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#151
Life is good 😎
Today's read ... 7
minutes
Life is good - really good - for Live Nation as it reported a 73% increase in revenues during Q1 of this year compared to Q1 in 2022. And Rapino says they should be charging more for shows? What a time to be alive. (We think…)
Credit: Ti GongFans, Partners Continue to be BamboozledThe waves continue to roll in for abruptly-canceled Atlantic City, NJ festival, Bamboozled. Neither the festival nor the ticketing company want to take responsibility for the refunds. Refunds requests to BAM Ticketing are directed back to the festival, but the festival directs purchasers to request a refund at their point of purchase - and when that doesn’t work, Bamboozled suggests contacting their bank or credit card company. Furthermore, organizers are being sued by music exec, Anthony Martini, who loaned them money to help relaunch the festival. Martini hasn’t been paid anything towards his loan or its interest and is suing for $630,000.
Serial Festival Swindler Pleads Guilty
James Walker Watson pled guilty (again) to festival-related fraud charges. This time, it was for $3 million he “secured” from at least 3 investors of the Southfork Music Festival near Dallas, TX last June. He spent time in prison for previous festival fraud convictions: in 2022, he for federal bank fraud around the Sacramento Jazz Festival and in 2011, for defrauding investors of the Texas Music Festival. Most recently, he was involved in the Orlando Music Festival which was canceled weeks before it was supposed to happen due to his arrest last spring.
Sam Smith Canceled in Israel
Sam Smith’s May 31 concert at Summer In the City in Tel Aviv has been canceled - in fact the whole first day of the event has been canceled - reportedly due to “unforeseeable technical and logistical problems” as stated by festival organizers. However, a deeper look into the problems reveals the cancelation was was likely tied to protests from pro-Palestinian groups who felt the artist was “artwashing or pinkwashing” Israel’s reputation. Other artists including Lorde and Lana Del Rey have canceled performances in Israel for similar reasons.
Fix the TixA new advocacy coalition has been formed by 19 entertainment organizations to advocate for more equitable concert ticketing. Fix the Tix members include venues, promoters, producers, independent ticketing companies, NIVA, and other risk-holding stakeholders. According to their website, the coalition is “coming together to protect fans from price gouging and deceptive and predatory ticketing practices.”
China Bets on Music, Food FestivalsBudweiser China and Jiefang Daily are hoping that a series of nightlife events including music, beer, and food festivals will help boost China’s economy by revitalizing in person shopping. “By creating more diverse and exciting offline activities, the company aims to provide consumers with more opportunities to celebrate and socialize.”
New Brazil Fest Breaks Ticket RecordThe Town Music and Art Festival, a new festival in Sao Paulo, Brazil, broke records when it sold 350,000 tickets in just 3 hours. As of last week, the festival had sold over 420k tickets, selling out 3 of its 5 days. The September festival is a partnership between Live Nation and Rock World signals a growing demand for such events in Brazil.
Second Weekend at the SaengerThe Avett Brothers continued the long-standing Second Weekend at the Saenger shows surrounding NOLA Jazz Festival by performing at the venue Friday and Saturday nights. In 2014, Blackbird Presents booked Dr. John to play at Saenger during the last weekend of Jazz Fest. Jazz Fest headliner Bruce Springsteen heard about the show and wanted to join, unknowingly kicking off a new tradition.
[No?] Love for Lovers and FriendsLovers and Friends Music Festival returned to Las Vegas last Saturday. While the lineup was stacked with nostalgic 90’s and 00’s artists and the fans in attendance were dressed for the occasion, the festival was deemed “underwhelming.” Perhaps it was chaotic, but Chris Brown and Usher performed without mentioning their scuffle the night before, Ginuwine fell off the stage (but made a quick recovery), Mariah Carey sang with Boyz II Men and Missy Elliot shined to close it out.
No Criminal Charges for NY Concert Stampede The City of Rochester, NY has determined that there is no basis for criminal charges following the March 5th stampede during a GloRilla concert at the Main Street Armory that killed 3. However, the city is reviewing its entertainment licensing procedures to ‘identify and implement additional conditions that would increase safety and security for entertainment patrons in Rochester’”. A lawsuit may still be filed on behalf of the deceased and others injured during the incident.
