The Music Commission would like to increase the Live Music Fund from its current total of $4.5 million and could advocate for hotel taxes from short-term rentals to serve as a source of funding.

At last week’s meeting, the commission received an update from the Division of Music and Entertainment on the nearly 1,200 applicants for this year’s LMF grant program. With grants of $15,000 or $30,000 available for artists or producers, or $30,000 or $60,000 for independent music venues, there is only enough money to fund about 170 grants total.

Commissioner Scott Strickland said the 5:1 ratio of unsuccessful applicants to scholarship recipients shows the need in the local music scene. In addition to providing more money for the program, he also suggested reducing scholarship amounts in future years to allow for a higher number of awards.

Last year, when the city launched the Live Music Fund, it named 368 grant recipients, each with significantly smaller amounts of $5,000 and $10,000, with none of the grants going to music venues.

“Next year we need to make sure the funds go to more people. About 800 people are turned down and about a hundred people are funded,” he said. “There are really famous artists touring right now and they’re touring alone because they can’t afford a band. So I can only imagine what it’s like for the little guy, and I’m actually the little guy and I know what it’s like.”

Because the program is funded entirely by the city’s share of hotel occupancy tax revenue, commissioners turned their attention to the possibility of the city enacting comprehensive regulations and agreements with short-term rental platforms like Airbnb and VRBO that would allow for the collection of an estimated $15 million to $20 million in additional hotel tax per year. If that estimate is accurate, that would mean about $3 million more per year for the Live Music Fund.

In recent years, the Arts, Music and Tourism Committees have adopted recommendations for the City to advance an STR framework that would allow for better noise and quality of life regulations while increasing hotel tax revenues that could fund music, cultural arts and historic preservation in addition to covering the costs of the Austin Convention Center.

Earlier this summer, city staff indicated that the City Council might address the STR issue in the fall.

Commissioner Lauryn Gould said she and others should discuss these recommendations with the council members who appointed them. She and others also discussed exploring outside partnerships to raise private and philanthropic money and increase the Live Music Fund’s support for local musicians.

“We discussed this when we were just getting this whole thing rolling and looked at how we could create a public-private partnership,” she said. “It would be great to talk before the next rollout about how we can really grow that pot beyond (hotel) taxes.”

Erica Shamaly, director of the music and entertainment division, said analysis of grant applications conducted by her staff and the Long Center for the Performing Arts, which administers the program, can be made available to determine the needs of the music community. That data, she said, would be a first step in obtaining outside funding.

Commissioner Pedro Carvalho, who was appointed by 4th District Councilor Chito Vela, said Vela indicated that taxes from STRs were his preferred first option to increase support for music and cultural purposes.

“He said if we as a city can put enough pressure on Airbnb to get these people to register to pay these (hotel) taxes, then a lot of these people who are reaching out to us can be helped, and the funds are there,” he said. “All I know is that the money is there and people aren’t giving it or paying their bills. That’s just not fair.”

Photo provided under a Creative Commons license.

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