Moving On Up: Angela Brown & Rob Owens Spearhead Mammoth’s New Touring Division

Many in the live entertainment industry have been busier than ever since venues reopened as the nation transitioned to life post-pandemic and artists hit the road to give fans the experiences they missed out on for over a year. One prime example is independent promoter Mammoth, a renegade event production company established in 2006 that has seen exponential growth, especially over the past few years.

Mammoth owners Josh Hunt and Jeff Fortier are thinking big and expanding their reach through their partnerships, and with such growth outward, the Lawrence, Kansas-based company also had to grow within. They did just that by launching a new touring department headed by President of Global Touring Rob Owens, formerly a senior director of global touring at AEG Presents, and President of Global Tour Marketing Angela Brown, who previously held key roles at Live Nation.

Together, Owens and Brown are looking to build on Mammoth’s success, which includes working on tours from acts like Cardi B, Mamamoo, Turnpike Troubadours and Clay Walker, while giving artists an attention to detail and dedication that some of the major promoters sometimes can’t offer.

“The position that we really want to look at ourselves in is as a boutique tour promoter,” Owens, who also previously worked with Nederlander Concerts at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, tells Pollstar. “We’re not trying to compete with the other guys on that level. We want to be doing three to six arena tours a year and a bunch of block bookings in amphitheaters and smaller regional tours with some of the smaller artists. The boutique touring department is a powerful thing and can really give A-plus service to artists and not be bogged down with quantity over quality.”

That approach to working with artists one-on-one to execute their vision is what Brown always respected about the Midwest company. As vice president of marketing at Live Nation, she worked on several co-promotions with Mammoth and Fortier and Hunt’s work and their genuine appreciation for live music. Brown wanted to make the same impact the Mammoth team has made in the industry, and the independent spirit of the company will allow her not only to bond with the artists but to find creative methods to market their tours.

“For example, we just connected with JT from the City Girls, and one of the things we’re going to do with her outside of the traditional marketing is that we have partnerships that we can tap into,” she says. “And with those partnerships, we can expand the reach and her audience. We can do things outside just digital media. We can go to retail, we can go to other different avenues to get the word out more about the tour.”

Hip-hop and R&B are big business for Mammoth, which recently announced Sexxy Red’s “4 President” tour along with JT’s “City Cinderella Tour.” One of the promoter’s biggest successes was Rod Wave’s “Nostalgia Tour” last fall. The tour, done in partnership with AG Entertainment, grossed more than $42 million, according to 28 headline reports submitted to Pollstar Boxoffice, and the new duo at Mammoth aspire to build on those successes not only within hip-hop but other genres.

“I’m very excited to jump back into country, and I’ve always been a big fan of rock. Diversity is key, and it’s what Mammoth is trying to represent,” says Brown. “We want to be able to bring something for everybody to enjoy.”

Mammoth’s diversity is also evident in the catalog of independently owned venues they oversee, ranging from small clubs to historic theaters. Still, with the live boom, the company had to start thinking beyond its walls and comfort zone, so Fortier and Hunt bolstered their presence in the States with offices in Nashville, New York and Portland to achieve those goals. They also formed key alliances with other entertainment companies like Los Angeles’ Sugar Monkey in 2022 and AG Entertainment and Eventim, the biggest ticket-seller in Europe, in 2023.

“Having that national footprint for marketing and having boots on the ground is super helpful and really makes a difference when you’re trying to do stuff on this level,” says Owens. “The biggest thing is that Mammoth has always been about partnerships, and that’s one of their strengths. If we want to make worldwide offers, we have a partner [in Eventim] to do that.”

With the tour announcements, the new hires, more offices across the U.S. and global alliances, Mammoth is riding a remarkable wave of success. But Owens doesn’t want to stray from the company’s indie spirit even as it expands into larger buildings and new territories.

“We want to put the artist in the right room for them at the right time in their career,” says Owens, who added that Mammoth has a big arena tour announcement coming up and much more in 2025. “I think that’s a really important distinction, that we’re not trying to help fill other departments within the company. We’re trying to do what’s best for the stable artists we have and help build and grow them into arena artists and potentially, hopefully, even stadiums.”