IEBA Executive Director Pam Matthews Talks Retiring After 45 Years In The Industry: ‘I’ve Had The Time Of My Life’

Pam Matthews’ illustrious career is like a primer on the live business and the birth of the modern concert industry itself. From taking care of Donald “Duck” Dunn’s home (he of Stax Records and Booker T & The MGs) as a teenager to working for Bob Kelley of Mid-South concerts and on the team at Pace’s Starwood Amphitheater in Nashville, Matthews had front row seats to live’s historic evolution. Along the way, she worked with The Judds, did accounting for KISS and resuscitated the historic Ryman Theater and spent nearly 12 years at the helm of the International Entertainment Buyers Association (IEBA) — all of which she did with kindness and grace. Here, as Matthews prepares to start her retirement in March, she recounts her winding journey, what she learned from Naomi Judd and Gene Simmons, and what she values most about this business.
Pollstar: Why was now the right time for you to retire?
Pam Matthews: I was at a private event with Nate Bargatze and he phrased it quite well saying it’s hard to break into the club scene when nobody moves on. … If no one leaves their job, then no one can move up.
How’s the search going for a replacement?
We’re entertaining applications through Jan. 31.
What will you miss most about IEBA and the industry in general?
Just the people in the business. Everybody’s just the best. I have had the best time of my life, oh my God. I’ve been everywhere— Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, everywhere: I rode in a helicopter with Sting and Nick Mason from Pink Floyd for two hours. I’ve hung out in a limo with Bono. I’ve hung with Chrissie Hynde, just her and me, which was great. I’ve had the time of my life.
So you got your start in the music business at 15 thanks to a connection with a high school friend whose father was the great Donald “Duck” Dunn of Stax Records and Booker T & The MGs?
It wasn’t Don, It was Mrs. Dunn. Jeff was Duck and Mrs. Dunn’s only child, but it was Mrs. Dunn who got me the interview with Bob Kelley (of Mid-South Concerts).
What made you want to work in the music business?
I was 15 or 16 and had no idea you could have a job in the music business. This was this late ’70s. When Duck was on the road, Mrs. Dunn would go with him or take trips and I would go to their house to check phone messages, sort mail and make sure the pool was clean. I was in the neighborhood and super responsible and like Mrs. Dunn’s little secretary.
So Mrs. Dunn says to me, “Are you gonna get a summer job?” and I was like, “Maybe I’ll lifeguard and my dad wants me to help at the grocery store.” And she was like, “Well, I’ve got a fun job for you.” And she set up the interview with Bob Kelley. The difference was when you walked into Duck and Mrs. Dunn’s house, the foyer was floor-to-ceiling, gold and platinum records, because Duck was part of the Stax Records house band. He was in Booker T & the MGs and toured with Clapton and Phil Collins. Phil Collins did not call my house, he called their house. They were glamorous and that just sounded like fun.

What did you do at Mid-South Concerts?
I worked in the box office and office. I would redline contracts. You used to have to do three copies, an adult would do the first one and I would do the other three copying what they did. Then I made copies, a thousand copies of everything, and had the good sense to read everything I was copying. I worked in the box office as a runner. A runner was different then because this was before electronic tickets. For every show you would get a box of tickets from Weldon, Williams & Lick, it was a hard ticket for every seat in the house. You would sort them on these racks and pull the actual ticket and take it to the outlet. Strings & Things was a guitar shop, Peaches Records & Tapes, a liquor store called the Little Brown Jug, they would take them before the onsale. They’d sign a sheet of paper and the day before the show go back and pick up the unsold tickets and the money and reconcile with the box office.
What did you learn from those days?
The urgency of every show and every ticket, I loved that. Tickets in those days were typically $10. Bob Kelley used to wave a ticket and go, “That’s a $10 bill.” He was playing with his own money, every ticket mattered. You didn’t get to aggregate a show across a 20-show deal. If I’m getting a tour deal from AEG, then they’re cross collateralized. So if Dallas loses money but Oklahoma City doesn’t, it’s amortized across the tour. You have one KISS date, that one date matters.
Didn’t you also work with KISS doing their accounting?
The KISS guys are businessmen of the highest order. Gene Simmons is hysterical. He’s so freaking funny, he likes to keep things light. Paul is a stone-cold businessman.
And you were also part of the Pace Concerts team that opened Nashville’s Starwood Amphitheatre.
It was the first of Pace’s builds. The Beckers decided they were never going to make money as promoters because they didn’t have a stake in peanuts and popcorn. Starwood in Nashville was the first and the first building to open with electronic ticketing.

