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Q’s With A Pollstar Live! Panelist: Kevin Lyman on Living in a Post-Warped World
Chad Sengstock – Kevin Lyman
There’s never been another traveling festival quite like Vans Warped Tour, showcasing rising and beloved punk and rock bands, with a youthful, DIY spirit and sense of community, along with a focus on philanthropy and education.
In addition to being the launching pad for bands like Paramore, A Day To Remember and Simple Plan, and sustaining the careers of veteran acts including Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, Pennywise and NOFX, Warped featured hip-hip and pop stars such as Eminem, Ice-T and Katy Perry. Warped and founder Kevin Lyman also helped nurture the careers of folks in the business, including agents, managers and record label presidents.
When Lyman announced that the 2018 edition would be the final cross-country run, fans and the music industry wondered what could possibly follow in its footsteps. Most immediately, the Warped spirit will live on with a few 25th anniversary shows this summer in North California, Ohio and New Jersey. As for the more long-term future, the Pollstar Live! panel “Living In a Post-Warped World: What’s Next?” will discuss just that. The panel is scheduled Feb. 12 from 3:30 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. as part of the Feb. 11-13 Pollstar Live! conference at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Lyman will offer his expertise, joined on the panel by Paradigm’s Mike Marquis (whose clients include Warped Tour regulars such as Mayday Parade and The Maine); Synergy Artist Management owner and founder / Public Consumption Recording Company co-founder Evangelia Livanos, Emo Nite co-founder Barbara (Babz) Szabo and Fearless Records president Andy Serrao.
While Lyman may have said farewell to Warped’s cross-country travel days, it’s given him more time to devote to philanthropy and education, including his work with the FEND (Full Energy, No Drugs) program, an app-based education platform on opioid education using gamification. This past fall he also became a professor at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, teaching courses that cover live event production and philanthropy in music.
In the lead-up to his appearance at Pollstar Live! Lyman sent in a few short-but-sweet answers via email about the panel. For more info, you’ll just have to stop by the conference.
1) What are most looking forward to about your panel, “Living in a Post-Warped World: What’s Next?”
To tell the people how much I enjoy teaching or I hope the community can pull together and work together and 20 people don’t try to put out their own tours and flood the market. People need to realize this was built on community and that community many times had limited funds.
2) What would it take to launch a traveling festival like Warped Tour in 2019?
I think there are 20 people trying and they need to realize we subsidized this with multi-millions of dollars of sponsorship each year.
3) What are you most looking forward to about this year’s Pollstar Live! conference and why?
To seeing you and Ray [Waddell, president of OVG’s Media & Conferences division].
4) We’re asking all of our featured panelists about their biggest professional accomplishments of the past year. Warped Tour’s final cross-country run being a huge success seems like a given. Anything you’d like to comment on about that or anything else you’d like to share?
The FEND movement (“Full Energy No Drugs”) app we launched had over 30,000 fans download, educating people on opioids.
5) Finally, just for fun – what was the live show or shows (besides Warped Tour) that most changed your life?
Van Morrison at the Hollywood palladium 1979 … the energy of live music…
SEE MORE:
Q’s With A Pollstar Live! Panelist: Paradigm’s Mike Marquis
Kevin Lyman Wraps Warped: ‘It Worked Because It Was Never Perfect’
A Warped History Of Traveling Festivals And Yes, There’s A Future