Lynyrd Skynyrd Among Inductees Into IEBA Hall of Fame

via facebook.com/IEBAconference – IEBA 2018
Hall of Fame Inductee Ray Shelide and Pam Matthews on Day 3 of IEBA 2018 at JW Marriott Nashville.

Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bonnie Brosious, Ray Shelide and Bonnie Sugarman were inducted into the International Entertainment Buyers Association Hall of Fame Tuesday night, the grand finale to IEBA’s 48th annual convention held at the JW Marriott in Nashville.

Mike Super, the magician who was the winner of NBC’s “Phenomenon” was host for the evening of awards and inductions.

IEBA presented awards to a group of industry VIPs that, including Ryman Auditorium Theater of the Year, Arena of the Year, Amphitheatre of the Year, Promoter of the Year and Talent Agent of the Year.

Club of the Year went to Marathon Music Works in Nashville. While accepting the award, Chris Cobb said, “Ten years ago we wanted to do a good room in Nashville. A lot of people have put a lot into our success.”

The award for Casino of the Year went to Talking Stick Resort and Casino in Scottsdale, Ariz., which had fought the results of a monsoon to reopen in six weeks, just in time for their fall series.

The Ryman Auditorium Theater of the Year went to the Durham Performing Arts Center in North Carolina, the largest PAC in the Carolinas. Arena of the Year went to the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Amphitheatre of the Year went to The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.

The Minnesota State Fair in St. Paul took home Fair of the Year, a fitting award as the fair hit the two million mark in visitors this year. Festival of the Year went to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival which saw half a million visitors over seven days this year.

Jim Mallonee of House of Blues took home Club Buyer of the Year while Kell Houston of Houston Productions and Randy Wright of Integrity Events tied for Casino Buyer of the Year. It was the fourth win for Houston in this category.

Michael Boltzman of AEG Presents took home his second win as Corporate Buyer of the Year and Ron Sakamoto of Gold & Gold Productions in Canada was awarded International Buyer of the Year.

Fair Buyer of the Year went to R. J. Romeo of Romeo Entertainment Group and Roger LeBlanc of Madison Entertainment walked away with Festival Buyer of the Year. Venue Executive of the Year went to Kim Bedier of Tacoma Dome, Cheney Stadium, Pantages and Rialto Theaters and Theater on the Square in Washington. Paige Ryan of Paradigm Talent Agency took home the Young Professional of the Year.

Jay Williams of WME was named Talent Agent of the Year and Ali Harnell of AEG Presents was name Promoter of the Year.

Earlier in the day a group of breakout sessions and Agents Alley/Promoters Alley rounded out the morning sessions for IEBA. Afternoon breakout sessions ended three days of panels and sessions that touched on all aspects of the business, giving all attendees insight into new trends, ongoing issues within the industry and the hottest in tech and social media.

Agents Alley/Promoters Alley was a two-hour whirlwind of activity where agents and promoters set up booths where attendees could stop by to get a better understanding of who they represented and what specific they offered. Joe Piver of Jeff Roberts & Associates called it “speed dating but better.”

Most comments from people participating in the event were positive. Michael Twombly of Music Zircona said it was better than five years ago, when only 100 people or so visited the booth area. He said traffic to his booth had been great and he had made a lot of contacts. Ron Garner of Bi-Coastal Productions said this year was the busiest he had ever been in this session.

Rob Battle of Battle Artist Agency said the entire event had been a good experience and the panels had been very informative. Jerry Young of CAPS said that while his company is ancillary to what the people in the room are do, he made good contacts and was able to get his message across about how he can help live entertainment when it comes to handling payroll for employees. Young, who is on the Board of IEBA, said his company is registered in every state so no matter where there is live entertainment, they can work with the company to handle payroll for companies across the country.

Several comments were made about the new location at JW Marriott this year. While most people liked the hotel, some were not as enthusiastic that the showcases and receptions took place off site at The Canner a few blocks away.

