Touring
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In July, Beyoncé set the record for the highest one-month gross in the history of Billboard Boxscore (dating back to 1985) with $127.6 million. That haul narrowly edged out Bad Bunny’s $123.7 million from September of last year. But immediately after breaking ground, Queen Bey re-asserts herself, and the Renaissance World Tour, as an all-time dominant Boxscore force. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, Beyoncé’s 14 shows in August earned $179.3 million.
Improving upon her existing record by 40%, Beyoncé distances herself from the pack, notching two of just four $100 million months since the charts launched in February 2019. Bad Bunny and Harry Styles achieved the other two.
After leading Top Tours in May and July, Beyoncé scores a third month at No. 1. That puts her in four-way tie with Ed Sheeran, the Rolling Stones and Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Bad Bunny spent four months at No. 1, and Elton John leads with seven.
With her freshly extended earnings record, Beyoncé claims the month’s highest attendance total for the first time, after falling short of Coldplay in May and The Weeknd in July. Her 14 shows sold 697,000 tickets.
After crowning Top Boxscores in July with two shows at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, Beyoncé ups the ante with three shows at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The triple-header grossed $39.8 million and sold 156,000 tickets on Aug. 11-12 and 14. That puts it among the top 10 grossing headline engagements ever, and the third highest in North America. The only two bigger reports are courtesy of Harry Styles, with 15-show runs at Madison Square Garden and the Kia Forum, making for an apples-to-oranges comparison to Beyoncé’s three-night stadium sweep.
Elsewhere, Beyoncé brought in $29.4 million on Aug. 6-7 at FedEx Field in Landover, Md. (Washington, D.C. area) and $25.8 million on Aug. 26-27 at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium. Those three engagements alone would be enough for No. 1 on Top Tours, before adding the other seven shows she played between Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. (Boston area) on Aug. 1 and Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. (San Francisco area) on Aug. 30.
This gigantic monthly haul adds to an already record-breaking summer for Beyoncé. Previously, Billboard reported that the Renaissance World Tour is the highest-grossing tour of all time by an R&B artist, replacing her own Formation World Tour from 2016. Now, at $461.3 million, it passes Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet Tour (2008-09) to become the highest-grossing tour by a woman in the Boxscore archives.
The Renaissance World Tour will come to a close on Sunday (Oct. 1). With 10 shows left to be reported, its global haul will blow past the $500 million mark, likely closer to $560 million. That will be enough to situate it among Boxscore’s 10 highest grossing tours ever. As of now, it’d make her the only woman, only Black artist, and only American solo act on the all-time leaderboard.
These records, and all Boxscore data, are based on figures reported to Billboard by various industry sources, such as venues, concert promoters and artist management.
In terms of attendance, the Renaissance World Tour is up to 2.247 million tickets, narrowly eclipsing the Formation World Tour’s 2.242 million to become her best-selling tour yet.
When Beyoncé crowned the May report, she became the first woman in almost four years to lead the list, since P!nk was No. 1 in July 2019. Three months later, with Beyoncé still at No. 1, the stars align with P!nk at No. 2. That marks the first time since the charts premiered four years ago that two women top the chart side-by-side.
P!nk claims the runner-up spot by a razor thin margin. Her 10 shows in August earned $68.59 million, just 0.025% ahead of Metallica’s $68.57 million, themselves barely separated from Morgan Wallen’s $68.36 million.
All three acts launched nine-figure tours earlier this year. P!nk began the Summer Canival Tour in Europe in June before traveling stateside. Metallica hit the road on the M72 World Tour in April with a brief European leg. Now 10 shows deep in North America, the tour has grossed $123.7 million and sold 1.2 million tickets worldwide, becoming the band’s sixth million-ticket tour.
For Wallen, the One Night at a Time Tour started in March, days after the release of its namesake One Thing at a Time album. The LP has gone on to top the Billboard 200 for 15 non-consecutive weeks, never leaving the top five in its 29-weeks-and-counting run on the chart. Between Australia and North America, the tour has earned $218 million so far, becoming the highest grossing tour by a country artist ever. Good year for Morgan Wallen!
While Beyoncé posted all-time high numbers for North American stadiums, her three Atlanta shows are No. 2 on Top Boxscores. She’s blocked by Another Planet’s Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival. The annual San Francisco event grossed $40.1 million and sold out all three days at 225,000 tickets. That’s the festival’s biggest gross and attendance ever, surpassing last year’s $33.9 million by 18%.
