2025 Impact 50 Honoree: Hans Schafer

HANS SCHAFER
SVP, GLOBAL TOURING
LIVE NATION

RECENT LIFE-CHANGING CONCERT: “Hermanos Gutierrez at the Greek Theater.”
FAVORITE MEETING SPACE: Seco (Silverlake).

Live Nation has been at the forefront of the música Mexicana revolution as well as the recent live Latin music explosion, promoting massively successful stars like Bad Bunny, Karol G, Peso Pluma, Shakira, RBD, Fuerza Regida, Junior H, Feid and many more.

Hans Schafer, a senior vice president of global touring at Live Nation, is the one person who has had a hand in just about every single one of each of big promoter’s major tours, which have appeared on Pollstar’s charts, but he won’t ever be the one to take sole credit for such successes, which includes taking Latin music into uncharted territories.

“The entire Latin team at Live Nation has had many wins, domestically and internationally, across tours,” Schafer says. “This is a global touring year in Latin music with artists such as Shakira, Feid, Rauw Alejandro and Bad Bunny setting the tone across LATAM, Europe, Australia and Asia.

“I’m excited to continue our artists’ presence in Asia, Australia and Europe,” he adds. “These markets represent incredible opportunities for Latin music.”

Schafer has plenty to celebrate. Feid sold out his shows in Europe, including a stop in London, Bad Bunny’s upcoming global trek sold more than 2.6 million tickets, Rauw Alejandro had a successful run in North America before going to Europe and Shakira has dominated live charts with her stadium tour.

There are plenty of other Latin acts Live Nation is promoting this year as well as others that haven’t been announced for next year, but he manages to keep it all together by finding time for himself and encouraging his colleagues to do the same during such busy times.

“If there is anything we learned from the pandemic, it is that we need to be able to pivot in any direction as fast as our artists, partners and fans do,” Schafer says. “We have been lucky so far, but we understand this is a reality and a new way of planning.”