FEATURE:
Joy As An Act of Resistance
PHOTO CREDIT: Guilherme Almeida/Pexels
The Psychological Benefits of Live Music, and Why It Is Crucial Grassroot Venues Are Preserved
_________
IT is a real tragedy…
PHOTO CREDIT: Freepik
when we have to report any bad news or bleak outlook regarding music venues’ stability. If larger venues are mostly safe and profitable, those crucial spaces – the grassroots venues – have slightly mixed fortunes. There has been government support and investment before, though now is a time when a new injection of money is needed. As Mix Mag write, new reports and figures coming out suggest 10% of grassroots venues will close by the end of this year:
“The UK is set to lose 10% of grassroots music venues by the end of 2023, Music Venue Trust (MVT) reports.
In a statement on MVT's official website, Rebecca Walker, the organisation's Live Projects Coordinator says "there is a well-documented and evidenced crisis at grassroots level.
"We have new and emerging artists who want to tour, venues who are desperate to host them, audiences that want to see them, but the financial obstacles have simply become too great."
In a statement to NME, MVT has disclosed that 67 venues have already closed this year, with 90 venues working with the Music Venue Trust Emergency Response team.
PHOTO CREDIT: RDNE Stock project/Pexels
Of those 90 grassroots music venues, roughly half are expected to close before the end of the year. As a result, the UK is set to lose a whopping 10% of grassroots music venues with closures to reach approximately 100 by 2024.
It is well documented that the energy crisis has deepened the grassroots venues funding epidemic. Mark Davyd, the MVT CEO, outlined this in his speech to Parliament in January: "we have venues with a profit margin of 0.2% facing a seven percent increase in their energy costs on April 1." In a bid to protect grassroots venues, MVT launched the Own Our Venues initiative in May 2022 which they have described as "the National Trust, but for venues".
In March 2023, MVT successfully concluded its funding campaign and moved ahead with modelling the purchase of the first set of Grassroots Music Venues. Another community ownership project in Lewisham, Sister Midnight, represents a growing push by the public to take matters into their own hands.
Mark Davyd argues that the grassroots music venue crisis cannot be saved by public ownership schemes alone, and calls on UK's large arenas to "contribute to the security of the wider music ecosystem."
You can support grassroots music venues and donate to the Music Venue Trust here”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Sheffield’s Leadmill
I have been to gigs at smaller venues recently, and the vibe you get there is more intimate and different to the ones at arenas and stadiums. I am not against bigger venues. The roar and energy you get surrounded by that many people is electric! Huge artists like Taylor Swift can put on these amazing sets and unite thousands of people. For artists like her and mainstream peers to get to where they are now, they had to go via smaller venues. Local spaces where they could hone their material, build up their audience and get that live experience. Even if the figure is 10%, that is as massive number of grassroots spaces that will shut. It was hard enough for many venues to survive during the pandemic. Despite people returning to live music, things are not sustainable for so many. It does seem like there is opportunity for larger and more profitable venues to help secure the survival of so many grassroot venues. It is not only a case of a space closing, people losing their jobs, and there being this empty space on the high street. It means that the local area is deprived of live music. They may have to travel a lot further to see artists. This is expensive and often unrealistic. Local artists also do not have that opportunity. The fewer grassroots venues there are, the more competitive it becomes to secure gigs there for artists. It means many starting out or thinking about going into that industry have to rethink. That means we will have a pipeline issue where fewer artists are coming through. A less diverse and busy scene has clear and devastating consequences. Lert’s hope that there will be a recovery and that we do not have to see the problem around venue closing as a growing trend that cannot be stopped. It is essential that these vital venues are preserved and protected. Without them, we risk so much. It will mean the industry shrinks and is only sustainable and realistic for bigger artists.
PHOTO CREDIT: Wendy Wei/Pexels
This would be bad enough news on its own. As Consequence of Sound highlight, new research has come out that highlight the psychological (and physical) benefits of seeing live music. It does seem that there is inherent joy to be found in a congregation of enthusiastic gig-goers:
“Concerts can be daunting as you get older, what with late start times, a slew of opening acts, and the prospect of standing next to tall, sweaty people for several hours. A new study, however, claims that the effort’s worth it.
Conducted by O2 and behavioral science expert Patrick Fagan and reported by NME, the study finds that regular concert attendance can increase one’s lifespan by up to nine years. The logic here is that live music increases feelings of self-worth, closeness to others, and, especially, mental stimulation, all of which contribute to one’s sense of well-being. According to the study, there’s a “positive correlation between regularity of gig attendance and well-being,” and “additional scholarly research directly links high levels of wellbeing with a lifespan increase of nine years.”
