L07_BMB-515

docx

School

Southern New Hampshire University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

515

Subject

Business

Date

Feb 20, 2024

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by angzhang8

1 CASE STUDY: LIVE NATION AND PHARRELL WILLIAMS CASE STUDY: LIVE NATION AND PHARRELL WILLIAMS BMB 515: Berklee Online Music Business Structure and Strategies Dr. Chandler Coyle

2 CASE STUDY: LIVE NATION AND PHARRELL WILLIAMS Abstract Held for the first time in Virginia Beach in 2019, the Something in the Water festival has not only been a financial success but has shown the promise of strategic partnerships between artists and entertainment companies - at least for its creators Pharell Williams and Live Nation Entertainment. The synergy between Pharell Williams and Live Nation owes itself in part due to Williams’ business and culture savvy and the latter’s ability to pull from its vast set of resources and capabilities in live entertainment across sponsorship, concert promotion, and ticketing. The success of the partnership shows potential benefits for future integrations between artist management teams and event production and marketing companies, as the growth of AI and influx of data have created conditions for new and innovative ways for fans to engage with artists in live music settings and beyond.

3 CASE STUDY: LIVE NATION AND PHARRELL WILLIAMS Introduction The Something in the Water music festival, to be held annually in Virginia Beach each spring, was the creation of two giants in disparate areas of the music industry; the Grammy- winning artist Pharrell Williams, and the massive Live Nation Entertainment, which offers artist management among its other functions that include concert promotion, booking, venue management, and fan intelligence among more. Pharrell Williams has been called “one of the most successful and influential figures in hip-hop”, producing viral pop hits while serving as creative director of Louis Vuitton among many other brands (Business of Fashion, 2023). On the other hand, Live Nation is a massive presence in the music industry, spanning live events and everything else surrounding it. In the Concert & Promotions industry, they generate an estimated 52% of revenue, and have stronger market share, profit, and revenue growth of peers (IBIS World, 2023). Their collaboration proved to be a success despite the COVID-19 pandemic and provides proof that artist and entertainment companies can partner to create great fan experiences under the right conditions.

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

4 CASE STUDY: LIVE NATION AND PHARRELL WILLIAMS Origins of Something in the Water Pharrell Williams is a man of talent and creativity. As a musician, songwriter, record producer, film and television producer, actor, fashion designer, and entrepreneur, he is no stranger to stepping out of the safe zone to try new things. When Williams first discussed his proposal with Michael Rapino, the CEO of Live Nation Entertainment, he was unsure whether he should support the idea. Creating any music event is complex as it requires significant money and time to advertise the event, prepare for the operation, seek necessary resources, invite the perfect artists to perform, and find sponsorships to support the festival. Let alone start a music festival for thousands of fans in just five months, Williams’ proposed festival was risky and full of challenges. Pharrell Williams at the 2022 Something In The Water Festival in Washington D.C.

5 CASE STUDY: LIVE NATION AND PHARRELL WILLIAMS Despite Rapino’s worries, he agreed to support Williams’ idea. Reflecting on the capabilities and networks of Live Nation and Williams’ successes and accomplishments in his multimedia creative collective, I am Other, which is in a joint venture with Live Nation, the company made the right choice to support Williams (Elberse & Christensen, 2023, pp. 5 -9). Time after time, sector after sector, Williams never failed to demonstrate his creativity, intelligence, skills, and passion to succeed above and beyond all business areas. His success rates in all his endeavors are mind-blowing and there is no doubt that his idea, as crazy as creating Something in the Water within five months, will grow into something huge in the future, just like Coachella and Lollapalooza, which will benefit the company. Of course, there is a possibility that the idea will fail. But Live Nation is an artist-centric company that aims to support artists’ passion and bring them to life. As Rapino said about his relationship with Williams and any other artists, “We’re in a business together, and we trust and respect each other, so we should make these kinds of bets together, whether we win or lose.” (Elberse & Christensen, 2023, p. 11). No matter how challenging and wild the idea sounds, Live Nation followed its vision and supported the artist to help bring their creativity, ideas, and passion to life. Live Nation’s choice to support William was paid off when the kickoff of the music festival on April 26, 2019, at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront was a huge success as it generated more than 20 million dollars and brought a diverse community together to enjoy music, entertainment, and life (Larché, 2023). Unfortunately, the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic has required the festival to be canceled for some time. Despite the hardships and challenges throughout the years, the Something in the Water festival is going strong as it is set to be held at Virginia Beach, Virginia, from April 28 to 30th, 2023, with the lineup of some of the most influential artists such as Lil Wayne, Kid Cudi, Machine Gun Kelly, and so many more.

