IQ Magazine issue 31

Live Music Intelligence An ILMC Publication. Sept 2010, Issue 31

Security Measured

Just how safe are our gigs?

Scorpio Rising Folkert Koopmans takes stock

Coming Up Down Under

Australia and New Zealand profiled

The Middle Grounds Mid-sized venues weigh in

The Not So Secret Agent: Tom Windish The Flight to Meaningful: Panos Panay A Tale of Isolation: Grimur Atlason Opening Showcase: Paul Cheetham

Issue 31, Sept 2010

Contents

News 6 In Brief The main headlines over the last two months 7 In Depth Key stories from around the live music world

Features

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14 Security Measured Crowd management industry surveyed 22 The New Bosses 2010 Ten future industry leaders revealed 26 On Top Down Under Australia and New Zealand market focus 38 Scorpio Rising Folkert Koopmans’ agency hits the big 2.0.

Cover Story

50 The Middle Grounds Mid-sized venues punch above their weight

Comments and Columns 10 The Flight to Meaningful Panos Panay on live music as a tool for rebellion

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11 The Not-So-Secret Agent Tom Windish reflects on the role of today’s agent 12 A Tale of Isolation Grimur Atlason offers a potted Icelandic cultural history 13 Opening Showcase Paul Cheetham on being asked to take over Popkomm

38 50

56 In Focus Out and about at festivals all over Europe this summer 57 Insight Veteran agent John Jackson on Sonisphere’s success 58 Your Shout Forget the new boss, what about the old one...?

Editorial

Comedic Effect

The silly season isn’t quite as funny this year, writes Greg Parmley...

THE ILMC JOURNAL Live music intelligence Issue 31, September 2010 IQ Magazine 2-4 Prowse Place, London, NW1 9PH, UK info@iq-mag.net www.iq-mag.net Tel: +44 (0)20 7284 5867 Fax: +44 (0)20 7284 1870 Publisher ILMC and M4 Media Editor Greg Parmley Associate Editor Allan McGowan Marketing & Advertising Manager Terry McNally Sub Editor Michael Muldoon Production Assistant Adam Milton Editorial Assistant Joanna Gardner Contributors Grimur Atlason, Lars Brandle, Paul Cheetham, Panos Panay, Manfred Tari, Tom Windish & Adam Woods.

Editorial Contact Greg Parmley, greg@iq-mag.net Tel: +44 (0)20 7284 5867 Advertising Contact Terry McNally, terry@iq-mag.net Tel: +44 (0)20 7284 5867 Design & Production Martin Hughes, Dan Moe enquiries@oysterstudios.com www.oysterstudios.com Cover photo © Sarah Jurado sarahjurado.com

W

hat is traditionally known as the silly season turned out to be not quite so comical this year, as proof of an industry downturn came just weeks from news of one of the largest ever recorded crowd crushes in Europe.

While the festival season got into full swing, Pollstar’s mid-year figures were causing many to pause and take stock. The top 100 North American tours were down 17% on last year, with grosses comparable to 2005 levels. And outside of America, many tours are suffering a similar fate, with some agents reportedly considering ticket sales on shows that are 30% below last year, a success.

Whether it’s the recession finally kicking in, ticket prices plateauing, or acts simply overplaying markets in an attempt to claw back lost income from record sales, there’s plenty of speculation out there.

It’s likely that it’s a combination of all three elements. Not every slump-busting idea will have longterm benefits for the industry, and there is concern in some quarters that discounting of shows in the US is causing consumers to simply hold onto their dollars and wait for last minute bargains. But the raft of new initiatives, which have emerged over the last few months, at least show that the industry is responding proactively to the dip.

This issue, we take a long, hard look at the crowd management sector (page 14), having surveyed 50 specialist companies in 22 countries. The research was planned before the recent tragedy at the Love Parade in Germany, but the very sad accident on 24 July makes the feature even more pertinent. Professional promoters across Germany and beyond have expressed dismay at the situation, which shows that while the majority of the industry can set, adhere to and even exceed safety standards, it only takes one inexperienced or ill-timed operation to endanger the reputation and work of the rest.

Elsewhere in this issue, we publish our New Boss list for 2010 (p22) where we reveal another new crop of fresh faces and future industry leaders. It’s another fascinating list and an interesting read for sure. With the recent arrival of Live Nation in Australia, we thought it would be rude not to report on the market Down Under (p26), and we have a special profile on Folkert Koopmans and his festival-busting outfit, FKP Scorpio (p38). That and a look at the ‘workhorses’ of the live world – the mid-range venues – and this is (hopefully) an issue that will keep you busy long after the warm weather wanes. Enjoy!

To subscribe to IQ Magazine: +44 (0)20 7284 5867 info@iq-mag.net Annual subscription to IQ is £50 (€60) for 6 issues.

News

In Brief...

Below: Lilith Fair’s bill included Mary J Blige Below Right: Rolling Stones Top Right: Vijay Nair Far Below Right: The Auditorium at CCD

The traditionally slow summer months still threw up their fair share of headlines this period, while the 2010 mid-point figures confirmed some worrying trends…

June

• The Nederlander Organization files suit against Michael Jackson’s estate over a contract that gave the theatre producer rights to a Broadway show on the musician’s life.

• The US Department of Justice dismisses final objections by independent promoters and 16 states to the Live Nation/ Ticketmaster merger.

• Las Vegas businessman Bob Cayne is appointed to run the new Live Nation office in the city.

• Stevie Wonder wraps up Glastonbury Festival with a rendition of Happy Birthday as the 177,000-capacity event celebrates its 40th anniversary with blazing sunshine and a sell-out crowd.

• Troubled Swedish festival Hultsfred is cancelled in advance of its 7-9 July dates, and organisers Rockparty file for bankruptcy.

at the Lucky Star Casino in Concho, Oklahoma, before a Peter Frampton show, injuring five people.

• AEG closes its Middle East branch and announces that its office in Stockholm will also close, while it looks to retain local strategic partnerships instead.

• Mid-year business figures by Pollstar report a 17% drop in the value of the top 100 tours over the same period last year.

• Live Nation stock drops 16% in real time during an investors’ presentation that announces a 12% drop in ticket sales for the first half of the year.

July

• Women’s US touring festival Lilith Fair cancels ten dates due to soft ticket sales.

Cancelled shows include Austin, Dallas and Montreal.

• The 15th Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium attracts 130,000 hard rock fans over three days to see Aerosmith, Kiss and Motorhead among others.

• Venue manager AEG Ogden is confirmed to run the 15,000capacity Perth Arena when it opens in April 2012.

• Ticket giant CTS Eventim buys See Tickets Germany and Ticket Online Group for €145million and secures exclusive ticketing rights to all Stage Entertainment Germany shows.

• Italian promoter Claudio Trotta is cleared of charges of disturbing the peace after Bruce Springsteen overran a curfew at Milan’s San Siro stadium last year.

• High winds cause a tent to collapse

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• French promoter Salamon Hazot sells his Paris-based company Nous Productions to Warner France.

• Numbers at Spain’s Benicassim festival are down 30% on 2009, with numbers of international visitors dropping by half, according to Pollstar.

• Bono’s back injury, which caused many of the U2 tour dates to be rescheduled, cost $17m (€13m), according to Insurance Insider magazine.

• Axl Rose and Irving Azoff head to court after Azoff’s claim for $1.8m (€1.4m) in unpaid management

commission is countered by Rose who claims negligence.

• The European Talent Exchange Programme confirms it has generated 156 bookings at festivals over the summer, slightly down on the 200 shows in 2009.

• 21 die and over 500 are injured at the Love Parade festival in Duisberg, Germany, when panic breaks out in an entrance/exit tunnel to the event.

August

• A 26-year-old male collapses and dies at the Kansas City leg of the Warped Tour in temperatures topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit, sparking a debate about water availability at the site.

• During its UK leg at Knebworth Park, multi-date travelling hard rock festival Sonisphere sells its millionth ticket of the summer.

• Elissa Murtaza retires as head of Live Nation Middle East in Dubai, and is replaced by Canadian operations officer Tyler Mervyn.

• Veteran agent Brett Murrihy of Premier Harbour Agency launches a new company, Artist Voice, with Michael Gudinski’s Mushroom Group.

• Singer Wyclef Jean confirms that he will run for president of Haiti.

• DEAG forms Gold Entertainment after purchasing two thirds of promoter Manfred Hertlein Veranstaltungs, to focus on the “grey gold” market.

• Andrea Pieroni, and his Florencebased company Live in Italy joins Live Nation.

• A freak storm that descends on the Finnish Sonisphere site, wrecks equipment, injures 40 people and claims the life of a 50-year-old man.

• Online concert information tool Songkick announces partnerships with YouTube and Vevo, adding to relationships with Nokia, BBC and PRS for Music.

News

Festival Awards Boom with Business The UK Festival Awards and Conference returns to London’s The O2 this year, with additional industry panels and awards, as the event continues to grow in size.

Five hundred professionals are expected at the daytime conference on 18 November, which will feature six separate panels on topics including festival crime, crowd safety, branding and a discussion about whether free events should be banned.

Most of the 20 awards will be presented during a ceremony later that night, and while the majority are still open to public vote, organisers are inviting a panel of journalists

between British manager Stephen Budd, Glastonbury and industry experts to decide festival booker Martin the fate of six, including best Elbourne, Mama Group’s Jon line up.

McIldowie and Vijay Nair of All public votes from India-based promoter and the UK awards will management company Only now carry over to the Much Louder, who owns European Festival Awards a majority shareholding. that takes place during the Elbourne is responsible for Eurosonic/Noorderslag booking 12-15 UK acts weekend in the Netherlands A new Indian festival onto the five-stage event, on 12 January 2011. Former mixing UK and domestic which features musical Audience/Live UK journalist artists has announced the styles including rock/metal, James Drury was recently location of its site and the electronica, Indian alternative, appointed managing director first few headliners. Claiming and experimental. of both events. to be the first multi-genre “This is the first multi“We have great ambitions rock festival ever staged in genre festival ever seen in to see both the UK and the country, NH7 will take India,” says Nair. “We’ve European events grow further place at Koregaon Park in confirmed Magic Numbers in stature and in quality, which Pune in the west of India and local artists Pentagram, is what I’ll be driving over the from 11-12 December.

Parikrama and Indian Ocean, next few months,” he says.

The 10,000-capacity and we’ll be announcing more festival is a collaboration headliners later this month.”

Stones Lead Cinema Drive Recent improvements in technology will change the relationship between music and cinema forever, presenting a wealth of new opportunities, says alternative cinema provider Omniverse Vision. The claim comes as Omniverse launches its new brand Cine Rock, and a series of global broadcast events.

The first, later this month, sees the Rolling Stones’ 1974 film – Ladies and Gentlemen, The Rolling Stones – shown in advance of its DVD release in 535 US cinemas, and over 300 sites around the rest of the world. A major theatrical production is expected to be broadcast globally in October, and the inaugural concert from New Jersey’s Meadowlands Stadium by Bon Jovi will be simulcast to a cinema audience worldwide in early November.“The idea of showing exclusive music content or near-live concerts in cinemas is not

Indian Opener Takes Shape

new, but we haven’t had fast enough distribution speeds or sufficient availability of digital screens and projectors in cinemas until now,” says Stormcrowd’s Steve Machin who’s lending marketing expertise to the project.

“These types of events open a whole new marketing channel and offer opportunities for artists to create events around the screenings. It’s an opportunity for fans to get together, for artists to engage in a different way and presents an enormous amount of new possibilities.”

Second Dublin Theatre Opens

The second of Dublin’s new 2,000-seat spaces opens this month, and the venue’s operators say that there are plenty of bookings to go around. The Auditorium at the Convention Centre Dublin (CCD) is a purposebuilt space, that claims excellent acoustics, an array of in-house production equipmentandcomprehensive production facilities.

The Auditorium will immediately compete with Live Nation’s Grand Canal Theatre, also in the city’s docklands, which opened its doors in March. But business development manager Ruth Weston, who

is on secondment from the NEC Group in Birmingham and tasked with generating bookings, says the situation is workable.

“Long-term the two should complement each other,” she says. “The Grand Canal Theatre’s focus is to bring in West End musicals and longer tenancies, whereas, because The Auditorium will be used for conferences as well, we’ll be focusing more on the shorter events.”

The Irish Governmentowned building has already played host to auditions for television talent shows The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent.

News

F1 Rocks On The new owners of the F1 Rocks brand claim they can achieve larger global television audiences more profitably and with less content while continuing to fuse the worlds of rock ‘n’ roll and motor racing.

The brand, which aims to present performances from world-class music artists around Formula 1 races, was launched in 2009 with a three-day event in Singapore featuring Beyoncé, Black Eyed Peas and No Doubt. While it reached a global TV audience of 30 million, previous licence holder Universal Music declined renewing its contract for this year’s racing season.

The new licencee, Enterprise Entertainment, says it will shorten the content produced to make it suitable for broadcast on race days to F1’s global audience of 50-70 million viewers.

“F1 Rocks events will still be a mixture of lifestyle and entertainment, mixing F1 drivers with rock stars, but with a pre-race highlights package, we can reach a much bigger audience,” says Enterprise chairman Robert Montague. “We still have the option to make domestic shows for local markets and we’re in talks with a music network about producing a strand from F1 Rocks.”

SoloAgency’sJohnGiddings will continue to source artists, and events are confirmed in Milan later this month (headlined by Stereophonics) and São Paulo in November (acts TBA).“We’ll be looking to deliver five F1 Rocks next year,” says Enterprise director John Simidian, who adds that future events will vary in size, depending on local market conditions, from a capacity of 2,000-50,000.

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UK Live Figures Positive Recently released figures which show that the growth of the live music industry in the UK has slowed need to be read in context, says the report’s author at PRS for Music.

The collection society’s study, Adding Up The Music Industry, reveals that primary ticket revenues were up 5.8% to £957million (€1,167m) in 2009, and with secondary spend (up 15% to £157m [€192m]) and ancillary revenues at shows, pegs the value of the industry at £1.5billion (€1.8bn).

But this level of growth is considerably slower than last year, which recorded a 13% rise in income.

“The live music industry has more than doubled in size during the last six years, so any signs of cooling need to be put into context,” says PRS

chief economist Will Page, who authored the report with economist Chris Carey. “If there are reports of property prices falling 30%, but the value of your house has tripled since you bought it, it’s an odd

“The live music industry has more than doubled in size during the last six years, so any signs of cooling need to be put into context.” kind of bust.”

Looking ahead, however, Page is circumspect about 2010 results. “Every year is unique, but 2010 could be unusual,” he says. “The effect of the World Cup happening in a UK time zone is important as it could have eaten into the wallet share. And in addition, the prospect of big public

sector job cuts has an impact on public confidence; as does news of the US cooling, which will also affect the mindset of the ticket buyer.”

This year’s report, which puts the value of the entire UK music industry up 5% to £3.9bn (€4.76bn), also recorded a 16% growth in ancillary revenues around live shows – food and beverage, merchandise, car parking etc – to £408m (€498m).

