🔗 Share this article Sam Fender gives £25,000 award winnings to independent music venues Sam Fender received the prestigious award in October in his hometown The artist has donated the complete sum of his £25k honor prize money to the trust for venues, which functions to save the United Kingdom's independent concert spaces. He was given the award on October 16 as his third album People Watching was chosen as the top album of the past year. The musician has opted to hand the money over to the MVT, in recognition of the crucial part grassroots venues had in his initial steps. "I couldn't be pursuing what I am doing today if it wasn't for all the shows I played around the area, and beyond, when I was starting out," remarked Sam Fender. "These locations are renowned, but they are in difficulty." Beginning in 2023, more than 150 of these locations have permanently closed – roughly 16% of the whole industry in the UK. Recently, major artists like Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all supported the Music Venues Trust in its efforts to help venues survive, by including a small levy to their admission fees, which goes to help local stages. Fender also participated, collecting over £100k on his live tour to assist 38 grassroots venues across the UK. These funds supported locations that were facing imminent closure due to challenges stemming from flooding, fires and bereavements, as well as permit problems, legal disputes and sound issues. Additional spaces received monetary aid in upgrading infrastructure and technical equipment that helped musicians and concertgoers. "The notion that revenue from shows in major spaces supports the smaller venues, where it begins for musicians like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has said. The group are among the artists who donated their award prize money to charity He is not the first artist to give his honor funds to good deeds. Back when Pulp received the trophy in the mid-90s for their album the album, lead singer Cocker announced that the band would give their cash to the organization War Child. In 2002, rapper and singer she split her award across a few organizations, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity. "I also gave a £1,000 to Highgate Newtown, to their classes, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they required better apparatus," the artist explained to the media. In recent years, they donated their funds to the local youth club that developed their act, alongside other grassroots music organisations. Also winners that year the group donated their award to a multiple sclerosis charity after a friend was diagnosed the disease. "The victory was ample," remarked vocalist Small. "The cash was the cherry on top but we didn't need the cherry, because we had the cake. So our victory impacted another person's life." Last week, the Music Venues Trust shared it had protected several small stages in that region, by placing them under local control. The first in that area and the other in Bristol were purchased under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is backed by a national body and supporters who acquire "ownership units" in the venues.