Leaps & Bownes: Emma Bownes’ 25 years in the biz

As programmer for The O2 – the world’s busiest arena for more than a decade – Emma Bownes is arguably the most popular arena booker internationally, thanks to her enthusiasm, hard graft, and an ability to solve multiple problems all while flashing that infectious smile. Now, as she celebrates 25 years in the business, IQ quizzes Emma on her path to the top, as well as the philosophies that have shaped her success.

Born in Peterborough, England, Emma was raised on the outskirts of the city, as her parents moved around with their jobs. “Mum was originally an accident and emergency nurse, before opening a retirement home,” she says. “Dad worked in change management for Thomas Cook, meaning that he was in New York from time to time.” But her parents’ occasional absence for work reasons introduced her to the wonders of live entertainment.

While younger brother Tom has since followed her into live music (as a promoter at Live Nation), there was no family history in the business. However, Emma knew from an early age exactly what she wanted to do. “When you ask people what they want to do for a living, they say, ‘I want to be a footballer,’ or ‘I want to be a ballet dancer.’ Nobody ever says, ‘I want to be a band programmer.’ But my parents’ families were both from Sheffield, and I’d be taken by my grandparents to working men’s clubs when I was a kid.

“There were a few working men’s clubs we used to go but the format was always similar: there’d be bingo, there’d be a turn, and there’d sometimes also be a fish man,” she laughs. “But the turn was what caught my imagination. I remember an act called Betty Bonk, who sang about stabbing her husband and being in prison. My sister looked at my nan and told her she wanted to be a singer. And I looked at granddad and asked who decided who played on stage. He told me it was the committee, so I said to him, ‘I want to be on the committee.’ I was only eight years old, but ever since then, it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”

Having identified her dream job, ten years later Emma enrolled at the University of Hull and instantly ingratiated herself with the campus entertainment committee. “Shortly after I arrived in Hull and became part of the entertainment committee, the entertainment manager left, so I applied and got the job.”

Indeed, Emma’s activities also saw her booking events off-campus. “I co-promoted a drum & bass night called Future Methods. We had everybody – Hype, Grooverider, Goldie, Ed Rush & Optical – it was brilliant: it taught me how to do on-the-ground promoting.”

“I did the maths at the end of the gig, I realised I’d lost money. But it was amazing because who gets to have a bit of a go until they get it right?”

As she embarked on a career that’s been punctuated by moments where she simply presented herself to new employers and won them over, her time in Hull is among those she looks back upon most fondly.

“I don’t even know if those kinds of jobs exist anymore, but I just loved it,” she says. “When you’re the ents manager, you just do it all. You sit there with a calendar when you start in June, you book all the freshers’ gigs and all the club nights and all the things that freshers might go out and get drunk to, like a Halloween party or Jason Donovan or Chesney Hawkes.”

It also provided a steep learning curve. “I remember promoting this gig with a band called Rialto, and I paid them about £800. It went on sale to the students on a Monday, for the show on the Friday, and tickets were literally £2 or £3. It sold out, but when I did the maths at the end of the gig, I realised I’d lost money. But it was amazing because who gets to have a bit of a go until they get it right? And that went for everything I did – booking the band, designing the posters, sticking the posters up, sitting in the box office and selling the tickets. I’d be there for the load-in, I’d be there at load-out, and I’d pay the band. It was just the best fun.”

A New Mission

Emma fell in love with the city of Hull and extended her time there as much as she could. “I was there for eight years in total,” she recalls. “But I realised that if I didn’t move away, I’d wake up one day aged 40 without having done anything different.”

Together with her then flatmate, who had reached a similar conclusion, they moved to London to pursue loftier ambitions. “Luckily, I was on this ents managers’ email chat group where we’d swap information: ‘I booked Atomic Kitten, and it did this many tickets’ – that kind of thing. Someone posted that there was a vacancy at Mission Control, so I applied and got the job.”

“What I discovered was if you call someone and sound cheerful, rather than stressed, it’s a lot easier to have a conversation”

Placed in charge of the agency’s university bookings, it was an ideal stepping stone and also introduced her to the likes of Gary Howard, whose clients these days account for a healthy chunk of bookings at The O2.

“Mission Control had a roster of mostly garage, which I really liked – Artful Dodger, Solid Crew, DJ Luck & MC Neat – and they also did a lot of pop acts like Jason Donovan and Atomic Kitten. So I basically booked their roster for universities.”

Despite landing on her feet in London, Emma admits to finding it tough. “It was a culture shock,” she states. “I didn’t find it easy to start with, but there were some nice people at Mission Control who just tried to show me how it all worked. They taught me how to find acts, how to sign acts, and how to book gigs.”

Nevertheless, after a year, working for the agency was losing its appeal.

“I just wanted to go back to working in a venue,” explains Emma. “I didn’t mind the selling aspect. In fact, randomly, one of my student summer jobs was selling windows – cold-calling people. Because I’m a naturally cheerful person, what I discovered was if you call someone and sound cheerful, rather than stressed, it’s a lot easier to have a conversation… that job taught me things that I’ve used ever since.”

Pacific Career Path

Having made up her mind that venues were her happy place, Emma found herself at Ocean in Hackney. “It opened in June 2001, I started in June 2002, and it shut on 4 December 2004. The only reason I know that is because I, like many people who worked there, absolutely loved the place.

“Being on the board of the Music Venue Trust, I meet people all the time who are in love with their small venues. At Ocean, we all put absolutely everything we could into it: we were there every hour, for the most random of shows.”

“I think they forgot they’d hired me because when I turned up, the theatre dog literally had a bigger desk than me”

Leaning on her experience, Emma concentrated on booking garage and reggae acts, “like Heartless Crew and Sean Paul.” She adds, “We had lots of shows that were promoted by first-time promoters who needed a lot of hand holding because a lot of things could, and invariably would, go wrong.

“Ocean was such a lovely venue, but the problem was people thought that it was hard to get to. That sounds ridiculous now, but promoters used to tell us, ‘No, we want to play in central London.’ If Ocean had opened a few years later, it would probably still be going strong because Hackney’s obviously gentrified and cool now.”

Ever the pragmatist, when Ocean’s shutters came down permanently, Emma wrote to the neighbouring Hackney Empire theatre. “It was run by a guy called Roland Muldoon, and in my letter, I asked if he could please consider me for anything that came up.”

It worked, “But I think they forgot they’d hired me because when I turned up, the theatre dog literally had a bigger desk than me, and after a while, I could see that they didn’t need me, so I started looking for something else.”

Next port of call was the Mean Fiddler Group where she worked as a promoter for the Jazz Café, The Garage, and Borderline. “I did that for a while, and then became the in-house booker at the Kentish Town Forum,” she tells IQ.

Hello, Wembley

In 2007, Mean Fiddler was acquired by MAMA Group, and Emma’s contacts alerted her to unsettling news. “The guy I was going to report to offered my job to two other people before he even met me. Those people both phoned me to ask if I was leaving.”

