IQ 92

92 An ILMC Publication SEPTEMBER 2020 | £25 | €25

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IQ92 CONTENTS

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COVER ILLUSTRATION: PHIL MILLARD

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NEWS

FEATURES

COMMENT AND COLUMNS

06 08 12 16

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Index In Brief The main headlines over the last two months Analysis Key stories and news analysis from around the live music world New Signings & Rising Stars A roundup of the latest acts that have found agents during lockdown Unsung Hero The Clapham Grand’s Ally Wolf talks about the venue’s fight for survival and its socially distanced event, Grand Aid Live

Opening Doors IQ health checks the live music industry’s

efforts to become more inclusive and diverse iFF Agenda An at-a-glance preview of the Interactive

Festival Forum agenda, on the eve of

the event Livin’ the Stream A look at some of the live-streaming

operations that have been filling the live

music void – and generating revenue –

since Covid shuttered traditional shows

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Festivals Can Still Make a Difference Dušan Kovačević urges events to embark on social activism campaigns, so that annual gatherings can have a lasting impact on society The Distance Between Us Beverley Knight reflects on her socially distanced pilot performance at the historic London Palladium Your Shout What is your most cherished possession?

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Magazine

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ENOUGH!

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t press time, yet another unarmed black man had been shot, multiple times, by police officers in the United States. Jacob Blake was left paralysed when he was shot in the back seven times in front of his children.

The shocking incident was captured, once again, by members of the public on their mobile phones. And thank goodness it was, as the cynic in me believes that many people would not believe the circumstances of the assault, if they didn’t actually see it with their own eyes.

The protests and riots that followed in the wake of Blake’s shooting, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, had already claimed a further two lives as I write this, while the unrest was once again threatening to spill over into other cities. It was similar police incidents, of course, that prompted music’s Blackout Tuesday when live industry organisations, large and small, voiced their support for the Black Lives Matter movement and committed to work together to make the business a more inclusive place for people of colour.

Our cover story for this issue (see page 18) takes a look at where the industry is, three months on from Blackout Tuesday, and talks to a number of black executives about their determination to make sure diversity stays at the top of the agenda in the music business. It’s a compelling read and the message that is repeated time and again is that we can all, individually, effect change in our own lives and actions to contribute toward the common goal. Part of our personal pledges must be to maintain the pressure on others – be they employers or the companies we conduct our everyday transactions with – to live up to their promises so that equality can be achievable sooner rather than never.

Elsewhere in your September issue of IQ, you’ll find a quick guide to the Interactive Festival Forum (iFF) on page 24, which begins in just a few days’ time.

A temporary, virtual replacement for the International Festival Forum, the event will feature the most packed comprehensive programme ever for a conference devoted to the festivals sector, while we know that attendees will find the networking aspects invaluable for strengthening their professional relationships ahead of the 2021 season.

Tickets to iFF will be available before, during and after the event, as we’ll be recording the video panel sessions to allow absent delegates to catch up. So if you’ve still to secure your pass, registration is available via the Iff.rocks website.

And in the spirit of the new video conferencing world we find ourselves in, our final feature in IQ92 profiles some of the best livestreaming platforms and services that are defying lockdown and social distancing restrictions to help artists connect with their fans (page 28).

But if that isn’t enough for you, our excellent news team provides the usual in-depth analysis of the month’s biggest stories and trends, while Your Shout gives you an insight into some of the weird and wonderful things that your peers consider their most cherished items...

I hope to see your faces online, 2–3 September, during iFF!

ISSUE 92 LIVE MUSIC INTELLIGENCE

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

IN BRIEF INDEX The concert business digest

JULY Tickets for a series of four concerts featuring Taiwanese artist Eric Chou sell out in a quarter of an hour, indicating high demand for the region’s first lockdown arena shows.

The organisers of Virgin Fest file a lawsuit against WME and artists Lizzo, Kali Uchis and Ellie Goulding, in an attempt to recover deposits from its cancelled June debut.

Dusseldorf-based venue operator D.Live, which pioneered the drivein concert format, announces it has welcomed 100,000 fans to its drive-in space over the past three and a half months.

Vertical concerts take socially distanced crowds in Ukraine by storm, as bands perform to fans stacked on top of one another on hotel balconies.

New York governor Andrew Cuomo says health authorities will investigate a drive-in concert featuring The Chainsmokers for alleged social distancing violations.

The Rock Werchter team welcome over 15,000 guests to its Live2020 Zomerbar, an open-air entertainment space to raise money

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for the Belgian live industry.

The German town of Entringen hosts a series of concerts in its municipal swimming pool, which has been closed since the outbreak of coronavirus.

Belgian prime minister Sophie Wilmès announces tighter limits on event capacities following a “worrying” increase in coronavirus cases.

The Clapham Grand in London holds the UK’s first socially distanced show in a music venue since the coronavirus lockdown in March.

Game creation platform Roblox announces a partnership with Marshmello label Monstercat and appoints a global head of music, as the company makes moves in the music space.

French classical music festival Nuits musicales du Rouergue is put on hold on its opening night after a stage manager reports a suspected case of Covid-19.

South Korean technology firm Naver invests in K-pop management company SM Entertainment in a deal believed to be worth over €70million.

The PSA Tour Production Group (PSA TPG), a new association that aims to provide a unified industry response to the impact of Covid-19 on the live music production sector, launches.

Secondary ticketing giant StubHub announces it is closing down its offices in parts of Asia and Latin America, further reducing its workforce worldwide.

Indoor venues in England will no longer be permitted to resume business from 1 August, as the UK government stalls the next phase of reopening.

AUGUST Goodlive Artists, the booking and touring division of Berlin’s Goodlive (Lollapalooza Berlin, Melt! Festival), grows with the launch of a new agency, Nitelive Artists, focusing on dance/ electronic and pop music.

Modernisation work on Japan’s Nippon Budokan arena – famously the venue for The Beatles’ only Japanese concerts – concludes, just under a year before the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic games.

Tickets costing £5 (€5.55) for an adult or £10 (€11.10) for a family are the optimum average price point for virtual events, new analysis reveals.

Former members of the touring crew for The Killers emerge largely unscathed from a sexual misconduct claim, after an internal review is “unable to find any corroboration” for the allegations.

Inspired by the success of drivein concerts and cinemas, a new company, USA Drive-Ins, launches the first ever drive-in e-sports arenas.

Colours of Ostrava, the biggest international music festival in the Czech Republic, marks its original 2020 dates with a series of small, soldout ‘non-festivals’ of music and circus.

Live Nation reports a 98% drop in revenue and a $665m (€553m) loss in Q2 2020, even after reducing costs by over $800m (€676m) over the year.

The world’s northernmost jazz festival, Norway’s Varanger Festival, hosts what it believes is Europe’s first ‘hybrid’ festival event, combining a traditional in-person component with a paid-for live-stream.

Live Nation announces Return to Live, Germany’s biggest concert

In Brief

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since March, to be held next month at the 54,000-capacity outdoor stadium Merkur Spiel-Arena in Düsseldorf. Twelve thousand fans are expected to attend.

Sweden, United Stage Norway and Copenhagen Music have merge to create a new company called United Stage Group, recruiting Universal Music Sweden as a partner.

Organisers of Strandkorb Open Air say they’ve sold more than 35,000 tickets for Germany’s openair deckchair concert series, which runs from July until October.

Latvia is the latest country to come up with a creative format for socially distanced concerts after pioneering float-in music festival Laiva.

A Spanish concert promoter develops Alerta Covid, Spain’s first track-and-trace tool for concertgoers and nightclubbers.

Belgium is facing widespread insolvencies this autumn unless the government intervenes to prop up the corona-hobbled events sector, the country’s live music industry warns.

A concert promoter is charged with violating Thailand’s restrictions on mass gatherings after organising a non-socially distanced concert attended by 2,500 people.

It is “very unrealistic” to expect to see packed New Zealand-style stadia in the majority of countries this year, the World Health Organization says.

Thailand’s capital of Bangkok becomes the latest city to offer its own take on the drive-in concert format, hosting the Amazing Thailand Tuk Tuk Festival on 8 August.

Police search for the organisers of an illegal rave that drew thousands of partygoers to a national park in central France on the weekend of 8–9 August.

Istanbul Jazz Festival announces a hybrid edition of the event, combining open-air live shows with post-event streams for fans who would like to experience it at a distance.

Events with more than 1,000 people will once again be permitted in Switzerland from 1 October, the country’s governing Federal Council announces.

Nordic agencies United Stage

UK-based booking agency K2, which represents the likes of Metallica, Iron

Maiden and Slayer, announces a joint venture with investment firm the Yucaipa Companies.

The organiser of Romania’s biggest dance music festival offers free 2021 tickets to recovered Covid-19 patients who donate their blood plasma.

Viagogo becomes the target of a class-action lawsuit for allegedly retroactively axing its full cash refund guarantee amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Time for Fun, South America’s largest live entertainment company, sees its turnover decline by 98% in the second quarter of 2020, its latest earnings release reveals.

Nightlife establishments in Spain and Italy are forced to close with immediate effect due to a recent spike in coronavirus cases in both countries.

Wuhan, the Chinese city in which the global coronavirus pandemic began, hosts a major music festival attended by thousands of people.

Robomagic, the live entertainment venture founded by veteran promoter Rob Hallett, breaks with Live Nation after three years with the company.

A number of Australia’s major music events are cancelled due to ongoing coronavirus concerns, putting a question mark over the country’s imminent festival season.

Netherlands-based electronic dance promoter ID&T will receive an advance insurance payout of €1.3m to compensate for lost income due to the corona crisis, it announces.

Singing is “no riskier than talking,” for the spread of coronavirus, according to a new study supported by Public Health England and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

Promoter Friendly Fire becomes the latest Dutch concert business to make redundancies following a challenging summer, according to local media.

The UK’s V Festival – which in its heyday drew crowds of 170,000 across two sites in Essex and Staffordshire – returns as a one-off digital event on 21–23 August.

Thirteen people die in a crush trying to escape police who raided Thomas Restobar Club in Lima for violating coronavirus restrictions.

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Analysis

CONCERTS TAKE TO THE WATER

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irst there were drive-in concerts.

Then bike-ins. Then a tuk-tuk music festival, concerts for plants, shows in empty swimming pools and much, much more. Now, Latvia has given us the latest socially distanced concert innovation with the first float-in music festival, Laivā.

Taking place on 8 August, Laivā (Latvian for ‘boat’) saw 1,500 people gather on the waters of Lake Jugla for a day of music featuring local acts Laima Jansone, Tautumeitas and DaGamba.

Attendees could either hire a boat or bring their own (provided it was a rowing boat, standup paddleboard or motorboat with a lift motor), and the festival was broadcast live on television channel LMT Straume.

On a similarly nautical theme, Germany’s SparkassenPark Mönchengladbach said in early

August it had sold more than 35,000 tickets for Strandkorb Open Air, a concert series that sees attendees sat on the stadium’s pitch in spacedout deckchairs.

The 60-show series, which runs from July until October, has sold out more than 20 shows, including VNV Nation, Philipp Poisel and Gentleman.

For Strandkorb Open Air, 450 deckchairs have been divided into nine units to ensure social distancing. Each unit contains 50 deckchairs and operates with a one-way system to avoid contact between visitors.

The events also require guests to book food and drinks in advance, which are waiting in a cool box on the deckchair upon their arrival.

The series was launched after German chancellor Angela Merkel announced in June that major events in the country will be banned until the start of November unless organisers can prove that social distancing measures and strict

hygiene protocols can be met.

“We never expected that the concept would attract such a great response and demand, both from artists and from the audience,” says SparkassenPark managing director Michael Hilgers, “and we are proud that we can realistically target around 50,000 concertgoers. We are very much expecting that many more shows will be sold out at short notice. ” Cinemas have also been getting in on the floatin action, with new movie venues opening up in the UK, US, Israel and Italy in the coming weeks.

