Music Venue Trust’s Annual Report shows “huge decline” in UK touring circuit locations

Music Venue Trust (MVT), which represents hundreds of UK grassroots music venues (GMVs) has launched its 2024 Annual Report in Scottish Parliament with a special event for politicians, policy makers, venues and key stakeholders featuring a performance from Indoor Foxes and keynote speeches from Michelle Thomson MSP and Claire Baker MSP.

Despite highlighting positive activity such as MVT celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2024, the continued success of Music Venue Properties (MVP), the success on planning objections, and the publication of a Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) report that made strong recommendations to support grassroots music, it is clear that significant work is still needed to prevent a continued decline of the sector.

A survey of the 70 members of the Music Venues Alliance Scotland (MVA Scotland), who employ over 2600 people throughout the GMV community, found that they staged over 14,000 live events comprising over 128,000 individual artist performances given to a total audience of just over 1.6 million live music fans.

The total direct value to the Scottish economy from these events was over £45.4 million. However, on average, GMVs (33% of which are now registered as not-for-profit entities - a 29% increase in not-for-profit registration since 2023) operated on a profit margin of just 0.48% with 43.8% of them reporting a loss in the last 12 months. The sector as a whole effectively subsidised live music activity in Scotland to the tune of £14 million.

One of the most concerning trends to have emerged from this report is the huge decline in locations on the UK’s primary and secondary touring circuits. 

In the 30 year period between 1994 and 2024 those touring locations have collapsed, with an average tour in 1994 including 22 dates and the equivalent tour in 2024 consisting of only 11 dates. 

Furthermore, touring in 1994 was spread across a range of 28 different locations across the country. In 2024, just 12 locations, all of them major cities, remained as primary and secondary touring circuit stops, acting as regular hosts to grassroots tours.

Only one location in Scotland remains on the national touring circuit, Glasgow, with even Edinburgh struggling to be included on the majority of national tours by new and emerging artists. In Scotland, this means swathes of the country have been cut off altogether from the opportunity to see the hottest new acts, resulting in people having to travel further or simply being unable to access new live music at all.

The result, demonstrated in this report, is a decrease in the total number of live music shows (down 8.3% since 2023) accompanied by an even steeper decline in ticket revenues (down 13.5% since 2023).

Mark Davyd, CEO of Music Venue Trust, said, “The 2024 Annual Report recognises that after 10 years of work by MVT a very broad consensus has been built among politicians, industry, artists and the public that grassroots music venues must be protected, supported, encouraged and nurtured.

“In 2025 and beyond, we have to see that consensus bring forward positive, practical interventions in the real world. 

"Venues, despite all the very welcome good intentions and acknowledgements they are receiving for their vital work, are still closing, still under extreme and totally unnecessary financial pressures, still failing to be recognised, as everyone agrees they should and must be, when government designs policy, taxation, and legislation. It isn’t good enough to keep saying how much we all value them, we’ve got to practically do something about it. We need action not words.”

Stina Tweeddale, Scotland Coordinator, Music Venue Trust added, “In Scotland, MSPs have an immediate opportunity to deliver that action. They can act right now to ensure that the commitment that every Grassroots Music Venue under 1500 cap would receive Rate Relief in 2025/26 actually happens. 

"At the moment a significant number of key venues will be excluded from that relief, against the commitment made by Scottish Government and against the best interests of live music in Scotland.”

To access the full 2024 Annual Report click here.