Updates and Resources for Business

Please see the attached letter sent by NAMM to advance support for live event businesses and professionals in the next, and likely final, federal COVID-19 relief legislation. PLEASE CONTACT YOUR SENATORS NOW (you can find information on your senators and their websites, where you can post comments) to advance this request for the availability of federal relief for the live event industry. Please only contact your Senators from your state (both home and business, as applicable).

Cut and paste, and personalize as desired, the email text below. Spread the news and request ALL industry colleagues and employees, contractors and gig workers to contact their Senators.

Template Text

Dear (fill in Senator and/or staffer name):

I write to bring your attention to challenges facing the live event industry and to urge the inclusion of targeted relief for the industry as Congress considers additional coronavirus relief measures this month.

Live event venues were among the first to close and will likely be the last to reopen. Workers in the live event sector were among the first to have their jobs disrupted, and they will be among the last to return to their jobs. By its very nature, live events work cannot be done from home. In recent decades, a significant and growing share of employment and economic activity has come from the business of “getting people together.” Live event venues — many of which are owned by local governments – generate millions in tax revenue and sustain jobs in communities across the country. Restaurants, hotels, retail stores, and other local businesses also directly benefit from the hundreds of millions of concert, theater, festival, fair and eventgoers who attend millions of events each year. Events, both commercial and nonprofit, are central to our individual and collective identity. Live performance venues and the artists and workers in the industry are the lifeblood of the cultural and social identity of our neighborhoods. Social distancing, capacity limitations and other restrictions mean that the live event industry will not recover in any meaningful way until next year, and likely not until summer or later. It is impossible to operate in a viable manner at low capacity.

We appreciate the leadership Congress has shown by providing vital, short-term assistance with the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), expanding unemployment insurance eligibility to “gig” workers and the self-employed, and extending other relief. Businesses such as the live event industry that are facing prolonged closure, however, need additional help.

Due to the unique circumstances of our industry, we support industry-specific federal assistance through payroll support, tax relief, and loan guarantees. Allowing the hardest hit businesses with demonstrated losses to receive a second PPP loan would help, as would the bipartisan “RESTART Act” (S. 3814), which proposes seven-year, low-interest loans with deferred interest and principal repayments.

Sincerely,

NAME
Title, company
City, state

On July 11, the U.S. Small Business Administration, having allocated the full $20 billion in emergency funding appropriated by Congress, announced that it will discontinue making EIDL Advances to new applicants. By law, the SBA is not permitted to issue new EIDL Advances once all program funding has been obligated.

EIDL loan applications will still be processed even though the advance is no longer available. As a reminder, the loan portion of the EIDL program continues to have funds available at very affordable terms, including a 3.75% interest rate for small businesses and 2.75% for non-profit organizations, a 30-year maturity, and an automatic deferment of one year before monthly payments begin. Paycheck Protection Program participants may also be eligible to apply for EIDL funds. Every eligible small business and non-profit is encouraged to apply to get the resources they need.

There are options still available to small businesses in the form of grants and loans at the state and federal level. Your business may be eligible to receive financial assistance to get you through these unprecedented times. Learn more.

On Saturday July 4, President Trump signed S. 4116 to reauthorize lending under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) through August 8, 2020 and separates the authorized limits for commitments under the PPP from other Small Business Administration loan programs. The $669 billion program has approved more than 4.8 million loans. There remains an estimated $130 billion available.

Information on how to apply may be found at SBA.gov. Find an eligible local lender.

Amid pending efforts to enact legislation at the federal level that would shield businesses from COVID-19 infection suits, at least ten states have taken it upon themselves to pass their own such laws or enact executive orders, while lawmakers in other states are contemplating similar changes. Read more.