Ticketmaster’s Very Public Announcement

With senior execs tweeting and others blogging, it’s hard to miss what’s going on at Ticketmaster these days. Considering the radio silence that was maintained while the company’s merger with Live Nation was processed, there’s been an abrupt about-face of late.

And the ticketing giant’s very public decision to roll most of its fees into the face value of a ticket has been met with positivity across the board.

First to break the news was Ticketmaster chairman Irving Azoff, who tweeted, “new TM full disclosure pricing!”

Despite being new to Twitter (he started in June) Azoff has taken quickly to the medium, and within his first five tweets managed to have a dig at AEG Live’s Randy Phillips and celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, and also lambaste the public for stealing music.

Slightly behind Azoff’s announcement was Ticketmaster CEO Nathan Hubbard who christened the company’s new blog, Ticketology, by writing: “Over the next few days we

are rolling out a new way of presenting pricing and fees on Ticketmaster.com. Going forward, just like almost every other business in the world, we’ll tell you up front how much you can expect to pay for a certain ticket… It’s not complicated, it’s just the right thing to do.”

However, order processing and some delivery fees are still added onto the final cost of a ticket on the US site, and not all shows will feature the new rolled-in price.

In the blog, Hubbard explained that existing contracts with some venues precluded them changing pricing structures, while Azoff later replied to a question from industry commentator Bob Lefsetz, saying that some acts and artists were also resisting full disclosure.

News

Love Parade Fallout Begins It was clear that recent events at the Love Parade in Duisburg would have consequences. While there is still no official verdict on what led to the tragedy on 24 July when 21 died and over 500 were injured during a crowd crush in an exit tunnel, the local government in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) has already reviewed licensing regulations for large public events, declaring that all public authorities must agree on health and safety procedures for an event.

The licence application being passed to the district government, if just one public department voices a concern.

The federal organisation of governmental structures in Germany states that local

laws that we need, it’s the application of existing laws that is necessary.”

Facing a storm of recent media scrutiny, however, authorities are unconvinced. Speaking at a press conference where he announced the new order, Ralf Jäger, the minister for interior of NRW said: “How can we avoid the failings of safety measures? How do we provide local authorities with the support, so that they are not drawn over the table by commercial promoters?” It’s a question that says a lot about politicians’ current attitude towards promoters.

With regard to the responsibility of local authorities in licensing events, Jäger has demanded that

launched steering committees and commented publicly on safety at outdoor events.

“Some of these people just weren’t interested before,” says Folkert Koopmans at FKP Scorpio. “Some of the ideas they’re coming up with are outrageous – it just doesn’t help us at all.” But the interest straddles several governmental departments.

On the one hand, it’s the committee for municipal laws; on the other hand it’s the committee for the interior. The department for culture has so far remained outside of the ring, but it seems only a matter of time before they enter it.

“The job of a crowd manager doesn’t exist in Germany,” says production

“ How do we provide local authorities with the support, so that they are not drawn over the table by commercial promoters?” authorities are responsible for the licensing of events in their region. Currently, promoters looking to stage an outdoor event have to liaise with the local police, fire brigade, regulatory agency and sometimes with the building authority and local office for the environment.

Many consider this sufficient.

“We have improved audience security substantially in previous years by using certified security (not used in Duisberg), and by using especially established entries, exits and crash barrier systems that ease the pressure on the first rows of crowds,” says veteran promoter Marek Lieberberg.

“There are existing rules – all we have to do is apply them. It’s not new

unified safety standards and regulations are established on a national level. A request that could be ratified in November.

He also outlined several other amendments to current licensing law, including tightened legal standards and some ambitious rules for the certification of security companies. The minister is also demanding that security staff for events should fulfil higher qualification standards and that promoters should take out general liability insurance in excess of €7.5million and to oversee the proposed changes, Jäger has assembled a taskforce.

But the minister is far from being the only voice on the matter. Since the tragedy, numerous politicians have

manager Chrissy Uerlings.

“But it soon will. Security plans will become far more detailed as a result [of Duisberg] and you will have to have more knowledge to fill them in. The question then also becomes who has the knowledge to judge whether these plans are correct?”

Already, such heightened expectations around security plans have caused casualties.

A balloon festival, held as part of a garden show in Hemer, was cancelled due to an inadequate plan, and in Wülfrath, a kindergarten party was also cancelled.

Both reveal how widely different administrative bodies are already interpreting Jäger’s new rules, and the lack of unified safety standards in the country will doubtless cause further difficulties for promoters.

“We had nine open-air shows in August and I’ve never had so many meetings regarding security,” says Koopmans. But without a body that can lobby effectively on behalf of the live music industry, some believe promoters are in danger of being marginalised in the matter.

“The industry has to be very careful that the right people are qualified for the right task,” says Uerlings.

“It needs to include itself in discussions and make sure it is available with the right information.”

Others, however, consider what happened in Duisberg to be wholly removed from the business of experienced promoting.

“I don’t believe we should mix apples and oranges,” Lieberberg says. “One is a situation in a public space, with no limited capacity whatsoever – it doesn’t refer to our concert industry.”

With the investigation ongoing, it may be months before an official verdict into the tragedy is published, but long after any blame is apportioned, the legacy of the Love Parade will doubtless be felt throughout the industry for years to come.

Top Right: Will Page Right: Irving Azoff © Robyn Twomey Above: Ralf Jäger

Comment

The ‘Flight to Meaningful’ Panos Panay, founder and CEO of Sonicbids, outlines why live music might be one of the last remaining tools of rebellion…

While I was attending The Great Escape festival and conference in Brighton, UK, earlier this year, I was struck by a presentation given by Will Page, the chief economist of PRS for Music. In his presentation, Will outlined how for the first time since the advent of the modern music business, revenues from live music exceeded those from recorded music. You read that right. Whereas in 2000, worldwide live music revenues accounted for roughly half of the global sales from recorded music, within a decade, the reverse has become true. Amazing that you haven’t read this anywhere in the US mainstream press given all the doom and gloom that has enveloped our business for this past decade. A ray of sunshine that’s gone largely unnoticed.

My company, Sonicbids, which I launched in 2001, is a site that makes it easy for bands and promoters to connect with each other online. Last year, the number of gigs booked through the site rose by nearly 11,000 from the previous year, to 71,000.

That’s 71,000 live shows performed by mostly young, emerging artists, presented everywhere from live music conferences and large festival stages, to smoky clubs, bustling coffee houses, middleof-nowhere colleges, art museums, public libraries, and even the living rooms of private homes. And this was not just confined to the US; shows booked on Sonicbids were experienced everywhere from Boston to Berlin, Brisbane and Brighton, even Beijing; all this in a year when the world’s economic system nearly imploded in front of our eyes.

And, by the way, this was not just something that was experienced on Sonicbids. Across the board, live music has been on a steady, upward trajectory (with maybe some exceptions being hyper-priced tours of some pampered superstars). Festivals like Bonnaroo and Coachella in the US had record-breaking years and various reports show that festivals around the world have been the fastest growing segment of the music business. Even on a personal level, in what’s been the most time-challenging year I’ve ever had, I’ve attended more live shows than in any other of my 38 years. So, why all this sudden

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demand for live music at a time when most mainstream press has been trumpeting the imminent demise of the music business? I have a simple explanation: the flight to meaningful. (I didn’t coin the term. Credit belongs to my friend, Maria Thomas, former CEO of Etsy.com.)

To paraphrase Jerry Maguire, we live in a cynical world. I mean, most of the social interactions we have are confined to sound bytes and text messages; Facebook updates and tweets; Flickr streams and FourSquare check-ins; instant messages and incoherent email messages mangled by thumbs that are too big; smart-phones that are not that smart after all, and a pace that’s become just way too fast; so fast that we’re attempting to reduce all expressions of human emotion to a mere 140 characters. Not words.

Characters. (Even cavemen, several thousand years ago, had better tools for self-expression than this.) Amidst all this insanity, live music is about the only thing out there that forces us to slooooow doooown. It demands our attention.

We can’t change the channel or click to another page, skip the commercial or avoid human contact, fast forward to the next tune or shuffle to the next album.

You can’t DVR it or upload it, bit it or byte it, text or illegally copy it, stream it, or bit-torrent the damn thing. You are just there, in the moment, with a bunch of other people who are there, in their moments.

In a world where we are struggling to keep up and stay in control of our schedules and lives, live music forces us to give up control, to take the backseat, to get in touch with the primal and instinctive ways that make us all human. If you ask me, it’s the last bastion of civilisation, the last fortress against HAL 9000, (the evil machine that goes rogue in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. I wonder what the crazy old auteur would have made of 2012: A Google Odyssey?)

So there you have it: live music as saviour of the music business; fortress of humanity against machine.

One of the last, unadulterated resorts of meaningful in our lives. Is it any wonder it’s having a growth spurt? www.sonicbids.com

Comment

The Not-So-Secret Agent Tom Windish, founder of The Windish Agency, recalls becoming an agent and considers the role today...

I was drawn to music from an early age. Early on, others were even more into it than I was but I was definitely always listening to stuff. In high school I had a successful lawn-mowing business. Successful meant that I walked back and forth during every waking hour that I wasn’t in school. During this time, I always had my Walkman on and as the years passed I got into more and more obscure (and interesting) music. I started DJ’ing parties for fun in high school, mostly because no one else was up for it.

At college, I met friends that convinced me to join the radio station and the radio DJs became the social group I was part of. The radio station put on a few concerts a year. Being in the right place at the right time, I got to oversee these before I had completed my freshman year. That led to heading all concerts for the college (SUNY Binghamton in upstate NY) then to an internship at the William Morris Agency. After a few months, I decided I wanted to be an agent and started my own agency; repping bands that, at the time, couldn’t get anyone else to book them.

I started The Windish Agency six and a half years ago, in January 2004, in my spare bedroom. I had one employee and 50 clients. Now I own a four-story building in Chicago, my agency occupies half of an office in New York, I will soon open in Toronto and I have one employee currently based in Chile. I have 26 employees and over 400 clients. I’d say I still do roughly the same amount of booking as in 2004 and 13 other agents look after the rest of the roster. A lot of this growth is due to the size of the bands’ audiences, which have grown tremendously for some of them. Our artists used to sell 1,000 or 2,000 tickets at most, but now we have artists selling 10,000 or more. The way recorded music is dispersed and consumed has also changed. Besides the US and Canada, we represent about 80% of our roster in Mexico, 70% in South America and 50% in Asia and Australia. We barely do any bookings in Europe.

Today, live performance is more important than ever. Shows are one of the main ways to market and

promote an artist and to start a buzz, and the agent is at the forefront. Agents negotiate and choose the venue, ticket price, other acts on the bill, festivals, age limits and tour/show advertising; all critical elements in developing an artist’s career. We spend a lot of time looking for unique situations for performances, and promoters who are particularly eager to work with our clients. We find shows in unique venues to attract attention from press and blogs and promoters who are fans of the music to promote the shows better. We combine these efforts with more traditional ones, booking our clients in great venues, on great bills at a price reasonable for their fans.

I’m always looking for new places to book our clients, finding spaces that don’t have music and trying to convince them to start a music series. Sometimes I make direct contact, other times I find a promoter in that market to make something work. And I think it’s easier than ever to develop an act today. The xx played their first show in the USA in August 2009 to 50 people in NYC. In August 2010 they can sell 10,000 tickets. It took Hot Chip three years to see that type of growth, which is still remarkably fast. For fans, the consumption of music is organic, democratic and easy. A good band can gather a huge audience practically overnight without the financial resources or ‘connections’ in the industry that once were needed.

The business of filling arenas is different. I have little experience in this world. My company has been built with artists selling 250, 500, 1,000, 2,000 and 5,000 tickets a night, not 20- or 30,000 and has been successful so far. The bands that we represent, in general, are running successful businesses for themselves. I’m not sure the arena business can sustain itself with music and thankfully, I don’t need to worry about trying to sustain my business by filling arenas.

People are interested in seeing bands we represent at the level that we book them. We try to create a profitable and sustainable situation for everyone – the band, the promoter and venue.

Comment

A Tale of Isolation Festival booker Grímur Atlason reflects on historical and recent events in Iceland The Sixth of December,1980 was a big day in my life – my tenth birthday. I became a man – or that’s how it felt.

Two days later I became depressed for the first time after disturbing news from New York: John Lennon had been shot dead. The Beatles were my thing, and now one of them was dead. A month later, I bought my first concert ticket to a tribute to my late hero at Austurbæjarbíó (a venue I would go on to manage a quarter of a century later). It was my first involvement with our then rather puny music industry, which at the time consisted of occasional tribute gigs and the odd rock concert. Foreign bands were rare: The Stranglers came in 1978, The Clash in 1980 and The Human League in 1982 – that was about it.

Iceland during the 80s and early 90s was an isolated land; beer was illegal, and television didn’t transmit on Thursdays or for the month of July – a good place to grow up. Icelanders have always been cultural individuals.

While Europe was busily engaged in wars, building castles and erecting churches, Icelanders lived in mud huts and read or wrote books (made of calfskin). They didn’t spend much time laying roads or pondering the purpose of the wheel – we stayed the same for almost a thousand years.

“ For a thousand years we had harvested the acres of literature and music. ” Then ‘The Wonderful War’ (as World War II was known in Iceland) changed everything. We started building roads and constructing bridges across lakes; importing cars and farm equipment, and even using motors in our small fishing boats. Icelanders became wealthy, moving to towns, hamlets and villages. Some say the industrial era only began in Iceland in the 1930s, 170 years after the mainland. Then, in 1952, came ‘our’ Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded to novelist Halldór Kiljan Laxness. For a thousand years we had harvested the acres of literature and music – and then suddenly, we became rich.

We remained isolated though still wishing to mingle with the rest of the world, which was an obvious contradiction. We wanted to play in the big leagues and enjoy all the goods, but didn’t want to join the European Union, at least not to contribute.

Literature and music were for Icelanders what banking and merchandising was for the Jews of Europe.

The nation’s politicians understood that music and

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other forms of culture thrived and kept our currency restrictions until 1999. Then, the generation born between 1950 and 1970 took the 80s by surprise when music took over from literature as Iceland’s main cultural export. International artists began adding the occasional stopover show in Iceland; and Icelanders did what they were good at, staying away from banking and business.

All was well. For a short while.

Post 2000, Icelanders developed an urge to try their hand at banking. Björk was no longer hip – stock markets and hedge funds were. Historians, teachers, nurses, fishermen, farmers, priests, street boys and musicians all became bankers in suits. With our accumulated six months of experience, we set out to conquer the world of banking. The outcome was predictable. Icelanders weren’t good at exporting stocks and bonds, or trading them. But we’ve always been capable on the cultural front. A nation of 320,000 has contributed musical artists that have gone on to sell millions of records worldwide; Icelandic bands are constantly touring the world over; the Iceland Airwaves music festival – without doubt one of Europe’s coolest, most vibrant festivals – is in its 12th year. This is what we are good at.

The aftermath of October 2008 was like a very bad hangover. Many wish to postpone the inevitable sobering up – convinced another shot will make everything well – if we can just get more. But the vast majority have had enough and want to get off this endless money bender.

