On Monday October 2, 2023 a letter that was signed by over 150 artists, managers, agents and other members of the music industry was sent to the board of the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) calling on them to either require all member venues & promoters to permanently do away with artist merch cuts or delegate representatives of NIVA to participate in a publicly live-streamed forum to debate and defend the practice.

It's important to preface this petition with a note of acknowledgement regarding how much we all respect and cherish the independent venues in our community. We recognize that most venues and promoters operate on slim margins, but we also know from experience that the margins for touring artists are lower than they've ever been. While we view independent promoters and venues as our partners on a journey to correct the inequities that have persisted in the long history of the music industry, we cannot in good faith continue to use the language of partnership while biting our tongues on this issue.

It's also important to note that we do not take this action in response to recent announcements by corporate venues or promoters. We feel that the conversation around merch cuts has devolved into a false binary of "Independents vs Corporates." What we are seeking is a public conversation regarding merch cuts based solely on their merit.

Below is the full letter along with the complete list of signatures that accompanied the letter upon delivery.  Through this petition we are calling on more members of the music industry as well as fans to add their names to this call to action.

Any responses or progress made will be logged here.

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Dear members of the NIVA Board,

We, the undersigned, are a collective of artists, managers, agents and music industry professionals who are reaching out to you to rally your support in permanently doing away with venue merch cuts. 

We find the practice of venues and promoters participating in the revenue of artist merchandise sales inequitable. We implore you, the leaders of the independent live music industry, to either require your member venues to permanently do away with merchandise splits or nominate representatives from within your membership to participate in a public, live-streamed event to defend and debate the practice.

In the last two decades the music industry has become drastically lopsided, pushing revenue streams for career artists away from diversification and towards a predominant source: touring. Due to inflation all aspects of touring are more expensive than they’ve ever been. Meanwhile, household incomes in the US are stagnant which is creating a downward pressure on ticket purchases. This means fewer fans have the expendable income to buy tickets resulting in touring artists having to stage more expensive tours with less and less revenue year to year. More often than not this leaves merchandise income as the lifeblood of a tour and the difference between a tour being profitable or not. For touring support acts that income can be the deciding factor in whether they’re able to afford a safe, comfortable bed to sleep in after a show or not. The stakes here have never been higher. 

Artists shoulder all costs of paying and housing touring crew, fueling touring vehicles, maintaining backline and production, and (perhaps most importantly) they pay to design and print all of the merch. The idea that anyone besides the artists would profit from this effort without shouldering the burden of up-front investment, often without even providing staff to sell the merch, is incomprehensible and, frankly, indefensible.

In 2020 during the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic we lauded your initiative to join forces in an effort to Save Our Stages.  We, like you, viewed the continued success of independent venues and promoters to be an existential battle for our industry. Many of us participated in fundraising events and awareness campaigns to keep independent concert promotion at the heart of our drive to prevent the broader music industry from cratering under the pressures of the pandemic. We stood with you then and we ask that you do the same here.

Yours sincerely,

 

Rusty Sutton

Manager & Director of Touring - The GLOW

Martin Anderson

Manager & Creative Director - The GLOW

Suzanne Despres

Manager & Director of Development & Specialty Touring - The GLOW

Libby Webster

The Glow

Traci Thomas

Manager - TT Management

 