One, on Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park lake, opened for a test screening on 20 August, with around 200 people sitting in 70 pedal and rowing boats to watch the film Paddington 2.

“It was an amazing evening. It’s great to see a cinema corona-style,” attendee Galia Resnick told Reuters. “We had an amazing time. The whole family enjoyed it. Good move, Tel Aviv.”

FESTIVALS ADOPT HYBRID THEORY

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number of festivals are adopting the hybrid concert model, combining a traditional in-person component with a paid-for live-stream in order to reach a larger audience while coronavirus restrictions are in place.

Norway’s Varanger Festival, the world’s northernmost jazz event, hosted what it described as the world’s first ‘hybrid’ music festival from 5 to 8 August 2020. The festival, which has been held in Vadsø since 1982, normally attracts around 12,000 jazz fans who make the pilgrimage north to see top artists perform against the unique backdrop of the midnight sun.

“Unfortunately, Covid-19 is something event organisers will have to deal with for some time, and we believe the hybrid solution we have chosen is the long-term answer,” explains festival director André Kvernhaug.

“Normally we sell 12,000 tickets during the festival, but with social distancing rules we have scaled down sharply. We have moved the festival

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to a different venue, which only has a normal capacity of 250 – which has itself been reduced to 86 per concert. With 13 concerts in all, this gives us a total capacity of 1,118 tickets for the entire festival.”

Small, socially distanced events have been permitted in Norway since May, though promoters’ association NKA is clear that socially distanced shows are not financially viable for its members.

In order to expand its reach, Varanger Festival sold tickets for live-streams of the festival performances. They were priced at NOK100 (€9.40), compared to NOK200 (€18.80) or NOK375 (€35.20) for tickets for the physical shows.

“Live-streaming significantly expands our capacity and makes the concerts available to those who cannot or will not be able to physically attend,” adds Kvernhaug.

Also adopting a hybrid model is the 27th Istanbul Jazz Festival, which has been rescheduled to September. Headliners are Can Güngör and Selen Gülün Quintet, while the open-air festival

venues include Sultan Park at Swissotel the Bosphorus, Feriye, and The Marmara Esma Sultan Mansion.

Each concert will be available on the festival’s digital platform two days after taking place and will be available to access worldwide for 45 days with a festival ticket.

“Despite the difficult circumstances of a pandemic, the decision to hold the 27th Istanbul Jazz Festival was taken to support musicians and workers of the music sector, and to ensure the continuity of cultural activities,” says organiser Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV), which postponed the original festival earlier this year.

“With concerts in open-air venues and their online screenings, Istanbul Jazz Festival would like to emphasise the indispensability of cultural life under any circumstances and encourage artistic production by reuniting artists with their audiences.”

Istanbul Jazz Festival 2020 takes place from 2 to 14 September.

Analysis Proving the old adage that it is indeed a small world, industry legends Barry Dickins, Barry Clayman and John Giddings escaped from the office only to bump into each other near their prospective boltholes in the Algarve. The question is, who picked up the bill?

THE SHOW GOES ON FOR SOME EUROPEAN FESTIVALS

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handful of European festivals went ahead with a physical component in July and August, illustrating organisers’ creativity in adapting to local restrictions on mass gatherings.

From 2 to 26 July, Live Nation Belgium’s Rock Werchter welcomed over 15,000 guests to its Live2020 Zomerbar (summer bar), an openair entertainment space constructed near the North West Walls at the Festivalpark in Werchter.

Rock Werchter for Live2020 comprised 36 concerts and two comedy performances, with just 200 tickets available for each and all attendees seated at socially distanced tables of four.

The initiative raised money for Live2020, a solidarity fund to support the Belgian live music industry during the coronavirus pandemic.

Although the Werchter team stated the Zomerbar was “most definitely a success,” they added that it is “not a viable model” for the future and was only possible with the support of sponsors, suppliers, volunteers and local authorities.

Rock Werchter for Live2020 wrapped up just as the Belgian government reduced capacity limits at events – from 400 to 200 for open-air shows, and 200 to 100 for indoor events – instead of doubling them, as was previously planned for August, due to a spike in Covid-19 infection rates.

Colours of Ostrava, the biggest international music festival in the Czech Republic, marked its original 2020 dates with a series of small, soldout ‘non-festivals’ of music and circus held at the

festival’s usual site at Lower Vítkovice, a former ironworks in the city of Ostrava.

NeFestival (non-festival) Colours of Ostrava was organised for mid-July, after Colours of Ostrava was forced to pull its 2020 edition as a result of the growing Covid-19 crisis. Events of up to 1,000 people were allowed in the Czech Republic from the end of May. The first 1,000-capacity NeFestival event took place on 15 July and featured a show by circus company Cirk La Putyka, whose 45 acrobats, performers, dancers and guest artists juggled, walked the tightrope and danced across the industrial steel landscape of Lower Vítkovice. The evening closed with a concert by Czech band Tata Bojs.

The 16 July show saw performances from more Czech bands, DJ sets and a screening of a pre-recorded ‘quarantine concert’ by Dubioza Kolektiv.

While NeFestival Colours of Ostrava was originally planned for 15–18 July – the original Colours of Ostrava dates – Czech authorities once again reduced the maximum capacity for events (to 100) midway through the festival, forcing the cancellation of days three and four. “Under such

conditions, the non-festival had to be cancelled immediately, putting the organisers, as well as everyone in the supply chain and about 350 associated workers, in an extremely precarious situation,” organisers explain.

The events that did take place were live-streamed to digital audiences, while the atmosphere onsite was enhanced by light columns placed where Colours of Ostrava’s stages should have been, and which were visible from across the city.

In Greece, promoter Xlalala took advantage of loosened lockdown restrictions to plan two festivals, Long Beach and Urban Athens, on 24–25 July and 7–8 August, respectively.

Long Beach Festival 2.0 welcomed 2,000 festival-goers over two days of performances in the northern city of Pydna from 24 to 25 July.

Although mostly seated, audience members were able to stand and still remain distant from each other at the festival site, Terra Republic, which usually welcomes up to 50,000 concertgoers.

Hygiene regulations and temperature checks were in place at the festival, which featured performances from Greek acts including Stelios Dionisiou, Pyx Lax, Villagers of Ioannina City, and Planet of Zeus.

Urban Athens, however, was called off 3 August given the challenges of staging a major event in Greece’s densely populated capital.

Just one event remains in Poland’s 2020 festival calendar, meanwhile, with Gdańsk-based electronic music event Wisłoujście going ahead 21–23 and 28–30 August.

Promoter Follow the Step made a number of changes to the festival in order to comply with government restrictions. The 4,000-capacity event took place across two weekends instead of one, to make up the capacity lost to social distancing measures, while the festival area was enlarged to allow for attendees to keep their distance.

Organisers also had to comply with measures including checking attendees’ temperatures and health documents on arrival, enforcing the use of masks and providing disinfectants throughout the event.

Poland entered its fourth phase of lockdown easing on 30 May, giving the green light for public gatherings of up to 150 people – with a specific reference to outdoor concerts – as long as participants keep two metres apart or cover their faces.

Although the Werchter team stated the Zomerbar was “most definitely a success,” they added that it is “not a viable model” for the future

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CORPORATIONS SHOW RESOLVE DESPITE PLUMMETING RESULTS

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s expected, the major public live entertainment companies saw their turnover shrink almost 100% in the second financial quarter (Q2) of 2020, covering the largely event-free three-month period ending 30 June.

At both US-based Live Nation, the world’s leading concert promoter, and Brazil’s Time for Fun (T4F), the largest promoter in South America, revenue fell 98% in Q2 2020. For Berlin-based CTS Eventim, which owns a network of European promoters, the figure was down 96.6%.

While all three companies also operate their own ticketing platforms, legislation allowing ticket sellers to offer vouchers, in lieu of cash refunds, in many countries in Europe, softened the impact at Eventim, said CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg.

According to Schulenberg, by “reducing investments to a minimum, and working on the implementation of promoter voucher schemes” in Germany, Austria and Italy, the company was able to make in excess of €10million in savings in Q2.

As a result, Bremen-based CTS Eventim recorded only a modest €2.7m loss in the quarter,

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despite a 97% drop in revenue, to €13.9m.

“Thanks to prudent management in the past, to the solid cashflow situation we have as a result, to rigorous cost-cutting and efficiency-boosting measures, to our forward-looking technologies, and thanks, last but not least, to our highly motivated employees, we are well placed to face such a difficult market environment,” said Schulenberg. “We will emerge from the crisis stronger and more agile.”

“Crises,” he added, “are, above all, an opportunity for a company to show its strengths.”

Also reducing costs is Live Nation, whose

“Crises are, above all, an opportunity for a company to show its strengths” Klaus-Peter Schulenberg CTS Eventim

CEO, Michael Rapino, revealed that the company has made savings of in excess of $800m (€678m) in its Q2 earnings this year.

Despite this belt-tightening, LN recorded a $665m (€564m) loss for the quarter, which includes $79m (€67m) in refunds issued by Ticketmaster for some 11m tickets. Revenue was $74m (€63m), compared to $3.2billion (€2.7bn) in Q2 2019.

However, the company’s share price has been on a steady incline since the end of June, increasing from $42.64 (€36.14) to over $51 (€43) at press time – which, along with the fact that 86% of fans have held onto their tickets for rescheduled shows, points towards a strong recovery in 2021.

T4F, which trades on São Paulo’s B3 stock exchange, reported revenue of R$2.6m (€393,781) in Q2 2020 – down from R$132.4m (€20.5m) in the same period in 2019. For the half-year ending 30 June 2020, the figure is R$35.1m (€5.3m), a decrease of 86% on H1 2019’s R$253m (€38m).

Profit figures were even more bleak, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) falling 585.5%, leaving T4F with a Q2 loss of R$15.5m (€2.3m).

The company – which promotes concerts, festivals and theatrical shows, and sells tickets as Tickets 4 Fun – can, however, take comfort in the fact that 50 events, worth 327,000 tickets, have been rescheduled for when large-scale shows are allowed again, while previously announced cost-cutting measures have delivered a 36% reduction in expenses compared to 2019.

This “cash maintenance” plan, it says, means the T4F group has lost a comparatively low R$4.6m (€707,000), R$1.7m (€261,000) net, compared to Q1 2020. Its cash reserves as of the end of June were R$217.9m (€33.7m) gross and $57.2m (€8.66m) net.

Despite the devastating impact Covid-19 has had on Live Nation’s, and the wider industry’s, business, Rapino told investors that touring had “not had a structural change,” with both fans and artists keen to get back to shows as soon as it’s safe to do so.

“Artists keep calling me daily, saying, ‘When can I go? When’s it going to be safe? When are we going to go? I am dying to go. I got new music. I want to drop new music,’” he added.

“So, I think this is why we believe long-term – regardless of what quarter we exactly scale at – that the business will be stronger than ever, with the creative push by all these artists who need to get on the road to drive their new music.”

Schulenberg said it’s “a hopeful sign that events with several hundred visitors are now taking place again,” referencing the CTS-operated Lanxess Arena in Cologne – which has been open, albeit at 5% capacity, since June – as an example.

“We know that enthusiasm for live events is unbroken, despite [the impact of] corona,” he added.

NEW DECADE NEW LOOK Over 100,000 professionals read IQ’s news, features, and comment each month.

Now with more content and more often. iq-mag.net

NEW SIGNINGS

LISTEN TO ’S ‘NEW SIGNINGS’ AGENCY PLAYLIST HERE

has partnered with a number of agencies to compile a monthly playlist of new music, much of it released by the new signings to their rosters. Among the 50 tracks on August’s playlist are submissions from the following acts, represented by ATC Live and ITB.

MUCK SPREADER AGENT Felipe Mina Calvo

M (UK)

ATC Live

THE LOUNGE SOCIETY AGENT

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Liam Keightley ITB

iq-mag.net

(UK)

uck Spreader is an improvised art collective with a fluid approach to performance and collaboration. “We aim to create an online platform to promote, distribute and spread out the large amount of works regularly created by the collective,” state the band. “Like an online journal, documenting visual, audio and written content, to be used as a base for others to draw inspiration and discussion for their own creative pursuits.”

