Pollstar Live 2017! featured a keynote by Shep Gordon and rock-legend Alice Cooper, moderated by Danny Zelisko.
Pollstar Live! 2018!, billed as “the world’s largest gathering for the live music industry”, will launch Feb. 6-8, at the InterContinental Hotel, Los Angeles, with an ambitious lineup of speakers and presenters. This will be the 29th version of the annual event, the first since VenuesToday parent Oak View Group (OVG) acquired Pollstar.
Among the speakers already confirmed are Michael Rapino, CEO, Live Nation Entertainment; “Shark Tank” star Mark Cuban, entrepreneur/owner Dallas Mavericks; economist Alan Krueger, professor of economics and public affairs at Bendheim Center for Finance, Princeton (N.J.) University and author of Rockonomics; Peter Shapiro, founder/producer, DayGlo Productions and Brooklyn Bowl; Jim Meyer, CEO, Sirius XM; Neil Portnow, president/CEO, Recording Academy; Roger Lynch, CEO, Pandora; Troy Carter, global head of creator services, Spotify; and Rich Bresler, president/CEO, iHeart Communications.
“Pollstar Live! is the most important and largest gathering in the live entertainment industry in the world,” said Ray Waddell, president, conferences and publications, OVG, the owners of concert industry bible Pollstar. “This line up is incredible. Having Michael Rapino come, who is the most influential person in music today, is a big deal. Anything Marc Cuban is part of will be exciting, unpredictable and ultimately inspiring.”
“Pollstar Live’s goal is to create the most compelling, powerful and relevant conference in the music industry,” he said. “The speaker list is growing everyday, these names are just the start of many more big announcements to come.”
In addition to the wide variety of industry heavyweights who will deliver keynote addresses, a broad variety of panels and Q&As featuring an array of top-of-the-line live music promoters, producers, agents, managers, and other sectors serving the touring business are also planned.
“In programming Pollstar Live! 2018, the idea is to strike a balance between the most dynamic, hard-to-get speakers in the world, and addressing the pressing topics most important to our industry, discussed by those in the trenches solving problems and grasping opportunities every day,” said Waddell.
Waddell said that Pollstar Live 2018! will focus on “the artist perspective” and will touch on all aspects of the live touring music business: booking, promoting, producing, ticketing, branding/sponsorships, marketing, technology and venues.
“These are not 2005 panels, these are 2020 panels, “said Waddell. “Our content is going to be focused on where the business will be 10 years out, not the same old panels you see at every conference.”
Among the scheduled topics to be discussed are “Blockbuster Breakdown, a Deep Dive into One of the Most Successful Live Engagements of the Year”; “Solving the Global Touring Puzzle; Big Data: How to Turn Consumer Intel into Ticket Sales”; “Navigating the Career in Divisive Times”; “What to Do When Things Go Off The Rails;” and “Women + The Road.”
Waddell, who programmed the annual Billboard Touring Conference for many years prior to joining OVG, believes ubiquitous panels on the secondary market and festival saturation have become tiresome at music gatherings, and added that programming for Pollstar Live 2018! aims for topics and speakers "you don’t typically see at an industry conference."
One of the most anticipated discussions, “From Manchester to Rt. 91—What Have We Learned”, will examine live event security. That panel will feature Bill Bratton, chairman, Prevent Advisors, former Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) chief and New York Police Department commissioner; and Mike Downing, VP of Security, Prevent Advisors, former LAPD deputy chief and commanding officer of the Counter-Terrorism & Criminal Intelligence Bureau. “This panel is a can’t miss,” said Waddell. “Following the shooting in Las Vegas what these experts have to say is urgent advice for best practices in these troubled times.”
“Pollstar Live 2018! is shaping up to be the biggest Pollstar Live! ever,” said Gary Smith, CEO, Pollstar, who expects this year’s event to be the “most well-attended Pollstar Live! of all time.”
“The economic recovery has put us in the growth mode,” said Smith. “We’ve been growing every year for four years now.”
Smith said last year’s event attracted almost 1,900 attendees and that this year the presale is “well ahead of last year already and we’re still three-and-a half months out.” Smith predicts that anywhere from 2,000-2,500 people will want to be part of the conference this year.
“Working with Ray Waddell is great; he’s an amazing asset,” said Smith. “We had been hoping to have an opportunity to work with Ray for a number of years now and we’ve been looking forward to having Ray involved with Pollstar Live since the OVG deal was announced.”
Smith is excited about hearing Cuban speak. “Venues are probably the strongest part of the Pollstar base,” he said. “Although we focus on music, all of our arena and venue clients are involved with sports and Cuban has a huge footprint in that space.”
He’s also keen on the speech from Kruger, who was President Obama’s economic advisor and the participation of “social media platforms like Spotify and Pandora.”
Pollstar has also released the schedule for Production Live!, the Feb. 6 opening day of programming that focuses on issues related to the vibrant and ever-evolving event production side of the industry. Production Live! will be directed by longtime Pollstar Live! associate Steve Mcfadyen, founder of Tried and True Event Productions, and longtime Bon Jovi tour director Paul Korzilius, also senior VP for OVG's Arena and Stadium Alliance and Music Clubs.
“Production Live! will tackle issues critical to the professionals in the concert industry that make the magic happen,” said Waddell.
Topics such as "Stage Management 101—Cracking the Code on Multi-Act Productions," "How to Make Your Building an Easy Day," and "Regulate This—Navigating Troublesome Government Intrusion on the Touring Industry," will be featured.
Production Live! will spotlight the trends, challenges and opportunities critical to those who work in the realm of sound, lights, staging, rigging, operations, video, transportation, and stage management. Technological advancement in live event production will be the subject of "Now Hear This—Innovation & Technology," and how to keep shows safe and secure will be addressed in "Yes, Even You—The Diplomacy & Necessity of Back-Of-House Security"
"Historically, the production side of the industry has been somewhat under-served in the conference space, and we want to enhance the good work that Pollstar Live! has already done to focus on this sector of the touring industry," said Waddell.
Live Nation Entertainment and Ticketmaster have signed on as presenting sponsors of Pollstar Live! Conference and Awards 2018
Waddell said that the PollStar Live! Conference was one of the reasons OVG was attracted to Pollstar in the first place. “We intend to make it bigger,” he said. “We want to make it the most important conference not only in live music, but in music, period.”
“The industry has never seen anything like what we will present in L.A. in February,” added Waddell.