IQ 94

94 An ILMC Publication NOVEMBER 2020 | £25 | €25

XR SHAPES BILLIE’S NEW REALITY PLUS COVID TESTING SOLUTIONS HUNGARY’S HOTTEST TALENT AGENTS OF CHANGE

introduction of CEE music scene and markets workshops, panels, networking program showcase playlist of 10 cherry-picked artists CEEtral Party Digital: 11 AM + SPECIAL STREAM BY RICH MIX LONDON: Electronica: Vision of Sound II : 8 PM GMT (9 PM CET) unique shows by Katarina Malikova (SK), Óperentzia (HU), Bratři (CZ), Hatti Vatti (PL) free for everyone powered by SoundCzech more info at www.soundczech.cz/en

Hungarian Cultural Centre London

IQ94 CONTENTS

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COVER: BILLIE EILISH’S WHERE DO WE GO? LIVE-STREAM ON 24 OCTOBER

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20 NEWS

FEATURES

COMMENT AND COLUMNS

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Index In Brief The main headlines over the last two months Analysis Key stories and news analysis from around the live music world New Signings & Rising Stars A roundup of the latest acts that have found agents during lockdown Zooms with a View Michael Chugg talks to IQ about expanding his business portfolio during a pandemic, industry cooperation, and the challenge of developing domestic talent when borders remain closed

Agents of Change Jon Chapple examines the evolving environment for London’s remaining independent talent agencies Covid Testing Solutions As scientists around the world work on answers to Covid-19, IQ profiles various UK operations developing virus testing systems Magyar Choice Hungarian Oncoming Tunes showcase some of the country’s hottest export-ready acts

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The Support Act Italian superstar, Elisa, details the reasons behind her recent tour where she eschewed her fees to give all profits to fellow musicians and crew members Beyond Solidarity Joe Frankland highlights possible pathways for anyone struggling to kickstart their equality programmes during the pandemic Your Shout What’s the strangest superstition you have encountered?

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Magazine

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This bumper issue will see us round up 2020, and look ahead to next year in the following features:

COVID KIT

The latest new tech and solutions helping to reopen the business

INTERNATIONAL TICKETING YEARBOOK

Key trends, innovations, and commentary in ticketing

UNSUNG HEROES 2020

Our end-of-year honours list recognises the industry’s behindthe-scenes champions

FOR ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES PLEASE CONTACT STEVE@IQ-MAG.NET

YEAR-END ROUND UP

Industry heads’ views on the next 12 months

In Brief

LIVE N’ ON A PRAYER

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epending on which experts you listen to, a coronavirus vaccine could be available for mass distribution before the end of this year; by February or March 2021; or, if you believe Donald Trump (and why wouldn’t you?), next week – but only if he’s chosen to continue as POTUS: the clinicians in the laboratories will obviously down tools and burn their formulae if this champion of medicine loses the election. He’s done more for science than any other president. Honest…

Then there are those realists who observe that it can take years to find a vaccine for certain viruses. Indeed, for the likes of SARS (which began to spread in 2003) and bird flu (1997), scientists are still looking for answers.

What’s different about the 2019 novel coronavirus, aka severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), or Covid-19, to give it its street name, of course, is that it doesn’t just kill people in socalled developing countries. As a result, thousands of virologists and epidemiologists the world over are working overtime on our behalf.

I’m usually a glass-half-full kinda person, but right now, it feels like someone nicked my drink, necked it, and is using the empty glass as an ashtray. Staying positive and optimistic is a task in itself, this year, and given the one-step-forward, two-steps-back impact that government restrictions are having on venues and live entertainment, almost everywhere, I’m acknowledging both faith and science by praying that the boffins can deliver us some much-needed good news soon.

Feeling similarly frustrated, ILMC stalwart, Michael Chugg, shares his views on the pandemic and a possible timetable for touring to resume (see page 26). Our comments pages see PRS Foundation chief Joe Frankland offer up some encouragement to make the industry a more diverse working environment (page 15), while Italian songstress Elisa explains why she donated her fees and show profits from her latest tour to her fellow musicians and crew (page 14).

News editor Jon Chapple examines the changing landscape for London’s independent talent agencies (page 16), and our friends at the Hungarian music export office, HOTS, reveal the acts they will be showcasing as export-ready for 2021 and beyond (page 30).

And in a nod to our future heroes in medical research, we also provide a little bit of hope by flagging up just some of the UK-based laboratories that have developed rapid Covid-testing kits (page 20), that could provide some kind of early solution for venues to reopen their doors and event organisers to devise creative workarounds for live entertainment. Given that similar tests and vaccines are being trialled in scores of countries around the world, we’re relying on you, our readers, to tell us about any significant breakthroughs in your territory that might benefit us all. Seriously, share any news you have with our news editor (jon@iq-mag.net), so we can give the industry at large a proverbial, and hopefully literal, shot in the arm.

ISSUE 94 LIVE MUSIC INTELLIGENCE

IQ Magazine Unit 31 Tileyard Road London, N7 9AH info@iq-mag.net www.iq-mag.net Tel: +44 (0)20 3743 0300 Twitter: @iq_mag Publisher ILMC and Suspicious Marketing Editor Gordon Masson News Editor Jon Chapple Staff Writer Lisa Henderson Advertising Manager Steve Woollett Design Philip Millard Sub Editor Michael Muldoon Editorial Assistant Ben Delger Contributors Joe Frankl;and, Elisa Toffoli Editorial Contact Gordon Masson gordon@iq-mag.net Tel: +44 (0)20 3743 0303 Advertising Contact Steve Woollett steve@iq-mag.net Tel: +44 (0)20 3743 0304 ISSN 2633-0636

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IN BRIEF INDEX The concert business digest

Sydney-based artist services company, Chugg Music, opens a new Asian office in Bangkok, spearheaded by veteran industry exec Michael De Lanty (see page 26).

The US House of Representatives passes the Save Our Stages Act, a $10billion (€8.5bn) grant programme to provide financial support for the live entertainment industry.

Sweden’s government grants a total of SEK881m (€85m) to the live music sector as part of a SEK1.5bn (€145m) crisis support package for culture.

The Czech government says all live music with singing will be banned in the country from 5 October under new state of emergency measures.

Sony Music-owned promoter Senbla acquires its first greenfield festivals, snapping up boutique UK events Strawberries & Creem and The Cambridge Club (see page 10).

The Norwegian government tells the industry that capacities of outdoor events will be allowed to increase from 200 to 600 people from 12 October.

The Republic of Ireland gives its support to legislation that will criminalise the resale of tickets for profit, threatening fines of up to €100,000, or up to two years’ imprisonment for those who flout the rules.

Austrian-based hard rock agency Napalm Events expands into North America, establishing a presence in the offices of its parent company, Napalm Records, in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Australia-based live entertainment group TEG acquires a minority stake in Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG), a leading theatre operator in London and New York.

The Swedish government proposes an exception to its current coronavirus restrictions which, from 15 October, would permit events with a seated audience of up to 500 participants, one metre apart.

Survivors of the 2017 Route 91 Harvest massacre and their families will receive a collective payout of $800million (€682m), a US court confirms, after hotel operator MGM Resorts International agrees a settlement with victims.

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Mama Festival and Convention in Paris cancels only days before its 11th edition is scheduled to open, as France places new restrictions on large gatherings.

Eddie Van Halen, co-founder of rock band Van Halen, dies at the age of 65. The Dutch-American guitarist had been receiving treatment for throat cancer.

Australia’s Live Entertainment Industry Forum releases Covidsafe guidelines for the safe restart of live events, including measures on cleaning and sanitisation, crowd management, physicaldistancing, health monitoring and contact tracing.

New Zealand star Benee tells fans that the final night of her NZ headline tour at Spark Arena will live-stream to a global audience.

Strandkorb Open Air, an alfresco, socially distanced, deckchair concert series held at Warsteiner HockeyPark in Mönchengladbach, Germany, reveals ticket sales reached more than 50,000 across the summer.

Spain’s government names the cultural sector as one of ten driving policies of its recovery plan and commits €800m to help the arts.

Former Live Nation GSA boss Matt Schwarz is hired to lead eventimpresents, meaning he will return to work on Rock am Ring and Rock im Park when he joins forces with CTS Eventim in January 2021.

Popular ILMC member Donald

MacLeod is appointed an MBE in the Queen’s Honours List, for services to music and charity. The Scottish promoter and venue owner is also chair of Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy in Scotland.

FKP Scorpio Sweden appoints Johanna Beckman as senior creative curator and promoter. She was previously creative director of Stockholm venues Trädgården and Under Bron.

K-pop superstars BTS gross more than $44m (€38m) from their ticketed virtual concert weekend, Map of the Soul On:e (see page 9).

Live Nation Urban launches The Black Tour Directory to bolster inclusivity and expand opportunities for Black professionals and Black-owned companies in live music.

Australia’s live industry will suffer an estimated AU$23.6bn (€14.2bn) downturn in 2020 if restrictions remain in place till the end of the year, according to The Economic Cost of Covid-19 on Australia’s Live Entertainment Industry report.

Universal Music Group announces a collection of music-based experiential hotel properties, as part of a joint venture with entertainment investment group Dakia U-Ventures (see page 10).

In Brief

GET INVOLVED

Want to share your views on breaking industry news?

Then get involved in the discussion on Twitter: @iq_mag

SUBSCRIBE The team behind Iceland Airwaves reveals plans for a two-day streaming festival, Live from Reykjavík. The 13–14 November event will assemble local talent such as Of Monsters and Men, Ólafur Arnalds, Ásgeir, Daði Freyr and Júníus Meyvant.

UTA names Post Malone and Kaash Paige agent Cheryl Paglierani as a partner.

Startup promoter and agency, DreamHaus sets up shop in Berlin.

The company is led by managing director Karsten Fuhrken, owner of The Merch Republic, as well as former Live Nation employees Marc Seemann, Claudia Schulte and Björn Bauch (see page 10).

Italian artist Elisa raises €230,000 for her band and crew, through a tour of her home country (see page 14). Both the artist and her agency forego fees for the eight-date tour.

In the Know Experiences is fined $20,000 (€17,000) for promoting a 25 July drive-in concert in New York that went viral for its lack of social distancing.

American rock band The Flaming Lips issues audience members with zorb-like bubbles to witness their return to live performance in their hometown of Oklahoma City.

Brussels-based industry body Pearle* calls for the live industry to be included as a “priority sector” in the European Union’s postpandemic recovery package.

Five former Paradigm agents – Ali Hedrick, Erik Selz, John Bongiorno, Karl Morse and Ethan Berlin – establish Arrival Artists (see page 8).

More than 170,000 jobs will be lost in the UK live music industry before the end of the year if government support is withdrawn, claims new report, UK live music: At a cliff edge.

BMG Rights Management enters the live business for the first time with the acquisition of a majority stake in promoter/event production firm Undercover (see page 10).

