San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Bill aiming to preserve live music clubs nears final OK
Their alcohol sales can get tax rebates
George Strait, Selena and rapper Bun B seemingly have almost nothing in common, coming from vastly different music genres with very different audiences.
But what ties them together is that they got their start in the clubs and dance halls that dot the Texas landscape and are now in peril from the effects of the pandemic and increasing urbanization that is turning hallowed music venues into parking lots.
Now the Legislature is moving to save more of those venues from the wrecking ball, creating a program to help cultivate the next generation of Texas musicians.
“I do think that there is a young George Strait out there right now that needs a stage,” said Randy Rogers, a musician who is also the owner of Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos, where George Strait and his Ace in the Hole Band played their first gig in 1975. “He needs somewhere to play.”
Qualifying music venues could get up to $100,000 each in tax rebates on alcohol sales under legislation that has passed the House and Senate and now is on its way to Gov. Greg Abbott to be signed into law.
While paving the path for the next Selena, Roy Orbison or Bob Wills is important, state Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, said the program is also about the 200,000 people who make their living in Texas music and the tourists who come to explore the state’s rich music history.
“The Texas music industry is a
vital portion of the state’s economy,” Alvarado said in promoting Senate Bill 609, which would create the music incubator rebate program.
The state promotes the music industry prominently in tourism guides to generate business, but there has been little government help available to keep the doors open in iconic music venues, and a number of them have been bulldozed in the last few years:
• Threadgill’s in Austin — the former Armadillo World Headquarters — where Port Arthur’s Janis Joplin got her start.
• Fitzgerald’s in Houston, where ZZ Top, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Bun B ruled the stage.
• The Roxy in Laredo, where Selena would meet key members of her band and play many shows as she was starting in the 1980s.
All are gone.
The pressure is real, said Rogers, who also is the lead singer of the Randy Rogers Band. If he were reliant on Cheatham Street Warehouse for his livelihood, he said, he would have had to sell.
“It wasn’t easy,” Rogers said of keeping the business operating during the pandemic. “We depleted all reserves.”
Artist-friendly venues such as his often have a door charge that goes to the band, leaving the music venue to rely on alcohol sales to make the rent or mortgage. Rogers said that if the incubator fund is created, it’ll become a lifeline to music halls all over the state.
True music venues
These aren’t just neighborhood bars looking for a handout, said Rebecca Reynolds, president of the Music Venue Alliance. She said the venues are an important part of the state’s cultural arts and need to be recognized by government leaders as such.
“Live music is a big part of who we are in Texas,” she said.
There is value to the state in keeping places such as these producing the music that has become a big piece of American history, she said.
If Abbott signs the legislation, the music incubator program would be developed by the state’s Music, Film, Television and Multimedia Office. By September 2022, the office would begin taking applications for a portion of the funding. The program would be funded by taxes on alcohol sales at the venues.
To be eligible for funding, venues would need an audience capacity of
3,000 people or fewer. Music festivals would also be eligible if they are in a county with a population under 100,000. Those venues and festivals must have been operating for at least two years to be eligible.
Reynolds said it was important to make sure the little venues and festivals get help, and not the big music festivals such as SXSW and the ACL Festival in Austin.
The venues and festivals would also need to show that artists are being compensated with a percentage of ticket sales or a guaranteed amount set in advance of a performance.
There are a host of other restrictions for the funding to ensure that rebates go to true music venues and not just bars trying to cash in, Reynolds said.
There is no restriction, however, on what kind of music genres would benefit. Tejano clubs, honkytonks and hip-hop clubs would all be eligible.
Wide support
This isn’t the first time the Legislature has weighed legislation to help music venues and festivals. In 2019, the House passed similar legislation, but it died in the Senate with Republicans questioning if the state was overstepping by helping some businesses over others.
But this year, that opposition has been minimal. The proposal cleared the Republican-dominated Senate by a 22-9 vote and the House 102-40.
The federal government is also trying to help music venues struggling to stay afloat during the pandemic. Under the Save Our Stages Act, co-authored by Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, music venues can seek grants to cover essential expenses. There is more than $16 billion in that program.
“Texas’ historic and world-class entertainment venues were some of the first businesses to close, and many remain shuttered,” Cornyn said.