Labour wins landslide UK election: The biz reacts

The UK live music business has warmly welcomed Labour Party’s historic landslide general election triumph.

Labour will form a government under the leadership of new prime minister Keir Starmer, ending 14 years of Conservative rule.

Requiring 326 seats for a majority, Starmer’s party has claimed 412 seats to the Rishi Sunak-led Conservatives’ 121 – the worst defeat in the latter’s parliamentary history.

“The change begins right here,” said Starmer. “Because this is your democracy, your community and your future. You have voted. It is now time for us to deliver.”

Labour included multiple references to the live music business in its manifesto ahead of yesterday’s (4 July) vote, pledging to cap ticket resale and improve EU touring for UK artists by “tearing down unnecessary barriers to trade”.

“Having worked closely with the party in opposition, LIVE looks forward to working with the incoming Labour government to deliver on its ambitions of making the creative industries central to national renewal, economic growth and boosting the UK’s reputation on the world stage,” says Jon Collins, CEO of trade body LIVE. “The live music sector generated over £6 billion in 2023, with one gig held every four minutes, but this growth has not been uniformly experienced across the sector.

“It is critical that the incoming Labour government delivers on the Culture, Media, and Sport Select Committee’s recommendations for an urgent review of reintroducing a lower rate of VAT on live music tickets and finding other ways to support grassroots music.”

“We hope Labour will work with our whole industry to boost opportunities, increase the talent pool and offer a wider range of live music experiences”

Collins continues: “We also look forward to working closely with the Labour government on our shared manifesto proposals to enable UK artists to tour internationally more easily and clamp down on ticket touts.

“We hope Labour will work with our whole industry to boost opportunities, increase the talent pool and offer a wider range of live music experiences to music fans up and down the UK.”

David Martin, CEO of the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), also offers his congratulations to the incoming government.

“It’s especially important that we can pick up on unfinished business from the previous parliament and quickly deliver the much-anticipated reforms to music streaming alongside greater support for the live music ecosystem,” he adds. “Music and culture should play a key role in the UK’s future success, so it’s vital that the foundations of our business are reset on a sound and artist-friendly footing.”

Music Managers Forum (MMF) chief executive Annabella Coldrick says the result should serve as a “watershed moment” for the music business.

“We look forward to helping the new Labour government deliver their manifesto commitments on international touring and online ticket touting, both areas on which the MMF has led through the #LetTheMusicMove and FanFair Alliance campaigns,” she says. “For the sake of artists and fans, we all want to see quick progress on both these issues.”

“Our call to Sir Keir and to the incoming culture secretary will be for urgent lowering of VAT on festival ticket sales to 5%”

Labour has vowed to introduce new consumer protections on ticket resale “to put fans back at the heart of events”. The move would include restricting the resale of tickets at more than a small, set percentage above face value, and limit the number of tickets individual resellers can list.

In addition, it would make platforms accountable for the accuracy of information about tickets they list for sale and ensure the Competition and Markets Authority has the powers that it needs to take action against platforms and touts, to protect consumers.

“The Labour Party manifesto reiterated their commitment to capping ticket resale prices and protecting fans from exploitation, and everyone involved with FanFair Alliance will now look to support the new government in achieving that goal as quickly as possible,” says Adam Webb, campaign manager for anti-touting group FanFair Alliance.

Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) CEO John Rostron took the opportunity to resume the organisation’s calls for a VAT reduction on tickets. AIF states that a reduced VAT from 20% to 5% on ticket sales for the next three years will give festival promoters the space they need to rebuild.

“Our call to Sir Keir and to the incoming culture secretary will be for urgent lowering of VAT on festival ticket sales to 5% to mitigate independent festival closures in the UK and sow seeds for growth in 2025,” says Rostron. “We hope, also, that this government will take forward the recommendations of the CMS inquiry into grassroots music venues.”

Lisa Nandy, formerly shadow cabinet minister for international development, has been promoted to culture secretary

There is some disappointment, however, that shadow culture secretary Thangham Debbonaire lost her Bristol Central seat to the Green Party, while musicians Tom Gray of Gomez and Dave Rowntree of Blur, who both stood for Labour, failed in their bids to become MPs.

“We’re sorry to see Thangham Debbonaire lose her seat – she has been excellent in the role of shadow secretary of state for culture,” adds Rostron. “We hope all incoming MPs will now be able to relax for a short while and celebrate at this summer’s array of independent festivals.”

Lisa Nandy, formerly shadow cabinet minister for international development, has been promoted to culture secretary by Starmer. She succeeds former Conservative MP Lucy Frazer in the role. Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd says the group “warmly welcomes Nandy’s appointment”.

“Lisa arrives into the role at a critical time for live music in our communities, with the opportunity to deliver real, positive, long lasting change that can protect, secure and improve the nation’s grassroots music venues,” he says. “We look forward to meeting with her as soon as possible so we can begin the work of getting British music back to its rightful position as the beating heart of our towns and cities.”

