A post shared by Music Venue Trust (@musicvenuetrust)Today (October 4), the MVT also announced the first acquisition under its public ownership scheme.The #OwnOurVenues initiative was first announced in May, following the news that legendary gig spaces like North London’s Nambucca and Sheffield’s Leadmill were closing their doors or under threat, respectively.Having been backed by Ed Sheeran, the scheme aims to secure the long-term futures of such venues by directly tackling the issue of ownership.Earlier this month, it was reported that the UK is set to lose 10 per cent of its grassroots music venues in 2023.Last month, The Music Venue Trust have revealed to NME that 67 venues have closed so far this year, with 90 currently working with MVT’s Emergency Response. Roughly half of those are likely to close in 2023 – giving a total of around 100 grassroots music being lost from the UK in 2023; that’s 10 per cent of the number of independent gig spaces in the country.Speaking to NME about the MVT’s warning from earlier this year, that the entire live music industry was headed “over a cliff edge” without government action or without eight of the UK’s new large arenas to “contribute to the security of the wider music ecosystem by investing a percentage of every ticket they sell into the grassroots music ecosystem”, Davyd said: “There are more big concerts going on and people are paying more money for tickets than they ever have.”He continued: “This is the best year for live music in the UK in terms of gross receipts that there’s ever going to be.