Tim Leiweke, CEO & Co-Founder, Oak View Group

8:30am – 3:30pm
Pollstar | Google Demo Room
Le Chateau

Join Pollstar’s CTO Dan Martin, boxoffice editor Brad Rogers and the team from Google for an informal Q&A and overview of Pollstar Data. Attendees can learn how to report to Pollstar’s Boxoffice, Route Book and Directory Databases, and get a preview and demonstrations of Google DEMAND, Pollstar Data Cloud and other new developments in live entertainment analytics.

Thirteen years ago, Charlie Walker, Charles Attal and Charlie Jones joined forces in Austin, Texas, to create C3 Presents, and the live entertainment industry has never been the same since. The three Cs blew up the paradigm for presenting live events, taking risks and realizing massive success in the realms of urban festival production, creative talent buying, and groundbreaking brand partnerships, with forays into ticketing, artist management, technology and even politics. Among the highlights were the creation of the Austin City Limits Music Festival and the astounding resurrection of the Lollapalooza brand, first in Chicago and today with Lolla events in Argentina, Berlin, Brazil, Chile, Paris, and Stockholm. Following Live Nation’s 2014 acquisition of C3, then the largest indie promoter in the U.S., C3 maintains their entrepreneurial spirit in leading the charge for the world’s largest promoter’s festival portfolio. For the first time (and, presumably, last, given the announced departure of Jones from C3), the three Cs will discuss how they got here and where they’re going in what is guaranteed to be a free-wheeling, candid, and highly-entertaining session.

Moderator: Ray Waddell, President, Media & Conferences, Oak View Group
Speakers:
Charles Attal, Founder, C3 Presents
Charlie Jones, Founder, C3 Presents
Charlie Walker, Founder, C3 Presents

As a manager at L.A.-based artist management company, Sal&Co., Dina Sahim has quickly built a solid foundation in music management in her relatively short career. Sahim works with a wide array of urban’s top artists who have cemented their positions across the charts and on the concert stage, including French Montana, Harry Fraud, London On Da Track, Ben Billions, Bump J, and most recently, Hope Tala, who’s single “LoveStained” was named one of Rolling Stone’s top 10 songs of 2019. A native Angeleno, Sahim began her career in music at WME in 2011 and now seeks to empower fellow female leaders in the industry and even the playing field between men and women in music.

Dina Sahim, Artist Manager, SAL&CO
Interviewed by:
Shirley Halperin is Executive Editor, Music, Variety

Moderator:
Ali Harnell, President/Chief Strategy Officer of Women Nation, Live Nation
Speakers:
Sara Bollwinkel, Agent, Paradigm Agency
Kelly Clague, SVP, EM.Co
Jessica Koravos, Co-Chair, OVG International, President, Really Useful Group
Lesley Olenik, Vice President, Global Touring, Live Nation
Lindsey Sokol, Founder, Blue Norther Live

11:15am – 12:00pm
The Millisecond News Cycle: PR Strategies in a Radically Transparent World
Beverly Ballroom

We are living in a world where fans’ thirst for information about artists has never been more rabid, and news—fake or otherwise—can break globally in a manner of seconds. Managers, agents, promoters, venues and other live entertainment stakeholders are faced with a situation where controlling media and shutting down stories is virtually impossible. Live, by its very nature, is unpredictable and “in the moment,” a good thing on the whole, but fraught with landmines and potential craziness. In the age of the “insta” hustle and “cancel culture,” the best PR professionals can hope for is to stay a beat ahead of the story and steer the narrative as much as possible. Here Pollstar Live 2020 assembles some of the most highly-respected PR professionals in live entertainment for a frank discussion on how to navigate this unprecedented and often tense landscape, anticipate potential issues, foster positive relationships with media, and make a run at taming the beast.

Moderator:
Andy Gensler, Executive Editor, Pollstar
Speakers:
Carrie Davis, Chief Communications Officer, Live Nation
Kristen Foster, President, Full Coverage Communications
Ebie McFarland, Owner/Publicist, Essential Broadcast Media LLC.
Jim Merlis, Big Hassle Media
John Vlautin, CEO, SpinLab Communications

Touring the world is no longer considered tactic reserved for only a relative few superstar global artists, nor is it always considered a loss leader to build a following in hopes of future returns. Rather, the nature of contemporary content distribution and global music consumption has led to a scenario where artists can generate global demand out of the gate, and fan interest exists in territories that were once available to only a few acts. Today, many Western acts are legitimately capable of selling tickets in multiple territories around the world, so strategic touring often becomes more about prioritizing markets and maximizing the artists’ limited resource: time. Experts in the global touring game will lay out how to strategically approach the global marketplace, how to maximize time spent on international touring, which markets to invest in, and where are the safest bets to grow the career through live performance.

Moderator: Joey “Vendetta” Scoleri, Head of Industry Relations, Live Nation Canada
Speakers:
John Lickrish, CEO, Flash Entertainment (Abu Dhabi)
Lanell Rumion, Agent, CAA
Neil Warnock, Global Head of Touring, UTA
Jackie Wilgar, SVP, Marketing, UK Europe and International Markets, Live Nation

12:00pm-1:30pm
LUNCH
Wilshire Gardens & Oasis Courtyard

During this session at Pollstar LIVE!, two co-founders will launch a stealth startup that is emerging from Area 120, Google’s lab for experimental projects. This startup is already working with many of the most reputable companies in the live music industry, alongside the resources that stem from being a part of Google and YouTube. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about this new product, see a demo and understand how this startup can impact the live music industry.

