Too many music venues in Atlanta?
October 9th, 2008 by Rodney Carmichael in Music news
Can a post-bailout economy support a glut of mid-to-large music venues in one city? That’s the question posed by Variety. which focuses on three 8,000-capacity venues opening in L.A. over the next two months.
A follow-up blog on Idolator.com throws Atlanta’s CW Midtown Music Complex in the mix, comparing it to the three-in-one L.A. Live Complex:
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.
In recent years, most concert-goers have complained that Atlanta suffered from the opposite problem — too few mid-sized venues — especially after the close of East Atlanta’s Echo Lounge (recently replaced by the new East Atlanta Icehouse) and the temporary closing of the Roxy in Buckhead (due to reopen in ‘09).
Idolator makes a good point about the CW complex, which does tend to book a pretty hit-or-miss schedule of shows. But the empty foot traffic might have more to do with the wack location and lack of parking than the line-up or overabundance of venues.
(Photo of East Atlanta Icehouse by Joeff Davis)
October 9th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Your comment about CenterStage/The Loft/Vinyl attracting zero foot traffic is wrong. So many thousands more people drive past this venue than just about any other venue in town. They learn of shows posted on their marquee that they may not have read about, only to attend later. Venues like this with cool promoters (Rival Entertainment) have the ability to allow an artist to grow. One can start out in Vinyl (300 cap), then move to The Loft (700 cap), then on to CenterStage (1200 cap) – There aren’t any other venues that can say that in town.
October 9th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
how does driving past a marquee equal foot traffic? I’ve never felt the desire to go to a show at the CW, even when a decent band is playing (which has been maybe once) Also, playing there is a bitch – you have to park right on w. peachtree and have someone watch your car while you make several trips lugging your shit up the elevator. and then, even if the bill is solid, almost no one shows up (not even your friends) because the parking sucks and there is nothing cool around the venue. maybe ticket alternative should go to a show once in a while.
October 9th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
CenterStage/The Loft/Vinyl doesn’t miss traffic because of anything but crappy location, expensive parking, and terrible sound really.
October 9th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
The sound isn’t bad but the parking isn’t ideal by any means. This is a valid argument (3 in 1) but Atlanta, by no means, has too many music venues. If anything, we need to make better use of many of them. I can’t count how many shows Atlanta loses to Nashville and Charlotte.
October 9th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
And PS to Idolator, we only have Yuengling in Atlanta in my dreams ;)