Show Up For Live Music!

From Music Fans to Musicians and Everyone in Between, Help Us Stand Up to Protect the Arts and Soul of Asheville 

This has been a very stressful year for everyone, and venues and musicians are amongst those fighting to survive. Our industry has been decimated by the pandemic and there is no end in sight for us. Sadly, we will likely be the last to return to work in full capacity. 

The City of Asheville has a proposed new noise ordinance which specifically and heavily targets live music in a time of great struggle for our local industry. These new changes impose new permitting fees on venues, set strict decibel level in certain areas at certain times, limit number of events, as well as enact strict penalties for a violation of any size, including suspending a venue’s ability to host shows for 30 days up to 1 year. 

We believe that introducing these changes in the midst of a pandemic is going to cause greater harm to our venues that are already largely shuttered, and will endanger our musicians who are at home and unable to play for full audiences. 

What You Can Do

Call To Action: Preserve Asheville Music

Asheville's Music Industry Needs Your Help Before It's Too Late!    

We have been floored by how you've continuously shown up to support local live music!  It's time to use your voice yet again, so we can get a vote on a liveable noise ordinance and put this issue to rest after many months of curveballs.  

TELL CITY COUNCIL THAT NOW IS THE TIME TO PASS A BALANCED NOISE ORDINANCE TO PROTECT LIVE MUSIC
We have worked for months to negotiate a noise ordinance that will protect our live music industry and we support the day-to-day decibel limits that the Public Safety Committee recommended to City Council earlier this month.  These are summarized here. 

We ask Council to include in the new ordinance a common sense "Sound Exceedence Permit".  Permitted Sound Exceedence events will be permitted with dB levels overseen by City Staff, with cooperation from concert organizers. The permits will require events to end at 10pm & 11pm,  be limited to 30 events per year for only the largest producers (and <12 per year for one-off promoters), and sound levels from the events will be kept to 85 dB at the nearest residential property line.  

SMALL GROUP OF PROPERTY OWNERS PUSHING FOR STRICTER MUSIC LIMITS
A small group of residents and luxury condo owners do not agree with the reasonable compromises AMP has made.   They do not want City Council to pass the Public Safety Committee's recommendation that will protect our fragile local music scene, even with the common-sense compromises it includes (such as establishing quieter night-time dB levels, setting reasonable ending time for shows, and limiting the number of outdoor events allowed per year.)  This small group of residents is pushing for the delay of the vote to give them more time to lobby for a stricter overall noise policy, lower decibel limits downtown and elsewhere, and more limitations on outdoor music.  These changes would put  Asheville's music industry and all of us who rely on it for work or for our lifestyle, in great jeopardy, and would place our fragile local venues and gigging musicians in a precarious situation as we try to plan ahead for booking, not knowing whether these stricter limits would even be achievable or could put us out of business.


City staff has gone above and beyond for over two years to learn about sound in our entire city before getting to this point. In many meetings with AMP, the Asheville Buskers Collective and many other groups they have been inquisitive, responsive and sensitive to our culture while being realistic about the need to have an updated noise ordinance that fits our unique city. This is key to why we can support it, and why we are asking you to join us. Now, AMP wants Asheville City Council & staff to stick to the schedule that was planned weeks ago.  We ask them to take a vote on the common-sense, balanced Noise Ordinance proposed by Public Safety at the next council meeting, if not on June 22 than most certainly in July.  Our neighborhoods need relief from the serious noise polluters and our music industry cannot afford the uncertainty of a delay.


WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP NOW
Email Asheville City Council AshevilleNCCouncil@ashevillenc.gov and City Manager Deborah Campbell dcampbell@ashevillenc.gov  before next Tuesday morning, June 22nd! and do the following:

(Please cc ashevillemusicprofessionals@gmail.com so we can track responses.)

1. Share your full name and the Asheville neighborhood where you live! (If you don't live in City limits, you are still welcome to email without listing a City address or neighborhood). This is very important so that we can show how many AVL residents support our beloved live music scene! We know that there are a lot of us, and we know that we represent the majority of almost every City neighborhood.

2. Tell Council NOT to delay the vote! Ask them to vote for an ordinance that protects live music in July.

3. Ask Council to vote to approve the Public Safety Committee's recommendations for dB limits, and ask them to ensure that outdoor live music can survive by supporting a Sound Exceedence Permit process that allows up to 30 events per year (for larger venues only), a curfew of 10pm on weekdays and 11pm on weekends, and a max dB limit of 85dBA at the nearest residential property line.

AMP has a sample letter template on our website you can link to here. 

FINALLY:  TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS TO DO THE SAME!  We know that the majority of Asheville neighbors value and appreciate our local music scene.  We know that Asheville would not be Asheville without it; we need to show City Council how large our music community is! There is strength in our numbers! Remember that Tuesday is the deadline as the all-important next Council meeting is Tuesday afternoon and July's agenda will then be set!

Thank you SO MUCH for your help! Please spread the word to everyone you can!

Participate

NOTICE: The next meeting will be held at 5:00 p.m., Tuesday, June 22

THE NEXT FORMAL MEETING OF CITY COUNCIL WILL BE HELD ON JUNE 22 BEGINNING AT 5 P.M. IN THE BANQUET HALL AT HARRAH’S CHEROKEE CENTER – ASHEVILLE, LOCATED AT 87 HAYWOOD STREET.  BELOW PLEASE FIND THE COMPLETE ONLINE AGENDA FROM COUNCIL’S LAST FORMAL MEETING.  PLEASE CONTACT CITY CLERK MAGGIE BURLESON AT MBURLESON@ASHEVILLENC.GOV IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS.

https://www.ashevillenc.gov/government/city-council-agenda/

Learn

Familiarize yourself with the changes.

