In today’s episode, we talk with Daniel with someone who’s been at the heart of D.C.’s live music scene for over two decades. From starting out as artists to building and running Union Stage Presents, which now operates six venues and hosts thousands of shows each year, they’ve seen it all. We’ll discuss the challenges of running small venues, how to keep a schedule packed with hundreds of shows, the realities of growing a business in a competitive market, and what it’s like to manage a multi-venue operation. We’ll also explore what makes D.C.’s music scene so unique and how the city’s culture and politics shape the way live music thrives here. It’s a conversation about the long road to success, the energy it takes to keep a venue alive, and what the future of live music might look like. Let’s get into it.
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(00:13) - “Overnight” Success (23 years of pushing), Union Stage Presents has grown to an operation of 6 venues doing thousands of shows a year
(01:56) - Going from artists to starting their own venue, Jammin Java 10 miles away from the Pentagon on 9/11, and eventually sustaining their 200 cap room for over 20 years
(13:10) - The art and science of keeping a venue booked + the sheer energy and resources required to do 300+ events a year at a small club
(23:12) - Growing beyond one venue, promoting at other venues, and building Union Stage
(29:00) - Surviving in DC, a robust live music market with tons of competition
(35:38) - The unique culture of DC that makes it a thriving live music market + how politics naturally shapes the landscape
(43:56) - Expanding to adding another venue, Capital Turnaround + manages the stresses and challenges of a growing business, and eventually expanding to owning/managing 6 venues
(52:05) - A zoomed out perspective of the flow of artists across the country, and how to create a pipeline of artists and shows
(59:15) - Fastball Questions - how to keep 200+ employees happy and engaged, how Prism and other tech platforms can help with scale, building their own ticketing system/the ticketing ecosystem as a whole, excitement for the future (potentially a large space coming?!)
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