Only 1 in 4 Cleveland Independent Music Venues Were Profitable Last Year, New Report Says

Earlier this year, a State of Live study from the National Independent Venue Association found that only a fifth of Ohio’s music venues turned a profit in 2024.

This week, we found out that the numbers hold roughly the same for Cleveland: just a quarter of the city’s stages made money last year, a new report said.

But Cleveland’s independent venues — the 50 or so non-corporate ones like the Grog Shop, Rose Tavern and Spotlight — contributed to a $1.2 billion total economic output with about $743 million headed towards Ohio’s GDP. There are plenty of venues, plenty of shows, and plenty of fans, it turns out.

Which leaves a kind of head-scratching question when you compare Cleveland with places like Portland or Seattle—both cities with indie venues that saw higher profits last year but brought in less economic impact than cities along the Great Lakes.

That’s a good thing—right?

“Let me put it this way: Cleveland generates more than what the independent sector generates in Oregon and 28 other states,” Sean Watterson told Scene in a call. “And in Ohio? We account for half of all the [music venue] activity across the state.”

Watterson, the owner of the Happy Dog and the data master general of our State of Live report, nudged both Cuyahoga Cocunty and Destination Cleveland to pay an extra $10,000 to get a Cleveland-specific breakdown of the city’s performance last year.

Both this recent report and the statewide data will be used to fuel the birth of Cuyahoga Live!, the county’s planned music commission that would be on par with ones in Austin and Nashville.

Cleveland’s and Cuyahoga County’s “independent live music and comedy sector perform well above average in its economic impact and jobs supported and wages and benefits paid,” the report, which was released Thursday, said, “indicating a strong and deep independent music sector that gets stronger than average support from its local audiences.”

As for how to make the scene stronger, the report offered a list of recommendations: beef up the tourism arms of the Rock Hall and Tri-C’s JazzFest; outfit our public venues, like Public Hall, for local bands; appoint our musicians to government boards; create another survey (of fans); and throw more money at Hello Cleveland, the Rock Hall’s attempt at a one-stop-shop concert listing page.

Watterson has another suggestion: cut down or outright eliminate Cleveland’s steep eight percent tax on concert tickets—like Detroit does.

Combined, those ideas that could help venues like the Grog Shop and Happy Dog bring in more dollars like similar joints in the Pacific Northwest.

“Well, you have a younger population there and higher income levels,” Watterson said.

“We have an older population,” he added. “We have higher taxes. We’ve got older infrastructure—Portland doesn’t.”

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