vip-news premium - may 2014
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VIPNEWS PREMIUM > VOLUME 168 > MAY 2014
®
vip-booking.com
VIPNEWS > MAY 2014
McGowan’s Musings
I haven’t mentioned seagulls for a while have
I? My nemesis, Shitty, has kept himself to
himself for a some time, preferring to send
his squawking offspring to continue the
annoyance factor, but it could have been
him that I saw swoop upon an unsuspecting
Spanish student in the centre of Brighton,
snatching his lunch out of his hand without
so much as a “Gracias Senor!” Those of you
that were here for The Great Escape may have
had your own encounters, if so, please let me
know. For the first time I wasn’t here for the
event, which brings so many international
music people into the City, and though I
hear the weather wasn’t great, I must admit
I missed it and the particular energy that it
generates in the City. Our report on what
many seem to think was the best edition yet
is of course somewhat short due to my non-
attendance , but next year is the tenth, so I
won’t miss that!
My reason for being away from home was a
trip to Berlin and Dresden as part of my music
publishing duties, in fact I have seen a lot of
Germany recently, what with a press trip to
Hamburg to see how the City is developing
and getting behind its creative population. In
fact the support of music and other creative
industries by City authorities has taken up a
lot of my attention recently. Brighton backs
The Great Escape, Berlin supports Berlin Music
Week, Hamburg highlights Creative Industries
and Aarhus in Denmark, which I attended
for The Spot Festival (see report in this issue),
becomes City of Culture in 2017.
There are though areas in which the live music
business could well do with help from other
departments of the City authorities. Clubs
throughout Europe, and no doubt elsewhere ,
are suffering from the effects of urban
development ; as previously industrial areas
are ‘gentrified’ and new apartment blocks are
built, many existing venues are receiving noise
complaints from new neighbours, and even
though in many cases the clubs have been op-
erating for years, they can be forced to either
undertake extensive and expensive sound-
proofing, or shut down completely. We report
on a recent case in Brighton in this issue , and
whilst in Hamburg I was told of incidences of
this throughout Germany where the club as-
sociation Livekomm are attempting to raise
public awareness to help club and venue
owners and operators.
Please let us know if anything like this is
happening in your area.
Right, as I’ve been writing this whilst suffering
from a terrible cold, I’ll wind up, I’d hate to
think I was spreading germs on-line. Off to
Inverness in a couple of weeks for Go North,
the Scottish Highland air will either kill or cure!
As ever I’ll report back.
In the meantime, Ladies and Gentlemen – The
News!
COLOPHON >
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VIPNEWS > MAY 2014
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VIPNEWS > MAY 2014
Survey Reveals Problems of Tent Dumping at Music FestivalsAllan McGowan am@vip-booking.com
The Love Your Tent campaign and
Buckinghamshire New University have
published the results of a survey of festival-
goers about the waste left by punters on
festival sites, an increasingly big issue for
the festival sector with logistical, environ-
mental and commercial ramifications, and
something previously highlighted by the A
Greener Festival organisation.
Juliet Ross-Kelly has set up the Love Your
Tent initiative on the back of environmen-
tal work she has done with the Isle Of
Wight Festival, and aims to discourage an
increasingly common practice amongst
festival-goers in the UK and beyond, buy-
ing a dirt cheap tent for attending a festi-
val, with the intention of just leaving it in
the camping field at the end of the event.
So that someone else has to dispose of it.
Isle of Wight Festival organiser John Gid-
dings has talked about the tent problem
at various festival industry events over the
past years.
In the survey of 1200 festival-goers from
multiple countries, 60% admitted to dis-
carding tents at the end of festivals, with a
third then saying they intended to continue
doing so, and another third unable to say
for certain they wouldn’t do it again in the
future. This despite the fact 86% of those
surveyed recognised waste was a major en-
vironmental factor at festivals.
According to Bucks New University’s Tere-
sa Moore the research confirms a growing
problem not just confined to the UK. As
tent prices get cheaper, more are discard-
ed at festivals. She called for retailers to
take their share of their responsibility and
work with event organisers to tackle this
problem.
Ross-Kelly’s work at the Isle Of Wight Fes-
tival has included inviting festival-goers to
sign up to a commitment regarding tak-
ing responsibility for their waste, and their
tents, pointing out that by camping along-
side similarly committed people festival-
goers will be able to stay in a much more
pleasant campsite for the duration of the
event. She is encouraging other festivals
to introduce similar measures, with a bid
to reducing campsite waste at festivals by
10% year on year. She said, “Thanks to the
great support and work by Bucks we can
see how much work still needs to be done
to encourage a change in audience behav-
iour. By targeting festivals to reduce their
campsite waste by 10% year on year we are
leading a change that will help to protect
festival culture for future generations and
from the work that we’ve done with the Isle
of Wight Festival, we know it’s achievable”.
VIPNEWS > MAY 2014
As usual SPOT was formally opened by the Mayor of Aarhus, Jacob
Bundsgaard. As well as being one of the youngest looking Mayors I
have ever met, he appears to know his music business, and he is obvi-
ously genuinely enthusiastic about the event . and its importance to
the City. The success of the event over the last 20 years has obviously
helped in the securing of the appointment of Aarhus as City of Cul-
ture in 2017. In fact Mayor Bundsgaard had so much to say that SPOT
founder and organiser Gunnar Madson of ROSA, was able to cut down
his following speech as so many points had already been covered.
Over the 1st-4th of May, more than 6000 music fans, industry peo-
ple, guests, musicians, volunteers, etc. made Aarhus a hotspot for
music, film and interactive. Also thousands of Aarhus citizens joined
the free SPOT party outside the gates at the new, big outdoor SPOT
Royal Stage as well as at the free SPOT Film Festival. The Agenda
included 165 concerts, approximately 40 films and the same number
of seminars.
More than 1100 Danish music industry people met 350 international
colleagues at networking sessions, which were in great demand.
Both those which had been arranged by the Danish music business
and those where the international parties used SPOT as a launching
pad for their messages: Believe Digital, the MaMA Festival and Berlin
Music Week – just like SPOT has collaborated with the M’era Luna-
festival and FKP Scorpio.
The highest number of English record labels attended, alongside the
biggest delegation from France in SPOT history, and once again the
German industry with more than 150 delegates boasts the biggest
international delegation by a mile.
Gunnar Madsen, head of SPOT Festival, commented, “It has been
the most comprehensive festival programme so far and with great
turn-up - and everything has run smoothly. If we have lived up to the
expectations or exceeded them, we are happy. If we have made mis-
takes, we are determined to correct them for next year. We are all ex-
tremely grateful for the serious interest in Danish and Nordic music.”
Some of the international delegates had the following to say:
“It’s been very exciting. Well-organised, Good stages, and everything
on schedule – that makes it easy to be at a festival. Byrta was excel-
lent. Sekuoia would be great on the Primavera Festival stage at three
o’clock in the morning. Kill J are so ready to be exported.”
(Dario Manrique, Rolling Stone Magazine, Spain)
SPOT 201420th Anniversary Edition Allan McGowan am@vip-booking.com
Gunnar Madsen
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VIPNEWS > MAY 2014
“The essence of SPOT Festival lies in it’s name: SPOT. It is a fantastic
opportunity to spot new talent and meet Danish and international
people in the music business. SPOT is the perfect mix of business,
networking and enjoying music.”
(Frank Lenggenhager - Lautstark, Switzerland)
“I really like the new big, free outdoor venue at SPOT – now the fes-
tival seems less hidden. It’s up front. It’s in your face. It’s happening.
This year you have put on a wider range of styles. The quirkier bands
have become quirkier than before. Byrta were outrageous, Penny
Police and the choir was special, Elin Kåven... People are stretching
themselves. I like that.”
(Kieron Tyler, Mojo/The Arts Desk, UK)
“People are happy. There’s a good feel. I have seen many fine shows.
The concert in the Rainbow at ARoS, Spillemændene, and the Go
Go Berlin frontman – that man needs a stadium! I can’t see him in a
small club…”
(Helgi Sigurdsson, Morgunbladid, Iceland)
“It’s my third or fourth time here and I always enjoy it. Here I know
that I’ll always find some acts to bring back to Hungary. I really love
the festival. It’s a really well organized, very eclectic bill. It’s also really
nice to meet the colleagues too. I’ve met a lot of my German col-
leagues this year. And Aarhus is a really nice city!”
(Fruzsina Szep, Sziget Festival, Hungary)
“Amazing Festival. It’s my first time here. People are beautiful and the
weather is beautiful. There’s a very relaxed atmosphere compared to
other festival like this, and that’s really great.”
(Natalie Judge, Matador Records, UK)
VIPNEWS > MAY 2014
The Great Escape, again took place in Brighton on the South Coast of
England, and these were the results of this 9th edition:
TGE 2015 will be mark the event’s 10th birthday and will take place
on 14th-16th May 2015. Super Early Bird delegate passes will go on
sale in early June.
Festival
- 2014 was the 2nd sell out in a row
- Over 400 artists performed over the weekend
- 15,000 festivalgoers attended over 3 days
- 35+ venues were used
- Over 300 bands performed in over 30 venues as part of The
Alternative Escape.
Convention
- 3,000 industry professionals attended from 41 different countries
- 14 official delegate parties were hosted
- 14 targeted speed networking events took place
Convention activity was staged over 8 walkable venues
Highlights included a surprise set from Kaiser Chiefs thanks to Ama-
zon Live Lounge, and a record number of secret shows – Peace, Chloe
Howl and Klaxons amongst others - around the city, to a pure celebra-
tion of 50 years of pirate radio at the TGE convention, to a set from
Jon Hopkins.
WATCH THE OFFICIAL TGE14 FILM:
http://youtu.be/55gwtIXOIl8”http://youtu.be/55gwtIXOIl8
I asked founder Martin Elbourne for his overview of this 9th edition,
his reply was short and to the point,” Clearly the best ever!” Kat Mor-
ris, festival director commented, “What a brilliant year, truly the best
yet. We are proud to have presented more artists and more secret
shows than ever before, produced another industry leading conven-
tion programme, and the festival sold out for the second year run-
ning. TGE14 was the perfect foundation for next year’s 10th anniver-
sary. Whilst we can’t quite believe it ourselves after three, wonderful
days, we’ve already started work on making the 10th birthday very
special. We can’t wait to see everyone there.”
The Great Escape ’14 Allan McGowan am@vip-booking.com
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Founder Martin Elbourne
The DomePhoto by Tori Clarkson
VIPNEWS > MAY 2014
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The Yearly Music Convention Awards 2014 took place on the final day of The Great Escape, celebrating the showcase festival and music con-
vention season just gone, with hosts - Great Escape co-founder Martin Elbourne and Louder Than War’s John Robb - donning Abba costumes
for the event (Abba’s Eurovision win 40 years ago having occurred in TGE’s flagship venue Brighton Dome, just in case you wondered).
Sponsored this year by Brighton’s own ACUMEN MEDIA LAW, new talent and music business events from all over the world took home YMCA
trophies, while a new annual prize - the Brighton Legend award - went to Charlie Myatt from 13 Artists, the leading booking agency based
in the city.
And here is the full list of YMCA winners.
Best Networking Event Or Service: Wide Days Edinburgh bus tour (UK)
Best Delegates Bag: BigSound (Australia)
Best Delegates Bar: M&M Finland
Best Convention Centre: Eurosonic (The Netherlands)
Best App: Reeperbahn (Germany)
Best New Showcase Festival: Nouvelle Prague (Czech Republic)
Best Showcase Or Party: Aussie BBQ at Canadian Music Week
Best Export Office: New Zealand Export Office
Best City Champion: Tallinn Music Week (Estonia)
Convention Junkie: Michael Chugg
Brighton Legend in association with ACUMEN MEDIA LAW: Charlie Myatt, 13 Artists
Major Press Quotes included:
“The perfect ending to a festival that just kept on giving.” – 4*, Daily
Telegraph
“The festival is fast becoming a haven for real-life fans searching for
the festival vibe without having to do battle with a tent.” – 4*, The
Independent
“The Great Escape is not about big moments, but chance discover-
ies” – 4*, The Times
“The UK’s most comprehensive new music festival.” – Digital Spy
“The Great Escape is fantastic on the ears, but goddamn we need to
rest for a week now” – CLASH
Yearly Music Convention Awards Presented
Brighton Pier
VIPNEWS > MAY 2014
Recently the European ticketing company, launched a new ticket-
ing innovation in the UK market called “ticketscript box office” and
”the #sellmore reporting suite”. Since the company was established in
2006, ticketscript has grown at a rapid rate - and now has offices in
London, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Barcelona and Berlin. The last year has
seen ticketscript sell around 11 million tickets for its clients and provide
ticketing services to 70,000 events.
VIP News spoke to Jason Thomas, Chief Commercial Officer at
ticketscript.
Can you give us a short description of ticketscript?
Ticketscript is one of Europe’s biggest self-service digital ticketing
company and we provide event organizers with solutions, tools and
technology that enable the industry to sell more tickets directly to
their audiences and communities. ticketscript works with a range of
music events, festivals, trade fairs, exhibitions and sport events includ-
ing Awakenings, Dance Valley, i-Motion, Secret Cinema, Hed Kandi,
Waterstones and Truckfest.
What are, according to you, the reasons for your success?
I believe the reason why we have grown in such a rapid rate is because
we enable our clients to produce successful and profitable events
by returning the power and independence to them. Our business is
to grow their business. We have also instilled the ‘sell more’ culture
throughout our business and this drives us to deliver the latest, innova-
tive ticketing technology. An example on this is our recently launched
2 industry firsts.
There’s ticketbox, Europe’s 1st on-the-door box office sales app. It is
a simple, portable, high tech, no investment solution for on-the-door
ticket sales.
The other one is the #sellmore reporting suite, enabling event promot-
ers to understand their sales patterns, customer demographics and
analyze their online marketing through to point of sale via Analytics
Connect.
How do you see the development of the European Ticketing
Market in the future?
I’m sure the emergence of smaller, technology led companies will con-
tinue as an increasing number of event organizers realize that they do
not need the large outdated traditional ticketing companies anymore.
However within this new ticketing model I’m sure there will be larger
players hopefully such as ourselves.
It remains to be seen though how many remain fiercely independent
like ourselves, or succumb to merging with larger, more traditional
and often non-European companies wanting to gatecrash the market.
Do you have any messages to the other sectors of the European
Live Music Industry on how to change in order to improve tick-
eting?
They should become less reliant on the outdated distribution of physi-
cal tickets - all statistics point to the fact that customers are not willing
to wait or pay for this service anymore - neither online or instore.
They should come to understand the importance of owning their own
data & not allowing agents to send details of rival events to YOUR
customers.
Finally, I would like to say: Do not underestimate the importance of
a slick and professional entrance management solution at the event.
You can kill your brand by a bad customer experience on the day of the
event - and with instant social media they can spread their dissatisfac-
tion whilst still in a long queue!
Read more at http://company.ticketscript.com/uk”ticketscript
Jason Thomas,Ticketscript
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Ticketscript continue to march through Europe Anne Frank Alsted aa@vip-booking.com
14 -17 januarY 2015
groningen, nl
The
platform
Europeanmusic
The
platform
Europeanmusic
The
platform
Europeanmusic
The
platform
Europeanmusic
EUROSONIC NOORDERSLAG WORDT GEORGANISEERD DOOR SPONSORENEUROSONIC NOORDERSLAG WORDT GEORGANISEERD DOOR SPONSORENEUROSONIC NOORDERSLAG WORDT GEORGANISEERD DOOR SPONSORENEUROSONIC NOORDERSLAG WORDT GEORGANISEERD DOOR SPONSORENThank you for attending
Eurosonic Noorderslag 2014
See you next year
Early bird registration and
act submission open May 1, 2014
Act submission closes September 1, 2014
Previous edition in numbersTotal amount of visitors (sold out) . . . . 38,500Conference visitors (sold out) . . . . . . . . 3,275Nationalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Acts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337Number of stages @ Eurosonic . . . . . . 36Number of stages @ Noorderslag . . . . 11Media & journalisten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307EBU radio stations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30ETEP festivals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89International festivals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
VIPNEWS > MAY 2014
FKP Scorpio Announce New Addition to the Conference Showcase Calendar Allan McGowan am@vip-booking.com
Whilst interviewing Folkert Koopmans at
SPOT I was already aware that this outwardly
calm and even reserved man always appears
to have some new project on the go. Not
satisfied with upcoming tour dates with the
100 or so artists and 16 festivals in 4 coun-
tries that his Hamburg based Company is re-
sponsible for, he already had plans in place
for a new conference and showcase event in
Sweden.
FKP Scorpio is joining the showcase confer-
ence circuit by creating a Swedish event in
Norrköping during its Bravalla Festival. He
told Billboard, “We’re speaking to 18 venues
in Norrköping and we can use several that
are within walking distance of each other,
just as Reeperbahn does in Hamburg and Eu-
rosonic does in Groningen.”
Things are already looking good for FKP
Scoroio’s outdoor festival business, with
its major twinned German festivals, the
73,000-capacity Hurricane and 60,000-ca-
pacity Southside, having already sold out
with a couple of months to spare. Folkert
also expects to sell out the second edition
of Bravalla, which kicked off last year with
a 52,000-capacity sellout. Sell outs are also
expected for Denmark’s 30,000 capacity
Northside, started in 2010, and the 27,000
Greenfield started in Switzerland in 2005.
The new event is to be called, Where’s the
Music? FKP Scorpio say that this title is their
way to describe what state the music busi-
ness is currently at and where it is heading.
Their press release goes on to explain:
This is best done live and through discussion.
The platform is a combined showcase festival
and music industry conference, focusing on
new music, new collaborations and new so-
lutions. Where’s the Music? is a festival with
two purposes, one obviously being the music
where we aim at having new artists in focus
and presented to a curious and excited indus-
try ready to get into new projects. The other
being a comprehensive conference program
processing and exploring subjects related to
the industry. The festival will include artists
performances as well as lectures held by peo-
ple in the music industry, sharing their stories
and experiences. The combination will make
a platform for networking, where national
and international music industry will ex-
change experiences and ideas, explore new
artists and find new collaborations, through
lectures and personal meetings.
Folkert Koopmans, CEO of FKP Scorpio is
excitedly looking forward to launch his new
festival in Norrköping. “We have found a
great and trustworthy partner in Upplev
Norrköping while promoting Bråvalla Festi-
val in 2013. It feels great to come back to
Norrköping with the new concept, Where’s
the Music?, so that we can show interna-
Folkert Koopman
10
VIPNEWS > MAY 2014
11
tional professionals in the music industry
what Sweden is well known for in Europe –
to find and bring up interesting new artists
and innovative technical solutions.”
”It feels great to develop the collaboration
with FKP by creating a new festival togeth-
er, says Stefan Papangelis, CEO, Experience
Norrköping. “Where’s the Music?” is going
to improve the image of Norrköping as a mu-
sic city and bring us even closer to its vision to
become the Music Capital of Sweden”.
FKP Scorpio will, in collaboration with Upplev
Norrköping, create an annual festival that
will be held in various public locations in the
unique area called Industrilandskapet in the
central of Norrköping. This location adds to
the experience of the festival as being more
intimate and the visitors will be able to walk
from one stage to another in just a few min-
utes. Our ambition is to make this festival the
best one in the Nordic countries and attract
thousands of visitors to Norrköping.
Where’s the Music? is scheduled for 12-14
February 2015. This is about a month after
Eurosonic, a couple of weeks after Midem,
and pretty close to By Larm – a lot of profes-
sionals could be very busy early next year!
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AZ_in_stutt_VIPmag_2014_RZ.indd 1 22.11.13 09:09
VIPNEWS > MAY 2014
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Brighton is to lose one of its mainstay live music venues with the closure
of the popular Blind Tiger. The venue has been forced to close as the
result of a dispute over noise complaints from a resident who moved into
the same building as the pub about a year ago. The complaints have led
to the issue of a noise abatement order from the local council.
In https://client.ukfastexchange.co.uk a post on their official website, the
venue’s management describe trying to resolve the situation with their
neighbour following complaints on several occasions about noise levels.
These efforts failed resulting in the neighbour complaining to the local
police, followed by the issue of a ‘notice to abate a statutory nuisance’.
Breaching this order, which the staging of a gig would automatically do,
would result in court action and a possible fine of £20,000.
The venue’s attempts to deal with the problem by imposing stricter noise
controls in the venue failed, as even drums with no mics were enough
to cause problems upstairs. The installation of soundproofing was not an
option due to the substantial expense involved. The venue, like so many
others, admitted that as a business it was not in good financial shape.
Apparently attempts to find a new home for the neighbour, and for the
club to take over the residential part of the building failed.
A petition against the council’s order had accumulated 9000 signatures
(there may be more by now). One petitioner commented, “Only an idiot
would move into a flat above a live venue and then complain about the
noise. Brighton & Hove Council, don’t pander to idiots, please”.
Understandably councils have a duty to deal with residents noise com-
plaints, nobody wants to endure all night parties going on in the house
Brighton’s Blind Tiger Venue Forced to Close Allan McGowan am@vip-booking.com
The Blind Tiger Club
next door for instance. But in cases like The Blind Tiger, where the site on
Brighton’s Grand Parade has hosted live music since the 1850’s and oper-
ated as a fully equipped gig for the last thirty years, it is reasonable to say
that the venue and the gigs were there first. Brighton has already lost The
Free Butt in a very similar case 4 years ago and The Night and Day venue
in Manchester faced the same situation earlier this year.
The Fleece Bristol Threatened with Closure:
Just before going to press with this issue of The News the BBC published
this report of yet another club threatened by residential development:
The owners of Bristol music venue The Fleece say it may have to close if
a plan for new flats is approved, as they would be too close to the stage.
The flats, planned for an old office block on Victoria Street, would place
bedrooms within 20m (65ft) of bands playing at the venue.
In www.change.org online petition calling for the council to turn down
the plans gained 17,000 signatures in 12 hours.The firm behind the plans
said it wanted to “satisfy a gap” for flats.The Fleece has hosted many
famous acts since it opened in 1982 including Oasis, Radiohead, Amy
Winehouse, the Manic Street Preachers, The Killers and the White Stripes.
Owner Chris Sharp said: “The Fleece has thrived as a venue for 32 years.
One of the key factors in its success is its location. “The lack of residents
in the surrounding streets has meant the venue has been able to offer
live music seven nights per week and club nights until 4am at weekends
without disturbing anyone. “During its entire history The Fleece has not
had any issues with noise complaints. “If the huge office block located
right next door is given the green light to be converted into approx 80
privately-owned flats we would anticipate a deluge of complaints as
soon as people move in.”
Developer Edenlaw Ltd was granted a change of use from offices to
residential last November but the council was unable to take noise into
account during the process.A noise survey carried out on behalf of the
developer said the Fleece had been “identified as a source of noise af-
fecting the proposed development” but claimed glazed windows would
insulate most of the sound from the venue.Council planners are due to
vote on proposed external alterations to the plans, including changes to
the facade and the addition of balconies, at the end of the month.
There are a growing number of these cases in which established venues
cannot defend their right to continue business as there appear to be no
statutory rights, no matter how long they have operated. Organisations
like Livekomm and DMA in Europe are investigating the situation and
Mark Davyd of The Forum in Tunbridge Wells in the UK has also set up an
organisation which aims to gain some form of ‘listing’ to give established
venues some form of protection.
VIPNEWS > MAY 2014
13
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14
VIPNEWS > MAY 2014 > INDEPTH STORY
No there isn’t a revolution going on but it seems a sort of a progressive
evolution is under way as ticketing benefits from new technologies and
consumer trends.
VIP News spoke with Jan Willem van der Meer, COO at the ticketing
service provider Paylogic, a company that belong to the stock market
listed EDM-Imperium SFX Entertainment...
Which trends are you currently seeing within the ticketing busi-
ness?
– There are a lot of them, I think the most important one is that for
years people have been talking about consumer information and
‘knowing your customers’, but it was more about using the instruction
when you don’t really know what it means. Now, the years of 2013
and 2014 are the years where the event organizers are really begin-
ning to understand the values of their own relationship to their visitors;
they’re doing everything to build the strongest relationship possible.
That didn’t just come about through selling a ticket or having a new
headliner on the event, it’s about knowing the people that like your
brands and knowing how to interact with them. By knowing them and
how to involve them with new ways of contact, I think the companies
that are doing this now are going to be more successful, and I think
that will be the difference for the future. That is one of the most inter-
esting trends, it’s nothing new, but the change is that the companies
really understand it now.
In which part of the event genres is Paylogic most successful?
– As we started in the Netherlands there was a very big electronic music
culture for years. This market is pretty revolutionary and very progres-
sive, so when we started, this was one of the easiest growing markets
that we could enter. That is why we are selling the mostly these tickets
worldwide. I guess that half of the tickets sold by Paylogic could be con-
nected to electronic music. Sure, we ticket other kinds of events, tours
and venues, but that is not our focus market at this point.
In the German market mobile ticketing is less important in terms
of the overall share of tickets sold for concerts. When do you
expect mobile ticketing to also speed up in Germany?
– I think most of the buying of tickets is done trough the desktop internet
or laptop internet. Especially in the USA, the UK and also in the Nether-
The Socialisation of Ticketing Manfred Tari mt@vip-booking.com
VIPNEWS > MAY 2014 > INDEPTH STORY
15
lands you see that nearly eighty percent of the event discovering happens
on mobile, through social media or discovering with several apps or the
mobile internet. In the US the conversion rates of mobile payment are
growing incredibly, so they are just one step ahead of Europe. I’m not
sure, but I guess the most important reason that not so many tickets are
sold by mobile right now, is that the solutions that are offered are not
very user-friendly. That is one reason, on the other hand the main players
that are well known for ticketing in the German market do not focus on
it and push it at all. They don’t inform their customers, if they did they
might sell a lot more tickets with better solutions on mobile. For example,
a few years ago as the e-commerce started on the European market, the
Netherlands were already selling eighty percent of the tickets online, in
Germany still over forty percent of the tickets are sold by retail. I think it
might be the case that although the technology does not lag behind in
Germany, the consumer behaviour does if you compare it to the Neth-
erlands or the US. So, I think it will be a normal way of buying tickets in
Germany in 2015.
“Big Data” is a buzzword in terms of the exportation of con-
sumer and consumer behaviour data. What kind of data is really
useful and how do you evaluate it, or how does the promoter
evaluate it?
– I think the most important thing is, if you are in a direct relationship
with the consumer, with the fan, then you can get more and more in-
formation on how they investigate and how they make decisions, how
they are buying their tickets. If you see that a consumer is always buying
tickets on the first day you’re on sale, then you know what kind of con-
sumer that is. So, if you can also connect to his social environment and
you see that he is engaging with your event or even alerting others to
your event, then you can call him an ambassador or an influencer. Every
brand, especially event brands are being pushed a lot by these influences.
Now, if you get contact to these people and give them some extra poten-
tial, some exclusive information and you connect them more strongly to
your brand or your event that is what we call customer ownership. If you
give them some extras and they can share it, then they actually sell the
tickets for you. Like everything in the world, if people who are paying for
something themselves promote something, it has a much stronger effect
than being promoted by someone selling something.
About eighty percent of the people who are going to an event are
going there because someone else is going too. So, who is the first
one who makes the decision? If you find out who these people are
and how they make the decision, if you can connect these people and
then connect them to your brand, this is very important. You can have
statistical data about how many women, how many men, how many
people are coming by public transport, that’s also interesting and I’m
sure you can use that. But that is more interesting for the planning
of an event; if you want to know how to boost the event, how to
sell more tickets and get sold out earlier, then you need to know the
influencers and connect to them.
How much is social ticketing only a buzzword or already reality?
– Well, social ticketing is a buzzword, that doesn’t mean that it is not
something that I think of. I don’t think that social ticketing is only on
Facebook, I think Facebook is a tool like many other social networks are
tools. You should connect those in your entire strategy to get a relation-
ship to your visitors. What I call social ticketing is to make sure that peo-
ple could take their relations, their friends, into the same event. You can
help this in a digital way, so that could be social ticketing, it could be a
group buying process. If people buy a ticket and they have the possibility
to tell their friends ,”Hey, I bought a ticket for this event, would you come
with me?”, that is social ticketing. But you should not concentrate on
one platform, because a user on Facebook in the first way is a Facebook-
user, not a user of your brand.
Do you remember the first big social network from the US? It was Mys-
pace, and after Myspace collapsed, there were about thirty or forty
bands that completely went out of business, because the only access to
their fans was through Myspace. So they lost their fan base completely
because they didn’t realize that they were so dependent on Myspace. I
think, it is sure important that you use Facebook but it should not be the
only destination to connect your visitor.
Jan Willem van der Meer, COO Paylogic
16
VIPNEWS > MAY 2014
What kind of plans and innovations do you have in mind, techni-
cal or strategically, for Paylogic in 2014?
– I think the main focus for us is to be able to create strategies to get
access to more people, using a lot of different technologies in order to
connect. But it’s just what we discussed about social ticketing, we want
to connect and understand our consumer. Together with our customer
we make a strategy plan in which we point out a list of dates and mo-
ments in which we make the right contact points with the visitors to get
them connected with the brand. That’s going to be well before the ticket
sell starts, for pre-registration, for different kinds of contacts. Everybody
wants a special product and everybody wants special conditions for it. I
think, by letting our customers understand that within the tools of Pay-
logic you can have so many more contact moments, so many more ways
to be connected to the event, you can do so much more than just putting
the ticket on sale. We did this from the start, but now we feel that our
customers are really getting it and they like it. As I said at the ILMC, it’s
much more important to become a strategic partner to your customer
than just an online cash register.
Another thing that we going to do, we have now connected many ways
to RFID (Radio-frequency identification) because I think it is very impor-
tant not only to know what the customer is doing at home, behind the
PC or the laptop, it’s also very important to know what the customer’s
doing at the event. When you know what the customers are doing at
the event you can be much more successful, it can bring much more
feedback and it can influence the entire event, this is very important for
us. I think mobile becomes more and more critical, we talk a lot about
“mobile first”, which means that whatever you think about in your strat-
egy, you think about how it could be visible on mobile.
We want to assure our customers that it is possible and important that
the people are able to buy different products on one website, it can be
music, it can be a ticket or something else. Right now it still looks like you
promote an event on your website and you divert people to the website
of, let’s say, CTS Eventim or Ticketmaster and the people have to buy their
tickets there. This is a little bit old fashioned, because buying a ticket is a
very simple process and there is no reason to buy it on a separate plat-
form. So, actually it has to be available everywhere. The role that Paylogic
plays in there is something like “Intel inside”, it’s not about us. You should
just be able to sell and to buy the ticket on every platform.
Okay, but the reality in these days seems that if you have tickets
available on various platforms, promoters end up having a couple
of terminals or printed data-lists at the door, trying to figure out
where the visitor bought the ticket.
– I think what we do, is exactly what it needs to solve this problem. What
happens right now is that you work with one consumer brand ticket-
ing platform like Ticketmaster, Ticketonline, CTS Eventim or anyone else.
This brand has the goal to find audiences for you as an event organizer.
So you sell seventy percent of the tickets there, but then you decide to
sell tickets on Facebook or on Songkick or wherever. So, what we try to
explain is, that we are not a destination platform or a consumer plat-
form, you don’t buy tickets by Paylogic.com or on our mobile app, we
don’t have that. We are the technology in between the consumer, the
event organizer and any platform that they want to partner up with. We
give them access in one standardized technological way, to make sure
that everybody has the best service, the consumer, the event organizer
and the promoting platform. And they would be able to make a deal
together.
Let’s say, Songkick gets one euro of every sold ticket or Songkick gets
fifty percent of every ticket that’s sold in the last week before the event.
You know, we are compared to CTS Eventim or Ticketmaster because
people think that we have the same goal as they have. But we don’t. We
don’t want to have our own relationship with the consumer; we don’t
want to be the promoting party. We are the technology facilitator; we
want to make sure that in the entire e-commerce system these three
different roles can work perfectly together. No problems at the door, no
problems with being sold out on one platform but not sold out at the
other, because we make sure that the technology works. And also we
make sure that everybody gets paid. When we collect the money from
the visitor for the event, also the platform like Songkick will get paid
immediately and not have to involve the event organizer. We distribute
that money with our technology. With this B2B market place that we are
creating, the ticketing platforms as we know them will change. It will
take a little while, but we think that’s what the market wants.
VIPNEWS > MAY 2014
17
Tales of the City – A Trip to HamburgAllan McGowan am@vip-booking.com
My invitation from the Media Relations Dept
of Hamburg’s Marketing Dept to join a Press
Trip to become better informed about Crea-
tive Hamburg was somewhat last minute; in
fact I was in Dresden when I agreed to take
part, then in Berlin. However the sensible
routing was not for me – as usual! Rather
than staying in Berlin for an extra day then
taking a leisurely train ride, I returned to
Brighton, had a day at home, then flew to
Hamburg at an hour normally associated
with going to bed at the many music trade
events that I’ve still not learned to be sensi-
ble at! Things weren’t looking good when
the Hotel’s brand new Wi-Fi system clearly
didn’t want to have anything to do with the
rooms, I complained of course, it’s in my ag-
ing nature…. However, stay with me – things
definitely got better!
This trip around a fast developing City, with
a great trading and docklands tradition,
which I’d already become quite fond of from
my distantly remembered days of booking
bands into still operating venues like the
Markthalle, and several visits to the Reeper-
bahn Festival, was not in any way exclusively
to do with music.
Basically this visit aimed to give us an intro-
duction to the creative scene of Germany’s
second largest city,covering not just Music,
but Design, Media, Games and Fashion The
other journalists on the jaunt, an interesting
group of people easy to get on with, were
concerned with these sectors and Archi-
tecture, Travel and Lifestyle. So we were to
cover a wide field of Creativity. However my
first impression that only a few stops on the
tour would be relevant to my area of experi-
ence, and hopefully, expertise, were wrong,
and this trip has reinforced my observation
and contention that music, and all the music
Elbphilharmonie
VIPNEWS > MAY 2014
18
industry’s multiple methods of production
and development of its product are connect-
ed with pretty much all areas of creativity,
and even more so in this digital age that on
the one hand has caused so many problems,
but on the other has forced all areas of the
industry to embrace change..
Of course Berlin is Germany’s largest city,
and the competition between the two is
more than easily detectable. However, Ham-
burg is recognised as Germany’s design
capital with more than 14,000 designers
living and working there. According to Ed-
gar Ruhe, CEO of Hamburg Creative Gmbh,
80,000 people work in the Creative Indus-
tries in Hamburg, 8% of the total work
force, producing a turnover of €10.5 billion.
Hamburg is also financially better off than
Berlin, and apparently has 42,000 million-
aire inhabitants, whereas the once divided
City has only 10,000. However Berlin is way
ahead on business ‘start-ups’, though Ham-
burg is fast catching up and determines to
use ‘old money’ to finance ‘new start-ups.
Our first guided tour was around the spec-
tacular and still under construction Hafen
City Hamburg – Europe’s largest inner-city
development project. The city is currently
turning old harbour warehouses into atel-
iers and event venues especially for the city’s
creatives. There is also a brand new Univer-
sity which we visited, where I was struck by
the image of a young student concentrat-
ing on the construction of an architectural
model somehow seemingly not distracted by
a spectacular view through the huge floor
to ceiling window of large ships entering the
harbour.
Hafen City also gave us our first view of a de-
velopment specifically concerned with mu-
sic. The nearly completed and very beautiful
new concert hall - the Elbphilharmonie,
situated right on the waterfront of the river
Elbe, on the western tip of the Hafen-City.
The glass structure is built upon the massive
red brick construction of the former ware-
house known as the Kaispeicher A and rises
up to a height of 110 metres. The Hall con-
tains a world-class concert hall with a seat-
ing capacity for 2,100 guests and a height
of 50 metres, plus two smaller concert halls,
along with a hotel, a restaurant, 45 residen-
tial flats and a plaza with a 360° panorama
view which is open to the public. The project
is currently guaranteed completion of the
whole building on 31.10.2016. The opening
will probably take place in Spring 2017. The
Elbphilharmonie and the prestigious hun-
dred year old Laeiszhalle in the city centre
are under one management. The concert se-
ries ‘Elbphilharmonie Konzerte’ will present
a multifaceted, modern and cosmopolitan
programme of classic, jazz and world music
in about 100 concerts each season.
Further visits included the very impressive
IF Design Exhibition, and the still under
construction offices of designxport. The
25 Hours Hotel, is described as a maritime
design Hotel, but could definitely qualify
as a Rock ‘n’ Roll Hotel with its highly im-
aginative design, much of it explained to
us by the English designer, Stephen Wil-
liams. I wish we’d been staying there!
www.25hourshotels.com
Visits to buzzing and attractive areas of the
City like Schanzenviertel reminded me a lot
of The Laines in Brighton and parts of East
London like Dalston. The energies shown
by the new businesses, assisted in terms of
start –up advice and support through ac-
cess to funding, including crowd funding,
and provision of affordable work, and re-
hearsal, space reminded me of the ways
that the music industry in the UK is finally
beginning to receive support from parts of
regional and national government.
We met with Hamburg Startups at cowork-
ing space Betahaus Hamburg, and were told
about Eifflewerk, a new centre for cowork-
ers specialising in digital media startups.
Hamburg by Night
Go online - www.vip-booking.com
Need to know who is touring Europe?
®
vip-booking.com
VIPNEWS > MAY 2014
19
I asked how many applicants referred to
themselves as operating, or intending to, in
the music business. No actual figures were
available, but the sector is well represented,
though currently it lags behind games.
I was surprised by the number of references
to SXSW, although we at VIP generally think
of the Austin event as specifically a music
and artist showcase, (which of course it was
till a few years ago) Kreativegesellschaft,
HYPERLINK “http://www.kreativegesells-
chaft.org/” www.kreativegesellschaft.org
the funding and advisory body operated by
Hamburg Creative, saw it as an event of-
fering export opportunities to a wider raft
of creative companies. They had in fact fi-
nanced attendance in Austin, using a varie-
ty of means including EC social and cultural
funds, for a Hamburg delegation including
the Reeperbahn Conference and Festival.
They were also working with the Reeper-
bahn Festival Conference to integrate non-
music companies to the exhibition areas of
the event. Co-founder and organiser Detlef
Schwarte, well known to VIP, explained
the history of the event to the journalists.
(We will catch up on plans for this year’s
September edition in the next issue.) The
staging of the Festival, started by promoter
Karsten Jahnke, in the red light Reeperbahn
district was quite an initiative in changing
the reputation of the area, and it could be
said, helped give the green light to take
over properties in the area to develop spac-
es for creative use alongside the facilities
originally provided to attract needy sailors
and now curious tourists.
It seems that as the ever growing number
of music conference and showcase events
develop they are attracting more delegates
and exhibitors, from gaming and other
digital media companies, including the new
companies and individuals, the sort of start-
ups being backed by the City of Hamburg.
It appears that music which has always
provided content for all forms of media,
marketing and entertainment, now also
provides promotional outlets and vehicles!
Our full on tour took in visits to the ADC
Festival which celebrates and awards best
practice in German Advertising, Product
Design and Creative Communications, and
Jung and Matt, one of Germany’s most suc-
cessful advertising agencies.
Other music related stops were at a brand
new and impressive recording studio run by
Micky Berg of The German Wahnsinn Team,
Micky explained that they had located this
state of the art facility close to the Reeper-
bahn to benefit from the music activities,
and the access to the growing number of
local musicians.
We also met with Karsten Scholerman of
Clubkombinat and Livekomm, who I had
sat with on a panel that I moderated at last
year’s Reeperbahn. He explained some of
the work his organisation was undertak-
ing to help live clubs in Hamburg and be-
yond, there was some good news, but still
problems, including the loss of Hamburg’s
long established Molotov Club due to the
rebuilding in the area of Spielbudenplatz
(many of you who attend Reeperbahn
regularly will know about this.) The clubs
are having their problems but fighting back
using initiatives like Die Nacht der Clubs,
The Club Night will take place on Septem-
ber 5th, with shows in 25 clubs all available
for entrance with one ticket. HYPERLINK
“http://www.dienachtderclubs.de/” www.
dienachtderclubs.de
I haven’t told you all; Fancy dancing in one
of the biggest clubs I’ve ever seen – once
a fish market? Need a stuffed camel or a
huge portrait of Elvis, or the prow of a gal-
leon perhaps? Just visit Hanseatische Mate-
rialverwaltung for whatever props you may
need for your creative project – another
successful startup…As I say, it was a very
full three days!
My thanks to Lu Yen Roloff and Matthias
Beer of Hamburg Marketing for arrang-
ing the trip, and for feeding, watering and
looking after us all. I suggest you all book
a weekend in Hamburg, or I’ll see you at
Reeperbahn – just ask me anything about
Creative Hamburg…!
VIPNEWS > MAY 2014
Latest ETEP Results Allan McGowan am@vip-booking.com
The third set of results of the European Talent Exchange Programme
2014, the initiative of Eurosonic Noorderslag to stimulate the circulation
of European repertoire on festivals, radio and media in Europe.
www.bumacultuur.mailotron.com
www.eurosonic-noorderslag.nl have been announced:
ETEP: 234 confirmed shows by 88 artists from 19 different European
countries.
Also the Orange Blossom Festival (DE) has been announced as a new ETEP
member! www.orangeblossomspecial.de
For more information about ETEP:
www.etep.nl (How it works and All ETEP festivals)
Download your ETEP and CEETEP logo’s here:
www.bumacultuur.mailotron.com (and check out the website> maps,
ETEP scores per year, sort on country, festival or act).
Top-scoring countries / top scoring act:
1. UK, 16 artists, Royal Blood
2. The Netherlands, 15 artists, Birth of Joy
3. Ireland, 7 artists, Kodaline
4. Sweden, 7 artists, Elliphant
5. Germany, 6 artists, Milky Chance
20Royal Blood, UK
VIPNEWS > MAY 2014
21
Royal Blood UK 13
Jungle UK 12
MØ DK 8
George Ezra UK 7
Milky Chance DE 7
Kodaline IE 6
Wild Beasts UK 6
Mighty Oaks DE 6
Birth of Joy NL 6
Pional ES 6
Circa Waves UK 5
Ballet School DE 5
Hozier IE 5
Jaakko Eino Kalevi FI 5
Larry Gus GR 5
Benjamin Clementine FR 4
Emilie Nicolas NO 4
Lulu James UK 4
The Strypes IE 4
Baby in Vain DK 4
The Animen CH 4
Elliphant SE 4
Kadebostany CH 4
Alice Boman SE 3
Claire DE 3
Coely BE 3
East India Youth UK 3
Sam Smith UK 3
Hudson Taylor IE 3
La Pegatina ES 3
I Am Legion UK/NL 3
Girl Band IE 3
Kate Boy SE 2
Lonely the Brave UK 2
Mariam the Believer SE 2
Nadine Shaw UK 2
Thomas Azier NL 2
Truckfighters SE 2
Bondax UK 2
Denai Moore UK 2
Farao NO 2
Kid Karate IE 2
Linkoban DK 2
N’toko SI 2
Russkaja AT 2
The Mispers UK 2
NoNoNo SE 2
Jenny Wilson SE 1
Afterpartees NL 1
Baskerville NL 1
Brother & Bones UK 1
C + C = Maxigross IT 1
Cairo Liberation Front NL 1
Charity Children DE 1
DJ Pravda IT 1
Electric Eye NO 1
Gudrun von Laxenburg AT 1
Ja Panik AT 1
Afterpartees NL 1
Kensington NL 1
KiT NL 1
La Femme FR 1
Le Galaxie IE 1
Luca Sapio IT 1
Melanie DE Biasio BE 1
Pablo Nouvelle CH 1
Repetitor RS 1
Scarlett O’Hanna BE 1
Slick Shoota NO 1
Taymir NL 1
Tensnake DE 1
The Opposites NL 1
The Wands DK 1
traumahelikopter NL 1
Hermigervill IS 1
Noah Kin FI 1
Djaikovski MK 1
Drenge UK 1
Rhodes UK 1
Manu Delago Handmade AT 1
Seward ES 1
Mozes and the Firstborn NL 1
Mister and Mississippi NL 1
Reverend Shine Snake Oil DK 1
Ásgeir IS 1
Bo Saris NL 1
This is the complete list of ETEP artists and bookings at this point.
Next ETEP and CEETEP press release will follow 25 june 2014:
22
VIPNEWS > MAY 2014
IMMF Moves to Strengthen the International Voice of Managers & ArtistsAllan McGowan am@vip-booking.com
2014 sees the International Music Manag-
ers Forum (IMMF) taking big steps on the
way towards strengthening the international
voice of music managers and artists. With
a new seat in Luxembourg, strengthened
secretariat, new international committee
structure and several new members the
IMMF umbrella now represents the interests
of national associations from more than 20
countries, with an organizational infrastruc-
ture able to leverage this ever growing rep-
resentational weight.
Kari Karjalainen, lawyer and chairman of the
IMMF Copyright Committee explains one of
the core drivers for strengthening the IMMF:
“…People need music, and in order to sup-
port music making, music creators seek au-
diences for, and income from their creations.
For some time the market for music has not
functioned either fairly or efficiently, imbal-
ances affect the creation of new music, one
of the core problems is that the marketplace
for music rights does not work. The grow-
ing ambition of IMMF is thus no coincidence,
but a necessity...”
THE NEW ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
The new IMMF has been registered as a non
profit organization in Luxembourg. The daily
operations will be coordinated and admin-
istered by Daria Wabnitz, while the agency
FACTORY 92 will be taking over the inter-
national press relations. Committees are the
cornerstone of IMMF’s new structure work-
ing as labs in order to draft ideas, enhance
international cooperation and strengthen
policy work, within the following areas:
– European Committee
– Live Committee
– Copyright Committee
– Marketing and promotion Committee
– Funding Committee
– Training and Education Committee
IMMF is moreover experiencing growing in-
ternational membership demand. In March
2014 the IMMF thus welcomed MMF Esto-
nia as its newest national member. MMF
Latin America is furthermore being estab-
lished and welcomed into the IMMF. MMF
Latin America will unite managers from Ar-
gentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay,
Uruguay, Panamá, Costa Rica, Guatemala,
Mexico, Perú and Venezuela.
CURRENT POLICY & REPRESENTATION
ACTIVITIES
The IMMF Copyright Committee took part in
the EU Copyright Consultation at the begin-
ning of March 2014, presenting its position
paper on the issue. The position paper stat-
ed the importance of copyright legislation
harmonization across the EU in order to give
a legal answer and a framework for the mass
usage of content. The position paper also
underlined the necessity of an international
song database in order to build a global and
efficient monitoring tool.
In March 2014 IMMF also attended the Music
Biz Association summit 2014 at Musikmesse
Frankfurt in Germany where executives from
several major stakeholder organizations pre-
sented their concerns and opinions on recent
worldwide evolutions within copyright, EU
matters and international collecting rights.
Representatives from pan-European and
international umbrella organization within
music industry areas such as entertainment
law, music publishing and concert venues at-
tended the event alongside IMMF.
Karl karjalainen, lawer and chairman of the IMMF Copyright Committee.
23
VIPNEWS > MAY 2014VIPNEWS > MAY 2014
23
In general 2014 has thus far seen IMMF be-
ing represented and featured across a wide
range of international music stakeholder
events from Sun Breathe Music Conference
in Cape Town (South Africa) over SXSW in
Austin (US) to Tallinn Music Week in Tallinn
(Estonia).
ABOUT IMMF
The International Music Managers Forum
(IMMF) represents music managers and
through them the artists (performers and
authors) they manage. The core mission of
the IMMF is to defend the economic and
legal interests of artists on an international
scale. The IMMF’s vision is to create better
international trade conditions for all artists
across the world. The IMMF today repre-
sents National MMF Organizations from 21
countries.
CONTACT:
General inquiries:
Daria Wabnitz: daria@immf.com
Press:
Christian Hald Buhl: buhl@factory92.eu
Links:
www.immf.com
immf.us3.list-manage.com:
(IMMF digital licensing position paper,
Musicbiz Association Summit,
FACTORY 92).
The Council at the General Assembly at Midem 2014.First row: Brian Hetherman (IMMF Chair), Volker May (IMMF Vice-Chair). Second row: Daria Wabnitz (IMMF Project Manager), Nathan Brenner (MMF Australia), Natalia Talayero (MMF Spain), Patricia Hermida (MMF Spain), Christoph Storbeck (MMF Italy). Third row: Stephen Bond Garvan (MMF US), Olivier Toth (IMMF Executive Director), Kari Karjalainen (MMF Finland), Didier Zerath (MMF France), Toomas Olljum (MMF Estonia). Last row: Jake Beaumont-Nesbitt (IMMF Policy Flow), Nuno Saraiva (MMF Portugal), Keith Harris (MMF UK).
VIPNEWS > BUSINESS > MAY 2014 MUSIC IN SHARES
Music in SharesManfred Tari mt@vip-booking.com
CTS Eventim – The Growth Story Continues:Again in the first quarter of 2014 CTS Eventim is able to maintain
reasonable growth rates within all relevant key figures. In the busi-
ness report for Q1/2014, CTS Eventim reports an increased revenue
result of 24 percent, from 121.1 million Euro in Q1/2013 up to 150.4
million Euro.
The Earnings before Interests, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation
(EBITDA) went up from 28.7 to 32.3 million Euro. Interestingly the
Live Entertainment Division of the company grows stronger than its
Ticketing leg. The declared revenue for the Live Entertainment seg-
ment moves up 37.9 percent from 60.3 to 83.2 million Euro. The
results for the Ticketing unit are 69.4 compare to 62.3 million Euros
in the same period one year ago.
In the last issue VIP News reported a CTS Eventim share price of 45.91
Euro. The time share price on the day this report went to press is
41.71 Euro.
DEAG – Growths By Take Over:The UK concert company Kilimanjaro Live now belongs to DEAG. On
May 9 DEAG reported that for 4 million Euro it bought 51 percent
of the company behind the Sonisphere festivals. Another 2 million
Euro will eventually have to be paid by DEAG according to a success-
related bonus scheme that goes along with the take over.
