Los Angeles Music Scene: Save Our Stages Still a Slow Process

On June 1st, the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) sent out this tweet with the following: Friday, we learned of several NIVA members that received approval notices from the Small Business Administration (SBA) stating that their Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) applications have been approved. The collective cheering from fellow independent venues and promoters has been reverberating throughout our membership, as the anticipation of emergency relief coming for all eligible entities appears closer each day.

National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) has issued a statement regarding the first Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) approvals. pic.twitter.com/g8qbL5tg9L

— NIVA | #SaveOurStages (@nivassoc) June 1, 2021

The process is moving along, but leave it to the Rolling Stone (June 3) to splash a dose of reality onto that storyline:

Of the 13,619 qualifying venues, promoters and other live entertainment businesses that applied for the SVOG, just 31, or about 0.2 percent, have had their applications approved, the SBA confirmed. Another 2,945 applications are currently in review, while 10,641 are awaiting their review. On average, the agency announced they have awarded $1.1 million per venue. Approved grants doesn’t necessarily mean applicants get cash-in-hand. Upon approval of their grant, an applicant must file more documents regarding the use of their grants before receiving payment.

Let's just say that basically no applications have been approved. I mean 0.2% is basically zero, right? I'm assuming things will start to ramp up from here. But then there is another loop to jump through -- more government paperwork. As Rolling Stone states, more documents need to be filled out once an application is approved. How many glitches will there be in that process? Let me throw out a guess, funds start to go out starting around August to those 31 approved applications. As I've stated before, I doubt that these delays will have any impact on rather or not a venue gets to stay at their location. I would think that a bank or property owner would be stupid to toss out a venue when they're about to be able to collect more than 15 months of back loan / rent payments. In fact, if I were a bank or property owner, I'd probably be sending over a lawyer to help the music venue through the process. The issue is more of the pain of inching through all of this red tape.

I decided to take a look at the SBA.Gov website and came across this report dated June 3rd. As of that date, the approved application list had gone up to 50. Unfortunately, there isn't a list of those who got approved. In a way, it actually might be helpful to have an official list of those who got their applications approved. If you want to discover fraud, it would be rather easy for local music fans to realize that a specific approved application was just bogus. Of the 50 applications approved as of June 3rd, 5 were in California.