Lady Gaga, Dave Grohl and Billie Eilish are some of the 600 great artists who have signed an open letter addressed to the United States Congress demanding their help to save the independent concert halls in that country.
The National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) has released the list with all signatories, which also includes Neil Young, Madison Beer, Robert Plant, Alice Cooper, Willie Nelson or Coldplay.
The letter asks the government for financial support for more than a thousand independent rooms that have remained completely closed and inactive since March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We will know that the United States is back when our concert halls are full of fans safely enjoying the concerts,” says the text, collected by the NME.
And he adds: “The experience of live music is inextricably linked to the cultural and economic fabric of our nation. In fact, 53% of Americans – that is, 172 million of us – attended a concert last year.”
For this reason, the signatories ask Congress to support NIVA so that these “beloved places can reopen when it is safe and welcome” the artists and their followers again.
“The collapse of this crucial element in the ecosystem of the music industry would be devastating,” says the letter, which recalls that these rooms were the first to close due to confinement and will be the last to be able to resume their activity.
Meanwhile, they do not have any type of benefit with which to face the expenses that cannot be paid: rent, taxes, maintenance or insurance. Without help, a very high percentage of these rooms will have to close permanently.
