Rapino In Aspen

Are you a winner?

Everybody wants the glory, but few want to do the hard work.

So Michael Rapino grows up in Thunder Bay. That's closer to Winnipeg than Toronto. For those not Canada-savvy, that's NOWHERE!

And his friend at the Beer Store, that's what they call it, that's the only place to buy beer in Canada, tells him a job is open as a college rep at Labatt's.

So not only does Rapino track down the appropriate party, he develops a whole marketing plan, writes it down, before he shows up for the interview.

Are you willing to go the extra mile? Do you need it?

Getting a Labatt gig after college graduation, yes, Michael studied to become an accountant, worked at that for two weeks and gave up, he ended up becoming the number one rep. He read every book in the company library. He went for every educational weekend. He got promoted. He knew everything about the brand.

And then he decided one drunken night he wanted to be head of a concert company before he was forty.

Do you have that vision? He wrote it down on a napkin. He made it long before.

He was in beer for a decade. Although Labatt had a nexus with CPI, the concert company. He started his own concert company. He sold it to SFX. He took a pay cut to work in New York instead of going back to Labatt. Do you believe in yourself?

Then he was sent to Europe, where he shot sponsorship through the roof and got more and more territories and ultimately became the worldwide bigwig.

He not only wanted it, he NEEDED IT!

And don't forget he even defeated Michael Cohl in the process.

Oh, we learned that Live Nation is a pure concert play. And they don't want to sell tchotchkes with tickets, just more tickets. Artist fees are not going down, and it's all about the data.

Walls are done. That's what killed the record business. You're in it with your customers and the acts. And if you don't think Michael Rapino plays to win, you just don't know him.

This ain't the old music business. Where you get a few acts and win on intimidation. Saying you know everything when you know very little.

Rapino straddles the generations. He sees tomorrow and is not holding on to yesterday.

There are challenges ahead.

But now I know why he got the gig. You can smell the desire, the hard work, see both the charm and the sharp elbows.

It was fascinating to experience the man behind the image.

Furthermore, today it SNOWED!


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