State Champ Radio Touring
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Each year, an uncountable number of recording artists transform their discographies into live shows, going on tour to super-serve their biggest fans around the world. But a select few have the power to bring their fans to them, staging extravagant productions in one city as the masses travel to see a once-in-a-career performance. Here, we’re […]
Making live music events as environmentally friendly as possible is a task executed by thousands of workers who install solar panels, transport waste, collect reusable cups, measure energy use and execute other operational tasks. But every employee doing this work ultimately falls under the purview of any given live event company’s head of sustainability. Erik Distler is one of them.
As vp of sustainability at AEG, Distler leads the company’s corporate sustainability program. There are executives in similar roles at Live Nation, ASM Global and Oak View Group – and together, this group is responsible for greening a significant percentage of global events and venues. In February, the group – who Distler says all know each other given that the sustainability space is relatively small — appeared together in public for the first time during a panel at the inaugural Music Sustainability Summit in Los Angeles.
“The symbolism of us being together on that stage is powerful and hopefully inspiring to the industry that we’re cheering each other on and perhaps exploring what we can do together,” says Distler. With the stakes being so high, there’s an incentive to share information, he says, particularly given that “this work is really replicable. What you do in one venue or festival can, barring local infrastructure, be done anywhere else.”
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Distler came to his role after working in sports and entertainment sustainability for more than a decade. At AEG, he and his five-person team design and direct sustainability initiatives across the company’s more than 25 festivals, as well as over 50 music venues; nine arenas and similarly sized venues; four entertainment districts; and more than 15 tours to date.
AEG has had a sustainability program for 15 years, but when Distler joined in October 2021, his task was to “take our program to its next phase” amid the worsening climate crisis, the increasing demand for sustainable events among consumers, and new sustainable technologies and regulations.
“The external forces are louder and more influential than they’ve ever been,” he says. “That’s really pushing the industry forward in a way that’s making the case for companies to prioritize and devote internal teams to understand this work, build resources and take action in a meaningful way.”
Distler spent his first three months on the job meeting with 50 internal stakeholders to better understand the business, how to make it more sustainable and get senior executive buy-in, which he says “was fundamental and really paved the way to get more granular with other colleagues.”
From the information collected, he created a strategic framework around sustainability, along with an official vision statement — “Inspire the world’s many voices to protect our planet” — and a mission statement declaring that the company is “committed to operating responsibly and to catalyzing the influence of live entertainment to preserve the planet for future generations.”
“It’s important to have a strategy on a page,” Distler says, “and ultimately a framework that can be used to guide us moving forward.”
This framework also includes a set of focus areas including carbon and energy, waste and materials water, and stewardship and engagement, along with six guiding principles (“collaboration over competition” and “communicate with transparency and often” among them) and seven pillars: operations, suppliers, employees, fans, communities and partnerships.
These partners include Schneider Electric, a French multinational energy management company that AEG has worked with for 14 years for support with target setting, strategy, energy sourcing, market intelligence and risk management. A Greener Future in the U.K. and Three Squares Inc. in the United States are sustainability consultants, while r.World provides reusable cups in all of AEG’s Denver music venues, along with select venues in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, along with six Goldenvoice festivals. For Coachella and Stagecoach, AEG has donated 44.2 tons of food to its partner Coachella Valley Rescue Mission and 34.6 tons of material to the Galilee Center, which provides clothing and other basics to families in the Coachella Valley.
Distler has also sought additional help. Last year, he worked to get four people hired into three newly created sustainability roles. “It’s not uncommon that a sustainability team is small in count and under resourced,” he says. “ What I see as a large part of my responsibility is ensuring our department is sound economically and building and making the case for staff and resources.”
In addition to Distler and his new hires, the team also includes a data and analytics lead responsible for measuring the impact of AEG events and “all the other people that have jobs like those in festival operations that eat, sleep and breathe this.” Additionally, AEG’s employee-led People For The Planet group is composed of employees from other parts of the company who want to contribute to sustainability projects.
Altogether, this group is “probably pretty emblematic of a sustainability department,” Distler says. “You may have a small core team, but you’ve got external and internal partners that help get the work done.”
Given that Europe has tighter sustainability regulations that the U.S., the industry there offers good examples of initiatives that might eventually be adopted in the States. Last November, AEG’s O2 Arena in London launched a green rider: a best practice guide for sustainable touring and events that outlines what the venue is doing in key areas.
“It’s a great way to sit with an artist and their management team and figure out what we can do while they’re [at the O2] that’s truly sustainable and ultimately communicated to fans,” Distler says of the guide, which was produced in collaboration with U.K. based sustainability consultancy A Greener Future.
Distler says his team is “constantly” collaborating with artists including Billie Eilish, who in June 2022 hosted an event at The O2 called Overheated that featured vegan food and water refill stations along with climate-minded programming. Last April, after learning that rock band Muse “was passionate about climate issues,” he says, AEG’s Crypto.com Arena made a donation on behalf of the and to the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, which works to further clean tech, climate action and the green economy in the city.
Distler on site at Cali Vibes
Courtesy of AEG
AEG made a donation to the L.A. Clean Tech Incubator, which works to further clean technology in the city, from AEG’s Crypto.com Arena on behalf of the band. Last year, the team also worked with Maggie Rogers to measure the carbon footprint associated with one of her U.S. tour stops and provided that info to Rogers’ team, along with mitigation suggestions.
In the U.S., AEG has launched a comprehensive sustainability program for its Goldenvoice festivals — including Coachella, Stagecoach, Cruel World and Just Like Heaven. In particular, Goldenvoice’s Cali Vibes functions as a testing ground for sustainability initiatives, including solar panels that light parking lots and the transformation of unpurchased merch into staff uniforms, with these projects be studied for possible use at other events.
“I always say that sustainability doesn’t happen within our team,” says Distler. “Things like waste avoidance or diversion at a festival happen in collaboration with our operation teams, partners and haulers. That requires work that doesn’t ultimately get done in the corporate office.”