And in the midst of this, culture – not least music – is as strong as ever. Our current environment is one in which new things emerge and old problems are sorted out. The ‘live’ part of music is stronger than ever in Iceland, but there are still difficulties. Our currency lost half its value, making life hard on an island that relies so heavily on imported goods. But, this means that the export and tourism sectors are growing.

Thirty years ago I watched a man called Ari Jónsson sing John Lennon’s Girl, my all-time favourite Beatles’ song, at Austurbæjarbíó in Reykjavik. This was what Reykjavík’s live scene amounted to at the time. Now much of the music industry wants to travel to Iceland and learn about Icelandic music. This year’s edition of Iceland Airwaves (13-17 October) will demonstrate that we are back in business; clear, fresh and completely unhungover. We are constantly learning more about our strengths, and our weaknesses – and we are here to rock you all!

Opening Showcase Paul Cheetham on taking on the challenge of managing the Popkomm Festival...

When Popkomm showed me around Tempelhof Airport – the new location for the event in the heart of Berlin, and explained the concept of teaming up with the Berlin Festival under the new Berlin Music Week umbrella, I felt that the new event was humble, focused, and ambitious – more compact but perfectly formed. My two choices were: spend all summer listening to people opine about how screwed the industry is, or try to make a difference and accept the challenge of helping relaunch this world-famous event as something essential for the modern music business.

The industry has become more fragmented, creating an environment full of creative, hard-working independents.

This gives boundless scope for positive, progressive action but with so little money bouncing around these days it’s hand to mouth for most artists and companies, who must be inventive to survive. Events like Popkomm should be designed to help the many that still strive to meet the challenge.

Industry showcase events are increasingly crucial as direct lines to decision-makers, but they should be wellorganised, focused, user-friendly, and reap definite results for participants. Traditionally, Popkomm catered more for the record industry – it was a world leader in doing this – but times have changed and the delegation needs to include all sectors as we now work in a world where managers are also labels, labels are also agencies, and agencies are becoming investors. More live music companies will be involved this year than ever before. My own promoter and agent background gives me strong contacts and knowledge of their business; it makes sense to use it to everyone’s benefit.

Taking artists to these events is challenging for all, due to financial restraints. Managers, labels, publishers, agents, artists and even fans chip in what they can to make it happen, but omnipresent these days are the national music export offices. Hard-working, politically aware, and music business-savvy, these small but wellorganised offices have become powerhouses in their own right, being most likely to provide financial and promotional support to their artists. Close collaboration with them is a very important part of running any event.

But it must all be about the artist, they are central to everything and nothing else exists without them. The formula is simple: give the right opportunity to the right artist to perform to the right people in the right environment, and all else will fall into place.

Crowd Management

Security Measured The majority of crowd management companies think promoters don’t take their business seriously enough. The sector has come a long way since Roskilde, but the recent tragedy in Duisberg raises questions about just how far is still to go, writes Greg Parmley The day before Denmark’s Roskilde Festival kicked off in June, a group of crowd managers, production experts and academics gathered for a one-day conference entitled Roskilde 10. A decade since the tragedy when nine fans were fatally crushed during a Pearl Jam set, they met to discuss the latest innovations in the sector. Presentations included crowd modelling software and explanations of pressure-suit experiments. Ten years ago, such discussions would have been alien. A month later, when 22 people die at the Love Parade in Germany, they seem more vital than ever. “The industry is further developed, and a lot of research went into crowd control measures, but it is not accessible for everybody,” says veteran production manager Chrissy Uerlings. “It’s still hard for some countries to follow guidelines because of the financial implications, or a lack of materials, like barriers. Proper security and crowd management now involves having crowd managers involved at an early stage and that has an implication on the cost, so it doesn’t always happen.”

IQ polled 50 security companies in 22 countries about local legislation, company policy and attitudes towards the industry. An early question we asked was ‘How would you rate the standard of crowd management in your market?’ and there was a marked difference between developed and less developed markets. In Central and Eastern Europe, only 44% rated the standard of crowd

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management as good or above, whereas Western Europe rated itself as 52% (good or above). In Australia and New Zealand, 75% of respondents rated crowd management good or above, and this figure dropped slightly to 67% for South Africa and Japan.

Overall, however, few deny just how far the industry has progressed over the last few years. Chris Kemp heads up the Centre for Crowd Management and Security Studies at Bucks New University in the UK and was one of those presenting at Roskilde 10. “It’s been a lot about changes in management,” he says. “People have changed the way they manage things, the way a pit boss works, changed the fact that you can now stop a show.

Ten years ago, if a crowd manager stopped a show, the tour manager would have been baying for their blood.

It’s different now.” And the nature of crowd management companies has altered too. Of the companies surveyed, slightly more defined themselves as crowd management companies as opposed to security companies, while 79% had been in business for six years or more, suggesting a maturing market populated by experienced companies.

“There’s very little scope now for new providers,” says Mark Hamilton at G4S Event Security. “There’s been a degree of consolidation [in the UK] and you’ve now got Showsec owned by Live Nation, and RockSteady (which was my company) owned by G4S, which is the world’s

Crowd Management

largest secure solutions provider. It’s recognition that there are high standards in an industry where people’s safety is the primary objective.” Showsec’s operations director Mark Logan agrees, although he admits to having doubts about the quality offered from some quarters: “There’s a lot of companies selling crowd management and stewarding and I’m not sure how well tested that credibility is at the lower end of the market,” he says. If providers are offering a poor service, it won’t be due to a lack of knowledge in the field.

Barrier configurations at festivals and big events are now far developed from what they used to be, informed by various formulae and research, while volumes have been published in the academic world on the subject. Kemp’s pressure-suit experiments will be measuring crowd density and temperature at Muse’s Wembley Stadium show in September, adding to readings taken at Roskilde, and physicist Tobias Kretz can simulate crowd flow through his VISSIM software. “You need to start with experience and intuition but the simulation can add to these two main factors, allowing you to examine entry points and egress routes,” he says.

Far more is understood about crowd dynamics than ever

before, but some companies claim that this understanding is not translating into safer events, and it’s often a decision outside of their control. With promoters pulling the purse strings, perhaps the most unexpected response from IQ’s survey was that 52% of crowd management companies believe that promoters still do not take crowd safety seriously enough. Top of the reasons for this was financial implication, followed by ignorance or a general lack of awareness about safety.

“Companies like Live Nation show how events should be organised, but most promoters aren’t conscious

Poor 15%

Terrible 2%

Excellent 4%

Good 52%

Average 27%

How would you rate the standard of crowd management in your market? (all results)

26+ years 10%

0-5 years 21%

16-25 years 35%

6-15 years 33%

How long has your company been in business? of the consequences,” says Cezary Plencler at FOSA in Poland. It’s a view shared by Petter Säterhed from Liveside in Sweden who says: “Most of the larger and/or more experienced promoters do take crowd management and security seriously. But the market is, in this respect, very heterogeneous. There are still promoters out there that just don’t know enough.”

“In Italy, there isn’t a safety culture,” says Fabio Marsili at ATS Around The Show. “Often, during an event, the cost of security is the first cost cut.” Of the surveyed companies, the majority claimed to be able to deliver between 100 and 500 staff for an event (in total, companies claimed to have access to 22,800 staff), with roughly seven freelancers for every full-time member of staff. And it’s the labour intensive nature of the industry that makes it such an expensive addition to the bottom line of any show.

“In some countries there are laws stipulating one security guard per 100 people,” Uerlings says. “This might be right in a club, but when there are 60,000 people in a stadium, you’ll have 600 security guards just standing on their own feet.” Indeed, from the companies surveyed, the number of recommended staff per 1,000 averaged out to 13.3, but the figures varied dramatically depending on local laws or recommendations from other markets. One third of respondents stated that staffing numbers depended on a risk assessment and the nature of the crowd. “Who determines what the minimum is, and what’s acceptable?” asks Uerlings. “You can have loads of staff, but if they don’t do the job properly, it wouldn’t help you.” Such different rules and recommendations, and the assumption that one size rarely fits all, leave promoters and crowd managers negotiating on services, rather than applying an international standard. And it’s in this middle ground that crowd management companies fear being neutered and left short-handed.

Crowd Management 101+ 17% 0-10 36% 51-100 17%

11-50 30%

How many full-time staff do you employ?

“Some promoters are employing security companies because they are obliged by law, without taking into account the quality of the security services,” says Carol Ungureanu at BGS Divizia de Securitate in Romania, while Byron Towell at Showsafe in South Africa blames elements of the industry for the confusion. “Certain providers are at fault for creating an attitude of security or crowd management being an unskilled job and this has filtered through the market,” he says. “It is seen as a necessary evil and is subject to budget cuts on a frequent basis.”

years ago, if a crowd manager stopped “ Ten a show, the tour manager would have been baying for their blood.

It’s different now.

”

– Chris Kemp, Bucks New Uni While

an investigation is ongoing,

cost concerns are suspected to have been a contributing factor in the tragedy at the Love Parade in Duisberg, Germany on 24 July when 21 people died and more than 500 were injured after panic broke out in the only access tunnel leading to the event. News of the tragedy was met with incredulity from some corners of the industry, who were surprised that the event was even allowed to go ahead using a single entry and exit point. “People are focusing on the tunnel but it’s not the tunnel that’s to blame, it’s the planning,” says Hamilton at G4S. Folkert Koopmans of FKP Scorpio (see page 38) promoted nine outdoor events in August and he reports never having had so many meetings about security as a result. “The accident appears to be a combination of an inexperienced promoter and a city that really wanted the event without looking at the standards,” he says. “You can’t push a million people through a tunnel 22-metres wide. It’s just that simple.”

Other promoters are more outspoken and keen to distance

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the concert business from the deaths. “It was a mixture of incompetence and arrogance by the city authorities who were completely overwhelmed and bent the existing pop codes and rules; and an amateurish, part-time organiser who is nothing to do with the professional promoters in this country,” says Marek Lieberberg. “Furthermore, I don’t believe we should mix apples and oranges. Parallels between what happened in Duisberg and our industry don’t exist, in my opinion.”

While the ticket-selling professionals expect to be tarred with the same brush, many of the problem events in Europe over the last few years have been free, or run by local authorities. Another example occurred in Birmingham, UK in November 2009, when 64 fans were inured at a free JLS show as ticketless crowds stormed police lines and a frontof-stage barrier collapsed. With crowd numbers an unknown quantity at free events, there are now calls from some quarters to ban them entirely. Cees Muurling is MD of Mojo Barriers.

He says: “There’s an awful lot of ‘a’ and ‘b’ companies in a professional industry that are very well aware of the risks that are involved with large crowds, but there’s still a lot of ‘c’ companies and local authorities who organise events once or twice a year who are missing the knowledge. The industry’s knowledge is available, but they’re not using it.”

One of the fears post-Duisberg is the introduction of knee-jerk, rushed legislation that could penalise legitimate promoters (see page 9). “There are existing rules,” Lieberberg says. “It’s not new laws that we need, it’s the application of existing laws that is necessary.” Either way, a tightening of existing rules is expected. Uerlings says that there is a requirement for a security plan for shows in Germany, which include evacuation procedure, egress/ingress, methods of communication and risk assessment on site.

But he’s adamant that the plans are set to become far more detailed. “You will have to have more knowledge to fill them in,” he says. “But who has the knowledge to judge that Yes 48%

No 52%

Is crowd management/security taken sufficiently seriously by the promoters in your market?

Crowd Management

15

10

5

further legislation of the security industry might help to eliminate rogue traders and support legitimate players, staff training schemes are key cogs in the wheel of any firm’s success. Of the companies surveyed, 42% offered a comprehensive number of courses while 50% offered some training (8% offered none). One third of companies stated that training was compulsory, one third that training was offered, and one third that they ran compulsory training with further courses on offer. However, the level of compulsory staff training looks set to rise. “Before Duisberg, our training was offered to staff,” says Michael Molt of U-Need GmbH in Germany. “We’re changing it to be compulsory.”

don’t believe we should mix apples and “ Ioranges.

Parallels between what happened in Duisberg and our industry don’t exist, in my opinion.

”

– Marek Lieberberg, MLK Some companies are already renowned for their training. Showsec established a training academy in the UK in 2008 and funds new recruits and existing staff to various levels of expertise, marrying academic work from Derby University with a structured, vocational training programme. “It gives us the ability to develop careers for people, which not only benefits us but the market as a whole,” says Logan. “We’re developing crowd managers who don’t just view the industry as a casual job, but a long-term career prospect. It brings a lot more solidity to it.” While in-house training is commonplace, alliances between academia and industry are becoming increasingly prevalent.

The crowd management centre at Bucks New Uni, the first dedicated centre of its kind, has increased the number of courses it offers from three to 30 in the last six months, with a series of one-day programmes for festivals.

“We’re also forming an area in crowd science, where we have a few

Impro ved crow training fo d ma nage r rs Tight er po lic and l egisla ing tion Educ atio prom n of oters Harm ony o f legi slatio n Bette r com betw municatio een a ll par n ties Bette r wag es End o f rece ssion Deve lopm e nt o f I syste T ms Lowe rin entry g cost of to ind ustry Redu ci chan ng amoun ge in legisl t of ation

0

What needs to be improved with regards to crowd management in your market?

While

r PR

20

with their laws. In Australia, Jon Corbishley reports that legislation exists, but is not specific to concerts and events.

“Training for security is for clubs and pubs and not festivals or events, so it’s up to individual companies to provide their own in-house training if they have the experience,” he says.

Bette

they are correct? The industry has to be very careful that the right people are qualified for the right task. It needs to include itself in discussions and make sure it is available with the right information.”

When it comes to pre-existing legislation, across the 22 markets surveyed, the picture changes radically.

70% of companies reported some sort of existing local legislation, while others look to markets such as the UK for advice. “Local legislation exists, but we plan crowd management around UK guides such as the pop code, Green Guide and all the appropriate health & safety guides; and UK fire prevention and management guides, says John Van Stan at Showsafe in South Africa.

Vilnis Valbergs at Security Service Art-Ekspo in Latvia reports: “In 2005, Latvian lawmakers drafted a law on public entertainment and safety at mass events. Many of the guidelines, we have learned from working with big foreign artists and big local events.”

Countries without legislation include Norway, Luxembourg, Croatia and Czech Republic, while Sweden, Denmark and Romania don’t have specific crowd management legislation. However, some markets report inbound law. New Zealand and Italy are set for new rules later this year, and South Africa is introducing a bill for security at major events within the next 12 months. Both South Africa and Italy are increasing levels of standardised training

Crowd Management Other

Security

Stewarding 21

36

4

1

4

5 4 18

17

26 37

Crowd Management

How do you define your company? feel obligated towards the security “ If ofpeople the crowd, then things will change. If they

see it as a burden and an extra cost, then we can develop as many systems as we like, but it will not help.

