‘Government regards us as a joke’ – how can Labour help the music industry thrive?
All eyes have been on the music industry this week after the scramble to secure Oasis tickets saw a huge surge in prices.
Labour has promised to look at so-called dynamic pricing as part of a consultation to create a fairer system, pledging to “put fans back at the heart of music”.
But people across the sector are hoping they don’t stop there and the new government takes a keener interest in an industry that, according to UK Music, contributes £6.7bn to the economy and employs more than 210,000 people.
We speak to a range of industry figures about the challenges they are facing and what they want to see now Labour are in power.
‘Festivals can’t make ends meet’
Rachael Greenfield is the festival director of Bloodstock, an annual rock and metal event in Derbyshire that is family run and sees around 20,000 gather in a field each summer.
But as an independent festival that is only a fraction of the size of the likes of Glastonbury, it has been hit harder by a range of issues impacting the wider music industry.
“Running a festival is always a huge challenge anyway, because you have got to know your market… and getting the right line up for any festival is tough enough,” she said.
“But then 2020 hit. We were facing Brexit, which while we knew it was coming, created its challenges with bands coming into the UK – it is not as attractive as it is to do tours in Europe now, so that has increased costs to get certain bands that we really want to play.
“And then we got the pandemic, which obviously wiped the floor with the entire events sector. So many festivals fell away, but we only held on by the skin of our teeth.”
Rachael Greenfield (r) and her sister Vicky Hungerford are directors of the family affair that is Bloodstock festival Pic: Bloodstock
Rachel praised the previous government’s Cultural Recovery Fund during COVID, saying it saved the event. But that only got them through the worst patch, and it will take at least another five years to recover completely.
Alongside the Association of Independent Festivals, Bloodstock is petitioning the government to give the events side of the industry a 5% VAT break on ticket income for three years to “allow us to breathe, regroup and basically get us onto solid footing and stop these festivals falling by the wayside literally every other day because they cant make ends meet.”
Rachel adds: “Ticket companies are seeing all these festivals going out of business and are becoming very nervous and withholding funds – all the ticket income – until post-festival.
“Well, if you are a huge corporate festival, that’s not such an issue, but when you are a small independent, if you have 70% of your entire festival’s operational costs in advance, you rely on that income or a proportion of it to see you through that year.
“With no ticket income, where you have already gone two years where you haemorrhaged so much money, there is only so long you can go before you say, look I can’t do this anymore.”
‘Nobody can afford rising rates’
Music venues across the country, especially at the grassroots level where every artist and band starts out, are also under growing pressure.
The Music Venue Trust (MVT) said at least two closed every week in 2023, with 125 shutting their doors across the year.
And of those that remained open, 38% reported making a financial loss.
Ali and Matt Barnwell, owners of The Fighting Cocks live music venue in Kingston-Upon-Thames, are among those struggling to make ends meet.
“At the top level it’s making enough to pay the bills,” says Matt, who works on the issues of profitability for the MVT. “That’s driven by cost of labour and cost of entertainment, often fixed costs which are therefore disproportionately felt by smaller venues like ours.
“The pub side of the business is much easier to scale and far more flexible based on trade, but the barrier to entry on the live music side is so much higher.”
The Fighting Cocks has been offering live music since the 1930s, but is struggling to make ends meet Pic: Ali Barnwell
The key appeal to the government for him is ensuring business rates don’t rise again.
“Absolutely nobody can afford for these to go back up,” he added. “Alongside this, easier access to grants and funds to support venue management and industry development.”
Ali also said the wider cost of living crisis was hitting them hard, and more support for gig goers at home would help the industry too.
“Fewer people are coming to live shows across the board and getting people to buy tickets in advance is a much bigger challenge than it once was,” she said.
“We’ve also seen the volume of no-shows to gigs climbing. Generally we’re seeing people not wanting to plan in advance or stick to those plans even if they do.”
‘Nobody goes from their bedroom to playing Wembley’
Sarah Pearson, co-founder of the Beyond The Music conference – something she describes as “a democratic version of Davos for the music industry” – says the sector in the UK is too “top heavy”, with the likes of Ali and Mat suffering.
“It is a growth economy at the top for a few, and it isn’t working for the rest of us as an economic model,” she said. “That needs urgent solutions and there does not seem to be much urgency.
“For example, artists who have record deals or who are trying to become bigger and get better at their art don’t have anywhere to play because the grassroots music venues have closed.
