Greater Manchester mayor thinks music industry should pay a levy to support grassroots venues

Independent Venue Week's Culture Panel discussion went live yesterday (28 January), and during the hour-long discussion, Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, told the other panelists that the music industry "isn't stepping up".

Burnham discussed the positive impact of the Football Foundation, which he helped set up in 2000 and channels funds to grassroots football facilities.

The Greater Manchester mayor went on to suggest a similar system for the music industry, where "the industry has to pay a levy to support grassroots venues, because that is their talent production ground. They are the junior football clubs of the country. That's where the talent comes through."

He went on to explain that allowing grassroots music venues to close would "be like closing junior grassroots football clubs and then expecting English football to still be strong."

According to BBC, Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd agreed with Burnham's suggestion, and explained that there are European countries that tax parts of the music industry to fund grassroots music development, "We would rather see the industry organise itself into such a model. We believe the skills and expertise available in our industry could quickly develop such a programme to be an effective model of investment into new talent."

He added, "We think it is preferable if our industry takes control of this opportunity itself but we understand why the government and politicians will take an interest in it if we are not able to do so."