IQ issue 35

Live Music inteLLigence An ILMC Publication. May 2011, Issue 35

iLMc 23: tHe RePORt Full review of conference weekend tOMORROW’s WORLd Industry-shaping new technology gOddess Of Live Kylie sets news standards in touring LOndOn’s ciRcLe Of Live The Roundhouse profiled at five LeAding tHe fieLds Switzerland’s divided live music market Getting it Right: Alex Hodges • Listen uP!: BRYAn gRAnt • The Summer of ’69: David Stopps • AnOtHeR BRicA in tHe WALL: RALPH siMOn

Issue 35, May 2011

Contents 16

News 6

In Brief The main headlines over the last two months

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In Depth Key stories from around the live music world

Features 16 ILMC 23: The Report Full review of the ILMC conference weekend 28 Tomorrow’s World IQ’s rundown of industryshaping new technology 32 Goddess of Live Kylie’s Aphrodite: Les Folies sets new standards in touring

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42 Ticketing Report 2011 A year of innovation and change in live entertainment ticketing 52 London’s Circle of Live How the Roundhouse became a jewel in the capital’s crown 60 Leading the Fields Adam Woods reports on Switzerland’s divided market

Comments and Columns

32 52

12 Getting it Right Alex Hodges on a difficult time for the US concert business

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13 Listen Up! Production notable Bryan Grant wants a quiet word 14 The Summer of ‘69 David Stopps on the then-and now of UK club Friars Aylsbury 15 Another BRICA in The Wall Ralph Simon on the benefits and necessities of social media

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72 In Focus ILMC delegates in the spotlight 74 Your Shout What was your most memorable ILMC moment?

Editorial

Going the Distance

Prince’s marathon run of dates in LA throws up some interesting questions, argues Greg Parmley…

THE ILMC JOURNAL Live music intelligence Issue 35, May 2011 IQ Magazine 2-4 Prowse Place, London, NW1 9PH, UK info@iq-mag.net www.iq-mag.net Tel: +44 (0)20 7284 5867 Fax: +44 (0)20 7284 1870

Publisher ILMC and M4 Media Editor Greg Parmley Associate Editor Allan McGowan Marketing & Advertising Manager Terry McNally Sub Editor Michael Muldoon Production Assistant Adam Milton Editorial Assistant Amanda Pope Contributors Lars Brandle, Stefan Breitenmoser, Bryan Grant, Systke Kamstra, Alex Hodges, Meredith Humphrey, Amanda Pope, Ralph Simon, David Stopps, Manfred Tari, Gareth Thomas & Adam Woods.

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

I

’m writing these lines having lurched across the finishing line of the London Marathon some 20 hours ago, and am now managing an award-winning impersonation of an arthritic 80-year-old. It turns out that running a marathon (particularly in the sun) takes it out of you a little, but I wanted to start by saying a huge thank you to everyone who sponsored me. In total, I managed to raise over £3,000 for Oxfam, which is a figure I’m very proud of. Generous souls who contributed include Rock-it Cargo, Russell Warby, Chris Prosser, Emma Banks, Paul Latham, Neo Sala, Festival Republic, Joerg Philipp, Barry Dickins, the ILMC team, and many, many more. I don’t have room here to name-check everyone, but you know who you are, so thank you hugely. And it’s reasonably safe to say that I won’t be asking anyone to sponsor me for a marathon for some time…

In other news, it was interesting to see that Prince is performing another 21-night residency in a major city. Following on from his 2007 stint at The O2 in London, he has begun a string of dates at The Forum (18,000-cap) in Los Angeles.

But what’s fascinating about this is the pricing structure. Tickets for The O2 dates were £31.21 ($50.77), while AEG Live shunted allocation onto the secondary market to make up income. At least 85% of tickets for The Forum dates are just $25

including all fees, while Live Nation announced a series of VIP and premium packages (up to $755 on the primary market) to bump up the gross. While the runs are on different continents, is the fact that Prince tickets have halved in value in four years a sign of a decline across the board, or just a drop that’s specific to the local market? It’s an interesting situation, while in terms of pricing, the range of platinum options for the LA dates, shows just how far this area has evolved in just four short years.

So, moving on to this issue and our annual Ticketing Report (page 42) highlights just how much the European industry has changed in 12 months, while we find Kylie setting new standards in touring on page 32. The second of our new market reports presents some interesting data and analysis on the Swiss live music market (pg 60), we profile London’s Roundhouse as it approaches its fifth birthday (pg 52), and there’s a fascinating insight into a wealth of new technology that could well be heading your way shortly (pg 28).

And last but certainly not least, having just finished one of our most successful ILMCs to date, there’s a round-up of the conference meetings and events for anyone who missed out, or those who fancy a recap. A marathon issue indeed…enjoy!

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

News

In Brief...

Below: Nelly Furtado Top Right: Harpa Concert Hall (artist’s impression) Far Below Right: Faithless live

While U2 the largest tour gross record, conditions remained challenging for many involved in the live music business throughout Q1 and into Q2…

February

• The Bahrain Formula 1 motor race and the F1 Rocks event (due to take place the day before) are cancelled due to political unrest.

• German entertainment company CTS Eventim announces 2010 earnings before interest and tax of €70.6million, a similar amount to 2009.

• After going into administration, staging and trucking firm ES Group is split and sold to UK-based Transam, and a UAE-based consortium.

• Live Nation Entertainment is confirmed to run live entertainment planned around London’s 2012 Olympic Games.

• Scores of fundraisers are announced in response to the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, that killed more than 180 people on 22 February.

• Live Nation Entertainment’s 2010 report shows losses tripled to $228million (€160m) as concert attendance continued to fall.

March

• Pressure group the Fan Freedom Project launches in the US, protesting against paperless ticketing and claiming that fans have the right to resell their own tickets.

• Sonisphere’s UK festival recruits 300 city ambassadors from its fanbase to help promote the event, earning tickets and merchandise through referrals.

• UK football club West Ham United and Live Nation win their bid to run the London Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games.

• Nelly Furtado announces she is giving the $1million (€700,000) fee she was paid for performing in front of Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi in 2007 to charity. Beyoncé follows suit.

• The Western Australian parliament launches an investigation into whether the AUD$2.95million (€2.17m)

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it spent on supporting Perth’s One Movement event was beneficial.

• Reports in UK broadsheets claim that Vince Power will float his company Music Festivals to raise up to £9million (€10.3m) with which to buy overseas and fledgling events.

• The overcrowded Finnish festival scene sees the cancellation of Ankarrock, while Helsinki’s Tuska Open Air Metal Festival switches dates to avoid clashing with Sonisphere.

• UK-based insurance brokers Doodson Broking Group acquires Dallas-based CSI Entertainment Insurance to form Doodson Entertainment.

• Global Spectrum Europe announces that it will run the new 15,000-capacity Lyon/Villeurbanne Arena when it opens in France in 2014.

• According to Fuji TV news, the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit Japan caused over 1,300 concerts by foreign artists to be cancelled or postponed.

• Figures released by the National Arenas Association show attendance at UK arena shows down by 19% in 2010, while ticket prices continued to climb.

• Live Nation Entertainment launches LiveAnalytics to capitalise on its combined 180 million-strong database, identifying customer preferences and trends.

• AEG Facilities and Nederlander Entertainment purchase the US Bank Arena in Cincinnati.

• Jay Marciano, president of Madison Square Garden, moves to London to take up a new role as CEO of AEG Europe.

• A French stagehand dies after falling from the roof of Lyon’s Halle Tony Garnier before a Jamiroquai show.

• CTS Eventim’s purchase of See Tickets Germany and Ticket Online Group is cleared by the German federal cartel office.

April

• Latest IFPI figures show that global music sales fell $1.4bn (€980m) in 2010, with the UK market dropping 11%, the US dropping 10% and Japan dropping 8.3%.

• After UK retailer HMV issues a third profit warning for the year, its share price falls 20%, while major labels relax their supply covenants in support.

• Germany’s Live Entertainment Awards are publicly ridiculed by promoter Marek Lieberberg who calls them “obsolete”, after refusing to pick up his lifetime achievement award.

• A Miami judge rules that Michael Cohl’s countersuit against Live Nation, over his right to promote the Rolling Stones, can go ahead.

• Copenhagen launches a new twostage tender process to decide who will operate a new arena in the Danish capital.

• The UK’s Festival Republic buys a 51% majority share in Berlin Music Week.

• First results from the European Talent Exchange Programm reveal 46 acts from 14 countries have secured 76 shows following the January showcase event.

• U2’s 360 Tour becomes the highest grossing tour of all time, beating the Rolling Stones’ Bigger Bang Tour record of $554million (€388m). 360 is set to gross over $700m (€491m) by the time it ends.

News

ETT Connects Music and Ticketing Bridging the gap between sectors of the entertainment industry and ticketing companies will be one of the key focuses for the 26th Europe Talks Tickets (ETT) Conference and Exhibition.

Taking place at the Café Moskau in Berlin from 25-27 May, organisers hope to see an increase in music industry

delegates to provide insight into industry-wide issues.

“Apart from some of the big arenas in the UK, ETT has never had a strong rock and pop following,” ETT Director Sue Uings tells IQ. “The entertainment industry is so closely knit that we all benefit from working together. Things we’re doing

Iceland to Open First Music Hall

Iceland will finally have its own music hall for the Iceland Symphony Orchestra (ISO) this May when the new Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre opens in the city of Reykjavík. The ISK27billion (€166million) venue is expected to increase the number of both Icelandic cultural events and international acts touring the country.

“Iceland has been waiting 100 years for a music hall and its future impact on our cultural life is obvious,” says Harpa’s

music director Steinunn Birna Ragnarsdóttir. “It’s going to be a revolution and will place Iceland on the international chart.”

Artists will be able to play in the main hall (1,600), recital hall (450) and fourth hall (195), with the conference hall accommodating up to 750.

Originally, the venue was to be funded by private donors until the Icelandic economy crashed in 2008.

Now the government and city of Reykjavík will be paying off bank loans on the property for the next 35 years.

In addition to being the home of the ISO and Icelandic Opera, the hall will host acts for the Iceland Airwaves Festival from 12-16 October. Upcoming shows include British artist Jamie Cullum, soprano Barbara Bonney, and Icelandic musicians Ólöf Arnalds and Skúli Sverrisson.

with the theatre world and museums to increase the market are transferring to the rock and pop sectors too.”

According to Uings, dynamic pricing and London’s strategy for combating ticketing crime at the 2012 Olympics will be key topics across the ten panels, with Live Nation’s

Alternative Cinema is Faithless The next few years will see more gigs broadcast live to cinemas across the world, says alternative cinema company Omniverse Vision, having recently broadcast Faithless’s final concert live across Europe.

The show, held at London’s O2 Academy Brixton (4,900 capacity) on 8 April, was broadcast to over 120 cinemas in nine countries including the UK, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Poland, Luxembourg and Norway.

“Alternative film is exploding this year because

Glastonbury Boosts Bikes The UK’s Glastonbury festival (175,000 capacity) is launching a new campaign to encourage festival-goers to arrive by bicycle in an effort to reduce the event’s traffic and carbon footprint. Known as the Green Traveller

Paul Latham also scheduled as a keynote speaker.

ETT Conferences Ltd was established in 2009 to run the event on a commercial basis with the appointment of Uings as director. Organisers expect an attendance of 400 delegates, with registration fees ranging from £300 (€339) to £450 (€509), although IQ readers can claim a 10% discount.

campaign, incentives for bicycle commuters will include a free lock-up and access to a dedicated campsite during the 22-26 June event.

Participants will also be given the Green Traveller card, available to all

of the adoption of digital technology across cinemas.

More concerts will be broadcast live in the coming months and the record industry is embracing it,” says Omniverse director John Gaydon.

“Artist managers can now look to the cinema as the first window for promoting the release of an album.”

According to Steve Machin of Stormcrowd, who’s lending marketing expertise to the project, technology will be available within the next 18 months that will allow live 3D broadcasts. Last year, Omniverse broadcast their first live event with the Les Miserables 25th anniversary performance at London’s O2 Arena, while upcoming projects include their first 3D movie with UK pop band JLS and a 2D Usher concert also shot at The O2.

Glastonbury-attendees that take public transportation, which gives discounts on food and t-shirts as well as access to solar showers.

Both the cycling club Team Tor 2000 and the not-for-profit organisation PoWWow Pedal Power are helping promote the new campaign.

News

Boost for Exit Opens Doors for Talent Guildford Live Scene The UK’s Guildford Borough is preparing for a boost in live entertainment, with a new 1,700-capacity venue opening in September and the expansion of the established Boileroom.

Owned and funded by the local authority, the new venue, known as G Live, will be managed by HQ Theatres and host music, comedy and family entertainment.

“The Guildford area is awash with local arts organisations that are eager to be involved with the new venue,” says G Live director Alvin Hargreaves.

“We want to balance the strong professional UK and international acts with artists in the community so they get the access they require.”

Five-year-old Guildford venue the Boileroom has also prepared for booking larger shows, having expanded its capacity from 200 to 250 this March.

“It’s great we can now talk with bigger acts while still supporting our local artists,” says The Boileroom owner Dom Czopor. “Our programming will not be in competition with G Live and it will encourage people to go see more live music – it can only be a good thing for the whole area.”

Artists currently scheduled at G Live include comedians Jimmy Carr and Omid Djalili this November and February 2012, respectively.

Upcoming shows at The Boileroom include Die So Fluid, Talons and Max Raptor.

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Serbia’s 50,000-capacity Exit Festival will be focussing on helping break fresh talent over the next few years through their WeShareMusic campaign.

According to Exit founder Bojan Bošković, helping promote new Serbian and international performers is a key goal for 2011, with WeShareMusic encompassing both the talent-spotting Play@ Exit competition, and a performer exchange programme launched last year in cooperation with Budapest’s Sziget festival

(75,000 cap) and Greece’s Ejekt festival (18,000).

“The concept of taking new artists and giving them the opportunity to play at a festival for the first time is still fresh,” says Bošković.

“We want to create momentum around these acts and help them with media partners.”

The annual Play@ Exit competition selects an unspecified number of new artists, bands and DJ’s to perform across the smaller Exit stages each year. Momentum for the applicants will be created

by a partnership with media sharing site Soundcloud that will promote the submitted tracks.

Last year saw 570 artists apply, with this year’s winners set to be announced 20 May. Artists already confirmed for the festivals at Petrovaradin Fortress, Novi Sad, include Arcade Fire, Pulp, Portishead, and Jamiroquai.

TGE Explores Direct-to-Fan Future European touring activity.

“We will be exploring the live dimensions of direct-to-fan, looking at how artists and promoters are taking more control of their ticket sales, recognising the benefit of having that direct connection with fans,” says convention programmer Chris Cooke.

Other panel topics will include the challenge of touring the US, and the growing Eastern European market. HMV CEO Simon Fox will also give a keynote address on the live sector

and how it could better work with other parts of the music industry.

Set to take place across 30 venues, including the 2,000-capacity Brighton Dome, three-day convention passes cost £125 (€141), with festival tickets ranging from £25 (€28) to £45 (€51). Included in the 300 scheduled artists are The Vaccines, Warpaint, Katy B, The Joy Formidable, Yuck, and The Naked and Famous, with an expected overall attendance of 15,000.

Pohoda Ready for Sell Out

currently touring two documentaries on the 2007 and 2009 festivals in ten cities across the nation.

Filmed by director Marc Nevin, it is hoped the tour will expand in both Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Pohoda takes place from 7-9 July and scheduled acts include Pulp, Madness, Portishead, Moby and M.I.A.

Brighton’s sixth annual music festival and convention, The Great Escape, will focus on the growing importance of direct-to-fan relationships across numerous panels at the 12-14 May event, in the UK. D2F music platforms Topspin and Bandcamp will join PRS for Music in a keynote debate on the emerging market, while a case study will look at Neu Management and Musicmetric’s use of ‘fanalytics’ to plan The Asteroids Galaxy Tour’s

The reduction in music stages at this year’s Pohoda festival has boosted the event’s visual arts section, say organisers, who are predicting an advance sell out.

The 30,000-capacity event in Trenčín, Slovakia, has adjusted to losing a few sponsors this year, but according to founder and director Michal Kaščák, the

change has only been positive.

“With one less stage the space for art will be stronger than it was in 2010 and our ticket presale this year has still been the best in our history,” he says.” This is our strongest line-up yet and we have less than 5,000 tickets left.”

To promote the festival nationally, organisers are

Above: Arcade Fire

News

Festival Republic Goes Abroad Adding a third event to its growing overseas portfolio, Festival Republic has purchased a 51% majority share of the Berlin Festival.

The 15,000-capacity event, which takes place at the disused Tempelhof Airport will continue to be booked

by Melt! Festival’s Stefan Lehmkuhl.

The entry into Berlin by the UK’s principal festival promoter is one of very few investments by a foreign company into the German live music market. The deal saw Festival Republic buy shares from three of the event’s shareholders: magazine publisher Matthias Hörstmann who has been

involved since 2009; and Hilary Kavanagh and Cornelius Opper who cofounded the festival in 2005.

“I am very much looking forward to organising an extraordinary urban festival in the midst of a vibrating metropolis and turning it into an internationally renowned highlight on the world’s festival agenda,” says Festival Republic MD Melvin Benn.

The 9-10 September event is the third that Festival Republic is now involved in overseas. In January, the firm announced it would stage a 50,000-capacity event in Orlando, Florida, whilst it has run Norway’s Hove festival since 2009.

GSE Looks to France with New Arena Facility management firm Global Spectrum Europe (GSE) has entered an operational agreement with French company Société De Projet Salle Multifonction to manage the new Lyon/ Villeurbanne Arena.

Set to open in 2014, the multi-purpose arena will have a capacity of up to 15,000 and be the first of its kind in France, currently the second largest market in Europe. GSE, a collaboration between the UK’s NEC Group and US-based Global Spectrum, will provide consulting services in the areas of design, event sales, marketing, ticketing

services and programming.

