Jason Miller Joins Outback Presents As GM Of Northeast Division (Exclusive)

Jason Miller, a 30-year concert industry veteran, most recently an executive vice president at Live Nation, joins Outback Presents as General Manager of the independent promoter’s Northeast Division.

In his new role as a key executive for Outback, Miller will continue to service artists and help grow the rapidly expanding business and its foundational structure.

Over his 16 years at Live Nation, Miller served as Senior Vice President, President and Executive Vice President from his station in New York. He’s produced events for the world’s top artists and venues including  Madison Square Garden, Barclays Center, Prudential Center, Radio City Music Hall, Citi Field, Yankee Stadium, Carnegie Hall, The Beacon Theatre, Northwell Health at Jones Beach, MetLife Stadium, and Central Park’s Great Lawn and SummerStage among others.

“I was there [at Live Nation] in the in the beginning in 2006 and it was a great ride,” Miller says. “They’re great people over there. This [move to Outback] allows me to get back to the things that I really love, which is being creative and promoting shows and being an asset to artists and, at the same time, using all the wonderful leadership experience that I’ve learned and developed in my previous life.”

At Live Nation, Miller was the steward of one of the largest markets for the world’s leading live entertainment company. The list of world-class artists he has helped foster live include Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, AC/DC, Pearl Jam, Prince, Lady Gaga, George Michael, Mariah Carey, Dead & Company, Swedish House Mafia, Iron Maiden, Guns N’ Roses, Lenny Kravitz, Sheryl Crow, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Eminem, Radiohead, Jay-Z, Rage Against The Machine and more.

Miller intends to continue that tradition at Outback Presents, and be part of a growing company.

“It’s a great team. We’re all very like-minded,” Miller says of his new team. “I think Mike [Smardak, Outback’s president] and I figured that out pretty quickly. And the first time we met, Brian [Dorfman, a comedy agent on Outback’s leadership team] and I didn’t have to spend a lot of time together to figure out that we could hang out for the foreseeable future together and get along. There’s a lot of great things happening, and expansion happening with this team. I’m happy to join it and to play a role in it.”

“Jason carries decades of knowledge, history, and integrity along with a vast pool of experience promoting and producing the highest class of events in North America. We are proud to foster his creative spirit and thrive in a new era of live entertainment,” the leadership team of Smardak, Dorfman and Vaughn Millette said in a joint statement.

Miller is the latest addition to a rapidly growing Outback team whose recent hires include Everett Ramsey and Hardy McBee, formerly of Beaver Productions, and Fallon Nell returning to Outback after stints in both artist management and Belmont University. 

Together they join industry veterans and core personnel Danny Eaton, Amy Helberg, Justin Kujawa, and Andrew Farwell as well as a touring team powered by Walter McDonald.

Miller will continue to work from his New York base, splitting time in Boca Raton, Florida, where his wife-to-be lives. They plan to marry in two months. And there will be stops in between, in Nashville, where Outback Presents is based. It’s not a typical arrangement, but Miller says he hopes his new role won’t be, either.

“It’s funny, we talked about about my role coming together – the title, the defined gig and all that – I don’t know if it’s unique, but I have the ability not only to help clients come into in the Northeast, though I guess we would probably define it as that. But there’s some possibilities anywhere in the country, and possibly anywhere in the world. I’ve got some unique experience with non-Western music and non U.S. artists. I asked [Smardak], ‘You know, I am born and raised in Portland, Oregon, and went to the University of Oregon [in Eugene]. What if I want to do a show at the Hult Center?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, go to Eugene. If you think you can make money, go there.’

“I have aspirations to do things in other countries, go overseas. I’ve done a lot of in the course of my career and all of those things are unique challenges that always appealed to me, and it builds my creativity. You have to use a different lens, a different skill set, to promote and you bring it back to what you know.”