COVER FEATURE business has also been strong in the arenas. It ' s been a jam-packed summer of music, which is tremendous.” LIVE’ s boss has also been encouraged by the attitude the UK government is taking to the live music sector, and the publication in June of its Industrial Strategy; a 10-year plan to significantly increase business investment in eight growth-driving sectors; known as IS-8.
“ The creative industries are now one of the IS-8, and that could become one our favourite phrases over the next few years, because the IS-8 are the priority sectors of the economy that the whole machinery of government is supposed to be getting behind to drive growth. The fact that we ' re in the eight has already seen new investment unlocked in things like the £ 30m New Music Growth Package, but should also unlock legislative initiatives to support us, so the secondary ticketing legislation that we are expecting to be announced soon would be viewed through that lens.”
Time for licensing reform
Earlier this year, LIVE was asked to sit on a taskforce to develop proposals to deliver more business-friendly licensing of venues and events. In August, the Government responded by publishing the Licensing Taskforce report in which it accepted the majority of LIVE’ s recommendations. Proposals to be taken forward include the introduction of a National Licensing Policy Framework; to deliver a more consistent, transparent and pro-growth licensing system; and to review licence lengths and fees for festivals.
“ The government is looking to have much of it underway, if not in place, by the budget, which means venues will have more flexibility and a bit more security around the licences, and for festivals a route to longer term licences to give them the ability to plan. That industrial strategy really sets the bedrock for changes to come.”
Collins has also been busy working with the Home Office on the statutory guidance for Martyn’ s Law. He says,
Oasis at Heaton Park
“ The Act is not set to be live until 2027 but there ' s a lot of work to do, because it is so broad, to ensure that the responsibilities under this Act align and land correctly alongside our existing responsibilities under primarily licencing legislation. We ' re pleased that the Home Office has taken on board our recommendation to have an advisory panel, and we are optimistic that we ' re going to be on it.”
In LIVE we trust
Collins also reports good progress following July’ s first meeting of the trustees of the LIVE Trust; the funding initiative to support grassroots artists, venues, festivals and promoters via a £ 1 per ticket contribution from shows with a capacity of more than 5,000. Among the touring artists to have backed it are Gorillaz, My Chemical Romance, Ed Sheeran, Rick Astley, Radiohead and Olivia Dean.
“ There ' s been an increasing roster of tours involved as we build towards making this the norm,” says Collins.
The trustees are now preparing to issue grants by the end of the year, which Collins expects to be a few hundred thousand pounds. He says,“ This is phase one, which will give us a learning opportunity, and our expectation is that it will run through to the end of Q1 next year, then we ' ll put the next phase in
place and it will take us into the millions of pounds of distribution, and then we ' ll have the third phase running in the second half of next year, and then that, we hope, is going to step up again because we ' re seeing the monies that have been committed and the roster of shows broadening out.”
LIVE has long been campaigning for festival tax relief to bring the UK sector in line with European neighbours with a reduction in VAT to help mitigate against hugely increased production costs and resulting mass closures.
Taxing times
“ This IS-8 label means that government is committed to driving growth in the creative industries. There are two longstanding arguments for a tax relief; it corrects a failing market, and it drives growth. With festivals you see the challenges and there’ s a very clean-cut model where all the risk sits with the festival organiser and so it ' s very clear who should benefit from the tax relief. Given the margins involved in festivals, a tax relief would mean more festivals will go ahead and / or go ahead in a more fully developed way. We are pushing for it, and the government has opened the door to us on this one. Realistically it is unlikely to happen in this budget, but is it something we can shoot for in the next budget? Absolutely.”
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