Year End Survey 2019: The Live Industry Looks Back & Ahead At ‘Lots Of Touring’

Kevin Shivers, partner at WME: Helping Crooked Media and “Pod Save America” put on their benefit show at The Greek, which benefited non-profit organizations Vote.org, Election Protection, Think Social Impact and the National Redistricting Foundation.

Marlene Tsuchii, co-head of international touring and music agent at Creative Artists Agency: I am proud and honored to be involved in the yearlong Ariana Grande “Sweetener World Tour.” It is a massive success and further establishes her as a superstar icon. Her immense talent, strength and courage are an inspiration. I am also extremely proud to help sign the incredible Korean multimedia company SM Entertainment. They are the perfect partner as they embody a similar culture to what is valued at CAA. Their roster of K-pop artists is top level as are their team both in Korea and in the U.S.

Matt Galle: Platinum & Premium ticketing technology. Artists can now control the secondary market more and maintain the majority of their well-deserved revenue.

Susie Giang: Streaming platforms, and more so curated playlists, are giving many new bands important exposure as they launch their touring careers. Bands that have never toured before can play rooms with audiences in them because their music is being heard before they even hit the market. But how do you transform streaming fans into fans that will continue to buy the tickets and see the artist again and again? That is when the artistry of playing the live set comes in, balanced with the tailoring that agents need to do to find the right events, venues and promoters for the artist to grow.

Steve Gordon: Post Malone has revived the concept of a “rock star.” He is flat-out incredible. Post has successfully united all demographics of music fans and has made a lasting impact on the music industry at large. His “Runaway Tour” is blowing out across the world and he continues to deliver great music to his loyal fans. Post, his UTA agent Cheryl Paglierani, and his manager Dre London collectively built an outstanding tour and, in turn, have elevated his career to new heights. 

Nadia Prescher: I know this was an industry at large question, but as it relates to my personal business right now, I don’t have to look further than Marc Geiger (WME) and Rob Light (CAA) who continue to have an impact on the live business directly in front of me. They know that Madison House fulfills a vital entrepreneurship role in our industry, and over two decades later, they continue to support Madison House by looking elsewhere when shopping for new clients. 

Marlene Tsuchii: The meteoric rise of new artists like Maggie Rogers and Billie Eilish. This disruption in the traditional path to success is invigorating! It is inspiring to see these young women have such a massive global impact. 

Stacy Vee: Artists who are doing things their own way, carving their own path and ruling the school such as Billie Eilish, Kacey Musgraves, Luke Combs and Sturgill Simpson.

Matt Galle: Radius clauses.

Susie Giang: Things are moving faster and earlier. When I commit to working with an artist team, I’m looking at the long-term picture. Now we see very young teams hitting the ground running fast and hard. Artist touring development that used to happen over the course of years is now expected to be built over the course of months. But it still takes strategic decisions to build hard-ticket careers with artists. We need to build toward sustaining careers, and not be overly influenced by the thrill of making it on the festival poster alone.

Steve Gordon: The number of touring acts has increased this year, causing a shift in the music landscape. We needed to book venues further in advance to make sure that markets were not oversaturated with too many similar shows in proximity to each other. 

Nadia Prescher: Working on arena shows with promoters who still can’t use “your” and “you’re” properly. Grammar jokes aside, there are always real challenges, but our MH business is healthy and growing at a stable rate. Certainly not the biggest, but a challenge for some music lovers and fans is that some social media has created a façade of being “social” when most users are alone somewhere on their phone. The industry is aware of the isolation that can come as a result, especially for our youth who don’t have memories of life before  the handheld. Madison House strives to work with promoters and artists who connect with their fan families in creative ways beyond social media. We have found real value in supporting communities that get created online, but then translate into creative group efforts in person, where human connection can happen.

Matt Galle: Shawn Mendes at Rogers Centre in Toronto. That is Shawn’s hometown and he  has always wanted to headline a stadium. We ended the North American tour leg there and it sold out in two days, about a year in advance of the show. The energy and excitement was magical that night.

Susie Giang: I was floored by the magic of the Newport Folk Festival this year. They really delivered on the promise of live music, those special moments when you say to yourself, I will not see this anywhere else again. One such moment was seeing Brandi Carlile on stage with Dolly Parton. I was overwhelmed by the power of those two women together.

