OPINION
It’ s time we invested in our future
Royal Albert Hall CEO James Ainscough OBE explains why the venue has committed to the LIVE Trust’ s £ 1 contribution supporting grassroots music across the UK.
Upstairs in the Royal Albert Hall is the Elgar Room, a grassroots venue for South Kensington that launches artists’ careers and provides a training ground for those working behind the scenes. In 2017, I saw Ezra Collective play that space to a couple of hundred people. Six years later, they sold out our 5,200-capacity auditorium and won the Mercury Music Prize.
Running the Elgar gives us a glimpse of the grassroots eco-system so critical to the future of UK music. But whereas our room comes with its own financial safety net – supported by the shows in our main hall – most smaller spaces don’ t. The figures are stark. There were 125 grassroots venue closures in 2023, and 78 festival cancellations the following year. It’ s tough out there for grassroots musicians, venues, festivals, promoters, and their talented teams.
The good news is that something can be done. The Music Venue Trust hit upon the idea of a £ 1 contribution on commercial rock and pop tickets, with the funds to be distributed by the new LIVE Trust to support this grassroots scene. The LIVE Board, politicians on both sides of the house, and a growing number of artists and promoters have backed the concept.
So in July, motivated by the obvious need, we became the first 5,000 + capacity
James Ainscough
arena to commit to this contribution, a move that will add about £ 300,000 a year to the pot. There were many reasons. In the short-term it will help address the emergency in grassroots music, caused by issues as disparate as Brexit, inflation, rising taxes and local planning rules. The grassroots sector has never faced greater headwinds. This contribution will buy breathing space, and give us time to start investing in the long-term health of a sector that is packed full of talent and passion.
In the longer-term it will also ensure that the industry thrives right across the country. As a teenage bassist in mystifyingly unsuccessful indie bands, I played at small venues in my hometown of York. Most of these are now shut, or no longer hosting live music, and I’ m sure it wasn’ t my bang-average bass playing that put the nail in their coffins. I’ m not driven by nostalgia for the past. This is about opportunity for the future. Right across the country, new artists lack the opportunity that used to exist to hone their talent, build a fanbase and create a community. Every scene needs its Cavern Club or Hacienda. Those rooms are great social levellers, where everyone experiences the same feelings of empowerment, the same enjoyment of creativity, and the same big dreams. The young singer-songwriters who we encounter today at the Hall through our Future Makers programme share those dreams – but they need venues where they can make them a reality.
It ' s this emerging talent that has always been the engine of growth for the UK’ s unrivalled music industry, and the key to the health of the entire sector.
A pound seems a small ask to support talent, community and the long-term sustainability of the UK music industry.
It seems like most of us are agreed on that. The recent Music Fans ' Voice survey found 93 per cent of fans in favour of the charge. The industry, too, has reached a consensus around the LIVE boardroom table that a £ 1 contribution is a positive move. Momentum is now building – recent Music Venue Trust figures show that 8 % of 2025 arena tickets carried the levy, but the figure for 2026 has already leapt to 23 per cent.
So the levy is happening; the question now is simply whether venues, larger festivals, promoters and artists will choose to be early or later adopters.
As momentum builds, I hope that the whole industry can commit to this small but crucial step to support the grassroots sector. It’ s an initiative that will sustain us all for decades to come.
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