While the music industry is ultimately responsible for a tiny fraction of global emissions and waste, Distler is resolute about its impact. He recalls being on a panel in New York last fall alongside sustainability heads from major corporations with, he says, “huge footprints, like millions of metric tons of emissions.”
And yet when it came to the audience Q&A, “everybody had questions for me, and no one had questions for them.” Given its “influence [on] the heart and mind,” the music industry has a responsibility to focus on sustainability, share these initiatives with fans and “create the setting for positive, inspiring and uplifting work.”
It helps that Distler “absolutely” sees real progress being made, with fans, partners, artists and athletes “putting the right level of pressure on the businesses to take on meaningful action.” He says many of the major corporations AEG works with are also taking on sustainability in a more focused way.
“It’s sitting down with partners and saying, ‘What are your focus areas? Your goals? Your aspirations?’” he says. “Then sharing ours and seeing what lines up…seeing the eagerness and willingness of our partners to ideate and brainstorm is really encouraging, and is signaling that the industry is moving in the right direction.”
The Red Clay Strays, the quintet behind the recent viral hit “Wondering Why,” are set to launch their inaugural European tour in August.
The group, who just inked a major label deal with RCA Records and are signed with WME for booking, will play five shows, beginning Aug. 18 in Dublin, Ireland, and followed by shows in Glasgow, UK (Aug. 20), Manchester, UK (Aug. 21), London (Aug. 23) and wrapping the trek with a show at The Long Road Festival in Leicestershire, UK, on Aug 24.
The group, hailing from Mobile, Alabama, first released “Wondering Why” in 2022, though the song began surging in late 2023 thanks to social media. The group — which includes lead singer Brandon Coleman, electric guitarist Zach Rishel, guitarist/vocalist Drew Nix, bassist Andrew Bishop and drummer John Hall — has been making music since 2016, blending elements of rockabilly, gospel, soul, blues, rock and country into a sonic mesh Coleman refers to as “non-denominational rock ‘n’ roll.” Coleman, Nix and songwriter Dan Couch wrote “Wondering Why.”
The band is working on a Dave Cobb-produced album. “Since we’ve started, the goal from day one was to work with Dave Cobb,” Coleman previously told Billboard. “The fact that it actually happened is surreal.”
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The Red Clay Strays released their debut album Moment of Truth in 2022, and have since opened shows for artists including Eric Church and Dierks Bentley. In September 2023, they also launched their headlining Way Too Long Tour, and are set to appear on a slate of music festivals this summer, including Moon Crush and Cattle Country Fest.
Tickets for the slate of European shows go on sale April 5 at 10 a.m. local time. Fans can also sign up for a passcode for an artist presale on April 3 beginning at 10 a.m. local time.
German concert promoter and ticketing company CTS Eventim agreed to buy French media company Vivendi‘s festival and international ticketing businesses, the companies said in a joint statement on Tuesday (April 2).
CTS Eventim and Vivendi have signed a put option agreement for the deal, which includes leading U.K. ticket merchant See Tickets along with Vivendi festivals Junction 2 in the U.K. and Garorock in France. The financial details of the deal, including price, were not disclosed.
CTS Eventim is the world’s second-largest provider of ticketing and live entertainment services, and acquiring the businesses could help it maintain an edge over rival Live Nation in its home market of Europe.
“The acquisition supports our internationalization strategy and will also benefit artists and their managers, as we will be able to offer even more seamless services on a global scale,” said CTS Eventim chief executive Klaus-Peter Schulenberg in a statement.
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Vivendi’s festival and ticketing businesses, housed under the subsidiary Vivendi Village, generated 137 million euros ($151.2 million) in 2023. See Tickets sold around 44 million tickets last year, generating 105 million euros ($115.8 million). It is the second-largest ticketing company in the United Kingdom and also operates in the United States and seven European nations.
The festival activities that CTS Eventim is set to acquire generated 32 million euros ($35.3 million) last year. Vivendi will retain its stake in the performance hall L’Olympia in Paris, See Tickets France and the Brive Festival.
“We at Vivendi are convinced that CTS Eventim will be the right company to bring our ticketing and festival activities to new heights, supporting See Tickets to remain a state-of-the-art company … while fostering the growth of the festivals and preserving their unique identities and audience,” said Hala Bavière, CEO of Vivendi Village, in a statement.
CTS Eventim is coming off a banner year. The Munich-based company’s revenue topped 2 billion euros for the first time ever in 2023, rising 22% to 2.36 billion euros ($2.53 billion at the average exchange rate in 2023). Normalized earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was also up 32% to 501.4 million euros ($542.7 million).
The companies said they expect to finalize the deal within a few months, pending approval from each of their employee works councils.
CTS Eventim’s stock briefly hit a new 52-week high of 83.85 euros ($90.28) following the news on Tuesday before closing at 82.70 euros ($89.04), up 0.3%.
On Feb. 5, 300 workers from North America’s music industry gathered at the inaugural Music Sustainability Summit to discuss the impact of climate change on their business. “People were always asking where to start, what to do and how to do it,” says Amy Morrison, co-founder and president of the Music Sustainability Alliance, which organized the symposium. “We saw a need to bring people together in order to not duplicate work, to share best practices and to spotlight the good work everyone is doing.”
Morrison formed the 501(c)(3) nonprofit MSA with co-founder Mike Martin during the pandemic and near the end of her 23-year run as senior vp of marketing at Concerts West/AEG. While semiretired, she still consults for the company and continues running tour marketing for The Rolling Stones, including their North American Hackney Diamonds trek this summer. The touring shutdown enabled her to complete a certificate program in sustainability at Presidio Graduate School, and she now dedicates most of her working hours to the MSA. (The alliance is currently collaborating with a nonprofit fundraising consultant to raise money to pay staff.)
