Saving Small Music Venues

How COVID-19 has affected local music venues and how you can help

by Alec Kissoondyal

- To support local venues during the COVID-19 pandemic, please visit saveourstages.com and write a letter for legislators to consider independent venues for the next COVID relief bill. The process only takes 30 seconds to complete.

- To directly support the High Dive, go to highdivegainesville.com to help raise funds and to learn more.

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly changed daily life as we know it.

Small businesses have suffered heavily from the changes brought about by the virus, especially independent music venues such as Gainesville's High Dive.

The pandemic has forced many artists to cancel tours and performances. Additionally, restrictions that limit the number of people allowed to gather in public places have prevented live-music venues from earning money. These factors have resulted in over two months of negative revenue for businesses like the High Dive, which are in danger of closing if a solution is not found.

Independent venues provide artists with the opportunity to express themselves in an environment where on-stage performances take priority.

Pat Lavery, High Dive's facility and events manager, explained why independent venues are so important to artists in an interview conducted via e-mail.

"For artists, venues like High Dive are a rare experience to perform in an environment where the crowd is there primarily to experience the show, and not simply to hang out with the music or show in the background," he says.

"They get to play on a big stage with a professional sound system and really showcase themselves. We bring in large touring bands to town that have never played here - or wouldn't otherwise - and we give the local artists an opportunity to open for those artists. This is how bands increase their fan bases and make contacts with the real music industry. Venues like High Dive are stepping stones for a career in the music business. If you can sell out High Dive, you will be seriously considered by labels, management, booking agents, and large tours."

Independent venues do not only provide more opportunities for artists. They are an important economic cornerstone of the community.

"Venues like High Dive are the epicenter of local cultural communities and neighborhood commerce," Lavery says.

"Economically, a night out to see a show at High Dive is usually preceded by dinner at a nearby restaurant and followed by last call drinks at a neighbor bar. A recent study showed that for every $1 in ticket revenue our venues sell, $12 is spent at adjacent businesses. And we are generating this income 3-7 nights a week with hundreds of concert goers. We are the catalyst for getting people off their couch and bringing them downtown, where they see and participate in everything else that downtown offers."

The High Dive is one of many venues across the country in danger of being shut down if the situation fails to improve, which could have a largely negative impact on both artists and the community at large, a grim possibility that isn't lost on Lavery.

"Without independent venues, the bands would only have the choice to play in passive music venues where the primary focus is on dance nights, karaoke and being a restaurant," Lavery says.

"These kinds of venues, while often adequate, by their nature do not allow artists to take chances and really grow as artists because the owners are primarily interested in them retaining their existing clientele and not bringing their fans to solely experience what they want to communicate."

"The other very strong possibility is that large national and global corporations will take over shuttered independent venues and bring more of a stale "Walmart" type of approach to live music and culture where all decisions are based on pleasing stockholders and not fans and artists. This will lead to much higher ticket prices for fans, less choices, and frankly a boring fucking existence for those who love live music."

"A third, even more frightening prospect is independent venues being bulldozed and replaced with hotels, apartments and chain restaurants."

Despite the dire circumstances, there are still ways for local venues to survive the current situation, but they require a massive amount of help and support from the community.

One way to help these venues is to go to saveourstages.com and write a letter to legislators to consider independent venues for the next COVID relief bill. The letter writing process only takes 30 seconds to complete. So far, 350,000 letters out of the 1 million letter goal have been submitted.

Another way to help is to express to local officials that a portion of money received from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act should be spent on preserving cultural and entertainment venues in the community.

People can directly support the High Dive by contributing to its fundraisers.

"At High Dive, we have a number of fundraisers going including T-Shirt sales, a GoFundMe which we split with staff, Pizza Party alcohol and pizza delivery, Season Passes, Gift Cards and more," Lavery says. "They are all linked on the front page of our website at highdivegainesville.com. Thank you to everyone who is supporting our cause and giving us hope of re-opening."