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Sam Fender has donated the complete sum of his £25,000 Mercury Prize winnings to the MVT, which functions to preserve the Britain's small live music spots.

The star was given the award on October 16 as his latest record People Watching was named the outstanding release of the previous year.

Fender has chosen to donate the funds to the Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the essential function local spots played in his initial steps.

"I wouldn't be doing my current career if it wasn't for all the shows I played around the area, and elsewhere, when I was beginning," remarked Sam Fender. "These locations are iconic, but they are facing challenges."

Since the start of 2023, more than 150 of these venues have shut down – about 16 percent of the whole industry in the UK.

Recently, top acts such as the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all aided the MVT in its efforts to help venues survive, by adding a small levy to their admission fees, which benefits local stages.

Sam Fender also participated, raising in excess of £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to support thirty-eight small stages across the UK.

The donation supported locations that were confronting possible closure due to challenges caused by flooding, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, legal disputes and neighbor objections.

Additional spaces received monetary aid in upgrading infrastructure and gear that helped artists and concertgoers.

"The concept that money from shows in major spaces supports the smaller venues, where it kicks off for performers like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has said.

Fender is far from the only musician to donate his Mercury Prize funds to good deeds.

Back when the band earned the prize in 1996 for their release Different Class, vocalist Jarvis Cocker declared that the band would contribute their prize money to the non-profit the charity.

During 2002, artist she divided her bounty among multiple good causes, such as the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.

"Additionally, I contributed a grand to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics program, because I did gymnastics when I was a child and they required new equipment," she told outlets.

Previously, Ezra Collective gave their prize money to the local youth club that supported their act, alongside other local music groups.

Also winners that year the group donated their prize to a multiple sclerosis charity after a close contact was diagnosed the disease.

"Receiving the award was quite enough," said singer Heather Small. "The cash was the extra but we didn't require the bonus, because we had the cake. So our success touched the lives of others."

Last week, the trust announced it had rescued several small stages in south-east England, by placing them under local control.

The Joiners in the city and the other in that location were purchased under the public acquisition scheme, which is supported by Arts Council England and supporters who purchase "ownership units" in the buildings.