113 AN ILMC PUBLICATION SEPTEMBER 2022 | £25 | €25 RECORDS TUMBLE AS MUSIC OF THE SPHERES ROLLS ON LUCY DICKINS A Tale of Two Cities as WME chief marks 25 years in music SENSATIONSWEDE marketSwedishreport HORSESDARK Metal under microscopethe FORTHEFULLVERSIONPLEASEGOTOIQ-MAG.NETTOSUBSCRIBE
54 32 62 18 Magazine 3 6NEWSIndex In Brief The main headlines over the last month 8 Analysis Key stories and news analysis from around the live music world 16 New Signings & Rising Stars A roundup of the latest acts that have been added to the rosters of international agencies 18FEATURES IFF Preview What to expect at the International Festival Forum in September 20 Music of the Spheres Looking behind the scenes at the astonishing success of Coldplay’s stunning global tour 32 Dickins: A Tale of Two Cities WME’s new global head of contemporary music and touring celebrates her first 25 years in music 54 Dark Horses Our metal expert James MacKinnon tracks the dark genre’s impressive postpandemic recovery 62 Swede Sensation Adam Woods learns about the mixed fortunes confronting touring artists and productions in an otherwise buoyant Swedish live music market COMMENT AND COLUMNS 14 Crowd Pleaser Professor Chris Kemp examines the changing landscape of crowd behaviour in the post-Covid environment 15 Old Habits Die Hard Lynne Maltman provides a sobering reminder of the collective promises we made for our mental health 70 Your Shout How do you keep cool when the going gets tough? CONTENTSIQ113 Cover ©BerlinOlympiastadionColdplayphoto:aton10JulyRalphLarmann
Live event organisers in Germany issue a preemptive warning to the government over potential Covid restrictions in the autumn and winter
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The Eurovision Song Contest is set to launch in Latin America.
Wasserman Music elevates London-based agents Dave Blackgrove, Mike Malak, and Adele Slater to partner.
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band announce four huge UK concerts for 2023, including two nights at BST Hyde Park.
Michael Chugg says Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road Australia and New Zealand tour is on course to enter the history books. The Chainsmokers are set to become the first music act to perform at the edge of space.
Rock Werchter founder Herman Schueremans says the success of this summer’s Belgian festival season is helping to stimulate ticket sales across the board.
AmazeVR teams up with K-pop juggernaut SM Entertainment to form joint venture Studio A. Kilimanjaro Live boss Stuart Galbraith reveals the company has sold 1.5m tickets for its summer shows. Live Nation UK elevates Maddie Arnold, who has previously held positions at Festival Republic and WME, to promoter. Thousands of professionals read IQ every day. Make sure you get the wholeSUBSCRIBEpicture…HERE
Bad Bunny’s El Último Tour del Mundo is the biggest tour of 2022 so far according to Pollstar’s mid-year rankings. Wembley Stadium’s senior commercial manager for concerts, James Taylor, reveals he will depart the London venue later this year.
TEG appoints Luke Bould as chief commercial officer. Live Nation France bosses hail a stellar year for the returning Main Square Festival, which attracted a record crowd for its 16th edition. Live Nation Spain chair Pino Sagliocco is unveiled as the United Nations World Tourism Organisation’s newest special ambassador.
BRIEFIN
UK singer/songwriter Becky Hill headlines the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 Final Show.
Private equity firm EQT becomes a strategic investor in UTA.
Roblox announces a wave of new hires, including former executives from Spotify and Meta. Danish pop band Lukas Graham will embark on the “firstever” concert tour powered by transportable batteries containing green electricity. Tixel targets further international growth following a successful funding round and European launch.
The businessconcertdigest
Live Nation acquires the concerts and entertainment division of Thailand-based TERO Entertainment.
Roskilde programme director Anders Wahrén tells IQ it felt “amazing to be back” following the festival’s belated 50th-anniversary edition.
All Things Live signs international management firm Then We Take The World.
Live Nation CEO and president Michael Rapino signs a new fiveyear contract extension with the company. Superstruct’s ID&T purchases a stake in fellow Dutch electronic music promoter Apenkooi Group.
