Impact 50 Digital Session Recap: Top Music Agents Explain The Current State Of The Concert Business


 –

As more and more tours and festivals get announced and go on sale by the hour after nearly 15 months of a near total shutdown of the concert industry, who better to lead the Pollstar Impact 50 Digital Session than some of the top agents across the live music business? 

Marty Diamond (Wasserman Music), Robert Gibbs (ICM Partners), Carole Kinzel (CAA), Kirk Sommer (WME), Nadia Prescher (Madison House) and David Zedeck got straight to the point when asked about the state of things. All were recently honored in Pollstar’s 2021 Impact 50 feature. 

“Yes, we’re moving shows, rescheduling, getting ready for onsales,” UTA’s co-head of global music David Zedeck says. “It’s like the tap got opened about six weeks in when people felt good in North America about the vaccines. There’s a real sense of optimism and a light at the end of the tunnel, and that light got brighter.”
Going into spring 2022, most agencies and artists were forced to wait a few months before announcing plans for the summer or fall, hopeful of the vaccine rollout keeping up its pace and markets across the country being able to reopen again. This has led to a flood of announcements in recent weeks, with major festivals, tours and other events being announced seemingly by the minute. 
“We’re preparing for a summer,” Zedeck says. “It won’t be a typical summer season, but it will be a semblance of one, with festivals starting in August and tours routing around those where they can and can’t open. But the good news is we’re going to have a semblance of a touring season and hopefully going into a more normal fall.”

With the flood of announcements comes a potential problem long acknowledged since the initial shutdown in March 2020 — a glut of shows taking place at the same time and in the same markets, with only so many available dates and venues on the calendar.
“There’s almost been a reset, but it’s also about being as smart as we can about how we’re routing and putting things together,” says Gibbs, recently named head of music at ICM Partners. “Talk about the pent-up demand out there, people are buying crazy tickets for festivals and certain tours, but there are going to be some things that are going to get hurt when in ‘22 there are a gazillion things out there. We’re trying to be smart, where should this artist play in ‘22, how far along are you on your record? That’s a conversation we’re having with artists. Clients have been super receptive to it.”
Diamond noted that while a lot of the press and buzz has been about the major festival announcements and large-venue tours, it’s important to pay attention to the club and theater scene, which may be vulnerable to the current state of business.
“The big-event shows, the festivals, arenas and large-bowl shows are going up very strong, but one place we’ll have to kind of watch the page a little bit is the smaller club things that be getting getting a little overshadowed and a little money might be taken out of the market for those,” says Diamond. “Particularly, where some places are looking at seven or more shows in a week. We have to watch that closely”
Prescher noted it’s important to remember that not only is the current state of things limited to fans in the United States, but artists as well.
“Right now, the Canada/U.S. border is completely closed to any non-essential travel,” says Prescher. “Anyone with a work visa wasn’t even refunded for any of those last year. Trudeau just said that over 75% of the population needs to be vaccinated for things to be loosened up there, and they’re nowhere near that. It’s a different story for artists looking to come here from abroad.”
Kinzel noted the concern of costs and available staffing for tours as things open back up, as well as uncertainty on how to handle potential COVID cases on touring crews, but is confident that things will get figured out. She did note some silver linings in getting back to announcing shows and going on sale quickly, which she says she’s happy to get back to.
“It’s very encouraging,” Kinzel said of recent onsales. “Festivals like Lollapalooza went up so strong, and we know Bonnaroo is basically blown out. That’s certainly encouraging. The one thing we don’t know is what happens when a myriad of shows go on sale. That will be the litmus test, but right now we’re really feeling good about it.”
Another fact that’s been mentioned since the beginning and seems to be holding up is the pent-up demand from fans itching to get back out and enjoy live music again.
“Artists itching to get out there, and the public wants to respond,” says Sommer, who added that WME is booking well into 2023 already. “They’ve been deprived of this in this territory for a year-plus. You Can’t replace that experience and connection and interaction with people around you. I think we’ve all seen videos of stuff, from different universities or festivals that have happened. I’ll be honest, people out there are losing their minds, blowing off steam. Think it’s going to be really exciting.”
Also noted was the Pollstar Live! conference taking place June 15-17 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, which seems to have been timed perfectly as California is on track to reopen fully right in time.