“I thought I’d blown it because I’d mainly been used to booking small venues, and I wasn’t confident I’d be any good at arena level”

Once again, her proactive writing skills came to the fore. “I sent [Live Nation UK President] Paul Latham an email to point out what I’d achieved at the Forum – it had lost money every year until I’d taken over booking. I made my case and asked if there was anything at Live Nation I could help with. Within a couple of days, Paul called and said, ‘I need you to go to speak to Wembley Arena.’ It turned out their booking manager, Katie Musham, had just moved to The O2.”

Her Wembley interview did not go as smoothly as she hoped, though.

“I was promoting a gig at the Borderline the night before with a band called the 1990s, and it was sold out, so I wanted to be there,” says Emma. “As usual, I sort of ended up doing everything, including running the door, where I had a hand stamp for everyone who came in.

“Anyway, the interview was at 10am with [GM] Peter Tudor, but for some reason I turned up an hour early – they must’ve thought I was really keen – and I thought I’d blown it because I’d mainly been used to booking small venues, and I wasn’t confident I’d be any good at arena level.

“By the end of the meeting, I really wanted the job, even though I felt I’d messed up because I hadn’t prepared enough for the interview. And then, as I was leaving, I saw these hand stamps all down my arm. They must have thought I was batshit crazy.”

Nonetheless, the job was Emma’s, and when Tudor left for pastures new a few months later, new general manager John Drury, whose background was in venue booking, took the reins.

“I’ve been at The O2 14 years now – my longest job by a long shot – and the team has grown quite a lot since I arrived here”

“John was great – he really helped me develop as a programmer,” reveals Emma. “He’d copy me in on emails with promoters he had a relationship with, and then he’d hand on that relationship to me; he’d do the deal in the first year, but then I’d take over to allow him to do all his GM duties.

“That really stuck with me, and it’s something I’ve also tried to do in my time at AEG – I’ll introduce people in the programming team to promoters before handing them over. It can be quite tough because there are people you’ve dealt with for 20 years who you really like and don’t necessarily want to stop speaking to. But ultimately, it benefits everyone, and I learned that from John Drury.

“The other thing about John is his passion and enthusiasm for the job. I was at Wembley when The O2 opened, and clients like Disney and WWE and loads of touring acts were leaving us for The O2, so we had a difficult time. But in 2009, we started to focus on acts that were maybe playing a couple of Brixtons, and we could offer them that next step to a 10,000-ticket gig. We had some great shows – Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys, Green Day, Fleetwood Mac. It was a fight to get them, but whenever something confirmed I’d stick my head around John’s office door, and he was always just so pleased. He was brilliant to work with.”

Greenwich Mean Time

In 2010, Emma brought her Wembley days to a temporary end when she accepted a new role as programming manager at The O2. However, three years later, she was promoted to arena programming director, placing both The O2 and Wembley Arena under her remit.

“I’ve been at The O2 14 years now – my longest job by a long shot – and the team has grown quite a lot since I arrived here,” she observes.

Indeed, for the past five years, Emma has been AEG’s vice president venue booking for The O2 and Europe, adding oversight for the likes of Hamburg’s Barclays Arena, the Uber Arena in Berlin, and the neighbouring Uber Eats Music Hall.

“The venues in Germany have their own bookers, so I don’t get involved in the detail that I do at The O2, where I’m involved a lot more on the diary,” she explains. “Where I can help is when we’re asked for avails at The O2, I can push tours to consider adding Hamburg or Berlin to the routing.”

“I’m not sure how we got through Covid… We’d be rescheduling the same shows three, four, five times”

Highlighting the complexity of the programming process, Emma reveals that in a year when The O2 hosted 180 events, someone tracked 4,000 ‘pencilled’ dates during the process of producing a final diary for that year.

And, of course, those figures multiplied during the Covid years. Looking back on those troubled times, Emma says, “I left the venue like most people, thinking we were going to be closed for six weeks – and even that was tough to contemplate, as I had to home school two kids as well.

“There were essentially five bookers working on the diary at that time: me, Christian [D’Acuña], Marc [Saunders], Anna [Parry], and also Jo [Peplow Revell] who oversaw the corporate and special events. The fact we were no longer in the same room massively complicated things. In normal times, our jobs are a continual information swap in the office [with all of us] on the phone with promoters fighting over the same dates.

“I’m not sure how we got through Covid. Obviously, we had that initial wave where we needed to reschedule everything in the first three months, so we’d all be on the phone with each other to sort that out. But then it just kept going and going, and we’d be rescheduling the same shows three, four, five times.”

With The O2 operating as a makeshift Covid training centre, the venue remained a hub for Londoners, albeit for all the wrong reasons, while the programming team battled to find suitable new dates for hundreds of postponed shows.

“In the midst of the pandemic, we realised there would inevitably be a period of time when the venue would reopen, and we’d face a potential big gap in the diary,” says Emma. “So we came up with the idea of creating a series of events so that when the doors were allowed to reopen, we’d have something ready to go.”

“The best show I’ve ever booked is Monty Python. It was the most exciting show reveal I’ve ever worked on”

As a result, Emma and her team programmed a series of “Welcome Back Shows”, including three nights with Wizkid, Burna Boy, Mo Gilligan’s Black British Takeover and an NHS fundraiser with Gorillaz, to kick-start London’s live music scene when the UK’s first lockdown ended in August 2021.

As emotional as those first shows back at the venue were, it’s actually some of the non-music shows that she cites as career highlights.

Four Yorkshiremen

“The best show I’ve ever booked is Monty Python,” she states. “It was the most exciting show reveal I’ve ever worked on, because when I first went to see [producer] Phil McIntyre, he wouldn’t tell me what the event was. He started asking me loads of ticketing questions while telling me that lots of different promoters were bidding on the show, and he was worried details would leak, so it was better if he didn’t tell me who the act was.

“Because I couldn’t help with his ticketing questions, I went back the next day with Paul Newman from AXS, who was able to answer everything. But Phil still wouldn’t tell us details. There was a photo of John Cleese over his shoulder, so I suggested we hold the dates under a fake name – John Cleese. And he told us under no account should we use that name.

“So, Paul and I were convinced it was Monty Python, but we swore each other to secrecy and ended up holding the dates under the fake name ‘Russell Brand and Friends.’”

Roll forward to the Monty Python launch at a London theatre. “It was one of the most exciting days of my career, because I watched all of the Monty Python guys come on stage, and everyone in the place was going nuts. And then they announced their reunion and said they were going to pull the name of the venue out of a bag – I felt physically sick, but it was just so exciting. And then the shows themselves were incredible.

“The venues in Germany are actually having their busiest year ever. Between the two Berlin venues, they’ll do well over 300 shows

More Laughs

Comedy was central to another achievement for Emma and her team when, in March 2023, they brought the Just For Laughs festival to The O2.