“But also acts aren’t playing out as much as they can’t afford to. Costs have gone up, so promoters can only afford to put on gigs that will definitely sell.
“And actually, when you are growing, you need to be able to play to five or six people to get better and to grow your audience.”
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The Fighting Cocks’ Ali agrees, adding: “It’s about appreciating the role grassroots venues play in the wider music ecosystem.
“The Music Venue’s Trust have been doing a great job of showcasing how venues like ours act as the research and development for the industry as a whole.
“Nobody goes from their bedroom to playing Wembley. There’s huge amounts of money at that top level and so little of it for those of us taking the risks on a band’s first show.”
For Beyond The Music’s Sarah, she says there is a call across the industry for more investment from large music companies into the grassroots to then be matched by the government.
“Basically it would reflect the Football Foundation, where the Premier League clubs invest in the grassroots, and the idea is the same would happen in music,” she said.
“We could create a growth plan that was really exciting for grassroots from those who deservedly earn a lot of money from music.”
‘Music is Britain’s contribution to the world’
British punk and folk singer Frank Turner has long campaigned for grassroots music venues to ensure the future of the industry thrives in the UK.
But he also wants more help for the artists themselves.
“I fell in love with rock music as a kid – Iron Maiden, to be precise – and I immediately wanted to participate,” he told Sky News. “It took me a long time to work out what that would realistically consist of as a career, and I was helped on my way by Black Flag and punk rock, but the desire was there from the start.
“But making a living is hard. The margins on recorded music have completely collapsed in the last 20 years or so, and they’re getting thinner on touring as well.”
Musician Frank Turner has long campaigned for grassroots venues Pic: Shannon Shumaker
For Turner there was also a “physical and mental strain” for those who pursue a performing career.
“It can be brutally tough,” he adds. “Touring is hard, pushing yourself creatively is hard, and social media makes the whole thing a lot worse. There are more structures in the industry now to help with this stuff, but it’s still a huge challenge.”
However, while he warns of a range of challenges – from rising costs through to the impact of Brexit – what he wants to see from ministers is a shift in attitude towards the music industry.
“The music industry has long been a large, stable employer and a huge net contributor to the Exchequer, and that’s without even mentioning cultural capital,” he said.
“For a long time the industry has been regarded as something of a joke, as compared with, say, the car industry or agriculture, while in reality British music has been one of our strongest contributions to the world, economically and culturally, for a few generations now.
“I think there is a shift starting, I’m more encouraged by our new government than its predecessors, but there is still a way to go.”
‘Let us thrive’
Fiona Stewart, managing director and owner of the Green Man festival in Wales, echoed Turner’s concerns, saying the biggest barrier for her part of the industry was a lack of understanding from government.
“Let’s face it, Britain isn’t the economic powerhouse and producer it once was,” she claimed. “In some ways it would be refreshing for this country to see it as it is right now – a small country that has got a fantastic creative industry, and many other industries, which can be agile and contemporary and produce and inspire.”
Green Man’s festival director Fiona Stewart Pic: Green Man
Fiona added: “With all the divisions we face right now… things like music bring people together, and it is needed. It has a power and it would be wonderful for the new government to recognise that but in a much more strategic way.
“That’s what we need. We need strategy. Not just big funding moments or a big statement. A proper strategy to understand what is going on over a period of years and proper investment at the proper time like any business person would do.
“It would bring more respect to the industry and let us thrive where we can.”
A government spokesperson said: “The music industry is a serious national asset that plays a major role in our national identity, and delivers huge benefits for our economy. We are absolutely committed to supporting the sector to thrive, including our festivals and vital grassroots music venues, and ministers are considering a range of policy options.
“As part of our ambitious plans, we want to see stronger efforts from the industry to create career opportunities for more people from diverse backgrounds, to draw upon the wealth of talent that exists across the country and drive economic growth in our communities.”
Entertainment
Gary Lineker says ‘right time’ to leave Match Of The Day as he hints of changes to show’s format
Gary Lineker has said it is “the right time” to leave Match Of The Day and hinted the BBC could change the format of the Premier League highlights show.
The 63-year-old will step down as host at the end of the season and described his time on the show as an “absolute joy and privilege”.
Speaking on his podcast, The Rest Is Football, he said: “It has been an absolute joy and privilege to present such an iconic show for the BBC.
