Melis82 | Istock | Getty Images
It has never been easy for small or independent music venues to show a profit. Now, with inflated operating costs, some owners are struggling to maintain ticket prices inexpensive for audiences and take possibilities on lesser-known artists.
The past 12 months has seen music fans roaring back to large stadiums to see sold-out shows for icons corresponding to Beyoncé or Taylor Swift, whilst consumers cut down on spending for leisure activities. But many smaller, independent venues have yet to see business return to pre-pandemic levels, in line with Stephen Parker, executive director of the National Independent Venue Association.
“In the event you are a bigger venue, you are probably doing quite well post-pandemic,” he said. “But should you were a smaller venue, you might be seeing business, and also you’re keeping your head above water, but you are also seeing that lots of the things that larger organizations have at their disposal, which is economies of scale, is becoming harder.”
NIVA was founded in 2020 as a method to lobby for presidency relief while venues struggled to remain open through Covid lockdowns. It was a driving force behind $16 billion in federal aid to the industry and now focuses its efforts on other issues corresponding to price gouging within the resell market.
The most recent challenge facing NIVA’s network of independent venues, Parker said, is protecting margins within the face of upper costs.
First Avenue Productions, which operates several venues around Minnesota’s Twin Cities, has seen operating costs increase nearly 30% since before the Covid-19 pandemic, with all the pieces from beer to ice to insurance becoming pricier, in line with owner Dayna Frank.
“We do not have corporate backstops, we’ve limited resources,” said Frank, a founding member of NIVA and former board president. “Most folk are, you recognize, owner, operator, floor sweeper, booker, marketer, light bulb changer, all the pieces.”
No bourbon, no scotch, no beer
Paul Rizzo, owner of Latest York City’s historic club The Bitter End, said that while food and “every other cost” has increased, he has seen consumers spending less on the whole.
A part of that could be a broad pullback as American tighten their wallets, he said. Nevertheless it also suits a trend cited by some venue owners of younger generations of music fans drinking lower than their older counterparts.
Some owners suggested the legalization of marijuana in lots of markets could also be eating into bar sales — a significant slice of revenue for music venues.
For Alisha Edmonson and Joe Lapan, co-owners of Songbyrd Music House, a 250 people capability venue in Washington, D.C., it’s an ongoing challenge to cost concessions in an environment where raw costs are rising and consumers are spending less.
Lapan said many fans expect higher-priced drinks at larger venues and stadiums but do not have the identical expectations at small venues.
“There’s this concept that you’ll a small venue and it ought to be like your small local bar, but that is not the economics of a venue,” Edmonson said. “We’re providing this extra service that we’ve to search out a method to pay for.”
Fighting for the correct to party
All of it contributes to what NIVA Board President Andre Perry describes as a “very difficult balancing act” to run a successful small venue.
Owners must determine market different acts every night, resolve whether to take risks on newer performers, in addition to continually adapt to their community because the economic landscape inevitably changes, said Perry, who has worked in live music for 20 years and now serves because the director of the Hancher Auditorium, a performing arts theater on the University of Iowa.
Unlike some small businesses, venue owners will not be selling the identical thing daily, Perry said.
“You take a cultural practice and pushing it into the marketplace, and I believe there’s some tension there. Doesn’t suggest it’s bad or that it’s broken, it’s just, we got to actually work hard to make it sustainable for all of the people involved.”
Many house owners of small venues are within the business for the love of music and community, not necessarily to make loads of money, said Cat Henry, executive director of the Live Music Society.
Henry’s organization serves venues of under 300 capability by providing grants to begin recent programs or take possibilities on newer artists that will not necessarily draw crowds.
“I hope that on the state level, on the private foundation level, it should be recognized that this isn’t necessarily a business model, that there are supports that have to be put in place to ensure that something that could be a huge a part of American culture,” Henry said.Â
Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO:
