American Music Tourism Act NIVA support

NIVA is voicing support for the inclusion of the American Music Tourism Act in a new congressional spending bill. Photo Credit: NIVA

The American Music Tourism Act has found its way into the lengthy spending bill being considered by Congress, and NIVA is applauding the development.

The National Independent Venue Association reached out today with comments touting the legislation’s presence in the spending package. Though it perhaps goes without saying given its 1,547-page length, the pork-laden bill, only recently released in its entirety, contains more than a few components.

Keeping the focus on the music space, these components include whole pieces of existing legislation like the TICKET Act (which the House passed in May) and the American Music Tourism Act (which arrived in Congress with the support of the RIAA and others that same month).

(Assuming the TICKET Act becomes law, it’ll be interesting to see its actual impact. Ticketing platforms seemingly already comply with the bill’s refund requirements, and all-in pricing adjustments wouldn’t be too difficult to implement. Plus, although the measure proposes a “speculative ticketing ban,” it expressly allows for the sale of “a service to an individual to obtain an event ticket on behalf of such individual.”)

At the time of this writing, lawmakers, who would enjoy a material pay bump under the spending bill, hadn’t yet voted on the measure. However, reports were pointing to a far-from-guaranteed path to passage, at least in the legislation’s current form, amid growing criticism of the innumerable expenditures and provisions therein.

In any event, the bipartisan American Music Tourism Act appears unlikely to elicit significant pushback in the grand scheme of things, and its inclusion in the oversized spending package is telling.

We first covered the legislation at the time of its mentioned May introduction. Just to summarize, the proposal would amend the tourism-focused Visit America Act (which, like a growing list of laws pertaining to the industry, itself passed in a gigantic spending bill) to also include music venues.

Specifically, that refers to tasking the Commerce Department’s assistant secretary for travel and tourism with “identifying locations and events in the United States that are important to music tourism and promoting domestic travel and tourism to those sites and events.”

Of course, one needn’t stretch the imagination to see why venues and other stakeholders strongly favor the American Music Tourism Act, which NIVA executive director Stephen Parker is touting particularly when it comes to the potential upside for indie venues.

“Independent venues and festivals are the lifeblood of local communities, not just as cultural hubs but also as powerful engines of economic activity,” Parker communicated. “They attract millions of tourists annually, fueling spending at local hotels, restaurants, and retail establishments, while creating jobs and opportunities in every community across America.

“By commissioning the first national strategy and focus on music tourism, this legislation ensures that these spaces continue to thrive, offering diverse programming and unforgettable experiences to audiences from all over the world,” concluded the NIVA higher-up of two years.