type subsidiary of live nation entertainment industry entertainment founded 2005 headquarters beverly hills california area served worldwide products concerts promoter live events promoter revenue us 4.184 billion 2007 operating income us 82.14 million 2007 net income us 11.94 million 2007 total assets us 2.752 billion 2007 total equity us 907 million 2007 number of employees full time 4 700 part time 15 900 website livenation.com live nation is a live events company based in beverly hills california focused on concert promotions . live nation formed in 2005 as a spin off from clear channel communications which then merged with ticketmaster in 2010 to become live nation entertainment . live nation signs artists as a record label but predominantly takes the role of a promoter rather than music owner . the deal with u2 and madonna for example does not include funding of the artists future recordings . the 2007 deal signed with jay z does but he still retains full ownership of his recordings and live nation funded roc nation . 1 2 live nation signed colombian singer shakira canadian band nickelback and mexican singer luis miguel . contents 1 business 1.1 sfx deals 1.2 deals 1.3 house of blues 2 corporate governance 3 live nation international music and live nation artists 3.1 top executives 4 companies 4.1 united states 4.2 worldwide 5 proposed merger 6 criticism 7 see also 8 sources 9 external links business edit a prior incarnation of live nation known as sfx entertainment was formed in the 1990s by media executive robert f. x. sillerman . its business model involved the acquisition of regional concert promoters consolidating them into a single national company . sillerman sold sfx to clear channel communications in 2000 for 4.4 billion ; the clear channel entertainment division was spun off in 2005 to form live nation . 3 4 5 annually live nation promotes or produces over 22 000 events including music concerts with total attendance exceeding 50 million more than the nba nfl and nhl combined . 6 as of september 30 2005 live nation owned or operated 117 venues consisting of 75 us and 42 international venues . these venues include 39 amphitheatres 58 theatres 14 clubs 4 arenas and 2 festival sites . in addition through equity booking or similar arrangements live nation has the right to book events at 33 additional venues . sfx deals edit october 1996 delsener slater enterprises new york city 7 february 1997 meadows music theater hartford connecticut 8 march 1997 sunshine promotions indianapolis 9 december 1997 bill graham presents san francisco ; contemporary group st. louis ; and concert southern promotions atlanta 10 december 1997 pace entertainment group and pavilion partners houston 11 january 1998 westbury music fair westbury new york 12 march 1998 avalon entertainment partners los angeles 13 may 1998 don law s blackstone entertainment boston ; oakdale theatre wallingford connecticut 14 august 1998 cellar door companies fort lauderdale 15 august 1998 magicworks entertainment miami beach 16 august 1998 american artists boston 17 august 1998 dicesare engler productions pittsburgh january 1999 the entertainment group chicago 18 march 1999 seven venues from the nederlander organization 19 april 1999 the next adventure toronto 20 april 1999 tourven 21 may 1999 a.h. enterprises los angeles 22 23 july 1999 livent toronto 24 july 1999 candid productions 25 august 1999 apollo leisure group and barry clayman corporation united kingdom 26 27 september 1999 cardenas fernandez & associates chicago 28 september 1999 midland concert promotions united kingdom 29 september 1999 ema telstar stockholm 30 october 1999 mojo works netherlands 31 march 2000 electric factory concerts philadelphia 32 may 2000 jujamcyn productions minneapolis 33 may 2000 core audience entertainment canada 34 2001 evening star productions phoenix 35 deals edit in october 2007 live nation announced a new contract with pop singer madonna throughout the next decade after her leaving warner music and warner bros. she will be the founding recording artist for the new music division live nation artists formerly artist nation . in july 2008 shakira signed an estimated 70 100 million contract with live nation . 36 37 38 39 in january 2008 live nation sold its north american theatrical business including the broadway across america business to key brand entertainment for 90.4 million . key brand entertainment is a private investment company owned by british theater producer john gore and led by senior entertainment industry executive tom mcgrath . 40 in april 2008 a deal between jay z and live nation for 152 million was confirmed . the deal covers financing of jay z s own entertainment venture live shows tours and future recordings for the next 10 years . 41 blueprint 3 was distributed by atlantic records while his label roc nation is being distributed by universal music group . 42 in june 2013 insomniac events a promoter focused on electronic dance music announced a major creative partnership with live nation giving the promoter access to live nation s resources while remaining an independent company . live nation did not take any ownership stake in insomniac . 43 44 house of blues edit in 2006 live nation acquired house of blues . current locations of the house of blues include in state order alphabetically anaheim california at downtown disney at disneyland resort san diego california west hollywood california lake buena vista florida at disney springs at walt disney world chicago illinois new orleans louisiana boston massachusetts opened february 2009 las vegas nevada at mandalay bay resort and casino cleveland ohio atlantic city new jersey at showboat atlantic city myrtle beach south carolina dallas texas houston texas in the houston pavilions opened october 2008 san antonio texas in the aztec theatre opened not too long ago when corporate governance edit current members of the board of directors of live nation are ari emanuel jeffrey t. hinson l. lowry mays randall t. mays connie mccombs mcnab james s. kahan ted enloe mark shapiro and michael rapino . 