Sam Fender has given the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound award winnings to the MVT, which functions to preserve the UK's grassroots live music spots.
Fender was awarded the prize on October 16 as his latest record People Watching was chosen as the top album of the previous year.
Fender has decided to hand the money over to the MVT, in appreciation of the crucial part grassroots venues had in his beginning days.
"As an artist would not have achieved this success if it hadn't been for all the gigs I played around the region, and further afield, when I was beginning," said Sam Fender. "These spaces are iconic, but they are in difficulty."
Since the start of 2023, at least 150 of these spaces have permanently closed – roughly 16% of the whole industry in the UK.
In the last year, top acts such as Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Sheeran have all aided the MVT in its efforts to support the industry, by including a minor surcharge to their ticket costs, which supports local stages.
Fender also participated, raising more than £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to assist thirty-eight grassroots venues across Britain.
The money supported spaces that were confronting imminent closure due to challenges arising from flooding, fires and personal losses, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and neighbor objections.
Other venues received funding support in modernizing amenities and sound and lighting systems that positively impacted performers and audiences.
"The concept that funds from performances in big venues supports the smaller venues, where it kicks off for performers like me, is just logical," Fender has commented.
Fender is not the first artist to give his award funds to good deeds.
When the band won the award in 1996 for their record Different Class, lead singer Cocker declared that the band would donate their cash to the non-profit War Child.
That year, artist the artist shared her prize between multiple good causes, like the children's charity and a Sickle Cell charity.
"Additionally, I gave a £1,000 to Highgate Newtown, to their classes, because I trained in gymnastics when I was growing up and they required better apparatus," Ms Dynamite told outlets.
In recent years, they gave their prize money to the youth organization that supported their group, as well as other independent music bodies.
And the 1994 recipients M People gave their winnings to a multiple sclerosis charity after a acquaintance was diagnosed the disease.
"Winning was ample," remarked artist Heather Small. "The prize was the extra but we could do without the extra, because we had the honor. So our winning affected the lives of others."
Last week, the Music Venues Trust shared it had saved two small stages in south-east England, by transferring them to community ownership.
One venue in the city and The Croft in the city were bought under the public acquisition initiative, which is funded by Arts Council England and enthusiasts who buy "stakes" in the venues.
