The National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) was founded at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as a lifeline for small live music houses, pulling together federal grant money to ensure that venues would remain afloat until it was safe for artists to tour again. Since then, the organization has shifted focus to develop a member services suite, tackle major issues like the ticketing debacle, and address the needs of venues on a local level. We spoke with NIVA's Executive Director, Stephen Parker about the organization’s history and recent advocacy work, as well as the variety of issues indie venues still face.

Episode #222 — NIVA’s Journey From Survival To Advocacy

A weekly podcast & radio show about the music industry hosted by Music Business Association president, Portia Sabin. Listen to new episodes here, or wherever you get your podcasts!

Music

The music industry has proven time and time again that inclusive practices lead to better productivity and a higher quality of work in all business segments. That’s why Ralph Torrefranca of Angry Mob Music has sought for more diversity in high-level songwriting rooms by starting the New Normal Writing Camp in 2023, which featured 70% female artists & writers and 50% women producers from more than 12 cultural backgrounds in its inaugural edition. In our latest podcast, we spoke with Torrefranca about his op-ed, “Why Diverse Writing Rooms Must Become An Industry Standard,” what led him to start the writing camp, and his plans to further support diverse writers going forward!

Episode #230 — Diversifying Music Industry Writing Rooms

The fight against all forms of music fraud has been a major watershed moment for intra-industry collaboration, as was seen in the Music Business Association’s establishment of its Spin Fraud Task Force and its hosting of the Trust & Safety Symposium in January 2024. Now a few months away from that event, our latest The Future of What podcast explores how music professionals & companies are developing internal tools & best practices to fight fraud, while also learning lessons from others who have dealt with bad actors in the finance, film, game industries and beyond. Be sure to listen for insights from Symphonic Distribution CEO, Jorge Brea and Ethixbase360 consultant, Virna Di Palma!

Episode #229 — Music Fraud Update: Combating Bad Actors From All Angles

Merch sales is one of, if not the primary, revenue generator for artists at certain levels of their careers. Tie this into the fact that merch proudly worn or displayed by their fans helps spread the word about their music, and it becomes all too essential for today’s artists to have a strong merch strategy. This important need is what led Vanessa Ferrer to found Merch Cat, a POS & inventory management tool that helps artists track what merch they sell each night on tour, easily identify what merch items & types of products are most popular among their fans, and unify sales across the merch table and a fan-centric shopping app. We spoke with Ferrer about Merch Cat’s story, the importance of using sales metrics to understand your fanbase, why every artist should have a holistic approach to merch sales, and beyond!

Episode #228 — Holistic Strategies For Selling Music Merch with Merch Cat’s Vanessa Ferrer

With almost a decade of experience securing copyrights for artists & rightsholders, Cosynd identified that music producers were being potentially priced out of registering their backlog of work with the U.S. Copyright Office. This led them to develop a new group registration service, allowing producers to save time & money by registering groups of beats and other musical elements instead of individually registering each element. We spoke with Cosynd CEO, Jessica Sobhraj about this new initiative, the company’s mission of supporting creators’ legal protections, the importance of registering music with the Copyright Office, and much more!

Episode #227 — Cosynd’s New Producer Copyright Registration Initiative

While looking into higher-ed music business programs, David Fritz and Steven Ship found that the segmented approach to curriculums was helpful for new students, but it did not help artists and songwriters who needed to know the ins-and-outs of how the industry works for their already established careers. This led them to start Creative Intell, which offers practical classes that give students insights and step-by-step guides on everything from recording and releasing a cover song to tracking all of their income streams. In our latest podcast, we discuss the platform’s founding, the feedback from early users, future plans for expansion and updates, and more!

Episode #222 — NIVA’s Journey From Survival To Advocacy

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