News

Academy Music Group Enters Into Management Deals With Students' Unions

• 4th May 2010

Academy Music Group (AMG) today announced management deals (3-10 years) with Students’ Union (SU) venues in Liverpool and Hertfordshire, expanding its network of operations in the UK.

The Forum is part of the University of Hertfordshire’s newly developed, state-of-the-art £38,000,000 development, which opened in October 2009 and has a full building capacity of 2,000. Liverpool Guild of Students is one of the City’s largest venues, with a main room capacity of 2,300.
Students’ Unions once formed the backbone of the live touring circuit. Following the boom in the live music sector some 10 years ago, artists and promoters were looking for improved standards and services to fill a gap in the market created in part by the SU’s restrictive trading practices and curfews. At this time, AMG’s CEO, John Northcote accelerated his strategic development for nationwide gig and club venues outside of London, and considerably raised the bar for high quality entertainment venues across the UK.
Since 2000, AMG now has multiple venues in major locations, namely Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Newcastle, Sheffield, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Oxford and more recently Bournemouth taking the estate to 13 in the last decade.

“AMG puts considerable investment into every new site, somewhere between £4,000,000 and £6,500,000 in major towns and Cities in the UK, ensuring they are the ‘must play’ premier venues,” says John Northcote, CEO – AMG. “Students’ Union venues are now looking to the expertise within AMG that the industry expects from booking gigs and club nights, to promotion, marketing and its technical infrastructure. This management deal will create further key venues, operated to a high standard in wider reaching locations with improved facilities that promoters can now utilise on the touring circuit, with the full backing of AMG.”

Earlier in 2009, AMG’s Commercial Development Manager, Carl Bathgate explored options for working with Students’ Union venues, following talks with Hertfordshire’s multi-million pound development of the Forum. “These forward-thinking Students’ Union venues are looking to the expertise of AMG where many of its employees cut their teeth and have a wealth of experience in this market, which will serve to bring through and develop the next generation of General Managers and SU venue staff. Many Students’ Unions are ideally located but currently under-utilised resources, thus AMG is striving to improve such offering to AMG’s high standard that the industry expects; providing high quality entertainment for both the student and non-student market.”

The Forum’s Commercial Director Max Ross echoes these sentiments: “Having provided live gigs and club nights to Hertfordshire students for decades, the University of Hertfordshire Students’ Union has long been an industry-leader in the student music market and is excited to bring our venue management and entertainment expertise to the general public in partnership with AMG.”

AMG aims to host 120 events per annum across the two University sites in 2010.