The MSA’s mandate is the creation of “climate-focused professional resources and community,” Morrison explains. “It’s a relatively simple concept, but nobody ever saw the need for it. The downtime we had to reflect during COVID was helpful, and the timing now couldn’t be better to accelerate and lift everyone up together to do this.”
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The Music Sustainability Summit will be an annual gathering that takes place in Los Angeles — where the MSA, like Morrison, is based — on the day after the Grammy Awards, and MSA will organize a number of year-round initiatives and track environmental regulations that will affect the industry, with the two most pertinent being truck emissions and phasing out single-use plastics. It also offers a music-industry resource guide.
“It still blows my mind that I get to work with the Stones,” Morrison says. “Living in L.A., this poster beautifully marries the SoCal vibe and the greatest rock’n’roll band in the world.”
Maggie Shannon
By mid-April, the MSA plans to have three to five working groups dedicated to promoting sustainability practices in the industry. Each will share solutions and actionable recommendations. In collaboration with the Eller College of Management, MSA is also conducting an analysis of the economic impacts of extreme weather on the live industry and how environmental regulations will affect touring practices. Morrison is also a member of the advisory group for the Sustainable Production in Entertainment Certification, which is being developed by the U.S. Green Building Council-Los Angeles in partnership with experts to develop SPEC’s green certification program for workers across the entertainment industry.
Beginning in May, MSA will hold a series of webinars that will focus on merchandise, food choice impact, easy ways to green events, regulations and incentives, among other topics. Plans are also underway to launch quarterly member happy hours in L.A. and New York.
“I oversimplify things a lot, which I think is a gift and a curse,” Morrison says, “but it makes me not scared and it motivates me to try things because it’s like, ‘We can do this.’”
It’s often said that despite the music industry having a very small impact on climate change, it has an outsize influence on the culture that can be leveraged. What are your thoughts on that?
I agree as a general statement. I feel it’s really important, though, that we have our house in order and that the industry can walk the walk, speak with confidence and be legit and authentic in getting that message out. I think that supports artists who want to speak out as well because they have the confidence that the industry is behind them.
The MSA wants to create that confidence. The mission is to have a net-zero music industry by 2050 [with] lots of milestones along the way.
“This clock commemorates The Concert of a Lifetime, Simon & Garfunkel’s 1993 residency at [what is now] The Theater at Madison Square Garden. I grew up listening to them, and being a part of this historic reunion was a career highlight.”
Maggie Shannon
What initiatives is the MSA working on?
We’ve been working on a Get Out the Vote working group. There’s a lot of interest, and it involves everything from message targeting, deciding on markets and the intention of activating younger people to vote [with consideration for] the climate. We’re also talking about how to use the channels we have: What can a venue do to get the word out? What can a promoter do? Then the campaign needs to be created for them to actually have something to share. It could even be picking a city that needs the impact and finding a local artist there [to get involved] who could be just as meaningful as getting a superstar to do it. We’re working with folks that create campaigns, along with political experts.
You work in the touring industry. What initiatives do you have in that sector?
In the next couple of months, we’re launching a campaign for [tours] to have one less truck. It’s about flipping the narrative that [the goal] is no longer having the biggest tours with the most trucks — it’s about still putting on a beautiful show, but with fewer trucks. That’s something we can measure over time. It’s a ways down the road from launching. We’re also working on courses for worker education on how to be green, like a certification you get in how to do your job in a green way. We need operational change, and it only comes from education.
“Running the marketing for a festival of this magnitude with these artists was an incredible experience. I got to draw on my touring experience while learning new things.”
Maggie Shannon
What would a curriculum like that teach?
It could be how to set up composting backstage, or how to go down your supply chain and source items, or how to measure energy use. Really basic stuff, starting on the production side.
Because production has the biggest impact?
Yeah, and it’s easier to adopt. It’s important for systemic change that the people who are doing the work, who are really making operations hum, understand the work. And if their bosses or management see the value in funding this type of program, then it’s also coming from the top.
How do you see the music industry generally becoming greener?
I see it in the expansion of departments, with more people being hired and more resources getting put behind it. [Live Nation’s touring program] Green Nation is starting to really empower its production teams to lead in the green space, and they’re putting green coordinators out on the road. It’s not like, “The runner or the [production assistant] can do it.” There has been a shift in the acknowledgment that this is actually a job.
The MSA is working with big companies that compete with each other. What has that been like?
We’ve found that in the production vendor world, it’s a no-brainer. They’re all game to be on the same calls and do things together. At the summit, the panel with the [sustainability leads from AEG, Live Nation, ASM Global and Oak View Group] was a good start. A secret mission of mine is to find a project for the four of them to work on. Maybe to find a city where they all have a property — I’m sure there’s more than one — and work on [climate-minded] infrastructure together. It can be a small thing to do as proof of concept. I think the working groups will bring some of that because a lot of our role is to facilitate, convene and set the table for people.
A friend gifted Morrison this Al Hirschfeld drawing of Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia. “As a longtime Deadhead and Hirschfeld fan, it makes me smile to see Jerry doing what he loves.”
Maggie Shannon
I think part of the road map for us is to come up with some science-based, peer-reviewed recommendation to take to the C suite and say, “Here are a couple of projects that maybe if all the venues work together on, this is the impact it could have, and all it will cost you is X, Y or Z.”
I can see how having such options would be useful for busy people who don’t know where to start.
Maybe I’m dreaming, but they really should all work together on this, and I think they will, with the right projects and the right impact.
Climate change can feel so overwhelming. How do you avoid existential dread and stay in a place of progress and optimism?
I’m a half-full gal. I am optimistic, and I’m fed by support, good work and successes. The summit was amazing. I couldn’t have dreamed of it to be any better. And everyone still showed up during a crazy rainstorm. There were a lot of years of banging the head against the wall around all this, but change is happening. So I’m not driven by fear — I’m driven by making a difference.
This story will appear in the March 30, 2024, issue of Billboard.