The Competition and Markets Authority rules that the acquisition of StubHub by Viagogo will reduce competition in an “already very concentrated market,” throwing into doubt the fate of the already completed deal in the UK. A raft of high-profile artists including Justin Bieber, The Weeknd and J Balvin invest in Wave, the world’s first multimilliondollar virtual entertainment platform for live concerts.

Ticketmaster Australia and New Zealand promotes Maria O’Connor to chairman and hires Gavin Taylor, former CEO of the West Australian Football Commission, as her managing director for Australia.

The team behind Hong Kong promoter Magnetic Asia (Clockenflap, Sónar HK, Feast) and ticketing platform Ticketflap rebrand their ticketing division from Asia Ticketing to Total Ticketing, in a push to take services global.

Harry Styles invests in the Co-op Live arena project in his hometown of Manchester.

Operators Oak View Group say Styles will be actively involved in the development of the 23,500-cap venue, due to open in 2023.

Concert halls in Italy are shuttered until at least 24 November, as the government tries to curb the second wave of coronavirus.

France’s culture minister, Roselyne Bachelot, announces a €115m package for the cultural industries, including €85m for live performance. Of that €85m, €55m is specifically for live music.

Laurent Garnier responds to the French culture minister’s funding announcement, with an urgent

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plea to highlight the plight of DJs and others whose livelihoods depend on the nightlife economy.

Jon Ollier becomes the latest agent to use 2020 as a springboard to launch his own independent company, after CAA confirms his departure (see page 8).

The Austrian federal government announces a €300m ‘protective umbrella’ designed to remove the risk for event organisers, with the government bearing cancellation costs for any events that fall victim to new Covid restrictions (see page 8).

Live music media company LiveXLive agrees a deal to acquire CPS, a leading merchandise personalisation firm, for an estimated $6m (€5m).

SaveLive, an investment vehicle founded by former WME execs Marc Geiger and John Fogelman, reveals a $75 million (€64m) war chest to bail out US venues that are struggling during the pandemic.

The proposal would see SaveLive taking a minimum 51% of the equity in its venue partners, while helping them expand into regional forces once the live sector returns to full strength.

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Analysis

THE NEW NORMAL? MORE AGENTS GO INDEPENDENT

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rrival Artists, a US-based booking agency staffed by five former Paradigm agents, in October became the third new music agency launch in as many months, as live music continues to find its feet amid the ongoing shutdown of nearly all live activity.

Arrival sees Ali Hedrick, Erik Selz, John Bongiorno, Karl Morse and Ethan Berlin, all of whom most recently worked at Paradigm Talent Agency, join forces with agent Matt Yasecko, the former COO of Chicago-based Billions Corporation. A partnership brokered with established London-based agency ATC

Live, meanwhile, will “facilitate global representation” for shared acts.

The launch of Arrival Artists follows that of TBA Agency – also established by a group of ex-Paradigm staff – in late August, and Mint Talent Group (founded by agents from Paradigm, WME, CAA and Madison House) the following month.

The wave of activity in the independent agency sector comes as the large corporate firms continue to slash staff numbers in a bid to cut costs (with Paradigm specifically known to have laid off 180 of its 600 employees globally).

Arrival’s roster includes the likes of Khruangbin, Sufjan Stevens, BadBadNotGood, Mt.

EUROPEAN BUSINESS BRACES FOR TOUGH WINTER

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ollowing a summer of next to no live music, European industry professionals are facing more of the same during what would have been the traditional autumn touring season, with sporadic lockdowns and restrictions on live events putting the kibosh on any sense of a return to normality.

While the level of support for the business varies from country to country – at the time of writing, French event organisers were celebrating a €55million package to see them through a six-week curfew, while their Italian counterparts were still lobbying for support for a sector they say has lost 97% of its value this year – many point to Austria, which is effectively guaranteeing shows via a government-backed ‘protective umbrella,’ as the best model for the restart of concert activity.

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The €300m fund, announced in mid-October, is designed to remove the risk for event organisers to allow them to carry on business as usual: If shows organised during the current level of restrictions (currently a limit applies of 1,000 people seated indoors or 1,500 outdoors) are cancelled due to new rules, the government will bear the costs of the cancellation.

The same goes for any reduction in capacity limits, and includes costs such as hotel rooms, crew wages and event technology. Companies based in other countries but which organise events in Austria, are also able to benefit from the funding.

Joy, Andrew Bird, Nubya Garcia, Car Seat Headrest, Goose and Chicano Batman, booking from offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle.

Also voluntarily stepping out of the corporate agency structure is former CAA London agent Jon Ollier, who is launching his own independent company before the end of 2020.

Ollier will be taking his biggest client, Ed Sheeran, with him, alongside fellow British stars Anne-Marie and Calum Scott, but at press time it was unclear who else from his roster might also be part of the new venture.

Ollier was at Free Trade Agency until March 2015, when he joined CAA’s London office. His departure from the company is amicable, with CAA offering their full support for his yet-to-be named new venture.

“CAA has been a wonderful experience and one I am incredibly grateful for,” says Ollier. “It has been an absolute privilege working alongside so many outstanding people who care deeply about their clients and each other.

“Starting my own company has been a dream of mine and I appreciate CAA’s support in this transition.”

Industry associations welcomed the move, with Erik Kastner, of Austria Event Pool (AEP), noting that, “Austria is now the only country in which the government pays the upfront costs if an event is cancelled because of the coronavirus measures.

“For the first time,” he adds, the industry “sees a small ray of hope at the end of the tunnel.”

It remains to be seen whether other countries will introduce an umbrella scheme of their own.

Either way, promoter Fin O’Leary, of Singular Artists in Ireland, is optimistic, if realistic, about the future (in the Republic of Ireland’s case, postMarch 2021).

The promoter has announced its first arena show with Yungblud at Dublin’s 3Arena in November next year, and O’Leary tells IQ that Singular is booking a range of shows from 200-15,000-capacity for 2021-2022 and beyond.

“Judging by the state of avails across the country’s theatres and arenas, it’s going to be a very busy second half of 2021 onwards,” he explained.

“Artists seem to be champing at the bit to get back out.”

Many point to Austria, which is effectively guaranteeing shows via a government-backed ‘protective umbrella,’ as the best model for the restart of concert activity

Analysis

SURVIVAL CYCLE

NEW HORIZONS IN LIVE-STREAM EVENTS

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nnovation and creativity saw Billie Eilish and K-pop superstars raise the live-streaming bar another few notches during October, as the acts tapped into growing audience demand for live entertainment.

BTS grossed more than $44million (€38m) from their 10-11 October ticketed virtual concert weekend, as 993,000 viewers across 191 territories paid handsomely to see their Map of the Soul On:e shows (a format that broadcast about 150 minutes of live performance each day). Some observers estimated the actual gross was perhaps closer to $70m (€60m).

The size of that audience eclipsed the band’s own single concert record of 756,000 visitors to their Bang Bang Con: The Live broadcast in June, which grossed a mere $18m (€15m). However, production for the latest weekender reportedly cost four times that of the Bang Bang Con 12-song gig. As a result, fans were charged $81 (€69) for a weekend ticket to Map of the Soul On:e; or $90.89 (€77.85) for a weekend ticket plus access to an

online exhibition; while day tickets for the event started at $44.55 (€38.15).

Meanwhile, the team for Billie Eilish priced tickets at $30 (€26) a pop, for her Where Do We Go? live-stream, broadcast from Los Angeles on 24 October. The critically acclaimed, 55-minute set featured production values akin to a state-ofthe-art arena show, and also exploited the latest augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and cross reality (XR) technologies to showcase just how compelling the online concert format can be, in the right hands.

Early glitches in the live-stream, reportedly caused by the sheer volume of fans using the chat facility, were immediately rectified by organisers, while viewers also crammed into the site’s interactive merchandise area. Eilish’s team for the broadcast included interactive live- streaming platform Maestro; Los Angeles-based interactive production facilitators, Lili Studios; XR Studios; and Montreal-based creative production team, Moment Factory.

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vent professionals Mike Trasmundi, Harry Ford, Steve Reynolds, Tyler Cole-Holmes and Mark Ward took a breather in London’s Hyde Park to celebrate the end of their epic 1,700 kilometre Survival Tour that saw them visit more than 100 venues in the UK, closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The intrepid fundraisers were joined along their route by some of the thousands of people normally involved in producing events in those venues and others.

The sponsored cycle raised more than £30,000 (€33,170) for technical entertainment charity, BackUp, which provides financial support to industry professionals working in live events, theatre, TV and film.

Proper Productions’ Mark Ward explains, “Without any events to work on, we clipped our barely trained legs into our pedals to highlight the dire plight of our industry.

It was inspiring to bring together the venues and people along our route and hear tales of their personal circumstances and battles first-hand.”

Fellow pedaller, Steve Reynolds (Loud Sound), comments: “Live events is going to lose 80% of its skilled people, so we want to support those affected and keep campaigning for financial relief beyond the Cultural Recovery Fund. That was helpful to those it reached but has missed out so many.”

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MAJOR LABELS UP INTEREST IN LIVE

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ecord companies Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group (UMG) and BMG all made moves in the live space in October, following months of profitable growth in recorded music streaming but zero revenues for most concert businesses.

Sony Music, via its Sony Music Masterworks label, joined forces with leading Broadway bookers Stephen Lindsay and Brett Sirota to launch RoadCo Entertainment, a new booking agency specialising in live family entertainment.

As RoadCo Entertainment, Lindsay and Sirota – the co-founders of The Road Company, which brings musicals, plays and special attractions to venues across North America – will work alongside Mark Cavell, president of Sony Music Masterworks, and Scott Farthing, senior vice-president of Masterworks Broadway, to develop and produce live events based on both existing brands/IP and new formats.

The agency will also work with other Sony companies to identify opportunities to develop live shows based on Sony-owned properties.

Commenting on the RoadCo deal, Cavell says: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Stephen Lindsay and Brett Sirota, whose track record as booking experts is well-known throughout the entertainment industry.

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“Since first working together on the co-producing team of the Tony Award-winning SpongeBob musical, we have looked for other opportunities to collaborate. RoadCo is the perfect venue for us to join forces and further grow our entertainment division in the US market when the live touring business is ready to return.”

RoadCo Entertainment is the latest live-industry venture for Sony Music Entertainment, following its acquisition of classical music promoter Raymond Gubbay from DEAG in 2018, and buyout of UK concert business Senbla the following year.

Senbla itself recently acquired Strawberries & Creem and The Cambridge Club, which become Sony Music’s first greenfield festivals.

While Sony focuses on open-air events, UMG, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi, is experimenting with Covid-secure hotel shows in the form of a new concept in the US,

UMusic Hotels.

A joint venture with investment group Dakia U-Ventures, UMusic Hotel experiences will come to properties in Orlando, Florida, and Biloxi, Mississippi, providing opportunities for UMG artists to “reach fans in immersive, innovative and authentic ways,” says Bruce Resnikoff, president and CEO of Universal Music Enterprises.

