FestTalks: Candace Newman and Diversify-ing the Music Industry
Charlotte Ege, FestForums | September 23rd, 2024
A leading figure and champion for underrepresented voices in the music industry, Candace Newman sat down with FestForums this week to discuss her experience and foray into the festival space. Newman is the CEO and Founder of Live Out L!ve, a booking and touring agency geared towards creating platforms in live entertainment for diverse artists, particularly women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ artists. Newman’s core values lie in community, diversity and equity, and creating opportunities for diverse talent, and she has promoted these values through Live Out L!ve and as a self-described “solopreneur” on her various individual projects.
Newman is set to speak at FestForums 2025, discussing her experience with The Cousinz Festival at our panel, “How’d it go? Adventures of a First-Year Festival”. Taking place on August 31st, 2024 in Norfolk, Virginia, The Cousinz Festival is backed by Pusha T and evolved from the RnB Block Party hosted by Virginia-based rapper Fam-Lay and his business partner Antonio Dowe.
In this interview, Newman discusses her experience with Live Out L!ve and The Cousinz Festival:
You recently participated in the production of the Cousinz Festival this past August. Can you share more about your work and experience with the Cousinz Festival team?
My background is in live music, booking, and production - I formerly worked at Live Nation in touring, where I worked on business models and plans, and building out the tour parameters. But for the Cousinz Festival, I focused on operational and business affairs, and a lot of my responsibilities involved making sure that all loose ends were tied up. I worked closely with the attorney to make sure all artist contracts and agreements were signed on time. It was my responsibility to make sure all deposits were negotiated and paid out, as well as meeting all benchmarks, timelines, and parameters business operation-wise. I was very much involved in the overarching decisions for the business, the brand, and the execution of this inaugural festival.
The first Cousinz Festival just happened! How was your experience putting on a festival in its first installment?
It was a huge lift, but very rewarding. We dove right in to make it happen, and it was great knowing that it was all hands on deck initially. Until we started to ration out real roles and responsibilities, holding everyone accountable for their piece to this bigger puzzle. We had a short timeline of six months, and so we needed to have strong marketing because we were backed by a really strong artist [Pusha T]. It was great to have this backing, where it’s their festival, so to speak. We had the support of their hometown community that they emerged from, helping prop us up, amplify, and market the festival. You can create a strong foundation, but marketing is what drives the sales and ticketing, and this community really got behind it and helped drive support.
How has your experience with The Cousinz Festival aligned with your values for Live Out L!ve? How has Live Out L!ve been able to enhance the experience for Cousinz?
Live Out L!ve is an organization and company that was inspired by my journey as a woman, my experience at Live Nation, applying my skills and talents, and a passion for producing live events. These values derived from my succession plan and trajectory within the company. Then, I graduated and could do my own endeavors in live events. The trajectory of my company aligned with the values that Cousinz represented. I was able to contribute based on my own, individual values, which was inspired by Live Out L!ve.
These values involve community, building diversity and equity, creating opportunities for diverse talent, including queer, women, and people of color, and putting them on the stage as well as being represented behind the stage. I could input those specific values I created through Live Out L!ve and my individual business into what the foundation of Cousinz Festival could be. I think it is so important that all my projects and endeavors align with my individual values, the values that I created through Live Out Live.
Besides booking and touring, your company provides resources for diverse artists through the Live Out L!ve Foundation, partnering with community and career-based organizations - what organizations have you worked with and how has it enhanced your vision for amplifying young voices?
Through the Recording Academy and the Grammys Museum, I do panel events and mentorship programs, and they help market the work we do through Live Out L!ve. They promote us through their newsletters and socials, representing us as a collaborative partner. It's been so important to have that type of support, as a global, diverse community of music artists, creatives, and executives. I think it's important to align with the changemakers of the music industry, those using their voice and being thoughtful leaders, that are making change in a positive way.
Additionally, through the Cousinz Festival, we were able to align with Dominion Energy, which is the energy company that powers the electricity within their community. We did different projects connecting directly with the Norfolk community, including servicing a woman's home and giving her tickets to the festival. These powerful organizations and businesses help drive our mission, and in the community work that I've been able to do.
What has been the most valuable experience you have had since founding this foundation?
The most valuable experience, to be honest, is our growth, is seeing the numbers in my community get bigger, seeing the quality of collaborators and partners and businesses that lean in with me. I have mentors from Live Nation, AEG, Goldenvoice, from tour mentors on the road to industry executives. People all over the live music industry have leaned into my mission and the work that I've been doing through Live Out Live. That is a huge accomplishment and something that I'm extremely proud of.
With Live Out L!ve, what has been your most challenging experience, as well as your favorite experience working in the music industry?
I am like a little engine I could, that can, and that will. I am a solopreneur. Yes, I have project managers and sometimes part-time assistants or interns who help move the needle in the company because they believe in our work and passion. Those workers gain sweat equity as they learn about booking and producing and how to create and curate through working closely with me. I can provide these great opportunities and am not without assistance.
But again, I am a small business, a small company, and it takes businesses, organizations, and other people who really believe in the work to help support that and drive that. So it's a double-edged sword, having all this support, but when it comes down to it, I am the main driver of my work.
How have festivals influenced your work in the booking and touring agency, and how have you cultivated diversity and inclusion efforts in festival environments?
First, it’s super important for me to create opportunities for all people, for women, for queer people, for people of different backgrounds. So, if I can be involved in a festival and decide who can be a part of it, who I can empower to assign tasks and responsibilities to, and pay them to do that, that is super important for me. That's the type of work that I want to do.
Festivals are vast, they're big, they're massive, so that means providing more people with the opportunity to lean into this work. There are so many great ideas that really bring it to life on a larger scale. It's a one-off experience, one that should have a real, true impact not only on the community, which are the targeted event-goers, but also on the people putting it together. Because then they feel like they've built something, it belongs to them, and it can't be taken away from them. It's always been directed more towards the community. It's called Cousinz, right? Cousinz is like your family. It's even your mom's best friend's kids, but they're all close in proximity. It's your community.
How has Cousinz Festival been able to amplify its community through talent booking?
One way is by bringing artists that typically don't reach that market. Artists normally go to certain areas where they will make the most money. As a first-year festival, obviously, we didn't make a boatload of money, but it was more about investing in getting great artists and getting the festival off the ground. We had Eryka Badu, who typically doesn't go to this area, we had Larry June, a West Coast rapper, who hardly comes East. We had Lion Babe, who's a super dope duo - Overall creating a diverse flair and energy for our audiences, for our “Cousinz.” We're trying to diversify the roster so that all of the “Cousinz,” all of the parts of this community, are in mind. And not only that but giving a pathway to this community for artists who typically wouldn't come to that market.
What project are you most excited to work on in the future, whether that's through Live Out Live, or it's your own solo endeavor?
I'm always open! With Live Out L!ve, we're continuing to build platforms, but I get hired by companies all the time to produce tours, create new platforms, and build out festivals. I'm just looking forward to the next call, for the next opportunity. I am working on different projects every single day.
But I’m always looking for the next big new challenge, the next big new opportunity, the next new festival. I hadn't done an individual, independent festival as an independent producer until I did Cousinz. I worked on Something in the Water and Lollapalooza through Live Nation - these projects did have the “black party” elements, but often these artists were just DJs. Cousinz had live production and performances, adding a different, leveled-up element, and being able to curate that was super exciting. Doing more of that is what I look forward to. Collaborating with really dope people and building my community through a network of passionate people who love this type of work.