Grassroots music making is the source of our music culture and sense of place. But it’s under threat from rising costs, venue closures, loss of accessible spaces, reduced income streams, changing audience habits, political decisions, and lack of funding and support. Please support our CrowdFund on Go Fund Me.
The cost of touring may have gone up 30-40% in recent times, but Musicians wages have either stayed the same, or gone down. Without affordable spaces and opportunities for artists at the grassroots level, we risk losing diverse voices, local culture, and the talent that will demonstrate future successes. By investing in grassroots music making we are investing in our own cultural future and well being. Are you in a position to help?
Let me explain
Grassroots music making sits in a fragile and vulnerable position in the music ecosystem. It has little or no financial security and without some form of external financial help, future talent may struggle to survive. It all started at this end with the idea to to provide a cultural outpost for musicians, writers and travellers in the arts. An Embassy for the Imagine Nation committed to inspiring and promoting Independent creativity. Iron Man Records has been involved with building a number of recording studios and rehearsal spaces in Birmingham and the current Rehearsal Space and Recording Studio, based in Hockley, Birmingham, is beginning to struggle just like any other.
To date I have used all the money I have generated myself from signing on, to signing off and working temp jobs, to working as a Musician, a music promoter, setting up and running Birmingham Music Network, working as a Music Tour Manager and sometimes a delivery van driver to finance the promotion of music at Grassroots Music Venues across the West Midlands (The Hare and Hounds, The Hibernian, Fallow and Firkin, Flapper and Firkin, The Moseley Arms, The Market Tavern, The Ship Ashore, The Ben Johnson, The Adam and Eve, The Jug of Ale, The Fighting Cocks, The Dark Horse, The Old Railway, and many others between 1992 and 2002). I set up Iron Man Records in 1996 which since then, has put out more than 45 music releases. You can listen to the Iron Man Records compilation on bandcamp here:
In 2020, the landlord decided to sell the building where our Rehearsal Space and Recording Studio of at least the last ten years had been based. We had four weeks to pull it all apart and move the materials into temporary storage.
We found a new building in 2021 and built a new Rehearsal Space and Recording Studio in Hockley, Birmingham. Our new location also happens to be in the same building where my old band used to rehearse when I was a student doing Geography at the University of Birmingham in the early 1990’s. But that’s another story.
To give you an idea of how much building a Rehearsal Space and Recording Studio costs, from June 2021 to August 2025 we have spent £20,804.23. That doesn’t include the estimated £3,500 spent on additional building materials, and the costs of construction paid for by friends and family who donated time, help and financial support to the project. It also doesn’t include the money kindly donated by Iron Man Records Patrons, without whose support, the Rehearsal space and Recording Studio may never have happened at all. And to put this into perspective, some of the releases on Iron Man Records cost upwards of £12,000 to make but generated less than 500 sales over a near 20 year period. Other releases on the label cost upwards of £15,000 to make happen. And at the same time, the same releases may have generated less than £100 from half a million streams online. So our rehearsal space and recording studio cost about two record release budgets. It costs money to make music, it costs money to release, promote and tour music, and it costs money if you dont manage to sell the music, because you still have to store the physical copies or pay the shipping costs for unsold stock to be returned. And whether you are touring or not, musicians need a space to write, rehearse, and record, and they need a place to store all their music equipment and instruments too. Musicians and those who support them are in financial trouble whatever happens. But anyway, let me not go off on one about the costs here.
Why am I asking if you are in a position to help grassroots music making?
Rising Costs and Shrinking income
Grassroots music venues, rehearsal spaces and community recording studios like ours are at risk of closure due to rising rent, energy costs and business rates. The Musicians who make use of our resources and are able to pay a monthly direct debit for access frequently come and go.
The musicians and artists we support often play shows for little or no pay, making it hard for individuals to keep a monthly direct debit going to pay for their rehearsals and recording costs. Too often the musicians we work with, or support, run out of money and have to wait two or three months before they can reinstate a basic direct debit. Some musicians can owe money for up to 8 or 9 months. We don’t kick them out, we have to wait until they are in a position to pay what they owe. Our cashflow can bit hit and miss depending on what the musicians are getting paid. And not all musicians are in a position to go out and play for money. Many of our musicians that use the rehearsal space are trying to get a new band together and are busy writing material to rehearse. Or they are at a local college or university and have no income at all. It is hard to ask someone for money each month when you know they are earning nothing from their music or their studies.