“There is a massive demand for this type of venue to cater for big international acts,” says the NEC Group’s Koen Melis.

“The top French venues can cater for 5,000 or 7,000 – this venue will set a new standard for the country.”

According to Melis, GSE expects the arena to host 150 events each year, with 10% going toward music events. The anticipated cost of the arena stands at between $168million (€116m) and $196m (€135m) and will be part met through a partnership with the City of Villeurbanne.

News

Vivo Latest Warner Buy Adding to its growing network of European promoter operations, Warner Music has acquired Italian live events company Vivo.

The operation will continue to be led by founders and brothers Corrado and Sandro Rizzotto, although they will move their offices from Pordenone to Milan.

The company already works with Warner artists Paolo Nutini and Muse for whom they promoted

their 60,000-capacity gig at San Siro stadium in June 2010. Vivo also promotes the Bands Apart Festival and I-Day Festival, which this year, in its eleventh edition, will feature Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys and The Offspring.

“In recent times, the national and international live landscape has completely changed and we think that in order for Vivo to stay competitive we need

to continue to grow,” says Corrado Rizzotto.

“Warner Music is our ideal partner to develop our activities, while keeping our independent spirit.”

Over the past five years, with Warner actively expanding into areas such as live, merchandising, artist management, brand partnerships, and directto-fan, the Vivo deal is the latest in a series of moves.

In 2007, it acquired HMC (Helsinki Music Company); in 2008, Camus Productions

became a stand-alone unit within Warner France, and it bought Spanish management company Get In; in 2009, Neuland in Germany and Warner Music Merchandising were formed as part of Warner Music Central Europe; and last year the major acquired Nous Productions in France.

“The [Vivo] deal is another significant step in the transformation of our role in the European music value chain,” says John Reid, CEO, Warner Music Europe.

Japanese Live Business Shaken

Promoters in Japan are still feeling the after effects of the earthquake and tsunami

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nearly two months after it hit the nation on 11 March.

According to Fuji TV news on 1 April, over 1,320 concerts featuring foreign artists were either postponed or cancelled with reasons ranging from infrastructure damage, avoidance of nonessential travel and fear of exposure to radiation.

“We had many cancellations after the earthquake up until this week,” said Creativeman Productions international PR and marketing manager Shiroh ‘Onta’ Kawaguchi, speaking in early April.

“We are not focusing on the rescheduling of our

Punkspring Festival and Spring Groove Festival, but after the second half of April we will be back to the scheduled plan.”

Among the acts cancelled

by Creativeman were Iron Maiden, Ne-Yo, Slash and Murderdolls while concerts with The National, Ke$ha, White Lies and Tahiti were postponed. Good Charlotte and Hoobastank were scheduled to headline the Punkspring Festival taking place at three locations, while Nelly and Flo Rida were headlining Spring Groove at the Makuhari Messe venue (9,000 cap).

Other acts forced to cancel

tour dates included Jack Johnson, KT Tunstall, Jimmy Eat World, The Vaccines and Best Coast, but not all artists postponed. Cyndi Lauper, who arrived just hours after the earthquake struck, performed her entire tour as scheduled while donating proceeds from her latest album to the Japan Red Cross.

Meanwhile, a charity concert in Hong Kong organised by movie star Jackie Chan on 1 April raised HK$25million and was attended by 100,000 people. Currently, the World Bank predicts it will cost the nation €164billion to repair damages, with a reported 18,000 casualties.

Above: Cindi Lauper

Comment

Getting it Right The recently appointed CEO of Los Angeles-based Nederlander Concerts Alex Hodges gives his view on a difficult time for the US concert business...

When considering the recent difficulties that the US live industry has had to deal with, certainly there is one observation: in the past few years, the US was hit hard by the economy – perhaps harder than in Europe or Canada. By the autumn of 2008 we could see the downturn in ticket sales, and even now, promoters are discounting tickets and average sales are off somewhat, especially if you look at any 24-month period. So who’s to blame? For sure no one band or manager would say “It’s me!” and no single band or manager can fix it. So that leaves no one to fix it. But to say “no one band” is to say all.

Here’s an observation: a sold out show must have, by definition, turned away people – left money on the table so to speak. But I have noticed often that shows hit a wall. I have seen a show in demand sell-out in one day and then almost sell-out the next night, even if it wasn’t on a Saturday. This tells me that there are a finite number of people who are coming no matter how much we spend on advertising. We need every advantage possible – the best days of the week, fewer similar bands playing the market at the same time, the right ticket prices and the right quantity (or capacity) of each price, if multiple prices.

As promoters, we study every show, every price, every habit, every outcome and result – then we make our best offer and our best recommendations.

Then we get outbid for the show, out-priced for tickets – and then someone has less success than they would have had, except for the fact that the artist’s guarantee might have been increased. And today’s tour of 30 cities used to be a tour of 40 to 50 cities.

Tours are skipping secondary markets. Why? Because the markets can’t support the costs of the show, even when we reduce the fee and the show costs and the ticket prices. This is because we have not adjusted enough for these markets. We reduce from a $200,000 (€140,000) guarantee and a $75 (€53) ticket to $150,000 (€105,000) guarantee and a $55 (€39) ticket and it’s still an insufficient reduction, so the show loses

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money and then subsequent tours skip the market. So the burden of the tours is on 30 markets, not 50.

That said, it seems that the average numbers are telling us that something is wrong in our estimates and our pricing. If it all starts with the threat of job losses and the pocket book then we have to look at ticket prices. If there is an abundance of discounting then we also have to look at ticket prices. But lower ticket prices – discount or no discounts – may not support the higher show costs.

I do think that many of the agents and managers have cooperated with us in looking at ticket prices. However, we do get calls that ask for a lower ticket price than we have suggested in our offer and that simultaneously ask for a higher guarantee. There is some effort being made by many to bring reality into focus but mostly it will be a situation of making the best offer and then making an improved best offer.

While we are looking for cause and effect, let us not overlook stagehand expenses; the cost of trucking more and more production along the highways; the effect of fewer new albums and music being sold; and jobs! While I am bullish and optimistic for 2011’s economy, an increase in jobs will be the greater driver of success, if indeed everything improves.

In seeing some good signs and ticket sales at this early stage of 2011, it seems to me that things are getting better. Music is as important as ever. The recording business and the world of technology will merge or find improved models and mechanisms for the growth of a healthier music business, which will aid the live music sector. Both are important to stimulate each other. Live music will always be on the agenda for fans of all ages. Kids who want to play and sing will do so; live music is just a moment that lives with you. Each show is unique. We have to protect it by making it affordable, within reason, and by making the experience more than special. The live music event must be magical as it has always been.

Listen Up!

Britannia Row Productions’ boss Bryan Grant wants a quiet word...

I was flattered to be asked to co-chair The Engine Room discussions at the ILMC this year and we definitely covered some important issues regarding crowd safety, audio level restrictions, and their cultural differences in different territories, but when I asked, “How many agents are there here today?” not one hand was raised. In fact, the ‘non-production’ representatives of the concert industry taking part in the session totalled one manager along with one promoter.

I find this appalling.

Perhaps some of you remember those old Star Trek episodes where some crap’s happening and Captain Kirk gets a desperate call from Scotty down in the engine room saying the dylithium crystals are overheating and the engines won’t take it and it’s all going to blow, and smart-arse Kirk responds with, “Warp factor ten, Mr Sulu,” and everything’s rattling and there’s steam (I always wondered why steam in a spaceship?) gushing out everywhere and it’s all going to hell in a hand-basket, but Kirk does something clever and it all ends well and poor old Scotty looks like a whingeing old woman with a loser’s grin, while everyone gives Kirky the slap on the back for endangering the whole ship’s crew and all of mankind?

Well people, touring and events aren’t exactly like that.

Firstly, people shouldn’t have to die in order to make things happen. Secondly, not listening to the people who you pay to deliver your shows is more than dumb; if your production people say something’s not safe or doesn’t make good sense, listen to them, they’ve probably been there before and they’re not just being negative for the sake of it. And in general, when you’re planning a tour or event, get these people in as early as possible in the planning stage so that you’re not making promises that some other poor sod has to make good on. It’ll probably save you money and it may even save a life.

And finally, when you’re given the chance to listen in and take part in a forum on the practical issues that affect your artist, your event, and therefore you and your business, please, turn up. I’m sure you’ll get something out of it – and you might even be able to put something in!

Comment

The Summer of ’69 David Stopps reviews the then-and-now of Friars Aylesbury, one of the UK’s most legendary music clubs...

It was in the summer of ’69 that a local Aylesbury school teacher, Robin Pike, asked if I would be interested in starting a music club in Aylesbury. I remember replying that maybe it would work in High Wycombe…but Aylesbury?

However, we opened on 2 June 1969 at the New Friarage Hall in Aylesbury with Mike Cooper, and Mandrake Paddle Steamer. The second week we booked The Pretty Things; and the third week Free. The rest, as they say, is history.

For the next 16 years, pretty much everybody played Friars Aylesbury. The amazing atmosphere that existed at the gigs endeared the place to so many bands that played there. Friars was a club, so members felt a sense of belonging (life membership was 25p… and still is!). We got through three venues during those 16 years: Phase 1 – New Friarage Hall (400 capacity); Phase 2 – The Borough Assembly Hall (700 cap); and Phase 3 – The Civic Centre (1,250 cap).

Phase 1 saw bands such as Black Sabbath (fee: £25), Genesis (£10), Argent, King Crimson, Mott the Hoople and The Edgar Broughton Band. Phase 2 – considered by many to be the golden era – included Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Roxy Music, Hawkwind, Steve Harley, Dr Feelgood, and Queen. And Phase 3 was a who’s who of 1975-84 era bands... U2, The Ramones, The Clash, Blondie, Talking Heads, The Specials, Stiff Little Fingers, The Police and Motörhead amongst hundreds of others.

In 1982, I became the manager for Marillion for a while and then for Howard Jones, who I still manage today. In 1983, Howard’s career exploded worldwide and I just couldn’t continue to give Friars the attention it deserved. The club closed in December 1984 with a front page headline of local paper the Bucks Advertiser reading ‘The Day the Music Died’.

For the next 25 years, those legendary Friars gigs were talked about endlessly in Aylesbury pubs and elsewhere until one day in 2008, a real Friars’ devotee, Mike O’Connor, asked me if I would have any objection to him starting a website dedicated to Friars Aylesbury. The result has been an absolutely astonishing and detailed website containing band line-ups, interviews, photographs, posters, flyers, tickets and anything else you can think of. (www.aylesburyfriars.co.uk.)

All this historical interest inspired us to put one more Friars Aylesbury gig together to mark the 40th anniversary of that first gig back in June 1969. I sought out three still-touring bands that we had presented back in that first year and amazingly found three of the best:

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The Pretty Things, The Edgar Broughton Band, and The Groundhogs. And so it was, that on Monday 1 June 2009, almost 40 years to the day of the first gig, Friars Aylesbury rose from the ashes.

My biggest worry was whether or not that famous atmosphere would be re-created 25 years on. I shouldn’t have worried… it came back just as before. It was an astonishing night, which marked the Friars Aylesbury 21st century rebirth. Since then we have presented Stiff Little Fingers, Kid Creole & The Coconuts and an astonishing night with Paul Weller in June 2010 that marked the last ever gig at Friars Aylesbury Phase 3, before the Civic Centre was demolished. So I guessed that was it.

But not quite. On 8 October 2010, Friars Aylesbury Phase 4 was born at Aylesbury’s brand new 1,600-capacity Waterside Theatre with the Buzzcocks, Eddie & The Hot Rods and 999. And what a night that was! So now I’m looking for bands who want to be part of the history and who can fill a 1,600-capacity venue in Aylesbury. I know they’re out there, so please get in touch. (davidstopps@ fmlmusic.com) The difference between 1984 and 2009-11? Well, in the old days we had much more freedom to create our own bill. These days that freedom seems much less available, particularly if it’s part of a tour. In the old days, a band would tour to sell albums. These days it’s totally turned around. Artists make records in order to tour.

This means that fees and ticket prices are much higher as playing live is often an artist’s main source of income.

Sound and lighting is immeasurably better now than in the eighties, although as ever, you still need the right person at the controls. Another thing I’ve noticed is that booking agents (with a few notable exceptions) seem to have become more arrogant, less polite and are much more difficult to reach on the phone. Generally, promoting seems like a far bigger risk now. In the 80s, the worst loss I remember was about £400. These days it’s easily possible to drop £10,000 if you get it wrong.

Comment

Another BRICA in the Wall Ralph Simon, CEO of Mobilium International, explains the benefits and necessities of social media for managers, their acts, and the concert industry...

At the Pollstar convention in Los Angeles in February, agents, managers and promoters were interested to learn how to smartly use and apply social media to grow the global audience of their artists and their ticket sales. Today’s concert-going audience know their own personal social media – web, TV, mobile, texting, wireless devices of all stripes. With mobile phone subscribers now being a central artery to and for your act’s music, live video, artist-to-fan communications and social media, forward-thinking managers are embracing the so-called BRICA – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South America – territories and seeing them as new revenue-hunting grounds for their acts and talent.

Social media is today’s fast-speed word of mouth, and this is seen very visibly in each of the BRICA countries. U2’s most recent tour of South America (Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico) started this month – and social media has helped Live Nation and the band’s management secure sold out shows right across the itinerary. Savvy managers like Bruce Allen have always ‘worked’ the BRICA markets with their acts. Just last month, Bryan Adams made his seventh touring season in India and his following on Facebook, Twitter and ArtistAloud.com (the big Indian wireless music service) have certainly helped generate a wider audience and reach. This also bodes well for Adams to get endorsement deals and sell tickets in fast-growing, media-crazy India.

India is a case in point, especially since it is the fastest growing mobile market in the world. With 15-18million new subscribers every month, there are now 750million mobile users in India, and growing, and their tastes are increasingly international – advertising agencies like to call the new media-demanding mobile users ‘screen-agers’ – since they watch what’s hot and new in music and social media on their screens – tablet devices, mobiles, the web and of course, YouTube.

Whilst mobile ticketing hasn’t yet taken off with wide penetration in the European and American concert business, there are signs that this vestige of modern living and the mobile audience is coming fast – already natural in the progressive Asian markets like Japan, Korea, The Philippines and Malaysia, it’s a sign of what’s to come for faster ticket sales to your core audience. These mobile-media-savvy nations also love

the musical acts that come and promote their talents there. Jason Mraz is a great example of a strong act with a rich and artful musical style. He and his manager Bill Silva made several advance trips to Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Hong Kong developing a base from a small club whilst working TV and radio, and then I’m Yours became a top 10 hit. The song has been so popular in this part of the world, that Jason has sold about 11m caller-ringback tones in Malaysia, Indonesia and The Philippines – it’s made him a huge draw in these markets, and you can be sure that Bill Silva is getting top dollar for his concert performances now, when he goes to ‘his’ BRICA.

“ Gaga singing in Hindi will unleash a torrent of ‘word-of-mouth’, which in today’s world of ‘screenagers’ translates to millions of Facebook followers, FourSquare synchronisation and Tweeple.”

Today, your act must foster their international audience. Even Lady Gaga believes in BRICA, and especially India – she has committed to recording her worldwide smash Born This Way in Hindi. She knows that if the 1.2billion people in India get to hear and love Lady Gaga, she will see millions joining her website and Facebook group and following her Twitter tweets. BRICA audiences want great music and talent, but they want it even more if you can daub and dab your social media targeting with colloquial relevance.

Gaga singing in Hindi will unleash a torrent of wordof-mouth, which in today’s world of ‘screenagers’ translates to millions of Facebook followers, FourSquare synchronisation and Tweeple.

That’s why the must-attend annual Music Matters/ Digital Matters conference and conclave (which takes place this year in Singapore between 24-28 May) is becoming a key meeting ground for a raft of business opportunities, themselves brought about by the social media revolution. It’s a good place for any manager wanting to mine the bounty that lies waiting, in China, South Asia and Asia-Pacific.

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t’s fair to say that ILMC 23’s expedition into the dense, tangled jungles of the live music business was one of our most successful to date. In fact what we billed as a ‘perilous journey’ into The Land That Time Forgot turned out to be something of a stroll in the park – apart from the odd delegate falling victim to the perils of the late night bar, and the organising team taking a severe mauling at the hands of the monster they had created. One thing that time clearly hadn’t forgotten was how to have a good time during a weekend at a London five-star hotel...

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ith the maximum number of adventurers having signed up for the trip in record time, few nooks or crannies of The Lost World were left unexplored during the weekend. But perhaps the most notable discovery was not among the subjects that were covered but among the ranks of the expedition party itself.

For several years now it has been clear that a new generation was making itself known at the conference, but this year it was apparent that a fundamental shift had taken place, and the ILMC suddenly seemed like a fresher, younger place to be. For the industry this presents an exciting opportunity to revise its systems, move forward and ensure a bright future for itself. For the organisers it presents an appetising new challenge, and the opportunity to model a platform to meet the needs of a new and different business.

This feeling of optimism was also brought to light in the conference sessions. It seems that in spite of financial crises, downward trends in the market, or the many imperfections in the way we do business, there is a general determination to remain ‘bloodied but unbowed’, and a ‘can do’ spirit – a willingness to simply locate the repairable problems and fix them.

The discussions also revealed, often surprisingly, that the real motivation for most of the industry’s leaders is not simply the money to be made, but the fun to be had in trying to make it and a love of the product that we deal with. It was also clear from the contribution of the younger sector that the industry is not only in safe hands for the future, but also in the hands of people with just as much passion and character as those who have been sitting at the controls for the past few decades.

All in all, not a bad conclusion for the industry’s longest-running forum – and a sackful of discoveries that made setting foot in the mysterious and forbidding Land That Time Forgot more than worthwhile.....

Martin Hopewell

A large selection of photos complement the full conference report at ilmc.com/23

THE MEETINGS Thursday 11 March The ILMC Production Day

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ith three key sessions over the course of a day, the fourth edition of the ILMC Production Day (IPM) showed that interest from the production community was as strong as ever for this annual forum. Around 100 delegates were in attendance as chairman Carl A H Martin led the discussion on topics that included a review of major accidents over the last year.

