Impact NextGen: Andrew Saunders

Andrew Saunders has always found anything that involves music to be “more interesting than something that doesn’t.” The vice president of entertainment at Hard Rock and Seminole Gaming currently leads booking efforts for venues across the enterprise, and highlights from his last year include major artists such as Ed Sheeran, Megan Thee Stallion, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kenny Chesney, Don Omar, The Eagles, Tool and Stevie Nicks.

“I grew up as a musician,” he says. “When I was in college I had the unique opportunity of opening, booking and operating a 300-person venue on campus, which opened my eyes to the true excitement of driving the strategy and ‘personality’ of a venue.”

His first gig in the industry began nearly 12 years ago as a booking assistant for Jeff Apregan and Andrew Prince. Saunders — who was named to the Generation Next list in 2019 put out by Pollstar sister publication VenuesNow when he held the role of senior talent buyer for Los Angeles’ Staples Center and Microsoft Theater — names Hard Rock President of Entertainment and Brand Management Keith Sheldon as his mentor. Saunders says that Sheldon “has had a tremendous impact on my growth since I met him in early 2020.”

He adds that Sheldon “has taught me that priorities have to shift as we grow in our careers and roles … time and focus continue to shift more towards leading and teaching the team around me which is by far the most gratifying part of what we do every day.”

Saunders thinks the music industry is still in “the dark ages of ticketing / price yielding.” Ticketing has been a hot-button topic since the onsale of Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour,” with the conversation starting up once again following the onsale of Oasis’ upcoming UK trek for next summer. Saunders says he “cannot wait to see how [ticketing]develops in the coming years with new tech, more educated consumers, and more artists that can blow out stadiums.”

He also admits the current state of the world, where everyone is expected to be accessible at all hours of the day, can take a toll on a person. It’s a trend particularly pervasive in the music industry.

“Our generation has the blessing and curse of always being accessible … both as a professional and with regard to information, knowledge, researching. Internally we talk about how ‘availability is sometimes the best ability’ because as a booker it at least gets you an at-bat or a look at an opportunity… but it is also worth acknowledging that it takes a strong person to manage this and how it affects ‘personal’ time and relationships.”