Co-op Live to meet trust behind ticket tax idea

Campaigners want a £1 levy similar to that included in Billie Eilish's tour tickets

Bosses of the UK's largest indoor arena are to meet the charity behind calls for a £1 ticket tax on major shows to support grassroots venues.

Mark Davyd of the Music Venue Trust said the meeting with Co-op Live would happen once the delay-hit arena was up and running.

Fans recently spotted a £1 donation had been factored into the ticket price for Billie Eilish's show next year.

The money will go to a US-based project and and was not levied by Co-op Live.

Co-op Live representatives said they would discuss support for grassroots music

Mr Davyd said the irony of the added £1 donation "was not lost" on the trust given Co-Op Live's now-departed general manager previously dismissed the idea.

Mr Davyd said Eilish's "excellent initiative" showed there is "leeway" in the price of tickets for major shows to include a donation to "go back into the live music ecosystem".

"This is an important piece of work, but we need to see it on every show the Co-op Live doing and every ticket they sell," he told BBC Radio Manchester.

The charity he founded has argued a compulsory £1 per ticket levy for gigs with a capacity above 5,000 people would help support the next generation of musicians by boosting struggling local venues.

Mr Davyd said the trust would "very strongly" push the proposal at a meeting promised by Co-op Live once the 23,500-seater venue is operational.

Music promoter Dave Haslam said he saw Joy Division and Oasis first play at smaller venues

Writer and former DJ at the Hacienda Dave Haslam said smaller venues were an "important part of the fabric of towns and cities".

"There will be more closures if action isn't taken", he added.

"A major arena could be anywhere, whereas smaller venues are very much part of what makes a city, they are part of excitement, part of the psyche of the city and we need ways to support them financially."

The writer said the £1 donation in Eilish's tickets shows a "levy is possible".

"If they can do that for an artist, why not the local music infrastructure."

Co-op Live representatives have previously said the venue was working on local initiatives to support grassroots music and would donate £1m to the Co-op Foundation charity to support a range of causes.