23.07.2026: UK Music Chief Executive Tom Kiehl has welcomed the Government’s announcement that pubs, clubs and live music venues will benefit from a 20% cut to business rates from April 2027, but has called for our world-leading recording studios to received the same vital protections.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced on July 23 that from April 2027 business rates for pubs, clubs and live music venues would be slashed by 20%. The cut comes on top of the Government’s 2025 announcement that these spaces would benefit from a 15% cut to business rates that would be frozen for two years.
UK Music Chief Executive Tom Kiehl has welcomed the cuts as a vital lifeline for live music venues, and is calling for recording studios to be included in the policy as a matter of urgency.
Tom said: “We welcome this much needed support for live music venues. These spaces are essential to the future of our world-leading music industry and serve as vital cultural hubs for communities right across the UK. We have lost too many venues to soaring business rates and these cuts offer a crucial lifeline to those still struggling to make ends meet.
“However, the Government must extend this lifeline to our world class recording studios. We have lost – and continue to lose – far too many of these spaces, without which our industry simply wouldn’t exist. As a lifelong music fan, the Prime Minister knows full well how essential these spaces are, not only for the future prosperity of our industry, but for communities the length and breadth of the country. We urge him to include studios in this policy and offer them the protection they so urgently need and deserve.”
Tom Kiehl has also set out five key test for the new Prime Minister which will help grow the UK’s £8 billion music industry. These include:
• Removing costly and prohibitive barriers to touring the EU
• Delivering on the Government’s manifesto pledge to root out ticket touts
• Devolving power to grow music in towns and cities right across the UK
• Ruling out any new copyright exceptions in relation to Artificial Intelligence
• Ensuring that a strong and well funded BBC continues to showcase and support UK music
You can read what Tom had to say in full on these five tests here.
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