As the 18,000 fans gathered at Mexico City’s Arena Ciudad de México on Feb. 14 screamed at deafening levels, the duo Los Temerarios ran onstage — Adolfo Ángel from the left, Gustavo Ángel from the right — and embraced briefly but fiercely upon meeting in the middle of the vast platform.
Then, Adolfo, 60 — dressed in black pants and shirt and light blue jacket — took his customary place behind an array of keyboards while frontman Gustavo, 55, dressed in a shining black and red embroidered jacket, picked up his microphone.
Without preamble, he sang the first notes of the first song of the brothers’ last tour, Hasta Siempre (Until Forever).
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After more than four decades together, 41 entries on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart and an astounding 46 entries on Top Latin Albums — more than any other Latin act in history — Los Temerarios is calling it quits.
“Tomorrow is the beginning of the end of an era for Temerarios,” Adolfo says over a bottle of wine in Mexico City the night before the tour opens, his eyes welling up with tears, in his first and only interview since the group’s announcement of this finale. “I’m a little sensitive,” he adds with a soft, embarrassed laugh.
Adolfo, the “big” Temerario, is over 6 feet tall and brooding. It’s not unusual to see him get emotional. After all, this is a group whose career has quite literally been built on love songs, all penned and produced by Adolfo since he was a teenager doing music with younger brother Gustavo, the dashing, charismatic singer with the high, expressive tenor.
But during a U.S. tour in August, Los Temerarios made a surprise announcement on social media:
“With the love that has united us since we were kids, the same that we feel for the vocation that we’ve had the privilege of working in for more than 46 years, we want to share that we’ve made the difficult decision of separating, closing one of the most important and gratifying cycles of our lives,” the brothers wrote. “Everything we express from this moment on will be in the form of music and in our next shows where we’ll be giving you the best of us.”
Los Temerarios’ Hasta Siempre tour played CDMX Arena in Mexico City on Feb. 16.
Virtus Music
On the eve of their farewell tour, Adolfo stayed true to his statement, refusing to further explain the group’s split except to say they were ending Los Temerarios at Gustavo’s request and that things were not just amicable, but brotherly.
“My brother and I were clear that [beyond the statement] we were keeping things between him and me, and I want to respect that, and I’m sure he does, too,” Adolfo says. “We will finish this tour, each of us will go our own [professional] way, and I will always wish my brother the very best.”
For now, they’re making good on their promise to fans by bringing their best to the stage. On Feb. 14, backed by their longtime five-piece band, Adolfo and Gustavo performed for well over two hours as the crowd sang along. The brothers sold out five consecutive nights, a record for the venue.
“Having a single artist play five consecutive sold-out [shows] goes beyond anything we’d done before,” says Alejandro Arce, general director of tour promoter Zignia Live, which also owns Arena Ciudad de México. The promoter initially announced nine tour dates across Mexico for Los Temerarios, “and sales were extraordinary,” Arce says. The group hadn’t toured the country in over a decade, and the response has been phenomenal, spurring the addition of three more dates at the Mexico City arena (for a total of over 120,000 tickets sold), as well as three sold-out dates (30,000 tickets) at the Arena Monterrey. Not that any of this was a surprise. Last year, the group grossed $12.3 million and sold 125,000 tickets to 14 shows, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore.
All told, in 2024, Los Temerarios will play over 50 arena and stadium dates across Mexico, Central America and the United States — including Madison Square Garden in New York and two nights apiece at Houston’s Toyota Center and Chicago’s Allstate Arena, with more cities expected to be announced. The U.S. leg of the tour is promoted by Zamora Entertainment and, for West Coast dates, in partnership with Frias Entertainment.
“Los Temerarios is a group that has transcended generations,” Arce says. “Very few groups in this genre can fill stadiums. It opens this kind of music, which is completely different and with a completely different message, to new generations.”
The duo won the top Latin albums artist of the year honor at the 2005 Billboard Latin Music Awards.
Rodrigo Varela/WireImage
The duo performs wistful and passionate love songs with arrangements that veer from very traditional Mexican — cumbia, ranchera and the keyboard-heavy sound associated with Mexican romantic groups — to sophisticated pop, a duality the band uniquely achieved in its sphere.
Originally launched along with a cousin in the late 1970s as Grupo la Brisa, the group was always spearheaded by Adolfo, the budding keyboardist-composer who penned songs for his brother. Their romantic grupera musica was beginning to surge in Mexico, with dozens of romantic groups, including Los Bukis and Bronco, gaining traction. Los Temerarios had an additional asset: the entreprenurial Adolfo’s keen business sense.
He eventually changed the duo’s name to Los Temerarios and started releasing music on his own label, AFG Sigma Records, in 1989 while also promoting the band’s shows. That DIY approach served the group well. Save for a brief moment at the very beginning of Los Temerarios’ career, the brothers have always licensed albums as opposed to signing with a label, keeping the rights and control over their masters. As for Adolfo’s publishing catalog of hundreds of songs, it has always been administered by their own publisher, Virtus, the successor to an earlier company, ADF, set up in 1989. This year, the group is signing its first publishing administration deal, with Kobalt.
Twelve years ago, the brothers went completely independent, launching their own label, also named Virtus, and taking over their own promotion and marketing. Their cousin Mayra Alba, who has a master’s in music management from the University of California, Berkeley, has managed them since 1996.
“Their music doesn’t stop evolving,” Alba says. “As artists, they’ve done what they want yet have continued to be authentic, connecting with a multigenerational audience and reaching every possible milestone.”
The results speak for themselves. In addition to its record number of entries on Top Latin Albums, the band has placed 41 tracks on Hot Latin Songs since 1990. Of those, 17 went top 10 and four hit No. 1.
On Latin Airplay, the group has 15 top 10s and four No. 1s, and on Regional Mexican Albums, its 47 entries best those of any group. Los Temerarios is one of only five acts to have achieved eight No. 1s on Top Latin Albums. Only two acts, Marco Antonio Solís and Luis Miguel, have achieved more (12 and nine, respectively).