Cser Balint of Live Nation Hungary outlined the crowd crush at the West Balkan club in Hungary that claimed three lives. The promoter had sold 3,000 tickets at a venue licensed for 300 people, yet no one had been prosecuted. Similarly, Okan Tombulca from eps GmbH in Germany said that he doubted anyone would eventually be prosecuted following the Love Parade disaster in Duisberg on 24 July which claimed the lives of 21 people. “You will not find one person that made one mistake that led to the deaths of these people,” he said. “A lot of people made a lot of mistakes. Nobody is taking the blame.”

The second session concerned the ongoing shift towards a digital world. Production manager Wob Roberts stated that despite the speed of communication increasing dramatically, it “still takes two days to drive a truck from London to Gothenburg”, while Paul Pike from Intelligent Venue Solutions outlined advances in cashless payment systems and contactless technology, and the possible applications for festivals. “The CRM benefits, if used properly and sensibly, would benefit everyone,” he said.

The final session looked at education within the industry, and that in some areas, with too much supply and insufficient demand for all of the qualified job seekers, rates were going down. “The brightest recruits are just moving on to something else,” warned PSA GM Andy Lenthall. As the session drew to a close, chair Carl A H Martin described the day as a huge and enjoyable success, saying, “It shouldn’t be a once a year thing – we should think carefully about how we can keep in touch.”

For the full IPM review, including a large selection of photographs from the day, please visit the Report section of the ILMC 23 website online at www.ilmc.com/23.

ILMC 23 REPORT Saturday 12 March Ticketing: ‘Round two, seconds out’ Chair: Stuart Galbraith (Kilimanjaro Live)

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Friday 11 March Have I Got Live Music News For You? Chair: Greg Parmley (IQ) Guests: Peter Schwenkow (Deutsche Entertainment AG), Serge Grimaux (Ticketpro), Paul Latham (Live Nation Entertainment), Neil Warnock (The Agency Group), Anthony Addis (Addis & Co).

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ased on a topical UK TV comedy show (Have I Got News for You), Have I Got Live News For You? touched on some of the main issues that have made the headlines in the live music world and beyond over the past twelve months.

It was only a matter of minutes before Neil Warnock and Anthony Addis locked horns over the health of the industry last year. Warnock claimed that the drop in trade was a “minor blip”, while Addis argued that a fall in audience numbers was due to high ticket prices that were down to the greed of artists, managers and agents. Live Nation’s Paul Latham surmised that it was more of a US trend and was part of the natural “cycle of things”. In order to maintain revenue, Peter Schwenkow added that “we have to develop new formats or go into other markets”.

Latham proclaimed that nothing had changed following the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger other than the fact that “people with vision have got the reins”. He also revealed that the company will be spending around $35million (€25m) on technology in order to “look after customers’ interactivity”. The level of booking fees was another topic bandied about, before the discussion turned towards artist development.

Schwenkow talked about his deal with Sony where “we are now developing classical music artists on a mutual basis”, while Addis was more dismissive of record companies’ 360° deals, saying that labels “don’t have a clue about managing artists”. Warnock said The Agency Group is now “in A&R” and has more unsigned artists on its books than ever before. While each speaker had differing views on many of the discussion points, they were unanimous in their excitement and enthusiasm towards both the future and the direction the industry is headed.

hile secondary ticketing set the tone for a lively discussion in a packed room, general developments in ticketing and technology soon proved the more poignant topics. Mark Meharry of Music Glue explained how selling tickets directly to fans can prevent secondary sales. “Artists want to dictate how money comes into the event from the start,” he said. “Total transparency is important and now acts like Mumford & Sons are currently doing 100% of ticketing for their tour.”

Much discussion was given to dynamic ticketing, which saw little consensus in the room. While many were touting it as the future, Barney Wragg (Barney Wragg Associates) stated: “The problem is that unlike the airlines and the theatrical business, we have a weird situation where one-off shows happen. We don’t have predictable demand curves.”

Social networking and the internet’s role in selling tickets was also a key topic of interest with marketing, ticketing and social media merging into one department. On the subject of mobile ticketing, Galbraith controversially referred to large ticketing companies as the next “dinosaurs”. Panelists agreed that smaller technology-based companies are able to establish themselves for a fraction of the cost today and will emerge on top of the market. “Technology is the future of the ticketing industry,” Galbraith said. “The technology that is coming will enable us to stop touts and for artists to own the ticketing systems.”

The Emerging Markets’ Place: ‘Lost worlds?’

Chairs: Michael Hosking (Midas Promotions) Laszlo Hegedus (Multimedia Kft)

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hair Michael Hosking kicked off proceedings noting that there were no delegates from Asia in the room because they were “busy doing shows”, adding that South East Asia, where he works, has gone from being an emerging market to “an emerged one”. The session covered an array of topics, including how to develop market confidence, problems of a surplus of concert dates in the summer, and how promoters should work together to offer an attractive series of dates for artists.

Co-chair Laszlo Hegedus complained that artist fees are higher in Eastern Europe and another common complaint was that, while there are a significant number of new venues in the region, most had not consulted anyone in live music before building them. Hosking advised that emerging markets simply need to build up their business “brick by brick”.

Ending on a positive note, Slovenia was identified as fertile future touring territory due to both location and the new arena in Ljubljana. Belarus too has doubled in live music growth over the past year and Poland has developed a solid touring infrastructure. “The business is still moving ahead and surviving,” concluded Hegedus.

A large selection of photos complement the full conference report at ilmc.COM/23

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ILMC 23 REPORT The Green Room: ‘Clearing the air’ Chair: Tony Wadsworth (BPI)

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PI chairman Tony Wadsworth kicked off the session with a stark warning. “We feel that we’re at a crossroads with the issue in the industry with regards to climate change,” he said.

Jacob Billabel from the Green Music Initiative (GMI) in Germany spoke about his efforts to “inspire people to do things smarter”, while Lowlands festival director Eric van Eerdenberg outlined early plans to build a solar power plant at his Dutch site, and even an idea to sell urine to a fertiliser factory. “It will only work and change if I build a good business case,” he said, while Al Tickell of Julie’s Bicycle reported that one of the newest projects by the music industry greening group was a comprehensive and accessible database of suppliers.

While an abundance of innovative thinking was aired, and the audience was engaged throughout the discussion, the message from both Tickell and Wadsworth was of a movement that, currently, could go either way. “We’ve swung from green wash to green hush where people are now scared to talk about these issues,” Tickell said. “We need to get beyond that – this is a mainstream issue.”

Paterson added that it was about being “true to your event” because the audience responds badly to partnerships that don’t work. AEG’s Chris Smith related a “hugely successful” competition campaign with touring rock festival Sonisphere in Germany where they teamed up with a gym, for fans to become an official roadie for the tour.

O2’s head of music sponsorship Jasmine Skee suggested that getting a meeting with brands is far better than sending a proposal. She added that it was important to give the brands time to get to know your product and to give them “as much information as you can”. Smith agreed, saying that while it was hard to unlock the doors, artists and promoters should not give up after the first attempt.

The Engine Room: ‘The trailblazers’ Chairs: Andy Lenthall (PSA), Bryan Grant (Britannia Row)

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ommunication was the key word throughout the production panel, both in terms of keeping events running safely and in seeing ILMC delegates communicating throughout the year. “The most important thing was the total agreement that we need to communicate more often than one day a year on a global perspective,” said co-chair Andy Lenthall.

Mark Harding of Showsec commented on the Love Parade tragedy, emphasising that unticketed events can be just as safe as ticketed ones with the proper control mechanisms and safety systems. Chrissy Uerlings of Christoph Uerlings Productions then asked the panel about the importance of having one centralised event controller to make all key decisions, to which Harding responded that the appointment of competent people working under clear roles was most important.

The issue of noise control was also brought forward with Jim Griffiths of Vanguardia explaining that developing a procedure for all scenarios beforehand is key to creating a sound management plan. Harming audiences’ ears and responsibility for hearing damage was also a concern.

Sponsorship: ‘Exploring new fields’ Chairs: Thomas Ovessen (Done Events) Jeremy Paterson (Frukt Communications)

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irector of Done Events, Thomas Ovessen, opened up the discussion by stating that, while most artists work with brands, “a lot more can be done”. He also said that there are more ways of doing deals than simply relying on the access to talent, which brands tend to focus on.

The Festival Forum: ‘or against ‘em?’

Chairs: Emma Banks (CAA), Folkert Koopmans (FKP Scorpio)

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acked to the rafters, the session began by underlining how important festivals have become both to the business and to people’s social lives. Festival Republic’s Melvin Benn observed that “Thursday night at Reading, with 80,000 teenagers all in a campsite, is the most exciting place in the world at that time of year.”

All the speakers agreed that festival appearances can boost a new act’s profile and that exclusivity deals on acts would continue. But ITB agent Steve Zapp said a downside to the increased popularity of festivals is that “it gets harder to route tours and they are more difficult to book.”

One of the most fascinating parts of the debate centred around the concept of the indoor festival. Jwana Godinho of Musica No Coracao runs a small indoor festival which generates ample media exposure in the winter and it’s where “you can work on acts that can then play the outdoor festivals”. Eric van Eerdenburg of Holland’s Mojo Concerts is also planning an indoor festival for 2012 featuring upand-coming acts – and there was a consensus that indoor festivals can cater for niche audiences better.

Social media was a big theme of the conference generally and this panel was no exception. It’s now a major element in festival promotion and awareness, with fans connecting directly to bands and “voting to see what tracks they should play at the festival”, according to Koopmans.

“The Meetings” are continued on page 22...

Full length reviews of all conference sessions are available at www.ilmc.COM/23 Top Left: The ‘Have I Got Live News For You?’ session gets underway Above: The main room session draws a full house

ILMC 23 EVENTS 1

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1) Martin Hopewell learns to Riverdance at the St Patrick’s Day Early Hooley 2) The UK team line up at Wembley Stadium 3) The Rest of the World get ready to do battle 4) Glasses are raised at the St Patrick’s Day Early Hooley 5) Messieurs Messer and Massey try their luck...

6) Even the hotel’s bar prices didn’t put some off wasting their drinks...

7) Saturday’s Camp Capers Jungle Cabaret 8) The Texas Hold ‘em Poker Tourney winners (and host Chris Prosser) line up 9) Michal Kascak (Pohoda), and Brana Lalin and Karen Young from EXIT at Rock it’s Champagne Escape 10) The fourth Texas Hold ‘em Poker Tourney gets underway...

11) De Staat perform at ‘The Dutch Mission’ Meet & Greet 12) Table football referee Terry McNally (left) with cup winners Josh Javor & Aldo Bassey

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Want to know who won the whisky drinking competition? WHO TRIUMPHED AT WEMBLEY? OR JUST WHO WAS WHERE ON EACH NIGHT?

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Reviews of all ILMC events, and a huge selection of photographs are online at www.ilmc.com/23

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ILMC 23 REPORT continued from page 20...

New Technology: ‘Lost in tomorrow’s world’ Chair: Ben Challis (Charming Music)

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he New Technology session took the form of a series of presentations by each of the guests, followed by a short discussion with the audience. Leading the way, AEG Europe’s IT director David Jones spoke about intelligent venue systems, which all operate on a single network. Next up, veteran promoter and ticketer Serge Grimaux spoke about his white label access control company Intellitix that had just partnered with Golden Voice to provide an RFID access control system to Coachella festival.

Kilimanjaro Live’s digital evangelist Steve Jenner also spoke about RFID, and how he sees it converging with social networking and mobile, a fusion that will be driven

by London’s 2012 Games next year. Chris Mounser of XL Video took a production slant for his presentation, which covered the move towards lightweight, higher resolution screens, as well as a case study about an LED array used on the The X Factor – Live Tour.

After a quick look at Australian Pink Floyd’s new 3D projection surface, Sanj Surat from Musion gave a presentation about using holograms in shows, by beaming an artist and performance directly onto a stage. And finally, Stormcrowd’s Steve Machin talked about digital cinema and multicasting performances into cinemas. “The session was a big success,” commented chairman Ben Challis.

The Venue’s Venue: ‘Evolving Doors’ Chairs: Phil Mead (NEC Group) David Messer (DM Promotions/ Dingwalls)

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hroughout the meeting, audience members were asked to vote electronically to answer questions about the venue industry, an interactive element that proved extremely popular. Lord Tim Clement Jones made a special guest appearance to discuss his Live Music Bill meant to help small pubs and community halls in the UK affected by the 2003 Licensing Act, and discussion then moved on to the National Arenas Association annual figures which showed a decrease in total attendance and volume of performances in UK venues, while ticket prices increased by 1.6%.

Content and ticket prices were agreed to be key to success in the coming years. The ability of artists to sell tickets to shows directly through websites was also

flagged as an important provision that venues should make for their acts. Though last year Mead concluded the panel with poor expectations for 2010, he wrapped up this year with a word of confidence: “With the strength of TV-generated product, I’m not going to say it’s doom and gloom again this year.” And CAA’s Rebecca Wedlake agreed, saying, “You have to finesse the way you market to fans and there is still plenty of room to grow.”

Meet the New Boss: ‘Life after the dinosaurs’ Chairs: Natasha Bent (The Agency Group) David Garcia (Moderne Welt)

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he meeting kicked off with a discussion about new technology changing the experience of live music, with the general consensus being that nothing will replace music’s social aspects. Debate moved on to whether festival slots are taking the place of club gigs for emerging artists, which touched on the tendency for hyped bands to fail to form a solid fan base.

“A good manager will want a long-term career for their act, but a lot of them don’t care these days,” said cochair Natasha Bent. “But on the flip side, I haven’t seen many bands that have a 20-year career now – maybe new bands should just do all the festivals they want while they are hyped and leave it at that.”

Social media and its impact on new music was also never far from the conversation, with guests discussing marketing benefits as well as the possibility of ‘demystifying the artist’.

Juha Kyyrö of Fullsteam Agency suggested it was a case-bycase basis for artists, while David Garcia of Moderne Welt noted the power of Facebook adverts for targeting a specific fan base and the dying need for other forms of promotion.

“If we’re only focusing on social media we’re losing focus on the artist,” interjected Scott Mantell of International Creative Management from the floor. “We can’t rely on one part of promotion to create the next Rolling Stones.”

Performance Royalties: ‘Rates, rights & wrongs’ Chairs: Alexis Grower (Magrath LLP) Dick Molenaar (All Arts Tax Advisors)

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ith 27 collecting societies in Europe alone, and with rates varying tremendously in different countries, a debate over performance rights is always thorny. However, with the UK live industry currently in consultation with PRS for Music over royalty rates, it was also a timely one.

Leon Ramakers of Holland’s Mojo Concerts said it was “insane” that such huge, arbitrary differences existed in royalty payments, quoting rates of 10% in Italy and 1.35% in Australia. Co-chair Alexis Grower questioned the existence of a monopoly in terms of collecting societies, and Aline Renet of French promoters’ association Prodiss concluded that “the right rate is the one that will keep the business going”.

Renet also revealed that Prodiss was looking at securing neighbouring broadcast rights for its promoters and in terms of the UK consultation, Keith Gilbert said that PRS for Music is currently studying the responses from promoters and that “if it ends up in a copyright tribunal, I fear we’ll have failed”.

A large selection of photos complement the full conference report at ilmc.COM/23

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Above: The New Bosses panel gets technical...

Top Right: Ed Bicknell welcomes Chris Morrison to the Breakfast Meeting

ILMC 22 ILMC 23 REPORT Sunday 13 March The Breakfast Meeting with Chris Morrison Chair: Ed Bicknell (Damage Management)

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his year’s breakfast meeting was very much a chat between old friends as Chris Morrison of CMO Management proceeded to give an account of his career, while dropping in the occasional pearl of wisdom.

In more recent times, Morrison has managed Blur, Morcheeba, Gorillaz and Damon Albarn. When he called Albarn to tell him Country House was number one, beating Oasis to the top spot, he told the singer: “I’m taking all the credit for this, ‘cos if it has been number two, I’d have got the blame.”

Morrison acknowledged that Blur’s label, EMI, had gone through very troubled times under Guy Hands, but said that, “it’s the troops and the NCOs, not the generals, that you need”. He also revealed how he had mentored Simon Fuller and rents him the London offices where he operates. “I’ve never made big money,” he said. “I enjoy what I do.”

The Booking Ring: ‘Promoters’ rights’ Chair: Marc Lambelet (Black Lamb Productions)

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fter a last minute stand in by Juri Makarov, the discussion began by covering what Ruth Barlow described as a “land grab” by labels over the last few years.

“It’s managers that are doing the real 360 deals,” added Dougie Souness. “I’m seeing a lot more of my fellow managers putting more strings to their bow – developing publishing, labels and agencies.”

“There was a time when there was a structure – agent, manager, promoter – but that time is gone,” said Claudio Trotta. “Everyone is an entertainment company now. You can do everything.” And with the blurring of traditional roles, Andrew Zweck commented that, “I see a trend with the big LA agencies, where it’s just a machine now. It’s a relentless drive for greed and more money and it’s the agents leading this…the value of the local promoter is being diminished.”

Dan Silver spoke about offering deals to local promoters in advancing the career of his artists, also allowing them to share in income from record sales. But summarising the session, Flemming Schmidt from Live Nation Denmark said, “the key thing is to add value.

If you can add value, then there’s always going to be a space for you. That’s what people should take away from today.”

The Show Room: ‘Breaking down the show’ Chair: Andrew Leighton-Pope (LPO Agency)

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he title ‘Breaking down the show’ was apt for this session that brought together executives to present their insights into the world of family entertainment. As chair Andrew Leighton-Pope pointed out, about a third of promoters’ business is now accounted for by family entertainment and that lead times to book venues are longer, which is a distinct advantage over the pop world.