The launch of UMusic Hotels follows a summer in which a number of organisers – including Livestar Entertainment in Canada, First Golden Ticket in Spain, and the Hotel Bratislava in Ukraine – have turned to hotel-based concerts to ensure social distancing among audience members and comply with local Covid-19 restrictions.

The new venture is the latest string to Vivendi’s live music bow, which also includes festival business U-Live (Love Supreme, Junction 2) in the UK, and Olympia Production (Garorock, Brive Festival) in France, as well as See Tickets, Starticket and Paylogic.

Meanwhile, German label/publisher BMG Rights Management, is thinking more traditionally with its first live business, having acquired a majority stake in Undercover, a promoter of concerts in Germany, Switzerland and Austria (GSA).

Brunswick-based Undercover, which usually promotes in excess of 200 concerts and shows annually, will form the basis for a new live music and events business unit within BMG in Germany. The company also serves as a tour agent, brokering tours and festivals for national and international artists across the GSA region, and develops and produces its own touring formats.

The deal, says BMG, means that, in addition to “releasing recordings and publishing songs, BMG can now offer artists an integrated tour promotion and ticketing service” on an opt-in basis.

Dominique Casimir, BMG’s EVP of repertoire and marketing for continental Europe, says: “Moving into live is the logical extension of BMG’s plan to integrate all the services an artist could need under one roof, with the artist brand at the centre of it all. Crucially, we have found in [Undercover CEO] Michael Schacke and his team, a partner who shares our values.”

The acquisition comes during a time of upheaval in the Covid-hit German live music market, and follows the launch of new promoter DreamHaus – also based in Berlin, and staffed with a number of former Live Nation Germany employees – earlier in October.

“Moving into live is the logical extension of BMG’s plan to integrate all the services an artist could need under one roof, with the artist brand at the centre of it all” Dominique Casimir | BMG

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NEW SIGNINGS

LISTEN TO ’S ‘NEW SIGNINGS’ AGENCY PLAYLIST HERE

has partnered with a number of agencies to compile a monthly playlist of new music, much of it released by the new signings to their rosters. Among the tracks on November’s playlist are submissions from the ATC Live, CAA, ITB, Pardigm and UTA.

SINCERE ENGINEER AGENT

AGENT

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(US)

Tom Taaffe Paradigm

TOM GREGORY

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Mark Bennett MBA

iq-mag.net

incere Engineer is the brainchild of Chicago-based singer/songwriter Deanna Belos.

The solo acoustic project, conceived in the back of a Honda Civic in 2015, flowered into a lively full band with the help of producer Matt Jordan and the addition of bandmates Nick Arvanitis, Adam Beck, and Kyle Geib in 2017, when the first full-length album was released by Red Scare Industries.

Sincere Engineer signed to Hopeless Records in 2020 for the second full-length album, which Belos wrote during the ensuing two years while the group played countless shows and toured with The Lawrence Arms, Mom Jeans, and Bayside. It was recorded following strict safety guidelines during the Covid-19 pandemic and is due out sometime in 2021, when the band also plans to visit Europe for the first time.

B (UK)

orn in Blackpool, Tom Gregory’s hits include Fingertips, Run to You, Losing Sleep, Honest and Small Steps – songs that have collectively garnered over 100million streams on Spotify and over 9m on Apple Music.

His January 2020 release, Fingertips, charted at No.1 in Germany, No.6 in France, and has over 55.4m Spotify streams and 5.5m on Apple Music. His next release, Never Let Me Down, was a No.1 hit in Austria, Poland, and No.3 in Germany (with over 93m streams on Spotify and 7.9m on Apple Music) and his newest release Rather Be You charted at No.6 on German radio with 9m Spotify streams and 1.4m on Apple Music.

In addition, he has over 33,372,713 collective views on YouTube.

New Signings

VLURE AGENT

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lasgow five piece, Vlure, blur the lines between live electronics, jarring guitars and the performance sensibilities of their post-punk contemporaries. Synth-laden hooks and club-influenced rhythms twist around emotionally confronting lyrics. Their dedication to audience engagement and chest pummelling presents itself in an intense yet life-affirming live show.

Debuting as a live project, the group made their first appearance at The Great Escape in Brighton, last year. Since then, Vlure have taken their set to a number of UK festivals and showcases, sold out a string of shows in Glasgow and another in Edinburgh, and played London dates with We’ve Never Heard Of Ya and Permanent Creeps.

(UK)

Sarah Joy ATC Live

ARTIST LISTINGS Central Cee (UK)

Jack Clark, Echo Location Talent

Courtesy (DK) Dead Sara (US)

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (US)

Mike Deane, Earth Agency Ross Warnock, Neil Warnock & Jeffrey Hasson, UTA

Dino Brandao (CH) DUTCHAVELLI (UK) Fanclubwallet (US)

Tom Taaffe, Paradigm Craig D’Souza, Primary Talent Guillaume Brevers, Hometown Talent Agency

Chris Smyth, Primary Talent

Joeboy (NG)

Darren James-Thomas, FMLY Agency

Joey Dosik (US) Sam Gill, Christina Austin, Guy Oldaker & Parker Glenn, UTA Judy Collins (US)

Beth Morton, Joe Wohlfeld & Noël Largess, UTA

July Jones (SI/UK) KeiyaA (US) Krakow Loves Adana (DE)

Hardy Caprio (UK)

Max Lee, Earth Agency

Lowertown (US)

Holiday Ghosts (UK)

Caitlin Ballard, ATC Live

Marie Dahlstrøm (DK) Mr Eazi (NG)

HOTTEST NEW ACTS

NBA YoungBoy (US) Origami Angel (US)

THIS MONTH 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

LAST MONTH 24 39 11 3 1 51 5 6 17 25 2 33 9 4 66

PREDICTIONS FOR NOVEMBER 2020

Perko (DK) Pinkshift (US) Polo G (US)

ARTIST PLUG, THE (UK) FOUSHEE (US) ASHTON IRWIN (AU) 347AIDAN (CA) SALEM ILESE (US) SADA BABY (US) RITT MOMNEY (US) WHOHEEM (US) 2KBABY (US) HEADIE ONE (UK) TOOSII (US) BENNY THE BUTCHER (US) AVENUE BEAT (US) S1MBA (UK) QUAKERS (UK/US) CJ (US), LIL EAZZYY (US), KENNDOG (US), BAD BOY CHILLER CREW (UK), SAM SILVER (US)

Peter Elliott, Primary Talent Guillaume Brevers, Hometown Talent Agency Tom Grainger, Earth Agency Anna Bewers & Adele Slater, Paradigm Marlon Burton, ATC Live Darren James-Thomas, FMLY Agency Myles Jessop, Echo Location Talent Ed Sellers, Primary Talent Alasdair Howie, FMLY Agency Ed Sellers, Primary Talent Myles Jessop, Echo Location Talent

Potter Payper (UK)

Jack Clark, Echo Location Talent

RarelyAlways (UK)

Naomi Palmer, Earth Agency

Rod Wave (US) S1mba (UK)

Myles Jessop, Echo Location Talent Max Lee, Earth Agency

Sincere Engineer (US)

Tom Taaffe, Paradigm

Sir Chloe (US)

David Exley, Paradigm

Speelburg (US)

Ari Bernstein, ICM Partners

Tangerine Dream (DE)

Darren James-Thomas, FMLY Agency

The Drums (US)

Sam Gill & David Sullivan-Kaplan, UTA

The Kid Laroi (AU)

Myles Jessop, Echo Location Talent

The Koreatown Oddity (US) Veps (NO) Viji (AT/BR) VLURE (UK) Artists not in the current top 15, but growing quickly

Fastest growing artists in terms of music consumption, aggregated across a number of online sources.

OCTOBER 2020

Darren James-Thomas, FMLY Agency

IC3PEAK (RU)

VUKOVI (UK) WSTRN (UK) Yung Bans (US)

Darren James-Thomas, FMLY Agency Guillaume Brevers, Hometown Talent Agency Matt Bates, Primary Talent Sarah Joy, ATC Live Christina Austin & Sean Goulding, UTA Myles Jessop, Echo Location Talent Guillaume Brevers, Hometown Talent Agency Magazine

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Comment

The Support Act Italian superstar, Elisa, reveals details of the fund-raising tour she has just completed, where she eschewed her fees so that all profits could go to crew members

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his is the time when we have to do something and not wait for anybody else to do it.

I was supposed to be writing my record but, knowing that some of my crew and musicians were in deep trouble, I couldn’t.

Some of my crew, technicians and musicians have been with me for forever, since I started my band. They’ve been passing that guitar to me for about 23 years – a lifetime. We grew up together and they’re like family.

They’re the people who live off live shows and events and performances. And, as we now know, if you take away live shows for months and months then it means some of these people will be forced to do very extreme things, like selling their houses or changing careers.

I believe that in these times we have to think of each other as human beings first and foremost, and try to protect the other human beings around us who we know are in need of help. So I asked myself, what can I do to help?

My thought was that if we could do a small tour and donate to our own crew and musicians, maybe it would make a difference. So I called my agency and on the first conference call we talked numbers – it was all very pragmatic.

We decided the tour would only make a real difference if we paid everybody double. So, myself, my agency and my management worked for free in order to cover all the costs.

We ended up playing eight shows in squares and piazzas around Italy, but for the crew and musicians, it was as if they had played 16 shows.

The atmosphere on tour was amazing and everyone was able to appreciate what we do on a much higher level. There were lots of emotions from the crew and the crowd. It meant so much to everyone for completely different reasons. People need music at this time – there must be live music – and the

crew needs finance and to be able to do the work they love.

We raised €190,000 for my team and had €40,000 left over for a fund that will go to other crew and musicians. Now, my crew and band are safer, and my reward is to know I’ve done something useful, and in my opinion, right. We all have to do our part – whatever it is, no matter how small – because artists don’t do big, beautiful, complex shows alone. This happens only through team work. That’s how every great performance was created.

There’s a lack of knowledge outside of our world; people don’t seem to know how a live show is put together. I think it’s a cultural problem that what the audience doesn’t see, in a way, seems to not exist. Society can be very fast and sometimes superficial and people don’t really stop and consider how things work, really. But it takes seconds to realise the opposite – that, of course, these artists are surrounded by amazing people that make the wheel go round.

It is crucial we don’t wait and hope this pandemic passes. It is crucial we don’t think we’re too small to make a difference.

If we don’t act, there might be a dramatic change in the faces that we see when it’s time to go back on tour. An entire generation of top musicians, top-class technicians and crews, may be gone in a year and a half.

Crew are the people who are in more trouble financially and it’s totally unfair. It’s just by chance that they were hit more than artists, it could have been the other way around.

I know there are some other artists who are working to protect their crew and I’m really glad, but I wish that more big artists who are capable of drawing big audiences would do something like this. So our crew can have food on the table, so they can have something in their pocket, and so they can get through the winter until spring. We need to put some money in the bag for these people and we have to do it right now.

