Hold the front page… I’m taking a temporary diversion from the music psychology stuff!
I’m not sure about you but I’ve been keeping an eye on the ‘Save our scene’ campaign and the government recommendations pressing for a £1 levy to be imposed on all stadium gigs. As a musician and clinician working in the field, the biggest universal stressor I come across is financial precarity. I feel that a large part of this problem is the growing divide between the huge artists and those who are just starting out.
While Live Nation and Spotify drain huge profits, artists are struggling to eat. Yes, of course, it’s our choice but it does seem to be getting more and more unfair. Hopefully this proposed levy will go some way in giving back to the smaller venues that are struggling to keep the wolves at bay.
To illustrate this point, here's some juicy quotes from Chris Bryant the minister for creative industries.
‘Grassroots music venues are one of the UK’s most valuable and yet undervalued cultural assets. 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.’
‘These venues support thousands of jobs and are a vital part of our local communities. Without a flourishing grassroots music industry the rest of our music industry will wither.’
‘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.’
I agree with each and every one of these factors and I’m sure all of us would agree with these sentiments. I just hope it happens! Sam Fender and Coldplay recently stepped up and will ‘paying back’, but the hope is that there will be some kind of legal mandate in place very soon.
We’ve already lost 125 venues this year! One additional concerning factor surrounding this levy was recently flagged up by Kate Nash’s recent ‘Bum on the back of a fire truck’ campaign where she took up protest outside of both Live Nation and Spotify’s offices in London. In this campaign she suggested how Live Nation are the main body who are contesting the levy.
Kate Nash was quoted as saying...
“I’m outside Live Nation in London, who last year had an annual revenue of £22.749billion – which is a 36.38 per cent increase from last year. Live Nation are the main hold-up in the government’s recommendation to give £1 per arena and stadium ticket to the grassroots, who are in crisis. So what’s the holdup?”
I do find this particularly ironic as they heavily funded and distributed a recently compiled book focused on musicians’ mental health and touring. Come on Live Nation, step up in the real world please!
My fear is that we could be left with big shiny soulless venues whilst the gritty small scenes dry up. As a musician and clinician, it would be unethical and against my whole moral code to allow this to go un-noticed. Perhaps, if we had less financial inequality in the live sector we wouldn’t need so many ‘manuals’ on how to manage our mental health... perhaps?
Additionally, if it wasn’t for the smaller venues facilitating my own musicking opportunities, I wouldn’t be here today. I’ll continue on this ‘soap box’ next week and look at what Tonic Music is doing around this.
Adam Ficek hosts a monthly show 'Tonic Music' on Totally Wired Radio, where he talks to various guests about music and mental health. You can listen again to any of the previous show on the Tonic Music Mixcloud page.
