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Live Nation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Live Nation | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Type | Public (NYSE: LYV) |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Headquarters | Beverly Hills, California |
| Key people | Michael Rapino, CEO L. Lowry Mays, Chairman |
| Industry | Entertainment |
| Products | concerts |
| Revenue |  $4.4 billion [1]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, California, United States. Live Nation formed in 2005 by a spin-off from Clear Channel Communications. The present CEO of the company is Michael Rapino.
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 US 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.
In October, 2007 Live Nation announced a new contract with pop singer Madonna. She will be the founding recording artist for the new music division Artist Nation.[2]
Contents |
- Live Nation owns SFX Entertainment, providing venue and artist management. It owns, operates and/or exclusively books 135 live entertainment venues, including 43 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 Monster Jam, a promoter of monster truck races and other indoor motorsports. 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) and in the UK Download at Donington, Hyde Park Calling and Wireless Festival. Through its LN/Gaiety subsidiary it also manages the Festival Republic festivals at Reading and Leeds.
- 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.
- In March 2007 Live Nation/Gaiety bought a majority share in a further 10 music venues from the Academy Music Group including the Brixton Academy and Shepherds Bush Empire.
- On October 16, 2007, Live Nation announced it signed a $120 million, 10-year global partnership contract with pop artist Madonna who will become the founding artist in its new Artist Nation division. The deal consists of all future music and music-related businesses including albums, concert tours, merchandising, fan club/web site, DVDs, music-related television and film projects, and associated sponsorship agreements.
- 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:
- Festivals called Download, Wireless and Hyde Park Calling
- A stake in Festival Republic, and thus interests in:
- Several music festivals, including the production of Glastonbury Festival Reading and Leeds Festivals, Latitude Festival
- Some medium-sized London music venues, including the London AstoriaThe acquisition in March 2007 of the majority share in the Academy Music Group gave a further portfolio of 10 music venues including Brixton Academy and Shepherds Bush Empire .
- Management and operations at the London's Wembley Arena,Cardiff International Arena and the Sheffield Arena.
- A large majority of the UK's biggest regional theatre houses including the Sunderland Empire Theatre, 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 Festival Republic, and thus interests in:
- In Dublin Live Nation own a half share in the Point Arena. This closed in August 2007 for a refurbishment which is scheduled to be complete by Xmas 2008.
- In Belgium, Live nation organises big festivals, like Rock Werchter and Graspop Metal Meeting.
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.
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 had been 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, believed that Clear Channel was 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. The patent was transferred to Live Nation when Clear Channel Entertainment was spun off, [2] but the claims of the patent were cancelled on March 13, 2007,[3] after the patent owner failed to respond to a final office action in an inter-partes reexamination proceeding. All originally issued claims were rejected as being anticipated or rendered obvious by earlier publications for products developed by Telex.[4]
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, Harvey Weinstein, Michael Cohl, and Michael Rapino
- Michael Rapino - chief executive officer; named CEO after serving as president of Clear Channel Entertainment; married to Jolene Blalock
- Kathy Willard - Chief Financial Officer
- Jason Garner - CEO NA Music
- Alan Ridgeway - CEO International Music
- Bryan Perez - CEO - Global Digital
- Russell Wallach - President - Live Nation Alliances
- Michael Rowles - Executive Vice President and General Counsel
- Faisel Durrani - President — Marketing
- Arthur Fogel - Chairman — Global Music
- Thomas O. Johansson - Chairman — International Music
- David Ian - Chairman - Global Theatre
- Steve K. Winton - Chief Executive Officer — North American Theater
- Scott Fedewa - Executive Vice President & Executive Producer - Digital Distribution
- ^ Fortune: Live Nation Rocks the Music Industry
- ^ [1] PR Newswire