2026 Impact 50 Honoree: Rob Markus

ROB MARKUS
Senior Partner & Head of International Touring
WME

CONCERT THAT CHANGED YOUR LIFE: “Van Halen in 1981. Wow. Spandex, Pyro, Hair, and SONGS!! I met DLR for the first time at Coachella this year.”
BY THE NUMBER: $320 million and 2.5 million. Gross and tickets sold for Shakira’s “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour” in 2025.

Rob Markus is one of the most influential agents in global live entertainment. He is a Senior Partner at WME and leads the agency’s international touring strategy for contemporary music artists. 

He has spent more than two decades at WME and has played a major role in building WME’s Latin music business, including helping expand the Lollapalooza brand into Argentina, Brazil and Chile. His influence spans genres with acts including Shakira, J Balvin, Juanes, Camila Cabello, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails and Carín León. As he looks at the last year, Markus points to the expansion of WME’s global team as a highlight.

“In particular, initiatives in Brazil and Mexico,” he says. “In both countries, we have managed to increase not only signing and representation of incredible Brazilian talent – Anitta, Gustavo Mioto, Pedro Sampaio, Gloria Groove, Alok, Vintage Culture, to name a few – but also booking Anglo and Latin talent deeper into Brazil.”

Domestically, Markus is still buzzing off the Nine Inch Noize show at Coachella. 

“This sentence says it all,” he offers. “Nine Inch Noize’s Coachella set may go down as one of the festival’s best ever. I first saw NIN in 1990 at the 199-capacity, old 9:30 Club. That show changed my life. Nine Inch Noize weekend one at Coachella in 2026 changed the rest of my life.”

On the business front, Markus isn’t catching “blue dot fever.”  

“I think it is hype,” he says. “If people want to see a show, they will. What we need to focus on is crop rotation – not overplaying any specific market. Even more of a reason to go global.”

Driven by “passion, global, respect,” Markus isn’t allowing market volatility to hinder the company’s global focus, and is enthusiastic about Violet Grohl, Humbe, Gustavo Mioto and Pedro Sampaio. 

“The most important step is to go as wide as possible on a global basis,” he says. “China, India, Brazil, Vietnam, El Salvador, to name a few – all robust markets with great future potential. Hit ’em where they ain’t. When everyone goes right, go left.”