “flourishing” grassroots scene.

“These venues support thousands of jobs and are a vital part of our local communities,” he said. “It is crucial that we work together to support the grassroots including venues, festivals, artists and promoters. That is why I am urging the industry voluntarily to introduce a ticket levy on the biggest commercial players, to help ensure the health and future success of our entire live music industry for decades to come.”

“The lack of a firm deadline for movement risks allowing matters to drift”

The CMS Committee has welcomed the stance, but has called for ministers to set a clear deadline for the industry to act before the government intervenes. It adds that if no significant progress is made, it will hold a hearing with the sector in six months’ time.

“The sheer number of venues in our local communities being forced to shut up shop each week has hammered home the stark reality of the struggles facing artists, promoters and others working in grassroots music,” says CMS Committee chair Dame Caroline Dinenage MP. “There are warnings of an even gloomier future.

“While the government has dialled up the volume on the message that swift action on a levy is needed from the bigger players who pack out arenas and stadiums, the lack of a firm deadline for movement risks allowing matters to drift.

“Without healthy roots, the entire live music ecosystem suffers, so it is vital that the wider industry recognises the urgency of coming up with a scheme to direct a proportion of profits back to where many careers began. The committee will keep banging the drum to make sure both the industry and government plays it part in protecting our live performance ecosystem.”

“The message is clear – get around the table and get this done or expect a statutory levy”

The current activity follows years of lobbying from the Music Venue Trust (MVT) for a compulsory £1 levy on tickets sold for UK live music events above 5,000 capacity, amid the “cost of touring crisis” facing the circuit.

“The government’s response is so robust and unequivocal in its support for our grassroots music venues, artists and promoters, that it is now a question of how and when the grassroots ticketing contribution from stadium and arenas is enacted, and not if,” says the MVT. “The ball is firmly in the court of the music industry to quickly and voluntarily establish the mechanisms for delivering the grassroots ticketing contribution.”

The LIVE Trust, an industry-created charitable body which would collect and distribute funds, is currently in the process of being set up with the UK charity regulator.

“We are glad government has entrusted our sector to play our part in addressing the crisis in grassroots music,” adds LIVE CEO Jon Collins. “Driving forward an industry-led solution to the challenges currently being experienced by venues, artists, festivals and promoters remains our number one priority.

“Alongside government’s work to deliver an improved trading environment, we are accelerating our work on the development of the LIVE Trust and associated funding to help distribute money to the places it’s needed most.”

“Everyone knows grassroots live music is in crisis. The current situation is untenable”

Michael Kill, CEO of the Night Time Industries Association, emphasised that any fund created needed to support the whole range of live music professionals.

“It is crucial that this approach remains ecosystem-led, considering the broader spectrum of creatives, technicians, and professionals who make up the live music sector,” he says.

“We must ensure these measures benefit not just the venues but also the full range of associated creatives and support roles that underpin the industry. By working together—industry leaders, government, and fans alike—we can create a sustainable future for live music, preserving local venues and fostering a vibrant, diverse music culture across the UK.”

Last month, the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) and Musicians’ Union (MU) penned a joint open letter calling for a blanket ticket levy.

“Everyone knows grassroots live music is in crisis,” says MMF CEO Annabella Coldrick in response to the government’s statement. “The current situation is untenable. Every week I hear from music managers trying to do the impossible and bridge catastrophic shortfalls in their artists touring budgets. A ticket levy on all large-scale live music events to support touring artists at this level to get out on the road remains the most practical solution. It is now imperative that we in the industry stand up and deliver it.”

Elsewhere, Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) CEO John Rostron backed the government’s response, but expressed his disappointment that it was not exploring different models of VAT including lower levels of VAT on grassroots music activity, such as a reduction of VAT on festival ticket sales to 5%.

“We reject the idea that any reduction would need to be funded,” says Rostron. “Venues and festivals are closing and will continue to do so. With lower VAT, many would remain open and make a positive contribution to HM Treasury and revenue collection.

“It must be emphasised that the relationship between festivals and grassroots music venues is highly interlinked. Audiences, artists, promoters and crew flow in and out of these spaces as one, creating opportunities, driving creativity and developing talent.”