“An entire generation of top musicians, top-class technicians and crews, may be gone in a year and a half”

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Comment

Beyond Solidarity Joe Frankland, CEO of PRS Foundation, highlights some of the possible pathways to a stronger, connected music community for those struggling to kickstart their equality programmes during the pandemic

Photo © Eleanor-Weitzer

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he Black Lives Matter movement and Black Out Tuesday galvanised many teams to reflect, connect with Black communities, and come together as a global music industry in solidarity against anti-Black racism, bigotry and prejudice. And the momentum for change kept up in the UK through Black History Month celebrations.

It is also great to hear a groundswell of ‘building back better’ discussions to ensure that the industry’s Covid-19 recovery allows the music community to act on systemic injustice, inequitable financial benefit and the many barriers that prevent underrepresented creators and professionals from fulfilling potential and forging long-term successful careers. We know the pandemic disproportionately impacts underrepresented groups and we must counteract that with a greater sense of urgency.

At PRS Foundation, we know we will play a vital role in recovery and in shaping the future of music to build a stronger, connected and sustainable music community. We have made much progress to address gender inequality, launching Women Make Music in 2011, achieving gender balance across our grants programmes in 2018, and co-founding the global Keychange movement, which has over 370 music companies working together towards achieving gender balance by 2022.

And we are building on our strong track-record for inclusivity and industry collaboration to develop a long-term ambitious programme to power-up Black creative and executive talent.

To bring about meaningful and lasting change, public solidarity is not enough. Goodwill amounts to little more than window-dressing if not followed up by commitments, action and accountability.

So, what does action and change look like? And to paraphrase the ever-inspiring Keith Harris, OBE, how do we seize the momentum to avoid this becoming “another false dawn in terms of equality in the industry”?

If you don’t know where to begin, you are not alone. Perhaps you feel that personal action may not be enough. Or that the pandemic means you or your company cannot contribute financially.

Or perhaps you’re one of hundreds of first-time organisa-

tion grantees receiving lifeline support from the Culture Recovery Fund or similar Arts Council funds across the UK. You might not know where to start when it comes to the crucial commitment you have made to increase organisational diversity and the diversity of audiences, visitors and/or participants.

I want to stress that there are already very clear pathways to meaningful change. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. You can connect with the many who have worked tirelessly for decades on diversity and inclusion, or to brand new collectives and initiatives launched this year. And there has never been a bigger opportunity (and responsibility) to come together to address social injustice.

Below are some individuals, initiatives and organisations whose work might inspire you: Black Music Coalition (BMC) – launched by senior music execs following Black Out Tuesday, the BMC set out five priorities to tackle discrimination in the UK music industry, followed by a must-read manifesto that includes the creation of a resource pack available to music companies.

Nadia Khan – the Women in CTRL network has 800 members and its Seat at the Table report sparked considerable commitments to improve board representation at UK trade bodies.

Ammo Talwar – through the UK Music Diversity Task Force, Ammo has been working tirelessly with colleagues on the upcoming 2020 Diversity Report.

Michael Rapino – the Live Nation CEO set global commitments and ambitious targets to build diversity by 2025. Crucially, he is committed to holding himself accountable.

Creative responses – Native Instruments’ Covid-19 response saw them collaborate with artists to launch a donation-based charity sound pack, benefitting initiatives including Keychange and Heart n Soul. And we’ve had two indie companies donating in-kind support (e.g. residencies/marketing campaigns) to grantees of our Sustaining Creativity Fund.

Personal commitment – countless thousands have been donating to vital causes to support the music ecosystem during the pandemic. Beggars CEO, Paul Redding, swam for 16 hours across the English Channel to raise £120,000 for a new racial inclusivity programme and for Sweet Relief’s Covid-19 fund in the US.

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AGENTS OF CHANGE 16

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Independent Agencies_Feature

With the major corporates shedding staff under the pressures of Covid-19, is the agency world getting back to its independent roots?

Jon Chapple reports...

ka, Benjamin Clementine and Paolo Nutini.

But are ATC Live, 13 Artists and other UKbased indies such as ITB, Asgard, Midnight Mango and smaller boutique firms, better placed than their corporate cousins to survive, and even thrive, during the current crisis? With concert activity on hold, is it actually a blessing to be free of the structure of a large company – and are we witnessing a new era of independence in live music booking, the likes of which we haven’t seen for the best part of a decade?

Bigger: not always better

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n 20 October, five US agents, all formerly of Paradigm Talent Agency, announced the formation of Arrival Artists – a brand-new booking agency with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle, a roster that includes the likes of Sufjan Stevens, Khruangbin and BadBadNotGood, and a partnership with European agency ATC Live for global representation of acts shared across both rosters.

Following the termination of hundreds of jobs by the Hollywood-headquartered global agencies since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s the kind of news observers of the agency space have come to expect – a group of agents from one multinational join forces and go independent – and follows the launch of two other new US indies, TBA Agency and Mint Talent Group, in late August and mid-September, respectively.

The resurgence of the independent agency, and the apparent fracturing of the corporate giants following years of consolidation, is being watched closely in the broader live music world, where rumours abound of further agency launches and rebrands – including in Europe – in the months ahead.

Nowhere is this more the case than in London, where 2020 mergers and acquistions have seen Primary Talent merge with ICM Partners, while Paradigm investor Yucaipa announced that K2 would join its Artist Group International agency. And while uncertainty reins, takeovers, strategic pacts and new ventures will all be under consideration for every business.

“It’s clearly a very challenging time for anyone working in live music at the moment,” says ATC Live's Alex Bruford, whose roster includes Nick Cave, The Lumineers, Metronomy, Black Pumas and Fontaines DC. “No matter the size of the business, if your company relies on live touring, and there is no touring, it’s very difficult.”

“Clearly, we all have had to face major challenges in 2020, and we will continue to have significant challenges thrown at us for some time,” agrees Angus Baskerville, partner at 13 Artists, who works with artists including George Ezra, Brittany Howard, Jamiroquai, Michael Kiwanu-

The past seven months have done much to expose some of the myths of pre-Covid thinking within the business, according to Earth Agency’s Rebecca Prochnik, who represents artists including Skepta, jme, AJ Tracey and Nines.

“The idea in agency culture has long been geared towards an idea of ‘the bigger the better’,” explains Prochnik. “For a long time, the structural strategy of the larger agencies has been upscaling teams around artists, to provide a more intensive job. While I understand the reasoning, the model creates a lot of employment volume, and in fact the potential for disconnection that has never made full sense to me.”

“Sometimes I look at some of the bigger agencies, and you have too many agents or bookers squabbling over every artist that comes in,” echoes Obi Asika, founder and CEO of Echo Location Talent (Marshmello, Da Baby, Wizkid, Chase & Status, Pendulum, Major Lazer, Giggs).

“Many artists have multiple agents, in part to ensure no one agent has too much power over the wider agency. That’s not workable anymore.

There’s no guarantee this [a concert-stopping pandemic] won’t happen again – you’ve got to be careful of your overheads.”

“Some large businesses will have been better protected than other large businesses going into this, and I’m sure it’s the same for the smaller ones,” adds Baskerville. “Saying that, I do believe the independent sector has the possibility of thriving in 2021 and beyond, as we're required to modernise and refresh approaches to the way we work – and do that quickly.”

For many of the bigger, multinational agencies, the financial impact of this “surplus” is amplified by huge levels of corporate debt, which in some cases amounts to many times their annual revenues.

According to Los Angeles investment banker Lloyd Greif, entertainment group Endeavor – the parent company of WME – is shouldering a staggering $5.1billion (€4.3bn) debt, while CAA has $1.15bn (€972million) coming due in 2026, in addition to a $125m (€106m) revolving credit facility. Paradigm is believed to owe around $80m (€68m), following multiple debt-financed acquisitions over the past decade.

Paul Boswell, of Free Trade Agency (The National, Tones and I, Wilco, Tash Sultana, Violent ▶ Magazine

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Feature_Independent Agencies

Alex Bruford | ATC Live

Femmes), says he believes that while the live entertainment shutdown is “clearly bad for all,” it will “hurt those that practice borrow-and-buy capitalism the most.”

“As an independent business, we've always been careful not to fall for the seductive culture of living beyond our means: even if money is flowing, we’ve stayed low to the ground on spend,” adds Prochnik. “We’ve always had a culture of working remotely – of needing an office solely for the wellbeing and connection of our staff community, rather than for external business. Throughout my career, I’ve taken my meetings in cars, in cafes, in parks, on the phone… It’s really only ever mattered that I can relate well and do a creative job for my clients as needed.

“What Covid’s done is blow away the myth that an independent attitude is a quirk. Big offices, gleaming receptions, plaques on walls, meeting rooms, games rooms, listening rooms… At the end of the day, those things are all just optics, and ones which suddenly seem tremendously outdated. None of those things shape business in a meaningful way…”

“The importance of having an office as a status symbol – that, for me, has gone,” adds Asika.

“You don’t need a shiny office, and you also don’t need people coming into work every day; if you don’t trust the people working for you, that’s a problem. I’ve enjoyed being at home with my family, and I want that flexibility for my business and staff.”

“This virus is terrible, but there are potentially worse ones in the future,” he adds. “And when that comes, you want to be the little speedboat nipping around, not the big cruise liner…”

Agrees Prochnik: “Independent and smaller

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Obi Asika | Echo Location Talent

“You don’t need a shiny office, and you also don’t need people coming into work every day; if you don’t trust the people working for you, that’s a problem” Obi Asika | Echo Location Talent

agencies tend to have a shared personality of sourcing and creating whatever there is to do, thinking outside the box, breaking moulds in order to make business work. I think this inherent culture of flexibility, nimbleness and creating value out of thin air is invaluable in these new times.”

“We’ve seen with companies across our sector, from agencies to promoters to ticketing companies, that often the larger the organisation – and therefore the higher the overheads – the harder hit they have been,” says Bruford.

“In many cases, independent companies have been able to be more nimble and adapt faster to new ways of working, new opportunities and the changing landscape.”

The great equaliser

According to Asika, “When the dust settles, there are going to be huge changes” across the agency sector as a result of the current “correction.”

“From the value of artists, to where people work, what people have started in this time, what new companies pop up… there are all these things happening in the background, and it’s going to have a long-term impact,” he predicts.

“People are going to have to be more flexi-

ble and look at new ways of doing business. If nothing else, Covid has been a huge equaliser – everything’s been stripped away. All those old egos and rivalries are gone, and everyone’s just a human being again.”

With hundreds of agents and staff having lost their jobs at agencies of all sizes since March, the consolidation of the agency world, one of the key trends in live music globally throughout the 2010s, appears to have come, at least temporarily, to a halt.

Whether this will last remains to be seen: Boswell says he “would predict more” in the near future (arguing that “consolidation is for the monopolists and the fearful”), while Prochnik observes that the nature of the consolidation has changed.

