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Frank Productions
Herb and Sylvia Frank built Frank Productions into a top US concert promoter since 1964.
Frank Productions
Frank Productions was founded in 1964 when Herb and Sylvia Frank moved to Madison, Wisconsin to run the Capitol Theatre for RKO Pictures. They quickly expanded into ticketing and live-event promotion, launching the Madison Ticket Agency in 1967 to operate the box office at the Dane County Coliseum. Over subsequent decades, their sons Larry and Fred Frank solidified the firm's reputation as a boutique promoter with a national reach, working with acts including Alan Jackson, Shania Twain, Metallica, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. The firm operates through two core subsidiaries: FPC Live and National Shows 2 (NS2). FPC Live, formed in 2018 via the merger of Frank Productions Concerts and Majestic Live, manages a portfolio of owned and operated venues across Wisconsin, Missouri, and South Carolina — including The Sylvee in Madison, the historic Orpheum Theatre, and the Music Farm in Charleston — and promotes national tours. NS2, launched in 2010 with Nashville-based Darin Lashinsky, extends the company’s concert promotion footprint into the Southeastern US. The 2018 joint venture with Live Nation provided capital and operational leverage, adding the Charleston Music Hall and the Orpheum to FPC Live’s venue roster and enabling a 4,000-capacity venue groundbreaking in downtown Milwaukee in 2024. Frank Productions is headquartered in Madison and operates a secondary presence in Nashville through NS2. The company appointed Joel Plant as CEO in 2017, marking a transition from pure family management to professionalized leadership while retaining family ownership. Philanthropic structures or adjacent investment vehicles are not publicly disclosed. In early 2024, FPC Live and Live Nation broke ground on a new 4,000-capacity venue in Milwaukee, expected to open in 2026, expanding the firm’s owned-and-operated circuit to nine venues. The structural differentiator is a vertically integrated promoter-venue model under family ownership, layered with a Live Nation joint venture that provides distribution and booking leverage without ceding full operational control. The firm owns eight venues as of 2024, booking its own shows while also serving as a regional Live Nation operator — a hybrid that gives it both independent promoter economics and access to national tour routing.
General information
Firm type
Single Family Office
Year founded
1964
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Madison
Corporate office
29 South Livingston St., Madison, WI 53703, United States
Additional offices
Nashville, TN (National Shows 2)
Principals
Joel Plant
CEO
Charlie Goldstone
Co-President, FPC Live
Scott Leslie
Co-President, FPC Live
Matt Gerding
Co-President, FPC Live
Darin Lashinsky
Founder, National Shows 2
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Frank Productions?
Frank Productions is a family-owned operating company, not an investment firm, so it does not have an investment committee in the traditional family-office sense. Operating decisions flow through CEO Joel Plant and the Co-Presidents of its subsidiaries, Charlie Goldstone, Scott Leslie, and Matt Gerding. Strategic moves, such as the Live Nation joint venture, were made by family ownership in conjunction with senior management.
Is Frank Productions structured as a single family office or does it operate more like a venture firm?
Frank Productions is a family-owned operating business, not a family office or a venture firm. It generates its wealth through concert promotion and venue operations, not by managing financial assets or making venture investments. The firm’s capital is deployed into its own operating subsidiaries and venue real estate.
How did the joint venture with Live Nation change the firm's structure?
In 2018, Frank Productions entered a joint venture with Live Nation, folding its promotion arms FPC Live and National Shows 2 into the partnership. This gave the firm access to Live Nation's national booking network and capital for venue acquisitions, while Frank family ownership retained control of the underlying operating companies and their existing venue portfolio.
What is Frank Productions' venue portfolio?
As of 2024, the firm operates eight venues: High Noon Saloon, Majestic Theatre, The Sylvee, and the Orpheum Theatre in Madison, Wisconsin; The Blue Note and Rose Music Hall in Columbia, Missouri; and the Charleston Music Hall and Music Farm in Charleston, South Carolina. A ninth, a 4,000-cap venue in Milwaukee, is expected to open in 2026.
Where does the underlying wealth come from?
The family wealth originated from Herb and Sylvia Frank’s concert promotion and ticketing business, which started in 1964. Over five decades, the operation grew into one of the largest independent promoters in the country, generating cash flows that remain the source of the family’s wealth. No other commercial or industrial enterprise is publicly associated with the family.
Does Frank Productions maintain philanthropic structures?
There are no publicly disclosed philanthropic foundations or charitable vehicles explicitly tied to Frank Productions or the Frank family. The company's website mentions community engagement as a corporate value, but specific giving structures are not detailed.
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