VIP-Magazine 05 - 2010

EDITION #05 JANUARY 2010

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TINA DICO

Pledge Music’s First Success READ MORE ON PAGE 08#

ADE 2009 Full House(s) READ MORE ON PAGE 22# 05#SPOT

w8#

Interview:

Anna Hildur - Iceland Music Export

®

VIP-News spoke to Anna Hildur about the history of Iceland Music Export and the current situation in Iceland.

READ MORE ON PAGE 24#

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BERLINMUSICWEEK BERLINMUSICWEEK BERLINMUSICWEEK

/////// 6.-12.sep. 2010 /////// WWW.BERLIN-MUSIC-WEEK.DE

INTRO #

Welcome

e n i z a g a m P I to the V Newsletter of t version of VIP-News, the Welcome to the fifth prin some people like to say, the previous four, this as VIP-Booking.com. As with of the monthly ether to give you a flavour hard copy, has been put tog have appeared with s and feature in this issue icle art the , ws -Ne VIP line onhave attempted to select last few months, and we a host of others over the topical. items that are enduringly

events which we are proud ine at the major industry gaz ma this ute trib dis We ding this it is most partners, so as you are rea to cooperate with as media invite you to come and talk ing one of these, and we likely that you are attend vide. about the services we pro to the VIP-Booking team international industry t VIP-News exists to report tha ber em rem ase ple o Als news ies, your opinions, us informed of your activit - your news, please keep k will be of interest and anything which you thin dership. to our ever increasing rea

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All the best!

The VIP Team vip-booking.com

#3 VIP-magazine 05/2010 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

# CONTENTS

contents:

08

VIP-magazine 05#2010 06 Fan Funded Music 08

Pledge Music Scores First Success

10

10 UK Festival Awards 12

In the Press Room - Alive and Kicking: Popkomm 2010

14 Christof Huber on ELMF and Yourope 16 Festival Romotors as Conference Organisers and A&R Developers

# Ilosaarirock

19 Forty Years of The Pasadenas 20

Quart Festival Goes Bust - Glastonbury 2010 Sells Out

21 A Year of O2 World, Berlin 22 ADE 2009 – Full House(s) 24

Iceland Music Export

26

Industry Profile

22

29 Company Presentation 31 Artist avails

26 Publishing: VIP-Booking | 26 York Street | London W1U 6PZ | Phone +44 (0) 870 755 0092 | Fax +44 (0) 870 622 1953 | E-mail: vip@vip-booking.com | www.vip-booking.com Director: Ronni Didriksen | rd@vip-booking.com General Manager: Peter Briggs | pb@vip-booking.com Area Manager (GAS) Stefan Gottwald | sg@vip-booking.com Writer and editorial: Allan McGowan | am@vip-booking.com & Manfred Tari | mt@vip-booking.com distribution: 3.000 copies of the magazine are distributed to professionals within the Live Entertainment Industry FREE OF CHARGE layout & production: Grefta Tryk | Markedsgade 41 | DK-8500 Grenaa | Phone +45 8632 2922 | www.grefta.dk Front cover photo: Tina Dico Printing: Grefta Tryk | Grenaa | Denmark

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13297

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# news

By: Allan McGowan · am@vip-booking.com

c i s u M d e Fan Fund One of the topics discussed at Reeperbahn Campus was the future funding of music. Obviously with the record companies being far less able to finance the development of new acts then artists and their managements are having to look elsewhere for the money to support the start up and the future of their careers.

In Hamburg Robert Hacker Jessett of the UK band, Morton Valence described how he had set up a Joint Venture scheme, which enabled ‘friends’ of the act to invest in the band’s recording and live projects. At a time when it is claimed that one of the main factors damaging the music industry is the fact that the present generation views music as a free commodity, and are reluctant to pay for anything, it seems strange that these are the very people being approached to invest money in artists, even stranger ‘fan-funding’ appears to a growing and working business model.

Marillion were probably the first act to successfully call on their fans to pay for the production of their album in return for a variety of special returns, and many others have come up with variations on the theme. Companies such as Artist Share, SlicethePie and Sellaband have set up businesses based on the idea and working with multiple acts.

