Music Venue Trust (MVT) visited Scotland last week to provide useful information to independent music venues and to highlight the importance of the grassroots music scene. Spearheaded by MVT co-founders Mark Davyd and Beverley Whitrick, the organisation presented its findings to a clutch of industry insiders, journalists and MSPs at Holyrood Parliament, highlighting that, while the number of small independent venues closing their doors has slowed, most markers point to an industry in needless decline. 

In key findings from MVT, the number of small venues in Scotland has reduced from 74 to 70 across the past year, while the organisation has identified 13 ‘emergency response cases’, an 18% increase since 2023. Davyd also discussed the benefit of small music venues for the music industry as a whole to MSPs, emphasising the importance of emerging acts having spaces to perform in, while underlining the industry’s £45,419,692 contribution to the UK economy. 

Also on hand at the parliamentary briefing was MVT’s new Scottish coordinator, Stina Tweeddale, bandleader of indie rock act Honeyblood and experimental pop project Stina Marie Claire. She told us, ‘Tonight is a great opportunity to see a number of venues come together and have an open discussion about their trials and tribulations, but also their successes and plans for the future. To bring them to Parliament is a great chance for them to voice things on a political level. There’s no sugar-coating the stats that we have, but the outlook from the venues in the room today is a positive one.’ 

Established in 2014, MVT has progressed from a small charity to an internationally recognised group, and last year purchased its first small music venue (The Snug in Atherton). It has regularly operated as an advocacy group for smaller venues without the resources to negotiate council regulations or governmental red tape. 

We discussed the situation faced by independent music venues last year, writing, ‘The world of gig-going is as fertile as ever. The community-spirited atmosphere of many music spaces across Glasgow and Edinburgh nonetheless remains in a state of precarity, struggling to pay back debts accrued during covid, coping with increased living costs, wrangling with demands from local councils, and adjusting to an era of declining alcohol consumption. Two grassroots music venues are closing their doors every week, according to the Music Venue Trust (MVT); these hotbeds of cultural vibrancy are hitting crisis point.’ Read the full article.

In other news, former prime minister Jeremy Corbyn has also loaned his support to small venues, teaming up with the Music For The Many campaign which (much like MVT) is proposing a £1 ticket levy to support grassroots music venues.

‘The inaction of successive governments has left many of Britain’s grassroots music venues facing the imminent threat of staff redundancies or being forced to shut their doors for good,’ wrote Corbyn in a new statement reported by NME, ‘which is a devastating blow to communities, local economies and our country’s rich cultural heritage in the arts.’

'For the past two years, our Music For The Many campaign has been calling for a modest ticket levy on large music venues and their corporate sponsorship as the fairest way to fund grassroots music in our communities. Almost a year ago, the parliamentary DCMS committee vindicated this approach with a recommendation in its report on British live music, which was subsequently acknowledged by the government as a viable option.

‘But a year on, we continue to lose grassroots music venues at a truly alarming rate. It is the government’s chronic failure to act that has pushed many more beloved community creative spaces to the brink of permanent closure.’

To help promote venues, the Music For The Many project will host a number of gigs across small venues in England, many of which have previously been threatened with closure: Shelf Life will perform at Piehouse Co-Op, London, on Wednesday 4 June; Yakkie at The Louisiana, Bristol, on Monday 9 June; ARXX at Future Yard, Birkenhead, on Thursday 12 June; Hongza at The Prince Albert, Brighton, on Thursday 19 June; Kid Bookie at Voodoo Daddy’s, Norwich, on Tuesday 24 June; and The Menstrual Cramps at Night & Day Café, Manchester, on Monday 30 June. Tickets for all shows are available now. 

For more information and resources, visit the Music Venue Trust’s official site.