The Independent

Large music venues should pay towards supporting smaller ones, Tory MP says

Large music venues should have to pay towards the cost of supporting smaller ones to help “produce the superstars of tomorrow”, a Conservative former minister has said.

Ashford MP Damian Green said a similar model to football should be adopted, where a levy is imposed and money from the Premier League trickles down to grassroots clubs.

Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine also warned the music industry will not have “the Elton Johns and the Queens and the Taylor Swifts” of the future without preserving smaller venues.

Across the country... in 2023 live music boomed, 22 million people attended gigs, and yet 76 small venues closed. More than one a

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