British recording studios are pleading with the Government for a reprieve on business rates in next month’s Budget, warning they could be forced to silence their microphones due to crippling bills.
It comes as the property tax is set to be a focal point of the Budget, with businesses across the economy anxious to avoid further cost rises.
The Music Producers Guild, which represents 500 studios including the legendary Abbey Road where The Beatles and Lady Gaga have recorded, is calling for the sector to be put in the same banding as retail, hospitality and leisure properties, all eligible for business rates relief.
Currently they are classed as office spaces.
Star power: Lady Gaga has recorded at the legendary Abbey Road studio
The system is a ‘Wild West’ for studios, says guild boss Matt Taylor. He argues ‘no one goes to a venue without hearing an album first’, so high business rates on studios could see ‘the whole music ecosystem collapse’. Half of Britain’s recording studios are considering closure in the next year, according to a survey the guild carried out in November last year.
It would be a devastating blow to the UK’s music industry, the third-largest in the world, which last year contributed a record £7.6 billion to the British economy.
‘All the talent that is here will go to other places to record, so it will be British music in name but not made in Britain,’ Taylor said. Labour’s plans to reform business rates have been controversial as they will result in larger properties – including offices and warehouses but also hotels and ‘big box’ retailers – being hit by higher bills.
This will theoretically help ‘level the playing field’ for smaller firms, but companies with large properties have warned that such a move would make some shops unprofitable and lead to closures, which could then make town centres less attractive and have a knock-on effect on other businesses.
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