MVT Chief asks Coldplay for funding commitment

Founder and CEO of Music Venue Trust Mark Davyd has called on Coldplay to support a fund for the future grassroots music by contributing a portion of their ticket sales.

In an open letter addressed to the band, Mark Davyd asks for a donation of £1 from each of Coldplay’s future arena and stadium ticket sales, to put towards supporting grassroots music infrastructure and artists.

His plea comes after the band completed four days at Manchester’s Etihad Stadium, which saw 240,000 people attend as part of an ongoing world tour which currently consists of over 50 dates this year.

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Davyd’s letter says Coldplay can “lead the way” towards creating the best touring circuit for grassroots musicians and audiences in the world by supporting a fund.

“Our grassroots music venue circuit is collapsing while the top end of our industry has never been more successful,” Davyd wrote.

“With your help, Music Venue Trust can make Grassroots Music Venues part of the success story of UK live music. With your help, we could create the best touring circuit for grassroots musicians and grassroots audiences in the world.”

Davyd says that if £1 of every ticket sold for Coldplay’s Etihad performances had been put towards a fund for grassroots music, the £240,000 generated could have seen 24 new and breaking artists go out on tour, 16 venues offered £15,000 each to install solar energy to reduce their bills, or 48 venues each receive £5,000 investments to improve accessibility.

“The opportunity to do that on these shows is obviously behind us, they were booked a long time ago. But I wanted to tell you what we could be doing. Because it’s what we have to do if we want this circuit to survive,” Davyd said to the band.

Davyd’s comments follow remarks from Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer who said the government has told the music industry it needs to do more to support grassroots venues.

Coldplay’s management has been contacted for comment.

Grassroots venues ‘collapsing’

Davyd’s letter says that the state of the grassroots touring circuit is “now at the stage where artists and venues simply can’t make it work”.

“Tours are being slashed down to the bare bones of dates and the number of tours out there is collapsing,” Davyd added.

Grassroots venues have faced a number of issues since the start of the pandemic, exacerbated by audience numbers remaining lower than pre-pandemic figures, which is contributing to on average, one grassroots music venue now closing each week.

Davyd attributes the sector's struggle to the combined effect of energy crisis, cost of living, inappropriate taxation, VAT, business rates, premises costs, noise complaints and gentrification, with the number of shows on the grassroots circuit falling by almost 17% last year.

In 1999, Coldplay completed a UK-wide tour of 20 grassroots venues, with only nine of those venues remaining for current grassroots artists to play.