Founded in 1981, Los Angeles concert promotion company Goldenvoice organized more than 50 punk shows in its first two years, and it went on to help introduce audiences to the then-edgier sounds of Nirvana, Social Distortion, Jane’s Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and many more. In 1999, despite the travails inherent to any independent business that competes with national rivals, Goldenvoice launched the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Earlier this week, the lineup for Coachella 2017 was announced, led by Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, and Radiohead. The festival quickly sold out.
In 2001, Goldenvoice was acquired from co-founders Rick Van Santen and Paul Tollett in an almost $7 million deal by Anschutz Entertainment Group, a massive company more commonly known as AEG. Billionaire Philip Anschutz owns AEG through his Anschutz Company. The 77-year-old tycoon was expanding on a fortune made in the oil business back when Goldenvoice was finding quality venues for bands like the Minutemen. Though Anschutz is often described as press-shy—he rarely gives interviews—he has also been widelycoveredovertheyears for his role as a leading sponsor of conservative causes.
Though Anschutz’s views have been known, they are again raising eyebrows. Last summer, a Washington Post op-ed linked to an infographic from a nonprofit called Freedom for All Americans, which aims to “secure full nondiscrimination protections for LGBT people nationwide,” showing a money trail from Anschutz to anti-gay groups. Though Pitchfork hasn’t been able to confirm those donations, and the Anschutz Foundation previously issued a statement denying the WaPo op-ed’s claims, they recirculated again recently in a post by Teen Vogue, which also drew attention to Anschutz’s verifiable political giving: For instance, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, Anschutz and his wife gave more than $1 million to Republican candidates and PACs in the 2016 election cycle. (However, The Weekly Standard, a conservative magazine Anschutz acquired from Rupert Murdoch, was prominent in the right’s #NeverTrump movement.)
Through spokespeople, multiple artists booked to perform at Coachella this year declined to comment to Pitchfork. Reps for Goldenvoice and AEG didn’t immediately respond to Pitchfork’s requests for comment; neither did Freedom for All Americans. However, one artist on the Coachella 2017 lineup, Mitski, did tweet a link to the Teen Vogue story, saying it would “only hurt” her not to go through with playing the fest, “but u can still not go.” She also called for Coachella attendees to “make sure the spaces we inhabit are made safe.”
ah fuck. well I agreed to do this+not going would only hurt me not the fest, but u can still not go (cont'd part 2) https://t.co/a7Nq2MtNc4
— mitski (@mitskileaks) January 5, 2017
@mitskileaks if you're going w me, let's make sure the spaces we inhabit are made safe. Ugh.
— mitski (@mitskileaks) January 5, 2017
Another artist, Ted Leo, recognized Anschutz’s name from investigative reporter Jane Mayer’s 2016 book Dark Money, which recounts how anti-government oil billionaires the Koch brothers and other like-minded peers, including Anschutz, have used their enormous wealth to back far-right causes. Leo directed followers to information about Anschutz’s “history of shadowy money in conservative causes.”
I guess if I'd've known AEG stood for Anschutz Ent. Grp., it might've told me something. Read @JaneMayerNYer's #DarkMoney. He's all over it.
— Theodore Leo (@tedleo) January 5, 2017
Here's a quick primer on AEG's owner Phil Anschutz and his history of shadowy money in conservative causes: https://t.co/O2DwuGvBib
— Theodore Leo (@tedleo) January 5, 2017
Anschutz, meanwhile, denied reports he is anti-LGBTQ as “fake news.” According to The Fader, he said in a statement, “I unequivocally support the rights of all people without regard to sexual orientation. We are fortunate to employ a wealth of diverse individuals throughout our family of companies, all of whom are important to us—the only criteria on which they are judged is the quality of their job performance; we do not tolerate discrimination in any form.” Anschutz reportedly added that he and his foundation never fund any group with an eye on anti-LGBTQ initiatives and that “when it has come to my attention or the attention of the Anschutz Foundation that certain organizations either the foundation or I have funded have been supporting such causes, we have immediately ceased all contributions to such groups.”
Still, renewed outcry over Anschutz’s political leanings is likely warranted. According a 2012 New Yorker profile, he has donated to organizations associated with opposing same-sex marriage, quashing collective-bargaining rights, and, through his connections with the Koch brothers, lobbying against climate-change science. One of his businesses, Anschutz Exploration Corporation, was also behind a failed New York state lawsuit to make it illegal to ban fracking.
Regardless, artists opposed to even the AEG owner’s publicly documented political causes are in a tight spot. The company doesn’t just own Goldenvoice, of course. It owns or operates venues accounting for 61 percent of ticket sales worldwide in the third quarter of 2016, according to the latest Pollstar data, including London’s O2, Los Angeles’ Staples Center, and Brooklyn’s Barclays Center (if it helps, Beyoncé, at least Jay Z sold his Barclays stake). It owns sports teams, including the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and a stake in the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers. In music, just among festivals, it has coordinated not just Panorama, FYF Fest, Camp Flog Gnaw, and Bumbershoot, but also Desert Trip, the classic-rock blockbuster perhaps better known as Oldchella. It puts on tours by Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, and others. For months now, it has reportedly been close to buying Bowery Presents, which organizes shows in a range of venues along the East Coast, from the Music Hall of Williamsburg to Madison Square Garden.
Obviously, it’s possible there’s more to this famously press-shy billionaire than has been reported to date. The Anschutz Foundation, in its statement last year responding to the Washington Post, said it “donates to thousands of worthy organizations each year” and that it doesn’t discriminate based on “sexual orientation or gender issues.” The statement added that Anschutz and the companies he has stakes in employ “tens of thousands of people”; “In all instances, personal lifestyles are neither a requirement or limitation to employment.”
And while it might be difficult for fans and artists to avoid stumbling into AEG’s vast live music web, there’s evidence to think speaking out against right-wing business leaders might actually work. As James Surowiecki writes in the current New Yorker, more and more boycotts are happening over political differences, rather than over labor practices or environmental practices. And, according to research he cites from the Kellogg School of Management, boycotts usually end up achieving their goals—even if the bad publicity hurts a company’s revenues less than its public image.