If you want to know who’s on the rise in live music, The National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) just dropped its annual cheat sheet of the most exciting up and coming artists of the past year. These aren’t just artists trending on playlists, but bona fide performers driving around the country, unglamourously roughing it, and packing rooms the hard way night after night.
The fourth edition of The Live List – presented by NIVA in partnership with SPIN and Tour Tech’s setlist platform SARA – rounds up 50 rising, must-see artists currently building real momentum on independent stages across the country. The list is sourced from more than 1,000 NIVA members, including venue operators, promoters, and festival bookers.
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These are the people who see tomorrow’s headliners while they’re still loading their own gear and selling their own merch. Before the festival headlining slots. Before the late-night TV spots. Before the algorithm figures it out. In a nutshell, this is ground-level intel. And the 2026 class runs wide stylistically but shares one thing: serious word-of-mouth heat.
This year’s 50 artists form a cross-section of a live landscape that feels thrillingly uncontainable. The 2026 Live List spans indie rock, experimental pop, hip-hop, Americana, punk, comedy, and genre-defiant left turns.
From the sleek, left-of-center R&B futurism of Nourished by Time and the sharp-edged urgency of Spiritual Cramp to the off-kilter theatricality of BERTHA: Grateful Drag and commanding Houston rapper Monaleo, The Live List is as diverse as it is exceptional.
Elsewhere, Audrey Hobert and Goldie Boutilier bring magnetic, persona-driven indie pop and Eddie 9V dazzles with a golden soul sound, while songwriter Robert Lester Folsom represents a different kind of ascent — a cult figure whose rediscovery has evolved into a genuine onstage renaissance.
These are artists cutting their teeth in places like D.C.’s Union Stage network, Atlanta institution The Masquerade, and L.A.’s legendary Troubadour — rooms that double as laboratories, community hubs, and proving grounds. The Live List functions as a reminder that, even in a stream-dominated, hyper-digitized industry, momentum is still forged in the feedback loop between stage and crowd.
Aside from nurturing careers and providing a platform for live acts to connect with fans, the annual list also doubles as a spotlight on the importance of independent venues themselves. It’s also a quiet act of defiance at a time when consolidation looms large in live entertainment. NIVA — which helped spearhead the Save Our Stages movement during the pandemic — continues to frame independent venues as both cultural engines and fragile infrastructure.
“The Live List continues to spotlight emerging talent and is a true testament to the power of independent stages,” says NIVA Executive Director Stephen Parker, highlighting how 300–1,500-cap rooms remain the real development pipeline. “Independent venues remain one of the last places where risk is baked into the business model, where an opener can still steal the night and a Tuesday show can change a trajectory.”
“We formed the Live List with the intention of empowering artists that are pounding the pavement day in and out, organically growing their fanbase through independent venues across the country,” says Co-Chairs Jordan Anderson (Talent Buyer at The Bellwether & Another Plant Entertainment), Jake Diamond (Marketing Director at Union Stage Presents) and Camilla Grayson (Marketing Director at The Masquerade). “When we launched the Live List in 2022, our goal wasn’t just to spotlight up-and-coming talent, it was also to celebrate the vital stages in every state and city across the U.S. that make those careers possible and inevitable.”
Past Live List alumni include Doechii, Dijon, RAYE, The Beaches, MJ Lenderman, and comedian Gianmarco Soresi. These artists moved from club buzz to festival billing not long after landing on NIVA’s radar and that ascension is the point.
Sonically and stylistically boundless, 2026’s exceptional class won’t be held back. The emotional punch of S.G. Goodman and Cat Clyde sits alongside the artistic sprawl of Maruja and the brilliantly named Tropical Fuck Storm. Bands like Anxious and Free Throw carry forward the cathartic charge of modern emo and post-hardcore, while Obongjayar, Kumo 99, and Zinadelphia bend pop, electronic, and global influences into performances that sound ripe for intimate venues – for now.
For artists like Folsom – who drops his much-anticipated ‘If You Wanna Laugh, You Gottta Cry Sometimes’ – the recognition of the Live List hits on a human level. “I am somewhat surprised and incredibly honored,” he says, acknowledging the unseen crews and promoters who make grassroots touring viable. “I know the hard work we put in as artists and can only imagine how hard the people behind the scenes work.”
For fans, though, the appeal is simpler: these are names you’ll be bragging about seeing “back when” in a smaller venue with a low stage. Because somewhere in a club with sticky floors and the odor of stale beer, one of these artists is blowing the lid off the place, playing like there’s no backup plan. Tonight, they’re winning over the room. Tomorrow they’re taking over the world.
Here’s THE 2026 Live List:
To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.
