Live Nation Merchandise (LNM) is the merchandise and licensing division of Live Nation Entertainment representing over 150 top music and concert artists worldwide. Live Nation Entertainment is the world’s leading live entertainment company, with 550 million fans across 40 countries, Live Nation Entertainment operates concert promotions, venue operations, sponsorships, ticketing solutions, e-commerce, and artist management across global market leaders Ticketmaster, Live Nation Concerts, and Live Nation Media & Sponsorship.
Challenge: Change to LNM Licensing Business
Live Nation manages the merchandise, licensing, and e-commerce solutions for 300 artists, including the likes of U2, Foo Fighters, Bruce Springsteen, and Madonna. With a massive licensing business managing hundreds of licensor and licensee accounts, Live Nation’s licensing operations need to run smoothly and efficiently — but their old system was quickly becoming obsolete. They needed an integrated system that would track contracts, capture royalties, and automatically catch any issues as individual product SKUs were submitted for approval. They needed robust technology that could efficiently handle the workload from hundreds of clients and licensees.
DSI’s Solution:
Three years ago, Live Nation invited a number of different companies up to their San Francisco office to present their licensing software. Dependable Solutions was the clear front-runner; DSI’s integrated licensing software met more of Live Nation’s needs than any other company. Live Nation was impressed with DSI’s Digital Rights Manager software, which carefully tracked versioning and email notes, and loved how the system automatically identified any licensee errors, saving their team countless hours in manual labor — and mitigated many potential client issues.
They signed on with DSI and began implementing the system across their business, from contracts to brand assurance.
Benefits:
Better Business Visibility
Dependable Solutions’ licensing software has given Live Nation a whole new view on their business. Now they can easily see the status of each and every contract and product, and go back and review notes whenever a business question arises. Live Nation loves the record-keeping and reporting functionality that DSI offers, allowing them to pull everything from product approval histories to a visual list of every SKU using a specific artist image. And that means no more hunting through thousands of emails. “I’m able to get the information I need in a timely fashion,” notes Michael Krassner, COO Merchandise. “I don’t know how we would function without it.”
Automated Accuracy
According to Jeff Coriell, Director of Accounting, one of the biggest benefits Live Nation gleans from DSI is the system’s 360° integration and automation. With software that self-checks product SKUs and royalty reports against contract terms, contractual compliance is more efficient. Any errors are caught automatically — saving Live Nation hours of manual checking and back-and-forth with its licensees. “Having all these components in one place, communicating with each other, significantly enhances our licensing business,” notes Jeff.
Stellar Customer Service
Dependable Solutions’ experienced industry experts help clients with everything from software training to improving business processes. “Our client rep is great at making time for training and troubleshooting,” notes Jessica Ogawa, Associate Director of Licensing. And beyond the day-to-day, they openly invite clients to collaborate with them on system updates through individual meetings, industry mixers and an annual conference. “The DSI team is focused on meeting their clients needs, even incorporating what clients would like to see in the system moving forward. They’re definitely teaming up with their clients,” says Jeff. And because of that collaboration, Live Nation is in the process of expanding their partnership with DSI to utilize their software to handle the product approval process for their Retail division.
Get in touch to see how Dependable Solutions can help YOU solve your licensing business challenges and fuel revenue growth