MIVPA Membership Eligibility

In order to ensure that our advocacy efforts accurately and uniquely serve our members, MIVPA membership is limited to independent venues and promoters based in the State of Michigan, meeting all of the guidelines listed below:

  • Venues and promoters must not be owned (in whole or in part), managed, or exclusively booked by an organization that has one or more of the following three attributes: (1) “publicly-traded”, (2) multinational or (3) owns, manages or books venues in more than two states.

  • Venues and promoters can be for profit, non-profit, or government-owned, and can be corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, or individual sole proprietors.

  • To qualify as a “promoter”, you must serve as a talent buyer to present musicians, comedians, or other original theatrical performers primarily in independent venues or at festivals, and pay fees to those performers based on selling tickets to the public or other comparable means.  For MIVPA eligibility purposes, a “promoter” is generally not an entity that promotes itself, but someone who pays a third-party entity to perform a show where the promoter has a risk of loss. 

  • Programming by participating venues and promoters must as a majority (greater than 50%) consist of original live music, comedy, and other original theatrical performances as a primary driver of your business; factors to be considered in meeting this qualification will include the presence of at least 4 of the following at member venues or locations/festivals where promoters present events:

  1. defined performance and audience space; 

  2. mixing desk, PA system, and lighting rig;

  3. at least two of: sound engineer, talent buyer, marketer, stage manager, box office manager; 

  4. there is a paid ticket or cover charge to attend the majority of (greater than 50%) performances, artists are paid fairly and do not play for free or solely for tips, except for legitimate fundraisers or similar charitable events; 

  5. performances are marketed through gig listings in printed and/or electronic publications, websites, email blasts and/or social media.

All applications are subject to board approval. To be clear and candid, it is not MIVPA’s mission to directly serve those who operate primarily as bars, restaurants, wedding and party planners, fairs, movie theatres, private event rental venues, sports facilities, performers or artist representatives, school and community theatre groups, DJs, or other disciplines not defined above. It is our hope to affiliate our organization with other trade associations and organizations who DO serve those disciplines in order to lift up our creative communities as a whole. It is our narrow, defined set of guidelines that allows us to best serve our members and fulfill our mission and, therefore, our communities. We appreciate your understanding and encourage you to apply if you believe the MIVPA is a group that can serve your organization!