Michael Rapino is the President & CEO of Los Angeles-headquartered Live Nation Entertainment.
He started his career in various marketing and entertainment roles at Labatt Breweries of Canada.
Rapino has led Live Nation since 2005.
Michael Rapino: Career history
Michael Rapino kicked off his music career while attending Lakehead University, promoting bands at bars and even signing an artist, guitarist Jeff Healey.
Once he graduated, Rapino did not dive into the music industry, though. Instead, he became a sales representative at Labatt Breweries of Canada.
He remained with Labatt for 11 years, eventually becoming a Senior Executive in the Marketing and Entertainment Divisions.
In 1998, Rapino returned to music, co-founding Core Audience Entertainment. CAE’s focus was Canadian concert and live event promotion. One year after its founding, Rapino’s company was acquired by SFX Entertainment. SFX Entertainment was shortly acquired by Clear Channel Communications.
At CCC, Rapino assumed the live-music unit’s presiding role. He worked in this capacity until 2005, when he was appointed as President and CEO of Global Music in preparation for CCC’s upcoming spin-off of its entertainment unit. That same year, CCC separated and rebranded its entertainment unit as Live Nation. Rapino was named CEO and President.
Rapino’s new mission at Live Nation was to expand the tour management and promotion business, while also creating new business verticals for the company.
Under his leadership, Live Nation broadened its focus to include artist recording, marketing, and promotion via deals with artists including Jay-Z and U2.
In 2010, Live Nation and Ticketmaster announced a USD $2.5 billion-valued merger, with Rapino assuming the roles of President and CEO of the new parent company, Live Nation Entertainment.
The former CEO of Ticketmaster, Irving Azoff, was named Executive Chairman of Live Nation Entertainment. (Azoff left Live Nation in 2012.)
Ticketmaster now sells over 500 million tickets per year. Live Nation Entertainment is responsible for over 40,000 shows and over 100 festivals per year.Music Business Worldwide