Charles Attal, Charlie Jones and Charlie Walker
Partners
C3 Presents
Twitter: @C3Concerts
POWER MOVE: Expanded its stateside festival relationships; did AEG joint venture to purchase festival specialist Front Gate Tickets.
THE RUNDOWN: “We’re not Live Nation, but we’re not working out of Mom’s basement either,” says Charlie Walker, who is partnered in Austin-based concert producer C3 Presents with Charles Attal and Charlie Jones.
In addition to producing some of the highest-grossing U.S. music festivals last year, C3 expanded its international footprint through new partnerships for Australia and New Zealand’s Big Day Out, as well as Lollapalooza fests in Chile and Brazil. “Over the next 24 months, there’ll be expansion into other countries,” Walker says, noting that new festivals are also being planned for North America.
Founded in 2007, C3 annually produces more than 800 concerts nationwide and last year ranked eighth among the world’s top 25 highest-grossing promoters, earning $79 million from 564 events, according to Billboard Boxscore. C3 produced two of the world’s top 10 music festivals in 2012, with Chicago’s Lollapalooza grosses topping $25 million to wind up ranking second, while Austin City Limits placed third with grosses of $16.8 million.
C3 expanded its stateside festival relationships in 2012, partnering with Metallica on Orion Music + More in Atlantic City, N.J.; MCP Presents on CounterPoint in Atlanta; and three restaurateurs for its hometown Austin Food & Wine Festival. In another partnership, C3 announced a joint venture with AEG last September to purchase Front Gate Tickets, which specializes in festival passes.
C3 also has a fledgling artist management division, which includes such acts as Delta Spirit, Thievery Corporation and Bassnectar. Other expansion projects include book publishing, yoga instruction and travel/festival tie-ins.
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