Sig Greenebaum, co-director of the Voodoo Music + Ars Experience, has parted ways with the festival to take a job with as Head of of Global Live Events for Overwatch League, a professional e-sports league owned by Blizzard Entertainment. He has been associated with Voodoo since 2000, and officially took a job with the New Orleans festival when he was hired by Rehage Entertainment in 2007.
Sig Greenebaum accepts a 2016 Best of Beat Award from Jan Ramsey on behalf of Voodoo Fest. Photo by Willow Haley.
Greenebaum told the New Orleans Advocate he wasn’t searching for new employment when he received the “incredible job offer.” The festival “is in my DNA,” he told the publication. “It’s very special to me. To leave at this point is very difficult.”
Greenebaum was one of the last connections between Voodoo and Rehage Entertainment, the company that produced the festival for most of its history. Greenebaum and Don Kelly were both retained by Live Nation after festival founder Stephen Rehage left the company in 2015 (Live Nation bought a majority stake in Voodoo in 2013), and the pair continued producing the event with C3 Presents, the promoter behind Austin City Limits Festival and Lollapalooza. Kelly will stay on as festival director.
By all accounts, including our’s, the 2016 Voodoo Music +Arts Experience was a huge success compared to recent years. A diverse lineup—headliners included Arcade Fire, Tool and The Weeknd—and a variety of logistical improvements led to higher attendance and a more enjoyable festival experience. The results were impossible to deny, and the event earned a Best of the Beat Award for Best Large Festival in 2016.
While e-sports may seem like a strange pivot for Greenebaum, it’s not that surprising to hear that the industry courted him. Much like the musical festival industry roughly a decade ago, the e-sports scene is poised to explode as professional video gaming continues to attract new fans across the world at a rapid pace. According to Sports Illustrated, the e-sports industry brought in $493 million in 2016, and is expected to take over $1 billion by 2019.
As previously reported, this year’s Voodoo Fest will feature headlining sets from Foo Fighters, Kendrick Lamar, The Killers, LCD Soundsystem and DJ Snake.