“I think the lack of control in these challenging times is a very frightening experience, and people who have most harshly experienced it are unlikely to forget immediately,” she says, alluding to the experience of those who sold their businesses pre-coronavirus. “[But] on the other hand, I think there will continue to be consolidation. There's already a lot of movement and new allegiances forming.

Some of the initial lay-offs from Paradigm US

Independent Agencies_Feature

already have formed new companies themselves and relationships with international agencies. I am sure there will be plenty of that, and alongside it plenty of new opportunities.”

“I think we’re going to see a very fertile independent sector, but I expect there will also be further consolidation,” echoes Baskerville.

“I think we’ll all emerge out of this period with a stronger sense of who we enjoy working with – perhaps some more collaborations will come out of that,” he adds.

According to Bruford, whose agency has partnered with Arrival Artists for global booking, the crisis “has demonstrated to artists and managers that the quality of their agency representation is not predicated by the size of the company, but the experience, loyalty, relationships and innovative thinking that their agent will bring to the table for the artist at this time.”

“There is now a clear space for agile, independent companies that can provide worldwide solutions for artists.”

The formation of Arrival “is a direct result of the industry-wide upheaval caused by Covid, being led by five former Paradigm Talent Agency booking agents: Ali Hedrick, Erik Selz, John Bongiorno, Karl Morse and Ethan Berlin,” continues Bruford, who predicts “a boom in independent agencies and agents over the coming years, with more new outfits launching, which I warmly welcome.

“The more potential routes to market there are for new artists, the more artists we will see building successful touring careers, which is beneficial for all our industry.”

Regardless of how the agency landscape looks

Angus Baskerville | 13 Artists

post-coronavirus, Baskerville is hopeful the industry as a whole will come out the crisis stronger than before.

“I think we’re all more open to sharing ideas and working together across the industry,” he explains, “[and] in that regard, perhaps, we will come out of this with a stronger live music community.

“We’re all learning the value of working together more than ever. I’ve certainly felt lucky to work in an industry where there’s a good level of dialogue between competitors regarding positive solutions that we can all consider to help us with getting through this strange time.”

Hibernate and innovate

Rebecca Prochnik | Earth Agency

At press time, with no vaccine in sight, mutlinational and independent agencies alike are feeling the pinch – but those who are independent from the major agency system are in a comparatively stronger position, even if it doesn’t feel like it at the moment, says Asika.

“I’m very wary we’ve got a long way to go – I think this is the first year of my life when I haven’t made more than the previous year since I had a paper round,” he comments. “But being able to make decisions for myself has been very useful. [When you’re independent] the buck stops with you; there’s a lot of pressure that comes with that, but I have definitely felt better about my destiny in my own hands.”

“It must be really scary for the big agencies with all their staff and buildings, and establishing how to pivot enough to hold on,” he adds.

“That being said, I’d never rule out Echo Location collaborating with a corporate agency. I like the idea of having a base in America, and be-

Paul Boswell | Free Trade Agency

ing able to expand from there, but I’d need to be confident those partners would have the ability to innovate and thrive in this new world order.”

Baskerville explains that 13 Artists is using the current period as an opportunity to upskill its workforce. “We’re going to use this time to continue developing and modernising our company,” he says. “We’ll do this through training and learning about new tech, being open to the new business opportunities, and developing and strengthening our core services. It does feel like a good time to be able to adapt quickly.”

For Free Trade, “it’s all about hibernation” at present, adds Boswell, who says, “those that can, will re-emerge” when touring resumes.

Similarly, the Earth team are trying to live in the present, according to Prochnik, who emphasises the upsides of the crisis.

“We're living through an unimaginable experience, where a becalmed planet has changed most of our futures overnight,” she concludes.

“It has naturally led to a mass turbulence and endless statement-making about what the future needs to look like. All I know is that each time I’ve thought I know what to do about anything, two weeks later I realise there’s so much more to learn and do than I originally thought. It’s exhausting but also invigorating.

“The freedom to take a much-needed break in a flawed circuit – specifically as a direct result of a miserably debilitating scenario – is an incredible silver lining.

“Do-it-yourself, independent thinking is most certainly back in the room, and now enhanced by digital revolution. Against the odds, for those who can hold on, it's a very exciting time and prospect for future business.”

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Feature_Covid Testing Solutions

T

he desire of people to gather together, uninhibited, to see their favourite act or to discover a new band has never been greater, thanks to the coronavirus restrictions that have banned mass gatherings for the greater part of 2020.

With no end in sight to defeating the plague, the live events sector is exploring the possibility of opening its doors to fans who test negatively for Covid-19, and thankfully there are a growing number of companies around the world who are developing testing kits and protocols that might just allow promoters, festivals and venues to kickstart their businesses in the not too distant future.

Much as 2020 has been a year to forget, it’s likely to remain at the forefront of our minds for many years to come as a 21st century reminder of how a virus can disrupt the lives of billions of people and bring everyday life to a shuddering halt.

The UK Government’s chief of Test and Trace, Baroness Dido Harding, recently said that on-the-spot tests might have to be the cost of doing business for venues and event organisers. Given the project name – Operation Moonshot – the plan would involve businesses paying for mass Covid-testing schemes, but they could prove vital if hopes to test up to 10 million people each day are to come to fruition.

However, with tests currently priced in the region of £30 per swab and some systems requiring significant infrastructure investment, innovators around the world are working hard on new rapid testing methods to bring costs down in an effort to make mass testing viable.

On the following pages, IQ looks at some of systems developed in the UK (please note that being featured here does not necessarily mean these tests are approved for use in all territories).

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Covid Testing Solutions_Feature

CHRONOMICS Noting the possibility that a vaccine could be 1218 months away, Chronomics states that the ‘new normal’ could be in place until 2024, leading to the company’s development of a simple spit test for coronavirus that can be used for mass testing.

The Chronomics Covid-19 saliva testing kit is easy to use and painless, and can be sent to people’s homes rather than requiring members of the public to attend hospitals, labs or testing

centres. Completed tests can be courier-collected and brought to Chronomics labs for testing.

The Chronomics test is highly specific to SARS-CoV-2, meaning it won’t be confounded by other human viruses, and it will detect all strains of the virus that have evolved to date.

Although the company has not divulged pricing, it claims that the test analysis can be automated, making it scalable for mass testing.

As a result, Chronomics is marketing its testing system to companies, hospitals, laboratories and governments around the world. chronomics.com

DNANUDGE London-based DNANudge takes nostril swabs and can scan for the coronavirus in just 75 minutes, thanks to a handheld device that analyses the swab.

The test, developed by Imperial College London’s Chris Toumazou, is based on the design of a DNA test, but significantly cuts down on the 48-hour wait for a laboratory diagnosis.

The company quotes £28 (€31) per test on average, and the UK government has reportedly ordered 5.8 million tests, plus 5,000 of the portable machines, as part of a £161million (€177m) contract.

DNANudge claims its tests can also detect mild and asymptomatic cases of the virus. It boasts 100% specificity, meaning it can tell the difference between a person who doesn’t have Covid-19 and a sample that was not correctly processed, thereby eliminating the possibility of any false negative results.

The DNANudge ‘lab in a cartridge’ machines are reportedly limited to 15 tests each, per day. dnanudge.com

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Feature_Covid Testing Solutions

LAMPORE

HALO The HALO team is led by EpiPen inventor Craig Rochford, alongside biotech and computer scientists from Oxford University. HALO says it is already working with a number of professional services, transport and other organisations to roll out its testing services.

HALO’s saliva test kit allows people to test at home by spitting into a tube and sending the sample off for processing. The company says it can turn around results in as little as seven hours and claims 100% accuracy. Test results are communicated through a phone app.

At press time, HALO says it can process more than 250,000 tests per week in a testing module. The company has a lab at Imperial College London, but says its capacity can be quickly increased by scaling up its number of labs. Prices are believed to be lower than £25 (€28) per kit.

The HALO test is similar, but less invasive, to the PCR test used globally for testing people for the coronavirus using a swab. HALO purifies the genetic material from saliva and uses polymerase chain reaction to detect the virus in a lab.

The company claims people should never get a false positive result if they don’t have the virus.

HALO’s first customer was a UK university, but it is also reportedly in discussions with a global airline, a medical research facility, and a variety of financial institutions and businesses. haloverify.com

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Biotech company Oxford Nanopore has developed portable swab-recording machines that use the firm’s LamPORE tests and can determine whether a user has Covid.

The devices, which are the size of desktop printers, take 90 minutes to give a result and can process more than 9,000 samples a day.

The LamPORE procedure involves taking a sample of saliva, which can be barcoded, analysed and recorded by the devices. Analysis must be done in a laboratory, but the company’s labs can be mobile and installed into vehicles or pop-up test sites, with a portable version of the LamPORE device measuring around the same size as a CD player.

The UK government has ordered 450,000 of the tests for trial, but millions more could be pur-

chased if those trials prove fruitful.

The Oxford Nanopore Diagnostics LamPORE Covid-19 Test Kit 96 Plex is intended for use by trained laboratory personnel experienced in the conduct of in vitro diagnostic procedures. nanoporetech.com/covid-19/ lampore

NONACUS During the current pandemic, Nonacus has diverted resources and expertise into developing simple, low-cost and scalable testing products for Sars-CoV-2. These products are only available for testing laboratories or third-party providers who wish to use the Nonacus service facility.

Earlier this year, the UK-based company’s Covid-19 spit test received a share of a £40million (€44m) government grant to speed up development work. The test involves spitting into a tube, which can be delivered to individual homes. The test is then sealed and sent to a laboratory for analysis.

Nonacus says samples can be examined by a significantly higher and broader number of labs than those processing existing swabs because a solution in the bottom of the tube inactivates the coronavirus, avoiding potential contamination or spread of the virus.

Chris Sale, CEO and co-founder of Nonacus, says the government grant is being utilised to make the product commercially available later this year. nonacus.com/covid-19/

Covid Testing Solutions_Feature

OPTIGENE In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, biomedical company OptiGene has developed a swab test that takes just 20 minutes to diagnose people.

The system requires patients to undertake nasal and throat swabs, which can subsequently be loaded into the company’s automated Genie HT machines, which can detect tiny traces of the virus in a patient’s DNA. The Genie HT devices use chemicals to amplify the DNA billions of times so that any sign of Covid-19 can be identified with extreme sensitivity. The machines can also reportedly be used with saliva samples, potentially meaning a less invasive testing procedure.

In contrast to the widely used PCR tests, which require processes

to be conducted at different temperatures and have a slow turnaround time, the Genie HT does not require a change in temperature,

allowing it to deliver results in as quick as 20 minutes.

The OptiGene system is being trialled by the UK government in

a number of hospital accident and emergency departments, doctors’ surgeries and care homes in England. optigene.co.uk

RAPID LAMP TESTING RANDOX Developed by Northern Ireland-based healthcare specialists, Randox, the portable Vivalytic antigen testing system takes around 12 minutes to process results.

