Q’s With Phil Bowdery, Live Nation's Executive President Of Touring, International

Live Nation – Phil Bowdery
executive president of Touring, international at Live Nation

To round out the year in Europe, Pollstar spoke with Phil Bowdery, executive president of Touring, international at Live Nation, who said that he’s never seen the touring business in a stronger state than in 2018.

What accomplishments are you most proud of this year?

Getting through the year relatively unscathed!

What was your favourite live event you attended in 2018? What made it so special?

This is a very difficult question. I always enjoy every event I promote or see, irrespective of genre. I love being at live shows, period. The way everything is constantly changing, not only musically, but technically, never ceases to amaze me.

How would you describe the current state of the touring and festival business in Europe? Where do you see opportunities, where is the market saturated?

The demand for the live show is bigger than ever. Although touring still suffers its peaks and troughs, the live side is a very lucrative part of an artist’s career. Being on the road is good for business and it adds more strings to the bow in terms of merchandise revenue or the promotion of another product. It just works. The current state of touring is as strong as I’ve ever seen it. I see 2019 as being a very strong year, maybe even better than this year!

What was the biggest challenge you faced this year in conducting business?

I’m Chairman of the Concert Promoters Association which is a role I take very seriously. When we need to act together as an industry, we do so, and we do it effectively. Of course, there have been challenges, the biggest is still what it has always been; that of delivering the best shows in the world. Getting it right, more often than not, is the most satisfying part of the job.

Which audience trends are going to influence the way tours are promoted going forward?

The biggest trend is in mobile use and our ability to connect our 90 million fans to artists and to their shows around the world. The internet has unlocked the global potential of the live customer. From a purely marketing perspective we are getting very good at this.

As far as you can tell given the current state of negotiations: will Brexit impact the European touring business and how?

I would like to think our business is not political. Of course, there will be challenges and unfortunately, most of these are unknown at the moment, but as always, we will rise to each one as and when they surface. My biggest concerns are, of course, currency exchange rates and the free movement of our artists and crews. The CPA and its members want to be involved with issues impacting live music and touring. Whatever happens, the touring business creates employment and supports a powerful music economy in the UK, so it wouldn’t make sense to see our business threatened.

What change in the business would you like to see in 2019?

I’d like to see the touring business go from strength to strength. I’d like 2019 to be my biggest year to date. We are delivering live shows to fans today on a scale that the touring world of the past century would not have believed. It takes great artists, a dedicated team and an army of passionate fans but I can’t see any of us slowing down.

Anything you would like to add?

I’d like to wish Pollstar readers, my colleagues and friends a very Happy Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year…