A month has passed since news broke of Gary Richards‘ controversial part with Live Nation, and now he has revealed his next move. The HARD Events founder has announced that he will assume the position of president of LiveStyle North America.
Industry insiders had speculated that Richards might begin working for LiveStyle after the end of his five-year contract with Live Nation, but the promoter and talent buyer who also performs under the stage name Destructo has confirmed it on social media. On September 2nd, he tweeted a photo of Electric Zoo‘s main stage, and did not mince words when answering a fan’s question of whether he would run future editions of the festival.
Although he has since deleted the tweet, Richards has made further comments about his newfound business arrangement in the days since. “I should be doing more than one show and one cruise,” Richards told the Los Angeles Times. “Working with these guys, they have thousands of shows around the globe. I wanted to be involved with more fests and projects, and it seems like a natural progression.”
Second Act
LiveStyle was previously called SFX Entertainment, the second company of that name founded by music entrepreneur Robert Sillerman in 2012. Sillerman promised to invest $1 billion into electronic music annually, and the multinational conglomerate bought up brands like ID&T, Beatport and The Opium Group in what Billboard dubbed “The EDM Arms Race” that year.
Owing to a well-documented mismanagement of its assets, SFX was forced to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy in February of 2016. Before the end of the year the corporation changed its name to LiveStyle in addition to removing Sillerman as CEO, redoubling its focus on live music – the sector in which all of its brands had continued to succeed amid the turmoil.
Neither Gary Richards nor spokespeople on behalf of LiveStyle have disclosed a full list of the festivals and event brands he will oversee at the time of writing.
Source: Los Angeles Times
