Levi Jackson

Our sixth session on the 18^th March was with Levi Jackson, Marketing Manager at O2 Arena. Levi has worked in the live music industry since leaving university. He has worked with major companies like Live Nation and O2. He also collaborates with promoters, agents and artists.

Throughout the session Levi explained various aspects of the live music industry, such as venues, promoters, agents and festivals.

Levi started off by discussing the importance of the right venues for the artists. He said there are many aspects to consider and often the cost is the last one that artists and their managers have to consider. Although, it makes sense in regards to other aspects – capacity, sound, location, companies that operate the venue and setup – cost is probably the first thing to consider for independent artists who have no big offers from promoters. For established artists it is easier, as they want to create the best show despite the cost. For emerging artists it is the best show considering costs. However, Levi emphasised the importance of cost – “If you are putting together a tour, make sure you don’t overpay artists who would make no money back”.

Then Levi talked about promoters and what their roles are. There are many promoters – international and local, for example, Live Nation, SJM and AEG Live. It was news to me when Levi said that big promoters who are competitors would co-promote some acts like Ed Sheeran and One Direction. The main reason behind it is driving down the costs of promoting a ‘big’ act.

Most festivals in the UK are owned by the big promoters, for example, Wireless and Download by Live Nation and Wildlife by SJM. Although, it is good as audiences can see big acts they wouldn’t see on tour, it still limits some artists from performing due to conflict of interest. If a festival is promoted by a competitor then the artist promoted by a different company is not allowed to play that specific festival. However, this is not always the case as sometimes they do play festivals promoted by a competitor, but this would affect their ticket sales. I think it is good that artists can have such option, but either way they need to sacrifice something – audience or profits.

Levi also talked about agents and how closely they work with acts and their managers. Agents have to be clever in order to make the best decisions – right act, at the right venue, at the right time and for the right price. I think this might be the most fun job role within the live industry, as agents and agencies usually have a roster of acts (just like record labels) and they have to work closely with both parties – artists and promoters.

After a background information presented by Levi, we had a workshop where we were divided in five groups (venue, costing 1, costing 2, artist requirements and PR) and had to act as a promoter putting together a tour. I enjoyed this workshop as it was different from what we’ve done before, and by practical exercise it is always easier to comprehend what was said before.

After the workshop we had a Q&A session with Levi where we discussed current issues facing the live music industry. He covered various aspects from festivals, exclusive festival headliners to Spotify and Snapchat marketing. We also talked about secondary ticketing, sponsorship, marketing of the show and venue sustainability in the future, as musical acts tend to struggle selling out venues.

Overall, I really enjoyed the session, as it covered most important aspects of the industry in much enough detail for me to understand it (I’m not too familiar with live) and variety of aspects to keep it interesting for those who know more about it.