A total of 72 music festivals were cancelled or ceased operating altogether this year, twice as many as in 2023, according to the latest figures from the Association Of Independent Festivals, whose CEO John Rostron has issued a call for the UK government to “step up, and step up now” to help save the festival sector from further devastation.
The gloomy stat comes as independent festivals and the wider grassroots live music sector continue to deal with incredibly challenging economic conditions.
The industry argues that more government support is needed to accompany the growing number of industry-led initiatives that can help parts of the sector. That includes the new Liveline support fund for venues, artists and independent promoters just launched by Music Venue Trust in partnership with the Save Our Scene campaign.
The live sector has long called on the government to implement a VAT cut on tickets, similar to that introduced during the COVID pandemic. Earlier this year, MPs on Parliament’s Culture Media & Sport Select Committee - which scrutinises the government’s work and policies in relation to culture, media and sport - proposed a temporary VAT cut to specifically help those operating at the grassroots of live music, but the government recently rejected that proposal.
AIF argues that the failure of government to act decisively on this issue has caused the high level of postponements, cancellations and closures this year.
Rostron says: “We have campaigned tirelessly for targeted, temporary government intervention which, evidence shows, would have saved most of the independent events that have fallen in 2024. It is sad to see that this erosion has been allowed to continue under this government. We have great events, with great demand, and we’re doing all we can. They need to step up, and step up now”.
Among the most recent festivals to close was the 31-year-old Tenterden Folk Festival, with rising costs cited as a key reason why the festival’s organisers took the difficult decision to call it a day and close down the long-established event. With 96 events lost during the COVID period, and an increasing tally of closures since then, the total number of festivals to disappear since 2019 is, according to AIF’s data, 204.
Rostron continues: “This has been a devastating period for the UK’s festival organisers. Ours is a highly important sector that offers opportunities to artists, audiences, and develops creative skills and volunteering opportunities across all of the UK. The festival sector generates significant revenue in and around local economies as well as to the Treasury every year”.
Although the government rejected the proposed VAT cut on tickets, it endorsed the proposal that the industry introduce a ticket levy on large-scale shows to support the grassroots sector, urging stakeholders from across the industry to get such a system in place as soon as possible.
The Culture Media & Sport Select Committee previously said that, if the live industry was unable to agree a voluntary levy by September of this year, then the government should “introduce a statutory levy at the earliest subsequent opportunity”.
That deadline was missed, and the government told the live sector earlier this month that it now needs to act “swiftly” to agree how that levy will work, otherwise ministers may force people to a government-convened negotiating table.
The Music Venue Trust has long campaigned for a ticket levy to support the grassroots live music ecosystem, with a number of artists and brands stepping forward to voluntarily support grassroots live music as a result of MVT’s campaigning around the issue.
That includes Coldplay, who will donate 10% of the proceeds from their forthcoming Wembley and Hull stadium shows, and Sam Fender, who will donate £1 from each ticket sale for his upcoming tour which kicks off at Manchester’s new 23,500 capacity Co-op Live arena on 6 Dec.
To administer that money, MVT has announced the launch of a new scheme called the Liveline Fund, delivered in partnership with the Save Our Scene campaign and with additional support from footwear brand Kickers.
MVT explains that, “alongside curated investments into infrastructure, events and touring”, with the Liveline Fund “grassroots music venues, artists and independent promoters will be able to apply for funding through an open application process, which will be managed by MVT”.
The fund, MVT adds, has “already been bolstered by the incredible generosity of Coldplay, Sam Fender, Katy Perry and Kickers” and will also “give other companies, organisations and artists a very simple and well-run platform through which they can make donations and fuel the future of UK grassroots music”.
The Liveline Fund is one of various schemes instigated by Music Venue Trust to support a grassroots sector in crisis.
Another is the Own Our Venues initiative via which an entity called Music Venue Properties is acquiring the buildings that house certain grassroots venues, putting them into community ownership and ensuring the venue’s operators are not subject to commercial leases where landlords might look to hike up the rent or sell the property at some point.
As part of that scheme, MVP announced today that it has made its fourth acquisition, buying up the building that houses Dover’s 280 cap venue The Booking Hall.
The venue’s owner, Stuart Cameron, says that his landlord announced its plan to sell the building that houses the venue earlier this year. “We were trying to purchase the building ourselves, but did not have the capital up front for a deposit”, he explains. “Without Music Venue Properties stepping in to purchase the venue, the most likely outcome would have been a property developer turning the building into flats/offices”.
“To know that the venue is secure for many generations to come is a great relief and definitely something to celebrate”, he adds. “Having MVP as a landlord, one who shares our vision for the venue, enables us to plan for the future - both in the short term and long term”.