LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–March 22, 2006–Live Nation (NYSE:LYV), a leading live content and distribution company, continues to build a world class live music marketing company by creating a brand new position, SVP of Tour Marketing, which has been filled by the highly respected music industry veteran John Loken. Based in the company’s Los Angeles headquarters and reporting to Marketing President, Faisel Durrani, Mr. Loken’s mandate is to ensure the company is creating breakthrough marketing programs for tours, energizing fans and maximizing ticket sales.
Mr. Loken comes to Live Nation from Ride Management where as a partner he oversaw a team that represented Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, Trail of Dead, Unwritten Law and others. He concurrently served as COO of Fearless Records, where he forged numerous distribution, licensing and catalog pacts, and acted as a strategic advisor to Smartpunk.com, the web’s most trusted source for punk related merchandise. From 1998 until 2003 Mr. Loken was General Manager of Ultimatum Music, the William Morris Agency’s alternative rock label, where he signed Sugarcult and J. Mascis. He was also GM at China Records where he was instrumental in establishing trip hop pioneers Morcheeba in the U.S. market. Mr. Loken began his career doing international marketing at Warner Bros. Records and later Motown/PolyGram International where he worked with a variety of marquee artists including Madonna, Prince, Red Hot Chili Peppers, REM and Stevie Wonder.
Faisel Durrani commented: “Live Nation is aggressively advancing our marketing capabilities to keep pace with the evolving live business. John’s appointment to this important position will help to ensure Live Nation’s position as a leader in global artist to fan marketing.”
John Loken commented: “I am honored to join the team Faisel Durrani and Michael Rapino have put together, which is without equal in the industry. Live Nation is constantly in search of new ways to reach consumers, to understand their needs, and to create a better concert experience. As a life long music fan and career marketer I look forward to adding to that value chain.”
About Live Nation
Live Nation is a leading live content and distribution company focused on creating superior experiences for artists, performers, corporations and fans. Live Nation owns, operates or has booking rights for 150 venues worldwide and promoted or produced over 28,500 events in 2005. Live Nation is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Live Nation is listed on The New York Stock Exchange, trading under the symbol “LYV”. For more information regarding Live Nation and its businesses, please visit the company’s web site at www.livenation.com.
CONTACT: Live Nation
John Vlautin, 310-867-7127
[email protected]
SOURCE: Live Nation