FestivalPass And NIVA Announce Partnership: Exclusive

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FestivalPass and the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) are joining forces to create a special tier of festivalPass subscription that will see a portion of the money donated directly to NIVA.
FestivalPass is a live events subscription service that offers different tiers of monthly subscription plans in which members receive credits that can be redeemed on the platform for tickets at partner venues and events. Other kinds of festivalPass events include live shows, food and wine events, theatrical productions, film screenings and more.
Every month festivalPass members can choose to pay anywhere from $9 to $99 to receive credits and now the service will offer a special NIVA tier.
“Whenever somebody signs up for the NIVA tier, we will donate a portion of that revenue to NIVA,” FestivalPass CEO Ed Vincent told Pollstar. “This allows for the consumer to support live music by choosing the NIVA-branded tier. They will also still be able to access all the events on the festivalPass platform.” 
“We believe indie venues are the fabric of the soul of the music industry and our culture in general. We want to see live indie venues succeed.”
“This deal provides a way to ensure a portion of member’s subscriptions goes to helping these venues get through this pandemic. Of course they can also donate to NIVA directly, but we will share a portion of NIVA-tier subscription revenue directly with NIVA.”
This branding partnership does not limit NIVA venues’ ability to sell tickets normally and NIVA venues are not required to work with festivalPass, Vincent told Pollstar.
FestivalPass’s business, Vincent said, can be likened to a combination of ClassPass and Airbnb. 
It is a credit-based currency model, like ClassPass, but also a marketplace, like Airbnb, that allows event rights holders (venues and promoters) to offer their tickets to festivalPass members who can redeem their festivalPass credits to attend the events.  FestivalPass pays the venue an agreed-upon value of the ticket. 
Since festivalPass is drawing its members to shows, Vincent said promoters and venues can see this as a marketing cost, and thus will frequently provide discounts on tickets, particularly for medium or low-demand shows. 
Vincent, who has a strong background in data analysis (he was the founder of Predict Analytics and interim Chief Data Officer for Movie Pass), told Pollstar festivalPass not only leverages member data to create a unique discovery engine a la Netflix for live events, but also algorithmically tracks and rewards the longest and most active members with special deals. 
NIVA members have had little time to celebrate after successfully lobbying Congress to include the Save Our Stages Act in its recently passed federal aid package. The Small Business Authority, which will be in charge implementing the program, is still drawing up procedures and regulations and applications for SOS grants will not be considered until April, according to NIVA’s website.