6 CASE STUDY: LIVE NATION AND PHARRELL WILLIAMS 2023 Something in the Water Festival Live Nation’s Support and Resources Since its start in 2005 and merger with Ticketmaster in 2010, Live Nation has not stopped its trajectory to becoming one of the most profitable and resourceful entertainment companies in the world (Elberse & Christensen, 2023). The company boasts a long list of divisions, connections, and joint ventures that can and did provide supportive resources for Pharrell Williams’ festival without a second thought. Thanks to the company’s strong foundation in concert promotion, branding, ticketing, and artist management, they were able to successfully translate Williams’ idea into reality while simultaneously creating a new tradition in the music festival industry that is here to stay. By strategically implementing Live Nation’s expertise, the company had the ability to play a pivotal role in ensuring the success and sustainability of the music festival.

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

7 CASE STUDY: LIVE NATION AND PHARRELL WILLIAMS Concert Promotion Live Nation’s extensive experience in concert promotion and managing venues was integral to the company’s ability to ensure effective planning and execution of the “Something in the Water” festival. As its highest grossing division (Elberse & Christensen, 2023), the concert division includes promoting concert events, booking venues, supervision and production of the concerts, as well as other marketing opportunities (Elberse & Christensen, 2023). Image of “Something in the Water” stage set-up. The company has the scale and resources necessary to host entire tours, even in other countries, showing their capability to provide for a relatively straightforward, three-day music festival. The company owns 34 Live Nation offices across the nation that are filled with concert promotion experts, ready to provide services dedicated to the support of artists’ goals at any moment. Because they have the resources and connections to easily rent venues, whether they be indoor or outdoor, as well as have the expertise and the production capabilities to build a concert,

8 CASE STUDY: LIVE NATION AND PHARRELL WILLIAMS Live Nation was able to secure an area suitable for the festival and provide services that supported Pharrell’s vision. These resources are critical for a festival’s success because you can’t have a festival without a physical location and someone to build the sets or operate the event. Sponsorships and Advertising Not only is Live Nation capable of booking venues for concerts and producing them, but they also have the capabilities to find sponsorship for the concerts to help offset any budget issues and help build brands that are ecstatic to continue their support of the company’s endeavors. The company currently has over 1,000 brand partnerships, ranging from beverage companies, like Pepsi, to banking institutions like Citibank, and often encourages clients to allow them to develop exclusive marketing campaigns to further fund their concerts (Elberse & Christensen, 2023). The sponsorship and advertising division alone brought in an estimated $500 million in revenue for the 2018 year; a 13% increase from 2017 (Elberse & Christensen, 2023). Of course, Pharrell’s idea came with a short turn-around time and schedule, putting somewhat of a strain on CEO Rapino’s operations, but that did not deter the company from taking on the challenge. Because of the short schedule, Rapino stressed that they would not be able to find enough sponsors before the deadline, and even planned on giving Pharrell access to Live Nation’s sponsorship team but knew that would stress the team even more due to their already filled to-do lists for other events (Elberse & Christensen, 2023). Fortunately, Live Nation was able to secure partnerships from companies like Sony, Adidas, Uber Eats, and many others for the festival’s debut in 2019 (Entertainment, 2019). The most recent “Something in the Water” festival was sponsored by Walmart (Fofana, 2023), which helped to fund the event for another year.