French trade body PRODISS warns the sector must face up to a “slow and difficult recovery” from the pandemic. All Things Live acquires Italian promoter and agency Radar Concerti.
Live Nation boosts its Latin touring operation in North America with the triple hire of Ricardo Taco, Claudia Valencia and Maritsa Restrepo.
Frontier Touring expands its team with the double appointment of Kylie Jeffrey and Claire Marshall.
ASM Global hires Wembley Stadium’s outgoing senior commercial manager James Taylor.
Live Nation boss Michael Rapino says the promoter remains on track for back-to-back record years.
INDEX
DEAG CTO Moritz Schwenkow is elevated to chief ticketing and technology officer at the company.
IME Music owner Ian Evans joins Live Nation UK. DEAG acquires a majority stake in Germany’s Airbeat One festival.
H ow many times have we been told over the last four decades that the world of festivals and events is out of control? Recent rumours emanated from beliefs that the aftermath of the pandemic and the new audience’s belief in a spurious entitlement on the back of a two-year gap was creating the perfect storm.
More challenges have followed over the last century, and most of the lessons learned have not been ig nored by an industry coming to terms with an audience so happy to be back at events.
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Professor Chris Kemp examines the changing landscape of crowd behaviour amidst the various obstacles that event organisers are having to overcome in the post-pandemic environment.
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We often fail to learn from previous mis takes. Or we face concerns that are not new but previous challenges that have not been completely ameliorated. An Astroworld was, I suppose, inevitable. Many of the warning signs were there, and by following regression data and viewing the changing musical landscape, may have been spotted. But rising crime rates, disorder, and poor manage ment put a strain on an industry struggling to cope with the successful delivery of millions of events every year, let alone the aftermath of a pandemic.
Crowd pleaser
To understand employment challenges, one has to look at the shifting lifestyles, work/life balance, and the unstable labour market as we work across a continuum from Baby Boomers through to Generation Z. One of the most startling elements is the difference that the Generation Z workforce are bringing to the table. They are more discerning, focused on diversity, equality, and inclusion and are more likely to seek employment where these elements are upheld. For com panies to attract this workforce in a society where you can earn £20-£25 an hour at Amazon or filling warehouse shelves on a 9-5 contract. Generous contract conditions are expected, and they eschew the zero hours working practices found in security, stewarding, and other event employments. Although we might be astounded that to Gen Z, a month in a job is loyalty, we as employers do not seem to understand what turns on this emerging generation of workers. Provid ing a full contingent of staff for many companies is becoming difficult as the pay and conditions do not equate with oth er employers’ rates or services. Coupled with the leaching of workers out of both ends of the event industry and causing undue pressures, there are less employees with the aptitude and qualifications, and this is a challenge and why poaching is soWithrife.the recent cancelling of a festival in Europe, we have reached a watershed, those savvy enough are admitting the challenges presented and facing into them. At a recent conference in the States, a representative from Coachella festival said, that before Cov id-19 he was relying on six companies to pro vide staff for his back-to-back festivals. This year he needed 13 to provide the same level of service. This is just the tip of the iceberg in supply-chain challenges caused [in the UK] by Brexit and Covid-19. Many commentators cite rumour not fact un derpinned by a media hungry for sensation. The blaming of BLM, hooligan infiltration, “catatonic” drugs, and poor staff is not the answer. In reality, it is the usual mix of venues start ing up again and getting used to full capacities at festivals and arenas coupled with a changing demographic. It is not the end of civilisation as we know it, it’s about a rebalancing.
There will still be challenges and rogue events, and it’s up to us all to make sure these are managed in a professional and safe manner so that this industry continues to be the greatest place to spend time and, of course, is vying to be the safest.
OK, there is a darker side, where some emerging compa nies shoot from 0-100 quickly and entourages suddenly find themselves as producers or production consultants trying to deliver often unsafe events. However, key professionals have stepped in and reduced the challenges caused. It is not a new thing that everyone works together to keep the crowd safe, but it is new that artists are understanding that they have a responsibility for the audience who consume their music and provide them with the lifestyle that many have become ac customed to.
