AEG Global Partnerships seals APAC venue link-ups

AEG Global Partnerships has secured new link-ups with IG Group, Bacardi and Volvo at its live events venues in Japan and Thailand.

IG Group has taken the naming rights for the new 17,000-seat arena currently under construction in Nagoya Japan, which will now be known as the IG Arena.

The 10-year deal between IG Group, the Aichi International Arena Company and AEG Global Partnerships is one of the largest-ever naming rights agreements in the APAC region. It comes just six months after AEG joined forces with The EM District and UOB to seal a similar deal for new Thailand live entertainment venue UOB Live, which opens this weekend.

Bacardi and Volvo have also signed deals to become the first founding partners at UOB Live, with both to have a large-scale brand presence and partnerships across the venue, with Bacardi becoming the exclusive beverage partner and Volvo becoming the exclusive automotive partner.

“We are proud to align UOB LIVE with two of the world’s most iconic, global brands – Bacardi and Volvo, each of which is best-in-class in their respective industries,” adds says Grossarth, general manager of UOB LIVE. “Their commitment to excellence matches ours and will help us amplify the world-class experiences that our guests can expect when they visit our venue.”

“Together, we will be able to enhance fans’ world-class experiences at our state-of-the-art venues, while offering opportunities for brands”

UOB LIVE launches on Sunday (11 February) with a specially tailored one-night-only concert produced and performed by Ed Sheeran. The venue, which promises to “reshape the live entertainment landscape” in the region, will be located at The Emsphere shopping mall in Bangkok and will be managed by ASM Global.

“IG Group, Bacardi and Volvo are all world leaders in their respective industries, and their commitment to excellence matches our own,” says Matthew Zweck, AEG Global Partnerships VP – Asia-Pacific. “Together, we will be able to enhance fans’ world-class experiences at our state-of-the-art venues, while offering opportunities for brands to excite, engage and reward both existing and prospective customers.”

Over the past 12 months, AEG Global Partnerships has signed new agreements across Japan, China, Thailand and Singapore worth $100 million – and growth is expected to continue throughout 2024 and into 2025. Further new AEG venues are already under construction in Osaka, Japan, and Seoul, South Korea, with AEG Global Partnerships poised to extend further naming rights and sponsorship agreements.

“The live entertainment industry in the APAC region is going from strength to strength and, as part of AEG, we can offer unrivalled naming rights and venue partnership opportunities at some of the best venues in the world,” says AEG Global Partnerships EVP Paul Samuels. “We are constantly reimagining partnerships, creating bespoke, integrated strategies designed to meet brands’ objectives, while enhancing fans’ experiences at some of the world’s leading venues.”

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Live Nation partners on new South Korea arena

Live Nation is partnering with Korea’s Busan Metropolitan City and to develop a new arena and multi-cultural entertainment complex in Busan, South Korea’s second most populous city.

The new destination will include a 20,000-capacity arena, an exhibition centre, hotels, and an educational facility to foster talent in K-pop and K-culture.

Live Nation will manage the venue, with the local Live Nation Korea team also providing expertise on content and concert promotion to book talent.

“As we continue to expand our global venue business, Busan will be an important touring hub for global superstars who are touring more of the world, as well as K-pop and local artists,” says Live Nation president & CEO Michael Rapino. “We’re excited to help create more opportunities for artists and fans to connect, while also contributing to the growing tourism in the city.”

Busan City will assist with the approval procedures relevant to the project site and provide administrative support. Three potential sites are being investigated for the complex in Busan City’s projects.

“The arena will become a hub of tourism empowered by K-pop, contributing to the local and national economy”

“The arena will become a hub of tourism empowered by K-pop, contributing to the local and national economy,” says Busan’s mayor Heong-Joon Park. “The complex will create many opportunities and synergies with other cultural organizations in Busan including Osiria Sightseeing Complex, Haeundae Beach and local festivals like Busan Fireworks Festival and G-Star. We are looking forward to seeing Busan transforming into a global city full of cultural diversity.”

Live Nation’s Venue Nation owns, operates or has equity interests in a global portfolio of more than 250 live entertainment venues. Across the Asia Pacific, Venue Nation also oversees Grange Road in Singapore, Spark Arena in New Zealand, and the Palais Theatre, Festival Hall, Anita’s Theatre, Fortitude Music Hall, and Hindley Street Music Hall in Australia.

It was reported earlier this year that South Korea is to gain three new concert venues by the end of 2025 as it moves to capitalise on the demand created by the K-pop explosion.

PHOTO: Heong-Joon Park, mayor of Busan City, Greg Gillin, SVP – venue development, Live Nation, and Seung-Han Lee, CEO of B.GET.

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WME’s Apac head on why the future is Asian

In 2015, WME Music expanded its global footprint by acquiring Australian indie powerhouse Artist Voice, giving the agency a dedicated Asia-Pacific (Apac) division based in Sydney.

Five years on, the Apac office serves as an increasingly important gateway to Asia, with over 100 WME-IMG staff looking after more than 2,000 artists in the region, including Dua Lipa, Lizzo, Lewis Capaldi, King Princess, 6lack, Summer Walker, Crowded House, the Kid Laroi, Angus and Julia Stone and Chet Faker.

Here, Artist Voice CEO Brett Murrihy – now a partner at WME and head of Asia-Pacific for music – speaks about the agency’s Asia-Pacific growth, opportunities in the region, the benefits of not “outsourcing” its Asian business and, of course, the evolving coronavirus situation…

IQ: Congratulations on five years! How are things down under? It seems you’ve bounced back quickly from Covid-19…
BM: Without a doubt, the Asia-Pacific region has dealt with the curbing of Covid numbers better than any other territory. And government discussions are already taking place around travel bubbles between Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.