Going against the grain of traditional touring shows that rely on music and dance to tell a story, Jeff Munn said that the Harlem Globetrotters tailor each show to wherever they tour, and the cast learn the language of the territory. He added that they have opened an office in China, hired two Chinese writers and all the cast have been learning Mandarin.

The talk then turned to sponsorship, branding and new methods of online marketing. “Posters at shows are almost a thing of the past,” said Munn, who outlined how, in a tie-up with Fedex, the Globetrotters now feature a Fedex delivery man arriving at the start of the show with the game ball.

Live Industry: ‘The solutions session’ Chair: Wayne Forte (Entourage Talent Associates)

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S agent and chair Wayne Forte opened this overarching session by proclaiming that “life’s changing and so is the live music business” before PRS for Music economist Carey gave a presentation on the state of the live music industry.

Carey said there was a problem reaching the potential live music audience and that too many people were “pulling apart the different bits of the value chain”.

He noted that it was confusing for the consumer and not good for the image of the industry when “sold out doesn’t mean sold out and face value isn’t face value”. Carey also questioned why, when he sees a band on YouTube, there’s no link to buy a ticket for their gig. And one of his main themes was the hike in ticket prices, which is affecting attendance. Carey’s presentation struck a chord with everyone and largely set the agenda for the rest of the session.

Live Nation Denmark’s Flemming Schmidt warned: “There’s a real arrogance in the business at the moment.

Aren’t we just where the record companies were ten years ago? Thinking that we’re safe, we’ve got everything going on... it’s just like the labels said with the CD.” But as Wayne Forte concluded, “there is no silver bullet: it’s about everyone doing their part to make sure the engine turns over”.

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ou would truly have to explore distant lands to find another example of a jungle-shrouded lost temple being recreated in the heart of a West London hotel, but then this year’s Lost Supper and Arthur Awards was hardly your average gala dinner. The pinnacle of ILMC on the Saturday evening, over 350 guests journeyed to the Ballroom at Jumeirah Carlton Tower for the one night of the year that the great and the good of the live music world never fail to miss.

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he sold out crowd of explorers and their guests were treated to champagne cocktails on arrival, and a sumptuous spread of five-star cuisine, impeccable service and a selection of fine wines. Immediately on venturing into The Ballroom, production legend Bryan Grant was dicing with death after becoming the (almost) willing participant in a knife throwing act. And before the annual pop quiz got underway – this year compeered by the Lost Supper’s resident Indiana Jones lookalike Pete Wintercrane – platinum-selling artist Shane Ward dropped by to play an impromptu show.

After dinner it was time for the big event, and

ILMC’s Martin Hopewell began by referring to the pivotal role that agent Carl Leighton-Pope had played in hosting the awards show for so long, before inviting a mixture of previous Arthur winners and notables to present awards in turn.

“It’s great to see how everyone has ‘got’ the idea of the Gala Dinner,” Hopewell comments. “That weird blend of five-star luxury mixed with schoolboy humour is something that’s developed over the years, but people seem to understand it straight away. Either that or they’re very forgiving... It shows that the business still knows how to have fun – and even now isn’t making the cardinal error of taking itself too seriously. I really enjoyed The Arthurs too this year. Having the awards presented by some of the well-known figures in the business made the whole thing feel very warm – a real family affair.”

Steven Howell at event sponsors Robertson Taylor echoes Hopewell’s words. “It was great to be involved once again with the ILMC,” he says. “Sponsoring the gala dinner was the highlight of the weekend for us. It gave us a chance to catch up with current clients and also meet many new contacts from across the industry.”

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8 1) Jumeirah Carlton staff prepare for the onslaught...

2) (L ro r): Leon Ramakers, Claude Nobs, Gary Smith & Neil Warnock catch up 3) Bryan Grant dices with death...

4) ILMC’s resident Indiana Jones presents his bill to Martin Hopewell...

5) Table 18 strikes a pose 6) Shane Ward serenades a somewhat surprised Jenny Marshall 7) (L to r): Peer Osmundsvaag,, Andy Cook and Mark Ngui 8) Phil Mead, Nick Grace and an alligator discuss the Best in Show award...

9) When we said ‘jungle music’, it was just about the theme...

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ArThUr AwArds 2011 9

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firsT venUe To come inTo YoUr heAd

O2 Academy Brixton Nigel Downs, general manager: We’re delighted to be honoured with an Arthur Award at this years’ ILMC and we hope we’re the first venue to come into people’s heads for all the right reasons! As this award is voted for by ILMC delegates and readers of IQ Magazine, it’s always an honour to be recognised by those that work in the live sector, especially on a global scale, and we hope that we continue to meet the needs of touring productions from both within the UK and overseas for more great shows this year.

services ABove And BeYond 1

Beat the Street Jörg Philipp: Who wouldn’t be pleased to be acknowledged in this way? Of course it’s an honour to receive an Arthur Award! Not only that people think that our vehicles are some of the best on the road but also acknowledge great drivers and a good back up team for Beat the Street to register on anyone’s consciousness, so the whole team is delighted to have been recognised in this way.

mosT ProfessionAl ProfessionAl 2

Ben Challis, Charming Music I cannot tell you how honoured I was to get the Arthur. I have been a music business lawyer for 25 years and I have worked for Michael Eavis and the Glastonbury Festival for 18 of those years and the Princes Trust for over 20 years – but I hope the Award also recognises my work with A Greener Festival and Julie’s Bicycle in the fight to promote a sustainable business culture across the music and events industries. I am not quite sure how I got

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home after The Arthurs, but it was on a London bus and I had a bottle of champagne cradled in one arm, and my Arthur tucked into a pocket. Magic!

liggers’ fAvoUriTe fesTivAl 3

Montreux Jazz Festival Claude Nobs: What a recognition! What an honour to be awarded as best festival in the world! I was deeply touched and grateful.

PlUmBer of The YeAr 4

Wob Roberts Thank you very much to Ken and Opie for not turning up on the night! It was completely out of the blue. It makes you proud to know that people think about you when you haven’t done that much work. I haven’t done much over the last couple of years and I’m still there. So thank you very much indeed.

BesT in show 5

Walking With Dinosaurs Nick Grace, Nick Grace Management: I’m honoured and thrilled, especially considering the competition here today. It’s amazing and it’s worth all the effort.

leAsT PAinfUl ToUr

Muse Anthony Addis, Addis & Co: Muse were very honoured to receive the award, although our scouse agent has so far stolen it! To be voted for by the people within the live industry means a lot because they see many shows and work with many artists, managers, agents and crew.

ILMC 23 REPORT It is nice to know that everyone enjoyed our shows and enhanced our reputation in putting on a spectacle for the fans. Further, to see that our crew assisted in making it painless for the promoters and venues, makes it even more rewarding. Thank you once again to the ILMC.

The PeoPle’s AssisTAnT 6

Prue Almond, ITB I was absolutely delighted to be nominated for the Arthur Awards (especially in this particular category’s first year) let alone win it. I was incredibly touched by the most overwhelming support from all my friends and colleagues, and the faith that they had in me to win. It goes without saying how much it means to me and after 17 years of hard graft, it’s an unexpected pleasure. Long may it continue.

Tomorrow’s new Boss 7

Tom Taaffe, The Agency Group I am absolutely honoured to be voted by my peers for this award. In this job we work incredibly hard and to be recognised at any level for the work you’ve done to date is something I take with great pride. You’re only as good as your bands so this is also a reflection on them and I have no doubt they will be chuffed as well.

second leAsT offensive AgenT 8

Steve Zapp, ITB It was truly amazing to win the award, especially given the quality of agents also in the category. When I started as a booking agent it was a dream to even think of being nominated, so to be nominated and go on to win the award was an incredible dream come true, especially in a year that my amazing daughter Lily was born and added a further different, but rewarding challenge to my life.

The PromoTers’ PromoTer

Simon Moran, SJM Concerts I think the award is recognition of the hard work put in by everyone at SJM and of course all the great artists we work with.

The BoTTle AwArd 9

Neil Warnock, The Agency Group It’s shocking, is about all I can say. It’s totally unexpected.

Thomas Johansson won it last year and when I look at the other people that have actually won this award, I’m very, very pleased and very honoured. Fantastic.

TOMORROW’S WORLD Technology was the watchword of ILMC 23, and forthcoming developments in every sector of the business are promising change at a previously unwitnessed pace. IQ sent intrepid ‘techsplorer’ Amanda Pope on a mission to uncover some of the most fascinating gadgets and gizmos that could improve the concert experience...

Energy

Materials

Security

Light/Screens

POWERTREKK FUEL CELL CHARGER What it does: It’s a hydrogen fuel cell combined with a Li-ion battery for eco-friendly mobile energy.

Who’s behind it: myFC and SiGNa (Stockholm) PowerTrekk is a hydrogen powered battery pack and fuel cell. It comes in a rugged, waterproof casing, and is powered by a teaspoon of water.

It’s currently priced at €140, but should

the price drop, this gadget would become an indispensable addition to festival kit. www.powertrekk.com

CHEAP SOLAR PANELS What it does: New types of photovoltaics and mass production are making solar energy far more affordable.

Who’s behind it: First Solar and Sun Tech Manufacturer First Solar has established an alternative to conventional silicon technology by using cadmium telluride, which absorbs light better. Meanwhile, Chinese firm Sun Tech is reducing the cost

of solar technology with large-scale and efficient production processes. www.firstsolar.com www.suntech-power.com

CAPACITOR BATTERY What it does: It’s a rapid-charge battery with a longer life span than normal chemical batteries.

Who’s behind it: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Researchers have covered electrodes with millions of tiny filaments called nanotubes that are 30,000 times thinner than a human hair. Similar to how a thick, fuzzy bath towel soaks up more water than a thin, flat bed sheet, the nanotube

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filaments increase the surface area of the electrodes and allow the capacitor to store more energy. The battery could be recharged hundreds of thousands of times, and in a matter of seconds rather than hours.

Mobile

Sound

New Technology

BULK METALLIC GLASS (BMG) What it does: It’s a metal that’s twice as strong as steel, yet can be moulded in less than a minute.

Who’s behind it: Yale University research The low-cost alloy, which does not compromise strength when moulded, has the potential to impact society in a similar way as plastics did during the last century.

Potential uses include the development

of unusual stage structures, set design, reinforcement of fragile equipment or for customised instrument flight cases… http://tinyurl.com/6kh7bvo

ORANGE SOLAR CONCEPT TENT What it does: Cutting edge eco-energy technology that will allow campers to keep in touch and power their essential camping gadgets.

Who’s behind it: Orange and Kaleidoscope Orange’s concept tent is made from photovoltaic fabric that weaves specially coated solar threads into conventional fabric. The tent includes ‘glo-cation’, which illuminates the tent on command from the user’s mobile phone via SMS or RFID.

With wireless internet and a charging hub for electronic devices, the tent also includes an internal heating element in the groundsheet. Camping will never be the same again… http://tinyurl.com/6d4f7on

ACT SYSTEM What it does: Portable, lightweight, full-body scanner able to detect weapons and explosives from a distance.

Who’s behind it: Thermal Matrix USA The Access Counter IED Technology (ACT) system electronically analyses situations and identifies multiple threats including concealed guns, knives and other weapons. In addition it detects threats that a metal detector cannot reveal, including plastic, liquid, and

gel explosives; weapons made with non-ferrous metals; and contraband including illegal drugs. The hardware consists of a thermal sensor mounted on a tripod, connected to a laptop computer.

Operational in 15 minutes. www.thermalmatrixusa.net/act.html

GPS TAGGING OF SECURITY AND STAFFS What it does: Allows real time mapping of human resources around a festival site or venue.

Who’s behind it: Intellitix Effective distribution of staff at events can save both time and money, and by mapping staff via a GPS system, Intellitex also claims that events are safer as well.

The system monitors where stewards and

security are in real time, allowing promoters to respond quicker and more efficiently to crowd control issues. Staff passes can also be configured with RFID chips to restrict access to specific areas during certain hours.

New Technology

CRMX What it does: Wireless lighting control Who’s behind it: Lumen Radio Application: Improved H&S for rigging, more efficient set-up and de-rig.

This complete cross-protocol wireless lighting control system impressed the judges of the PLASA 2010 Innovation Award so much that they gave it the top prize. Tying together different lighting systems, it was also noted for its recent

use of RDM in an architectural application, giving feedback from external sensors – thereby providing an energy efficient outdoor lighting solution. www.lumenradio.com

SOLARIS+ LED LIGHTS What it does: Ropes of LED lights that can be bent and shaped. LED lights are ball-shaped, so provide 360° imaging for video.

Case study: SonneMondSterne Festival; Chemical Brothers world tour Who’s behind it: G-LEC Solaris+ are 40mm diameter LED light ‘balls’ that can be hung in any configuration and provide 360° viewing.

The product is light enough that it is able to fly in periodically throughout the

show to surround the band. The rope can be curved or wound into any shape and there is no limit to the number of ropes that can be used in one installation. www.g-lec.com/en/solaris.html

ORGANIC LIGHT-EMITTING DIODE (OLED) Application: Set design, lighting and costume Who’s behind it: University of Michigan Wallpaper that lights up? Displays of any shape or size? At its core, an OLED consists of several layers of specially designed materials that together are only 500 nanometers thick – a hundredth of a human hair. These layers are sandwiched between two electrically conductive contact surfaces and emit energy in the

form of light. The colour of the light is not restricted as much as that of an LED but instead spans a fairly wide range.

The technology is predicted to last 20,000 hours, but it’s still five years from commercial use. http://www.oled-a.org/

MULTI-CELLULAR LOUDSPEAKER ARRAY (MLA) What it does: Even and defined sound distribution in large/outdoor venues Who’s behind it: Martin Audio MLA solves both consistency and setup issues by a combination of unique optimisation software and cellular array design – enabling the sound engineer’s exact mix to be delivered throughout the audience from gig-togig and venue-to-venue with a degree of

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precision, consistency and repeatability not previously possible. The ability to more consistently control volumes outside festival sites and venues is potentially an enormous development for noise control and licensing. www.martin-audio.com/mla/index.asp

New Technology

SQUARE MOBILE CREDIT CARD READER What it does: Card reader that plugs into smart phones and enables credit card transactions. (Fees are payable to Square for every transaction.)

Who’s behind it: Jack Dorsey (Twitter founder) Application: Remote credit card transactions at festivals and venues.

Although currently only available in the US, Square provides iPhone and Android compatible card readers in exchange for a 2.75-3.5% (plus a flat 15 cent) transaction fee for mobile credit card transactions.

There is no limit on transactions, and while refunds are possible, funds are transferred after 24 hours. https://squareup.com/about

IPHONE APPS FOR MUSICIANS (VARIOUS) Case study: Atomic Tom perform a concert on the New York subway.

Who’s behind it: Various New York four-piece Atomic Tom improvised an entire show on their iPhones after their instruments were stolen, opening up new possibilities for iPhone apps for musicians such as Drum Meister, iShred, iPhone Pianist, iPhone

Pocket Guitar (Bass). Unlikely to see touring becoming pocket-sized, but it opens up new ideas for audience participating through iPhone apps, promotional opportunities and marketing possibilities. http://tinyurl.com/27xtnfd

NFC ACTIVATED SMART LABELS/POSTERS What it is: Intelligent posters or flyers that interact with mobile devices.

Who’s behind it: INSIDE Secure INSIDE Secure has become the first manufacturer of near field communication (NFC) solutions to add radio barcodes to everyday things. Using a mobile phone or NFC powered device, consumers can

interact with smart labels on products and smart posters to receive product details, promotional offers, coupons, loyalty points, and interact with social media, websites and other internet-based services.

Kylie

Goddess

of Live

Kylie Minogue’s Aphrodite: Les Folies tour is notching up a string of firsts for the concert business. Greg Parmley paid a visit…

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n supporting an album called Aphrodite, the accompanying tour was always going to be rich in imagery and narrative. The legend of the Greek goddess of beauty, fertility and sexual love was a mine of content just waiting to be translated to the stage and it’s a challenge that Kylie Minogue and her creative team have risen to on all fronts. Mixing original video, enormous set pieces, performer flying, previously un-toured special effects and dazzling choreography, the Aphrodite: Les Folies tour is a jaw-dropping creation currently circling the globe, having chalked up 35 European dates between February and April. Since winding up the leg with five nights at The O2 in London, a stripped back version of the tour is now traveling through Canada, North America and Mexico, before the full production heads south to Australia, and Asia (dates TBA), finishing later this summer.

“An absolutely unbelievable show,” says Flemming Schmidt at Live Nation Denmark, whose opening date at Jyske Bank Boxen arena sold 12,000 tickets. “The audience was thrilled,” adds Thomas Kastl of Good News

Productions in Switzerland. “An amazing performance with an outstanding production,” echoes Anthony Jouet at Fource Inc. in Czech Republic. The lady’s network of promoters, it seems, are smitten.

At its core, the show is driven by the 60-millionalbum-selling superstar, but certain elements vie for the spotlight in equal measure. Just as Aphrodite herself first rose from a foamy Mediterranean sea, water is the backdrop on which the rest of the show sails, both via the Blink TV-created content on the video screens (which includes submerged, writhing bodies and giant aquarium bubbles) and out front in a series of special effects that are setting new standards in production.

“For the last nine minutes of the show, the water’s the star, as well as Kylie,” says lighting designer Nick Whitehouse, who is a member of the RoadRage Group (including production director Steve Dixon and creative director William Baker), that designed the show. The four-strong team is also behind the most recent outings from Britney Spears and Il Divo. The moment Whitehouse refers to is the show’s finale, All The

Above: Aphrodite: Les Folies in Paris, in March. © Christie Goodwin 2011

Kylie

Lovers, when a giant revolving cake complete with 26 fountains emerges from a pool on the central B stage.

With Kylie atop of the cake, aerial performers are lifted from the pool while jets of water along both runways fire towards the roof. “You can almost hear the jaws hitting the ground in the last nine minutes of the show,” says her booking agent, Dave Chumbley at Primary Talent. “It’s so exciting to be involved in something that’s so unique.”

