Today the CMS Committee held an evidence session for our inquiry into Grassroots Music Venues. We heard from three panels today. In the first panel we heard from Jon Collins (CEO, Live Music Industry Venues & Entertainment), Mark Davyd (CEO, Music Venue Trust), John Drury (Chair, National Arenas Association, and VP and General Manager, OVO Arena Wembley). In the second panel we heard from Stuart Galbraith (Vice-Chair, Concert Promoters Association, and CEO, Kilimanjaro Live), Gavin Larkins (Head of Commercial Partnerships, PRS for Music), and Anna Moulson (Co-Chair, Association of Independent Promoters). In the third panel we heard from Lily Fontaine (vocalist, English Teacher), Kwame Kwaten (Vice Chair, Music Managers Forum), and David Martin (CEO, Featured Artists Coalition).
This session gave us the opportunity to discuss issues raised at the roundtables we held with stakeholders. The main issues include potential contributions from arenas to support the grassroots; Government support; artists’ cost-of-touring; the PRS licensing process (which remunerates songwriters for their rights); and neighbour disputes, such as noise abatement.
You can watch the full session here.