LOS ANGELES and MELBOURNE, Australia, Dec. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Live Nation
Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: LYV) today announced that it has
acquired 51% in Secret Sounds Group, the Australian company led by
Jessica Ducrou and Paul Piticco,
which owns and produces two of Australia's leading festivals: Splendour in
the Grass (located in Byron Bay New South
Wales) and Falls Music & Arts Festival (located in Byron
Bay, Lorne Victoria, Marion Bay
Tasmania and Fremantle Western Australia).
Splendour in the Grass and Falls are the first Australian
festivals to join Live Nation, which has the largest and most
diverse festival portfolio in the world, encompassing more than 80
global festivals, including the landmark Governors Ball,
Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, Electric Daisy
Carnival, Reading, Leeds, Rock Werchter and many more. Live Nation
continues to grow its unparalleled festival platform and currently
operates over half of the top 25 festivals around the world.
"Splendour in the Grass and Falls are the two most iconic
festivals in Australia," said
Michael Rapino, President and CEO,
Live Nation Entertainment. "Jess and Paul have created events that
attract the biggest artists in the world but still feel uniquely
Australian. We look forward to partnering with them to find
new ways to grow our live event footprint across Australia."
Michael Coppel, President and CEO of Live Nation Australia and
New Zealand added, "We
wholeheartedly welcome Jess and Paul and their teams into the
rapidly growing Live Nation Australia family. Our new
relationship with the Secret Sounds group confirms Live Nation's
position at the forefront of the Australian live performance
industry."
"We started Secret Sounds with the sole mission of introducing
Australians to the best artists, events and music possible, and
Live Nation is the perfect partner to help us take this goal to the
next level. With their support we can continue to curate the
lineups that fans love, while also experimenting with new exciting
ways for fans to experience live music," said Ducrou and Piticco,
Co-CEO's of Secret Sounds.
After 16 successful years, Splendour in the Grass attracts a
national audience to its home base at North Byron Parklands,
Byron Bay. It is currently the
largest contemporary music festival in Australia, and has had the pleasure of
featuring artists such as Coldplay, Florence & The Machine,
Blur, The Strokes, The Cure, Kanye
West, Flume, Vance Joy,
Mumford & Sons, Jack White, The
Avalanches and many more.
After 24 years in the making, The Falls Music & Arts
Festival is one of Australia's
longest running coastal New Year's
Eve festivals and has now expanded to four destinations
around the country – Lorne (VIC), Marion
Bay (TAS), Byron Bay (NSW)
and Fremantle (WA) hosting over 60,000 people per day nationally.
Recent headliners Disclosure, Arctic Monkeys, Kings of Leon,
Childish Gambino & London Grammar have made it a rite of
passage for many young Australians.
The acquisition also includes Secret Sounds' touring,
sponsorship, PR, artist management and domestic agency businesses.
The partnership excludes the Dew Process & Create Control
Record Labels, Dew Process Publishing and its interests in the
North Byron Parklands festival site and The Triffid venue in
Brisbane.
About Live Nation Entertainment
Live Nation
Entertainment (NYSE: LYV) is the world's leading live entertainment
company comprised of global market leaders: Ticketmaster, Live
Nation Concerts, Live Nation Media & Sponsorship and Artist
Nation Management. For additional information, visit
www.livenationentertainment.com.
About Secret Sounds
Secret Sounds is a multi-faceted
music platform comprising of Splendour In The Grass & Falls
Festivals, Dew Process/Create Control Record Labels and Publishing,
Secret Sounds Touring, Village Sounds Agency, Secret Sounds
Connect, Secret Service Artist Management & Secret Service
Public Relations, Whole Lot of Love Creative Agency & interests
in venues North Byron Parklands & Brisbane's The Triffid.
www.secretsounds.com
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SOURCE Live Nation Entertainment