The digital era rocks for the 02
Concerts are hip again, says the man who manages the 02
THE Rolling Stones had a small part to play in bringing Tom Miserendino to London. A long career in music and live events meant he had seen thousands of live gigs, but the Stones in Hyde Park in 2013 was a highlight.
At the time his employer, the entertainment group AEG, were trying to convince him to move from his native America to London to head its European business.
‘AEG was trying to convince me to move here. I came over to Hyde Park and The Rolling Stones were performing. It was just a magical night, a great performance, a great set, great weather. I had come over with my wife and the next day we went to Wimbledon for the men’s final and Andy Murray won. It was about the best weekend of events you could imagine. Not long after I accepted the position.’
That position puts Miserendino in charge of AEG’s wide-ranging operations in Europe whose many top venues include the O2 and Wembley Arena.
The timing has been great. Live music and indeed all forms of live entertainment are booming. The number of people going to concerts is at an all-time high with almost 31 million people attending live music events in the UK last year – all good news for the British economy, generating £4billion in spending. The received wisdom is that the digital age has created a generation of screen-watchers divorced from reality. In fact, says Miserendino, who has worked in the business-side of the music and entertainment industry for decades, the modern economy has fuelled a surge in live events.
‘In years gone by, an artist made 70 per cent of their annual earnings from the sale of recorded music, but that has changed with music streaming and everything else.
‘So the artists had to change their business model – from making the majority of their earnings from recorded music to making it from live performances,’ he adds.
‘We were ready to capitalise on that as we had great new venues where artists could perform.’
The O2 is now the UK’s most popular venue and has been almost from the day the American group AEG took it over in 2003.
Part of the Anschutz Entertainment Group, AEG is a world leader. As well as owning venues, it produces live events, owns sports clubs and naturally owns a lot of property. The global group is worth an estimated $8billion (£6.2billion).
Its growth has been rapid. ‘When I joined 15 years ago the company produced 350 events a year. Last year we produced 10,000,’ says Miserendino. The 67-year-old knows the industry back to front. He was in the recorded music business in the 1970s before moving into music events in 1978.
In 2002, he joined AEG. But he knew the O2 long before he moved to the UK in 2013.
‘The first time I walked into the Millennium Dome it was empty. I saw it in about 2003. What AEG has done in several places is go to an urban area and regenerate it.
‘In Los Angeles we built the Staples Center. Downtown LA was a ghost town that everybody left after the business day was over. We took an area that was pretty run down and we built the Staples Center and basically an entertainment district was born.
‘In London, we saw the same opportunity in Greenwich and we’ve been the number one venue in terms of tickets sales since the year we opened.’
He cites similar examples of AEG projects in Berlin and talks of possible opportunities in both Milan and Rome in Italy and in Poland.
The boom in live music has faced one dark shadow in the last year – terrorism. The attack that took place in May at an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena (not part of the AEG empire) was a dark day, but Miserendino says there was no effect on the public appetite for live music.
‘Here in the UK I saw no retreat at all in ticket sales for live music. People here are so resilient.’
But there have been changes in security measures since that day. Miserendino declines to go into details, but he says large bags have been banned from their venues.
He adds: ‘As for Brexit, we have a degree of uncertainty. But at this point people still want to be entertained. Over my entire career, through all the downturns, people still want to go out and will spend money to see the performers they know and love.’
Right now though he is facing a new challenge in a stand-off with a rival entertainment group, Azoff MSG which owns the iconic New York venue Madison Square Garden. Azoff MSG has insisted that artists who want to play Madison Square Gardens must also play at its Los Angeles venue The Forum – and not at AEG’s Staples Center.
Miserendino says: ‘We were put into the position where we had to have a similar tying strategy. So now if you want to play the O2 in London you need to play one or more of your dates at Staples in LA. We would like this to end and it would if MSG dropped their compulsory requirement.’
Away from music, Miserendino is looking for extra growth to come from a new booming sector, as once again the online and digital age is actually providing a boost to live events rather than a distraction.
The opportunity is e-sports – competitive computer and console gaming, often held in mass attendance tournaments at major venues. AEG has hosted e-sporting events at Wembley Arena and at the O2.
It will never be as big as music, Miserendino believes, but the growth is prodigious.
‘This is somewhere the next generation is going. It’s hard for a lot of people to imagine but it truly is a phenomenon.
‘It’s becoming very professional: there are leagues, there are professional teams, there are trainers. It’s an industry that will provide content and we are always looking for what is the next generation of content you can bring to the public.’
As for Brexit, we do have a degree of uncertainty, but people still want to be entertained