Electronic music sector meets Minister to

UK electronic music leaders, from artists to club owners, united at a landmark meeting with Parliament’s Culture Committee, urging urgent government action to safeguard venues and secure the future of club culture.

The roundtables were held in the 15,000 capacity DRUMSHEDS venue, previously an IKEA, showcasing the talent pipeline for electronic music, fed through the grassroots spaces under threat, and demand recognition of the culture.

Led by the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), the discussions placed the spotlight firmly on the cultural, social and economic value of electronic music — and the crisis now threatening its infrastructure.

Attendees, including leading DJs, producers, venue operators, promoters, agents, suppliers, security, and festivals spoke candidly to cross-party MPs responsible for holding the Government to account on cultural policy.

The MPs heard first hand the harsh realities facing the sector, from unsustainable operational costs and disproportionate taxation to heavy handed, high-risk licensing and policing, widespread noise complaint closures, and a gaping void in Government recognition.

The roundtables honed in on the shared, urgent policy asks of Government, including:

• Recognising nightclubs and venues as vital cultural and community institutions.
• Proportionate approach tax and business rates for grassroots venues, on par with other similar cultural, heritage and community spaces.
• Reforming licensing and planning frameworks to support contemporary cultural spaces, and preventing noise complaints shutting long-standing community hubs.
• Embedding nightlife and electronic music’s value in national cultural policy, including through direct and regular engagement.
  
  

Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, said:

“Electronic music and club culture are core to our nation’s culture, identity, sense of community, and local economies. Today’s sessions made that abundantly clear.

“The evidence we heard today underscores both the enormous value of this sector and the critical challenges it faces. This is last chance saloon for this vibrant, contemporary – and indeed leading – culture.

“This significant engagement is just the start. We’re very grateful to attendees from across this diverse and vital sector, the NTIA for organising, and Drumsheds for hosting us. As a Committee we will continue to press Government and Parliamentarians to value, protect and enable electronic music and nightlife and we look forward to further engagement and to working with the sector as we progress these solutions.”

Michael Kill, CEO of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), added:

“Today was a crucial moment for electronic music and nightlife culture in the UK. The scale of the challenges – and opportunities – laid bare in the roundtables leaves no doubt in the Committee’s minds about the need for urgent intervention.

“This is not just about nightclubs; it’s about protecting cultural identity, jobs, and the social fabric of our towns and cities. We thank the Select Committee for their time, engagement and agreement for action today, and urge the Government to work with us to deliver the reforms needed to secure the future of one of our country’s greatest cultural assets. We will not rest until our sector and culture is valued, and as we demonstrated today, we are united and unambiguous in our demands.”