October 31, 2016: How Live Nation Is Connecting Sponsors With Fans, Startup Hopes to Make it Easier to Book Music Acts for Events, How Facebook Is Seeking to Clone Snapchat

1. HOW LIVE NATION IS CONNECTING SPONSORS WITH FANS: Live Nation is banking on Wi-Fi and geofencing to connect concert and festival sponsors to fans. The live music company recently used these tactics to connect female fans with musical acts and brand activations at the Music Midtown festival in Atlanta last month. Advertising Age: “The company used geofencing techniques to help capture data associated with 18-to-34-year-old attendees who might be valuable for future marketing and ad targeting. ‘We can use social listening to surface really relevant attendees,’ said Samantha Sichel, Live Nation's VP of digital product and business development, with ‘relevance’ often determined in part by the size of someone's social following. But that's only part of what tech is allowing Live Nation to achieve at performance spaces that could increasingly be called ‘smart venues.’ The company has embarked on a new three-year partnership with Cisco, which is implementing Wi-Fi connectivity at ten Live Nation venues to ensure that fans have signals strong enough to post photos and videos to social media even in a huge crowd. Cisco will add Wi-Fi—labeled ‘Fan-Fi’—to 20 additional Live Nation venues in 2017. That Wi-Fi arguably helps Live Nation at least as much as fans, and not just because it makes it more likely that concertgoers can publicize all the fun they're having at Live Nation shows. It also makes it easier for someone at an event to access the Live Nation app, which can collect the mobile device ID on that person's phone when she's opted in to use it.” http://bit.ly/2f4d0C9

2. STARTUP HOPES TO MAKE IT EASIER TO BOOK MUSIC ACTS FOR EVENTS: Encore, a startup company based in the United Kingdom, wants to make it easier for event hosts to book musicians and bands for their events. The app targets booking agencies to help users find and book performers. TechCrunch”: “In addition to making it easier to book musicians and bands, co-founder James McAulay says that Encore aims to improve pay and conditions for the musicians themselves by cutting out (and replacing) the traditional agency middle person. ‘Musicians are tired of being ripped off by traditional agents who take a large cut and often don’t have the musicians’ best interests at heart,’ he says. ‘Encore brings transparency to an industry that desperately needs it.’ The site works as follows: those putting on an event simply submit the type of musician or band they wish to hire, providing details like instrument, genre, and time and place. Encore then takes that information and sends out an alert to matching musicians and bands who are registered on its mobile app. Musicians that are available and interested then respond with a quote and the booker can check their profile and Soundcloud links etc., and ask any follow up questions before making a booking. Payment is then processed via Encore, which takes a 15 percent booking fee along the way.” http://tcrn.ch/2f3vfbb

3. HOW FACEBOOK IS SEEKING TO CLONE SNAPCHAT: Whether it’s introducing creative photo and video filters or trying to purchase the Asian version of Snapchat, Facebook has recently been focusing on ways to emulate the social image-sending app. The Guardian: “On Friday came the news that Facebook is testing a new camera in its main app that offers Snapchat Lens-style photo and video filters to users. The camera, available to users in Ireland for now, is accessed by swiping right on the homescreen of the Facebook app.Then on Saturday it was revealed that Facebook has also launched Snapchat-style filters in Facebook Live as a special Halloween feature. They’re different filters from the ones available in the main test, though, and users can’t simply save them – instead, the goal seems to be to promote more Facebook Live sharing. On Monday, TechCrunch reported that Facebook tried to buy the Asian snapchat clone Snow. Like Snapchat, Snow features, you guessed it, a large portfolio of filters and masks. TechCrunch says that some time after it was profiled by the New York Times in July, the Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, made a move to acquire the company. But just like Snapchat did before it, Snow rejected the offer, seeing a bigger future outside Facebook than in.” http://bit.ly/2e4zqAZ

* LOCAL NEWS *

COAST TO COAST:  The Unify Organization will sponsor a national flash mob meditation on November 8 at polling places across the United States. Elevate the Vote will webcast footage live from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern Time at Elevatethevote.com.