In 1809, the “old price riots” at the new Theatre Covent Garden, and the 1763 London riots, when a mob stormed the theatre in the middle of an opera, show us that challenges to the industry have been with us for over two centuries.
Fast-forward to June 2022 and I’m back in the festival field, somewhere I never intended to return to professionally. This time though, it’s as part of Music Support’s Safe Hub team, who provides a space backstage for anyone working at the festival to speak confidentially to a Mental Health First Aidtrained peer or simply take time out.
Magazine 15 Comment
TVAM (UK) AGENT Rob Gibbs, Progressive Artists
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Lynne Maltman reminds us of the promises we made for our mental health. agencies help us to compile it released by the new signings to their Among playlist are submissions from ATC Live, CAA, ITB, Mother Artists,
a playlist of new music, much of
On that subject, I know all too well that when festival season comes to an end, it will provide the opportunity to take some much-needed time off, but it may also leave people feeling deflated or with a lack of purpose (PED or post-event depression as I “fondly” remember it).
If you are UK-based and facing mental health or addiction challenges, Music Support is here for you. You can call our confidential helpline on 0800 030 6789, Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm, to speak to a trained professional with “lived experi ence” of the highs and lows of working within the industry. You are not alone. For further information: info@musicsupport.orgwww.musicsupport.org
One of Music Support’s core services is em powering our peers to look after the wellbeing of their colleagues (and themselves) through training in mental health first aid and addiction and recovery awareness. We’re so encouraged to have spoken to those who have already taken our training, sharing how it has impacted their lives professionally and per sonally, and to others who are determined to take the train ing once ‘silly season’ is over.
Solo, Wasserman and UTA.
the tracks on August’s
rosters.
S omewhere within a lifetime of repeats, reruns, and re boots lives UK-based producer TVAM, crafting sounds and visuals that touch on our memories but toy with our fears, in a world in which broadcast becomes performance. TVAM’s hypnotic tracks straddle an impressive spectrum of influence from Boards of Canada’s irresistible nostalgia, Sui cide’s deconstructed rock & roll, and My Bloody Valentine’s infiniteShiningnoise.aharsh light on nostalgia whilst toying with the power of influence, TVAM offers no comfort in this age of unease. Following on from acclaimed 2018 album Psychic Data, TVAM returns this October with High Art Lite, the debut long-player for Invada Records. Thousands of professionals read IQ every day. Make sure you get the whole
NEW SIGNINGS & NEW MUSIC VISIT WEBSITETHETO HEAR OUR ‘NEW MUSIC’ AGENCY PLAYLIST
Old habits die hard sources.onlineofnumberaacrossaggregatedconsumption,musicoftermsinartistsgrowingFastest 16 iq-mag.net HOTTEST NEW ACTS AUGUST 2022 THIS MONTH LAST MONTH ARTIST 1 - ROSA LINN (AM) 2 51 EEM TRIPLIN (US) 3 1 LF SYSTEM (UK) 4 - KAI CENAT (US) 5 25 CHARLIEONNAFRIDAY (US) 6 23 RENEÉ RAPP (US) 7 2 PLAYAMANE (AR) 8 - YOUNG MIKO (PR) 9 13 DOMI & JD BECK (US) 10 JAMES AND THE SHAME (US) 11 131 LANA LUBANY (UK) 12 5 HITKIDD (US) 13 6 SLEAZYWORLD GO (US) 14 15 PGF NUK (US) 15 3 BENZZ (UK) PREDICTIONS FOR SEPTEMBER 2022 GLORILLA (US), KING STINGRAY (AU), BLACK SOPRANO FAMILY (US), ROYEL OTIS (AU), SUPERSHY (UK) theinnotArtists but15,topcurrent quicklygrowing Each month, ’s partner
F or the best part of 20 years as an event organiser, I could be found with a clipboard and radio at events of all shapes and sizes, from a disused Indian restau rant transformed into a pop-up cocktail bar in Nottingham to major music awards shows around the world and brand activations in muddy fields at UK festivals. The drill was al ways the same: work (very) hard and play hard (which is easy when clients are booze brands, and you have free stock on tap –Workingliterally!)in that environment, away from home a lot, your colleagues become your family, which makes the whole experience much easier, but it also led to me feeling incredibly stressed most of the time, losing sleep, making bad food choices, and drinking more than I was comfortable with (but not enough At the end of 2017, following my own ver sion of burnout, I left that fast-paced world, which was a very difficult but life-changing move as it created headspace, led to me acciden tally giving up booze (which was only meant to be for 90 days but has had such a hugely positive impact on me that I’m still alcohol-free four years later, but that’s another story for another day) and saw me follow a dream of moving At the height of the pandemic in 2020, my old industry friends introduced me to Music Support, the charity that helps those who work in music and live events who are af fected by mental ill-health and/or addiction. I contracted with them for a year and was thrilled to become a permanent fix ture at the beginning of 2022.
My colleagues had warned me that, in the past, people have been reluctant to speak to our team but, thankfully, times seem to be changing. Two years of lockdown have had a lasting impact and led people to reflect more seriously upon the state of their mental and physical health. We have had plenty of meaningful conversations with crew and artists alike who are so grateful to see Music Support at the festival and are willing to open up about their mental health and ad diction challenges. Our peers are relieved to be working again and back with their long-lost work/bandmates, but they’re also massively overcompensating for time off and money lost during Cov id, which is leading to the inevitable burnout we all promised ourselves we’d not allow to happen again. There is also a lot of anxiety surrounding returning to large crowds. Isolation be came familiar and comfortable to people, and they’re seeking solitude wherever possible, from leaving the production office for five minutes to take time to refocus, to refusing to take their mobile or radio to the loo (been there, done that!).
As the industry works to recoup the time and money that was lost during the pandemic, Music Support’s
MAD COOL FESTIVAL & THE SPANISH WAVE PRESENTS Wednesday evening at IFF sees Madrid’s Mad Cool Festival & The Spanish Wave present the results of a nationwide search for the hottest new Spanish talent. With hundreds of applications received for just three much soughtafter spots at IFF, the show will present the best new sounds in Spain.
The International Festival Forum (IFF) will present its eighth edition next month when its packed programme returns to Camden Town in London. T his year, the event moves its base to the now sold-out Holiday Inn Camden, which is a short walk from the showcase ven ues and will act as a hub for 800 delegates to gather in the mornings, participate in speed meetings, and catch up over drinks at the end of each day. But while the hotel might be sold out, there are still delegate places for festivals or booking agents who want to attend. If you have not yet registered and would like to, visit www.iff.rocks/register sooner rather than later to avoid disappointment. The event brings together the world’s top booking agencies and the cream of the interna tional festival business at a critical point in the year, and has become a popular platform and a AN IFF PASS INCLUDES: IFF which includes
MAD COOL FESTIVAL & THE SPANISH WAVE PRESENTS WHERE & WHEN: Camden Assembly 9pm | Wednesday, September 28 must-attend event in the live music calendar. Delegates can expect two and a half in dustrious days of conference sessions, show cases, events, along with plenty of network ing opportunities and the chance to catch up and hang out with industry colleagues. Partner agencies for this year’s gathering include ATC Live, CAA, Earth, One Fiinix Live, Primary Talent, Pure, Solo, UTA, Wasserman, WME, and X-ray Touring, with over 100 reps from other agencies also registered to attend.
contact information for all delegates and the latest agency roster information
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n Access to all showcases, events, conference sessions and keynotes n Complimentary lunch on Wednesday and Thursday n Complimentary dinner on Wednesday and Thursday n Complimentary beverages n Heavily discounted hotel room rates for registered delegates n The
Conference Guide,
The Glasshouse, Holiday Inn Camden 12:00PM THE IFF KEYNOTE 2022
THE7:00PMIFFOPENING
Camden Suite, Holiday Inn
PARTY, HOSTED BY UTA The World’s End Camden 9:00PM SHOWCASE SOLO AGENCY The Underworld Camden IFF11:00PMLATE Camden
NETWORKING11:30AM COFFEE BREAK
Holiday Inn Camden & Various
Holiday Inn
LUNCH The
Floor, Holiday Inn
IS SUPPORTED BY: International Festival Forum 2022
SEPTEMBERWEDNESDAY28 COFFEE,9:30AM
JUICE & REGISTRATION The Glasshouse, Holiday Inn Camden 10:30AM PANEL THE FESTIVAL SEASON 2022 Camden Suite, Holiday Inn Camden IFF11:30AMSPEEDMEETINGS 1st Camden 12:00PM FESTIVALSPANEL&AGENTS: HAPPIER THAN EVER? Camden COMPLIMENTARY12:30PM DELEGATE Glasshouse, Camden 2:15PM
PRESENTS
Holiday Inn
SHOWCASE X-RAY TOURING PRESENTS PowerHaus 3:45PM SHOWCASE ONE FIINIX LIVE PRESENTS PowerHaus 5:00PM PRIMARYSHOWCASETALENTINTERNATIONAL PRESENTS PowerHaus THE6:45PMIFFDINNER & DRINKS MAD9:00PMCOOL FESTIVAL & THE SPANISH WAVE PRESENTS Camden Assembly IFF11:00PMLATE Holiday Inn Camden
IFF
The Glasshouse, Holiday Inn Camden 10:00AM PANEL THE NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK Camden Suite, Holiday Inn Camden DELEGATES’10:30AM PRIVATE MEETINGS
COMPLIMENTARY12:30PM DELEGATE
LUNCH
SEPTEMBERTUESDAY 27
The Glasshouse, Holiday 2:15PM WASSERMANSHOWCASEMUSIC
Inn Camden
Previous keynotes include Melvin Benn, Folkert Koopmans, Michael Eavis, Marc Geiger, Herman Schueremans, John Giddings, and Marek & Andre Lieberberg
SEPTEMBERTHURSDAY 29 COFFEE,9:30AM JUICE & NETWORKING
PRESENTS PowerHaus 3:45PM SHOWCASE EARTH AGENCY PRESENTS PowerHaus 5:00PM SHOWCASE ATC LIVE PRESENTS PowerHaus THE7:30PMIFF& MVT ‘REVIVE LIVE’ MIXER PowerHaus UTA11:00PMPRESENTS: HEAR THIS Camden Assembly WHO’S SPEAKING? Adele Slater, Wasserman; Barbara Hexges, Superbloom; Chris Payne, WME; Gordon Masson, IQ; James Drury, IQ; Jess Kinn, One Fiinix Live; Lisa Henderson, IQ; Nikolaj Thorenfeldt, smash!bang!pow!; Obi Asika, UTA; Sean Goulding, One Fiinix Live; Stephan Thanscheidt. FKP Scorpio. Wanna know who else is coming? Check out www.iff.rocks for a full list of delegates registered so far. From All Things Live to Zermatt Unplugged and everything in-between, it’s already looking like a who’s who of the international music festival world.
Venues
W ith more than 3.5million tick ets sold in 2022, at the start of what is mooted to be a fouryear project, Coldplay are in the midst of the biggest tour of their career – not a bad achievement considering it’s also the most eco-friendly stadium tour ever.
20 iq-mag.net Feature Music of the Spheres
Gordon Masson reports.
But it turns out that those ideals had been simmering for a couple of years before the shock announcement, as stadia around the world were already on hold for the band’s current Music of the Spheres spectacular, which is laying down blueprints on how to dra matically reduce the carbon footprint of touring.
While other acts opted to wait until 2023 for their stadium tours, Coldplay took a risk to push ahead this year with their Music of the Spheres tour. And the pay-off has been extraordinary, as fans starved of live music for two years are helping the band smash records.
“To be honest, we started to plan this tour when we were on the last tour, in 2017,” band manager Dave Holmes tells IQ. “It seemed crazy at the time, but we were holding venues for 2022 and 2023, as some stadiums actually need to be booked that far in advance.”
Photo © Ralph Larmann
When frontman Chris Martin revealed the band would not tour to support their Everyday Life album in late 2019 but would instead try to “work out how our tour can not only be sus tainable, [but] how can it be actively beneficial,” the industry wondered whether such ambitions were even possible.
Magazine 21 Music of the Spheres_Feature Thousands of professionals read IQ every day. Make sure you get the wholeSUBSCRIBEpicture…HERE
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Having left ITB just three years ago, Lucy Dickins’ rise through the corporate ranks has been extraordinary. Looking back on her first 25 years in the music industry, she tells Gordon Masson about her path to the top, transforming WME, the philosophy behind her clients’ triumphant return to touring and splitting her time between London and Los Angeles.
Magazine 33 Lucy Dickins: 25 Years in Music_Feature
DICKINS: A OFTALETWOCITIES
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As metal roars back to life on the touring and festival circuits, James MacKinnon surveys how some of the genre’s prime movers weathered the pandemic and what the future holds…
At the time of writing, Wacken Open Air had recently wound up its 2022 edition, where 80,000 diehard metalheads summed up the loyalty in the genre with more than 95% of them rolling over their tickets from previous years. And just one day after the curtain came down, fans took just five hours to snap up all 80,000 tickets for the 2023 Elsewhere,edition.live juggernaut Rammstein are resuming their record-breaking global stadium tour after it was rudely interrupted in 2020, concluding with three nights at Mexico City’s 65,000-capacity Foro Sol stadium. Newer bou tique events are also performing well, such as Italy’s Rock The Castle, which is offering fans the opportunity to see legendary headliners Ju das Priest and Megadeth within Scaligero Castle grounds. German medieval folk rockers Feuerschwanz were one of the many acts to thrill the crowds at this year’s Wacken Open Air festival
Riders on the storm When it dawned on the industry that 2021 would not see a return to business-as-usual, several no table metal festivals embraced digital technolo gy like never before by staging online editions rather than let another year pass unmarked. One such festival is The Netherlands’ tas temaker event Roadburn, whose organisers launched Roadburn Redux in April 2021, a fourday streaming event with live performances from Tilburg’s lynchpin club venue, 013. “We pulled out all the stops to make Roadburn Re dux something really special, and it was affirm ing, as an independent festival, that we might still have a future,” recalls artistic director Wal ter Hoeijmakers. Performances were broadcast in real-time by local production specialists, Live Wall, who also created the online portal, which saw 79,000 fans from 132 countries tune in.
Magazine 55 Dark horses_Feature
“We approached 16 bands and told them, ‘We want to give you a portion of this grant to cre ate new music that we can premiere at Roadburn 2021,’” explains Hoeijmakers. “That was the main goal: to inspire the community and give bands an opportunity to grow and keep them visible.”
The road back to live has been rocky, and the issues beleaguering the entire live indus try – crew shortages, skyrocketing fuel prices, ballooning production costs – are keenly felt. Yet, unsurprisingly, for a genre that has always punched above its weight and boasts fans regard ed as the most loyal in the world, in this report IQ hears how many artists and show organisers have not only survived but thrived, through a mix of passion, community and grit.
“Metal fans are fans for their whole life,” af firms Andrea Pieroni, CEO of Vertigo who pro moted the event. “We sold almost 20,000 tickets over the weekend, which is good if you consider we sell only daily tickets and capacity is 9,000. It’s a new renaissance, literally!”
France’s Hellfest also got in on the action, creating a virtual “metalverse” for Hellfest From Home, where visitors could navigate between stages and interact with other headbangers. Alongside live performances, video content ca tered to the wider festival experience, from cock tail recipes to cooking tutorials with rockstars, racking up nearly three million views overall. Significantly, both festivals made the online experiences open to all, free of charge. Road burn opened donations, raising over €56,000 ranked amplifiers. Pyrotechnic fire power. Mosh-pit mayhem. As a gen re where the blood, sweat and riffs of the live experience are both an integral part of fan appeal and art ists’ revenues, the fortunes of metal are intrinsically tied to the live mar ket, in sickness and in health. After nearly two years of silence due to the pandemic, metal is steadily finding its feet again as a return to the summer festival touring circuit continues apace.
