Live Nation acquires Texan promoter ScoreMore Shows

Live Nation has acquired a majority stake in ScoreMore Shows, the largest promoter in Texas and formerly one of the largest independent outfits in the US.

Co-founded in 2010 by Sascha Stone Guttfreund and Claire Bogle, Austin-based ScoreMore promotes than 200 concerts annually in the southern US. It also owns and operates three music festivals – travelling hip-hop event JMBLYA, El Paso pop festival Neon Desert and Hallowe’en-weekend EDM event Mala Luna – and recently partnered with J. Cole and his Dreamville Records label to produce the inaugural Dreamville Festival, which is set to take place on 15 September in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The company, says Live Nation, has made a name for itself as a tastemaker, booking urban acts such as J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar and Chance the Rapper for small club shows early in their careers.

The takeover of ScoreMore is Live Nation’s eighth acquisition or equivalent of 2018, coming after its majority buy-out of Rock in Rio/Rock City and investment in biometric ID company Blink Identity earlier this month.

“We are so excited about this new chapter for ScoreMore in having the resources, support and partnership of Live Nation,” comments Guttfreund. “To have gotten our start in Austin, and ultimately be in business together with Live Nation, is honestly a dream come true.

“They are going to accomplish even greater things as part of the Live Nation family”

“This team does not take any of our success for granted, and we’d like to especially thank Michael [Rapino], Bob [Roux], Jordan [Zachary] and the rest of the Live Nation family for giving us this incredible opportunity.”

Adds Roux, president of US Concerts at Live Nation: “Sascha and the ScoreMore team have a proven ability to form very early and long-lasting relationships with top talent, and their ground-breaking events, whether an intimate club show or a giant festival, really resonate with a diverse and passionate audience base, as well as with the leading artists that they present.

“This company is just getting started, and we are all very excited about their future, as we know they are going to accomplish even greater things as part of the Live Nation family.”

ScoreMore’s festivals join Live Nation’s portfolio of more than 100 events worldwide, including US festival mainstays Bonnaroo, BottleRock, Governors Ball and Austin City Limits.

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