“But all things have to come to an end.”
Lineker went on to say the broadcaster enters a new three-year deal to host top-flight highlights, and that to stay on for another 12 months “would be a bit weird”.
“I think the next contract they’re looking to do Match Of The Day slightly differently, so I think it makes sense for someone else to take the helm.
“I bowed out in my football career when I felt it was the right time. I feel this is now the right time.”
Lineker refused to speculate who would be taking his place, as rumours grew around Mark Chapman, the regular Match Of The Day 2 presenter, Football Focus host Alex Scott, and BBC sports coverage presenter Gabby Logan.
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“Obviously I don’t know who it’ll be, and I would never tell publicly my preference, I don’t think that’d be the right thing to do – but whoever it is, I would say be yourself,” he said.
“I had to fill the ginormous shoes of certain Des Lynam.
“…I would say just be yourself and enjoy it, it’s a wonderful programme to be a part of. It was brilliant before I took over, and it will be brilliant after I leave.”
Lineker pictured with former MOTD host Des Lynam in 2009. Pic: PA
Lineker has hosted Match Of The Day since 1999 and will have presented the show for more than a quarter of a century when he leaves in May 2025.
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He will continue with the MOTD Top Ten podcast alongside his podcast, which also features BBC pundits Alan Shearer and Micah Richards.
The former England striker has been the BBC’s highest-paid on-air talent for seven consecutive years and was estimated to have earned £1.35m in the year 2023/24.
The BBC said future plans for Match Of The Day would be “announced in due course”.
Coach tickets to Glastonbury 2025 were sold out in half an hour, organisers have said, as they roll out a new booking system for festivalgoers.
They were the first group of tickets to be sold for the world-famous festival in Somerset, which is set to take place between 25 and 29 June.
This year, fans navigated a new system to buy the tickets as they were “randomly assigned a place in a queue” instead of having to refresh the holding page once they went live.
The organisers said in a post on X: “The Glastonbury 2025 tickets + coach travel which were on sale this evening have now all been sold.
“Our thanks to everyone who bought one.”
They added that National Express services would be available to bring festivalgoers from across the country to Glastonbury.
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Standard tickets will go on sale on Sunday at 9am. Last year they were sold out within an hour.
See Tickets said in a post on X that “confirmation emails are going out now to everyone who got @Glastonbury coach tickets this evening”.
Tickets for the annual event at Worthy Farm in Somerset cost £373.50 plus a £5 booking fee, and are sold exclusively through the See Tickets website, with no third-party sellers involved.
The new ticket system has changed the way people join the booking system.
Organisers previously warned hopefuls to log in “at least a few minutes” before the sale opened today and to avoid refreshing the page.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Festivalgoers were also told not to attempt to game the system by using multiple devices.
The sale follows chaos earlier this year when tickets for the Oasis reunion went on sale, seeing a multitude of disappointed fans as well as those who felt cheated after being charged hundreds of pounds more for their tickets than was originally advertised.
Anyone wishing to buy tickets for Glastonbury must have registered by 11 November, a rule in place to avoid touting.
Entertainment
Christmas adverts – the 10 most-anticipated ads as the festive battle for customers commences
With just under six weeks to go to Christmas Day, the countdown has officially begun, with all the big brands rolling out their seasonal adverts.
Becoming something of an institution over recent years, many see the festive ads as the starting pistol for their Christmas preparation/panic, despite us only being halfway through November.
And with an estimated £10.5bn spent on this year’s Xmas ads, it’s not just about inducing a fuzzy warm feeling in viewers, but also about encouraging them to put their hand in their pocket.
As we brace ourselves for festive fun, we take a swift look at this year’s bevvy of commercial offerings, as the annual battle of the Christmas adverts begins.
John Lewis
A girl called Sally falls into a clothes rack reminiscent of CS Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, but instead of finding Narnia, she ends up in John Lewis.
Pic: PA
Through family flashbacks we lean how much she loves her older sister, whose gift she has carelessly left it to the last minute to buy. Spoiler alert – as one would expect in an advert for a retailer, she finds a pressie.
With the retailer famous for its use of cover versions in their Christmas ads, this one is the origin story for a new cover, with a concurrent competition on TikTok to find an aspiring artist to rerecord a version, which will be featured on the Christmas Day airing and released by record label BMG too.
Waitrose
Marketed as a whodunnit – this big-budget production has a host of celebrity cameos, an intricate storyline and not one but two parts.
