MCA Inc. (originally an initialism for Music Corporation of America) was an American media conglomerate founded in 1924. Originally a talent agency with artists in the music business as clients, the company became a major force in the film industry, and later expanded into television production. MCA published music, booked acts, ran a record company, represented film, television, and radio stars, and eventually produced and sold television programs to the three major television networks, especially NBC.
ICM Partners was a talent and literary agency with offices in Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, D.C., and London. The company represented clients in the fields of motion pictures, television, music, publishing, live performance, branded entertainment and new media. Its corporate headquarters were in Constellation Place in Century City, Los Angeles. In 2022, ICM became part of Creative Artists Agency.
Coachella is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert. It was co-founded by Paul Tollett and Rick Van Santen in 1999, and is organized by Goldenvoice, a subsidiary of AEG Presents. The event features musical artists from many genres of music, including rock, pop, indie, hip hop and electronic dance music, as well as art installations and sculptures. Across the grounds, several stages continuously host live music.
A concert tour is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often, concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific tour with a particular album or product. Especially in the popular music world, such tours can become large-scale enterprises that last for several months or even years, are seen by hundreds of thousands or millions of people, and bring in millions of dollars in ticket revenues. A performer who embarks on a concert tour is called a touring artist.
Lewis Robert Wasserman was an American businessman and talent agent, described as "the last of the legendary movie moguls" and "arguably the most powerful and influential Hollywood titan in the four decades after World War II". His career spanned nearly eight decades from the 1920s to the 2000s; he started working as a cinema usher before dropping out of high school, rose to become the president of MCA Inc. and led its takeover of Universal Pictures, during which time Wasserman "brought about changes in virtually every aspect of show business". In 1995, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton. Several years later, he spoke of his ongoing work at Universal to Variety, saying, "I am under contract here for the rest of my life, and I don't think they would throw me out of my office—my name is on the building."
Live Nation is an American events promoter and venue operator based in Beverly Hills, California. Founded in 1996 by Robert F. X. Sillerman as SFX Entertainment, the company's business was built around consolidating concert promoters into a national entity to counter the oversized influence of ticket behemoth Ticketmaster. In 2000, the company was sold to Clear Channel Communications for $4.4 billion and operated as Clear Channel Entertainment until 2005, when it was spun off as Live Nation. In 2010, Live Nation merged with the ticketing firm Ticketmaster to form a larger conglomerate named Live Nation Entertainment.
Casey Wasserman is an entertainment executive and sports agent executive who owned the now defunct Arena Football League team the Los Angeles Avengers. He is the son of the Los Angeles socialite and philanthropist Lynne Wasserman and Jack Myers. His parents were divorced and he took his mother's maiden name, which is also the last name of his famous grandfather Lew Wasserman. His sister's name is Carol Ann Leif. He is married to movie music supervisor Laura Ziffren. He headed the successful Los Angeles bid to host the 2028 Summer Olympics and became president of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee.
United Talent Agency (UTA) is a global talent agency based in Beverly Hills, California. Established in 1991, it represents artists and other professionals across the entertainment industry. As of 2021, the company has more than 1,400 global employees. UTA has divisions focused on film, television, music, sports, digital, books, video games, branding and licensing, speaking, marketing, fine arts, news, and broadcasting, among others. The agency also operates the non-profit UTA Foundation.
Roc Nation is an entertainment agency founded and owned by Jay-Z in 2008. The company is headquartered in Manhattan in New York City, with additional offices in Los Angeles and London. Roc Nation comprises a comprehensive talent agency, sports agency, record label, management agency, television and film enterprises, fashion clothing line, and educational and philanthropic endeavors.
Sam Gores is the chairman of Paradigm Talent Agency in Beverly Hills, California and has been ranked among the top agents in Hollywood.
The Billboard Live Music Awards is an annual meeting sponsored by Billboard magazine that honors the top international live entertainment industry artists and professionals. Established in 2004, it has thus been described as "part industry conference, part awards show".
Stephanie Young Hwang, known professionally as Tiffany or Tiffany Young, is an American singer-songwriter of Korean descent. Born and raised in California, she was discovered by South Korean entertainment agency SM Entertainment at the age of fifteen and subsequently moved to South Korea. After two years of training, Young debuted as a member of girl group Girls' Generation in August 2007, which went on to become one of the best-selling artists in South Korea and one of South Korea's most popular girl groups worldwide.
Pollstar is a trade publication for the concert and live music industry. The publication was purchased by Oak View Group, a venue consultancy founded by Tim Leiweke and Irving Azoff, in July 2017.
Marc Geiger is an American music executive and entrepreneur. The founder of SAVELIVE, an initiative to help live music venues recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Geiger co-founded Lollapalooza and ARTISTdirect. He was the global head of the William Morris Endeavor Music Division from 2003 until 2020.
The x Tour was the second world concert tour by English singer-songwriter and musician, Ed Sheeran, in support of his second studio album, × (2014). The tour began in Osaka, Japan on 6 August 2014, and continued through Europe, the Americas, Oceania and Asia until 12 December 2015, where the tour ended in New Zealand. Sheeran planned 180 shows. In June 2015, the singer announced a documentary would be filmed during the tour's three sold-out dates, 10–12 July 2015, at 80,000-person capacity Wembley Stadium.
Wasserman Group is a sports marketing and talent management company based in Los Angeles. Casey Wasserman, grandson of media mogul Lew Wasserman, founded the company in 1998 and acts as its chief executive.
Chip Hooper was a music industry agent, personally representing Phish and the Dave Matthews Band, and heading the Paradigm Talent Agency. Hooper was born in Miami, FL, but grew up in Chicago, and attended college at Southwest Missouri State University. He broke into the music industry with the Minneapolis-based Good Music Agency before hiring into the Carmel, California-based Monterey Peninsula Artists as an agent in 1988. He ascended to the head of the Paradigm Talent Agency after Paradigm acquired Monterey in 2005. Hooper was instrumental in promoting the Jam Band movement, through his agency with Phish and other seminal acts. Hooper was also an accomplished photographer, with books and gallery showings to his name.
Matt Galle is an American music industry executive. He is the founder of Photo Finish Records, a New York-city based independent label, and an agent at CAA. He was previously a senior agent at Paradigm Talent Agency.
