AEG Presents has entered a strategic partnership with Creativeman Productions, the Japanese concert promoter behind the Summer Sonic festival, one of the largest music events in Asia, Music Business Worldwide reported. The two companies announced the deal on August 11, with plans to work together on new opportunities for artists to reach audiences across Japan.
Creativeman, founded in 1990 and led by CEO Naoki Shimizu, has grown into the largest independent music promoter in Asia over 37 years, according to Shimizu, up from a company that started with just two staff members.
Shimizu said the partnership will connect Summer Sonic to a wider portfolio of festivals, describing a network that also includes Coachella in the United States and BST Hyde Park in the United Kingdom, and called it a cornerstone for the music industry's continued growth.
Shawn Trell, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at AEG Presents, said in a statement, "Creativeman is an important presence in Japan and across the region," adding that the two companies' business strategies "align perfectly." He said Summer Sonic has become a globally recognized brand on its own, beyond Creativeman's wider concert and festival business.
Summer Sonic launched in 2000 and runs simultaneously in Tokyo and Osaka, with acts playing one city one day and the other the next; past lineups have included Radiohead, Oasis, Metallica, Linkin Park, Daft Punk and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the festival has since expanded overseas with Summer Sonic Bangkok. Creativeman also promotes Sonicmania, Punkspring, Greenroom Festival, Loud Park, Super Sonic and Springroove, spanning pop, rock, metal, punk and electronic music.
The partnership gives AXS, AEG Presents' ticketing company, a platform to expand across the region, deepening a push into Japan where AXS already runs a joint venture with Lawson Entertainment and has sold tens of millions of tickets since 2018. AXS has also taken a majority stake in Singapore ticketing firm SISTIC, which processes more than 6.5 million tickets a year. The deal extends a run of AEG Presents partnerships with independent promoters, including a stake in Germany's MCT Agentur, and comes as the wider AEG group names Asia-Pacific a priority growth market, having appointed AEG veteran John Langford as President, APAC, in February. Summer Sonic itself is one to watch after the festival's own tease of a Radiohead return for 2027, part of a busy year of rock festival business news.
The facts
- AEG Presents has partnered with Creativeman Productions, Japan's Summer Sonic promoter
- The deal was announced August 11
- Creativeman was founded in 1990 and is led by CEO Naoki Shimizu
- Summer Sonic runs simultaneously in Tokyo and Osaka each year
- Shimizu compared the new festival network to Coachella and BST Hyde Park
- Creativeman also promotes Sonicmania, Punkspring, Greenroom Festival, Loud Park, Super Sonic and Springroove
- The deal gives AEG's AXS ticketing arm a platform to expand in Japan
- AXS has operated in Japan since 2018 through a joint venture with Lawson Entertainment
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