As top execs at Live Nation Canada, Erik Hoffman, Riley O’Connor and Melissa Bubb-Clarke are orchestrating one of the most ambitious stretches in the company's history. Together, the trio claim the No. 1 spot on Billboard Canada Power Players 2025. Already the biggest players in the Canadian music business, Live Nation is just getting bigger – and they’re on track for a record-breaking summer.

Rogers Stadium is opening at the end of June to host some of the buzziest shows this year, including the highest-grossing rock tour of all time, Coldplay's Music of the Spheres, and Oasis' buzzy reunion tour. It's a tangible symbol of Live Nation's ambitious plans for Canada, which includes triple the number of stadium shows they've ever run in Toronto.

Hoffman and O'Connor have been lifers in Canadian live music, and they're excited to see the sector now at the top of the industry. Melissa Bubb-Clarke made the top 10 of the Billboard Canada Power Players list last year for a different company, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE).

Read the full cover story interview with O'Connor, Hoffman and Bubb-Clarke here.

As President of Sports & Entertainment for Groupe CH, France Margaret Bélanger is leading an entertainment powerhouse that includes the Montréal Canadiens, evenko and Équipe Spectra. 2024 was a big year for partnerships and acquisitions under Bélanger’s guidance. Groupe CH established a partnership with the NBA G League that hosted six games at Place Bell in Laval (in the greater Montreal area). The company also acquired the Latin music festival Fuego Fuego, an important foray into a growing global market. The Bell Centre witnessed a star-studded lineup of major sold-out shows in 2024 from the likes of Madonna, Sabrina Carpenter, Travis Scott and Olivia Rodrigo, plus successful sold-out shows at Place Bell from Charlotte Cardin and Charli XCX & Troye Sivan. Groupe CH has set records at Osheaga the last two years, last year with 147,000 attendees, and produced 1,600 live events in its venues in 2024. As the concert and entertainment sector continues to surge, Groupe CH is bringing increasingly blockbuster events and success to Montreal. As VP of Commercialisation and Festival Management at evenko, Melissa Giampaolo is a driving business force. evenko gathers 5.3 million attendees yearly with its seven flagship festivals, including Osheaga, the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal and îLESONIQ. As the head of all commercial operations, from ticketing to sales to marketing, Giampaolo is making operations match the company's big-picture creative vision.

Tricia Silliphant is the Managing Director of Music & Live Events at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, where she oversees concert programming at Scotiabank Arena, Coca-Cola Coliseum and BMO Field. In the past year alone, she led the execution of over 110 shows, generating a reported $120 million in gross ticket sales and setting new records in food, beverage and merchandise revenue. For the 2025-26 season, more than 140 live events are expected. Silliphant has also expanded MLSE’s event calendar while championing diverse and inclusive programming reflective of Toronto’s multicultural identity. “Toronto is a market known as one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world,” Silliphant said as she was being recognized on the Billboard Global Power Players list. “This rich diversity is mirrored in our venues showcasing an international scope of content.” The city has become a premier stop on the touring circuit, and Scotiabank Arena is an important venue. That's been reflected in its ongoing renovations, something MLSE is also doing with BMO Field. Silliphant sits on the board of the Canadian Live Music Association and was named one of Billboard Canada’s inaugural Women in Music honourees.

Live venue owner and operator Oak View Group has made big moves in Canada, where Chairman/CEO Tim Leiweke spent years as head of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. The company is moving quickly on its ambitious $290 million renovation of the Hamilton Arena, formerly known as FirstOntario Centre. It's a key to its strategy in the country: investing in music-first premium live venues, building private-public partnerships and investing in secondary markets throughout the country where the company can truly stake its ground. OVG is rapidly expanding its Toronto office, which is headed by Tom Pistore, the President of Oak View Group Canada. As it readies the new arena, which is poised to operate on a scale you'd more often see in Toronto, OVG is hiring new staffers and investing in new ventures, like Departure (formerly Canadian Music Week), and partnering with venues like Rogers Place in Edmonton, Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg and Scotiabank Arena in Toronto as part of its Canadian Alliance.

In the past year, Louis Bellevance, Nicolas Racine and Samantha McKinley led BLEUFEU through a landmark year in live entertainment. As VP of Content and Artistic Direction, Bellevance shaped Festival d’Été de Québec (FEQ) with genre-themed nights, spanning hip-hop to country, with 140,000 passes sold and over one million visits across stages. The festival earned the title of event of the year at the 2024 ADISQ Gala, but it's still a hidden gem in Canada bringing top-tier talent of all genres to one of the country's most gargantuan stages each year. In 2024, Post Malone performed for over 100,000 people on the historic Plains of Abraham in one of the summer's biggest shows.

President and CEO Nicolas Racine oversaw the rollout of a 672 square metre curved LED wall on that main stage and also championed BLEUFEU’s “Effet rassembleur” initiative, donating over $175,000 to local organizations tackling social isolation, reinforcing the company’s civic impact. Samantha McKinley, instrumental in strategic development and creative execution, has helped expand BLEUFEU’s immersive programming across events like St-Roch XP and Toboggan, as well as venues such as Imperial Bell and Grizzly Fuzz. Together, the trio continues to position BLEUFEU at the forefront of live music culture in Quebec as well as the country as a whole.

