The Cream founder and CEO James Barton

James Barton is one of the greatest entrepreneurs in electronic dance music of all time. Everything began in 1992 when he started a club night called Cream in Liverpool and thanks to his vision and ambition, Cream soon started to attract thousands of people from across the UK to what it was back then a way of life.

The success he had with Cream by booking artists such as Carl Cox, Sasha and The Chemical Brothers gave him an opportunity to work at Deconstruction Records as Director of A&R but he ended up resigning in 1999 to only work full-time in his Cream brand.

Due to his vision and efforts the well-known festival Creamfields was launched in 1998 and became of the leading outdoor music events in the UK with many awards along the way including the “Festival of the year” award in the Music Week Awards 2010. Again, since 1998 the brand kept growing and in 2000 Creamfields festival was launched on to the international market and it has been staged in 16 different countries around the world.

The huge success from Cream attracted Live Nation which acquired the brand in 2012. The exclusive rights were given to Live Nation and James Barton took an executive position as Live Nation’s Electronic Music President. He had a crucial role when Live Nation saw a record year in 2013, with revenue jumping 11% to $6.5 billion following the previous year's loss of $22 million. In 2014, he was considered the most important person in Electronic Dance Music by Rolling Stone.

After working with Live Nation for four years, James Barton is now the CEO of Superstruct Entertainment. Superstruct is a live entertainment company that owns and operates music events globally and is backed by Providence Equity Partners. Their portfolio includes festivals like Victorious, Field Day, Lost Village, Flow in Finland, Hideout in Croatia and the list goes on. Most likely, through the influence of James Barton, the investment on electronic music festivals is growing and one of my favourite festivals Sonar has also been acquired a major stake by Superstruct.

References:

Barton, J. (2020). About. [online] LinkedIn. Available at:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-barton-005244105 [Accessed 3 Mar. 2020]

Castillo, A. (2014). 50 Most Important People in EDM.[online] Rolling Stone. Available at:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/50-most-important-people-in-edm-30822/thristian-richards-and-blaise-bellville-boiler-room-45375/ [Accessed 3 Mar. 2020]

Cooke, C. (2018). James Barton’s Superstruct buys into Sonar. [online] Complete Music Update. Available at: https://completemusicupdate.com/article/james-bartons-superstruct-buys-into-sonar/ [Accessed 3 Mar. 2020]

International Music Summit (2016). James Barton. [online] International Music Summit. Available at: https://www.internationalmusicsummit.com/ims_speakers/james-barton/ [Accessed 3 Mar. 2020]

Ireland, D. (2016). Magnetic's Industry Person of the Year - James Barton, President, Live Nation Electronic Music. [online] Magnetic Magazine. Available at:

https://www.magneticmag.com/2016/01/magnetics-industry-person-of-the-year---james-barton-president-live-nation-electronic-music/ [Accessed 3 Mar. 2020]

McDermott, M. (2019). Superstruct Entertainment acquires more UK and European festivals. [online] Resident Advisor. Available at:

https://www.residentadvisor.net/news/43654 [Accessed 3 Mar. 2020]

Rys, D. (2012). Live Nation Buys EDM Entertainment Company Cream Holdings Ltd, Owner of Creamfields Festivals. [online] Billboard. Available at:

https://www.billboard.com/articles//1096966/live-nation-buys-edm-entertainment-company-cream-holdings-ltd-owner-of [Accessed 3 Mar. 2020]