'Government regards us as a joke' - how can Labour help the music industry thrive?

All eyes have been on the music industry this week after the scramble to secure Oasis tickets saw a huge surge in prices.

Labour has promised to look at so-called dynamic pricing as part of a consultation to create a fairer system, pledging to “put fans back at the heart of music”.

But people across the sector are hoping they don’t stop there and the new government takes a keener interest in an industry that, according to UK Music, contributes £6.7bn to the economy and employs more than 210,000 people.

We speak to a range of industry figures about the challenges they are facing and what they want to see now Labour are in power.

‘Festivals can’t make ends meet’

Rachael Greenfield is the festival director of Bloodstock, an annual rock and metal event in Derbyshire that is family run and sees around 20,000 gather in a field each summer.

But as an independent festival that is only a fraction of the size of the likes of Glastonbury, it has been hit harder by a range of issues impacting the wider music industry.

“Running a festival is always a huge challenge anyway, because you have got to know your market… and getting the right line up for any festival is tough enough,” she said.

“But then 2020 hit. We were facing Brexit, which while we knew it was coming, created its challenges with bands coming into the UK – it is not as attractive as it is to do tours in Europe now, so that has increased costs to get certain bands that we really want to play.

“And then we got the pandemic, which obviously wiped the floor with the entire events sector. So many festivals fell away, but we only held on by the skin of our teeth.”

Rachel praised the previous government’s Cultural Recovery Fund during COVID, saying it saved the event. But that only got them through the worst patch, and it will take at least another five years to recover completely.

Alongside the Association of Independent Festivals, Bloodstock is petitioning the government to give the events side of the industry a 5% VAT break on ticket income for three years to “allow us to breathe, regroup and basically get us onto solid footing and stop these festivals falling by the wayside literally every other day because they cant make ends meet.”

Rachel adds: “Ticket companies are seeing all these festivals going out of business and are becoming very nervous and withholding funds – all the ticket income – until post-festival.

“Well, if you are a huge corporate festival, that’s not such an issue, but when you are a small independent, if you have 70% of your entire festival’s operational costs in advance, you rely on that income or a proportion of it to see you through that year.

“With no ticket income, where you have already gone two years where you haemorrhaged so much money, there is only so long you can go before you say, look I can’t do this anymore.”

‘Nobody can afford rising rates’

Music venues across the country, especially at the grassroots level where every artist and band starts out, are also under growing pressure.

The Music Venue Trust (MVT) said at least two closed every week in 2023, with 125 shutting their doors across the year.

And of those that remained open, 38% reported making a financial loss.

Ali and Matt Barnwell, owners of The Fighting Cocks live music venue in Kingston-Upon-Thames, are among those struggling to make ends meet.

“At the top level it’s making enough to pay the bills,” says Matt, who works on the issues of profitability for the MVT. “That’s driven by cost of labour and cost of entertainment, often fixed costs which are therefore disproportionately felt by smaller venues like ours.

“The pub side of the business is much easier to scale and far more flexible based on trade, but the barrier to entry on the live music side is so much higher.”

The key appeal to the government for him is ensuring business rates don’t rise again.

“Absolutely nobody can afford for these to go back up,” he added. “Alongside this, easier access to grants and funds to support venue management and industry development.”

Ali also said the wider cost of living crisis was hitting them hard, and more support for gig goers at home would help the industry too.

“Fewer people are coming to live shows across the board and getting people to buy tickets in advance is a much bigger challenge than it once was,” she said.

“We’ve also seen the volume of no-shows to gigs climbing. Generally we’re seeing people not wanting to plan in advance or stick to those plans even if they do.”

‘Nobody goes from their bedroom to playing Wembley’

Sarah Pearson, co-founder of the Beyond The Music conference – something she describes as “a democratic version of Davos for the music industry” – says the sector in the UK is too “top heavy”, with the likes of Ali and Mat suffering.