“A friend of mine who I used to work with at Mean Fiddler, Nick Adair, who sadly passed away, was a massive comedy guy, and he used to talk about organising a comedy festival,” says Emma. “Then one year at ILMC, Steve Homer introduced me to Scott Mantell who represents a lot of comedy acts. It was one of those conversations at the bar, where everybody’s really enthusiastic. But during Covid, Scott introduced me to Just For Laughs in Canada. I pitched the idea to them, and then Steve Homer became involved, and it ended up being a three-way co-pro between us, Just For Laughs, and AEG Presents.”

Emma’s blueprint was to take the already successful Country to Country (C2C) concept and adapt something similar for comedy. “I wanted it to have a sort of Edinburgh Festival vibe where fans could walk from one venue to another in 30 seconds. What worked really well was having a load of programming in the Spiegel tent outside the venue that sold out. And we also had 11 sold-out shows in Indigo over the weekend.”

Hopeful that The O2 can host a comedy festival again, Emma notes that the concept is one that could also be replicated in the likes of Hamburg or Berlin – again emulating the success of C2C, which this year visited Berlin, Rotterdam, London, Glasgow, and Belfast.

Not that feeding AEG’s European venues is a necessity. “The venues in Germany are actually having their busiest year ever,” she reports. “Between the two Berlin venues, they’ll do well over 300 shows. We’re lucky to have a group of people who are sharing information that benefits other venues in the group. For example, Christian [D’Acuña], whose focus is on The O2 and the AEG Presents venues, recently persuaded an agent to book a date in Hamburg.”

Indeed, she lauds senior programming director D’Acuña as the most influential colleague she’s ever had. “I don’t really have a mentor, but the most important working relationship I’ve had has been with Christian. I’ve worked with him since May 2012, and I just can’t speak highly enough of him. When he started, he was programming admin assistant and, coming from Apple, he’d never done it before. But by October 2012, I was off on maternity leave, the venue was really busy, and at one point Christian was left on his own and just had to get on with it. Ever since then, any time I have a decision to make, I always check in with him as he’s like the other half of the brain.”

“We’re in this incredible position where we get to come and work in a music venue every day and see all these incredible acts”

With dates at The O2 held as far out as 2031, Emma and her London-based team are as busy as ever, but she still finds time to be on the board of Music Venue Trust, which fits in with her general ethos about venues being more than just places that host shows.

“We’re in this incredible position where we get to come and work in a music venue every day and see all these incredible acts. But venues can be so much more than that,” she says.

“Two years ago, we began to fund schools to help them participate in Young Voices, which has now played The O2 80 times.

“But the sad truth is that not all schools can afford it, so a couple of years ago we sponsored a local school. Then last year, we sponsored two schools. And this year, it’s going to be eight schools. And now other venues have started doing it and so have companies like PRG.

“It’s a really big deal for me: you can’t just be a music venue – there’s so much more you can do, and knowing we’re making a difference to so many children and their families is just great

Balancing Act

With quarter of a century under her belt and now leading the programming team at the world’s busiest arena, as well as its sister European buildings, Emma Bownes is at the top of the game. But she believes there’s still room for improvement.

“I don’t know about personal ambitions, but I’d like to be better at just trying to balance it all,” she concludes. “It probably also sounds cheesy but trying to balance being a good parent and doing this as well as I can is tricky. You always feel like you’re in the wrong place.

“But I do feel lucky, because this company that I work for, AEG, are totally fine with me being at my children’s sports day on Wednesday afternoon, in the knowledge that I’ll be at Olivia Rodrigo on Thursday night. And the night after that. It’s the best job in the world, and I wouldn’t swap it for anything.”

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Morrissey claims Marr ignored Smiths reunion offer

Morrissey has claimed that ex-bandmate and songwriting partner Johnny Marr “ignored” a recent offer by AEG to reunite The Smiths for a global tour.

The seminal Manchester band – Morrissey, Marr, bassist Andy Rourke, who died last year, and drummer Mike Joyce –split up in 1987 and have never reformed.

Morrissey, 65, pursued a successful solo career following the group’s disbandment, while 60-year-old guitar virtuoso Marr had stints as a member of the Pretenders, The The, Electronic, Modest Mouse and The Cribs before eventually going solo.

In a post on his website featuring a classic photo of the two of them together, Morrissey wrote: “In June 2024 AEG Entertainment Group made a lucrative offer to both Morrissey and Marr to tour worldwide as ‘The Smiths’ throughout 2025. Morrissey said Yes to the offer; Marr ignored the offer.

“Morrissey undertakes a largely sold out tour of the USA in November. Marr continues to tour as a special guest to New Order.”

In a 2022 interview, Marr said there was “zero chance” of him ever working with Morrissey again

Marr and AEG have been approached for comment. However, in a 2022 interview with BBC Radio 2, Marr said there was “zero chance” of him ever working with Morrissey again, adding that it had been “18 or maybe 15” years since he had last spoken to the frontman in person.

His comments followed another website post from Morrissey asking Marr to stop mentioning his name in interviews.

Speaking in 2012, Goldenvoice boss Paul Tollett said that Coachella “try every year” to book the band, despite them turning down a $5 million offer from the festival.

The talk comes days after fellow Manchester legends Oasis announced they are reuniting for the first time since 2009 for a series of huge shows next summer.

Revisit IQ‘s article on the music’s biggest reunion tours here.

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AEG & Onex comment on ASM-Legends deal

AEG and Onex have commented on the completion of Legends’ $2.325 billion acquisition of ASM Global.

Los Angeles-headquartered ASM was formed in 2019 following a merger between AEG Facilities and Onex’s SMG. The equity holders agreed to sell their ownership interests in the venue management company as part of the agreement with Legends, which was announced in November last year, with ASM continuing to serve existing and in-development AEG venues.

“This transaction is the culmination of our vision to drive ASM’s growth and unlock substantial business value in the company,” says Dan Beckerman, president, and CEO of AEG. “This milestone will allow us to focus on the continued growth of AEG’s core businesses, including our owned and operated real estate and venues, and our live entertainment and ticketing business.”

The operator of buildings including Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium, ICC Sydney Convention Center, Avicii Arena in Stockholm, OVO Arena Wembley, Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, ASM Global will continue to operate under its name “for the time being” in the wake of the deal.

“We are confident Legends will deliver continued growth and differentiated services to its clients around the globe in the years ahead”

“We are pleased to complete our investment in ASM after having partnered with its management team and with AEG to expand the business, successfully navigate the pandemic and position it for future success,” add Kosty Gilis and Amir Motamedi, MDs at Onex Partners. “We are confident Legends will deliver continued growth and differentiated services to its clients around the globe in the years ahead.”

Confirming the closing of the ASM deal on Friday, Sixth-Street global premium experiences giant Legends says the acquisition has created “the world’s preeminent premium live events company”. The combined firm plans to provide a “data-driven, customisable solution across all areas of venue operations and revenue generation”.

“Over the course of 15 years, we have developed an unmatched solution to deliver a superior fan experience and help our partners grow,” said Legends CEO Dan Levy. “We are proud to add ASM Global to deliver even better experiences and value for our global partners, setting the standard in sports and entertainment.”

