AUSTIN, Texas — Austin has seen some changes over the years, and it’s a story taking place in several cities across the country. Austinites worry about the city losing its charm and its place as the Live Music Capital of the World.

Walking along the streets of Austin may look and sound different than it did years ago.

At the Red River Cultural District (RRCD), also known as Austin’s Music Mile, live music still fills the air in the evening, but with Valhalla closing and Elysium and The 13th Floor up for sale, those who frequent these venues are getting worried.

The Nimbus — made up of band members Martin McCreadie and Ritchard Napierkowski — is among those with some concerns. The band started performing at venues in the RRCD about 14 years ago.

“We’ve played all up and down Red River throughout the cultural district,” McCreadie said. “Almost every venue that has been a part of it, we’ve played there.”

A string of at least five closures of some venues in the area has them worried about the district’s future.

“I’ve seen a lot of really good people who kept this street active kind of go the way of the dodo, and that’s unfortunate,” Napierkowski said.

The RRCD wrote a letter to the city, asking officials to take action to preserve an area that it says generated more than $2 billion over five years.

“We have been advocating over the last 10 years for incentives and regulatory tools that would help retain these uses,” said Nicole Klepadlo, the executive director of the RRCD.

Spectrum News reached out to the City of Austin for its response to the district’s letter. A statement from the city reads in part: “We continue to work with Red River leadership and other partners on long-term solutions, including potential economic development, land-use, and other regulatory tools that could support existing venues and create new cultural opportunities.”

Is what’s happening in the RRCD a sign of changing times in the Live Music Capital of the World?

“I think Austin’s reputation as a music capital will remain,” said Hector Saldaña, a music writer and columnist for the San Antonio Express-News and curator of the Texas Music Collection at Texas State University’s The Wittliff Collections.

He has observed some issues Austin’s Music Mile has been facing over the years.

“Land values going up, and then you combine that with economic pressures, club revenues going down,” Saldaña said. “These are all things that can form sort of a perfect storm.”

As far as the overall presence of live music in Austin, he says many bars that shut down in one area have moved to other parts of the city, including outside the downtown area. It’s a sentiment that is echoed by the owner and director of Stinson Recording Studios and The Recording Conservatory of Austin, John Stinson.

He says audio engineers and video producers are still finding work despite the city’s changing landscape, but have had to adapt.

“You have to diversify,” Stinson said. “You do need to be able to do for one, live sound, but certainly live events or live feeds and things like that. You’re going to probably be doing more social media content, fast-paced stuff.”

Even if not completely lost, The Nimbus’ band members feel venues relocating away from the RRCD chips away at the heart of Austin’s live music scene.

“If we take that away, then the city loses something… a fundamental part of itself,” McCreadie said.