Live Nation
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| Live Nation | |
 |
|
| Type | Public (NYSE: LYV) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2005 |
| Headquarters | Beverly Hills, CA |
| Key people | Michael Rapino, CEO L. Lowry Mays, Chairman |
| Industry | Entertainment |
| Products | concerts |
| Revenue |  $2.8 billion USD (Calendar 2005) |
| Employees | 3,000 full-time, 15,900 part-time |
| Slogan | various |
| Website | www.livenation.com |
Live Nation NYSE: LYV is a live events company based in Beverly Hills, CA. 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.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Business
[edit] United States
- 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.
- 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, Jägermeister Music Tour, and Music Midtown (Atlanta)
- In July 2006 Live Nation announced it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire HOB Entertainment, Inc., the operator of the House of Blues chain of music halls and restaurants.
[edit] 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).
- 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.
- Owns Clear Channel Entertainment do Brasil Ltda, a Brazilian music promotion and production company
- In the United Kingdom, as Live Nation UK, owns:
- A stake in Mean Fiddler Music Group, and thus interests in:
- Several music festivals, including Glastonbury Festival (although this is up for negotiation in 2007), Reading and Leeds Festivals, Homelands Festival and Download Festival
- Some medium-sized London music venues, including the London Astoria and the Mean Fiddler.
- Management and operations at the London's Wembley Arena, The National Bowl in Milton Keynes and the Hallam FM Arena in Sheffield.
- 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.
- A stake in Mean Fiddler Music Group, and thus interests in:
[edit] Controversy
As a previous subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications under the Clear Channel Entertainment name, Live Nation was party to some highly visible controversies. The 2005 SEC filing for the creation of Live Nation listed several reasons for pursuing the split, including avoiding regulatory and legal pitfalls faced by Clear Channel.
[edit] 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]
On March 13, 2007, the Electronic Frontier Foundation announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) will revoke the patent.[2]
[edit] 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.
In 2005, Clear Channel lost a $90 million suit by Chicago-based JamSports and Entertainment LLC, the court finding that the company had illegally interfered with agreement between JamSports and the American Motorcycle Association to promote dirt-track motorcycle racing in arenas across the United States. Clear Channel said it would appeal.[1]
[edit] Corporate governance
Current members of the board of directors of Live Nation 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
[edit] 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/CEO — Global Venues / Alliances
- 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 - Executive Vice President & Executive Producer - Digital Distribution
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
- http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1335258/000095012905012209/h31387e8vk.htm
- http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1335258/000095012905011741/h27202a4exv99w1.htm
