Webby Award Winner - People's Choice for Best Virtual Festival / Concert
Cannes Lions - Shortlisted for Best Music Live Experience
Music Clio, Winner of Social Impact Award
Music Clio, Silver for Partnerships/Collaborations
Music Clio, Bronze for Social Good
Clio, Shortlist for Experience/Activation
Pollstar Nominated for Best Livestream Event/Virtual Festival
With the onset of the pandemic and shelter in place, independent music venues have been some of the hardest hit. They were the first to close and they will be the last to reopen. Currently 90% are at risk of closing in the next few months if they don’t receive funding.
The National Independent Venues Association (AKA NIVA) was formed in March as an advocacy group for independent venues across the country. And YouTube seeing the dire state of our cherished venues - wanted to help. We knew our platform with our fundraising tools, resources and global reach could make an impact, culminating with Save Our Stages Fest to raise dollars and awareness. We wanted venues to feel heard, artists to feel empowered, and music fans to feel inspired to donate.
Save Our Stages Fest was a stand-out music moment in 2020. The first-of-its-kind festival amassed 7M unique viewers, raised over $2M for independent venues, secured $2M sponsorship from Anheuser-Busch & brought 35+ of the world’s biggest artists together to perform from cherished venues safely, and earned 450+ national and local press stories. The festival featured acts like Miley Cyrus, YG, Demi Lovato, Leon Bridges, Neil Young, Dave Matthews Band, Reggie Watts, Major Lazer, and more.
Behind the scenes - we wired 20+ venues across the country with live streaming capabilities and trained those venues on best live streaming and covid-safety practices for ongoing content creation and revenue generation.
Most importantly - we contributed meaningfully to the organization’s advocacy efforts - securing $15B in grants as part of the stimulus deal passed in December by Congress.