SWINGING OPEN THE DOORS

from Nashville Post Fall 2021

by FW Publishing

FUTURE FOCUS

FirstBank Amphitheater

A slew of new venues adds a wrinkle to the live music business’ attempts to recover from the pandemic

BY MEGAN SELING

ead through The Nashville Area

R Chamber of Commerce’s 2020 Music Industry Report and one word will come to mind: bleak.

In 2019 — when “Corona” was just the name of a beer people drank on the beach — Nashville’s music industry was on the latest leg of a years-long upswing. According to the study, which included interviews with more than 100 experts and surveys of more than 2,500 people, “Nashville is third in the nation in terms of jobs in the music industry behind Los Angeles and New York” and was ranked “first for net job growth and growth rate” from 2009 to 2019.

Then came COVID-19 and the global pandemic — with its quarantines, lockdowns and social distancing requirements — delivered a near-fatal blow to touring and live music, the most profitable branch of the music industry.

Musicians quickly adapted by performing virtual concerts: The Music Industry Report noted that “while 83.9 percent of music creators surveyed did not perform any livestream concerts between March and April of 2019, 82.8 percent of music creators performed at least one livestream concert” in the same period of time in 2020. Similarly, several local venues pivoted their programming to stay afloat. The 5 Spot in East Nashville converted its showroom into a makeshift video studio, selling tickets to more than 100 virtual concerts. Others launched fundraising campaigns.

Financially, these efforts amounted to barely a drop in the bucket. Nashville’s independent music venues reported an average of 90 percent revenue loss since March 15, 2020, which caused them to lay off an average 89.5 percent of their employees. In December, music industry publication Pollstar reported that the global live music industry lost an estimated $30 billion in 2020.

One wouldn’t easily guess Nashville’s live music industry is struggling as of late, though. On the surface, clubs and venues are reopening, both local and national bands are beginning to take the stages and fans are showing up. In July, The Black Crowes performed to a sold-out crowd at Ascend Amphitheater. Just days later, Luke Bryan performed to a sold-out Bridgestone Arena. Garth Brooks sold more than 70,000 tickets to a scheduled performance at Nissan Stadium, though the concert was first postponed by a strong storm and ultimately canceled due to rising COVID concerns.

Another reason to be upbeat about the future: As some smaller, independent venues attempt to claw their way out 2020’s hole, Music City is experiencing the beginning stages of a venue boom. At least half a dozen new live music venues have either recently opened or been announced to open within the next couple of years. In August, the FirstBank Amphitheater in Franklin hosted its first concert. The outdoor venue, housed in a former rock quarry on Franklin’s southern fringe, has a 7,500-seat capacity and has landed both local and touring artists such as Greta Van Fleet, Maren Morris and Counting Crows. Much closer to downtown Nashville, Brooklyn Bowl

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also officially opened this summer across the street from First Horizon Park. The 1,200-capacity venue and bowling alley was originally slated to open in 2020 and hosted several livestream performances before welcoming audiences in June. Country musician Kip Moore and DJ duo Sparkle City Disco performed sold-out shows in June and July, respectively. This October, Eastside Bowl will open its doors to the public in Madison. In addition to 16 bowling lanes, the 32,000-square-foot space will be home to a 750-person music venue called The Wash at Eastside Bowl. About five months later, in March, The Roots Barn will open down the street in Madison. The 600-capacity venue will be the permanent home of the weekly Music City Roots radio show and webcast and be a new option for artists eyeing more intimate shows. Also next spring, Nashville SC’s stadium at The Fairgrounds Nashville — it will be the largest soccer-specific stadium in the country — will open its doors. Club officials claim on their website that they’ll be able to host 27,000 music fans for concerts, rivaling the 20,000 seats at Bridgestone Arena and — given the venue’s surrounding infrastructure — PARENT COFFEE & TOURS EVERY THURSDAY @ 10 A.M. 4001 HARDING ROAD NASHVILLE, TN 37205 PARENT COFFEE & TOURS EVERY THURSDAY @ 10 A.M. 4001 HARDING ROAD NASHVILLE, TN 37205 WWW.MONTGOMERYBELL.EDU PARENT COFFEE & TOURS EVERY THURSDAY @ 10 A.M. 4001 HARDING ROAD NASHVILLE, TN 37205 WWW.MONTGOMERYBELL.EDU ®EVERY THURSDAY @ 10 A.M. 4001 HARDING ROAD NASHVILLE, TN 37205 WWW.MONTGOMERYBELL.EDUPARENT COFFEE & TOURS EVERY THURSDAY @ 10 A.M. 4001 HARDING ROAD NASHVILLE, TN 37205 OFFEE & TOURS HURSDAY @ 10 A.M. 4001 HARDING ROAD ASHVILLE, TN 37205 PARENT COFFEE & TOURS EVERY THURSDAY @ 10 A.M. 4001 HARDING ROAD NASHVILLE, TN 37205 WWW.MONTGOMERYBELL.EDU

