Getting To Know Your Pollstar Live! Panelists: Michael Martin

Pollstar Live!, the world’s largest gathering of live entertainment professionals, returns to the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, Feb. 21-23. The three-day conference is a flagship event for Pollstar magazine with compelling keynotes, panels, roundtables and the Pollstar Awards, celebrating the best in the business, along with plenty of opportunities to network and engage in insightful discussions.

Pollstar Live! kicks off with Production Live!, the one-day companion conference that features panels on all topics related to staging live events including lighting, video, stage management, sound technique, concert production, video, regulations, security and more.

Click these links for the Production Live! schedule and the Pollstar Live! schedule. Register for Pollstar Live! here.

Getting To Know Your Pollstar Live! Panelists

Michael Martin
CEO and Founder, r.Cup
Panel: Sustainability In Live Events: No More
Bio: Martin is an innovator in business-based tech and social change campaigns leveraging culture for impact. He has helped to develop innovative sustainability strategies and campaigns for large entities such as Toyota, Live Nation, UPS, Target, AEG and Apple. In 2017, he founded r.Cup, the nation’s leading reuse platform.

Why must everyone go to your panel?
Sustainability is becoming an essential part of every business, and especially the music industry. The music industry is behind other industries, and we need to catch up. Fans expect it, cities are requiring it, employees expect it, and most importantly, artists are demanding it. By attending the panel, you will learn about what the trends in the industry are and what are the simple steps you can take to truly have an impact. The bottom line, it’s the right thing to do.

What story will you tell during the panel?
The many reasons why reuse is truly becoming a movement. Reuse can not only reduce waste, waste removal costs, and drive per head sales, but can become a profit center. And, for those who don’t know about the Music Sustainability Association – what it is, and why you want to become a part of it.

What’s the story you won’t tell?
I won’t tell.

What may cause tempers to flare?
Maybe not tempers flaring, but a hot topic for sure: Who is doing a better job at sustainability impact? Live Nation or OVG or AEG or ASM or NIVA? However, I believe sustainability needs to be pre-competitive. We all breathe the same air, drink the same water. So, I’d like to focus conversations on tools and how we can all work together to deliver the most impact across the industry. We’ll be covering this during our panel discussion.

What was the best part of your 2022?
Here’s something I think we can all agree on: Getting out of the COVID hole and getting back to live entertainment.

Your predictions for 2023’s live industry highlights?
Reuse will become more prevalent and embraced in more locations. Festivals will need to continue to reimagine and innovate to stay relevant.

Career tent poles you are most proud of?
I’m proud of my 30-plus years dedicated to creating the best sustainability solutions. Folks might not know, but I started off as a young investment banker on Wall Street. I realized the power of capitalism could be used to create a huge impact for good. Since then, I’ve been helping global leaders and world-changers rethink broken systems, eliminate waste, and build a healthier planet of creating real, meaningful impacts.

I’m proud of introducing sustainability to the live event industry back in 1990 and continuing to introduce sustainability innovations today. Then there’s creating the first global warming campaign in the country by creating a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor with Dave Matthews Band. And, most recently: Our approach to market expansion, making widespread reuse a reality with r.Cup. We partner with cities and environmental advocacy groups, we build permanent wash infrastructure in economic development zones, we hire second-chance workers and give them a purpose. We’re truly integrated in the communities and the venues we serve.