- For many independent music venues that are not corporate-backed, adjusting to inflation poses a particularly difficult challenge.
- While major venues have seen fans return to see big stars, some performance venues have not seen their businesses fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Live performance venues are struggling to keep ticket prices and concessions affordable as raw costs rise and cash-strapped consumers watch their budgets.
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It’s never been easier for small or independent music venues to make a profit. Now, with operating costs ballooning, some owners are struggling to keep ticket prices affordable for audiences and take a chance on lesser-known artists.
Last year saw music fans return to large stadiums to see sold-out performances by icons like Beyoncé or Taylor Swift, even as consumers cut back on their entertainment spending. But many smaller independent venues have yet to see business return to pre-pandemic levels, according to Stephen Parker, executive director of the National Independent Venue Association.
“If you’re a larger place, you’ll probably be in good shape post-pandemic,” he said. “But if you’re a smaller place, you see the business, you keep your head above water, but you also see that many of the things that larger organizations have at their disposal, which are economies of scale, are becoming harder.”
NIVA was founded in 2020 as a way to lobby for government relief while venues struggled to stay open during Covid lockdowns. It has been the driving force behind $16 billion in federal aid for the industry and is now focusing its efforts on other issues such as price gouging in the resale market.
The final challenge facing NIVA’s network of independent venues is protecting margins in the face of rising costs, Parker said.
First Avenue Productions, which operates several venues around Minnesota’s Twin Cities, has seen operating costs increase about 30% since before the Covid-19 pandemic, as everything from beer to ice to insurance has become more expensive, according to owner Dina Frank. .
“We have no institutional support, and we have limited resources,” said Frank, a founding member of NIVA and former board chairman. “Most people, you know, are owners, operators, floor sweepers, booking agents, marketers, light bulb changers, everything.”
Paul Rizzo, owner of the historic club The Bitter End in New York City, said that despite the increase in food and “all the other costs,” he has seen consumers spending less overall.
Part of that is a broad decline as Americans tighten their wallets, he said. But it also fits with a trend noted by some venue owners of younger generations of music fans drinking less than their older counterparts.
Some owners have suggested that legalizing marijuana in many markets could erode bar sales — a large portion of music venues’ revenue.
For Alisha Edmonson and Joe Laban, co-owners of Songbyrd Music House, a 250-capacity venue in Washington, D.C., compromising on prices is a constant challenge in an atmosphere where raw material costs are rising and consumer spending is less.
Laban said many fans expect higher-priced drinks at larger venues and stadiums but don’t have the same expectations at smaller venues.
“There’s this idea that you’re going to go to a small place and it should be like your little local pub, but that’s not the economics of the place,” Edmonson said. “We are providing this additional service that we have to find a way to pay for.”
All of this contributes to what Andre Berry, NIVA’s chairman, described as a “very difficult balancing act” of running a successful small venue.
Perry, who has worked in live music for 20 years now, said owners must figure out how to market different acts each night, decide whether to take risks with new performers, as well as continually adapt to their community as the economic landscape inevitably changes. . He serves as director of Hancher Hall, a performing arts theater at the University of Iowa.
Unlike some small businesses, the venue owners don’t sell the same thing every day, Berry said.
“You take a cultural practice and push it into the marketplace, and I think there’s some tension there. That doesn’t mean it’s bad or it’s broken, but we have to work hard to make it sustainable for all the people. The people involved.”
Many small venue owners are in it for the love of the music and the community, not necessarily to make a lot of money, said Cat Henry, executive director of the Live Music Association.
Henry’s organization serves venues with a capacity of less than 300 people by offering grants to start new programs or take on opportunities for new artists who don’t necessarily draw crowds.
“I hope that at the state level, at the private enterprise level, it will be recognized that this is not necessarily a business model, and that there is support that needs to be put in place for something that is such a big part of the American economy.” Culture,” Henry said.
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