When news broke Jan. 11 that California-based concert-booking behemoth Live Nation had purchased a majority interest in Madison’s Frank Productions, the deal shocked the local music community. It was a bombshell that came after a year of big changes in the scene, including Frank Productions’ acquisition of the beloved, independently owned High Noon Saloon and the company’s merger with Majestic Live, the booking arm of the Majestic Theatre.
“The fact that this has all happened in less than a year is crazy,” says musician Spencer Bible of the band Tippy. “I don’t think anybody was expecting another big change to happen so soon.”
Bible, who grew up going to shows and performing at all-ages venues in Madison like The Loft and The Journey, is anxious about the rapid consolidation and corporatization of local venues and what it means for the local music community. “If there was a corporation that was going to be in town,” Bible says of Frank Productions, “at least they were local.”
According to the agreement, Live Nation will purchase Frank Productions’ holdings in Nashville’s NS2 and Cmoore Live in Boise, Idaho, and Frank Productions will control bookings in its Madison venues and take over operations, including staffing and booking, at the Orpheum Theater. Charlie Goldstone, president of Frank Productions Concerts, says the deal won’t affect local booking. “It doesn’t change what we’re doing or how we’re doing it,” Goldstone says. “It simply allows us to grow the business that we’ve been developing in Madison.”
But Bible fears that Live Nation could someday call the shots. “At the end of the day, they bought a controlling share of the company,” he says.
Frank Productions’ operation of the Orpheum adds the 1,700-capacity theater to an empire that already includes the High Noon Saloon (purchased from former owner Cathy Dethmers in February of last year), Madison FreakFest, the annual summer concert series at Breese Stevens Field, and The Sylvee, the new 2,500 capacity concert venue Frank Productions is building on East Washington Avenue. Thanks to Frank Productions’ in-process merger/partnership with Majestic Theatre owners Matt Gerding and Scott Leslie, Frank Productions now has the ability to book acts into the majority of Madison’s concert venues.
It’s a stunning move for Frank Productions, which has slung more than a few arrows at Live Nation about the corporation’s attempts to book shows into the Madison market without a strong local presence.
“Where I’ve been critical in the past, I’ve been critical of Live Nation’s approach,” says Goldstone. “I’ve always said that if the Orpheum was properly managed and booked, it would be a great complement to The Sylvee. Now, they’ll be utilizing a team on the ground in Madison. They understand that we know Madison best.”
Live Nation hired Madison native Toffer Christensen, who had run T Presents, his own local concert booking agency, to handle duties at the Orpheum last April; Christensen is now striking out on his own again. The partnership elevates Goldstone’s profile. In addition to Madison booking, Goldstone will also now be responsible for larger Live Nation touring acts across the state, a task he says could end up diverting more national tours to Madison and Milwaukee.
Members of the local music community over the past week discussed the news on social media and in private conversations, with many echoing Bible’s concerns about consolidation and corporatization of venues and event booking. Tessa Echeverria, who co-owns Williamson Magnetic Recording Company, a studio and performance venue in the basement of Nature’s Bakery Cooperative, fears that the move will lead to the “homogenization” of artistic offerings. “I’m not a fan of the expanding of any company to take over an entire market, which is basically what Live Nation is doing,” Echeverria says.
Yet, Echeverria doesn’t expect the move to affect Williamson Magnetic — which books mostly local bands and provides a rare alcohol-free, all-ages environment — or the local do-it-yourself music scene. “I don’t feel like my personal life is that affected by it,” says Echeverria, a musician who plays in bands Once a Month and According to What. “Those aren’t the shows I book. They’re some of the shows I go to, but they’re not the shows I play or engage with on a personal level. Those shows happen on a smaller scale in the Madison scene, and that scene will continue to exist.”
Echeverria, who lived in Washington state before moving to Madison, recalls being involved in music scenes in other cities where Live Nation was the only game in town. “It is noticeable that people here took a lot of pride in Frank Productions and had more of an investment in what was going on and how it related to the community. It felt like there was a dialogue. In other cities that I’d lived in, there hasn’t been that conversation.”
Rob Dz, a local hip-hop artist, sees the merger as a sign that Frank Productions has been successful building up the music scene in Madison. He says his main concern is whether local musicians will have the opportunity to play on Live Nation stages. “Frank Productions does not have an obligation to book local acts, but as a company that has made money from the Madison community, it would be a shame if they don’t try to support local acts in this new partnership with Live Nation,” Dz says.
“It’s a business, changes happen, expansion is part of that,” he adds. “Just don’t forget the community that helped you expand.”
An open question is what the buyout means for the Orpheum Theater, which is still owned by Gus Paras, who famously refused to officially sell the theater to Frank Productions, which was operating it while it was in foreclosure, before hiring Live Nation to run it. With The Sylvee set to open on East Washington Avenue later this year, Frank Productions will be operating a pair of similarly sized concert venues with vastly different vibes/profiles. According to Goldstone, while Frank will continue to book music into the Orpheum, the venue is likely to see more events like last month’s Joe Biden book tour and an increase in standup comedy shows.
As for the commitment to local music, Goldstone points to Frank’s performance with the High Noon Saloon.
“The proof will be in the pudding,” he says. “We’ve been operating the High Noon for nearly a year now, and we’ve programmed 230 local events, about the same as before we purchased it. Just wait and see; if there’s a problem, we’ll adjust to it.”
Paras declined to comment for this story.
Additional reporting by Allison Geyer
