THE OFFER
I'm hesitant to call out bad naming rights deals, because most of them are terrible and I don't have time to rip on every corporate crap job that comes across my desk. But this naming rights deal in Anaheim is so bad I have to say something. The Grove in Orange County isn't particularly nice or impressive, but it's a local venue I have an affinity for. After the folks at Honda Center took over management from Nederlander Concerts in early 2025, they negotiated a new naming rights deal that renamed the building the DigAlert Grove of Anaheim. What the actual funk? DigAlert is the number people in Southern California call before digging in their yard so they don't hit pipes or underground electric lines. It's run as a nonprofit by the region's public utility companies. It's unclear how it has the money for a naming rights deal, but the name isn't working. I'm not calling it that. Not here. Not there. Not anywhere. Please do better with the naming rights deals.
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NEWS
Michael Rapino's $60M Contract: How It Works And Does He Deserve That Much Bread?
Rapino is the key man at the concert giant and took the company's stock to the stratosphere. But did his singular vision attract too many critics and jeopardize the company's future?
Michael Rapino's new contract doubles his target pay to $60 million a year. To max out the one piece tied to the stock market, Live Nation shares probably need to gain about 20% a year — roughly $290 by the end of 2029, up from about $170 now.
Live Nation disclosed the deal on Oct. 2. Rapino, 61, signed it Sept. 30, and it runs from Oct. 1, 2026, through Dec. 31, 2031, when he'll be 66. It replaces his 2022 agreement, which was set to run through 2027. The board approved it unanimously; Rapino abstained.
Add up the five annual pieces at target and you get $60 million a year, versus $30 million under the 2022 deal. There's also a $20 million signing grant. Over the five years, that's about $320 million at target.
NEWS
Veteran Canadian Promoter Jim Cressman Exits the Concert Business to Launch SOLO Wellness Retreat Center
After 28 years booking and promoting shows, the Invictus Entertainment founder is betting on a one-client-at-a-time "reset" program in Penticton, B.C.
Jim Cressman, one of Canada's best-known independent concert promoters, is leaving the music business to open a luxury wellness retreat aimed at touring musicians and industry executives running on empty.
The Reset Retreat, which Cressman announced on Friday, is a five-day, single-guest program in Penticton, British Columbia, set in a 2,400-square-foot townhouse on the edge of a nature reserve.
"I am leaving the business," Cressman told Decibel. "I am going to go full steam into the wellness business, burn my boats and pursue this concept because I think it's needed."
ROSTR Wants to Put Every Promoter on the Map
The industry directory agents use every day will add a searchable promoter database in 2027. The focus is on the regional buyers who can make or break a routing.
ROSTR has become a daily habit for booking agents. Now it's going after the other side of the deal.
The company announced ROSTR Promoters on Sunday at the International Entertainment Buyers Association's 56th Annual Conference in Nashville. It calls the product the first searchable database of concert promoters. The directory is set to launch in 2027 and will be included in all ROSTR subscription plans.
"Promoters carry the financial risk on every show that goes on sale, and they are the least documented job in the business," said Vivian Wang Donohue, ROSTR's chief growth officer. "We had to do venues first, because you cannot map a promoter without knowing the rooms. This is the other half of that."
ROSTR built its business by mapping artist teams: the managers, agents and reps behind each act. Later it added a venue database, which launched with 33,000 rooms. Donohue told Decibel that over time, more and more promoters were showing up on the platform and asking to be listed.
"Everyone started asking, 'How can I get on ROSTR? I want a profile,'" she said. "It's partially they're asking for it. The other part is they're on there, but they're not represented."
NEWS
ICYMI: Dan Steinberg and Jason Zink Are Leaving Live Nation
The Emporium Presents Founders Have a Six-Month Non-Compete to Finish Before Determining Their Next Move
It’s the end of an era at Live Nation. Eight years after selling their company to Live Nation and promoting more than 4,000 concerts with the concert giant, Emporium Presents founders Dan Steinberg and Jason Zink are leaving.
What’s next? The two are still figuring that out, they tell Decibel. The men will stay on through the end of the year, then they have a six-month non-compete period to complete. After that, the two say, anything is possible. But for now, they’re not going to get ahead of themselves.
