Kate Nash becomes patron of Music Venue Trust
Singer-songwriter Kate Nash has been announced as a new patron of the Music Venue Trust.
Following the announcement, Nash joins other notable artists from the music industry to become patrons of the Music Venue Trust such as Paul McCartney, Coldplay, Enter Shikari, Frank Turner and Catherine Anne Davies.
Nash said of becoming a patron: “I love grassroots venues, I wouldn’t have the career I have today without them. I value music and art across all levels. Protecting the grassroots is an investment in the future of UK culture. If we lose the grassroots, we lose the birth, growth and development of future artists.”
In addition to Nash becoming a patron for the Music Venue Trust, they have also welcomed Sian Berry, MP for Brighton Pavilion Sian Berry, live music agent Summer Marshall, Robert Kilpatrick, CEO of the Scottish Music Industry Association, Neal Thompson, co-founder of Focus Wales, and music manager Colin Newman.
The announcement comes after Nash recently spoke at the January launch of Music Venue Trust’s annual report at the Houses of Parliament.
The report highlighted the cultural significance of independent venues to the British musical landscape. It included a survey of the 810 members of the Music Venue Alliance, who employ over 30,000 people throughout the grassroots music venue community. It discovered that they hosted over 162,000 live music events attended by just under 20 million. The total direct value to the UK economy from these events was £526m.
Meanwhile, last year, Nash teamed up with Save Our Scene to protest the state of the music industry outside the headquarters of Live Nation and Spotify in London.
In a statement, Nash said of the protest: “The cost of presenting live music has gone up by 30.3% over the past 2 years. There were 125 venues that closed last year in the UK. And, the value of recorded music is extremely low. You’re paid 0.003 of a penny per stream.”
The singer-songwriter continued: “The industry is in crisis, the music industry has failed artists, and is completely unsustainable, and my arse is shining a light on that. And none would be listening if my bum wasn’t involved. This is a conversation about agency. And selling pictures of my bum is giving me the agency to reinvest in my creative economy. The music industry does not give me that agency.”
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