Bands are skipping many more towns and cities on tour

The Music Venue Trust is also calling for a £1 levy on all arena and stadium concerts to support grassroots venues.

Earlier this year, a House of Commons select committee said that if the music industry could not reach an agreement to introduce such a subsidy by September, the government should make it a legal requirement.

That deadline has now passed, and the Live trade body is in the process of establishing a trust to distribute funds, but Mr Collins said reaching an agreement within the industry has been “complicated”.

“There are differences of view across the sector about the legality and viability of a standard scheme,” he said.

In the meantime, he called for more artists to follow another initiative taken by Coldplay, who will donate 10% of the proceeds from their Wembley and Hull shows to the Music Venue Trust.

Such a scheme already exists on a local level in Halifax, where ticket sales for The Piece Hall, an outdoor venue that can hold up to 6,000 people, help to subsidise five other, smaller venues.

In the first year, each of those venues is set to receive at least £6,500 from the proceeds, which they intend to use on modernising their facilities.

Nandy told the conference that the government is “deeply concerned about the closure of live music venues and the huge challenges that face existing venues right now”, and said the issue is “absolutely at the top of our agenda”.

She said she wanted to make it easier to turn empty buildings into community-owned venues, among other initiatives to improve access to music education and instruments.

She didn’t mention the ticket levy, but a spokesperson for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: “We are encouraged to see the music industry exploring a voluntary levy to support talented musicians throughout their careers, from grassroots to the main stage.”