Visually, the water effects (which also include a pool and fountains on the main stage) have proved a huge hit, but logistically they have dictated much about the production. On 2008’s X tour, Chumbley and manager Terry Blamey focussed on playing new markets (Greece, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Russia and Latvia to name a few) but Les Folies is more constrained by the size of the production. Blamey, who has managed Kylie throughout her career, says: “In essence, we are trying to bring the shows to Kylie fans everywhere, which of course is not possible, so we’re going where feasible. The only ‘new’ markets we’re visiting are Estonia and Lithuania, plus of course North America, which we’re visiting for only the second time.”

“On this tour it was more about where we could actually stage the show, given the amount of water and the

stage extension,” Chumbley says. And mixing water with electricity on an arena-sized scale drew furrowed brows in other areas. “For this particular production we had to pay a lot of attention to the water features to make sure that all insurers were fully aware of the content, which includes the aerial performers as well,” says Martin Goebbels at Apex Insurance. “It’s not just cancellation insurance but also liability insurance – whether there were any possibilities of escape of water as far as venue damage, and whether the audience might get too wet unknowingly.”

As anyone who’s seen the production will understand, it’s difficult to describe the effect all of this has on her somewhat awe-struck audience at this point in the show.

Far better, then, to describe the scale on which it operates: the fact that it takes 44,000 litres of water to fill both pools and the 14 heating tanks stored under the runways and stage. And that it takes eight hours to heat the water to 80 degrees – the minimum required temperature for dipping performers – and when running via the two kilometres of hydraulic hosing that connects the system, the water circulates at 22,000 litres per minute. “Nobody’s ever done it before,” says Dixon, “We’ve spent millions and millions of dollars researching this and it’s been a huge learning experience.”

“We don’t get many chances to experience such a theatrical, rich and sophisticated live show in pop music nowadays, and the final scene with water fountains and entwined bodies of dancers is worth the whole show.”

– Claudio Trotta, Barley Arts

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Above: One of Dolce & Gabbana’s more reflective creations

Kylie

“I’m inspired by the creativity and planning and execution that took place in order to present a show of this magnitude. Band and dancers are crisp and sharp, production is grand and exciting.”

– Bill Silva, Bill Silva Entertainment

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he entire stage was designed by Tait Towers of Lilitz, Pennsylvania, with input on the water effects coming from The Fountain People, aquatic effects specialists based in San Marcos, Texas. “It took quite a while to get it right and we went through several prototypes,” says Tait’s project manager Aaron Siebert. “We had to custom-build power distribution units so anything would trip out if there was an issue.

From December, we spent two and a half months plumbing the system correctly and at the end of January we loaded into LH2 in London for rehearsals.”

According to Whitehouse, Tait’s involvement in the success of the tour cannot be underestimated. “There isn’t another company that could have built this,” he says. But it’s not just the water effects that have wet new ground.

“The B stage cake lift was a challenge because it had to be completely submersible, so we went with hydraulic motors to lift it,” says Siebert. “The other thing would be the rose window – a 16-foot diameter revolve that lifts out of the stage and tilts at 45 degrees with eight dancers strapped to it, while the centre stays flat with Kylie on it.”

Add in a state of the art performer flying system that Tait sourced from Fisher Technical Services (Spiderman, Harry Potter etc) and you’ve got the engineering equivalent of a 30,000-piece jigsaw.

This is Tait’s first Kylie tour, but given that their involvement includes the stage, set, and all automation, it’s unlikely to be the last. Meanwhile, the other major production supplier is Solotech, the Montréalheadquartered firm tasked with supplying all video,

audio, and lighting. By working closely together, Tait and Solotech have offered a one-stop shop for the Australian pop princess, and according to production manager Kevin Hopgood, Les Folies is the first international production of its size to strike such a deal.

“There are economies of scale with them providing all the personnel and all the equipment,” he says. “The big players in the industry like Clair [Brothers] (and Solotech, who are becoming one of them) can offer a global service, and deal with the freight in-between the territories.”

This consolidated, global approach has so far escaped the production world, but with Live Nation continuing to strike inclusive global touring deals, could we soon see world tours that involve just a handful of companies?

“Because they’re involved longer in the tour, they can offer some fairly hefty discounts,” Hopgood says. “We only pay for the rental period itself and freight our own elements. They either duplicate the equipment in each territory, or they’ll ship the same equipment.”

With 60 touring personnel plus 25 drivers and 28 performers, it’s a large touring party – “We spent a lot of time on moving people,” says Hopgood – but it could easily have been far bigger. “It’s a neat production, it all fits together so the lighting trusses have audio parts and automation parts on them,” explains Whitehouse, who says that some crew members are doubling up on roles.

“We really needed to do that to make this tour work throughout Europe. We needed to get it as streamlined as possible because we’re in an economy where you don’t sell as many tickets.”

Above: The rose window starts to spin...

Kylie

“You can almost hear the jaws hitting the ground in the last nine minutes of the show. It’s so exciting to be involved in something that’s so unique.”

– Dave Chumbley, Primary Talent International

R

eflecting the current economic climate, Les Folies may not have sold out in every market, but both promoters and tour personnel report it as successful, which is good news considering the production is effectively a $25million gamble. “Given the current set of circumstances in the live business I’m very pleased,” says Dave Chumbley at Primary Talent.

Carlos Fleischmann at Creative Talent in Germany promoted six of the European dates. “Sales weren’t as strong as they have been, but she’s still a strong ticket and an exceptional artist,” he says. ‘The shows were fantastic – probably the best we’ve ever done with her.”

Similarly, UK promoter Pete Wilson at 3A Entertainment, who has promoted every single UK show with Kylie, says ticket sales have been “pretty good – it’s something that’s in a time that’s very difficult, and she held up.” Wilson attributes part of this continued success to a strong focus on fair pricing. “Kylie has always been adamant that she doesn’t want people to pay inflated prices,” he says. “During the last tour we cancelled 25,000 tickets that we found on eBay. It all stems from the management and Kylie herself – she wants to know that people are getting value for money and paying a fair price.”

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This concept has been taken a step further on Les Folies, by including all booking fees in the ticket price (£65 [€75] and £85 [€95] in the UK). “As far as I know, in terms of a major artist, this is the first time anybody’s done it,” Wilson says. Sinking irritating booking fees into the ticket is sure to be met favourably by at least some of Kylie’s audience, given that the demographic of her fanbase is so wide. “Because her audience is so broad we use everything at our disposal to promote the show, from print, TV, radio and internet,” Wilson says. In Germany, Fleischmann reports a special campaign with music TV channel Viva, in addition to four weeks of radio promotion, TV advertising and even flying journalists out to the second show in Helsinki for advance reviews. But regardless of regional differences over how each date was promoted, social media is never far from the fore.

“Social media is always of the greatest importance to Kylie,” Blamey says. “She has been an avid tweeter since Twitter was first invented and the other forms of social networking have always been an important way for Kylie to communicate direct to her fans. It’s no different with the tour.”

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Above: Giant set pieces are a focus of Les Folies

Kylie

“In today’s marketplace, with ticket prices as they are, we have to provide a couple of experiences for people, and it doesn’t mean an increased profit margin, it just means we’re creating a different experience,” says Dixon.

“Premium seating depends on the complexity of the market and what the audience is used to. The US is the most developed, with UK second, and Europe and Australia following.”

Kylie’s Australian promoter is Michael Gudinski at Frontier Touring “The most important thing is to give people value,” he says. “We’ve had a great response to the Splash Zone, but if I hadn’t gone to see the show I wouldn’t have understood it – we really marketed it properly and it’s sold out for every show.” Of anyone involved in the tour other than Blamey, Gudinski has arguably the longest relationship with Kylie. He first signed her for recording in 1987, licensing her through Mushroom Records to Stock, Aiken and Waterman, and Mushroom still retains her publishing worldwide. So Gudinksi’s perspective on her current tour carries some weight. “She’s one of those rare human beings in the world,” he says. “Someone who continues to take new challenges and set new boundaries in live touring.”

W

hile sponsorship has played a part in covering the enormous investment in the production (including Lexus in the UK and Xbox for continental Europe), Aphrodite: Les Folies marks a departure from Kylie’s previous tours in that it has offered VIP ticketing options for the first time, in the shape of the Splash Zone. The Zone is the empty triangle of space formed by the two protruding runways that connect up the B stage. Every night, 200 ticket holders are led in via a private entrance, for a 360-degree view of the “Social networking has always been an important way performance. By bundling the tickets with a merchandise for Kylie to communicate directly to her fans. It’s no package that includes a signed photo, waterproof, towel, different with the tour.” laminate and programme, the £250 (€280) tickets have sold out almost everywhere.

– Terry Blamey

Taking Care of Business

T

ait and Solotech might have much of the production sewn up, but there are still plenty of suppliers whose input has proved invaluable.

Shifting everything from A to B is Transam Trucking who have worked with Kylie for years. “It’s a fairly well routed tour,” says company head Mark Guterres. “Kylie has always been a very easy artist to tour with, she has a very professional touring staff, which makes our job manageable – it’s a tour that everyone enjoys doing.”

But while Transam’s 25 trucks shift the kit, it’s down to ET Global to take care of the formidable travel arrangements for cast and crew. “We’ve been working with Kylie since Light Years, so about ten years,” says MD Ian Patterson. “We take care of all travel logistics from private jets to commercial flights to tour busses [provided by Phoenix Bussing in Europe].” ET Global provides travel logistics across rock ‘n’ roll, comedy, film and TV, and it even “cross fertilises” into sponsorship, sports management and production. Kylie

and her entourage use local hubs and fly out to shows, but Patterson says the key concerns when moving the star are security and confidentiality. “Wherever possible, we’ll be putting her into hotels with underground parking facilities, and we’ll make special arrangements at airports so she doesn’t get too much hassle at customs,” he says.

At each venue, however, it’s up to Popcorn Catering to keep the tour running smoothly by fuelling both cast and crew. Darren Staats is on point for the mission, which involves some of the longest working hours on tour given that catering is first in and last out with 150 meals to prepare in between. “We’re doing a full English breakfast, followed by a hot buffet, salad bar, soup, and cakes for lunch,” he says. “Dinner is five choices: two meats, veggie, fish, pasta, hot and cold dessert and fruit salad.” In addition to Kylie’s personal chef, it takes four touring staff plus five local hands to keep the pots boiling.

“It’s quite a buzzy atmosphere,” says Staats. “It flies by.”

Above: The B stage water effects begin...

While the structure of the ticketing industry continues to morph, the product it sells is fast becoming unrecognisable. It’s all change then, in IQ’s fourth annual Ticketing Report…

This Time lasT year, the Live Nation/Ticketmaster marriage had been all but cleared, paving the way for the creation of the world’s largest vertically aligned entertainment company. Depending on your allegiance, CTS Eventim’s ten-year deal to provide ticketing services to Live Nation (signed in 2008) was either a casualty of the merger or dropped because its system failed to meet expectations, but the German behemoth had just taken the dispute to the International Court of Arbitration.

Twelve months on, and both sides are still skirting the issue publicly, while privately preparing for a showdown.

When the judgement is announced some time in 2012, the consequences could be wide ranging. At ILMC in March, one well known Live Nation Entertainment (LNE) competitor argued that faced with an enormous fine, the cash-strapped company would be forced to hive-off Ticketmaster UK to Eventim as settlement. LNE insiders predict a small fine as the worst case scenario, and argue that there is plenty in the coffers to pay it. Both companies, meanwhile, have spent the year outwardly showing strength as the European market in particular continues to consolidate.

In May 2010, Eventim purchased the 49.82% stake it didn’t already own in Italian market leader TicketOne for €21million, then in July it bought See Tickets Germany and Ticket Online Group for €145m. In November, LNE

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bought France’s second largest ticket retailer Ticketnet for $119m (€81m) in cash, then in February it added Spanish operation ServiCaixa to the fold. Financially, LNE remains the larger opponent (ticketing revenues increased to $978.3m [€674.4m] in 2010 compared with Eventim’s €193.9m) but both companies are continuing to expand their European base, and in some cases dance around each other’s strongholds. Eventim’s UK operation remains relatively quiet, while in Germany, 2010 saw LNE’s promoting office become dormant, while Ticketmaster (TM) spent the year regrouping.

“We introduced a new system platform in January which we found was a prerequisite to do any competitive business in this country,” says TM Germany head Klaus Zemke. “We were preparing for it for most of 2010, so didn’t spend any great effort in the market last year.” Based on the system TM uses in Scandinavia and Holland, the platform caters to the self-service nature of the German market where theatres and venues predominantly manage their own operations. “Now we’re planning to gain a 30% market share over the next two years,” Zemke says.

While LNE has its work cut out chipping away at Eventim’s base, what’s interesting is the relatively few markets where the operations of both giants overlap. And while both competitors continue to explore the white areas on the map (Russia being the latest, according to the

rumour mill), a union of the two in any sense would virtually sew up the European ticketing market in one fell swoop. With the US market stagnant, the international field is the obvious expansion area, and some argue that LNE could look to purchase Eventim entirely at some point.

It’s a crystal ball with more than a little smoke obscuring the view, but what’s certain is that as the European market continues to consolidate, the ticketing business is going to have to make room for more entrants. Quite how AEG’s Outbox system, announced in February, lands in Europe remains to be seen, but these days everyone is in ticketing.

“Concert promoters work on 3-5% margins and it’s not a sustainable business,” said Stuart Galbraith of AEG-owned Kilimanjaro Live during ILMC’s main room ticketing discussion in March. “It’s no surprise that Live Nation is now a ticketing company because Ticketmaster runs on a [much higher] margin. It’s no surprise that AEG is a facilities company because it makes more money running venues.”

White LabeL ticketing While the big boys continue to snap up operations, the ongoing digital transformation of the business solidifies a lower layer of competition. In its recent 10-K report, LNE states: “We face significant and increasing challenges from companies that sell self-ticketing systems and from clients who are increasingly choosing to selfticket.” White label solutions are far from a new trend in the business, but direct-to-fan ticketing solutions offered by numerous technology companies are allowing artists to ticket their own events, capture fan data and avoid paying out ticketing commissions.

“There’s a shift in culture at the moment, certainly from the artists’ points of view who see that it’s their show, and they want to dictate how the money comes into it,” says Mark Meharry at Music Glue. “We’re a software services company, not a ticketing company. We’re taking the requirements of managers on board and we work directly with artists, to provide them with a set of tools.” Those tools have proved handy for Mumford & Sons, for whom Music Glue is selling up to 100% of tickets for their shows worldwide. “They want to book the venue and see every single penny that comes in for the event and they need a technology company to help them do that,” Meharry says.

Ticket Center sells 500,000 tickets annually in Germany, and senior partner Stefan Siebert concurs with Meharry’s position: “Never give up your own ticketing,” he says. “Artists, promoters, venues and agents should make direct conversation with their customer and never make any kind of exclusive deals with the big ticketing companies.” There are perhaps parallels with the radical shift the recording industry underwent in the 90s when affordable equipment saw makeshift bedroom studios wipe out a huge swathe of professional premises within years.

Although according to those very same larger players, there’s room for all.

Chris Edmonds is MD of Ticketmaster UK. “There’s always going to be a place for companies like Ticketmaster or See,” he says. “You’ll always be able to create a white label solution that takes you to your core database. That’s fine but there are still a significant amount of tickets that have to be sold off the back of proactive marketing initiatives or distressed inventory that you need to move to make sure you get the people on those seats.”

Edmonds admits that Ticketmaster has been slow to adapt to certain new technologies over recent years, but he adds that as a result of the merger, “we now have an artist division, promoter division and e-commerce/ticketing division. I think we’ll see a more rapid level of change and innovation. I’m really optimistic”. And as Zemke adds: “The major players haven’t yet flexed their muscles in this area. I think that we’ll see how it develops.”

the VaLue chain

It might seem obvious, but one of the more astute remarks made at ILMC this year was Live Nation Denmark’s Flemming Schmidt, who commented on the blurring of boundaries within the business. “The key thing is to add value,” he said. “If you can add value, then there’s always going to be a space for you.” Regardless of whether he was talking about the role of the promoter, the same notion stands true for ticketing companies. Whether major primary players or techno upstarts, operations that bring more to the table than they take will always find a space.

In the UK, retailer HMV boasts a 3.4million-strong database, in addition to its network of 200 stores that sell tickets. In the last year, it’s moved from a Seatem system to an in-house operation including a call centre and dispatch office. “A lot of our work has been about “ There’s always going to be a place for companies adding value,” says ticketing head Jason like Ticketmaster or See… there are still a Thomas. “Marketing support is more significant amount of tickets that have to be sold on a promoter’s agenda than ever. If you can’t add value as a ticket agent it’s off the back of proactive marketing initiatives.” harder and harder to get inventory.”

- Chris Edmonds, Ticketmaster Entertainment HMV sold tickets for 5,000 events over the last 12 months compared

network of offices around the world.

Digonex’s system considers factors such as historical sales data, secondary ticket prices and competing shows to make recommendations on pricing.

“The ability to move that price to respond to demand uncaps all sorts of potential,” says company head Rex Fisher. “If you’re selling out in 15 minutes, you’re leaving money on the table. That may be okay, but there are strategies to be able to leverage that demand.”

Another company offering dynamic services is TopTix, headquartered in Israel and with offices in the US and UK. With 54 full-time staff including 33 full-time developers, its SRO box office system has been four years in development, and now offers dynamic pricing as one of a suite of options.

“It’s a service-orientated architecture, which means that all the functions are separate services. It has never been used in this industry before, so it’s quite revolutionary,” says John Pinchbeck, VP of international development.

“Checking availability, selecting a seat, buying a ticket, printing a ticket, are all services; they’re all independent, which means that a client can rearrange those services in any order they like. The system runs by rules so if capacity drops below 10% you can automatically increase the price. Or you simply change the price breaks in a venue according to demand. During a massive on-sale like Take That, it could be done automatically.”

