Metropolis Technologies launched its “Park & Play” program in Austin, allowing musicians to park for $5 while performing at participating venues.
AUSTIN, Texas — For local musicians, the cost of playing a show can start before they ever take the stage. Now, a new program aims to help ease some of those expenses with discounted parking at select Downtown Austin garages.
Metropolis Technologies launched its “Park & Play” program in Austin on Tuesday, Oct. 20, allowing musicians to park for $5 while performing at participating venues.
This story continues below.
The program works through partnerships with local music venues. Musicians can use a discounted validation code to receive the special parking rate.
Andrew White, Vice President of Operations at Metropolis Technologies, said the company first launched the program in Nashville about a year ago. Since then, musicians there have saved more than $1 million through the initiative, he said.
“We decided to expand to nowhere better than the Live Music Capital of the World, Austin, and we’re hoping to see the same savings and offer the musicians the same benefit that we’re seeing with the musicians in Nashville,” White said.
The program’s first phase includes 12 participating venues and four parking garages. Organizers plan to expand the program to nine garages in the coming weeks, with the goal of adding more venues in the future.
White said the initiative is intended to help musicians take gigs they might otherwise pass up because of the costs associated with performing downtown.
Ben Triesch, a musician and member of the Austin Federation of Musicians, said parking expenses can add up, especially when performers are pressed for time and need to find a spot close to a venue.
“You get to a time crunch where you have to find parking in the first place possible, and a lot times it might be a parking garage, but that can be, you know, $20 or $30,” Triesch said. “Depending on where you’re playing at and how long you’re playing it, that could be a significant amount of actual money your going to make that night.”
For musicians trying to make a living in Austin, he said, even a small discount can make a difference.
Participating garages at launch include:
Alto — 924 E. Seventh St., Austin, TX 78702Lavaca Plaza — 504 Lavaca St., Austin, TX 78701Frost Bank Tower — 171 E. Fourth St., Austin, TX 78701Hotel Indigo Austin — 505 Ash St., Austin, TX 78701
The program is the result of a partnership between several local organizations, including Music Venue Alliance Austin, Red River Cultural District, Austin Federation of Musicians 433 and Austin Texas Musicians, as well as the city’s ACME department.