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 There's an interesting mention of Madonna's upcoming tour plans in an article on the business pages of The Times today. The UK newspaper mentions how the United Arab Emirates are set to become the playground where the world's leading touring companies - AEG and Live Nation - will compete to bring the world's best live acts.
AEG, which reinvented the Millennium Dome as a live music venue, plans to lure acts such as Prince and Bon Jovi to the Gulf to perform in new, purpose-built arenas, The Times reports.
Live Nation, the world's largest concert promoter and AEG's leading global rival, is beating a similar trail by acquiring a controlling stake in Mirage, a leading Dubai-based promoter, which has hosted concerts by Aerosmith and Shakira.
Madonna, who has signed an exclusive music and concert deal with Live Nation, is expected to add Dubai, the UAE’s main city, to her tour circuit, the newspaper writes.
Source: The Times.
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Mon, March 24
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Forbes magazine has compiled the Top 20 paydays of 2007 for the entertainment industry, with four performers - 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Sammy Hagar and Madonna - making the list together with one music executive, David Geffen.
50 Cent won paydirt when beverage Vitaminwater was bought by Coca-Cola for $4.1 billion. Instead of taking a cash payment for endorsing the product, Fiddy took shares in the company. When Coke cashed in, Fiddy cashed out, to the tune of $100 million.
Jay-Z banked $82 million in a single day when his clothing label Rocawear was sold to Iconix Brand Group for $204 million.
Sammy Hagar added $80 million to his bank account when he sold 80% of his tequila company Cabo Wabo to Gruppo Campari.
Madonna became $43 million richer in one day this year when she signed with Live Nation. After a career with Warner Music, the autograph of material girl at the end of the Live Nation contract grabbed her instant $18 million signing bonus plus $25 million in stock. She will then receive a $17 million advance on each of the next three albums she records for Live Nation.
Record industry mogul David Geffen picked up his $37.5 million booty when he sold his Manhattan penthouse. He bought it one year earlier for $31 million.
The biggest entertainment payday of the year however went to George Lucas, who took in a $200 million check from Hasbro, the toy company licensing Star Wars toys and action figures directly from Lucas.
Based on an article by Paul Cashmere, Undercover.com.au.
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Wed, December 26
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 | First Look: Live Nation to launch a new Global Ticketing Business |
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Madonna's new partner company Live Nation has entered into a long-term agreement with CTS Eventim which will enable Live Nation to launch its own ticketing business utilizing the most technologically advanced ticketing platform in the world, it was announced today
Live Nation will exclusively license the Eventim platform in North America, and Eventim will provide back office ticketing services in the UK and ticketing services across Europe. The new agreement will allow Live Nation to begin selling tickets on January 1st, 2009.
"This is a monumental step forward in the evolution of Live Nation into a next generation music company", Live Nation President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Rapino commented. "Eventim is the most technologically sophisticated ticketing platform in the world. Live Nation will use its most important asset, the concert ticket, to build artist careers and customer relationships, forge innovative sponsorship deals, create a fan and artist friendly secondary ticketing platform and provide a ticketing alternative for third-party venues. We believe that our partnership with Eventim will allow us to execute on this transformational vision."
"Eventim is at the forefront of ticketing innovation across Europe, and we share Live Nation's passion for enhancing the fan ticketing experience", CTS Eventim Chief Executive Officer Klaus-Peter Schulenberg said. "We will provide the infrastructure and technology required to reshape how Live Nation consumers access ticket inventory and enable ancillary revenue opportunities, while vastly improving the overall fan ticketing experience."
The agreement secures for Live Nation a world-class ticketing engine for limited investment, catapulting LiveNation.com into a best-in-class e-commerce site. The new ticketing platform will allow Live Nation to control customer data, to create enhanced ticket-based concert products and to capitalize on expanded distribution channels and sponsorship opportunities. The Eventim platform has innovative service offerings including interactive seating maps, mobile distribution, integrated primary and secondary ticketing, alternative access models (auctions, lottery, etc.), print-at-home, radio frequency identification ticketing and unparalleled customer relationship management capabilities.
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Thu, December 20
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In an unprecedented and surprising move, Live Nation are currently running an online poll to test the waters for their upcoming projects and - most important - a 2008 Madonna Tour.
