As Congress leaves for recess without a Covid-19 relief bill that would've crucially helped live music industry, venue owners, promoters and their employees are in peril
, introduced by Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, would have specifically provided six months of financial support to independent venue operators, promoters and talent reps.
“While Congress is playing politics, Americans and American small businesses are suffering,” says Audrey Fix Schaefer, the head of communications for several Washington D.C.-area venues and a representative for NIVA. “This isn’t a game, we need help. We need Congress to step up now and come to a deal so our country can get through this. It’s excruciating. So many venues are on the brink of closing and making them wait for assistance could do them in.
Without any kind of aid, many independent venues and talent businesses are in danger of shutting down completely, which would devastate a crucial sector of the live music ecosystem and open up the door to monopolization. “If a promoter only has three options of agents to reach out to, that can be dangerous,” says Nadia Prescher, co-founder of the booking and management agency Madison House, and a founding member of NITO. “That can spike ticket prices, or force artists into venues they don’t want to play. Once you’re in a monopoly scenario, that can honestly change quite a bit of the dynamics. And it can take away freedoms that people don’t even realize they have right now.
Hank Sacks, a booking agent at Partisan Arts and co-founder of NITO, emphasizes just how dire the situation is: “Concert venues have revitalized neighborhoods in American cities, and if they close and there’s a condominium building that’s put up in their place, the venues aren’t coming back,” he says. “Cultural institutions that are some of the most important places to all of us — where memories are made, where we make friends, where we see our bands, gather together — they’re gonna be gone.
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