What Will Be Left of L.A.’s Music Scene After the Pandemic?

Amen to that last. There are *tons* of talented artists coming out of there these days and they’re all bypassing the dinosaur media conglomerates. I do tend to more of the EDM and now synthwave stuff, but metal is a common guest in my playlists. With Oingo Boingo in heavy rotation too, among other classic KROQ music. :D Basically everything but pop, country (ugh) and rap (quad ugh).

Further, the group says, since there’s no clear date on which venues may be able to resume business, taking on additional debt in the form of loans might be a burden that many venues would never dig out from under.

That's a stupid argument. They're definitely gonna close if they don't get a loan, so there's no reason not to. (Not a chance many of these places will open up tomorrow!) If FedGov throws out more helicopter $$, or they can reopen, then they can easily pay the loan back asap. They probably won't have even spent any of the funds. If they go out of business anyway, then the loan doesn't matter cause the company is gone.

No, the issue is that the banks are REFUSING to give any loans to any of these companies, to help keep them afloat. Our boss has talked to several banks, and they all say nope. Y'all had a great first quarter, and if you applied for the loan back in Jan/Feb, you would have been immediately approved. But, hey, your last couple months have almost zero revenue, so we can't give you a loan... Well no shit Sherlock, the temporary lack of revenue is the exact reason the loan is needed!

PPP kinda helped, at least kept our two biggest expenses covered (payroll and rent) for only two months, but that hasn't been extended at all, plus it's not even Constitutional in the first place, but unfortunately we are waaaay past that argument nowadays.

There is nothing wrong with a modern country band covering a classic country song. So I sit there and scream at the TV set. “Play something classic! Play something made famous Johnny Cash or Loretta Lynn!” But they don’t listen.

http://khyi.com/radiochannel/953-the-range/

Here you go, maybe this'll help out a bunch. There's plenty of good country artists nowadays, you just gotta look a little bit outside of Nashville. Zane Williams, Jamey Johnson, Buddy Brown, Corb Lund, Brothers Osbourne, Granger Smith, even Trace Adkins is older but he's still putting out new stuff. Kevin Fowler as well. To just name a few.

Everything is legal under the Commerce Clause. / sarc

NAMM just canceled their Anaheim show in January. Lots of people online are "happy" and saying "it's the safe thing to do." Well, what about the zillions of dollars in commerce that NAMM brings to town and the concessions, coffee vendors, restaurants, hotels, people who are SOL and are now borderline suicidal? What about their health? Let's throw on top the fact that a good chunk of these concession etc people are minorities and low income folks...is it "right" that their preference (to work) is sacrificed so a bunch of lily white snowflake affluent urban SJWs who sell guitar strings don't have to worry about getting NAMMthrax at their boondoggle?

Honest to goodness, life is fraught with peril. I totally get that this bug isn't the flu...but it's not smallpox. I would LOVE to venture out to a conference hall and give a talk about my profession - the Zoom conferences suck, everyone talks over each other, and the interaction with the crowd is lost. I'd even be willing to deal with people wearing masks or being 6' from each other...at least it's live.

Furthermore, I spend time talking to the sound and light guys and gals ahead of my speaking segment...they can make or break you, AND they have more insight into the crowd and what is working and not working, regardless if it's a conference on physics or chess or the Franco-Prussian alliance of 1821. Furthermore, the light and sound folks are usually really funny people. The human dimension of any event is currently lost, and no PPP loan is a substitute for working.

I am sorry your business is suffering, and while many are happy that liberal entertainers are "getting what they deserve," a goodly number of just starting our musicians and their crew just want to make a living and aren't that political, Indeed, lots of punk fans lean right. We need to get the machines back on now...we can't do drive-in shows for the rest of eternity.

NAMM just canceled their Anaheim show in January. Lots of people online are "happy" and saying "it's the safe thing to do."

Yup, it's ridiculous. We're just a tiny family-owned company, and in mid-March we went from about $1MM in confirmed shows to almost zero. Think we're averaging a couple thousand a month, but that's not even enough for rent, much less payroll or buying new gear.

Furthermore, the light and sound folks are usually really funny people.

Well thanks! we sure like to think so but it's rare to get accolades from someone other than your buddy!

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.