I wrote to the Chancellor alongside over 40 Parliamentarians, urging her to look again at the business rates regime for venues and studios in the music industry.
The UK Music industry is one of our most important cultural and economic assets, delivering world-renowned artists, venues, festivals, and studios. In 2024 alone, it contributed £8 billion to the economy.
Music venues and recording studios are vital to this success, forming the critical and irreplaceable infrastructure that underpins the sector, and embeds music within communities.
However, many businesses owners who run these critical music spaces will be severely impacted by the 2026 business rates revaluation, scheduled to take effect on 1 April 2026.
According to the Music Venue Trust, 84 grassroots music venues in England face rateable value increases of between 45% and 275% from 2025/26 to 2026/27. These increases do not represent marginal adjustments but existential threats.
We are therefore calling on the Chancellor to pause the implementation of the new rateable values on these spaces and work with the sector to develop a valuation methodology that more accurately reflects how they operate.
