Among the entertainment industry stops for the Bandier group was CAA China, a media and entertainment platform partnership between U.S.-based Creative Artists Agency and CMC Capital Partners of China.
In May 2019, as director of the Bandier Program for Recording and Entertainment Industries at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Bill Werde traveled with a dozen students to Asia, where they met with top music industry executives in Beijing, Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo. It was the program’s first international trip and proved rewarding as they gained valuable insights on Asia’s growing role on the global music front. “I’ve had a great front-row seat to the music industry for 20-plus years,” says Werde, a Newhouse professor of practice and former editorial director of Billboard magazine. “This was such a mind-expanding, inspirational trip. To be able to sit down in the room with all these different people in different cultures that are making it happen—it was just unbelievable.”
Werde extends credit for the trip’s success to Jason Miller ’95, a College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) alumnus who, at the time, was senior vice president-international for Live Nation Entertainment, the world’s largest music promoter and event ticketing service. During the past decade, Miller produced 80% of the highest grossing tours by international artists in Asia, bringing Coldplay, U2, Madonna, Bruno Mars, Maroon 5 and others abroad to perform. He shared insights with Werde and helped him connect with colleagues and meet with music industry insiders from his extensive network. “Jason gave me the straight story behind the scenes of the players, the companies and the realities of these markets,” Werde says. “He was really instructive in helping the students have a great experience.”
This was such a mind-expanding, inspirational trip. To be able to sit down in the room with all these different people in different cultures that are making it happen—it was just unbelievable.
Professor Bill Werde
Among the highlights, students learned about the booming K-pop movement in Korea and met in China with representatives from ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. They gained an understanding of licensing arrangements in the various countries and opportunities for Western acts looking to expand their fan base in Asia. They were also introduced to the range of social media platforms and emerging technologies propelling the music industry forward there. For instance, the group met with executives of JOOX, a popular music streaming service and app with a karaoke feature, which Werde likens to a combination of TikTok and Spotify. “Taking some of these ideas that are incubating in Asia and then thinking about how we could apply those in the United States right now was a pretty unique experience for my students,” says Werde, who also serves as co-director of the interdisciplinary Audio Arts graduate program, a partnership of Newhouse and VPA. “The students got to see where the future is and meet some of the people who are building it—that was amazing. It was just a revelatory experience for the students and, I have to say, for me.”
Miller, who has traversed the international entertainment landscape for nearly three decades, considers the students’ introduction to navigating the ins and outs of Asian countries a valuable experience. “I think it’s fantastic for those students to go there so early in their careers,” he says.
I had all kinds of internships and experiences at Syracuse University that ultimately played a role in what I do today. I wanted ideally to travel the world and see places I had never seen, which definitely has happened. I saw music as the access point to all that.
Jason Miller ’95
In Seoul, Bandier students gather outside of SM Town, a collective for recording artists under SM Entertainment, Korea’s largest entertainment and media company, which represents many popular K-pop groups.
A Shift in Live Entertainment
In 2021, Miller partnered and created a new company with Germany-based CTS Eventim—also a global leader of live entertainment and event ticketing services. Miller is now CEO of Eventim Live Asia (ELA). As part of the company’s launch, Miller connected with Werde for communications help in spreading the word about ELA. “We wanted to get the word out that there was a new major player in a market as important to the global music industry as Asia,” Miller says. “Eventim has very quietly become the second largest event producer in the world.”
Werde, who’s also served as CEO of a public relations agency, arranged interviews and landed coverage for Miller’s new venture in trade publications like Variety and Billboard as well as the Korea Times and other international news sources. “Jason is an incredibly talented executive,” Werde says. “He’s this singularly accomplished, singularly knowledgeable guy about this region, so it’s a real pleasure to go to journalists and say, ‘Hey, I’ve got a story for you,’ because it’s just so authentic and so powerful.”
The students got to see where the future is and meet some of the people who are building it—that was amazing. It was just a revelatory experience for the students.
Professor Bill Werde
While the absence of live concerts across Asian countries has prevented Miller from going full throttle, he says he’s taken advantage of the time to plan and develop the business. “Networking is paramount,” he says, because building relationships there, in particular, occurs over time, so he’s been busy on Zoom, connecting with industry partners and agents he knows and reaching out to forge new alliances. “I’m making the best of it and ready to hit the ground running as soon as things open up,” he says. “It’s been the craziest 18 months of my professional career, that’s for sure.”
Bandier students meet a robot during a visit to the Beijing headquarters of Baidu, a multinational technology company known for its internet-related services and artificial intelligence.
Ready for Adventure
That, perhaps, says a lot because Miller always enjoys a challenge and it’s what attracted him to the music industry. “I didn’t want to be bored,” he says. “In my 25 years doing this, I’ve never once been bored, and COVID threw a whole new wrench into it.” Miller arrived at Syracuse University from Oneonta, New York, as a student looking for opportunities to connect with the music world. “I had all kinds of internships and experiences at Syracuse University that ultimately played a role in what I do today,” he says. “I wanted ideally to travel the world and see places I had never seen, which definitely has happened. I saw music as the access point to all that. Frankly, I was open to adventure.”
Jason Miller ’95 is CEO of Eventim Live Asia, which he launched in 2021. A veteran of the international entertainment industry, he is well known for promoting major concerts in Asia.
Miller paired a bachelor’s degree in speech communication with a concentration in music industry. He gained experience working for a concert promoter, a sports agent and at stadium events, including performances by Billy Joel and Pink Floyd, among others. He also worked for David Rezak, a local booking agent and founding director of the Bandier program. Since then, Miller has maintained an informal relationship with Rezak, who’s now retired, and the program, speaking to classes and helping place students with internships as well as networking and job opportunities.
After graduating, Miller headed to Los Angeles and started his career, working as an assistant to an international music agent at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), one of the world’s leading talent agencies. Eventually he became an agent with CAA, negotiating multimillion-dollar contracts and building a client portfolio that featured such stars as Beyoncé, Diana Ross, Kanye West, Magic Johnson, Stevie Wonder and Jimmy Fallon. After 11 years with CAA, he ventured out on his own, running a full-service entertainment consulting agency for several years. In 2013, he joined Live Nation Entertainment as head of its Asia division and began arranging those blockbuster tours. While producing live shows on a North American tour may be nearly indistinguishable from city to city, touring in Asia can be much more complicated, he says. “I can promise you that doing a show in Beijing is entirely different than doing a show in Jakarta.”
Unique Challenges
As Miller readily notes, with its size and scale, population of over 4.5 billion and cultural diversity, Asia is unique. In China, for instance, there are cities without a single arena that are larger than Los Angeles, he says. Toss in geopolitical issues and government red tape and it’s easy to see why Miller encounters plenty of hurdles when piecing together a tour. “You’ve got language issues, currency issues, weather issues, politics, religion, safety. The list goes on and on,” he says. “That’s what keeps it interesting, exciting, never boring.”
As the pandemic wanes, he looks forward to meeting and networking with folks in person again. The longtime Los Angeles resident also plans to open an office in Singapore, where he’s lived part-time and earned an MBA degree through a dual program of UCLA and the National University at Singapore. He envisions a slow rollout and return to live music as countries open and ease restrictions. He also thinks more artists will embark on international tours, thanks to music streaming spreading their work worldwide and boosting their popularity. “Once COVID is truly behind us, I think we will see artists’ live-event touring numbers unlike we’ve ever seen globally,” Miller says. “So there’s no better time than now to be an entrepreneur in the live music business.”