Jay Steele

Manager - TT Management

Thomas Young

Manager - TT Management

Jason Isbell

Artist

S.G. Goodman

Artist

Sam Evian

Artist / Producer

Rich Ruth

Artist

Wilco

Artist / Management / Label

Jeff Rosenstock

Artist

Tomberlin

Artist

Amelia Meath / Sylvan Esso

Artist

Nick Sanborn / Sylvan Esso

Artist

Hippo Campus

Artist

Alexandra Sauser-Monnig

Artist

Ryan Gustafson / The Dead Tongues

Artist

Meg Duffy / Hand Habits

Artist

Jenn Wasner / Wye Oak / Flock of Dimes

Artist

Andy Stack / Wye Oak / Joyero

Artist

MJ Lenderman

Artist

Dawn Richard

Artist

Molly Sarlé

Artist

Brotherkenzie

Artist

Grant Widmer / Generationals

Artist

Ted Joyner / Generationals

Artist

Anjimile

Artist

William Anderson / Hotline TNT

Artist 

Karly Hartzman / Wednesday

Artist

Xandy Chelmis / Wednesday

Artist

BJ Barham / American Aquarium

Artist

Shawn Nolan / Shawn Nolan Law, PLLC

Attorney

Squirrel Flower 

Artist

Gustaf 

Artist

Real Estate 

Artist

Josh Ritter

Artist

The Midnight

Artist

The Dip

Artist

Toro y Moi

Artist

PUP

Artist

Pool Kids

Artist

Soccer Mommy

Artist

Momma

Artist 

Bel

Artist

Darius Zelkha 

Manager - Brilliant Corners

Mac Cregan

Manager / Brilliant Corners 

Justin Little 

Manager - Brilliant Corners

Hannah Houser

Manager - HH Creative LLC

Christian Stavros

Manager - Little Operation Management

Angel Olsen

Artist

Devendra Banhart

Artist

King Tuff

Artist

Madi Diaz

Artist

Bethany Cosentino

Artist 

Timm Donohue

Manager - Adult Decisions

Kris Chen

Manager - Summer Lawns

Heather Kelly

Manager - PICNIC

Dave Grazynski

Manager - Congress+Main 

Dean Christesen

Manager - Terra Cotta

Eric D. Johnson / Fruit Bats / Bonny Light Horseman

Artist

Anaïs Mitchell / Bonny Light Horseman

Artist

Josh Kaufman / Bonny Light Horseman

Artist

Drook

Artist

Landon Elliott

Artist

Laura Ballance / Superchunk

Artist / Founder - Merge Records 

Mac McCaughan / Superchunk

Artist / Founder - Merge Records 

The Agents and Staff of High Road Touring

Addendum: High Road supports the initiatives to reduce or eliminate fees imposed on artists to sell merchandise, while also supporting the independent venues around America, and recognizing the necessity for their survival. The generally smaller independent venues are the incubators of new talent and new audiences. These venues do not have the deep pockets of the larger corporate promoters and have to live within their own margins as well. Merchandise income to the smaller developing artists is essential to their touring viability, and the visibility of merch is a part of building an audience.

We need and want to find a balance that allows the artists, the independent promoters, and the audiences that support them to survive and flourish as essential parts of the independent music community.

Ben Swank

Co-Owner / Co-Founder Third Man & Blue Room (NIVA Member Venue)

Ari Fouriezos

Manager - Friendly Announcer

Caroline Rose

Artist

 

Michaela Anne 

Artist & Host, The Other 22 Hours 

Jimmy Rhine

Manager - Five Head Entertainment

Andrew Marlin / Watchhouse  

Artist

Emily Frantz / Watchhouse 

Artist

Siri Undlin / Humbird

Artist

Roberto Lange / Helado Negro

Artist

Allegra Krieger

Artist

Colin Miller

Artist

Francie Medosch / Florry

Artist

Kati Malison / Florry

Artist

Joey Sullivan / Florry

Artist

Will Henriksen / Florry

Artist

Jon Cox / Florry

Artist

John Murray / Florry

Artist

Collin Dennen / Florry

Artist

Natalie Jane Hill

Artist

Geneviève Beaudoin / Dead Gowns

Artist

Peter McLaughlin / Dead Gowns

Artist

Luke Kalloch / Dead Gowns

Artist

Dan Wriggins / Friendship

Artist

Jon Samuels / Friendship

Artist

Michael Cormier-O'Leary / Friendship

Artist / Founder - Dear Life Records

Peter Gill  / Friendship / 2nd Grade

Artist

Rahill Jamalifard / Habibi

Artist

Lenaya Lynch / Habibi

Artist

Lyla Vander / Habibi

Artist

Ana Becker / Habibi

Artist

 

Yukary Morishima / Habibi 

Artist

Ground Control Touring stands unequivocally in support of all artists retaining 100% of the proceeds from their merchandise sales. 

The Managers and Staff of Another Management Company

Katie Crutchfield / Waxahatchee

Artist

Shannon and the Clams

Artist

Sabrina Teitelbaum / Blondshell

Artist

Tim Heidecker

Artist

The Weather Station

Artist

Mdou Moctar

Artist

Conor Oberst /  Bright Eyes

Artist

Black Belt Eagle Scout

Artist

Protomartyr

Artist

Sheer Mag

Artist

Mike Caridi

Founder / Double Double Whammy

Jessi Frick

Founder / Father/Daughter Records & Citrine Management

Tony Presley

Founder  - Keeled Scales 

Chastity Belt

Artist

Speedy Ortiz

Artist

Eric Slick

Artist

Natalie Prass

Artist

Mike Scrafford

Manager & Founder / Start to Pretend Management

The Collective Staff of Polyvinyl Records

Andrew Bird

Artist

Alan Sparhawk (of Low)

Artist

Shara Nova / My Brightest Diamond

Artist

Tift Merritt

Artist

Evann McIntosh

Artist

John Splithoff

Artist

Bob Holmes, Pat Irwin, Jonathan Gregg (of SUSS)

Artist

 

Andrea Troolin, Victoria Roe, Tony Presley

Managers  - Ekonomisk Mgmt

The Collective Staff of Epitaph & Anti Records

Alynda Segarra / Hurray for the Riff Raff

Artist 

Dave Hartley / Nightlands

Artist

Amber Leone

Manager - OUT OF OFFICE Management

American Football

Artist

Anamanaguchi

Artist

 

Chris Farren

Artist

 

David Bazan

Artist

 

Laura Jane Grace

Artist

MAN ON MAN

Artist

 

Pedro The Lion

Artist

 

Plato III

Artist

 

The Get Up Kids

Artist

Undertow Music

Agency

 

Will Johnson

Artist

STRFKR

Artist

Keebie Gilkerson

Manager -  WhizzbangBAM!

 

Charlie Hatcher

Manager -  WhizzbangBAM!

 

Sean Kinder

Manager -  WhizzbangBAM!

 

Tyler Cooper

Manager -  WhizzbangBAM!

 

Ian Thornton

Manager -  WhizzbangBAM!