The Great Venue Glut Caused By All-In-One Music Complexes

Lucas Jensen | October 9, 2008 10:30 am

Los Angeles is about to have a problem on its hands: Too many music venues. Three new concert halls are opening within the next two months, a curious expansion as the city adjusts to an economy that Variety describes as “faltering.” (That’s one way of putting it!) The remodeled Palladium (4,000 capacity) opens Oct. 15 with a Jay-Z concert; it’s located between two Live Nation-owned venues that hold 6,000 and 2,000 people. Club Nokia (2,300 capacity) will open in November; downstairs from that theater will be the Conga Room, which opens in December as part of the downtown LA Live complex that also features the Nokia Theater. Wow. That’s a lot of capacity to be filled at a time when, for me, going to a $20 show once a month seems like a luxury.

There were a number of things that struck me about this article, but here’s my main question:

Can we call a moratorium on these odious music venue “complexes” like the LA Live one?

You know what I’m talking about. Some big-time corporate entity buys an old venue and tries to turn it into a music amusement park of sorts–except things just don’t work out that way. In fact, I can’t think of many clubs that have ever worked with this model. Atlanta, for example, has the Vinyl/Loft/Center Stage chimera that attracts exactly zero foot traffic and only brings people out for marquee shows, if then. Los Angeles and Atlanta share a lot of geographic characteristics–sprawl and traffic–so I wouldn’t be surprised if LA Live was plagued by similar issues.

These music complexes are examples of booking/promoter conglomerates wanting to be all things to all people in one location:

The Cool “Indie” Club (The Vinyl/The Conga Room) Edgy, hip, funky, “indie.” It feels like a real, live club! Why, I bet people there drink Yuengling or PBR! The Mid-Range Theater (The Loft/Club Nokia): The chic, upscale yuppie-ish venue for mid-range acts that are indie, but “safe.” (Think Death Cab For Cutie.) Nokia’s decision to call its particular venue of this ilk “Club Nokia” sort of underscores this. The Big Venue (Center Stage/The Nokia Theater): A big space for big-time concerts by the likes of the Eagles or Dixie Chicks.

Why not just have one venue and work really hard on making that one venue totally rad instead of booking against, well, yourself? This guy doesn’t seem to think it’s a problem:

“There’s an enormous pool of artists who can sell 1,000 to 2,500 tickets—more than at any time in history,” Goldenvoice president Paul Tollett said.

Let’s say he’s right (and I’m not sure he is). He’s leaving out the fact that people can only afford to go to so many of these kinds of shows these days. In rough economic times, there is a finite audience for concert-going, and having three (or more!) venues clustered together just seems like cannibalism. The 40 Watt and the Bowery Ballroom didn’t become marquee clubs because they had the Company.com Side Stage. They became marquee clubs because they were good at being venues. One venue.

“Too Many Music Venues In L.A.?” [Variety]

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