12 Music Week 01.02.13 THE BIG INTERVIEW JOHN REID REID ALL ABOUT IT
He operated close to the apex of the record label business for years; these days he’s top dog for EU concerts at the world’s most powerful live music company. Now John Reid’s landed control of one of the most-sought after venues imaginable: the Olympic Park in London
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LIVE BY TIM INGHAM
W
hat John Reid can’t tell you about the inside of a chemical toilet probably isn’t worth knowing.
The Live Nation EU concerts chief attended more
than 25 music festivals across the continent in 2012 - his first full 12 months at the company since leaving his post as CEO of Warner Music International. And while we’re sure Reid didn’t quite immerse himself in the full festival experience - sweaty tents, morning wet wipe ‘showers’, burgers that make Tesco’s horsemeat look beefy - that’s still some commitment to the cause. Reid’s attendance level speaks volumes about an
exec who’s given himself something of a crash course in the live business since transferring from the world of labels. Now, though, he’s found his feet - and is ready to add muscle to Live Nation’s already
monumentous European footprint. His first big public play was made earlier this
month, with the announcement that Live Nation is to handle the Olympic Park in south-east London as a concert venue. The company will move both its Hard Rock Calling and O2 Wireless festival brands to the Park in 2013, in addition to a host of other headline gigs, after winning the tender from Boris Johnson and the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC). A short Tube journey to the West of that iconic
venue, of course, you’ll find Hyde Park; a no-less- momentous space which Live Nation has now exited. The former home of the firm’s Hard Rock Calling and Wireless festivals, Reid’s team parted ways following tribulations concerning local residents’ grizzling - and ultimate victory - over noise levels and stage curfew times. Adding spice to the UK’s live music landscape, Live Nation’s heated rival AEG has now taken over
ABOVE Olympic ambitions:
Reid says that the live
business is full of execs who focus on
‘deal-making’
promotional duties in the park. And despite last year’s troubles in the space - Bruce Springsteen having the plug pulled early, half of Blur’s audience not being able to hear Damon’s warbles - the German-owned company insists it can overcome these irritating limitations of the open-air location. Not that Reid has time to worry too much about
the competition. A former president of Island/Def Jam in the US and a CEO of Polygram Group Canada, he’s focused on spotting opportunities for growth both inside and outside of our little isle - and there are plenty on the horizon, it seems…
What have been the big differences you’ve noticed from working in labels to working in live? What is the live business further ahead on and what could it learn from record companies? The big difference is that at Warner I was managing a business that was technically in decline, within a recorded music industry that was eroding
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