Index In Brief

IN BRIEFINDEX

The concert business digest

French concert organiser Speakeasy joins forces with Paris rock club Supersonic to launch new national promoter, Take Me Out.

Rolling Stone acquires a majority stake in Life is Beautiful, a music and arts festival held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Live Nation is handed a boost in its lawsuit against insurer Factory Mutual over its failure to cover the promoter’s “severe and unanticipated” losses stemming from the pandemic.

Ticketmaster partners with technology provider Redeam on a “one-stop shop” to help fans buy tickets to live events when booking trips.

Runway Artists expands its team with four new hires and launches a new live showcase event for the music industry.

Lithuanian promoter 8 Days a Week announces a new festival at a century-old former prison in Vilnius. Germany’s Event Management Forum pleads for the government to follow the lead of other European nations and drop all Covid restrictions.

The International Live Music

Conference announces the first round of sessions for the in-person return.

The producers behind Baja Beach Fest, Chicago’s Reventon Promotions, and Lollapalooza announce a new Latin Reggaeton festival in the US.

The late Steve Strange is honoured at the annual Pollstar Awards held, at The Beverly Hilton’s International Ballroom in Los Angeles.

Australian collection society APRA AMCOS announces it will pay members AUS$1.5 million (€940,000) in live performance royalties for concerts that were cancelled due to the latest Covid wave.

Foo Fighters and PinkPantheress become the latest big-name artists to announce virtual concerts in the metaverse. Dansk Live warns promoters that Denmark’s live industry will continue to be challenged despite reopening.

The promoter behind a host of UK open-air concerts by artists such as McFly and UB40 featuring Ali Campbell has gone bust.

Environmental nonprofit A Greener Festival announces the recipients of the A Greener Festival Award in 2021.

Oak View Group is hired by The Football Association to expand and diversify sponsorship, content and other opportunities at London’s Wembley Stadium.

ASM Global announces plans to host what is billed as the largest job fair in live entertainment history across four continents next week.

The Great Escape Festival

announces the launch of The Steve Strange Award, in honour of the legendary X-ray Touring cofounder, who died last year.

Rock Werchter founder Herman Schueremans tells IQ that the festival’s record sell-out is a sign of things to come, as he gears up for his busiest festival summer in years. Coldplay perform a free show in Dubai in support of Expo 2020 Dubai’s Programme for People and Planet.

Artist-backed metaverse firm Everyrealm closes a $60million (€54m) funding round.

Gracia Live’s Sam Perl tells IQ the company is determined to press ahead with blockbuster shows in Belgium and France in the next few weeks despite ongoing restrictions.

The Lumineers partner with environmental non-profit Reverb to embark on another ‘climatepositive’ tour.

DHP Family links up with alternative independent music festival Bearded Theory’s Spring Gathering.

The New Zealand government announces plans to extend its insurance scheme for large-scale events by another year.

Organisers of Europe’s biggest K-pop festival reveal international expansion ambitions after adding a second day in Frankfurt, Germany.

Dutch promoter Mojo launches a new platform featuring hundreds of festival jobs, in a bid to counteract the major staff shortage in the sector.

Eventim Live Asia appoints Samantha Tzovolos as managing director for Singapore and Mike Galt as senior vice-president of touring for Asia.

London’s legendary Wembley Arena is renamed OVO Arena Wembley.

Major European live music markets such as Germany and England share fears over the impending festival season.

A new tourism campaign launches to promote Glasgow’s music scene to potential visitors from across the UK.

Sam Fender’s agent Paul Wilson tells IQ about the BRIT Award winner’s international strategy ahead of his biggest UK headline shows to date this summer.

The Dutch government announces a three-step plan for reopening, which will see nearly all restrictions dropped by the end of February.

Snapchat users can now discover live events in more than 20 countries, thanks to a new partnership with Ticketmaster.

Ten Coachella lifetime passes auctioned off as part of a nonfungible token (NFT) series sell for a combined $1.5 million (€1.3m). Live Nation’s Cuffe & Taylor secure an exclusive five-year deal to programme live music events at The Piece Hall in Halifax, UK.

ASM Global and the International Live Music Conference (ILMC) join forces to dramatically expand the conference’s Alia Dann Swift Bursary Scheme.

Encore, the live performance app co-founded by American rapper Kid Cudi, raises $9 million (€7.9m) in seed funding.

DEAG CEO Peter Schwenkow predicts a record 2022 after the German government unveiled its roadmap back to full-capacity live events.

The O2’s roof is severely damaged by the worst storm to hit the UK in three decades.

Def Leppard & Mötley Crüe’s rescheduled co-headlining tour of the US and Canada is extended after notching up more than one million ticket sales.

Festival organisers behind the newly formed United Festival Force tell IQ about the benefits of banding together.

Oak View Group secures an “industry-first” debt financing deal to fund the construction of east Manchester’s new Co-op Live Arena.

Bring Me The Horizon reduced their tour emissions by 38% during their six-date arena run in the UK, according to sustainability experts A Greener Festival. Paul McCartney announces details of his first live shows since 2019.

BTS’s Permission to Dance On Stage concerts are set to be the biggest South Korea has seen since the beginning of the pandemic.

Promoters in Germany warn “many questions remain unanswered” about the country’s reopening, despite the promise of a long-awaited “Freedom Day” next month.

The English live music industry welcomes the government’s plans to lift all remaining coronavirus restrictions.

AEG Presents teams up with events company Team Love to launch new 30,000-cap metropolitan festival Forwards Bristol in the UK.

DF Concerts announces The Royal Highland Centre, near Edinburgh, as the location for the revival of Connect Festival.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

is the latest act to be announced for Under the Southern Stars, Australia’s first concert series featuring international artists since the March 2020 lockdown (see page 8).

Ben Lovett’s TVG Hospitality announces the closing of $50million (€45m) in new funding to expand its team and venue portfolio in the UK and US.

K-pop juggernauts BTS announce a four-night residency at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Japan’s leading promoter, Creativeman, says it is “seeing light at the end of the tunnel” as restrictions are gradually lifted.

Italian live music trade body Assomusica urges the country’s prime minister to provide a roadmap for the sector’s reopening to ensure the summer season can go ahead.

Maroon 5 announce their first-ever Middle East tour, with three Live Nation-promoted dates confirmed for the region this spring.

Always Live, an initiative envisioned by the late Michael Gudinski to revitalise Victoria’s live music scene, will launch with a concert from the Foo Fighters.

Primavera Sound 2023 will be held in two different Spanish cities, Barcelona and Madrid, across two weekends.

GET INVOLVED

Want to share your views on breaking industry news? Then get involved in the discussion on Twitter:

@iq_mag

SUBSCRIBE

Visit the website for our subscription options.

info@iq-mag.net

Thousands of professionals read IQ every day. Make sure you get the whole picture…

Magazine 7 SUBSCRIBE HERE