Featured Image: Magnus Lunay on Unsplash
Good Show, an independent ticketing platform designed with grassroots music venues and live music promoters in mind, has partnered with Music Venue Trust (MVT) to help protect the future of the sector.
Mounting operational costs and challenges have caused 16% of the UK’s grassroots music venues to close over the last year, with Good Show lending a hand through mentoring support, and advice on marketing, financial management and event planning.
The firm will also offer direct financial support to venues in need by sharing 50% of its booking fee with them, and will introduce an optional in-purchase ticket levy enabling music fans to donate to MVT’s Pipeline Investment Fund.
“To witness first-hand the increasingly difficult situation that these small independent venues are in, is heartbreaking,” said Adam Stewart, co-founder of Good Show. “We are a small independent business and are proud to be completely independent, which is an ethos that runs through the core of everything we do. That’s why we created the Good Show ticketing platform, to offer an effective support package exclusively to these venues and promoters.
“It also makes complete sense to support the MVT with the great work they have been doing for many years, and as we grow, we aim to support MVT more and more.”
The Booking Hall, an independent music venue in Dover, Kent, was involved in the initial building and design of the Good Show ticketing site, and has utilised the platform since its launch last year.
The venue has benefitted from the 50% booking fee rebate, which now covers up to half of its annual rent.
Mark Davyd, chief executive of Music Venue Trust, added: “Some 127 grassroots music venues have closed in the last 12 months – more than one is permanently closing every week. We need collective effort from the government, the music industry, artists, and fans to prevent further closures and reverse this alarming trend. This is a great move by an independent ticket agent that knows the value of the grassroots music sector. MVT is grateful to the Good Show team for putting it in place.”
Yesterday (Monday), the UK’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) announced that Arts Council England will deliver an additional £5m (€5.7m/$6m) of support for the grassroots music sector through a new fund.
The Supporting Grassroots Music (SGM) scheme is funded by DCMS and is part of the additional music investment announced within the UK Government’s Creative Industries Sector vision in June. The fund is an evolution of Arts Council England’s Support Grassroots Live Music funding programme, which was originally launched in 2019.
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