It’s the fourth time that Outside Lands has been No. 1 on Top Boxscores, following its triumphs in August 2022, October 2021 and August 2019. Across 13 reports (2008; 2011-19; 2021-23), the festival has welcomed just under 2.5 million customers (2,497,832 to be exact), amounting to $318.6 million in ticket sales.
The August Boxscore report is home to a particularly diverse set of artists. The artists among the month’s top 10 tours have charted on key Billboard charts across country, dance/electronic, Latin, pop, R&B, rap and rock, just in the last year.
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band have pulled their remaining 2023 tour dates as Springsteen continues to recover from peptic ulcer disease. Among the postponed dates are a November Canadian run and his Dec. 4 and 6 dates at Los Angeles’ Kia Forum. The postponed dates will move into 2024, with rescheduled dates to […]
Matty Healy said The 1975 will go on an “indefinite hiatus” when the group completes dates for its current Still… At Their Very Best world tour in late March 2024. The band — who’ve been on the road playing festivals and headlining gigs since March 2022 — kicked off the first leg of their current […]
Usher is likely to use the world’s biggest stage at Super Bowl LVIII in February to promote his first major tour in nearly a decade and become the first act to launch a tour from the big game in seven years, sources tell Billboard.
Following the NFL’s announcement Sunday that the R&B icon will take over Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Feb. 11 as the game’s halftime show performer, sources say Usher’s team has been busy placing holds on arenas around the world. That same team is expected to spend the next four-and-a-half months routing, confirming and finalizing a 2024 global tour that sources expect will be ready to go on sale moments after he steps off the stage.
Over the past two years, Usher has made a home on the Las Vegas Strip with two residencies at the The Colosseum at Caesars Palace and Dolby Live at Park MGM (for Usher: The Las Vegas Residency and My Way: The Vegas Residency, respectively). Combined, his residencies have earned $83 million and sold 374,000 tickets from 79 shows, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, and Billboard estimates that his Vegas earnings should exceed $100 million by early December. That’s more than any of Usher’s prior tours, topping 2010-11’s OMG Tour, which brought in $76 million — and coincidentally lined up with the singer’s previous Super Bowl halftime appearance, when he made a cameo during The Black Eyed Peas’ 2011 set. His last major tour was 2014–15’s The UR Experience Tour.
Usher will also use the halftime show as a platform to launch a new album release. The Atlanta superstar will drop his ninth studio album and his first since 2016, called Coming Home, on the same day as the Super Bowl. Last year, more than 115 million people tuned in for the Super Bowl, according to the NFL, showing viewership of the annual championship game continues to grow even as more Americans “cut the cord” with their cable providers and seek out digital streaming alternatives. Despite the increase in eyeballs, the number of artists making tour announcements or adjustments have dropped dramatically.
It has been seven years since an artist took advantage of Super Bowl halftime show’s massive viewership to announce a new tour — the last was Lady Gaga in 2017. The reason for that is likely two-fold. First, there are more artists touring than ever before, making it difficult for artists to time their touring plans and album cycles around a February announcement date, especially when halftime performers aren’t typically announced until September. The second change was a new partnership with Jay-Z and Roc Nation in 2019 to curate and book the halftime show, which has favored collaborative spectacles over single artist promotion with performances by Shakira and Jennifer Lopez at the 2020 Super Bowl and Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent and Kendrick Lamar at the 2022 Super Bowl.
Looking at the last five Super Bowl halftime shows, from 2018 to 2022, only two were linked to tour announcements: In 2018, Justin Timberlake, announced additional dates for his Man of the Woods Tour including second American leg for Man of the Woods following his Super Bowl LII halftime performance at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. And, in 2021, The Weeknd announced the long-awaited rescheduled dates for his After Hours Tour along with 39 new shows in North America and Europe after his Super Bowl performance. (Eight months later, those rescheduled dates were cancelled a second time, and the tour was upgraded to stadiums for summer 2022.)
The preceding five-year period, 2017-2013, was far busier — four out of five of the halftime shows from this period were linked to major tour announcements.
