Grassroots music levy: Trust to distribute funds launches

A new trust to distribute funds from a proposed levy on concerts staged in stadiums and arenas to the grassroots music sector has been established.

Live Music Industry Venues and Entertainment (LIVE) has launched the LIVE Trust, which will provide funding to artists, venue operators, promoters, festival organisers and others.

The trust will be tasked with distributing funds raised from the voluntary levy on stadiums and arenas, which the government has said it wants established “as soon as possible” this year.

The trust will be chaired by BBC DJ Steve Lamacq. The other founding trustees are Kirsty McShannon, chief executive of legal firm Azorra, and Royal Albert Hall chief executive James Ainscough.

More trustees will be appointed in the coming months. The board will set the funding strategy with input from LIVE and the wider live music sector.

LIVE chief executive Jon Collins said the launch of the trust “marks a significant step change in how the grassroots live music sector will be supported moving forward”.

He said the initiative will provide a “robust infrastructure that can receive and allocate the financial resources needed to support the survival of this vital part of the music ecosystem”.