When 3 years ago, Robert F. X. Sillerman appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine, with a gold & silver coloured disco ball in his hand and declared he had a $1 billion plan to conquer the dance music world, everyone was a little confused. The first SFX entertainment, which was active in 1990s, was more focused towards rock music prevalent during those days. The eventual decision by Sillerman to sell the company to Clear Channel Communications should have sealed the fact that the business model would not work. However, Sillerman used the same business model in order to ‘conquer’ the dance music world.
Today, the dream of taking over the EDM empire, has fallen to pieces for Sillerman. However, the realization that he might not be the correct person to take over the project and run the company, is still not in the offing. While his plan to buy EDM related companies with the 1 billion he had after selling off the previous SFX entertainment seemed noble, his complete lack of interest and knowledge in EDM have led to his decisions not being the best ones. He also admitted that he didn’t do the job with what he calls the ‘right people’.
The new SFX had issues from the day it was announced. Over the years, there have been numerous employees such as Paolo Moreno, who claimed that they were co-founders. Moreno claims that the original idea to consolidate the EDM industry was his and Sillerman had only been brought in to present a business plan.
The failure of business plan, suspect investments and complete lack of experience with the genre is not helped by the fact that there is evidence which suggested that the global popularity of EDM as a genre has hit a plateau. While it means lower cost of talent acquisition, it also raises serious questions about how viable the company will be in the long run. Sillerman seems unfazed by these things and continues plans to scale up every year.
Source: Forbes
Leave a Reply