So while Europe and America wait for a vaccine, Apac is open for business?
Well, depending on how quickly a vaccine is made available, it is conceivable that, with those number of territories open and available in the touring calendar, major artists will look to open their world tours in this part of the world.

This additional focus and touring will only continue to solidify the region as the one with the most opportunity and upside. Australian events are already at 75% capacity, and we have just sold out a 12-date arena tour run of New Zealand for Crowded House.

Beyond Covid-19, what are the unique challenges and opportunities working in the Asia-Pacific region?
The Asian territories are not homogenous – we face the challenges of multiple currencies, cultures, languages, religions, visas, tax, marketing mediums, streaming services and ticketing providers. With the rising middle class in Asia and their increased disposable income, many Asian countries are progressing through a “youth bulge” which presents us with a myriad of opportunities to accelerate artist development. The westernisation and youth of economic powerhouses China and India makes the territory the most exciting from both a domestic and international touring standpoint.

Our Apac business is heavily based around trust, relationships and respect. This is not something that happens overnight; it is ever-evolving and in a constant state of flux. These parameters couldn’t grow without physical proximity and attention towards building a long-term touring market. I feel the need to specifically cultivate and maintain these relationships with clients with a hands-on approach. For myself, learning Mandarin over the past 18 months is a part of the cultural integration, as well a mark of respect for the importance of the China market for the future of our artists and their careers.

“I feel it is only a matter of time before the other global major agencies establish local operations here”

It depends on the territory, then.
A one-size-fits-all approach to Apac does not work. There are unique nuances and differences in each individual country within the market, both from a cultural and business perspective. These differences must be understood and honoured if you wish to make real impact and avoid unnecessary costs. For example, a global streaming deal that is produced in the UK and sold to separate entities across Apac produces different withholding tax treatments for each jurisdiction that must be fully understood by the artist management in order to avoid costly errors. As an agency, these unique challenges have become our opportunities.

What does an artist need to do to make it big in Asia?
From an artist perspective, there are significant opportunities for those artists who are willing to spend time and attention specifically towards Apac. This includes studying and understanding each market and how they should be treated differently; understanding how the touring markets work, and when/how often they should be visited; understanding how the different local social media, DSPs, radio, TV and marketing works and how best to integrate into these areas in a meaningful way; and understanding how music releases should be approached, having informed and current knowledge of the local artists, and curating collaborations that will be organic and create a more localised and tailored approach.

This will lead to an understanding of the varied audiences musically and culturally, which will result in an improved result both professionally and financially for our artists.

Tell us about your local roster.
WME is extremely proud to represent 88rising globally, and the WME Asian roster includes Rich Brian, Joji, Niki, Jackson Wang, Higher Brothers, Stephanie Poetri, Keith Ape and Lexie Liu, to name a few. This year we also put together, in conjunction with 88risin,g the first Asian Head in the Clouds Festival in Jakarta, at Ji Expo, which had sold 20,000 tickets before the pandemic struck.

We also represent Mongolian artist the Hu and household- name Japanese rock band X Japan, who are doing incredible business globally, and South Korean artists Eric Nam, Epic High and Cat & Calmell, who likewise are generating a global following. Like everyone I’m sure, we are building relationships and A&R structure to be on the precipice of signing the next BTS, Blackpink, JJLin or Jay Chou out of Asia.

“A one-size-fits-all approach to Apac does not work”

Why base WME Music’s Apac operation in Australia instead of, say, Shanghai?
Apec the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, was founded by Australia and first operated from Canberra. Historically the Asian record labels have also been overseen and run out of Australia, and this year Live Nation have now followed WME’s lead in overseeing the Asia-Pacific operation from Melbourne, Australia. Operating in the same time zone and having the ability to work as a hub is a major advantage in being able to do business and confirm deals in real time. We have been able to confirm late cancellations or remaining festival slots through our availability and accessibility, and this has been significant.

It is also worth noting that many of the major Asian promoters, record executives and artists have schooling ties within Australia, giving a collective Asian consciousness and togetherness with Australian counterparts.

What are the benefits of having a dedicated Apac office?
Whereas many of our competitors outsource their Asian artist service capability to the individual promoters on each tour, the Apac time zone means that we are immersed in a region that has 60% of the world’s population in 48 countries and leads the world in mobile usage, content consumption and ecommerce.

WME is the only global agency in the Asia-Pacific market that is holistic with artist development strategy, though live touring, branding, fashion, film and TV, digital and sports. Most independent domestic agencies in Australia, meanwhile, don’t book internationally past Australia/New Zealand and only represent ‘local’ artist repertoires in live. This provides WME with a decided market advantage.

Do you see your rivals following suit?
Our Sydney office displays an upward trajectory, with consistent new signings and significant revenue growth, so with this successful footprint I feel it is only a matter of time before the other global major agencies establish local operations here. For us, it is about maintaining and increasing the advantage we have established for our global roster of artists in this incredibly important market. As a group, we now have in excess of twenty years of local knowledge, which is is current and constantly updated.

Aside from the increasing importance of the Apac market, how do you see the next five years shaping up?
WME plans to continue to build our footprint in the next five years, as I envisage a period of hypergrowth for our office. Pre-pandemic, our Q1 2020 was the biggest on record, and we have reason to be very buoyant on what our roster and future holds.

We are confident that we are able to sign the hottest talent in the world, as well as attract established artists looking to build on previous forays into Asia Pacific.

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