The electronic music giant SFX Entertainment has come out of bankruptcy, and with a new name: “LiveStyle. Inc.” Don't expect it to stay in its old lane.
The electronic music giant SFX Entertainment has come out of bankruptcy -- under a new name, LiveStyle.
SFX, which owns the digital music retailer Beatport and the ticketing company Paylogic as well as leading electronic music festivals Electric Zoo, Mysteryland and Life in Color, entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy on February 1 to restructure hundreds of millions of dollars in debt. The company emerged from the bankruptcy process just last week, on December 2, when former AEG Live Randy Phillips, who helped lead the company through bankruptcy, was officially named president and CEO. The restructured company, still the largest producer of electronic music festivals even after selling off a few assets, has been rebranded as LiveStyle.
“Every time I said the name ‘SFX’ to someone, I got this negative reaction -- people would make the sign of the cross,” Phillips says, when asked why he decided to change the name of the company. Although most of SFX’s festivals are thriving, the company itself has something of a bad reputation. Founded by Robert F.X. Sillerman, the successful media entrepreneur known for his giant appetite for risk and his over-the-top sense of humor, SFX bought up electronic promoters at stratospheric prices and folded them into a company that received a valuation of more than $1 billion when it went public in October 2013. Then it collapsed: Just two and a half years later, SFX had a market value of less than $10 million.