Italy’s Association of Producers and Organisers of Live Music Shows (Assomusica) has called on the Italian Government to spare the live music and entertainment sector from the split payment of VAT scheme, after the European Commission gave the green light for it to be extended. Italy first introduced its split payment plan in 2017, which …
Music Venue Trust report finds grassroots events still below pre-pandemic levels
The Music Venue Trust (MVT)’s annual report has revealed that while its members staged 177,000 events last year, it was still a decrease of 16.7% compared to pre-pandemic levels. MVT represents almost 1,000 grassroots venues in the UK and a survey of 960 of those found that there were also 565,000 individual performances, and together …
Live music bodies call on new Prime Minster for VAT reduction
Following the news that Rishi Sunak has become the UK’s new Prime Minister earlier this week, organisations in the live music sector have called for stability. Sunak was made Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative party following Liz Truss’s resignation after just six weeks in office. Those in the live music sector have called …
UK Government faces fresh calls to reduce VAT
There have been fresh calls for UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak to reduce VAT to 12.5% to help businesses in the live entertainment and night time sectors. Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), has said that time is running out for the UK Government and the Chancellor to help with inflation …
Industry figures react to UK Chancellor’s spring budget
UK Music chief executive Jamie Njoku-Goodwin has said he will keep the pressure on the UK Government over the proposed VAT rise on tickets in April, after Chancellor Rishi Sunak (pictured) failed to abandon the plans during his spring budget. The Government is set to raise the VAT on ticketing from 12.5% to 20% from …
Calls grow to ditch impending VAT hike on concert tickets
UK Music chief executive Jamie Njoku-Goodwin has written to UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak to reconsider an impending VAT hike on concert tickets. The Chancellor is set to outline a mini-Budget for the country on March 23 in his Spring Statement. The VAT rise is set to come into force from April 1. Currently, the VAT …
Businesses urged to apply for leftover Government COVID support grants
English businesses are being urged to keep applying for £840m ($1.3bn/€1bn) worth of COVID-19 support grants, which are still available. Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy), Paul Scully, has urged businesses to apply for the grants, which were made available by the Government to councils across the country. Funding is made up …
LIVE survey showcases continuing cancellations in 2022
British organisation LIVE, which describes itself as the collective voice of the live music and entertainment industry, has found that the perfect mixture of COVID-19 and Brexit has already resulted in a quarter of live music shows being cancelled in the first quarter of 2022. Some 26% of UK shows have already been cancelled and …
UK Music calls for halt on VAT hike
UK Music, a British umbrella organisation for the music industry, has called for the UK Government to rethink its position on raising VAT on live event and attraction tickets, set to come into effect from March 31. VAT on certain tickets was slashed to 5% in July 2020 in the UK, in order to provide …
COVID passes ‘kill spontaneity’ says Parklife co-founder
Manchester-based Parklife festival and Warehouse Project co-founder Sacha Lord has said that the introduction of COVID-19 passports in England will “kill the spontaneity” of going out, according to reports. COVID-19 passes were introduced in England in December, meaning that attendees to events and venues had to provide proof of vaccination against coronavirus. Speaking to the …