Sofia Duarte
Director of Marketing, Another Planet Entertainment
It’s common for many working in live music to say they stumbled into the industry, working one job that led to another. That’s not the case for Sofia Duarte, a self-proclaimed music nerd who created PowerPoint presentations for her parents to explain why she should be allowed to forge their signatures excusing her from class so she could wait in line outside Los Angeles venues to secure concert tickets for her favorite bands.
Music and marketing, evidently, were in Duarte’s blood, making the past 2,5 years as Another Planet Entertainment’s marketing director all the more fulfilling for the Orange County native as the company branched out of its Northern California headquarters to plant a flag in LA.
“Given my growing up in Orange County and going to so many venues in LA, it’s been such a full-circle experience to have a role in opening The Bellwether,” Duarte said. “It’s kind of beautiful to be a part of creating something that will bring so much joy to so many people — something that will live on for years to come as part of the makeup of such an important market for the music industry.”
What has helped her excel in marketing and delivering these experiences is the fact that she was born in 1996, which technically makes her a millennial but on the cusp of Gen Z, giving her a unique perspective.
“I feel in some ways that I have the ability to look forward and to look back. In marketing, I have a better sense of what appeals to both groups,” Duarte said. “As a younger person in the industry, I am more able to see the growing intersectionality of the live industry with other forms of media, art and culture, and to not feel tied to the ways of doing business that older generations might lean on.”
After what the world has gone through with COVID-19, fans from all generations are choosing to live in the moment, a philosophy that has benefited the live business the past three years and has given promoters opportunities to produce unique events, which Duarte can get behind.
“There’s a parasocial relationship between the fan and the artist’s online persona/presence that’s being leveraged to legitimize this ‘living in the now’ alongside the artist,” she said. “There’s a lot to play with there and, as a professional but first and foremost a fan, I’m excited to see where it takes us.”
