Resulting from last year’s Venues Day 2014, the Music Venue Trust – a collection of individuals and businesses involved in small and medium sized venues – have released their first report. Conducted by the Institute Of Contemporary Music Performance, the Understanding Small Music Venues: An Interim Findings Report aims to generate discussion as to the role of small venues, and the issues they face.
Venues Day 2014 saw over 120 venues represented, with 107 being involved in the ongoing research project.
The interim report, which precedes a full report due on Monday 9th March 2015 based on continued discussion, is available to view and download online.
Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd explains the need for action:
“There is a national challenge to our live music venue circuit brought about by a sequence of events and developments which have left that network in a perilous and precarious state. Music Venue Trust feels that we need to take an overall view of the challenges out there. We need to be openly discussing and airing those challenges with our live music industry colleagues, and working together to tackle that range of issues so we not only maintain and preserve this circuit but actively start to improve it. We feel that past failures to talk about the ecosystem of UK music have meant that people who don’t actively work in it perhaps don’t understand the structure of the industry, or the vital role that this network of venues plays in maintaining it.
The UK is, quite literally, a music world leader, punching vastly above its weight in terms of the impact our artists and musicians make across the globe. A huge proportion of the music we export, which generates thousands of jobs, develops the artistic careers of our best writers and musicians, and is such an important part of the UK’s standing on the international cultural stage, starts in a small venue. This is the grassroots of our industry, the research and development department of our major international music industry partners. It is impossible to overstate this enough; no Troubadour or 12 Bar Club, no Adele.
Our UK music scene, arguably the best in the world, is built on a robust ecosystem that starts with a first live concert in front of as few as ten people on a Tuesday night in Guildford and climaxes with 3 nights at Wembley Stadium. And it’s not just the musicians – our industry and other parts of the creative sector are filled with people who cut their teeth promoting, booking or simply working the door at a small venue. This small venue circuit is the training ground and the entry level experience for our lighting engineers, sound technicians, and cultural organisers at all levels; we need to ensure we do all we can to protect it.”
For more on the Music Venue Trust head to their website.