Disco Donnie Regains Sole Ownership of DDP From LiveStyle

– Disco Donnie

Disco Donnie Presents is once again fully independent as founder James “Disco Donnie” Estopinal has bought out previous owner LiveStyle to regain sole ownership.

DDP was founded in 1994 in New Orleans and grew into a regional powerhouse that is still around to this day. DDP books tons of events at various levels of venues and the company’s festival portfolio includes Ubbi Dubbi, Sunset Music Festival and Freaky Deaky Texas. While many events have been postponed or canceled in 2020, the company plans on holding Sunset Music Festival in Florida and Ubbi Dubbi Gets Freaky Deaky Texas in 2021.

“We do close to 1,000 shows a year, everywhere from 400-cap to 2,000-cap, and a lot of special events in 4,000 to 5,000 cap rooms,” Estopinal told Pollstar of his business last year. “We get the full spectrum of artists, from when they are starting out to when they make it into an arena. And hopefully when they make it into arenas they’ll remember who was there when they first came around.”

Estopinal partnered with Pasquale Rotella in the 2000s to elevate Insomniac into the global EDM powerhouse it now is. DDP was the first company acquired by SFX in 2012 and was one of its company’s most treasured assets when it emerged from bankruptcy and rebranded as LiveStyle in 2016.

“It has been the wildest ride with Donnie over the past 12 years,” DDP President Michele Servais said in a statement. “The dance music community and our company has developed and grown in a way most of us never imagined. Throughout it all, our partnerships and cherished relationship with our fans helped us get to where we are today. Even though we are all faced with a moment of uncertainty, we are looking forward to getting back to doing what we do best – producing amazing nights and festivals for our fans.”

See Also: Q’s With James ‘Disco Donnie’ Estopinal Jr: On Surviving & Thriving After 25 Years

In addition to now being fully owned by Estopinal, DDP is promoting the voting initiative Register And Vote Everywhere (R.A.V.E.), following after previous political initiatives like Make America Rave Again and Disco Donnie For President.

In other Livestyle news, the company announced in February its properties Made Event and ID&T will start working more closely together in a strategic partnership. Meanwhile, LiveStyle in February sold Chicago-based React Presents to Digital entertainment media company LiveXLive Media. React produces more than 250 electronic events and festivals including Spring Awakening Festival and Sunset Music Festival, and the deal was worth around $2 million.

The electronic-focused LiveStyle saw the departure of CEO Randy Philips last year after he guided the company through its re-branding and re-emergence from bankruptcy as SFX.

SFX founder and Robert Sillerman died last year.