Members of the Live Nation mailing list have been contacted by email and have been asked to help the company
create a better show as they are currently developing next year's Madonna Tour and are asking fans for opinions and suggestions on the tour, the show, the venue, the merchandise, the people you attend concerts with, the kind of songs you expect to listen to, and so on.
Exciting, isn't it?
Thanks to Ale.
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Thu, November 29
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Michael Cohl, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Live Nation Artists, announced today that the company has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Signatures Network, Inc, the global leader in music merchandise holding master merchandise licenses for some of the most successful artists in music.
The deal - anticipated by a report on the New York Post last month and has now officially disclosed - secures Live Nation’s position in the global artist merchandise space. "This acquisition is a key component to our strategy to build a unified business around touring artists, managing their rights holistically and helping them reach their true potential," said Cohl
"I am thrilled to join Live Nation Artists and be a part of the revolutionary team that is transforming the music industry," said Signatures Network’s Chief Executive Officer Dell Furano, who will head up Live Nation Artists’ Merchandise Division. "The management team at Live Nation are trailblazers in their field - setting new standards of how business is done and establishing new benchmarks for success. The Merchandise Division will be no exception and I’m looking forward to the ride. I share Live Nation’s vision in building out the artist’s fan franchise and maximizing all marketing and revenue sources."
Signatures is renowned as a world leader in developing and marketing merchandise and web-based products, combining the online sales of music, tickets, merchandise and subscription services in addition to tour and third-party licensing and "brick and mortar" wholesale/retail services. Signatures Network holds the rights to market and license a diverse array of more than 150 major music artists in all genres and has expanded its core business by offering print-on-demand merchandising and custom manufacturing, allowing music fans to create unique one-of-a-kind products.
The definitive agreement announced today calls for Live Nation to acquire Signatures Network for a total of approximately $79 million in cash, stock and repayment of debt, before working capital adjustments in a transaction expected to close later this year.
From a Live Nation, Inc. press release.
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Fri, November 16
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Live Nation Inc. was expected to provide commentary on their new high-profile partnership with the Queen of Pop on Thursday. In fact, ever since the giant concert promoter announced a sweeping 10-year deal with Madonna to handle her albums, tours and merchandize, investors had in fact worried that the company spent too much to lure the superstar away from Warner Music Group.
CEO Michael Rapino and his top executives defended the deal yesterday before investors and analysts gathered at the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza, one of Live Nation's venues.
Judging from the immediate reaction the Street isn't yet convinced - the stock has fallen roughly 30 percent since the news came out last month and it was off slightly in early trading Friday.
The Live Nation executives didn't offer up exact figures of the deal - citing a confidentiality agreement with the material girl - but they did estimate it will be valued at roughly $100 million for Madonna.
Live Nation paid Madonna $25 million in stock as an advance. In addition, according to a person familiar with the terms, Madonna received about $25 million in cash, although Rapino wouldn't confirm this. For each dollar that that comes in, Los Angeles-based Live Nation gets a share and Madonna gets a share that counts against her advance.
Michael Cohl, who runs Live Nation's Artist Nation division and helped broker the contract with Madonna, described the deal as pure partnership and said that any money after that is a basic revenue share, although the splits vary depending on the products. The problem, he said, is that people are viewing the deal as if it's a record deal - and everyone knows the record business is suffering.
Instead, he said, investors need to realize that the rights deal will be "cross collateralized" across dozens of products - from ticket sales to DVDs and books, from t-shirts and clothing lines to streaming videos and private concerts.
"Anything you can think of we can do," said Cohl, who runs tours for the Rolling Stones, among other acts.
"Make no mistake," said Rapino. "We are not getting into the record business. We are not building a system to sell 6-inch discs... We're a marketing and distribution company."
Record labels have big infrastructures around the world to get CDs into stores, but Rapino argues he doesn't need that.
He likes to point to the deal the Eagles just did to sell its 2-disc set exclusively through Wal-Mart, without having to give a cut to a label. They sold 700,000 in the first week. Whether its Wal-Mart or Starbucks or Victoria's Secret, Rapino said plenty of companies are eager to cut deals to distribute albums.
