Live Nation, perhaps the world’s largest live entertainment company, is expanding into the travel industry. They are rolling out Vibee, an online interactive web-based company which offers fans of live events the ability to book a personalized destination experience built around an artist, festival, or event. The magic of Vibee is the way in which their offers can be customized to include upgrades to tickets, hotel accommodations, additional activities surrounding the event and the incremental customer preference data upon which their system is built making each successive trip booked through Vibee more to the client’s taste.

I spoke at length with Vibee’s President Harvey Cohen and Senior Vice President Christine Rogerson about their strategy in entering the travel space. They are both enthusiastic about the ways in which fans will be able to book through Vibee’s platform to have more unique and interactive experiences. This, they believe is convergent entertainment, a single experience in which a group attends but personalizes their own trip by selecting among a variety of options and alternatives. To achieve that end, Vibee is creating and booking multiple events either with specific headline artists or by bringing a group of fans to a larger festival or event in which consumers can both attend the event itself and benefit from the additional elements which Vibee included for them.

Vibee is built on the premise people already travel to attend live events. So, why not create more specialized immersive opportunities to gather with people who share your taste for a band or EDM music, then spend a long weekend together at shows, meals, parties, and poolside? People already book trips to travel the Kentucky Bourbon trail or spend three days watching Spring Training in Arizona. Why not go to the Bahamas for a long weekend with Lionel Richie and friends? Those who do go get access to more than just Lionel Richie in concert. They also see Sheryl Crow, Nile Rogers & Chic, Vanessa Carlton, Megan Moroney and Jake Wesley Rogers. Beyond the music, there will be poolside parties, receptions, and a conversation in which Lionel Richie shares stories with the group. In this case, all inclusive means music, food, drinks and interactions with your peers and with the artists in attendance including Lionel Richie.

Also, Vibee is in the business of fan integration into large events and festivals. There, rather than a specific takeover, they can bring a portion of the fans to a large event, while creating community within that specific group. The core idea is the same, the event is the draw. But the Vibee magic is the way in which their team can curate both the specific fan experience and help create community among the Vibee attendees within the much larger group which is at a Lollapalooza or Insomniac event.

Just like the world is round, it seems that business trends are circular. Once, before the internet, people went to specialists to book travel. Travel agents knew their clients and how to create an itinerary which accommodated their clients’ taste and budget. You might tell them about wanting to see London and Paris over the course of a week, and they’d bring you back a plan which included hotels, flights, transfers, restaurant reservations, and a list of suggested tours, museums, and highlights to visit.

For at least the last decade, people have booked their own travel, using the internet and the online companies there like Expedia and Travelocity, along with the airline websites and Google GOOG searches of where to go and what to do. It’s a lot of work and easy to make a mistake. Just when booking a flight it requires attention to avoid the confusion of how similar airport identifiers can be. SJC is San Jose, CA, SJO is San Jose, Costa Rica, and SJD is Cabo San Lucas.

There is more to creating a bucket list event than avoiding travel booking errors. Part of the attraction of Vibee is how it opens access to artists and experiences in a way which is more egalitarian. Their programs can be 2,000 people to see Lionel Richie and friends at Atlantis in the Bahamas or their taking over one entire tower of the Resorts World in Las Vegas to create a curated access environment within the massive Electric Daisy Carnival. Similarly, Vibee is working with Insomniac on a Norwegian cruise line takeover with Electronic Dance Music performers for their sold out edsea sailing. It runs from November 4^th – 8^th and travels from Miami to Nassau and Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas then back to Miami. This ship will likely be both on time and on beat. Similarly, there is an event with Tiesto in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico playing out November 9th - 12th, 2023.

The mission driving Vibee is about connecting fan with a robust artist experience, whether that is a headline performance along with other opportunities to see the artist speak or attend a reception or activity. And the core function of Vibee is the attention to small details in all aspects of the event so as make the trip more special or truly unique. As Christine Rogerson said, Vibee “marries the travel side with beautiful destinations, connects with where you are going, and the artist could add a keynote, Q&A, merchandise program, or cocktail session. Vibee is about thoughtful details woven throughout an experience.”

For Live Nation, Vibee has the potential to add both their top and bottom-line financial performance. As big as live entertainment may be, the market for airline tickets, hotel rooms, cruises and ancillary local add ons is many times larger. According to Statisa, revenue in the U.S. travel and tourism market this year is estimated to be $190.4 billion. That’s nearly ten times as much as Live Nation’s revenues which were $19.2 billion over the same period.

This pivot into travel is an opportunity to leverage the relationships Vibee may build with their consumers to sell more than simply access to an event. They can sell all the surrounding transportation, lodging, rental cars, local tourism, and coordinate highlights of the location where the event is taking place.

As Vibee matures, it becomes a curation play while it begins to know its customers well enough to create very specific offerings: which musicians, what kind of hotel rooms, whether you want to add golf or eco-tourism. These are the critical “touch” items which build repeat traffic and enhance volume and profitability. Because Vibee resides within the Live Nation ecosystem, they have the capacity to offer interest free payment plans to help fans spread payments across a defined period of time to pay for the package they’ve purchased.

As an itinerant traveler who often travels to locations adjacent to a particular live performance, this seems like a well targeted strategy: give the people what they want, then enhance it by elevating the experience through access, unique opportunities and building community among those who attend. Vibee is bringing together both access to a unique or high demand event while at the same time making certain all the elements of travel, lodging and nearby tourism are offered in a single purchase by a company whose job it is to learn your preferences and deliver. Historically, travel offers have been based upon limited access or discounted pricing. Vibee is on a different path. It is creating a new category of travel in which your access to an artist is enhanced and all of the travel arrangements surrounding attendance at the event are handled.