Pollstar Live! 2026 Kicks Off With Optimism And A Look To The Future Of Live Industry Leaders

Brief opening remarks from Oak View Group CEO Chris Granger kicked off Pollstar Live! Tuesday morning at the Loews Hotel in Hollywood, California, where 2,000 key decision makers and vital members of the live entertainment industry were gathered once again for networking sessions, panel discussions and the prestigious Pollstar Awards taking place Wednesday night.

“There’s never been a better time to be involved in this business,” said Granger during brief opening remarks Tuesday morning. He pointed out three key truths observed from his seat as CEO of Oak View Group, which is parent company to Pollstar and produces the annual Pollstar Live! Conference.

One, that the industry is more vibrant than ever with $35 billion in ticket sales across the globe in 2025; Two, that the connection between music and technology has never been more important; Three, the continued explosion of diverse concert-headlining talent in genres like Latin music and K-pop is not going away and rather reflects “a structural change to our industry, and it has real implications, as we know for how we entertain our audience, how we market to that audience, and how we attract brands that want to participate alongside us with that audience.”

He also touched on climate change and the role of the live entertainment industry to mitigate it.

“As our demand increases, so, too, does our responsibility to make a difference,” said Granger. “The future won’t be just driven by demand. It’s going to be driven by how sustainable of an industry and how sustainable of a planet we can make it.”

He said the future of the industry will be shaped by the people attending the conference, rather than any noisy news cycle disrupting the stock market or making headlines.

“We sit at the inflection point of a million different issues that are going on simultaneously,’ Granger said. “And no better place, no better time than right here, right now to help shape the future together.”

Helping to shape that future and providing insight from a younger generation of leaders in the live entertainment space was the panel discussion immediately following Granger’s opening remarks, titled “Five Years On: Live’s NextGen Leadership.”

Already working within a somewhat unorthodox business, the young leaders on the panel — representing festival production, talent buying, talent agency leadership and major venue booking –noted as well as reflected a positive trend toward promoting in-house and believing in the younger generations rather than brining in more senior talent from elsewhere.

“When I first started at Danny Wimmer Presents five years ago, I was an executive assistant and receptionist,” said Nick Chavez, festival producer at DWP. “As the industry started coming back (from COVID), we realized that a lot of people that have been in the industry for quite some time, either moved on to a different job or simply just got out of the industry as a whole. People started looking in house rather than looking out of house and really investing in those individuals that might not have the full experience necessary, but do know a little bit about what they’re doing and do have the potential and are passionate to grow into a higher position.”

Most on the panel could relate to feeling unqualified or in over their heads, perhaps when hashing out deals with seasoned industry veterans, but it’s important to remember there’s no true playbook in most of these roles.

“No one was born knowing how to be an agent or how to book a music festival,” said Avery Liardon, a talent buyer at C3 Presents, who said she got her start as an intern driving agents around or getting pizza for co-founders Charles Attal and Charlie Walker. She talked of overcoming intimidation of negotiating with senior agents and managers who have been in the game for decades. “This is my job and, even if I’ve only done it for five years, I’ve done it five more years than you’ve ever done it. We’re all human beings. Everyone was just starting in the music industry once before. I don’t want to say it’s not that serious, but it kind of isn’t. The way you carry yourself is everything, and people will take your word for it if you do it well enough.”