Features
Artist First Italy Launches Live Division
Italian music group Artist First announced the launch of Artist First Live, a new live music promotions division.
Artist First Live will be headed by Alessandro Fabozzi, founder of Milan-based artist management company 432 Srl, and digital agency Officine Orange, both of which sold a majority shareholdings to Artist First in recent years. Fabozzi will work alongside Artist First Founder and CEO Claudio Ferrante.
Artist First’s move into live music promotion, by the company’s own admission, makes it “the first Italian music company to offer a truly 360-degree proposition with distribution, record labels, brand divisions, digital marketing, artist management, talent booking, music publishing and merchandising.”
Artists exclusively promoted in Italy by Artist First Live include Le Vibrazioni, Alfa, Francesco Gabbani, Zero Assoluto & Mace.
The company also announced a series of Italian arena dates by UK act Blue, which will include performances in Rome, Milan, Bari and Padua, with 35,000 tickets sold in less than an hour on pre-sale.
Claudio Ferrante, founder and CEO of Artist First said, “We have launched Artist First Live to work with great artists, domestic and international, who want to perform to Italian audiences. This new division builds on the great work we are already doing in other areas of the industry and brings us closer to our aim of being the only Italian music company to offer an authentic 360 degree service to artists and rights holders. We are going to be very selective about who we work with to ensure we can fully focus on their individual needs and to offer a bespoke, transparent, collaborative service. Unlike some of the bigger promoters in Italy who have built their businesses purely on volume we are passionate about music and are approaching things in a much more artist-focused way.”
Artist First was launched by in 2009 and has 50 employees in Milan. The company works with numerous Italian artists alongside a number of high-profile international acts. The company also distributes a wide range of labels and has in its own roster, which includes Gazzelle, Fulminacci, Alfa, Dardust and Zero Assoluto among others. It holds shares in a number of other music companies as well.