Independent Music Venues Fight to See Another Day

Save Our Stages Campaign seeks funding from music-lovers across the country

When the coronavirus pandemic brought the music industry to a standstill earlier this year, music venues and performance spaces were forced to close–leaving thousands of employees without work and a vague idea of when clubs would be allowed to reopen their doors.

Nationwide tours were quickly suspended, so artists took to social media to promote new releases, interact with fans, and perform concerts via livestream–cutting out the need for performance spaces and promoters altogether.

Without artists to book and tickets to sell, independent music venues have no income and are still expected to bear the massive cost of rent, taxes, and insurance. On top of that, venues must bear the burden of refunding tickets for the 100,000 shows that were canceled because of the coronavirus. 

These spaces are at risk of shutting down for good, proving a true loss to the history and culture of the cities these venues have helped flourish.

In response to the growing threat against their businesses, independent venues and promoters have banded together to form the National Independent Venue Association. The group, although just formed in April, has over 2,000 members across all fifty states.

“Music venues were the first to close and will be the last to open,” said NIVA President, Dayna Frank, in the organization’s first public statement. 

“It’s just brutal right now, and the future is predictable to no one. We can’t envision a world without these music venues, so we’ve created NIVA to fight for their ability to survive this shutdown, which we hear could go into 2021,” she continued.

The organization has partnered with large-scale lobbying firms in Washington DC in an effort to pressure Congress to provide more financial assistance to the live entertainment industry.

Introduced to the Senate floor in July, the Save Our Stages (SOS) Act, sponsored by Senator John Cornyn and Senator Amy Klobuchar, is one of the only pieces of legislation directly written to finance live entertainment venues and workers in response to the economic downturn caused by the pandemic.

The SOS Act would provide grants to eligible entertainment venues, producers, and talent representatives.

NIVA members are working day in and day out to prove to Congress how necessary their businesses are to their communities.  

Apart from their cultural impact, these entertainment hubs are critical to local economies. They help expand tourism and generate ample revenue for restaurants, hotels, and retail stores nearby.

The organization has also planned the “Save Our Stages” initiative–a collaboration with Youtube Music to generate awareness, advocacy, and donations for the NIVA Emergency Relief Fund. The collective funding source will directly support the country’s most vulnerable venues. 

The 3-day event, set to premiere on October 16, will stream live on NIVA’s Youtube channel and feature a litany of big names including YG, Marshmello, and Miley Cyrus. Each artist will perform live from legendary venues–Neumos, The Troubadour, and The Apollo Theater to name a few.

Without funding that can sustain the industry through the pandemic, the network of independent music venues will deplete one-by-one, leaving thousands of communities devoid of their true history.