Access All Areas May 2020 | Page 6

Live Nation mothballs with $500m cuts This month’s catch up… Read more and keep up to date by visiting: Globe-Africa accessaa.co.uk  @access_aa twitter-square @access_aa Global promoter Live Nation has announced a series of measures designed to protect the business during Covid-19. With almost all gigs cancelled for the foreseeable future, Live Nation says it will be cutting costs in “hiring freezes, reduction in the use of contractors, rent re-negotiations, furloughs and reduction or elimination of other discretionary spending including, among other things, travel and entertainment, repairs and maintenance, and marketing”. CEO Michael Rapino also announced he will be giving up 100% of his $3m a year salary, alongside other salary cuts from top board members. This includes the company’s President, Chief Financial Officer and more. There is currently no mention of redundancies, with a focus on furloughing staff. ‘Together at Home’ raises £100m for healthcare workers One World: Together At Home, a virtual concert featuring performances by major celebrities and artists, raised £100m for healthcare workers. The money will be split between the World Health Organisation and a number of charities. The event, organised by poverty charity Global Citizen, featured a US and UK version. It was broadcast in the UK by the BBC on Saturday 18 April, and was hosted in-studio by Dermot O’Leary, Clara Amfo and Claudia Winkleman. The virtual concert aimed to celebrate those working in healthcare during the Covid-19 pandemic. A number of UK acts took part in the concert, including Little Mix, The Kingdom Choir, and Rag ‘N’ Bone Man. Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John and the Rolling Stones all appeared in both the US concert and the UK version. 06 Major venues transformed to fight Covid-19 Major outdoor and live music venues across the UK have converted into training facilities, testing centres and hospitals as the Covid-19 crisis continues. Following on from the conversion of many exhibition and conference venues into emergency hospitals, The O2 has converted into an NHS training facility, supplying staff to the nearby Nightingale Hospital at ExCeL London. The facility opened on 12 April, and will close on 29 June. Cardiff’s Principality Stadium has also been turned into a 2,000 capacity hospital. Its construction was overseen by T&M Technical Services, whose Director Tom Feierabend commented: “When a hospital needs to be built in a stadium that’s not just a big empty room, it’s the theatre, TV, and events industry that steps up.”