9 CASE STUDY: LIVE NATION AND PHARRELL WILLIAMS Ticketing As previously stated, Live Nation grew its operations and business model by merging with Ticketmaster in 2010, helping the company sell tickets on behalf of artists for service fees (Elberse & Christensen, 2023). The Ticketmaster system has provided ticketing services for over 12,000 venues, promoters, franchises, museums and theaters, leading to over $1.5 billion in revenues during the 2018 year for Live Nation (Elberse & Christensen, 2023). Because of Ticketmaster's online and mobile formats, it’s able to easily reach millions of fans all over the world and provide markets for Live Nation and their clients to target. This easy, wide-spread access and user-friendly interface is essential for festivals like “Something in the Water” because it allows for fans to purchase tickets at any time and anywhere, while guaranteeing that both the festival and Live Nation will get a share of the revenue generated by ticket sales. The festival debut was a success, with more than 35,000 tickets sold in 2019 (Fincke, 2023). Artist Management Lastly, Live Nation has come to provide resources in the guise of an artist management division that dedicates its space and infrastructure for artists’ managers (Elberse & Christensen, 2023). More specifically, Live Nation’s “Artist Nation” is the main division that works with artist management and supplies artists with services similar to what a manager would help secure, like music publishing rights (Elberse & Christensen, 2023). Because record labels are becoming less and less supportive of artists’ touring and other endeavors that do not directly involve music recordings or copyrights, artist managers have no real support. However, due to Live Nation’s Artist Nation, managers are able to participate and share in the infrastructure the company affords them. With this division’s help, artists like Pharrell are able to utilize its

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

10 CASE STUDY: LIVE NATION AND PHARRELL WILLIAMS resources and realize their dreams using the company’s capital and support. With the strategic support provided to “Something in the Water”, the visibility and success of the festival was enhanced to astronomical proportions and brought a collaborative approach to Pharrell’s creative vision. “I Am Other” Pharrell Williams started a partnership with Live Nation titled “I Am Other” because he had so many creative ideas and business endeavors. He did not want to be known as simply an artist that makes music because he felt that there was so much more he could do with a team of people behind him. Williams and his team divided the collective into four main areas of focus: music, film/TV, own brands, and others’ brands (Elberse, 2023). With this partnership, Live Nation provided Williams the funding for his ideas and they shared the profits together. Additionally, Live Nation provided Williams and his team “soft benefits” meaning they had access to a variety of different resources and offices within the organization as well as the freedom to run the business as they see fit (Elberse, 2023). Partnerships like the one Pharrell Williams has with Live Nation can be very important to the success of both parties. Logo for Pharrell Williams’ collective “I Am Other”

11 CASE STUDY: LIVE NATION AND PHARRELL WILLIAMS Representatives of Live Nation claim that the business model of the company starts with “allowing the creatives to be creative” (Elberse, 2023). Many artists want to expand their horizons beyond music and with partnerships like the one Williams had with Live Nation these dreams can become a reality. In Williams’ case, the partnership has given him the opportunities to put on concerts and festivals, produce music for film and TV, become the face of some major fashion companies, and collaborate with other well-known artists. There may be times when the ideas don’t play out as expected but overall, partnerships similar to “I Am Other” are the way forward for Live Nation. Future Opportunities for Artists & Managers To continue to build value for artists and their managers, Live Nation can help artists attract new and existing fans to shows by supporting the discovery phase of the concert process, long before show day itself. The easier it is for a fan to find an act, research a nearby live show, and access tickets, the better it is for the artist and their management team. According to Live Nation itself, 60% of fans dedicate "a great deal of time" researching concerts before attending (Roach, 2023), so Live Nation can aim to reach the 40% of fans that don't currently invest much time looking for new concerts, as well as reducing the effort for the majority of fans that do. In 2017, Live Nation launched a chatbot on Messenger that helped fans find nearby shows with friends and purchase tickets directly from the app (Live Nation Entertainment, 2017). With the growth of generative AI and algorithmic recommendations, Live Nation could pursue an updated version of the chat bot, perhaps in partnership with a major Gen Z platform like Snapchat or TikTok. Integration with a music service, like Apple Music or Spotify could also be a powerful discovery mechanism for fans.