The device relies on nasal and oral mouth swabs and, operated by a healthcare professional, each machine can deal with five swabs per hour.

Randox says its device works by “identifying SARS-CoV-2 and differentiating it from nine other respiratory infections with similar symptoms, including influenza and all known coronaviruses.”

It is thought the Vivalytic devices are still in the trial stage, but they have reportedly been introduced in multiple hospitals across Northern Ireland.

In July, hundreds of thousands of swabs were recalled after they failed rigorous safety requirements. However, Randox said the problem was with the swab supplier, rather than its testing procedures, and the machines that carry out the tests were not found to be unsafe. randox.com

Rapid Lamp Testing was established in May this year when its founders took an interest in Melvin Benn’s full-capacity plan but quickly realised the existing tech and testing would not support those ambitions.

Rapid Lamp Testing, it says, meets the accuracy criteria of the fullcap plan through a combination of highly accurate early stage testing and encrypted data management to allow gatherings of people in safety, with a temporary suspension of social distancing, if needed.

In addition to the testing protocol, Rapid Lamp Testing can provide event management support through the monitoring of squads and support staff in a secure working bubble.

The Rapid Lamp Testing process does not need laboratory conditions – the company says testing can be done at venues – and results can be returned in 45 minutes. Those results can be delivered via an app.

The company says its specificity is 100%, with zero chance of false negatives, while the test sensitivity can detect one virus-cell per micro-litre of test liquid.

It has been working with film production companies, #wemakeevents planning, athletics meetings, and commercial occupational health companies.

Its point-of-care-testing analytical machines cost £9,000–15,000 (€9,920– 16,530) depending on spec, while test kits are priced at £38–40 (€41–44) per test, with self testing a possibility when its saliva test is developed. rapidlamptesting.com Magazine

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Feature_Covid Testing Solutions

SAMBA II Developed by University of Cambridge spin-off company, Diagnostics for the Real World, Samba II is a nose-and-throat swab that claims to have a testing turnaround time of 90 minutes.

The portable machines required to process the swabs have a capacity limit of 15 tests per day but the 90-minute analysis time places them ahead of a number of competing Covid-testing systems. Priced at £30 (€33) per test, Samba II is reportedly 99% accurate through its ability to scour DNA in the throat and nose to detect the virus.

Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge has been trialling the device since April, and its success rate has resulted in the hospital switching

the majority of its coronavirus testing to the Samba machine system.

The tests have been validated by Public Health England and shown to have 98.7% sensitivity and 100% specificity, while the Samba devices are already used to diagnose other blood-borne diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis C. drw-ltd.com/products/samba-2. html

VIROLENS Already touted as a potential solution for stadia and arenas, Virolens has been trialled at Europe’s busiest airport, London Heathrow, prompting the airport’s chief executive, John Holland-Kaye, to urge UK government to fast-track clinical trials to speed its adoption for widespread use.

Virolens uses a digital camera attached to a microscope to analyse saliva samples, and delivers results in a remarkable 20 seconds.

Developed by British start–up iAbra, Virolens uses technology powered by Intel, and does not require medically trained operatives.

People swab saliva from their mouth before placing the sample in a cartridge that can be immediately analysed by the Virolens device, dispensing of the need for a laboratory.

The Virolens system reportedly has a 99.8% sensitivity, which means almost every single person who tests positive is truly infected, and there are no false negatives. At the same time, it reportedly has 96.7% specificity, meaning three in every 100 people might get a false positive result stating they have the virus when they do not. Those results, at the doors of a venue, for instance, might merit more thorough testing before access was denied.

Virolens says its screening devices can each carry out hundreds of tests per day and it is believed the company is in the process of manufacturing thousands of the testing machines. virolens.keyoptions.com

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In Brief

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A ZOOM WITH A VIEW

Michael Chugg_Interview

MICHAEL CHUGG

editor Gordon Masson sits down for a Zoom chat with veteran Australian promoter Michael Chugg to discuss his decision to branch out, the return of live music and, of course, Covid’s potential long-term impact on touring...

What’s been keeping you busy during the last few months?

The label and management side of my business is doing very well. We’re having lots of success with the albums and doing a lot of streaming events – we’ve done about 80 or 90 streaming events with our acts now.

Lime Cordiale just had a No.1 album and eight nominations for the ARIA Awards; Sheppard have just played the Aussie Rules grand final in Brisbane last weekend, which was very exciting.

I’ve also been helping Gudinski with a lot of his streaming shows, as well as series two of The Sound, which is a rock and music television show that he is involved with and got onto ABC – that starts again next week and I’ve been helping him with that.

We’re about to sign a big deal with a young artist called Mia Rodriguez, who is definitely worth checking out on YouTube.

Chugg Entertainment is now part of the Mushroom empire, which I could not have done at a better time really. But Chugg Music is my own thing. I’ve always been involved with Australian music, but I started Chugg Music eight years ago with Sheppard and with Lime Cordiale, and it’s just built from there. My partner in it is Andrew Stone and I’ve got a team of people who work on it. And at least it’s given me

something to focus on or I’d be going fucking stir crazy without it.

Given what’s happened this year, is it something that others should consider doing to diversify their business?

I think a few more people have started to get into it. I know a few people have been asking my advice about how to do it and what to do. It’s been interesting because I’ve always been into the Internet, but not having any live stuff has given me time to learn more about using it. Pollstar now has a live-streaming poll where they are keeping all the stats and figures. But there’s no real money in doing any of that – sure, a few people have made some bucks out of streaming by getting people to buy tickets to watch a stream, but I don’t see that as a real future.

I know people have been trying to do virtual reality, but watching that Sheppard gig live in front of 30,000 people on Saturday night in Brisbane; there’s nothing like it… there’s nothing like being live!

You opened a Chugg Music office in Bangkok earlier this month. Would that have been possible had you still been full on with promoting concerts this year?

I’ve been dabbling in Asia since around 89 when

I did a gig with Bon Jovi. But not having any live touring, I’ve had a lot of time to look at things and then a friend of mine who had been running a music business in Bangkok for BEC-TERO rang me up one day to say he was out of a gig, so I asked him if he could do some work there for me because Sheppard have had a couple of hits up there. So he started to work on it and then started to see what else we were doing – getting enquiries from Japan about Lime Cordiale stuff, for instance. So after five months we could see there was a business and we decided to open up properly with a Chugg Music office.

Gudinski and I have both tried over the years to do things in Asia – we’ve both done quite a few shows up there – we had Laneway [festival] in Singapore for a few years, for instance – and it’s not the easiest market. But there has been a lot of interest recently in the Australian acts, through streaming and things like that, so why not give it a go?

It looks like international touring could be a bit stagnant, to say the least…

Yeah, well ten days ago I got a call from Canberra, from one of the advisors there, and they told us that the borders will not open until 2022. That’s in general – the mainstream – but they’re still trying to do the tennis in January. There won’t be any audiences though. The Melbourne Cup, on 3 November, our big horse race, won’t have any crowds. But for the tennis in January, they are going to start letting people into the country – and the Indian cricket team is coming in a few weeks’ time. They will be playing cricket and nobody will be there, except maybe in Brisbane ▶ Magazine

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Interview_Michael Chugg and Adelaide, where they’re starting to have limited audiences. There were 30,000 people at the Aussie Rules grand final in Brisbane, but now it’s gone back to 5,000 people for anything else.

I can’t see any touring here until 2022. A friend of mine who works for the Premier of New South Wales also told me that’s what they’re talking about.

While that remains the situation, is this the greatest opportunity you might have to develop domestic talent?

It’s definitely a good time. Domestic talent here develops anyway, but obviously we’re looking to see what we can do with the acts we can work with.

However, it’s also harmed the local acts. If we had not gone into lockdown, Lime Cordiale would be playing 10,000-capacity arenas right now.

When it all comes back and we get to a decent level, yeah, there should be quite a bit of Australian touring. We could do a tour now and go play to 30%-capped theatres and things like that, or go play small outdoor shows, but you can’t get into any of the fucking places. At the moment, the borders between Queensland and New South Wales, and New South Wales and Victoria, and South Australia and Victoria are all closed, so you can’t do a national tour right now.

A couple of my bands have played small, 5,000-6,000-capacity festivals in Darwin lately, and there are very few restrictions on audiences in Perth, but nobody can get there, so that’s really only an option for local acts, and that’s it.

But there are some positives. Victoria has had no new cases for a couple of days, for instance.

So if it keeps going the way that it is, maybe by Christmas all the internal border restrictions might come down and we can start thinking more seriously about shows.

But we have not announced Laneway – we moved the dates to March, but we haven’t announced because we can’t. If we were to put it up now and there was an outbreak of Covid somewhere and they closed things again in January, then we’d lose a heap of money.

Do you think the model for live music needs to be revised on the back of Covid?

They’re planning a big outdoor show for 12,000 people in Adelaide for New Year’s Day with local Australian acts – but at the moment they can’t use Melbourne acts – and the Covid restrictions that have been laid down mean everybody has to be seated. The restrictions are not going to break the bank, but obviously all the toilets and the bars and all the social distancing measures are going to cost money.

We could nearly go ahead with CMC Rocks, our big country festival in Queensland in March.

We get about 20,000 people and 11,000 or 12,000 of those camp, but as things stand, if you want to have a campsite, people have got to be 15 metres

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apart, so you’re fucked, you can’t do it.

Asia and the Asia Pacific ring have obviously seen pandemics before. Do you think that made you better prepared for Covid than Europe and America, for instance?

We were not better prepared, no. But we were able to move a lot quicker. I was in Melbourne hanging out with Robbie Williams who was down here to do the Australian Grand Prix when it all started to blow up, and they cancelled the race and pretty much shut the country down within two weeks.

We were a week away from our CMC Rocks Festival when they shut the country. They moved pretty quickly, so it never really got out of control, except for this second wave in Victoria, which now they’ve pretty much knocked on the head. I think if we weren’t an island, then we would have had big problems.

Do you think the live music industry has learned enough lessons from Covid that we’ll be better prepared for the next pandemic?

People will be happy to go out to gigs if they think it’s safe. The one area that’s been frustrating us is that they have not eased the restrictions on live music in hotels and pubs and bars and things; there’s no standing, it all has to be seated and you weren’t even allowed to fucking sing at one stage – that was one of their rules.

I’m confident it will come back, but when it does it could be very different. I don’t think you’ll see 20,000 people standing on a football ground ever again. The paranoid restrictions are ridiculous. The health and safety rules have been really heavy on Western countries for the last few years – restrictions on how you build your stage and all that. So I think health and safety could become overwhelming and a lot of that will be because of Covid and the paranoia of it striking again.

