The money from the UK’s voluntary levy on arena and stadium tickets is already being distributed to support the country’s grassroots live sector.
We reported on the Music Venue Trust’s plans earlier this week, and now the Featured Artists Coalition has announced the first musicians to benefit from its UK Artist Touring Fund – set up to distribute its share of the levy.
26 artists are receiving targeted investment from phase one of the fund, covering 211 concerts taking place at small and medium-sized venues over the coming months.
Each artist is receiving up to £7k in ‘top-up’ funding to cover losses that would be made on those tours. You can see the full list here.
This is good news, although there’s a not-quite-as-good context: more than 250 artists applied for the first phase of funding, facing a combined shortfall of £2.3m for their tours.
As the FAC noted, it was only able to fulfil 5% of this amount. “We acknowledge much more must be done to ensure future distributions reach the full diversity of UK talent and in all regions of the country,” it said.
For more on the fund and its impact for artists, listen to our recent episode of The Price of Music with FAC boss David Martin and independent band Picture Parlour.
