The former boss of Live Nation UK, Staurt Galbraith, yesterday announced his new business venture, a new live music and festival promotions firm to be called Kilimanjaro Live. As expected, the new venture is a JV with Live Nation's primary competitors AEG Live, though it will operate independently from the AEG conglom.
Commenting on the new company, Galbraith told CMU: "It's a 'best of both worlds' situation. We are a boutique promoter, we can be nimble and flexible. But the main investor is AEG and we can call on a global resource if we need to. We will have all the expertise and depth of resources of the big players but we can react quickly, concentrating on a select group of artists, both large and small, and really maximising their potential".
He continued: "I'm glad I'm in the live industry, the market is so strong and I'm really pleased to be an independent rather than continuing to work within the constraints of a large public company. For the first time in my career, I now have the opportunity to build a promoting company that can really focus on delivering a highly personalised service for both our artists and customers".
Kilimanjaro, which I'm really going to have to learn how to spell without checking if these guys are going to be as proactive as they indicate, will have three main areas of business - festivals, large scale tours and new talent.
In the former domain, Kilimanjaro has gained a controlling interest in North Wales music festival Wakestock and will launch a sister festival at Blenheim palace this summer. In the major artist area, an Eagles O2 residency and KD Lang tour have just been announced, and a Simply Red tour will follow. Details of the new talent are tbc, with promoters expected to be recruited with particular skills in that domain.
Concluding, Galbraith adds: "I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in October. It took 12 days, this company has taken 23 years to get started [the time Galbraith has been operating in the live sector, mainly for Live Nation and its forerunners]! The name sounded like a good idea at the time but it does represent the challenges in the live music industry. The relationships forged in the next 18 months will shape how the live industry operates for the next decade. There are huge and exciting challenges ahead from dealing with the secondary ticketing market to harnessing the huge popularity of live music and festivals. With Kilimanjaro, we are in the best position to face these issues head on and make the difference for our artists".
As previously reported, Galbraith departed from Live Nation somewhat abruptly last year, seemingly after management their found out about his JV discussions with rivals AEG.