In light of a disastrous fiscal quarter that followed an only slightly less disastrous year, SFX Entertainment has appointed Life In Color Founder & CEO Sebastian Solano the new CEO of TomorrowWorld parent company ID&T/Made Event. The news accompanies other recent statements indicating that SFX is resorting to desperate measures to ensure the solvency of its brands – although TomorrowWorld’s organizers still have yet to announce any kind of investigation as to the actual causes of the transportation issues that endangered thousands of the festival’s attendees.
Since both Life In Color and ID&T are owned by SFX, the re-appointment would seem like something of a lateral move if not for the fact that Solano cites ID&T’s Duncan Stutterheim as his primary inspiration. Solano told Billboard that shortly after learning about global party tour Sensation, a friend invited him to one of Tallahassee’s Day Glow parties – which he would eventually play an integral role in growing and rebranding as Life In Color.
Business qualifications aside, what might make Solano the man for the job more than anything else is that – contrary to SFX Entertainment’s track record of placing people with little to no finger on the pulse of electronic music in key leadership positions – he has a significant emotional investment in the product, as evidenced by his comments on the path that lies ahead for TomorrowWorld:
To be honest, my main priorities [sic] right now is to uplift the culture and the vibe. Obviously, with what’s been going on lately in New York, it’s been dominated by the press going on about the financial and the stock market stuff, so my first priority is to really remind everybody that we’ve got a business because we want to throw the best parties in the world and that’s what we do.
That’s who we are. We’re promoters, and we’ve devoted our lives to throwing amazing parties for music fans because we love the music, because we love to deliver an amazing experience. That’s the reason why we’re here, and that’s the reason why I took this job.
Then again, as SFX Entertainment‘s recent $90 million life support injection might only prolong its inevitable collapse, Solano’s re-appointment might only be a preparatory measure for when ID&T eventually leaves its hands. The next several months will undoubtedly play an important role in the future of the North American electronic music industry, so the decisions at the core of the company are as important as ever.
