Live music needs your help. Musicians can no longer play because it isn’t safe for them to do so in the venues, bars and clubs that host live music. Without venues, live music is doomed, and everyone in live music needs your help. When live music ceases, many, many people suffer. The fans, of course, but that includes everyone who’s in the live music “ecosystem,” including musicians, venues, music clubs, talent bookers, managers, publicists, and on and on. In fact, Live Nation, one of the largest promoters in the US and the world, has limited operations and has furloughed its entire southern workforce. And of course, there are hundreds of small businesses—bars, music clubs and other venues are not able to operate.
Since March 2020, the global Covid-19 pandemic forced the (live) music industry to completely shut down. Though many other industries suffered, several were able to “stay afloat” as they found ways to survive the storm, such as restaurants adjusting to take out orders only. In the live music sector, we do not have these options as our revenue is 100% generated from live performances. This includes booking agencies, management firms, artists, publicists, production workers, sound engineers, lighting directors, venues, tour crew, box office staff and so on. The National Independent Talent Organzation (NITO) created this graph to show how many people it takes to get music to fans.
The music industry was the first to close and will be the last to reopen. Did you know:
- Live events employ over 12 million people in the U.S.
- Live events contributes over $1 trillion annually to the US economy.
- 95% of companies have cut staff and/or wages.
- 77% of people in the live events industry have lost 100% of their income, including 97% of 1099 workers.
You can help keep live music alive by supporting the RESTART Act, and by asking your state legislators to support it. The National Independent Talent Organization (NITO) has created an automated form that will generate emails to your local Congress and Senate representatives.
Every voice counts, and the more people that write in increases our chances for Congress to understand how the live music landscape shapes the cultural fabric of our country and communities. We need help! We need financial assistance to feed the music industry and to save live music!