The steadiness of the group, which has been performing since 1980, made the news of its split even more surprising. And yet, so far, Los Temerarios’ farewell tour has been joyous — and has garnered an overwhelming response.
For these shows, Los Temerarios upgraded the production, adding sophisticated visuals, courtesy of longtime collaborator and video director Carlos Pérez. And aside from Gustavo’s vocals, Adolfo, for the first time, is also singing a short set of songs. It may be a harbinger of what’s to come.
“I’ve never been afraid of experimenting. Then all these energies come in and try to say no to you, but I never listen to that,” Adolfo tells Billboard. “I listen to my heart. I’ve discovered that’s the key: Listen to your heart.”
I would love to hear the story of how you got your first record deal as a teen.
Yes. It was a time of dreams. A time when you saw a lot of artists and groups that inspired and motivated you and you wanted to get to those same stages and take a positive message to the hearts of those who heard you. I went to every single label at the time, and they all said no. I would take our little demos, and they would all say, “This is all very good. Come back in February.”
And then it was March. So, since no one wanted us, we decided to make our own albums, using our gig money. I’d take [our own records] to the radio stations and say I was the radio promoter. I was a teenager. I’d sit there for hours, and sometimes they would see me, sometimes they wouldn’t. I’m not complaining. It’s part of something that now I understand had to happen.
I also took the records to the record store, on consignment. If they sold them, they paid me; if not, I had to pick them up. And when we started to sell 5,000 copies and I had to say, “Hey, send me another thousand,” the people from Sony — CBS then — came over and we signed a contract. Didn’t even look at it. Just said “Órale” [“OK”] and signed. That was around 1983.
You began your career by hustling and doing everything on your own, and now, as a superstar, you’re still independent.
Yes, and that has been important, positive for our career. It made us learn and took us down a road that has been a great gift. Because in the beginning, we knocked on doors and they’d say, “Come back next year.” Until I realized that we had to do it ourselves. And I did it.
Adolfo Ángel of Los Temerarios perform during their Hasta Siempre Tour at CDMX Arena in Mexico City on Feb. 17.
Virtus Music
Did you have a mentor?
No. It was always the desire to make it [that motivated me]. And I would look for the way. I’d pick up the phone and find the label, find the radio station. Then I would get in the pickup truck and drive wherever I had to go. And finally, it would happen. Little by little we became known, at least in our area.
But my dad was a very important example in my life. He still supports me. Without my dad, it would have been much harder, because he loves music. For example, when we had to work the fields and I didn’t want to go, I would pretend I was asleep. And when they were all gone, I’d go look for my music teacher in Fresnillo, Zacatecas, and the next day, my dad wouldn’t say anything. He allowed me those peccadillos. He bought me my first keyboard, a red organ. And then, when I outgrew it, he bought me the new model.
Early in your career you launched your own publishing company, and now you’re signing your first administration deal, with Kobalt. Have you considered selling your catalog?
No. My songs have a very special value. It’s not just the money. If I can take them by the hand the way I think is best — these songs that came from my heart — well, I’d rather do that than give them to someone in exchange for a check. That’s not what I want to do. At least not now.
A decade ago, you were on top of the world with chart success. You last released an album in 2015, then the pandemic interrupted your cycle. What did you do?
We were always doing something. Even though we haven’t released a full album of new songs since 2015, we have a few singles. I’ve always been patient in recording. We usually put out new albums every four, five years. I always thought the quicker you recorded, the quicker your fans got tired. I still think that, even in the era of TikTok. That’s why there’s so much space between albums. And resisting that pressure has given us results, even when people start to say things like, “Hey, I don’t hear your songs.”
The industry has changed, and now the cycle of releases is very fast. Did that worry you?
Some artists release songs every week, every two weeks, but I don’t think those songs transcend. They’re very ephemeral successes. I believe that if you give [the process] respect, if you take the time and make a great production and you feel satisfied with it, very great things can happen. Maybe something works on TikTok with the chorus for a little bit, but I don’t think that’s the path. I like things the old-fashioned way, where you go to the studio, you have a great console, you record a great production with the best engineers and the best musicians and not only with a computer. That’s the music I like to make, that lifts my soul.
Gustavo Ángel of Los Temerarios perform during their Hasta Siempre tour at Arena Monterrey in Monterrey on March 1.
Virtus Music
Your music is romantic by definition. Are you dismayed at how some artists today portray love in their lyrics?
Not dismayed, but I was surprised to hear how music is being used to denigrate women. That had a big impact on me because I do the opposite. I try to say beautiful things about the most beautiful being in the universe; or at least, in my universe. But I respect everyone, and every artist will do their own thing. Me, I’ll continue writing my love songs, and I prefer to make a woman feel like a queen or a princess rather than something else. Maybe I’m being cheesy, but I like that. But I’m not criticizing anyone. Everyone does their own thing.
You wrote a lot during the pandemic, and most of the songs haven’t been released. Now that you’re splitting up, what do you plan to do with them?
I wrote them for us, thinking of my brother, of course. Even when I write on the piano or guitar, I do so in my brother’s tone, which is a higher range than mine. Then, when my brother decided he no longer wanted to be in Temerarios, the songs were put on pause. I don’t know what I’ll do with them. But now, we’re going to finish this tour, everyone will go their own way, and I will always wish my brother the best in life. I think my brother is a very talented man, he has a lot of charisma, people love him a lot, we have had a great career together, and we have the affection of the audience, both of us. He’s going to do very well in whatever he decides to do, and I’ll continue making my songs as long as I can.
Are you working on a solo album?
I am not. I love to sing, but I never used to do so onstage. Because I always felt very comfortable behind my keyboards, with my brother in front. Behind the keyboards I can tell you a story, talk with you; it’s like a protective cape where you feel very comfortable. That’s the way it was, for decades. Then, on this tour, I said, “OK, I have to do it.” And I sing a set of three songs. The only intent is to respond to the audience’s love. And I liked it. A lot. Now I feel very comfortable. But, right now, I’m always writing. I feel most happy and comfortable writing for Temerarios. And if my brother isn’t there anymore, I’ll think about doing it for myself.
