IQ115 Preview

Cover photo: Megan Thee Stallion at Reading Festival 2022 © James Bridle via Festival Republic

EXTREME CONDITIONS

Looking back on what everyone in the international industry has described as their busiest summer ever, the fact that the vast majority of events actually hap pened seems like a minor miracle. Certainly, anyone in any doubt about the problem-solving skills of the live events sector will have had those concerns blown out of the water by the professionals who ensured that artists reconnected with fans in such a spectacular and successful way.

One major concern ahead of the packed summer schedule was staff shortages across many sectors – riggers, crew, stewards, drivers, and all manner of casual workers. And, of course, security. Properly trained, experienced security staff are crucial to keep ing people safe at events, and it could be a long time before the industry as a whole gets back to the levels it enjoyed in 2019, pre-Covid.

Recent tragedies in South Korea, Guatemala, and the Democratic Republic of the Con go have been blamed on overcrowding, while a festival in Indonesia was cut short by authorities fearful that too many people in the venue was risking crushing injuries to attendees (see news analysis page 18). While it’s too early to say whether any of those acci dents could have been prevented through increased security, there appears to be a pattern of behaviour among fans around the world, with huge numbers of people eager to attend mass gatherings, exuberant that Covid restrictions have been lifted. It’s not beyond reason that fans may need more professional guidance in terms of ingress and egress, at the very least, and with New Year celebrations just around the corner, it’s something that local authorities around the world will no doubt be considering as 2022 winds down.

Fundamentally, the live music industry exists as a mechanism to allow artists and bands to get close to their fans, so it’s heartening to learn that a number of acts are look ing at ways to cap ticket prices, such is their concern over the cost-of-living crisis facing people. Kudos to the likes of Tom Grennan, Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott, Billy Bragg, and everyone else who is looking at capping costs for their fans.

One star who obsesses over affordable ticket prices is The Cure’s Robert Smith, as many of the band’s promoters attest in our report on the band’s biggest ever European tour (see page 40).

While private jets are not traditionally associated with cost cutting, the experts that provide such high-end services expound the benefits that their time machines can de liver in terms of adding dates to busy schedules in our air charter report on page 52.

And for anyone, like me, who needs to get their head around what the metaverse is hoping to do in the live music world, we profile 20 of the operations developing these fu turistic platforms where millions of people have already experienced live performances (page 24).

Elsewhere, Adam Woods puts the German live entertainment business under the microscope and learns about genuine concerns ahead of 2023 (see page 58), while across the border in France, we celebrate 20 years in music for one of my favourite people in the business, Arnaud Meersseman (page 32).

And finally, on the following pages you’ll discover our health and beauty theme for next year’s instalment of ILMC. Excitement over the event is already building here at IQ Towers, where a number of visits to the conference’s new home – the Royal Lancas ter Hotel – have whetted the appetite for what promises to be a bright new era for our beloved gathering. Registration is now open at 35.ilmc.com, and I hope to see every last one of you during the first week of March.

ISSN 2633-0636

AN ILMC PASS INCLUDES...

● Access to all panels, presentations, networking areas, and most events.

● An invitation list restricted to the industry’s top movers and shakers.

● Five-star lunches and tea & coffee breaks.

● Heavily discounted accommodation rates.

● Access to the ILMC Networking Scheme.

● The first-class facilities of a luxurious London hotel.

● The Globetrotters Conference Guide, which includes contact information for

SPA BREAK MADE POSSIBLE BY…

Many of the top companies in the live music business are kindly supporting ILMC’s 2023 industry healthcheck, and we’re especially proud to announce our Platinum Partners, Live Nation and Ticketmaster, who

BURSARY SCHEME

ILMC NETWORKING SCHEME

The ILMC Networking Scheme allows delegates to communicate with each other in advance of the conference in order to pre-arrange meetings.

To take part, please tick the relevant box when registering or contact registration@ilmc.com if you’ve already registered. Once live, registered participants will be sent details of how to access the passwordprotected Networking Scheme area.

The contact details for all delegates will be listed in The Globetrotters Guide (which you will receive upon your arrival at ILMC), but the Networking Scheme is the only way to access each other’s details in advance.

The Alia Dann Swift Bursary Scheme offers a complimentary conference pass and mentoring opportunities to 30 young professionals in 2023, courtesy of ASM Global. The scheme is intended to

DISCUSSION & DEBATE

ILMC's panels and keynotes are unlike any 'normal' conference you've been to. The world's top professionals, and everyone in the room, takes part, and with 40+ sessions, it's a huge programme.

TUESDAY 28 FEBRUARY

GREEN EVENTS & INNOVATIONS CONFERENCE

10:00–18:00

The 15th annual edition of the Green Events and Innovations Conference (GEI) will bring together leaders

WEDNESDAY 1 MARCH

WEDNESDAY NIGHT LIVE

20:00–00:00

It's too early to say much about a major new addition to ILMC's programme, but suffice to say, it'll definitely put the 'live' in International Live Music Conference... Stay tuned for more!

