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Texas booking company Transmission Events has sold; what does this mean for Dallas?

Big news in the music community Tuesday: Transmission Events, the production and promotion company behind Austin's 10-year-old Fun Fun Fun Fest, was sold to one of its investors, Stratus Properties, reports the Austin Chronicle.

The Austin-based Transmission has long been known as a leader in live music, putting on shows in cities throughout Texas including Dallas. The company's co-founder Graham Williams told the Chronicle the decision to sell came after a misalignment in vision.

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“I think [Stratus has] been wanting to focus less on live music and less on show booking, and more on private events, corporate events, and production work,” Williams said. “When two partners at the same company don’t see eye-to-eye on that kind of stuff, it’s not a harsh thing. We didn’t have a fist fight on the way out. We shook hands."

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Though he's relinquished ownership of Transmission, Williams started a new independent booking company called Margin Walker Presents, named for an album by Fugazi. And while the fate of Fun Fun Fun Fest remains uncertain -- Stratus got that in the deal, too -- it's natural to wonder how this is going to affect Dallas' live music scene.

The short answer: Not much.

Margin Walker Presents is retaining its Dallas staff, including locally renown talent buyers Kris Youmans and Ryan Henry, and marketing maven Chris "Guch" Sakaguchi. Sakaguchi said Dallas can expect the same caliber shows at the same venues (think Club Dada, the Bomb Factory, Granada Theater and more).

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"The biggest change is we are free from the admin and accounting requirements of a publicly traded company," Sakaguchi said. "We are looking at a robust fall calendar yet to announce. And now have more time to work on shows."

Williams echoes that last point. When asked via phone what the deal affords him in North Texas, he responded that he'll be focusing on music full time now and Dallas will feel the effects.

"I hate to say more of the same because that sounds boring," he said, "but we love what we do and we're very proud of the shows that we do."