”

– Chrissy Uerlings, CUP major projects with European crowd management companies, and a group of interested universities in Germany, Denmark and Holland,” says the centre’s head Chris Kemp. Not every market is as proactive, as shown by a 2010 survey of Danish security companies

by Morten Therkildsen of crowd management specialists ConCom Safety which found that 14.7% of stewards had never received any training; 46% considered their colleagues unqualified for their job; and 82% felt a need for a training scheme. But on the whole, as Uerlings says, “There’s a lot happening. Festival organisers, especially [festival association] Yourope, are

leading the field, alongside some interested security company leaders in Holland, the UK and Germany.” For Uerlings and others, this movement towards industry-backed education and research is a final stage in the sector’s development; where communication and the adoption of ideas become vital. “If people feel obligated towards the security of the crowd, then things will change,” he says. “If they see it as a burden and an extra cost, then we can develop as many systems as we like, but it will not help.”

One of the final questions IQ asked in its survey was “What needs to be improved with regards to crowd management in your market?” By far, the most popular response was improved training for crowd managers, followed by tighter policing and legislation for the industry. The third most popular response was education and awareness for promoters, again highlighting that while the security companies have the expertise, they don’t control the budgets.

“We need a European licence system that demands some uniform education,” says Ingemar Sveningsson at Show Security Sweden. “Something similar to what PADI do for divers, or what the riggers are trying to do in Europe.”

“We must legislate and compel all local promoters and event organisers to comply with requirements defined by industry crowd management professionals for specific events,” says Van Stan at Showsafe.

That crowd management professionals across the globe are effectively singing from the same hymn sheet is testament to how far the industry has developed in the last decade. Quite how much the recent tragedy in Duisberg serves to speed further development, however, remains to be seen. The question is perhaps whether the industry has self-regulated sufficiently well to avoid overbearing legislation, or whether it can be instrumental in influencing law as and when it is introduced. The crowd management industry is still a long way from any pan European agreements, but by promoting best practice at every given turn, and by encouraging less experienced promoters, local authorities and fledgling security companies to use the information it has learned, there is the hope that any new lessons won’t have to be paid for so dearly.

Participating companies A.P. Security (UK), Around The Show (IT), Australian Concert and Entertainment Security (AU), B.E.S.T.Veranstaltungsdienste GmbH (DE), Backstage Security Services (UK), Bank Biztonság Bizalom Zrt. (HU), Business & Entertainment Security (UK), Concert & Eventservice (DE), ConCom Safety (DK), Cosa Nostra Crew Oy (FI), CP Security/Special Events (ZA), eps gmbh (DE), Event Security (HR), Eyethu Events (ZA), Frontline Service & Security ApS (DK), FOSA sp.z o.o (PL), G4S Event Security (BE), Ken & Staff Co.Ltd (JP), Liveside (SE), LOC7000 (UK), Local Crew Security (FI), Mainevent Security Management (NZ), Mr Safe-T Event Safety Specialists (ZA), Music Circus Stuttgart Securety (DE),

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I Q Ma g a z i n e Se p t 2 0 1 0

National Event Services (AU), New Breed Security (AU), Orange Group a.s. (CZ), Pro Sec AS (NO), Rush Security Services (NZ), S.A.F.E. Sicherheits-Service GmbH (DE), S.C. BGS Divizia De Securitate S.R.L (RO), Schmitt-Security S.á.r.l. Luxembourg (DE), Se2solutions Service&Security GmbH (AT), Secure Events and Assets (AU), Security Service Art-Ekspo (LV), Show Security Sweden (SE), ShowRisk Event Management (AU), Showsafe (ZA), Showsec (UK), SHS GmbH (DE), Special Security Services GmbH (DE), Specialized Security (UK), StagePro (RU), SYM-SEC (HU), The Safety Officer (AU), The Security Company (NL), U-Need GmbH (DE), VIP Security (TR).

Left to Right: Armel Campagna , Ian Greenway, Matt Jones, Stefan Juhlin, Woody McDonald, Mairead Nash, Matt Schwarz, Seth Seigle, Tom Taaffe, Matthew Zweck

Another year, and another group of fresh-faced wonders vie for the industry’s attention in the New Boss list!

Welcome to the third instalment of what certainly isn’t X-Factor for the concert business, but certainly is a chance to bring you ten industry leaders of the future. At least given their track record to date.

IQ plundered every nook and cranny in our database to cast the voting net as far and wide as possible this year, and it’s safe to say that we’ve never witnessed such a tremendous response. Eligibility is simple – to make the list, nominees must be 30 or under, and working in the industry. And in order to guarantee a different crop of creative visionaries and keen business minds each year, nominees may only be featured once.

The spread of names this year spans agency, promotion, festivals, brands and management, and while second generation family members still prove an enduringly popular vote, all of those represented are both energised

and positive about the future of the business.

Hopefully, the viewpoints expressed on these pages will inspire readers, or at the very least cause pause for thought or discussion. There are some fascinating stories of entrepreneurship here, and enviable amounts of passion voiced, both for the bands some of our nominees work for, and the industry that they’re going to be vital in developing over the coming years.

As before, the votes we’ve received will form the list of nominations for the ‘Tomorrow’s New Boss’ Arthur Award at ILMC in March 2011. The whole ILMC membership will again be able to vote for this, when voting for the awards opens online in December. We’ll keep you posted nearer the time, but for now, I very much hope you enjoy these ten tales of ambition and early success.

Greg Parmley Editor, IQ

Armel Campagna (28) VP Promotions, Live Nation France After completing a master’s degree in music and cultural business management, Armel Campagna was employed by Universal Music five years ago, before being hired by Gerard Drouot Productions (GDP) in 2006, working on concerts by the likes of Leonard Cohen, Lenny Kravitz, and AC/DC, along with domestic artists and festivals. When Live Nation was bolstering its French office in December 2009, Campagna was hired as vice-president of promotions.

What needs to change about the French industry?

The French market is controlled by five or six big promoters that have been here for 30-35 years, and it’s a conservative market. We want to bring some new ideas to the market, and widen it as well. We’re trying to convince agents and managers to give us a bigger time frame, so instead of doing Paris, Lyon, Strasbourg, we could do Paris, Lyon, Strasbourg, Marseilles, Toulouse, Bordeaux.

We’re saying give us two weeks, you know, and you will see what we can do.

In France, we are fighting like crazy and looking

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ahead I think it’s going to be the smartest and most creative guy who gets the artist.

How different is working at Live Nation France?

There’s more responsibility, because I don’t have somebody ahead of me to agree or disagree on the project that I’m working on. So I can basically target big artists and fight against other promoters as normal, but I can also target new artists such as Little Comets, Andy McKee, and Scott Matthews and spend time developing them, creating new opportunities for them in France.

Ian Greenway (27) Director, LarMac LIVE (UK) Ian graduated from the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts in 2004 with a degree in Music Entertainment Management.

He went on to freelance as a production coordinator on several festivals both in the UK and UAE, which funded the formation of his co-owned company, LarMac LIVE. The production house mixes corporate work with public events and this year produced UK festivals Bestival, Creamfields, Field Day and Underage, and also worked for Virgin and Deutsche Bank.

What is the greatest lesson you’ve learnt so far?

Probably flexibility. We scale up and down when we need. We can do one-man tour management, or a festival job that needs 100 staff. We spent a long time examining how we delivered jobs and it works for people who are trying to save costs. We’re busier than we’ve ever been.

What are you most proud of?

We worked on Live Earth and Live 8, so putting 150,000 people into Hyde Park with Live Nation was a weird one, and Jo my business partner put together Live Earth in

Rio, which was 750,000 people on the beach, so that was a good one too.

Where would you like to be in five years time?

I would like to be producing large-scale, world-class, technologically advanced and pioneering tours and oneoff shows. Technology is the one thing that is really going to sell a ticket, be it 3D technology, be it stunning new sound technology – whatever that is. However we can heighten the experience for the customer is the way forward. The band on its own isn’t enough any more.

Matt Jones (27) Director, SPC/CrowdSurge (UK) Immediately upon leaving school, Matt Jones began promoting shows under his SPC Live banner in Essex and Hertfordshire.

He soon moved SPC to London, promoting across the South of England. His second company, CrowdSurge, was launched in June 2008, becoming a transparent seller that artists use to power ticket sales on their websites. CrowdSurge now works with artists including Paul McCartney, Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Vampire Weekend and Them Crooked Vultures.

Is there room for new, independent entrepreneurs?

Definitely. There are new ideas and innovations from every corner of the market each year and it’s encouraging for the growth of the business. Entrepreneurs are always a key catalyst for new ideas and driving growth.

What are you excited about in the industry currently?

That there is more and more room for independents and a chance to innovate and move things forward. The model is changing all the time and more artists, labels, managers, agents and promoters are willing to adapt to change.

How do you compete with bigger companies?

The CrowdSurge offering is attractive to artists because it’s fully integrated and allows them to sell tickets directly to their fans worldwide, multi-currency, multilingual, whilst also keeping service charges minimal. They also get all the added extras of advanced analytics to report on sales data and better understand how to monetise their fanbase more effectively. They can also cross-sell and bundle tickets with other products. Altogether it is a way of maximising asset rights within the direct-to-consumer relationship.

Stefan Juhlin (27) Agent/co founder, Pitch & Smith (Sweden) Stefan Juhlin began promoting shows aged 14 in his hometown, 100km from Stockholm. He changed tack for years, working with computers instead, but five years ago made the move back into music, getting hired as an agent’s assistant at Luger in Stockholm. He began building his own roster, and launched Pitch & Smith with Kalle Lundgren Smith in 2008. The company’s roster now includes Peter, Bjorn and John; Wolf Parade; José González, and volcano!.

What are you most proud of?

Starting my own company – it was a huge step for both my partner and I. We started without any help or investment, so we did it completely on our own.

Is being based in Stockholm a problem?

Not really. From Stockholm we have a good overview of the whole of Europe and we also work a lot with Asia and Australia and places like that, and a lot in Eastern Europe.

Plus the musical climate and the scene here is amazing, so we’re pretty fortunate with all the Swedish acts we get

to work with at an early stage.

What do you think needs to change within the industry?

You can see services like Spotify are doing great and I think people would buy a lot more records if they were a lot cheaper. And the same goes for ticket prices for concerts; everyone should try to make it feasible for the audience, for the fans, to attend, because they are probably the most important people, other than the musicians themselves.

Woody McDonald (25) Music director, Meredith/Golden Plains (Australia) Promoting hardcore and punk shows in Ballarat just outside of Melbourne, Woody McDonald began learning his trade at the age of 13. He dropped out of school at 14, and at 15 moved to the city, promoting international artists at 16.

Working as music director for Triple R Radio, he came into contact with Meredith Music Festival (cap 11,500) and Golden Plains (9,000), initially helping out as a consultant before being taken on as booker in 2006.

How’s the Australian market right now?

It’s a lot busier than it’s ever been and there’re a lot of exports. We’ve got a lot more Australian music flying to other countries. So in general it’s just sensory overload and there’s a lot more strange, leftfield music doing really well. Everything’s thriving at the moment I think, so it’s good.

Where do you think the music industry is heading?

It’s clearly in a flux period, and everyone’s got to work out what those new models are, I think. Everywhere in

the world is pretty similar. It’s this upcoming period of experimentation and trying new ideas to see what works that will decide the state of the industry.

Where would you like to be in five years time?

I’m happy where I am right now, but I don’t want to seem too complacent. At the moment I’m happy doing what I’m doing but I definitely want to continue to evolve, you know, and to keep getting better at what we do as a festival. I believe that it’s important to not become stagnant; to keep chipping away at those things.

Mairead Nash (28) Manager, Florence and the Machine (UK) Maireed Nash grew up in Milton Keynes, but moved to London at 16 to perform in a girl band. At 17 she was running the 333 club in Shoreditch, East London, and in 2002 she formed DJ duo Queens of Noize with Tabitha Denholm.

After a chance encounter at her club night, she began managing Florence and the Machine, whose debut album, Lungs, was one of the bestselling UK releases in 2009/2010, and was crowned Best Album at the 2010 Brit Awards.

What do you think needs to change in the industry?

I would like to see more women. There’s a new generation actually of kids of my era that have done DJing and club nights, and it’s great to see girls being part of the industry, like [indie label/club night] Young and Lost.

And I would like to see more independent female managers that aren’t really associated with a big company, who go out there and do it on their own.

Was there always a plan to become a manager?

The radio show on 6Music was a great way to learn

about management and also records, but really it all just fell into place.

How do you see your role as a manager changing?

I’d like to take on some more bands. You’re forever learning really and Florence is about to make another record. For me, that’s the most rewarding part. Being involved in the musical process; being part of that really excites me. I’m looking to build on that and take on some more people.

Matt Schwarz (28) Head of modern music, MLK (Germany) Originally working in publishing, Matt Schwarz co-ordinated events for Visions Magazine in Germany for four years until August 2003 when he moved to Marek Lieberberg Konzertagentur, eventually becoming head of modern music.

Schwarz has developed the German careers of artists including My Chemical Romance, Paramore, and 30 Seconds to Mars, and is also responsible for the budgeting and logistics on many of MLK’s other tours and festivals.

What are you up to at the moment?

I’m preparing tours for autumn. The main one being Linkin Park, as well as My Chemical Romance, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Gossip and a couple of other mid-sized tours. We’re also working on a German band, Sportfreunde Stiller, with which we’re doing an arena unplugged tour and we’ve also already started with bookings for Rock am Ring and Rock im Park 2011.

Can you see Rock am Ring/Rock im Park changing over the next few years?

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We’ve changed a lot in the last decade and the festivals now have state-of-the-art standards, which we will maintain and upgrade where possible. Overall, I don’t think there’ll be many major changes. We always question ourselves after each year and implement necessary improvements on both sites.

Where would you like to be in five years time?

Probably married! I don’t know if I want to stay in Frankfurt that long, but definitely with MLK. I’m very happy with the way things have worked out. We’ll see.

Seth Seigle (29) Agent, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment After completing a finance degree in Washington DC, Seth Seagle moved to New York with the sole aim of getting into the music business. He joined Evolution Talent in 2002, moving to William Morris in 2004 as Sam Kirby’s assistant.

Seth was promoted to agent in 2005 and works with artists including Rufus Wainwright, Melody Gardot, Ben Lee and Alberta Cross, as well as late night comedian Conan O’Brien.

Is comedy the new rock and roll?

To some extent it is, there’s a lot of crossover between comedy and rock ‘n’ roll and it’s evident when you go to festivals here domestically. It’s becoming more viable for a comedian to host a stage, perform or curate a festival. I’m looking to populate a tour with a comedian – have the right comedian go on tour with an artist and be the opening act.

How is the role of an agent changing?

As much as we look to monetise opportunities we also have to be cognisant of opportunities that will lead to

monetisation. It behoves us to find associations with brands, TV platforms and other forms of media that will lead to exposure points that we can then monetise.

What needs to change in the industry?

There’s a disconnect with ticketing and you need to find a way to lure consumers back into the traditional concert experience. I don’t think the model always offers the fulfillment the consumer is looking for, which is why a lot of the younger ticketing companies will thrive; they’re looking at it from the consumers’ perspective.

