In 2014, live music fan/expert Dave Brooks and his wife Kristen Bilanko, founded Amplify Media and, working out of his office on Atlantic Avenue in Bixby Knolls, Brooks set about injecting new life into the business of covering the concert scene.
“I launched Amplify with the intention of covering the music industry in a different way, more stylized, a younger, more digital approach,” he said.
Now, just four years later, Brooks’ Amplify, which quickly became a nationally known news source and tip sheet on the business of live music, has been acquired by Billboard, with that media group gaining full ownership of Amplify to add to its already sprawling Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group that also includes Spin, Vibe and Stereogum.
Despite no longer being the owner of Amplify, Brooks will continue to be the main man when it comes to Billboard’s coverage of the business of touring, concert and festival coverage as a senior correspondent. Joining him will be Amplify writer Taylor Mims.
And what’s further great news for Brooks is the fact that he’ll continue to operate out of his Bixby Knolls office. “It’s great not having to drive back and forth to mid-Wilshire every day,” he said.
“I grew up reading Rolling Stone back in the 1990s,” said Brooks. “That’s the kind of writing I wanted to do and bring to Amplify. But as it grew, it became more about breaking news and a tip-sheet for the industry.”
His wife and Amplify co-founder Kristen now only participates in the business by accompanying Dave to live concerts. “We go out quite a bit,” he said. “We saw Taylor Swift at the Greek, we’re going to see Beyoncè and Jay-Z at the Rose Bowl on Sunday. I do it for business, but we also do it for entertainment,” he said.
For some business owners, selling out to a big company means a subsequent lifetime of sitting back and throwing wadded-up C-notes into a top hat, but Brooks’ work is instead amping up. Kristen is a nurse practitioner at Torrance Memorial and the couple has a 20-month old son, Wesley, with another child on the way. So that alone is plenty of work, but then the Billboard job has him hustling even more, with the addition of Brooks’ role as programmer for the Billboard’s Live Music Summit & Awards on Nov. 13 and 14 at the Montage in Beverly Hills.
The show, formerly known as the Billboard Touring Conference & Awards, is a gathering of executives, artists and concert industry insiders dedicated to taking on the challenges and opportunities they face in the concert business. This year’s event will include appearances by Shawn Mendes, John Mayer and the Dropkick Murphys, with seminars and presentations dealing with the ever-evolving live music business including the growing popularity of hologram tours and what cannabis legislation means for touring.
So, no kicking back for Brooks; not even so much as a leisurely tapering off. Rather, he said, “I’d guess I’m going to be about 20 percent busier.”