LOCAL NEWS
AUSTIN PROMOTER PROFILE
by Tara Lacey / photo by Jesse Brede
Bobby Clay of C3 Presents Austin is home to one of the largest concert promoters in the United States, C3 Presents. The powerhouse behind Austin City Limits and Lollapalooza built the company from the ground up with the help of exceptionally talented people. One of those people is talent buyer Bobby Clay. Clay recounts how he found his place in the music industry: “I was very lucky to have a family that completely immersed me in all types of music at a very young age. Whether it be watching my cousin DJ at his record store when I was very young, my mom taking me to obscure jazz shows in the west village when I was a teen…or playing Aerosmith tunes on the guitar with my step dad in the basement. I really started taking it seriously when my close friend Gabe King and I began throwing shows in Austin in the fall of 2007. We just hit the ground running and really tried to bring the music that we loved to this amazing city in a time when it wasn’t being represented. After that, I began a company called Polaris Presents and expanded into Dallas and other markets and really began a strong rhythm and what I felt was a successful formula of marketing and promoting the events.” In 2010 Clay found his home was rooted in
Bringing Euro Dance Music to Austin Zedd Invades Weirdsville This Fall by Tara Lacey / photo by Nick Walker
This month’s featured industry insider Bobby Clay specializes in dance music and September’s most anticipated dance show has generated so much interest that it has recently been moved from C3-owned Emo’s East to a much larger venue, Austin Music Hall – just one example of the quality Clay brings to Austin audiences. Though Germany is a far cry from Austin, the city will get a dose of foreign talent when C3 hosts Zedd. Zedd’s track “Clarity” is exploding on the dance scene and as a result, the 23-year-old producer is bringing The Moment of Clarity Tour across Texas. Says Zedd, “For the past six months, I’ve been working on a light and visual show for my tour. We’ve built tons special content and improved the production day by day, step by step. With the Moment of Clarity World Tour, I want to capture this moment and present it to my fans 6 SEPTEMBER 2013 PERFORMER MAGAZINE
around the world!” Zedd has recently performed on The Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, been named an MTV Artist to Watch, been called “the breakout DJ star of 2013” by Billboard, headlined Ultra Music Festival, Outside Lands Festival, and rounds out the summer with an appearance at Electric Zoo Festival. Austin Music Hall welcomes Zedd on Wednesday, September 18th.
For more info, visit www.zedd.net
Austin and joined up with C3 Presents – he has since covered some milestones that many promoters only hope to reach including supplemental booking for Lollapalooza in Chicago, Chile, and Brazil. Clay specializes in dance music. “Not EDM, dance music. EDM is a tag line that the media has put on dance music to homogenize it or make it easier to sell to sponsors.” With regard to his own process for booking, Clay follows no precise format or complex algorithm for predicting ticket sales. Instead, he strives for diversity in stacking the bill for a show, saying, “Trying to bring different groups of people into the same venue to dance…is the goal and I feel we continue to achieve that here.” He is also very active in the local music scene with a keen eye for talent on the cusp. You may find him enjoying music by local names like BoomBaptist, DJ Mel and 807 Edgecliff. You may also find them on the next big festival lineup courtesy of Bobby Clay. For more info, visit www.c3presents.com