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Bandsintown

Venues across the nation can now show off their independent status. On Tuesday (Sept. 10), the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) announced the launch of “Live Independent,” a first-of-its-kind certification program for independent venues, promoters and festivals nationwide.
The new initiative, supported by event discovery platform Bandsintown, is aimed at strengthening and unifying the live entertainment community by “offering a seal of certification that recognizes excellence and commitment to the independent ethos,” according to NIVA.

Certified venues will receive physical posters, stickers and decals of the Live Independent seal to display, along with virtual seals and assets for websites, marketing materials and social media. Partnerships with ticketing companies will also enable the Live Independent seal to be displayed on event tickets.

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The Live Independent program will include a dedicated website serving as a hub of information and emphasizing the importance of supporting certified Live Independent venues and events. Fans can use the site’s search feature to verify if their favorite venue is certified independent and find shows at certified stages.

“This certification is a testament to the power of independent stages as sanctuaries for human connection. In an era dominated by publicly-traded live entertainment conglomerates, these venues and festivals are the final strongholds of authenticity, where the heart of live performance beats strongest,” said NIVA executive director Stephen Parker in a statement. “When fans and artists choose independent stages, they’re investing in the soul of their community. Live Independent is our collective promise — to the artists, to the fans, and to the communities that cherish these spaces — that the spirit of independent venues will not only endure but will continue to flourish.”

As a partner for the program, Bandsintown is committed to educating fans about what Live Independent means and promoting independent venues through dedicated placements on the Bandsintown app and at Bandsintown.com. Every NIVA-member independent venue will have the Live Independent seal on its Bandsintown venue page while a map of Live Independent-certified venues will be featured on Bandsintown’s homepage to help fans locate and support these independent entities.

“Bandsintown’s ethos is independent at the core, serving artists since day one of their journey,” added Bandsintown co-founder/managing partner Fabrice Sergent. “Independent venues shed light on those artists early in their career and we’re proud to work alongside NIVA to help them find the audience they deserve.”

To become certified, venues, festivals and promoters must demonstrate a mission centered around delivering music, comedy and performance to audiences; maintain fair pay practices for all artists, performers and creators; be independent from multinational conglomerate or publicly traded company ownership or exclusive operation; show support for a transparent, competitive marketplace and a diverse, inclusive community; and be a NIVA member. NIVA members will not pay additional fees to join the program.

More information on the Live Independent certification program, including details on how to apply and the specific benefits of certification, can be found here.  

Amazon Music reached a new merchandise integration with concert-discovery platform Bandsintown that will allow fans across the globe to shop merch items from artists while browsing their artist profile pages on the Bandsintown website and app. Under the integration, more than 590,000 registered artists on Bandsintown for Artists will be able to promote their merch and physical music releases to their Bandsintown followers and the followers of similar artists through in-app notifications, email and social channels. The merch available on Bandsintown will be drawn from the Amazon Music Artist Merch Shop on Amazon.com, developed and curated by the Amazon Music team.

Oliver Chastan‘s artist and brand development company Iconoclast acquired the producer royalties of composer, songwriter and producer Giorgio Moroder. The company will additionally work with Moroder on the development of his name, image and likeness rights. Over the course of his career, Moroder has collaborated with artists including Berlin (“Take My Breath Away”), Donna Summer (“I Feel Love”, and Blondie (“Call Me”). His work as a film composer includes scores and songs for Midnight Express, Top Gun, Scarface and Flashdance.

CTS Eventim increased its stake in France Billet from 48% to 65%, making it the majority owner of the French ticketing company. CTS Eventim acquired the 48% stake in France Billet back in 2019 — a deal that included an option to acquire a majority stake in the company this year.

Reactional Music, the maker of an interactive music engine for video games, reached a global partnership with Southeast Asian games publisher Amanotes, whose games attract more than 100 million monthly active users, according to a press release. The deal will allow Amanotes gamers to personalize their personas and gameplay with their favorite music while also allowing Amanote to tap into a faster and more efficient method to create and prototype music in its games.

Toyota is now the name-in-title sponsor of the Concord Pavilion in Concord, Calif., which will now be known as Toyota Pavilion at Concord. The move is sponsored by the Northern California Toyota Dealers Association, which is composed of 58 local Toyota dealers operating in the region. Upcoming shows at the venue in 2023 include Sting, Snoop Dogg, Jelly Roll, Culture Club and Beck.

PRS for Music and PPL announced a new partnership with music technology company Audoo. Under the deal, Audoo’s Audoo Audio Meters — which aim to ensure “accurate and transparent” royalty distribution to music creators by identifying background music being played in businesses, according to a press release — will be installed in businesses including cafes, bars, hair salons, restaurants and retail establishments across the United Kingdom, with usage data reported back to PRS and PPL.

Live Nation signed a multi-year partnership with Montana-based promoter Logjam Presents. Under the agreement, Live Nation will invest in Logjam, of which the Checota family will retain ownership and continue to manage day-to-day operations for. “Out of state national and regional promoters are already actively promoting in venues around the state. This new partnership will allow Logjam to remain competitive as a Montana-based promoter and will retain our event booking, marketing, management and, most importantly, 100 percent of our staff locally,” said Logjam president Nick Checota in a statement. “Our new partnership will also provide Logjam access to an incredible artist network and will provide additional capital to improve existing venues and explore opportunities in other Montana regions.”

Desertscene and Old Empire, both independent heavy music promoters, announced a partnership “merging our distinct styles and unyielding passion for live music,” according to a statement by Old Empire founder Josh Retallick. Based in the United Kingdom, Old Empire promotes artists including Heilung, Chelsea Wolf, SUNN O))) and Electric Wizard. Desertscene books and promotes Desertfest festivals in London, New York and Berlin as well as in Antwerp, Belgium and Oslo, Norway.

Universal Music Group’s music merchandise and brand management company Bravado partnered with brand licensing and extension agency Redibra as its official licensing agent in Brazil. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to create incredible products and experiences for the dedicated music fan community in Brazil,” said Redibra CEO David Diesendruck in a statement.

Under a new partnership, Primary Wave Music, Sun Records and TC Restaurant Group will expand Nashville’s music-themed eatery Sun Diner — inspired by Sun Records artists like Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash — to additional locations across the United States; a second location opened Aug. 3 in Gatlinburg, Tenn. Primary Wave acquired the rights to Sun Records in 2021.

Apple Music wants to guide you to your next concert. On Tuesday (May 16), the platform launched a pair of new live music discovery tools intended to deliver users to global shows. The first of these tools lives on Apple Maps, where the service has launched guides for 14 global cities — Chicago, Detroit, Los […]