ISSUE 220 March 2026
Chris (The Man in a Hat) Column...
I've been around for a bit... but as you can see from my picture, I'm still young...
Yes it's me, and my bit of YGG... and I'm going to be reflecting on things Grassroots.
Nah then... lets start.
Thinking about what makes up a “Grass Roots Venue”, it’s a term very much in the media at the moment. Reports everywhere of venues closing and others operating at zero profit or even a loss, dominating the music world news.
For me, grassroots venues are everything from the back room of a pub running an open mic to small halls and arts centres bringing in national and international independent artists with ticketed events.
I’ve seen many artists start out in the former and gradually work their way to the latter, via all points between. This is the lifeblood of this creative industry.
There certainly doesn’t appear to be a shortage of willing and talented performers to play, and yet there’s a constant struggle for some to gain enough of an audience to keep the venues going.
There’s no doubt that running a music/arts venue is hard work, and it’s easy to understand why someone might throw in the towel when that hard work and risk brings little financial return or even a loss, no matter how much they love doing it.
I suspect there are many differing reasons this is happening, obviously there’s the “cost-of-living crisis” putting a strain on people’s finances so people have to be selective in what events they attend, also many people tell me that social drinking habits have changed, with a lot of younger people moving away from the pub culture of previous generations.
In pub venues, a general decline in takings has to mean that expenditure has to be cut back just to keep afloat, so paying a performer or band becomes unaffordable.
Then there are the larger venues, ticketed gigs where the promoter/venue has to guarantee the artist’s fee regardless of ticket sales (yes, I know there are artist/promoter deals done).
As everyone’s costs go up, so ticket prices have to follow.
Some venues however, thrive (or appear to) with free entry and multiple acts playing there regularly.
Another factor that occurs to me is how we actually value music. An older generation (like mine) didn’t see music as free; it was a commodity that was paid for. An LP was approximately £4.50/£5 in 1979, approximately £26/£28 in today’s prices. Yes, a few vinyl enthusiasts pay that in today’s market, but the 1,000,000 streams aren’t even close to comparable with 1,000,000 album sales!
Genuine question: do today's 16- to 30-year-olds see music at all levels as something with genuine financial worth or as something they get for free?
I'll be exploring these issues in future editions of my column.
Well that's all for now folks, see you at a gig... and let me know what you think.
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