Madison Square Garden has acquired a minority equity interest in Irving Azoff’s Front Line Management, which is held by IAC and Warner Music Group. Front Line Management represents the Eagles, Jimmy Buffett, Neil Diamond, Van Halen, Christina Aguilera, Stevie Nicks, Aerosmith and others. Financial terms were not released.
“While Madison Square Garden has always been synonymous with history-making music, we are currently in the midst of a significant expansion of our music business,” Hank Ratner, vice chairman, Madison Square Garden and parent company Cablevision Systems Corporation, said in a statement. “We have added to our unrivaled list of iconic venues, re-launched Fuse as the country’s only network dedicated to music and now, have taken an interest in the world’s number one artist management company, Front Line. This acquisition perfectly complements our current assets and strengthens our strategic vision to grow our music portfolio, a major component of our current business plan.”
“We invited Madison Square Garden to be one of the Front Line Management partners due to their extraordinary commitment to artists,” added Azoff. “MSG’s diverse resources complement our management mandate to create new and exciting artist opportunities and marketing platforms on behalf of our artist roster.”