The time off will “give us a chance to figure out if there's a third act for us or if there's a beach that we want to sit on,” says Steinberg, who is also a host of the popular Promoter 101 Podcast (the show still belongs to Steinberg and his cohost Luke Pierce and was not part of the Live Nation deal).
SIZZLIN’ SHOWS CHART
Tracking the most in-demand tickets in North America for the Weekend of Oct 9-11 . |
The Sizzlin’ Shows chart is compiled using data from Ticketdata.com and is ranked by highest get-in-the-door price — that’s the price of the cheapest ticket to the concert — on the secondary ticketing market. |
Spin It Again
Oakland, do you want to ride? That’s the refrain of the Coup’s masterpiece opus to the other city on the Bay, a 7-minute hip-hop story called “Me and Jesus the Pimp in a ’79 Granada Last Night” from rap’s only openly Marxist hip-hop crew. Recorded by rapper Boots Riley and the late DJ Pam the Funktress, this track is both tragic and jaw-dropping. Riley has said he set out to write about how sexism damages men too, then let one image, a man grinning like a cartoon vulture, carry him line by line into a story he didn't yet know. What came out is a son riding in the passenger seat beside the hustler who brutalized his mother, the closest thing to a father he ever had, weighing memory, hatred and inheritance mile by mile. Riley tells it in scenes, with a novelist's eye for small, damning detail, and the funk underneath makes it go down easier than it should. There’s a video for this song, but for reasons not explained, that version is two minutes shorter and lacks the punch of the full song. Story-rap doesn't get much better. It plays like a movie, and the ending stays with you longer than most.
Small Type:
Mega festivals officially damaging planet, scientists confirm. New research shows large-scale music events contribute significantly to carbon emissions, waste, and environmental degradation. Large festivals generate thousands of tons of single-use plastics and transportation emissions from attendees traveling globally. Study calls for industry-wide sustainability standards including mandatory carbon offsetting, reusable cup systems, and local artist booking to reduce travel footprints. Some promoters already pivoting: UK's Shambala went 100% renewable energy, while European festivals test deposit schemes for camping gear to combat tent waste. Researchers warn without immediate action, festival circuit's environmental impact could balloon as live events rebound post-pandemic. 🌍
ive Nation seeks refinancing amid mounting legal pressure as the concert giant navigates its DOJ antitrust battle. The Ticketmaster parent is looking to restructure debt while facing a lawsuit seeking to break up its vertically integrated empire of venues, promotion, and ticketing. The timing underscores investor jitters around the May 2024 case, which challenges Live Nation's alleged monopoly power. Banks are circling as the company aims to lock in favorable terms before potential remedies reshape its business model. With $6.4 billion in net debt and courtroom uncertainty, Live Nation needs financial flexibility to weather what could be the industry's biggest structural shakeup in decades. 🎫
StubHub sponsors NASCAR driver despite Ticketmaster holding official league partnership, highlighting the messy overlap between series-level deals and individual team sponsorships. The secondary marketplace is backing a car in NASCAR's top series while its primary-market rival maintains exclusive rights to the sport's official ticketing. The arrangement underscores how racing's decentralized sponsorship model allows teams to cut their own deals, even when they contradict league-wide partnerships. The move puts the two raises questions about partnership exclusivity and how live event companies navigate increasingly complex sponsorship landscapes across both primary and resale markets. 🏁
Live Nation backs startup Creator Nation with strategic investment, signaling the live entertainment giant's push into the creator economy space. The newly launched venture aims to bridge traditional touring infrastructure with digital-first artists and influencers seeking live event opportunities. Creator Nation plans multiple acquisitions "in coming months" to build out its platform, targeting talent agencies, venue tech companies, and fan engagement tools. The move positions Live Nation to capture revenue from creators who've built massive online followings but lack traditional industry connections for live shows. Details on investment size remain undisclosed, though sources suggest it's part of a broader strategy to diversify beyond conventional concert promotion 🎤
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🛠️ Next Up On The Agenda
Option 🕘: Article in the Athletic is raising eyebrows titled ‘LeBron’s Polymarket deal may not break NBA rules, but it raises uncomfortable questions’’ » Link »
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