When is a deadline not a deadline? When is 50% not half? What's a milestone between friends? And will a newly energised government get bored of this immediately or will it take another 3 months?
I genuinely believe Andy Burnham can make this happen. He understands that culture isn’t a nice extra, it’s infrastructure. And from where I’m standing in Wigan, the appetite, talent and grassroots energy are already here. Never felt this hope in the government before, I really do trust he will get this turned around!
Like a lot of things in the music industry (see sustainable manufacturing options as one such current topic suffering from major label greenwashing), those with the power and the resources rarely do the right thing for long, if at all. If we want this to work fairly with less burden on those who really mean it (man), then statutory is the way to go.
I feel that if Andy Burnham doesn’t sort this out, then nobody will.
MP’s standing up in parliament stating the obvious to one and all is great until you realise that it all boils down to what actions will get them the most votes. I am truly passionate about everything that MVT are doing and, in Mark, we have a true champion who is willing to put himself out there front and centre day in and day out. My worry is that, as music fans, our priority number 1 is their priority number 236. A quick check has revealed that since 2010 there have been no less than FOURTEEN Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Currently, Lisa Nandy has held this role for exactly 2 years today no less. She has championed Andy Burnham recently and so may well get a bigger position when the reshuffle takes place. This could prove to be a disaster for grassroots music. We can only hope she stays and works with AB to get this Levy implemented once and for all. When you look at what is and what is not a vote winner and then reflect on the average length of time someone has in this position (Lisa Nandy tenure aside) it becomes clear that Live Nation can happily drag their heels. Same goes for PRS. These figures are just staggering and Live Nation can just ride this out. It’s not as if they are going to get fined and then be forced to adopt the levy. At some point the government may well bring in the legislation to force the levy payment but in the meantime Live Nation can pocket that money without any reason to feel an ounce of guilt and/or sympathy. They are a corporate business and this is the economic model that suits them to not have to cough up anything until forced to do so. Shareholders need paying and Live Nation will do what they need to do to pay out the highest dividends. Andy Burnham does seem to be a principled man but just what his inbox looks like remains to be seen.
If we have to have a statutory levy then having Andy Burnham at the helm would seem to be the best position. That said, what portion of that money the government will eat up because of 'governing' - is money which would be better off directly coming to the industry. Best position in my opinion, is a voluntary levy with AB fighting the corner to lower VAT, Rates and bringing about wider use and recognition of AOC etc (and maybe the levy can help subsidise education and apprenticeships). You asked if we thought the current voluntary levy is working, the numbers would appear to say no, but perhaps those numbers would change dramatically if one or two big players got involved, so maybe they could be broken down further - or say whats proportion of the non levy contribution ticket money is split between who. Can these bigger players be incentivised in some way? ..because they clearly dont have the industry at heart. Can't say what Andy Burnham will do, seems a principled man and lets hope he sticks with them when in office.
It seems clear that the main players at the top are dragging their feet and, rather than accelerating, the levy roll out is stagnating and going backwards. I would hope that the new PM would just pull the trigger and put the levy on a statutory footing now without any further delay. Sadly, I see no alternative.
It's not working. Compulsory levy is inevitable and desirable. Andy Burnham can make it happen. Quickly and effectively. (Also don't reshuffle Lisa Nandy). Think that's it really.
The data shows very clearly that the 50% target has not been achieved and that the government should therefore do what they said they would do, make the £1 levy on stadium gigs statutory, and do it now. How can MPs expect people to trust them if they don’t do what they have promised to do? While they’re at it they should also remove the ludicrous VAT being charged on the levy.
It should really be the easiest thing to implement as a statutory thing. Something as simple as 1% or £1 per ticket as a minimum (for tickets less than £100) shouldn't be difficult to legislate, and no, Live Nation etc. shouldn't be able to make any claims for "admin" or any other nonsense they come up with to reduce their tax burden.
Reducing the VAT for GMVs should also be implemented. Again, an easy task for the Treasury.
I don't think anyone in Parliament cares about this at the moment. Labour MPs are all too busy trying to get into Andy Burnham's cabinet and the opposition are just whinging they want a General Election. It's always been clear that LIVE Nation never wanted to play the voluntary levy game. So we have to wait for the dust to settle, start haranguing the new Secretary of State for Culture and hope that Burnham's actually does give a shit.
Title for next week's substack: "Same as it ever was....." (joke)
So, it looks to me, armed with the knowledge you have kindly bestowed upon me, like the voluntary aspect isn’t working. It’s a sad fact that greed surpasses all else when it comes to those at the top of the food chain, doing very nicely thank you. So, the levy needs to be made statutory, straight away, before those figures stagnate further and more venues and artists at grassroots level give up entirely.
