The Hot Seat: Luke Hede

17 August 2010

by Lars Brandle

We speak to Luke Hede, Live Nation’s Vice President of Promotions for Asia Pacific about the imminent launch of the entertainment company here in Australia.

Live Nation Australia. Why now?
In reality, we’ve been working in this part of the world for over a decade now. We’ve co-promoted some of the most successful tours that have ever been to this region - David Bowie, Prince, U2, The Police, The Rolling Stones. We’ve worked with almost all of the major local promoters. In order to fully monetize Live Nation’s global tour rights, we really needed to have our own permanent presence in this market.

Australia is already well-stocked with promoters.  What gives Live Nation Australia the competitive edge?
Our advantage is our global promoter network where we can share resources and intelligence on artists. We’re also the only promoter in this part of the world with offices in neighbouring countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing and Abu Dhabi. We can put together real regional offers. In Australia, we’re assembling an experienced but youthful team. We have some new ideas and we’re not afraid to try new things. 

On the flip side, how will Australian artists benefit from your arrival here?
We’ve already spoken to quite a few Australian entities who are extremely keen to work with Live Nation both locally and globally. They recognize that a relationship with the Australian office could potentially open doors in Europe and the US.

Live Nation doesn’t have a strong history in developing the grassroots music scene. Is that something you’re keen to change?
I think that’s a little unfair. Obviously the Madonnas and U2s get most of the publicity, but there are certainly opportunities for younger acts to play in our network across America and at venues like The House of Blues. In the UK and Europe, we promote a lot of smaller shows and offer many developing acts opportunities on the various Live Nation festivals. We have literally just opened the Australian office, but we are certainly interested in developing some local acts and creating opportunities for them both here and overseas.

Will Live Nation Australia leverage their existing global touring relationships?
Absolutely. That goes without saying. The reality is that the Live Nation global tours will only represent a small percentage of the content we bring to the region. Like the other promoters, we will be evaluating all of the other available talent and where appropriate bidding for tours.

Some of your rivals are nervous about Live Nation arriving here. Should they be?
They don’t have any reason to be more nervous than they already are of their existing competitors.

There’s been a lot written about the sorry state of the US touring market this summer. Is Australia going to run into similar problems?
The Australian economy has been holding-up really well compared to the U.S., and our dollar seems to be bouncing back. There’s certainly an extraordinary array of world class acts coming here this summer. We’re conscious of the potential for the market to become too saturated with tours and we may already be seeing that with the festivals. But presently, it looks like most of the big names seem to be selling through quite well.

Do you see real value in developing a Pan-Pacific trading circuit?
There are certainly some real opportunities to include Asian dates before or after an Australian Tour. We’re still booking acts through Hong Kong, Singapore and China and our most successful shows in Asia over the last few years have all toured Australia at the same time. It makes sense to group these regions together. We also have partners in South Africa, so hopefully we may start to see some more specific Southern Hemisphere tours in the future.

Have you any tours signed and sealed?
We are very close to confirming a couple of tours for the summer. We’ll be announcing news at our dedicated website where we’ll give fans access to presales and competitions, and let them open up a My Live Nation Account.