New Nashville documentary profiles struggles of independent music venues

A new documentary chronicling the historic rock club Exit/In struggling to survive after the pandemic debuts on Friday during the Nashville Film Fest.

Why it matters: " The Day the Music Stopped " details the challenges facing locally owned, independently operated music venues.

State of play: When the property home to Exit/In was put up for sale in 2021, the live music industry was pushed to the brink.

• In Nashville, independent venues have dealt with soaring real estate costs making it expensive for them to pay rent, and corporate competition from mega companies like Live Nation.

Zoom in: Patrick Sheehan, a Nashville native and director of "The Day the Music Stopped," got into filmmaking by handling the sound design and scoring for independent movies.

• He's been a full-time documentary cinematographer since 2012, working on projects for HBO, ESPN and CNN Films.
• Sheehan says while in high school at Brentwood Academy he played in a band that would perform concerts at the venue now called the End on the Rock Block.
• "I always loved it and I particularly loved Exit/In," he says. "We would sneak into shows there and hoped to play on that stage where so many greats had played before. So, when I heard that the club was in danger in 2021 we reached out to the (former club owner) Chris Cobb and asked if we could interview him about what was going on."

The intrigue: In addition to the story about Exit/In's struggles, the documentary doubles as a time capsule for Nashville in 2021, on the heels of the pandemic, the Christmas morning bombing and the March tornado the year before.

What he's saying: "I think the biggest discovery for me was that, even as a native Nashvillian I didn't really understand the unique music ecosystem we have here, where every part of the music business is represented and each part is dependent on the other," Sheehan says.

• "Learning about the dire situation that the small, independent venues are in really made me understand how perilous the situation is for all of Nashville's music industry and, by extension, our entire economy."

Nate's thought bubble: If you watch the film, you'll see my ugly mug serving as a talking head.

• I was privileged to be asked to talk about my experience covering Exit/In and the independent live music industry , and to be interviewed by legendary Nashville journalist Demetria Kalodimos.

If you go: Tickets to the premiere are sold out, but you can still pay to view the virtual screening .

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