U.K. Government Calls For Voluntary Levy on Stadium, Arena Shows. Is Australia Next?

Grassroots concert spaces across the U.K. should get a helping hand by way of a voluntary levy applied to tickets for the biggest shows in town, a Robin Hood-style tactic that has been pitched as a solution for Australia’s own venues crisis.

Last week, Britain’s creative industries minister Chris Bryant called on the country’s music industry to introduce a levy on stadium and arena tickets, which would directly benefit smaller-capacity rooms and festivals that have faced considerable challenges in recent times.

The Starmer government is keen to see the voluntary levy effective as soon as possible for concerts in 2025, with the industry also tasked with educating punters on the additional fee. 

Grassroots music venues are the backbone of a music industry worth an estimated £6.7 billion, “one of the U.K.’s most valuable and yet undervalued cultural assets,” says Bryant.

“They are where bands try out new material, where whole new genres are born, where musicians experiment and where audiences get to experience the raw power of live music.”

The sector reportedly employs more than 28,000 people including stage managers, security and sound. “Without a flourishing grassroots music industry the rest of our music industry will wither,” adds Bryant in a statement.

“It is crucial that we work together to support the grassroots including venues, festivals, artists and promoters. That is why I am urging the industry voluntarily to introduce a ticket levy on the biggest commercial players, to help ensure the health and future success of our entire live music industry for decades to come.”

A discrete levy on concert tickets has been touted as a potential life-saver for Australia’s smaller venues community, many of them facing distress from the cost-of-living crisis, insurance premium blowouts and more.

Tam Boakes, founder of Jive, a dedicated performance space catering to local, national and international artists, supports the concept and is confident the levy would work as intended in Australia. 

“Really large shows are doing pretty well, and grassroots venues are absolutely dying,” she tells The Music Network.

A levy, or a donation, has been “talked about for quite a while,” in Australia, she continues, the conversation moving along the line that “a dollar ticket levy or a percentage ticket could go back into the grassroots scene because it’s obviously where all the music and creativity starts.
It’s just talk at the moment about how that happens and who runs it and who pays for it, who wants to be involved and who has to be.”

With the development last week in the U.K., “absolutely the writing is on the wall,” she continues.

Last year, as news spread on the collapse of Spilt Milk festival, the Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts heard evidence from music industry stakeholders, including state and local organisations, peak bodies, and event organisers, plus several roundtables with musicians and venues.

QMusic CEO Kris Stewart proposed a small levy on major tours, which could be pumped into the ailing artist community. “If you’re the Taylor Swifts of the world, up to 50 thousand seats, one pound per ticket goes back into a charitable trust to be re-invested at the foundations of live music,” Stewart reportedly said.

The landmark Soundcheck report, published earlier this year, mapped Australia’s festivals market and found operational costs remain the biggest barriers to organisers, while changing ticketing-buying behaviours, and live music fans’ decreasing appetite for booze is having an impact.

By plugging millions of “dollars back into the foundations of live music,” Stewart continued, “that is transformational.”

The U.K. government’s response follows the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee’s report on grassroots music venues, and comes off the back of tireless campaigning from Music Venue Trust and its CEO and founder Mark Davyd, a guest speaker at Bigsound 2024 in Brisbane.

“We look forward to working with both industry and government to make this financial contribution a reality as soon as possible,” he comments.

“Industry-led investment will enable fans across the country to keep accessing the live music that they love whilst also ensuring the talent pipeline to the arena and stadium level is secure and growing. It is the perfect example of a win-win solution for all parties.”