The US House of Representatives has passed the American Music Tourism Act.
The bill now goes to President Donald Trump for his signature.
It would add music to the tourism-promotion duties the Commerce Department already carries under the Visit America Act, which cover conferences, destinations rich in cultural heritage, and sports events.
The House passed S. 195 by voice vote on Tuesday (September 15), adopting the Senate‘s text rather than its own.
The bill has been enrolled, ahead of being presented to the President.
It directs the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Travel and Tourism to identify the US locations and events important to music tourism, and to promote both domestic and international travel to them.
The bill also widens that international brief beyond business travel. The Visit America Act currently directs the Assistant Secretary to increase and facilitate international business travel to the US. S. 195 rewrites that provision to cover international business and leisure travel, and upgrades the existing sports mandate from facilitating events in the US to facilitating and promoting international travel and tourism to them.
The Act also writes a definition of music tourism into federal law, covering travel to museums, studios, and “venues of all sizes,” as well as travel to festivals, concerts, and other live musical performances or music-related special events.
Within a year of enactment, and every two years after that, the Assistant Secretary must report to the Senate Commerce Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee on the activities, findings, achievements, and vulnerabilities relating to those travel and tourism goals.
“After more than two years of work, our bipartisan American Music Tourism Act is officially headed to President Trump’s desk,” said Diana Harshbarger, the Tennessee Republican who led the House companion bill. “As home to iconic destinations like Dollywood in Pigeon Forge and the Birthplace of Country Music in Bristol, Tennessee’s First District plays a vital role in the music tourism industry, and this bill will have a direct impact on a district that lives and breathes it.
“As home to iconic destinations like Dollywood in Pigeon Forge and the Birthplace of Country Music in Bristol, Tennessee’s First District plays a vital role in the music tourism industry, and this bill will have a direct impact on a district that lives and breathes it.”
Diana Harshbarger, US Representative
“I’m grateful to Senator Blackburn for getting this bill through the Senate, and I look forward to President Trump signing it into law.”
“The Volunteer State is home to so many iconic musical landmarks for tourists to experience – from Graceland in Memphis to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville to Dollywood in Pigeon Forge,” said Marsha Blackburn, the Tennessee Republican who led the Senate bill.
“Music tourism has such a positive impact on Tennessee’s economy, and we need to ensure that fans from all over the world continue to celebrate our state’s rich history of music for generations to come.”
Marsha Blackburn, US Senator
“Music tourism has such a positive impact on Tennessee’s economy, and we need to ensure that fans from all over the world continue to celebrate our state’s rich history of music for generations to come.
“The American Music Tourism Act will promote and support the fast-growing music tourism industry, and I am pleased it is heading to President Trump’s desk.”
Harshbarger introduced the House version, H.R. 617, on January 22, 2025, with California Democrat Nanette Barragán as co-lead.
That bill passed the House by voice vote on April 28, 2025.
Blackburn and Colorado Democrat John Hickenlooper introduced S. 195 the same day. The Senate passed it by unanimous consent on May 14, 2025.
The House then waited 16 months before taking up the Senate’s text.
An earlier version, S. 4212, cleared the Senate by unanimous consent on December 5, 2024, in the 118th Congress. It was never taken up by the House, according to Hickenlooper‘s office.
Harshbarger‘s office said on reintroduction that the bill “will not cost any additional taxpayer dollars to implement.”
The Congressional Budget Office, in the cost estimate printed with the Senate Commerce Committee‘s report in March 2025, put the cost of implementing the bill at less than USD $500,000 over the 2025-2030 period, with any spending subject to the availability of appropriations.
The Assistant Secretary had received USD $3.5 million in 2024 to carry out the Visit America Act, the CBO noted.
The National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), which endorsed the legislation, welcomed the vote.
“Independent venues and festivals are the lifeblood of local communities, not just as cultural hubs but as powerful engines of economic activity,” said Stephen Parker, Executive Director of NIVA. “Fans travel for them. They book hotels, fill restaurants, and shop on Main Street because a show is happening that night.
“Independent venues and festivals are the lifeblood of local communities, not just as cultural hubs but as powerful engines of economic activity.”
Stephen Parker, NIVA
“The American Music Tourism Act is a jobs bill. We are thrilled the House and Senate have prioritized driving domestic and foreign visitors to the nation’s music attractions and independent stages.
“Now, we encourage the President to sign it and give the country its first national strategy for music tourism. It is a bipartisan policy that treats live music as the economic asset it already is.”
“We are grateful to Senators Marsha Blackburn and John Hickenlooper and to Representatives Diana Harshbarger and Nanette Barragán for their leadership, and to the Senate Commerce and House Energy and Commerce committees for moving forward this bill,” Parker added.
NIVA says independent stages account for 9.2% of total US travel and tourism revenue, and generate USD $10.62 billion in off-site tourism spending.
Those figures come from The State of Live, the association’s study published in June 2025, which put the sector’s total economic output in 2024 at USD $153.1 billion, driven by fan spending on lodging, dining, shopping, and transportation, and its direct contribution to US GDP at USD $86.2 billion.
The vote came a day before Harshbarger‘s other bill of interest to the live business cleared its committee stage.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 36-0 on Wednesday (September 16) to report the MAIN Event Ticketing Act to the full House, as amended, as MBW reported.
That bill, also sponsored by Harshbarger, would amend the Better Online Ticket Sales Act of 2016 to require ticket issuers that own or operate online ticket-sales services to maintain technological controls enforcing their posted purchase limits.
Blackburn and Hickenlooper were both named recipients of a letter sent in March this year by the Fix the Tix coalition, led by NIVA, to the Senate Commerce Committee, reported by MBW. It was addressed to them as subcommittee Chairman and Ranking Member, alongside full committee Chairman Ted Cruz and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell.
The coalition asked for a ban on resale above a ticket’s original total cost and a 10% cap on resale fees.
NIVA also struck a year-long deal with Spotify in April this year, as MBW reported, giving independent venues more visibility on the streaming service through 2026.
The association said it is ready to work with the US Department of Commerce on delivering the Act’s goals once it becomes law.Music Business Worldwide