Muck Spreader’s latest track, Carnal Tongues, features on this month’s IQ ‘New Signings’ Agency Playlist (see above).

W

hile some bands make music that pats you on the back, The Lounge Society makes music “that kicks you in the teeth,” according to the band. Hailing from West Yorkshire, they are the next to emerge from the contagious Calder Sound, alongside Working Men’s Club, The Orielles and WH Lung. An unruly bunch of talented multi-instrumentalists, The Lounge Society have pioneered a fresh approach to an eclectic range of influences spanning The Fall and Talking Heads to The Velvet Underground and Fat White Family.

Debut single Generation Game combines all elements of their sound, and creates an intense, driving and explosive politically charged anthem. The track is part of this month’s ‘New Signings’ Agency Playlist (see above).

New Signings

ARTIST LISTINGS Afriqua (US)

Peter Beer, FMLY Agency

Athletic Progression (DK) Bad Gyal (ES)

Andre Marmot, Earth Agency

Bakers Eddy (NZ)

Jeremie Albino (CA)

Stuart Kennedy, ATC Live Stephen Taylor, ATC Live

Naomi Palmer, Earth Agency

John Carroll Kirby (US)

Sinan Ors, ATC Live

Anna Bewers & Paul Buck, Paradigm

Julianna Barwick (US)

Steve Nikolls, UTA

Bel Cobain (UK)

Marlon Burton, ATC Live

Kai Kwase (UK)

Boy Scouts (US)

William Church, ATC Live

Kansas Smitty’s (UK)

Graham Clews, ATC Live

Karate Boogaloo (AU)

Felipe Mina Calvo, ATC Live

Sam Gill & James Masters, UTA

Kayla Painter (UK/FJ)

Darren James-Thomas, FMLY

Brandon Jenner (US) Brevin Kim (US) Cande y Paulo (AR)

James Wright & Heulwen Keyte, UTA

Chaos in the CBD (UK)

Oliver Seaman, Earth Agency

Connor Fyfe (UK)

Steve Taylor, ATC Live

corto.alto (UK)

Sinan Ors, ATC Live

Death By Denim (AU)

Tom Taaffe, Paradigm

Disco Halal (IL)

Tom Manley, ATC Live

Fekky (UK)

Marlon Burton, ATC Live

Fivio Foreign (US)

Ari Bernstein, ICM

G4 Boyz (US) Goat Girl (UK)

Max Lee, Earth Agency Clemence Renaut & Roxane Dumoulin, ATC Live

Honey Mooncie (UK)

Sinan Ors, ATC Live

Isabella Lovestory (CA)

Kevin Jergenson, ICM

PREDICTIONS FOR SEPTEMBER 2020

ARTIST DUTCH HOLLY HUMBERSTONE (UK) ZOE WEES (DE) AUBREYS, THE (US) COCHISE (US) DUTCHAVELLI (UK) POORSTACY (US) RASSTER (RU) EVANN MCINTOSH (US) YOUNG JESUS (US) DEHD (US) ALEX PORAT (CA) OLIVER MALCOLM (SE) TEEKS (NZ) TSHA (UK) BREE RUNWAY (UK) DEAL CASINO (US), EVERYBODY LOVES AN OUTLAW (US), IVORIAN DOLL (UK), M1LLIONZ (UK), MARIAH THE SCIENTIST (US)

Luke Abbott (UK)

Sinan Ors, ATC Live

Manu Grace (ZA)

Matt Pickering-Copley, Primary Talent

Michelle Blades (PA)

Felipe Mina Calvo, ATC Live

MizOrMac (UK)

Craig D’Souza, Primary Talent

Moonchild Sanelly (ZA)

Steve Nikolls, UTA

Muck Spreader (UK)

Felipe Mina Calvo, ATC Live

Nines (UK)

Rebecca Prochnik, Earth Agency

Oso Leone (ES)

Felipe Mina Calvo, ATC Live

Park Hye Jin (KR)

Steve Nikolls, UTA

Penelope Trappes (UK)

Darren James-Thomas, FMLY Agency

Petite Noir (ZA) Pinty (UK)

Darren James-Thomas, FMLY Agency Marlon Burton & Felipe Mina Calvo, ATC Live Matt Pickering-Copley, Primary Talent Colin Keenan & Stuart Kennedy, ATC LIve

S1MBA (UK)

Craig D’Souza, Primary Talent

Sofia Kourtesis (DE)

Oliver Seaman, Earth Agency

Sparkling (DE) Sprints (IE)

Felipe Mina Calvo, ATC Live Steve Taylor, ATC Live

Tall Juan (AR)

Felipe Mina Calvo, ATC Live

Terno Rei (BR)

Felipe Mina Calvo, ATC Live

Tertia May (UK) The Blue Stones (CA) The Lounge Society (UK) The Marias (US) The Rainbow Collections (UK) Tiga (CA) TV Priest (UK) Ultraflex (IL/NO) Vio-Lence (US) WhoMadeWho (DK) Artists not in the current top 15, but growing quickly

LAST MONTH 1 3 52 2 8 6 15 22 26 11 4 29 75 129 21

Marlon Burton, ATC Live

S.G. Goodman (US)

AUGUST 2020

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

Steve Nikolls & Sam Gill, UTA

Runnner (US)

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

Peter Elliott, Primary Talent

Joe & The Shitboys (FO)

Serena Parsons & Cils Fyne Williams, Primary Talent

Bad With Phones (UK/DE)

Izzy Camina (US)

Wookie (UK) Yakul (UK) Zero (UK)

Andre Marmot, Earth Agency David Sullivan Kaplan, UTA Liam Keightley, ITB James Wright & Sophie Roberts, UTA Emily Robbins, UTA Oliver Seaman, Earth Agency Adele Slater, Paradigm Felipe Mina Calvo, ATC Live Paul Ryan, UTA Tom Manley, ATC Live Marlon Burton, ATC Live Sinan Ors, ATC Live Danny Misell, Earth Agency Magazine

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Comment

Festivals can still make a difference Dušan Kovačević, founder and CEO of EXIT Festival in Serbia, urges other events to embark on social activism campaigns, so that even in the festival sector’s darkest hour, annual gatherings can have a lasting impact on society

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he Covid pandemic has been the harshest on the events and festival industry, keeping in mind that mass gatherings were the first to be shut down and will be the last to reopen. The worst thing is that nobody knows when the revival of the festivals might happen. Uncertainty is at its highest point. However, despite unprecedented challenges, there is still a lot that festivals can do.

Most festivals have turned to the digital world in order to remain present in the lives of their fans. Some offered videos of their past editions, some built complex pay-per-view virtual worlds with exclusive superstar shows.

At EXIT, we decided to take a somewhat unique approach. EXIT started as a youth movement for peace and freedom in Serbia and The Balkans, 20 years ago. Since then, social activism remains as important as the music itself through the work of EXIT Foundation, which runs the festival, among other projects. The Foundation’s work varies from humanitarian initiatives, such as helping to build a hospital wing for children with cancer, and participating in a global campaign to stop human trafficking, to projects in youth development, peace promotion and environmental protection. We were also responsible for bringing the titles of European Culture Capital and European Youth Capital to our home city of Novi Sad. Dedication to social activism is the reason we decided to mark EXIT’s 20th anniversary with one of our biggest environmental projects to date – Life Stream – in which regular festival streams combine with video and messaging to alert the audience to the seriousness of the environmental crisis: if humanity doesn’t change course, Planet Earth could become inhabitable in just a few decades!

We launched a pilot edition of this project during ADE 2019 with Artbat performing from The Crane in Amsterdam.

The next level involves partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), to illustrate the crisis that is

happening as we speak. The pandemic and lockdown measures, together with climate change, are pushing a record number of people to the edge of extreme hunger. It’s estimated that 270 million people will be in danger before the end of 2020 – an 80% increase from 2019.

Life Stream 2020 is a four-day festival, 3-6 September, which will take place at Petrovaradin Fortress, where EXIT Festival takes place. From our legendary Dance Arena, we’ll bring together international stars alongside our most famous regional acts.

Some performances will be live from the Fortress and some will be exclusive online sets, which we’ll present as if they’re live onstage.

We’re building a big production for this, one of the few actual stages that will be built this year.

Viewers will join us online via stream, free of charge, and we’ll have a small live audience, adhering to government guidelines and current health & safety measures. During the stream there will be a call to action for people to donate directly to the UN’s WFP page.

Life Stream will be an open-source platform that can run by every event in the world that wants to dedicate media space to support social issues. Helping others is the strongest motivation to realise such a project, even in such difficult times.

The pandemic is the fourth emergency state we at EXIT have experienced in our lives. Therefore, we can offer a few words of consolation: that no matter how bad the situation looks at the moment, the clouds will disappear and the sun will shine again. It is up to us in the festival world to be at the forefront of not allowing the ‘new normal’ to be a world with no contact, but for the pandemic to bring us to a more responsible way of thinking about the world around us. The task of our generation is to build not a new normal, but a ‘new Earth,’ where humanity will be in harmony with the life around us. If we don’t succeed, we might be the last generation to try.

“No matter how bad the situation looks at the moment, the clouds will disappear and the sun will shine again”

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Comment

The distance between us On 23 July, Beverley Knight played to 640 people for a socially distanced, UK Government-backed pilot event at the London Palladium. Writing shortly after, she reflects on the show, explaining why she’s glad she took part – but wouldn’t do it again…

On reading the crowd…

I cannot overstate the shock of walking out onto a stage and being faced with a whole load of empty seats covered in white paper with great big black ‘X’s on them. I saw them during soundcheck, of course, but somehow in my mind I didn’t quite appreciate that when I went back to perform they’d still be there.

It really was weird. I enjoyed the feeling of being back on a stage more than I can ever explain – if you are a performer it’s innate within you: you do it because you’re compelled to do it.

But playing to a 30%-capacity crowd – all of whom were wearing masks, so they can’t communicate with you in the traditional way – meant my band and I had to dig deeper than we’ve ever dug before.

If you’re playing to a crowd that’s not your natural audience – a festival, for example – you can read the crowd, feel their energy and adapt; you know what you’ve got to do. But when you’re faced with a crowd that may as well be cardboard cut-outs, it’s so hard to know what way to play it.

And there is only one way: to go all out from the beginning.

On adjusting her performing style…

I’m a very physical performer – I come from a Pentecostal Christian background. It’s not a staid, austere thing. I learnt how to communicate a message that way: in the time-old tradition of soul singers. So I encouraged the audience to be physical, to get them on their feet and dancing. Within 15 minutes, they’d thought, sod this, and they were in.

The show made me realise that people, more than ever, are desperate for interaction – for the collective euphoric experience that concerts can provide.

An additional challenge for a performer was that you could hear too much of the room. With a “normal” show there are bodies soaking up the sound – so even though the audience was great, we could hear ourselves in a way you can’t when it’s a

capacity crowd. We had to just work through that and carry on.

On socially distanced concerts…

As for social distancing, it cannot be done to that level – and I wouldn’t encourage any performer to step inside an auditorium where they’re playing to 30% capacity. Financial considerations aside, the energy that you need just isn’t there.

That’s true for the audience, too: they appreciated what we were doing on stage, but they didn’t feel “in” the gig.

The masks you can get over, because people know they can be demonstrative – 2,000-3,000 people in the Palladium make a hell of a noise, whether or not they’re masked. When the house lights go down, the audience should erupt, but that didn’t happen because the room was so empty.

I would say, in terms of a meaningful experience for both the performer and crowd, you’re going to need over half of the seats to be full – and even then it would still break your heart being on stage. You can just about work with 60%.

On showing it could be done…

I’m glad I did it, because I had a point to prove. I’m not a woman who’s easily intimidated by circumstances, situations or people. That comes from a lifetime of being on stage.