Don’t have time to read the whole thing? Scroll down for our top concerns.

Bullet List of Top Concerns

NOW IS NOT THE RIGHT TIME FOR TARGETING THE STRUGGLING MUSIC INDUSTRY

The timing of a new noise ordinance that is substantially focused on live music and  music venues is inappropriate during the Covid19 Pandemic and ensuing  shutdowns. The industry is facing its most challenging year in the last century, and  several small beloved venues have already closed. With live music being one of the  last, if not the last, industry to re-open at full capacity at pre-pandemic levels and facing  “massive collapse” at present and into 2021, it is insensitive and poorly-timed to  announce a new ordinance with new fee requirements and legal hurdles to cross. This  ordinance, if it cannot be rescinded completely, must be rolled out as a TRIAL with no  actual penalties for 2 year period, beginning summer 2021. The City must see how it  works in reality to see which areas need revision to be workable for the arts  stakeholders.  

WEEKEND HOURS & TOO-STRICT dB LIMITS

The noise ordinance draft proposes nighttime hours at 10pm every day of the week,  including weekends. While outdoor shows can sometimes be scheduled to end by 10pm  with precision, this is difficult for outdoor bars and dining establishments with patio  areas. Because bars and restaurants take advantage of outdoor space on the  weekends and often have lively crowds with ambient music and talking & laughter,  volume being created by their guests, the nighttime limit could be a challenge to meet.  Weekend nighttime hours should extend until 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays in  commercial zones. The dB limits set here are not even loud enough to account for bus’  air brakes, ambient highway noise, or even yard equipment. Setting dB limits too low  will jeopardize the many benefits of our live music economy, both unquantifiable like the  amazing cultural and community experience that live music offers, and quantifiable, like  the employment of local musicians and the revenue that music customers bring to local  restaurants, venues, ride-shares, lodging, and retail. 

THE ORDINANCE PROPOSES NEW FEES ON STRUGGLING ENTREPRENEURS

The ordinance has provisions that require all music venues to hold a “music venue  permit”, with the inclusion of a permit fee, not specified. There is additional language to  require any music venue which will need to exceed the standard dB limits to obtain a  separate, “exceedance permit”, and this too has an additional unspecified permit fee  attached. coming out of a 9 month period where music venues throughout the country  are fully shuttered and struggling just to stay open and remain independent, new fees  are not reasonable. Already there are efforts nationwide to buy up and corporatize small  indie music venues who are desperate for a financial lifeline. To require new fees on top  of new fees, without specifying what the fee limits might be, adds insult to injury on a  year that has been devastating for the industry. Would the City require all restaurants to  pay a new permit fee, just to exist as a restaurant, in early 2021? Our music industry is  in an arguably even tougher position than they are; we cannot afford more fees.

THE ORDINANCE PROPOSES BLANKET CONSEQUENCES FOR BOTH MAJOR OR MINOR VIOLATIONS, INTENTIONAL OR NOT

Consequences for exceedance violations, even for businesses who take the time and  energy to get & pay for new permits but who might still fall short in only a small way  despite best intentions, are severe. The language of this ordinance states: “Should the  applicant fail to abide by all applicable requirements found within this or any section of  the Municipal Code, the Noise Control Administrator shall be authorized to revoke the  permit.” There is no period to cure, no levels specified for severity or nuance for when  the noise administrator, at his or her discretion, can revoke a business’ ability to produce  noise for a period of 30 days. Even if a venue appeals, the DSC has 30 days to make a  decision - meanwhile the producer is unable to produce any events. This is a  dangerously vague provision. It must be revised to allow for degrees of consequence,  ascertainment of intent or good faith effort to comply before any strong penalty or  revocation would take place, and a window of time in which the business may cure or  appeal without license revocation or suspension of activities. Cancelations that can  span over a 30 day period, for what could be a small violation, are simply unsustainable  and could be business-ending for small entrepreneurs and festival producers. 

WHAT EFFECT WILL THIS HAVE ON THE STRUGGLING MUSICIAN COMMUNITY?

The ordinance could disproportionately hurt local musicians, who are among our  community's most vulnerable in the midst of the global pandemic. They have not had the  ability to play indoor shows for many months, and outdoor patio shows and busking are  currently their only lifeline. We think this is strong reason to consider a 2 year trial period  with only probationary enforcement, a warning system, and no financial penalty for noise  ordinance provisions, so that the City has time to measure effects and consequences,  especially those that may be unintentional, on our local musicians and busking  communities. 

Why Is Live Music So Important In Asheville?

Based on the 2017 Economic Impact Study, the music industry contributed the following: 

● $171 million in the local economy 

● An estimated $33 million in local, state, and federal music. 

● Helped to create 1873 direct jobs that support another 1518 jobs for a total of 3391 jobs. For every one direct job in the music industry, approximately 1 other job was supported in the economy.

Employment, wages, and impact provide only part of the contribution music has to a region’s economy. Social and cultural capital is a powerful force that sustains and grows thriving cities. Asheville is fortunate to have a music industry that has risen from indigenous music and a culture which fosters music and its enjoyment as a part of life