At a very young age in Canada, I had mapped out that my mission in life and my passion was live events. Michael Rapino More Quotes by Michael Rapino More Quotes From Michael Rapino Rihanna can sell just as many tickets in Cape Town as she can in Detroit. Michael Rapino town she just detroit We can't say to a Ticketmaster venue that says they want to use a different ticketing platform, 'If you do that, we won't put shows in your building.' Michael Rapino your you building want It's a very competitive market. AEG has a ticketing platform, Stubhub has grown their marketshare, Vivid has come out of nowhere. It's not like venues don't have options. If you're a venue you can pick any ticket platform you want, and we have to provide a better product and win that business fair and square. Michael Rapino better win you business My kids, my health and my job are all equally important. Michael Rapino job health important kids In early days of Live Nation, we really believed it was important to be a direct-to-consumer business, which the labels aren't and no promoter was at the time. By merging with Ticketmaster, we could we give the artist a direct relationship with the fan. Michael Rapino live business time relationship A hit is a hit, and when you have a hit great things happen. Michael Rapino happen great you things-happen I'm known for having a very small to-do list and a big don't-do list. Michael Rapino having very small big I'm an introvert by nature. Michael Rapino introvert nature Part of calling ourselves Live Nation was about starting to shift the way we think, to be first and foremost fan-focused. Michael Rapino live nation think way Every city's got a famous rib place or coffeehouse or dessert place. Michael Rapino famous city place dessert I probably go to 100 shows a year. Michael Rapino year go shows To be the music company of the future, you have to figure out a way to be a great business and distribution partner of younger bands, midsized bands, and ones that break out, like Arcade Fire. Michael Rapino you future music business House of Blues has soul right down to the chef in the kitchen. Michael Rapino down kitchen soul chef We do a big business with our midsized-venue model. We don't need bands to be on the top-ten charts to make money. Michael Rapino need big money business I've met plenty of CMOs in life, and I always say that I've never met any that can hold a candle to rock stars, who I truly believe are the greatest brand managers in the world. Michael Rapino stars life believe world You look at the Rolling Stones. It had the lips, the logo and the style. You look at Jay-Z, who I think is probably the smartest brand marketer I've ever met. These people understand the core of what their brand is and what their fans want. Michael Rapino look you style people Bono. He still is somebody who, and I don't say I'm starstruck in that sense, I'm always in awe of. It doesn't matter how many times I've been with him, he's still an exceptional man that continually inspires me in many ways in life. Michael Rapino me man matter life There's always a fine line between 'What is the market going to bear?' and, 'By the way, I've got 2,000 unsold seats.' Michael Rapino bear always fine way The biggest cost of my business is competition - promoters bidding against each other to get a tour. Michael Rapino tour against competition business No matter where the price of gas is, the consumer's still got to get out. They've still got to save their money to go see Tim McGraw. Michael Rapino go see money matter
