LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) — While much of the live music industry is hunkered down in survival mode as they wait for the worst of the coronavirus pandemic to recede, concert promoter AEG Presents has been quietly expanding.
AEG CEO Jay Marciano told Rolling Stone that the company has five new North American venues in the works, including a new 6,000-capacity venue in Cincinnati, a 2,000-capacity venue in Atlanta, and a 3,500-seat room in Boston.
AEG has also partnered with Resorts World to build a new 4,500-capacity residency theater, part of a new casino that will open on the Las Vegs Strip in 2021, as well as a 4,000-capacity venue on the site of the former Hard Rock.
“Those are all well under construction, nearly completed in some cases,” Marciano told Rolling Stone. “They will be ready by the fall of next year when we think we’ll most likely be reopening this industry.”
AEG is also upgrading its existing many of its existing portfolio of venues to be ready to accommodate guests in the new pathogen-conscious reality we find ourselves in.
Rick Muller, President of AEG’s North American operations, told Rolling Stone that upgrades include bathrooms with touchless fixtures, as well as new ventilation systems, designed to reduce the spread of infectious diseases.
Other updates include improvements to ticketing, contactless payments, and enhanced data marketing.
Muller also noted that there will likely be changes to touring deals and performance contracts in the post pandemic world.
“We’re coming back to a different economy,” he told Rolling Stone.
On the same topic, Marciano cited radius clauses as one potential area of reconsideration, particularly in the rush to return to the stage that many expect to take place when the threat of the pandemic recedes.
“There’s a lot of festivals to play in the first half of the year that have moved to the back half of the year, and there’s going to be a log jam,” Marciano told Rolling Stone. “I think that the flexibility is going to be the key.” Marciano adds: “I think you’re going to find that, on all sides of the industry, everyone’s going to be more open to negotiation.”
