Music Venue Trust (MVT) has released its latest annual report, including UK and nation-specific statistics. In early February, MVT launched Welsh data in Senedd, and on 23 April MVT will further publish Scottish data at an event in Scottish Parliament.
The UK-wide annual report surveys the 810 members of the Music Venues Alliance (MVA) and highlights that in 2024 grassroots music venues (GMVs) staged over 162,000 live music events, comprising almost 1.5m individual artist performances, to a total audience of just under 20 million. The total direct value to the UK economy from these events was £526m.
On average, however, these venues GMVs – 33% of which are now registered as not-for profit entities – operated on a profit margin of just 0.48% with 43.8% of them reporting a loss in the past 12 months. This means that the sector as a whole effectively subsidised live music activity to the tune of £162m.
One of the most concerning trends to have emerged from this report is the huge decline in locations on the UK’s primary and secondary touring circuits. In the 30 year period between 1994 and 2024 those touring locations have collapsed, with an average tour in 1994 including 22 dates and the equivalent tour in 2024 consisting of only 11 dates. Furthermore, touring in 1994 was spread across a range of 28 different locations across the country. In 2024, just 12 locations, all of them major cities, remained as primary and secondary touring circuit stops, acting as regular hosts to grassroots tours.
Cities and towns such as Leicester, Edinburgh, Bath, Hull, Windsor, and Stoke on Trent among others have dropped off the primary route over the last few years and for some areas, like Scotland and Wales, this means swathes of the country have been cut off altogether, resulting in people having to travel further or simply being unable to access live music at all. The result, demonstrated in this report, is a decrease in the total number of live music shows (down 8.3% since 2023) accompanied by an even steeper decline in ticket revenues (down 13.5% since 2023).
MVT’s Emergency Response Service dealt with 200 emergency response cases, a 19% increase from 2023, representing 24.9% of the membership facing a threat of permanent closure. The service offered financial, planning, licensing, noise, acoustics, and legal advice to GMVs across the UK, directly responding to a broad range of key issues facing venues.
In addition to its Annual Report, MVT has also published 10 Years of MVT which is intended to complement MVT‘s Annual Report 2024. This booklet provides a brief history of the charity’s work to date (a commissioned feature by writer Laura Kelly) and a celebration of key achievements in MVT’s mission to protect, secure and improve GMVs across the UK.
To download it click here.