Whatever happened, I was going to deal with it.

I wanted to be the person to do it for live music, to show that it could be done – because the only way we can protect our venues is to get the doors open and get people in again.

Those of us in the arts were the nation’s cheerleaders – and their therapists – during the coronavirus [lockdown]. Whether people were watching Netflix, or listening to Spotify, or watching artists like me performing on Instagram live, we became the people who helped them through lockdown. And we’d quite like to do that again, this time in person – as soon as we’re allowed.

“The show made me realise that people are desperate for the collective euphoric experience that concerts can provide”

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ALLY WOLF As general manager of The Clapham Grand in London, Ally Wolf has been working hard to re-establish the venue on the regular tour circuit. The closure of the theatre because of the Covid-19 pandemic has been devastating to the business, but Wolf and his team recently held a pilot event to showcase their capability in hosting live music in a safe, socially distanced environment.

A

lly Wolf first started working in events aged 18, when he was at university in Southampton. A massive music fan, he formed the uni’s record label and booked live shows for local acts that the label signed to support releases. When he graduated, he began running a small indie DJ club and bought a PA with his student grad loan, as well as building a stage, so he could book bands.

Those acts included the likes of The Maccabees, The Kooks and Maximo Park, before they had deals, but the bands stayed loyal to Wolf when he became a full-time promoter.

A move to London saw Wolf crash landing in Nambucca alongside Frank Turner, Beans on Toast and The Holloways, among others, with whom he formed lasting friendships, as he expanded his promoting skills. Tours on barges to Oxford followed with an unsigned Mumford & Sons, Bastille and Kate Tempest, and many amazing times were had.

“Unfortunately, Nambucca burned down, and I took over a pub a mile down the road called The Old Queens Head, programming it and a few other venues for The Columbo Group until I caught the Bingo bug and took Rebel Bingo round Europe, America and the UK, selling thousands of tickets a night,” says Wolf.

“Whilst on the hunt for a magical new home for Rebel Bingo in London, I discovered the sleeping giant that was The Clapham Grand, which was, at the time, in a transitional stage of programming. So I moved myself and a new team in to revert it back to its original purpose – a grand palace of variety – but with a modern

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twist, and it also became the proud host of The Grand stage at Mighty Hoopla, the festival I founded and co-own with the teams from Sink The Pink, East Creative, Guilty Pleasures and Bugged Out.” Wolf says his highlights from working at The Grand are simple. “Pre-Covid: getting the diary to the point where we have a constant weekly [schedule] of varied events, which cater for so many people to give them an incredible night out – from drag, to comedy, live music, bingo, cinema and clubbing.”

Wolf continues, “We are like the Royal Albert Hall held together by gaffer tape, or the Barbican, for a tenner. It’s affordable, well produced, pop-culturally referenced entertainment for people who want a great experience-led night out, but can’t afford the bigger venues, or want somewhere a bit more relaxed to let their hair down in.”

Post-Covid, Wolf and his staff have used their creativity to engineer a successful crowdfunding campaign that gave the venue’s supporters livestreamed shows, produced to a TV-standard, whilst also supporting other communities and organisations like Save Live Comedy and the Save Our Venues campaigns. “We’ve created a blueprint for a business model when we reopen, of a hybrid between live and streamed,” he notes.

“In order to make the venue work, financially, we have to execute multiple events in the same day, which can be incredibly complex, organisation-wise. But with great forward planning and an excellent production team, we’ve been able to execute,” continues Wolf. “There have been

many occasions when we’ve looked at the auditorium before doors and wondered where the hell are we going to put all the flight cases and equipment, but as with life, we always find a way.”

One of the major challenges that Wolf is having to tackle during the enforced venue lockdown is the threat of The Clapham Grand’s permanent closure. He explains, “Our landlord is still charging full rent during lockdown, and we currently haven’t been able to get a CBILS loan, so we were left in a position of having to crowdfund to cover our rent.” That support, says Wolf, has secured the venue’s future until the end of August. “We are now applying for the various Arts Council grants that have [be]come available,” he adds.

Wolf says the operation to reconfigure The Grand for the 28 July, Grand Aid Live – which featured long-time friends Frank Turner, Beans On Toast and Ciara Haidar – was a real test for venue staff. “Turning a 1,250-capacity Victorian theatre into a 200-cap tabled space, with one-way systems, staggered arrival times and drinks service, was not easy, but we managed it. It all just requires greater planning and more cost, but it can be done.

“People understood the complexity of the situation and were just happy to work with us on making it happen. We had clear communication to our customers, artists and staff to talk them through the process in advance, and a great customer service attitude to facilitate any questions, etc, during the event. The product itself was still a great night out, which means we can invest in it moving forward. It didn’t feel like an experiment or an alien experience.”

With the threat hanging over The Grand ramping up the pressure during what is already an unprecedented period of stress, Wolf is remaining upbeat and shares some helpful thoughts for artists and industry colleagues around the world who also find themselves dealing with uncertainty. “Just show positivity when coming back to see shows,” he says. “Work with venues on the rules and guidelines, be respectful of staff and, more than anything, have fun.

“Everyone is working overtime to get the industry back, and, most importantly, give customers what they have been missing, which is a great night out.”

He concludes, “This is not the ‘new normal.’

This isn’t normal, it’s just life. It’s thrown us a massive curve ball and now we just need to work our way through it. No one chooses our industry for a normal life, let alone a new normal life!”

Unsung Hero

“This is not the ‘new normal.’

This isn’t normal, it’s just life. It’s thrown us a massive curve ball and now we just need to work our way through it. No one chooses our industry for a normal life, let alone a new normal life!”

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On 2 June, many people, organisations and companies paused their normal activities to take part in the Blackout Tuesday campaign – an initiative launched by the collective music industry to protest racial talks to inequality in society. Three months on, some black professionals working in the live music sector to gauge where the industry is doing well, and where there is room for improvement...

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rompted by the 23 February racist shooting of Ahmaud Arbery in Glynn County, Georgia; the 13 March police shooting of Breonna Taylor in her own home in Louisville, Kentucky; and the 25 May murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Blackout Tuesday was organised by the music industry to protest racism and police brutality. The movement sprung from #TheShowMustBePaused initiative, set up by record label executives Jamila Thomas (Atlantic Records) and Brianna Agyemang (Platoon), but evolved into Blackout Tuesday as momentum grew.

While numerous media organisations marked the occasion by placing black tiles on website home pages and across social media, displaying the #blackouttuesday hashtag, many also opted to give staff the day off to allow them to reflect on racism in society by reading relevant literature; discussing issues with friends and colleagues; and watching documentaries, films and other educational material. For their part, Agyemang and Thomas noted, “This is not just a 24-hour initiative. We are and will be in this fight for the long haul.” Thankfully, that sentiment appears widespread.

In the quarter year since, countless companies throughout live entertainment have made pledges in an effort to drive change, but as the industry endures the quietest period in its history, redundancies and lay-offs are more likely than people of colour being welcomed as new employees. That’s no excuse not to try to address the issues, according to Echo Location boss Obi Asika. “It’s not racist if you don’t have a diverse workplace. However, in a sector that takes so much from black culture, would you be proud to tell your loved ones you make money from the talents of black people but also choose not to include them in your workplace?” he asks.

“There’s next to no data or statistics about diversity and employment in our industry, and as a result there’s not much transparency. So, we’re pushing for the data to be published annually.”

One person familiar with collating such data is Natalie Williams, former head of research for UK Music. She observes that unless requirements are brought in to make participation mandatory, companies have a habit of being wary about divulging stats. “When racial pay gap reporting is implemented by the government, that could be a big catalyst for change,” says Williams. “But I know from experience that certain companies simply would not fill in the data for gender pay gap research because they knew it would not look very good, so we need some kind of mandate.”

Nonetheless, Blackout Tuesday has acted as a catalyst for change, with operations, small and monolithic, eager to make their voices heard among the calls for greater diversity.

Diversity_Feature David Carrigan, Live Nation’s London-based head of diversity says, “Blackout Tuesday was incredibly symbolic, as it showed that people feel something needs to change. We’re very keen that this should develop as a movement, rather than just being a moment, and I think that people are now really expecting some progress.”

Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino recently set aside a $10million war chest to spend over the next two years to increase the diversity of the company’s workforce, while by 2025, 30% of Live Nation’s directors will represent underserved groups. “Live Nation has made some very public commitments about what it wants to achieve.

How we best accomplish that is what the conversations are now about, but we are absolutely determined to achieve them,” says Carrigan.

Williams contends that such pronouncements, although welcome, are only part of the solution. “Unless people are constantly questioning company policy, across the board, then it’s not going to change,” she says. “We have to hold companies and senior management accounta-

of cross-industry think tanks emerging, where people can talk openly about how to make our industry better. From my point of view, it’s great to see people using their competitive spirit for good and collectively pushing for change,” says Hadley. “The Black Music Action Coalition, in particular, is doing some great work to identify ways in which the entertainment industry can be more inclusive.”

Assessing the impact of Blackout Tuesday, Raye Cosbert, managing director of London-based Metropolis Music, says, “I’m not young, so I’ve seen similar movements in other guises over the years. But the power of social media and the connectivity that has with people makes this feel different.

“Blackout Tuesday has allowed people as individuals to reflect on how we all can move forward from this point. This time, it hasn’t been an exercise in finger pointing, but more about highlighting what is wrong in society. This has given us a place where we stand back and look at things and create the space where people can

“Blackout Tuesday was incredibly symbolic, as it showed that people feel something needs to change” David Carrigan | Live Nation

ble. It takes a long time to change culture, but that can be accelerated if the desire for change also comes from the top.”

New York-based ICM Partners agent Yves C Pierre goes further. “It’s great that funds have been pledged toward diversity, but there needs to be a high degree of transparency so that we can see exactly where that funding money goes.

The importance of the dollar amount is not as important as where each dollar is put to work,” she says. “Blackout Tuesday was a moment that said, ‘the buck stops here,’ and people realised that they have to do better. If people can bring about change in their individual spaces, that can give power to overall systematic change.”

Taking record labels as a case in point, Pierre observes, “People in individual buildings are pushing to change the agenda. If their label says they are committing to a five-step programme, then those individuals are going to make sure they stick to that commitment. But we also need to encourage people at labels to talk to each other, so that there can be a united front. The same is true with the live sector and everywhere else across music and society.”

On the west coast, CAA’s Joe Hadley is confident the building blocks are being put in place to allow such inter-corporate communication.

“Post Blackout Tuesday, we’ve seen a number

talk about a difficult and challenging subject. It’s got to be an ongoing process, however. We have a long way to go yet.”

Williams contends that music industry data does not make for great reading and, fundamentally, the problems start at the top of the food chain. “At grassroots level the numbers were good for female staff and other minority groups.

But past the age of 30, that disappears, while in senior management roles, it’s pretty much non-existent. So a lot of talent gets lost and ends up working in different fields.”

She adds, “If you’re a senior executive, then maybe you should look at yourself and the friendship circle that you have – if that’s not diverse, then you could be part of the problem.

90% of people do not think they are part of the problem, so they end up passing the buck to their HR department. “

EDUCATION

While the public perception may be that the music industry’s role in creating campaigns such as Blackout Tuesday places it at the forefront of the struggle, it’s not an accolade that Asika believes has been earned.

“The live music industry, in particular, is behind the times – it’s awful,” he states. “I’ve had really bad experiences over the years and that’s Magazine

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KEY FINDINGS FROM THE 2018 UK MUSIC DIVERSITY REPORT, WHICH SURVEYED NEARLY 3,000 WORKERS ACROSS THE ENTIRE MUSIC INDUSTRY…

100%

2016

2018

2016

2018

2018

60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

FEMALE REPRESENTATION BAME 16–24 Proportion of REPRESENTATION women in the music industry rose from 45.3% in 2016 to 49.1% in 2018.

