NIVA Day 3: Frank Riley, Bandsintown and YouTube’s Ali Rivera
The third day of the NIVA ’25 independent live music conference included actionable insights, a major award and the announcement of NIVA 2026.
NIVA Day 3
The National Independent Venue Association annual conference wrapped on Wednesday with an announcement that the 2026 Conference would be held June 7-10 in Minneapolis.
Minneapolis’ Prince Drag King took the stage at Milwaukee’s Miller High Life Theatre in Milwaukee to share the news: “Next year we’re going to party like it’s 1999. You might want to put a little gas in your red corvette and you might want to drive up the Mississippi and put on your raspberry beret.”
Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Senator (D-MN) shared a video welcome. The senator was one of the initial champions of Save Our Stages with Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) which provided $15 billion in Shuttered Venue Operating Grants (SVOG) for independent venues, managers and agents during the pandemic.
Just prior to the 2026 announcement, Frank Riley of High Road Touring was given NIVA’s Independent Spirit Award. The crowd rose to its feet repeatedly to honor Riley for his lifelong commitment to independent live music. Riley also formed NITO, the agent and managers group who with NIVA secured the historic SVOG funding.
During an on stage interview with Michael Dorf of City Winery, Riley did not mince words about his love of live music and the threat he sees from a corporate takeover of live music.
“Music is the most populist artform available to everyone,” said Riley. “It’s a river that flows through America and there are people trying to damn it up.’
More NIVA Day 3
All Things Bandsintown
Earlier in the day, more than 100 attendees learned about the time saving and effective live music marketing solution Bandsintown PRO and its companion service Bandsintown Promoter
Heather Tolley the Associate Director of the Bandsintown’s Pro for Venues and Festivals team and Kylie Fitch, the Marketing Director for The State Room Presents shared their experiences on how to reach more fans and sell more tickets.
“There are so many good shows that it is impossible to keep track of them,” said Tolley. “Bandsintown solves that problem through our 100 million registered users, distribution partnerships with Spotify, Shazam, Google, Apple Maps, our new exclusive partnership with YouTube and YouTube Music and more.”
By using the automated marketing solution Bandsintown PRO alongside The State Room’s extensive email list, “we’re able to meet fans where they are,” said Fitch. “And we’re able to do it cost effectively at multiple times in multiple places.”
“Ticketmaster told us that Bandsintown delivers 3X the ROI than any other marketing,” said Tolley, “and many of our PRO clients are reporting even more impressive results.”
From Livestreams to Liftoffs: Ali Rivera’s Journey to Empowering the Next Generation of Artists
For 22 years Ali Rivera has worked across Google and YouTube where she built YouTube’s live streaming program and oversees a team that works directly with Artists Managers.
Rivera made #SaveOurStages Fest possible in 2020, which raised over $3 million for independent venues and catalyzed the passing of the Shuttered Venues Operators Grant.
Today Rivera oversees YouTube’s Foundry program, a global artist development initiative dedicated to empowering independent talent with the resources, mentorship, and visibility.
Rivera implored the NIVA audience to pay more attention to livestreams, video and video marketing. “Music videos are exploding on YouTube and across our platforms,” she said. “Not just expensive productions, but content that is authentic, creative and often fun.”
Ali will be joined onstage by YouTube Music Foundry Artist, Cece Frey.
MORE: NIVA State of Live study released as convention begins
Bruce Houghton