Chris Edmonds relates that some of Broadway has already adopted a wider dynamic pricing model, and the discussions are ongoing about bringing the idea to London’s West End. Through analysing a wide range of available data, the ability to price concert tickets closer to their true market value, thus biting into secondary sales and increasing revenue, is something that all primary players welcome. However, many are predicting a more moderate series of dynamic price breaks as opposed to a true airline model where tickets are priced almost individually.

“The problem is that unlike the airline industry, and the theatrical industry to some extent, we have one-off shows that don’t have predictable demand curves,” says Barney Wragg at digital consultancy Barney Wragg Associates.

“ Marketing support is more on a promoter’s agenda than ever. If you can’t add value as a ticket agent it’s harder and harder to get inventory.”

- Jason Thomas, HMV

with just 300 for the year before. “We do lots of e-tickets, value added bundles and we can ring fence allocation for certain stores,” Thomas says.

Mining the 3.4 million entries on its combined database, Thomas says HMV is becoming more adept at getting to know its customers’ preferences, and it’s gearing up to include ticketing as an option for its 14,000 affiliates. (Meanwhile, using fans as affiliate brokers is also proving popular – Fatsoma has built up a network of 18,600 reps who promote shows via Facebook, and several festival promoters are following suit.) But for affiliate sales, TicketSwitch might prove to be a ground-shifting new development. Tagging itself as “the global distribution system (‘GDS’) of event ticketing”, TicketSwitch was developed by Seatem but bought last year by Ingresso Group. Via the three existing GDS networks that links travel agents with airlines and hotels worldwide it aims to connect live allocation at venues and ticketers to the network of global agents.

Imagine BA.com offering tickets to shows in the city you’d just bought a flight to, or Expedia or Opodo offering seats to a concert with real time allocation. Former Seatem founder and chief executive Paul Burns is tasked with rolling out the system, and he says that most promoters and venues offer agents an inside discount on ticket sales, or charge an external booking fee to make up a suitable margin.

TicketSwitch charges a 3% technology fee per transaction.

the Dynamic age As IQ was preparing to go to press, Ticketmaster announced that it had partnered with analytics company MarketShare to create dynamic ticketing tools that would allow clients to adjust prices for live events according to demand. The announcement came just two months after Ticketpro revealed that it had partnered with Digonex Technologies to offer dynamic ticketing solutions to its

RFiD Given that its primary product need not take any particular shape, colour or form, ticketing has always been a prime candidate for trialling emerging technology and new ideas. RFID (radio-frequency identification), while far from groundbreaking in the technology stakes, has the potential to radically alter event ticketing. Last summer, German promoter FKP Scorpio issued 500 RFID Right: The on-sale for Take That’s Progress Live tour demanded large-scale systems

Below: ID&C’s RFID band from Coachella

cards for cashless purchases on-site at Hurricane Festival while Hungary’s Sziget festival adopted a wider trial using 11,000 cards that could be used at 300 terminals around the site. Meanwhile, in Canada, the Festival d’Été de Québec sold 150,000 RFID wristbands as entry tickets for an 11-day line-up that included Arcade Fire, Santana and Black Eyed Peas. April 2011, however, was a tipping point.

looking at apps going forward, and I would expect to see a significant upwards shift next year,” Edmonds says.

SociaL meDia

Juniper Research’s latest mobile ticketing report predicts that one in eight mobile phone users will either have a ticket delivered to their mobile phone or buy a ticket with their phone by 2015, which equates to over 750 million “ Thanks to CRM and the collection of data, ticketing users. The proportion of tickets being companies are evolving into marketing partners sold via mobile phones as barcodes that don’t sell tickets anymore, but fill seats.” is still relatively small in developed European markets and non-existent - Serge Grimaux, Intellitix in others, but combine it with social media, and RFID or near field communication technology, and the Last month, Coachella festival in Los Angeles adopted result is explosive.

With global email traffic falling, and internet users an RFID wristband system for its 75,000 ticket buyers.

Early reports say that queues were reduced and the system spending less time Googling and more time posting, there’s drastically cut touting. “There were no technical issues a fundamental digital shift occurring as consumers switch whatsoever, the technology performed seamlessly,” says from a push to a pull lifestyle. Social media marketing and operations director Steve Daly at ID&C which supplied the opportunities it opens for ticketers is well discussed and the bands, chips and patented locks. The access control developing fast. As well as selling tickets via its 18,600 reps, corridors and back end system was from Intellitix, the new Fatsoma recently launched an iPhone ticket scanning app company established by Ticketpro chief, Serge Grimaux. that can scan both e-tickets and mobile barcodes from a And there were more than a few interested promoters on- remote laptop. Consumers will soon be able to share their ticket purchases to select user groups, but others argue that site to observe.

“We start where other ticketing companies stop,” geo-locational social media is prime for exploitation.

“If you look at social media and the fact that people says Grimaux. “We start with access control and then there are cashless possibilities and all sorts of new sources are prepared to tell you where they are and what they’re of income that are generated by RFID. It’s a less invasive doing, you can put a proposition in front of people because experience for the fan, where they’re entering into a world you know that they’re in the same place as the gig,” Wragg of technology that’s never been so sharp.” While Ticketpro comments. It’s yet another future step that the industry continues to look for new markets to expand into, last year might consider taking, and one of a myriad changes that saw it ticket the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, the ticketing business is facing whether it’s prepared and shifting 2.4million tickets for 21 venues over 11 days. But accepting of such change or not. “Thanks to CRM and Grimaux is equally focussed on his new venture. “We will the collection of data, ticketing companies are evolving most likely activate a million RFID chips by the end of into marketing partners that don’t sell tickets anymore, but the year,” he says. “I hope to double or triple that number fill seats,” says Grimaux. “I believe that in the near future there’ll be companies that start to refer to themselves more worldwide by the end of next year.”

Kilimanjaro’s Stuart Galbraith was equally as as admission companies.” It’s all a far cry from a time when evangelical at ILMC. “Once RFID arrives in telephones, numbered pieces of paper were printed out and posted, then the sky is the limit in terms of what we can do in but then ticketing has never been a more exciting industry ticketing,” he said. “Next year, the Sonisphere phone app to be involved with. will be the ticket. You’ll buy the ticket, it will be sent to your phone and will talk to you in the six months leading up to the festival. It’ll update you with running order changes, it will have technology so you can tell where you and your friends are on-site, and it’ll become your wallet and you can buy your merch, food and drink with it. For me, that’s stupendous.” And AEG is not alone in developing mobile phone apps as tickets. “Live Nation’s wider tech strategy is

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euro Box office AustriA

Major ticketing coMpanies: cts eventiM, Wien ticket CTS Eventim is the market leader, followed by Wien Ticket, the inhouse system of the Stadthalle arena in Vienna. “I sometimes get the feeling it’s only Vienna,” said Norbert Stockmann of third-ranked company Ticket Online. Most sales are made online (around 70%) with box office accounting for roughly 20%. average ticket For an arena shoW (av tick): €50

BAltic stAtes

Majors: tiketa, Bilietu pasaulis, Bilietai (lithuania), Bilesu serviss, Bilesu paradize (latvia), piletilevi ticketpro (estonia) The biggest event in ticketing in the Baltic States this year will be the European Championship of Basketball in Lithuania, for which Tiketa plans to sell more than 100,000 tickets. All three countries are recovering from the recession but sales are growing slowly but steadily. The big international names are selling out arenas, but promoters report consumers holding back more for mid-level artists. The major sales channel is still the box office, but “the quality of the internet shops and functionality like being able to choose seats has dramatically developed online sales,” says Jaanus Beilmann at Baltic Ticket Holdings. av tick: €40

Belgium

Majors: tts, sherpa, proxiMus goForMusic Live Nation Belgium reports that the main operators are TTS and Sherpa while most tickets are sold via Belgian telecoms platform Proximus Goformusic. Belgian reservation fees are some of the lowest in Western Europe, with fees averaging €4. av tick: €40

DenmArk

Majors: Billetnet, Billetlugen There are two main ticket suppliers: Ticketmaster-owned Billetnet (which has one of the largest e-commerce sites in the country) and Billetlugen, which is part of the Venuepoint Group. The two companies have a roughly equal share of a relatively small market, although there are a few smaller players, run directly from theatres.

Booking fees are fixed at €2.68 and advertising a ticket above face value is illegal, so there is little secondary market. Online transactions account for over 90% of sales. av tick: dkk 500-dkk 600 (€53-€67)

FinlAnD

Majors: lippupalvelu, lippupiste, tiketti, Menolippu The market is well developed and dominated by two major operators, Lippupalvelu (Ticketmaster) and Lippupiste (CTS Eventim). Due to consumer laws, all box office fees must be included in the ticket price, so service fees have remained reasonable – between €1 and €3.75.

Online sales are now reliable and account for the majority of sales, while secondary sales are restricted due to ticket limitations. av tick: €60-€70

FrAnce Majors: Fnac, ticketnet Online sales account for up to 40% of tickets, although several stadium shows have recorded 50% online. Live Nation purchased Ticketnet in November 2010, giving it a strong foothold in the market. Booking fees are an average of 10-12% of the face value of the ticket and according to Live Nation France, the market is “reluctantly” starting to work with resellers, with Viagogo being active in the market. av tick: €50

germAny Majors: cts eventiM, ticket online Germany is a fragmented market, both regionally and in terms of content. CTS Eventim is the outright leading ticketer, a position that has been consolidated since the purchase of See Tickets and Ticket Online Germany in 2010. A raft of regional players or online-only companies operate such as Smart Tickets, Ticketscript and München Ticket. av tick: €40-€60 greece Majors: ticket house, ticketpro The leading ticket company in Greece is Ticket House, which is partnered with Ticketpro for online sales, though other online sellers include ticketarena.gr, ticketnet.gr and eleventickets.gr. E-ticketing is growing in popularity, but the majority of tickets are still sold through outlets such as Ticket House, Metropolis record stores and Public, while other options include Piraeus Bank, Wind and Vodafone stores. av tick: €50 HungAry

Majors: ticket express hungary, ticketpro Now that it sells tickets for the three major promoters – Live Nation, Multimedia and Danubius – as well as several festivals and exhibitions, Ticketpro holds a 50% market share, with Eventimowned Ticket Express retaining around a 15% share. Internet sales are increasing rapidly, with around 40% of the market accounted for by e-tickets and online mail order.

Other ticketing outlets include Jegyelado.hu, Jegymester Kft., and Ticketline. av tick: 12,000 huF (€45)

continued on page 50

continued from page 49

irelAnD

Majors: ticketMaster Ticketmaster holds 70% of the market, with the rest being sold in-house at venues. Business is still good, although due to the recession, promoters report that customers are holding back and making ticket purchases closer to the day of the event. The Irish market is distinct for its remaining tradition of overthe-counter sales, while online sales account for roughly 50%. av tick: €50

itAly Majors: ticketone The dominant ticket company is TicketOne, which sells 80-90% of all tickets. Additionally, there are a number of smaller ticket companies, mainly distributed in the north and central Italy. Tickets sold in outlets are often sold for less than online, and while over-the-counter sales still account for the majority of sales (around 60%), online sales are growing. av tick: €50-€55 tHe netHerlAnDs

Majors: ticket service nederland, see tickets, cts eventiM, live nation The market in the Netherlands is well organised and runs effectively. Live Nation has scrapped all its outlets and is now exclusively selling tickets via the internet and call centres while many promoters now also sell predominantly online. A law to limit resale to 20% above face value is currently in the House of Lords. av tick: €52.50

norwAy

Major: Billettservice Billettservice, owned by Ticketmaster, is by far the dominant ticket provider, while many venues run in-house systems. The market is well organised and the ticketing fees are fairly low compared to the rest of Europe. The majority of tickets (over 60%) are sold

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online. Secondary ticketing is illegal. av tick: €65

PolAnD Majors: cts eventiM, ticketpro Promoters report a recession-proof market, with fans snapping up tickets to big name acts when they go on sale.

Cash sales are still very popular; online sales (roughly 40%) were boosted by one of the outlet networks, Ruch, which terminated contracts with all ticketing companies last year because the profit margins were too small. av tick: €35-€50 PortugAl Majors: ticketline, Blueticket Internet sales represent only 15-20% while the biggest share of ticket sales are made through the venues’ box offices and outlets like Fnac, Worten, El Corte Inglés and national post offices. av tick: €35-€40 sPAin

Majors: tick tack ticket, serviticket, entradas.coM Tickets are predominantly distributed via outlets at department stores and networks of cash dispensers. With Tick Tack Ticket (Ticketmaster Spain) and Live Nation’s purchase of Serviticket in February, the entertainment giant now has similar market share to El Corte Inglés. Booking fees are low, and print-at-home is starting to gain popularity, but it is hampered by few venues having suitable access control systems. av tick: €42

sweDen

Majors: ticnet, cts eventiM, tickster Live Nation has switched from CTS Eventim back to Ticketmasterowned Ticnet, but the majority of ticket allocation still remains with venues and their contracted arrangements with ticket sellers.

Ticnet has a majority market share, and the traditional reservation system is being phased out by online

sales. Live Nation reports that over half of all tickets are now sold online, with print-at-home a particular growth area. av tick: sek500 (€45)

switzerlAnD Majors: : ticketcorner, starticket, ticketportal The market has calmed since CTS Eventim paid €60million for market leader TicketCorner in February 2010. The most established ticket seller in the Swiss market, TicketCorner has a 60% share of the market, including a network of distribution points in train stations and post offices across the country. av tick: chF75 (€45)

turkey Majors: Biletix, ticketturk, MyBilet Ticketmaster-owned Biletix has a near-monopoly on concert ticket sales in the market, as well as the rights for selling home tickets for the three largest football clubs. E-tickets are the most common form of purchase for big shows, whilst door sales are dominant in club shows. av tick: €25

uk Majors: ticketMaster, see tickets Ticketmaster holds the top slot in the UK, followed by See Tickets, although the market has many other sellers vying for market share, including HMV, Ticket Factory and WeGotTickets. With See reportedly up for sale, and CTS Eventim having opened a London office in 2010, expect a change in the UK landscape shortly. Over 90% of sales are online. av tick: £35 (€40)

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Photo: Š Robert Dunlop

Roundhouse

n’s o Lond Circle of Live Five years since it reopened to critical acclaim, the Roundhouse has become a jewel in the capital’s crown. Adam Woods heads to Chalk Farm…

T

here’s as much history in the Roundhouse as in just about any other London building of a similar age.

Locomotive history, for one thing – it was built in 1847 to turn and service trains, but musical history above all. There’s only one place, for instance, where The Doors played their sole UK show; where Pink Floyd, and the Soft Machine performed at the launch of 60s counter-cultural newspaper The International Times; or where The Ramones held court to the Pistols and The Clash, just as punk happened.

When so many of London’s historic venues no longer remain, the hugely ambitious relaunch of this unique venue five years ago can’t be taken for granted.

Surveying the wall of old and recent show posters in the new Made In Camden restaurant, bolted on last year, the story unfolds, and it is at least as rich in the present as it ever was in the past. If any venue has been able to have it all in the past half-decade, it is probably this one: music, circus, theatre, art, and underneath it all, a wealth of charitable projects.

In its reconditioned state, the Roundhouse has

brought an unlistable number of major stars to Chalk Farm in North London, from Dylan and McCartney – who was a guest at the International Times launch in 1966 – to James Brown, Oasis, Neil Diamond, Jay-Z, Dame Shirley Bassey and Robert Plant (who first played the hall in 1968 with Led Zeppelin). That’s quite a roll call for a 3,000-capacity venue, but not a surprising one in view of the attractions of this building: the history of the place, the grand central room and uncluttered sightlines, the easy movement; the generosity of the space.

“It’s an experience,” says head of music Dave Gaydon. “That’s really important for us as an independent venue, and we work really hard at maintaining that, for our paying customers and the people we work with. For the audience, it’s not just like any other venue where you roll in and roll out.

And I think the artists feel, even though there are 3,000 people in there, it is still an intimate space.

Because we are this funny, round shape, wherever you are in the building, it still feels like you are up close and personal.”

Roundhouse

I

t has been a successful five years for the Roundhouse, though that doesn’t mean there haven’t been disappointments. This year, the Electric Proms series it hosted for five years was permanently cancelled, the victim of BBC budget cuts. October may be a different kind of month from now on, but the programme seems characteristically busy all the same. “The year is looking really full,” says Gaydon. “I think, as an organisation, it has taken us a little while to find this rhythm of what works best when. We split up the year into chunks of music, chunks of corporate hire, performing arts and circus. Each of those things has its own times across the year.”

As spring arrived this year, the Roundhouse had already hosted the Royal Shakespeare Company for three months and had just finished a pop cycle (Janelle Monáe, Robyn, Soul II Soul, Iron And Wine, Chase & Status – the last of these setting a new venue record for bar receipts, as it happens). As of early April, it was heading into a circus and theatre period, with Circolombia taking up residence for much of the month. May and June bring the mainstream gigs back again, with Noah and the Whale, Explosions In The Sky, Moby, Belle and Sebastian and Queens of the Stone Age, and there is more along those lines in July when Apple again mounts its annual month of live music.

“In July and August, we like to programme shows that will sell tickets when the festivals are on, so the iTunes Festival is amazing for us, because it keeps us busy nearly every day during July,” says Gaydon. “In August, we like to have a big art installation; September is always a good month for corporate hires; October and November we pretty much have back-to-back shows now, which is great this far ahead.”

So when Gaydon says the demise of the Electric Proms is “a shame, but I see it as an opportunity,” he is not just saying it. He takes pains not to trumpet the high degree of competition for dates, and repeatedly says that no venue can afford to be arrogant. But the fact remains that the Roundhouse is a busy place.

By holding back an unusually large proportion of its ticket stock – usually 70% – to sell through its own box office at a low booking rate, the venue has built up a database of 130,000 active ticket-buyers. Promoters who didn’t initially appreciate the big self-allocation may partly have been persuaded by the direct marketing potential. “When we bring something out to our database, that’s a good tool for our promoters,” says Gaydon. “Our shows do tend to sell out very quickly. Obviously, if you put on something like Jay-Z, Queens of the Stone Age, Bob Dylan, Gorillaz, it sells out in ten minutes anyway, but I do think the venue has an effect.”

