McMusic: The rise of venue sponsorship

McMusic: The rise of venue sponsorship

03 March, 2011
by: Uckfield99

With everyone chasing the elusive dollar, Dan Jones finds out why everyone's selling out...

Originally, I intended this article to be about independent venues under pressure. The Astoria finally closed after its looming compulsory purchase agreement, The Luminaire bit the dust, The Flowerpot was forced to move and we all thought that the 100 Club looked doomed to become a Starbucks. Now Converse has stepped forward with a sponsorship deal, and it looks like they’ve been saved. So that plan went out the window.

This 100 Club thing got me thinking though. Sponsorship in music is as widespread as it has ever been. We’ve got the HMV Forum, the O2 Academies, the Relentless Garage and so on. There was palpable relief when it emerged that the 100 Club is in no danger of becoming a Converse advert due to agreements made between the parties involved, but why should we even care?

Generally, people’s cynicism lets them run madly around warped ideals of nostalgia when it comes to music. The questions involving sponsorship revolves around the following: does it take the romanticism away from gig-going, kill the little guy and trap people in a sanitised corporate monolith? Kind of, but that’s only half the story.

Despite agreeing with the sentiment, head-promoter at the Old Queen’s Head Ally Wolf, is keeping things in perspective: “Ten years ago,” he tells me, “Shed Seven changed the lyrics to one of their songs for a mobile phone advert and as much critical reputation as they did have, disappeared. Nowadays, people know how important it is, not only in terms of exposure but financial support. It’s the same thing with branding of venues. It's the only way some can survive because they need the external income from sponsorship.”

But obviously venues have been suffering; that’s the main reason why sponsorship deals are being cast. But why are so many failing? One venue that took a kick in the teeth recently was The Flowerpot. Now re-housed at The Wheelbarrow on Camden High Street, promoter Jay, aka Beans On Toast, told me that the main issues they faced were with their landlord, not the economic downturn that most people point fingers at. “The recession is not linked in the slightest to the closing of the Luminaire or The Astoria,” argues. “I moved to London when I was 19 [he’s now 30]. I flyered for a night called Casino Royale at the Barfly, and that’s still going.”

So is all this ‘hard times’ stuff just a scapegoat for people’s troubles? Jay thinks so, “I wouldn’t relate what we’re doing in any way to the world problems with the economy, and, if anything, music is the one thing that is meant to break through all that. People will always be writing music and someone will always want to go somewhere to hear it.”

The pressure that the 100 Club was subjected to was clearly financial: the venue’s landlord raised the rent by 45% since 2007. The sponsorship they've taken on from Converse has now allowed them to continue to breathe life into the capital's music scene, and whether you agree with this or not, it’s clearly beneficial. “The romantic side of me would love to think that it could be possible for the O2 Brixton Academy to just be called Brixton Academy,” mused Ally. But in reality, it isn’t, and it's unlikely to stop you going, is it?

Purists like to talk tough when they’re sat staring at a computer screen; after all it’s always been very easy to slander the horrors of ‘the man’ from a behind keyboard, but wet dream fantasies of massive punk-like DIY scenes just springing up constantly don’t tie in with what’s happening on the ground. The financial gain that venues obtain via sponsorship undoubtedly leads to a constant flow of more shows. Like it or not, that helps to keep London’s live music scene relevant.

That being said, struggling venues taking on sponsorship deals do look almost sinister at times. The Garage’s sponsorship deal with Relentless and championing their gargantuan cans of liquid energy might seem a little poorly done, but there can be benefits for both parties. Since the deal, the venue has improved and the calibre of shows is on the up. Are we really that opposed to the influx of the corporate? Forget about it. We see advertising on a daily basis: on transport, television, the internet, magazine etc. so a few more posters at a venue hardly constitutes ants crashing the picnic. 

After all, we’ve been in bed with the corporate monster for years; you just hadn’t noticed it. As Jay points out, “All of the big venues are all linked anyway. It’s all run by two or three major companies like Mama Group, who have everything from the Borderline to the Barfly to the HMV Forum.” Though he's willing to accept the world as it is, it hasn’t stopped Jay yearning for an age of ideals: “I think corporate sponsorship definitely sterilises the experience, but I don’t want to be the one whining about it. If enough people cared we wouldn’t be in this position.”

Indeed we wouldn’t, and I think that the majority will certainly side with me when I say that I’d rather a venue brought in sponsorship than simply closed. If one thing’s been proved, it’s that resting on your laurels doesn’t get you anywhere. Constantly dreaming of the past is sweet but it's not reality: it's time to look to the future.

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Uckfield99