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

UK culture minister Chris Bryant has vowed that “change is coming” on secondary ticketing during a parliamentary debate.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged to introduce new legislation to cap ticket resale as part of the Labour Party manifesto, with the UK government set to launch a consultation into the market imminently.

The subject was discussed at Westminster Hall yesterday (24 October) in a hearing instigated by Labour and Co-operative MP Emma Foody.

“The issue profoundly affects music and sport fans, event-goers and the integrity of our live entertainment industry, but it appears to be inadequately addressed by current regulatory frameworks,” said Foody. “People understand that they will not always get a ticket to the show, gig or game, but they feel a real sense of injustice at the scale of secondary ticketing platforms, with tickets often appearing just moments after people have attempted to purchase them.

“While allowing a space for those tickets to be resold is important, it is also important that that is not to the detriment of consumers.”

“There is no point bringing forward new laws if we cannot enforce them”

Bryant gave an idea of the timescale involved in any legislation, but stressed that a key matter going forward would be enforcement.

“There is no point bringing forward new laws if we cannot enforce them,” he said. “We made manifesto commitments during the general election that we are absolutely determined to implement.

“As for when they will be implemented in legislation, we have had one King’s Speech; there will be another one coming along. I do not want to tell the Leader of the House precisely who will have what Bills at what time, because I might not stay in my post if I keep doing that, but if there is a Bill at some point, we will have to ensure that we sort out the enforcement issue. That is one element on which we will be consulting.

“We want to make sure that every single element of the legislation that we eventually bring forward works, does what it says on the tin and is able to be enforced.”

Bryant said a consultation would be launched “in the very near future”.

“I do not want to completely ban people from selling tickets,” he added. “If someone has bought four tickets but suddenly only two people can go, because somebody is ill or they have to change the dates, it is perfectly legitimate that they should be able to sell the tickets on.

“They might also want to be able to recoup not only the cost of the tickets themselves but some additional costs. That is one of the things we want to consult on, and what would be a suitable cap. I note the point that has been made about a level of 20%, which some people think is too high. Some people think that 10% would be too high; some people think that it would be too low. We need to make sure we get the level right.”

“I want openness in dynamic pricing. People should be able to understand from the very beginning if that is the process they are entering into”

Last month, the government responded to the Oasis reunion tour sale controversy by saying that it would be adding the use of dynamic pricing into the consultation.

“I want openness in dynamic pricing,” he said. “People should be able to understand from the very beginning if that is the process they are entering into.

“There are versions of dynamic pricing that do work, and we do not want to ban those. I would argue that the early-bird tickets… are a perfectly legitimate part of the whole equation. They sometimes bring money into venues early on, and we do not want to ban that.”

Labour MP Sharon Hodgson, who has long campaigned for regulation of the secondary ticketing market, first introduced her private members’ bill on the topic back in 2010. She said the change in government had created a “watershed opportunity to create the change we desperately need”.

“Change is coming, so they should start getting ready for it, because that is what we are determined to deliver”

Recent research by O2 and YouGov indicated that ticket touts are costing music fans in the UK an extra £145 million (€174m) a year. And referencing the successful prosecution of two internet ticket touts for fraudulent trading in 2020, Hodgson noted the resale platforms faced no such sanctions in relation to the case.

“They kept their cumulative 25% service fees from the illegal transactions – if we do the numbers, we see that means millions of pounds – and they continue to profit from further illicit trading,” she said. “Where are all the illegal proceeds of crime? Why have they never been recovered?”

Hodgson added that legislation to outlaw resale for profit or to cap resale prices had worked well in other countries.

“Ireland saw a large drop in fraud after it implemented a version of – guess what? My private members’ bill,” she said. “For the upcoming Oasis world tour, the only shows for which tickets are not being touted on Viagogo, StubHub and Gigsberg are the two at Croke Park in Dublin.

“This is a golden opportunity to ensure that UK audiences receive similar protections and enjoy a capped, consumer-friendly and ethical resale market that works in their interests.”

Bryant concluded: “I say to all the people that I have referred to – Gigsberg, Viagogo, StubHub, Ticketmaster and all the rest – that change is coming, so they should start getting ready for it, because that is what we are determined to deliver.”

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.