EP13: Rob Challice - From Anarcho-Punk To A Consolidated World

The SuperSwell Podcast

Your host, Paul Cheetham, is joined by one of the UK's most highly respected booking agents, Rob Challice, Senior Vice-President of the Wasserman Music Group.
Rob has over 40 years of experience in the live music industry as an agent, promoter and festival organiser. Starting in the early 1980s, Rob co-founded a series of music companies one after the other - from FAB to Concert Clinic to CODA - and evolved from gigging, wide-eyed, around the country with anarchy-punk outfits, to overseeing sold out world tours for a roster of artists that includes Beirut, Billy Bragg, Bon Iver, Charlotte Cardin, Christopher, Cory Wong, HAEVN, Kings of Convenience, Novo Amor, Sturgill Simpson, Toro Y Moi and Warpaint.
Our conversation with Rob is like a who's who of the live music industry and takes us on his inspirational and remarkable journey from creating fanzines and promoting shows in London's gritty 80s scene to booking legendary bands like Nirvana and going on to help operate mammoth global enterprises.
We talk about the hiring and firing, the network building, the need for innovation, the challenges and concerns of a post-pandemic world, and the inevitable need for consolidation and change in order to stay alive and competitive.
The episode also highlights the critical role of grassroots music venues in the UK, the efforts to sustain them, and how the pandemic has shifted the dynamics of the music ecosystem.
There's also time to remember colleagues who have sadly been lost - but not forgotten - and the growing need to reflect on his own legacy.
We recorded this episode during the Tallinn Music Week conference on Friday 5th April, 2024.
Thank you for listening. Here is the episode.
We made it just.....for......you!
Links:
Wasserman Music: https://www.teamwass.com/
Paradigm acquires CODA: https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/paradigm-acquires-50-stake-in-coda-music-agency-5877120/#!
The Subhumans: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subhumans_(British_band)
Warchild RideLondon: https://www.warchild.org.uk/get-involved/fundraise/find-an-event/ride-london

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Chapters

1. Not Every Child's Dream (00:00:25)

2. Discovering a Scene and Capitalising on It (00:01:33)

3. Professionalising a Passion: Founding of FAB (00:07:55)

4. A Disappearing Generation. Legacy (00:11:15)

5. Hiring & Firing. Learning to Lose an Act (00:12:15)

6. Concert Clinic (00:15:11)

7. The Move to CODA. Reinvigorated & Learning to Love Booking Again (00:16:58)

8. Keeping An Eye Out For New Agents in a Competitive Field (00:23:57)

9. Consolidation - the Arrival of Live Nation (SFX) & Making Agents Obsolete (00:26:22)

10. Consolidation - CODA becomes Paradigm (00:28:44)

11. Consolidation - Paradigm becomes Wasserman (00:31:44)

12. Grassroots Venues & Small Festivals - the fight to survive (00:34:34)

13. Creating a Network of Reliable Promoters & Partners (00:40:11)

14. Away From The Office, Getting On Your Bike (00:42:26)