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Chapter I: The Loss
Localized live Music and the Exploding moment
Bouncing
AROUND
THE ROOM
Across the United States,
small and independent concert venues have been fading away and closing their doors.
What can look like isolated losses are actually a piece of a larger puzzle:
the
SPACes
ARE.
Live Music
Is Not
Disappearing
this is bigger than music.
These venues cannot be simply taken into account as stages,
They are pillars of
cultural infrastructure,
and act as spaces where communities can gather,
artists can develop,
and audiences can create a sense of meaning in real time.
WHEN THEY Do disappear,
so much more than a business is lost.
Not only that, they are what support local economies, sustain artists careers, and shape regional cultures across the country.
What has to be Lived?
“...it is a public celebration of musical commitment, a deeply pleasurable event at which our understanding of ourselves through music is socially recognised.”
-Simon Frith
Scottish Music Review
Live music remains to be one of the last truly shared human experiences.
It'S A SYSTEM UNDER PRESSURe
&
THE ECONOMICS OF MUSIC HAVE FUNDAMENTALLY
CHANGED.
consolidation,
rising costs, &
Centralized Touring
Routes.
64%
of independent venues operated without profitability in 2024.
- NATIONAL INDEPENDENT VENUE ASSOCIATION (NIVA) 2025 "THE STATE OF LIVE" ECONOMIC REPORT
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