By Ray Waddell | April 22, 2015
Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts and Keith Richards of British band The Rolling Stones perform on the stage in concert at the Mercedes-Benz Arena on March 12, 2014 in Shanghai, China.
ChinaFotoPress/ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images
Click to visit Billboard.com: http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/6538948/global-entertainment-live-division-randy-phillips
The new division has ties to The Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi, Selena Gomez and Rock In Rio.
Global Entertainment has announced the launch of a new division, Global Live, that will be led by former AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips, and include a piece ofThe Rolling Stones’ upcoming Indianapolis stadium show. The company also announced that Bon Jovi manager Paul Korzilius will join the Global Live team. That executive trifecta all but ensures Global Live’s promise to be a significant player in the global live music scene — and that Phillips’ will have a productive relationship with his former company going forward.
Korzilius, manager of Bon Jovi since 1992, will serve as senior vice president of Global Live and will continue managing Bon Jovi. Phillips’ relationship with Korzilius and Bon Jovi has been hugely successful. Phillips played an integral role in bringing the band to AEG Live, with AEG producing four global tours that grossed a combined $937 million and moved 10 million tickets. The most recent, Because We Can, which ran from 2012-2013, sold 2,654,172 tickets, resulting in a total gross of $255,699,527, marking the third time in six years Bon Jovi ranked as the top tour of the year in Billboard Boxscore, a feat only equaled by The Rolling Stones in 1995-1999.
Global Radio, the U.K.’s largest commercial radio company, has been used as a base by Global founder/executive president Ashley Tabor to create an entertainment company that now includes Global Television and Global Publishing (Ellie Goulding, Corinne Bailey Rae, LMFAO), with the latter to be part of the Global Entertainment U.S. division.
In addition to Tabor, Global is led by Group CEO Stephen Miron, COO Ian Hanson, and director of broadcasting Richard Park. It is chaired by Lord Allen of Kensington.
As for the Stones, Global Live’s first concert event will be promoting the band in conjunction with Stones tour promoter AEG Live at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 4. Announced on March 31, the concert is the first non-race week concert ever at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and a real statement of intent as Global Live launches in the United States.
Sam Bush joins Global Live as Director of Global Live in the U.K. Bush joins Global from AEG UK, where he was Director of Live Music and involved in booking high profile outdoor events including British Summer Time in London’s Hyde Park. There, he launched the U.K. touring careers for The Vamps, Rixton, and Selena Gomez. Previously, Bush ran his own business managing the early careers of Ben Howard, Clean Bandit and Stooshe and organized major brand sponsored events such as the Quicksilver Tony Hawk Show featuring Maximo Park on Brighton beach.
Additionally, Ned Collett will work with Global Live as a consultant, responsible for divisional operations and finance. Collett previously held the positions of managing director and executive vice president at BASE Entertainment, Inc., and served as Chief Executive Officer of FDR Management, LLC dba PURE Management Group (PMG), as well as executive vice president of North American Venues for Live Nation.
Global Live’s first U.K. promoted tour is the sold out Vamps tour this April, a co-promotion with AEG Live.
In 2014, Global also served in a consultancy capacity for Rock-In-Rio’s first U.S. iteration. Talent booked included Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Metallica, No Doubt, Linkin Park, Mana, Echosmith, and more.
“Having built AEG Live from the ground up with some really gifted executives, I know what it takes to build a live entertainment company,” says Phillips in a statement. “Global is well positioned to do this again in the year 2015, and the industry is anxious for another professional, well resourced, financially stable live promotion company to enter the market. As a new company, whose only mandate is not to be constrained by legacy and to focus on presenting great talent on stages around the world, we are able to independently promote and/or work with partners on a project-by-project basis.”