Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on July 3, 2022. Credit: Photo by Dave Decker

It seems like it’s been longer, but just over 1,500 days ago, the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) helped secure $15 billion dollars from the Save Our Stages Act (SOS) to give the country’s indie concert venues a chance at making it through the pandemic.

Now NIVA needs venues—including clubs, performing arts centers, festivals, presenters, and promoters in Tampa Bay—to help out by completing a “State of Live” survey before Tuesday, Feb. 18.

The data collected is confidential and will be used to build a national report as well as state-by-state summaries to be shared with the public and elected officials this summer. “All survey data will be deleted once the research is complete,” NIVA wrote.

Survey results, with no exaggeration, could help save independent live music in your town.

The nonprofit estimates that the survey will take just over half-an-hour to complete. Organizations or individuals completing the survey should gather the following documents before starting:

Income Statement
Payroll Report
Ticketing Report
Expense Report
Revenue Breakdown
Attendee Data

They should also “Be ready to provide names, locations, seating capacity, and market geography for each venue/festival you manage, own, or promote,” according to an FAQ section.

According to public records, Florida saw just over 480 entities awarded more than $377.2 million through the SOS Act’s Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, including more than 50 with addresses in the Tampa Bay area.

But Tom DeGeorge, owner of Ybor City venue Crowbar and NIVA’s Southeast Regional President, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that only four entities in Florida have filled out the confidential survey. The numbers, he added, aren’t great across the U.S.

“I think the top state, which is California, has like eight. We’re way far behind where we need to be. We really need about 1,000 venues around the country to fill this out,” he said, expressing his frustration.

DeGeorge, who also co-founded the D-Tour touring company in the wake of the pandemic, points out that touring is a national issue. When bands get dates in Georgia, Louisiana, or the Carolinas, it makes it just a little easier to make the risky trek in and out of Florida.

As venues across the state close (RIP Tampa’s Hooch and Hive, and the High Dive in Gainesville), NIVA continues to lobby elected officials locally and at the national level, explaining why independent venues still need help and contribute to the live music ecosystem.

“But they want more proof, and when we don’t have sufficient data, it’s very hard to explain why we should invest back in these rooms and keep them here to make sure that indie, for profit, and nonprofit rooms continue to exist,” DeGeorge said, noting how large corporations, broken ticketing systems, and rising rents are pushing rooms like his to the brink of extinction. Leaning on each other locally until money runs out, and GoFundMe campaigns, he said, won’t solve the real problems that endanger independent live music.

“If we don’t help, if we don’t take the little bit of time it takes to fill out the survey to garner as much data as possible, we are complicit in our own demise,” he added. “We have to help each other because we need each other.”

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This article appears in Jan 30 – Feb 5, 2025.