🔗 Share this article

The artist has donated the entirety of his £25k Mercury Prize prize money to the trust for venues, which operates to save the United Kingdom's independent live music spots.

The star was given the award on 16 October as his latest record the album was chosen as the top album of the previous year.

The musician has decided to hand the money over to the MVT, in recognition of the crucial part local spots had in his early career.

"I personally wouldn't be doing this success if it wasn't for all the gigs I did around the region, and further afield, when I was beginning," said Sam Fender. "These locations are legendary, but they are in difficulty."

From early 2023 onward, over 150 of these spaces have permanently closed – roughly 16% of the total UK scene.

Over the past year, well-known musicians like Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the trust in its attempts to keep the scene afloat, by including a small levy to their admission fees, which benefits independent venues.

Sam Fender also joined in, generating more than £100,000 on his recent tour to help 38 grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.

These funds assisted spaces that were dealing with possible closure due to difficulties caused by floods, fire incidents and personal losses, as well as licensing issues, legal disputes and sound issues.

Additional spaces obtained monetary aid in improving facilities and technical equipment that helped musicians and concertgoers.

"The notion that money from shows in big venues helps the local stages, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has said.

The musician is far from the only musician to donate his Mercury Prize funds to good deeds.

When the band received the prize in the year 1996 for their record the album, frontman Jarvis Cocker stated that the act would donate their cash to the charity War Child.

That year, artist she split her prize across multiple organizations, like the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.

"I also contributed a thousand pounds to the center, to their classes, because I trained in gymnastics when I was a child and they required new equipment," the artist explained to the media.

Two years ago, Ezra Collective contributed their prize money to the local youth club that supported their act, alongside other grassroots music organisations.

Additionally winners that year M People contributed their winnings to a multiple sclerosis charity after a acquaintance was diagnosed the condition.

"Winning was ample," stated singer the singer. "The prize was the extra but we could do without the bonus, because we had the honor. So our success impacted another person's life."

Last week, the MVT revealed it had rescued two grassroots venues in that region, by transferring them to community ownership.

The first in the city and the second in Bristol were acquired under the Own Our Venues scheme, which is funded by Arts Council England and supporters who buy "stakes" in the buildings.