OCTOBER | TRENDING
What is the Government doing
for the live music sector?
The UK Government recently posted its official response to a crucial document,
which highlighted the many problems facing the country’s music industry.
Access breaks it down, to find out what is really being done to find a solution.
E
arlier this year, the Department
of Culture, Media and Sport
(DCMS) Select Committee
published a wide-reaching and very
detailed report about the state of live
music in the UK.
The ‘ninth report of session’, over
50 pages long, collected evidence from
key figures in the UK music industry,
and tackled issues such as ticket
touting, grassroots venue closures,
regulation, prejudice towards grime
artists, festival monopolisation and
more.
The House of Commons published
its official response to the report
earlier in the year. So – what exactly
is the Government doing to address
the many issues still faced by the UK
music industry?
Secondary ticketing
The DCMS report highlights that
misleading sales practices are causing
consumers to pay hugely inflated
prices for tickets which are often not
even valid, and that this is money
they could otherwise have spent on
attending more live shows.
Secondary ticketing has become
one of the hottest topics in the music
industry over the last couple of years,
following high-profile controversies
and court cases against companies
such as Viagogo and Stubhub.
In response to the secondary
ticketing controversy, the
Government said: “The Government
is committed to cracking down
on unacceptable behaviour in the
ticketing market and improving
fans’ chances of buying tickets
at a reasonable price. Recent
announcements of action by
enforcement agencies demonstrate
that we are prepared to go after
those who flout the law or abuse the
ticketing market.”
The Government response,
however, did not make any new
commitments to cracking down
on ticket touting. Instead, it
acknowledged the work of another
independent organisation – the
Society of Ticket Agents and
Retailers – and encouraged resale
organisations to join STAR’s
(voluntary) Code of Practice, offering
greater transparency. As it stands,
however, there seems to be little
incentive for them to do so.
Government also pointed to
a review of online advertising
regulations, which the DCMS is in
the process of carrying out. This will
help to identify areas in which rules
surrounding advertising ticket resale
are either not clear enough, or not
being enforced.
Venue closures
The many challenges facing music
venues were another key topic
covered in the DCMS report. It said:
“The Government has not acted
promptly enough to stem the tide
of venue closures, which has been
happening at a rate unprecedented in
other cultural sectors for more than
10 years.”
Increasing prices in London, as
well as limiting regulations, have led
to closures of small and medium-
Words: Stuart Wood
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