Key Changes: The Tough Economics of Live Music in the Cities

Post-Covid, post-City Pages, with drinking down, couch time up, and a new going-out landscape—are we still a 'music city'? Quoted in an extensive article in Twin Cities Business.

Post-pandemic, venue owners say they’re competing with couches more than ever. Surveys show that young Americans are partying less and spending more time at home. Life is more expensive, so it may be that people choose to sit on their disposable incomes. “People are like, ‘If I’m going to go out, I’m going to go do one big thing,’” says Carl Atiya Swanson, a local consultant who works with independent venues, “which is why you can have stories about Taylor Swift and Beyoncé literally shifting national economies and GDPs.” People aren’t going out to the $15 local band bill for a couple beers on Tuesday night, he says. “They’re going to sit at home and watch KPop Demon Hunters again.”