"Corporate America couldn't be more excited about the demise of the record companies," he said.
From an article by Paul Sloan, Fortune.
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Fri, November 16
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| The next generation music company |
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Live Nation announced today financial results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2007, and the comments from Michael Rapino, the company's President and Chief Executive Officer, where full of Madonna references. Here are a few excerpts.
"During 2006 - our first year as a public company - we defined a vision for our company: to build a global live music network that provides touring artists the opportunity to maximize their revenues and expand fan reach all under one aligned platform. We also set forth a three-year,
three-pronged strategy to fix, build and expand our core business in order to align our assets by 2009 when we believe our new growth initiatives including ticketing and the addition of new artists in our Live Nation
Artists, or Artist Nation, division will be poised to add to our bottom line", Rapino said.
"The signing of Madonna validates our platform and long-term strategy and we
believe will propel our growth as we aggressively move to build out new
revenue streams."
"Our Artist Nation strategy proposes to more effectively and efficiently utilize this network than it has in the past by providing
artists with additional services that can be efficiently executed over or sold to fans across our distribution platform. Our recent signing of Madonna - one of the most influential artists and business women in the world - validates our strategy and the strength of our proposition. We look forward to growing this segment of our business as additional artists seek to join us."
"In early October 2007, we entered into a 10-year arrangement with Madonna which gives us the rights to virtually all of her music-related businesses. We believe this relationship validates Live Nation as the next generation music company and provides a new avenue for cash flow growth for the company as we are able to utilize our extensive distribution platform to monetize artist rights. While we believe that the Madonna arrangement
provides Live Nation with a sound financial return itself, that return will significantly improve as additional artists are added to the Live Nation roster."
"During the quarter, we did make additional investments in our Live Nation Artists, or Artist Nation, infrastructure to prepare for the execution of the Madonna relationship and future expected artist deals. Already this division has over 300 employees focused on providing the services to artists to monetize their diverse rights outside of the tour while leveraging Live Nation's global distribution and marketing platform."
Source: Live Nation via PRNewsWire.
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Fri, November 09
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Liz Smith shared her views on the latest news from the Madonna/Live Nation mega-deal in yesterday's "Page Six" on the New York Post.
"People are talking about: Madonna's leap from Warner Records - her record label for 25 years - to Live Nation, the tour promoter, for $120 million.
This shocked the music industry. Warner Records certainly still wanted the pop legend, even though her record sales in the United States aren't quite what they once were. Her tours take in a fortune, and in Europe her CDs sell like the good old days.
Why leave home? Because ... she's Madonna. She'll be 50 in August; her Live Nation deal is for 10 years. Clearly, she expects to remain creative, popular and relevant in the new world of downloads, iPods and "free" music (not to mention keeping herself physically up to the concert grind). Safe and comfy has never been the Big M's way. She is riding the tsunami of change, as usual. But the wave won't hit for a little while. She still owes her old Warner bosses two albums."
Source: The New York Post.
Thanks to Brian.
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Wed, October 24
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According to a report on today's New York Post, Live Nation is in advanced talks to acquire the Material Girl's merchandising company.
A deal for Signatures Network, which holds the rights to license and market more than 125 artists including Madonna, U2, Kanye West and Bruce Springsteen, is expected to be announced in the next two weeks, according to four sources close to the situation.
According to the Post's sources, Live Nation is paying around $50 million for the merchandising company, which reportedly generates about $120 million in annual revenue but operates with very small profit margins.
A spokesman for Live Nation declined to comment. Signatures Network CEO Dell Furano did not return a call for comment.
The article from the Post also points out how Live Nation has been quietly gobbling up ancillary businesses related to the concert industry as a way to extend its reach and diversify its revenue stream.
Earlier this year the company acquired the remaining stake in high-end concert T-shirt merchandiser Trunk it didn't already own.
Last month it acquired the 50 percent portion of UltraStar it did not own. UltraStar is the company that runs the official artist Web sites for Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Police and others.
Live Nation also recently bought fan club ticketing service MusicToday and merchandising company Ant Hill Trading.
Signatures Network is bigger than all of those assets combined, however, with sources saying that the $50 million Live Nation is shelling out for the company is twice what it paid for the others.
