[Harp-L] Live music...some figures to consider.
FJM wrote earlier that he lives in a college town and that it's live
music scene is fairly vibrant, diverse, and well-integrated into the
town's entertainment landscape.
I used to be able to say the same about the college town that I live
in, and while it's live music venue/shows per capita of the general
populations are indeed
well above average, far more diverse, and accessible to wider
audiences than most towns of the same size (or much larger).
College-towns have long been centers for live music bookings..the
school itself, ancillary concert venues, bars & clubs, and often the
cities themselves
organize fairly large scale music-centered festivals, weekly outdoor
concert series, music at the farmer's market twice a week, etc.
Many touring acts count on these towns to provide destination gigs,
or the very important linking gig. The Zoo Bar in Lincoln, NE, a 5
hour drive
west of Iowa City (which is 4 hours west of Chicago), has offered an
amazing list of acts on their way through to Denver/Boulder/Kansas City,
etc. Lawrence, KS; Columbia, MO; etc. Booking agents could draw a
fairly profitable constellation tour just by connecting the dots.
While this remains true, many of the ancillary clubs and venues that
also used to thrive are not doing so well.
And they especially don't do well with the youngest demographic.
By contrast, now that the drinking age is 21 and not 18 (again, not a
flame invitation), my college town home has four times
the number of bars than it did in the 1970's before the rise in legal
drinking age. Few, if any of them feature live music.
The largest, 'meat market' bars clearly serve a mostly underage-
illegal crowd. The entertainment isn't music, it's getting
shit faced. Binge drinking is the most popular form of entertainment
among the 18-24 year old age group.
The bars charge anywhere between $5 and $10 'cover' just to get in
the door. Yep. A $10 cover but no band.
Kids line up in droves. On an 'average weekend' (which is Thurs + Fri
+Sat), these bars see 2,000 people pass through
their doors, paying hefty cover charges for nothing more than the
chance to spend more on booze.
In case you're doing the math, that's anywhere from $10,000 to
$20,000 in cash, no receipt income,
every week. Multiply that by a conservative 30 weekends and the tax-
free, money laundered, palm-greasing
bottom line ought to impress anyone who is paying attention.
If a college town bar that is large enough to be a booking venue for
top notch acts can make $250,000 - $600,000
a year in tax-free cash, and not have to build a stage, hire sound
people, do publicity, or spend any time booking
bands, let alone paying them to play....why would they promote music?
Any number of us who came of age in the 70's tend to look upon the
drinking and drug use of the current youth set
with some trepidation, but also a dismissive, "Well, back in the day,
I partied pretty hard, too." And that would be true.
But the larger statistics of youth binge drinking and resultant
health, safety, and community impact consequences
say otherwise. Kids have much more money, far more access, and no
shortage of people willing to sell them large
quantities of booze, while promoting all of this as 'entertainment'.
Youth is supposed to be self-absorbed, self-indulgent, at least in
our consumer culture. It's their job.
What's changes is that there are billions to be made and those in the
business can make those billions
w/o having to provide live music in the bargain.
Part of the solution is to encourage your towns and cities to support
public venues for music...a weekly concert series at a park,
music at the farmer's market, the mall, bookstores, etc. And rather
than just seeing these as nontraditional venues for
the enterprising and ambitious musician, why not make it a more
sustainable, community-supported program.
We may be able to convince bar/venue owners that 'live music' will
help them make money.
That comes and goes. But it's getting to be a harder sell in many
places because the money says otherwise.
-Will
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