Wisconsin congressman behind bill to help imperiled music venues
With music venues closed for four months and counting because of the coronavirus crisis, Congressman Ron Kind, D-Wis., is behind a new bipartisan bill up for review on Capitol Hill.
The ENCORES Act, co-sponsored by Congressman Mike Kelly, R-Pa., proposes that venues receive a 50% tax credit for the value of refunded tickets. Under the bill, venues would need to first offer vouchers to customers for tickets, and need to have 500 employees or fewer.
The bill is endorsed by the National Independent Venue Association, a group of about 2,000 venues and promoters co-founded by the Pabst Theater Group’s Gary Witt in Milwaukee. Without federal aid, 90% of NIVA’s members will be forced to permanently close in the fall, according to a survey. Two Milwaukee venues, Fire on Water and the Underground Collaborative, already have shut down.
“There’s a need that exists here,” Kind said in an interview with the Journal Sentinel. “(Music venues) are an important part of who we are and want to be in the future. … We face a real risk of them going away, and trying to rebuild that afterwards will be a real challenge. It’s hard to set up these venues; it’s hard to get artists in and sell tickets and sponsorships. It’s not easy under the best of circumstances.
“With the virus forcing them to completely shut down, we thought this was an elegant and fair way to provide some temporary assistance.”
A little help from Justin Vernon
Kind became interested in the issue after speaking with one of his constituents, Jason Anderson, the executive director of the Pablo Center at the Confluence, a $51 million nonprofit performing arts venue that opened in downtown Eau Claire in 2018.
“He told me how independent arts venues are impacted by the coronavirus. Corporate sponsors were dropping off, and they were looking at a severe risk of shutting down completely,” Kind said. “It was crucial for the revitalization (of downtown Eau Claire). It made it more attractive to businesses who relocated or people who moved to live in that proximity. Every dollar that was spent in the venue has a multiplier effect that is tremendous. … If we don’t take action, I fear we will be losing a large component of that.”
In lobbying Congress, NIVA has cited a study of Chicago venues that suggested that for every dollar spent on a ticket, an additional $12 was spent in the area at restaurants, bars, hotels and other businesses.
As he prepared his bill, Kind spoke to another constituent, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, to get his insight on how the live music industry is being affected by the pandemic and what venues’ needs are. Vernon in turn has endorsed the bill.
“Our venues are in grave trouble,” Vernon said in a statement. “With this bill, and once we put the pandemic behind us, there will be new opportunities for us to change and grow together in our sacred venues in the light of music.”
Venues face a lost year
Live music industry experts have said we won’t see large gatherings at venues until there’s a vaccine. Every arena, stadium and amphitheater concert in Milwaukee for 2020 is already off the calendar, and local venues like the Pabst Theater Group, the Rave, the Miller High Life Theatre and Shank Hall haven’t hosted any shows since mid-March.
Only a few venues in the area, including Linneman’s Riverwest Inn and the Bend in West Bend, have hosted shows with local acts with reduced capacities. Under those conditions, the Bend’s executive director Jeff Potts is expecting concerts at the theater — initially opened in 1929, and reopened in March following a $4.4 million renovation — will be a loss leader.
Concert trade publication Pollstar estimated in March that $8.9 billion would be lost if venues stayed closed the rest of 2020, which at this point is all but certain. Live Nation CEO Michael
Rapino told investors in May he wasn’t expecting the touring business to return to pre-pandemic levels until summer 2021.
Along with the ENCORES Act, NIVA has endorsed two bipartisan bills proposed in the Senate.
The Restart Act would finance six months’ worth of expenses for eligible businesses (including independent venues), allow up to 90% loan forgiveness and permit a seven-year payback schedule. A central component of the Save Our Stages Act is a a $10 billion grant program to support venue operators, promoters, producers and talent representatives.
Ongoing discussions in the Senate over possible coronavirus relief packages have been contentious. It’s Kind’s belief that the ENCORES Act may be an easier sell, with the tax incentive component designed in part as a way “of limiting the ultimate cost of the bill.”
“There are guardrails put in place for who qualifies, and I think those are helpful,” Kind said. “I also know, too, working with my Republican colleagues, that they favor tax codes vs. out-and-out grants.”
Support across party lines
No matter how debate in the Senate proceeds, Kind, as a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, expects to at least bring up the ENCORES Act for a vote in the House when Congress addresses other tax codes that are set to expire this year. Anecdotally, Kind said, there’s been support from fellow Congressmen across party lines for the legislation.
But given the gravity and all the great needs related to the coronavirus crisis, Kind stresses that music fans need to speak up for Congress to support the sort of federal aid many venue owners have said is critical for their survival. NIVA, for its part, has already involved congressional representatives, big name acts and major music industry companies and organizations in letter-writing campaigns. More than 1 million emails have been sent to every member of Congress through NIVA’s Save Our Stages website.