Though it has focused solely on tour merchandising in the past, sources said Signatures Network was now looking to strike all-encompassing rights deals that would also include things like fragrances and accessories in addition to tour-related merchandise.
From an article by Peter Lauria, the New York Post.
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Fri, October 19
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| Liz Rosenberg: ''The beginning of a new era - not the beginning of the end'' |
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Here is more about the cover story of the new issue of Entertainment Weekly we reported about yesterday - an in-deep article about what the magazine calls "a week of maverick moves could forever change the industry's tune". Here are a few excerpts - including a new quote from The Validator herself.
One is arguably the biggest pop star of the last 20-plus years. The other is a quartet of pasty English eggheads given to song titles like ''Weird Fishes/Arpeggi.'' On the surface, they don't have a heck of a lot in common. But in a single week, Madonna and Radiohead just might have permanently transformed the music industry.
On Oct. 10, Radiohead, one of the world's most beloved, respected, and unpredictable bands, self-released their first new album in four years, the rabidly anticipated new album, In Rainbows, currently available only as a download through the website InRainbows.com. When it comes time to pay, you'll encounter four short words that might come as a surprise: "It's up to you."' The album's price, that is. Five dollars? Your call. Ten? Sure, sounds good. Nothing at all? Hey, whatever works for you. "I'm just glad everyone's hearing it at the same time," says Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood. "That was the point, really."
He's being modest. Radiohead's sliding-price release is a potentially game-changing tactic, perhaps the strongest indication yet that the record industry will in fact redefine itself - in order to survive. The same day In Rainbows went on sale, news broke that Madonna will leave Warner Bros., her home of 25 years, to sign a reported $120 million deal with tour promoter Live Nation that will include albums, touring, merchandising, and licensing. That's right, Madonna is about to entrust her future to a company that has never sold a single album.
And it's not just Radiohead and Madonna.
All of which makes us wonder: Could these developments herald the eventual demise of the label business? Well... maybe.
Liz Rosenberg, Madonna's longtime Warner Bros. publicist, says: "I think it marks the beginning of a new era in how record companies function, but I wouldn't call it the beginning of the end. For the last year or two it's become much more crystallized that everyone in the business has to explore new ways of being profitable. The combination of Radiohead and Madonna these last few weeks is a big shift."
Click here to read the full article by Rob Brunner on EW.com.
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Fri, October 19
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With shares of one-time tune titan Warner Music Group down nearly 60% in the last year, it's hard to argue that the music industry is in "Dire Straits".
In fact, one of the very few bright spots is live performance. For example, North American concert sales jumped 16% last year to a record $3.6 billion, according to trade publication Pollstar.
And recently, Madonna inked a deal with concert promoter Live Nation which is reportedly worth $125 million.
Is the Material Girl's landmark 10-year agreement the wave of the future?
Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino joins a conversation on CNBC. Following are excerpts.
How does the Madonna deal work?
"We have 10 years to maximize all of her revenues from T-shirts, to concerts and films and downloads," says Rapino. "And through all of that we distribute our profits."
In other words you basically pay Madonna $12.5 million every year and then you own that content, explains Dylan Ratigan. Is that right?
"Basically," he replies.
Can you generate a revenue stream similar to the one lost in CD sales?
"We believe that the internet is the live concert promoters best friend although it might have crippled the record label business," Rapino replies. "The live business (is) connected to the fan, directly, which enables us to sell singles and downloads and everything the consumer wants…"
Is your model to eliminate the role of the label?
"Absolutely, the concert is now moving to the center of the circle for the artist," says Rapino. "The artist is now looking for the live show and everything that can be done around the live show."
Will you start a bidding war or will Time Warner (and similar companies) just get out of the music business entirely?
"I think we're going to start a bidding war over artists who sell a lot of concert tickets." says Rapino.
He adds, "And if you (already) sell a lot of concert tickets we're (probably) your biggest partner already, and we're going to help you sell more."
Can you afford to pay other artists what you're paying Madonna?
"I don't think the roster has to be all that big in our business. There are 5 or 6 artists that sell a lot of concert tickets and we'd like to be deeper involved with them."
Who are these other artists?
