500K raised from UK tour tickets to help grassroots venues and artists

With the incentive that with every ticket sale, surrounding UK tours, artists will donate £1 from their sales to LIVE Trust, there has been a huge development in supporting grassroots venues and artists. With the help of artists' passion for supporting grassroots, a total of 500k+ has been raised so far, which is hopefully the start of a bright future for grassroots. 

With names such as Pulp, who first started donating first followed by Mumford & Sons, Diana Ross, and Hans Zimmer, this is the beginning of offering financial support to those working across the live music sector. LIVE Trust is also looking to support many corners of the live music industry, giving back to venues, artists, festivals and promoters, which is a massive step in the right direction. 

With the CEO of LIVE, Joe Collins, commenting that 'this is a welcome milestone for The LIVE Trust and marks a very significant contribution to the grassroots live music sector,' he also stated that while it 'demonstrates is that there is a real appetite from performers and their teams to support the wider live ecosystem', there is still 'much work to do if we are to convince government that a voluntary rather than statutory levy is both workable and sustainable.' 

These motions came after MVT's (Music Venue Trust) campaign for a levy on tickets to gigs at arena level and above, which was backed by the government last year. And with a huge positive reaction to the levy, from both artists and music fans too, with 90% in agreement, over £ 580,000 has already been reinvested into the grassroots network via 147 grants. 

And though this is just the start, we hope this change keeps going in need of grassroots venues and artists. 

Check out our What's On Guide to discover even more rowdy raves and sweaty gigs taking place over the coming weeks and months. For festivals, lifestyle events and more, head on over to our Things To Do page or be inspired by the event selections on our Inspire Me page.

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