Electric Factory Concerts

During the development of concert industry in the 1960s and 1970s, the current Electric Factory building, back then it was just an old tire shop, was a key component for Larry Magid when he established Electric Factory Concerts. At the time, Philadelphia did not have live concert venues, or major entertainment venues for that matter. Magid’s interest in live music sparked the idea to establish the first venue that would bring music into the area.

As Magid became more involved in the entertainment business, he ran into Spivak, who wanted advice for getting into the rock and roll scene. Magid said he would need his own venue, and that is when Spivak, with Magid by his side, acquired an old tire factory, which would become the Electric Factory. Together, they created their production company, Electric Factory concerts, and got to work on expanding and promoting their business.

Since 1968, co-founders of Electric Factory Concerts, Larry Magid and Allen Spivak, have made Electric Factory Concerts one of the largest concert venues and promoters globally. They remain one of the few independent concert promoters, too. The pair offered one of the first live music venues (1968) and from since then remained pioneers of this industry. Magid even claimed that he and his cohort “created the concert business” in a 2018 interview.

Following the first American arena rock show, EFC has headlined major names in the music and entertainment industry. The late 1960s brought a wave of business in rock concert promotion, and EFC was a dominant promoter. In 1969 alone, known as the “summer of rock festivals”, EFC promoted huge names in the concert and festival industry. Several included Led Zeppelin, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Tom Rush, and the Atlantic City Pop Festival, which is considered the groundbreaker for EFC, which generated over 110,000 attendees. In 1985, they were known as the American producers of LiveAid, which had over 1.5 billion global viewers.