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‘The Role Of The Promoter Is As Important As It Ever Was’: Communion One Is Just Getting Started
In March, FKP Scorpio UK and Communion Presents merged to form Communion One, creating a joint roster that includes artists like Ed Sheeran, Sam Fender, Noah Kahan, Phoebe Bridgers, Lewis Capaldi, Mitski, and more. Pollstar reached out to the new promotion company’s managing directors Daniel Ealam, Scott O’Neill, who represent the FKP side of the merger, and Mazin Tappuni, who used to run the live arm of the Communion music collective, to talk shop.
Ealam and O’Neill joined FKP Scorpio from DHP Family in 2020, in the middle of the pandemic. “It was an interesting time to start something new, and an exciting project to be involved in, but there was also trepidation: when was everything going to open up? Was it going to open up again?” Ealam recalled. He need not have worried. FKP Scorpio launched with the biggest stadium tour of 2022, Ed Sheeran’s “Mathematics” run. “It’s an incredible way to start the business, and we feel like we’ve just continued to surf that wave ever since: working on this merger with Mazin, bringing us all together, 25 staff under the Communion One banner, with our colleagues across Europe as part of FKP, and obviously our friends at Eventim – it feels like everything’s just getting better and bigger and greater. It’s a super exciting time to be a promoter.”
Tappuni agreed, adding, “It feels like a stable market, people are going to shows. We’ve had rocky 2022, and even towards the beginning of last year, there was still a lot of uncertainty. But things are selling really well this year. It feels like ticket prices are being pushed, but the shows we have on sale are doing well, thanks to the artists we work with.”
O’Neill picked one example from Communion One’s roster, to make the case: Michael Marcagi, who has “blown up in the last few months. He released his first song in December, and just announced a 2,300-cap. show in London. He just started his first European tour in Dublin. Four months ago, he didn’t even exist, and now this tour goes all across Europe.” Marcagi is a U.S. artist, but he’s doing his first shows in the UK.
Ealam said, “We like to be on things first, and think a bit ahead of the curve. It’s helped Michael have a top 10 single in the UK and Ireland. We’re really nimble and on things
fast, and really add to the story of the artist as it develops. An artist tells us it’s their dream is to play to 20,000 people in a field or in a town, and we’ll go and build that for them.”
Ealam was referring to The Reytons’ homecoming show in Rotherham this summer, July 6, making them the first band to perform at the city’s Clifton Park in more than 50 years (T-Rex in 1971) and marking the biggest concert the city’s ever seen. American singer-songwriter Noah Kahan, who had the biggest selling single and album (Stick Season) in the UK at press time, will embark on his second run of UK arenas within one year this summer, the first one having taken place in February. London-based singer/songwriter Louis Dunford may only count some 200,000 monthly listens on Spotify but sells 5,000 to 10,000 tickets in London, and 1,000 to 1,500 regionally.
Said Tappuni, “We’ve got lots of shows, sellouts, all international artists, that people won’t really know about, but they’re just getting better at engaging their own fan bases. It’s something we are working really hard on here: tapping into those different audiences.”
Added O’Neill, “The role of the promoter is still to identify when an artist can connect, and help connect them with the fans. It’s definitely not as simple as having a smash hit and selling out tickets. There are enough examples out there of stuff that’s smashed it in the charts, or on Spotify, and still can’t connect to their audience. The role of the promoter is as important as it ever was.”
The team has many plans for outdoor events, but could only talk about one at press time: a three-night event series at Bristol’s Queen Square, launching in 2025. Said O’Neill, “We’ve had our eye on that site for a while. It’s second to none, in the center of town, minutes walk from the train station. There’s not been a show there in 20 years. We have a great relationship with Bristol Council, and we’re excited to work with them on developing that site. We’ll start next year with three exclusive shows, 15,000 people per night.”
2025 is still far out, and O’Neill says “we’re booking shows as far into the future as we ever have done,” but adds that what’s really changed is how many shows are booked on short notice. “People are still announcing arenas and outdoor shows for this summer, which is something that’s changed,” he said.
Speaking to Ealam, Tappuni, and O’Neill, it becomes evident that they love what they do. Said Ealam, “We’re all music fans, so let’s create something that we actually want to go to ourselves.”
And Tappuni concluded,“We just care about serving the artists and their team in the best way possible. That is essentially what this is all about.”