Brooklyn Bowl Nashville

UP TO CAPACITY

Middle Tennessee’s live music venue inventory is growing with the addition of properties near Nashville’s core and in Franklin. Here’s a look at some properties’ concert attendance limits.

Nissan Stadium Nashville SC stadium Bridgestone Arena FirstBank Amphitheater Ascend Amphitheater Ryman Auditorium Brooklyn Bowl Nashville The Roots Barn 70,000+* 27,000** 20,000 7,500 6,800 2,362 1,200 600

* Number of tickets sold to Garth Brooks’ postponed show this summer ** Opening May 2022

staking their claim as a regional destination for touring festivals. And looking further ahead, developers of Nashville Yards said this summer they will partner with entertainment industry giant AEG on a 4,000-capacity music venue expected to open in 2024.

The building boom prompts the questions: Is there room for all this growth, especially as the industry is still reeling from the shock of the pandemic? Are these venues adding more vibrant options to Music City and growing the pie? Or are they creating competition for established venues just beginning to bounce back?

“The city deserves that type of diversity and experience,” says Eric Holt, assistant professor of music business at Belmont University and managing partner of local booking company The Lovenoise Group. Lovenoise has been booking and promoting shows in Nashville for 18 years, including at City Winery, Ascend and the Schermerhorn Symphony Center.

“I think the city will benefit greatly because, even though the city has grown, we still are not a top-tier market for concerts,” Holt adds. “We still vary and waver when it comes to being a top-tier concert market. You need those different buildings. It brings a different level, a different vibe and a different experience than what’s here right now. I always appreciate the growth and I think the city can sustain that.”

Holt cites Los Angeles, New York and Atlanta as the cities Nashville can’t yet compete with, but he also notes that where new venues are being built is as important as when and why. Looking at a map of Nashville’s more than 150 live music venues, unsurprisingly, the majority of them are downtown. There are around 10 in East Nashville, including Nissan Stadium, and even fewer to both the north and south of downtown.

Many of the new additions — save for The Roots Barn and Eastside Bowl about seven miles northeast of Lower Broadway — will be dropped in the middle of an already saturated part of Nashville. While there may not be much physical distance between venues, there are wide

gaps in programming. Holt, who, as a promoter, works primarily with Black artists in a variety of genres, points out how the venue boom could help address Nashville’s lack of diversity. According to the chamber’s Music Industry Report, only 8 percent of music industry professionals in Nashville are Black or African American. That disparity extends to the musicians and artists being booked, too, and addressing that lack of diversity is one way this current growth spurt could avoid oversaturation. “The No. 1 consumed genre of music in the last three, four years has been R&B and hiphop,” Holt says. “So you’re in Music City and you only have one hip-hop show at Bridgestone a year. You’re not following the trend of the country. I think as long as the powers that be book these venues with the concept of really catering to not just one genre but making it diverse, I think that will help our city move forward. “I think Nashville has a great opportunity,” ai162992510623_Southeast Venture_half page BOOM 2021 ad.pdf 1 8/25/2021 3:58:27 PM he adds. “Hopefully, we’ll see it through.”