The AvA Connection

🐝 AvA Went IRL In NYC. Your City Soon??

Massive thank you to all 600 of you who joined us in NYC at our biggest AvA IRL panel yet. Stay tuned for announcements in Chicago, Boston, L.A. and a few more cities.

Have ideas? Let me know by responding to this email.

Thank you to oneRPM who helped make our NYC event happen:

More than just a Distributor.

More than just a Record Label.

We are creating the Record Label of the Future.

🐝 The Weekly Buzz (6 Entertainment Industry Headlines That Actually Matter)

1) Not that it’s a competition (spoiler alert: it always is with Agencies) but Forbes dropped its most valuable Sports Agencies list of 2025:

2) Warner Bros. Motion Pictures is laying off 10% of their staff. This ‘restructure’ was announced in an internal memo, and apparently has been in the works for a while after a string of box office misses before ‘Minecraft’ and ‘Sinners’ took off.

3) Netflix’s ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ becomes most watched animated film of all time on the platform. Despite premiering just over a month ago, the project has fought its way to 106.1 million views.

5) Live Nation buys additional $646 million stake in Mexico’s largest music promoter OCESA. The deal pushes Live Nation’s share in the company to 75%, and seeks to capitalize on Mexico becoming the world’s #3 live music market.

6) Wisconsin just jumped into Hollywood's tax credit arms race with a new film subsidy. Governor Tony Evers approved a 30% credit for in-state production costs, capped at $5 million annually through 2027. It’s the state’s first serious flirtation with showbiz money since dropping out of the incentives game years ago. And yes, it took a budget, a bipartisan push, and a pro-wrestler-turned-senator to make it happen.

🏆 Assistants of the Month:

Our new series highlights Assistants doing cool stuff. Verve’s team walked from their Hollywood office to the Santa Monica beach to raise money for charity and claimed the inaugural prize.

🐝 The Call Log: Allen Scott, President of Concerts & Festivals for Another Planet Entertainment

With Outside Lands heading into their 17th year next weekend, we caught up with the founder of it all.

Allen Scott, the President of Concerts & Festivals for Another Planet Entertainment (which includes Outside Lands), runs the company’s concert division and is one of the leading talent buyers in the country. Allen oversees over 800 shows annually, ranging in size from 400 to 75,000 capacity. This includes the exclusively operated venues and promoted venues at The Independent in San Francisco, the same club he founded 20 years ago, The Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley, the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco and The Fox Theater in Oakland, as well as Another Planet Entertainment’s renowned festival, Outside Lands, which is entering into its 17th year.

AvA: What’s your philosophy when it comes to curating a truly memorable lineup as well as an experience in today's market?

Scott: Our goal has always been to curate a lineup that feels distinctly Bay Area, while also standing out on the national festival circuit. That’s become increasingly challenging over the years with the changing dynamics of artist touring and the consolidation of festivals across the country.

Despite that, we’ve continued to carve out a strong, independent identity and have remained intentional about who we program for. Outside Lands has a multigenerational, open-minded audience, which gives us the flexibility to book a wide spectrum of artists and genres — from legacy acts to emerging talent. This is a key part of what makes our lineup not only unique, but reflective of the cultural diversity of our community. 

AvA: With Outside Lands heading into its 17th year, how do you keep a festival feeling fresh year after year?  

Scott: We’re always pushing to keep the festival fresh and evolving, adding new elements and investing heavily to make each area feel distinct and special. In 2021, we introduced the SOMA stage, focused on house and techno. Then in 2023, we launched Dolores’, a celebration of LGBTQ+ culture, curated in partnership with three local queer promoters. It’s been a standout addition.

Each new element continues to grow and improve year after year — we never rest on our laurels and always aim to outdo ourselves each year.

AvA: What have been the most drastic changes from the first Outside Lands to the most recent? What has remained fundamentally the same?  

Scott: One major evolution of Outside Lands has been its growing footprint. Golden Gate Park is a unique setting — unlike the typical flat, rectangular festival grounds, it has natural topography that shapes how we design the experience. Each area is approached with intention to complement its surroundings. Take Grass Lands, our cannabis sales and consumption zone — it's tucked in a wooded area overlooking the Polo Field, giving it a distinct vibe from the rest of the festival.

Even as the festival has grown, our core ethos remains: celebrating Bay Area culture. We go deep on that — from culinary and cannabis to beer, wine, queer culture, and visual art. With over 150 regional restaurants, wineries and breweries represented across the grounds, many attendees come with a whole eating and drinking game plan. It’s part of the draw. Outside Lands isn’t just a music festival — it’s a fully immersive experience, and for our audience of dedicated three-day ticket holders, exploration is a big part of their journey.  

AvA: You and your team are producing an unprecedented seven nights of shows in Golden Gate Park with Dead & Co, Outside Lands and Zach Bryan.  What are some of the best things about Golden Gate Park anybody going to one of these shows should know?

Scott: Golden Gate Park is, in my humble opinion, the best urban park in the country — there’s nothing like it. Its natural topography and setting are unmatched. The park is filled with towering Cypress and Eucalyptus trees that we illuminate at night, creating a dreamlike path through wooded trails and open clearings between stages. Each area has its own distinct personality.

Every concert we’ve produced here has sold out or is on its way to sold out — and that speaks not just to the artists, but to the undeniable magic of the park itself. People don’t just come for the music — they come to experience Golden Gate Park.

AvA: How much of your role at APE is instinct vs analytics?

Scott: I think it's half and half. We’re constantly scouring data on artists but at the end of the day it comes down to gut intuition. Analytics are important but also connecting with the agent or manager to get a feel of what that artist values and is right for them helps decide what will be the right room for them. Every artist wants to put on a spectacular show and sell out where they are playing.  

AvA: How do you balance the growth of APE into new markets while focusing on owning markets?

Scott: Our growth I like to say is organic — we’re not chasing market share or trying to take over the world. We focus on projects that genuinely interest us or fill a clear gap in the market.

Opening Channel 24 in Sacramento is a perfect example and has been very exciting for us. We’d been looking for the right opportunity there for 10 years, specifically a mid-size venue that could support touring acts that previously had to skip the city. Now that we’ve built it, the response has been incredible and strong ticket sales have confirmed just how needed this space was.

When we launched Outside Lands, there were no major music festivals in San Francisco — we saw an opportunity and filled it. The Bellwether in LA came about through as a great opportunity presented to us. Michael Swier of Teragram Presents approached us and we had a strong mutual respect for his and his brother’s design and venue expertise. Unlike many refurbished theaters in LA, The Bellwether fills a gap – a high-quality, club-sized venue suited to specific artists and genres. We’ve brought in some tremendous shows and couldn’t be happier with the reception we’ve received.

AvA: What artist still gives you chills live?

Scott: Paul McCartney.  The crowd singing along during Hey Jude, gets me every time. 

AvA: Top 3 most memorable OSL sets?

Scott: There are too many to name, but I will give you a few.  Paul McCartney (2013), Radiohead (2008 - our first OL headliner ever) and Childish Gambino (2019).

AvA: Artist in history you'd most want to book? 

Scott: Prince at Outside Lands.  We tried to get him unsuccessfully for many years.

AvA: Advice for the next generation of our industry 

Scott: Work hard and don’t be afraid to do any job when you are starting out.  It does not matter how menial your job is, if you crush at your role, people will notice and opportunities will present themselves.

👋 See you back here on Monday

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