Press
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TESTIMONIALS
“The ongoing advocacy work of...the Music Venue Alliance-Austin is a vital part of our state-wide music industry."
“The ongoing advocacy work of Rebecca Reynolds and the Music Venue Alliance-Austin is a vital part of our state-wide music industry. The health of the music industry ecosystem depends upon the success of the live music industry economy. Without the economic stability of live music venues, the industry will lose its incubators that allow current and future talent to develop their craft. The Music Venue Alliance-Austin uniquely serves an integral role, providing a unified voice for music venues, which in turn helps advocate for scalable economic opportunities for venues throughout the state of Texas.”
- Texas Music Office, Office of the Governor
"The music venues that call Austin home need the MVAA more than ever."
With the challenging variables that music venues are facing in an ever-growing city, it is important for venues to collaborate, preserving what makes Austin so unique. Music Venue Alliance Austin is the vehicle that facilitates that critical collaboration. The music venues that call Austin home need the MVAA more than ever.
- Ryan Garrett, General Manager, Stubb's
"I couldn't be more pleased to finally see Austin music venue owners working together"
As a member of MVAA I couldn't be more pleased to finally see Austin music venue owners working together. We all face similar problems such as rising rents and property taxes, increasing of permits and fees, parking situations, etc. This new organization will certainly help to make the Austin music scene a better experience for patrons and musicians.
-Joe Ables, Saxon Pub
"The formation of Music Venue Alliance Austin has been a critical step in securing the future success of our city’s live music ecosystem."
The formation of Music Venue Alliance Austin has been a critical step in securing the future success of our city’s live music ecosystem. For the first time in Austin's history, music venue operators and other key stakeholders have a cohesive voice to support the collective vision for, and ideals of, our local music community. Through MVAA, many of our long talked about ideas and initiatives finally have the resources and organizational infrastructure to be brought to fruition.
-Will Bridges, Antone's
"The Music Venue Alliance Austin is an invaluable resource for all Austin venues."
The Music Venue Alliance Austin is an invaluable resource for all Austin venues. This community resource provides a vital structure to participate in the development of the Austin music industry, leading to sustainable, equitable, and profitable outcomes for Austin’s venues.
-Erica Shamaly, Division Manager│Music & Entertainment│City of Austin
Here you can follow press on the venue alliance movement:
Austin Music Venues Lobby for Disaster Relief
April 30, 2020
A few days after the South by Southwest Music Festival was canceled but before Austin shut down completely, a line snaked from the door of Empire Control Room, down half a block to the corner of Seventh and Red River streets. Fans packed into the midsize Austin club for a sold-out Kamasi Washington show on March 8. It was a jubilant evening that reimagined jazz as ecstatic worship.
A week later, when downtown clubs should have been celebrating one of their busiest nights of the year, Austin’s entertainment districts had gone eerily quiet. The coronavirus pandemic closed the clubs. Today, the once-bustling stretches of venues and bars are boarded up, with no shows on their calendars for months
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Music Working Group Seeks Cooperation, Transparency Between Artists and Venues
Advocates for local musicians are hoping some of the city’s Hotel Occupancy Tax funds for commercial...
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Music Commissioners Want Urgency, Care in Spending Hotel Tax Money for Industry
Members of the Music Commission and interest groups related to the city’s music industry are pushing...
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Faster Than Sound: Goodbye Prop B, Hello HOT Monies
Following the defeat of Proposition B, Austin music advocates brainstorm applications of the first city funding for commercial music.
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Music Advocates Seen as Key in Defeat of Proposition B
Updated: 12:20 a.m.: Austin voters have defeated a ballot measure that sought to restructure how the City spends hotel tax funds.
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The City Will Help Some Music Venues, Art Galleries And Theaters Afford The Rent
A collection of 26 music venues, theater spaces and art galleries are getting as much as $50,000 each in one-time funds from the City of Austin to cover rent and other property costs.
Earlier this week, the city announced the first group of art spaces and venues to receive funds through its Creative Space Assistance Program, which set aside $750,000 to hand out to qualifying venues. The list includes bars, nightclubs and art spaces such as Cheer Up Charlies, The Museum of Human Achievement and Flamingo Cantina.
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Council Approves $3M Annually from Hotel Tax for Musicians, Venues
For the first time, Austin’s city government will provide direct annual funding to the local commercial music industry.
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Add a blog postFaster Than Sound: Music Advocates Say Convention Center Expansion Key to Unlocking City Funds
Long before the concept of expanding the convention center became the hotly debated civic issue it is today, music advocate Rebecca Reynolds had her eye on a specific bucket of city funding – she just wasn't sure how to get it yet.
The target: hotel occupancy tax (HOT) funds. Collected from visitors, the third-largest source of city tax revenue currently benefits nonprofit arts groups exclusively – the commercial music industry doesn't see a penny. Under Reynolds' leadership, a coalition of music supporters, Music Makes Austin, now pushes for a major funding shift that would finally get them a piece of the HOT action.
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Music Advocates Push for a Share of Hotel Taxes for Local Music Industry
Local groups organized around improving the financial standing of Austin musicians are preparing to push city leaders to dedicate funds from the proposed expansion of the Austin Convention Center toward the city’s commercial music industry.
The groups include Music Moves Austin, the Music Venue Alliance and members of the Red River Cultural District. Their initial projections say around $3 million per year from the city’s portion of the Hotel Occupancy Tax could help subsidize touring musicians and reimburse Austin clubs for booking local acts.
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City Releases Road Ma
The city’s Economic Development and Development Services departments will spend much of the next 12 months implementing a variety of measures to reduce noise complaints and other issues that arise between residents and nearby entertainment businesses.
On Wednesday, EDD released a summary of the steps that will need to be taken at the administrative level to address sound compatibility issues, with improved enforcement of noise violations one of four key focus areas.
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