"Dave Matthews, Tim McGraw. U2, The Rolling Stones - there are a lot of artists selling out stadiums around the world that we work with regularly. And end up making most of our money with those artists. And we think we can be deeper partners with them," explains Rapino.
Is it your ambition to lock up the live concert business and then exploit that into a digital business?
"We believe that the Madonna fan who is buying a $200 concert ticket is in our data base and we have a direct relationship with them," says Rapino. "We think we can sell them a 99 cent download, or a $14 dollar T-shirt. The ticket is now the center of the transaction."
But aren't your artists kind of old?
"We believe there's a whole new roster that we'll move into," replies Rapino. "But today we've seen artists who have extended their (professional) lives into their… Frank Sinatra sold out shows into his ‘80's!"
Dylan Ratigan asks the panel with they think of this stock?
Guy Adami thinks concerts are "Where it's at!" Pete Najarian says he's concerned because of the age of the artists Live Nation is pursuing.
From a post by Lee Brodie, Fast Money/CNBC.
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Thu, October 18
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No doubt, losing Madonna to Live Nation in what's quickly become regarded as a historic deal (worth a reported $120 million), was a huge blow to Warner Bros. Records, her home for the last 25 years.
However, while the financial terms were, for the most part, unmatchable, don't think the label brass is necessarily quaking in the aftershock. For one thing, they had a long time to contemplate the possibility.
A source tells Hollywood Insider that negotiations went back and forth for almost six months, during which Live Nation was neither the only bidder, nor the highest.
Still, Warners ''knew it was kind of leading to that," says the source. When the news finally broke internally, Warners' staffers had just commenced three days of corporate meetings in their Burbank headquarters. Surprisingly, the vibe was optimistic. "They stopped for one second, and kept going," says an insider who was present. "It was actually sort of comforting because business went on - talking about new talent, all these releases coming out, focusing on the 360 deals... It was like, yes, Madonna was, and will be for a while longer, a hugely important artist for the company, but she's not the only artist."
Meanwhile, on a conference call with Wall Street analysts yesterday, Live Nation CEO Mike Rapino revealed that it would be at least two years - and more realistically, three years - before they release Madonna's first studio album, and a tour is likely "within the next 24 months."
On Warners' end, publicist Liz Rosenberg says that the 49 year-old icon's next record (which may feature songs from recent studio sessions with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake) could drop in March 2008, with yet another greatest hits package slated for later next year or early 2009.
Rosenberg adds: "We intend to work our asses off to make them both huge successes."
From an article by Shirley Halperin, Hollywood Insider.
Thanks to Silvio and Vincy.
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Thu, October 18
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| In The Media: More Warner Bros.' comments on Madonna's future plans |
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As you've read in the news tonight, Madonna had some kind words to say about former label Warner Bros. yesterday, when the new partnership with Live Nation was officially announced:
"I appreciate their hard work and value the many relationships I have developed over the years with the label in the U.S. and around the world. I have an album coming out with them next year, and I'm excited about it. We still have work to do together." Madonna said.
Warner Bros. returned the enthusiasm in its own Tuesday statement quoted by MTV News:
"We congratulate Madonna on her future plans. She is one of the most remarkable artists of our time. We are excited to issue her upcoming album next year. We are also honored to own her catalog of recordings from the past 25 years, as well as to manage her library of songs for an extended period of time.
From all of us at Warner Music Group, we thank Madonna for a valued and enduring partnership."
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Wed, October 17
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Warner Music Group boss Edgar Bronfman Jr. is downplaying the loss of Madonna to Live Nation in part by taking issue with the $120 million that the concert promoter is ponying up for her future work.
"We remain committed to maintaining financial discipline. We simply will not enter into agreements with artists that fail this test - whether or not the artists are well-known, and regardless of media reaction," Bronfman told employees yesterday in an memo obtained by The Post.
Madonna and Live Nation on Tuesday confirmed their long-anticipated joint venture agreement. Financial terms of the pact, which sources put at $120 million, were not disclosed.
From the New York Post.
Thanks to Vincy.
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Wed, October 17
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Artist Nation chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Michael Cohl mentioned some of the possible projects to take place under the new Live Nation/Madonna deal in a conference call today.
It is interesting to notice that Cohl talked about a minimum of three studio albums, and mentioned four tours to possibly take place in the 10 years of partnership with Madonna.