“It is a growth economy at the top for a few, and it isn’t working for the rest of us as an economic model,” she said. “That needs urgent solutions and there does not seem to be much urgency.

“For example, artists who have record deals or who are trying to become bigger and get better at their art don’t have anywhere to play because the grassroots music venues have closed.

“But also acts aren’t playing out as much as they can’t afford to. Costs have gone up, so promoters can only afford to put on gigs that will definitely sell.

“And actually, when you are growing, you need to be able to play to five or six people to get better and to grow your audience.”

The Fighting Cocks’ Ali agrees, adding: “It’s about appreciating the role grassroots venues play in the wider music ecosystem.

“The Music Venue’s Trust have been doing a great job of showcasing how venues like ours act as the research and development for the industry as a whole.

“Nobody goes from their bedroom to playing Wembley. There’s huge amounts of money at that top level and so little of it for those of us taking the risks on a band’s first show.”

For Beyond The Music’s Sarah, she says there is a call across the industry for more investment from large music companies into the grassroots to then be matched by the government.

“Basically it would reflect the Football Foundation, where the Premier League clubs invest in the grassroots, and the idea is the same would happen in music,” she said.

“We could create a growth plan that was really exciting for grassroots from those who deservedly earn a lot of money from music.”

‘Music is Britain’s contribution to the world’

British punk and folk singer Frank Turner has long campaigned for grassroots music venues to ensure the future of the industry thrives in the UK.

But he also wants more help for the artists themselves.

“I fell in love with rock music as a kid – Iron Maiden, to be precise – and I immediately wanted to participate,” he told Sky News. “It took me a long time to work out what that would realistically consist of as a career, and I was helped on my way by Black Flag and punk rock, but the desire was there from the start.

“But making a living is hard. The margins on recorded music have completely collapsed in the last 20 years or so, and they’re getting thinner on touring as well.”

For Turner there was also a “physical and mental strain” for those who pursue a performing career.

“It can be brutally tough,” he adds. “Touring is hard, pushing yourself creatively is hard, and social media makes the whole thing a lot worse. There are more structures in the industry now to help with this stuff, but it’s still a huge challenge.”

However, while he warns of a range of challenges – from rising costs through to the impact of Brexit – what he wants to see from ministers is a shift in attitude towards the music industry.

“The music industry has long been a large, stable employer and a huge net contributor to the Exchequer, and that’s without even mentioning cultural capital,” he said.

“For a long time the industry has been regarded as something of a joke, as compared with, say, the car industry or agriculture, while in reality British music has been one of our strongest contributions to the world, economically and culturally, for a few generations now.

“I think there is a shift starting, I’m more encouraged by our new government than its predecessors, but there is still a way to go.”

‘Let us thrive’

Fiona Stewart, managing director and owner of the Green Man festival in Wales, echoed Turner’s concerns, saying the biggest barrier for her part of the industry was a lack of understanding from government.

“Let’s face it, Britain isn’t the economic powerhouse and producer it once was,” she claimed. “In some ways it would be refreshing for this country to see it as it is right now – a small country that has got a fantastic creative industry, and many other industries, which can be agile and contemporary and produce and inspire.”

Fiona added: “With all the divisions we face right now… things like music bring people together, and it is needed. It has a power and it would be wonderful for the new government to recognise that but in a much more strategic way.

“That’s what we need. We need strategy. Not just big funding moments or a big statement. A proper strategy to understand what is going on over a period of years and proper investment at the proper time like any business person would do.

“It would bring more respect to the industry and let us thrive where we can.”

A government spokesperson said: “The music industry is a serious national asset that plays a major role in our national identity, and delivers huge benefits for our economy. We are absolutely committed to supporting the sector to thrive, including our festivals and vital grassroots music venues, and ministers are considering a range of policy options.

“As part of our ambitious plans, we want to see stronger efforts from the industry to create career opportunities for more people from diverse backgrounds, to draw upon the wealth of talent that exists across the country and drive economic growth in our communities.”