Tom Taaffe (25) Agent, ITB (UK) Booking bands from the age of 17, Tom Taaffe began his agency career in Australia, rising through the ranks at Trading Post Agency until he left in 2007 to move to the UK. A number of offers from London agencies followed, and he settled on ITB, where he’s worked since January 2008. Taaffe’s roster currently includes August Burns Red, Whitechapel, Robert Francis and Every Time I Die. What are you most proud of?

Just competing and building up my roster, and developing a niche for myself. I’m obviously not there yet, but I hope I’m building towards something pretty special that’s different from other areas. So I’m happy to just be where I am now and be able to develop even more.

How does this “niche” affect your strategy?

I work with alternative bands, so we’re not relying as much on charts, TV or radio play. It’s more word of mouth, playing live, and finding new areas to get the

music out there. The bands might not have releases in every territory, but we’re still touring for 11 months a year, all over the world. We’re also actively touring SE Asia and South America much earlier, building more working markets.

How do you feel the role of an agent is changing?

It’s becoming a lot more pivotal. It’s different from the days where you got a hot act with a hot record. Now there’s so much competition in the live space that as an agent you’re really in the thick of it.

Matthew Zweck (27) Artists and tour partnerships mgr, Live Nation (UK) The son of veteran production expert and agent Andrew Zweck, Matthew Zweck studied marketing at Leeds University while spending his summers and spare time working on live music events and festivals. After an early experience as a brand ambassador for Bacardi, he took a brand relations role at luxury concierge service, Quintessentially, initiating relationships with Citigroup, British Airways, Mansion Group, Christies and BlackBerry.

What are you tasked with at Live Nation?

My role is split between working with brands and their agencies to spending time with artist agents and managers. Essentially, I’m tasked with creating partnerships that add value for all parties around an artist Live Nation is touring.

How important is sponsorship these days?

The role of sponsors has changed significantly over the last five years; in fact, even the term ‘sponsorship’ is long outdated given the creativity and genuine

partnership role that has developed with artists, events and brands. A true marketing partnership is now a crafted integration of the essential elements of a tour, show or event where key factors like marketing, ticket sales, artist/event personality and the suitability of association all combine in an association that benefits all parties without any compromise of artistic integrity.

We would cite Gorillaz with O2 and Jay Z with Barclaycard as recent great examples of the new model.

A brands-and-artist association will only succeed if the interaction is intelligent, relevant and stylish.

On Top Down Under

Australia & New Zealand

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The billion-dollar live music market Down Under is thriving, and while it’s a long way from anywhere and new arrivals are ruffling some feathers, residents aren’t missing out on much. Lars Brandle reports...

I Q Ma g a z i n e Se p t 2 0 1 0

M

ore Australians are spending bigger bucks on live music than ever before. The numbers tell part of the story. In 2008, the live sector generated AU$1.88billion (€1.3 b) in revenue, according to a new study into the size and scope of the sector, collated by accountancy giant Ernst and Young and published in June by the Sydney-based trade body, Live Performance Australia (LPA). The live music industry Down Under employs more than 13,800 full-time staff, generates about AU$846.3million (€587m) in wages and chucks more than AU$1.1b (€763m) into the national economy. Australia’s grass roots scene is healthy, arenas are reporting strong business, and the 21.4 million population has an eye-popping smorgasbord of festivals to choose from. And the festivals run all year. “Since 2000,” notes veteran promoter Michael Chugg, “the concert-going audience has quadrupled and the demographic has widened.”

Promoters, Chugg included, are acutely aware of just how much of a good time the growing population loves to have. “The market is strong across the board,” says Paul Dainty, whose company Dainty Consolidated Entertainment (DCE) this year promoted George Michael’s three-city Australian stadium tour, and was behind a busy trek of arenas and wineries by Spandau Ballet with Tears for Fears, and Yusuf Islam’s five-city arena tour. (There also won’t be a spare ticket in the house when DCE takes Bon Jovi on a national arenas tour this August.) “There’s no question that our market responds to hit international acts, and there’s a strong appetite for more,” he says.

Cricket Ground leg of the all-star Sound Relief bushfire benefit concerts in 2009 (the other show was at the Sydney Cricket Ground) sold more than 80,000 tickets at AU$75 (€51) a piece, making it the biggest ticketed concert or charity event in the country’s history. The two concerts raised more than AU$5m (€3.4m) combined. But no single artist can touch the scale of Pink’s record-shattering 58-date, national tour which criss-crossed the country over three months. Promoted by MCP, the American pop star’s 2009 tour shifted more than 650,000 tickets, raking in an estimated AU$90m (€62m) at the box office and from merchandise. The Brisbane Entertainment Centre gave Pink an Australian royal seal of approval, naming a ladies’ bathroom in her honour. Australians do things differently.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand’s live circuit has long lived in the shadow of its much larger neighbour. However, business is on a “steady growth curve,” notes Helen Glengarry, business development manager of ticketed events at Christchurch-based venue management firm Vbase. Of late, the cities of Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland in particular have been making a real noise, the latter serving its population with the 9,000-capacity CBS Canterbury Arena (formerly Westpac Arena) and since April 2007, the 12,000-capacity Vector Arena. Touring the Land of the Long White Cloud this year will be Metallica, Jack Johnson, Simply Red, Robin Gibb with The Pointer Sisters, Bon Jovi, Blondie with the Pretenders, and Leonard Cohen.

he booming industry is being fuelled by a virtual conveyor belt that has carried many of the world’s frontline international acts to these shores in recent times. Examples include AC/DC’s 11-date Australian homecoming tour, promoted jointly by Van Egmond Enterprises and Chugg Entertainment, which sold upwards of 600,000 tickets. Metallica’s 13-date arena tour, promoted by Michael Coppel Presents (MCP) is shaping up as a beast, and Australian rock favourites Powderfinger will do one last goodbye lap on their Sunsets tour, which has shifted more than 280,000 tickets.

“The live scene here is healthier now than when we started, that’s for sure,” says guitarist Ian Haug.

Last year it was the turn of Coldplay, André Rieu, Green Day, Black Eyed Peas, Beyoncé, Nickelback and Britney Spears. The Melbourne

his seemingly insatiable appetite for live music has been matched by a hyper-competitive community of promoters. It’s no place for chancers, the stakes are high and there’s a lot of ego and bravado thrown about, or “competitive tension” as Sydney Entertainment Centre GM Steve Romer puts it. With so many players in the game, promoters have been known to work against one another to buy the hottest talent, and ultimately pay too much. Promoters on big shows are often working with paper-thin margins where sometimes the back row of a show represents their profit.

The Australian market continues to be dominated by the big five local promoters and their respective companies – the companies of Chugg; Coppel; Dainty; Michael Gudinski and his Frontier Touring Company; and Andrew McManus Presents. Coppel was ranked sixth among the top 25 promoters as published by Billboard magazine for the year ending November 2008. Frontier was ranked 11th in the same list, and Dainty twenty

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Australia & New Zealand

fifth. But the status quo could all be about to change now that Live Nation opened an office last month. Based in Melbourne, the company is headed by Luke Hede, VP of promotions, Pacific Rim; and Roger Field, former commercial manager for MCP, who becomes LN’s VP of promotions, Australia and New Zealand. “It’s long overdue,” notes Hede, who is now based in Melbourne.

“Australia has such a great gig-going culture. There’s certainly room for other promoters in the market, and for new products.”

There’s no question that “ our market responds to hit

international acts, and there’s a strong appetite for more.

”

– Paul Dainty, DCE Live Nation is developing three or four projects, explains Hede, who hasn’t ruled out a festival sometime down the path. In time, Live Nation’s new affiliate will feed into its regional Asian circuit, where the promotion giant has existing offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai.

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“We’re not looking to come in with all guns blazing, we’re going to build steadily and be sensible about it,” notes Hede. “If there was an offer for a co-promotion on an established act with a history to a promoter, we would investigate that.”

As IQ went to press, that offer was confirmed in the shape of U2’s 360˚ tour of the region in November and December, a co promotion with Michael Coppel. And none of its big rivals admit to fearing the newcomer.

Not publicly anyway. “Their coming into the market was inevitable,” says Melbourne-based Andrew McManus.

“It’s beyond my control.” But the company has quietly established a footprint in Australia through copromotion arrangements over the past decade, largely with DCE (David Bowie, Nickelback, Il Divo) and the occasional tour with MCP (U2) and Frontier (The Police). Whether LN can leverage its global position to entice the international superstars to stay on their side is the big question. “It’ll be interesting to see if those acts blow away long term relationships to go with a brand new company in a very hot market,” says Chugg.

Some domestic artists aren’t won over. “I’m dubious as to [Live Nation’s] motives,” says Dave Faulkner, frontman of ARIA Hall of Fame entrants the Hoodoo

Above: The Amity Affliction at The Roundhouse, Sydney

Australia & New Zealand

Gurus. “They can bankroll the Australian company for decades if they need to. I bet [the other promoters] are shitting bricks.”

While LN will be fighting for the top promoter spot, as far as venues go, the major player is AEG Ogden, a joint venture between the Brisbane-based Ogden IFC and America’s Anschutz Entertainment Group. It oversees 16 entertainment venues across the Asia Pacific region including Brisbane Entertainment Centre and Sydney’s Acer Arena, which ranked ninth on Pollstar magazine’s Worldwide Arena Venues list for 2008 and was third on Billboard’s arena list mid way through this year (behind The O2 and Madison Square Gardens). The Western Australian Government has appointed AEG Ogden as the preferred tenderer to operate the new Perth Arena, which will have a concert capacity of up to 15,000 when it opens for business in 2012. “AEG Ogden getting the nod to manage the Perth Arena can only make Australia even more attractive as a touring destination,” says Acer Arena’s Don Elford. “In a word, business for us is healthy”.

F

or Australia’s promoters, the relatively large pool of rivals isn’t the only big challenge to putting on a show.

The harshest chill of the global economic climate largely missed the region, but the wildly fluctuating dollar rate has sent shivers down the spine of impresarios. The value of the local dollar has swung from as low as US$0.60 (€0.46) in October 2008, to scale heights of US$0.92 (€0.71) a year later. At deadline, the local dollar was bouncing between US$0.85-$0.90 (€0.65-€0.69). “People say entertainment always survives through tough times,” notes Gudinski, whose Frontier Touring this year celebrates its 30th anniversary with tours from the likes of the Eagles and Leonard Cohen.

“We’re surviving, but anyone who tells you the concert business is stronger than ever is talking through their arse.” Gudinski will doubtless be utilising the new Artist Voice agency that launched 1 September, as part of his Mushroom Group, run by his son Matt alongside Brett Murrihy (Premier Harbour Agency). But not every player in the market is moving forwards.

Veteran showman Kevin Jacobsen cited “the volatility of the entertainment market” when his venues operator Arena Management collapsed in

July 2009 with debts in the region of AU$10m (€6.9m). The neighbouring Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre picked up Arena Management’s prized asset, the 12,500capacity Sydney Entertainment Centre. Romer says the once-distressed asset is now doing “fantastic business,” proof that the Sydney market can support two arenas (the other being the 21,000-capacity Acer Arena in the Olympic Park district, in the city’s western suburbs).

And Romer says that it’s not just his venue experiencing good business. “Ticket prices and sales are still growing in the face of some ridiculous premium seat ticket prices,” he notes, “Australians are prepared to spend big and often, throughout the concert season.”

Ticket prices have remained “generally steady, on a par with last year” and there is a “good supply of tours coming through but not an excessive number,” notes AEG Ogden executive director Rod Pilbeam. Ticketmaster Australia and New Zealand executive chair Maria O’Connor agrees that consumer confidence is flying high, but she notes that pricing remains a tough chestnut. “The only risk I see is the volume of content and the prices being asked,” she says, highlighting the huge discrepancy in ticket prices at the top tier. Good seats for AC/DC could be snapped up for around AU$100 (€69), while Simon and Garfunkel’s 2009 tour struggled to fill venues with a chunk of tickets priced well-above AU$300 (€208) apiece.

Above: André Rieu performing at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane (December 2008) Left: Snow Patrol at Acer Arena

Australia & New Zealand

As far as issues with ticketing go, the spectre of ticket scalping rumbles around the Australian market from time to time, causing a nuisance to both promoters

“

We’re surviving, but anyone who tells you the concert business is stronger than ever is talking through their arse.

”

– Michael Gudinski, Frontier Touring and concert-goers. On 31 May, the government took small steps that could see touting eradicated when it launched an investigation questioning the unauthorised resale of concert tickets on eBay. Adam McArthur, GM of primary agent Moshtix, advocates a national law that makes commercial scalping illegal. “People get pissed off with it,” he says. “Ticketing agencies should adopt new technologies to provide more options to promoters and consumers.” Moshtix recently conducted its own survey, which found almost half of respondents wanting ticket resale to be “closely monitored” but not necessarily regulated.

But the biggest issue the industry faces still hasn’t changed and it still has no cure – the tyranny of distance.

Meanwhile, Australia’s arts minister Peter Garrett, the one-time frontman of rockers Midnight Oil, has pitched a change to the country’s entertainment visa regulations, which has some promoters worried that the distance could stretch even further. Australia’s music community is largely supportive of the government’s proposed Foreign Music Acts Certification Scheme, which could mean incoming musicians would need to engage at least one local band or musician as their support act. In the LPA’s submission, its CEO Evelyn Richardson explained that the mooted visa would punish local promoters, who would have to contract a

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support act up to three months ahead of the tour – far from an ideal situation in the run-and-gun promotion game. The local industry is awaiting further news.

W

hile touring once made up the lion’s share of the industry, the festival business is now developing faster than any single segment, and many sideshows and theatres book international acts around an appearance. The largest festival tour is the six-date Australasian Big Day Out (BDO). With Muse and Lily Allen occupying the headline slots, the seven-date 2010 edition sold 335,000 tickets, according to co-promoter Ken West, up from 263,000 tickets across six dates in 2009. For the first time this year, tickets for all five Australian dates sold out within two weeks of going on sale. And for only the second time in the event’s 17-year history, a second BDO date was added in Sydney. Other familiar festival brands include the dance and electronic-oriented Parklife and Future Music fests; Falls Festival, and the Byron Bay Blues Fest that celebrated its 21st anniversary in April.

However, some believe that the failure of the 2009 Blueprint Festival in regional Victoria – which reportedly sank with debts of AU$500,000 (€346,000) – suggest the market is at saturation point. “There are more festivals than it can take,” says Paul Sloan, MD of Supersonic Events, the Perth-based organizers of the Rock-It festival held each March. Sloan is not alone in his perspective, but others claim there is growth left in the market, a point which Splendour in the Grass certainly backs.

The 31 July-1 August event falls smack bang in the middle of Australia’s winter season, but tickets for its new 32,000-capacity Woodfordia site in south east Queensland sold out in a matter of days. Splendour arrives in what is peak season for the northern festivals circuit and by positioning itself to coincide with Fuji Rock and Supersonic in Japan, it grabs some of the biggest talent visiting the region (Pixies, The Strokes and Scissor Sisters for its tenth outing this year) and rounds-out a mini Pacific Rim touring circuit. “We don’t clash with the marquee festivals in Europe and the US. We’re flexible, we study the calendar and we bear that in mind,” says co-promoter Paul Piticco, founder of Secret Service.

