11 Louis Messina

FOUNDER/CEO MESSINA TOURING GROUP

Messina has two longtime clients in the top 20 of Billboard’s biggest tour boxscores of 2023 — No. 5, Ed Sheeran ($256.9 million), and No. 17, George Strait ($107.5 million) — and he says playing a role in their tours was one of his biggest accomplishments. Topping that list, not surprisingly, “is being a part of musical history with Taylor,” he says. That’s Taylor Swift, who grossed an estimated $906.1 million on her The Eras Tour, which Messina Touring Group is promoting and is on its way to becoming the highest-grossing tour of all time.

Messina, who first worked with Swift in 2005, says he’s not surprised. “She’s the biggest dreamer in the world, and seeing her from when she was at 17 to where she is now — I’m so proud of her,” he says, adding, “She has had the same impact that The Beatles and Elvis [Presley] had. She has changed our culture.” He takes no credit for Swift’s superstardom, noting, “This is all her doing. She wrote the songs. She created the shows. She created Taylor. I might have pointed to a couple of doors for her, but she was the one who blew them down.”

A resident of Austin (he also owns a ranch 40 minutes from the city), Messina tends to forge lasting relationships with the artists he promotes. Having worked with Sheeran for 10 years, Swift for almost 20 and Strait for 30, he says he’s not interested in expanding beyond what he does best. “I’ve got an incredible team, and seeing them grow is what I’m looking forward to. I’m going to stay in my lane and do one act at a time. I love what I do, and I love the artists I work for.”