For instance, Western Australia was clean for 120 days or something, and then four freighters came into Fremantle and all of a sudden they’ve got 25 cases. We opened a bubble with New Zealand last week – you can’t go to New Zealand, but you can come here to Brisbane and Sydney. On the first flights into Sydney there were 500 people and 180 of them got on planes to Victoria and Western Australia, so they very nearly shut the bubble on

Sheppard wowed the 30,000 fans during the first ever Aussie Rules Grand Final half time show

day one. So the paranoia is definitely high.

Has the formation of the Live Entertainment Industry Forum helped the business down under?

We’ve never had a strong relationship with the government, you know, we’ve always been seen as larrikins [mavericks] and live music clowns.

But since Covid, I think we’ve come a long way with the governments. The prime minister promised AU$250million [€151m] to help the industry. None of that money has been used or

“But [the Australian government] have been able to see how much we contribute and how much the accommodation industry, airlines and aviation, all the production side of things, and all the caterers benefit. They’ve realised how much our industry supports other industries.”

Michael Chugg_Interview

given to anybody yet, and that’s been a couple of months. But they have been able to see how much we contribute and how much the accommodation industry, airlines and aviation, all the production side of things, and all the caterers benefit. They’ve realised how much our industry supports other industries. So from that point of view it has helped us a lot and one can only hope, moving forward, that it’ll continue to be that way.

Do you think the spirit of cooperation between rival companies will continue after Covid is gone?

Good fucking question. Look, there has always been a bit of an unwritten code down here. Yes, there’s always squabbling, fighting over tours and artists, but it was an agreement that worked.

The Live Nation global touring concept might become a thing of the past. Before all that started, if you had an act, nobody else would go and bid against you. That was pretty much how it was down here. If Michael Coppel had an act, I would not go after it. The only reason I would, is

if the act decided they didn’t want to go with him any more. But the Live Nation thing came along where they were buying acts for the world and for a while Gudinski and ourselves managed to hold on to acts, but then, with the likes of Coldplay and another couple of acts, they would just throw another US$20-30m (€17-25m) at them, saying that if they want this money, they’ve got to get rid of Chugg or Gudinski or they’re not going to get the world tour.

I don’t think that situation will be quite as severe as it could have been, and I also think a lot of acts who did those sort of deals, in reflection, probably won’t do them again, because you go from having relationships in 40 or 50 countries with people you’ve worked with for 10 or 15 years or whatever, and all of a sudden they are no longer involved. I know that a lot of the acts who went down that route have regretted it.

When do you think we will see the next Chugg-promoted concert?

I’d love to tell you it will be before June next year, but I doubt it will be before January 2022.

We’ve had a couple of the big Australian acts ask us if we’d like to do their tours, but as I said earlier, to go ahead and put something on sale right now would be inviting drama. We had a couple of postponed Elton John shows that we were going to do in January 2021 and they’ve now been rescheduled until January 2023.

But in all the conversations we’re having with agents – and the same with Gudinski – we’re all saying let’s look at early 2022.

One of our big current affair shows on TV did a thing about the companies that supply the coffee machines and barista set-ups for the big shows and conferences: country-wide they were doing about 150 a week and sometimes as many as 100 a day. And they reported they had done four in the past nine months.

People who build the exhibitions have not built a single one in nine months. Factories that live on the conference and theatre shows have been idle – there’s no work and everybody is fucked.

It’s terrible, but I’ve got to say how great Michael Gudinski has been – everybody is still on the payroll and everyone is still getting paid.

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Feature_HOTS

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HOTS_Feature

Stepping up its remit to help artists take their music to audiences in other countries, Hungarian Oncoming Tunes (HOTS), the Hungarian music export office, has partnered with to showcase the best of the country’s flourishing live music scene. Gordon Masson reports…

MAGYAR CHOICE © stock.adobe.com

W

ith pioneers such as Laszlo Hegedus, Hungary arguably led the way when it came to introducing international artists to Eastern Europe, with iconic events including Queen’s 1986 stadium show five years before the end of the Cold War, putting Budapest, in particular, firmly on the map.

As one of the continent’s most central nations, Hungary has since become a regular destination on European tours, while festivals like Sziget, Balaton Sound, Strand, B my Lake and many more, attract numerous international artists to visit the country each year. Those events also provide a fantastic platform for local talent to grow their audiences, as the likes of Sziget Festival brings in tens of thousands of visiting fans from other countries,

eager to soak up the atmosphere, while discovering new artists to add to their playlists and concert plans.

Helping the country’s domestic acts take their music to other territories is HOTS, the Hungarian music export office, which was established in 2017 by the National Cultural Fund’s Hangfoglaló Programme – initially aimed at organising delegations to attend showcase events Eurosonic, Tallinn Music Week and MENT. “After this goal was fulfilled, HOTS was incorporated into the Hangfoglaló Programme and has since gradually been transformed into an official music export office,” explains HOTS international relations executive, Lucia Nagyová.

The HOTS initiative came about as a direct result of Hungary’s fight against online piracy, as the Cultural Fund is funded by royalty income from the sale of blank CDs

and other media storage platforms.

Local law dictates that 25% of that taxation has to be invested into cultural exposure. “This law was aimed at helping authors and performers at the peak of online piracy to compensate the losses of the industry,” states Nagyová.

The funding is paying off: last year, HOTS supported 103 Hungarian artists and 47 professional delegates in 42 countries. The money is also used by HOTS to organise a scheme comprising workshops; showcase appearances; an international mentor and art camp (Outbreakers’ Lab); and a songwriting camp where internationally acclaimed producers can collaborate with artists (SongLab).

“HOTS aims to promote up-andcoming Hungarian music on an international scale,” Nagyová continues. “We focus on stimulating the presence of Hungarian music ▶ Magazine

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ДEVA eva is a fully DIY solo project by 19-year-old Budapest-based Dorina Takács. Music has always played a major role in her life, but last year she felt it was time to take matters into her own hands and decided to do everything on her own. As a result, eva writes, produces and performs her own tracks, and also designs her artwork. eva’s music features smooth atmospheric sounds, pulsating bass lines and polyphonic mantras inspired by magical Hungarian folk songs. Her solo project aims to knock down the barriers between different genres of music and make audience spirits soar.

“The music scene in Hungary is complex,” Takács tells IQ. “Fortunately, in the capital it’s as diverse as the community and there is a wide variety of genres of music, from folk to experimental. If you keep your eyes peeled it’s easy to find hidden gems.

On the contrary, if you check the most popular video clips on YouTube it’s hard to find meaningful lyrics, colourful sounds and real artistic value.”

She adds, “Honestly speaking, it’s really hard for me to work under the pressure of deadlines. I don’t have exact plans for the future but I’m thinking about a music video or dropping an album. We’ll see what the future holds. My long-term goal, or I should say my mission with making songs, is to deeply inspire people and to bring the younger generations closer to Hungarian folk music.”

in key markets by encouraging international touring, supporting PR campaigns, educational activities and providing professionals and newcomer managers with opportunities to participate at international music business events.”

Through a questionnaire, completed by more than 300 relevant stakeholders, HOTS keeps an upto-date shortlist of the most export-ready artists to whom it can offer guidance and support, tailored

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to their respective needs.

“The Hangfoglaló Programme Board of Trustees selects four internationally experienced acts each year to receive strategic support to bolster their presence on the markets or sectors essential to them,” says Nagyová, noting that this year’s chosen acts for the showcase are eva (Deva), The Devil’s Trade, OIEE and Saya Noé.

HOTS has compiled a Spotify playlist for IQ, featuring these

acts and others that appear on the shortlist, which can be accessed by clicking here or on the HOTS logo.

As with many organisations in 2020, HOTS has had to continually reassess its plans, as the pandemic and associated restrictions forced event cancellations and effectively shut down most opportunities for artists to showcase their music.

“Covid forced us to completely redesign our activities,” says Nagyová. “Throughout the year, we car-

ried on cooperating with our partners on international PR campaigns and added various online educational programmes aimed to make it easier for Hungarian stakeholders to adapt to the new situation and its challenges. Instead of contributing to the acts’ physical presence at international showcase festivals, we support them by creating digital content they can use in the future.

“However, it’s clear that both Hungarian bands and professionals

HOTS_Feature are eager to continue working faceto-face, and therefore, our priority is to come up with a hybrid framework in which our main educational and songwriting activities could be carried out. With the proactive help and support of our international partners, we were able to realise our annual mentoring Outbreakers’ Lab and HOTS SongLab songwriting workshops where chosen acts were given the opportunity to collaborate with renowned producers in Hungary’s most prominent studio, SuperSize Recording.”

That achievement bodes well for the future, giving Hungarian acts the chance to shine on the international stage, putting them in a stronger position for when life starts to return to normal.

Domestically, Nagyová tells IQ that live music still goes on in Hungary. “We still have the opportunity to count on small club shows – with a maximum capacity of 500 people – where the venues are obliged to provide the necessary air conditioning, and the audience is also stopped at the entrance for a regu-

lar temperature check, while they’re obliged to wear masks while inside.”

Noting that, to date, no gig has proven to be a focal point in spreading coronavirus, Nagyová also believes that the club shows have helped retain the audience’s desire for live entertainment. “In this narrative, there is no need to close down the live industry, since it closed down itself due to the general fear of Covid-19,” she says.

“The [Hungarian] government didn’t have a planned solution for this situation, unlike the German or French cultural decision makers, so a massive and layered conversation was needed to be done between the industry and the key decision makers.

“The Hungarian Cultural Fund provided knowledge-based and work-based applications on producing online e-learning materials, so that professionals could give back to their communities, and also produce live sessions in closed venues without audiences, so that venues, production teams and artists could benefit from the funds.”

HOTS Priority Artists

Musician Bence Kocsis started OIEE as a solo producer project in 2019 and released his debut album in 2020, reaching around ten editorial playlist selections on Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer, as well as radio play around Europe.

Highlighting the importance of the support HOTS is giving him, he tells IQ, “I’ve been selected for the MONDO New York City Showcase Festival, performing a special live set for the online event, thanks to Budapest Showcase Hub and Hungarian Cultural Center New York.

“I had the chance to take part in a workshop organised by HOTS with Steve Dub, who is a five-time

Grammy Award-winning producer, mixer, programmer and songwriter who has worked with some of the most influential artists of the past 20 years, such as UNKLE, Roots Manuva, The Chemical Brothers, New Order, The Prodigy, Leftfield, Primal Scream, Moby and Underworld.”

Dub chose to invite OIEE to the workshop after hearing his music.

“It worked out so well that he decided to work on my next EP coming out in 2021, so that’s going to be the main focus for this winter,” says Kocsis. “I’m thankful to HOTS for making this possible during these crazy times, because meeting people like Steve is such an opportunity that I hardly got before, especial▶

“HOTS aims to promote up-andcoming Hungarian music on an international scale. We focus on stimulating the presence of Hungarian music in key markets” Lucia Nagyová

THE DEVIL’S TRADE Singer-songwriter Dávid Makó reinvented himself as The Devil’s Trade a few years ago, embarking on a long journey to develop his deeply personal and sometimes dark, doominfused folk songs. Be it the folk of the Appalachians, or traditional Hungarian and Transylvanian tales, The Devil’s Trade fuses his metal past with roots that lie deep in the folk songs of his immediate surroundings.