The last artist to announce a tour immediately following their performance at the Super Bowl was Lady Gaga in 2017. The singer began her remarkable set by descending from the top of Houston’s NRG Stadium onto an on-field stage to perform “Just Dance,” “Bad Romance,” “Poker Face”. After her show wrapped, a post on her Twitter account teased out a world tour, and then hours later a follow-up tweet directed fans to website where fans could buy tickets. Coldplay’s halftime performance in 2016 led to two major tour announcements: one for the band’s Head Full of Dreams Tour and another for their halftime co-star Beyoncé’s Formation Tour. Beyonce also announced The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour following 2013 Super Bowl performance, while Bruno Mars announced new dates for his Moonshine Jungle Tour following his 2014 halftime show performance in 2014.
Additional reporting by Eric Frankenberg.
The Country Music Association has announced changes to its CMA Touring Awards, which recognize behind-the-scenes members of the country music touring community.
New this year, the 2023 CMA Touring Awards will add five categories to its current 15 categories. CMA members will soon be able to vote for crew, backline technician, stage manager, support services company and unsung hero of the year.
In addition, the balloting process for the 2023 CMA Touring Awards has been updated. A nomination round will take place between Friday, Oct. 6 and Thursday, Oct. 19, allowing eligible CMA professional voting members the opportunity to nominate individuals/companies in all 20 categories while providing a brief explanation for their nomination.
A CMA Touring Awards nominations task force will then review the top 20 nominated individuals/companies in each category and determine the finalists.
A final round of voting between Wednesday, Dec. 13, and Thursday, Dec. 28, will allow eligible CMA professional voting members to cast their vote among the top five to eight finalists in each category.
The 2023 CMA Touring Awards ceremony is expected to be held in Nashville in early 2024.
The CMA Touring Awards, originally called the SRO (Standing Room Only) Awards, were created by the CMA board of directors in 1990. The first awards were presented at a black-tie gala during CMA’s Entertainment Expo, also known as the Talent Buyers Entertainment Marketplace. The SRO Awards were renamed the CMA Touring Awards in 2016.
Here are details on the five new CMA Touring Award categories:
Crew of the Year
This award honors the entire crew of a country music tour that executed a multi-city run of shows during the eligibility period. The award recognizes the crew that has consistently demonstrated outstanding professionalism, skills, teamwork, hospitality, innovation and excellence in all aspects of their work. This award is not necessarily for the team supporting the biggest or top-selling tour of the year, but for the crew that has clearly demonstrated the most heart and spirit on the road, making the biggest overall contribution to elevating country music.
Backline Technician of the Year
This award goes to a backline technician who has demonstrated technical proficiency in ensuring exceptional musician and/or artist support on a country tour during the eligibility period.
Stage Manager of the Year
This award goes to a stage manager who has been instrumental in organizing and executing a country tour during the eligibility period.
Support Services Company of the Year
This award goes to a support services company that has maintained high professional standards and delivered creative and innovative ideas through their services provided to a country tour during the eligibility period. This may include video, lighting, merchandise, security, sound equipment leasing, transportation, catering, staging and other touring support services companies.
Unsung Hero of the Year
This award goes to a touring professional who has made invaluable contributions behind the scenes and served as a vital part of a country tour during the eligibility period. The recipient of this award has gone above and beyond their assigned duties and has worked tirelessly to elevate the overall experience for everyone on the tour. Individuals who are eligible to be nominated in the other CMA Touring Award categories are not eligible to be nominated for this award category.
Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter, is launching an ambitious new program to improve the lives of touring musicians and cut down on the growing costs traveling artists facing criss-crossing the country.
Today, the concert giant has announced the launch of “On the Road Again,” a new program inspired by legendary singer/songwriter Willie Nelson to support developing artists and their road crews. The program — which has no expiration date and is expected to save artists tens of millions per year — tackles the growing costs of travel expenses and the ability of artists to make money through merch sales.
“Touring is important to artists so whatever we can do to help other artists, I think we should do it. This program will impact thousands of artists this year and help make touring a little bit easier,” said Nelson, who provided his famous hit song On the Road Again as the anthem for the program.
Starting today, all acts playing Live Nation owned and operated clubs, from headliners to support acts will receive a $1,500 gas and travel cash stipend per show to all headliners and support acts, on top of nightly performance compensation.
As part of the program, the company’s clubs will no longer charge merchandise selling fees, allowing artists to keep 100% of merch profits. Many artists rely on merch sales to generate cash for the band while they’re on the road. In January, Ineffable Music Group became the first company to wave merch fees for the companies 10+ venues and showrooms. The decision by Live Nation to waive these fees will likely lead to more cash in the hands of touring artists.
