Study offers ideas to help Nashville music venues

Nashville's independent music venues are an endangered species, a new study says, and government and industry leaders must take an all-hands approach to ensure their survival.

Why it matters: Corporatization, soaring real estate costs and financial losses during the pandemic combined to push independent music venues to the brink.

• In the last year, studies and surveys of music industry stakeholders have been conducted to get a handle on what can be done to save independently owned concert venues.

Between the lines: The high-profile sale of Exit/In rock club in 2021 prompted then-Metro Councilmember Jeff Syracuse to sponsor legislation to fund the study . It was conducted by PennPraxis, an affiliate of the University of Pennsylvania.

• Independent venues are considered the core of the city's music industry. They're unique for offering bookings to up-and-coming artists as well as community programming, the study says.

The intrigue: The study calls on more government and private sector collaboration to assist independent venues.

• It suggests a coordination of city agencies to participate in the effort, with the Metro Office of Nightlife as the central department.
• The study also calls for the formation of an independent venue land trust, which could fund the preservation of endangered venues. Earlier this year, the legislature passed a law creating a live music venue fund .

By the numbers: One of the more interesting aspects of the PennPraxis study is that it crunched the numbers on the scope of Nashville's music venues.

• Nashville has 252 music spaces, including 112 that regularly present music as their primary business. Of those 112, 24 are independent venues not owned by or affiliated with larger corporations like Live Nation.

Fun fact: Nashville boasts more venues per person than other major music hubs. The city has over six times the "venue density" of Tokyo or New York, according to the study.

What we're watching: The PennPraxis study is the first document to offer solutions for preserving music venues in Nashville, but other reports are coming. This spring, several industry groups collaborated on a census that interviewed creatives and business people.

• The results of that survey are due in September.

Go deeper: Read the PennPraxis study results

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