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Creating a rich, positive culture of entertainment for Baltimore’s brands and young professionals

Heidi Klotzman is the founder and CEO of HeidnSeek Entertainment. One of Baltimore’s premier event planning, hospitality, and brand promotion consulting companies, HeidnSeek provides entertainment, cultural programming, and marketing coordination for the city’s young professionals and emerging brands. The company has worked with numerous clients local and national, such as Johns Hopkins University, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Absolut Vodka, Uber, and United Way. Heidi is the daughter of Richard Klotzman, a legendary concert promoter who has worked with the likes of Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra, the Jacksons, Madonna, Luther Vandross, Alice Cooper, and Diana Ross. Following in her father’s footsteps, Heidi has been recognized with various awards and honors, including listing as one of Baltimore’s “Most Influential Professionals” and a “Top Single” (Baltimore Magazine), “Queen of Clubs” (The Baltimore Sun), a “Top Professional Under 35” by (b newspaper and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation), a “Rising Star” (The Baltimore Business Journal and The Living Classrooms Foundation), and many more.

Heidi Klotzman spoke with citybizlist publisher Edwin Warfield for this interview.

EDWIN WARFIELD: Your father, Richard Klotzman, is a well-known concert promoter who has worked with superstar clients like Prince, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Madonna, Diana Ross, Teddy Pendergrass, Dr. Dre, and Queen Latifah. How did exposure to his business influence you?

HEIDI KLOTZMAN: My dad is brilliant. He is a colorful, crazy, amazing character. He’s the full spectrum. He has his highs and his lows, which goes with other things he has, but growing up with him was mercurial. I was just a little kid but I was exposed to a lot of celebrities and stages and concerts—flashing lights—all the glamorous stuff. But also what it did was show me the value of what really matters, because I could see that materialism and glory and all these things didn’t make someone truly happy or at peace, because my dad had all of it and he wasn’t necessarily there. Nor did the celebrities that he was interchanging with—a lot of them were unsatisfied as well. But there were some really great people.

I loved Queen Latifah. She was so empowering and warm and cool. Martin Lawrence was great as well. That’s when I was little older, so I could really get into it. My dad did his tour around the country. It’s exciting to be there backstage—everything is about to happen and everyone has come for this purpose. It was exciting and I looked up to him. Because when you have that kind of power, where you can bring and produce some thing of that magnitude, it’s exhilarating.

Q. How do you see his impact on the concert promotion industry as a whole?

He was one of the original, pioneering concert promoters. Unlike now, there was no AEG or Live Nation or these different conglomerates that have swallowed up earlier independent promoters and promotional companies. In the beginning there was Bill Graham, more on the west, and he had a larger reach, but dad was northeast and he was national as well. Everyone kind of had their niche.

There was a few guys in the beginning that really paved the way. It wasn’t just one show on the map; it was: “I’m routing a tour with trucks and hotels, and there’s a lineage, and we’re going to make this a national theater production, and the marketing is going to be formulaic, and it’s going to crisscross into everything, and it’s going to be a smash.” And so he would duplicate the successful processes in different markets, and there was trial and error, and there was risk.

Q. What role does a promoter play in making a concert a success?

A. Really, any concert you go, it’s there because there was a promoter or production company that paid to bring that artist into town. They’re paying for the building. They’re paying for the merchandising, the advertising. They’re paying for the talent itself and they’re participating in the profits or there’s a flat rate—every deal is very different. It depends. But the promoter is the Man. The promoter is the Woman.

Connect with Heidi on LinkedIn

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ABOUT OFFIT KURMAN

Offit Kurman is one of the fastest-growing, full-service law firms in the Mid-Atlantic region. With over 120 attorneys offering a comprehensive range of services in virtually every legal category, the firm is well positioned to meet the needs of dynamic businesses and the people who own and operate them. Our eight offices serve individual and corporate clients in the Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and Northern Virginia markets, as well as the Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City metropolitan areas. At Offit Kurman, we are our clients’ most trusted legal advisors, professionals who help maximize and protect business value and personal wealth. In every interaction, we consistently maintain our clients’ confidence by remaining focused on furthering their objectives and achieving their goals in an efficient manner. Trust, knowledge, confidence—in a partner, that’s perfect.

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Edwin Warfield, CEO of citybizlist, conducts the CEO Interviews.

If you're interested in reaching CEOs, please contact edwin.warfield@citybuzz.co

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