I genuinely believe Andy Burnham can make this happen. He understands that culture isn’t a nice extra, it’s infrastructure. And from where I’m standing in Wigan, the appetite, talent and grassroots energy are already here. Never felt this hope in the government before, I really do trust he will get this turned around!
Like a lot of things in the music industry (see sustainable manufacturing options as one such current topic suffering from major label greenwashing), those with the power and the resources rarely do the right thing for long, if at all. If we want this to work fairly with less burden on those who really mean it (man), then statutory is the way to go.
I feel that if Andy Burnham doesn’t sort this out, then nobody will.
MP’s standing up in parliament stating the obvious to one and all is great until you realise that it all boils down to what actions will get them the most votes. I am truly passionate about everything that MVT are doing and, in Mark, we have a true champion who is willing to put himself out there front and centre day in and day out. My worry is that, as music fans, our priority number 1 is their priority number 236. A quick check has revealed that since 2010 there have been no less than FOURTEEN Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Currently, Lisa Nandy has held this role for exactly 2 years today no less. She has championed Andy Burnham recently and so may well get a bigger position when the reshuffle takes place. This could prove to be a disaster for grassroots music. We can only hope she stays and works with AB to get this Levy implemented once and for all. When you look at what is and what is not a vote winner and then reflect on the average length of time someone has in this position (Lisa Nandy tenure aside) it becomes clear that Live Nation can happily drag their heels. Same goes for PRS. These figures are just staggering and Live Nation can just ride this out. It’s not as if they are going to get fined and then be forced to adopt the levy. At some point the government may well bring in the legislation to force the levy payment but in the meantime Live Nation can pocket that money without any reason to feel an ounce of guilt and/or sympathy. They are a corporate business and this is the economic model that suits them to not have to cough up anything until forced to do so. Shareholders need paying and Live Nation will do what they need to do to pay out the highest dividends. Andy Burnham does seem to be a principled man but just what his inbox looks like remains to be seen.
If we have to have a statutory levy then having Andy Burnham at the helm would seem to be the best position. That said, what portion of that money the government will eat up because of 'governing' - is money which would be better off directly coming to the industry. Best position in my opinion, is a voluntary levy with AB fighting the corner to lower VAT, Rates and bringing about wider use and recognition of AOC etc (and maybe the levy can help subsidise education and apprenticeships). You asked if we thought the current voluntary levy is working, the numbers would appear to say no, but perhaps those numbers would change dramatically if one or two big players got involved, so maybe they could be broken down further - or say whats proportion of the non levy contribution ticket money is split between who. Can these bigger players be incentivised in some way? ..because they clearly dont have the industry at heart. Can't say what Andy Burnham will do, seems a principled man and lets hope he sticks with them when in office.
It seems clear that the main players at the top are dragging their feet and, rather than accelerating, the levy roll out is stagnating and going backwards. I would hope that the new PM would just pull the trigger and put the levy on a statutory footing now without any further delay. Sadly, I see no alternative.
It's not working. Compulsory levy is inevitable and desirable. Andy Burnham can make it happen. Quickly and effectively. (Also don't reshuffle Lisa Nandy). Think that's it really.
The data shows very clearly that the 50% target has not been achieved and that the government should therefore do what they said they would do, make the £1 levy on stadium gigs statutory, and do it now. How can MPs expect people to trust them if they don’t do what they have promised to do? While they’re at it they should also remove the ludicrous VAT being charged on the levy.
It should really be the easiest thing to implement as a statutory thing. Something as simple as 1% or £1 per ticket as a minimum (for tickets less than £100) shouldn't be difficult to legislate, and no, Live Nation etc. shouldn't be able to make any claims for "admin" or any other nonsense they come up with to reduce their tax burden.
Reducing the VAT for GMVs should also be implemented. Again, an easy task for the Treasury.
I don't think anyone in Parliament cares about this at the moment. Labour MPs are all too busy trying to get into Andy Burnham's cabinet and the opposition are just whinging they want a General Election. It's always been clear that LIVE Nation never wanted to play the voluntary levy game. So we have to wait for the dust to settle, start haranguing the new Secretary of State for Culture and hope that Burnham's actually does give a shit.
Title for next week's substack: "Same as it ever was....." (joke)
So, it looks to me, armed with the knowledge you have kindly bestowed upon me, like the voluntary aspect isn’t working. It’s a sad fact that greed surpasses all else when it comes to those at the top of the food chain, doing very nicely thank you. So, the levy needs to be made statutory, straight away, before those figures stagnate further and more venues and artists at grassroots level give up entirely.