Recent changes shake up music scene
The “Live Music Capital of the World” has fallen under recent criticism. Local musicians claim the city of Austin has not been living up to its title.
“It’s no wonder that so many musicians are leaving for LA or Nashville or for cities that are going to appreciate them,” said Austin musician Mandy Rowden.
Between open mic night and her 80’s rock band, Rowden takes the stage at the “Tiniest Bar in Texas” on 5th Street several times a month.
Lately, Rowden has had to cut back her working hours. She said too many noise complaints have been coming from residents in the new luxury high-rise apartments that tower over the stage. New condos and apartment buildings now surround the bar on all sides.
Rowden asked, “Why do you move down here if you don’t want to be part of the culture of Austin’s downtown?”
When she is not on stage, Rowden spends time at her other business, Girl Guitar , teaching other Austin women how to play the guitar.
“It’s kinda disheartening to try to integrate them into the music world that we’re all working in and from the get go they’re being shot down,” said Rowden.
Freddie’s Place, a South Austin restaurant and outdoor live music venue, had a run in with the Austin police the second weekend in April. A complaint caused an officer to come out with a sound meter. He found the band to be playing above the 70 decibel limit, which the city just started enforcing after discovering the special restriction for restaurants existed all along.
“Obviously, I don’t want to pay fines nor do I want to have anybody arrested,” said Fred Nelson, owner of Freddie’s Place. “So we stopped the band and cancelled all the bands we had booked.”
Nelson cancelled 83 local bands that play between the hours of 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. on a small stage in the outdoor eating area. While sitting down, he held up his sound meter. His voice alone sent the reading up to 85 decibels.
“You can see it’s virtually impossible to have a band play and keep it to 70,” said Nelson. “It just will not happen.”
Council member and mayoral candidate Brewster McCracken just celebrated his birthday at Freddie’s Place. He is not a fan of the new noise level.
“I expect everything will need to go to 80 decibels” said McCracken. “You can’t be the ‘Live Music Capital of the World’ if working musicians don’t have anywhere to play live.”
McCracken said the “Live Music Task Force” has been working to resolve the issues over the next four to six weeks.
“If we shrink the number of places that working musicians in this city can earn a living that means that all of our efforts to promote a creative economy are going to be really harmed,” said McCracken.
“Save Austin Music,” a grassroots organization comprised of local musicians called a special meeting Monday night. They blame themselves for the “mess” they say the Austin music scene is in.
“We put a lot of food on the economic table here but we’ve never stood up and claimed a seat at that table,” said Troy Dillinger.
The organization is also working to come up with a reasonable pay scale for working musicians. With the cost of living going up, musicians are making the same wages. In some cases, bands are only getting a free meal and drinks out of a gig. The next step will be trying to figure out a viable way to enforce it.
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