Bristol is hoping to become the first UK city to implement a £1 ticket levy in order to support the local music scene.
According to Bristol’s night time economy advisor Carly Heath, the levy added onto tickets at participating venues and events could generate up to £1million each year and would support music venues, events and music making.
“That would transform the music industry in the city,” she said as the local council put its proposals to local and national music industry representatives on Wednesday evening (November 6).
She added that the proposals also have the support of local music fans – a survey conducted by council-run project organisers Bristol Nights found that 93 per cent of local people were in favour of the move.
Tom Kiehl, the CEO of UK Music, said the model could be easily replicated by other cities. Glasgow is currently also considering introducing a similar scheme.
“There’s a big discussion at the moment in the industry about whether arena and stadiums can agree a levy to support the grassroots in the sector,” he told the BBC. “Those conversations are ongoing, so it’s actually really interesting to see a really positive local solution being developed in this area,” he said.
Earlier this year, a government committee of UK MPs recommended a levy on arena and stadium gigs, similar to schemes used by the Premier League in football and in other countries to support venues amid a difficult economic climate in which venues are closing at a rate of around two per week. The Music Venue Trust had made the case in Westminster for a levy on tickets on gigs at arena size and above and for major labels and such to pay back into the grassroots scene, arguing that “the big companies are now going to have to answer for this” after 125 venues closed their doors in 2023.
Several artists have introduced a levy voluntarily on their own gig tickets, including Enter Shikari, Sam Fender and Alien Ant Farm. Meanwhile, Coldplay pledged last month to donate 10 per cent of all profits from their 2025 UK stadium shows to grassroots venues, which the MVT’s Mark Davyd told NME was a “lifeline for new talent”.
Although Davyd estimated that 2024 will see fewer venue closures than 2023, “probably one in every five venues in the country is currently facing the threat of permanent closure.”
“I think there is a ticking clock,” he continued. “That clock is going to tick for as long as iconic music venues don’t close down – as happened with Bath Moles – or that the venues stick at it but come to us for help.
“People need to know: this is the highest number of venues facing closure that we’ve ever dealt with in one year. In any moment, those could all tip over into closures. We would see a massive collapse of about 20 per cent of all venues in the country closing down if we don’t see action from industry or the government.”
Calls for action were also reiterated when it emerged that the UK touring circuit was said to be facing “complete collapse” without urgent help, in the wake of the recent budget news that will involve £7million in new premises taxes. These will place over 350 grassroots music venues at immediate risk of closure – threatening more than 12,000 jobs, over £250million in economic activity and the loss of over 75,000 live music events.
“The challenges around business rates and grassroots music venues have been known and accepted for over a decade,” said MVT in a statement. “Changes in April 2026 are to be welcomed, but will be of no use for the hundreds of music venues that are now likely to be lost before this challenge is finally met with a full, long overdue reform.”
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