SFX Entertainment's Robert Sillerman is the EDM Vince McMahon, Only Better

Somewhere within this article you will learn that music and pro wrestling are eerily similar and that intrinsically, all brands of entertainment are essentially the same, and that EDM being valued at $20 billion by 2018 is likely only the tip of the iceberg.

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Complex Original

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Somewhere within this article you will learn that music and pro wrestling are eerily similar and that intrinsically, all brands of entertainment are essentially the same, and that EDM being valued at $20 billion by 2018 is likely only the tip of the iceberg.

2014 will mark 30 years since World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) Chief Executive Officer Vince McMahon, Jr. began professional wrestling's ascent from the era of matches being contested in what he often refers to as "tiny, smoke-filled arenas" in roughly 25 North American territories into being the monolithic, singular and unified multi-billion dollar industry it is today. On the bare surface, he accomplished the feat by purchasing the rights to sole use of the top independently contracted performers away from the promoters who were using them, and set up numerous syndicated and cable television deals for then top-notch and highest quality broadcasting to showcase them - a move which caused over 90% of the promoters to shutter their promotional organizations.

When WWE's IPO was valued at one billion dollars and the company became a publicly traded organization on the New York Stock Exchange in 1999, McMahon's goal had been reached. He was a next-generation robber baron and unlikely genius, begrudgingly lauded for his efforts. However, it's been 30 years - and with a company now valued somewhere in the range of $500 million and interest in pro wrestling having considerably dipped in the past fifteen years - it may be time to anoint a new unlikely entertainment genius. Using a similar, yet arguably better plan than McMahon, Robert F.X. Sillerman's amazing 18 months at the helm of EDM promotional superpower SFX Entertainment is arguably proof of an era of evolution having occurred into the latest generation of cannibalistic and corporate nouveau riche.

How has Sillerman eclipsed McMahon? There are many answers to this question, but here are five key ones to watch.

Buying the promoters and promotions instead of forcing them to close

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Buy the networks, fully monetize the performers

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Forget immediate national brand extension; try immediate global brand recognition

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From bigger paydays to biggest paydays

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Three Wrestlemanias are better than one

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