Thought Leaders Look Ahead: Sam Hunt, Marshall Betts, Kate McMahon, Rev. Moose, David Zedeck – Part 1

The first tour we put on sale at our company was Jungle, and they ended up selling out almost every show they put on sale, which eventually turned into two sold-out nights at the Greek Theater in LA, 11,000 tickets sold in New York, and a big step up for the band.

Our takeaways probably started way back from 2020, which was to treat people kindly, find the best deals possible for our clients, and over serve everyone. If we’re doing that day in and day out, I feel like we’ll continue to grow and succeed in 2022 and beyond.

We’re still learning how the pandemic is shaping everything, and I believe we will continue to see drastic changes through the end of next year. Ultimately we all work so far ahead, that the way the pandemic changes things probably won’t really fully flesh itself out till 2023 or potentially later. We’re happy to learn and adjust accordingly until then. 

 

What do you consider you/your company’s greatest success or successes in 2021 and how were they accomplished?
Our company’s greatest success is that it exists at all! In the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges, Wasserman Music was launched in April 2021, coming out of economic/professional tumult and a global pandemic that has lasted months, and now years, longer than anyone anticipated or hoped. Despite tremendous uncertainty on every level, every single person at this company kept steady hands and heads to see through shepherding their businesses into a new, unknown venture… and here we all are! Despite all of the turmoil and upheaval around us, our first priority through it all was continuing to serve our artists and develop their careers. We’re booking, launching, and marketing shows, innovating and disrupting on the highest level in spite of ongoing challenges and uncertainty. Were it not for a deep sense of camaraderie and unity and the high level of implicit trust that courses through every vein of this operation, there would not be a Wasserman Music. And from all of that, not only does this company exist, but it is thriving; we’ve launched tours and brand campaigns from artists such as Billie Eilish, Coldplay, Kacey Musgraves, Imagine Dragons, Kenny Chesney, Jack Harlow, Phish, Old Dominion, Dave Matthews Band and hundreds more. ?

What is your biggest takeaway or takeaways from 2021 and how will you carry them forward?

The main takeaway I have from 2021 is that no challenge is insurmountable when you are surrounded by supportive peers. I think it was very easy for anyone who works in the touring business to wake up and think to themselves that the sky was falling, that the touring industry would never come back. And without a group of supportive co-workers it can be hard to climb out of that abyss. We’ve all spent time in that hole, and we’ve spent time pulling people out of it. Not that we are “on the other side” of the pandemic, but we are certainly up and running at a pretty good clip. Culture and creativity will persist through any challenge, and live music can never be stopped.

Executive VP, Messina Touring Group

Twenty-one shows thus far of our  Eric Church tour  (which keeps going into 2022), a 14-date Blake Shelton tour and two sold-out George Strait stadium shows. Just opening the doors and producing a show felt like we were winning – to actually sell tickets, allow fans to have fun and make some money?  Even better.

We called this year “Surprise Party” – every time someone came  in my office with “New Vaccine Mandate” or “We need to move this on sale”, I’d just yell “Surprise!” and we’d move forward.  Everything I thought I knew, I no longer knew. Having done this for 30 years, being rudderless was a challenge.

Be nimble and ready to change.  Louis [Messina] has always preached, “if what you are doing isn’t working, change” – these words were never truer than they were this year.

Ha!  I’m done knowing and predicting!

ATLive in Atlanta. It was George Straight + Eric Church on Friday and Metallica, Cage The Elephant and Greta Van Fleet on Saturday.  Both nights completely sold out – it was the most folks I had been around in a while, so at first I was a little awkward, but I loved every minute of it – and I loved watching the fans loving every minute of it.

Executive Director, NIVA

The Save Our Stages Act was signed into law on Dec. 27, 2020, and with that its name was officially changed to the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant. Through the early part of 2021 there was no real understanding of how the SVOG program would roll out, especially because the transition from one administration to another was, well… encumbered. There we were with the largest arts and culture funding program to ever exist in this country, and no one equipped to run it. NIVA created the #SaveOurStages campaign due to the enormously distressed reality of independent venues and promoters, and the lack of financial resources that multinational or publicly traded conglomerates could access. Now we needed to make sure the funds that were secured could get to those that needed it the most. Our team of volunteers formed the Implementation Task Force specifically to help our members navigate the process of the SVOG application; we had just expected that a law allocating emergency funding would have meant a quicker turnaround from passage to application. Our Implementation Task Force worked endless, and I mean truly endless hours to make sure that anyone who should be accessing these funds knew how to do so. All the while there were established trade organizations with full-time staff and years of processes that were looking to NIVA for their information. It was a remarkable effort by many people that will never get thanked enough. One week as we were preparing for the first opening of the SVOG application, NIVA hosted more than 20 hours of town hall Zoom calls where our members came and went to ask questions of our now-experts on the program, and Sean Watterson, Jim Brunberg, and Liz Tallent from our Implementation Task Force were there to answer every single question. NIVA has been a group effort from the very beginning but watching our Implementation Task Force continue to lead this program from the time it was passed as a law through this entire year has been the one true success that we should all celebrate. 2020 was #SaveOurStages, but 2021 should have been #OhMySVOG.

