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The artist has handed over the full amount of his £25k honor cash to the MVT, which functions to protect the United Kingdom's independent live music spots.

Fender was awarded the prize on 16 October as his third album his work was declared the outstanding release of the previous year.

Fender has decided to hand the money over to the trust, in appreciation of the essential function small stages had in his beginning days.

"I would not have achieved this success if it hadn't been for all the performances I did around the area, and beyond, when I was starting out," stated the artist. "These spaces are iconic, but they are struggling."

Since the start of 2023, at least 150 of these locations have permanently closed – about 16% of the total UK scene.

Over the past year, major artists like Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the trust in its efforts to help venues survive, by including a minor surcharge to their admission fees, which supports independent venues.

Sam Fender also joined in, generating over £100k on his recent tour to help thirty-eight small stages across Britain.

The money supported locations that were confronting imminent closure due to difficulties stemming from water damage, fires and bereavements, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and sound issues.

Some locations obtained financial assistance in modernizing amenities and technical equipment that directly benefitted performers and audiences.

"The notion that money from performances in big venues helps the independent spots, where it begins for performers like me, is just common sense," Fender has commented.

He is far from the only musician to donate his honor funds to worthy causes.

In they received the trophy in 1996 for their release the album, lead singer the singer stated that the group would give their cash to the organization the charity.

During 2002, rapper and singer the artist divided her bounty across a few charities, like the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.

"Additionally, I donated a grand to the center, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they required better apparatus," Ms Dynamite explained to outlets.

In recent years, they gave their winnings to the local youth club that supported their group, alongside other local music groups.

And 1994 winners M People contributed their winnings to a charity for MS after a close contact was found to have the illness.

"The victory was quite enough," remarked vocalist the singer. "The money was the cherry on top but we didn't need the extra, because we had the cake. So our winning affected somebody else's life."

Recently, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had rescued several local spots in the South East, by transferring them to local control.

One venue in Southampton and the second in Bristol were bought under the Own Our Venues program, which is supported by the arts council and music fans who acquire "shares" in the venues.