TOP 6 MUSIC EVENT PRODUCERS

Below are my picks for the top music “event” producers in the U.S. What do you think?

4 Fini/Kevin Lyman – Kevin and company have built multiple touring brands including WARPED, Country Throwdown and Mayhem by staying true to each events vision.  Not only are fans…well fans of their shows, so are the artist that play them. 

Superfly – Bonnaroo (along w/ AC Entertainment and Red Light Management) put Superfly on the national stage and have since added Outside Lands (w/ Another Planet and Red Light) and new to Brooklyn this May, The Great Googa Mooga (“n amusement park of food and drink).  Each year, you can find something new and different at their events.  Walt Disney called this “plussing”, or making the experience better for no reason other than to surprise and delight the audience.  Do you “plus”?

C3 – Austin City Limits Festival (ACL) and Lollapalooza has three things in common, 1) they are great events, 2) no parking spots for 75,000 guests per day, and 3) are produced by the three C’s that have always put fans and bands first.  Charlie, Charlie and Charles are also familiar with “plussing” which keeps fans coming back year-after-year.  Being chosen to produce President Obama’s 2008 Inauguration ceremony speaks volumes of their experience and knowhow. 

Goldenvoice– Coachella is America’s Music Festival (at least Rock/Alternative).  It has been booked and produced for years with passion and love by Paul, Skip and their team… in a market (LA/Southern California) that is much harder to sell tickets in than you may think.  It is easy to say now that you knew Coachella would be successful, yet it lost money for the first three years (and probably wouldn’t be around today if it wasn’t for the vision of the AEG Live management team).  Now they have moved to 2-weekends and added a country festival on the same site, Stagecoach (doing well for years). 

Live Nation/Arthur Fogel, Gerry Barad & Co – U2, The Rolling Stones, Bowie, Rush… nothing more to say. 

The Messina Group – Louis Messina and his team just keep hitting them out of the park…ball barks.  Kenny Chesney, Taylor Swift, George Strait, and they help-out the Goldenvoice team on Stagecoach in So Cal…those are all well produced shows. 

There are plenty more out there for sure (Jazz Fest, Telluride, High Sierra, Voodoo, moe. Down, country and folk festivals everywhere, etc).  These are my tops, what are yours?

 

2 CENTS ON LEFSETZ/CONCERT STUFF

The idea of the last LiveWorks Newsletter https://liveworksnews.wordpress.com/2009/08/03/innovation-wins-every-time/ was to point out how innovators like C3, Goldenvoice/AEG Live, Superfly/Ashley Capps/Coran Capshaw, CAA, William Morris, Madison House…and Kevin Lyman have changed the landscape of the U.S. Concert Business through their festival development…and challenges the rest of us to try to live-up to their example.  So when I first saw a few jumping on Kid Rock’s bandwagon to tear Kevin down (in my mind Rock was the only one who should have been dissing and even he admits that he likes Kevin), my blood pressure started rising fast (those of you who know me have seen that before).  But then…Lefsetz http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/ started posting the flood (only way to describe it) of support for Kevin Lyman.

It was heartwarming to see so many bands, managers, agents, promoters, sponsors, fans…everyone say WE LOVE KEVIN… AND THIS IS WHY vs. ARTHUR FOGEL IS A LIAR (which we still saw too much of).  Here are some facts to chew on…

1) The U2 tour is doing very well whether you like their new album or not.  They are an amazing live band, always do groundbreaking production,  and unless you are in the box office counting the drop every-night, you shouldn’t be commenting on other’s ticket sales (unless you are Bob Lefsetz as he is our business’s commentator and conscious…and the reason we have these dialogues in the first place).

2) A new trend the business is seeing, and adapting to as much as possible is seating preferences.  P1 seats continue to sell in this economy.  So do P3’s and beyond.  P2’s not so much.  What you might see in a stadium concert is a show that is 98% sold-out and still has an empty section that looks like it is down-front. Just because the promoter/building/band wants to fill it in, doesn’t mean the show didn’t make money, and most of the capacity sold.  Maybe I’m totally wrong, but if you don’t know for sure, don’t call someone a liar!

3) Like the Festival Producers listed above,Arthur Fogel has changed our industry.  Bono and Madonna think he is the rock star!  He basically owns the top of the box score artists.  If you are talking shit about
Arthur, you are just jealous or pissed!  Me, I would rather do business with him than not. 

4) In case you haven’t noticed over the past couple of days, The Lefsetz Letter has us all talking.  Managers, agents, promoters, lawyers, business managers, label people, sponsors, fans, even rock stars (although I’m not sure if Madonna knows that Bob actually types on a computer and doesn’t write with a pen…but even she is talking about his fishing tackle).  Ok, so he doesn’t always get the facts perfect…but I don’t think that’s the point.  Bob, like the rest of us wants to see change for the positive.  Sometimes he needs to say things in a certain way to piss people off and get them talking (he never told me that but I’m guessing it is the case). 

With the way the world sits right now, our business should be pulling together instead of knocking each other down.  We should be encouraging Kevin Lyman and those like him to continue to innovate and create new vehicles.  It was awesome the way everyone wrote to Bob to tell “Kevin stories”.  We should all encourage and take part in the fun debate that happens as part of the Lefsetz Letter.  We should do the same for anyone who is trying to make a difference!

Hope you have a great weekend…and sell tickets (instead of giving them away)!

Speak with you soon…

Jim