Before Covid, sometimes (but not always), there was a certain degree of co-operation between venues in pre-planning Concerts, Festivals and Folk Nights. Resulting in some success in avoiding duplicate bookings. The intention was that Folk venues in the same area were not always competing with each other. In Warwickshire, a vibrant hub of local talent which also attracted artistes of National and International status, this was only partially successful.
A few venues remained unwilling to work in partnership or collaboration. Some had access to Arts Council funding or other sources of revenue so they thought they were above working together and did not need it. If they ran at a loss then so be it- for it was only other peoples’ money they were spending. They booked who they liked when they liked. They could afford to operate without worrying about income streams. They sold tickets or took money on the door. Unlike non-profit making venues which operated free admission and relied on goodwill, audience donations, jug collections and raffles to cover their expenses.
Another source of division began with Covid and lockdowns. The profusion of online home-recorded concerts, sometimes daily, on public media platforms such as Zoom, Windows, Facebook, You Tube, FaceTime etc. was a source of revenue for professional musicians. Indeed their only one, other than album sales, during Coronavirus. So it was perfectly understandable. But it encouraged delusions of grandeur in other performers and artistes. Podcasts, house concerts and daily outpourings of sometimes mediocre music suddenly proliferated. The Internet was swamped with them, Audiences had more and more choice and after a sudden impact, public interest soon waned.
As Covid cases fell, established Clubs started reopening again. But suddenly people who could broadcast their own material from living rooms and bedsits across the nation ( indeed around the world), had convinced themselves that they were now Folk Royalty. Without a live audience from which they could gauge reaction, this was an easy trap to fall into.
More and more people had convinced themselves it was time to launch their own new initiatives. After all, standing on a “live” stage in a club or theatre had always looked so easy. They’d now done it at home in hallways and kitchens. Armed with newly honed skills acquired via months of practice in isolation and a fondly imagined invisible army of new admirers, scores of new venues suddenly opened. Sometimes in direct competition with each other. There simply was not enough of the pie to go round. Since the end of Lockdown, Festivals also simultaneously proliferated. Where there were once only a few dozen a year there are now dozens each month. Also competing for the same potential audience. And competing for the same limited income stream.
As the previously well supported clubs fought to re-establish themselves, the understandable anxieties of potentially vulnerable people meant that initially they stayed away in droves. Some never came back. The rush of dreamers seeking fame and fortune continued however. As venues reopened their doors to welcome what these performers hoped would be queues of adoring fans, the Gold Rush just did not happen. What resulted was sometimes just an unsightly turf war.
Libraries, small independent theatres, Village Halls and Arts Centres were now amongst those up against previously well patronised Folk Clubs and Open Mic sessions. In parallel with Singarounds, Along with Open Mic sessions, busking and all kinds of communal music activities, the result was that in some small towns one had the ridiculous spectacle of venues promoting live music of a similar nature sometimes seven days a week. This natural competition might have been healthy in a stronger financial climate, but the spectres Of Post-Covid , Brexit shortages , Climate Change, a Fuel and Energy crisis and a Cost of Living disaster spiralling out of control combined to ensure that audiences declined. There were exceptions-but this was a discernible trend.
Money became tighter and worries exacerbated. However great the attraction, no-one could afford to go out four or five nights a week even if they had the appetite for it. Whether it was Eddie Reader or Steeleye Span or just Ted and Carol playing Ralph McTell covers in the local pub, audiences disheartened by two years of pandemic and the increasingly less well off, had to exercise discretion. As 2022 then 2023 ploughed towards more austerity, cutbacks and a tanking economy, empty seats increased and bar takings plunged.
NFC throughout my tenure there had fantastic support from the management of The Crew after migrating to it from another town centre pub. We had access to a concert room free of charge. We did not have to pay for the Sound Engineer (using a state of the art mixing desk), or for use of a concert standard stage with lighting, either. We had our own separate entrances, our own refurbished toilets and our own bar again staffed at no charge to us. We were able to attract high quality acts of the highest status because they simply loved playing the venue.
The Queens Hall had air conditioning and specially imported air filters were added to help assuage the anxieties of returning punters after the pandemic. But still across the area the counter attractions came. Newly opening or relaunching venues and still all competing for the same demographic. The end result was inevitable. Common sense was needed and it was not always demonstrated. Due to this frail grip on reality by some speculators and wannabees, everyone suffered.
