Grassroots music venues are disappearing - Here’s what fans can do
Grassroots venues are where most of our favourite artists started out - ‘Radiohead’, ‘Oasis’ and ‘Ed Sheeran’ - the list goes on. But these venues are struggling, so what can we do to keep them alive?
Music News Blitz’s writer Megan Rogers-Jones explains.
Recent statistics
New figures shared by the Music Venue Trust’s annual report revealed that more than half of grassroots venues in the UK didn’t make any profits last year, with 30 venues shutting their doors in 2025.
In addition, more than 6000 roles in grassroots venues were cut; this is the sharpest drop since the Trust began gathering their data, despite the fact that the number of attendees at grassroots gigs rose 13%.
Why?
But why aren’t we all going to grassroots venues?
While arena and Wembley concert tickets will cost us an arm and a leg, the average price of grassroots tickets is under £12.
With the cuts and the state of the economy, grassroots venues don’t have the power to market like larger venues, so you don’t even know about the gigs that are going on.
People don’t just go to a random concert to see random artists the old-fashioned way anymore, because streaming platforms give us access to discover any artist with the touch of a button.
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What can we do?
So how can we, as music lovers, support grassroots venues and small artists?
There’s the obvious one: attend the gigs!
An hour of work will cover your concert ticket and will sort out your weekend plans.
You can have a break from the Ticketmaster wars and find these small gigs on ‘Dice’, ‘Skiddle’, ‘Rough Trade’ and ‘Fatsoma’.
You never know who you could discover at your local venue; you could be seeing the next ‘Oasis’ in concert, and then you can tell everyone you knew them when they were still ‘underground’.
When you're at your gig, buy some drinks and maybe some merch (do I really have to pull your arm on this one?); that’s where these venues make the most profit.
And finally, spread the word; if you see a concert that looks cool, persuade your friends to go with you.
The only thing better than going to a concert and finding a new artist is going with your best mate.
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