T
HE ICONIC MINNEAPOLIS
music venue First Avenue
has been closed for over a
month amid the coro-
navirus pandemic, but CEO Dayna
Frank says she has never been busier
— mostly gathering paperwork to
apply for the federally guaranteed
loans that small businesses qualify
for under the $ 2 trillion Coronavirus
Aid, Relief, and Economic Security
(CARES) Act. “It’s a crazy feeling to
be so busy without any shows or
revenue,” says Frank.
These loans, alongside over four
dozen relief funds that profession-
als and creators can apply for from
organizations like the Recording
Academy’s MusiCares, are holding
parts of the music business together
during this crisis. Many businesses
are struggling to navigate the pa-
perwork required for federal loans
because those programs are com-
plicated and may not be enough.
But nonprofit funds, while financially
limited, are both simpler to apply for
and more specifically suited to the
industry’s needs.
Frank applied for the federal Pay-
check Protection Program — which
offered low-interest, zero-fee loans
of up to $ 10 million to struggling small
businesses — when the application
process opened April 3. “Information
was changing by the day, if not by the
hour,” she says, although after a week
she received funds from her bank
that were “beyond vital” to cover the
venue’s payroll, rent and utilities. But
the PPP disbursed the $ 350 billionit had in under two weeks, and it
can’t continue until new funds from
Congress are allocated. “It’s great
that some indie promoters and ven-
ues were successful” in getting the
funding, she says, “but the majority
were not.”
Frank recently helped
launch the National Inde-
pendent Venue Association,
which is lobbying Congress
to create a small-business
loan program specific to
the concert industry. PPP
loans are only fully forgiv-
able if companies keep all
of their employees on the
payroll or rehire them within eight
weeks of receiving the loan, which
most venues can’t do. The program
is aimed at companies that will
reopen by July 1 , while music venues
“were the first to close and will be
the last to reopen,” says Frank.
Meanwhile, many acts are having
better luck with nonprofit funds
like the one set up by MusiCares.
Nashville-based artist Moksha
Sommer of neo-folk band HuDost
was one of the first to receive
assistance from the MusiCares fund,
which launched March 17. Sommer
says 90 % of her income comes from
touring, but HuDost’s spring tour
was canceled, and summer dates
in Europe also could be soon. After
MusiCares approved her initial online
application, Sommer was asked to
fill out a second form where she
listed her monthly expenses (roughly
$ 2 , 250 ). Within three weeks, shereceived a check for $ 1 , 000 , the
one-time maximum allowed.
Sommer says that by ensuring
that she has food on the table and a
roof over her head, the funding gave
her the mental space to plan for the
future. After paying her bills and buy-
ing groceries, HuDost
has since created a
fan subscription plan
and is turning a can-
celed performance
into an online event.
As the pandemic
continues, with no
clarity on when music
venues will open,
some organizations have temporar-
ily suspended grants. Out of the six
Sommer applied to, she has received
funding from two: MusiCares and
a now-closed fund from The Musi-
cians Foundation, which offered
grants of up to $ 200 per musician.
So far, MusiCares has approved
over 9 , 000 applications in the past
three weeks, and is vetting more
than 600 a day. “That’s thousands
more than we process in an entire
year,” says MusiCares vp health and
human services Debbie Carroll. “I
hope this puts into perspective how
dire the situation is and that more
donations are crucial.”
Frank echoes that concern, noting
that independent promoters and
venues must continue to make their
needs known and request help. “We’re
used to giving: guest lists, tickets,
fundraisers. We’re not used to asking,”
she says. “But now’s the time.”GOOD WORKS
Application Frustration
Federal loans to help businesses during the coronavirus shutdown
aren’t easy to navigate — but charitable funds are easier to get
BY TATIANA CIRISANOFirst Avenue in Minneapolis.SommerHIDDEN BEACH RECORDINGS FOUNDER/CEO STEVE McKEEVER RELAUNCHED THE LABEL. PROMOTER DONNIE “DISCO” ESTOPINAL BOUGHT BACK HIS COMPANY, DISCO DONNIE PRESENTS.IT PAYS TO GIVE
AMERICANS ARE WATCHING
WHAT COMPANIES DO TO HELPHOW MUSIC COMPANIES AND
organizations respond to the coro-
navirus pandemic will not only change
their businesses but also how the public
perceives them.
In an April survey of 1 , 000 American
adults conducted by PR firm Porter Novelli,
75 % of respondents said they’ll remember
which companies provided support during
the pandemic, and 73 % said they’ll remem-
ber those that made “bad decisions” that
hurt employees or customers.
“People are not
just relaying sup-
port to companies
that are doing good
right now,” says
Porter Novelli ex-
ecutive vp reputa-
tion practice Sean
Smith. “They’re
going to remember
the ones that aren’t
— and that’s not something we have typi-
cally seen.” He thinks that shift may come
from the way people are pulling together
to stall the spread of the virus. “They
want to see that [companies are] playing
by the same rules.”
Many are going beyond that: Universal
Music Group’s multimillion-dollar initiative
includes royalty advances and fee waivers
for artists, as well as financial assistance
for employees facing hardship; the
Recording Academy’s affiliated charity,
MusiCares, has raised over $ 10 million
for out-of-work music professionals; and
Live Nation launched a $ 10 million fund
to support touring crew members whose
gigs have been canceled. Other compa-
nies are adjusting their usual terms to
support creators: Bandcamp dropped its
fees on $ 4. 3 million worth of purchases
on March 20 , forgoing at least $ 430 , 000 ,
and online royalties marketplace Royalty
Exchange is reducing its auction commis-
sion and speeding up payments, which
CEO Matthew Smith estimates will cost
the company up to $ 250 , 000.
In the long run, this kind of support
could end up helping everyone involved.
“Companies investing in their employees
and in their relationships with artists that
provide them their livelihood,” says Larry
Miller, director of New York University’s
Steinhardt music business program, “are
making an investment in their own future.”
—TATIANA CIRISANOHistory Repeating: The 1918 Pandemic In Billboard
Sean SmithSMITH:^ COURTESY^ OFPORTERNOVELLI.^ SOMMER:^ BETHGWINN/GETTY^ IMAGES.^VENUE:^DARIN^ KAMNETZ.APRIL 25 , 2020 • WWW.BILLBOARD.COM 178market_1918_goodworks_corporate [P]_27895752.indd 17 4/22/20 5:18 PM