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Mike Weatherley MP calls on Chancellor to give tax breaks to small music venues
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 2 February 2015
Mike Weatherley MP, who has, of course, been very vocal on both copyright and ticketing issues during this Parliament, has written to inept manchild and Chancellor Of The Exchequer George Osborne requesting tax breaks for small and medium sized live venues.
This comes in the wake of an interim report published by the Music Venue Trust last week outlining the significant challenges threatening the survival of many such venues. Tax breaks would only address a small number of these, but it would be a start, I suppose.
In a statement, Weatherley said of his letter: “Supporting live music venues is essential if we want to protect our musical heritage. Britain produces some of the best music in the world and it contributes hugely to our economy. I will continue to push for support for live music venues and hope that the Chancellor will seriously consider tax breaks or other financial incentives in order to support this important industry”.
The letter itself reads: “As you know, our music industry is an enormous asset to Britain both culturally and financially. At the heart of this success story are the incredibly valuable live music venues. I do not think that we can overestimate the value that live music brings to the lives of millions of people”.
And continues: “Unfortunately, for many reasons it is becoming harder for smaller live music venues to be financially viable and, as a result, alarmingly the number of venues is going down. Quite simply, the support of government and local authorities is key to the success of live music venues”.
And then continues still: “There is precedence of successful tax breaks for bands playing overseas and in other areas of entertainment (theatre/opera, for example, who also enjoy tax breaks and financial incentives), but not for the small and medium sized live music venues, which are the bedrock of all creative music talent”.
Finally come these words: “Given the importance of live music venues in the career development of musicians and to our economy, I hope that you will seriously consider the introduction of tax breaks or other financial incentives in order to help stem the national challenges faced by live music venues”.
Osborne, of course, is already keen on tax breaks for live music, though specifically live music that doesn’t involve any of that nasty pop and rock business. Classical, mate. Classical.
