Yahoo Finance Live music will return 'with adjustments': Celebrity manager Scooter Braun
Scooter Braun, the manager of pop stars Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, told Yahoo Finance that live concerts will eventually return “with adjustments” to accommodate public health concerns, and when they do he expects a “large resurgence” as cooped-up fans seek shared experiences.
“Live music is something that will be back and there'll be adjustments,” says Braun, in a newly released interview, taped on May 20. “There’ll be people who treat it differently.”
“But there will always be those people who want to be together,” says Braun, the chairman of entertainment holding company Ithaca Holdings. “I think if we live in a society that starts to take these things seriously, we can overcome them.”
As daily coronavirus cases tick upward in the U.S., the resumption of large gatherings like music performances has become increasingly uncertain. On June 10, a local California public health official cancelled the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival — arguably the top music event each year — due to concerns about health risks amid the pandemic.
Live Nation and AEG, the largest concert promoters in North America, called off all large-scale tours until next April. Many top artists as varied as Snoop Dogg, Bob Dylan, and Lady Gaga have either postponed or cancelled upcoming tours. Not to mention New York’s Broadway industry, which recently announced it would keep shows closed through the end of this year.
The concert industry could suffer up to $9 billion in lost revenue this year, according to a study released by the trade publication Pollstar in April.
The eventual return of concerts will give the public a chance to show unity after months spent in isolation, Braun says.
“You'll see people looking at live music as a way of celebrating,” he says. “They’re celebrating their unions with other people, and I think you'll see a large resurgence.”
Braun made the remarks in an episode of Yahoo Finance’s “Influencers with Andy Serwer,” a weekly interview series with leaders in business, politics, and entertainment.
While optimistic about the future of live concerts, Braun acknowledged that some precautions taken amid the pandemic will have lasting effects on how people interact with one another.
“I think social distancing is going to be something we live with moving forward,” he says. “There will be a lot of people who say don't hug me. There are a lot of people who want to do a fist bump or an elbow bump, instead of a handshake moving forward.”
He noted that many major artists have remained productive during the pandemic, including Grande and Bieber, who in May released a single “Stuck with You” that they recorded from home and wrote together over Zoom.
“My artists — a lot of them have always liked to record from home anyway,” Braun says. “Technology is headed in that direction.”
I think the music business is prepared when it comes to production for something like this,” he says. “I think our world has changed forever, but it does not mean that we will not come back.”
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