Public funding has been cut in many regions and in recent times I attended a number of workshops and webinars in the hope of applying for funding and support, only to discover that I was ineligible to apply as Iron Man Records was not a registered charity, was not a community interest company with at least three board members, and was not registered as a “not for profit” company. And all this when in all the years since its start in 1996, Iron Man Records has never turned a profit on anything ever. The only way it has survived this long is because I spend all the money I earn as an individual on sponsoring the losses of the record label. And I have done so because I have tried to give struggling artists, musicians and performers a chance to present their work to a wider audience for everyone to enjoy.
Loss of accessible spaces
Grassroots music relies on affordable, local spaces like the back room of a pub or cafe, social clubs, youth centers, small venues, church halls, abandoned buildings, empty shop units, school buildings during holiday time, warehouse spaces and so on. Once these spaces go, there’s nowhere for grassroots music making to happen. Some groups are able to rehearse at home or in a shared living space but once drumkits and guitar amps get involved, groups need a place to make noise without upsetting the neighbours.
Noise complaints, licensing regulations and property development have lead to a steady decline in spaces available for grassroots music making.
Diversity and inclusion is at risk
Without support, grassroots music making will always favour those who can afford to take unpaid time to develop. This limits the opportunities for people from marginalised backgrounds or of limited resources.
Community led projects can support under represented voices but are too often the first to lose their funding.
Cultural and Economic benefits
A world class music industry depends on talent emerging from grassroots music making within local communities. Birmingham in recent times has produced all sorts from Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Napalm Death, GBH, Doom and Godflesh to The Nightingales, Ocean Colour Scene and Katherine Priddy. To be honest, I moved to Birmingham in 1990 because some of my favourite bands had played at The Mermaid or Barrel Organ or had rehearsed or recorded at Rich Bitch in Selly Oak.
Grassroots music making generates cultural tourism and local economic activity. I’ve had people fly in from USA, Croatia, Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden and many other EU countries to see bands playing a one off gig in Birmingham. I’ve given a stage to bands from all over the world, and I’ve met people who have travelled from many different parts of the world too, some of which didnt speak english at all. But the music brought us together, a bunch of total strangers at 7pm but good friends by 11pm. To be clear, with a supportive venue manager, proper promotion, a good sound engineer, drinks on sale and a well rehearsed group or solo artist, anything is possible. But before anything happens at the grassroots music venue, someone has to write, rehearse and record their material. Unless they are a Jazz band or have lots of friends to invite.
Losing spaces for grassroots music making erodes the cultural identity of a place and reduces the export for potential for new music.
The Development gap
Record Labels, Management companies, Music Venues, Streaming Platforms, TV and Film, Festivals, advertisers and all sorts of hire companies from Van Hire to Backline, staging and event logistics to local transport and food outlets depend on Grassroots music making to generate income. When grassroots music making collapses, the gap between learning to make music and making some sort of basic living from it becomes too much for most people to bridge. Some people give up and get a job in advertising, PR or promotion. Some people despair and take their own life. The desire to make art and music, or work in the world of art and music is no joke. Try and remember that next time you tell an artist, musician or member of their travelling crew to “get a proper job.”
Where is all this going?
If you are in a position to help, I’d like to appeal to you directly. I have had to put a crowdfund together to raise the money to refurbish and carry out repairs to our Rehearsal Space and Recording Studio. Things like a new monitor screen for the computer, new cabling and software, computer repairs, a new door, giving the toilets a fresh coat of paint and a good clean, replacing the carpet on the stairs and building a storage cage for touring gear would be helpful. Our music equipment is constantly going down due to extremes of temperature in our spaces….freezing cold in winter, and boiling hot in summer doesn’t help. I’d like to look at better insulation and repair work to the windows and ceilings. The cost is beyond my own capability but I hope the crowdfund will help assemble some money to start the work with.
If you are in a position to help, please support the CrowdFund here: https://www.gofundme.com/help-rebuild-and-refurbish-our-embassy-for-independent-music or here: https://gofund.me/0baeebd1
The time has come for us to refurbish our rehearsal and recording studio, a vital space that has nurtured creativity in Birmingham. Our journey has been filled with challenges, including a forced relocation that led us to rebuild from the ground up. But, our desire to support grassroots music has not been stopped.
Today, our space is showing its age, running on outdated gear and equipment. We aspire to create a sanctuary for artists, upgrading our facilities to ensure high-quality recordings are accessible to everyone. Your contribution can help us achieve this —every donation counts and gets us closer to making essential improvements.
Please consider donating or sharing this campaign with your networks. Together, we can ensure that our studio remains a valuable hub for artists and creatives. Your support means the world to all of us.
Thank you for your kindness and generosity. United we stand. Music will find a way.
cheers
Mark at Iron Man Records
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