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“Because we are this funny, round shape, wherever you are in the building, it still feels like you are up close and personal.”

– Dave Gaydon

A

nother reason band representatives don’t usually quibble with the 70% ticket allocation that the venue demands is that the £2 (€2.30) booking fee is guaranteed to go to a good cause. The high-profile pop and rock shows, as well as those of the other art forms that splash their names across the famous curved facade on Chalk Farm Road, are the face of the venue, but the heart of the organisation is its charitable function as a creative centre for young people.

According to the plan set out by local philanthropist Sir Torquil Norman, who bought the building in 1996 with charitable intent, even before the 21st century Roundhouse reopened its doors, the Roundhouse Trust, its all-important charitable wing, was doing its job. “There was a long chunk of time where the organisation existed in some Portakabins out in the car park,” says Gaydon. “The original vision of Torquil Norman was to turn it into a creative centre for young people, and the outreach stuff was up and running well before the venue opened.”

Focusing on 11- to 25-year-olds from London and further afield, the Roundhouse educates young people at a rate of 3,000 a year in the ground floor studios under the main space. These include a music recording suite, film production rooms, TV and radio studios and rehearsal rooms. In addition to courses, workshops with visiting performers and cheap room hire rates, the Roundhouse has a radio station, a record label and numerous choirs, groups and rolling projects under

Above: Alice Cooper 2010 © Gordon Bibby

Roundhouse

its wing. It sells memberships to 11- to 25-year-olds for £15 (€17) a year and also undertakes work with excluded and hard-to-reach kids.

On top of that, it involves the young people from downstairs in events upstairs as often as it can, and encourages visiting artists to get involved wherever there is a will to do so. “We did a big fundraising gala at the end of March and Mark Ronson used our choir to back him,” says Gaydon. “Whenever possible, we try to bring our artists through with opportunities to play and work upstairs.

“When Elbow were here, doing a three-night run, they set up a little writing room in one of our studios, and they were very happy for people just to wander in and get involved. When Paul McCartney was here, he went down there with a guitar and played with all these different bands.”

T

he venue’s suppliers also have a way of adopting the Roundhouse’s causes as their own. PRG donated half-a-dozen Vari-Lite spots and washes in 2006 for a long-term installation, and now has an informal relationship to supply lighting for commercial and educational events. “Once or twice a year, they put on a series of shows where the youngsters are actively involved in the production aspects,” says PRG account manager Jon Cadbury. “We help where we can with those things.

It’s a worthwhile operation and something we are very pleased to support.”

Jon Hare, whose company Pitspro is a regular crew supplier for the Roundhouse, was general crew there himself when it opened with Fuerzabruta in 2006, while he was studying technical & production management at Central School of Speech and Drama. While not in the 11-25 range, he considers himself a graduate of the organisation. “They have this nurturing quality about them,” he says. “They want to work with people who want to progress. A lot of people see the big gigs like the Electric Proms and iTunes, but they don’t necessarily realise the profits get pushed back to the youth side.”

In some respects, the Roundhouse’s communitydriven attitude and mixture of priorities isn’t an absolute shift from its 60s and 70s modus operandi. “It was always a communal space,” says Cadbury, who has professional memories of the venue from those times. “George Hoskins, who ran it then, used to call it a mixed economy: you’d have your fund-raising activities – a Rolling Stones show or a Pink Floyd show or a run of Oh! Calcutta! – and those would support your other artistic endeavours.”

Britannia Row director Bryan Grant also remembers the older days of the venue, when he handled sound there in the early-70s for Captain Beefheart, and Dr John, among others. “The basic layout is the same,” he says. “Because you can’t really change a train shed, can you? I seem to remember, in the early days, there were

Right: BBC Electric Proms

lots of stalls around the side, with people selling joss sticks and questionable items. But the whole renovation of the place is stunning, I think.”

It was always a diverse, unusual space. Steven Berkoff performed a one-man version of Kafka’s Metamorphosis there in August 1969 and paid tribute 30 years later.

“The Roundhouse, like its name, had no edges or boundaries and seemed to accept you as long as you had no boundaries either,” he floridly recalled. “[It was] a temple where you could worship whatever god you wished and offer what sacrifices you will.” Quite.

P

lenty of enterprises optimistically aim to fund one thing with proceeds of another, only to find that ambition outweighs commercial gain. But the Roundhouse’s success so far in making music subsidise many of its less readily bankable activities is impressive.

“All the money that we make upstairs gets ploughed into creative projects downstairs,” says Gaydon. “That makes it a nicer place to work, because we are not just lining the pockets of some big American corporation.” “ The Roundhouse, like its name, had no edges or boundaries and seemed to accept you as long as you had no boundaries either.”

– Steven Berkoff

Roundhouse

The Roundhouse runs at a profit, but as a busy charity with many projects on the go, it also bears high costs. Its corporate and music events subsidise the staging of more expensive theatre and circus productions, and go some way to supporting the all-important youth activities in the studios downstairs. But the substantial remainder of its income derives from private donors and grants from the Arts Council and Youth Music.

Youth projects are the reason the Roundhouse exists in its current form, but they only work because the music does, and as with almost any new venue, it didn’t slot immediately into the live industry mainstream. “What I came into was a venue that had been very much set up as a theatre and it was run with a theatre mentality,” says Gaydon, who started as a consultant in early 2007.

“Consequently, it hadn’t really been accepted by the live music community. It came on quite arrogantly as this great new shiny venue that assumed it was always going to be full. When I arrived here, there was pretty much nothing in the diary.”

Having relaunched the Hammersmith Palais, Gaydon knew what it took to put a new old hall back on the map: a lot of persistent emailing, a lot of humility, a lot of making friends. “You have to nurture those relationships with managers and agents,” he says. “And you do become email man. I like to think I’m persistent without being annoying.”

By late 2007/early 2008, things were beginning to swing in the Roundhouse’s direction. “The first 12 months were a struggle, and then we started getting a lot more phone calls, a lot more enquiries, and you reach the point where you are not the pest anymore – people start to pester you.” Gaydon remembers a run of Underworld shows in October 2007 as a demonstration of the power of 3,000 people, even in a stately venue. “Or the Morrissey shows we did [in January 2008], where people were buying tickets for all six nights – that level of

– Bryan Grant, Britannia Row devotion for one person.”

Since then, the ambition to fill the venue with highcalibre music shows has been one that has fulfilled itself without any great effort on the venue’s part. “Luckily, it has happened naturally,” says Gaydon. “We get big, stadium-filling artists treating us as a club show, but also we get artists on the way up doing the Roundhouse as a statement show.”

“We do have rowdier nights that keep us on our toes,” says Louise Stockden, who manages the venue’s security for Showsec. “But on the other hand, you get really nice bands too. We have had bands where everybody has sat on the floor and swayed to the music.”

And they tell us how much things have changed since the 1960s.

Sound and Vision

B

ritannia Row supplied the sound system to the Roundhouse – initially an Outline Butterfly system, now a V-DOSC – and director Bryan Grant’s respect for the venue extends to the challenges of its natural acoustics. “It’s a tough room, because you are in a cylinder and there’s glass in the roof and lots of wonderfully reflective surfaces everywhere,” he says.

“But when it fills up with people, they do absorb quite a lot of the reflections. We have worked really hard at getting the focus right, getting the energy where it needs to get to, which is on the floor, and those seats up in the gallery.”

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“...in the early days, there were lots of stalls around the side, with people selling joss sticks and questionable items. But the whole renovation of the place is stunning.“

When Elton John, Robert Plant, and Neil Diamond came for last year’s final Electric Proms, both used the inhouse system – partly because, as Grant puts it, “it’s not a plug-and-play venue”, and partly because what’s there already works well.

The room is an easier win on the screen front, given its expanses of curved wall. “It allows a little bit more creativity from the video side of things,” says XL Video project manager Jacqueline Rice. “I’m sure with sound and lighting, it is a bit more challenging, but employing the round walls and the space between the pillars for multiple screens is an effective nice way to use the room.”

I Q Ma g a zin e Ma y 2 0 1 1

Above: Supergrass 2008

Switzerland

4 Frauenfeld Winterthur

11 16

2 2

Wohlen

Basel

Kestenholz

13 17 20

12

6

19

Zofingen Sursee

9

Arbon

8 14

9 6

12

St. Gallen

Zúrich

1

Lucerne

Neuchâtel

3

Avenches

3

1 4

Fribourg

BERN 10

15

Thun

Vella

7 5

13 7

Lausanne

Nyon

11

Montreux

5

Gampel

Locarno 8

Zermatt

18

Lugano 10

Leading the fields In the second of our revamped market reports, Adam Woods pieces together the divided live music scene in Switzerland…

As much as any nation in the world, the Swiss know how tedious it is to be defined almost entirely by random clichés: chocolate, pocket knives and banks. Cuckoo clocks, for the record, are German, although the Swiss added the fetching chalet roof. Live music offers a cliché of its own, in the form of the legendary Swiss appetite for festivals. It would be refreshing to be able to debunk that stereotype, but like most of the others, there is something in it, even if festival promoters are as puzzled as anyone about just where it comes from.

“Everyone knows we are the country with the most fields and the most festivals,” says Stefan Matthey, CEO of rock promoter Free & Virgin, which stages the Swiss Sonisphere as well as plenty of artist shows. “The strange thing is that there are more and more every year

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I Q Ma g a zin e Ma y 2 0 1 1

but none of them are disappearing. Obviously, there is a market out there, but if you look at a map of all the festivals, it is a crazy sight.” If this curious phenomenon looks like it might be a bubble waiting to burst, the official figures show mainly growth, though of an increasingly gradual kind.

Show and festival revenues generated by members of the Swiss Music Promoters Association (which represents roughly 80% of the entire market) have exceeded CHF200million (€155m) every year since 2006, and last year they rose by 5.5% to hit a high of CHF265m (€204m). The number of gig-goers (including free entry shows, guests and VIPs) fell fractionally from 4.56m to 4.49m between 2009 and 2010, but the number of tickets sold rose (from

Map of Swiss promoters and festivals by location (to reveal the map key, fold point A to point B on the opposite page )

Switzerland

2.79m to 2.83m). Bear in mind, all the while, that Switzerland has just shy of 8 million inhabitants.

The average ticket price rose too, but only by 20 centimes; there is a widespread acknowledgement among promoters that the market can’t stand further heavy price increases, and that there may be a ceiling to all this growth. At any rate, price inflation has already had its way in the past five years, the average ticket climbing from CHF63.80 (€49.32) in 2005 to last year’s CHF84.40 (€65.25). [All data: SMPA. Average prices are calculated on the basis of single show tickets and festival day passes.]

A remarkably complex country for outsiders to grasp, Switzerland’s three regions – the French-speaking west, Romandie; the Italian-speaking south, Svizzera italiana; and the German-speaking everywhere else, known as Deutschschweiz translate into three very distinct markets, with remarkably little overlap and a more or less distinct live industry in each.

Zürich is the largest city, the financial centre and the home of the Hallenstadion, which means it is often the only stop for large international artists. Geneva, while far smaller – with a population of roughly 500,000 in its conurbation, to Zürich’s 2 million – is highly prosperous in its own right as the world capital of oil and gas trading.

Consequently, ticket prices in both cities are around CHF85 to CHF90 (€66-€70) for a high-end show.

“Geneva is a bit lower than Zürich in terms of prices,” says Vincent Sager, director of promoter Opus One, which operates from Nyon on the western shore of Lake Geneva. “As a guide, tickets in Geneva are on a level with Paris but more expensive than other French cities.” Both cities represent very meaningful markets for English-speaking acts while offering extraordinarily little potential for artists who don’t otherwise speak the local language – German in Zürich, French in Geneva. “[The German and French parts of Switzerland] are absolutely different markets,” Sager says. “The main international acts are top acts everywhere. Then you have some local sensibilities: Bryan Adams is stronger in the German territories than the French, for example; Muse is the other way around.”

French acts in the German part, however, or vice versa, can forget it. “We have so many strong French acts – extremely well-known, able to fill the Arena de Genève – but it’s impossible to promote a show in Zürich.”

Good News is the country’s largest promoter, and neither Live Nation nor AEG has found a foothold to date, though Live Music Production worked with the former to bring Cirque du Soleil’s Saltimbanco to Basel’s St. Jakobshalle arena in December.

B

Festivals are many, and often organisations in their own right, with broad-ranging festivals such as Paléo and St. Gallen; hip hop gathering Frauenfeld; the worldfamous (and 2011 ILMC Arthur Award-winning) Montreux Jazz; and thriving boutique festivals such as AVO Session Basel and Blueballs at Lake Lucerne among the biggest names.

“The strange thing is that there are more and more [festivals] every year but none of them are disappearing.”

– Stefan Matthey, Free & Virgin Jazz events account for a disproportionate share of Switzerland’s international profile, but Zofingen-based international booking agent Peter Basler of Basitours, whose artists include John McLaughlin and Hugh Masekela and, formerly, the late Joe Zawinul, says the genre isn’t necessarily a runaway sensation in Switzerland.

“We are still a minority,” he laughs. “It is a very small cake, and of course pop and commercial music are much more popular. But in Switzerland, hopefully, the good music will always shine through.”

Promoters While a network of established promoters stretch across each region, sub-agents come under fire…

Good news remAins the largest promoter in Switzerland, having pioneered the market from the early-1970s.

With the exception of independent festivals, it has a hand in many of the country’s biggest music and family entertainment shows, either as sole or co-promoter.

An exclusive relationship between Good News and the Hallenstadion means that promoters wishing to put their acts in the 13,000-capacity venue need to partner with the market leader.

However, rumours repeatedly abound that the deal might soon come to an end, particularly since the transfer of power 18 months ago from long-time chief executive André Béchir to new incumbent Thomas Kastl, though it would be wrong to suggest a clamour of discontent. “Good News has got a strong position because they do a good job and they have been doing it for a long time,” says Sebastien Vuignier of Lausanne’s Takk Productions.The deal with the Hallenstadion

A

Switzerland

Map Key PROMOTERS 1 Avenches

Art Contacts Production*

2 Basel

Act Entertainment*

3 Bern

Appalooza Productions*

Deepdive Music

4 Fribourg

SOFA Agency

Gersau

Mix Max Music

5 Lausanne

Takk Productions

Black Lamb Productions

Just Because

Ishtar Music

Gentlemen Music

6 Lucerne

Swiss Musictour*

7 Nyon

Live Music Production

8

Opus One*

St. Gallen

Domingo Event*

Incognito Productions

9 Sursee

Taifun Music*

10 Thun

Pleasure Productions

11 Winterthur

AllBlues Konzert

Cult Concerts Agency

12 Zofingen Basitours 13 Zúrich

Free & Virgin Group*

Good News productions*

Show and Music*

Gadget

Rent-A-Show

FESTIVALS 1 Arbon

SummerDays Festival*

2 Avenches

Festival Rock Oz’Arenès*

3 Basel

AVO Session Basel*

Sonisphere

4 Bern

Gurtenfestival

5 Frauenfeld

Openair Frauenfeld*

6 Kestenholz

St. Peter at Sunset

7 Lausanne

Metropop Festival

For Noise Festival

8 Locarno

Moon & Stars

9 Lucerne

Blue Bells Music*

10 Lugano

Estival jazz Festival*

11 Montreux

Montreux Jazz Festival*

12 Neuchâtel

Festi’neuch Neuchâtel

13 Nyon

Caribana

Schaffhausen

Das festival

14 St. Gallen

Open Air St. Gallen*

15 Vella

Open Air Lumnezia*

16 Winterthur

Winterthurer Musikfestwochen*

17 Wohlen

Touch the Air

18 Zermatt

Zermatt Unplugged

19 Zofingen

Heitere Open Air*

20 Zürich

Live at Sunset

*Members of the Swiss Music Promoters Association (SMPA)

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“We will try to get more upcoming talents and more different styles of music in the future.”

– Thomas Kastl, Good News Productions

Paléo Festival *

can be taken as a boon or a handicap by other promoters,Vuignier suggests.

On the one hand, it limits access to the country’s largest venue. On the other, it has almost certainly had the effect of keeping the global operators out of the Swiss market all this time, allowing local players to plough their own furrow undisrupted. “I work with young agents and a new generation of bands,” Vuignier says. “I also have Queens of the Stone Age, Sonic Youth, Portishead, but I don’t feel in competition with Good News. We did Amy Macdonald together at the Hallenstadion last November and it was good to have such a big, established promoter on board, if only for technical production matters.”

For his part, Kastl professes himself pleased with the market. “We are happy with the status of sales right now,” he says. “Hopefully, it’s going to continue.” The promoter has Shakira, Bon Jovi, Rihanna, Elton John, Sade, Neil Diamond, Sting and Roger Water’s The Wall coming to Switzerland this year, as well as European stars André Rieu, Hansi Hinterseer, Jovanotti and Zucchero and entertainment shows Mamma Mia! and Apassionata.

And Kastl predicts still greater diversity on the horizon, though he stops short of saying more. “Yes, we are trying to become wider in our point of view,” he says. “We will try to get more upcoming talents and more different styles of music in the future.”

Béchir remains a part of the organisation – Kastl describes him as a “senior advisor” – and it is unlikely the market-leader he built will crumble now he has stepped back. But in spite of the size and pedigree of Good News, there are a number of other significant promoters in Switzerland. The Swiss Music Promoters Association numbers 27 members, only a dozen of which are specifically festival operators.

I Q Ma g a zin e Ma y 2 0 1 1

Based in Nyon, Live Music Production is one of the larger promoters in the French-speaking part of the country. It sold 60,000 tickets for Johnny Hallyday at Geneva’s stadium and arena and broke a Swiss record for the speed at which it sold out two nights (72,000 tickets) at the Stade de Genève with Mylène Farmer.

