of Live Nation Philippines
SUPPORTING good acts in trying to reach new audiences, and thinking of more ways to amplify the concertgoers’ experience, are the keys to tapping into the Philippines’ high potential for music tourism, said the executive of an international live entertainment giant.
Rhiza Pascua, managing director of Live Nation Philippines, spoke to BusinessWorld about the company’s three years of bringing live events into the country — as well as how it fares in the context of the two decades beforehand that she had worked in the concert scene.
“In 2024, there were 224 live events,” Ms. Pascua said in the Zoom interview. “The music sector had a GDP (gross domestic product) contribution of P18.1 billion in total, of which P2.5 billion came from Live Nation. That’s about 14%,” she explained.
“As long as we keep promoting good acts and giving ticket buyers good experiences, this growth will keep happening,” she added.
Ms. Pascua founded Music Management International (MMI) in 1996, a time when a lot of international artists would skip Manila while on the Asian leg of their concert tours.
Negotiating with artists, managers, and agents to put the Philippines on the global touring map eventually led to working with Live Nation to promote the Manila concerts of Madonna in 2016, Coldplay in 2017, and U2 in 2019.
“Those were the big three artists on my bucket list,” Ms. Pascua said.
In 2022, Live Nation acquired MMI, which she refers to as “a simple change of name and change of rules.” As managing director, her approach has remained fan-centered, with innovation as a motivator.
THE PURSUITOne example of the perseverance required in the early days was Ms. Pascua’s dogged pursuit of Coldplay’s agent.
“For decades, I’d been almost begging them. I went to London four times to meet the agent and it was always hard. If you don’t have a relationship, they won’t even reply to e-mails,” she said.
It took four tries across several years for a meeting to finally be arranged with the agent, which finally happened in their office in Los Angeles, coincidentally near where Ms. Pascua lived at the time.
“We met up and became good friends, though Coldplay wasn’t touring at the time. It took seven years of friendship until it was the right time, and they finally went to Manila,” she said. “I’m unstoppable when I want things to happen.”
It was 2017 by then, and the band had started a fun, sustainable initiative — interactive wristbands that were lent to concertgoers that synced with the lights and the songs. “They had just started doing it, and we encouraged them to bring it to Manila. Audiences are supposed to put [the bracelets] back in a bucket before you leave the venue, but they were scared they wouldn’t get the bracelets back,” said Ms. Pascua.
True enough, Filipinos didn’t give them back.
The same thing happened at their latest show in 2024, but Coldplay brought it back all the same, at Live Nation’s behest, to give Filipino fans “the best experience.”
“We nurture our relationships with the artists. Most of these iconic acts grew with us,” Ms. Pascua explained. “I think we’ve worked with Maroon 5 (Adam Levine) around six times, since he was single. Now, he already has three kids!”
WHAT MAKES A GOOD CONCERT?Live Nation Philippines has its dedicated research team, which does data analytics to determine how an act would do in the country.
“An act may not be big, but we might want to take care of an artist to see if they get bigger,” said Ms. Pascua. One example was the UK band The 1975, which MMI started introducing to the local market through mall shows back in 2014.
Upon seeing potential in their growing popularity, they brought the band back many more times, for their first arena concert in Manila in 2015 and as headliners of a music festival in 2016. Their latest show in the Philippines was in 2023.
A recent example is Filipino-British singer-songwriter Beabadoobee, who first did a one-night show in the Philippines in 2022. “She’s coming back in August this year, and she has already sold out two nights!” Ms. Pascua said.
Another rising young musician is NIKI, an Indonesian-American solo artist who sold out her Feb. 11 and 12 Manila shows within minutes. They tried to add another date, but the Mall of Asia Arena’s schedule was already filled up for the month. Graciously, NIKI decided to do the rest of her Asia tour and just come back to Manila for a March 1 show.
In terms of venues, Ms. Pascua admitted that there are upsides and downsides for each. The Philippine Arena in Bulacan, for example, may have accessibility issues, but its sheer size and ability to accommodate unique productions made it optimal for many performers, with Bono of U2 saying “This venue was made for us!”
“The capacity determines how much [money] they’re going to make. That’s why some acts don’t consider traffic, the location, the weather. As long as they know it’s the Philippine Arena, they know they’re making big bucks,” she explained. Meanwhile, mid-size acts fit perfectly in Quezon City’s Araneta Coliseum or Pasay City’s Mall of Asia Arena.
LOOKING AHEADFilipino-American singer Olivia Rodrigo’s 2024 concert was Live Nation Philippines’ latest attempt at disrupting the market.
It was the biggest show in her career, with 55,000 people in the audience, the prices brought down to just P1,500 per ticket thanks to the sponsor, American Express. All proceeds went to the non-profit organization Jhpiego, which provides healthcare to women in the Philippines.
For Ms. Pascua, it was “their best event of 2024.”
“It was the time to disrupt. We got a big sponsor, so we were able to afford to drop the ticket prices. It was my favorite event from last year because I love disruption,” she said.
This came exactly at a time when post-pandemic revenge spending had dipped, with “Gen Zs and millennials becoming pickier and more mindful of saving up” due to the unstable economy.
“Audiences have been more selective. They are more supportive of acts that are really good, talented, established,” Ms. Pascua explained.
The mellowing out of revenge spending also applies to the K-pop industry. According to a study that Live Nation conducted in 2024, anything Korean declined 46% beginning last year.
“We felt it because some of the K-pop acts that we worked with last year and in the past did not create the same traction,” she said.
Despite this, the live events giant will continue to bring in Korean singers, actors, and actresses for concerts and fan conventions or fancons. BTS member J-Hope, who held a two-night concert in Manila in April, promised to return. Meanwhile, P-pop act SB19 will be kicking off their world tour in June.
As a forward thinker, Ms. Pascua maintains that Live Nation Philippines will keep an eye out for “what is lacking in current trends, to help further expand the scope of the live events industry.”
“This field is dynamic and lively, but it’s always changing,” she said. — Brontë H. Lacsamana