One Year Later… March 12, 2021: Rev. Moose Convenes Independent Venue Meeting, Pre-Cursor To NIVA

Rev. Moose, Marauder
 – Rev. Moose, Marauder

While the industry was being upended by the COVID-19 pandemic, Rev. Moose was kicking into gear. On the same day that a task force of agencies and promoters announced the effective shutdown of the North American concert industry, Moose and a network of colleagues from his work with Marauder and Independent Venue Week were hosting a massive town hall gathering to figure what would be next for the independents. 


This was one of a series of steps that would lead to the formation of the National Independent Venue Association, which would go on to advocate for the live industry’s rank and file in Congress in a manner never before seen, and would successfully lobby for the inclusion of the Save Our Stages Act in a relief bill passed last December. 

Moose took some time to reflect with Pollstar on how he looks back on this time, one year ago.

Pollstar: So on the whole, how would you describe this full year of pandemic?

Rev. Moose: This last year has been consuming. I’m glad that I have had the opportunity to work with so many people that have given it their all. But there is no overstating that people have given hours, days, weekends. It has been nonstop. This is not an overstatement, but I have worked almost every single day since early March. 

That’s tough for anybody, but I believe in what we’re doing and I believe the work has to get done. I’m very grateful that I get to work with so many amazing and skilled people from around the country, around the world in doing this. I really feel very fortunate that I’m in this position. 

Take us back to that first call. How did it come to be?

Marauder has been building Independent Venue Week in the U.S. for the past several years. Part of that growth has been the creation of this de facto network of independent venues and promoters that otherwise might not have a connective line.

So when SXSW was canceled we felt we had an obligation to try to do something, as cheerleaders of independent venues and promoters, to help with this cancellation. So we spent that weekend trying to fill rooms that were going to be empty, matching talent with rooms, and what we realized at the end of that weekend was that this was going to be much bigger than filling a few empty rooms.

A friend put a bug in my ear and said “Moose, you need to do something.”So we set up a call on Zoom and we would just figure out what comes next.We had no idea what to do, none of us did. But the idea behind that initial town hall, as stewards of IVW, was to create an environment where people felt less alone. We would try to help by sharing information without which people would have been left in the complete unknown. But it wasn’t just about information, but also community. 

Anyone who owns their own business can tell you there are moments of it that are incredibly lonely. You can’t talk about some things with your partners, or your competitors, or your employees. 

There is stuff you just have to figure out yourself. We had thousands of people in the same situation, with similar issues and we were trying to find solutions together. That was really rewarding to be a part of. 

But that first call was terrifying, because everything was unknown. 

Everything was closing. I was still trying to figure out if I was going to get on a plane to go to Austin the next day. I think I hung up the phone on that call, and I was supposed to go to a show for the New Colossus festival in New York that night. I remember the building we were in, the vibe of that call, and I just remember thinking to myself, “I think I better stay home.”

So how did that call lead to the formation of NIVA?

We held those town hall calls weekly. I believe it was the call on April 2, it probably was Dayna [Frank] that suggested it, but someone suggested us forming an organization. There had been several weeks that people had been saying, “Somebody has got to do something.”

So I said I said, “Anyone who is interested in figuring this out, we are going to have an exploratory committee, let’s talk it through.” We had our first conversation of around 18 people  on Monday, April 6 and by April 9 we had a board in place and announced it at that week’s IVW town hall. And by the following week we had funding secure for our initial push for our lobbyist from See Tickets. Then Etix and Lyte came on board very quickly after that. The following week we had about 450 venues and promoters from 48 states on board, and before that same call ended we had all 50 states and D.C. Things moved, I mean really fast.

What did you think the timeline for political aid would be as the industry shut down?

The necessity of a program that would help to save our stages was very obvious from the beginning. 

PPP was not appropriate for our business model… We had bipartisan support, millions of letters sent to Congress, artists from around the world fighting for us. We had senators holding hearings, drawing attention to the need. 

That doesn’t happen by a fluke, it’s because it was needed. Red states, blue states, this was a universal need.

So a lot of us expected this to be a short term push. The first round of relief came relatively quickly and we figured the second was soon to come right after. It seemed obvious that they would address the needs that were not dealt with in the first package. But that second package, due to no other reason than politics, took almost the entire year to get passed.

What do you hope to see change in the near future?

Right now a lot of people are opening [their venues] out of desperation, rather than because it’s practical to be open. I think there are opportunities for the government to make bold moves on behalf of their constituents to not only tell people to do the right thing, but make it easier for them to do the right thing. It would be great to see more of that.