“If you’re a senior executive, then maybe you should look at yourself and the friendship circle that you have – if that’s not diverse, then you could be part of the problem” Natalie Williams | (formerly) UK Music

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2016

70%

BAME (Black, Asian, minority ethnic) representation in the UK music industry was up from 15.6% in 2016 to 17.8% in 2018.

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2018

80%

BAME REPRESENTATION

why I’ve chosen the path that I’ve taken. I’ve basically created my own safe space where I can control my own destiny.”

It’s a widely shared viewpoint. “When we look at other industries, we acknowledge there is a need to do better,” says Live Nation’s Carrigan. However, he believes the industry can learn quickly that casting its net wider will facilitate growth. “Diversity is an opportunity and we literally have the ears of all the communities that we operate in, so we’re working hard to make sure there are no impediments to finding careers in the live entertainment business.

From her Barcelona base, Earth Agency’s Lucy Atkinson agrees. “A lot of white males in the industry who I’ve spoken to simply fell into the job. So we definitely need to let young people from minority backgrounds know about the

2016

90%

careers that exist in music, outside of being an artist, as there is a huge pool of talent the industry is missing out on.”

Marlon Burton, at ATC Live, believes, fundamentally, that there’s a need to educate people about the music industry. “When I was 13 or 14, I didn’t know what an agent was,” he says.

“When I used to buy UK garage records, it would say on the back ‘to book this act call or email this person,’ so I did it and that’s how I got started as a promoter. What the equivalent of that is in 2020, I’m not sure.”

Cosbert agrees. “Making people aware that our industry is accessible should be a major goal.

Many people think it’s a closed shop and you only get in through family connections or something, but that’s patently not the case. We need to engage more in community-based projects

BAME representation among young workers (aged 16 to 24) rose from 20.2% in 2016 to 25.9% in 2018.

FEMALE 16–24 REPRESENTATION

Percentage of young women (aged 16 to 24) in the industry was up from 54.6% in 2016 to 65.3% in 2018.

and neighbourhood initiatives to communicate that message.”

Burton says his employers are speaking to Sound School in Camden – the borough where ATC is headquartered – as part of an eight-point plan to try to foster greater diversity. “We want to put the opportunities in front of a wider audience so people can see the range of jobs that are available in the music industry. As things stand, telling youngsters that there is such a job as a live sound engineer is a difficult proposal.”

As a result, ATC is one of the growing number of operations promising to instigate mentoring programmes to help with the education process that the live industry currently lacks.

“We want to do work placements with kids from Sound School so we can educate them about the business before they get to an age where we can’t help them,” says Burton. ATC, he adds, is changing its recruitment strategy by engaging with agencies that have similar goals. “In the future, when hiring, we’d like to [work] with companies such as BAME Recruitment RARE, White Hat and the Prince’s Trust Get Hired scheme, which will allow us to look at a wider pool of people when we’re looking to employ new staff.”

Earth Agency, meanwhile, is partnering with a number of organisations to establish

Diversity_Feature 100%

2016

2018

2016

2018

90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40%

However, our survey did reveal there is a lower representation of females aged 35 and above compared to younger age groups. BAME representation among workers aged 45 to 65 increased from 10% to 11.4% of the workforce.

But the figure is still below the 12.8% BAME total representation for the UK population as a whole.

30% 20% 10% 0%

BAME INTERNS

BAME representation rose among interns and apprentices from 24.4% in 2016 to 35.2% in 2018.

BAME SENIOR MANAGERS BAME representation increased among senior managers from 11.4% in 2016 to 18.8% in 2018.

mentorship schemes and help with its diversity programme, with Atkinson naming Shadow to Shine, Thirty Pound Gentlemen, and Elevate.

She tells IQ, “When we’re able to hire people again, it’s actively going to be encouraged that people consider a more diverse pool of talent.”

Asika states. “It’s a great way to help take our industry to the next level. We work in a business full of black on-stage talent, so pleading that you can’t find any black people to employ within your organisation is rubbish,” he states.

And Carrigan cites the success of Silicon Valley’s recruitment model as a template. “The tech business has done really well to promote itself in schools and influence what kids want to do. Traditional career aspirations like doctors or dentists or lawyers or accountants are now expanding to include tech sector roles. That’s where we’re hoping jobs in the live entertainment sector can be soon, too.”

they had to do something, but that amounted to someone in their digital department putting up a black tile on social media and everyone at the company getting a day off work,” says Williams, who left UK Music at the end of 2019 to pursue her dream to represent Great Britain in karate at the Tokyo Olympic Games. “If this is something that the industry will continue to do going forward, I wonder whether some people will treat it just like a holiday?!”

Despite such reservations – or perhaps because of those suspicions – an annual repeat of the campaign is gaining support, if it can help ensure that companies are standing by their public proclamations.

“Maybe we do need another similar event as a reminder to people that we need to keep moving,” says Asika. “But what’s more important is what happens in-between. Petitions are not enough if they do not come with action.”

ROLLING PROGRAMME

COMMUNICATION

Not every aspect of Blackout Tuesday was universally welcomed and many sceptics believe that the current spirit of cooperation might quickly dissolve when shows and concerts start to become the norm once again.

“It seemed to me that companies thought

Spreading the word about career opportunities in live music is, indeed, involving a communications revolution, with operators that are more used to dealing with each other as fierce rivals, enjoying unprecedented cooperation as the industry also collectively battles to get back to

business. However, conversations about white privilege, diversity and equality are not proving easy for some.

“People are scared to speak in case they make mistakes – there’s a fear of being destroyed if you say the wrong thing,” notes Asika. “I’ve lost count of the number of times I get contacted by white friends asking, ‘Can I say this?’” He pauses, then adds, “Even as I say this, I think to myself, don’t forget my Asian friends. The whole thing is a depressing minefield.”

For his part, diversity professional Carrigan says, “Language changes and evolves constantly so there is definitely a fear of saying the wrong thing and using the wrong terminology.”

But Atkinson believes communication, no matter how uncomfortable, is critical if equality is to become the norm. “We need white people to be involved in these conversations if we seriously want things to change. Some of those conversations might be awkward, but it’s ok to ask what might be sensitive questions if it helps the dialogue and moves the conversation in the right direction.”

ICM’s Pierre echoes that sentiment. “Ultimately, we’re doing this for the people that come up behind us. If we want to achieve growth in the business, then we need to spend time preparing the next wave of folk to take the business forward. Just because we got treated shitty is no reason for us to treat the next generation shitty, too – that benefits nobody.”

However, Asika wants communication to be at all levels, rather than trying to zero in on specific targets. “The perception of black people is wrong – many programmes seem determined to concentrate on the ‘hard to reach,’ but not everyone in the black community is hard to reach – with many, it’s pretty easy,” he attests.

Meanwhile, Live Nation’s Carrigan points to the company’s Embrace Nation programme, launched more than a year ago in an effort to address diversity issues. “We’re not just focussing in one direction – we’re looking across gender, race, LGBTQ+ and other minority communities,” says Carrigan. “Live Nation is also looking at the likes of artists and tours and the impact our spend can have on vendors. We can leverage that influence so we’re not just changing our own business practices but also those on a wider spectrum.”

Cosbert also lauds Embrace Nation as a forum where issues can be discussed, while CAA’s Hadley talks up a number of that organisation’s programmes, citing its Amplify platform, the CAA Foundation Community Fund, The Hubb, and the recently launched CAA Scholars scheme.

Hadley is genuinely excited about the gathering demand for greater diversity. “Change is happening from the top down at CAA and we are building on the momentum we’ve had here for the past decade. We’re holding our partners accountable, and we’re finding that’s a very honest Magazine

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CONTRIBUTORS

share that information with the wider industry in September. But while he understands that true diversity in the workplace will require longterm strategies, other aspects of cultural racism could – and should – be easier to tackle.

“The visa system for African and Caribbean artists is ridiculous and it puts those musicians at a huge disadvantage,” he says. “That’s a small thing that key people in the industry could easily sort out with a little cooperation. There are a number of quick wins that we could definitely make happen in the next 12 months. Don’t forget, many of these countries are supposed to be a part of The Commonwealth so we should make it easier for their musicians.”

When it comes to tomorrow’s brave new world, Pierre is realistic in her ambitions. “In terms of the hierarchy handing over power to black people, then of course there isn’t going to be an overnight change in ownership.”

Pierre believes it’s time to forget historic business models and start afresh. While the record business has a history of giving young, inexperienced people opportunity through joint ventures or resurrecting defunct labels, that’s often down to nepotism or favouritism, she contends.

“That leads to a system where the majority of people in power/heads of labels are not people of colour. The result of that is those people are given the power to hire or buy their way into a culture that they are not truly vested in, and the cycle continues,” she says. “The pool of people given those opportunities needs to diversify.”

As far as the live industry is concerned, Pierre adds, “The pool of people put in power need a diversity check from within, because we can see they’re great at buying IP but I think that’s the easy route. The power brokers need to step out of their comfort zone and confront the task of changing what’s become the norm internally from the inception of the business model.

“Now that we can see the business changing, we cannot put our heads in the sand and pretend it’s going to be the way it used to be. That’s what the record labels did and it’s taken them decades to recover.”

Ultimately, Atkinson believes it is down to individuals to pressurise for change.

“Accountability will be the most important part of all this,” she says. “I know from experience that many people have told me that things will inevitably change naturally, but we’ve waited too long for things to happen naturally.”

“The pool of people given those opportunities needs to diversify” Yves C Pierre | ICM Partners

OBI ASIKA | ECHO LOCATION LUCY ATKINSON | EARTH AGENCY MARLON BURTON | ATC LIVE DAVID CARRIGAN | LIVE NATION JOE HADLEY | CAA YVES C PIERRE | ICM PARTNERS NATALIE WILLIAMS | (FORMERLY) UK MUSIC

two-way conversation, but it’s affirming to know that we’re all moving in the same direction.” He adds, “Things are positive, but there is still a lot of change to be done before we can feel good about things.”

EVOLVING LINE-UPS

Another facet of the live music industry’s inequality issue is with the talent that gives the business its beating heart.

“Looking at festival line-ups in the UK, there needs to be more opportunities for black artists to perform, especially UK acts,” observes Asika.

“If you compare the festival line-ups to the music that is in the official singles charts, there’s a big difference. It’s better than it was but I still think black artists don’t get enough slots across the board. Looking at the two major festival promoters, one in particular has made major advances in giving black artists more opportunities and one sadly hasn’t.”

Pierre opines that outdated systems may be partially to blame for the disparity in the biggest selling acts not being offered what they consider to be fair deals for touring and festival

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appearances. “Larger festivals want a piece of the hip-hop and R&B pie, but it can be a different game when it comes to the artist’s expectations,” she says. “The way the business has been done, many promoters in the industry rely on Billboard or Pollstar metrics to gauge what the artist fee might be. But often those metrics don’t keep up with the times – lots of promoters don’t report their numbers, for instance. So people need to know how to pivot and evolve with the times.”

Earth Agency’s Atkinson reveals that she and her colleagues have drawn up a diversity and inclusion rider, which is already generating opportunities for minority artists. “It allows us to have conversations with promoters to make them think more about their line-ups,” she says. “Certainly, I’ve already had to call promoters to tell them that my artists need the line-up to be more diverse before they think about agreeing to an offer. That message from the artists will be a great way to help bring about change. And from the artist point of view, I’ve spoken to everyone on my roster about diversity and I know that a lot of acts are now looking to do collaborations with black and other minority artists.” Earth Agency, she adds, has a longstanding commitment to non-mainstream artists, but there is now an active drive to welcome more people of colour into genres such as house, techno, punk, folk, hyper pop and indie.

One early corporate adopter is Live Nation, which has already made commitments to work with more black and Latino artists and other under-served groups. “Live Nation is examining its tours and festival line-ups, and Melvin Benn at Festival Republic is massively committed to the Rebalance campaign,” says Carrigan.