Moderated by:
Eric Gardner, Director of Booking, Oak View Group
Panelists:
Jeffrey Azoff, Partner, Full Stop Management
Nick Turner, Founder in Residence, Google’s Area 120
Parag Vaish, Founder in Residence, Google’s Area 120

2:00pm-2:45pm
A Conversation With Scott Stapp
International Ballroom

Scott Stapp owns one of the most remarkable stories in rock n’ roll history, a story of spectacular rise, an equally spectacular fall and, ultimately, redemption. The solo artist, songwriter, and voice of Creed—once one of the biggest rock bands in the world–is very much back in the game, with powerful new music and steadfast resolve in rebuilding his life and career. Following Creed’s stunning success through the early 2000s, the subsequent critical backlash, and daily battles with the illnesses of addiction and depression (and all the personal and professional fallout entailed), Stapp hit bottom. Today, more than five years sober, he is supporting his best-received solo album to date, The Space Between The Shadows. In what’s sure to be a riveting discussion, Stapp will sit for an exclusive Q&A with OVG’s Ray Waddell to reflect on his personal and professional evolution, his sense of purpose in sharing the silver lining of his survival, his commitment to the art and craft of live performance, and how he hopes to help other artists avoid making the same mistakes he made.

Interviewed by:
Ray Waddell, President, Media & Conferences

As Uber’s former Global Head of Music and Entertainment, Zach Zimmerman spent the better part of five years helping the tech company forge first-of-its-kind partnerships with marquee artists like Billie Eilish, Khalid, Ed Sheeran, John Mayer, Lil Nas X and many others. He also brokered the company’s largest commercial partnerships in the entertainment industry, including a worldwide deal with mega-promoters like Live Nation. Now, Zach will take his tech-unicorn honed skills and apply them to artist management with his new venture ZTZ Entertainment. In this candid Q&A with Paradigm’s Zoë King, Zach will talk about how ZTZ clients David Dann, Chloe Gilligan and Rocket Pengwin will benefit from the firm’s innovative approach to the marketing and funding of developing talent.

Zach Zimmerman, Founder/CEO, ZTZ Entertainment (Prev. Uber)
Interviewed by:
Zoë Sonquist King, SVP Brand Partnerships & Development, Paradigm

3:30pm-3:45pm
Coffee Break

3:45pm-4:30pm
Live 2030: The Cultural Technological and Biological Impact on the Concerts of the Future
International Ballroom

Who will be touring 10 years from now? How will it be presented? How much are tickets? And how will they be delivered? All of these factors—culture, technology and biology—will have an impact on the live experience in 2030. Today, live is enjoying a cultural tailwind as consumers—especially young consumers—value experience over “stuff”; Will that trend prevail? Tech will no doubt impact the concert experience with the advent of 5G and AR/VR, as well as sound and visuals, not to mention ticketing and the entire transactional dynamic. Finally, simple biology will dictate that some artists will eventually fall out of the touring marketplace. Who will replace them and what is the future of artist discovery and development? We’ll examine the future of live from all angles as experts weigh in.

Moderator: Dan Berkowitz, CEO & Founder, CID Entertainment
Speakers:
Blythe Reyes, VP Product, Ticketmaster
Eddie Clemens, Head of Tour Marketing, UTA
Mike Einziger, co-Founder, Mixhalo, lead guitarist, Incubus
Blythe Reyes, VP Product, Ticketmaster
Ben Samuels, President & General Manager, MelodyVR
Bill Werde, Director, Bandier Program, Syracuse University
Kelly Strickland, Live Nation

The advent of the Age of Information allowed promoters, talent buyers, agents and venues to support the gut instinct that had sustained them through the birth of the industry with hard data to support critical strategic planning. Consider the concert industry data game revolutionized. With the launch of Pollstar Data Cloud, Pollstar subscribers and industry pros have the opportunity to tap into the box-office data on 60,000 artists to slice, dice, compare, provide context, manage, filter, and otherwise use to address their personal touring solution for any artist or artists. This informative panel will discuss how savvy professionals use data to inform touring strategy, lay out the basics of what Pollstar Data Cloud is, and unveil what it can mean to your planning and execution of live events.

Moderator:
Jon Guynn, VP Operations, Media & Conferences, Oak View Group
Panelists:
Ken Fermaglich, Partner, Music Agent, UTA
Eric Gardner, Dir. of Booking, Oak View Group Arena Alliance
James Sather, Business Development Manager, Google Cloud Platform Marketplace

3:45pm-4:30pm
International Festivals: Balancing Emerging Markets vs. Mature Mainstays
*International Track in association with Midem*
Wilshire Ballroom

For many years, the global festival marketplace was carved in stone, offering a consistent and productive global opportunity for agents to strategize international festival plays for clients well in advance, with few surprises and few risks. In the past decade, the international festival landscape has shifted dramatically, not only in terms of the evolution of mature festivals, but also with new events in established markets, and the development of emerging markets eager to jump into the festival business. Today, agents, managers, and event producers are faced with myriad choices and a more complicated scenario as they seek to strategically map global touring and maximize each festival play. Promoters, producers and agents from the global festival scene will provide an update on the world of global music festivals.

Moderator:
Laurie Kirby, Esq., Co-founder, FestForums
Speakers:
Cindy Castillo, MadCool Festival
John Giddings, Managing Director, Solo Music Agency
Leca Guimarães, International Festival Director, C3 Presents
Rob Kelso, Creativeman Productions / Summer Sonic
Peter Noble, Director, Bluesfest Group of Companies

The Queen of Hip-Hop meets the King of Managers in an exclusive keynote conversation which promises to be wildly engaging. Nicki Minaj is one of the most powerful, successful, outspoken and disruptive rap artists and businesswomen in the industry; while Irving Azoff, Chairman and CEO of The Azoff Company, doesn’t share any of those qualities.