There was a lot of energy, optimism and determination in the words of Cohl as well as in those of Live Nation President and CEO Micheal Rapino and in the ones of Arthur Fogel, who has produced the artist's last three worldwide tours for Live Nation's Global Music Division and Global Touring,
Fogel also said that Madonna's tour are getting better and better and bigger and bigger, proving that the Madonna franchise is stronger than ever.
Answering questions at the conference, Rapino and Fogel revealed that Madonna's first album with Artist Nation is expected in approximately two years - perhaps as long as three - while the first tour is likely to happen in the next 24 months, but looking at Madonna's previous tourin pattern, you'll also see that she toured briefly after the release of a new album.
The Silicon Alley Insider website published their detailed notes about the conference call that you can check out HERE.
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Wed, October 17
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| In The Media: That's who she is and that's who she will be going forward |
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Live Nation President Michael Rapino confirmed today that Madonna has entered into an unprecedented global partnership with the company and will become the founding artist in LN's new Artist Nation division, led by Rolling Stones tour producer Michael Cohl.
"The idea that an iconic artist like Madonna would pick a promoter to be a long-term partner with truly validates our business model," Rapino tells Billboard.com.
"We put a lot of time and effort into what kind of deals we’re going to do [and] how we’re going to do them, with certainty that we can execute and maximize on those deals," adds LN global music chairman Arthur Fogel.
"We are 100% committed, confident and ecstatic about this deal and about our ability to deliver on the economic model for both her and us as partners."
"The real story here is while everyone's talking 360 [degree deals], we were quietly building the services to do it right," Rapino says. "We have spent a considerable amount of resources building this Artist Nation division first and then going after artists second. Madonna would not have done a 360 deal with us just because of our touring capability. We had to prove to her and others that we have been working on and built a very good execution capacity at Artist Nation."
The Madonna deal (which has been valued in published reports as worth $120 milion) has not been without its detractors, but Rapino says Wall Street still needs to be educated on new music business models, particularly the global scale of a deal like this.
"We have been consistent for two years talking about taking our global concert business of 10,000 shows and 1,000 artists [annually] and extending them to the fan through our online ticketing, and [forming] longer and deeper relationships with the artist," says Rapino.
A key broker in the deal was Fogel, producer of Madonna's last three worldwide tours. Asked what contractual obligations Madonna might have to tour and record, Fogel says, "We can't get into that other than to say the history of Madonna is very clear. She is incredibly hard working, determined, competitive and creative, and her entire career has been consistently about delivering on all levels, whether it's live or on her records. That's who she is and that's who she will be going forward."
From an article by Ray Waddell, Billboard.com.
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Tue, October 16
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Madonna and concert promoter Live Nation Inc. announced a deal Tuesday that will give the company an all-encompassing stake in the music of the Material Girl, the latest big-name artist to break ranks with a major record label.
Financial terms were not disclosed in the joint statement released by Madonna and Live Nation.
The deal is worth about $120 million over 10 years, a person who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the confidential nature of the matter previously told The Associated Press.
The official announcement came after weeks of speculation that Madonna would abandon Warner Music Group, which refused to match the Live Nation deal.
Madonna, who still owes Warner Bros. Records another studio album and a greatest hits album, said in the statement that she was drawn to the deal with Live Nation because of the changes the music business has undergone in recent years.
The deal with Live Nation encompasses future music and music-related businesses, including the Madonna brand, albums, touring, merchandising, fan club and Web site, DVDs, music-related television and film projects, and associated sponsorship agreements, the statement said.
Shares of Live Nation rose 8 cents to $21.50 during afternoon trading.
Under terms of the deal, Madonna, 49, would receive a signing bonus of about $18 million and a roughly $17 million advance for each of three albums, the person said. A portion of the compensation would involve stock, the person told the AP.
Madonna could also benefit significantly from the touring component of the agreement, which gives Live Nation the exclusive right to promote her tours, the person said.
Some Wall Street analysts have questioned whether Live Nation can squeeze out a significant profit from the deal. The Material Girl's age has also led some to suggest she may not be as bankable a recording artist as she's been in the past.