What would you like your legacy to be for Mexican music and Latin music overall?
I feel we’re leaving behind a beautiful message for everyone who has ever listened to us, and that’s enough for me.
This story originally appeared in the March 30, 2024, issue of Billboard.
When brothers Oscar and Jesús Flores launched the first-ever of Pa’l Norte in 2012 in Monterrey, Nuevo León — under Apodaca Group, their father Oscar Flores Elizondo‘s entertainment and promotion company — they figured it would be a one-time thing.
“We thought it would happen once, and then we’d just move on with our other projects,” Oscar says. He, along with Jesús and their sister Blanca, comprise the leadership of Apodaca alongside their dad, who founded the company in 1978 as Representaciones Artísticas Apodaca. At the time, the brothers were young executives and, as much as they liked their dad’s business, they wanted to put their own stamp on it. “My brother and I had never produced a festival when we decided to launch Pa’l Norte; fun fact, we had never even attended a festival in our lives,” Oscar says with a chuckle.
But even if it was a one-hit wonder, they wanted to give it a shot in hopes of diversifying the company’s roster of live music events. Apodaca was, and still is, a leader in the regional Mexican scene producing several shows and concerts for that genre in Monterrey, where the company is based. So, the brothers — taking the years of experience they already had working under their father — decided the company’s first festival would be a rock-only lineup. The first edition, Pa’l Norte Rock Festival, a one-day event, featured artists like Calle 13, Carla Morrison, Kinky and Zoé.
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Even with hiccups along the way, including being understaffed and a hailstorm the day before which they thought would cancel the event, they pulled through. And, unlike today, the event didn’t have a lot of support from sponsors, even with the Apodaca name attached to the festival. It was also at a time when the city, located in a state that borders Texas, was recovering from a brutal wave of murders linked to organized crime. Which is not to say Monterrey is a crime-less city today — but although organized crime is still a major concern in the city, it has not affected the festival in its 12 years. Its security plan includes city and state police officers (Fuerza Civil) inside and outside the festival, plus private security.
When Pa’l Norte first launched, Monterrey — an important commercial entry port between the Northeastern region of Mexico and the United States — was also on its way to becoming a modern economic region exploding with tech innovation. “It was like the perfect musical symphony,” says Francisco Orozco, professor at the school of business at the prestigious Tecnológico de Monterrey. “There was a political change in the city that opened doors for these types of events to happen and people gained the confidence and courage to leave their homes again. We proved we weren’t just bullets.”
Three years into the festival, Oscar and his brother dropped the rock-only label because “we wanted to grow and bring more commercial artists,” says Oscar (the festival also adopted the slogan “Siempre Poderoso y Ascendente,” or, “Always Powerful and Ascendant”). They also scored a partnership with concert promoter OCESA, which Live Nation acquired in 2021 for $416 million, doubling down on their efforts to expand their reach. “OCESA has been a great ally that has supported us a lot,” Oscar says. “We are partners in many festivals, but this partnership was key for Pa’l Norte because together with them, we were able to grow in many areas such as sponsorships, international artists.”
The now re-branded Tecate Pa’l Norte — after landing a major sponsorship deal with the beer giant — has gone through massive changes, which has led to its global appeal. “Apodaca has been very meticulous with their alliances, from the beer industry to teaming up with the ministry of tourism to have hotels and transportation available when the festival takes place, [and] also partnering with airline Viva Aerobus for sponsorship,” Orozco says. “It’s a business model that works. They know the importance of allies and that’s why the festival has grown the way it has.”
Today, it’s the “most important musical event in Northern Mexico,” according to Nuevo León’s Ministry of Tourism. “Every year we are talking about more than 75% hotel occupancy derived from Pa’l Norte, but this year will be much more special because it coincides with Easter,” the government agency told Billboard in a statement. “Throughout these 12 years, it has positioned itself not only to impact the creative industries in Nuevo León, but also as one of our most important economic and tourism engines. This year we estimate a revenue of close to 750 million pesos (approximately $46 million U.S.).”
Pa’l Norte’s three-day event now has nine stages that gathers 100,000 people per day at the emblematic Parque Fundidora (before, the capacity was 37,000 when it started at Parque Diego Rivera). Its lineup has evolved from genre-specific to super-eclectic with past headliners including Billie Eilish, Foo Fighters, Caifanes, Maná, Tame Impala, The Killers, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs and 50 Cent. This year’s edition was headlined by Peso Pluma, Blink-182, Imagine Dragons, Maná and Fuerza Regida.
“At the end of the day, promoters are looking to have the most popular acts on their lineup,” says Alan David Robles-Soto, director of the music production program at Tecnólogico de Monterrey. He’s also a guitarist who’s performed alongside Mexican bands like Jumbo and División Minúscula. “It’s the same case with Coachella: it used to be a rock festival and then it wasn’t. It’s in the promoter’s best interest, they want to push sales and the ones who are going to sell are bands like Blink-182.”
Pa’l Norte is perhaps Mexico’s biggest, and most diverse, music festival, though other major events like Vive Latino and EDC Mexico (both produced by OCESA in Mexico City) also move significant tickets: The former had a total of 160,000 attendees this year, while EDC Mexico had 200,000 people in attendance for its 2023 edition. Meanwhile, the Machaca festival, also in Monterrey, gathered 65,000 last year, according to local reports, and the Baja Beach Fest in Baja California (which went from six days to three) draws in a daily capacity of 35,000.
“The importance that Mexico has in Latin America in terms of income in the sub-sector of live music is noteworthy,” Orozco says. “Artists are not only performing in Mexico City or Monterrey but also in other states where we did not imagine artists would go. They understood that people are willing to spend a lot of money for these experiences. Geographically and logistically, the country, which borders the U.S., is in a very important spot for them as well.”