CHICAGO:  The final phase of the Chicago Riverwalk, designed by Ross Barney Architects in collaboration with landscape architects Sasaki Associates, will open to the public today. 

DENVER:  White Lodging and Etkin Johnson Real Estate Partners have begun construction on a Hyatt Place hotel in Westminster. The 137-room hotel, which is expected to open in the spring of 2018, will be managed by White Lodging Services Corporation.

LAS VEGAS:  MGM Resorts International and Hakkasan (a nightclub at the MGM Grand) have joined the list of sponsors for XLIVE 2016, a conference/expo for people in the live-events industry. The Tropicana Las Vegas is the main hub for the event, which will take place December 5-7. Eventbrite C.E.O. Julia Hartz is a keynote speaker, and Hakkasan will be the site of the expo's opening-night party and other activities. Other event sponsors include solution organizers Vendini, R.F.I.D. technologists Connect&Go, and crowd-control equipment supplier Epic Solutions.

LOS ANGELES:  Two local restaurants have launched spinoff eateries next door to the original locations: Angelini Osteria, an Italian restaurant in the Fairfax District, has opened a cafe called Angelini Alimentari; and Valerie Confections, a bakery/sweet shop in the Westlake neighborhood, has added a more chocolate-focused eatery of the same name.

The Chapel, a nightclub in West Hollywood, is now open at the space previously occupied by Here Lounge. The Chapel is a spinoff of the Abbey, a nearby L.B.G.T. bar that is also owned by Dave Cooley.

For information on upcoming events in Los Angeles, visit Masterplanner: http://www.masterplanneronline.com/losangeles

MIAMI/SOUTH FLORIDA:  On Saturday, the nightclub Armando Records Miami will celebrate its grand opening with a performance by Bomba Estéreo. The 7,400-square-foot nightclub, located at 30 NE 14th Street in the Wynwood neighborhood, is owned by Armando Fuentes, who also owns the Bogata venues Armando Records, Armando All Stars, Armando Music Hall, and Armando's Pub.

Bird & Bone, which debuted earlier this year as a Southern-cuisine food truck, will soft-open in November as a permanent restaurant at the Confidante Hotel, in the space formerly occupied by Seagrape. Bird & Bone expects to have a grand opening in 2017.

NEW YORK:  Breast Cancer Research Foundation's annual Symposium and Awards Luncheon, which was held Thursday at the Waldorf Astoria, raised $2 million with 900 guests in attendance to support breast cancer research. Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg was a speaker at the event, which honored Estee Lauder executive Deborah Krulewitch and Dr. Charles Perou.

For information on upcoming events in New York, visit Masterplanner: http://www.masterplanneronline.com/newyork

SAN FRANCISCO:  The 41st Annual American Indian Film Festival will kick off Friday and will continue through November 11 at the AMC Van Ness 14. The festival's lineup includes short films, animation, documentaries, and feature films, as well as public-service videos, music videos, and youth films from A.I.F.I.'s Tribal Touring Program.

WASHINGTON, D.C.:  Green Car Journal's finalists for the Washington Auto Show 2017's Green SUV of the Year, Connected Green Car of the Year, and Luxury Green Car of the Year will be announced at a November 17 press conference at the Los Angeles Auto Show's AutoMobility L.A. The next Washington Auto Show will take place January 27-February 5 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

The third location for Mexican restaurant chain Los Cuates is now open in the Adams Morgan neighborhood at 2429 18th Street NW. The new eatery is in the space formerly occupied by La Forchette.

YOUR NEWS: What are you doing? Tell us: [email protected]. 

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With contributions from Jenny Berg in Chicago, Alesandra Dubin and Claire Hoffman in Los Angeles, Mitra Sorrells in Orlando, and Carla Hay, Beth Kormanik, Michele Laufik, Jill Menze, and Ian Zelaya in New York.

BizBash Daily is the must-read digest of event industry news from BizBash.com.

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