Legends’ existing clients include Real Madrid, SoFi Stadium, Dallas Cowboys, FC Barcelona, New York Yankees, and Ryder Cup, as well as the NFL, MLB, NASCAR, PGA of America and FIFA World Cup, while its expanded geographic reach will now support partners across Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, and North and South America.

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AEG’s Jim King on ‘most diverse’ BST Hyde Park

AEG’s European festivals CEO Jim King has spoken to IQ about BST Hyde Park’s most “diverse and exciting” lineup yet.

The 11th edition of the London concert series kicked off on 28 June with All Things Orchestral, and includes concerts with Robbie Williams, Shania Twain, Andrea Bocelli, Stevie Nicks, Kylie, Kings of Leon, SZA, Morgan Wallen and Stray Kids.

Notably, Bocelli will be the event’s first classical headliner, while Stray Kids will follow in the footsteps of BLACKPINK who last year became the first-ever Korean band to headline a major UK music festival with their performance at BST.

“I think it’s really important that we’re stretching, musically, where we’ve been previously,” King tells IQ. “We’ve got a really great balance of shows and genres this year. We’ve also got strong female headliners, which we always strive to do. We’re very happy that Kylie, Shania, Stevie Nicks and SZA are on the bill.

“I think SZA is one of the most important contemporary artists around at the moment, certainly of her generation,” he continues. “We were really fortunate to be able to confirm her off the back of a long cycle. And we’re especially excited about Stevie Nicks. We’ve tried several times to book her and it’s never been the right moment so I thought we’d missed the chance.

“I think it’s really important that we’re stretching, musically, where we’ve been previously”

“She’s timeless and has never been more relevant,” says King. “When you look at the data of who buys her tickets, it’s a young audience. She’s got an unbelievably strong connection [with that audience] through the artists she’s inspired like Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey.”

Though this year’s sales don’t quite match up to 2023’s record year, in which 550,000 tickets were sold, King says the diverse bill has paid off.

“We’re still going to have one of the most successful series ever, with 500,000 people coming to the park – which is incredible when you match that up against any event around the world,” he says. “And what we’re seeing is artists outperforming themselves because there’s something magical about artists headlining shows in Hyde Park in the centre of London in the summer.”

BST’s unique setup tends to be a big draw for both artists and fans but King says it’s not easy to source the calibre of acts that meet the event’s criteria.

“This show stands for getting the biggest artists doing special things or a combination of things they’ve never done before,” he says. “We’re trying to provide fans with unique experiences they don’t normally get to see, not just a tour date, so we set the bar pretty high. This is Kylie’s only show [in London], while SZA is just playing here and Glastonbury and then Stevie Nicks rarely plays.”

“There are certainly fewer stadium-level, Hyde Park-level artists who are touring in ’24”

Weighing in on the much-discussed ‘headliner drought,’ King says: “There are certainly fewer stadium-level, Hyde Park-level artists who are touring in ’24 but I can assure you the 2025 marketplace is already busier so it’s just a cycle.”

King hastens to add that London is the “most competitive music market in the world” and that comes with advantages and disadvantages.

“The artists benefit from that because it’s a wonderful market to play and fans to get to enjoy the great diverse range of those artists coming in, so that’s positive,” he says. “But the competition has [downsides] in terms of the supply chain and staffing.

“We’ve lost a lot of really skilled engineers, riggers and staging contractors, as well as casual staff who were working security or cleaning or running bars,” he says. “And it takes a while to get that level of skill back in.

“I always say that if the first member of staff a fan meets when they come to one of our shows can’t respond to a question like ‘Where’s the bar’ or ‘Where’s the toilet’ or “Can I have this drink’ we’ve already lost.”

“We should find a pathway through this challenging problem and protect important revenue sources”

Another, newer challenge, in the festival sector has been artists boycotting events whose sponsors have ties to Israel.

“We always review and fully audit people we work with,” he says. “And we operate in a society of free speech – we respect everyone’s views within that. We’re a facilitator of music events and I think that a neutral position in our role is important to provide a platform for people to create their art and operate their businesses.

“At that same time, this industry doesn’t get much governmental support so it needs to find solutions from within itself. We should be sitting down as an industry and reflecting on how we should find a pathway through this challenging problem and protect important revenue sources.”

BST Hyde Park continues this Thursday (4 July) with a headline performance from Morgan Wallen.

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Strength in numbers: How firms are diversifying the workforce

When the global live music industry began its recovery from two years of lockdowns, many organisations found that their workforce had been significantly depleted. However, as a business that has often been criticised for its lack of diversity, a concerted effort began to try to improve the makeup of the teams of professionals behind the scenes that help artists go on tour and perform at festivals.

Forward-thinking companies and organisations have embraced the concept that a diverse workforce helps deliver a healthier balance sheet, as it better equips operators to cater for artists and fans from all walks of life while acknowledging that different people have different needs, both in the workplace and at live music events.

“Think about the differently abled community or those who are neurodivergent,” poses Lindsay LaBennett, Wasserman Group’s VP of impact and inclusion. “From an employer, they need a space where who they are naturally is accepted and appreciated. So, if you are on the spectrum – say being social takes too much energy out – you should be able to come to work and not have to go to the happy hour, not have to participate, because you do your best work when you aren’t having to be social.”

A 14-year staffer at Wasserman, LaBennett has been working in her DEI role for the past four years, but her interest in inclusive business practices and equity-based initiatives dates back to 2016.

“We have a diverse roster – it’s not cookie-cutter music: we have a mix of people, and we need our staff to reflect that”

“For me, it was the Colin Kaepernick situation that caused an internal shift,” she tells IQ. “I wanted to be part of the solution for Wasserman when it comes to making sure we are advocating for communities and that we are addressing our own inclusivity gaps. I was doing this internally since 2016, but at the end of 2020, I created the role that I’m in now.”

Describing that development as “staff-driven and corporate stamped,” LaBennett recalls that various colleagues were calling for DEI to become a priority. “We had people across our business saying that we needed someone whose role was to focus on it 100% of the time. And our leadership, Casey Wasserman, completely agreed.”

Such employee-driven demand is a common thread among the companies IQ spoke to for this report. “AEG worldwide has made DEI a corporate priority, appointing a DEI director that leads its efforts,” explains Samantha Fernandez, VP of global partnerships at AEG Presents. “However, it has had a number of employee network groups for far longer, which have highlighted and created spaces for various employees.” Those network groups include Pride AEG, of which Fernandez is the executive sponsor.

But it’s not just the multinational corporations that are making moves to improve the makeup of their staff, as Hilary Walsh, general manager at London-based agency Pure Represents, attests. “This is our third year in operation, and we are now a team of 15 people,” she states. “Angus [Baskerville], and his wife, Jodie Harkins, who set the company up, worked very hard on their planning for diversity in the workplace because we have a diverse roster – it’s not cookie-cutter music: we have a mix of people, and we need our staff to reflect that. As a result, we really strived to hire people from different backgrounds, so that when our artists come into our office, they’re able to see a diverse bunch of people who are working on their behalf.”