On the other side of the Tasman, however, the trajectory of the festivals business isn’t so clearly mapped. Kiwi fests are typically one-day, single-stage events. And although the established operators have held their ground with no notable casualties, the potential remains largely untapped.

“Australian festival promoters have had mixed success in NZ, often realising the Kiwi market responds and reacts differently to our neighbours,” notes Scott Witters, CEO

Australia & New Zealand

and festival director of the Rhythm & Vines fest in remote Gisborne, in the Eastland region of the northern island.

Growth, he says, should come “from greater collaboration between international and local promoters to increase the availability and diversity of talent.”

Frontier is the only Australian promoter with a dedicated full-time office in New Zealand. It’s something founder Gudinski is particularly proud of. The office is led by the husband-and-wife pairing of Brent and Helen Eccles, the former a one-time drummer with ARIA Hall of Famers, The Angels. “New Zealand is a small market,” notes Gudinski, “but it’s a very exciting, trend-setting market and it’s regarded as a popular touring destination.” Frontier, like its top-shelf competitors, typically routes its big Australian tours into New Zealand. And on the occasion, Frontier has brought acts out for NZ-only dates, such as the 2009 visit from The Killers, which stopped at Christchurch’s Westpac Arena and Auckland’s Vector Arena.

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ustralia is a nation weaned on rock. But as the market matures, so too has its musical palate.

Metal and hardcore are rising genres, as evidenced by the growth of the Soundwave Festival, which began as a one off in Perth in 2004. Now, the festival visits each of the five main cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth), selling upwards of 150,000 tickets. And like elsewhere, the classical crossover market in Australia has proved a boon, particularly for André Rieu. In just three shows at Melbourne’s Telstra Dome in November 2008, the Dutch violinist’s three dates generated close to AU$9.5m (€6.58m). Hip hop is also rising out of the underground, while the harder-edged guitar bands are selling out 6,000capcity venues such as Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion. “Every

genre of music is working and growth is coming from all areas,” notes Chugg. “More and more young people are going to gigs, and the retro side is doing great because the baby boomers are going out more.”

To capture this emerging audience, Australian promoters are developing a new arsenal. Michael Chugg Entertainment launched a series of “webisodes” – video exclusives streamed on the new pearljamtour.tv site – to promote its Australasian Pearl Jam tour last November.

Last year, Frontier relaunched its website with interactive and social elements and promptly sold out David Gray’s October 2009 tour without any advertising spend. So despite the well reported troubles affecting the US live scene, both the Australian and New Zealand markets look robust, and well tooled to survive any dip. “The ‘A’ level acts – the Pinks, AC/DCs – have had phenomenal success right through the last two years when a lot of other industries have been suffering,” notes Coppel.

“The ‘B’s and ‘C’s have been suffering a fraction because

festival promoters have had “ Australian mixed success in NZ, often realising the Kiwi market responds and reacts differently to our neighbours.

”

– Scott Witters, Rhythm & Vines people have been cautious. When you get to a notch below, something that’s not a ‘must-see’ attraction, you have to be very careful about what you’re doing.

The dollar isn’t quite stretching as far as it was 24 months ago, but all told,” he concludes, “it’s a healthy, strong market.”

Left: Beyoncé live Down Under Top: Lady Gaga at Sydney Entertainment Centre, March 2010

Australia & New Zealand IQ’s Terry McNally takes takes his pick of the hottest new talent Down Under...

Australia

The Amity Affliction

The Brisbane-based post-hardcore band is currently on tour in Australia after their second album, Youngbloods, went to No 6 in the ARIA charts. Since forming in 2002, they have already supported the likes of The Getaway Plan and We are the Ocean, and this December the band will be supporting Asking Alexandria on a full UK tour.

Booked by the Agency Group.

An Horse

The Brisbane duo, Kate Cooper and Damon Cox, formed in 2007.

Touring in the US in 2008, they were introduced to Michael Goldstone of Mom & Pop, who signed them to his label. The group has also supported Death Cab for Cutie and will be on tour in Australia throughout August with American rock band Against Me!.

Angus and Julia Stone

The folk duo from Newport, Sydney, signed a worldwide publishing deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing in 2006 and joined CAA, then William Morris in the US shortly after. Their second album, Down the Way, debuted at No 1 in Australia in March, becoming the highest-selling domestic album of the year after just two months. The band tours worldwide until December.

Birds of Tokyo

Members of some of Perth’s most successful bands coalesced to form Birds of Tokyo in 2004, and alongside strong critical acclaim, the release of their eponymous third album saw them score second place in the ARIA album chart. The band hits the road Down Under with Silversun Pickups in September and October.

Blackchords

Fronted by 28-year-old songwriter

Nick Milwright, Melbourne band Blackchords caused a stir in May 2006 when, whilst still unsigned, their video for single Broken Bones won first place at Melbourne’s St Kilda Film Festival. Backing their Dust Devil Music-signed debut from October 2009, Blackchords have toured the UK and head back out in Australia in October.

supporting The Black Keys, Yeasayer and MGMT, while influences include Cream, Beck and The Beatles. The four-piece signed a global deal with indie Modular Recordings in July 2008, and their debut album, Interspeaker peaked at No 4 in the ARIA charts in May.

Boy and Bear

Computers Want Me Dead

Sydney folk quintet Boy and Bear are currently embarking on their biggest tour to date to celebrate the release of their third single, Blood to Gold.

They have toured their home market with Angus and Julia Stone and Laura Marling, who invited them onto a two-week UK run. Booked by ITB in the UK and Select music in Australia.

Cloud Control

The Sydney four-piece’s debut long player, Bliss, was met with unanimous praise. Having already toured with Supergrass and Vampire Weekend, and performed at The Great Escape festival in Brighton (UK), the band covers Australia throughout September and October. CAA for booking.

Gypsy and the Cat

Gypsy and the Cat are two electronicloving DJs turned singer/songwriters from Melbourne. Debut single Time to Wander is released through Young and Lost, and the pair has already supported Foals and The Strokes, and received support from Triple J and Mark Ronson’s East Village Radio show. The duo is currently recording with David Fridmann (Mercury Rev, MGMT, Flaming Lips) and Rich Costey (Muse, Franz Ferdinand, Glasvegas).

Tame Impala

Hailing from Perth, this psychedelic rock quartet has built a following

New Zealand

Auckland-based electro-synth pop duo Computers Want Me Dead has been tipped as New Zealand’s next big thing. Part of the emerging electro pop scene, they plan to release an EP through Isaac Promotions shortly and tour nationally.

The Ruby Suns

Californian Ryan McPhun is the brain child behind Auckland band The Ruby Suns. The band have toured with The Shins in Australia and Field Music in the UK. Signed to Sub Pop, Memphis Industries and Lil Chief, they embark on a US and Canadian tour in October.

The Naked and Famous

Electro-pop outfit The Naked and Famous saw single Young Blood debut on the national chart at No 1 in June 2010 – the first New Zealand band in three years to do so. The Universalsigned five-piece are due to release their first album in September 2010.

Tim Guy

Sonic troubadour Tim Guy is currently busking his way around Europe, driven by a thirst to play live at any given moment. Signed to Mushroom Music for publishing, and Monkey Records for label in New Zealand, Guy is currently looking for agency and label representation internationally.

Text compiled by Joanna Gardner

Photos: Left to Right: An Horse, Angus and Julia Stone, Cloud Control, Computers Want Me Dead, The Ruby Suns

Scorpio Rising One of Europe’s largest promoters, FKP Scorpio is 20 this year, and its growth has been almost as measured as its leader, writes Greg Parmley...

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FKP Scorpio

I

to know the Grosse Freiheit,” says that based on sheer numbers, the most Koopmans, who also successful festival promoter in Germany booked The Docks (cap. is a Dutchman. Born in Orleans, France, Folkert 1,500) on the Reeperbahn Koopmans’ Dutch parents moved to Germany and two venues in the while he was still young, so while his heritage country for the club’s owners. may not be local, his upbringing was.

But after four years, when Koopmans grew up in Norden, a small he fell out with the club’s town on the North Sea shore, 170 miles from owners and job interviews Hamburg, where his parents farmed land while with established Hamburg he discovered music. “I got into the business promoter Karsten Jahnke by accident,” he says. “In villages like mine in and ASS failed to yield a the late 70s and early 80s, the government gave tempting offer, Koopmans a few thousand Deutsche Marks to youths to set out on his own. renovate empty houses. I went into one with friends and we set up a foundation which took corpio Konzertproduktionen GmbH set care of the house and started to do shows with up shop in 1990 with help from two local bands and small festivals.” investor friends who fronted the cash Starting out in 1981, Koopmans contacted Koopmans lacked. (“I didn’t have enough money some of the known promoters in the region at the time,’ he says. “Well, to be honest I had and began putting up posters for their shows. none!”) It turned out to be a wise investment In ’84 and ’85, he promoted his own tours with – when he sold his shares in 2000, one of the local acts, but having lost money consistently, friends bought a house with the proceeds. But in late 1986 he moved to Bremen and took the first few years were far from profitable. The a position with German coffee company established promoters such as Marek Lieberberg Jacob’s Café. “The job was pretty boring, but and MCT were happy for Koopmans to I knew this couldn’t go on,” he says. However, continue promoting some of their shows as a escaping the promoting world wasn’t quite local promoter, but with Karsten Jahnke as easy as Koopmans imagined, and when a dominating popular music in the market, friend visited him with a Hamburg newspaper, Koopmans had to find his own niche. he pointed out a job advert for a talent buyer “We started in August and did a tour with at the 1,500-capacity Grosse Freiheit club.

Ann Clarke that November which did really “At that time, the Columbiahalle in Berlin “ Folkert is not the loudest man in the business but he gets the job done without great and the E-Werk in fanfare. I always thought he was one of the Scorpions though – luckily he changed Cologne didn’t exist, so it was the venue to play,” he Emma Banks, CAA the company name so now I know that I was mistaken!” says. “I had an interview, got it, and left my job straight away.” Under Koopmans tenure, the well and allowed us to survive, and we started venue began booking shows in-house, and as a doing concept tours – blues and boogie tours launch pad for a career in music, it was perfect, with three or four acts,” he says. “Then we bringing him into contact with every manager started working with reggae acts. Nobody and promoter that booked a date. “We did wanted to promote reggae but it did quite ZZ Top, Tin Machine, Robert Plant, Crowded well.” Barry Campbell worked at ABS Agency House – even a show with Prince that he in London at the time, the only London played in between two stadium dates. agency which Koopmans had a relationship Everybody that played Hamburg played with (and through which he would later t might surprise some people

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Top: The Strokes headline Hurricane Festival 2010

FKP Scorpio

promote The Stone Roses’ only German tour). Campbell recalls how, “We found a niche booking some great “ Folkert is a pure pleasure to work with and that’s not Jamaican acts like Burning Spear, Toots and The Maytals, something I say very often!” Paul Boswell, Free Trade Agency Augustus Pablo and others. When Folkert finally worked out that pork sausage wasn’t the best food to add to the rider everything worked very smoothly!” up to three shows a day with me driving them around.”

The shows covered Koopmans’ office costs and allowed But as reggae’s popularity slowly began to wane, his only him to keep open and honing his craft. Three years in, it niche started to evaporate. was the reggae world that gave Scorpio its first real break, “There was no market share left and there were so courtesy of Inner Circle and their 1992 smash hit single many promoters, especially younger promoters like Sweat (A La La La La Long), which topped the charts in Michael Löffler who’s now at Target, and Scumeck Switzerland and Germany respectively for six and twelve [Sabottka] from MCT. When the agents needed a young weeks. The band was unhappy with their agency at the promoter they didn’t call me, they called someone else,” time, and Koopmans offered to take over. Regardless of he says. And relying on the established promoters for having never worked as an agent before, or even outside “ Folkert’s a conscientious promoter, hard-working, and quite reserved. He has of Germany, he set about long supported alternative rock and indie at his festivals and has carved a booking them across festivals Russell Warby, William Morris convincing niche in the summer schedule.” in Europe. As an example, it’s just one of many where Koopmans would leap without looking when an local dates, Koopmans wasn’t about to bite the hand that opportunity arose. “It’s not difficult if the band is popular fed him. “I became convinced that festivals would do – we had a lot of requests,” he says. “They were appropriate well. At that time you had Rock am Ring and Rock im for every kind of festival going so we did a lot of dates – Park in the south and the Bizarre Festival in Cologne, so there were no festivals in the north at all.” Koopmans had the idea, and he’d even found the site in Scheeßel. All he lacked was the money and the artists.

“In 1996 we picked up the Backstreet Boys, and they became huge within a year,” Koopmans says. “We started with two dates at the Grosse Freiheit and within a year we promoted them open air at The Trabrennbahn (35,000).

And I paid them a flat fee. With the money I made on the Backstreet Boys I started Hurricane Festival.” Koopmans emailed the national promoters asking for help and MCT’s Sabottka replied. “In the first year he delivered

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Above: Planning early shows with the Youth Association, 1981 Left: Koopmans (right) with a folk singer client, 1983

FKP Scorpio

“ Without doubt, he’s the best Dutchman promoting in the whole of the country. A true gent.” Mike Dewdney, ITB

without the magazine,” Koopmans says. With two events under their belt, 1998 saw Scorpio launch the Highfield Festival with promoter Dieter Semmelman in Erfurt, East Germany, and 1999 added a fourth to the growing portfolio when Southside was introduced as a twin event to Hurricane. Unfortunately, it made a terrible first impression.

“The first year it was near Munich and went totally wrong,” Koopmans says.

“The festival ground was owned by three villages, and we spoke to the mayor of one, who said he’d organise everything and that he was the key man. I booked a line up but in March discovered that we only had permission for one third of the site. Then the Mayor had a heart attack.” Too invested to pull out, large tracts of the first Southside effectively took place on squatted land. Then torrential rain dampened the party. Then headliner Marilyn Manson left the stage after ten minutes and an

Rammstein who were exploding at the time, and he’s still a partner in Hurricane today,” Koopmans says.

“It came from a need that we all had,” says Sabottka, who had attended a disastrous festival on the same site in 1976 when the stage was razed by Hells Angels. “I’d been in the business a little longer than Folkert, but at that time some of our acts – such as Lenny Kravitz for “ Great respect is due to Folkert for establishing a hugely successful double festival me – were moving away from us in the summer to with Hurricane/Southside. Especially considering the tactics of the competition, other festivals. We knew which I believe included flying a light aircraft over one of his festival sites with a we needed our own.” banner proclaiming their rival event as the best in Germany!” Jeff Craft, X-ray Touring 1997’s inaugural event sold 20,000 tickets, even if the organisers were a little green around the ears. “I angry crowd stormed the stage to take revenge on his knew we’d need a bit of space for camping and parking, backline. “The first year did 30,000 people, but the next but I didn’t have a clue how much,” Koopmans says. “On year it only did 12,000. We moved the site and it took a the weekend we were renting field by field, going from couple of years to recover.” one farmer to another with cash in our hands and a “It sounds funny in hindsight, but at the time it was tractor to cut the grass and take it away. We really a total nightmare,” says Sabottka. underestimated it!”