Pic: Waitrose
Comedian Joe Wilkinson, Fleabag star Sian Clifford and Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen all have a role in the ensemble, revolving around hunting down the thief of a “chilled desert”.
Being Christmas, when tensions are traditionally high, everyone has reason to have scoffed it. The culprit won’t be revealed until the second part of the ad is released, but in the meantime, activity at Kings Cross Station, in stores and on social media is set to keep the investigation very much alive.
Sainsbury’s
Sainsbury’s goes big for its advert, calling on a beloved Roald Dahl character – the BFG, or Big Friendly Giant – to travel the country with a supermarket worker called Sophie (who pleasingly is a real store employee) in the search for the perfect festive treats.
Pic: Sainsbury’s
A CGI BFG procures salmon, sprouts and cheese before a bit of magic helps him whip it all up into a feast, which he then gifts to an unsuspecting family through the window.
The first ones to release their ad earlier this month, the dulcet tones of national treasure Stephen Fry wrap the action, with a call to arms to stock up in readiness for Christmas.
M&S
Another national treasure – Dawn French – is back for this one, playing both herself and a festive fairy, who gives both French and her home a make-over ready for a Christmas soiree.
Pic: PA
French, whose multi-Christmas-dinner eating antics on The Vicar Of Dibley put her into the Xmas annals, is transformed into “the quintessential hostess” with a bit of help from her little friend.
Banking on the idea that you can never have enough of a good thing, there are six instalments of the advert running between now and the New Year. Who doesn’t like a second – or sixth – helping.
Lidl
This one pulls on the heartstrings, with a little girl inspired to give a gift to a boy who appears not to have any, after an old lady gives her some magic bells.
Pic: Lidl
Directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Tom Hooper (he directed The King’s Speech), a CGI racoon and giant gingerbread man add a little action to events around the dinner table.
But the take home message is to think about giving as well as receiving, with the return of the retailer’s toy banks scheme set up at supermarkets with the aim of donating over 100,000 toys, to ensure no child experiences a giftless Christmas.
Aldi
Kevin the Carrot is back for a ninth year running, this time trying to save the Christmas spirit from a bunch of hard-boiled humbug villains.
Pic: Aldi
With the ad narrated by actor Jim Broadbent, our plucky hero braves an oven, a Mission Impossible-inspired ventilation system and Bond-esque snow jet-ski dash across the mountains, all to save Christmas.
Helped by his wife Katie, he of course pulls it off. A fan favourite, soft toys of the root vegetable are sold in stores, and this year cuddly humbugs are on sale too.
Morrisons
It’s a song and dance number from Morrisons, courtesy of their singing oven gloves performing Bugsy Malone’s You Give A Little Love.
Pic: Morrisons
A choir of 26 Morrisons employees gave voice to the gloves, recording their rendition of the song at the iconic Abbey Road Studios in London.
Like Lidl, the retailer pulled out the directing big guns, hiring The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey to oversee proceedings.
Asda
Bagging the prize for the most gnome puns in one advert, Asda sees a flash mob of gnomes preparing the store for Christmas.
Pic: Asda
The resulting advert isn’t as irritating as it sounds on paper, thanks to nice performances by the two human characters in the ad – Maggie and Bill.
And as we know, Christmas is all about the merchandise, so the supermarkets are of course selling special Xmas versions of their garden gnomes to accompany their already 50-strong gnome range. Who knew?
Tesco
Tesco reminds us of those members of the family who are no longer here to join us on the big day, with a man carrying on his late grandmother’s festive tradition of baking gingerbread.
Pic: Tesco
He becomes obsessed with the spicy treat, as it infiltrates every part of his day from his haircut to a trip to see the Christmas lights.
He eventually gets together with his grandad to bake a gingerbread house, revealing it to the family at lunch, thus keeping the tradition alive.
Greggs
And in the most unlikely festive cameo of the year, Greggs has enlisted Nigella Lawson to star in its first Christmas ad.
Pic: PA
Rapturously endorsing their festive bakes, Lawson has her hands full of pasties, and her table full of take-away coffees, as she promotes the bakery’s festive-themed fare.
Whether or not you believe the 64-year-old TV chef really tucks into their sausage rolls in real life – the attention-grabbing collaboration looks like a wise move for the chain, whose sales have jumped in recent weeks as it continues its UK expansion.
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