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Uk Venue Industry 2007

Over the past two decades the venue industry has grown up. In the 1980’s two of the most powerful names in the business were Vince Power and Denis Desmond, both known for being tough, entrepreneurial, very focused on the music industry, good at identifying new talent and slightly rough round the edges in their management style. The venues they used or managed were often in out of the way places and the focus was wholly on the music and the artists, particularly on discovering new bands - little was done for the customers’ comfort.

Power and Desmond made money from selling tickets and CDs, but the change in their business models over the years reflects the wider changes in the industry. Controlling one or two small venues and bringing in new names – or even well known ones – is no longer enough to pull in the punters or compete in a new, professional and customer-friendly industry.

Gaining More Control of the Music Industry Value Chain

Consolidation is key, both in building ownership of venues themselves, but also in taking a greater stake in the wider events industry. The Sanctuary Music Group tried to do this with its “360 degree music model” – since then, others have learnt from their mistakes and succeeded.

In the UK, Live Nation (formerly the venues arm of Clear Channel) owns the Astoria and Astoria 2 through a joint investment with Denis Desmond. It acquired a stake in Mean Fiddler (again with Desmond), much of which it has had to sell for competition reasons, but it still manages, operates or owns a huge range of venues and has begin to focus on larger events only. Worldwide, Live Nation has promoted or produced over 28,500 events, including music concerts, theatrical shows, motor sports and other events. At one stage, Live Nation owned or operated 117 venues, consisting of 75 US and 42 international venues. These venues included 39 amphitheaters, 58 theaters, 14 clubs, four arenas and two festival sites. In addition, through equity, booking or...