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Golfers Flock to Concerts as Nashville's Topgolf Renames Live Music Venue, Eyes New Markets
Chris Lane
Topgolf, the Dallas, Texas-based global sports entertainment company
known for its innovative point-scoring games in multilevel driving
ranges, has seen remarkable growth in its 19 years of existence. During
that time they have rapidly expanded, with 44 locations stretching
across the world, from its original Watford, England location to its
newest facility in El Paso, Texas.
Having revolutionized the live
sports entertainment experience with their technology-based approach to
golf that relies on microchipped balls that score themselves on distance
and accuracy, Billboard has learned that the company may now
have their sights set on becoming a serious contender within the live
music community as well, with their first step toward it being a small
change made at their four-month-old Nashville location.
The company tells Billboard that they are renaming the music venue found inside their Nashville facility The Cowan, tossing
the old name Topgolf Live. Taking its new name from the street that the
facility sits alongside, those within the company at the local
level have watched as the lone music venue within the Topgolf family has
quickly become a big part of the Nashville live music scene, while also
noticing some lingering hostilities from neighboring venue owners and
performers. In a neighborhood that has long prided itself on the rich
history of artistic independence it has offered the town, it came as a
surprise to some local club owners when indie bands that would normally
play an intimate dive suddenly started being booked to play the stage of
a spot that makes the name of nearby Louisville, Kentucky's KFC Yum!
Center sound subtle in its commercialism.
"Yeah, that's been thrown [at me] before," says Jon Shyer,
Entertainment Manager for The Cowan, "Topgolf is taking being a part of
the Nashville music community very seriously. We need to stand out, to
not be what some might expect us to be, and not just be a thing for
tourists that happen to come through the area. That's been done, so we'd
rather bring in great talent, and not just the acts that cater to
bachelor or bachelorette parties that people might assume we'd primarily
book. We want to eventually build up to three or four nights of great
national talent a week, as well as regularly offer opportunities to some
of the great local talents that Nashville is known for. I have seen
some musicians playing small clubs here in town that I would love to see
play our bigger stage. If we get some extra eyes on them from the
industry folks who are already attending shows here, it can only help
their careers, while at the same time building our name and story within
the community locally. We don't want to be just one more spot for music
in Nashville."
The change from Topgolf Live to The Cowan is more than just cosmetic
in nature, as it also points toward a potential change company-wide
where it comes to its relationship with live music. While each Topgolf
facility does offer some form of music space, in nearly every other city
that is embodied by a small riser in the outdoor area, basically
suitable in size for a singer-songwriter or a DJ. The success that the
two-story 600 capacity Nashville venue has shown in less that six months
- including multiple sold out shows - would be remarkable in any city,
which has caused some within the company to discuss expanding the
venue's concept across the brand.
"The potential [for expansion] is there, yes," relays Topgolf Senior Communications Specialist Morgan Wallace.
"I feel that the company is in such a phase of growth right now that
we're really using our research and tools to find out what our guests
and associates want and need, and making those a reality. Everything is
evolving, and we're always looking to incorporate new thought processes.
In terms of our brand, only a couple of years we were focused on the
golf aspect of the business, but with our music venues we're
specifically looking at ways to incorporate different content series
that involve music, ways to showcase Topgolf outside of the four walls
of the venues."
Topgolf currently operates 38 facilities throughout the United States
alone, with locations coming soon to both Canada and Mexico. While
country star Chris Lane
- who recently headlined a sold out show at Topgolf Live in Nashville
in late January as part of his Take Back Home Tour - may have no
shortage of venues to choose from when it is time to book a tour,
Topgolf could potentially be able to offer artists at Lane's level
within the business forty-plus guaranteed stops cross-country on their
schedule if expansion of the music venue concept were to occur. Once
combined with the thirteen million guests that visit Topgolf facilities
each year, and will see upcoming shows being advertised multiple times
on each visit, that also spells a lot of potential fans that a performer
doesn't have to fight others for in a crowded market.
If that
expansion of live venues ever does occur throughout Topgolf's existing
facilities, Nashville will be where it all started. With so much riding
on the continued success of The Cowan, it would be easy to assume that
the team in charge of running the day-to-day operations of the music
venue might begin to take a safe approach to booking talent here on out,
but not so according to Shyer.
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