“Touring is a crucial part of an artist’s livelihood, and we understand travel costs take one of the biggest bites out of artists’ nightly profits,” a press release from Live Nation reads. “By helping with these core expenses, we aim to make it easier for artists on the road so they can keep performing to their fans in more cities across the country.”
The On the Road Again also includes financial bonuses to local promoters that help execute at shows as well as tour reps and venue crew members that have worked over 500 hours in 2023. On the Road Again also includes $5 million to Crew Nation, a fund created during the pandemic to support crew across the industry facing unforeseen hardship.
“Delivering for live artists is always our core mission,” said Michael Rapino, President and CEO of Live Nation in a statement to Billboard. “The live music industry is continuing to grow and as it does, we want to do everything we can to support artists at all levels on their touring journey especially the developing artists in clubs. Like Willie says, this is all about making it a little easier for thousands of artists to continue doing what they love: going out and playing for their fans.”
Conpany officials added that On the Road Again is “a true collaboration that draws on insights from Nelson’s years on the road as well as feedback from touring artists, their teams and venue operators to help support day to day life on tour. All benefits from On the Road Again are being provided directly from the venue’s existing earnings, with no increases to consumers.”
For more information on the program and a list of participating venues, visit roadagain.live
Courtesy Photo
After releasing his latest album, I Told Them… last month, Burna Boy will embark on a 16-city trek this fall called the I Told Them… Tour. Produced by Live Nation, the multi-city jaunt will find Burna performing in not only arenas but, in some cases, stadiums. Beginning Nov. 3, the “City Boys” artist will perform his first-ever […]
Morgan Wallen is extending his One Night at a Time tour for several more nights, with 10 new stadium dates added for 2024. The additional U.S. dates will kick off April 4 at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium and end Aug. 8 at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium. Each date will include three opening acts from a […]
With her latest string of albums, including her intensely vulnerable and current CMA album of the year-nominated Rolling Up the Welcome Mat EP, singer-songwriter and five-time Billboard Country Airplay chart-topper Kelsea Ballerini has steadily been leveling up, both creatively and professionally.
This week, Ballerini not only made her debut performance on the VMAs, but also appeared on the cover of TIME, and stepped up in the touring space, selling out her very first headlining arena show, set for Nov. 2 in her hometown of Knoxville, Tenn. at the Thompson-Boling Arena. The show will crown a year that has seen Ballerini headline a slate of theaters on her HEARTFIRST Tour, perform songs from Rolling Up the Welcome Mat on Saturday Night Live, offer a powerful, statement-making performance on the CMT Music Awards, release a short film around her EP, and play the inaugural People’s Choice Country Awards, which she is set to perform later this month.
And Ballerini’s latest standout touring moment earns Sandbox Entertainment Group’s head of global touring Leslie Cohea the title of Billboard‘s Executive of the Week.
Here, Cohea discusses Ballerini’s upcoming hometown arena show, how touring has shifted since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and country music’s ascendance in international touring.
This week, Kelsea Ballerini sold out the first headlining arena tour date of her career in Knoxville. What key decisions did you make to help make that happen?
Last year, I put a plan together for Kelsea’s then-upcoming 2023 headlining tour. She had not done a headline tour since before the pandemic and I knew that it had to be thoughtful and impactful for her fans. We decided to play all the right rooms, not skipping any steps, only announcing around 15 shows for the HEARTFIRST tour. Once those sold out, she announced the next 15 shows. With her EP coming out and having the huge success it did, the next shows sold out immediately. Her momentum kept building and building and any show we put on sale sold out. That’s when Kelsea and I talked about having one last massive play to cap off such a successful year. She is absolutely going to play arenas in the future, but I wanted to have one big moment to really show the growth of Kelsea as a touring artist.
The obvious choice was Knoxville since it is her hometown, and she has always wanted to play Thompson-Boling Arena. I had the idea for the show to be over the University of Tennessee homecoming weekend and call it Kelsea’s “homecoming” as well. It’s only right that her first sellout show is in Knoxville. When we announced the show last week, I knew we had a short window to sell tickets being that the show is on Nov. 2. I really wanted this show to stand out as a special event and get people excited. I think everything we did to market the announce really helped drive that. AEG are incredible partners to us, and they helped us build this Knoxville campaign from scratch and continue to bring opportunities that are going to make this show massive for Kelsea and her fans. Amy Buck is a brilliant marketer. It was really special to see it sell out minutes after going on sale. This is by far Kelsea’s biggest show to date, doubling — almost tripling — the capacities she has played this year.
