The Importance of Independent Venues
Independent music venues exist to support upcoming musicians, but they also need our support back.
Supporting live music isn't just about attending the big arena tours, or the major festivals with your friends. The independent music venue is the true beating heart of the live music industry.
They exist in almost every town across the country and provide a space for emerging acts to perform live. Everywhere in the country deserves its nearby go-to place to provide a spotlight for upcoming musicians, allowing for the artist to make that stepping stone towards the dream of selling out larger venues, and the listener to support their industry. However, the reality is without support not everywhere might have one in the future.
Many venues in recent years have run the risk of closing due to financial problems.
Many venues in recent years have run the risk of closing due to financial problems.
Coldplay, Dua Lipa and Amy Winehouse are just some of the names The Louisiana in Bristol boasts as performing at their venue before gaining traction.
‘‘Lots of bands reach out to us and express their willingness to play at the venue, we either put together in-house line ups and shows or put them forward for support slots with external promoters.’’ Mig Schillace and Cissy Badley from the venue said.
They continued: ‘‘Independent, local venues are a launch pad for new artists, a place to learn, practice and gain experience, while gaining further opportunities to expand their career from the bottom up, while having fun!
‘‘Independent venues are also a core community base where people can build relationships and share memorable experiences together.’’
Looking for an independent venue close to you? Check the map for some of our favourites across the country.
In the UK, 2022 was welcomed in with Independent Venues Week, a week of live shows hosted by venues across the country. Bands such as Yard Act, who had just scored a number two album in the UK, returned to more intimate live settings for fans.
The significance of this week becomes greater with each passing year, with news stories around venues closing becoming a regular occurrence. Research from Insure4Music found that on average, one small music venue closes every month in the UK on average over the last two years – and that was before the pandemic.
When venues were forced to close in 2020, a wider discussion arose around why independent venues aren’t typically supported by public funding for the arts and were struggling to survive under restrictions at the time. This resulted in the launch of a Let The Music Play campaign, which many famous musicians and figures publicly supported, as well as a #SaveOurVenues campaign when an inevitable third lockdown loomed at the end of 2020. Music Venue Trust also published a list of music spaces in the UK that at the time were looking likely to head into closure if immediate action was not taken. It was evident that the community felt that they had no choice but to speak up on the problems they were facing to eventually be heard and supported with funding.
The campaigns sparked many events once the world opened back up. Some established artists even took it upon themselves to do smaller scale tours just for independent venues, such as The Sherlocks, who in February this year reached number nine in the UK Albums Chart with their album World I Understand. Kiaran from the band said ‘‘We had an idea to go on a tour and even though it is called Save The Venues, one tour from us isn’t going to save it. But we’re definitely trying to do our bit to raise awareness and hopefully generate a little bit of money for these venues.’’
Coming out of lockdowns, the challenges and pressures put on these venues haven’t stopped. Rising rents, ever-changing restrictions, last-minute positive tests leading to cancellations have only continued to put an increased strain on these venues that were already facing financial difficulties prior to the pandemic.
Kiaran also thinks that the pandemic and the impact of this campaign made people realise the challenges faced by venues, adding: ‘‘People forget about venues. Everyone remembers the bands and say ‘‘It must be hard for you all’’ but no one ever really remembers the venues, and there's obviously bar staff and roadies, and sound guys, and they were all out of a job the same as us.’’
Of course, there are more people than just the musician that get vital experience at live venues. There are many music managers, behind-the-scenes crew and technicians that are working their way up alongside the artists.
Luke Hinton, Promotion and Booking Manager of The Horn, a venue in St Albans, emphasised this: ‘‘Grassroots venues are essential to the future of UK music as these are the places that bands will learn how to play live in front of an audience. Not only are they important for the bands, but gig crew and promoters will also develop what they do in these venues too.’’
‘‘Not only are venues important for the bands, but gig crew and promoters will also develop what they do in these venues too.’’
Luke Hinton, The Horn
The first ever WAVES Festival took place in November 2021.
The first ever WAVES Festival took place in November 2021.
Independent venues often work with others outside of the organisation to produce festivals and other interactive events to bring artists and audiences in. WAVES festival was a multi-venue event hosted in Sunderland last year, and had an array of local acts familiar to the North East music scene.
Ben Richardson, who worked on the organisation of this year’s WAVES, said that ‘‘For the first edition of WAVES we opted to work with local bands, mainly those we'd worked with previously and we believed in them putting on a good show and really helping us to champion the message of the event in its first year.’’
Being a presence is what Ben emphasises as the best advice for artists wanting to be getting recognised in their local scene, adding: ‘‘Be there and have conversations, go to gigs, try and chat to the promoter and the bands, get in touch with other local bands on social media - just be active.’’
Ben’s final point is perhaps the most important for any musician. Independent venues work together with artists, and both can reap the rewards of a musician putting on a live show there. It is a no brainer that musicians should be embedded in their local scene, and making use of these important venues that exist to help them, building up that regional audience, will do them so many favours, even when they start to gain recognition elsewhere.
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