Producing more than 600 shows a year, including 15 festivals across the country, Apodaca now has several divisions under its umbrella, including booking, distribution and management. With Pa’l Norte, the goal is only to become more global and, in the future, Oscar hopes to add a streaming option to expand its reach and potentially turn it into a two-weekend event, à la Coachella. For now, he’s pleased with the festival’s growth over the past 12 years and the impact it’s had on the Mexican state.
“As citizens of Nuevo León, we are very proud that Pa’l Norte is a source of work for restaurants, hotels, taxi drivers during that week,” says Oscar. “At the festival, we have more than 10,500 people working per day; generating that number of jobs fills us with pride. We want to keep impacting. The slogan says it all [always powerful and ascending].”
Xavi chose Mexico to kick off his first tour, Poco a Poco, on Thursday night (March 28). It was the right decision. The hot new regional Mexican music star had a blast at his debut at BlackBerry Auditorium in Mexico City, where he took the opportunity to praise his Mexican roots and charm fans with […]
These days, Coldplay approaches touring “as a traveling R&D lab,” says longtime manager Phil Harvey — and the band’s ongoing Music of the Spheres tour does feel a bit like a stadium run as science experiment. There are compostable wristbands, biodegradable confetti and stationary bicycles that fans on the floor can ride mid-set to generate power to the production’s smaller C stage.
Five years ago, frontman Chris Martin declared that Coldplay would not tour until he could ensure the act’s stadium dates would “have a positive impact” on the environment. Now, thanks to the numerous green innovations put in place since Music of the Spheres began in 2022 — including not only the aforementioned measures but also renewable-resource batteries and routing that reduced air travel — the band achieved a 47% reduction in carbon emissions for the first year of touring, with a 50% reduction goal by the time it wraps in November.
Like an increasing number of artists, Coldplay relied on a team of scientific experts to devise a plan for a greener tour that would be both mammoth (7.7 million global tickets sold to date, according to Billboard Boxscore) and meaningful. “For the number of artists that we’ve been speaking to, the interest and appetite for understanding is pretty good and has exploded over the past three years,” says professor John E. Fernández, director of the Environmental Solutions Initiative (ESI) at MIT, who helped certify Coldplay’s carbon emission results and has also worked extensively with major dance act Above & Beyond.
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The band also connected with Luke Howell — a former solar engineer who founded British sustainability consulting firm Hope Solutions and previously worked with the Glastonbury Festival. Howell and his Hope team studied the band’s previous tours “to identify key areas where we could reduce emissions,” he says, then created a range of targets, while recommending emerging green tech for the trek. “We don’t always get it right,” Harvey says of Coldplay’s ongoing efforts, “but we pass on everything we learn so that other people can do it better next time.”
Ahead of the inaugural Music Sustainability Summit, held in Los Angeles in February, the ESI announced a comprehensive study on touring’s carbon footprint, expected to be completed this summer. Recommendations will be made — although Fernández says there’s still a long way to go. “I would characterize the music industry as risk-averse,” he says. “It’s a business, and artists are trying to make a living, so we’ve seen an enormous amount of concern over the risk entailed with making a commitment to reduce emissions.”
Prof. John E. Fernández
MIT
It’s one thing for a stadium act like Coldplay to make sustainability a prerequisite for playing live, but the majority of artists don’t have that financial luxury — or even a standardized emissions benchmark to shoot for. Michael P. Totten, who has served as a climate science adviser for Pearl Jam for over two decades, says, “The biggest problem we face is that [no artist] has control over everything” — in short, even one big act can’t cut through all the live-industry bureaucracy. “You’d love to work with green arenas,” he says, “but they’re owned by somebody else, they do a ton of events, and might say, ‘You should talk to the ticket sellers.’ ”
Thus, so far, the artists who effectively make their touring practices greener tend to be those who have the means and drive to do so — and whose tours also often leave the biggest footprints. Totten points out that Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard helped drive the band’s pledge of donating $200 per ton of carbon on its tours — but did so based on scientific recommendations, not any law or industrywide objective.
Marcus Eriksen, a marine scientist who has worked with Jack Johnson to spread awareness of plastic pollution in the oceans, believes that change needs to start with more major artists demonstrating their awareness of various environmental issues. “You want to find influencers — people that can reach a much wider audience,” says Eriksen, who has led several ocean expeditions intended to help educate celebrities like Johnson about how much plastic exists in large bodies of water. Such in-person experiences can, he says, help attendees recognize an urgent issue and encourage them to spread the message back on land. “Getting folks out into the field for a direct experience — that can be transformative,” Eriksen says.
While standard green guidelines may not exist yet for the live industry, Howell says he would love to see more solar and renewable energy incorporated into touring, as well as “electric vehicles and fossil oil-free fuels for all trucking and freight.” Fernández also says the music industry must remain in close contact with the scientific community about the latest climate change projections to make any real progress. “Everyone in the music industry must accept the fact that we’re not going to stay [at] 1.5 degree C average surface warming,” he says, referencing the temperature threshold that was the original goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement. “So if you’re developing a climate plan to maintain that, you’re just going to have to rewrite that plan.”
With that in mind, Fernández stresses that artists must remain open to evolving information on climate change, even at the risk of reworking preexisting sustainability pledges. “This is not unique to the music industry — what we’re seeing is that some companies have made climate commitments, they don’t feel good about the inability to fulfill them, and then they go silent,” he says. “Artists can’t go in that direction. They have to be part of inspiring people to take action.”
This story will appear in the March 30, 2024, issue of Billboard.
In the early ’00s, Adam Gardner’s home and work lives didn’t align. “We would live an environmentally friendly lifestyle at home, and then he would go off on the tour bus powered by diesel, using Styrofoam and plastic utensils, and just feeling miserable about it all,” recounts the Guster frontman’s then-girlfriend, now-wife, Lauren Sullivan. “He realized other artists were feeling the same way.”
