Stroud music venue wins £10,000 PRS for Music Back to Live Music Venue Prize

Arts and community venue The Sub Rooms is the winner for the South and East of England region.

PRS for Music, the UK-headquartered organisation that represents the rights of over 160,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers around the world, announces arts and community venue The Sub Rooms as the winner of its Back to Live Music Venue Prize of £10,000 for the South and East of England region.

The recovery-focussed nationwide competition was launched by PRS for Music to give independent live music venues across the UK the chance to win one of six prizes of up to £10,000 and inject much-needed financial support into venues who are dedicated to improving live music experiences in their local communities. So far, Chesterfield’s The County Music Bar (Midlands and North of England region), Carmarthen’s CWRW (pronounced koo-roo, for the Welsh region), Paisley’s The Bungalow (Scotland region) and Bangor’s The Goat’s Toe (Northern Ireland) have been announced as winners of the prize, alongside today’s venue winner for the South and East of England.

Hugh Phillimore (Director) and Nadja Singh (Fundraiser) of The Sub Rooms plan on using the £10,000 PRS for Music Back to Live Music Venue Prize to upgrade the venue’s sound and tech, while creating smaller, more accessible live music spaces for local up-and-coming musicians to run DJ sets, jams and intimate performances.

Located in the heart of Stroud, The Sub Rooms were saved by the local residents when the venue was set to be sold into private ownership. In 2018, ownership of the 189-year-old building was transferred to Stroud Town Council and Stroud Subscription Rooms Trust. It has since become the cultural hub of the area, for both the people of Gloucestershire and its visitors, providing an innovative programme of live music, theatre, visual arts, spoken word, exhibitions and workshops. 

This recovery-focussed nationwide competition was aimed at helping venues remain at the heart of the community – and we’re certainly doing that. We’re determined to serve our local community not only by providing a huge cross section of top-quality entertainment but also by encouraging the wealth of local talent that is out there. The PRS for Music Prize will help us develop better spaces for emerging talent – it will be a real leg up for local performers.

The Sub Rooms recent call out for local performers to send in material with a view to support headline acts are already being filled.

The devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the live music sector has been well-documented; between 2019 and 2021, PRS for Music saw an 84% decline in the number of live performance setlists reported to the organisation, falling from 124,000 in 2019, to 19,300 in 2021. 

The Sub Rooms in Stroud holds a long and interesting music history, with the Beatles performing there in the 1960s. We’re proud to support its ongoing work within the community with a Back to Live Music Venue Prize of £10,000, creating opportunities for Gloucestershire’s local and emerging talent to have a space where they can flex their creative flair.

The Sub Rooms vision to support and upskill the next generation of musicians, while intertwining the arts within the community it serves, caught the eyes of the judges. Congratulations to Hugh, Nadja and the team on its PRS for Music Back to Live Prize.

About PRS for Music

Here for music since 1914, PRS for Music is a world-leading music collective management organisation representing the rights of more than 175,000 talented songwriters, composers and music publishers. Redefining the global standard for music royalties, PRS for Music ensures songwriters and composers are paid whenever their musical compositions and songs are streamed, downloaded, broadcast, performed and played in public. 

For 110 years it has grown and protected the rights of the music creator community, paying out royalties with more accuracy, transparency and speed. In 2023, PRS for Music paid out £943.6m in royalties and collected a record £1.08 billion in revenues. prsformusic.com