Insights from Head of Coaching

Live Nation Entertainment President and CEO Michael Rapino is certainly smiling. The Canadian former beer-sales representative earned north of $139M in 2022, up from $13.8M in 2021, according to the Hollywood Reporter. This income was hard-won, given the evident set-backs to live event attendance from the pandemic, with Q1 2023 revenue yielding “a record $3.1 billion in revenue — up 73% from the same period last year,” as printed in Variety.

Rapino’s initial efforts in signing artists started out small, by promoting bands at local Thunder Bay bars, after graduating with an undergraduate degree in business administration from a small Ontario-based university. Eventually, Rapino moved to Toronto, continuing his career as a sales representative, and worked his way toward opening his own concert promotion company, Core Audience Entertainment, in the late 1990s. Rapino feels fortunate that “at a very young age in Canada, I had mapped out that my mission in life and my passion was live events.” He also ultimately became, according to AllAmericanSpeakers.com, “instrumental in leading the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, to create the #1 live event company in the world.”

Taking on increasingly larger challenges, Rapino moved up through leadership roles at SFX, Clear Channel and eventually Live Nation. Wikipedia reports that “he was later named CEO of Live Nation when it was spun off from Clear Channel in 2005.” Career-making moments included inking deals with Madonna, Jay-Z,U2 and Lady Gaga. Yet Rapino hasn’t had it easy over the past few years, addressing Department of Justice antitrust issues concerning ticket prices. It’s a juggle to please every stakeholder, and he admits that “It’s always a fine line between “‘What’s the market going to bear?’ and ‘By the way, I’ve got 2,000 unfilled seats.'”

 
The pure fact that Live Nation Entertainment has come back so strongly over the past several years is testament to Rapino’s strategic leadership. In the words of MusicBusinessWorldwide, below, “Quarterly revenues from Ticketmaster [with which Live Nation merged in 2010] itself jumped 43% YoY – to $677.7 million – on sales of 145 million tickets. The Ticketing Division reported ‘record levels of activity’ across all markets.” And Rapino is confident that especially in this unsteady market, considerable untapped opportunity still exists.

 
Despite naysayers who doubted Live Nation Entertainment’s ability to bounce back from pandemic-based fears, Rapino retained faith in his company’s commitment to live events. He’s quoted as having said, for example, that “History has shown that even in a recession, people go to shows.” Rapino’s mission is not only about sales, however, with him having gone on record as communicating: “Hosting over 35,000 concerts and festivals each year, Live Nation has the opportunity and responsibility to provide our artists and fans with a live music experience that protects our planet. The adverse effects of climate change are undeniable, and we want to use our place on the world stage to be part of the solution.”