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#LetTheMusicPlay round-up

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Last Thursday, stars from the UK’s live music sector issued an urgent plea for support from the UK Government during what would have been the UK’s world-famous festival season.

The appeal, made in a letter to the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Oliver Dowden, was signed by 1,500 artists including Ed Sheeran, The Rolling Stones, Dua Lipa, Sir Paul McCartney, Skepta, Rita Ora, Coldplay, Eric Clapton and many more!

To coincide with the letter, hundreds of famous artists posted films and photos of their last live gig under the banner #LetTheMusicPlay. Fans also posted about the last gig they went to, all in a mass show of support for the UK’s world-leading live music industry during its shutdown.

On Sunday evening, the Government announced the brilliant news that Britain’s globally renowned arts, culture and heritage industries will receive a world-leading £1.57 billion rescue package to help weather the impact of coronavirus (you can read more here)

The rescue package is great news for the creative sector, and The MIA welcomes this intervention from the Government. We are particularly pleased about the lifeline this creates for Grassroots Music Venues and the British live music sector; our own part of the music industry depends on it!

But… we naturally wait for the detail of the extra monies. Time is of the essence and there are concerns that the monies may not arrive in time to save many venues and institutions. There are also real worries about the huge numbers of freelancers in our industry, many of whom do not qualify for government support.

To celebrate the the biggest ever one-off investment in UK culture, we’d like to bring you some of our highlights from the #LetTheMusicPlay series on Social Media last week: 

Here is a touching, emotional tribute to live music by Music Venue Trust, a Charity that the MIA has been championing and supporting since its’ inception. Sound up for this one!

Here is a great graphic which sums up some of the key stats: 

Here are some social media posts from all kinds of different famous artists lending their support: