IN BRIEF INDEX The concert business digest
Nightclubs and dance music festivals lost more than three quarters of their value in 2020 due to Covid-19 opening restrictions, the IMS Business Report 2021 reveals. BTS 2021 Muster Sowoozoo, a twoday virtual concert with the K-pop superstars, is attended by 1.33 million unique viewers from 195 countries. Wild Mint, one of Russia’s biggest festivals, is left RUB47million (€540,000) in debt after local authorities cancel the event at the 11th hour. Campaigners in Europe, Asia and Australasia warn that the move towards digital and mobile tickets for events, attractions and transport, accelerated by the pandemic, risks broadening the ‘digital divide’ and excluding older people as life returns to normal. Viagogo is investigated in Australia for allegedly breaching anti-ticket touting laws in the state of New South Wales, where it is illegal to resell a ticket for more than 10% over face value.
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Lina Ugrinovska, one of the best-known booking agents in the Balkans, launches her own agency, Banana & Salt, offering international booking, consulting, training and educational services for artists and music professionals. Live Nation teams up with nine of Denmark’s biggest festivals – Roskilde Festival, NorthSide, Heartland, Copenhell, Smukfest, Tinderbox, Jelling Musikfestival, Nibe Festival and Grøn – for a oneoff event marking the reopening of the country, Back to Live, set for 4 September. Australia’s TEG announces the launch of TEG Rockefeller, a new global partnership and joint venture with the Rockefeller Company of New York. The findings of the Ambition Live Again test concert in France show that attending a show is not associated with an increased risk of transmission when certain hygiene and testing protocols are followed.
There were zero Covid-19 infections during a pilot event series, Modellprojekt Kultur/Reallabor Leipzig, held across nine venues in May and June, organisers announce.
CTS Eventim confirms it will receive €102m government aid for November–December 2020 “to strengthen the result for the current financial year and the company’s liquidity.”
ID&T announces it is taking the Dutch government to court over new Covid-19 restrictions, which are reimposed just weeks after they were lifted.
The UK’s entertainment and media industry is forecast to return to growth and be the biggest market in western Europe by 2025, according to PwC’s Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2021–2025.
The EAA’s Arena Resilience Alliance publishes a report analysing findings from more than 20 test events hosted at 12 of its partner arenas across Europe. Serbia’s Exit Festival takes place, attracting 42,000 festivalgoers from more than 70 countries on the opening day alone and recording no Covid-19 infections across the weekend. Slovakia’s Pohoda on the Ground did not record a single positive Covid-19 result throughout the “extraordinary” five days it took place, according to organisers.
Live Nation confirms that Theresa Velasquez, who was a senior vicepresident of strategic partnerships for the company, lost her life in June’s tragic apartment block collapse in Miami. Within hours of rules being relaxed, UK vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi announces that full vaccinations will be required for entry into nightclubs and venues with large crowds from September. Ticketmaster will provide digital ticketing technology for six Oak View Group arenas as part of a newly announced global partnership between the two firms.
