Paramore’s ‘Tiny Hot Topic B*tch’ T-Shirt Sales Raised $45K for Nashville’s Exit/In
Paramore were one of several acts who stepped up for longtime Nashville music venue the Exit/In when there was recent uncertainty about its future. The band placed a T-shirt on sale earlier this year with the wording "Tiny Hot Topic Bitch," which is the description in Hayley Williams Twitter account, that eventually raised $45,000 for the venue's efforts to purchase the land where the club currently sits.
The family owned and operated Exit/In is currently in its 50th year of operation and earlier this year it was revealed that the property on which the club's venue sits had gone under contract to a firm known for developing luxury hotels. Artists started to help rally support for the club as the owners sought to make an offer to purchase the land outright so that the venue could be run on their terms.
In April, Adventurous Journeys founder Ben Weprin revealed in a statement that the developer had never intended to use the space for anything other than retaining the Music City venue and staple of Nashville's "Rock Block" in its current space. They also added that one of their first actions of owners of the land was to seek the addition of Exit/In to the National Register of Historic Places so that nobody could ever alter or change the space.
That said, Exit/In owners Chris and Telisha Cobb reiterated their desire to purchase the property and shared that funds raised from their GoFundMe account would be put to use in making the best offer possible to the developers. If that offer proved unsuccessful, they'd then direct the money to helping other independent venues both in Nashville and nationwide.
Speaking in a message shared by Paramore on their socials about the band's "Tiny Hot Topic Bitch" shirt sales, the Cobb family stated, "Wow, I'm astounded! Thank you all and Hayley for the intention, action and for delivering in such a huge way! It means so much ... we're working towards reopening and were able to hire the entire full time team back. Everyone started yesterday and I shared this info at our first meeting in over a year. Your generosity was so moving for the entire team."
Reiterating their goal, they added, "Our core intent and message is to keep Exit/In independent. It must remain independent to best serve Nashville's creative working class. These are our core messages at this time. As stated on the GoFundMe, should our purchase be unsuccessful, funds raised will be donated to Music Venue Alliance Nashville to #Keep615Live and the National Independent Venue Association so they can continue to fight to #SaveOurStages." See the full message below.
Paramore last released an album with 2017's After Laughter. Over the past year, Hayley Williams served up her first solo releases. But in February of this year, Williams confirmed that she is "ready for the next Paramore album."
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