“Our success is how our fans and how our communities look at us”

She adds, “We’re not just diverse in terms of ethnicity, it’s in ages as well. We have an intern who came to us through Small Green Shoots and she’s brilliant. She’s 22 years old, so she has her finger on the pulse, and she comes at it from a completely different background and train of thought. That diversity in age is something that we actively look for when we recruit, because if we all like the same kind of music, nothing’s going to change.”

Multiple Benefits
Fostering diversity in the workplace doesn’t just help with A&R activities, as the positive impact it can have when dealing with consumers is having a major effect on hiring practices for those sectors that are fan-facing.

Launched in late 2015 with an employee count of just six people, Oak View Group’s impact on the global venues business has been nothing short of seismic, with a current headcount of close to 50,000, “And we’re on our way to 60,000 probably before the end of the year,” says chief people & culture officer, Ann Jackson.

Stressing the importance of having a diverse workforce, Jackson says, “Our success is how our fans and how our communities look at us. We can build buildings or manage buildings or provide services, but if the people think we don’t look like or represent their community, or don’t share the same feel or vibe, that’s not success. So, it’s important to our business model that we can get out there and be very intentional on our hiring process.”

“The language that we use in job postings and adverts has become more crucial than ever”

That sentiment is echoed by others in the venues sector. “We have a really strong local presence in the cities where we operate, with the majority of our staff coming from the immediate area,” says Lee Bayman, ASM Global’s HR director for Europe. “We’re going through a process of building our talent team at the moment, and what I hear in a lot of the interviews is that the candidates are existing customers, which is super positive, especially as I know that our existing employees also continue to be customers at our venues.”

He notes that ASM Global is currently updating its systems and processes to help with recruitment, with DEI being central to those manoeuvres. “There’s a lot of underground work that we need to do, and it’s not glamourous, but it’s essential to provide us with the tools that we need to then go on to the likes of social media to help with our recruitment drives,” he explains.

Elsewhere, Bayman says that advertising in trans publications and Pride magazines is helping broaden the search for new employees. “I don’t think we particularly struggle to get the message out in this industry, as live events are an open door to everyone. But the language that we use in job postings and adverts has become more crucial than ever, as we try to give people a feeling of what the culture is at ASM Global.”

Noting that Pure Represents uses specialist recruitment consultants, Walsh says the company also relies on trade publications to communicate about job vacancies.

“We’re always mining for where else we can find people: What are their locations? What other organisations can we get into partnership with?”

“We will advertise in the usual suspects of IQ Magazine and Music Week to reach a target bunch of people that we know want to work in music. If I put an ad in [the mainstream press], it might not achieve that goal,” says Walsh. “We’ve also had success advertising with Black Lives in Music, but finding all the right avenues is tricky, so we’re always open to hearing about new places where we can connect with a wider target audience.”

Walsh adds, “Being small and independent, we can choose who we work with to reach a diverse target audience. And that’s why working with a company like Small Green Shoots is really beneficial because they came with a whole selection of CVs to choose from.”

Detailing the OVG strategy for finding new staff, Jackson says, “Our head of talent acquisition and our head of DEI work very closely together to make sure that we’re always mining for where else we can find people: What are their locations? What other organisations can we get into partnership with?”

And with the venue conglomerate entering markets in the likes of Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East, education about cultural differences is hot on the agenda for the OVG recruitment teams.

“What really moves the needle is when we have our cis straight allies coming to the table”

“We need to make sure we understand the local culture by trying not to only have an American-centric view of everything,” stresses Jackson. “We try to make sure our Oak View Group values align with the local culture by talking to local people and engaging local HR professionals as well.”

Taking the Middle East as an example, Jackson says, “We need to learn what employee expectations are beyond the employment laws. From an employee experience perspective, we want Oak View Group to be a great thing in the Middle East, with our employees as our ambassadors, so it requires a lot of research and listening to our local partners.”

Education
DEI training is also becoming more important internally at companies working in live entertainment, and numerous specialist consultants and organisations now offer guidance and tuition on aspects such as inclusive language and behaviour.

For her part, Fernandez believes that training needs to start with senior management. “What really moves the needle is when we have our cis straight allies coming to the table,” she tells IQ. “When a boss starts using gender-neutral references to their partner, it really makes a huge difference. That’s started to happen quite a bit at AEG, which has a lot to do with these education programmes, and diversity training – when you highlight it, it really does start to make its way through.”

“Not everyone is a behemoth like Wasserman, but there are small things that we can all do every day to be more equitable”

Externally, Fernandez reports that AEG has developed a long-standing relationship with the LGBTQ Center. “Our ‘Pride at AEG’ group has spent time there in various ways, including a recent career session where we brought folks from all divisions of AEG to a moderated panel where young people were able to fire questions at us. The idea was to give them an idea of the various roles that exist in entertainment. I oversee brand partnerships – a job I didn’t know existed when I was younger. So we need to tell young people that there are careers out there for them.”

That scenario also rings true for Walsh. “Growing up, I never knew there were jobs like a music agent or a lighting designer. It would be amazing if we got to a place where career guidance at schools might involve real live examples of people speaking to the pupils: ‘I am an agent, and this is what an agent does.’ If we were able to engage with high-school-aged people, that’s where we could find the most diverse array of potential new recruits.”

In terms of outreach, LaBennett tells IQ that Wasserman Group has historic relationships with Black colleges and Hispanic-serving institutions. “We partner with them with the intention of bringing our expertise to the students, because having people [from the industry] visit college campuses is so much more meaningful than just reading books or listening to lectures or podcasts.”

But she is cognisant that the resources of the corporate world should be used to help the wider sports and entertainment sectors. “We’re aware that a lot of smaller companies don’t have the resources or budget, but we want to educate them and say, ‘Don’t let those be hurdles to being equitable.’ Not everyone is a behemoth like Wasserman, but there are small things that we can all do every day to be more equitable.”

“Our main focus is creating safe spaces for the LGBTIQ+ community to connect with each other”

Under the Microscope
With Pride month events filling the calendar over the next few weeks, companies operating in the live entertainment sector are acutely aware that the makeup of their workforce is being scrutinised by event attendees and the talent who entertain them.

Detailing some of AEG’s Pride initiatives, Fernandez says, “Our main focus is creating safe spaces for the LGBTIQ+ community to connect with each other – and that also goes for our LGBTIQ+ staff and allies.

“AEG is an official sponsor of LA Pride, and we have a quite a large presence there. And then we do various internal events throughout the year. Last year, for instance, we screened a documentary by the Trevor Project and had a Q&A afterwards.”

However, noting that it can be difficult for some people to talk about their identity, Fernandez observes, “It’s not often that you’ll interview somebody and they’ll say, ‘Hi, I’m part of the LGBTIQ+ community.’ That’s a really interesting challenge – how to ensure we are casting a wide net when it comes to hiring, as it relates to the LGBTIQ+ community, but still wanting to protect people’s identity if they want it protected.”

