It All Starts On Independent Stages
What does it mean to be
Live Independent?
The National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) introduces Live Independent, a program that champions, unites, and rewards the venues, promoters, festivals, and performing arts centers that are proud to be independently owned and operated. Becoming “Certified Live Independent” is a badge of honor that will amplify your business’s visibility among fans and solidify your credibility within the national independent live entertainment community.
Live Independent is more than a sticker in your window; it’s a rallying cry akin to “Shop Small” or “Buy Local.” It aims to unite artists, live entertainment industry professionals, and music fans around the venues and promoters that make your communities vibrant, unique, and historic.
By shining a light on Live Independent, you support independent live entertainment venues, boost local economies, and invest in the preservation of culture and music across the country.
“Live music is built on the foundation of indie music venues.”
— Foo Fighters, Save Our Stages Campaign, May 2020
Make it Indie.
See it Live.
Find Live Independent Venues
NIVA is partnering with Bandsintown to get more fans and artists to choose independent stages by making it easy to find them. Use the Live Independent Venue Search powered by Bandsintown to lookup venues near you or explore by U.S. region. You can also browse venues in the newly launched Live Independent section of the Bandsintown app and website.
We Asked Your Favorite Artists —
Why Live Independent?
“These independent venues are so important because, without them, you wouldn't have your Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Taylor Swift. We all had to start somewhere and these places are integral to the building of an actual artist. before you rock the stadium, you have to rock your local clubs first. It’s a right of passage.”
— Tarriona "Tank" Ball of Tank and the Bangas, NIVA ‘24 Conference, June 2024
“Over the past decade, [we] have played over 2,000 shows around the world, many of them at independently-owned venues. These stages are where we've rocked out and earned a lot of our fans.”
— Trombone Shorty, Save Our Stages Campaign, May 2020
“I don’t know one major band that is worth their salt that didn’t start in an independent club.”
— Alice Cooper, Save Our Stages Campaign, May 2020
“Independent venues are the lifeblood of the music industry, and without them, and the support they give new artists, artists wouldn’t get off the ground.”
— The Heavy Heavy, Paste Magazine, January 2024
“We cut our teeth in the small, independent venues. Those early performances let us hear our voices, ideas, and guitars amplified for the first time.”
— Sleater-Kinney, Save Our Stages Campaign, May 2020
“All these independently owned stages — that’s how we came up and how so many bands came up. We drove around in a van and then a bus and went into these places and wrote our names on the walls.”
— Dave Matthews Band, Save Our Stages Fest, October 2020
Eligibility Criteria
To be certified as Live Independent, venues, promoters, festivals, and performing arts centers must:
ensure the love of bringing music, comedy, and performance to fans is core to their mission;
pay artists, performers, and creators that appear on their stages;
not be owned or operated by a multinational conglomerate or publicly traded company;
support a competitive and fair marketplace;
strive to support a transparent, competitive marketplace serving a diverse and inclusive community of artists, fans, and industry workers;
be committed to equity and seek to create and encourage opportunities for employees, artists, fans, and vendors for people of color, women, non-binary, LGBTQ+, veterans, and people with disabilities.
The National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) is the national trade association representing thousands of independent live entertainment venues, festivals, promoters, and more. NIVA works to preserve and nurture the ecosystem of live entertainment. NIVA empowers members and their teams with member benefits, advocacy on the state, local, and federal levels, an annual industry-leading conference, and more.
NIVA led the Save Our Stages campaign, culminating in landmark legislation in 2020 that established the $16.25 billion Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program, the largest arts investment in U.S. history.