How will this show be different in terms of production, lighting, etc., since this will be scaling up in venue size?
Kelsea has empowered her entire team to up the ante on production for this show. We had a great HEARTFIRST tour production, but it was simply not scaled for arenas. Building out the production for this Homecoming show is where Kelsea, her touring team and I get to have a little fun. We are adding more lights, sound and video while creating a few special surprises along the way. Every fan will leave this show fully understanding why Kelsea Ballerini is a superstar.
Looking ahead to 2024, how do you foresee her touring growing and evolving?
Kelsea continues to grow and evolve in all areas, including writing, recording and touring. The connection she has built with her fans is truly mesmerizing and it’s something that has become so powerful at her live shows. They feel connected to her more than they ever have, especially after the release of Rolling Up The Welcome Mat. And based on what we just witnessed with the sell out at Thompson-Boling Arena, there is absolutely an arena tour in Kelsea’s future.
Daniel Prakopcyk*
Earlier this year, Kelsea also made headlines after she was hit by a bracelet while on stage, part of a strange trend of fans throwing things at artists on stage. Is there anything that the team has changed to help keep things safe on tour?
Every artist and their team want to create the safest environment possible. Since the bracelet incident, tour security works directly with the venue to make sure we have all eyes watching the people closest to the stage. I also think the fans attending are holding other fans accountable. An artist is vulnerable enough on stage, disrupting a show by launching something at the artist ruins the moment for every person on, in front of, and behind the stage.
How has touring changed overall since the pandemic?
The thing I have noticed lately is the volume of shows in every size room in every market. Right now, there are so many tours going back out and making up for the lost time and revenue. This is how we at Sandbox really came up with the “less is more” idea to only announce 15 shows for Kelsea. We want fans to feel the urgency to buy the tickets as soon as they go on sale. We are seeing people waiting to buy closer to the show. They don’t want to make the commitment too soon.
Kelsea just made her debut VMAs performance and was on the cover of TIME. How has the Sandbox team overall worked toward her increased recognition in the mainstream, while still staying very connected within the country music genre?
Two words: Jason Owen. Jason is our fearless leader at Sandbox, but he empowers all of us to lead, to innovate and to push boundaries. Our digital team at Sandbox always has their fingers on the pulse of what’s connecting in the marketplace. Their knowledge and insight into how we communicate with fans is unmatched. And CAA has played a very integral role in helping us elevate Kelsea’s stature across touring and film and television. Rick Roskin and his team are incredibly powerful partners.
Country music is having a moment not only in terms of success on the all-genre Hot 100 chart, but in terms of international touring. To what factors do you attribute this moment?
There are a lot of factors that contribute to this, from streaming to labels pushing more for international exposure and touring becoming a more common experience for country artists all over Europe and the U.K. It was hard to convince an arena-level artist years ago to go play clubs across the U.K. in order to help grow their international fan base. It had to feel like going backwards almost. In the last 10 years, the next generation of country artists really started investing in growing their touring careers abroad. They could do it alongside their touring career in the states as well. C2C and other newer country festivals have also really helped shine a light on country music and have allowed the ability to get exposure in places like London and Dublin.
Last Week’s Top Executive: Sony Latin Iberia COO María Fernández
In July, the National Independent Venue Association elected two new members to its board of directors including longtime independent promoter and venue operator Shahida Mausi of The Right Productions and The Aretha Franklin Ampitheatre in Detroit. Mausi, who has run her promotion company The Right Productions for more than 25 years, says the new position is giving her the opportunity “to bring my unique perspective from backgrounds in cultural affairs, government, non-profit and entrepreneurship” to the organization that is looking to take on unfair ticketing practices on a national level, in addition to continuing to advocate for independent venues from local to federal government.
Mausi’s expertise goes beyond the promotion company she founded in 1996. Prior to her independent business, Mausi worked in the non-profit sector and was the head of the Arts Council for the City of Detroit for 10 years. Her family’s roots in Detroit go back more than a century and Mausi’s commitment to bringing art to her hometown through the family-owned Right Productions (her four sons work throughout the company) and her stewardship of The Aretha since its opening.
