Ticketmaster unveils plan to allow fans to donate directly to the Music Venue Trust

Ticketmaster have announced a fresh plan to allow fans to contribute directly to the Music Venue Trust (MVT) in a bid to help support UK grassroots venues.

The ticket site will now provide a Music Venue Trust charity upsell option, giving fans the chance to make direct contributions to the Trust when they purchase tickets.

The new initiative comes days after The MVT announced they had purchased The Snug in Atherton as part of the #OwnOurVenues scheme, a charitable community benefit society (CCBS) which was created by Music Venue Trust under plans to transform venue ownership in the UK.

The upsell will begin on Venues Day 2023 (October 17) and lasts for a month.

Mark Davyd, MVT Founder & CEO, said of the collaboration: “This upsell provides a practical method for fans to support grassroots music venues, and we are incredibly grateful to the Ticketmaster team for putting it in place. Ticketmaster matching all fan donations is a powerful message for the whole industry about the support our sector needs and the will of the music community to provide it.”

“Ticketmaster has been a long-term and committed partner of MVT, and their core support has been vital in developing us as the authentic voice of grassroots venues, artists and fans.”

Davyd added: “We believe that live music fans understand exactly how vital these venues are to the future of our whole music ecosystem and how much financial difficulty they are currently facing.

“127 grassroots music venues have closed in the last 12 months – more than one is permanently closing every week.”

It comes after the MVT warned that the UK risks losing ten percent of independent venues by the end of 2023.

Last year also saw Ed Sheeran throw his support behind the #OwnOurVenues project.