From basements in his hometown of Budapest, to all corners of Europe, stages small and big, The Devil’s Trade has been relentlessly walking his path, finding both his voice and his calling – so that listeners can get to know him through his heart-wrenching songs.

He has toured Europe extensively as support for the likes of Crippled Black Phoenix (UK), Nathan Gray Collective (US), Der Weg Einer Freiheit (DE), Au-Dessus (LT), Celeste (FR), and Oceans of Slumber (US), as well as co-headlining with Jonathan Hultén (SE). He appeared at Spring Break Festival, Poland, last year, and earlier this year showcased his talent at Eurosonic Noorderslag and Tallinn Music Week.

In 2021, he hopes to hit the road with his postponed, co-headline, record release tour with Darkher (UK) and Forndom (SE). Two other European tours are also in his diary, while, Covid permitting, he is looking forward to appearing at Roadburn Festival in The Netherlands.

The Devil’s Trade released his third album, The Call of the Iron Peak, in August 2020, through French label, Season of Mist.

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OIEE OIEE is the colourful electronic solo project of Bence Kocsis, a name that is well-known in the Hungarian underground music scene as a producersongwriter, organiser, multimedia artist, host of live impro electronic music series WOPO-WOPO, and lead singer of bands Saverne and Window.

OIEE is a combination of nu-disco, dance and R&B, mixing instrumental sounds with tropical and not-so-tropical house, techno, disco and trance elements, and with modern soul-like vocals, giving danceable melodies and catchy hooks a very individual and uncompromising sound.

“With this project, I wanted to see what it’s like to work with other singers, even in the form of remixes,” says Kocsis. “Music has gathered in my brain over the years, for which I wanted to make a separate platform. This is more like a production work and is less bound by band-specific compromises.”

OIEE’s first LP, Urban Camouflage, was released in May 2020 and features artists such as M3NSA (UK/ GH) and Amaarae (US/GH). “The album attempts to show how the organic can mix with the artificial, how the superficial monotony of everyday life can be blended together with instinctive, deeper energies,” explains the artist.

His video for the track Stays Like This was awarded The Best Scene music video of the year on Magyar Klipszemle in 2019, while his video for the song Still Dey Inside, debuted on BBC 1Xtra, thanks to its use of amateur dancers. “We recorded a multi-hour impro dance recording with minimal instructions. We sought to bring instincts to the forefront, while ignoring professional dancers,” says Kocsis. “Like an underground techno party meets a tribal dance around a campfire,” he adds.

ly as a newcomer artist.”

Artist manager Balázs Zságer is convinced that, with the help of HOTS, his client eva could soon become Hungary’s next breakout act. “ eva is outstandingly gifted and she has international potential,” he states. “Her unique music is a mixture of down tempo electronica flavoured with Hungarian folk elements and cosmic choir tunes.”

As an artist and music producer himself, Zságer has 20 years’ experience of operating in the

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Hungarian and Eastern European music scenes. “This year I launched a label, Move Gently Records, to support mainly Eastern European up-and-coming artists,” he reveals.

“In Hungary, almost every music venue and event is centralised in Budapest, but there are some indie festivals such as Kolorádó and Bánkitó that also support emerging talent, thankfully.

“In the past few years, there have also been some positive developments regarding artist exchange

“It’s still difficult in Hungary to work with a performer who doesn’t sing in Hungarian” András Süli

programmes with neighbouring countries, thanks to the HOTS and BUSH showcases.”

With a background as a local promoter, since the 1990s, Zoltan Jakab, of Doomstar Bookings, comments, “It has been refreshing to see how Hungary slowly became part of the European touring circuit, given its proximity to Vienna (2.5 hours) and Prague (5 hours), both key cities for Central Europe’s music culture.”

Jakab manages the career of

HOTS_Feature Dávid Makó, aka The Devil’s Trade, whom he expects to benefit significantly from the HOTS programme.

“When I started working with The Devil’s Trade, our goal was to position him primarily abroad, because ever since the early stages, we’ve received a lot of interest from ‘A’ market countries.”

Indeed, the artist’s profile outside of Hungary helped The Devil’s Trade and his management team land a recording contract with a German label before securing a similar deal with iconic French label, Season of Mist.

At the same time, management is eager to capitalise on Makó’s growing and loyal fan base within Hungary itself. “We are trying to build Dávid’s

act successfully at home, but still keep a strict DIY approach, and keep as many things in our own hands as possible,” explains Jakab. “Our strategic target stays the same, even if the world’s facing the Covid-19 pandemic: to tour as much as possible worldwide. Our position is lucky, as The Devil’s Trade’s art speaks equally to fans of folk, indie, metal and experimental music, which gives us a lot of opportunities to choose from.”

Representing Saya Noé, manager András Süli says her inclusion on the HOTS priority list provides a terrific boost for her ambitions. “The live music career for Saya Noé had barely started when Covid stopped almost everything,” says Süli.

“2020 would have been the year

for her to start playing live on stages and also for her first steps abroad, but these plans had to be postponed.

Thankfully, she was selected for the HOTS music export shortlist, just one year after she first appeared on the Hungarian music scene.

Addressing some of the challenges for Hungarian music, Süli adds, “It’s still difficult in Hungary to work with a performer who doesn’t sing in Hungarian, as the local audience – and also the media – is so familiar with Hungarian-language music.

However, thanks to the Hangfoglaló support programme and all the efforts by HOTS, opportunities for emerging artists are much better now than even five years ago.”

Indeed, Süli concludes that, if

other territories can establish music export offices that are as proactive as HOTS, then the opportunities for artists based in Central Europe, could abound. “I respect all initiatives that try to promote exchange among Central and Eastern European countries: these markets should be much more open to each other,” he adds.

SAYA NOÉ Mimi Koros, aka Saya Noé, is a Hungarian singer-songwriter. The daughter of musicians, she spent most of her childhood in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Her love for music began at a young age when she learned the violin and flute. A few years later, she picked up the guitar and started writing songs, before studying music production at the imPro School in Budapest.

Saya Noé’s first EP, Taboo, was released in May 2019. Its songs can be described as moody and melancholic electro pop, with hints of hip-hop and trap. Her first music video, to the song Free, premiered on one of Hungary’s national TV channels. But she says her biggest accomplishment to date was being selected

by Grammy-winning producer and mixer, Matt Lawrence, to collaborate on her music during the HOTS SongLab session in autumn 2019.

Consequently, Saya Noé is a big fan of the music export office. “[They] provide opportunities for upcoming artists such as song labs with well-known producers, music conferences, artist camps and more, all of which I've been lucky enough to be a part of. There's also a cultural fund programme available each year, which has helped artists like me get started on their journey.

“As for the live scene, I can't say I have had much experience just yet. I’ve had a few invites to be a support act, but due to Covid, this year for me has mostly just been about working on my first album and preparing. I can't wait to get out there, though – I feel like there's so much potential within the Hungarian music scene and I can't wait to be a part of it.”

She adds, “Moving forward, I want to keep writing and building my live act, which I feel is finally ready to showcase, so I can't wait to put myself to the test in the next year, both here in Hungary and, hopefully, abroad as well.”

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© 2013 FFJM - Marc Ducrest

Your Shout

“What’s the strangest superstition you have encountered?”

TOP SHOUT

© Arterra / Philippe Clément

After more than 20 years of vain attempts from Claude Nobs to have Prince perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival, the occasion unexpectedly came up. Total secrecy was mandatory and we were not to announce him until the first day of the festival. Needless to say, we feared it would not happen.

Up in the Swiss mountains, in some valleys, there is a tradition of chasing away bad spirits, and for this they use frightening looking masks made of wood, hair and teeth, which they fix outside of their chalets. Of course, they have a great carnival too. This is the other face of your rational Swiss banker.

So, just in case, I decided to wear a small souvenir mask from the Lötschental [valley] as a good-luck charm, everywhere, all the time, for four months, despite questions (remaining unanswered) and funny looks, until the moment Prince set foot in town.

I wore it each time Prince announced he was coming and it worked. Over the years, it became our internal code in the office that something was cooking. Unfortunately, I have to let that gri-gri rest now.

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Michaela Maiterth, Montreux Jazz Festival iq-mag.net

Your Shout

© Reportagefotografen.se

If you see a green Trabant (below), jump seven times to bring good luck. If you see a Tatra 603 or Tatra 613 car, used mainly by communist top brass, draw ‘4’ on the ground with your feet and you will be lucky for the next four hours. I can confirm, it all works. As there were many Trabants in Czechoslovakia in the 80s, our super big luck came in 1989 with the fall of communism.

That brought endless freedom: freedom of art, free festivals... and of course freedom of superstitions and mistakes. I am amazed at how creative

Back in 1999, I was in the process of booking Culture Club for the Open Air Gampel. After a lengthy negotiation, the agent, Keith Naisbitt, was finally in a position to confirm the band as one of our headliners. But… Boy George needed to speak to a clairvoyant prior to fully committing to the show. He wanted to know if it would be safe to fly on that day.

Luckily, the clairvoyant gave the OK. Derrick Thomson, Mainland Music

© stock.adobe.com

Many years ago, when I was working for the now non-existent Virgin Agency, I ‘booked out’ some reasonably eccentric acts, Kevin Coyne, Captain Beefheart, Henry Cow, Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoia, Hatfield and the North, and others. But one particularly unusual performer was the Scottish singer, poet and master of the harmonium, the wonderful Ivor Cutler. I was asked to put together a short college tour for him and his poetess partner. I received a phone call from Ivor, who was worried because he understood that many college dates were staged in “refectory buildings.” This meant that the lunchtime use of these venues was likely to lead to remnants of food remaining upon the floor; his particular worry concerned the presence of “discarded chips” at the time of the performance by himself and the poetess. He wanted to make it clear to me and to the presenters of their show, that this would not take place unless we could guarantee a “chip-free environment,” this was included in the contract.

Allan McGowan, ILMC

people can be, some of them actually call for the return of green Trabants to our streets... As for me, I prefer really green and healthy solutions.

Michal Kaščák, Pohoda Festival

I drove to France recently, and the day before, someone told me that you need to salute every time you see a single magpie or you’ll have bad luck. I’d never heard of it before, but the next morning I set off on this drive and there’s single magpies left and right – I came across maybe 27 single magpies. I don’t know what was going on, but maybe the phrase ‘the early bird catches the worm’ is based on magpies.

I’m not taking any chances on a 16-hour drive, so there I am at 5am trying to caffeinate myself with one hand, drive with the other, and constantly saluting these magpies like some sort of freak.

Bilge Morden, CAA We had a famous American rock singer who wouldn’t go back to Belgium as he caught the clap there… I told him he could catch it anywhere.

John Giddings, Solo Agency Magazine

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