THE WORKING LUNCH

13:00-13:50

ILMC hosts a series of round table working lunches, each dedicated to a different topic with ten delegates per session. Hosted by subject matter experts and with everyone at the table encouraged to be part of the conversation, it’s 50 minutes to enjoy a five-star, sit-down buffet lunch, make new acquaintances, and contribute to the conversation.

Details of topics and table hosts will be announced in the coming weeks. If you are interested in hosting a table, contact: greg@ilmc.com.

Details of this year's schedule will be announced in the coming weeks, but if you have an idea for a speaker or topic, please email greg@ilmc.com.

THURSDAY 2 MARCH

MATCH OF THE YEAR FOOTBALL

19:30–21:30

This annual football match will see the UK pit itself against the rest of the world in a 90-minute display of bravery and epic skill.

Buses will transport players from the Royal Lancaster Hotel to the grounds and back again, allowing every

THE ‘PRIMAL SCREAM KARAOKE’ & ARTHURS AFTER PARTY

22:30-02:30

The ILMC karaoke is always the scene of a multitude of aural sins, all of them against music. Expect some spa-ctacular themed performances by Chakra Khan, Zen Folds Five, Snoopy Doggy Downward Dog, and renditions of Elton John’s Rocket Mantra and Paul Simon’s 50 Ways to Leave Your Loofah

This event always seems to stretch, almost unbearably, into the early hours of Friday morning.

With props and costumes on hand for inspiration, this late-night scene of fun and silliness is not the kind of event you want to miss (unless, of course, you’re sober).

THE ILMC GALA DINNER & ARTHUR AWARDS

FRIDAY 3 MARCH

FUTURES FORUM

10:00–18:00

Futures Forum returns after a two-year hiatus –welcoming live music’s brightest young stars to share their vision for the post-Covid industry. Created and shaped by young professionals, Futures

SCHEDULE

TUESDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2023

09:30–18:00 Private Company Meetings 09:30–18:00 Private Association Meetings 10:00–18:00 Green Events & Innovations Conference 10:00–16:00 The ILMC Association Summit 17:30–19:30 The ‘Mind, Body & Spirits’ Opening Party 18:00–20:00 International AGF Awards 19:00–00:00 Access All Areas Shows

WEDNESDAY 1 MARCH 2023

09:30–11:00 Tranquili-Tea & Coffee Break 10:00–10:30 New Delegates’ Orientation

THURSDAY 2 MARCH 2023

09:30–11:00 The Spiritual-Tea & Coffee Break 10:00–18:00 Conference Sessions 12:30–14:30 The ‘Self-help’ Lunch Buffet 13:30–14:00 Nikos Fund Grand Prize Draw 16:00–17:00 Feld’s Cryotherapy Ice-Cream Break 16:00–19:00 Private Association Meetings 19:00–00:00 Access All Areas Shows 19:30–21:30 Match of the Year Football 19:30–00:00 ILMC’s Gala Dinner & Arthur Awards 22:30–02:30 The ‘Primal Scream’ Karaoke & Arthurs After-Party

FRIDAY 3 MARCH 2023

INDEX IN BRIEF

The concert business digest

Rammstein and MCT Agentur obtain an injunction against secondary ticketing platform Viagogo.

Lyte confirms the acquisition of Festicket and Event Genius assets and pledges to find “ways to reconcile and rebuild with affected promoter clients.”

Yucaipa Companies invests in booking agency Day After Day Productions, which specialises in booking entertainment for casinos, fairs, city events, theatres, PACs and corporate entities.

Driift acquires technology and sales platform Dreamstage after Deezer pumps an additional £4m (€5m) in funding to the livestreaming business.

Wireless Festival plans expansion to Abu Dhabi in 2023, bringing its blend of hip-hop, grime, Afrobeats and electronic music to the UAE capital on 4 March.

Arcadia Live details a new open-air concert series in 2023, featuring artists including Florence + the Machine.

Ed Sheeran announces details for the North American leg of his + –= ÷ x (Mathematics) tour.

Coldplay postpone a string of Brazilian tour dates until early 2023 after front man Chris Martin contracts a serious lung infection.

Untitled Group restructures its booking team as it expands to Asia Pacific and Europe.

Middle East promoter Thomas Ovesen shares ambitions for his new Dubai-headquartered venture, TOP Entertainment.

AEG Presents subsidiary Concerts West appoints Jesse Stoll as VP of touring.

CAA takes a minority stake in private music publishing and talent management company Primary Wave.

AEG Presents UK chief Steve Homer preaches caution for the live business in 2023 following a year of ups and downs.

Liverpool wins the race to host the 67th Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine.

The Formula One Singapore Grand Prix post-race concerts attract the country’s biggest crowds for music since before the pandemic.

Goldenvoice and Coachella sue Ghana’s Afrochella for copyright infringement.

Blink-182 announce their biggestever tour, spanning 70 dates across Latin America, North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

Ticketmaster launches its Ticketmaster Request tool in the UK with a run of shows by Four Tet in partnership with promoter Eat Your Own Ears.

A slate of artists cap the prices of their tickets and merchandise in a bid to help fans in the UK weather the cost-of-living crisis.

CAA promotes Jenna Park Adler to co-head of its global hip-hop/R&B touring group, alongside current head Mark Cheatham.

Mike Malak (Wasserman Music, Coldpress Music) and Tommas Arnby (Locomotion) join forces for a new company dedicated to artist and producer/songwriter development.

Andrea Bocelli sues an air charter company for breach of contract over the plane it provided for part of his 2021 North American tour.

Germany’s live industry says it will not be able to cope with new challenges, such as skyrocketing energy prices, if the government does not provide further financial aid.

The shortlist of nominees is unveiled for the inaugural LIVE Awards, which will take place at The Brewery in London on Tuesday 13 December.

Former National Arenas Association chair Lucy Noble departs the Royal Albert Hall to become AEG Presents’ first-ever artistic director.

Germany’s federal government announces plans to repurpose the remainder of its €2.5bn event cancellation fund to help cultural institutions weather the energy crisis.

Two people are shot after a fight breaks out at an Asian Doll concert at a college homecoming in North Carolina.

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

CURRENCY FLUCTUATION WOES CONCERN PROMOTERS

The volatility of the pound is having a significant impact on international touring according to top UK promoters.

The pound hit a record low against the dollar in the wake of then Brit ish chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget in September and has continued on a tumultuous trajecto ry ever since, with Goldman Sachs analyst Michael Cahill describing its prospects as “better but not good” in the wake of Rishi Su nak’s appointment as PM.

US artists including Animal Collective have cancelled tours, in part, due to currency deval uation.

“One of the biggest things that’s causing us concern is the pound-to-dollar rate at the mo ment,” AEG Presents UK chief Steve Homer tells IQ. “We were almost on parity, which has not been something we’ve been familiar with for a long, long time. And it’s really biting in terms of artists touring over here – it becomes far more expensive for them to do it, and it’ll be interest ing to see how that impacts going forward.”

Kilimanjaro Live CEO Stuart Galbraith stresses that the issue is not limited to the UK.

“The dollar is strong against most currencies in the world at the moment, so it’s probably an issue in Europe generally,” he notes. “But anyone that is incurring costs in dollars and getting paid in sterling, in particular, is going to struggle.”

Galbraith says that even though a large pro

portion of Kilimanjaro’s business is domestic, the firm is still seeing the effects of the poundto-dollar slump.

“Acts from America are telling us that they cannot afford to tour in Europe. We’ve certainly lost a couple of isolated shows in the last three or four months, and we had a couple of tours that we were about to go on sale with, but we’ve now been told the artist isn’t coming to the continent.

“Some acts will have put together budgets earlier on in the year when they were expecting they’d get a $1.30/40 for every pound. If they’re now redoing those budgets on an almost parity basis, then you can absolutely understand why they’re not able to balance the books and go through with the tour.”

Galbraith says there are two possible shortterm solutions for American artists: incur as many costs as possible in local currency and minimise the exposure to dollar expenditure or reduce the scale of the show and do it on a more cost-effective basis.

“It comes down to whether a US artist is able to use crew and suppliers that are UK- and Eu rope-based, instead of bringing staff and equip ment from the US – which is all going to be paid for in dollars – and incurring transatlantic flights, which are now extremely expensive in comparison to pre-Covid times,” he adds.

Richard Buck, head of European touring and Middle East partnerships at TEG Europe, warns that offers made in US dollars may need to be adjusted or even pushed back if the currency is not prebooked.

“Also, for artists who are paid in pound ster ling, it becomes less attractive to visit the market, as their potential return can diminish by around 20% versus the original forecast,” he adds. “Any multi-territory deal that has been made in USD is now harder to sell into territories as the return is harder to achieve. However, those already sold into markets such as the Middle East, where the primary artist currency is USD, may benefit from the improved conversion.”

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

“It comes down to whether a US artist is able to use crew and suppliers that are UK- and Europe-based, instead of bringing staff and equipment from the US”

Stuart Galbraith | CEO, Kilimanjaro Live

Though the Covid crisis brought several ongoing challenges, the hiatus of events also gave space for many of us to carefully assess our businesses’ models to try and find ways to innovate and improve for when cus tomers returned.

One area we felt we needed to focus on, was the barriers that venues and customers often face around ticket delivery, which is especially prevalent in the UK’s allocational venue model, making it difficult for venues and concertgoers to mi grate to a completely digital experience and negating the need for hard stock tickets. The nature of the UK concert industry means that allocations for even one music venue can be split across various ticket agents, with a vast percentage of tickets being printed, then sent on long courier jour neys around the country, resulting in multiple concerns – from delays to delivery to those of an environmental nature. AXS and its ven ue partners agreed that there had to be a better option, for fans and artists who care as much about sustainability and consumer experience as we do.

