Live Nation could soon be adding major music festivals like Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, and others to its nationwide stable.
According to a report today by the New York Times, the concert and ticketing giant “is in advanced talks to buy a majority stake in C3 Presents, the country’s largest independent promoter.”
The Times states that the purchase, which is still in negotiation, would give Live Nation a 51-percent stake in C3 Presents. The deal would “value C3 at around $250 million, according to two people with knowledge of the talks.”
Neither anyone from Live Nation or C3 would discuss the deal with the Times.
The Texas-based C3 Presents was founded in 2007 and books more than 1,000 shows each year, including Lollapalooza and its global offshoots, big-ticket music festivals like Australia’s Big Day Out Music Festival and Metallica’s Orion Music & More, Austin venues Emo’s and Stubb’s. According to Pollstar figures, it sold 2,025,002 tickets to its events last year, with an average ticket price of $69.52. “Acquiring C3 would let Live Nation expand its already extensive festival portfolio, particularly when it comes to rock music,” the Times says. “Over the last few years, Live Nation has built a network of many electronic dance music festivals, acquiring the dance promoters Cream, Hard and Insomniac.”
There is also a current relationship between the two companies. C3 books shows at the Live Nation-owned House of Blues chain (though not at the one in Boston, which is handled by Crossroads Presents), and one of C3’s owners, Charlie Walker, is a former Live Nation executive.