A cavalcade of UK music and media stars would like you to take 15 minutes out of your busy day to make your opinions known and – potentially – save the UK music industry.
The Music Fans Voice survey is being backed by stars as diverse as Kate Nash, Lambrini Girls, Shirley Manson, Danny Dyer and Edgar Wright, all of whom have piled on and pointed their fans at an online doc that they (and everyone who loves live music in the UK) is hoping can make a difference.
So if you hate ticket touts, loathe dynamic pricing (we’re looking at you, Oasis fans) or feel like you can successfully finger the entity that’s a) leading to the shutdown of local venues, b) not giving artists a fair wage/chance or c) not supporting or promoting the music you love (or any combination of any of the above) then be sure to spill your beans and take the survey here.
Nash-ing of teeth
“I feel very passionately about music fans being involved in what the future of my industry looks like,” said Nash. “They’re often at the venue before we are, they wave and watch us leave as we drive onto the next one and they’re usually the first people to ask how they can help you. Quite obviously they are an integral part of what we do as artists.
“Meeting fans, hearing their stories, and sharing values creates a sense of community that the industry often lacks. Not only do we owe our growth to our fans, but also a source of support that really does actually stop me from going mad sometimes,” said Phoebe Lunny of Lambrini Girls. “Despite how transactional the music industry is, that is something you just can’t buy.”
Backing up Nash’s-stance – the star was appointed a new patron of the Music Venue Trust earlier this year – Garbage’s Shirley Manson said: “Kate is doing the work of international governments who are sleeping on the job and leaving working musicians up a creek without support and without a paddle.”
And – wheeling out the big guns – even actor Danny Dyer wants you to sort it aaaughhht! “We need you to do this survey, click on the link, it’s important, data is important, it makes people listen, let’s start owning it again. Live music’s important, it’s ingrained in our soul, click the link.
“I love yous, let’s f______ own music again.”
Taking control
The aim is that, just as with the fans' review of football in 2021, rather than opinion being expressed through shouting and throwing things, they be assimilated into an altogether less hip, more easily swallowed, data-led format more likely to impact with the suits making the decisions (and therefore more likely to glean results).
The fans' review of football succeeded in appointing an independent regulator to prevent a few major entities from owning football in the UK (and charging held-to-ransom fans think-of-a-number amounts for tickets), leading - hopefully - to the survival of countless small clubs and their support for new players and fans.
It’s hoped therefore that Music Fans Voice survey may achieve something similar in the UK where, according to figures from the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) from October 2024 37% of clubs across the country have been permanently shut since March 2020, closing their doors at an average of three clubs a week and 150 per year.
The NTIA even helpfully extrapolated these numbers into a terrifying downward trend, predicting that the final UK club will close – fittingly – on New Year’s Eve 2029. And people (aka any self-respecting music fan) aren’t happy.
Typically with all things survey and ‘make your voice heard’ the actual aims and outcomes of the Music Fans Voice survey remain – at least for now – clouded in outrage and good intention rather than definite this = that at this point. But in an age where ‘raising awareness’ is pretty much the only thing that passionate people can do (short of taking the law into their own hands) then letting your opinion be known via a simple 15-minute survey is certainly better than remaining silent and thereby complicit (and then moaning about it afterwards).
So while the survey can’t necessarily guarantee to keep your local venue open, make Jerry Dammers rejoin the Specials, or have Simon Cowell sealed in carbonite, it can – perhaps – pass on the fact that you’re alive, well, you love music and you’d prefer it if the UK had a vibrant and strong live music scene able to cultivate the stars of tomorrow who’ll go on to lift hearts and minds of humanity across the globe forever.
Don’t let it slip away. Speak up and fill in the survey here.
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