In early 2019, we launched our new mobile ticket AXS Mo bile ID, overseeing its implementation in two of our highest profile UK venue partners – The O2 and OVO Arena Wemb ley. AXS Mobile ID introduced a mobile ticket with a genu ine rotating barcode, linked to a fan’s identity, that refreshes every 59 seconds.

We recognise the need for fans to be able to transfer or sell tickets, either to friends and family or to other fans when they can no longer attend a show. That’s why AXS Mobile ID has integrated functionality allowing ticket holders to either transfer tickets peer-to-peer or relist them, capped at 10% above the original purchase price, on AXS Official Resale, providing a fair priced, secure resale ticket option to the ven ue’s customers.

All positive steps. However, a percentage of people still came to the venues with hard stock or e-tickets sold by com peting ticketing companies working in conjunction with a show’s promoter. Such tickets could easily be sold on sec

ondary sites leading to negative fan experiences, such as un fulfilled or even fraudulently issued tickets. We realised that what we had done so far was only solving part of the problem, and we needed to bring all parties together to fully fix it.

The key to finding this fix has been teamwork – with our venue partners and also our competitors in the ticketing space. To make a venue 100% digital, we needed to ensure everyone was working together. As such, we took the step of opening up our API to our competitors and worked on rigorous data-shar ing agreements to ensure the safety of customers’ details. Thanks to the newly forged third-party integra tions, customers who purchase from allocation al agents now receive and access their tickets through the venue’s own mobile app – instant ly removing the need for duplicates, postage, or separate queues on show night. This is a global first in wider industry relations and technological integration, and in positive green news, the integration of one company alone is projected to save over 27kg of CO2 per year.

As the country came out of Covid restrictions, we tested this new technology on one of the first returning shows at The O2 – 17,000 people who purchased across different tick eting agents were seamlessly scanned into the venue through the venue’s app. Furthermore, within six months, the venue had distributed 200,000 digital tickets, with an additional 80,000 moved from paper stock to digital for The O2 premi um ticket holders in the same period.

As we look to the future, we see venues across the UK mov ing to a 100% digital model, helping them become contactless and gaining a greater understanding of who is at their venue on a show night.

This award-winning AXS third-party integration system is great for our clients but also the companies we’ve integrated with. It’s made us greener, cut down on hard stock, and made our customers happier with a much easier and safer experi ence on event day.

It just shows what we can do when we work together to put customers first!

“It’s made us greener, cut down on hard stock, and made our customers happier”

Paul Newman | AXS director of ticketing

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

DecentRaland

Touting itself as “the first fully decentralised virtual world,” Decen traland’s remit from day one was to hand over control to the people who create and play in its virtual space. Through its DAO (Decentralised Au tonomous Organisation), users are in control of the policies created to determine how this VR world behaves: for example, what kinds of wear able items are allowed, moderation of content, land policy and auctions, among others. The organisation has a calendar of music events, including the DCL Music Metaverse Festival on 10 November. Decentraland.org

AmA zeVR

AmazeVR claims to be “ushering in the next stage of music.” Through its pro prietary camera technology and software, the company produces virtual reality (VR) concerts, creating entirely new musical experiences that bring fans closer to artists than ever before.

Most fans of music don’t have the luxury of seeing their favourite artists in concert for a myriad of reasons – schedule conflicts, geographic location, or financial burden, to name a few. However, AmazeVR concerts offer the im mersive experience of seeing your favourite artist up close and personal, even from home. The company’s goal is to allow fans to be able to experience their favourite artists anytime, anywhere.

The platform captivated fans earlier this year with the first-ever VR concert tour featuring Megan Thee Stallion in her Enter Thee Hottieverse tour across 15 major cities in the US with over 15,000 concertgoers. Moving forward, these VR concerts will be accessible online, and the developers envision them be coming a key component of all artists’ release strategies and album rollouts, setting a new paradigm for both artists and their fans beyond the existing live, in-person concerts.

With the VR market topping nearly 15 million active users in the Meta Quest ecosystem alone, artists can expect even more diverse opportunities to reach their fans via VR and the metaverse and build their brand through ex clusive online interactive events, digital merchandising, and revenue sharing from VR app marketplace activity.

AmazeVR is preparing to launch its music metaverse service across all major VR app stores in the first half of 2023 with a line-up of established and emerging artists, both from the US and Korea (through the company’s joint venture with K-pop giant SM Entertainment), including, again, Megan Thee Stallion. Amazevr.com

AmazeVR partnered with Megan Thee Stallion for her Enter the Hottieverse

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

Technology companies around the world are investing incredible amounts of money to develop engaging virtual reality worlds in the metaverse, and many have identified live music performance as integral to their plans. Here, IQ profiles 20 companies to keep an eye on as live concerts in the metaverse become more common.

project

Arnaud Meersseman’s 20 years in music

MONSIEUR MUSIQUE

A master’s degree in foreign affairs isn’t necessarily a traditional route into the live music business, but perhaps it should be as it delivered Arnaud Meersseman to the industry. Gordon Masson speaks to the AEG Presents France chief as he celebrates his 20th anniversary in music and looks back on the life-changing events of Bataclan in 2015.

