Money where mouth is - in praise of Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons

We’ll not praise the music of Mumford & Sons as, being the crusty and decidedly non-hip that we are we’ve little knowledge of it. Praising Ben Lovett’s contribution or not to it is entirely beyond us. However, we do wish to praise Mr. Lovett himself, for he’s putting his money where his mouth is.

He identifies what he considers to be a problem in our current society. There is a lack of middle sized gig-spaces in which the up and coming - or possibly the established yet declining - can perform to adoring crowds. Therefore:

The UK’s music industry risks falling behind its European competitors unless action is taken to support smaller venues and nurture the talent developing at grassroots level, according to Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons.

Lovett, who is opening a new mid-sized venue in King’s Cross, central London, next February, said there were too few spaces where bands could develop, and that could lead to a slowdown in British talent compared to other European nations.

We have absolutely no idea whether his analysis is correct or not. Our point is that nor does anyone else. Most certainly not any group of cultural commissars nor anyone old enough to have been elected to office of any sort. The only people who do know are those who will be - might be perhaps - willing to shell out and buy a ticket to go to this new space.

That’s how society discovers what people actually want, people try it and see. That’s also the glory of this capitalist and free market system, that anyone gets to try near anything so as to try it and see.

Yes, there are certain desires expressed for changes in venue taxation and so on. But the thing to praise Mr. Lovett for is that he’s putting his own money, time and reputation in this trying it and seeing. Excellent, the very best of British to him too.