Continuing the trend of independent promoters being purchased by large corporate entities, music industry giant AEG Live has formally announced its acquisition of half of Bowery Presents, one of New York City’s largest and most well-known promoters.The deal, finalized at the end of last year, is estimated at roughly $40 million according to inside sources speaking to The New York Times.
Under the new arrangement, AEG will take charge of operating Bowery’s various concert New York venues, including Music Hall of Williamsburg, Terminal 5, Rough Trade NYC, and the brand new Brooklyn Steel as well as Philadelphia’s Union Transfer and Boston’s The Sinclair.
Bowery Ballroom’s principal partners, Jim Glancy and John Moore, will remain involved in the company. As a press release regarding the emphasizes, “the agreement allows The Bowery Presents to stay true to its entrepreneurial culture and provides the support and investment to continue to drive growth and innovation and expands its venue partnerships.” The deal does not include The Bowery Ballroom and Mercury Lounge. Those two venues remain under the ownership of Michael Swier, the Bowery Presents founder who left the company in 2010.
As more and more independent companies are gobbled up by large corporations like AEG and Live Nation Entertainment, some have speculated that Bowery may have been under pressure to sell in order to survive in the modern music marketplace. As longtime talent agent Steve Martin explained to the Times, “It’s getting harder and harder for an independent to survive in a major market.” However, Glancy insists that this was simply the most prudent move to improve the company’s future, particularly in regards to technology and finance. “If we hadn’t done this deal, we could have continued for years and years as we did,” he says. Adds Moore, “We didn’t have to. We wanted to.”
One of the largest live music companies in the world, AEG Live already owns stakes in a large array of high profile music festivals like Coachella, Panorama, Firefly, and Hangout, as well as 60 clubs and theaters and arenas like L.A’s Staples Center and London’s O2 Arena.
[h/t – The New York Times]