Rock & Roll Hall Class of ‘23
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced its 2023 hall inductees last week: Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, George Michael, Rage Against the Machine, Willie Nelson, and the Spinners. Both Rage Against the Machine and Sheryl Crow were shocked and honored by the invitations. The ceremony will take place November 3 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.
The Werd Company is seeking a full-time Audiovisual Installation Project Manager in Austin, TX. Salary range is between $40-50,000 Forty8 Live! needs a Festival Director to implement logistics and operations across all of the company’s events. The role is full-time, with a salary range of $80-120,000.
AEG Presents is hiring a Head of Ticketing, International Touring in London, UK. Salary range £55-60,000 + bonus. Miami Music Project is looking for a Director of Marketing and Communications. Salary for the hybrid role is $70-90,000.
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Last Week's Results:
readers are always looking for new gigs.
Credit: freakydeaky.com
Headliners, Lineups, Festival & Tour Announcements
Soul Beach Music Festival in Aruba will feature The Roots and Tiffany Haddish, May 24 - 29.
The Roots Picnic - created and curated by The Roots - announced Ms. Lauryn Hill, Diddy (performing with The Roots), and Lil Uzi Vert for the Philadelphia, PA fest. Dave Chappelle will kick off the June 2 - 4 festival with a comedy set on Friday.
Chicago’s Heatwave Music Festival returns for year 2 with Kx5, Tiësto, and Slander, June 10 - 11 at Northerly Island.
Day Trip Festival Seattle moves to Myrtle Edwards Waterfront for its sophomore edition on July 16 with Chris Lake, MK b2b Green Velvet, Dombresky, and TOKiMONSTA.
Bonnaroo announced special guests including The Fearless Flyers, Remi Wolf, Victor Wooten, Hanson, Jake Luppen of Hippo Campus, and others will join Cory Wong’s Syncopated Superjam on Saturday, June 17 during the TN festival.
Trey Anastasio Band, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead and a Led Zeppelin Dreamset by Umphrey’s McGee top the All IN Music & Arts Festival lineup. The 2nd year festival takes place September 9 - 10 in Indianapolis, IN.
Sum 41 announced their retirement after 27 years, but the band promises to finish out their 2023 tour, which ends with performances on both days of When We Were Young in Las Vegas, October 21 and 22.
Disco Donnie Presents’ Freaky Deaky festival has moved from Houston to Austin, TX’s Travis County Expo Center for its October 28 - 29 event. No lineup has been announced yet.
Live Nation Dump:Last week was a busy one for Live Nation.
Q1 2023 Results: LN posted $3.1 billion in gross revenues, up 73% year-over-year, with concert business bringing in $2.28 billion of that, up 89%. Ticketmaster sold over 145 million tickets and during its sales peak, sold 15,000 tickets per minute in North America. Rapino expects 2023 to be a record year.
Clear of liability: Both LN + Ticketmaster were cleared of a $120 million patent infringement lawsuit brought on by Global eTicket Exchange in April 2021.Concert week is back: LN is offering $25 tickets - and this year, that includes all fees - to over 3,800 shows across the US starting tomorrow, May 10 - Thursday, May 16.
And chats with Lefsetz: During his interview on Bob Lefsetz’s podcast, Michael Rapino said that artists could easily “charge a bit more” for tickets to their shows, especially for big shows and moments, likening them to a Gucci bag.
Rapino rakes it in: CEO Michael Rapino reaped the rewards of the company’s success with a serious pay bump. His total comp package in 2022 was $139 million, up from $13.8 million in 2021. (He took a pay cut during Covid, which extended through last year.)
Miley joins the Billions Club in style, with “Flowers” officially the fastest song to reach 1 billion streams in history.
How’s the culture here? If you want to know what your teams really think, check out this free employee engagement survey template and find out.
Tom DeGeorge shares his coast-to-coast touring model during an interview on the Music Industry 360 podcast.
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