The Cluny is a popular music venue in Newcastle and has had artists perform such as Arctic Monkeys to Sam Fender. The Cluny has experienced a pandemic, the Cost of Living and is still standing over 20+ years and this is what they said..
- How do you think the cost of living has affected your business?
"Like any service sector business we have no option but to pass increased costs onto customers, so high inflation hits us doubly hard. We have to immediately pay more for goods and services and when we pass these costs on to our valued customers, many with limited income for their social life, they either spend less per visit or visit less frequently.
"With regards to the live music part of our business inflation and the cost of living crisis has had a dramatic impact. Touring artists quickly pass on the costs caused by high inflation through increased ticket pricing which has an immediate impact on people already struggling financially who see live music as an escape from the stress of day to day life. Increased ticket prices results in those on a budget having less to spend on food and drinks when they attend gigs. High utility prices means that our venues are more expensive to heat in the winter and cool in the summer and the already extremely limited profits are now paid out to utility companies rather than reinvested into the business."
- Do you feel as though the pandemic affected your business?
"Live music was one of the first things to be restricted and one of the last things to have restrictions lifted. We are thankful for the short term national government help, but from the pandemic straight into the resultant cost of living crisis has been extremely difficult.
"Some of our pre-pandemic customers have never returned to watching live music, customer's habits have changed and people leave it later and later to purchase tickets as the pandemic set in place a mindset of 'this may be cancelled so I’ll wait to see before I buy'. This results in an enormous amount of stress as the break even point of shows takes longer and longer to be hit and that’s for the gigs that actually make the break even point. Humans are imitation apes and so much of how we live our lives is monkey see, monkey do so when live music was turned off, a huge number of young people have not had that monkey see moment and we are at risk of having a generation that misses out on the life affirming thrill of live music."
- Do you think the cost of living has affected the North East music scene with local music venues?
"Massively. We are an economically vulnerable region that doesn’t have the wealth to absorb the rise in costs like larger cities. It hits us earlier, harder and our recovery takes longer."
- What do you think makes the cluny stand out in the North East music scene?
"The Cluny is 25 years old and Cluny 2 is 15 years old. That longevity is what sets us apart. We are part of the fabric of the NE music scene and part of people’s lives. We have kids in the late teens coming to kids whose parents met at the Cluny. It’s an incredible privilege to be a visually and socially iconic part of Newcastle culture. We are on prints, paintings and mentioned in poems and lyrics. This place is special and the current team views ourselves as custodians rather than owners and managers.
"With regards to touring music, it means something to sell out The Cluny. National management companies, agents, and promoters all know what it takes to sell out a show here so they know when a band is going places depending on how quickly tickets sell and how big the queue is.
"Over the year we’ve hosted Artic Monkeys, Sam Fender, Ed Sheeran, Mumford and Sons, Solange Knowles, and many more famous faces long before they became household names. If you want to see the stars of tomorrow today, buy a ticket for a show at The Cluny. Because of our reputation, we get established names playing shows here, and last year we hosted The Pretenders as part of Independent Venue Week and Arrested Development tore the roof off the place. It doesn’t matter if you’ve sold 50 tickets or sold the place out, everyone is treated equally and given our legendary friendly welcome and hospitality."
- What do you think needs to be done to help local music venues survive in this climate?
"More direct funding at national and local level. It’s easy for government and industry groups to think they are helping by creating pots of funding, but if we have to apply for that funding, that’s stretching the small teams of staff to breaking point jumping through hoops which results in wealthier venues getting more money. Just create a small venue grants fund and give us some money.
"Established artists need to give something back and return to their roots to play gigs in venues where they started out. The sales from those nights would allow us to offer free hire to the next generation. Famous people always wring their hands and say what can I do to help. The answers are simple give us some money or come and play or preferably both. Places like The Cluny are the foundations on which careers are built. If you started out here but ended up headlining stadiums, then give us a little something to say thanks. It’s that simple, you can either ask what you can do or actually do something, choose doing something."
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