Music Venue Trust 2022 report reveals audience and show numbers at grassroots venues is still under pre-pandemic levels

According to the new annual report, grassroots music venues contributed over £500m to the UK economy, but those venues reported an "average profit margin of just 0.2% resulting in them subsidising live music performances by around £79m last year."

On top of revealing the sector's contribution to the UK economy, the 2022 report revealed that grassroots music venues are still operating below pre-pandemic levels, with audience attendance down by 11% compared to 2019, when the average capacity was 51%.

The survey, which features contributions from 960 members of the Music Venue Alliance (MVA), who employ over 30,000 people throughout the sector, also found that the amount of events (177,000) at grassroots music venues in 2022 decreased 16.7% from 2019.

Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd said, "Obviously we are pleased to highlight the fact that grassroots music venues contribute over half a billion pounds to the UK economy and to emphasise their enormous impact on the cultural life of our country; but it is also necessary to reiterate the precarious financial position that much of the sector still finds themselves in – the current economics no longer stack up."

"We need urgent action from the government on all these factors as well as a full review of VAT on ticket sales," Davyd continued. "In short, we need a coherent long term economic plan that recognises the importance of what our members do and gives them a chance to keep nurturing up and coming artists and contributing to their local communities."

He added, "It doesn’t make any sense for the government to continue to tax what is clearly research and development. We don't penalise any other industry like this and we need to stop putting barriers in the way of risk taking and investment in new British talent. The spiralling cost of energy bills, rents, excessive & anti-competitive business rates, and other overheads, combined with the effects that the cost of living crisis is having on the disposable income of our audiences, means that venues are operating on razor thin margins and in many cases struggling to survive."