“I think folks are expecting some kind of sort of visible commitment to diversity”

When it comes to recruitment, ASM’s Bayman observes that job candidates are more assertive than ever, asking probing questions of HR professionals in terms of DEI policies, sustainability, and staff support structures.

“It’s important to use the recruitment process to help people understand what your company culture is, but you also need to be prepared to be transparent and honest about what their role might be, both when it’s crazily busy and when it’s a quiet day, otherwise people start working for you and the reality is nowhere near what they might have expected,” he says.

Homing in on the kinds of proactive elements that can entice people from all walks of life to consider live music as a career path, Fernandez says, “I can speak mostly to the LGBTIQ+ community, of which I am a part. I think folks are expecting some kind of sort of visible commitment to diversity, both in the events that we do and the lineups that we book.

“There was a lot of press that came out of Coachella this year about the number of female queer artists, which was amazing to see. For our employee base, those kinds of things bring us a lot of, for lack of a better word, pride.”

“In the time that I’ve been at AEG, the leave policy for a non-carrying parent, and for a carrying parent more than tripled in both cases”

Fernandez applauds her employer for listening and reacting to the needs of staff. “In the time that I’ve been at AEG, the leave policy for a non-carrying parent, and for a carrying parent more than tripled in both cases. For somebody who is in a same-sex partnership, and who has both carried children and been a non-carrying parent, it really made a huge difference for our family.”

At Wasserman, LaBennett comments, “In my experience, what people need from their employer is to be able to show up authentically and to have a space where they feel a sense of belonging – they want to see other people that look like them. Imagine having a disability and when you come to work you see someone else with that same disability: there’s an instant connection and instant community. Whether you are Black, Hispanic, Asian, part of the queer community, you want to see people who are walking your walk.”

Results
While endeavouring to build truly diverse teams is crucial to 21st-century commerce, establishing protocols to measure company progress can be a difficult proposition.

“We do employee testimonials to ask how they feel about new things we implement. So we’ll check-in with people three months down the line to gauge opinions as a kind of measure,” says Jackson of some of OVG’s efforts to track DEI results.

“At the end of the day, if we’re not making a difference, what are we doing?”

“We attach it to competencies within our performance management. Have we seen an increase in our hiring? Have we seen diversity improvement among suppliers coming to work at OVG? So, where we have data, we collect it to figure out ‘is this good enough for us?’ To be honest, so far, it’s not, but we’re giving ourselves grace because we know that we are committed to it.”

Fernandez notes that AEG carries out attitude-based surveys, quizzing staff if they feel connected to the work environment and if they feel their identity is being celebrated. Meanwhile, the company’s DEI and HR teams calculate changes in workforce demographics on an annual basis.

For a smaller company like Pure Represents, results are easier to assess. “We just need to look around the office to see the results,” says Walsh. “We heavily promote inclusion as one of Pure’s fundamental principles. So, when we have A&R meetings, for example, we invite marketing, we invite the intern, and everyone is encouraged to share their thoughts on the artists that we’re talking about. You can do that when you’re 15 people. If you’re in an office of 200 people, you may have less of a voice.”

Agreeing on the importance of monitoring progression in building diverse teams, LaBennett says, “We’re constantly challenging ourselves to come up with creative [key performance indicators] and metrics because, at the end of the day, if we’re not making a difference, what are we doing?”

“In order to get your bonus or to get promoted, there’s a DEI behaviour that we’re looking for”

One Wasserman-related yardstick she points to involves its college music business programme. “It boils down to whether we are able to hire the students: Did they secure an internship? After they secured an internship, were they offered full-time employment? If we’re able to say Wasserman hired eight interns, and of those eight, four of them are returning and two of them are getting full-time jobs, that’s a metric that matters.”

Indeed, in a move designed to ensure that those results continue to improve, Wasserman has integrated DEI participation into every employee’s performance review. “In order to get your bonus or to get promoted, there’s a DEI behaviour that we’re looking for,” explains LaBennett.

“That might be something as simple as working with a Black-owned caterer when you’re hosting an event. Or if you are going to go speak to college students, making sure you include people that are neurodivergent. There has to be some sort of element of your work that is equitable and inclusive.”

Challenges
While real strides are being taken across the live music entertainment business to fill vacancies with individuals from marginalised groups, the task facing recruiters is not without its difficulties.

OVG’s Jackson comments, “Underrepresented people, whatever group they’re part of, want to be valued. It’s our task to understand what is important to them, whether it’s through their culture or religion or whatever group they’re part of, and we need to show a value to that, rather than discount them or being deaf to them.

“This industry has historically been led by white males – and it still is – but the employees we’re hiring now need to be given the confidence that [they] will one day be the industry’s leaders. We want them to be leaders in 15, 20 years, and we will try to put things in place to let them see that we’re supporting that for real and that they have a long-term home here.”

“Being able to stick with it is crucial, because results are not immediate”

Considering career progression, LaBennett flags up staff retention as an ongoing battle. “It’s hugely important because career growth usually comes when you’ve been here for a while, then you get elevated to senior director or vice president. But, if we’re not able to retain that talent in the first place, that’s going to negatively impact our diversity ambitions.”

LaBennett also highlights empathy fatigue as a real challenge in the drive to embrace DEI initiatives. “In 2020, the world was revved up about the need to be more equitable and the need to help certain communities,” she recalls.

“Basically, we’re talking about biases – race and gender and sexuality and religion in the workplace – and 15 years ago, we weren’t doing that. Matter of fact, we were consciously staying away from it.

“Being able to stick with it is crucial, because results are not immediate. With DEI work, we’re sowing seeds and then we’re watering the seeds and then getting the sun to come in. But we won’t bear that fruit anytime soon.”

Work in (Good) Progress
As companies throughout the sector meet potential new employees who fully expect favourable DEI terms – often before they even agree to attending a job interview, those key policies are becoming essential throughout the industry, as suppliers and contractors are also being urged to step up their game.

“The bottom line is the more diverse a team you have, the more diverse the clients you’re going to attract”

“We have, like, a very robust supplier diversity programme here in the States,” Oakview Group’s Jackson reveals. “We gather data on suppliers, we measure that, and we set goals on how we want to grow, year over year.”

Pure’s Walsh observes, “At interview level, we find that potential employees often have read the ‘people and planet’ section on our website, where we outline our policies on diversity and sustainability. They also take a keen interest in our links to Earth Percent, Small Green Shoots and Black Lives in Music, the interviewee looks at the company holistically and its culture – it’s no longer just about the salary offered.”

LaBennett states, “The bottom line is the more diverse a team you have, the more diverse the clients you’re going to attract. If you go to a music festival right now, you’re not seeing one kind of person: you’re seeing a myriad of people from different backgrounds. If we aren’t recog- nising that those are the ultimate people that our artists are trying to reach, then we’re failing.”

Walsh concludes, “Every day is a school day – there’s constantly new challenges, and what worked last week might no longer work this week. But so long as everyone is open to that, and open to learning, then I think we’re going in the right direction.”

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The O2 to introduce self-serve bars

London’s The O2 has announced the introduction of self-serve bars, powered by Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology.

