According to NPR, 90 percent of independent music venues will close permanently by the end of 2020.
It’s a somber statistic for people like Steve Chilton, who owns The Rebel Lounge in Phoenix.
“We closed on March 15 and haven’t really made a dollar in revenue since then,” he says. “It’s going to be months and months before we reopen. It might be until next summer.”
The building that houses The Rebel Lounge has a long history of live music. It formerly housed music mainstay The Mason Jar, a venue that was pivotal in the formative years of the Phoenix music scene – rock legends from Metallica to Nirvana graced the small stage in the ‘80s and ‘90s before they made it big. The Mason Jar closed in 2005 and reopened as Rebel in 2015, which fosters a similar sense of community for indie music acts.
“We book up-and-coming bands, local artists, developing artists, bands that are on their first tour,” Chilton says. “That’s kind of the role we play, being that stage that people play for the first time.”
Chilton says many local venues are on their last legs and struggling to survive in the long-term.
Phoenix-based startup Musicshed is hoping to change that. Musicshed is an online platform that helps musicians better monetize their content.
“It started out of necessity and in response to the lack of money that’s made in royalties from streaming,” says Dabi Adeyemi, Musicshed’s founder and CEO. “I didn’t necessarily have venues in mind when I launched Musicshed, but it makes sense because they kind of fit in the same exact boat with all the other music creators.”
Adeyemi then had the idea to put together a fundraiser for Phoenix music venues – but had to figure out how to deliver it digitally rather than hosting a physical event.
“The idea was to create an event around raising some funds to help [venues] through this time and bring not only some awareness and education, but also some online entertainment,” he says.
So, he came up with Venuefest, an online music festival featuring Arizona artists and local music venues. The performances were originally planned to take place at different venues around Phoenix (sans fans), but they’re changing the format due to the dire situation venues are currently facing.
“Venues had to shut down and can’t open up even for a day because the cost just to turn on the air is not affordable for some,” Adeyemi says.
Instead, Adeyemi and his team are going to conduct interviews with the venue owners virtually and record the performances off-site. Each video features a different artist and venue and is donation-based to view.
“We want to feature as many people as possible. The very last thing we want to happen is that this thing is finally over and we’re like, ‘Let’s go celebrate,’ and there’s no venues to go celebrate in,” Adeyemi says. “That’s the nightmare that we’re trying to avoid, so if there’s anything that we can do, we want to do it.”
Chilton has the same mentality. In fact, he is spearheading his own initiative to protect venues across Arizona and beyond. He is vice president of the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), a new organization dedicated to protecting indie venues nationwide.
“Immediately, we saw that it was going to be a long-term problem that’s going to need a big solution,” Chilton explains. “A bunch of venues from across the country got together and started this organization to start lobbying congress for aid because going 12 months with zero revenue and high overhead – no business can sustain that. It’s going to be life or death if these venues don’t get aid.”
NIVA now has nearly 3,000 members across the country comprised of venue owners, promoters and festivals. The association started a campaign called Save Our Stages to call attention to the current issues in the music industry. Through its website, NIVA has sent more than 1.8 million emails to congress asking for help and proposed the Save Our Stages Act, a grant program that would provide independent venues with financial relief.
Two months ago, NIVA sent a letter to congress that was signed by nearly 600 artists, including big acts like Coldplay, Foo Fighters and Lady Gaga.
“Now we’ve got this legislation we’re pushing that hopefully gets included in the next bill,” Chilton says. “If that doesn’t happen, I don’t know how any of these venues are going to survive.”
Those who wish to support can visit saveourstages.com, where there is a simple form you can fill out and send to congress. Chilton also suggests supporting venues directly by purchasing their merch online or donating to crowdfunding campaigns.
“We’re all closed to protect the public,” he says. “It’s about protecting the public’s health and we need the public to help us survive this, as well.”
He adds that reopening a venue has a lot more obstacles than resuming operations at a bar or restaurant. Other establishments can limit capacity, extend patios, spread out tables and enforce wearing a mask.
“You can’t ask a band to play for 20 percent of the room. The artists don’t want to go play to an empty room. The whole point of going to a concert is socializing with your friends and singing along to your favorite band and talking to strangers,” Chilton says. “When you add the social distancing, it just doesn’t work because it defeats the entire point of a lot of these events. No one wants to go to a dance club and not dance.”
When the Musicshed team interviewed Chilton, they chatted about The Mason Jar’s pivotal role in putting Phoenix on the map and the importance of providing a platform for independent artists to find their footing in the music scene.
“It’s such an integral piece to the music industry as a whole because if that doesn’t happen, those artists don’t get that exposure that they need to get to the next level, then they’re not on these big tours,” Adeyemi says. “They’re not able to headline festivals. They’re not able to be on the radio or sign a deal with a major label. They’re not able to get on streaming platforms or playlists.”
Live shows also affect the local economy – attending a concert might mean taking public transportation to the venue, eating out before or after or getting a hotel or Airbnb if you’re traveling to a different town for the show.
“These events, they really propel so much,” Adeyemi says. “There are so many different aspects that venues are impacting.”
The Phoenix music scene is relatively young compared to more established cities that have signature sounds, such as Atlanta, Nashville and New York. But Phoenix’s nascent nature is also its secret weapon, Adeyemi says.
“I think what makes Phoenix unique is the diversity and the youngness,” Adeyemi says. “We’re still growing and we’re expanding and we’re flexible, willing to try new things.”
He hopes that Valley venues will weather the storm and come back stronger when it is safe to put on shows again.
“Even if it’s just a temporary solution. Even if this gives them three, six, nine more months of life, maybe that’s enough time that they need for congress to pass the federal funding that they need,“ he adds. “Things can kind of build from there. I think every little bit can absolutely help.”
