"The Entertainment Industry requires a single organization as a representative before Congress."
So says Michael T Strickland, founder and chair of Bandit Lites, a full service design, management, and producer of live events, theatrical productions, and live shows. Strickland spent the pandemic and the months since the United States began to return to a pre-pandemic way of life, lobbying Congress to support the entertainment community, from publicizing available funding for hard-hit businesses to pounding on doors on Capitol Hill to protect the interests of the live event industry.
He makes a convincing case to create an organization to speak for an industry that employs around 10 million people and that is worth $1 trillion dollars to the US economy after he found the government less receptive to its needs during COVID-19 because it has no PAC, lobby, or all-encompassing organization to represent its many different parts.
According to Strickland, "Congress looks at the NAICS Codes, (North American Industry Classification System) and this is a system few in the industry even knew existed prior to the pandemic. Entertainment is scattered across hundreds of codes, all picked at random." Unlike other industries which have lobbying arms, such as the Airline Association, The Restaurant Association, and the automotive industry, the entertainment industry does not have one entity to speak for it. Strickland describes these associations as arriving before Congress as battleships and leaving the live entertainment industry behind in canoes.
To remedy this, Strickland purposes that the live entertainment industry forms The Entertainment Association at LDI2022, in an effort to bring together the industry to:
- Establish an active lobby.
- Establish a PAC that can make contributions.
- Establish a single, overarching NAICS code to show the real size and impact of the entertainment industry to Congress.
Join Michael Strickland and other industry figures at the Entertainment Association Panel & Discussion on Friday, November 18, from 3:00 to 4:30pm, on the LDI Stage by the Circle Bar + Lounge.
The entertainment community includes any individual or entity that earns their livelihood creating, producing, or delivering a product, event or experience, or any related support, for the enjoyment of others. If that includes you and you don't believe your job and way of life can be shut down in 48 hours, then ask yourself, did you see the last crisis coming?
Entities such as Live Nation, AEG, the NFL, CAA, WME, the CMA, MLB, NASCAR, Broadway, and others will benefit from this, as well as every entity large and small that depends on a gathering of people to earn a living," Strickland says. "Our gathering at LDI will be a chance to have a wide discussion of where we’ve come from, where we can go, and why this is desperately needed."
Strickland will be joined by moderators, Nathan Alves, and Seth Jackson, partners at Darkroom Creative and speakers:
- Marcel Fairbairn, President/CEO, GearSource.com
- Marty Hom, Tour Manager
- Robin Shaw, Co-Founder, Upstaging, Inc.
Strickland has previously been honored for his work for the live entertainment community by the University of Tennessee, the Academy of Country Music, NAMM, and Live Design.