In today's pulse:

• 🌟 $100k in Toolbox Grants Empower Music Venues

• 🌞 Billie Eilish's Solar-Powered Lollapalooza Set

• 🧵 Is Threads by Instagram Dead Already?

•  🎉 Automate Local Event Promotion

• 🏢 7 New Event Industry Marketing Jobs

🌟 $100k in Toolbox Grants Empower Music Venues

Live Music Society, a vital organization behind grants for small venues, continues to shine bright. Recently, they unveiled their Toolbox grant recipients, injecting $100,000 into 13 venues. This marks their second grant release this year and reinforces their mission to support and sustain small music venues across the US.

Over four grant cycles, Live Music Society has contributed an impressive $3 million, with this year's grants amounting to $600,000.

Originally established for pandemic relief, the nonprofit has now embraced an annual program to bolster and protect these cherished venues. Unlike their "Music In Action" Grant, the Toolbox grant hones in on practical needs, ensuring venues have the funding, ranging from $5,000 to $10,000, for compliance, accessibility enhancements, and tech upgrades.

This double-pronged approach enriches the community by supporting both creative ideas and practical necessities. Notable funded projects include audio gear upgrades, branding revitalization, multimedia support, new revenue streams, and even tech-driven modernizations.

Live Music Society's impact extended to the NIVA '23 conference and gala, where they garnered recognition for their role in enhancing the performing arts ecosystem. As Live Music Society's influence grows, these grants uplift venues, fostering innovative experiences and resilient communities. Explore the recipients at livemusicsociety.org/toolbox and witness the harmony of support and success. Make sure to subscribe to their newsletter if you want to be in-the-know when their next grant applications open up.

🌞 Billie Eilish's Solar-Powered Lollapalooza Set

Billie Eilish is taking her influence to the next level at Lollapalooza. Her headlining performance on August 3rd showcased a groundbreaking sustainability endeavor.

In collaboration with environmental non-profit Reverb, she harnessed the power of a solar farm to partially energize her show, demonstrating her commitment to combating climate change.

In partnership with Reverb and Overdrive Energy Solutions, a temporary on-site "solar farm" was established, showcasing the potential of clean energy solutions for large-scale events. By reducing reliance on carbon-heavy generators, the initiative paves the way for a greener future for live music.

Sustainability is becoming a bigger and bigger part of events and what fans expect from events.

Last year, Target Field — home of The Minnesota Twins— earned U.S. Green Building Council’s highest possible honor for sustainability. We have also shared in past issues of The Promoter Pulse efforts by smaller festivals to go zero waste and other sustainability goals.

🧵 Is Threads by Instagram Dead Already?

A few weeks ago, Meta (Instagram and Facebook’s parent company) launched a competitor to Twitter called Threads by Instagram.

It quickly became the fastest app to 100 million users, but weeks later the engagement rate on the platform has plummeted.

Marketers are already starting to ditch the platform, but should you?

This continues a trend over the past few years of “the next big thing” app to launch, gain users very fast, but then slowly die.

A few notable examples are Quibi, Clubhouse, and BeReal.

It is clear that there is demand for new social media platforms, but for some reason they’re having trouble keeping users engaged.

Any of these platforms could make a turnaround and become breakout a breakout success. I think everyone is looking for the next TikTok.

As marketers, we’re balancing the fact that we already a ton of work on our plates just keeping up with current social media platforms, but we also need to keep an eye out for the next big thing. Getting in early on a platform can make a huge difference. I basically built my career by getting in early on YouTube, then Facebook, then Google News, then Podcasts, and most recently LinkedIn’s resurgence.

What’s next? Only time will tell and it’s probably too early to give up on Threads entirely. It also doesn’t have to be a platform you go all in on (yet).

What do you think about Threads? Reply to this email and let me know.

🎉 Automate Local Event Promotion

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🏢 Entertainment Industry Communications and Marketing Jobs

We came across these cool live entertainment industry jobs that you or someone you know might be a good fit for!

Also, if you’re hiring please let us know so we can help you spread the word. It’s free!

Director of Marketing and Communications @ Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut

Marketing & Communications Specialist @ Sixthman in Atlanta, Georgia

Marketing Manager @ South Orange Performing Arts Center in South Orange, New Jersey

General Manager @ Brooklyn Bowl Philly in Philadelphia, PA

Director Of Marketing And Communications @ Ballet Hispánico in New York City, New York

Venue Operations Experience (VOX) Workforce Development Program @ National Independent Venue Foundation Online

Tour Marketing Manager @ Red Light Management in Los Angeles, CA

Director, Strategic Communications @ Monumental Sports & Entertainment in Washington, DC

That’s It!

If you have anything interesting you’d like to share, we’d love to hear it! You can respond to this email or send a DM on LinkedIn: Craig Heron.

Thanks for reading, and see you next time!