The Music Venue Trust (MVT) is teaming with live music advocate Save Our Scene (SOS) to launch a new scheme aimed at supporting the independent music scene.

The Liveline Fund is focused on strengthening the future viability of the UK grassroots music ecosystem, with companies, organisations and artists able to make donations through a simple platform.

Coldplay’s vow to donate 10% of their proceeds from their forthcoming Wembley and Hull stadium shows to the MVT served as the first initiative under the partnership, followed by similar pledges by Sam Fender and Katy Perry.

Donations made by the concerts’ promoters (SJM Concerts, Metropolis Music and Live Nation), the band’s booking agent (WME), the venues (Wembley Stadium and Hull Craven Park) and official ticket agents (Ticketmaster, See Tickets and AXS) will also support the new fund.

“We are proud to have formed this partnership with Music Venue Trust following our introduction to Coldplay last year,” says George Fleming, who launched SOS during the Covid-19 lockdown. “The goal of Liveline is to affirm the independent live music ecosystem and ensure the future viability of our sector. A thriving music industry depends on a steady pipeline of talent, which is made possible through supporting grassroots music.

“Collaborative action is essential to ensure this fund achieves its full potential and we look forward to working alongside MVT and other stakeholders in amplifying the fund, its awardees and helping ensure proceeds are distributed in a holistic and transparent way, which benefits the entire grassroots ecosystem, including fans.”

“In George and the team at Save Our Scene, we have found kindred spirits who share our passion to protect the grassroots music sector”

UK footwear and apparel brand Kickers has become the first brand to contribute to the Liveline fund in the wake of the launch of the brand’s Stomping Grounds campaign in partnership with SOS.

Alongside investments in infrastructure, events and touring, UK grassroots venues, artists and independent promoters will be able to apply for funding through an open application process, which will be managed by MVT.

“Working with likeminded people is always inspiring and, in George and the team at Save Our Scene, we have found kindred spirits who share our passion to protect the grassroots music sector in the face of many challenges they are having to confront,” says MVT CEO Mark Davyd. “Save Our Scene has the sort of direct access to the fan community that we feel has been missing from too many of the discussions so far. By partnering with SOS we are taking a first step towards putting fans and their experiences at the heart of the conversation.”

Davyd previously discussed Coldplay’s donation in an interview with IQ in September.

“If the biggest band in the world is telling you that they know that without the grassroots music venues, they probably wouldn’t have got to where they are – and they are going to put their own money out of their shows into a cause to save them – I think the whole music ecosystem should be listening,” said Davyd. “I can’t think of a bigger message than that for our industry.”

“While touring is the best job ever, it is currently technically what you might call a passion project for a lot of artists in 2024”

Meanwhile, British singer-songwriter Kate Nash has garnered headlines after launching an OnlyFans account selling revealing pictures to fund her tours under the campaign slogan “Butts for tour buses”.

“While touring is the best job ever, it is currently technically what you might call a passion project for a lot of artists in 2024,” she said.

Speaking to the BBC, Nash described the music industry as “completely broken” and claimed that “touring makes losses not profits”, adding that she was probably going to make more money from OnlyFans than from music over the next three months.

“I also think it’s bit of a punk protest as a woman to take control of my body and sell it to be able to fund my passion project, which is actually my 18-year career,” she continued. “I want to highlight that, and I want people to talk about it, and I want people to know the truth about what what’s happening in the music business.”

The 37-year-old, who is best known for her 2007 hit Foundations, is currently in the midst of a UK tour, stopping at venues including New Century Hall in Manchester, KOKO in London and Brighton’s Chalk, having recently completed a three-week tour of the US.

“I’m losing money from those tours,” she tadded. “The only way I could find to make a profit on the tour – you’re either going, hopefully I sell enough T-shirts to cover the debt, or you cut people’s wages, or you fire band and crew, or you travel dangerously. So that leaves me in a position where I’m not profiting from tours. So is this a job, or is it a passion project?”

Artists including Chemical Brothers, Little Simz, Santigold, Metronomy, Rachel Chinouriri, Easy Life and Roger Daltrey have previously raised concerns about the cost of touring – particularly in the States – with some axing entire tours.

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Music Venue Trust (MVT) boss Mark Davyd has hailed a “massive day” for the grassroots music sector after Coldplay pledged that 10% of proceeds from their newly announced 2025 UK dates will be donated to the organisation.

The band have confirmed six new shows at London’s Wembley Stadium (22-23, 26-27 & 30-31 August) and two at Hull’s Craven Park Stadium (18-19 August) – the only European cities where they will perform next year – in the latest leg of their record-breaking Music of the Spheres World Tour.

Since the first Music Of The Spheres tour date in March 2022, the band have sold more than 10 million tickets – meaning it is already the biggest tour by a group of all-time.

“It’s a massive day for us and a massive day for the grassroots sector,” Davyd tells IQ. “The biggest band in the world have come out and said, ‘Yes, this is true. This is what needs to happen. We are going to do it.’ It doesn’t have to be a challenge for the music industry. It doesn’t have to be a challenge to any other artists. It could just become the new normal.”

Revealed via a poster placed in the window of the Dublin Castle in Camden, London – the scene of the first ever Coldplay show in February 1998 – on Sunday evening, the donation to the MVT will help fund the Trust’s work supporting UK grassroots music venues and upcoming artists.

Donations will also be made to the MVT by the concerts’ promoters (SJM Concerts, Metropolis Music and Live Nation), the band’s booking agent (WME), the venues and the official ticket agents (Ticketmaster, See Tickets and AXS).

“This conversation was started in December 2023,” says Davyd. “It was inspired by an organisation called Save Our Scene, which effectively connected us to Coldplay. When Chris [Martin] from the band had expressed to Save Our Scene that he really wanted to do something, they said Music Venue Trust was the right organisation. George [Fleming, founder] at Save Our Scene was particularly instrumental in making this happen.”

“The live music industry needs to think about what artists are telling them and think about what they can be doing themselves”

He continues: “This is Coldplay saying, ‘It’s very important to us and we want to do it this way,’ so it’s an incredibly helpful example. But somebody asked me this morning if this was proof that people in the music industry are going to deliver on the CMS Committee’s [calls for a ticket levy for grassroots venues] and no, this is just proof that artists really, really care about grassroots music venues.

“The live music industry needs to think about what artists are telling them and think about what they can be doing themselves.”

In a world-first for a stadium show, the band plan to continue their sustainability efforts by powering the Wembley concerts’ production with 100% solar, wind and kinetic energy, collected at the venue and elsewhere in the UK, and delivered by a specially-designed electric battery system. In addition, one of the satellite stages at each show will be fully powered by energy generated by the audience via kinetic flooring and power bikes.

Meanwhile, 50% of the tickets for the Hull shows – the band’s first ever concerts in the city – will go to local fans.

In June, Coldplay announced the tour has so far produced 59% less CO2e emissions than their previous stadium tour in 2016/17, exceeding their original target of a 50% reduction. They also revealed that nine million trees have already been planted, with a further million to be planted before the end of the year.

The group’s upcoming new album, Moon Music, which drops next month, will also set new standards for sustainability, with each LP made from 100% recycled plastic bottles.

The Music of the Spheres World Tour resumes in Australia on 30 October this year, taking in four nights at each of Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium and Sydney’s Accor Stadium, before switching to New Zealand for three gigs at Eden Park in Auckland.

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