NEXT STEPS

Asika tells IQ that a collective of companies in the live sector is working on documents to “identify pragmatic solutions for key areas where BAME are underrepresented” and they plan to

Spatial Intelligence for Live Events.

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NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES As iFF 2020 takes place in a virtual setting, we’ve provided a number of facilities to enable delegates to still “meet” and talk business:

As the music industry remains on pause until Covid pandemic restrictions are eased, behind the scenes, festival organisers and agents have been working feverishly to make sure the 2021 season will be one of the best in history.

While a number of conferences have cancelled their 2020 editions, the feedback from previous delegates was that a gathering of agencies, festival promoters and bookers is more important now, than ever. As a result, we’ve reformatted the International Festival Forum into the Interactive Festival Forum (iFF) and in the first week of September we’ll be welcoming hundreds of delegates, from both sides of the deal-making process, to our online platform.

If you have not already secured a ticket, passes will be available before and during the event, which, as with its original format, will include debates and workshops with some of the industry’s foremost personalities, showcase performances by the hottest new talent, and innovative networking sessions that will allow delegates to virtually “hang out” with friends, old and new, as well as creating space for those who are either buying or selling talent ahead of the next festival season.

FOR ALL INFORMATION & REGISTRATION ENQUIRIES VISIT iFF.ROCKS 24

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Delegates can instantly connect to each other and request or schedule video meetings.

Four dedicated virtual speedmeeting sessions.

Private meeting rooms can be arranged for gatherings of more than two delegates (contact the iFF Networking Office for details).

Networking Lounges are available to host up to 16 delegates on video (or more for voice only).

Agency lounges are being hosted by iFF Partners ATC Live, Paradigm & Primary.

Other networking highlights include:

IFF DELEGATE LOUNGES

The Delegate Lounges are open throughout the event. In-between sessions, attendees can check out who’s around, catch up with industry friends and colleagues or introduce yourself to new ones. Whilst it won’t replace hanging out in London, drink in hand, who doesn’t want to see familiar faces (or get acquainted with new ones) after several long months of lockdown?

SPEEDMEETINGS

11:00–11:45 & 14:00–14:45

We may not be face to face with a coffee in hand, but that won’t stop us from making new connections. Sign up to the twice daily speedmeeting sessions as promoters and agents are matched with each other, courtesy of some particularly clever computer algorithms. Delegates have a five-minute video chat, before automatically moving on to the next person.

COCKTAIL HOUR

Whether catching up on the day’s discussions and meetings, or winding down with friends and colleagues, how about a virtual cocktail hour where you bring your own booze? It’s the wrap up for both days, so look out for some special guest mixologists...

iFF 2020 Agenda

WEDNESDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 09:00-09:45 WORKSHOP NEW THREAT, NEW RISKS PRESENTERS

Coralie Bereal, Forest National Arena Henrik Bondo Nielsen, Roskilde Festival Nick Morgan, We Are The Fair Morten Therkildsen, Roskilde Festival Pascal Viot, Paléo Festival Nyon

10:00-10:45 PANEL THE BIG REBUILD: FESTIVALS BOUNCE BACK

Few could have predicted how this year would turn out, but if any industry is equipped to bounce back fast, it’s the dynamic and entrepreneurial festival/agency business. As organisers and agents alike pick themselves up and dust themselves off, what’s needed to get back to work? How can agents and festivals work closely and supportively to rebuild the scene and ensure that audiences return quickly?

PANELLISTS

Jim King, AEG Presents Maria May, Creative Artists Agency Roberta Medina, Better World/Rock in Rio Herman Schueremans, Live Nation Belgium/ Rock Werchter

11:00-11:45 PANEL VIRTUAL EVENTS: LOST HORIZON & WIRELESS CONNECT/DOWNLOAD TV PANELLISTS

Lucy Carter, Festival Republic Chris Macmeikan, Lost Horizon Festival Emily Scoggins, Festival Republic

12:00-12:45 PANEL REFUNDS, DEPOSITS & FORCE MAJEURE PANELLISTS

Kim Bloem, Mojo Concerts Ben Challis, Glastonbury Festival Peter Elliott, Primary Talent Tamás Kádár, Sziget Festival Aino-Maria Paasivirta, Fullsteam Agency James Wright, UTA

14:00-14:55

SOAPBOX SESSIONS

FIVE IN 55

Five quick-fire presentations on specialist topics.

ROSTR: The Agency World in Numbers AIF presents: Touching Base AIF presents: Sounds of Space Covid-19: You Are Here Getting Back to Work: The Fan’s Perspective

15:00-15:45 PANEL TICKET PRICE, ARTIST FEES & DEALS

For some in the business, the current crisis is a necessary reset after years of escalating fees and ticket prices. So, with the boom of the last decade now (temporarily?) halted, is this an opportunity to rethink how we work together more broadly? With uncertainty around shows continuing, are agents and festivals adapting deals for the benefit of all? And for festival promoters, what will be the impact of a year of lost ticket prices on the next 12 months?

16:00-17:00

THE iFF KEYNOTE MARC GEIGER IN CONVERSATION WITH LISA YANG

Last month, Marc Geiger sent the live music world into a tailspin when he predicted a twoyear time out for the live business, with most activity absent until 2022. As the former worldwide head of music at WME, and an executive renowned for spotting trends in the business, it was a forecast that carried serious weight.

But is Covid-19 a mere blip on an otherwise rosy future? Despite the impact of the virus, Lisa Yang’s 2020 Music In The Air report still pegs the value of live music at $38.7billion (€32.4bn) in 2030, so some are of the belief that the future still looks good. With Geiger now a free agent and able to speak candidly about the business, and Yang joining him in conversation, this year’s keynote is one not to miss.

Uniting two visionary thinkers, expect topics to include the shape of the post Covid-19 landscape for festivals, agents and promoters; key power shifts in the business during the next decade; the role of live in an increasingly non-physical world; and major disruptors on the road ahead.

PANELLISTS

LIVE-STREAMS

Emma Banks, CAA Marty Diamond, Paradigm Agency Folkert Koopmans, FKP Scorpio Greg Parmley, ILMC

17:15-18:15 & 18:30-19:30 SHOWCASES PARADIGM, PRIMARY TALENT & SOLO; UTA, X-RAY & ITB

Six top agencies showcase some of their hottest new signings and most promising artists during these exclusive live-streams, produced in partnership with LiveFrom Events. With performances from some truly unique artists, and some special introductions by agents as well, expect a memorable couple of hours.

Visit iff.rocks for full information Magazine

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iFF 2020 Agenda

THURSDAY 3 SEPTEMBER 09:00-09:45 WORKSHOP SUSTAINABILITY BEYOND 2020 PRESENTERS

Claire O’Neill, A Greener Festival/Green Events & Innovations Conference Holger Jan Schmidt, Go Group/Take A Stand

10:00-10:45 PANEL ARTIST DEVELOPMENT: THE LOST YEAR

Without stages to perform on, 2020 has been a lost year for many artists. So what’s the impact for both agency rosters and the festivals that play such a critical role in breaking new artists? What new routes are agents trialling to both find and break artists, and how can festivals help them play catch up? What’s the impact of Covid on the talent development pipeline, and who’s patching it up?

12:00-12:45 PANEL SURVIVAL STORIES: THE INDEPENDENTS

Running an independent festival or booking agency in 2020 is no mean feat. And yet there are many keeping their heads, and teams, above water. So how are they managing, and for how long? What survival mechanisms have they put in place, and what’s the strategy for ‘21, ‘22 and beyond?

And perhaps most importantly, since this enforced period of reflection under Covid-19, will anything go back to the way it was before?

PANELLISTS

Nika Brunet, MetalDays Rob Gibbs, Progressive Artists Isabelle Pfeifer, Bella Concerts Jamie Tagg, Mighty Hoopla

PANELLISTS

Bernadette Barrett, Big Bear Management Matt Bates, Primary Talent Rauha Kyyrö, Fullsteam Agency Fra Soler, Primavera Sound Beckie Sugden, X-ray Touring

14:00-14:45

SOAPBOX SESSIONS

THE LOST CAUSES

PRESENTERS

With the clear risk Covid-19 presents for executing a successful festival, insurance is a key consideration for next year.

So what changes can promoters expect on their policies from 2021, and how will cancellation cover related to Covid-19 operate? And looking at 2020 and the pandemic policies that refused to pay out, what pitfalls are there to be avoided? Insurance experts and operations specialists discuss.

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PANELLISTS

Alex Bruford, ATC Live Lisa Henderson, IQ Magazine Arnaud Meersseman, AEG Presents France Sophie Roberts, United Talent Agency Theresho Selesho, Matchbox Live

16:00-17:00 PANEL THIS IS WHY WE DO IT

With the end of this year’s online edition of iFF in sight, it’s time to remind ourselves about the fun aspects of the job. Inviting a line-up of festival and agency legends, we’ll be asking for everyone’s funniest moments, most bizarre situations, or tallest touring tales. This industry is unique – let’s take some time out to remember the good stuff and why we’re in it.

PANELLISTS

Before Covid-19, the industry was working on a range of causes to improve the lives of both its workforce and audiences alike. Now that attention is turning towards recovery, it’s time to ensure efforts around each of these four topics continues. These presentations from specialists will cover diversity, accessibility, & mental health and welfare.

11:00-11:45 WORKSHOP INSURANCE & COVID-19

15:00-15:45 PANEL SHIFTING LANDSCAPES: COVID’S EFFECT ON CORPORATE RELATIONSHIPS

Tamsin Embleton, Music Industry Therapists & Coaches Gideon Feldman, Attitude is Everything Francine Gorman, Keychange Daniel Williams, Youth Music

Martin Elbourne, Glastonbury/The Great Escape/DMZ Peace Train/Music Cities Events Alex Hardee, Paradigm Agency Duncan Heath, Independent Talent Anna Sjölund, Live Nation Sweden Fruzsina Szép, Superbloom

iFF 2020 Agenda

iFF CONTENT PARTNER Meshh helps festivals, promoters, venues and brands measure and understand attendee behavior throughout physical environments.

Our Spatial Analytics + On-Site Research platforms allow key stakeholders to learn more about how consumers behave in real world environments, and provide in-depth analysis to drive insight around ROI for experiential, sponsorship and live event assets.

The platform uses low impact, lightweight sensor technology to measure movement + engagement. Sensors are lightweight, discreet can be seamlessly installed in temporary or permanent production environments.

From a fan standpoint, the technology is completely anonymous and fully GDPR-compliant. There’s no need for fans to download an app or opt into location sharing which means larger sample sizes and more accurate insights. Meshh’s technology monitors passive wifi pings from fan smartphones, while our automated platform delivers key metrics like dwell time, passer-by rate, repeat visits, path of travel and more. For additional insight, our Analytics team can run custom reports for an even more detailed look at key brand activations, programming and landmarks.

AGENCY PARTNERS

Optimize and redefine the fan experience with Meshh.

To learn more, visit our virtual stand at iFF or say hello at: info@meshh.com.

MEDIA PARTNERS

iFF NETWORKING PARTNER Music is GREAT promotes the world-leading companies and diverse talent pool that the UK music industry offers overseas companies, connecting them through the Department for International Trade (DIT)’s extensive network of specialists, located in over 100 markets around the world.

The Department for International Trade is the government department that helps UK-based companies succeed in the global economy.

We also help overseas companies bring their high quality investment to the UK’s dynamic economy, acknowledged as Europe’s best place from which to succeed in global business.

We provide expertise and contacts through our extensive network of specialists in the UK, and in British Embassies and other diplomatic offices around the world.

We work with the UK music industry in many ways, from leading Music Trade Missions targeting well established, and emerging markets around the world, leading the British presence at many events with industry partners, hosting showcases at events such as SXSW & Midem and Song-writing Camps that offer opportunities for writers and producers to develop their skills and deliver new revenue streams back to the UK.

ASSOCIATION PARTNERS

EVENT PARTNERS

Meet Chris Hurne or Phil Patterson at iFF Chris Hurne chris.hurne@trade.gov.uk Phil Patterson phil.patterson@trade.gov.uk Magazine

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LIVIN’ THE STREAM 2020 will forever be known as the year that paused the live music industry worldwide. But it should also be recognised as the point when monetised livestreaming shows became the norm, as artists and fans leveraged technology to connect and get their collective fix of live entertainment. While online giants such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc, have pivoted to deliver much more concert and festival footage, eager entrepreneurs have taken the risk, during lockdown, to launch a number of new platforms and production firms to deliver high-quality broadcasts of live music performances. talks to some the pioneers who are establishing live-streaming as a crucial new outlet for creativity and, potentially, a lasting revenue stream for artists and their teams.

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Live-streaming_Feature

CITIZEN TICKET

DICE

When the live events industry shut down in March, Citizen Ticket decided to create an integrated ticketing and live-streaming platform specifically for events, that would streamline the process for artists and event organisers. The UK company has since broadcast events from London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle, mostly for comedy events.

A specialist in mobile ticketing, DICE pivoted to launch a live-streaming offering in April. The company recognised that fans were being inundated with live-stream offers, so it fine-tuned its discovery algorithms to provide people with personalised live-streams. It has since broadcast events from 26 countries and sold tickets in 145 countries.

DEALS

Artists take 100% of ticket sale revenue, with Citizen Ticket charging a booking fee on top of the ticket price to cover ticketing and live-streaming services.

BUNDLES

On-demand/watch again allows shows to monetise after-show sales, while merchandise can also be added to the customer journey.

POST-COVID FUTURE

Citizen Ticket believes that hybrid events can help make the sector more sustainable – if there’s a drop in physical attendance for live events, this critical loss of revenue can be augmented with revenues generated from a virtual audience.

USP

Among Citizen Ticket’s selling points are: integrated online ticketing and live-streaming for events; access security, meaning ticket holders can access the show; on-demand/watch again service allowing a live-stream show to be made accessible after the show has finished, creating a new revenue opportunity for the event organisers; fully self-service all-in-one platform; and hybrid events, allowing shows to be attended in person or online via live-stream.

DEALS

DICE has a set commission. Artist revenue depends on whether they are producing the event themselves or with a partner.

SUCCESSES

Laura Marling, David Guetta, Nick Cave, and Baby Rose. Upcoming shows include Björk, Patti Smith and Hot Chip.

USP

For the millions of fans who already use DICE for ticketing, the platform says it is a natural place to easily discover new, quality, livestreams that can be shared with friends in seconds, via a phone.

“For artists we want to build a live-streaming industry that’s sustainable and long-term,” states DICE. “That’s why we’re here to help, not just with ticketing and marketing, but with everything from pricing to venue sourcing. We’re looking at real hybrid options that work for our partners and fans so that when things do go back to ‘normal,’ we’re in a unique position to offer a hybrid of live-streaming and live events.”

Magazine

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DRIIFT

FESTICKET LIVE

Driift’s main office is in London, but through two of its investors (ATC and Beggars Group), it can make use of satellite offices in a number of cities in North America and Europe. The idea for Driift was born out of necessity having cancelled dozens of tours across the ATC management and live rosters, with the company’s first fully produced, multi-camera-streamed live show featuring client Laura Marling.

Headquartered in London, Festicket also has offices in Berlin, Nantes, Amsterdam, Porto, Leeds and San Francisco, and has used that international spread to connect with artists across the world for Festicket Live.

Festicket Live allows artists and event promoters to set up their own customisable and unique streaming page, hosting the embedded live-stream, web chat, links to social media profiles, and the option to include a shop for donations, merchandise and more.

DEALS

As a promoter and producer, Driift takes a percentage of the net profit of the show (after all costs) and will underwrite the costs of the show to a mutually agreed level.

SUCCESSES

In London: Laura Marling from the Union Chapel, Lianne La Havas at the Roundhouse, Nick Cave from Alexandra Palace, Dermot Kennedy from the Natural History Museum; and in Glasgow, Biffy Clyro from a secret venue. Driift’s plans include 40 or more shows in the next 9-12 months.

DEALS

Festicket takes a small percentage of the streaming ticket fee in order to facilitate the ticketing process, generate the custom streaming page, and cover all costs and support required to deliver the campaign.

SUCCESSES

The operation’s biggest outing to date was partnering with Dutch promoters Friendly Fire for a concert series featuring Kensington, Danny Vera, Duncan Laurence, Krezip and Ilse DeLange, with more than 50,000 fans purchasing tickets.

PARTNERS

PARTNERS

USP

USP

Driift has remained agnostic, allowing it to work with whichever ticketing platform or streaming partner best suits the artist and the creative concept. So far, it has partnered with YouTube, Vimeo, Dice, Ticketmaster, LiveFrom and others on its broadcasts.

Driift is not a platform: the company comprises promoters and producers of events who remain agnostic and solely focussed on delivering the very best show possible, based on the artist’s vision of the creative.

BUNDLES

Driift’s live-streamed shows have already included album bundles, merch bundles, meet-and-greet add-ons, Q&A sessions, and pre-sale deals with the likes of O2 and AmEx.

POST-COVID FUTURE

Driift is confident that ticketed live-streaming is establishing itself as a new format – something that can sit comfortably alongside and within normal touring plans, and without doubt something that can be hugely beneficial alongside other activity to promote album campaigns and the like. “While this has been such a difficult time for all of us in the industry, it’s a small silver lining that has emerged out of the pandemic,” says co-founder Ric Salmon. “It’s given us the opportunity to innovate in a way that wouldn’t have happened without the lockdown, but having done so, if we get it right it’s something that will stick around for a long time.”

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Festicket Live is in partnership with YouTube and Vimeo. Aa a ticketing specialist, Festicket handles ticketing for all the paid live-streams, which are secured behind a paywall linked to a customer’s Festicket account.

Festicket Live’s USP comes from its feature set and the power that the wider Festicket brand brings, such as social media integrations, web chat, shops, donations, merchandising and secure paywall ticketing options.

Live-streaming_Feature

ZART Based in Berlin, Germany, Zart officially launched on 11 August this year. Its founders had been discussing the idea of monetised live show broadcasts for a while but never found the right software or production team to fit. “Our aim was to give every fan with [an] Internet connection and a PayPal account the chance to be part of the show experience, so we started to build the solution to the problem,” explains founder Max von Zart.

“With the start of Covid, we shifted our focus on R&D and started to get to work. Now we are conceptualising and developing shows for artists, creating the AR content, setting up the production, and promoting the events, as well as having a finished product that enables a fan to have an amazing experience. So a one-stop-shop, basically.”

DEALS

Zart has various business models, starting with the promoter model, where Zart takes all the risk, including artist guarantees and producing a unique event. However, it can create bespoke models for other promoters or anyone else that chooses to use the Zart.tv platform and software.

This includes the company’s ability to offer dif-

ferent technical/film/infrastructure packages, so that even a promoter with no streaming experience can profit from the company’s know-how.

SUCCESSES

Zart’s first broadcast was scheduled for August from Tempodrom in Berlin, as a hybrid show with 180 physical guests. However, the company has production and creative teams spread around the world, meaning it can produce and broadcast from the EU, the UK and the United States, as well as other timezones.

PARTNERS

Zart uses White Label E-commerce as its ticketing solution, while it works with creative AR studios such as DREINULLmotion and BattleRoyal, as well as technical teams including Ambion and PRG.

USP

As a promoter-developed platform, Zart provides a full service (show creation, AR content development, technical infrastructure, production and promoting of the event), if desired; its broadcast software can cater for multiple cameras, a very interactive and diverse approach for fan-to-fan and artist-to-fan communication, augmented reality to expand the visual worlds of the artists, an interactive app, and other features soon to be announced; it can produce shows from anywhere in the world; it can enable artists, agents, managers, labels and promoters to use its software and platform Zart.tv to stream their shows; it boasts a high grossing model for artists; provides artists with one free song to use as promo; utilises geo-blocks and geo-targeted viewer technology; and handles worldwide VAT and local taxes on behalf of clients.

Next level virtual concert experience •

with several high-quality camera perspectives and live video-editing

•

a place where reality mixes with augmented reality

•

get connected via Fan-to-Fan and Artist-to-Fan Interaction Get an experience as close as possible to a real concert!

Exclusively on zart.tv!

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KARMA

MELODYVR

Based in London and with a virtual and green screen studio in nearby Windsor, Karma was formed in 2009 by three broadcast directors with the idea of bringing affordable broadcast quality live and social production content and streaming to artists, brands and labels.

Based in London, Hastings (UK) and Los Angeles, MelodyVR launched in May 2018. While working as an audio engineer, founder Anthony Matchett saw VR technology during a trip to San Francisco and recognised that combining VR with live music solved a very real problem – lack of access to live music events.

DEALS

Karma is not a platform – it simply produces events that can be broadcast on any platform. Prices start as low as £1,500 (€1,664) while the average spend is between £10,000 (€11,000) and £25,000 (€28,000).

SUCCESSES

David Bowie, Rihanna, Shakira, Stormzy, Burna Boy, Paul McCartney, Gary Barlow, Goldie, Noel Gallagher, The Kooks, The 1975, and Robbie Williams.

PARTNERS

Karma’s partners include the major record labels, as well as social media platforms YouTube, Twitch, Insta, Facebook and TikTok. The company works with all the major UK TV broadcasters, Netflix and Amazon Prime. Karma does not get involved with ticketing, but it does specialise in content monetisation and works with some innovative music delivery platforms, such as MQA.

USP

Karma is a full-scale production company with a rich music heritage and all the kit, crew and know-how, in-house, to deliver true broadcast quality streams and music programming from anywhere, to everywhere. Even if the artists are in different countries, all in perfect sync.

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PARTNERS

For audio, MelodyVR has worked with Spiritland Productions, while it recently announced a partnership with Live Nation and Ticketmaster, who it is working with on a series of upcoming shows.

USP

While many of the companies in the live-streaming space are new entrants, MelodyVR has been operating for more than two years and offers fans interactive 360° virtual reality broadcasts. Recently, the company constructed two Covid-19 safe studios: one in LA and one in London.

SUCCESSES

The company’s Live from LA series featured John Legend, Cypress Hill, Nelly, Tori Kelly, and Kesha. The company also staged July’s virtual festival Wireless Connect with Festival Republic, attracting 132,000 fans from 34 countries.

POST-COVID FUTURE

“[Our audience is] not going to go away when physical shows start to return. Quite the contrary,” states Matchett. “We’re here to support live music now – and we cannot wait to be there when the festival fields and concert arenas fill up again, making sure that everyone feels that incomparable thrill, no matter where they are.”

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LIVEFROM LiveFrom has operations in the UK (London and Manchester) and the US (Los Angeles, New York and Seattle). Co-founders Alan Rakov and Steve Machin have been working on streaming projects since 2010. In 2020, their focus expanded to create a broader secure-streaming platform, which resulted in the launch of Livefrom.events and its proprietary blockchain-secured StreamingTicketTM.

DEALS

LiveFrom provides a full-service streaming solution to artists on an à-la-carte basis. This allows it to provide a cost-effective suite of services, including ticketing, streaming, production, facilities, hosting, merchandise and marketing. It has three types of fee depending on the needs of the artist, ranging from co-promotion deals to simple per-stream deals.

SUCCESSES

LiveFrom has streamed more than 250 performances and events since March 2020 including Dermot Kennedy, 808 State, Maxi Jazz, Rob Da Bank, Hue and Cry, Deaf Havana, Dead Poet So-

ciety, Fran Healy, Fatherson, KT Tunstall, Wet Wet Wet, Adamski, Mr Scruff, IDLES, Down, and Zander Hawley.

