The LIVE Trust charity just made its first £500,000 from voluntary ticket price contributions

Say thank you for the music with a simple £1 contribution. That's what half-a-million gig goers have now done with the LIVE Trust charity announcing that its voluntary venture, raising money for UK music causes through contributions from an additional £1 on ticket prices, has just pulled in its first £500,000.

LIVE (Live music Industry Venues & Entertainment) is the voice of the UK’s live music and entertainment business. LIVE members are a federation of 15 live music industry associations representing over 3,000 businesses, 35,000 artists and 2,000 backstage workers.

By agreeing to add an extra £1 to the price of a ticket when purchased, music lovers who get on board (with the opportunity being presented by any venue in the UK above a 5000-seater capacity) have been able to seamlessly contribute directly to the fund and play their part in boosting and promoting music-based charity enterprises all across the UK.

Upcoming artists, venues, festivals and promoters will now benefit directly.

"There is still much work to do"

Jon Collins, CEO of LIVE, said, “This is a welcome milestone for The LIVE Trust and marks a very significant contribution to the grassroots live music sector. What this demonstrates is that there is a real appetite from performers and their teams to support the wider live ecosystem and we applaud and thank those that have already taken this initiative.

“Whilst this is an excellent start there is still much work to do if we are to convince government that a voluntary rather than statutory levy is both workable and sustainable.”

Interestingly the fund’s unique money-raising mechanic chimes perfectly with the results of the Music Fans Voice survey revealed two weeks earlier. In that survey of over 8000 live music concert goers, 93% of respondents supported the idea that £1 from every ticket of any arena or stadium live music event should go to a fund that directly supports music making charities.

Elsewhere in the survey, it's revealed that 91% of respondents believe that dynamic pricing – most conspicuously an element of the ticket sales for Oasis' upcoming reunion gigs – should be outlawed.