Born in the southern French city of Montpellier, Arnaud Meersseman had something of a nomadic upbring ing. “My father worked in computers and changed companies all the time, so at first we lived in Montpellier be fore moving to Geneva for two years, then two years in San Francisco,” he recalls. “Then it was one year in Amsterdam, two in Lyon, and then two years in Boston. And then I moved back to France because I didn’t want to live in the States anymore.”

With such an international background, Ar naud’s decision to pursue a career as a diplomat seemed natural and that career path seemed assured when he was accepted into the prestig ious Sciences Po university in Lyon. “Sciences Po schools get you into high-level public office, and the one in Lyon specialises in foreign affairs, which is what I wanted to do,” he explains. How ever, his love for music found him running a stu dent radio show, and the lure of the ministry of foreign affairs was swiftly replaced by a desire to find a career in music. “With hindsight, it seems

like the same thing, now,” he laughs.

“At the end of my second year, we had to find a three-month internship. My girlfriend at the time’s mother was a physiotherapist and looked after a French rapper who was signed to Pi-Pole in Montpellier, and that’s how I got my foot in the door. I engineered a meeting with Pi-Pole’s founder, Pascal Sanchez, and I interned over summer 2002. The following year I needed a six-month internship and Pascal took me back. After that, he hired me.”

P-Pole chief Sanchez recalls, “Arnaud was studying political science, so from our first meet ing we talked about Daft Punk and The Cramps, but also about Chirac who was our lazy french president then. In fact, I found it fascinating.”

Determined to finish his degree, Arnaud used his diplomatic skills to persuade both Sciences Po and his new employer to bend the rules. “It was a bit complicated, but the univer sity was pretty accommodating – they put all my classes on the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Midday Wednesday, I’d go to work at Pi-Pole. But I’d also worked during classes and did classes

during work. It was hectic, but I finished school and kept my job.”

Working at Pi-Pole with Sanchez changed Ar naud’s life. “Pascal has a great ear and he’s an amazing A&R guy, so he taught me how to lis ten to stuff,” he says of his former boss for whom he promoted numerous electronic artists before gradually introducing acts like The Rapture, MGMT, LCD Soundsystem, and TV On The Ra dio to the Pi-Pole roster.

Sanchez believes Meersseman’s curiosity was a major factor in his evolution as a promoter. “As I don’t really have the sense or the patience for management, Arnaud was responsible for his own development,” notes Sanchez. “I helped him a little by giving him work with interna tional bands. That allowed him to work with UK agents, but as he was the only French promoter to speak English, things came easily.”

Still a firm friend of his former employee, Sanchez adds, “I’m proud to see how far he’s come. He has proved that one can be at the head of AEG while being a fan of music and without having studied economics.”

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

City of Lights

After six years at Pi-Pole, Arnaud got itchy feet, and the bright lights of the French capital caught his imagination. “I just got really bored, and I wanted to go to Paris.”

Having discussed options with the likes of the late Gérard Drouot and Sarah Jane Richardson, Arnaud eventually met Nous Productions chief Salomon Hazot. “In terms of his roster, I felt more in place with Salomon, who also had Rock en Seine, and that made up my mind: I quit Pi-

Pole and moved to Paris in March 2010.”

It wasn’t all plain sailing, however. Loyalty is a key element of Meersseman’s persona, and his relocation to Paris involved a significant step back. “Salomon wanted me to bring my Pi-Pole bands with me, but I did not want to do that to Pascal, so I started again from scratch.”

That fractious start set the tone for the rela tionship between Meersseman and Hazot. “Salo mon is an amazing businessman, and he taught me how to do business. But at Nous, I basically

started without a roster, so I don’t think he was very happy with me at first.”

That situation quickly changed. Among some of the early additions to Arnaud’s Nous Produc tions roster were Lana Del Rey, The Weeknd, and Major Lazer. “I was doing all of James Ru bin’s stuff like A$AP Rocky, Joey Bada$$, Run The Jewels, and Wiz Khalifa. So I really started expanding out of indie rock and electronic mu sic into more generalist stuff.”

Arnaud’s knowledge also grew in other areas.

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

The Cure are no ordinary band, and as their current tour attests, their popularity 40-plus years into their career just continues to grow. But organising the biggest European tour in their history in the midst of a global pandemic was no picnic, as Gordon Masson discovers.

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

The Cure played the first of seven German dates at Barclays Arena in Hamburg on 16 October © Thorsten Samesch | ToddeVision.de

FLIGHTS OF

They’re the time machines that historically have made A-lister international touring possible, but as James Hanley finds out, the use of private jets is becoming more commonplace among acts of all sizes amidst concerns over Covid and festival schedules that require something faster than ground transport.

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

FEDERAL RESERVE

Every year for more than three decades, German in surance company R+V Ver sicherung has been asking Germans about their wor ries. And this year’s survey, published in October, re vealed that they have a lot of them, from the rising cost of living to unaffordable housing to the fear of rising taxes and the worsening eco nomic situation.

“Overall,” said study leader Grischa Brower-Rabinowitsch, “peo ple are significantly more worried than they were a year ago.”

None of this will surprise Ger man promoters, who, even in this jam-packed catch-up year, have been well aware that something was up.

Scarred by Covid, hammered by inflation, and gloomy about the imminent future, Germans are in creasingly inclined to stay at home and keep their money in their pockets – maybe coming out for a big show or a festival but otherwise seemingly directing their leisure budgets towards Netflix and heat ing bills.

The business is therefore feeling discomfort on several fronts. Jens Michow, president of the Federal Association of the Concert and Event Industry (BDKV), recently called for more government aid to

cover increased energy costs, as ven ues reported huge increases in their own bills.

Saddled with galloping costs, supply shortages, perilously var iable demand, and the persistent spectre of fresh winter Covid re strictions, many promoters are beginning to wonder whether the business is sustainable at this level for long.

“It’s shit,” says MCT Agentur’s Scumeck Sabottka. “I mean, in the pandemic, we couldn’t work, and of course there was no business. But speaking for myself, we would never have thought the market would be so disastrous when we returned. And that goes equally for small clubs that should sell out but don’t, to venues that ought to sell 4,000 and end up selling 1,200. My guesstimate is that we are running at lower than 50%.

“The really big and hot things still sell,” adds the Rammstein and Robbie Williams promoter, “but the middle bit is really struggling. And that is the important bit because we don’t just live on cake, we live on bread. And all the bread is gone.”

The pattern is one familiar to many markets: big shows guzzle con sumer spending, giving a very tangi ble impression of a market in rude health, but the greater mass of shows

– those that form the fabric of the business, not to mention the pipeline of future stars – are often troublingly hard to make a success of.

“All the stadiums in Germany are super-busy in all the available windows. Everything is booked up,” says Ben Mitha, managing di rector at veteran Hamburg-based indie Karsten Jahnke Konzertdi rektion. “It’s weird because, on the one hand, if you only look at all the sold-out shows, it feels like everything is okay. But then, for every big sell-out, you might have ten or 20 smaller shows that are not doing very well.”

But, though all is not entirely well, Germany remains the largest live music market in Europe and the third biggest in the world. In ad dition to heavy gig-going cities such as Berlin, Cologne, Munich, Ham burg, and Frankfurt, it has a further 35 cities with populations of around 200,000-plus and plenty of shows

and local events in most of them.

To some extent, the post-pan demic months have been a suc cess. The bigger domestic and international shows have broadly performed well, and most of the larger festivals have made a fairly safe landing in the new era. Groups such as CTS Eventim and DEAG, meanwhile, have reported H1 2022 revenues higher than those of the same period in 2019. But in the short- to medium-term, the overall pot seems likely to shrink even as the cost of staging shows increases and profitability declines.

Under such challenging circum stances, says Sina Hall, Semmel Concerts senior project manager, entertainment, it is critical that the international industry adopts a pol icy of honesty and understanding when deals are being done.

“I think it is about being trans parent and aligning our expec tations with everyone involved,”

As the biggest live music market in Europe, Germany suffered more than most when it came to two years without international tours. But while the return to business has been welcomed, the post-Covid ‘new normal’ is delivering a new set of challenges, making an already cautious market even more wary. Adam Woods reports.

“If all you’re doing is putting up posters for shows the market has seen many times before, things aren’t going to sell”

Max Wentzler | Z|ART Agency

says Hall. “It can’t be that domes tic promoters are taking on the increased costs of touring on top of everything. And I feel like a lot of conversations with agents have changed in that way. We all need each other in the future, and it is the responsibility of everyone in the industry to understand the po sition everyone else is in.”

Already, the shape of next year’s calendar appears to be shifting. “It used to be you did a regular indoor tour in the spring, then a strong festival summer and then maybe a second tour in the autumn,” says Mitha. “Now a lot of artists are skip ping the indoor touring and just trying to squeeze as much as they can into the summer because it’s the safest period in terms of infections.”

There is no doubt that aspects of the German industry will still draw a crowd in 2023. The question

is what proportion of shows will struggle and whether there will be much of a profit to be made in even the successful ones.

“Will it be a fantastic year?” ponders FKP Scorpio CEO Stephan Thanscheidt. “I have my doubts. It surely won’t kill us, but it won’t be the best year. And then again, maybe the war ends, everything normalises and the people’s pur chasing power rises again. It’s all just completely out of our control.”

Promoters

International operators including CTS Eventim, FKP Scorpio, and DEAG all call Germany home. And at the top of the market, concern for the immediate future mixes with bullishness, as big players make the most of the demand un leashed by the unrestricted reo pening of the market in May while

acknowledging that treacherous times lie ahead.

“I think Germany might be one of the weaker European markets because the energy crisis is particu larly severe here,” says DEAG COO/ CDO Christian Diekmann. “But we are in a good mood because we are in the middle of a very strong year. In the first half of 2022, we increased our revenues by 110%, from €63.9m to €133.4m. And that’s not com pared to ’21 or ’20 but compared to the last regular year of 2019.”

