Arthur Fogel
Chairman of global music/president of global
touring, Live Nation
Bob Roux
President of U.S. concerts, Live Nation
Brian O’Connell
President of country touring, Live Nation
Omar Al-Joulani
Senior vp touring, U.S. concerts, Live Nation
Lesley Olenik
Vp touring, U.S. concerts, Live Nation
In 2019, Rapino led the world’s top promo-
tion company, Live Nation, to its ninth year
of sales records across its core businesses
of concerts, sponsorships and ticketing,
with total revenue up 6% to $8.7 billion as
of the third quarter of 2019, according to
the company, with nearly 100 million fans
attending 38,000 events last year. Those
results speak “to the incredible dedication
of our 40,000 staff in 44 countries around
the world,” says Rapino, 53, the company’s
chief executive since 2005. “Concerts fulfill
people in a really unique way. The love of
live music is universal.”
Pasquale Rotella
Founder/CEO, Insomniac Events
Celebrating 25 years of Insomniac Events
in 2018, EDM pioneer Rotella, 45, contin-
ues to expand one of the world’s pre-
eminent dance music production entities
into multiple global markets, hosting five
Electric Daisy Carnivals across the United
States, Japan, Mexico, China and Korea.
In July, Insomniac partnered with Florida’s
legendary Club Space, giving the company
its first venue in Miami. While Rotella
cites “selling out the majority of festivals
this year” and “taking EDC and Escape to
Korea for the first time” as highlights, he’s
most proud of how Insomniac has contin-
ued to grow and “bring our events to more
audiences around the world.”
Jared Smith
President, Ticketmaster
Helping Ticketmaster navigate one of its
busiest — and most scrutinized — years,
Smith, 41, led the shift toward digital
tickets with SafeTix, which is used by the
NFL and now being tested by touring acts
such as Madonna, Mumford & Sons and
The Strokes. The technology is part of “our
ongoing commitment and investment in
new tools that are helping artists connect
more directly with their fans and maximize
returns on their art,” says Smith. Deployed
on mobile devices with an encrypted bar
code that refreshes every few seconds,
SafeTix has resulted in a 54% increase in
sales of premium “platinum” seats, shift-
ing income from scalpers to artists, the
company states. According to Live Nation’s
third-quarter investor report, Ticketmas-
ter achieved a 30% growth in operating
income. But it also came under increasing
scrutiny for its growing market share. As
2019 ended, Live Nation reached a settle-
ment with the U.S. Department of Justice’s
antitrust division, agreeing to extend the
2010 consent decree governing the merger
of Ticketmaster and Live Nation to 2025.
Alejandro Soberón Kuri
President/CEO, Corporación Interamericana
de Entretenimiento (CIE)
In July, recognizing the potential of the
live-music market in Mexico, Live Na-
tion entered an agreement to acquire a
controlling interest in OCESA, the concert
promotion arm of CIE, run by Soberón Kuri,
- OCESA-CIE ranked third on Billboard’s
year-end Top 10 Promoters chart, just
behind global giants AEG Presents and Live
Nation. In a statement issued at the time
of the Live Nation announcement, Soberón
Kuri said the new partnership “will foster
CIE’s commitment to the promotion of
Mexican artistic talent abroad.”
Paul Tollett
President, Goldenvoice
Apart from promoting the influential
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival,
which marked its 20th anniversary last
year, Tollett teamed up with Goldenvoice
original content director Raymond Roker
and longtime Coachella producer-director
Michael Abbott to create Coachella
Curated, a video series that tells the stories
behind some of the event’s international
talent. Nearly 50 episodes debuted on
YouTube during Coachella’s second
weekend, highlighting superstars like Billie
Eilish and Blackpink as well as artists like
Russia’s Nina Kraviz and architect Francis
Kéré from Burkina Faso. “Most people
just see a name on the poster and don’t
know [to] what incredible lengths people
will go for music,” Tollett told Billboard in
- He plans to continue the Coachella
Curated series in 2020. Goldenvoice will
also unveil a documentary commemorating
Coachella’s 20-year anniversary that,
says Tollett, “shows our progression of
the show.”
STREAMING
Steve Boom
Vp, Amazon Music
Ryan Redington
Director, Amazon Music
In 2019, Amazon Music introduced a
streaming service tier offering high-
definition music and paired it with the
launch of the high-end Echo Studio speaker,
which supports 3D audio. “The response
by both customers and artists has been
overwhelming,” says Boom, 51. “Amazon put
audio quality at the top of our agenda with
the launch of Amazon Music HD and the
Echo Studio.” For Redington, 39, the high-
light of the past year was Amazon Music’s
Prime Day Concert with Taylor Swift, Dua
Lipa, SZA and Becky G, which “streamed
live to over 200 countries,” he says.
Lyor Cohen
Global head of music, YouTube
In the past 18 months, Cohen, 60, has
been closely involved with the launch
of YouTube Music in over 70 countries,
including the promising Indian market with
1.3 billion people. The platform’s improv-
ing relationship with the music industry is
evident from such initiatives as its plans
SOBERÓN KURI
TOLLETT
BOOM
REDINGTON
COHEN
YEAR-END MARKET
SHARE BY GROUP
Universal Music Group has the top share of the
recorded-music market, followed by Sony Music
Entertainment, the collective market share of
independent labels and Warner Music Group.
* Does not include Alternative Distribution Alliance. Source: Nielsen Music. Current market share counts
activity of music released in the last 18 months, or longer for albums that have remained in the top half of
the Billboard 200 and songs that are still current at hit radio. Totals do not equal 100% due to rounding.Warner
Music
Group
16.72%
Indies
22.43%
Sony
Music
Entertainment
22.45%
Universal
Music
Group
38.38%
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FOGEL:BETSYNEWMAN/COURTESY^ OF^LIVENATION^ENTERTAINMENT.ROUX:CHRISGILLETT.^ O
’CONNELL:^ CHRISOWYOUNG.OLENIK:COURTESY^OFGOLDENVOICE.^ A
L-JOULANI:^ BETSYNEWMAN.ROTELLA:^ BENNETTSELL-KLINE/INSOMNIACEVENTS.SMITH:^ COURTESY^ OF^TICKETMASTER.^ S
OBERÓNKURI:^ JUAN^CARLOSEQUIHUA.^ T
OLLETT:^ COURTESY^OFSUBJECT.^ B
OOM,REDINGTON:^ COURTESY^OFAMAZON.COHEN:^ COURTESY^ OF^GOOGLE.