I have neglected the subject of saving London's music venues a bit recently. I've been too busy trying to save my own one, Mill Hill Music Complex. The post Covid era is proving to be really challenging for us. People have changed their behaviour and we have had to adapt a lot of the things we do. I will save that for another post. Today we are looking at London's live music scene.
As a working musician, promoter and venue owner, it is clear to me that no one in any sort of power has a clue about how the music industry actually works at a grassroots level. This is an area that is vital to the UK's music industry, which is worth around £5 billion in direct revenue to UK PLC and ten times that in indirect benefit.
Lets start with a few basic principles. No one ever visited London to sunbathe on the River Thames. People come here because we are a cultural hub. A visitor to London can see museums, shows, gigs, pubs restaurants, etc unrivalled anywhere in the world. Every trip to a show or a museum for most people will involve some sort of food & drink, be it a pub, a restaurant, a cafe or even just a bottle of water from a convenience store. All of this generates jobs and prosperity. That is without the huge sums recorded music generates from radio, TV, websites and streaming services. But no musician wakes up one morning with a career, without lots of hard work and learning the ropes. That is where grassroots venues come in.
However, what most people don't really get is that live music in small venues is almost never staged because the owner of the establishment likes music. They may, but the reason they put music on is to boost footfall and sell more drink, and food at venues like Pizza Express. In short, no matter how much a venue owner/manager loves music, it has to pay its way. In most pubs and clubs, it is not the owner who books artists. This is down to the promoter. Often the promoter rents the venue (not always) and then sells tickets, covering their costs (sound man, doorman, advertising, wages) and paying bands. If enough punters come in and the pub owners/managers make more than if they'd not had music on, then the venue will be successful. However the venue owner may decide that food or comedy is more lucrative. The promoter also needs to make a profit. It is one of the most thankless tasks. Most bands put little or no effort into promoting their own shows. The False Dots have played around 40 gigs since lockdown and of the bands we've played with (around 100), maybe only 10-15 have brought more than a dozen people with them. Many haven't even posted links to the show or the ticket website. Most professional pluggers know that events at small venues have a promotion cycle of 6-8 weeks, where you need to be constantly engaging and raising interest. One or two posts won't do. You need to post constantly and post things that are different and engaging. If you don't, then people won't come. If they don't come, then the promoter and the pub make no money and will not survive.
But just getting people to gigs is nt enough. You need your fans to drink in the venue. If your fans go to the Wetherspoons down the road, before they turn up, then they might as well not come as far as the pub operator is concerned. The Wetherspoons may be cheaper, but they are not putting the music on. Of course getting people to pay £7 a pint rather £4 at the cheapo pub is no easy task, but it is at least worth trying.
The sad truth is that grassroots venues get no help from anyone.In some ways, this means that you have to be good to survive, but it also means that you are always walking a tightrope. The False Dots have had the honour of a residency at legendary London venue, The Dublin Castle. We are mates with Tony, the promoter. We know the challenges he faces. We see the good things he does and why he does the things we don't like! Tony is a music lover, who cares about the bands. He also understands the finances and the dynamics of making a venue work. At the end of the day, he has to pay his engineers, his doormen and he has to pay his bills.
Tony knows that when he books The False Dots, we will plug our gigs, we will get our fans down and we will have a drink in the bar with them after the show. This means that the Landlord is also happy. So many bands finish and don't even have a pint in the pub. It infuriates me when I see it, because I understand it is a business.
I contributed to a Parliamentary Inquiry into live music. Sadly, nothing useful came out of it. There are several things that the Government and local authorities should be doing. These are practical things that will make a huge difference.
1. Cut business rates for venues by 75%. I would pay for this by doubling rates on bookmakers, which I believe are a corrosive industry. This would encourage pubs to add music and arts events to the menu. I would suggest a minimum of 50 events a year. This would make venues get creative. I would also require evidence of promotion of such events.
2. Introduce agent of change legislation, protecting established venues from noise and nuisance complaints from neighbours, especially in new developments.
3. Give tax breaks for companies investing in soundproofing for live music, rehearsal and recording.
2) Designate established music related sites (venues, studios, etc) as protected sites with stringent planning rules around change of use planning applications.
4. Require local authorities to ensure that provision of spaces for music and art are integral parts of all large scale planning applictions. Put restrictions on these to guarantee that they are provided and not repurposed.
5. Require local authorities to ensure that music venues are not left empty to rot by developers seeking to get around planning laws. This could be done by setting quadruple business rates on such properties which are left empty for more than six months.
All of this would re-invigorate the grassroots arts and music scene.
And on to our local music scene. Justin case you weren't aware, The London Borough of Barnet has plenty going on. My band, The False Dots have two great gigs coming up (click for details)
And here are this weeks gigs! (follow the Barnet Music Facebook page for details and updates).
Friday 30th
Lord Kitchener 8.30pm – late One Man Stand
Queens Arms 8pm Karaoke
Barrington 8.30pm – closing Johnnos Karaoke
Butchers Arms 8pm – Midnight Fast and Bulbous (DJ)
Saturday 31st
Butchers Arms 9pm – 11.30pm The Past Unperfect Trio (Country/blues)
Toolans 9pm –11.30pm Dan McHugh Music (Irish plus 70s-00s music)
Queens Arms 9.30pm Soul Disco Band
Sunday 1st
Ye Olde Monken Holt 7pm – 9pm Hannah Harris (Covers)
Butchers 8.30 – 11.30pm Butchers Arms Jam Electric/Blues/Rock (Full backline available)
Toolans 8.30pm – 11pm Two in Accord
Monday 2nd
Ye Olde Mitre Inn, High Street 8pm – 11pm (stables room) Barnet Acoustics Session
Tuesday 3rd
The Lord Nelson 7.30- Open Mic Night (1st Tuesday of month)
Wednesday 4th
Ye Olde Monken Holt 8.30 – 11pm Open Mic Night
Thursday 5th
Ye Olde Monken Holt 8.30 – 10.30pm Irish Session
Sebright Arms Barnet 8ish Karaoke (fortnightly)
Friday 6th
Butchers Arms 9pm – 11.30pm Groove Rats (Rock/blues)
Goodwin House East Barnet 2pm – 3pm Leon Knight (Solo artist)
And finally, the Friday joke!
Thanks to our mate Robert Wilkinson. It is terrible, but it did make me laugh.
