The Music Venue Trust (MVT) has teamed up with Fender to encourage live music fans to support their favourite grassroots venues.
The new initiative asks music fans across England, Scotland and Wales to nominate their
favourite local music venue. Three winning venues, one from each region, will be selected
based on the highest number of regional nominations received, with each winning venue
awarded a gear bundle from the iconic music brand.
The winning venue will receive a package that includes a Hot Rod Deluxe IV amplifier, a Rumble 200 bass amp, an Acoustic SFX II amplifier, A 5150® Iconic® Series 40W EL34 1×12 Combo, and a StudioLive SE Digital Console Mixer, with sizes tailored to the venue’s needs.
In addition, everyone who submits a venue nomination will be entered into a prize draw for the chance to win a Fender 75th Anniversary Player II Sparkle Precision Bass. Fans can vote for their favourite venue, and learn more about the initiative here.
Recent efforts from MVT, alongside Save Our Scene, This Feeling, AGMP and other Association of Independent Promoters’ members, comes after reports in 2024 revealed that the UK’s grassroots music scene would be facing “complete collapse” without urgent help, and after 2023 proved to be the worst year on record, with 125 grassroots music venues shutting their doors.
At the start of this year, it was confirmed that over half of UK grassroots venues made no profit in 2025 and there were 6,000 jobs lost in the sector, and MVT CEO Mark Davyd said that they had ” reached the absolute limit of what goodwill can possibly absorb”.
Some relief from the government came in January, when they delivered a U-turn and a package of extra support for pubs and venues, having previously dealing them a devastating blow with massively increased business rates.
However, there are still calls for all arenas and stadiums around the country to voluntarily contribute to the £1 ticket levy, an initiative backed by the government in 2024. The government is currently waiting for the industry to self-legislate the levy before stepping in to make it law.
Last year, it was expected that 50 per cent of stadium and arena gigs would be paying into the levy by the end of 2025. Ultimately, just 8.8 per cent of shows in 2025 signed up to the levy, missing the target by some distance.
In April, the MVT unveiled a major new package of funding and initiatives, each designed to tackle the ongoing economic challenges facing grassroots music venues in the UK. “Grassroots music venues cannot keep being expected to survive on goodwill and admiration alone,” said Beverley Whitrick, MVT’s COO. “If the UK music industry is serious about protecting the talent pipeline, then it has to get serious about the economics that underpin it.”