Steve Gordon: Post Malone’s Bud Light Dive Bar show with Sublime with Rome was my favorite event of the year. I loved organizing the show with Cheryl and Post’s team. It was one of the best sets I have ever seen, and watching Post and Sublime With Rome play together for 200 people in such an intimate venue was truly special. 

Nadia Prescher: I saw Tryllefløyten at the Den Norske Opera in Oslo. It was eccentric and quirky, but more importantly it encompassed all of the reasons I love live events. The whole Norwegian evening was a reminder that  international travel, beautiful venues, food, art, comedy, costumes, music, theatre, and HUMANS CONNECTING are all reasons why I love this business so much. 

Hans Schafer: Two events come to mind: watching J Balvin headline his own stadium show in his hometown of Medellin and J Balvin headlining Lollapalooza. It was a significant moment seeing him as the first Latin artist to headline the festival in its 28-year history.   

Kevin Shivers: Camp Flog Gnaw hands down. It is one of the best and most interesting festivals.

Marlene Tsuchii: The Capitol Records launch of SuperM on their lot. It was a magnificent example of successful teamwork. A brand new act with no music or touring history had an incredible performance that led to a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 and a successful first time tour in arenas!

Stacy Vee: I think my favorite was Coachella. It is like a big family reunion every year both internally with the staff and externally with the industry guests. This year will be 20 years in L.A. working in the industry so I’m now at a point where there are people I “came up with” and that feels good.

Susie Giang: Yes. We all know that economics and entertainment have a direct correlation, but there is much more at stake in the 2020 election. Even the act of standing next to a stranger and holding a tune together is as a political and spiritual act during these divisive times. I think it is more important than ever for artists to create spaces where politics and art intersect. 

Steve Gordon: I really don’t think it will impact the live business. The music industry remains consistently busy, and it’s a growing market. The election is clearly very important but it does not take away the want or need for people to go out and have a good time. If anything, it may increase the public’s desire to attend shows to help escape the stress of the outside world and  completely immerse themselves in the music.

Kevin Shivers: Yes. I think given our current political climate and the fact that it’s an election year, we will see artists using their power to influence the election and past artists making appearances and reuniting for concerts to draw further attention to it.

Nadia Prescher: If anyone is not happy with what’s happening (and that’s a lot of our industry), we have to use our platforms to get people registered to vote and then encourage voting, in all elections. HeadCount is doing critical work and has registered over 600,000 voters. Truly a job well done by all of the board, volunteers, artists, agents, managers and promoters who have supported this important work. We need to get voters to the polls and create safe and fair polling locations. However the election goes, our country is now viewed very differently on a global scale than it was 3 years ago. We’ve got some real international damage control ahead. The election results on Nov. 3, 2020, will determine how much and the strategy for the repair.

Marlene Tsuchii: Yes, there will be a definite impact from the election. Whatever the outcome, it will impact the economy and frankly the psyche of the country. This current administration has affected the industry starting from their Machiavellian immigration policies.

Matt Galle: More package tours and co-headline bills. Less festivals. Rock music being more prominent in some newly molded, modern form.

Susie Giang: I think we will see more artist-curated events, and in that ethos of niche culture, I think we will continue to see experts and industry creatives knocking out specialized events that will uncover new ways of doing business. I think there will be rewards for those who focus on thriving and not just growing, and for teams that know who they are and focus in on their unique strengths. There is strategy in standing out as different, and not just fitting the formula of the masses. 

Steve Gordon: Market saturation will increase. More artists will be playing club and theater venues and fewer acts will be playing amphitheaters, which will lead to more packaging across the board.

Marlene Tsuchii: This isn’t anything new but the continuing trend of packaged tours – we have all found there is safety in numbers. With the volume in touring traffic, creating packages that are aesthetically solid with smart ticket pricing is a proven formula for success. There are also a lot more artist-curated festivals cropping up each year as artists are looking for creative ways to reach out directly to fans.

Matt Galle: Less scalping. Primary ticketing companies giving artist more control (direct to fan) and sharing everything with them (data and all revenue streams).

Susie Giang: I would like to see more of a focus on building diversity on our side of the industry, and in our rosters. We need to elevate new voices and tastemakers, and we should be fearless in lifting them high. There are more successful artists and creatives out there, once we can open the doors. 

Steve Gordon: I predict an influx of large-scale packaged events coming to the table similar to the Global Dub Festival at Red Rocks, which we helped put together, or C3’s Camp Nowhere multi-city festival experience. I think we’ll also see more events that mirror mini-festivals, which target very specific demographics of music fans.