12 CASE STUDY: LIVE NATION AND PHARRELL WILLIAMS Image of Live Nation Chat Bot Promotion. As an entertainment powerhouse, Live Nation can ensure that it has an effective information pipeline and relationships built between its artist management teams and other business functions, like marketing, booking, and fan intelligence. As an artist team, fan intelligence data can be pivotal for deciding whether or not to engage in a business opportunity. Further, the more connected artist and management teams are to booking and marketing teams, the more authentic and informed campaigns and tours can be. Alignment with the artist vision along all stages of the fan experience can only benefit all parties, and lead to a defined artist brand and cohesive live experience. Finally, as a live entertainment company, Live Nation is at the center of the concert experience - the time when artists are closest to their fans. However, they can look at how to expand that influence and build a relationship with fans outside of the venue itself by playing a larger role in community building and management. Partnership with or acquisition of a fan loyalty rewards system or fan engagement platform could help not only Live Nation but artist teams to cultivate relationships with fans outside of show day. It can also help generate even more fan intelligence data that can inform future product or live show offerings for the better.

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

13 CASE STUDY: LIVE NATION AND PHARRELL WILLIAMS Conclusion Pharrell Williams is one of many musical artists that has an abundance of ideas and goals that they want to achieve with the resources that they have. Aside from making music, Williams has had roles in the film/TV industry, the fashion industry, and the business world. With their joint partnership “I Am Other”, Williams and Live Nation have pulled off a successful music festival entitled Something in the Water as well as many other projects. Artist Nation, a component of Live Nation, allows managers and the artists to utilize resources and connect with others to achieve their creative goals. It is a big step forward for the music industry itself and in the future more artists should form these types of collectives. Live Nation has many moving parts and with technology on the rise, the opportunities to connect fans with their favorite artists are endless.

14 CASE STUDY: LIVE NATION AND PHARRELL WILLIAMS References Business of Fashion. (2023). Pharrell Williams. Business of Fashion. https://www.businessoffashion.com/community/people/pharrell-williams . Elberse, A. & Christensen, K. (2023). Live Nation and Pharrell Williams. Harvard Business Publishing Education. https://hbsp.harvard.edu/download?url=%2Fcourses %2F1058971%2Fitems%2F521005-PDF-ENG%2Fcontent&metadata=e30%3D Entertainment, L. N. (2019, March 4). Pharrell Williams launches Something in the Water Art, culture and music festival celebrating Virginia Beach . PR Newswire: press release distribution, targeting, monitoring and marketing. https://www.prnewswire.com/news- releases/pharrell-williams-launches-something-in-the-water-art-culture-and-music- festival-celebrating-virginia-beach-300805684.html Fincke, C. (2023, January 27). It’s back! Virginia Business. https://www.virginiabusiness.com/article/its-back/#:~:text=Pharrell’s%20Something %20in%20the%20Water%20plans%20beach%20return&text=Williams’%20three %2Dday%20music%20festival,tickets%2C%20which%20also%20sold%20out . Fofana, O. (2023, April 27). Walmart to sponsor something in the water music festival . REVOLT. https://www.revolt.tv/article/2023-04-27/298228/walmart-to-sponsor- something-in-the-water-music-festival/ iamOTHER. (n.d.). Home . YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/iamOther IBIS Media. (2023). Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. - company profile. IBIS Media. https://www.ibisworld.com/us/company/live-nation-entertainment-inc/10039/

15 CASE STUDY: LIVE NATION AND PHARRELL WILLIAMS #:~:text=Their%20largest%20market%20share%20is,growth%20compared%20to %20their%20peers . Larché, J. (2023). Timeline: Something in the Water’s return to Virginia Beach. 3WTKR. https://www.wtkr.com/news/timeline-something-in-the-waters-return-to-virginia- beach#:~:text=April%2026%2C%202019,%241%20million%20in%20tax%20revenue . Live Nation Entertainment. (September 26, 2017). Live Nation's new bot for messenger promotes concert discovery among friends . PR Newswire . https://www.prnewswire.com/news- releases/live-nations-new-bot-for-messenger-promotes-concert-discovery-among-friends- 300525669.html . Roach, Tom, et al. (February 20, 2023). Why Live Music partnerships start long before the event . Marketing Week. https://www.marketingweek.com/follow-the-fan-journey-why-live- music-partnerships-start-long-before-the-event/ . Something In the Water. (2024). Home. https://somethinginthewater.com/

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

L07_BMB-515

Related Documents