While media analysis and buzz on the music industry continues to shine its light on streaming, the money in music is being made in the touring game, where last year Pollstar’s Top 100 tours, topped by U2, generated $5.65 billion dollars by themselves.
As Ray Waddell, President of Media and Conferences for the Irving Azoff and Tim Leiweke-founded Oak View Group points out, “Live music drives the music economy right now. So if it’s important to the live community it should be important to the label and the tech and all of the other stake holders in music right now. They need to know about live.”
Thus, the annual “Pollstar Live” conference, held last week in Downtown Los Angeles, was, not surprisingly, the hub of the music industry for two days as power players like Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino, Pandora CEO Roger Lynch, Apple VP Eddy Cue, Mark Cuban, MAC presents founder Marcie Allen, Sirius XM President Scott Greenstein, Warped founder Kevin Lyman, Live Nation Chief Marketing Officer Lisa Licht and many more, as well as artists Kimberly Perry, of the Band Perry, Garth Brooks, Jon Bon Jovi and more, all converged on the Intercontinental Hotel.
Though the “Pollstar Live” conference dates back almost 30 years this year’s was the first under the Oak View Group, who purchased the long-running concert trade last year.
The obvious starting point for Waddell, how do you rebrand “Pollstar Live” without sacrificing a legacy of more than 25 years? “We didn’t set out to reinvent the wheel,” he told me. “We wanted to elevate it on every level. And a big part of that was the content. Our long-term ambition is to make this the most relevant and important conference in all of music, not just live music.”
The two-day conference, plus a “Production Day” and an ending awards show, attracts not just power players, but those from all over the country interested in networking and hearing the panels. Stephanie G. Belcher, a Business Manager at TaxCo Solutions in Plymouth, MI, came out from Detroit for the conference.
“The conference was a very rare and interesting look into what’s happening at the highest corporate level of the music business,” Belcher says. “It’s really special to be in the same room as executives from companies like Live Nation and OVG. Getting to hear what the majors are working on is inspiring to us indies. I would absolutely come again and I would love to see even more collaborations on the panels between the majors and indies.”
What she and the other attendees found was a conference that heavily covered the pressing topics not only in live music, but in the general news. For example, in the wake of the #MeToo movement there was a panel, featuring Lita Ford, Perry and K. Flay, among others, about the issues women face on the road.
Another major theme for the year was security. Coming off last year’s disasters in Vegas and Manchester, panels addressed ticket anonymity - a common phrase in panels was “kill the barcode,” venue security and how to react when disaster strikes.
One of the most moving panels featured Scooter Braun, Ariana Grande's manager, discussing the execution of the One Love Manchester concert following the May explosion at Manchester Arena during an Ariana Grande concert.
Braun told attendees of the mood at the One Love Manchester show when the concert goers were leaving, after the cameras were turned off and the lights were up. “When Robbie Williams performed, he changed his song to say ‘Manchester we’re strong, we’re strong, we’re strong, we’ll keep singing our songs, our songs, our songs,’ and repeated it, and the crowd would sing with him,” Braun said. “When the show ended, for those who don’t know, the show was over when the terrorists attacked. So we did this amazing four- hour show and the show was ending, and you could feel the anxiety of, this is when the terrorists struck last time. And all of the sudden, cameras off, 60,000 people on their exit for 15 minutes straight, started singing, very loudly, ‘Manchester we’re strong, we’re strong, we’re strong, we’ll keep singing our songs, our songs, our songs’ and repeated it for 15 min while they exited into the streets. It’s something I’ll never forget for the rest of my life. I don’t think, unfortunately, these terrible things are going to stop tomorrow. I think as a music community we have a responsibility to step up, and the power of that show showed me how powerful we can be when we do step up.”
The biggest highlight of the conference was a live Q&A with Garth Brooks, fresh off of a three-year, 390-date world tour. As a surprise at the end of the session, Pollstar announced the creation of a new Live Music Hall of Fame, and inducted Brooks as the inaugural member.
Speaking to a room of industry professionals, the biggest takeaway was to give fans what they want by showing up, playing hard, telling stories. Brooks connects with his audiences with amazing ease. Affable, hilarious, and savvy, Brooks proved himself to be quite the business man, as well as a legendary performer.
The conference ended with the Thursday night presentation of the Pollstar Awards, honoring the promoters, tours, agents and artists who shaped live music in 2017. The night, while a joyous celebration and major schmooze fest, ended on a very bittersweet note as the late Tom Petty deservedly swept the end of the night, taking home the honors for Rock Tour and Major Tour Of The Year, while Petty’s long-time manager, Tony Dimiatrades, was awarded Manager Of The Year. After he accepted Manager Of The Year, movingly and eloquently speaking of the first time he heard Petty and The Heartbreakers, earning a standing ovation and more than a few tears from an industry that had been fortunate to work with Petty for many of his 40 years on the road, Dimiatrades returned to the stage, bringing the Heartbreakers’ Benmont Tench and Steve Ferrone, the “new guy” after 25 years.
Hearing the two of them speak so eloquently and affectionately about their fallen leader, and how they miss him, beautifully reminded everyone there that for all the technology and business, live music remains about the connection between an artist and their fans.