These sensations of well-being were measured using psychometric testing and heart-rate tests, and the study says experiencing a gig for just 20 minutes can result in a 21% increase in feelings of well-being. The study’s recommendation is that one concert every two weeks will score one’s “happiness, contentment, productivity and self-esteem at the highest level.”
Does that sound like a load of hooey to you? Especially once you consider that O2 is a concert venue that plugs its “Priority Tickets” program in the text of the study? Yeah, maybe, but who are we to argue? Some of the most fun we’ve ever had has been at concerts, and who’s going to disagree that happy people are likely to live longer?”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Panic Shack
That shows how beneficial live music is. Even if going to some gigs can be costly and quite a stressful experience, there are very obvious advantages. One does not get quite the same experience of going to larger venues. Even if there is more people around you, one feels more distances. The reaction and intensity seems more codified and less spontaneous. There is this unpredictability and freedom in smaller spaces where you can witness magic. Huge bands like IDLES started out playing grassroots venues. Current heroines such as Panic Shack, and The Last Dinner Party still do. We do need more consistent and dedicated support - not only from larger venues but from government departments. Pledging a large sum of money every year will mean fewer grassroot venues will close. I think that the pandemic has shifted things. Perhaps people are more cautious in smaller spaces around other people. Working habits have changed so more work from home regularly. This means their routines shift and, with it, there is less time to go to live events. Also, with the cost of living crisis, people have less disposable income. With COVID-19 cases rising, maybe we will be in the midst of another pandemic very soon. It is crucial and urgent that independent venues get backing and funding. Whilst many inevitably cannot sustain, there are so many others that can be salvaged and kept in the red. I will wrap up soon. First, this BBC article from January showed that the ‘post-pandemic’ levels of people attending gigs at smaller venues is not the same as it was before (2020 and later):
“The live music industry is still struggling to return to pre-pandemic levels, new research suggests.
Despite Covid restrictions largely being lifted last year, the number of gigs at UK grassroots music venues was 16.7% lower than in 2019.
Audience numbers were also at 89% of their 2019 level, at about 22 million, the Music Venues Trust (MVT) said.
The grassroots scene contributed £500m to the economy, it said, but venues had an average profit margin of just 0.2%.
Most live music events made a loss, the MVT figures suggested, despite the average price of a ticket rising to £10.90 - up 24% from £8.74 in 2019.
PHOTO CREDIT: Laura Stanley/Pexels
Food and drink sales helped to balance the books. Even so, the average profit of a small music venue in 2022 was just £1,297, according to the MVT's annual report.
Inflation, soaring bills and changing audience habits have all had an impact, it said.
Ricky Bates, who manages Southampton's iconic Joiners venue, told the BBC he had only been able to book seven shows for January 2023, compared with the 20 he staged in 2019.
Despite that, he is looking for ways to make shows "more affordable" in the midst of the cost of living crisis.
"We try to do smaller shows for £5, so people can still go to things; and we're now giving out free entry to all NHS workers," he said.
Edinburgh's Queen's Hall sounded a more positive note. "We've come back [from the pandemic] fairly strong," marketing and development manager Emma Mortimore said.
"But we're also tentative when we look towards the future. At the moment, our electricity and gas bills aren't too bad, but we're looking at them tripling sometime next year. It's definitely tricky, tricky times."
New bands 'need small stages'
Many owners find themselves in a "precarious financial position", said Music Venues Trust chief executive Mark Davyd, adding that "the current economics no longer stack up".
As a result, the charity is calling on the government and the wider music industry to offer assistance to the almost 1,000 local venues it represents.
It has asked for VAT on ticket sales to be reduced from 20% to 5%, or removed entirely.
The trust is also calling for arena-sized venues to invest a percentage of their ticket revenues into the grassroots sector, to help foster a new generation of artists.
"We cannot go on building more and more arenas with no plan of how to fill the stages they create in five, 10 or 20 years' time," he said.
Mr Bates agrees that venues like his are crucial to the health of the British music industry.
"Nobody starts a band and walks out on stage at the Hammersmith Apollo. It takes years in some cases," he said.
"Biffy Clyro, for example, toured for eight or 10 years before they signed to a major label and now they're a stadium band.
"Even Ed Sheeran did it. He started a tour at The Joiners in May 2011 and within two years he was a headliner”.
It is really important that everything possible is done to ensure that venues around the U.K. are protected. Such is their importance, not only for music fans but artists and those who work in the industry, that the more we lose, the worse that looks for music’s long-term future. So many important and influential artists today would not be where they are without these grassroots and independent venues. Learning that 10% of our grassroots venues could be closed by the end of this year is…
SUCH sad news.