Government money meant to help keep small venues open during the pandemic was given to the biggest names in entertainment, such as Post Malone and Nickelback. Insider reported Friday.
The stars pocketed millions from the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, a law pushed through by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) that distributed $14.5 billion in grants to movie theaters, ballets, operas, talent agents, performing-arts venues, museums and other institutions – including the private corporations controlled by boldfaced names.
A corporation controlled by Post Malone, whose real name is Austin Richard Post, received a $10 million grant in 2021 despite the chart-topper’s real estate spending spree that year, which included an $11.5 million ski chalet in Park City, Utah.
Also receiving payouts were Brown, who got $10 million, Lil Wayne, who pocketed $8.9 million, ’90s rockers The Smashing Pumpkins, with $8.6 million, Nickelback, with $2 million and electronic-music star Steve Aoki got $9.9 million.
Insider reported that it identified “dozens of corporations and limited-liability companies controlled by high-profile musical artists that received grants through the program.”
The investigation found that just one Los Angeles financial-management firm, NKSFB, “successfully submitted grants on behalf of 97 artists, venues, and managers, amounting to more than a quarter of a billion dollars in grant payouts, including more than $200 million for big-name artists alone,” including Post Malone, Marshmello, Aoki, Godsmack and Korn.
Shuttered Venues helped many small organizations in the arts and culture across the United States. A federal Small Business Administration spokesperson told Insider that nearly half the grant money went to businesses with fewer than five full-time employees, “the smallest of small businesses,” the spokesperson added.
“SVOG was there to save us, and to carry us through,” Meredith Lynsey Schade, who was managing an off-off-Broadway theater company when the pandemic hit, told the news outlet.
Yet many businesses run by artists fit into the smallest category, Insider found, including Aoki’s corporation, DJ Kid Millionaire Touring, which told the government it had four full-time employees.
There’s no sign that any of the high profile artists broke the law, but the program also experienced some of the same weak oversight and easy-to-navigate loopholes that other pandemic programs like the Paycheck Protection Program saw. The SBA estimates that less than 1% of the grants disbursed were fraudulent – a rate far lower than other COVID-era programs.
It’s possible that the artists used the federal grants to pay sound and lighting technicians, costumers, security staff and other contractors who were thrown out of work when live performances shut down.
Insider pointed out that there were no requirements that the recipients use their money in this way. Grants were given to compensate for lost revenues. They required a plan for spending, however recipients can use the money for anything, even paying themselves.
SBA denied an Insider Freedom of Information Act Request for Records showing how artists spent their money. They claimed that they were business records which should be kept confidential. Insider reached out to more than sixty grant recipients and asked them for specifics on how they spent their money. The majority did not reply, and none gave any information.
In the report, it was also mentioned that companies contracting with other adjacent businesses and those in their immediate vicinity could also independently apply for grants. Two of the biggest sound-system providers for touring, Eighth Day Sound and Clair Global — which merged in 2020 — each received $10 million grants, the report said.
“Two entities partly owned by the legendary talent manager Irving Azoff, whose firm’s clients include The Eagles, Lizzo, Harry Styles, and Gwen Stefani, together got $17.5 million from the program,” the report said. Azoff, according to an attorney representing him, did not personally receive any cash.
Even Live Nation’s subsidiaries, an publicly traded corporation that is not eligible for this program, managed to secure grants. However, many smaller venues had difficulty accessing the funds.
