Indie Booking Agencies Form NITO Advocacy Group
14 top independent music booking agencies have joined together to form The National Independent Talent Organization (NITO).
The non-profit trade group will promote the welfare and prosperity of its members and represented artists as well as advocate for the survival of the entire live music community during the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery.
“We need and want to be assured that our voices are heard in Congress and Washington,” states NITO.
NITO’s 14 founding small independent businesses (listed below) represent more than 2,000 artists. In 2019, collectively, more than 40,000 concerts were booked by NITO’s members across the U.S. with over 12.5 million tickets sold, generating in excess of half a billion dollars in gross ticket sales annually. The additional financial impact of these performances on surrounding communities is over $1 billion.
“NITO stands with the artists and all of those who make up the world of live performances,” said Frank Riley of High Road Touring. “It’s a fully integrated world, that is reliant on and supportive of one another, as no one can productively and successfully navigate this environment on their own. When all things come together in the best way, these shows and this music bring joy and happiness in an otherwise troublesome and dangerous world.”
NITO is also welcoming the broader live music ecosystem beyond independent talent agencies including US-based artists, crew, and other live touring entities to join as non-dues paying associate members.
“As the organization that represents music’s creators, we welcome our new allies at NITO. Artists were among the first to suffer from the results of the pandemic and will be among the last to recover. As citizens turn to music during these troubled times, it demonstrates that music makers must survive and thrive. We look forward to working with NITO as partners in improving the lives of artists.” –Harvey Mason Jr., Chairman and Interim President/CEO, Recording Academy
NITO Founding Members
- Entourage Talent / Wayne Forte
- Ground Control Touring / Eric Dimenstein
- High Road Touring / Frank Riley
- Leave Home Booking / Stormy Shepherd
- Madison House / Nadia Prescher
- Mongrel Music / Brad Madison
- New Frontier Touring / Paul Lohr
- Panache Booking / Michelle Cable
- Partisan Arts / Tom Chauncey, Hank Sacks
- Pinnacle Entertainment / Scott Sokol
- Sound Talent Group / Dave Shapiro
- Skyline Artists Agency / Mark Lourie, Bruce Houghton
- TKO / Steve Schenck
- The Kurland Agency / Ted Kurland, Jack Randall
- Entourage Talent / Wayne Forte
