Tennessee Indie Venue Funding Bill Voted Down in State House

Tennessee’s House Finance, Ways and Means committee has blocked legislation designed to provide funding to independent music venues across the state. The committee defeated the act with an 11-15 vote on Thursday (April 16).

The bipartisan bill, titled the TN Live Music Support Act, previously passed the state’s Senate Commerce and Labor Committee with an 8-1 vote. It would have supported a proposed $2 million pilot program within the Live Music Fund, overseen by the TN Entertainment Commission, to help independent venues make capital improvement upgrades to remain competitive in a rapidly consolidating live entertainment marketplace.

“It’s incredibly disappointing that members of the Tennessee General Assembly chose to vote down this important legislation this week,” said Chris Cobb, executive director of the Music Venue Alliance Nashville, in a press release. “Independent venues will continue to struggle this year while out-of-state secondary ticketing companies continue to extract value from our music community at the expense of Tennessee music fans. This bill represented a practical solution supported by venues, artists and industry leaders across the state.”

The Tennessee Live Music Fund was created with unanimous legislative support in 2024 as a tool to strengthen the state’s music ecosystem. The TN Live Music Support Act represented the next step in implementing that vision by establishing a sustainable funding mechanism for the program. The act would have established a 5% fee on the sales price of all tickets sold at retail through the secondary ticketing market for any live music and performance event occurring within the state.

“Tennessee has long been recognized as a national leader in smart, forward-thinking music policy. So, it is deeply disappointing to see legislation with strong bipartisan support blocked after pressure from secondary ticket resellers like StubHub,” said National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) executive director Stephen Parker.

Parker continued: “By siding with companies whose business models extract revenue from local music economies without reinvesting in them, these legislators have risked the closure of small businesses in their districts and the loss of jobs. Independent venues are essential cultural infrastructure, and we urge lawmakers to stand with Tennessee communities instead of out-of-state corporate interests.”

Following the vote, advocates, venues and music industry partners across Tennessee have stated their intention to continue working to find solutions to fund the proposed $2 million pilot program.