That same year, Koopmans approached gothic music he late 90s were a defined period of change for magazine Zillo about promoting a branded festival, Koopmans. 1997 was the first in 16 years that paying them DM5 (€2.5) per ticket. The first event drew he’d turned a decent profit from shows promoted 10,000 people to the site with his own money. in Hildesheim, and it ran Finally the risks were until 2000 when the two paying good rewards and parties fell out over the while they quickly built risk-free fee Zillo was his company, the festivals being paid. “They wanted also gave Scorpio access to double it, which I to agents and their acts, didn’t accept, so I set up allowing it to compete as a the M’era Luna Festival national promoter. “A

T

Top: The launch of Palazzo, with Clemens Zipse (far left), Evygeny Voronin (left) and Koopmans’ now wife, Malaika (right), in 2002 Bottom: Koopmans at the Grosse Freiheit 36 club, in 1987

FKP Scorpio

“ After 17 years in the music business, meeting hundreds and hundreds of people, I can pretty much count the true music lovers on one hand. I feel very lucky to count Folkert as a friend and a fan. Most importantly, he made it possible for me to bungee jump...TWICE! Now Sarah Bettens, K’s Choice that creates a bond!”

business, Semmel Concerts, at the same time, but he says that, “the older promoters – Peter Rieger and Marek Lieberberg still do their own thing. It’s been difficult to work that out.”

G

FKP Scorpio (newly renamed due to a tussle with The Scorpions’ trademark lawyer) was turning over DM10million (€5.1m). By the end of the decade, it was generating over €60m. And while the first handful of festivals propelled the agency into the major league, it’s a combination of outdoor events and other entertainment brands that has fertilised its growth. One such brand is Palazzo, a fine dining, supper club and theatre experience which takes place in pop up Spiegeltents for up to four months around the Christmas period. Seating between 350 and 450 oing into the noughties,

few promoters stopped working with me in 1997/98, but it all changed in 2000 when I sold 50% of the company to CTS Eventim,” Koopmans says.

The turn of the millennium was a period of flux within the industry as a certain American multinational began buying up swathes of European promoters, forcing a raft of new allegiances. “Nobody knew what was going to happen with Live Nation but I knew I wouldn’t have the “ I have always admired Folkert for his love of music – as one of the very few in this money to compete on my own,” Koopmans says. business who you won’t find in the VIP areas but always in front of a stage checking “CTS was the best option Brian Nielsen, Skandinavian out the next potential big thing.” for me – both money wise and security wise.”

Eventim’s Medusa Group, which houses many of patrons for dinner, Palazzo runs six days a week, or seven Germany’s top promoters, brought together competing in December. Tickets range between €80 and €140 and companies. Within the collective, Koopmans often over half of the seats are sold to corporate parties. This year, works with Dieter Semmelmann who sold half of his clubs are running in Vienna, Amsterdam, Berlin,

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Above: A fan gets off to a flying start at Southside Festival

FKP Scorpio

“ We have been working very closely with Folkert and his crew since our venue opened in 2002 and very much enjoy it! He doesn’t speak too much, but if he does, he is precise!

Maybe this is one reason why he still looks a few days over 20 and not as though he’s been in business for 20 years!”

Uwe Frommhold, O2 World Hamburg Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Mannheim and Munich. “we are not reliant on a record being put back, or a tour Kooopmans first got involved in Palazzo in 2000, finally cancelled,” Koopmans says. buying the trademark in 2007, and he co-promotes the Munich club with brand founder Clemens Zipse. y spreading his bets and meticulously covering Aside from the supper-clubs, other projects have the angles, the Dutch entrepreneur has built one included large-scale arena operas, such as Carmen in of Europe’s largest promotion agencies singleFebruary 2006 and Aida later that same year. The tours handed. And many of his suppliers are outspoken as to were averaging 20,000 per city but are currently on FKP Scorpio’s success. Stageco Germany provides stages hold after producers considered the €140 ticket price to many of FKP’s events. “Folkert and his team are unsustainable in the financial climate. More recently, working really properly, they have an eye for detail,” says Koopmans and Eventim have jointly invested “ Some people in the music industry underestimated Folkert’s perseverance in reaching €20m in Beatlemania, the goals he set for himself. He has a great ability to cross a bridge when he comes a permanent exhibition to one, and I admire his reliability, loyalty, integrity and his sense of humour.” celebrating the fab four’s days in Hamburg. “The

Marc Huelsewede, Crunch Time Promotion idea has been going around for ten years but I knew it would only work if Stageco’s Timo Mathes. “They organise everything very we had a building on the Reeperbahn,” he says. “Two carefully and right down to the last detail, and their longyears ago we found it. This can run for years.” The 2009 term planning makes them more and more experienced opening year drew 100,000 visitors which was less than every year.” Another staging company, Nüssli, rents expected, but Koopmans is realistic about the time it will 100 trucks of equipment to the outdoor events, and take to establish.

Manuel Billian agrees with his competitor when he says, “Even if Beatlemania makes €100 per day, it’s steady “FKP are professionals in every way.” “Folkert is full of and ongoing,” he says. “You see for me, it’s always been passion,” adds Okan Tombulca, MD of facilities, flooring about building brands. With a festival like Hurricane, if and fencing supplier EPS. “If he believes in something you take care of it, it comes back every year and you can and is convinced, he leaves no stone unturned count on it financially.

It’s the same with Palazzo too, where we also keep the sponsorship. If an act doesn’t tour, for us it doesn’t matter. We’ve got so many brands to work on that we can survive.

We toured Coldplay in Germany until 2005 but when they went with Live Nation, we didn’t do that last tour. But the company is still stable.”

FKP might promote 100 tours per year, but,

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Top: with Jana Seifert, Dieter Semmelmann and Kiki Ressler drinking Jägermeister Bottom: M’Era Luna 2010

FKP Scorpio

“ Three years ago Folkert called me at the beginning of April and asked if we could do all the sanitary equipment for the Hurricane Festival. We didn’t provide sanitary equipment at that time and were ridiculously busy. Eight weeks later, Folkert and I were sitting on our scooters and looking at all the new containers, toilets and showers at Hurricane. It was a great feeling for me and my team to fulfil his trust, even if those eight weeks cost me a lot of grey Okan Tombulca, EPS hair and sleepless nights!” and two shows with German acts,” he says. “We’ve got 50 tours this autumn, and our touring division is really growing right now, and outside of that, looking ahead, I’d like to have the Palazzo brand in every major European city, and on the festival side, I think the Eastern Bloc still has space for more. And we’re opening a 300-capacity venue inside Beatlemania in September.” With that lot in the pipeline, it is perhaps unsurprising that Koopmans claims to have no real hobbies, other than spending time with his wife and three children. “My job is my hobby,” he says. “We need to make a certain amount of money to pay the

to make it successful.” Meanwhile, Claudius Schüer at power solutions firm AES Aggreko Event Services cites “The general communication, which is open, positive and cooperative. In the beginning it was even familiar – Folkert himself helped us fix chains of lights for path lighting at Hurricane!”

Many agents mention Koopmans’ softly spoken demeanour, which is unusual in an industry prone to bluster and pomp at every occasion. But it’s a “ In 2006, Within Temptation, one of our management acts headlined the second stage at formula that clearly Hurricane when a real hurricane hit with full force. The way Folkert’s crew dealt with the works, especially given Koopmans’ current todangerous situation was exemplary and gave everybody the feeling they are prepared do list. “We don’t have a for the worst. Real professionals at work! It seems to me that 20 years is just the beginning big open-air venue in of a very successful company history for FKP.” Frank Stroebele, Eye Sound Management Hamburg so we just started one next to the horse racetrack, which can hold 20,000 people. We’ve employees, but I do this to do interesting things. A got it for three years and we’re doing four shows there lot of people do a job just for money, but I’m lucky this year including Blink 182, a classic rock festival because I do it because I like it.”

Festival Portfolio 2010

Highfield Festival (30,000) 20-22 August 2010, Grosspoesna www.highfield.de

Elbjazz (10,000) 28-29 May, Hamburg www.elbjazz.de

Southside Festival (50,000) 18-20 June, Neuhausen ob Eck www.southside.de

Chiemsee Reggae Summer (25,000) 27-29 August, Uebersee www.chiemsee-reggae.de

Greenfield Festival (26,000) 11-13 June, Interlaken www.greenfieldfestival.ch

M’era Luna Festival (25,000) 7-8 August, Hildesheim www.meraluna.de

Hamburger Kultursommer (15,000) 24-30 August, Hamburg www.hamburgerkultursommer.de

Hurricane Festival (70,000) 18-20 June, Scheessel www.hurricane.de

Area 4 Festival (25,000) 20-22 August, Luedinghausen www.area4.de

Rolling Stone Weekender (5,000) 12-13 November, Weissenhäuser Strand www.rollingstone-weekender.de

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Above: Mando Diao at Hurricane 2010

TThe he Middle Grounds Middle Grounds

The ‘workhorses’ of the live world, mid-range venues are renovating and rejuvenating, but it’s far from an easy life. Adam Woods reports…

Amid all the media fuss that attends huge-grossing tours, multi-night arena residencies, globetrotting superstars and Europe’s vast acreage of festivals, commentators outside the industry too often ignore the mid-range tours, the medium-sized venues and the everyday stars that do as much as anyone to drive the business. In this range, just as much as at arena level, all the factors that have coloured the boom of the European live business can be found in action, from the take-up of US-style venue-naming rights to the increased expectations among consumers, promoters

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and artists of a high-class experience.

The Academy Music Group’s (AMG) operations director Richard Maides calls 2,000 to 5,000-capacity theatres the “workhorses” of the live world. He’s in as good a position to give them a name as anyone; AMG, along with the HMV-owned Mama Group and Live Nation, has redrawn the face of the UK’s mid-size venue circuit in the past decade. “You go back 20-odd years and you look at the kind of venues people were playing in, and the resources available to them were kind of limited,” says

Maides. “But just like the leisure market reinvented itself – cinema chains especially – venues like ours have done the same.”

The cinema analogy is one that thrives in the venue business, and with good reason. Cinemas don’t have to contend with gallons of alcohol being trodden into their floors every night of the week, but in many other respects leading mid-sized venues across Europe have brought their offering far closer to that of the thriving cinema chains. From E-Werk in Cologne to Amsterdam’s Heineken Music Hall, and from Copenhagen’s Annexet to a veritable glut in London including the Roundhouse, the Royal Albert Hall and indigO2, Europe profits from scores of mid-sized venues. Some of them didn’t exist a decade ago and some maintain a long tradition; others have updated heritage theatre buildings and brought them back into the European touring mainstream.

What unites the circuit at this level is the quality of facilities that is increasingly applied as standard, shifting today’s medium-sized halls a world away from the functional, no-frills circuit that existed two decades ago.

Behind the stage and in front, times have changed. In the UK, the circuit at the 2,000 to 5,000 level – and just above and just below – is still tentatively thriving. The venues are maintaining their appeal to sponsors, and the right shows, carefully planned, are selling well in a wary market. “I think this year we are going into will be a very cautious year,” says Steve Forster, head of Mama Group’s live division. “Fewer and fewer people are taking risks and people are making careful choices. The ones who were going out three or four times a week are now going out once.”

The trend is a standard one, from Scandinavia to Spain, and common-sense commercial rules apply.

Above: Grand Canal Theatre, Dublin

Mid-range Venues

Artists with a hit single and little pedigree don’t currently seem like a good bet, particularly not at higher ticket prices. Pure pop is in a quiet spell, and may be in for a slump as TV talent shows exhibit signs of fatigue.

One way or another, no one is talking seriously about overall growth. And yet, there are opportunities to be found at an infrastructural level.

AMG has added roughly a venue a year to its empire since it began expanding in earnest as The McKenzie Group in 2000, particularly putting its foot down after a management buyout and rebrand in 2004. Most recently, it has put the finishing touches to the £15million (€18.2m), 1,450-capacity O2 Academy Leicester at Leicester University in the UK, which opens officially on 23 September with a show from Professor Green.

There are now Academy venues in Brixton and Islington (London), Glasgow, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Leeds, Newcastle, Oxford and Sheffield, not to mention the Shepherd’s Bush Empire, and all now wear the O2 prefix. With shareholders including Live Nation, Metropolis Music, SJM Concerts and Ireland’s MCD Promotions, the company is virtually a combined industry concern.

“These venues are considerable investments in the industry,” says Maides. “They are not just investments in the Academy Music Group – they are investments for the long-term for the entire industry. The level of reinvestment we make year-on-year in terms of capital expenditure is considerable, from equipment to customer comforts, and that needs to continue because if it stops, we find ourselves back where we were 20 years ago.”

Across Europe, any similar degree of consolidation in the mid-size range is difficult to find. France’s equivalent is the 15-strong chain of purpose-built, governmentbacked Zénith venues, most coming in at between 5,000 and 7,000 in capacity and dotted across a country where inconsistent population density and varying demand don’t always produce big crowds. Some in the business are scathing about the uncommercial thinking behind the 1980s push to stud the country with these mid-sized halls, most of which are on the large side of medium.

Certainly, the first of them, Le Zénith in Paris, remains by far the most significant.

The advent of groups such as AMG and Mama in the UK would seem to suggest that there are significant economies of scale for consolidated networks of venues.

In fact, for the most part, Maides suggests there are few, though he concedes that experience is certainly one, and the ability to offer an entire tour for a given act is clearly another.

“Inevitably, there are some areas,” he says. “If you are buying toilet roll, you get a better deal. Yes, we have increased buying power and we are increasingly attractive as a vehicle

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ust like the leisure market reinvented “ Jitself – cinema chains especially – venues like ours have done the same. ” – Richard Maides, AMG

for partners like O2 and Carlsberg, who are essential to us.

But in reality, the synergies and the economies of scale are really only limited to the toilet roll end.”

Mama Group, which was acquired in full by former minority shareholder the HMV Group early this year, counts London’s HMV Hammersmith Apollo and the 2,350-capacity HMV Forum among its properties. It also extends into the club circuit with The Borderline, Relentless Garage, G-A-Y, Heaven, and Barfly Camden – all in London – plus Aberdeen’s Warehouse, Edinburgh’s HMV Picture House and the newly opened, 1,500capacity HMV Institute in Birmingham. And of the portfolio of venues, Forster reports it’s the smaller sizes that are better insulated in a downturn. “In the current climate, people like the surety of a 1,500-capacity venue for acts who have outgrown the bars but don’t feel they could fill civic halls,” he says.

Just as there are a finite number of arena venues a given population can sustain, so the same obviously applies to far smaller halls. In fact, taking into account the relatively lower level of demand for acts who typically tour mediumsized venues, the audience required to sustain the two classes of venue is not so very different. “There are only 15 to 20 major cities in the UK that I would say could sustain a large, vibrant, 1,500-capacity music venue,” says Forster. “When we build our business models, we have a perception of what we think each city is worth, taking into account what happens in other venues that we have.”

