-You know, it's really, really good for the soul
to be able to play music again.
There's not a lot of money in it -- I'll tell you that --
but at least it's good for the spirit.
-Well, Nashville is music city,
and a big part of what we do is about live music
and the live-music business here all over town.
-We're a rare instance as a city
where our brand is our product -- music.
♪ You can call me in the daytime ♪
♪ And call me in my dreams ♪
-Nashville is full of thousands of freelance musicians,
and we have a lot of musicians that make their living touring,
and all the tours were canceled.
A lot of them are struggling and looking for work,
finding alternate sources of income.
There are people that have just gone back home.
We have other people that are, you know, working at Amazon.
It's a very challenging time.
♪ With your nails painted pink ♪
♪ Your teeth much too white ♪
-And, of course, since early March,
we haven't played out at bars or clubs at all,
and we started, this summer,
getting asked to play porch parties,
so we'll set up outdoors, socially distanced,
and play for small groups of friends.
♪ You're the lightning bug ♪
♪ In my Mason jar ♪
Venues like 5 Spot have been essential
to what Nashville has become.
You know, 90% of the independent music
venues will not make it much longer.
-The smaller venues around here --
that's where you ply your art.
-The independent music venues in this town
are the lifeline of our music ecosystem,
and our music ecosystem is the lifeline
of our hospitality industry.
♪ Do you know what time it is? ♪
♪ Well, it's 4:00 in the morning ♪
♪ I can't go on like this ♪
-It's really hard to know what the future's
gonna hold for live music,
but we do see some innovative things that have happened --
obviously, online teaching, online seminars.
I certainly hold out the hope that musicians
are not only gonna be reactive to the circumstances
that they're in but also proactive
in terms of finding new ways, finding new solutions.
-I truly think that everybody is here
in this town to get better, and you get better
by watching other people play and playing live.
I mean, that's what Nashville is really all about.
You want to hone your craft. That's it.
I mean, that's pretty much the world.
Before the pandemic, I was working with probably
four or five different singer/songwriters
and everything from making records to touring
either domestically or internationally.
And then that all went away.
In March, we were prepared for maybe three months,
and we figured we're gonna go back on the road,
or I would and my wife, as well,
and then the three months came and went,
and then the put-aside savings came and went,
and six months later, the credit cards are maxed.
We decided to sell the house.
I mean, it's a great place in a great neighborhood,
but it's just -- it's just a bit overwhelming at the moment.
A lot of people are trying new things.
You know, the video thing is what's going on, you know,
and some people go get, like, a larger theater and film it,
and I don't know, you know?
I don't think anybody knows at this point.
-Since middle of March,
we have lost about $3 billion in visitor spending.
That is just visitor spending in the City of Nashville.
-5 Spot's been in East Nashville for 17 years,
and we've been catering to local music.
Occasionally we have touring artists,
but, for the most part, it's a neighborhood bar music venue.
Once the pandemic set in,
we realized it was gonna be quite a while
before we could be open to the public in any capacity.
My partner in crime over here, Todd Sherwood,
jumped on top of live streaming as a possible pivot for us,
started sourcing all the equipment we would need.
Took several months to get everything on premises,
wired up, all the bugs worked out,
and here we are live streaming.
♪ I find you there most all the time ♪
♪ Yeah, you bring smoke around like ♪
-We spent a few months with the live streams,
doing them free on Facebook, just, again,
trying to get the brand out there,
and now we're trying to pivot into paid platforms.
We're in week 2 of that, so we'll see.
Probably by the end of this month,
we'll have a better idea of what we're looking at,
but, uh, it could be better.
♪ And all the divers in the fight ♪
♪ And that's alright ♪
-But we need sustained support at this point in time.
At the federal level right now,
there are two bills in front of Congress.
One is the RESTART Act.
The second bill is SOS, Save Our Stages,
and that would be a godsend, you know, for all of the venues,
you know, in our situation.
♪ I find you there most all the time ♪
♪ Yeah, you bring smoke around like ♪
-There has to be some support for the arts.
It's not a waste.
[chuckles] We all love music, you know?
And it may not be the first thing on your list
as far as funding,
but, at the end of it, you know, if it's gone, it's gone.