Offizielles Statement zur aktuellen Situation vom Molotow


So, now it’s been said. The Molotow is pulling the emergency brake and is cancelling its lease. How could it have come to this?
The Molotow is in a grotesque situation. Despite the constantly large attendance at concerts, less and less money is left over. A central problem is that the production costs of concerts – such as: horrendous Gema-fees, lodging and catering for the artists, salary (which is in most cases just a percentaged share of the admission revenues), sound engineers, set-up helpers, etc are the same for a small club as they are for a big one. This leads to us going in the red with a concert this spring although over 200 guests paid their admission. Because a live show can only in the most seldom of cases be financed by the admissions, it has always been necessary to include the beverage sales in the calculation, which is commercially wrong but inevitable. The beverage sales, which additionally have to cover all of the club’s fixed costs (rent, salaries, social insurance contributions, taxes, electricity, etc) have been sinking continuously in the past and literally collapsed earlier this year. This may for one be caused by the smoking ban, for another by the increasing density of kiosks, snack bars and discount supermarkets that offer cheap drinks.

I have always known that a place like the Molotow doesn’t make any money. Something like that, you do for fun and out of idealism. My staff members know that too, otherwise they wouldn’t work so hard and dedicated for relatively little money. It gets problematic when you loose money. This problem has sadly gotten so big that the Molotow can’t be financed without outside help anymore. After 18 years, it was more than hard for me to post the notice of cancellation. It’s not just the grievance for my ‘baby’ but also the grievance for a once flourishing, internationally famed district the whole world envies us for. It’s known everywhere under the name of ‘Reeperbahn’ or ‘St. Pauli’. And these two names are known abroad almost rather than the name of our city itself. The city, however, doesn’t seem to be aware of this and watches as places that make up the unique flair of the district close down and are replaced by supermarkets, chains and franchising companies. The list of already lost music clubs in St. Pauli is long. In the last years, among others, Marquee, Tanzhalle, Weltbühne, Echochamber or Click have had to close their doors – to name just the most famous. The Kukuun is doing it right now and the Mandarin Casino – formerly Mojo Club – has to give way to a new building next year. This is going to continue until the Reeperbahn looks like any given high street as it exists in every district in every city.
And once it has come to that, there is no turning back.
‘What’s gone, is gone’, they say in Hamburg – and sadly that’s true.


Andi Schmidt, owner and operator