45 live nation international music and live nation artists edit live nation is currently constructing a physical recording label citation needed live nation artists which will be a division of live nation international music . the company is expected to become a major rival against sony music universal music group and warner music group with artists such as madonna u2 shakira jay z and nickelback . as of july 30 2008 ceo michael rapino is considering doing licensing deals on an artist by artist basis a source inside live nation said . under that scenario warner music group could end up handling the marketing promotion and distribution of albums by the very acts that defected from it to join live nation nickelback and madonna . rapino wants to outsource everything said a second source close to the situation . he doesn t want to build an infrastructure or carry any overhead . the move is mirrored after the rent a system model used in hollywood whereby one studio produces a movie but licenses all the other functions to another studio that already has a distribution and marketing infrastructure . 46 live nation s talks represented the latest retrenchment from the strategy of former chairman michael cohl who sought to transform the touring giant into a multi faceted powerhouse including a record company . news of the potential outsourcing move followed the dismissal of industry veterans bob ezrin bob cahill and bill hein all of whom were artist nation employees hired by cohl to create a label infrastructure for live nation s newly signed acts . instead of banking all the upside on album sales as was once envisioned with these so called 360 deals live nation would likely collect a less lucrative outsourcing royalty of between 25 percent and 35 percent based on other industry licensing deals . it would then be responsible for using that money to pay the artist s royalty a fee that at the superstar level can come close to equaling the licensing royalty the company is apt to get from a label . 46 on 31 march 2008 it was confirmed that live nation signed a 12 year deal with u2 worth an estimated 100 million 70 million . 47 the deal includes live nation controlling the band s merchandise sponsoring and their official website . in a contractual agreement with live nation signed in march 2008 the parties agreed that the band would receive 25 million for 1.6 million shares of the company ; as of 17 december 2008 those shares were worth only just over 6 million . it was reported on 18 december 2008 that live nation honoring their financial commitment bought back the shares at a loss of 19 million . 48 the company had intended to recoup the cost of signing u2 with their most recent album no line on the horizon . no line on the horizon achieved multi platinum status in the international market and has sold over 5 million albums to date . top executives edit michael rapino chief executive officer ben weeden chief operating officer north american music kathy willard chief financial officer and executive vice president paul latham chief operating officer live nation international music source 49 50 companies edit united states edit live nation owns operates and or exclusively books 135 live entertainment venues including 43 in europe along with producing high profile events such as super bowl halftime shows . citation needed it also represents major music artists . owned monster jam a promoter of monster truck races and other indoor motorsports . live nation also owned several trucks and the rights to several trucks running at these events including grave digger superman and maximum destruction . now owned by feld entertainment divested in september 2008 . previously promoted thq world supercross gp national arenacross series ifma freestyle motocross and ihra drag racing before selling its entire motorsports division to feld entertainment . produces sporting events 84 lumber classic of pennsylvania ; legg mason tennis classic ; adt skills challenge ; american century golf championship . produces concerts and festivals great new york state fair ozzfest j germeister music tour and music midtown atlanta and in the uk download at donington hyde park calling and wireless festival . through its ln gaiety subsidiary it also manages the festival republic festivals at reading and leeds . in july 2006 live nation announced it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire hob entertainment inc. the operator of the house of blues chain of music halls and restaurants . on october 16 2007 live nation announced it signed a 120 million 10 year global partnership contract with pop artist madonna who will become the founding artist in its new artist nation division . the deal consists of all future music and music related businesses including albums concert tours merchandising fan club web site dvds music related television and film projects and associated sponsorship agreements . live nation owned the aforementioned broadway across america series divested in january 2008 to key brand entertainment . on march 31 2008 live nation announced it signed a 12 year partnership contract with irish rock band u2 after quitting island records it will expire in 2020 . on april 3 2008 live nation announced it signed a 10 year 150 million music deal with multi platinum rap artist jay z it will expire in 2018 . in july 2008 live nation announced it signed a 3 album cycle deal with multi platinum canadian rock band nickelback . worldwide edit acquired italian music promoters milano concerti and friends & partners agency . management of the former olympic venues top turin olympic park in turin including the biggest italian arena palaolimpico . worldwide subsidiaries include welldone agency & promotion finland dkbmotor denmark ema telstar sweden and gunnar eide concerts norway . live nation s subsidiary mojo concerts is the biggest organiser of concerts in the netherlands with over 200 concerts and a total of a million visitors a