Former WME agent Marc Geiger’s venture SaveLive has quietly raised $112 million in the last 12 months to purchase live music venues hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, records from the Securities and Exchange Commission show. Fired from WME by co-CEO Ari Emmanuel in June 2020, the former co-head of music shocked the concert business in October 2020 when he announced plans to raise millions to buy and protect indie venues with FactoryMade Ventures chief executive and former WME board member John Fogelman. but has remained fairly quiet in the preceding months with some industry watchers speculating that the initiative had simply fizzled out.
But records released by the SEC on Feb. 25 show that Geiger had been busy the last 16 months amassing a nine-figure war chest worth a total of $134.5 million, raised from nine unnamed investors. That amount of money could make a huge impact for independent promoters and venue operators struggling with a shaky recovery in the live sector as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to drag on longer than many expected. Geiger’s plans for SaveLive, according a New York Times article written in October 2020 was to invest millions into struggling music venues in exchange for a 51% stake in a venue’s operating business. If enough independent venue operators and promoters agreed to the deal, Geiger could potentially create a powerful network of venues to route tours and force through structural changes that would create a more level playing field between independent operators and corporate concert giant Live Nation. The 51% stake in the clubs resembles the financial structure of competitor Live Nation that owns more than 100 clubs and theaters in the U.S.
In conversation with the Times, SaveLive’s primary backer Jordan Moelis of Deep Field Asset Management said the company was built to be a partner to struggling venues and not “a distressed-asset play.”
SaveLive’s first filling in February 2021, showed that SaveLive had raised $22.5 million from two investors in its first five months of operation. The company’s goal at the time, according to the filing, was to raise $75 million total.
SaveLive has nearly doubled that goal in the past 12 months, and while no venue acquisitions have been announced, SaveLive did make headlines in July of 2021, when it hired Madison House co-founder and president Nadia Prescher to run its music division. “I’m joining Marc to build out his vision of the SaveLive network to support independent music venues,” Prescher told Billboard in June 2021. “Over the last 25 years as an agent, I’ve worked closely with the independent community, and more so since the pandemic with the National Independent Talent Organization. Marc and I agree indie venues should have a safe guarded opportunity to grow their businesses.”
Geiger and company have remained relatively quiet about SaveLive since the initial announcement and have yet to reveal further details or a roster of venues. SaveLive did not respond to Billboard’s request for comment.
Over the pandemic, hotel developer AJ Capital has also started acquiring a collection of independent music venues across the country. In March of 2021, AJ Capital purchased the building where the 50-year old Exit/In venue in Nashville resides. A month later, AJ Capital was making a bid to purchase the famed Roseland Theatre in Portland, Oregon, which has hosted concerts by Bob Dylan, Tina Turner, Pearl Jam and Miles Davis.
