After spending almost three years as an agent’s assistant and seven as a national promoter with Academy Music Group (AMG), DHP Family and Robomagic Live respectively, Bonita McKinney made the move into ticketing and is now Sales Executive for Music at Ticketmaster, working mainly with festivals.
What are your first live music memories?
“The first gig I went to outside of my hometown of Bournemouth was to see Maroon 5 at O2 Academy Brixton in 2004, at the age of 15. I ended up running across town with my mum to make the last coach home, as I’d spent too long at the merch stand picking out a T-shirt, which I still have. As fate would have it, I later ended-up working at that spectacular venue when I joined AMG.
“My first festival experiences were V Festival in 2005 and Reading Festival in 2006, when Franz Ferdinand headlined. I haven’t missed a year of Reading since. I fell in love with the festival atmosphere, the VIP area and realised I had to be involved in large scale events.
“Getting an insight into what goes on behind the scenes from observing the crews and tour managers inspired me to work in the live music business.”
How did you get into the music industry?
“I moved from Bournemouth to study a Music Business degree at Westminster University and obtained an internship with LIVE UK, co-ordinating its Summit conference.
“After the conference wound down, I moved in to work with Nick Peel at Miracle Artists in the same building. Not only did he take a chance on an 18-year-old, but it made my dad so proud. He is the biggest Jools Holland fan and I was suddenly involved in booking his tours.
“I also worked with bands like Epica, Morbid Angel, Moonspell and UFO across Europe and South America. It gave me the confidence to speak with promoters at all levels and gave me a good knowledge of the metal scene.
“Working with Nick also showed me the importance of getting bands the right slots at festivals and how to build careers.”
How has your career developed?
“In 2010 I was hired as a booker for AMG’s venue estate to predominantly focus on the rock and metal market, a highlight being the Jagermeister music tour with Ghost + Gojira.
“Following this I moved to Nottingham and became the lead programmer of DHP Family’s Rescue Rooms and Thekla venues, and Dot to Dot festival.
“I moved back to London and to Rob Hallett’s Robomagic Live. Working with Rob meant I was involved in arena level shows with acts such as Duran Duran for the first time – a whole different scale of events.
“I have been very privileged with mentors and have learnt from some of the best promoters in the industry – Ian Richards at Academy Events, Anton Lockwood at DHP Family and Rob Hallett at Robomagic – and I thank you all for the insight, experience and stories.”
What have been your greatest highs and lows?
“I can’t think of anything that has gone particularly wrong so far, but failure is nothing more than the opportunity to get clarity on what you really want.
“Promoting Craig David’s come-back shows while at Robomagic was a personal high point, both as a fan and on a professional level. JEM Artist Management are fantastic people to work with, and we got to be so creative with shows, which took place at Shakes and Oslo in Hackney, and Koko.”
Any observations about the industry?
“Ticketing is the fastest-moving element in the business of live music, there is a new start-up practically every week. I think that ticketing is heading in the direction of more dynamically priced tickets, which helps with the supply and demand issue in the industry.
“Presales and fan sales have also become a lot bigger in the past few years, so I see there being a greater focus on that.
“Everything is also becoming mobile. Soon all tickets will live on your phone – you can even preorder your drinks before you enter a venue now with the Ticketmaster app.”
How do you wind down?
“I am and always have been a huge musical theatre fan. I try and see as many theatre shows as possible, most recently Punch Drunk’s Sleep No More in New York.
“I feel honoured to be part of the team powering ticketing for Hamilton and am so excited it’s coming to London.
“If I had my way, I’d go every night.”
To see the original article on Live UK click here.