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The carefully curated programme recreated all the regular hallmarks that have earned Road burn an engaged following and a reputation for “redefining heavy”: spotlights on emerging underground talent, panel discussions, and ex clusive commissioned projects, made possible through grants from the Dutch government.
“The shows that are suffering most from poor ticket sales in the post-Covid period are the ones that usually would sell 700-2,000 tick ets,” says Edward Janson of increas ingly diversified rock and metal specialist TADC, formerly Triffid And Danger Concerts. “The small er club shows are doing okay, and the big shows are doing well. But it’s rather difficult in the middle segment these days,” he adds, not ing that ticket sales are currently around 25 to 30% down.
“It’s doing very well,” says Thom as Johansson, father of the Swedish live business and Live Nation’s chairman of international music and Nordics. “We have just finished a bunch of outdoor shows: Iron Maiden, Rolling Stones, Lady Gaga all sold out stadiums. Then, we had a lot of other shows that have done very well all over Scandinavia, so I would say the business is good.” As with any prosperous market, Sweden in the first year after the pandemic gives every appearance of being in the form of its life, but as al ways, the glory of the packed-out are nas and stadiums does not necessar ily reflect right across the business.
Jenny Blomqvist | Stockholm Live
Johansson notes a similar trend when it comes to artists a little fur ther down the scale. “Generally, the big artists are doing very well, whether they are local or interna tional,” he says. “The mid-range artists are a little softer, the smaller club acts, too. Basically, it’s because there are so many tickets on sale. A lot of people were sitting with
SENSATIONSWEDE
W hen of2022,roadtoSabatonSwedisharena-dwellingmetalbandattemptedgetbackoutontheagaininearlythechallengeslate-pandemicin ternational travel soon scuppered the plan. So it was replaced with another: a tour of just about every where in Sweden.
“In one sense, that’s the way it has to be in the future,” he says. “If you want to play for an audience maybe you have to change your whole way of thinking. Especially for local bands. There’s a limited amount of big stages, a limited amount of festivals, a limited num ber of Withpeople.”itssturdy and experienced promoters, its plentiful festivals, and its smallish population, it is true that Sweden is not an easy place in which to innovate, and it is hard to find pockets of demand that aren’t being catered for by someone. “We are quite a mature and well-developed and well-exploited market,” says FKP Scorpio partner and promoter Niklas Lundell. “If you want to develop a new concept and you think you are going to be on your own,” he notes wryly, “may be Scandinavia is not your priority market if you know what I mean.” With the exception of some small clubs in Stockholm where rents have rendered the grassroots business model inadequate, Swe den has more or less everything it needs. World-class venues? Check. Well-heeled audiences? Definitely. A spot on every serious European touring schedule? No problem. Big, loud festivals and cool boutique ones? No need to ask twice. Sweden is a model of a compact, modern market, with three very viable touring cities in Stockholm, Malmö, and Gothenburg. And at the mass-market end of the scale, at least, the post-pandemic boom has been a thoroughly fulfilling experience.
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“We did 30 dates and sold 40,000 tickets,” says promoter David Maloney of All Things Live Swe den. “It was unique because no one has done a tour like that, ever, in Sweden. We played markets where we sold 2,000 tickets in a town where 4,000 people live. “They are an arena band – they have a show next year at the [for mer] Globe in Stockholm, and they’ve sold 10,000 tickets for that. But rather than sitting at home complaining, they said, ‘Fuck this shit, we’ll go out on tour. If there’s a stage and a roof, we’ll play there.’ And we played places in Sweden I had never even been to.” Maybe we’re not on the brink of a world in which every band has to rip up small Swedish towns like Mölnlycke, Ålmhult, or Ronneby to make a living, but Maloney still believes there is a lesson here.
Having followed a different strategy during the coronavirus pandemic, the live music industry remained operational for local acts. Now, with the return of international touring, arenas and stadium shows are flying, but smaller events are enduring tougher times. Adam Woods reports.
“Today we face a completely new challenge in trying to foresee even the next six months, as the market is not acting as it did before the pandemic”
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