SCOTLAND’s music lovers have been urged to "turn up the volume" on a stadium tax campaign which could see a multimillion-pound boost to the music industry.
Research from charity the Music Venue Trust found that adding a £1 ticket levy on all ticket stubs at Scotland’s biggest venues could generate millions each year.
This money could then be reinvested into local and grassroots music, artists and cultural venues.
Now, the Scottish Greens culture spokesperson, Mark Ruskell (below), is urging the public to back the campaign in the hopes it can become a reality.
Ruskell said: “Scotland’s arts sector and venues help bind the very fabric of our society, from the jobs they deliver to the dreams they inspire.
“We should look at every single opportunity we can to protect and support it however we possibly can.”
Ruskell previously asked Culture Minister Angus Robertson whether the Scottish Government had looked into plans to introduce ticket levy schemes at large music venues in Scotland.
Answering in the Scottish Parliament earlier this month, Robertson (below) said: “The Scottish Government fully values the importance of music to Scotland’s culture and recognises the role that venues play in supporting the talent pipeline.
“Mark Ruskell is absolutely right to highlight that new thinking is required about funding of culture and the arts. We have gone through a pivot point during the pandemic; there has been a change in social behaviours and there has been extreme distress in the arts and cultural sector. We acknowledge that and we have tried to support the sector through that difficult period.
“One needs to look with great seriousness at the potential for additional and parallel funding streams, which is why the levy proposal is worthy of further consideration and should be looked at more closely.”
Ruskell pointed towards the potential income a stadium tax could generate at some of the biggest shows in Scotland next year, such as P!nk and the Foo Fighters at Hampden in Glasgow, and Taylor Swift in Murrayfield in Edinburgh.
He urged music lovers to get behind proposals for a stadium tax, to show there would be grassroots support if the government were to give it the go-ahead.
He said: “I’m grateful that the Cabinet Secretary agreed to consider such a proposal more closely and to meet with me and others on this. We also need to have the backing from those very people benefiting the most from shows – the fans themselves.
“They are the driving force that attract big-name acts to our towns and our cities with their buying power. It is their loyalty and enthusiasm that signals demand, and it is that same community who can help make a difference.
“I would urge them to get behind the campaign and demonstrate the strength of feeling that exists in ensuring we examine all new ways to help fund culture, including a badly needed stadium tax.”