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Labour leader pledges to cap ticket resale in UK

Music industry figures in the UK have welcomed Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s pledge to introduce new legislation to cap ticket resale if the party wins the next general election.

Speaking today (14 March) at the Labour Creatives Conference in London, Sir Keir said: “We can’t let access to culture be at the mercy of ticket touts who drive up the prices. So a Labour government will cap resale prices so fans can see the acts that they love at a fair price.”

The move would restrict the resale of tickets at more than a small, set percentage above face value, and limit the number of tickets individual resellers can list.

In addition, it would make platforms accountable for the accuracy of information about tickets they list for sale and ensure the Competition and Markets Authority has the powers that it needs to take action against platforms and touts, to protect consumers.

Sir Keir’s speech came just a day after two people were convicted of fraudulently and dishonestly buying and reselling tickets for high-profile concerts by acts including Ed Sheeran as part of a £6.5 million scheme.

A 2022 investigation by ITV News, based on research carried out by campaign group FanFair Alliance (FFA), found that three people were responsible for over two-thirds of UK festival and outdoor event tickets listed by resale platform Viagogo.

“The impact of these policies should be monumentally positive, and help to reset the UK’s live music market for the benefit of artists and their audiences”

Legislation to outlaw ticket touting has been adopted in a number of other countries. However, the UK government last year rejected the recommendations of the British competition regulator to tighten laws around online ticket touting, prompting the FFA, which was established by the Music Managers Forum (MMF) in July 2016, to relaunch its campaigning and advocate for a total ban on ticket resale for profit.

FFA campaign manager Adam Webb describes the announcement as “positive news for music fans”, while managers of acts such as Ed Sheeran, Arctic Monkeys, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Biffy Clyro also applauded the news.

“We have spent years fighting the scourge of online ticket touting and keeping prices fair for fans,” says Stuart Camp of Grumpy Old Management. “The impact of these policies should be monumentally positive, and help to reset the UK’s live music market for the benefit of artists and their audiences.”

“I fully welcome and applaud the commitment from Labour to introduce legislation to reform the broken resale marketplace which has blighted our industry for years,” says Wildlife Entertainment CEO Ian McAndrew. “As a founder member of the FanFair Alliance, we have campaigned for over a decade to encourage change while introducing measures to try and protect fans. The introduction of new legislation will better protect fans from the unscrupulous practices of online touts.”

“ATC has always strived to prevent our artists’ audiences from being exploited by online ticket touts,” adds ATC Management’s Brian Message. “This is often a challenging, time-consuming and difficult process, which is why we helped set up FanFair Alliance and why fresh legislation in this area is now so important. I’m hopeful today marks a real turning point.”

Nostromo Management’s Paul Craig says: “As a music manager, I am delighted with Labour’s initiative to dismantle the secondary ticket market’s grip on live events. This decisive action against online ticket touting should herald a new era where fans can access tickets fairly, and the essence of live music will thrive without the shadow of exploitation.”

“The enforcement of new legislation is the only way to fully clamp down on these rogue traders and the platforms they sell across”

A host of other prominent executives have also spoken out in support of the proposed legislation.

Jon Collins, CEO of trade body LIVE, says: “We welcome Labour’s commitment to clamp down on ticket touting to ensure more tickets end up in the hands of fans and not bots.”

Annabella Coldrick, MMF chief executive, says: “We welcome greatly that the Labour Party has announced this policy and look forward to seeing it come into legislation.”

Stuart Galbraith, CEO of Kilimanjaro Live and co-founder of LIVE, says: “Alongside other FanFair supporters, Kilimanjaro has called for these kinds of consumer-friendly policies for years. As a company, we work incredibly hard to stop our events being hijacked by online ticket touts, but the enforcement of new legislation is the only way to fully clamp down on these rogue traders and the platforms they sell across.”

Gareth Griffiths, director partnerships & sponsorship, Virgin Media O2, says: “O2 has been part of the FanFair Alliance since 2017 with the aim of protecting our customers from online touts during our exclusive Priority Tickets presales.

“We’ve seen the secondary market swamped with over-inflated, sky-high ticket resale prices for years, with no benefit for artists or their fans. Legislation would be a crucial step forward and through our continued work with FanFair Alliance we’re pleased to see this issue getting the attention and action it deserves.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Viagogo expressed caution, saying there is “significant evidence” to show that resale restrictions force fans “to unverified sites and social media, exposing them to a high risk of fraud without any protection”.

“We see this as an opportunity to underscore the effectiveness of today’s regulatory framework of the resale marketplace, which has been shaped by years of government review and oversight,” adds the spokesperson. “A safe, secure and transparent environment for UK consumers has been established.

“We protect consumer’s rights to buy and sell tickets in a secure, regulated marketplace. On Viagogo, payment is contingent on the buyer successfully entering the event, and every transaction is guaranteed, ensuring buyers either gain entry or receive a refund.

“We believe that a comprehensive conversation, focused on practical and effective regulation across the entire ticketing industry, is in the best interest of consumers.”

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