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Live Nation reportedly considering overhaul of management assets

By | Published on Friday 25 July 2014

Live Nation

Rumour has it Live Nation will restructure its artist management business, with Madonna and U2 manager Guy Oseary set to head up a more cohesive new division.

As previously reported, late last year Oseary merged his management firm with that of long-term U2 manager Paul McGuinness, with the former running the shop and the latter taking more of a backseat role. At the same time the merger was confirmed it was announced that the new talent management venture was allied to Live Nation.

The live music major is a prolific player in the artist management space through its loosely grouped Artist Nation division. The core of that business came with the Ticketmaster acquisition, the ticketing firm having previously acquired Irving Azoff’s Front Line management company. Various other deals over the years mean a number of other management agencies around the world are also owned, part-owned or linked to the live firm.

Though it can be tricky working out exactly which agencies are affiliated with the company, because the Artist Nation side of Live Nation, originally set up to manage the firm’s mega-bucks 360 degree partnerships with Jay-Z, Madonna, Shakira and Nickelback, became something of a miscellaneous branch of the company, holding its various interests in management and other artist service businesses.

According to HitsDailyDouble, Live Nation now plans to tidy up its management assets, with Oseary at the top of a new division. How integrated that division will be remains to be seen; it’s not clear if Live Nation Management will then sign artists directly, or if it will be more of a formalised parent company sitting above the group’s existing management agencies, which would continue to operate autonomously. Either way, it is thought the management side of Live Nation’s Jay-Z joint venture Roc Nation would remain separate.

A number of other senior artist managers are said to be involved in the restructuring, include Ron Laffitte, Larry Rudolph and Gee Roberson, probably best known for managing Pharrell, Miley Cyrus and Nicki Minaj respectively. And HDD also reports that, in addition to absorbing management companies already owned or part-owned by Live Nation, Oseary’s new division may be on the look out for some new strategic acquisitions too.



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