Intermediate size venues got wiped out because smokers are extremely profitable--smoking and drinking go together.
You can have a small venue (<100) and it will trundle along. You can have a big venue (>1000) because it probably reached self-supporting.
However, we lost a LOT of 100-1000 size venues from about 1990 to about 2005. And those are the ones that working musicians can make a living off of. But those need the stupidly profitable contingent that goes along with smoking and drinking. The single craft beer drinker isn't going to generate enough money to support such a place.
You could see this even before the smoking bans in areas which had sophisticated dancing (swing, ballroom, etc.) groups. If your venue somehow attracted the young dancing contingent, the venue was going to vaporize within 6 months. Everybody loved them--they tended to be polite, didn't harass the waitstaff, looked good, prevented highly skewed M/F ratios, etc. -- except that they spent next to no money compared to the general public so the owners HATED them. This was in stark contrast to the elder dancing contingent who smoked and drank like fish and could keep clubs alive long beyond their expiration date.
There must be other factors at play, because pre-pandemic I attended several live music events every month, a lot of them small <250 people venues. A friend of mine has a goal of seeing 1000 artists in a year, and he got within spitting distance of it in 2019.
Of course, all venues make sure to have outside areas for smoking, because that's the sensible thing to do.
Okay, I'm going to ask "Where?" because my musician friends probably want to move there once Covid is done.
Although, if you say Nashville or New York, you're not helping--those are mega anomalies and all the musicians are already there which makes the situation untenable.
Denmark, but it goes for most of Europe in general, at least the places I've been. Any city over a certain size will have a bunch of small venues, and the laws against smoking indoors are EU-wide.
However, I am concerned that a lot of these smaller venues and promoters will struggle to survive the pandemic lockdowns, unless our governments pull themselves together and support cultural venues, instead of focusing so hard on sports. Culture isn't just something you play with a ball :-)
As for the downvotes, probably general disagreement or spillover from other discussions where someone has taken offense to what I wrote.
Intermediate size venues got wiped out because smokers are extremely profitable--smoking and drinking go together.
Same in pubs. The smoking-and-drinking crowd got edged out by parents who for some reason want to bring their kids to the pub. They will have brought their own drinks and snacks for the kids too. The mother will have a small glass of wine and the father will drink half a pint of "craft beer", stretched out over a couple of hours while their kids run around screaming and annoying the few remaining paying drinkers.
I loved pubs in the old days but even before COVID they were dying out because they just don't want their loyal paying customers any more.
You can have a small venue (<100) and it will trundle along. You can have a big venue (>1000) because it probably reached self-supporting.
However, we lost a LOT of 100-1000 size venues from about 1990 to about 2005. And those are the ones that working musicians can make a living off of. But those need the stupidly profitable contingent that goes along with smoking and drinking. The single craft beer drinker isn't going to generate enough money to support such a place.
You could see this even before the smoking bans in areas which had sophisticated dancing (swing, ballroom, etc.) groups. If your venue somehow attracted the young dancing contingent, the venue was going to vaporize within 6 months. Everybody loved them--they tended to be polite, didn't harass the waitstaff, looked good, prevented highly skewed M/F ratios, etc. -- except that they spent next to no money compared to the general public so the owners HATED them. This was in stark contrast to the elder dancing contingent who smoked and drank like fish and could keep clubs alive long beyond their expiration date.