“What you can do in Detroit with a vision or as an entrepreneur, you can’t necessarily do as easily in other markets. I’m not saying it’s easy,” says Mausi, adding “it’s because of the factory background and the strength of unions in Detroit and the role unions play in politics. You could be working on the factory floor impacting the union, which impacts who gets elected and therefore it gives you access to people that make things happen.”
Since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, Mausi and her sons have wielded their expertise and community building into helping found the Black Promoters Collective (which promoted Mary J. Blige’s 23-city Good Morning Gorgeous arena tour in 2022) and joined forces with NIVA, where BPC won the 2023 NIVA Idea award at the association’s annual conference. Mausi sat down with Billboard to discuss surviving economic downturns as an independent promoter and what comes next.
How do you get an independent production company off the ground?
With the cheekiness of youth, I called the general manager of the Nederlander Theater here in Detroit. Detroit is home to the Nederlanders. This is where the family came from. I called the general manager and said, ‘I don’t think you’re doing enough programming to serve the African American population of the city.’ They said, ‘well, I disagree,’ and there started a conversation and a friendship that has lasted 30 years.
[Nederlander’s Alan Lichtenstein] gave me the opportunity to help launch Broadway shows on their Detroit leg of national tours and whatnot. Early in the business, it served me well that I had spoken up and put my shoulder to the wheel when he did do more to serve this community.
When did you get involved with the Aretha Franklin Amphitheater?
When the building was first built, I was the director of the Detroit Council of the Arts. It was built by the city and I was running the department and, in that role, I did the first three years of programming. Between the time that I left, after those first three years, different entities have managed it for brief periods of time. Then there was an RFP [request for proposal] put out in 2004 and we won the bid. We’ve been managing it ever since.
Was that a difficult time to take over operations of the venue in Detroit?
Yeah. It was 2008 when the housing crisis shut down the economy with subprime mortgages, and Lehman Brothers and all those folks were crashing. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failed that year, so we already had shows contracted and up on sale when the disposable income of people completely dried up and stopped. Nobody was buying anything. Nobody knew what was going to happen next. We had to honor those contracts regardless. General Motors – a mile from us – went bankrupt. [The Right Productions] could not afford to go bankrupt. If we had gone bankrupt, it would have been game over.
We had to negotiate our way through that crisis. We were able to weather that storm because we had a good reputation. If I tell you I’m going to pay you on such and such date or that I don’t know when I am going to be able to pay you but I’m gonna pay you, people took me at my word and I honored my word. I didn’t know if we were going to survive, but we pulled on our strength which was our reputation of honoring our word and our commitment to people.
You operated the amphitheater during another crisis, the pandemic. How did you get through that?
If we could only serve 100 people a night, then that’s what we were going to do. We were all shut ins for a year or more, and if you could give people just that, it was worth doing. It was crazy, but I am glad we were able to serve people. That’s what this is, ultimately. It’s facilitating a means of connecting people with things that lift them. It’s a stewardship of a stage and we’re honored to be able to do it.
Did being a family business help get you through the tough times?
I have four sons. All four of them function in different capacities here at The Right Productions and around the country. They all followed paths that were appropriate for their own personalities. They all went to college and brought back those skills. If it was not for family, we would not have been able to pull it through. Because family works when there’s not a dime on the table. I have grandchildren now and they are pulling and pushing and loading and unloading. In 2021, it was truly a family affair because we couldn’t hire people. I had cousins that flew in from New York, sleeping in my living room to help.
Can you describe how The Right Productions was instrumental in founding the Black Promoters Collective?
The pandemic was a good thing and a horrible thing mostly. When everything stopped, there was time to look and think of what could be planned and what could be better. My son, Sulaiman [Mausi] and the vice president of The Right Productions, reached out to other promoters that have a good reputation across the country and we began meeting on a weekly basis to talk about what we could do differently, what could do better in this industry, as opposed to being in our silos. So, we formed the Black Promoters Collective in 2020. That has been a game changer.
Last year, BPC scored a $60 million quarter on Billboard Boxscore before the Mary J. Blige tour. What has the reception been since those numbers came in?
It demonstrates that we have the chops. We have the skills to manage business on that level and that we can execute what is needed to deliver a major tour and to care of a major artist in the way they should be cared for. Let’s just say the business climate has been impacted by our success.
Are there plans to go beyond the U.S. and Canada?
We’ve had conversations. There are some things under discussion. That’s my goal. I’m always looking for growth. I’m always looking for the next opportunity and international touring is something that I want.