Live Nation (events promoter)

Live Nation

Corporate logo of Live Nation Corporate logo of Live Nation
Company type	Public (NYSE: LYV)
Industry	Entertainment
Founded	2005
Headquarters	Beverly Hills, CA
Key people	Michael Rapino, CEO L. Lowry Mays, Chairman
Products	concerts
Revenue	$2.8 billion USD (Calendar 2005)
Number of employees	3,000 full-time, 15,900 part-time
Website	www.livenation.com

Live Nation NYSE: LYV is a concert company based in the United States of America. Live Nation, formed in 2005 by a spin-off from Clear Channel Communications. The present CEO of the company is Michael Rapino and its headquarters is located in Beverly Hills, CA.

In 2005, Live Nation promoted or produced over 28,500 events, including music concerts, theatrical shows, specialized motor sports and other events, with total attendance exceeding 61 million. As of September 30, 2005, Live Nation owned or operated 117 venues, consisting of 75 domestic and 42 international venues. These venues include 39 amphitheaters, 58 theaters, 14 clubs, four arenas and two festival sites. In addition, through equity, booking or similar arrangements Live Nation has the right to book events at 33 additional venues.

History

On December 21, 2005, Clear Channel completed the spin-off of Live Nation, formerly known as Clear Channel Entertainment. Live Nation is now an independent company and is no longer owned by Clear Channel.

• Live Nation owns SFX Entertainment, providing venue and artist management. It owns, operates and/or exclusively books 135 live entertainment venues, including 29 in Europe, along with producing high profile events such as Super Bowl halftime shows. It also represents major music artists and sports stars.
• US Touring Productions of Broadway Shows The Lion King and Mamma Mia
• Owns USHRA (United States Hot Rod Association), a promoter of tractor pulls and monster truck races. Live Nation also owns several trucks and the rights to several trucks running at these events, including Grave Digger, Superman and Maximum Destruction.
• Produces sporting events: 84 Lumber Classic of Pennsylvania; Legg Mason Tennis Classic; ADT Skills Challenge; American Century Golf Championship; THQ World Supercross GP; National Arenacross Series; IFMA Freestyle Motocross; and IHRA Drag Racing
• Produces concerts and festivals: Ozzfest, Jagermeister Music Tour, Lollapalooza and Music Midtown (Atlanta)
• Live Nation's subsidiary Mojo Concerts is the biggest organiser of concerts in The Netherlands with over 200 concerts and a total of a million visitors a year. Well known festivals include Pinkpop, Lowlands, Arrow Rock Festival and North Sea Jazz.

Worldwide

• Acquired Italian music promoters Milano Concerti and Trident Agency.
• Worldwide subsidiaries include Welldone Agency & Promotion (Finland), dkbMotor (Denmark), EMA Telstar (Sweden) and Gunnar Eide Concerts (Norway).
• Owns Clear Channel Entertainment do Brasil Ltda, a Brazilian music promotion and production company

• In the United Kingdom, as Live Nation UK, owns:
  • A controlling stake in Mean Fiddler Music Group, and thus interests in:
    • Several music festivals festivals, including Glastonbury Festival, V Festival, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Homelands Festival and Download Festival
    • The majority of medium-sized London music venues, including Brixton Academy, the London Astoria and the Mean Fiddler.
  • Management and operations at the London's Wembley Arena and The National Bowl in Milton Keynes.
  • A large majority of the UK's biggest regional theatre houses including the Sunderland Empire, Palace Theatre, Manchester, Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham, Edinburgh Playhouse, Liverpool Empire, New Theatre Oxford and Bristol Hippodrome.
  • A concert promotion business which promotes large outdoor concerts in Hyde Park, London, as well as numerous small and medium concert venues across the country.

Controversy

As a previous subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications under the Clear Channel Entertainment name, Live Nation was party to some highly visible controversies.

Live music recordings

In 2004, Clear Channel acquired a key patent in the process of producing "instant live recordings", in which a live performance is recorded directly from the sound engineer's console during the show, and then rapidly burned on CD so that audience members can buy copies of the show as they are leaving the venue. This is intended to provide additional revenue to the artist, venue, and promoter, as well as stifle the demand for unauthorized bootleg concert recordings made by audience members for profit. However, some media critics, as well as smaller business rivals, believe that Clear Channel is using the patent (on the process of adding cues to the beginning and ending of tracks during recording, so that the concert is not burned as a single enormous track) to drive competitors out of business or force them to pay licensing fees, even if they do not use precisely the same process.

It is unclear whether this patent now resides with Clear Channel or Live Nation. [1]

Lawsuits

Clear Channel settled a lawsuit with a Denver, Colorado concert promoter, Nobody In Particular Presents (NIPP). In the lawsuit, NIPP alleged that Clear Channel halted airplay on its local stations for NIPP clients, and that Clear Channel would not allow NIPP to publicize its concerts on the air. The lawsuit was settled in 2004 with no monetary consideration, but Clear Channel has new rules regarding local concert promotion in Denver.

In 2002, Clear Channel was sued by the US Justice Department for not allowing people with diabetes to bring medically necessary supplies, including syringes used for insulin, into concert venues. Clear Channel changed their policy shortly afterward.

In 2004, Clear Channel was sued by a San Francisco, California man for charging a mandatory parking fee on every ticket sold for a venue, whether the person purchasing the ticket was driving alone, car-pooling, or using public transportation. This is still unresolved.

Corporate governance

Current members of the board of directors of Clear Channel Communications are: Henry Cisneros, Jeffrey T. Hinson, L. Lowry Mays, Mark P. Mays, Randall T. Mays, Connie McCombs McNab, John N. Simons, Jr., Timothy P. Sullivan, and Michael Rapino

Top executives

• Michael Rapino - chief executive officer; named CEO after serving as president of Clear Channel Entertainment; married to Jolene Blalock
• Randall Mays - son of Lowry Mays, chairman; Clear Channel executive vice president and chief financial officer
• Alan Ridgeway - Chief Financial Officer
• Michael Rowles - Executive Vice President and General Counsel
• Faisel Durrani - President — Marketing
• Bruce Eskowitz - President — Global Venues / Sponsorship
• Arthur Fogel - Chairman — Global Music
• Thomas O. Johansson - Chairman — International Music
• David Ian - Chairman - Global Theatre
• Bryan Perez - President - Digital Distribution
• Dave Kochbeck - Senior Vice President of Interactive Technology
• Carl B. Pernow - President — International Music
• Charles S. Walker - President — North American Live Music
• Steve K. Winton - Chief Executive Officer — North American Theater
• Scott Fedewa - Senior Vice President & Executive Producer - Digital Distribution

Famous people managed by Live Nation or subsidiaries

Sports: David Beckham, Michael Jordan, Andre Agassi, Brandi Chastain, Pedro Martinez, Prince Naseem Hamed, Jason Giambi, Gary Lineker, Miguel Tejada, Roger Clemens, Greg Norman, Nomar Garciaparra, Jerry Rice, Kobe Bryant, Warrick Dunn, Al Michaels, Trent Green, Dick Vermeil, Gail Devers, Michael Owen, Nasser Hussain, Michael Atherton, and Alan Shearer.

See also

• Live Nation UK

Sources

• http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1335258/000095012905012209/h31387e8vk.htm
• http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1335258/000095012905011741/h27202a4exv99w1.htm

Websites

• Home :: Live Nation
• Home :: Broadway Across America
• Live Nation - Corporate Overview