Photo by Rick Diamond / Getty Images / IEBA
How was that?
It was great. We were our own phone center. We took the calls for on-sales. It was fun because hard tickets were hard to manage. If you lost that ticket, it’s $10. To have everything electronically was fun and we were a good age to learn a new way of ticketing.
You also worked for the Judds for 12 years, most recently as vice president/treasurer of their corporations. That time included their farewell tour and the reunion tour in 1999.
Actually, the Judds did New Year’s Eve in 1999 in Phoenix. Ralph Marchetta was the building manager and we produced that show on our own. The reunion tour started in 2000, and Brian O’Connell bought that tour when Live Nation was still Clear Channel.
What were some of your other career milestones?
The move from the regional promoters to consolidation and having a front row seat to the birth of Live Nation. I met (Bob) Sillerman on a number of occasions. And to know all the regional promoters, Steve Sybesma, Irv Zuckerman, Louis [Messina], the Beckers, Bob Kelley, Joe Sullivan and it was crazy to watch it all change. I’m sure record company people felt the same way. … you just have to adapt. One of the interesting things about The Judds is that they promoted 85% of their concerts in-house through a company they owned (Pro Tours).
How many artists can you say that about?
In the day, it was us and Alabama. The Dead ran their own ticketing and all that. The Judds owned their trucks and buses, booking agency and in-house promoter.
And you helped revitalize the Ryman Auditorium.
The Ryman was shuttered literally for 20 years. From 1974 to 1994, it sat vacant and boarded up. Downtown Nashville was not a place to go and hang out. There were literally peep shows on Broadway where all the honkytonks are now. I moved here in January of ‘85. There was a big boom in ‘91 and that extended to the Ryman’s renovation and reopening and the Bridgestone Arena in ‘96.
What year did you come on board?
2000. Gaylord (which is now known as Ryman Hospitality Properties) was doing “Always Patsy Klein,” the bio-musical and the Opry would be at the Ryman November through February, they were really only doing about 18 shows a year. By the time I left we were doing about 220 shows.

Wow. You took over IEBA in 2013 and helped increase and diversify the membership.
It’s more than tripled now. When you are younger and you are a member of whatever, you’re always going to want to support the organization that supported you when you were first getting started, and that certainly has had an effect.
Who were your mentors?
My boss at Starwood was Steve Moore, worked for Pace and with Louie and was close friends with George Strait. He was great. Terrence Cohen was the head Ticketmaster guy in Nashville. You couldn’t ask for a better mentor or boss than Naomi Judd. She had such a great work ethic, which came from her background as a nurse.
She was always there and ready to go. Full makeup, five minutes early, saying hello to the caterers and security guards. She wrote the best thank-you and congratulatory notes. She was gracious and kind and a great example of how to be a lady in the music business. Steve Buchanan, my boss at Gaylord, doesn’t get enough credit for driving the renovation and restoration of the Ryman.
What lessons have you learned over your career?
When you have a career that’s 45 years long, you realize the importance of just being nice. Sometimes you have to bring the hammer and sometimes you have to say the thing that you have to and embrace the awkward, but there’s a way to be kind with truth. You have to tell the truth in business, but you can do it with grace and dignity. Be as kind as you can always.