After Germany’s May restart, DEAG sold more than 3m tickets between June and August 2022, while Diekmann attributes a successful Christmas last year to DEAG’s Christmas Garden series of events, which sold 1.9m tickets as 2021 drew to an end.

“That was a very good start to ’22,” he says. “Like all of our com

petitors, we have the problem of the lack of material, the lack of staff, the increasing costs. But the strength of our group structure means all of our subsidiaries can combine purchases in every seg ment, and we have been in a posi tion to get everything we need for every concert and every open-air this year.”

DEAG, which includes promot ers including Frankfurt’s Wizard Promotions and the UK’s Kiliman jaro Live among its stable, isn’t pre tending to be immune from mar ket turbulence.

“For 2023, we are very, very care ful,” says Diekmann. “Of course, we have exploding expenditure in every field of the business. We have the energy crisis, we have the infla tion, and the majority of econom ic forecasters expect a very strong economic dip. That is the situation.

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

Böhse Onkelz were one of many acts to make use of Deutsche Bank Park stadium in Frankfurt this year

2021, which finally happened this year,” explains Eintracht Frankfurt Stadion managing director Patrik Meyer. “We were able to add quite a lot of new shows as well, and we are very proud that we were part of the development of the first KPOP.FLEX Festival in a European stadium.”

Looking ahead, Meyer adds, “2023 looks even better than 2022. The bookings for next year are very good, and we will continue projects like KPOP, World Club Dome and Monster Jam. In 2023, we will also act as promoter for three shows, and we will be hosting an NFL game in November – a project we won through a tough tender pro cess and are very delighted about.”

neither an arena specially designed for concerts and live shows, nor an indoor location with a capacity of up to 20,000 guests,” SWMunich managing director Lorenz Schmid told IQ in the summer. “We are closing this gap… at a time of in creasing demand.”

There is movement elsewhere in the market, too. Berlin’s 4,350-cap Verti Music Hall, which launched in AEG’s mixed-use entertainment district Mercedes Platz barely a year before the pandemic kicked in, is once again up and running, with shows this summer from Jack White, Deftones, Lukas Graham, Franz Ferdinand, and Bastille.

ance as well as streaming numbers, with the full festival being broad cast live in its entirety for the first time, so that felt great. We are cur rently finalising the programming for next year’s edition of the Rocks where we just announced approxi mately 50 acts.”

It’s been four years since IQ’s agony aunt, Alex Hardee, last shared his wisdom with those in need of guidance. But navigating through the trickiest period in the live music industry’s history has brought with it multiple challenges around the world. So it’s time once again for Auntie Alex to dispense some sage-like advice…

acts including Sting, Van Morrison, and John Legend – some of whom had been booked for the cancelled 2020 event.

Germany’s busiest arenas in clude Munich’s Olympiahalle, the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Ham burg’s Barclays Arena, Quarterback Immobilien Arena in Leipzig, and Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin.

Meanwhile, another modest sil ver lining of the pandemic has been the emergence of a new generation of outdoor venues, some of which live on in (more or less) post-pan demic times.

Bavaria-based developer SWMu nich Real Estate continues to plan the 20,000-cap, €300m MUCcc Arena in Munich – optionally Ger many’s first climate-neutral arena – which is expected to open within the next five years.

Dear Aunty Alex

Karsten Jahnke’s successes this year include shows by The Cure and 170,000 tickets sold for 49 shows in its Stadtpark Open Air series, in Hamburg’s park of the same name. “That was a really good season for us,” says Mitha. “Lots of legends –Deep Purple, Sting, Joe Jackson – and some really interesting upand-coming artists like Michael Ki wanuka and Olivia Rodrigo.”

Next year, says festival head Jür gen Schlensog, the aim is 50,000, and there is reason to be optimis tic on the commercial front. “We have been able to improve our sponsorship income by about 20%, which is remarkable because spon sorship is not getting easier these days,” he says.

I had set up a contactless payment system for my festival, which was postponed from 2020 to 2021 and postponed again until this year. It seems that lots of people forgot about their balances on the system. How long, morally, do you think I should allow people to retrieve the funds before I rein vest them into the festival?

“In the Munich region, there is

It’s a simple answer – but I don’t know the full facts. What is bigger? Your bonus, your wage difference on your new income, or the amount of maintenance needed in your garden? You work it out. Next…

“There’s a lot of really interest ing concepts and new open-air ven ues that came out of the pandemic,” says Hall. “I like the Seebühne in Bremen. It’s a lovely setting right by the harbour, and when you look at the stage, you have the sunset and the water in the background.”

Dear Aunty Alex

CONTRIBUTORS

French Festival Financier

Dear Aunty Alex

In October, DEAG acquired a majority stake in the renowned Psytrance/Goa Festival Indian Spirit, which has been held in Eldena, near Ludwigslust in Mecklenburg-West ern Pomerania, since 1999.

