Sam Fender Pledges Mercury Prize Winnings For Grassroots Music Venues

Sam Fender has donated his £25,000 Mercury Prize winnings (roughly $32,853 USD) to the Music Venue Trust.

The donation will support the non-profit’s work protecting and securing the future of grassroots venues across the country.

“I wouldn’t be doing what I am doing today if it wasn’t for all the gigs I played around the North East, and beyond, when I was starting out,” said Sam Fender. “These venues are legendary, but they are struggling.”

Added Mark Davyd, CEO and founder of Music Venue Trust: “This is an incredible gesture by Sam, demonstrating once again that artists absolutely understand how vital grassroots music venues are to their careers and to their communities. We are honored to accept this donation and will ensure every penny of it makes a direct difference to the campaign to keep live music at the heart of our towns and cities.”

This isn’t the first money Fender has donated to MVT, either. His 2024 arena tour raised more than £100,000 (roughly $131,430 USD) that was distributed, by MVT via its Liveline Fund, to support 38 grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.

At the time, Fender said: “It’s brilliant to see that the money raised from the arena tour is making a real difference to so many venues. The grassroots circuit has been decimated over the last 10 years or so and the idea that money from shows in big venues supports the smaller venues, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just common sense.”

It was just last month that Fender won the coveted prize for his album People Watching, a project and subsequent honor that solidified his reputation as one of Britain’s most important songwriters.

The ceremony was held in Newcastle this year, the first time the event took place outside of London. Fender took home the honor over fellow nominees like Pulp, Wolf Alice, FKA twigs, and Fontaines D.C.

Buy Sam Fender’s Mercury Prize-winning People Watching on vinyl or CD now.