Austin musicians cope with wage, venue changes From the cover
Two-minute impact
Venue closings Over a dozen businesses that showcased live music in Austin closed in the past decade.
N. LAMAR BLVD.
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Austin City Council has taken action dozens of times to support the local music scene since its famed 1991 resolution that proclaimed Austin as the Live Music Capital of the World due to its abundance of venues and artists. However, employees at the Red River Cultural District, a nonprofit focused on retaining 12 downtown live music venues, said more financial support is needed from the city to preserve Austin’s live music scene. In late January, the district formally requested an immediate $200,000 in funding from City Council to improve Red River’s marketing efforts, support venues and maintain the districts’ two annual events: Hot Summer Nights and Free Week.
The funding would also go toward conducting an analysis of how the local arts scene boosts the city’s economy. The request comes as dozens of Austin venues have either shuttered or stopped offering live music, and musicians are saying the average gig pay is making it difficult to make ends meet. This trend was backed by the 2022 Austin Music Census, which revealed 84% of music people want to continue working in Austin, but only 64% said they will continue living in the Austin metro area. The census also found local musicians are playing fewer gigs per month on average compared to the 2014 census.
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2 Buckshot 1 Botticelli's 3 East Side
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Showroom
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4 Flipnotics
5 Holy Mountain 6 La Zona Rosa 7 Nutty Brown Amphitheater
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8 Red 7
11 The Rattle Inn 12 The Sidewinder 10 The Blackheart 9 Strange Brew
OAK BRANCH DR.
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Austin
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MAP NOT TO SCALE N
*THIS LIST IS NOT COMPREHENSIVE.
SOURCE: COMMUNITY IMPACT REPORTING
SXSW artist pay per gig In July 2023, SXSW approved its first pay bump for band and solo artists in over a decade.
A closer look
struggles to find ways to regulate how private venues or organiza- tions pay artists, including during the South by Southwest Confer- ence & Festivals. Artists playing at SXSW events successfully lobbied for a small pay bump last summer, though members of the Austin-based band Half Dream say it’s still not enough.
Gould said a city program that offers $200 an hour per musician for city-sponsored events has helped her negotiate better deals. However, a musician would be fortunate to play two or three city-sponsored events a year, said Anne-Charlotte Patterson, Austin Music Commission vice chair. Aside from city events, Patter- son said the music commission
Gould said average gig pay in Austin often depends on factors outside the band’s control, such as how many drinks the bar sells. “I’ve put together these series that go really well, and people are so excited about them,” Gould said. “But then at the end of the day, it just doesn’t continue [because they] didn’t sell enough booze.” Though gig pay can be uncertain,
Previous pay scale New pay scale
$350 per gig
$250 per gig
$150 per gig
$100 per gig
Bands
Solo artists
SOURCE: CITY OF AUSTIN/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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