Arthur Fogel, the head of global touring at Live Nation who has produced Madonna's last three tours, shrugged off the criticism, blaming "ageism" for doubts about her ability to sell CDs and fill arenas.
"Madonna is an incredibly talented and vital artist and will continue to be," Fogel told the AP. "Clearly, we would not have done this deal if we didn't have a great expectation of great returns."
Rapino said he doesn't understand Wall Street's skepticism.
"I'm amazed that our stock hasn't jumped considerably in that we're absolutely delivering what we talked about for two years," he said, referring to Live Nation's efforts to grab a bigger slice of the music business beyond touring.
"This is not about a Madonna deal ... Madonna is the validation that this division is the strategy that's come to life," Rapino said.
The company expects to do other all-encompassing deals involving a range of artists, from superstars to new talent.
"There's no reason it can't work with a baby band," Rapino said.
From an article by Alex Veiga, Business Writer at the Associated Press.
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Tue, October 16
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Live Nation's President and Chief Executive Officer, Michael Rapino officially confirmed today - October 16, 2007 - that Madonna has entered into an unprecedented global partnership with Live Nation and will become the founding artist in its Artist Nation division.
"The paradigm in the music business has shifted and as an artist and a business woman, I have to move with that shift," commented Madonna. "For the first time in my career, the way that my music can reach my fans is unlimited. I've never wanted to think in a limited way and with this new partnership, the possibilities are endless. Who knows how my albums will be distributed in the future? That's what's exciting about this deal - everything is possible. Live Nation has offered me a true partnership and after 25 years in the business, I feel that I deserve that."
"Madonna is a true icon and maverick as an artist and in business," stated Mr. Rapino. "Our partnership is a defining moment in music history. I am thrilled that Madonna, who is also now a shareholder in our company, has joined with us to create a new business model for our industry. Bringing all the varied elements of Madonna's stunning music career into
the Artist Nation and Live Nation family, moves her future and the future of our company into a unique and extraordinary place."
The first-of-its-kind partnership between Madonna and Live
Nation encompasses all of Madonna's future music and music-related businesses, including the exploitation of the Madonna brand, new studio albums, touring, merchandising, fan club/web site, DVD's, music-related television and film projects and associated sponsorship agreements. This unique new business model will address all of Madonna's music ventures as a total entity for the first time in her career.
Arthur Fogel, Chairman of Live Nation's Global Music Division and Chief Executive Officer of Global Touring, who has produced the artist's last three worldwide tours with the company which generated close to $500 million in the last six years commented:
"Madonna is without a doubt one of the most fiercely original artists in history. It is a great opportunity for Live Nation and Artist Nation to build upon our years of success with Madonna as a touring artist."
Artist Nation was created to partner with artists to manage their diverse rights, grow their fan bases and provide a direct connection to fans through the global distribution platform and marketing proficiencies that have made Live Nation the world’s largest live music company. Headed by the division's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Michael Cohl, Artist Nation has significant infrastructure in place to execute additional revenue streams including recorded music, merchandise, studios, media rights, digital rights,
fan club/website and sponsorship divisions.
Joining with Artist Nation to work with Madonna will be Live Nation's unmatched global distribution platform and artist-to-fan-reach, including over 80 offices in l8 countries, over 200 national and local sponsorship personnel, over l60 venues, access to over 35 million fans that attend well over l0,000 shows that Live Nation produces, promotes and/or hosts each year for over l,000 artists including fan access via Live Nation's growing database of over 25 million fans.
"I've been fortunate enough to work with Madonna for half my life. She has always encouraged me and set a great example for me to push the boundaries to reach our full potential. This partnership exemplifies just that," commented Madonna's co-manager Guy Oseary.
Angela Becker, Madonna's co-manager added, "The partnership and vision for the future that Artist Nation along with Live Nation presented to us assured me that this is the ideal home for Madonna. It is with great trust and optimism that we collectively move ahead together."
In regard to Madonna's relationship with her current label, the artist commented, "My time with Warner Bros. Records has been great. I appreciate their hard work and value the many relationships I have developed over the years with the label in the U.S. and around the world. I have an album coming out with them next year and I'm excited about it. We still have work to do together."
From a Live Nation press release.
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Tue, October 16
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