Live music Industry Venues & Entertainment (LIVE) has called on Chancellor John Healey to take steps in his 28 October Budget to protect the economic contribution of the live music industry.

Specifically, the live music industry representative body is calling on the Government to apply the 20% business rates reduction for 2027 to all live music venues and reform the current business rates valuation method.

In July, the Andy Burnham-led Government announced that it will slash business rates for pubs, clubs and live music venues across England by 20%, from April, which is expected to benefit nearly 32,000 pubs, clubs and live music venues.

LIVE CEO Jon Collins said that while the Government’s reduction in business rates for some live music venues is welcome, the 20% reduction from 2027 should apply to all live music venues, as the relief did in 2026.

With live music venues driving footfall, supporting jobs and bringing communities together across the country, Collins said there is a strong economic case for doing so: “Arenas fill hotels, bars and restaurants and generate significant spending on our high streets, while smaller arenas – many of which are council-owned – face similar pressures as grassroots venues. It makes little sense to recognise that contribution while excluding some of the venues generating it.

“The support also creates an opportunity to address a wider problem with the way live music venues are valued for business rates. The current system does not reflect how venues actually operate. We have fixed capacities, limited trading hours and high staffing costs, and rely on touring artists outside our control. Yet venues are valued using assumptions designed for fundamentally different businesses.

“The Government has already recognised live music venues as a distinct sector through the relief it has provided. The next step is to recognise them properly within the valuation system too. We want to work with the Treasury and Valuation Office Agency to establish a dedicated classification and a fairer valuation method for live music venues. That would help venues long term, protecting these culturally significant spaces that are key for driving growth in every postcode in the UK.”

LIVE is a federation of 15 live music industry associations, and collectively represents more than 3,000 businesses, 35,000 artists and 2,000 backstage workers.

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