High Note Music Industry Collective, a cross-disciplinary organization that strives to create opportunities for students to network and learn about the different facets of the music industry, provided Washington University students the unique opportunity to discover the inner workings of live music event promotion through hearing from Nic Zamora, Missouri director of media and sponsorship sales for Live Nation Entertainment, in the Skandalaris Center Nov. 21.

Live Nation is the biggest live music entertainment company in the world. Zamora helps Live Nation sell over 500 million tickets worldwide per year, focusing on finding and maintaining partnerships and sponsorships for shows in the key market of St. Louis. A graduate from Missouri State University with a degree in Public Relations, Zamora first started his career in sports.

“I took the opportunity when I was a junior to take an internship with the Springfield Cardinals…When I graduated a year later, [I] turned that into a full time job,” Zamora said in a question and answer session with students. “…I’ve been very fortunate to fall into the right opportunities at the right time. I’d say that the way that I got there was just always keeping the door open for the next opportunity and working my butt off to make sure that I have everybody speaking highly of me in everything that I do.”

Zamora was candid in speaking of his career transformation. Although he said he loved his previous job as a corporate sales account executive for the St. Louis Cardinals, “It’s a lot of time. It’s not a lot of money, to be honest,” he said. Having started working for Live Nation in February, he considers the most interesting thing that he’s learned to be how different the music industry is from sports, as artists have their own unique followings that allow them more freedom in choosing which brands to support.

“With sports teams, you have a lot more control over the influencers, the players that are on the roster, and get them to go to events and [be] spokespeople for the sponsors they have for the Cardinals,” Zamora said. “The difference is that artists are usually these big international brands. You know, Lady Gaga and Kiss, lots of big names that are known across the world. They have their own sponsors. They have their own brands that they support.”

Zamora expressed pride in Live Nation’s work, as the company has established itself as a leading event provider and has great potential to grow.

“Live Nation is still a pretty young company,” Zamora said. “We’ve only been the actual name ‘Live Nation’ for like ten years. So it’s not a really long time. But we’ve been blowing up. The thing I think we’ve been trying to do in the last ten years is trying to make our experience different than what you get in other places…We try to work with one brand in each of our venues for the reason that they wouldn’t be competing with other competitors that are trying to promote the same things.”

In order to target marketing to each individual audience and develop successful brand partnerships, Zamora noted the importance of understanding the demographics of concertgoers for every show.

“When it comes to brands, we try to identify what their key demographic is, who they’re trying to reach and then target whatever our package is,” Zamora said. “…Ticket sales drives everything. If we don’t have people going to shows, we don’t have sponsors. They only care about being there if there’s a lot of people there.”

Zamora also gave advice to young people who are interested in working in the music industry. He thinks the biggest thing people lack when they have just graduated from college is experience.

“Get as much experience as you can,” Zamora said. “Whether it’s an internship, whether it’s a part time job, whatever it is. And keep building from there. Figure out what your first step is, figure out what your next step is, take the steps as you need to because no one is going to get all the way there right away.”

High Note President senior Tyler Jordan decided to reach out to Zamora after stumbling upon the Live Nation office on Delmar Boulevard last month. Jordan invited him to visit Wash. U. via LinkedIn, remarking that Zamora was “wonderfully happy to do it.”

“I think he has a lot of incredible knowledge,” Jordan said. “…He has tremendous experience in managing concerts, selling sponsorships and just understanding the inner workings of music and entertainment that a lot of people in the room today really want to be able to learn about.”

Speaking with Zamora proved to be a great experience for Wash. U. students, especially for those who hope to pursue a career in the music industry.

“I found what he was telling us really inspiring, and also I think really helpful for people who are really interested in this kind of industry,” junior Adin Ehrlich, vice president of promotions of High Note, said. “Honestly I am glad that High Note was able to bring him because it was a good experience.”