Turner Backs Music Venue Trust

Musician Frank Turner (pictured) has joined the Music Venue Trust’s campaign to protect UK venues, warning Culture Secretary Sajid Javid he is facing “a meltdown in the British live music circuit”.

In this video footage, Turner addresses Javid, saying: “You, as the Culture Secretary, are genuinely facing a meltdown in the British live music circuit. Music venues are fighting off noise complaints, abatement notices and planning applications; 12 venues are already under threat, an avalanche will follow if we don’t take action. These venues are where I grew up, where I learned about rock’n’roll music, where I saw all my favourite bands. The venues where I played my first shows and some of my most recent, the home of the music scene that has given me my career, my passion and my life”.

The Music Venue Trust campaign is urging the Government to adopt the Agent of Change Principle into UK law to halt increasing threats to dedicated live music venues and clubs.

Beverley Whitrick of the Trust said: “The Agent of Change Principle is not complicated or controversial, it’s simple common sense: The person or business responsible for the change is responsible for managing the impact of the change. This means that an apartment block to be built near an established live music venue would have to pay for soundproofing, while a live music venue opening in a residential area would be responsible for the costs. A resident who moves next door to a music venue would, in law, be assessed as having made that decision understanding that there’s going to be some music noise, and a music venue that buys a new PA would be expected to carry out tests to make sure its noise emissions don’t increase”.

Presently, the law accommodates the equivalent of someone moving into a fishing village and then deciding that they don’t like the smell of fish actually, then campaigning to close the net on local industry, to stretch a metaphor.

The initiative is supported by Musicians’ Union, the Music Industries Association, UK Music and other industry trade groups.

Find out more here and sign the petition launched by Turner.