2025 Women Of Live: Tobi Parks

Tobi Parks
Owner | xBk Live
VP | National Independent Venue Foundation

FAV RECENT FEST | Elsewhere Fest in Wichita, Kansas.
ADVICE | “Be exactly who you are because you’ll never regret it a day in your life.”

Tobi Parks is basically some kind of a superhero for her impressive power in taking on multiple roles.

In addition to being the owner of the 250-capacity venue xBk Live in Des Moines, Iowa, and the vice president of the National Independent Venue Foundation, Parks is also co-founder of Reporting Innovations in Touring Entertainment (R.I.T.E.) Royalties Coalition.

Parks says co-creating the R.I.T.E. Royalties Coalition was her most impactful initiative of 2024, helping both artists and venues toward fair and predictable outcomes.

She explains, “Costs have increased for both touring artists and live music venues, leaving both in a struggle for survival. In the present environment, every cent counts. Performance royalties for live shows are often an untapped revenue source for creators while also being an area of deep confusion and frustration for creators and licensees alike. Our hope is to find ways for performance royalties to be an accurate, fair, dependable and predictable revenue stream for creators while ensuring licensing fees are accurate, fair, and predictable for venues.”

When it comes to DEI and the Trump administration, Parks says the values of DEI are inherent in the work she does – whatever it’s called.

“It’s about being intentional in the practice of operating my business and doing my work. As a biracial, queer woman, I don’t know how to do it otherwise,” Parks says. “For companies that may have been falling short and incorporated DEI to try and level the playing field, I hope those values have become engrained in their operations as well. DEI are core values; it’s not an ‘initiative.’

“I don’t take a lot of stock in companies rolling back DEI initiatives as long as they continue to operate with the same intention they did when they touted those programs. That’s where the rubber meets the road. … Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely don’t support what’s happening. However, my idealistic heart hopes the work that has been done over the decades to make workplaces more equitable remains. It doesn’t need a title, it needs intention.”