LOS ANGELES – In the concert business, promoters hold substantial influence, while venue owners can exert their own authority—though they often choose not to. Superstars with the drawing power of Ed Sheeran, meanwhile, typically retain significant control over anything presented under their name.
That is the broad assessment from music industry professionals who spoke with The Associated Press about the power dynamics behind major tours such as Sheeran’s.
Sheeran’s ongoing Loop Tour has been thrown into turmoil after four opening acts withdrew in solidarity with rapper Macklemore. The rapper was removed from the lineup following pro-Palestinian remarks he made onstage at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium.
In an Instagram statement, Sheeran said the promoter—not he—made the decision. The promoter, in turn, said it had been left with no alternative because venues would not permit Macklemore to perform.
Robert Kraft, the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium, one of the tour’s remaining venues, said in a statement that Macklemore’s removal followed his recent comments as well as “a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery.”
The promoter and the artist share power
On a major tour, the promoter is the central business force. In Sheeran’s case, that role belongs to Messina Touring Group, which is handling the tour’s promotion.
“The promoter puts up the money, pays all of the acts, deals with the venue. They provide the stake, sell the tickets, and the artists come on and play,” said Ray Waddell, chief content director for media and conferences at Oak View Group. The entertainment and venue management company also owns properties that include Pollstar, a publication covering the concert industry.
Sheeran wrote that he had spent the week trying “to build a bridge,” but said the venue and promoter ultimately made a decision that was final.
So, in practice, do promoters usually have the last word on who appears on a concert bill?
“If you’re paying for everything, yes you can make that call,” Waddell said. “But almost without exception the promoter wants to do what the artists want.”
Dean Sheldon Serwin, an entertainment attorney whose practice includes the music industry, said that, generally, “at the end of the day that superstar headliner is going to have approval over everything.”
That leverage comes from an artist’s ability to consistently draw crowds to arenas and stadiums.
“The way to make money in the music industry for real is butts in seats, always has been, always will be,” Serwin said. “How many tickets can you sell and how consistently can you sell those tickets?”
Still, even when dealing with artists as powerful as Sheeran or Ariana Grande, the relationship remains fundamentally transactional.
“When you want to play at the venues you want to play at, there’s a give and take,” Serwin said.
Lil Gary, a music artists manager who in the past worked in tour management for acts including the Rolling Stones and the Eagles, said touring musicians and their representatives would want say over “a great many things especially when it comes to creative control, but when it gets down to the minutiae, not very much.”
But she said on some nonmusical issues they’ll take a great interest.
“Artists of a certain stature, they would absolutely dictate how security works,” she said as an example.
She said it’s definitely very rare in her experience for supporting artists to have any effect on how the tour went or its fate.
“The opening acts that were on Rolling Stones tours, for the most part they were happy to be there,” Gary said. “They just suited up, showed up and did the job.”
Neither Gary nor Waddell nor Serwin are involved in the Sheeran tour.
The stadium owners’ role is usually silent
Venues and their owners like Kraft are usually hands-off players, but they have say if they make the rare choice of wielding it.
“Certainly they can lock the doors,” Waddell said. “They usually hand the keys to the promoter. The promoter comes in and does the show whether it’s a club or a stadium, but that doesn’t mean they vacate all power and influence.”
Waddell said venue operators, like promoters, are usually savvy and can anticipate what an artist is likely to do or say based on past performances.
“I don’t see why it surprised anybody given the history of the artist involved,” he said. “That being said, I don’t know that Robert Kraft was up on his Macklemore.”
“But,” Waddell said, “he got wind of it and he didn’t like it and it’s his stadium.”
What if they have to cancel?
Concert tour cancellations are common but are usually based on things like artists’ health. And ideally, there’s immediate rescheduling with the very same tickets honored.
“That can’t always happen, but it is the best,” Gary said.
There is no strong evidence that Sheeran’s entire tour is going to be scrapped over the opening act issue.
But if it did, multiple insurance companies would likely be involved in salvaging the aftermath.
The biggest artists generally have their own insurers, and the promoter has its own, to take care of refunding fans and paying people who are contractually owed.
“They would go to their respective carriers and sort out their respective losses,” Gary said.
The circumstances could easily lead to blame and broken business relationships, but Waddell said “they work it out because everybody wants to work together again in the future.”
“Ed Sheeran’s young. He’s got a lot of tours ahead of him and these tours make a lot of money,” he said. “It’s a business and it’s not going away. Everybody’s going to be doing this next year and 10 years after that, God willing.”
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Hamilton reported from New York.
