Frank Turner has shared his support to save the music venues as more than 400 grassroots music venues are at risk of permanent closure. Puza Snigdha reports.
Raising the alarm that music will be “dominated by the output of Simon Cowell” if the independent music scene suffers long-term and independent venues continue to be at risk of closure, Turner has publicly contributed to a national campaign organized by the Music Venue Trust in aim of protecting the UK’s small venues.
The campaign from the Music Venue Trust has saved 140 spaces so far from perminant closure following the COVID19 pandemic.
The campaign will allow artists to perform virtual gigs in support of their own local venue, chosen from a list of 556 currently deemed in crisis by the MVT, and each venue will have their own fundraising page mention the amount of the money they need to beat this situation.
This will encourage artists and performers to gather donations and support a different independent venue each week.
The music venues are facing risk due to corona-virus pandemic situation as all the venues remained closed with no opening date currently available.
Turned has said: “If the infrastructure of grassroots music ceases to exist then there will still be big shows at arenas and it will be entirely dominated by the output of people like Simon Cowell.”
He added: “I’m not here to fight a war against Simon Cowell, what he does is valid for the people that enjoy it, but I don’t want that to be the defining part of our culture.”
In a final comment, Turner said: “The success of these shows demonstrated the love that exists between music fans and their favourite grassroots music venues, so the #saveourvenues campaign is a brilliant way of building on that and hopefully giving artists and music fans a chance to get involved and play a big part in helping them survive.”
The Music Venue Trust is calling on the government to provide a £50m cash injection in the industry to secure its future.
