By Monk
The grassroots music sector is still “structurally fragile” in the post-Brexit and post-Covid eras, according the charity which represents hundreds of venues across the United Kingdom.
The annual report published by the Music Venue Trust shows that, while the grassroots sector contributes more than £500 million a year to the UK economy, venues are operating on average profit margins of just 2.5 per cent – with more than half showing no profit at all in 2025.
In addition, there were more than 6,000 job losses, representing a 19 per cent contraction in the sector’s workforce, as venues struggled to meet what the MVT describes as “unsustainable tax burdens” brought about by Government changes to national insurance and business rates.
According to the report’s headline findings, the majority of grassroots music venues (GMVs) are now “one financial shock away from crisis”, while the national touring circuit continues to contract. Over the past year alone, 30 GMVs permanently closed, and 175 UK towns and cities, home to an estimated 25 million people, no longer receive regular touring shows by professional artists.
MVT warns that this collapse in touring access is starving emerging artists of essential development opportunities, undermining the talent pipeline that underpins the wider UK live music and recording industries. The charity identifies financial viability as the primary cause, concluding that current economic models for grassroots live music are no longer working.
Speaking at the launch for the Annual Report, held at V&A South Kensington, Mark Davyd, Music Venue Trust’s CEO, laid out a comprehensive plan of action, moving decisively from crisis response towards sector revival.
While expanding its frontline Venue Support Team (a national emergency support service providing expert advice on planning, licensing, legal and financial issues) and Emergency Hardship Relief Fund (which offers urgent grants of up to £10,000 for venues facing imminent closure due to crises such as fire, flood or sudden financial shock) to prevent avoidable closures, MVT will also invest £2 million immediately into a number of targeted programmes designed to permanently reduce costs and improve sustainability.
These projects will focus on infrastructure resilience, operational improvement, energy efficiency and enhanced artist and audience experience. Collectively, these initiatives aim to reduce operating costs while strengthening venues’ long-term viability.
A centrepiece of the plan is the development of Liveline, a fully funded national touring programme in partnership with Save Our Scene and Association of Independent Promoters, designed to address the root causes of the touring crisis. By covering venue costs, reducing promoter risk and guaranteeing artist fees, Liveline aims to restore a viable touring network to towns that have been excluded from professional live music, reconnecting artists with audiences across the UK.
Mark Davyd said:
The future of British music depends on stabilising and rebuilding the grassroots touring network.
The arrival of Grassroots Levy funding in 2026 will provide the opportunity to take a radical new approach and that is exactly what we intend to do.
For ten years Music Venue Trust has explored the best ideas from around the world, worked with our sector to understand what would make the biggest difference to them, and brought forward innovative, groundbreaking ideas that we can now deliver practically.
This is no longer just about rescue, it is about working with our partners and colleagues, including the crucial role to be played by the LIVE Trust, to deliver investment and reform that restores the infrastructure that music careers are built on.
Alongside its own interventions, the charity has also set out a clear set of demands for government action, calling for fundamental tax reform to address pre-profit taxation, permanent legal protection for venues through enshrining Agent of Change in law, and the creation of a permanent Live Music Commission to implement the fan-led review and provide national leadership.
The charity also makes clear that if a voluntary industry contribution mechanism cannot be proven to work by June 2026, the government must legislate a statutory Grassroots Levy to secure sustained investment into the sector.
Mark Davyd added:
We have reached the limits of what venues can absorb on margins of 2.5 per cent. This sector has done all it can to keep music live in our communities, it now needs permanent protection, structural reform, and leadership that recognises grassroots venues as essential national infrastructure.
That obviously needs to come in the form of a coherent strategy from government, but they are not the sole solution. The music industry itself is in the last chance saloon with regards to the levy; if voluntary industry action does not deliver by June 2026, the government must legislate.
Additional recommendations arising from the report include reforms to unlock investment via tax reliefs, coordinated action to reduce post-Brexit touring barriers, and ensuring that public funding schemes, including the Music Growth Scheme, explicitly support the grassroots talent pipeline they ultimately rely on.
The MVT Annual Report is available now.
The latest edition of the MVT podcast, ‘The Last Safe Space’, looks at how the response to the issues raised in the report::