To celebrate the work of some of the international live music industry’s pioneers, IQ Magazine has launched a new series, The Architects, in which we celebrate the key players who laid the foundations for today’s vibrant global business.

In our opening interview, which appears in full in the latest issue of IQ, ITB co-founder Barry Dickins shares his memories of how the industry was constructed – and some of the key names who helped establish the international touring circuit. Here are some of the highlights…

His origins in the business…
“My dad used to organise dances in Bishop’s Stortford, and I used to help him. That’s where I got the bug. I went to the Ilford Baths, where we’d put a false wooden floor over the pool, which was a bit of a recipe for disaster, but despite the odd scare or two, we actually never had a problem. I made more money in one night than I could make in a month at the Stock Exchange, so that’s how I got started.”

Going international…
“I was still a teenager, but I represented The Who, and I remember booking them into Scandinavia with a guy called Arne Worsøe, whose company was Bendix Music. There were some people taking bands to France and Germany, but my first deal was in Scandinavia. I think I’d read about Bendix somewhere, so I managed to find a number for Arne and called him up. At that time, there were two known promoters for Scandinavia: Bendix and SBA – Schneid Booking Agency, which was run from Sweden by a guy called Knud Thorbjensen who was getting stuff directly from America. So I got in touch with the Americans he was dealing with and persuaded them to come to England instead.”

“If I worked with people I thought were really good, I’d basically offer them everything”

The 90-10 split…
“I did a lot of business with David Geffen and Elliot Roberts, who managed a whole load of big American acts. So, we were agents, and we’d sell the act for a tour to the likes of John and Tony Smith for a guarantee, and we’d take our commission from that – and in those days, it was a 50-50 split. But then David and Elliot came to London for a meeting at Harold Davison and told us, ‘That’s not the deal anymore.’ They said, ‘We’re not working for you. We are supplying the talent, and the new deal is a 90-10 split: you get 10%, and we get 90%. No guarantee.’ The bottom line was that they were refusing to pay us a commission for booking the acts in England. I‘ve no idea if this had become a standard practice in the USA or if they just made it up.”

Relationships with promoters…
“If I worked with people I thought were really good, I’d basically offer them everything. The benefit of that would be that if you had a bunch of great acts, you could occasionally slip one in that wasn’t quite so good, and the promoter would do you a favour. He was great for my career, but Elliot Roberts was the worst when it came to out-of-office calls. He phoned me once from Tokyo at two o’clock in the morning, then three o’clock in the morning, then four o’clock. On the final call, my wife took the phone away from me and shouted at him: ‘Elliot, it’s four o’clock in the morning! Go fuck yourself!’ I was distraught. Elliot managed about eight of my acts – he was the original manager of the Eagles. But funnily enough, Elliot never called me in the middle of the night again.”

Starting up ITB in 1978…
“ITB was originally an equal three-way split between me, Rod [MacSween], and Don [Arden, artist manager] but our association with Don killed us on some acts while other acts couldn’t care less. Herbie Herbert, who managed Journey, just wouldn’t deal with us anymore, but it was bit unfair because Don only funded the company – he wasn’t involved in the day-to-day business at all. In fact, we never had an issue with Don, ever. And in the end, we bought out his share of the company in 1984 or ‘85, which took every penny of our money and sent us back to square one. But was probably the best deal we’ve ever done.”

“The way Live Nation has changed the industry – and is still changing it – is phenomenal”

Partnership with Rod MacSween…
“We’ve worked really well together over the years. When we started out, I was the one that brought most things in, and we had some very, very good years thanks to acts like Fleetwood Mac, Diana Ross, Yes… the list goes on. But that’s come full circle, and it’s now Rod that brings in most of the business. However, I’m enjoying a bit of a resurgence at the moment, because I’ve got Bob Dylan on the road, I’ve got Paul Simon coming up, as well as Neil Young and Billy Idol.”

Live Nation’s impact on the industry…
“[Michael] Rapino is a very, very intelligent man, and I’ve got a lot of respect for him,” says Dickins. “The way Live Nation has changed the industry – and is still changing it – is phenomenal. There’s no doubt that it’s been the driving force in making the business a lot more professional and serious.”

The new generation…
“It’s nice to have youngsters around you because of the way they do things. And it’s important to have different ears for new music. The youngsters in the office have always listened to music that I would never listen to unless they were playing it. They help keep us older folk young – well, young at heart, at least. It’s a lucky profession where not only can you surround yourself by youth but the nature of the business demands it, so that you can stay relevant. The health of the music industry depends upon youth, and it’s fascinating to see the creativity they bring to it and the ways in which artists present their tours, that we could never have dreamt were possible when we started out.”

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Ever-changing best practice and technological innovation are impacting the live music industry like never before, while important issues such as diversity, equality, and sustainability are being embraced by every sector of the business. In the most recent issue of IQ, we talk to some of the architects who are helping to shape the industry of the future, to quiz them on their blueprints and predictions for how we may all be operating in a few years’ time. This excerpt from the feature sees Live Nation’s vice president of touring discuss the evolution of the touring landscape, keeping tickets affordable and developing the next generation of headliners.

IQ: How do you see the touring landscape changing globally in the next couple of years, now that we’re in a post-pandemic environment?
LO: We’ll continue to see artists doing more shows across the globe, and all signs point to the fan demand being there to account for that. Touring has always been a significant part of an artist’s career and a key way they connect with their fans at every level and across all genres of music.

With recession looming in many markets and inflation spiralling, a cost-of-living crisis seems like the latest challenge that live music will have to deal with. How can agents, promoters, and artists work together to try to keep tickets affordable for fans?
As the promoter, we work closely with artists and their teams to develop strategies that meet their touring goals from the vision of the show to the financials, which includes how the artist wants to ticket and price their shows. We also pride ourselves on the knowledge we have of markets across the globe and the research we do to make sure ticket prices are comparable and make sense for the fans and artists.

“The average global tour has continued to trend upwards in number of stops, and we anticipate that will only continue”

How do you predict the global touring business will develop in the coming decade, and what impact do you think technology will play in the way fans interact with artists?
We’re already seeing technology connect artists with more fans around the world than ever before through their social platforms and streaming, which gives them a bigger fan base to bring shows to. The average global tour has continued to trend upwards in number of stops, and we anticipate that will only continue over the coming decade. Another great example is how stage production is advancing with technology and becoming even more impressive. We’ll continue to see tech make all aspects of the fan experience more simple and convenient and on a global scale.

What more can be done to support the next generation of headliners, as well as those career acts who rely on their live work to make ends meet?
From my perspective, up-and-coming acts and younger artists are gaining momentum faster than ever before. Due to streaming platforms and social media channels like TikTok, artists have a much greater reach and better opportunity to grow their fanbase at a rapid pace. For other emerging artists, it is about hitting all of the steps from the beginning and connecting with fans.

Playing the clubs and smaller rooms for your day-one listeners, playing festivals to reach new fans and different audiences, and building those up to hit the bigger rooms like arenas. I’ve had the privilege of seeing it first-hand in artists like Billie Eilish who catapulted and Lizzo who dug in and worked the small rooms to the theatres and is now headlining arenas.

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