Featured Artists Coalition CEO David Martin on how the UKAT Fund will make a ‘tangible difference’ | Live

With the first £125,000 payment from the levy on arena and stadium shows announced for the UK Artist Touring Fund, Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) CEO David Martin outlines how touring acts can expect the scheme to address financial challenges…

It’s just over a year since the FAC announced plans to launch a new fund to distribute revenues collected by the LIVE Trust from contributions collected from ticket sales at live shows over a 5,000 capacity. 

In case anyone needs reminding, the LIVE Trust was established following a 2024 report by the Culture Media & Sport (CMS) Select Committee that called for an industry-led solution to the crisis in grassroots live music. Subsequently, the grassroots ticket contribution has become government policy; the current Creative Industries Minister, Ian Murray MP, has been particularly vociferous about its widespread adoption. 

Alongside English Teacher’s Lily Fontaine and Wolf Alice’s Joff Oddie, an FAC ambassador and an FAC board director respectively, I was among those who gave evidence in Parliament about how deeply this crisis was impacting artists – while also highlighting, in case it needed spelling out, quite how crucial artists are to the health and vitality of the live music sector overall. 

As Joff eloquently explained last May, artists are the largest employers in live music and the cascade of touring costs they shoulder is dizzying – from rehearsal spaces, manufacturing merchandise, musical tech equipment, hire costs, insurance, production costs, travel, van hire, crew, session musicians, fuel, accommodation, per diems, management commission, agents’ fees, venue merch commissions, accounting fees and storage. 

Since the pandemic, all these unavoidable fixed costs have inflated. They exist regardless of ticket sales and revenue, although clearly they disproportionately impact artists performing at the grassroots. 

“We just about made it work,” Joff told MPs, in reference to the band’s early days. “Although I can honestly say that I am not sure how Wolf Alice would make it work today.”

Wolf Alice’s Joff Oddie, FAC’s David Martin, Music Venue Trust’s Mark Davyd and Globe Town’s Marit Berning

When one of our most successful contemporary artists makes these kinds of statements – someone due to perform at the BRIT Awards in just over a week’s time – you hope the wider industry will start taking notice. 

To put it more starkly: without the creative and financial output of artists, promoters can’t invest, venues aren’t booked, workers won’t be employed, and fans are denied shows. 

That’s not to diminish the importance of promoters, venues, workers or fans. All are vital. All are under acute financial pressures. We need each other. That’s what the LIVE Trust represents. 

But if artists can’t afford to tour then everything – and I mean everything – falls apart. 

In partnership with the MMF and the Musicians’ Union, this was the rationale for the FAC to establish what we’ve called the UK Artist Touring Fund (or UKAT Fund, for short). A vehicle that can provide targeted, financial top up support to artists, keep more grassroots stages alive, and keep more shows on the road.  

Thankfully, as a result of the CMS inquiry, the brilliant work of the Trust, and the generosity of all those supporting a per-ticket contribution, we are now in a position where significant sums of money are flowing from the biggest shows in the UK to the smallest . Switches are being flicked, lights are going green. At the end of January, it was announced the UKAT Fund would receive £125,000 of the £500,000 initially allocated by the Trust. 

I am delighted to announce that applications for artists to access this pot of money will open in early March. 

We will be making a full detailed announcement in due course, but I also thought this was a good opportunity to make some important clarifications about what the UKAT Fund is – and what it isn’t. 

Our overriding goal is to distribute all this money quickly, openly and transparently to as many artists as possible – and from across all genres and demographics. While our intention is to build a long-term programme, we want to make an impact as immediately as possible with the lowest possible overheads.  

I genuinely believe we are on the verge of one of most exciting developments in the FAC’s 15-year existence

David Martin

However, we also need to acknowledge that demand is likely to outstrip supply. 

On this, we have been open and honest with artists and our partners and friends across the sector, that the development of the UKAT Fund will be an evolutionary process. We are building something that will be fit for the future, but it will require testing and tweaking as we progress. We want everybody to come on that journey with us. 

And while £125,000 is a substantial sum of money, it is not going to cover the scale of need. Sadly, we’re not operating in miracle-making “loaves and fishes” territory. 

We will be unable to help every artist that deserves support in this first phase, but we will help as many artists and teams as we can. 

For this reason, the UKAT application process will be necessarily robust. The window for submissions will be short, but you will require documentation and details.  We will need to see evidence that a majority of expected touring costs will be covered by fees or ticket sales. 

We will not be able to bankroll the entire cost of tours – the funding will be aimed at shoring up gaps, ensuring no one is working on shows for free, and that live music is presented in the way it is meant to be with no health and safety corners being cut.

Despite these caveats, I genuinely believe we are on the verge of one of most exciting developments in the FAC’s 15-year existence and one that will make a tangible difference not only to artists, but to the live industry overall. 

I would like to thank everyone who has helped us get to this place. The MMF and MU in particular – but also our colleagues at LIVE, Arts Council England, UK Music and, of course, the LIVE Trust. 

Despite providing the creative and economic engine for our entire sector, in the past artists have frequently been cut adrift from support mechanisms or undersold by funding settlements. Most notably, during the pandemic. 

From early March, that situation changes. The UKAT Fund marks the start of a fresh chapter.