What AC Entertainment does

AC Entertainment is a privately held, for-profit music promotion company headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, founded in 1991 by Ashley Capps. The company operates in the live music sector, producing and promoting concerts and live entertainment events primarily for the regional Southeast U.S. market, serving touring artists, venue partners, and audiences.

The firm runs with a 51-100 employee headcount, consistent with a mid-sized independent regional promoter that handles artist booking, event production, and venue coordination. Its leadership structure pairs long-tenured founder oversight (Ashley Capps) with a dedicated commercial function (Jeff Cuellar, VP of Strategic Partnerships), suggesting a relationship-driven go-to-market approach built around artist, venue, and sponsor partnerships rather than platform-scale distribution. Publicly, the company presents through its own website (acentertainment.com) and operates within the broader U.S. live entertainment ecosystem that includes national players such as Live Nation and Ticketmaster.

AC Entertainment's revenue model is not publicly disclosed. As a concert promoter, the company likely earns through a combination of artist guarantee splits, ticket-sale economics (face-value percentage or fixed fees), ancillary revenue (sponsorship, VIP/hospitality, merchandise), and venue-fee arrangements. Pricing, ticketing-platform dependency, and segment-level economics are not documented in the available data, and a meaningful portion of the retrieved source material pertains to Live Nation rather than AC Entertainment itself, limiting the granularity of this assessment.

Name

AC Entertainment

Website

https://acentertainment.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1991

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

AC Entertainment is a privately held, Knoxville-based music promotion company founded in 1991 that produces and promotes live concerts and events for artists, venues, and audiences in the Southeast U.S. regional market.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Live Music Promotion

NAICS

Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events without Facilities (71132), Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events with Facilities (71131), Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries (711)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900), Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Entertainment Programming & Curation (Lineups, Run-of-Show, Scheduling) (HSACAHAO)

akta.pro secondary industry

Performing Arts Centers & Presenters (Programming/Booking) (MPAGABAM)

Keywords

• Live music promotion
• Concert promotion
• Event production
• Music venue management
• Tour booking

Headquarters

HQ city

Knoxville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Core offering

AC Entertainment is a music promotion company based in Knoxville, Tennessee that promotes and produces live music concerts and events. The company works with artists, venues, and partners to organize concerts, tours, and festivals, leveraging strategic partnerships to deliver live entertainment experiences to audiences in its market.

Product overview

Live Nation operates as a comprehensive live entertainment platform offering a unified marketplace for concert tickets, festival access, and live event experiences. The core platform (Live Nation) connects fans with live events across its network of venues (House of Blues) and ticketing services (Ticketmaster). Premium offerings include VIP Nation for enhanced concert experiences with meet & greets and exclusive access, Premium Tickets for reserved seating, and Veeps for live streaming of concerts and events. The platform also features curated festival events and official artist merchandise.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Concert Promotion Services End-to-end promotion and production of live music concerts and tours for artists, including venue booking, ticketing coordination, marketing, and on-site event execution in the Knoxville, Tennessee market and surrounding region.

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• C3 Presents: Austin, TX-based independent concert and festival promoter that produced Austin City Limits Music Festival and co-founded Bonnaroo alongside AC Entertainment's Ashley Capps. Operates the most directly comparable business model to AC Entertainment — independent promoter with festival IP and venue partnerships.
• Outback Concerts: Nashville-based independent concert promoter producing shows at the Ascend Amphitheater and Bridgestone Arena region. Closely comparable to AC Entertainment in scale, regional independent promoter identity, and reliance on amphitheater and theater-based ticketed shows.
• I.M.P. Independent concert promoter operating the 9:30 Club, The Anthem, and Merriweather Post Pavilion in the DC/Mid-Atlantic region. Same business model as AC Entertainment — independent promoter with owned/operated venue portfolio and curated programming.
• PromoWest Productions: Columbus, OH-based independent concert promoter operating multiple venues including Newport Music Hall and EXPRESS LIVE!. Comparable mid-sized independent promoter with a regional venue portfolio analogous to AC Entertainment's Knoxville footprint.
• Another Planet Entertainment: Bay Area independent concert promoter producing festivals (Outside Lands) and operating theaters including the Fox Theater Oakland. Comparable independent promoter combining festival IP with venue operations, similar model to AC Entertainment at slightly larger scale.
• Nederlander Concerts: Detroit-based independent concert promoter with a multi-state regional footprint producing concerts at theaters, amphitheaters, and arenas. Closely comparable independent promoter at similar scale to AC Entertainment with a comparable mix of regional venue-based programming.
• Jam Productions: Chicago-based independent concert promoter (one of the oldest in the U.S., founded 1975) operating the Park West, The Vic Theatre, and Riviera Theatre. Comparable as a long-tenured, founder-driven independent regional promoter with owned/operated theater venues.

Broad incumbents

• Live Nation Entertainment: Largest global live entertainment company, operating concert promotion, ticketing (Ticketmaster), venues (House of Blues), and artist management. Sets the structural pricing and routing environment in which AC Entertainment competes; the de facto industry benchmark.
• AEG Presents: Anschutz Entertainment Group's concert promotion arm and the principal national competitor to Live Nation. Operates major venues and festivals nationwide; comparable to AC Entertainment at the artist-relationship and venue-presentation layer, though at vastly greater scale.
• Ryman Hospitality Properties: Nashville-based hospitality and entertainment company owning the Ryman Auditorium, Grand Ole Opry, and Ole Red venues. Comparable in venue-anchored live entertainment operations but publicly traded and substantially larger than AC Entertainment.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ac_ent
• Facebookfacebook.com/11961717299
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ac-entertainment

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about AC Entertainment