Los Angeles-based AEG, the parent company of international promoter AEG Live, revealed Nov. 1 that it has purchased Ken Ehrlich Productions from owner/founder Ken Ehrlich, who is known for producing such television events as the Grammys and the Emmys.
AEG Live president/CEO Randy Phillips tells Billboard.biz the acquisition will help AEG Live better serve its clients by providing new marketing platforms, and adds that it contributes to the company’s desire to be a full-service promoter in a business that is constantly evolving.
“The record industry is changing and the way artists exploit their brand is expanding because it has to — they can’t just rely on record sales,” Phillips says. “We want to be able to service them in a broad manner with a major platform.”
AEG Live will oversee the joint venture between the two companies, which will be called AEG Ehrlich Ventures, LLC.
“With less than one year before opening the 7,250-seat Nokia Theater Los Angeles (part of the $2.5 billion L.A. Live development project), Ken’s credibility and experience will give us the ability to not only bring every existing award show and production to the theatre, but the wherewithal to create signature entertainment productions and events that [Los Angeles] and our industry are desperately in need of,” Tim Leiweke, president/CEO of AEG, said in a statement.
For more than 25 years, Ehrlich has produced music and non-music related television programming, including the Grammys, the Emmys, the Blockbuster Awards, the Latin Grammys, the European MTV Awards and the MTV Movie Awards. He has also produced TV specials for Elton John, Celine Dion and Eric Clapton, among others.
Ken Ehrlich Productions has worked with AEG on a number of television projects, one of which included a Ray Charles all-star concert special that aired on CBS in September of 2004.