Harold Froget of ICM suggested that IEBA try to add a larger element of international people to the convention. “If they could include a larger contingent of international promoters and buyers it would be great. I think it would be great if they could expand that area for next year.”

Kazual, a four-piece family group from Atlanta, was at IEBA for the second time, and they applauded the energy and atmosphere of the convention. They all agreed that everyone had been very friendly and welcoming to them, and they had made good contacts at their booth during the event.

Bob Papke of SMG said it had been a great conference and he had achieved a lot while he was there. “It’s a great spot for agents and venues and is one of our favorite conferences. It’s a very valuable event for us to attend.”

Breakout sessions throughout the day touched on a variety of subjects, including safety, copyright law, family entertainment, contracts, casino entertainment, independent promoters, a look at the Kaaboo Festival Del Mar, California and a session designed specifically for young professionals.

Panelists for Kaaboo included Suzanne Bowman, Jason Felts, Roger LeBlanc, with Keith Shackleford acting as moderator. The group touched on the atmosphere of Kaboo, which Felts described as “everyone gets to choose their own adventure when they come in,” and how the festival put together the funds to put on the festival by drawing from regular investors who understood live entertainment.

Felts said the festival is a music festival but so much more with the addition of comedy, culinary arts and art. The team has developed wristbands that are technically able to send back information on each participant in order for the team to collect data on who they go to see, what they buy down and what credit card they use. Each piece of data is important for the festival staff to provide a better event for attendees the next year.

Kaaboo will have two additional festivals this year, one in Cayman and the other at AT&T Stadium in Texas. Both of the new festivals will take what they have learned from the four years the event has been held in Del Mar.

The panel on Independent Promoters and Tertiary Markets was hosted by Travis Janovich, with panelists including David Fitzgerald, Jered Johnson, Beth Paul and Stephanie Rivas. They discussed possibilities in small towns for events through celebration of local culture utilizing what is unique to each community. Once again, it is knowing your audience and the location where an event will be held that will provide insight into having a very successful show or festival in these smaller areas.

Conference attendees were complimentary of the event and happy with the opportunity to meet old friends and make new ones. Charles Dorris and Gerald Roy of DR Artists Management were visiting with Michael Marion, manager of the Verizon Arena in Little Rock, Arkansas. Talk turned to ticketing, and Roy recalled a time when he was promoting Kenny Rogers and the artist’s ticket price went from $10 to $15.

“We thought it was all over, that we’d never sell another ticket,” Roy recalled. The same thing happened when the surcharge on tickets went from 25 cents to 50 cents. “We considered it outrageous that anyone would charge that much extra to people who were purchasing a ticket,” Roy remembered.

Marion said the conference offered great opportunities to network and panels that were very informative. Dorris concurred, saying it was a great place to see folks in person that you talk to via phone or text/email throughout the year.

Shawn Swartz of Swartz’s Mid America Entertainment in Pennsylvania was attending the conference for the second time. He has 20-plus years of experience in live entertainment.

“I booked entertainment for the local fair in Jamestown so I know who does well and what fairs can afford,” Swartz pointed out, adding, “Most fairs cannot afford the stadium and arena acts.”

Swartz said that coming to IEBA has been a great experience for him, giving him the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with a variety of people. He specifically enjoyed the fair buyer’s panel and thought the showcases were awesome.

Roger LeBlanc of Madison Entertainment is an IEBA board member and was very pleased with the convention this year. “I thought the Women in Industry panel and the one on safety were especially pertinent this year,” he said. “If people don’t feel safe, they are not going to buy tickets to your event.”

LeBlanc was also happy to see the discussion on ticketing come up on several panels. “We need to learn to control our P1, P2 and P3 pricing. PACs do a great job in this area, they have been doing dynamic pricing for years and it has worked great for them.”

As attendees dispersed after the awards event they were already making plans to attend IEBA’s 49th annual conference, scheduled for October 27-29 at the JW Marriott in Nashville.