Live Nation

Live events company / Co-organises the Hard Rock Calling festival in Hyde Park. YouTube broadcast Paul McCartney’s concert live for the Born HIV Free campaign on 27 June 2010.

141 million tickets sold for 20,000 shows in 57 countries around the planet ranked Live Nation as the world’s leading live events company in 2009. It was established in 2005 in Beverly Hills, California, when radio, television and live-performance conglomerate Clear Channel Communications reshuffled. It is now a listed company and its 4,400 employees generate US$ 3.7 billion in sales a year. Madonna announced that she had signed a US$ 120 million exclusive deal with Live Nation in October 2007, to produce her records, organise her tours and manager her advertising agreements – while she was under contract with prominent record company Warner Music. That was when the world discovered what 360° contracts were and how they were revolutionising the music industry by covering every base in an artist’s endeavours. Other international artists – including U2, the Rolling Stones, Jay-Z and, more recently, Lady Gaga, have followed. Live Nation soon outgrew its domestic market and bought the Wembley Arena in London, adding it to the list of 117 live-performance venues it owns today. Live Nation has also moved into every other strategic market in Europe through its festivals and local subsidiaries. Round about when it was creating a festival in Arras, in the north of France, out of Live Nation Belgium, this multinational bought 51% of Jackie Lombard Productions, a key French tour organiser for Anglo-Saxon stars. It has since established a subsidiary in France (it has about 30 subsidiaries worldwide). Live Nation has teamed up with the Hard Rock Café to organise the annual Hard Rock Calling festival in Hyde Park featuring Paul McCartney this year.