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Business

How Beyonce's 'Homecoming' Pays Off For Coachella Promoter AEG

By Dave Brooks
4/18/2019
By Dave Brooks
4/18/2019

How the concert promoter and Queen Bey share in streaming revenues, licensing fees and ticket sales

Beyoncé made history again yesterday (April 17) as the first Coachella headliner in the event's 20-year history to release a full-length film of their performance.

Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé was conceptualized by the "Crazy in Love" singer and her creative team around her 2018 performance at the 125,000-person event, which is owned and produced by AEG's Goldenvoice. Concert footage for the two-hour documentary was filmed by Parkwood and AEG video teams and directed by Garry Odom. After it was shot, an 11-person post-production team led by executive producer Parkwood Entertainment spent a year editing and mixing the film before selling it to Netflix.

So, who in the above group makes money from the film, already considered to be one of the decade's best concert films? Everyone. A source with knowledge of the making of the film tells Billboard that both AEG and Beyoncé have an agreement that allows each to earn revenue from the film.

Typically, artists use their own film crews for live concert videos and most venues will waive their flat location fee if the venue's name is included in the title of the release. But because Goldenvoice records, edits and archives the bulk of the performances that take place at Coachella, the promoter jointly owns the performance footage with headlining artists including Beyoncé, the source says. To create Homecoming, Beyoncé then licensed AEG's stake in the footage in a separate agreement, which allowed Parkwood to produce and sell the film.

Beyoncé's camp didn't ink the distribution deal with Netflix until after the two concerts took place, but they "had an idea they were going to use the footage for something and took great care when shooting the show," the source said, telling Billboard that Parkwood "directed everything on the video screens. Unlike most artists, [Beyoncé's team] went into incredible detail for her Coachella shoot."

It's unclear how much Netflix paid Parkwood for Homecoming -- we know the streaming service paid Dave Chappelle $35 million for two comedy specials released in 2017 -- and since Netflix doesn't release most viewership data, there's no way to know how many people tuned in yesterday. Judging from the reaction on Twitter and the huge promotional push from Netflix, it's safe to assume tens of millions of people will see the movie.

Any money made from the film would be in addition to the $8 million to $12 million that Beyonce was paid to headline the festival, which grossed $114 million in ticket sales in 2017 for AEG and Goldenvoice (2018 figures were not released). The promoter also brings in millions on food and beverage, camping and lodging, sponsorships, licensing and the advertisements sold against the livestream of weekend 1 on Youtube, adding up to hundreds of millions of dollars.

While the detals of financial arrangements between AEG and Beyoncé were not released, the source tells Billboard "all sides are pleased with the outcome."

By Dave Brooks
4/18/2019