Mid-range Venues

Some cities have a more obvious vacancy for a mediumsized facility than others, and occasionally the marvel is that no one has filled it before. In Dublin, where for years there was an unfilled gulf between small and large; two new, high-spec venues are now operating in the 2,000seat theatre market (see page 7). Live Nation’s Grand Canal Theatre, designed by Ground Zero architect Daniel Libeskind and with a capacity of 2,111, opened on 18 March, 18 years after the project was first mooted and seven years since the venue was pitched to the Dublin Docklands Development Authority. “It is really the missing link for Dublin,” says Live Nation Ireland chief executive Mike Adamson. “It’s taken a while, but theatres are very expensive things to build.”

Its dense line-up of events includes Joanna Newsom, Michael Bolton, Belle & Sebastian and Alexandra Burke in the coming months, alongside runs of Fame, The Rocky Horror Show, Hairspray and Scrooge. Whistle Down The Wind, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and others have already been through. “We have had some great runs,” says Adamson. “You look for long-ish runs of West End and Broadway productions. You need those, for that type of theatre, to be able to fill 52 weeks – it would take a lot of one-nighters to do it.”

In fact, demand has been such that a second venue in the same range opens its doors this month (September).

The Auditorium, built as part of the Convention Centre

n the current climate, people like the “ Isurety of a 1,500-capacity venue for

acts who have outgrown the bars but don’t feel they could fill civic halls.

– Steve Forster, Mama Group

”

Dublin across the water, has been hosting auditions for Britain’s Got Talent and The X Factor in the months before opening. Speaking before the full launch, business development manager Ruth Weston says the signs are good: “In general, there is a lot of activity and the venues here are very busy. There is quite a lot of product out there, including things that haven’t come to Dublin before, often because they haven’t had the right size of venue. What they have lacked here was the 2,000-seat theatre, and now they have got both.”

It is a given that, in times of huge consumer choice and currently limited disposable income, venues that stand out, or at the very least offer a characterful, dependable, high-quality experience, are the ones that will thrive. And just having one or two of those qualities is not enough. “It is all very well having a nice room, but if you have got crap sound and crap lights, no one is going to play there,” says Chris Alexander, former booker at London’s late, lamented Astoria. Alexander now performs the same role for The Assembly, a restored 1,000-capacity art deco ballroom in Leamington Spa – smaller than what generally passes for medium, but notable for the dodgems, giant smurf and pink caravan in its backstage area – the latter once owned by Tammy Wynette.

The venue has been attempting, with some success, to carve out a slot on the circuit over the last two years, and makes a virtue of its independence from the big groups that dominate its sector elsewhere in the country. “It’s an independently-owned venue, and we treat every concert the same, whether it’s Newton Faulkner or someone playing in front of 100 people,” says Alexander.

Across Europe, many other venues survive as living pieces of history, albeit with extensively updated facilities.

In Copenhagen, the 3,000-capacity Falconer Salen remains from 1958, and is a rare venue that exists as part of a hotel, the four-star Radisson Blu Falconer Hotel and Conference Center. Judy Garland, Sammy Davis Jr and U2 are among the diverse stars to have played there over the years. “It is a little odd compared to all our competitors,” says Henriette Hansen, the Falconer’s congress and event manager. “But the vision when it was built was that they wanted a multi-functional centre with offices, shops, entertainment and hotels, and we still have all those things around. They were very visionary when they built this. We have done a little to the chairs, but we still have the same system in there.”

The Falconer Salen doesn’t promote events but offers itself strictly as a rentable space. In common with many other European venues, it draws business from several fields, only one of which is music. Conferences and exhibitions are a major part of the schedule, and

Left: Florence & The Machine at O2 Academy Leeds Above Left: Biffy Clyro (same venue)

Mid-range Venues

while recent and imminent shows include Band Of Horses, Robyn, Grinderman and John Cleese, Hansen says the venue occasionally has to turn away music due to its other commitments. “That is maybe what makes our facility strong compared to other venues that only have concerts or only conferences and exhibitions,” says Hansen. “We can do everything.”

Whereas some venues buy shows in, Copenhagen’s 3,000-capacity KB Hallen operates strictly as hall for hire, mixing music and exhibitions. Director Keith Lemmon reports that there has been limited international touring through northern Europe in this size range in recent months. “We have had a very good year, but that is basically because of the Danish bands we have been putting on,” he says, citing The National and Limp Bizkit as two US exceptions. “It is a general thing. Maybe the smaller venues pick up a few things we might have got if times had been a bit better. Promoters are going to be a bit more cautious, and they would probably rather sell out a 1,500 than have 1,700 people in a 3,000.”

325 miles to the north-east is Stockholm’s Annexet, built as part of the Stockholm Globe City complex in 1989 and fitting 3,950 people for concerts. “It is a very versatile arena that we can use both for concerts, after-parties, TV shows, trade fairs, gala dinners and so on,” says Marie Lindqvist, head of communications and guest services at the complex. “We have Robert Plant coming and Bullet For My Valentine, but then for the whole of December we have a Christmas gala running every day.”

Likewise, Finland’s Tampere Hall, in the city of the same name, started the year with its own production of The Sound Of Music, and once again, a long run proved to be commercial magic. “We did 13 shows, sold out, with a capacity of 1,900,” says Marko Stenstrom, head of the hall’s music department. “There are only 200,000 people in Tampere, so over 10% of the population saw that musical.” Tampere promotes around half of its own shows, making it a rarity not only in Europe, but in Finland, where only Lahti’s Sibelius Hall pursues a similar course. “It is not very common,” says Stenstrom.

“But we are both owned by the city, and they want to ensure we maintain the variety of the programme, which is why we do a lot ourselves.”

Medium-sized venues don’t have the same sidelines in sport or large-scale family entertainment that are available to arenas, but if anything they are frequently more versatile, embracing everything from club nights to corporate meetings. “We are equally comfortable hosting an HMV conference or a Metallica gig,” says Forster of Mama Group’s venues. “The key is simply to make sure that every customer coming through your doors, from metal kids to older audiences to conference delegates, feels comfortable coming into your venue.”

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t is all very well having a nice room, “ Ibut if you have got crap sound and crap lights, no one is going to play there. ”

– Chris Alexander, The Assembly

Above: Tinchy Stryder at O2 Bristol Academy

In Focus 1) ( L to R): Rikke Øxner, Henrik Bondo Nielsen and Henrik Rasmussen take a break at the sold out Roskilde Festival.

Denmark’s largest outdoor event, one of Europe’s five largest, has run since 1971. Photo: Mathias Bojesen 2) M embers of team Sonisphere and the website community moderators meet up at Knebworth for the UK stage of the festival.

Sonisphere 2010 toured 11 countries across Europe between 16 June and 8 August. Photo: Andy Parker

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3) M ichael Eavis and the Glastonbury team celebrate the opening of a new playship in the Greenpeace Field. This year’s Glastonbury saw over 177,000 attend the site at Worthy Farm, Somerset.

Photo: Jason Bryant

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4) F inland’s Ruisrock celebrated its 40th anniversary this July.

Joining the celebrations (L to R) and 71,000 visitors were: Juhani Merimaa, Matti Merimaa, Maria Silvato, Katja Valpas, Johannes Kinnunen and Mikko Niemelä.

5) H arri Pihlajamäki (left) executive director and Juha Koivisto promoter of Provinssirock, the biggest international rock festival in Finland meet backstage during the event. The festival has been held every June since 1979.

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6) N early 200 professionals took part in Øya festival’s international programme this year. Held during the festival (10-14 August), events included speed meetings to encourage networking between the Norwegian and international music industry.

7) B ažant Pohoda director and booker Michal Kaščák (centre) and Jana Polnischova (production) welcome The Stranglers’ tour manager, Gary Knighton to the festival, held in Trenĉin, Slovakia on 7-9 July. Pohoda is one of the largest annual events in the country, and this year attracted 30,000 people.

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Do you have a photo for inclusion? email info@iq-mag.net

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Insight

The Great Rock ‘n’ Rollout As an agent, John Jackson has been a principal figure in the world of rock and metal for decades, but his involvement with Sonisphere has seen him move to the other side of the fence. On just its second edition this year, Jackson’s traveling festival visited 11 European countries between 16 June and 8 August. IQ caught up with him in Florida…

Q. Is Sonisphere your first foray into festival promotion?

And how different have you found it to agency life?

Sonisphere is my first foray into promoting of any kind during my professional career, and I started in the live music business aged 19 in 1972 at the Chrysalis Agency.

Having crossed ‘to the other side’ so to speak, I have learned that I have a whole new set of nerves that I didn’t know existed.

Q. Going into the recession as you launched, what were your thoughts?

When we first announced Sonisphere we were lucky to have Metallica as our headliner even though they were not exclusive. Their Sonisphere appearances were scheduled during their highly successful (and totally sold out) World Magnetic arena tour. We knew therefore that, despite the economic downturn in the UK and throughout Europe, we had a very strong band with which to launch the festival.

Q. How is ownership of the festival structured?

The Sonisphere Festival brand is jointly owned between myself and Kilimanjaro Live (Stuart Galbraith) with AEG underwriting.

Q. It’s clearly a partnership that has worked – how would you describe your involvement, compared to his?

My role is series creator and director, and I plan the schedule, initiate the third party promoter partnerships and guide the overall planning in terms of choice of headliner and supporting line up. Stuart and his team at Kilimanjaro Live take care of the production side, festival planning and marketing. He has a brilliant team working with him (as do I) and the partnership really does work.

Q. How much leeway is there for local partners when it comes to marketing, promotion, branding and booking?

Ultimately, Stuart and I have total control over the direction of Sonisphere. We of course value the involvement of our various partners and allow them to get on and do what they do best, which is sell tickets.

Having said that, the planning of the line ups is very much reliant on the opinions of our local partners.

Q. Have you been surprised by the level of success that Sonisphere has achieved already?

Surprised isn’t the right word. But I would say that I am immensely proud of how far we have come with establishing Sonisphere as a leading brand in the live music arena.

“ Having crossed ‘to the other side’ so to speak, I have learned that I have a whole new set of nerves that I didn’t know existed.”

Q. A million tickets in year two of an event is more than unusual. How have you done it?

I would say that it’s really been the brilliant teamwork, skills and knowledge of all those who form ‘team sonisphere’ and most notably the incredible support of AEG. Q. Can you continue to add as many markets at such a rate, or will you be more focussed on developing existing markets in the future?

The intention was, and continues to be, to establish Sonisphere as the first and only truly global touring festival.

We will be adding more markets in Europe in 2011 and expanding some of the existing events from one day to multi-day camping festivals. We also have our eyes firmly focused on the US and will enter the market when we feel the time is right.

Q. So how far advanced are plans right now?

We are in touch with potential promoter partners throughout the world who have expressed an interest in bringing Sonisphere to their market. Realistically, I can see a situation where Sonisphere Festivals take place in markets outside of Europe in 2012, most likely in the US, Canada, Central and Latin America. However, I would not necessarily bet against a Sonisphere Festival taking place on another continent in 2011. Let’s wait and see!

Your Shout

“ What’s the most unusual or memorable thing you have ever witnessed a boss do?”

If you would like to send feedback, comments or suggestions for future Your Shout topics, please email: info@iq-mag.net

TOP SHOUT!

Charles Shun – consultant

One day our staff drinks machine had a new addition, a Maggi meaty soup. My Chris Prosser – ILMC

Boss: “What the hell did you do to my computer?

I’m entering my password, but all it’s giving me is seven asterisks!”

Me: “Oh, don’t worry. I changed your password to seven asterisks.”

Boss: “Oh! Okay, thanks.” (keeps trying...)

Matt Schwarz – MLK

I once encountered my boss standing outside of a club distributing €5 notes to groups of people walking down the street – in order to get them into a show to make it look good.

John Probyn – Live Nation

They gave me a job!

Akiko Rogers – William Morris Endeavor

Neal Schon from Journey wanted to meet the members of his agency team as he was contemplating leaving the agency to go somewhere else.

I brought Peter Grosslight to a dive bar/restaurant in Central California to meet

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I Q Ma g a z i n e Se p t 2 0 1 0

elderly boss, Lance, (who had an uncanny resemblance and manner to the character Captain Mainwaring in Dad’s Army), decided to try a Maggi soup in the morning and loved it so much he returned to the machine in the afternoon and loaded a tray with half a dozen cups.

Later that afternoon, Lance disappeared, and after half an hour, a little worried, I went to look for him. I found him in the stairwell, red faced, tightly gripping the

wall rail. Fearing the worse, I asked if I could help him up.

He said, “I’m not going up, I’m still going down to the loo!”. The soup had acted as a laxative and he had only made it halfway down the stairs before he had to stop and grip the banister rail “to hold everything in”. The noises he created sounded like a trombone in the stairwell and he couldn’t let go of the rail for fear of following through.

After another 20 minutes of ‘trombone’ impersonations

he returned to the office, exhausted. After that he always referred to that day as ‘Maggi’s revenge’!

the band. Neal challenged Peter to a tequila drinking contest and while I’m not sure who actually won, I do remember there was arm wrestling in the end. The band stayed with us.

Glastonbury – it is magic!

There again, Michael claims that we first met in a burger bar in London’s Leicester Square, which is somewhat less exotic!

accountant would not pay for them...!

Ben Challis – Music Law Updates

The first time I ever met Glastonbury Festival organiser Michael Eavis was one autumn at Worthy Farm where the festival is held. At one point Michael announced that he had to find a hidden underground pipe by ‘divining’ the water in the pipe. He used what looked like a ‘Y’ shaped brass rod and in just a few minutes managed to find the pipe which was buried at least one metre under the grass!

Michael treated the whole exercise as quite normal, but I was quite amazed, and in the sixteen years since then that I have worked as the ‘Glastonbury lawyer’ I have been continually impressed year on year by

Brian Kabatznick – AEG Facilities Europe

Portland ME, 1980 – my boss and I were entertaining the arena manager and his new wife, who we were meeting for the first time.

During dinner he became significantly intoxicated and “expectorated” while our steak dinners were being served. It was a great introduction for our client’s wife, and the alcohol seemed to dull his memory of the evening from that moment on!

Carl Martin – cahm.uk

The GM of an arena I was working at gave his secretary a pile of receipts and asked her to sort them out and to prepare the paperwork for his expenses claim. The receipts included two for Viagra tablets. For some obscure reason, the

Jon Corbishley – The Safety Officer

One of my first jobs for ShowSec was to collect 150 barriers from the reservoir car park at the old Wembley Stadium at the end of a concert. It was midnight.

The rain was pouring and I was soaked through and had loaded 148 barriers on the truck watched by all of the supervisors who were sheltering in a warm, dry Portacabin. At that point I noticed Mick Upton striding through the downpour towards me with the rain bouncing off his bald head. My first reaction was that the only reason the chairman of the company would walk all that way in the rain would be to tell me that I’d made a mistake and picked up the wrong barriers, but no, he’d seen one of his staff working alone in the cold rain and had brought me a hot cup of tea. Maximum respect, Mick.