The AEG-owned arena previously deployed self-order kiosks and self-pour drink stations within the arena in a bid to speed up service and reduce queues.

The self-serve bars will roll out this summer, enabling guests to tap in with contactless payment, select their chosen drinks and snacks, and go – exiting without the need for a traditional checkout.

The O2 (cap. 20,000) says it’s planning to open additional self-serve bars powered by Just Walk Out technology in the future, with a second location set to open later this year.

“Our strategic investments in technology are guided by our commitment to creating seamless experiences that our guests really value,” says Adam Pearson, commercial director, The O2. “The integration of Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology is a direct result of our ongoing efforts, alongside our partner Levy UK + Ireland, to listen to our guests and implement solutions that meet their expectations for convenience and efficiency at every touchpoint. As the world’s leading venue, we don’t stand still and the fan experience will always be a priority for us.”

“Our strategic investments in technology are guided by our commitment to creating seamless experiences that our guests really value”

Rak Kalidas, chief creative officer of Levy UK + Ireland, added: “Our collaboration with The O2 and Amazon is a powerful example of how we are working together to innovate and enhance the fan experience. This project underscores our dedication to leveraging technology to meet the evolving needs of today’s entertainment venues.”

Jon Jenkins, vice president of Just Walk Out technology, Amazon, said: “Bringing Just Walk Out technology to a world-class venue like The O2 is an exciting next step in our continued growth in the UK. We look forward to growing our footprint in the years to come, bringing our technology to more locations across the country with Levy UK & Ireland.”

Earlier this year, the SSE Arena in Belfast became the first indoor arena in Europe to integrate Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, enabling checkout-free shopping at its Pay & Away shop.

Just Walk Out technology has already been rolled out in US venues including TD Garden in Boston, Lumen Field in Seattle, and Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

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AXS takes over NEC Group’s The Ticket Factory

AEG-owned ticketing firm AXS is taking over the ticketing operations previously handled by NEC Group’s internal ticketing arm, The Ticket Factory.

As part of the deal, AXS will now provide its ticketing services to NEC Group’s venues, the Resorts World Arena (cap. 15,685) and Utilita Arena Birmingham (15,800).

In addition, AXS will establish a ticketing hub in Birmingham adjacent to the NEC Campus, and all existing employee roles within The Ticket Factory at the NEC Group will become part of the firm.

“We want to make every customer’s experience brilliant, from the moment they think about buying a ticket, to the experience they have at our venues, and every interaction beyond,” says NEC Group CEO Mel Smith, who last year succeeded Paul Thandi.

“The AXS platform opens new and exciting opportunities for us to connect with customers and enhance their journey with us. We are delighted AXS has chosen to establish a centre of ticketing operations in Birmingham and look forward to a long-term partnership for the benefit of customers and the community.”

“The AXS platform opens new and exciting opportunities for us to connect with customers and enhance their journey with us”

Bryan Perez, CEO, AXS, adds: “We have long admired the NEC Group and The Ticket Factory and are therefore thrilled to welcome them into the AXS family. We share their vision for transforming the entire customer journey for fans at Resorts World Arena and Utilita Arena Birmingham and look forward to deploying our industry-leading AXS Mobile ID for fans and Apex platform for arenas to meet that goal. We are also excited to establish another base of operations in the West Midlands that will help grow and service our partners throughout the UK.”

AXS is the ticketing partner for more than 500 venues, sports teams and event organisers across North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. With offices in London and Manchester, the global ticketing firm’s clients include USGA, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Crypto.com Arena, Coachella, Stagecoach, Stockholm Live, The O2, and B. League (Japan).

In the past fortnight, AXS has acquired a majority stake in event tech firm WRSTBND and secured a partnership with TikTok on an in-app ticketing feature.

AXS’s parent company AEG was reportedly interested in acquiring Vivendi-owned See Tickets but the UK-headquartered ticketing company was snapped up by CTS Eventim earlier this month.

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AXS acquires event tech firm WRSTBND

AEG-owned ticketing firm AXS has acquired a majority stake in event tech firm WRSTBND, a provider of access control, credentialing and point-of-sale solutions for live events and venues.

AXS says the deal highlights its commitment to enhancing the onsite fan experience, “streamlining entry and exit procedures, making payments more frictionless”, as well as creating “personalised experiences for attendees”.

WRSTBND plans to utilise the investment to significantly grow its capabilities and offerings to clients by integrating AXS Mobile ID technology with WRSTBND’s ecosystem.

“WRSTBND has established itself as one of the rising stars within the live event access control and credential management business, solving some of the most high-profile and complicated problems for the Super Bowl, US Open, and the NFL Draft,” says AXS chief strategy officer Marc Ruxin. “Their hardware and software technology combined with the scale of AXS’ premier festivals and live event clients, including Coachella, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Fest and BST Hyde Park, will create the most seamless and cutting-edge access and payment solutions available anywhere.”

“Together, with the help of their resources and our technology, we will continue to push boundaries”

Conway Solomon, WRSTBND co-founder, and CEO, along with Jonathan Foucheaux, co-founder, and CTO, share their excitement about the partnership’s potential

“From the very beginning, the AXS team shared our vision for how WRSTBND could be integrated and utilised for festivals and events all across the world,” they say. “Together, with the help of their resources and our technology, we will continue to push boundaries to develop and implement unparalleled solutions for our clients and their patrons.”

Earlier this week, AXS also announced a partnership with TikTok on an in-app ticketing feature that enables Certified Artists on TikTok to promote their live dates to new and existing fans globally on the platform.

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CTS Eventim wins race to acquire See Tickets

CTS Eventim is set to acquire See Tickets and a portfolio of festivals from the French-headquartered media group Vivendi.

The German live entertainment behemoth was among several parties to register interest in buying See Tickets, along with Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG).

However, CTS today announced it has signed a put option agreement on Vivendi’s festival and international ticketing activities, which form part of its Vivendi Village subsidiary.

The transaction is expected to be complete in the coming months and both See Tickets and the festival business will retain their existing identities and management.

While the price of the acquisition was not revealed, the Financial Times reported that Vivendi was seeking up to £300 million (€351m) for See Tickets, which the French firm bought for €96m in 2011.

The UK-headquartered ticketing company, which operates in nine countries worldwide, sold around 44 million tickets in 2023.

Also included in the CTS deal is Vivendi’s festival arm, which includes 11 events such as the UK’s Love Supreme and Kite, and Garorock in France.

The ticketing and festival activities that CTS Eventim is set to acquire from Vivendi collectively produced €137 million in revenues in 2023.

“CTS Eventim will be the right company to bring our ticketing and festival activities to new heights”

The ticketing business generated roughly €105 million of that, with the UK market responsible for the largest share, followed by its US market. The festival business that is part of the current deal generated an additional €32 million.

Vivendi’s performance hall activities, including L’Olympia in Paris, as well as See Tickets France and Brive Festival, are not part of the agreement.

“With See Tickets and its festival operations, Vivendi has established two notable players in the ticketing and live entertainment sector,” says Klaus-Peter Schulenberg, CEO, CTS Eventim.

