SFX/Live Nation Founder Bob Sillerman Betting $1 Billion On Electronic Dance Music

It's just about the only thing that the industry crowd gathered in Las Vegas for EDMbiz wants to talk about. Media mogul Robert F. X. Sillerman, who launched the concert company that became Live Nation, is placing a $1 billion bet on electronic dance music, and has started with the acquisition of Disco Productions, a Louisiana-based promoter that stages events throughout the U.S.

According to the New York Times, Sillerman said that in addition to the Disco deal, his revived company SFX Entertainment was in negotiations with as many as 50 other promoters across the U.S. and had tentative agreements with about 15 of them. According to Sillerman, SFX is looking to spend upwards of $1 billion on such acquisitions within a year and plans a public offering this summer.

Sillerman said that the plan for SFX is still being developed, but will likely attempt to use the Internet to connect dance music fans while leveraging the community to drive advertising and sponsorship revenue.

In the 1990s, Sillerman helped to change the landscape of the concert industry in the 1990s when his company SFX rolled up regional promoters in a series of buyout deals across the U.S., to form the company that would eventually become Live Nation.

"There’s a wave of interest in attending concerts that have less to do with the specific music and more to do with the experience attached to the music," Sillerman told the Times. "Our thought is that the experience of attending an individual event can be perpetuated and made better by connecting the people, not just when they’re consuming the entertainment but when they’re away from it." – via CelebrityAccess