The FADER Launches Charitable Merch Collection Benefitting Independent Venues

As the COVID-19 crisis continues to disrupt the nation, the music industry is facing one of the biggest setbacks in its history. Realizing that 90% of independent music venues across the country are in danger of closing permanently, The FADER has partnered with This T-Shirt - a relief platform founded by Dylan Hattem and Cassandra Aaron of DS Projects - to do our part with the Save Our Stages capsule collection, starting with our hometown of New York City.

In an homage to the classic tour t-shirt, The FADER & This T-Shirt will build on the National Independent Venue Association's (NIVA) #SaveOurStages campaign, spotlighting independent venues across New York and the impact they hold within their communities. Current times call for bold and passionate messaging. As independent venues are the lifeblood of our culture, the collection taps into the community's love for live music to communicate that if we don't step in, these venues will not survive.

Starting September 30th, the New York iteration of the SAVE OUR STAGES collection will be available for purchase at here for a limited time. Proceeds from all t-shirt sales will go directly to the venues listed on each shirt and to NIVA's Emergency Relief Fund. NIVA's Emergency Relief Fund was created to support America's most vulnerable venues and is intended to provide short-term relief for independent music venue owners and promoters on the precipice of eviction or permanently shuttering due to the COVID-19 shutdown. The fund is intended to work hand-in-hand with federal and local programs, assisting with the most immediate needs facing the country's independent venues and promoters and making it more likely that they will be able to reopen, fully, when it's safe.

Participating venues include a mix of independent venues across both Manhattan and Brooklyn. A full list of venues from the New York collection is provided below.

• Baby's All Right
• Our Wicked Lady
• S.O.B's
• Avant Gardner
• C'mon Everybody
• Good Room
• The Sultan Room
• National Sawdust
• Mercury Lounge

To support venues and cities not represented in the first collection, folks can visit www.saveourstages.com for more information.

The SAVE OUR STAGES Collection is another initiative in a long list of charitable acts The FADER has been championing in recent history. Earlier this year, due to the cancellation of Austin's famed South by Southwest Festival, The FADER took its typically invite-only FADER FORT to a digital platform, which featured over 150 exclusive presentations and musical performances by both emerging and acclaimed artists in an effort to help raise money for those hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in the music industry. The event, dubbed Digital FORT, was thrown a second time on July 25th, with over 40 artists participating from around the globe. To date, The FADER's charitable initiatives have yielded over $25,000 in contributions.