Red Light's Eric Silver

What was the first concert you ever attended?

The first concert I ever went to without adult supervision was Van Halen at Selland Arena, Fresno, 1979. Van Halen II was released two days before the show, so the audience didn't know half the songs they played, but it was magic!

You can go back in time and see any concert. Whom would you see, and when?

Led Zeppelin at Royal Albert Hall, 1970.

What’s the single biggest change in a manager’s responsibilities since you started in the biz?

With labels now by-and-large no longer in the field of artist development, the manager is everything. You are the record label, the merch designer, the social-media strategist, the tour marketer and partner to the agent, the publicist and the attorney.

Name a manager not in your company whom you admire.

Peter Grant [Led Zeppelin] for negotiating unprecedented record deals, clamping down on bootleg merch, prioritizing the album over the single and implementing the 90/10 split with promoters in favor of the artist.

Please describe your all-time-favorite photo, memento or tchotchke from your job.

Subtronics sent me a Sharper Image Shiatsu Dome Foot Massager. I use that sucker every day!

You’re made czar of the concert industry. What’s the first thing you’d change?

For consumers: strict oversight of the secondary/aftermarket ticket sites. No more snatching up large amounts of inventory with bots and then reselling concert tickets at highly inflated prices to the fans.

For artists: a cap on venue splits for merch sales. Once a promoter/venue takes more than 15% of the gross sales, it's nearly impossible for a touring artist to realize any significant return in selling merch at shows.

Tell us about a mistake you’ve made in the biz, and what you learned from it.

Don't lose your cool. I've come to regret the times I've gone off on somebody. It's a small business and you need all the allies you can wrangle!