DEAG furthermore filed an interim injunction against the Senate of
Berlin regarding the renewal of the lease deal for the open air arena
Waldbühne in Berlin by CTS Eventim.In 2008 CTS Eventim won a call
for the management of the location. The Berlin Senate intends now
to renew the deal with the arch rival of DEAG without announcing
a new call for bids. The injunction filed by DEAG is opposed by the
Senate and will now lead to a court ruling on June 12.
Shortly before this issue of VIP News went to press, the trade paper
Musikmarkt reported that the currently not existing call for bids has
prompted a consortium of the Berlin based concert companies Four
Artists, KKT, Loft Concerts and New Berlin Konzerte announced to
join forces to submit a joint bid for the Waldbühne Berlin, too.
The previous reported share price was 5.65 Euro, this time it is 5.66
Euro.
Live Nation – A Bit of a Different Growth Story:Like CTS Eventim Live Nation also reported impressive growth rates
for the Q1-2014 but as usual produced a net loss even though it cut
its losses by half. The revenue rose about 22 percent from $923.7
million up to $1.127.3 billion. The revenue gained by the Concert
24
25
VIPNEWS > MAY 2014
25
VIPNEWS > BUSINESS > MAY 2014
division even went up by 29 percent, from $513.5 to $662.5 million.
The Ticketing unit gained a plus of 9 percent, from $325.1 up to
$354.5 million.
The Artist Nation department was able to increase its revenue result
by 44 percent up to $72.6 million, Sponsorship & Advertising went up
from $40.1 to 45.4 million.
The net loss went down $64 to $30 million, the loss per share re-
sult from $0.33 to $0.16. The net long-term debt on March 31 was
$2.836, compare to $2.255 billion in the same period one year ago.
From the previous reported share price of $21.17 until May 23 it nev-
ertheless went up to $24.01.
SFX Entertainment – A Totally Differently Growth Story:SFX Entertainment also reported its Q1-2014 results. In the first three
months the company gained revenue of $33.3 million and produced a
net loss of $63.6 million, resulting in loss per share of $0.73.
In the period SFX Entertainment completed 14 events of this year’s
total scheduled number of 76 festivals. In the report SFX-CEO Robert
F.X. Sillerman is quoted ,as saying: “Throughout the first quarter we
made continued progress toward creating what is now the largest
global producer of world-class live events and leading digital enter-
tainment content focused exclusively on EMC. While it is the season-
ally slowest period of the year, the first quarter served as a microcosm
of our approach. Total festival attendance more than doubled
year over year, on a pro forma basis, with half of the growth coming
from new festivals, while repeat festivals saw attendance growth of
9% year over year and revenue growth of approximately 10%. Our
festivals will grow by approximately 30% in 2014 to more than 70,
compared to the 54 held in 2013. Much of this growth will be in
North America, as we bring highly popular festivals like Mysteryland
to the U.S. for the first time and bring Electric Zoo to Mexico. We are
also introducing entirely new festivals, such as Don’t Let Daddy Know
in the Netherlands and the Hudson Project in Saugerties, New York.
Additionally, we see opportunities for further festival schedule expan-
sion in North America, South America and Asia in 2015 and beyond.”
Since the last issue from $7.33 the share price this time is down to
$7.02.
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26
VIPNEWS > MAY 2014
MU to Remain Neutral on Scottish Independence IssueAllan McGowan am@vip-booking.com
With just over three months to go until the
Scottish independence referendum, the Mu-
sicians’ Union (MU) has announced its de-
cision to remain neutral in the debate. The
decision follows the MU’s forum on ‘The
Future of Music in Scotland,’ which was held
on 11 April 2014 at Glasgow City Halls.
MU General Secretary John Smith says:
“The debates that were had in Glasgow
were extremely informative and our Scottish
members were able to express their differ-
ing views, whilst also having the opportu-
nity to question industry specialists on what
independence might mean for music and
musicians in Scotland. “The variety of views
expressed means that the MU Executive
Committee has decided to take a position of
neutrality on the question of Scottish inde-
pendence in order to respect the positions
of our 2,200 members in Scotland.
MU General Secretary John Smith
Chloe Charles Territory: EuropePeriod: September/OctoberAgency: Paperclip Agency / Agent: Hilde SpillePhone: +31 243239322E-mail: hilde@paperclip-agency.comHomepage: www.paperclip-agency.com
ORBITAL ñ 25th year anniversary tour in 2014 Territory: The World excluding USAPeriod: May onwardsAgency: Value Added Talent / Agent: Dan SilverPhone: +44 207 704 97 20E-mail: dan@vathq.co.ukHomepage: www.vathq.co.uk
Alan Parsons Live Project Territory: WorldwidePeriod: 2014Agency: World Entertainment Associates of AmericaAgent: John Regna - Artist Agent/ManagerPhone: +1 407-993-4000E-mail: JPR@JohnRegna.comHomepage: www.AlanParsonsTourPromo.com
GlasvegasTerritory: EuropePeriod: 2014Agency: Primary Talent InternationalAgent: Ben WinchesterPhone: +44 20 7400 4500E-mail: ben@primarytalent.comHomepage: www.glasvegas.net
THE ORCHESTRA starring ELO former membersTerritory: WorldwidePeriod: 2014-2015Agency: World Entertainment Associates of AmericaAgent: John Regna - Artist Agent/ManagerPhone: +1 407-993-4000E-mail: jpr@johnregna.comHomepage: www.THEORCHESTRAonline.com
Afro Cuban All Stars Territory: East Europe, Middle EastPeriod: JulyAgency: GreensmithAgent: Dragan GreensmithE-mail: dragan@greensmithltd.comHomepage: greensmithltd.com/artistprofile/afro-cuban-all-stars/
MORE ARTIST AVAILS ON:WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM
POST YOUR ARTIST AVAILS ON:WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM
ARTIST AVAILS
Orbital
VIPNEWS > MISC > MAY 2014 MEMBER PRESENTATION
TRAINTRAIN is a privately owned live venue and nightclub placed in the central of Aarhus,
the second largest city in Denmark.
TRAIN is appointed as a regional live venue by the Municipality of Aarhus and The
Danish Agency for Culture.
TRAIN is a fully professional venue and has been running succesfully since 1. april
1998.
TRAIN is one of Denmarks largest regional venues and nightclubs. The concert ca-
pacity is 850 guests for live concerts and 1700 guest for nightclubbing. There’s no
agelimit for live concerts at Train.
TRAIN presents a broad program of music, covering many different genres and styles.
Throughout the years a lot of international and national artists have been perfoming
on the stage. Artists like Snoop Dogg, Iggy Pop, Suede, Bryan Ferry, Motörhead, The
National, The The, N*E*R*D, Patti Smith, Kaiser Chiefs, Babyshambles, Black Rebel
Motorcycle Club and many many others.
The clubscene has been honoured by perfomances by artists like Major Lazer, DJ
Shadow, 2ManyDJs, Modeselektor, Benga & Skream, Andy Fletcher, Simian Mobile
Disco, Peaches, Kele Okereke, Moderat, Cassius, Zombie Nation and many many
more.
27
28
VIPNEWS > MAY 2014
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About Our CompanyVIP-Booking’s core product is the Internet’s oldest and
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