Matthew Lazarus-Hall joins AEG Presents Asia
AEG Presents has hired former Chugg Entertainment CEO Matthew Lazarus-Hall as senior vice-president for the Asia-Pacific region.
Lazarus-Hall – who left Australia’s Chugg in March 2016 to set up a consulting firm, Uncommon Cord – will oversee all touring, festivals and sports “across the pan-Asian region”, according to the company, reporting to AEG Asia CEO Adam Wilkes. Prior to joining Chugg Entertainment, where he was also instrumental in setting up country music festival CMC Rocks, Lazarus-Hall, 48, worked at Ticketek, Australia’s leading ticket agency.
Lazarus-Hall tells IQ Uncommon Cord will still operate with Kuseah Lawton as general manager (GM) and director of the business. “There are some good projects that are in the works,” he says.
“My role on CMC [GM] stays the same for 2020,” he adds. (As an aside, Chugg Entertainment, meanwhile, has since joined forces with AEG-allied Frontier Touring.)
“My role on CMC stays the same for 2020”
Wilkes tells Billboard he has recently moved to Singapore to head up AEG Asia’s new head office, after nearly 18 years living in China. He says the new office, which replaces one in Shanghai, is expected to employ some two dozen people, including the Asia-Pacific business development team.
Also added to the new Singapore regional headquarters are VP of business development Taylor Agisim, who rejoins AEG from Abu Dhabi’s Flash Entertainment, and VP of global partnerships Ryan Sandilands, latterly of Cirque du Soleil.
The Shanghai office will remain a core part of the AEG’s Asia operations, Wilkes tells Billboard. AEG operates the city’s Mercedes-Benz Arena, and is currently developing two venues in Bangkok, Thailand, and a 20,000-seat arena in Seoul, South Korea.
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AEG to open “revolutionary” new arena in Korea
AEG has signed an agreement with CJ Group, South Korea’s largest media conglomerate, to open a new entertainment complex in Seoul.
The deal, with CJ Group subsidiary CJ LiveCity Corporation, will see the creation of CJ LiveCity in Seoul’s Goyang City, comprising the 20,000-capacity Seoul Metropolitan Arena, a recording studio complex, a K-pop/Korean culture-themed entertainment district and a waterfront park.
Centrally located between five of Korea’s largest cities, AEG projects the new venue will attract more than 20 million visitors annually. It will, say the partners, become the country’s “largest and most advanced live performance venue for K-pop, international artist tours, sports events and Hallyu [Korean Wave] content.”
The agreement marks AEG’s entrance into the burgeoning South Korean live entertainment market and further expands its footprint in Asia, where existing and future venues include Dubai’s Coca-Cola Arena, Thailand’s Bangkok Arena and EM Live, and the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, China.
CJ LiveCity CEO Michael Kim comments: “This collaboration combines CJ’s long-standing cultural business capabilities with AEG’s venue development and operations expertise and its global live touring and promotions capacities. Seoul Metropolitan Arena, which will be designed by a leading architectural firm, is expected to be a competitive venue not only across Asia, but also globally, due to performances of K-pop as well as world-renowned artists.
“The combination of CJ LiveCity and Seoul Metropolitan Arena will revolutionise Korea and the region’s entertainment landscape“
“Securing qualified content based on building a world-class facility is a key success factor for the arena in CJ LiveCity. In this context, the collaboration with AEG, which is one of the world’s leading venue operators and global live music companies, will be one of the most important factors for the arena’s success.”
In addition to its entertainment activities – which include record labels, concert production/promotion and music publishing, as well as television production and the CGV cinema chain – CJ Group is active in food and food service, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, home shopping and business logistics.
The company turned over US$59 billion in 2018, and made $1.7bn profit.
“We believe that the combination of CJ LiveCity and the new Seoul Metropolitan Arena will revolutionise Korea and the region’s entertainment landscape,” says Adam Wilkes, president and CEO of AEG Asia. “Both AEG and CJ share a vision of Korea as a world-leading entertainment destination and we are thrilled to work with such an innovative leader. CJ has an in-depth understanding of the Korean and Asian markets and unparallelled experience in entertainment.
“We believe that Seoul Metropolitan Arena will become a must-play destination for world tours and look forward to breaking new ground together.”
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