Gardner cared about sustainability. Many music business stakeholders that he met, in touring especially, didn’t. So he and Sullivan — a veteran of environmental organizations including Rainforest Action Network — set out to redefine how the industry approaches its footprint.
In 2004, they co-founded REVERB (they’re now co-executive directors), partnering in short order with prominent eco-friendly acts like Dave Matthews Band and Jack Johnson. Twenty years on, its guiding mission remains: working with artists (its partners now include Billie Eilish, ODESZA and The 1975) and the music business to implement sustainable touring measures and to leverage the fan-artist relationship to increase engagement with environmental and social issues.
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Inspired by Bonnie Raitt — “the godmother of all of it,” as Sullivan puts it, who launched her Green Highway initiative on her 2002 tour to promote alternative energy sources while greening her own touring — Sullivan reached out to the musician’s management to gauge how the model might be applied to other tours, and it offered mentorship and initial financial support. Gardner propositioned Barenaked Ladies to test the model; the band agreed, and REVERB debuted on the group’s 2004 co-headlining tour with Alanis Morissette.
REVERB spent its early years navigating a music business that was often ambivalent about environmental issues. But as the climate crisis worsened and stakeholders saw REVERB in action, its conversations about sustainability became easier and its actions more comprehensive. Where REVERB used to be “a thorn in the side” of promoters, venues and artist teams, Sullivan explains, “it has been a sea change, 2004 to today.”
A fan refilled at a water station.
Courtesy Reverb
The nonprofit’s work falls into two broad categories: improving a tour, venue or event’s sustainability and using concerts to connect with fans about important issues. While tour sustainability has improved since REVERB launched — thanks in part to the organization itself — the former remains central to its work because most music industry stakeholders still lack the expertise to conceive and carry out green initiatives. Lara Seaver, who as REVERB’s director of touring and projects implements its strategies, describes REVERB’s suite of tour greening measures as “a menu” that teams can choose from based on a tour’s established culture. There’s “low-hanging fruit,” like eliminating single-use plastic bottles backstage, and more involved actions, like collecting a touring party’s unused hotel toiletries (which hotels often discard because they’re not tamper-resistant) and donating them to local shelters.
“What REVERB does really well is they make it turnkey to implement everything,” says AG Artists COO/GM Jordan Wolosky, who has handled client Shawn Mendes’ REVERB work. “There’s so many different moving pieces, so when you have an organization that can help you tackle a few of those pieces from the start, it’s extremely helpful.”
There’s also “not a lot of weight or responsibility put on the artist unless they really want to dive in,” says Activist Artists Management partner and head of sustainability Kris “Red” Tanner, who oversees REVERB affiliations for clients like The Lumineers and Dead & Company. “They help execute and check everything. We as the artists can say, ‘We support this, we want it to happen,’ but funnel it through [REVERB] and make sure we’re actually living up to what we’re promising.”
Critically, REVERB’s programs are tailored. “I can’t imagine saying to an artist, ‘It’s cookie-cutter, and it’s our way or the highway,’ ” Sullivan says. Some artists want to go green but aren’t sure how; others have specific environment-related priorities (one year, Dave Matthews asked REVERB to dedicate its on-site messaging to protecting rhinos), while others still tap into the climate crisis’ intersectionality by asking REVERB to coordinate advocacy for social issues (like homelessness and addiction for The Lumineers and Indigenous land rights for boygenius).
“It’s a really great, low-impact way for us to allow the artists to make an impact without a lot of heavy lifting on their side,” Tanner says. “Just using their pulpit is a great way to help spread the word.”
REVERB researches and assembles local and national nonprofit partners, which are often numerous enough to create “action villages” at events for fans to interact with; for instance, during its 2023 tour, boygenius hosted 50 nonprofits. Since forming, REVERB has facilitated 7.7 million total fan actions, which range from voter registration to utilizing the #RockNRefill program, a decadelong partnership with Nalgene that rewards donors with collectible, tour-specific reusable water bottles — and offers all fans free, filtered refilling stations. “If you have 100 people on a tour, doing everything perfectly — you have the lightest footprint tour that ever was — and you compare that with the power of 20,000 fans at one show, it’s pretty clear where the most potential for impact is,” Seaver explains.
Adam Gardner, Jack Johnson and Lauren Sullivan in 2017.
Matt Cosby
Notably, since REVERB’s inception, sustainability has moved from afterthought to priority in the industry. “Folks are realizing if these sorts of impacts are considered from the very beginning, the efficiency of these solutions goes through the roof,” says Tanner Watt, a 12-year REVERB veteran who liaises with artists, nonprofits and brands as director of partnerships. “We can usually save time and money and also increase the potential positive outcome and positive impact of these programs when we’re involved in the entire conversation around a tour or event.”
These conversations extend to venues and promoters. Mike Luba, president of Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, began a partnership between the venue and REVERB in 2017. “We followed their blueprint,” he says, and the facility became climate-positive, meaning it offsets its carbon by more than it generates. “REVERB has changed the narrative, where people now go to concerts expecting that these things are in place,” Luba continues. Some artists do, too: Neil Young, who will play two dates at Forest Hills in May, isn’t an official REVERB partner, but he has a host of green requirements for any venue he plays. When booking his shows, “if we hadn’t already checked a whole bunch of boxes, it was a nonstarter,” Luba says.
Plenty of touring frontiers remain to be conquered. Last year, REVERB launched a major initiative, the Music Decarbonization Project, to eventually eliminate the carbon emissions created by the music industry, and Sullivan cites fan travel and inefficient tour routings as areas with room for improvement. But more broadly, REVERB has already accomplished some of the most challenging work.
“We’re continuing to show venues, promoters and other stakeholders that this is feasible — fans want it, artists clearly want it,” Sullivan says. “And if the will is there, it can happen.”
This story will appear in the March 30, 2024, issue of Billboard.
