Sam Fender has given the full amount of his twenty-five thousand pound award cash to the Music Venues Trust, which functions to protect the UK's independent music venues.
The star was given the award on mid-October as his latest record his work was chosen as the outstanding release of the past year.
The musician has opted to hand the money over to the MVT, in recognition of the crucial part local spots had in his initial steps.
"I personally would not have achieved my current career if it wasn't for all the shows I played around the area, and elsewhere, when I was starting out," said the artist. "These venues are renowned, but they are in difficulty."
Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these locations have permanently closed – approximately 16 percent of the whole industry in the UK.
In the last year, well-known musicians such as the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the MVT in its initiatives to keep the scene afloat, by including a small levy to their ticket prices, which goes to help smaller concert halls.
Sam Fender also joined in, generating in excess of £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to assist numerous small stages across Britain.
The donation assisted spaces that were confronting imminent closure due to difficulties stemming from floods, fires and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, court cases and noise complaints.
Additional spaces obtained funding support in modernizing facilities and gear that directly benefitted artists and fans.
"The concept that money from performances in big venues supports the independent spots, where it begins for artists like me, is just logical," Fender has stated.
The musician is far from the only musician to give his Mercury Prize winnings to good deeds.
In the band earned the trophy in 1996 for their record Different Class, frontman the singer announced that the group would donate their cash to the charity War Child.
In 2002, rapper and singer she divided her bounty among multiple organizations, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"And I donated a grand to the center, to their classes, because I trained in gymnastics when I was growing up and they required better apparatus," she explained to the media.
In recent years, Ezra Collective donated their winnings to the youth organization that nurtured their group, alongside other independent music bodies.
Also the 1994 recipients the group donated their prize to a MS organization after a acquaintance was identified with the disease.
"Winning was ample," remarked singer the singer. "The money was the bonus but we could do without the cherry, because we had the cake. So our success impacted the lives of others."
In the past week, the trust announced it had saved a couple of grassroots venues in the South East, by transferring them to community ownership.
The first in Southampton and The Croft in that location were acquired under the community ownership scheme, which is backed by the arts council and supporters who acquire "ownership units" in the venues.
