An important and necessary article that is square in this publication's wheelhouse. I hope it gets some attention.

In my mind, the woes of these live-music venues are the canary in the coal mine. They are symptoms of a broader affliction, and that affliction is late-stage capitalism.

Not mentioned: people under 32 or so are dating much, much less. Whether this impacts the small venue industry depends on how often live music is chosen for date night. Poking around the internets, I find that attendance at large, expensive, stadium shows is UP. Maybe everyone saves their $$$ for one big show a year? Where are those attendees getting the $ to attend, if smaller places can't make it?

Expect alcohol sales to continue their overall downward trend forever. Science has determined there is no safe level of alcohol use. As repeatedly mentioned in this article, live music clubs have long depended upon alcohol sales (especially of inexpensive booze, greatly marked up to large margins as well drinks), and the long slow decline in that income stream will continue to put pressure on local live music.

"We wonder what our new mayor might be interested in doing to support Seattle arts."

Although not in so many words, Mayor-Elect Wilson made it clear she supports the homelessness policy which has wasted well over one billion dollars (!) on ineffective service providers, without improving that situation at all. A tiny fraction of that money could have solved all of the problems listed in this article, but no one should expect Seattle to change priorities under the new mayor. The needs of homeless, addicted criminals will continue to receive literally hundreds or thousands of times as much money as will artists, and the clubs who support artists -- IOW, persons and businesses which improve Seattle's quality of life will continue to struggle, while the city throws even more money at a 'solution' to homelessness which has already failed catastrophically on its own terms.

Expect the Stranger to applaud Mayor Wilson's decision in this matter.

Well, it's good to know that, whatever we may be losing in live-music venues, we are at no risk of losing the online pontifications of holier-than-thou out-of-town know-it-alls.

@4: I dined at the Croc’ on the day it opened. (Not the day it opened in the current location; the day it opened.) I’ve seen far more shows there than have most of the Stranger’s readers — and writers. So perhaps I have just a little bit of knowledge in this area?

Expect the Stranger to continue paying lip service to the local music scene — whilst advocating policies which continue to destroy it.

tensorna @5: "So perhaps I have just a little bit of knowledge in this area?"

Good point. I mean, to what area does your vast breadth of knowledge NOT extend?

I was surprised that Baba Yaga had any music at all; they have no events scheduled on Facebook, and the nights I have driven by and looked in, there was no music happening. It is no coincidence that the venues that I attend the most are the ones that always build Facebook events as soon as they book them.

Let's face it, Facebook sucks...unless you are a performer, venue or patron. Those nasty algorithms happen to be great for music events; they are your best friend! Venue owners who don't use Facebook events as the free advertising it is, are, frankly, asleep at the wheel. It's quite simple, as soon as you book a show, take 5 minutes to build the event. Make the band a co-host. Tell the band to have all their members with Facebook accounts to click “Going.” Here’s where those algorithms go to work; the event will start dropping into the feed of everyone who “follows” the venue. It will also start hitting the feed of friends of people who click they are “Going.” There is even a feed for events that are “Popular With Friends.”

We are very lucky in Seattle that we have a wide, diverse wealth of music happening all around us; I keep learning of new venues and hearing about gigs that weren’t on my radar. (I'd like to give a shout out to the brand new Mermaid Lounge in Fremont, my fave new venue!) The reality remains that there are more events I see on Facebook than I have time to attend so if your band/venue isn’t making events, you probably won’t see me there. The only value Facebook has is for advertising your band, venue, event, or, finding the same. See you on the dance floor!

I love live performance and want to support artists in our community, plus I have the time and money to attend the shows. But I can tell you why I very seldom go out to these venues anymore: audience behavior. I can't stand having some stranger behind me screaming in my ears. I go to enjoy the artists' performances and to hear their music, not to have my hearing damaged by someone three feet behind me yelling at the top of their lungs.
Please, applaud enthusiastically, stamp your feet, dance, but do not spoil the experience of others around you by shrieking as a means of showing your appreciation of the band. This is a generational thing - I get it - but artists and venues need music fans of all ages to go and support them. The screamers are driving the rest of us away.

I don't go to music events anymore because of the shootings.

Seems like people drinking less is a large factor.

As for shootings outside of live music venues, there's hardly any. You're far more likely to get hurt doing many other things than going to a live show. The stats are all there. There's def. a narrative that has gone around about how dangerous Seattle is even though our shootings have gone down over the years. Just thought I would pass it along