The Jazzopen, which is both cashless and carbon-neutral, ploughs its own furrow in the Ger man market. “In Germany, we are quite lonely because the format we run is quite unique – we run an 11day festival, which is obviously very different from weekend festivals.”

They say finding a hobby is a great way to un wind, but I’m finding it tricky to find something that doesn’t take up too much time. What activ ities would you recommend to someone whose schedule is already packed?

Haunted Hobbyist

Venues

The correct answer is why haven’t you done so al ready, and think of the double bonus of all that lovely interest you will make now that the world is bankrupt.

During the pandemic, one of the very few pos itives was that we all enjoyed a better life/work balance and everyone said this would become the new norm when Covid was over. I haven’t had a day off since May and I’m knackered. How do I reintroduce ‘life’ to my work imbalance?

Irish

The real downside to the current bunch of clowns that we have in power in the UK and the state that they have got our country into, is that I can’t even make my customary French joke at this point. Next…

Dear Aunty Alex

Among its portfolio of more than 30 European multiday and one-day festivals, the group already owns German electronic events Nature One, Mayday, Ruhr-in-Love and Airbeat One. The last of these –the largest electronic music festival in Northern Germany, with 60,000 visitors – DEAG acquired in July.

My employer has just been bought by an organi sation I don’t want to work for. What would you do: wait for your annual bonus in April or start your six-month gardening leave now so you can start a new job around the same time?

Perplexed Professional

In a different corner of the mar ket, Opus’s Stuttgart Jazzopen, which fits 58 shows into 11 days in July, sold 44,000 tickets this year for

upside of Germany’s top-heavy market is that bigger venues played out of their skin this summer. The Waldstadion, currently known as the Deutsche Bank Park, home of German football club Eintracht Frankfurt, had its best summer ever with 18 concerts – more than any other stadium in Europe, and including shows by Coldplay (two), Ed Sheeran (three), Iron Maiden, and Elton John – drawing com bined crowds of 800,000.

Insomniac

“Summer 2022 benefited from postponed shows from 2020 and

They say the harder you work, the more luck you have. This is absolute rubbish. I have worked so hard I have never had time to buy a lottery ticket, let alone win it. What we need to do is learn a lesson from our Eu ropean colleagues – who have a much better work/ life balance. Just take all of August off as holiday. And when anyone asks for ticket counts, contract ing details, artwork, or any such trivial matters, just don’t care. Just put an out-of-office message that says: “We are now closed until 1st of September. For any thing urgent, well, actually let’s hope there is nothing urgent.” Au revoir.

My hobby has always been the study of Ethiopian snails. I raced two of them once, and I thought I would take the shell off one to help with wind resist ance but it had the opposite effect – it became a little sluggish. Next…

Dear Aunty Alex

My festival finally took place this summer after a two-year break, but the audiences were really unruly and badly behaved. What’s up with the youth of today?

Outraged Operations Head

Here is a good example of what is wrong with the youth of today. Last week, I got a letter from a par ent who said his daughter would like to do internship

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

“It’s weird because, on the one hand, if you only look at all the sold-out shows, it feels like everything is okay”

Ben Mitha | Karsten Jahnke Konzertdirektion

FKP Scorpio hosted Rise Against among numerous other acts at Hurricane Festival 2022

there a knack to it?

Payday Pursuer

There are two ways of doing this:

Case A: Build a well-run company with a progressive EBITDA that shows growth. Have good accounting that shows that over, say, a five-year period you have shown a good increase in market share. Settle on a sensible multiple of EBITDA – maybe 8-12 – to get a valuation. Then sell 50% with an earn-out at a fixed multiple if you hit certain targets within 3-5 years.

Case B: Start a tech company.

Step 1. Think of a tech idea Let me do a walk-through example: a ticket company that sells artist-led travel experiences. The tech can book the travel and the tickets for the shows. Or, as we used to call it in the old days, a ticket company and a travel agent. Except, here’s the new twist: the app can’t even book the flights; just the hotels.

Step 2. Get a good PowerPoint presentation and a twat who can talk a good game. Visit hedge funds, venture capitalists, pension companies, high-worth individuals. Put a valuation of £100m on your start up. Make sure that the final PowerPoint slide is either

● Do poach talented people from other companies and give them ridiculous titles like senior vice –global – European marketing exec.

● Do hire private jets to have pointless meetings to explain how you will have massive growth with out generating any revenue.

● Do mention NFTs at every opportunity. If you are the CEO make sure you have the largest corner office with at least two sofas and an Eames lounge chair with an ottoman – no one will sit on these ever apart from your own staff members.

Step 4. IPO or declare first year accounts.

Step 5. Go into administration.

Step 6. Allow all companies who followed Case A to sort out the mess and destruction you have left behind.

Dear Aunty Alex

I heard a rumour that agents are still being nice to promoters post-Covid. Is it true?

Vexed Venue Chief

I am not sure. The secret is not to be too nice or too mean. The agent/promoter relationship is a symbiotic

at home with my slippers on watching daytime TV. Do we really have to go back to our desks

You can work from home and still have a job. But if