Live Music Production is also one of relatively few promoters to confidently claim it has broken out of its region. “The market is changing and artists are ready to talk to more people,” says MD Michael

Switzerland

Such activity clearly has the effect of driving up prices, not least because the artist fee has to accommodate a standard 15% sub-agent percentage. “These sub-agents don’t have to deal with promotion, they don’t have to think about how to sell more tickets if a show isn’t selling well; they just book a band and take 15% that would be better spent on promotion,” says a disgruntled Matthey.

Partly in response, he says Free & Virgin plans to develop a club network to build new artists, “like in the 80s”. Winterthur-based booker/promoter Derrick Thomson of Cult Concerts and his business partner, Marc Lambelet of Lausanne’s Black Lamb Productions, are working on a similar basis, forming deals with particular venues. “There is a change taking place in the structure of the business,” Lambelet says. “We used to take a band, book it in some clubs and then forget about it for two years. Now we are building agreements with venues, acts can talk to us like a national promoter and they can work up from 100-capacity to 12,000.”

Drieberg. “Even the big international promoters are looking for more and more dates, and they need more promoters to partner with, so we are working in Basel and Zürich as well now, and it has become a more open market.” Drieberg also has international concerns through his ownership of Mozart L’Opera Rock, already a million-selling show in Europe after runs in France, Germany and Switzerland, and soon to transfer to Broadway and London’s West End. Other active Swiss promoters include rock promoter Free & Virgin; Basel-based, CTS Eventim-owned Act Entertainment, which promotes diverse music and entertainment shows and produces the 30,000-capacity Greenfield Festival; Bern’s Appalooza Productions, which operates Gurten and promotes international and German-language shows; and the jazz and blues specialist AllBlues Konzert. AllBlues promoted over 100 concerts last year, as well as the Zürich Jazznojazz Festival in the autumn, and it has strong ties with the international musical community in its field.

“With regard to our core areas – jazz, world music, funk and soul – I almost exclusively work with international agents,” says MD Johannes Vogel, though he identifies a trend that irritates promoters in more mainstream areas, if not necessarily his own – namely the issue of sub-agents. “When it comes to pop-rock acts, the situation is definitely more complex and demanding,” he says. “There are many promoters and on top of that, there are a number of sub-agents in Switzerland who sell shows but do not promote any themselves. Consequently, an international agent will often receive various offers for a concert or an act.”

Venues Despite a mid-range gap, Switzerland offers a wealth of high quality venues…

The problem wiTh the concept of working up through the clubs to the arenas is the void that exists in Switzerland between those two circuits. “There are very many clubs – you can do a lot of club shows,” says Lambelet, who is in the process of formalising his long-standing partnership with Thomson’s Cult Concerts. “It’s between 2,000 and 10,000-capacity that you get this gap.”

The new star of Zürich’s nightlife, right at the top end of the club range, is Komplex 457, which opened its doors in February, occupying the same building as previous venues Fame Club and Jail. The interior of the site has been rebuilt to include a large main stage with a capacity of around 2,000 and an adjacent 350-capacity room.

Other diverse, smaller venues in Switzerland’s largest city include key indie destination Abart Club, the X-tra Club, the Neues Theater Spirgarten, run by Act Entertainment, the well-heeled Volkshaus and the Maag Music Halle. In Lausanne, there’s the Metropole Hall, Les Docks and

“It is not opportune to share this public money with private entities, but the Swiss agents have difficulty understanding.”

– Laurence Vinclair, Les Docks

Above: Nick Cave at Les Docks, October 2010

Switzerland

Swiss Music Promoters Association annual figures 2005-2010 2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

% change 09/10

Total events

877

1,013

1,041

1,002

1,043

1,084

4

Total visitors (millions)*

3.71

4.04

4.14

4.53

4.56

4.49

-1.7

Tickets sold (millions)

2.71

2.94

2.64

2.63

2.79

2.83

1.4

Average ticket price CHF (€m)

63.80 (€48.78)

70.74 (€54.09)

75.10 (€57.43)

82.40 (€63.01)

84.20 (€64.39)

84.40 (€64.54)

0.2

Gross income CHF millions (€m)**

173.2 (€132.5)

207.7 (€158.8)

208.1 (€159.1)

230.5 (€176.3)

250.3 (€191.4)

264.1 (€201.9)

5.5

No. of artists engaged

1,839

2,272

2,372

2,246

2,308

2,259

-2

No. of employees

112

135

153

176

185

192

4

* including free offers, VIPs and guests ** including tickets, sponsoring, catering etc

D! Club (2,000, 1,000 and 800-capacity respectively) and in Geneva, L’alhambra, Zoo/usine and Victoria Hall.

At Les Docks, Laurence Vinclair says that sub agents are proving an issue with the venues as well. “The subagents are putting all the venues under pressure to make co-productions,” she says. “The fact is that most of the venues in Switzerland (especially in the French speaking part) are non profit organizations subsidized by the city or other authorities. It is not opportune to share this public money with private entities, but the Swiss agents have difficulty understanding.”

At the top end, Zürich’s Hallenstadion can’t be beaten for size indoors, and its Hallenstadion Club

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I Q Ma g a zin e Ma y 2 0 1 1

configuration takes its 13,000-capacity down to 6,000, going some way to plugging the gap for a mid-sized venue. The 50,000-capacity Letzigrund Stadion is Zürich’s major outdoor offering and rather larger than the 36,000-capacity Stade de Genève.

Rihanna, Shakira and Guns N’ Roses have all played the Arena de Genève in the past year, but the capacity of the venue – up to 9,500 – and its inability to stage shows in the round, makes it unlikely to snag the truly phenomenal international touring artist. The remarkably impermeable regional divisions, meanwhile, mean fans can’t be counted upon to travel for anything but the biggest acts.

Switzerland

“It’s not possible to promote Lady Gaga or AC/DC in Geneva,” Sager says. “When U2 play Switzerland, they play in Zürich, and that is when you will get people travelling. Usually, that doesn’t happen much. When Kylie played in Zürich recently [at the Hallenstadion], fans from the French part did travel, but it wasn’t thousands and thousands.”

Tax, tickets and infrastructure Consolidated ticketing operations and a strong production infrastructure benefit the market… swiTzerlAnd AdminisTers withholding tax on a stateby-state basis, and in practice, every state has a slightly different rate, making city-to-city tours a potentially head-scratching business. “For a touring act doing five different shows in Switzerland, if they are unlucky enough they will pay five different rates of tax,” Sager says. The problem isn’t so much the percentage rate, but the items on which the tax is calculated. “What changes is the way tax authorities agree on things like production costs,” Sager adds.

On the evidence of recent years, the Swiss market is not a place of dramatic shake-ups, the closest thing to a major corporate shift being CTS Eventim’s €60m move for market leader TicketCorner in February 2010.

The most established ticket seller in the Swiss market, TicketCorner claims a 60% share of the market and operates a network of distribution points in train stations and post offices across the country. Ticketportal is the number two player, followed by Starticket. “We work across the country with a subsidiary in Geneva and with Ticino Online in the Italian part of Switzerland,” says Pascal Zürcher, Ticketportal’s head of marketing.

Switzerland’s strong festival market does, however, ensure solid investment in its production infrastructure. As with most sections of the live industry, a sharp line is drawn between Romandie and Deutschschweiz. On the French side, 30-year-old “For a touring act doing five different shows in Switzerland, if they are unlucky enough they will pay five different rates of tax.”

– Vincent Sager, Opus One

Hyperson is the market-leader, based in Lausanne.

On the German side, players include Livesound and Stagelight, based in Worb, east of Bern, and Stagelight in Herisau, close to St. Gallen in the north.

“The production infrastructure in Switzerland is excellent,” says Vogel at AllBlues. “We exclusively work with Swiss companies, for the most part using Stagelight for sound and lights.” Some festivals, meanwhile, have been known to bring in equipment from across the border in Germany, largely on grounds of price.

Media Developed and diverse it may be, but promoters call for more attention from their media…

The mulTipliciTy of languages spoken in Switzerland – German (74%), French (21%), Italian (4%) and Romansh (1%) – is responsible for the dizzying patchwork of media across the country. “Each territory has its own television, its own radio, its own structure of print media,” says Marc Lambelet.

On the broadcast front, many of the platforms are controlled by the Swiss public broadcasting organisation, SRG-SSR. This oversees whole clusters of TV and radio services in all four languages, including radio network SR DRS, which takes the majority of listening in the larger German-speaking part of the country. “TV in Switzerland is basically national, and what you mostly tend to see is Montreux Jazz, but other than that, there is no real concept for music,” says Francois Moreillon, president of SwissAMP, organiser of the forthcoming MX3 Awards, which will be the first event to honour Swiss talent.

The largest independent Swiss media enterprise, Ringier, happens to own a majority share in Good News, and publishes newspapers and magazines in German, French and Italian, including Blick, the Germanlanguage daily tabloid.

Few promoters report extensive support from the country’s mainstream media, all the same, with the exception, according to Stefan Matthey, of 20 Minutes (published in German as 20 Minuten), the free daily. “That is more or less the only press support we get,” he says.

Above: Black Eyed Peas at Zurich Hallenstadion

Switzerland

“We don’t have any TV support in the live market, unless we are doing Metallica or Katy Perry, and the radio stations are still a bit lazy – they play the hits, but they are not too keen to help you build up new artists.” Advertising, likewise, is a pricey commodity. “Promotion and publicity is extremely expensive here,” Sager says. “It really must be the most expensive in the world, and it is hard to explain that to international agents and managers.”

Festivals When it comes to summer events, per capita, Switzerland still leads the field… if fesTivAl TickeTs suddenly failed to sell in Switzerland, it would send tremors through a highly developed sector that includes events such as Paléo and Montreux (in the French-speaking west); and St. Gallen, Frauenfeld, Greenfield, Gurten, AVO Session Basel and Sonisphere (in the German-speaking north, east and central regions).

Nobody necessarily thinks it will happen, but each year, there is the same tension.

Paléo, the country’s largest festival, with 150 acts over six stages on six days, takes place in Nyon each July, and more or less effortlessly sells 35,000 tickets per day. “People in this area all take a week’s holiday for Paléo, whether to come and enjoy the concerts or to come and work,” says the festival’s booker Dany Hassenstein. Amy Winehouse, Chemical Brothers, The Strokes and Jack Johnson are some of this year’s big acts at Paléo, which according to Hassenstein has been voted Switzerland’s best sponsorship property.

Switzerland profits greatly from a low exchange rate with the dollar, the pound and the euro, giving promoters comfort where international negotiations are concerned, though as everywhere, there are concerns about international fees, as well as a belief that ticket prices can’t rise further in case punters do the unthinkable and stay at home.

Free & Virgin is preparing for its second year of Sonisphere and has scaled the event back from its 50,000 beginnings to between 35,000 and 40,000, with Iron

70

Maiden at the top of the bill. “One of the reasons we are not doing it at the same level is that there are more Sonispheres around our market, with a new one in France and a new one in Italy,” Matthey says. “Also, Iron Maiden are playing a few shows in Germany. We are in Basel and Stuttgart is next door, so there is about an hour’s drive to the nearest Maiden show.”

“With the smaller acts, you have so many good possibilities that there is certainly pressure on their fees.”

– Andy Locher, Pleasure Productions Matthey believes Sonisphere will do fine, largely because it has a specialist niche in hard rock, much as the highly successful Frauenfeld mines a rich seam of hip hop.

Staged in northern Switzerland over three days in July with a capacity of 50,000, Frauenfeld achieved its dream line-up last year with headliners Jay-Z and Eminem. This year, it has signed Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, Taio Cruz, Cypress Hill and Ice Cube and tickets are reported to be selling as strongly as they did in previous sell-out years.

“I was told that it would be more difficult to book headliners at our festivals this year, but so far we have been lucky,” says Andy Locher of Pleasure Productions, who books Openair Frauenfeld, Heitere Open Air Zofingen and Open Air Val Lumnezia. Headliners’ fees have held up, though further down the bill, there are deals to be done.

“With the smaller acts, you have so many good possibilities that there is certainly pressure on their fees,” Locher says.

Some festivals, such as the famous AVO Session Basel, find their own ways of making things work. A three-week concert series at the Messe Basel, AVO has maintained its boutique scale for 25 years and has no plans to increase the nightly capacity of its dozen-or-so shows from 1,500. “For some artists, we have to pay more than we earn,” says founder Matthias Müller, whose stars in last year’s silver-jubilee year included Jamiroquai, Mary J. Blige, Robert Plant, Sheryl Crow, Anastacia and Ray Davies.

One of AVO’s secret weapons is a group of wealthy residents of Basel, who will sometimes subsidise an artist for the good of the festival and the city. “Five or six years ago, we used to come to ILMC and fight to get meetings, but now people know us, they know we are good and they know artists like to play at our festival,” Müller says.

In the Italian-speaking south, Good News’s Moon and Stars shows in Locarno’s Piazza Grande are a highlight of July.

Local legend André Béchir continues to oversee and book the series, with Amy Winehouse, Zucchero, Jack Johnson, Bryan Adams and Roxette among this year’s headliners.

I Q Ma g a zin e Ma y 2 0 1 1

Above: Paleo Festival 2010

In Focus 1) (L to r): Sonya Cox (NEC Group), Geoff Huckstep (Capital FM Arena Nottingham), and Louise Sambrook (NEC Group) keep ILMC veteran Charlie Shun entertained at the conference’s opening drinks.

1 2

2) John Rugemalira (centre) and Hardi Loog (right) from RL Entertainment in Finland hang out with Lidia Nikishchenkova from Rusfil at ILMC 23’s opening drinks.

3) (L to r): Martin Hopewell (ILMC), Marc Lambelet (Black Lamb), Derrick Thomson (Cult Concerts Agency) and Music Glue’s new ‘wing commander’, Tom Hopewell.

4) Manuel José Villegas Garcia and Marisabel Semprun from Totalisimo S.L. chat with Rock Music Concert Promotions’ Robert Mills (centre).

3

5) The Allstars team (l to r) Andrei Shpit, Ekaterina Laman, Margarita Korzoun and Ruslan Voskolei with Egor Tyurin from Revolution Concerts (second from left).

6) The AVO Session Basel crew (l to r) Matthias Müller, Christine Gisi and Beatrice Stirnimann converse with APA’s Troy Blakely (centre right).

7) The RFID pros were out in force at ILMC 23. (L to r): Steve Daly (ID&C), Serge Grimaux (Ticketpro), Michael Edwards (Intellitix) and ID&C’s Matt Wilkey.

8) Jan Reijnders and Irene Karindi (Eastern Talent Group) with Mojo Concerts’ Bertus de Blaauw (right).

4

6

7 5

8

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

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I Q Ma g a zin e Ma y 2 0 1 1

Your Shout

“What was your funniest or most memorable moment of ILMC?” If you would like to send feedback, comments or suggestions for future Your Shout topics, please email: info@iq-mag.net

TOP SHOUT! Dick Molenaar – All Arts Tax Advisors

Jay Sietsema – Live Nation Sweden

My most memorable moment was watching Luger booking agent Oskar Ekman under the stage name of ‘Mutha Chucka’ owning the Rock-Karaoke bar across the street from the hotel, belting out Beastie Boys and Motörhead covers while everyone else was playing poker… Due to Mutha Chucka’s success with the crowd, we unsuccessfully tried to negotiate with the club manager to get 10% of the night’s wet sales in order to continue…we didn’t get the 10% so we bolted, to the dismay of the fans!

Artur Peixoto – Everything is New

The funniest moment was the table football tournament!

My team made it to the semi-finals, but a drunk partner, a bad referee and a talented Italian player ruined

74

I Q Ma g a zin e Ma y 2 0 1 1

The football match at Wembley Stadium. We played there before in July 1994 with the ILMC World Cup at the old stadium, although I had not visited the ILMC yet in those years, but was asked

by Mojo Concerts to play for them. Afterwards, I thought this was the peak of my football career; that everything after that was just in the shadow of this Wembley tournament. I have had dreams about it, how beautiful it was, that

we did not want to leave.

But in March 2011, it suddenly happened again.

An email arrived, saying that the ILMC football tournament would be held at Wembley Stadium. I couldn’t believe it… I thought I was daydreaming. But there we were, on Saturday eve, playing in the new, massive, 90,000-capacity, empty Wembley Stadium.

Around 36 guys, a referee, some spectators… and nobody else.

our dreams of conquest! I’m already practising for 2012!

Poker Tourney didn’t last very long… and as a result, nor did my presence at the table!

David Garcia – Moderne Welt

My most memorable moment was the huge disappointment at the New Boss panel when there were no burst-outs from the ‘dinosaurs’ criticising our motivation for being in the business and telling us how things still should be done like they were done 25 years ago... A shame, really - we were so prepared to give an answer.

Rebecca Wedlake – CAA

A special highlight was watching Martin Hopewell perform Riverdance at the Irish dinner – how many promoters have been forced to dance for him over the years?

James Drury – Festival Awards

My best efforts to stay stone-cold sober for the

Gary Howard – The Agency Group

My most memorable moment was playing football at Wembley Stadium and scoring with my left foot (I am rightfooted) – pure magic! The most remarkable moment was the fact that they recorded the game and the DVD will be on sale soon.

Charles Shun – Consultant

The funniest moment for me took place early Sunday morning in the lounge with Terry McNally, Ian Thomas and two industry professionals (not singers!) from France and Germany.

We attempted to sing Leaning on a Lamp post

Everyone played his best football, the score was almost equal, and together we were winners.

After some post-match beers I got the same feeling as in 1994: I did not want to leave the stadium.

This is what boys dream of when they’re outside, running after a football in the rain, or when they are sleeping in their beds.

This year, for me, the dream (again) has come true: playing football at Wembley Stadium. from the musical Me & My Girl. Despite commencing the song multiple times we only managed the opening lines before laughter overcame us each time – George Formby would have hit us with his ukulele!

Altogether now...

I’m leaning on a lamp post at the corner of the street.

In case a certain little lady comes by.

Oh me, oh my.

I hope the little lady comes by.

So, next year... When I’m Cleaning Windows?