PARTNERS

LiveFrom believes in an open distribution model to power its fan-friendly/artist-centric services. Its stream ecosystem works with partners across the technology and service spectrum to deliver the best outcomes for artist and venue clients alongside their fans and customers. With decades of worldwide ticketing experience, the founders have preferred partnerships in place with venues, and with ticketing and marketing services providers. “Over the last year, we have built relationships with a handful of hosting companies, that means we can offer great value streaming while adding the services and experiences across desktop and mobile platforms that make a difference, including fan engagement, chat, and stream commerce,” says Machin.

USP

LiveFrom combines innovative technology with

highly experienced artist and ticketing support services throughout all parts of the streaming lifecycle. It offers a full-service streaming platform featuring unique StreamingTicketTM; a revolutionary blockchain-secured access token that integrates the access to, and delivery of, an online or offline event in one engaging and dynamic digital ticket.

LiveFrom works directly with artists to create sustainable streaming strategies and deliver unforgettable experiences to fans. It monetises interactive fan experiences according to the artist’s objectives, offering multiple solutions for sales, distribution and non-exclusivity.

POST-COVID FUTURE

“We believe streaming is a fundamentally new medium for artists to develop deeper relationships with their fans and expand their reach to new audiences,” says Machin. “Online events and streams will help hasten the return to inreal-life events and will be an integral part of how an artist or venue views their income and activity mix well into the future.”

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STINGRAY

STREAMYARD

Stingray launched in 2007 as a karaoke service but has since expanded its portfolio of curated, direct-to-consumer and B2B services to include audio television channels, 101 radio stations, SVOD content, 4K UHD television channels, karaoke products, digital signage, in-store music, and music apps that have been downloaded over 100 million times. In 2018, Montreal-based Stingray began live-streaming on Qello Concerts, its streaming service for full-length concerts and music documentaries. Combined with its other platforms, the company claims to reach 400 million subscribers in 156 countries.

StreamYard is based in Tualatin, Oregon, and launched in October 2018, born out of its founders’ fascination with live-streaming’s rapid growth in the gaming community. Founders, Geige Vandentop and Dan Briggs wanted people who weren’t techy, or who simply didn’t want to deal with the hassle of streaming, to still go live, share their stories, and grow their own communities, so they built StreamYard.

DEALS

Stingray partners with major events and festivals, and licenses rights to broadcast and live-stream their stage productions. It has yet to conclude any direct deals with artists or labels.

SUCCESSES

KAABOO Music Festival (San Diego), Hi, How Are You Day Project’s benefit concert (Austin, Texas), Stingray Classica classical concerts (Canada, The Netherlands and Germany), jazzahead! festival (Bremen, Germany).

USP

The company lists its unique selling points as: “premium content offering major iconic live events with A-list artists, including on-demand concerts, shows, music documentaries, and other music-centric areas; and a worldwide network of ‘touchpoints’ offering numerous platforms and technologies across a vast number of regions, whether owned and operated platforms or affiliate broadcasting partners such as telecom companies worldwide.

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PARTNERS

StreamYard has partnered with Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Periscope (Twitter) and Twitch for broadcast distribution. It recommends ViewStub and Eventbrite for live-stream ticketing.

USP

StreamYard makes it easy to create professional live-streams and link the broadcast to social media platforms. StreamYard is also known for its stability.

SUCCESSES

Among the highest viewed StreamYard broadcasts to date are Bill Gates, The Lumineers, Rosie O’Donnell, Brian Chesky and Gary Vaynerchuk.

POST-COVID FUTURE

StreamYard’s head of marketing, Dana Bentz, says, “Over the last several months, the people who have dived into live-streaming have reaped the benefits of content marketing and it has now become a part of their world. Businesses gain new customers from live-streaming, non-profits find more donors, schools connect with students, entrepreneurs build their brand. The live-streaming industry is only going to grow, even as we slowly begin going back to work.”

Live-streaming_Feature

SANSAR Based in San Francisco, California, Sansar was incubated by Linden Lab about five years ago and sold to Wookey Technologies in March 2020. Sansar was born out of the desire to create a new virtual platform from the lessons of virtual world, Second Life, and the imminent rise of VR. The platform has its own proprietary engine to accommodate the massive scale of user-generated content for live events.

All of the company’s events are global, yet originate on the Sansar platform. Its last music festival, for instance, featured more than 70 artists from around the world who filmed their performances on green screen in 12 different locations globally before beaming that data to Sansar. People from more than 100 countries and 1,285 cities participated in the two-day festival.

PARTNERS

Sansar has its own bespoke ticketing system, but the company has also partnered with the likes of Eventbrite, Live Nation and Skiddle to help promote its concerts and festivals. For broadcast distribution, Sansar has worked with Twitch, Facebook Live, YouTube and Beatport.

DEALS

Sansar is a free platform where anyone can host their own event, however, oftentimes clients choose to build their first virtual custom venue through Sansar Studios, the in-house creative team with dozens of years of experience in building virtual worlds. Once a venue is built, clients can perform there as often as they like, paying a monthly subscription fee.

Sansar operates a revenue share model for revenue streams that includes: ticket sales, sales of virtual and IRL merchandise, tipping, and sponsorship.

Sansar says it is one of the few platforms with the ability to monetise across multiple revenue streams, boasting the flexibility to bundle albums, offer discount codes, link directly to outside web stores, and so much more. “We can be as creative as our partners want to be!” says the company.

SUCCESSES

Glastonbury’s Shangri-La zone, Lost Horizon Festival, The Glitch Mob, Monstercat, Blasterjaxx, Fatboy Slim, Carl Cox, and Reggie Watts.

USP

Sansar says it allows artists to more deeply engage with their fans in a social virtual setting, all the while performing in photorealistic 3D venues. Sansar was built to enable artists and promoters to monetise through ticketing, merchandising, tipping, and sponsorship revenues.

POST-COVID FUTURE

The company says, “With access to a global market, instead of a specific geographical one, there can be no other choice. While we believe the in-person experience can never be replicated and will always be cherished, we believe the virtual concert experience will develop and grow to outdo and outperform the traditional concert, spreading the love of the music experience to the farthest reaches of the Earth.”

Feature_Live-streaming

YOUNOW New York-based YouNow was founded in 2011 to provide a live social platform for people to connect, interact, and express themselves.

YouNow broadcasters are worldwide, streaming content from North America, the Middle East, Europe, and Central and Latin America, with broadcasters free to choose their own partners for ticketing, as well as streaming “moments” from their broadcasts on other platforms.

DEALS

Musicians with a strong following can apply to the YouNow Partner Program. YouNow Partners earn anywhere between three to five figures per month by sharing their talent on YouNow. Community members support Partners by subscribing to their broadcasts and/or by sending them virtual gifts. The more gifts Partners get, the more they trend, and the more they earn.

SUCCESSES

Shawn Mendes, Lauren Gray, America’s Got Talent, Brent Morgan, and Emma McGann.

USP

Broadcasters can stream on a consistent basis, weekly or even daily to build true, lasting connections with their audiences. The interactive and participatory nature of YouNow empowers broadcasters and audience members alike to engage with one another in real time in a truly social, gratifying and celebratory way that the company says is impossible through other digital venues.

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Your Shout

What is your most cherished possession?

TOP SHOUT

This is a framed poster of a show I promoted in the early 2000s with Robert Plant at Bristol Trinity Centre. I was brought up nearby the venue and had the good fortune to work with Robert on a tour of unusual and memorable venues that Rod MacSween at ITB asked me to find for him, including the old Raleigh Bike Factory in Nottingham and the newly opened Cheese & Grain in Frome.

More recently, the poster inspired me to start a fundraising initiative for venues during the current pandemic. I set up The Writing Is On The Wall with Music Venue Trust and TCB Merchandise to produce classic venue gig posters as A3 reproduction art prints, selling them online and at our newly opened gallery at Camden Market. Venues receive all the profits from each sale and we currently have over 400 designs from 50+ venues available. We have so far raised nearly £10,000 [€11,000] for individual venues and will continue the campaign for some months to come.

Thewritingisonthewall.co.uk Neil O’Brien, Neil O’Brien Entertainment

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In March 2019, I had Lazy Day headlining Oslo Hackney in London. It was one of their biggest headline shows to date and I was working on it with the legendary Tom Bownes from Live Nation.

I made a bet with the band that if we hit a certain number of tickets for the show, I would get a tattoo in their honour. On the night, as I watched the room fill, it suddenly hit me: I’m getting a fucking band tattoo!

In June 2019, I visited a tattoo parlour in Bristol called No Regrets, and sent the band this photo of my arm. The tattoo was designed by illustrator Eleanor Crewes for Lazy Day’s label, Weird Cool, and it will always remind me how much I love this band, my job, and how incredible that show was – a night I will never forget.

Rob McGee, The Empire Agency By the time the Astoria closed, the letters that spelt the band names on the front of the building (the marquee as the Americans would call it), were beat up, including U’s and V’s turned round and red tape across to turn into A’s. Anyway, at silly o clock on the final night/morning of the venue, as I stumbled past the box office and out of the venue, my now friend Gillian Webb handed me my name in those letters! I’ve never got in a cab so quickly, to avoid losing them on

Your Shout

the way home. It was my favourite venue and I grew up seeing tons of my heroes there, so those letters are very special to me.

Alan Day, Kilimanjaro Live In the summer of 2013, Grant Hart visited me and played his first solo record with Stargaze in the church at the festival. He stayed in Haldern for more than two weeks and on the day he left, he presented me with a piece of art that he made during his stay. It now hangs in my office. Behind this art are many stories about his visit – one of them involved joining Patti Smith on the main stage for her final two songs.

Stefan Reichmann, Haldern Pop If the house caught fire, apart from my girlfriend and the cats, I’d rescue three small, orange hard discs that contain just about everything I’ve made in my life – music, writings, photos, videos, work and all that. 12TB of goddamned data…

Nick Hobbs, Charmenko My most cherished possession at the moment is my Drifter Vallkree electric push bike, embossed with the Under the Southern Stars music festival logo. We made these to ride around backstage at the 12 summer festivals that were set for this past April yet had to be postponed until 2021 due to Covid.

Andrew McManus, One World Entertainment A few years ago, for a special birthday, I received a [Mona Lisa copy] with the inscription (translated from German): “Only one is better than the original. Dieter Semmelmann, King of Copyists. Congratulations on your hopefully authentic 50th [birthday] from Marek Lieberberg and everybody at MLK.” Marek was always a bit critical of “copy

shows” like our replica King Tut exhibition, but we had a great laugh at this gift!

Dieter Semmelmann, Semmel Concerts My most cherished possessions are my magic wand and Sooty. Sooty always ensured a positive outlook at meetings and the wand was needed to deliver the impossible, always required by clients. They have been by my desk since 1973. I should add that this is Sooty Mark II since Mark I passed away in 1991. The wand is, of course, original, as it is indestructible.

Ed Grossman, Brackman Chopra Last year, I was at Steve Strange’s Belfast home the night we had another very successful Stiff Little Fingers outdoor show and we were discussing watches. I have a modest collection of a few nice watches, but was thinking of purchasing my first Rolex. For Steve’s 50th birthday a couple of years ago, Coldplay’s management had bought him a steel Submariner, which Steve wears every day, meaning his first Rolex was relegated to a draw-

er as he would never not wear the Coldplay gift that meant so much to him. In the blink of an eye, Steve said, “Let me give you my other Rolex … I will not wear it now and to commemorate good times past I want you to have it!” To say I was shocked was an understatement.

For Steve to want to give me the watch that had meant so much to him when he purchased it and he was so proud of was a very moving moment for me. A few short weeks later the watch was brought over from London to Los Angeles and Steve gave it to me. This watch has been a permanent fixture on my wrist ever since and will be for the rest of my life, so I really want to thank Steve again for my most cherished possession and also to Coldplay for their part in this too!

Adam Parsons, Siren Management My show off at dinner parties is, of course, my four-legged friend. I lost my previous dog, Odin, last winter, aged only 6 years old. My new guy, Hugin, is the same breed – a German standing vorsteh bird dog.

Thomas Johansson, Live Nation Magazine

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