The conversion to a full-time trade association as opposed to a volunteer-run organization has been its own journey. NIVA didn’t exist prior to the pandemic. From the very first conversation, we knew to build this as a 501(c)(6) trade association. Though the public was seeing #SaveOurStages, behind the scenes we were building NIVA as the trade association it was always intended to be. We had the good fortune of volunteers working ridiculous hours and through weekends on the Save Our Stages campaign, leading our committees, running press and social media, sending out emails, assisting fundraising events, navigating partnerships, building websites, writing our bylaws, working with lobbyists, and that is in addition to people individually pursuing support from elected officials and of course managing their own businesses or organizations. Through the last six months, NIVA has built out its own in-house staff to be able to take over what literally hundreds of people had been doing before. I am fortunate to work with such dedicated people that are not just paving the way forward but creating the foundation from which the future of NIVA will grow.

Even though NIVA will always be associated with the Save Our Stages Act born out of our campaign by the same name, the actual grant program was built to help much more than just independent venues and promoters. The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant also included funding for zoos, talent representatives such as managers and agents, aquariums, Broadway, independent theaters, and even museums. One of the museums that received funding through SVOG was the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. As a thank you to NIVA’s precinct captains that had fought so hard for this legislation to pass, Rock Hall’s CEO, Greg Harris, invited us to this year’s Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Most of us had never met each other, even though we’d spent the previous 19 months entrenched with each other. There were precinct captains from 30 different states present; our advisory board chair, Boris Patronoff; (CEO of See Tickets) and two of our advisory board members as part of the ceremony, Dave Grohl for Foo Fighters’ induction and Jimmy Jam. Being surrounded by all of these people that have invested so much together to be able to save not just our industry,but many others was truly special. And doing so under the banner of the Rock Hall’s Induction Ceremony just hammered home how strong our future is together.

We can get more done by working together than we can by ourselves. Even though this is a highly competitive, usually thankless industry that does no one any favors, we have a responsibility to take care of each other, to pull people up with us. It’s possible to support a competitive marketplace, to build your own empire, and to help others at the same time. 

People are more aware of diversity and representation in their ranks (or the lack of it), and I’d like to think we’re finally at a time where all the talk is resulting in actual action being taken. Small and large companies alike are being mindful of their roster, their workforce, and the people with whom they do business. This is a good change and I hope it’s only the beginning of what’s to follow.

Foo Fighters played a show at an independent venue called The Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, California. I actually ducked out of NIVA’s own Pollstar Live! party, the first-ever in-person NIVA gathering, to go to the show. This was four days before the band reopened Madison Square Garden, and their first live gig since everything went quiet. And it was only a day or two after California had lifted the mask mandate so there was a shared expectation that we were getting through to the other side of all this. This was more than just a superstar artist doing an underplay; it was as if they welcomed us into their home and we all had a very loud, very long group hug.

Partner and Co-Head of Global Music, UTA

We are so proud of all the wonderful superstar and developing artists that have joined UTA this year. During this time of uncertainty, we really worked together as a team to do great work for our clients. There has been so much great momentum and we brought in some incredible new colleagues.

The number one challenge has been the uncertainty surrounding touring.  How, when, and in what shape would it come back? As markets began to open, we worked to ensure that our clients were able to tour in a configuration and under conditions that were safe for both the artist and the audience.  Incorporating these protocols was vitally important to make sure the artists were confident in the process while on the road.  We also continued to use this time to help guide our clients into other areas of their career, working with our colleagues across the agency to identify opportunities in brand partnerships, tv/film, publishing, etc.   

When Lolla Chicago went on sale, it served as a benchmark moment for the industry. Additionally, when we experienced the fan reaction from GNR stadium shows, amphitheater tours for Jonas Brothers & Pitbull and Illenium’s and Kaskade’s opening new stadiums in Las Vegas & LA respectively, all highlighted that the appetite for live was back and thriving.  

If 2021 proved anything it’s that there’s an increased focus on sensitivity, sensibility and individuality when planning tours.  We’ll continue to be guided by doing what’s right for our clients and understanding what’s right for some, isn’t necessary the right thing for others. Routing and ticket scaling will be of paramount importance in 2022 as we expect it to be an incredibly active year.

The first couple of shows I went to were electronic shows – I saw Deadmau5 outdoors in Las Vegas and Illenium at Allegiant Stadium. Vegas opened early and it was incredibly exciting to be back and see that the audience had missed shows just as much as we did.  I was on the road multiple weekends this summer and it was incredible to see the enthusiasm across genres all around the country.  Nothing can replace the live communal experience that we are all fortunate to play a role in making it happen.