‘Last to reopen’: How local music clubs are trying to get COVID assistance from Congress
As businesses around Kentucky and the country slowly reopen amid the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, the future of live music venues looks increasingly precarious.
We’re not talking about arena and large theatres here, although they will have issues of their own to contend with as an unavoidable but as yet undetermined “new normal” takes effect. Addressed here are the smaller venues, the neighborhood clubs that operate as independent businesses and serve as homes for locally and regionally based artists as well as occasional national touring acts.
Getting them back to anything remotely resembling business as usual will take your help – specifically, your help to get help. Lexington, meet NIVA.
With a mission of “securing financial support to preserve the national ecosystem of independent venues and promoters,” NIVA is the National Independent Venue Association. A newly formed organization, it has already recruited over 1,300 venues and promoters in all 50 states. All of Lexington’s most visible music clubs – including Manchester Music Hall, The Burl and Cosmic Charlies – have become members. NIVA has established a clear mission in a climate where the work prognosis is bleak.
In short, NIVA hopes to convince Congress to provide national assistance to a grassroots industry that been shut down since mid-March. These venues won’t reopen soon, if they reopen at all.
“A survey was taken with NIVA and 90% of its membership say they will not make it through the year without some sort of meaningful federal support,” said Billy Hardison, Kentucky precinct captain for the lobby committee of NIVA and co-owner of the Louisville venue Headliners Music Hall and the concert promotion company Production Simple.
“That is going to change the landscape in a huge way. Every week, we’re adding more venues. The trickle down to all of this is so many other industries are dependent on us. The artists don’t have anywhere to play, the production companies don’t have any place to work with their gear, stage hands can’t work, liquor companies and beer companies don’t have us to sell their products, radio stations and newspapers don’t have the venues’ advertising. The recording industry is affected by us, too, as are the licensing groups – ASCAP, BMI, Sesac. If the bands are playing, we’re not paying our licensing fees because we don’t have any shows to report. Then there are the hotels and restaurants.
“We’re touting a couple of studies done in major markets that state for every dollar spent in an independent venue, it’s $12 spent in the community. So let’s adjust that to Kentucky and say $7. That’s still a lot.”
NIVA’s initial appeal to concert goers is for them to reach out to their congressman and Senators to provide federal assistance for locally run, independent music venues. There is more information as well as a form letter to assist in making that request at nivassoc.org/take-action. There other ways to help, as well.
“At the grassroots level, locally, for the venues that you love, support any ongoing gofundme campaigns for their staffs,” Hardison said. “Also, consider not asking for a refund for your ticket if a show is canceled or postponed. Try donating that money back to the venue. Lots of people are hurting. If that’s something you can give, that’s important. But on the broader campaign, the call of action is to reach out to your Senators and representatives and let them know you support this initiative to get us funded. It’s really going to take the federal government, and for the money the federal government passes down to the states and the states pass on to the cities, which has just happened in the last couple of weeks.
“These venues are the anchors of their communities. Apartment complexes, restaurants - a lot of them located where they are based on the location of these venues. That’s especially true in Kentucky with bourbon tourism. We are a destination location and the music venues are a big part of that. When people are deciding, ‘If we are going to Kentucky to see this bourbon trail, what else will be happening? What shows are going on?’ And, yeah, those shows may be in an arena. But these acts didn’t start there. Chris Stapleton and Sturgill (Simpson) and Tyler (Childers) didn’t start at Rupp. They came the clubs, which is also where the next generation of artists is going to come from. They’re going to play Cosmic Charlie’s. They’re going to play The Burl. They’re going to play Manchester Music Hall. And I may even be their promoter. We’re all pushing the same rock up the hill here.”
Another grim reality of the current COVID-19 climate is that many venues able to reopen probably won’t anytime soon, at least not in a way comparable to how they conducted business prior to the outbreak. Hardison said safety, social distancing and ultimately, liability concerns could delay many reopenings until well into next year.
“We were the first businesses to close and we’re going to be the last to reopen, which a lot of the industry believes won’t be until fall of 2021. It can’t happen until it’s agreed upon that the venues aren’t liable for someone getting sick. The ability to operate (with social distancing) at 25% will be really tough on the small venues because the national acts can’t afford to go play to 50 people in a room where they could potentially sellout at 200. At the bigger venues it won’t work, either. Can you imagine 650 people at the (Louisville) Palace spread from the front to the back all wearing masks? What kind of concert experience is that?
“We may have to accept some things as the new normal, but the live business is set up off a certain level of energy and a certain way of operating. With that said, I’ve heard from our lobbying committee about representatives in Congress that have called us back and have stated, ‘I just want you to know, you’re the only industry that’s really talked about safety.’ Well, we live in that environment every day anyway. Safety is always the top of the line for us, so we need to work together to come up with the best practice here. It’s going to beyond checking the temperature of somebody as they come through the door.
“Here’s the thing. We all do what we do because we love it. We want to get back to work, but we’ve got to do it safely and we’ve got to have support to get there.”