“I’d like to thank Vivendi for the productive negotiations, which have created a strong foundation for success in an industry enjoying robust growth across Europe. The acquisition supports our internationalisation strategy and will also benefit artists and their managers, as we will be able to offer even more seamless services on a global scale. We look forward to collaborating with our new colleagues on shaping the future of live entertainment.”

Hala Bavière, CEO of Vivendi Village and member of the Executive Committee of Vivendi: “I am proud of what has been accomplished over more than a decade and extremely grateful for the strong dedication of all the teams involved. We at Vivendi are convinced that CTS Eventim will be the right company to bring our ticketing and festival activities to new heights, supporting See Tickets to remain a state-of-the-art company in services and technology, while fostering the growth of the festivals and preserving their unique identities and audience.”

CTS Eventim recently confirmed its 18th record year of revenue since its IPO in 2000. The pan-European ticketing and live entertainment giant’s annual revenue was up 22% in 2023, surpassing €2 billion for the first time to reach €2.359bn, while normalised EBITDA increased at 32% to reach €501.4 million.

Meanwhile, the firm’s share price has increased by 11.20% in the past five days, reaching an all-time high of €83.60 this morning.

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AEG’s Lucy Noble on taking classical to the masses

AEG Presents’ first artistic director Lucy Noble has reflected on her first year in the role and her ongoing efforts to break down barriers around classical and orchestral music.

Noble joined AEG’s European senior leadership team in late 2022 after two decades at London’s Royal Albert Hall (RAH), where she held a hybrid commercial/artistic role at the venue prior to being appointed as its first artistic director in 2021.

At AEG, she has assumed responsibility for setting the artistic direction across the firm’s live touring and events business, and plans are afoot to grow the team.

“I felt like I had a few other adventures in me yet” she tells IQ. “I was working out what to do next, and this opportunity came up. It wasn’t that AEG was looking for an artistic director, we kind of cooked the idea up together – I was saying, ‘I can bring this and cover this whole range of genres you’re not doing.’

“I’m looking at theatrical projects, dance projects, immersive stuff… I’m basically creating a new division. AEG is very supportive because, although it will take time to build, it’s a big area of potential growth.”

Expanding the company’s repertoire, Noble is currently overseeing tours by the likes of Nitin Sawhney and Blue Man Group, and launched All Things Orchestral at BST Hyde Park in London last June as part of its Open House series programme of cultural activities.

“I think there are some barriers around classical music. Everyone needs to feel welcome and know that it is for them – and that it’s not elitist in any way”

“BST was a real highlight,” says Noble. “All Things Orchestral was the first classical offering at BST and it was a very short timeline to put it on – about five weeks or something.”

Presented by Myleene Klass, featuring Alfie Boe and performed by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, the event took fans on a journey through classical music, both traditional and modern. With a mission to “bring classical music back for all”, general admission ticket prices were set at £11.45 (€13.38).

“It was all about having that relaxed, family offering with accessible ticket prices,” she adds. “We’re hopefully doing it again this year.”

In 2024, BST will go a step further by welcoming Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, who will become the event’s first classical headliner on 5 July (“That’s largely gone through the festival team, although I’ve been slightly involved,” clarifies Noble).

Nevertheless, her first year has not been without obstacles, and Noble explains her chief concern is to spread the message that the genre is “for everyone”.

“I think there are some barriers around classical music,” she says. “I think that everyone needs to feel welcome and know that it is for them – and that it’s not elitist in any way. I want to let everyone listen to it. That might mean presenting it in slightly different ways, but it doesn’t mean dumbing it down, because it will still be of the highest quality.”

“I want to take orchestras into new environments… It’s hard, but we will get there”

She continues: “I worked with six of the major UK-based orchestras last year, and I think I’m the only commercial promoter to be doing that. I want to support UK orchestras because they’re amazing, and open them up to as many people as possible, but it is a challenge.

“I want to take orchestras into new environments. I took some into the arenas last year, and it was hard to get those audiences to migrate to different venues, so there’s a lot of work to be done. It’s hard, but we will get there. I’m determined to open it up.”

Under Noble’s direction, the RAH gained a reputation as a promoter in its own right, producing original concerts as well as attracting a wide range of high profile shows, promoters and artists. At AEG, she is tasked with overseeing content creation as well as the production of new events. She is also responsible for promoting and touring shows.

“It’s a completely different world being a promoter to running a venue, it couldn’t be more opposite, and it took me a while to get into the new way of doing it all,” remarks Noble. “And obviously coming from a charity and then going to the commercial sector was quite a change as well.

“It’s been more challenging than I thought, but there have also been some positives that I didn’t expect. I’m basically in a startup – that’s what it feels like – but I’ve pulled a proper business plan together now and now I think I can say where we’ll be in the next two, three, four, five years.”

Other related AEG projects include its films with orchestra series and Video Games in Concert, which brings scores from World of Warcraft, God of War: Ragnarok, The Last of Us and The Witcher III: Wild Hunt, among others, to UK concert halls with The Heritage Orchestra, conducted by Eímear Noone. Noble has also organised a tour with organist and TikTok star Anna Lapwood.

“I work in a world that doesn’t necessarily conform with the traditional styles of promoting”

“The target is to grow the business and do more shows, but it’s about quality, not quantity,” says Noble. “I want to be an integral part of the promoting community so that people come to us as their first choice, because we do things really well.

“I’m trying to think about promoting differently and that’s because I work in a world that doesn’t necessarily conform with the traditional styles of promoting. But also with my experience in the charitable sector, I’m able to add in different strands alongside the concerts.

“I’ve been talking to artists about how they engage with things like music education which could include workshops in schools but then on the other side of things thinking creatively about how they present their material and that could mean us working with arrangers so that artists can perform with orchestras.”

While Noble’s initial focus has been on the UK, there is also an eye on expanding into Europe and other territories.

“I am UK-based mostly but I’m looking at some global projects that AEG will potentially invest in,” she says. “For example, I’m looking at doing a Christmas season at one of our venues, Verti Music Hall in Berlin.”

Outside of AEG, Noble has taken on the role of vice chair of Nordoff and Robbins, supporting newly installed chair Emma Banks of CAA, after joining the music therapy charity’s Board of Trustees last April.

“I’m excited to do that because it fulfils the charitable side, which has played such a big part in my life until now,” says Noble. “It’s great that I can help support them and I’m really looking forward to working with Emma. I’m going to help them with the business overall, but fundraising will be a key element.”

Noble also offers her thoughts on the Women and Equalities Committee’s (WEC) recently published Misogyny in Music report, which concluded that: “Sexual harassment and abuse in the music industry remains widespread” and demanded urgent action to tackle “endemic” misogyny and discrimination in the UK business. ILMC will be hosting a discussion on Thursday 29 February to consider the response from the live sector.

“It’s definitely something that needs to be addressed,” says Noble. “It needs to be addressed front-on and I’m glad that it’s being highlighted. I think it’s important.”

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