It’s laborious to consider, however we’re nearly 5 years faraway from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic that shut every little thing down and introduced the whole stay music trade to its knees. As you could recall, within the wake of mandated closures and stay-at-home orders, artists and venues acquired funds to remain afloat from the U.S. federal authorities by a program known as the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG). It seems like an affordable factor to do on the federal degree, however a current report over at Enterprise Insider discovered quite a few situations the place that grant program could have been taken benefit of and misused by very rich people. Surprising, I do know…
Based on the report, which was primarily based on 1000’s of paperwork that the publication obtained and reviewed, musicians obtained the funding by “loan-out corporations — company entities used to deal with the enterprise of touring.” And whereas well-known rappers and different artists have been seen utilizing the funds for every little thing from extravagant birthday events and designer garments, iconic grunge outfit Alice In Chains was straight named within the report for receiving $4.1 million by the grant.
Of the $4.1 million they acquired, $3.4 million went to guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell, drummer Sean Kinney, and bassist Mike Inez. And whereas Cantrell and Kinney each obtained $1.4 million, no info was offered as to how a lot — if something — vocalist William DuVall acquired. The report had this to say about Alice In Chains’ SVOG distribution.
“Like different grant candidates, AIC Leisure — the three band members’ touring enterprise — needed to inform the federal government solely that the cash was ‘needed.’ However the month earlier than they took their grant funds, the band members recorded about $48 million in revenue from promoting the copyrights on their catalog. They made tons of of 1000’s of {dollars} extra from merchandise gross sales and different revenue distributions in 2022.
“The band spent some cash to pay its employees. It paid tons of of 1000’s of {dollars} to sound-equipment-rental corporations, videographers, and managers. However the precarious nature of working within the live-entertainment enterprise didn’t change for a few of its workers. Scott Dachroeden, a guitar tech and tour photographer who had labored with the band for years, acquired a most cancers prognosis in late 2022. The band, which data present didn’t spend grant cash on advantages like medical insurance, circulated a GoFundMe web page on Twitter.
“He has no medical insurance and now can not work to pay his payments,” the web page mentioned. The band’s lead singer mentioned on Fb that Alice in Chains helped out behind the scenes, however an individual accustomed to the state of affairs mentioned that Dachroeden didn’t get a lot, if any, cash from the band through the pandemic and that after his prognosis, the band related Dachroeden with a charity that helps with medical payments. Dachroeden died quickly after his prognosis.
“Alice in Chains‘ publicists and supervisor didn’t reply to requests for remark.’
That final half is especially worrisome right here. In the event that they created a GoFundMe to assist somebody who was dying and the cash generated didn’t go to that particular person or their household, that’s unhealthy. In the event that they pocketed the funds themselves then that’s even worse.
As for what comes out of this report, it’s nonetheless anybody’s guess. This isn’t the primary time authorities cash has been mismanaged and miscounted and it definitely gained’t be the final.