Debra Rathwell, Executive Vice President of Global Touring at AEG Presents, oversaw major runs with legends like Stevie Wonder, John Mellencamp, Def Leppard and Journey over the last year. Looking ahead to 2025, the Canadian-born Rathwell is set to produce 43 shows for Disney’s Descendants & Zombies tour, expanding AEG’s reach into family entertainment. AEG Presents also played a role as a partner of Messina Touring Group, which promoted Taylor Swift’s record-breaking, $2 billion grossing Eras Tour with multiple sold-out shows in Vancouver and Toronto. With over 45 years in the music industry, Elliott Lefko remains one of live music’s most trusted promoters. In 2024, the Canadian music lifer delivered standout, sold-out tours for long-time collaborators Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Kraftwerk and Sigur Rós, showcasing his deep artist relationships. Now based back in Canada, Lefko continues to lead international booking for Goldenvoice. From his early years booking punk and metal shows in Toronto clubs and promoting acts like Nirvana and Blur at MCA Concerts, his career is defined by delivering memorable live music experiences.

Eva Dunford, co-founder of Republic Live, has made significant strides in Canada’s live entertainment scene. She led the successful launch of All Your Friends Fest in 2024 at Burl’s Creek Event Grounds in Oro-Medonte, Ontario, featuring nostalgic pop-punk and emo acts like Fall Out Boy and Billy Talent. Following its strong debut, the festival returns in 2025 with headliners including Avril Lavigne, Simple Plan and Rise Against. Boots and Hearts was awarded the 2024 CCMA Country Festival of the Year and remains a marquee festival for country's biggest acts and a rite of passage for emerging country talent. Beyond festivals, Eva advanced artist development through Republic Live’s RLive management wing and facilitated a $25,000 donation to support emergency services in Oro-Medonte. Her achievements this year showcase a focus on festival growth, emerging talent and community support.

Travis Newman is the President and CEO of MODO-LIVE, one of Canada’s largest independent concert promoters. Since co-founding the company in 2021, Newman has led the company to produce over 1,400 events across North America and Europe with 700+ shows in 2024 alone and over 1,000 projected for 2025. The company has become the owner of classic Toronto venues Lee's Palace and the Dance Cave, making renovations to celebrate the venue's storied 40-year history while revitalizing bookings and infrastructure. The company also owns The Pearl on Granville in Vancouver and entered the U.S. market in 2024 with an equity stake in Xanadu Roller Arts in Brooklyn. Along with Newman, who's been booking shows since high school in his parents' garage, MODO-LIVE has been building a team of experienced industry veterans including Zach Herbert, Mark DiPietro, Denholm Whale, Andrea Buchkovich and more.

Since Stéphane McGarry’s appointment at Tixr in early 2024, the VP has led the growth of the company’s Canadian team, now comprising five professionals across partnerships, operations, and client success, with representation in Alberta, Ontario, and Québec. Under his leadership, Tixr has secured partnerships with prominent Canadian events and organizations, including the Great Outdoors Comedy Festival, New City Gas, Sonic Unyon and Sonic Concerts. McGarry's strategic vision has also brought on board major events like the Cowboys Music Festival, Game Con Canada, and partnerships with national organizations such as Athletics Canada. His emphasis on Tixr's modern technology stack and user experience has positioned the company as a preferred ticketing platform for a diverse range of events across Canada. With plans to further scale operations into additional provinces, McGarry continues to drive Tixr's mission to revolutionize the ticketing experience for Canadian audiences.

One of Canada's largest independent venue operators, MRG Live is responsible for some prominent concert halls in Canada including Toronto’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre and Adelaide Hall and Vancouver’s Vogue Theatre. Since joining MRG in 2020 to partner with founder Matthew Gibbons, Smid has helped steer the company through a post-pandemic rebuild, growing in Canada and expanding into new markets, including Australia. Over the past year, MRG Live reports it has produced more than 650 shows — nearly 300 of them sold out — across 23 cities and 110 venues, selling over 450,000 tickets and delivering over 20% year-over-year growth. Under Smid’s leadership, the company integrated its festivals division into its core live business, launched a successful sports vertical with a marquee basketball event at UBS Arena broadcast on ESPN and expanded in comedy, hiring Robyn Kaszor from Just For Laughs and collaborating with Bruce Hills to bring Dave Chappelle to Departure festival. Smid also co-founded Fource Entertainment, a promoter in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Charles Khabouth is the CEO and founder of hospitality and entertainment powerhouse INK Entertainment. Known as Toronto's Club King for the past four decades, he has built a powerful brand with restaurants, nightclubs and live music venues. Venues like REBEL, Cabana Pool Bar and the new DPRTMNT continually draw large crowds. INK also produces VELD, Canada’s biggest electronic music festival, and runs Rap Season, which brings live shows from both rising and global artists every week. INK earns reports over $90 million a year in earning and employs more than 350 people. With new restaurants and venues coming soon to Miami and New York, Khabouth continues to restlessly drive culture with new ventures. He's a legend in the lifestyle business with stories for days.