written by Lisa Henderson, editor IQ Magazine

“Most of the headliners and the higher-end acts had been locked in by then, and all the arena runs were booked for 2025 and 2026, so I was mainly trying to get smaller acts like Arthur Hill and Flo onto 2025 festivals. Because festivals are always booking a year ahead and the arenas are booking 16 months ahead, I figured by April, I could probably go on holiday for two months.”

“It’s going to be the biggest year ever for the live business and for our company. We’re several million pounds ahead of where we were last year. Will there be a curb in the trend because everything’s booked so far in advance? I don’t know. If we follow the algorithms of how commissions and projections went last year, then we’re going to be way ahead of where we’ve ever been. There’ll definitely be growth, but some of it might be because things are booked further ahead.”

“Saturation. Too many events and too much talent. A lot of festivals might not be as profitable as they would hope because there’s too much competition. There are too many stadium tours going, and too many electronic events. Plus, people haven’t got as much money. The middle will struggle again, but we’ll get through it.”

“No one really knows how to break acts anymore, because there aren’t any gatekeepers. Unfortunately, the record labels in the UK don’t hold much power to break things anymore. It’s not like 10 years ago when you signed to a major, you got in NME and on Radio 1, and you broke. That doesn’t happen now - it’s more of a democracy out there. It’s a lot harder to know where the next act is coming from. Your best asset is to have two young children who tell you what they’re finding on YouTube.”

“I'm looking to talk more to American record labels and people in the States. If you look at the charts, 10 of the top 10 singles are US acts. The big pop acts that are breaking on a mass scale - like Sabrina Carpenter or Teddy Swims - all seem to be coming from the US.”

“You tour for two reasons: strategy or money. When you’re breaking an artist it’s all about strategy and creating content for socials. Going up and down the country and getting a handful of fans is a slow method of breaking ice. Plus, touring has become more and more expensive, so it doesn’t make much sense. Support tours are quite good if you can capture other people’s audiences and the content that is created and generated through their channels.”

“If there’s some heat on the band, then you can sometimes fund touring through promoters. It’s probably more cost-effective to try and get an advance from one of the touring companies than from record labels, which have a more complex way of paying back money. Costs will keep going up, but hopefully not at such a rate as they have post-COVID.”

“Acts like Tom Odell or Mika, who I’ve looked after for years, have never been as big - and they’re just getting bigger. Tom Odell is going to do a 35-date arena tour around the globe. Mika has never been an arena act, but he’s going to do 20 arena dates. Bastille put up little shows and we had 90,000 people sign up. We had a great ride with Liam Gallagher, building him up to stadiums and now he’s going out with Oasis again. I’m not Oasis’ agent, I’m Liam’s, so I’ve been quite busy trying to sort everyone out tickets…”