SellaBand launched in Europe in 2006 and has recently signed a deal with their first established act, Public Enemy, to facilitate the fan funding process for the band’s new album aiming to raise $250,000 in increments of $25.00. Fans will not only receive an exclusive, numbered copy of the album but will also share in the revenues from this upcoming recording. “SellaBand’s financial engine model goes about restructuring the music business in reverse,” says Public Enemy front man Chuck D. “It starts with fans first, then the artists create from there. The music business is built on searching for fans and this is a brand new way for acts to create a new album with fans first, already on board.” The deal also signals Sellaband’s official entry into the US market.

Pledge Music, with a rather different approach to those mentioned above, is one of the newest Companies to move into this sector of the business. The Company has been set up by experienced record business professionals who will offer continuing career guidance to bands whilst advising on how best to use the funds ‘pledged’ by fans. Pledge Music will take a percentage of monies raised but will not ask for shares in other revenue streams such as live earnings.

MD Malcolm Dunbar has over 20 years experience, holding A&R Director positions at three majors and two leading independents including Island, Warners/East West, Mother/Universal, V2 and Sanctuary. With career sales in excess of 40 million units, Malcolm has been respon-

Marillion

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sible for the signing and development of hit artists such as Lloyd Cole and The Commotions, Julian Cope, Orange Juice, The Christians, Tanita Tikaram, Longpigs, Bjork, Idlewild, Liberty X, The Datsuns, Dolores O’Riordan, The Rakes, Estelle and many more.

CEO and Founder Benji Rogers is an independent musician from London England who has been making his own records since 1999. He will be releasing his 5th independent record through Pledge Music under the name Marwood.

Other executives involved include former Rough Trade and Sanctuary marketing director Dan Symons; former Warner Music, London Records and V2 Records A&R coordinator Cecelia Lewis; A&R consultant Rich Lynne and A&R scout Ryan Lofthouse.

VIP-News asked Founder Benji Rogers to explain the vision behind Pledge Music: Pledge Music’s existence is a response to what I personally wanted to see from a music company. I never saw selling music and being a musician as particularly compatible especially as labels seemed to focus only on the ‘selling music’ element.

After years of touring I realised that what music fans wanted was to be included, to be a part of the scene and close to the band and so we created Pledge Music to provide this service to both large and small bands.

We don’t sell CD’s, we don’t sell Downloads or Product, we provide artists with the tools to let fans purchase exclusive content in exchange for their Pledge of support. So rather than seeing Pledge Music as a traditional fan funding, or

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crowd sourcing site, I see in it’s simplest form as a way for Artists to make their music how they want to, keep 100% of their rights and also to give them the ability to raise money for charity.

Using their ‘Updates’ page, artists can reward fans who have Pledged with behind the scenes videos, demo MP3’s, photos and blog entries that can be either designated for Pledgers only or for all to see, or a combination of the two. Artists get to write their own exclusive menu of exciting incentives, from signed CD’s, to names in the album credits, to cleaning the tour bus and keeping what you find, to DJ’ing private parties. As long as it’s not illegal or impossible we are fine with that. In the end the artist can add value to the music that they make, and reward the fans in the process.

Artists with live followings can maximize the exclusive element of the Pledge Mod-

el, by offering, sound check passes, the chance to announce the band from the stage, drink the bands rider (we like that one!) and exclusive tour merchandise.

Also I always thought that bands could Pledge to make a live album. So their Project could read something like:

Shirts, had a new record to make and no money to make it with. What I did have was fans and friends who supported me through it all and I was able to reward them with a ton of music, video, and photos from the studio plus to deliver them a record as it left the mastering studio.

“We’ve made a record and we want to come and play it for you! Pledge here to help us get out on the road, and you will receive a copy of our live record once we have recorded it, and we will donate a percentage of our tour profits to charity.

This record will be available for Pledgers only and we will send updates, along the way for you to follow! Since we take no rights artists can sell their CD’s and make all the profit from these sales. So if they sell a CD at a show for £10 they get £10.

But enough about me! We have devised Pledge Music to be transparent and open. We have designed Pledge Music to be beneficial to all involved. Musicians will get the funding and promotional support that they need, the fan will get the music that they want at the price that they want to pay, the studios will get paid half up front and half on delivery, and the charities who have scant fundraising resources as it is. In effect we have sought to create a system in which nobody loses.

This idea came into being in my Mum’s spare room, in the middle of a tour, during which I sold out of all my CD’s and T-

www.pledgemusic.com

Malcolm Dunbar

and Benji Rogers.

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# news

By: Allan McGowan · am@vip-booking.com

Pledge Tina Dico

On previous page we looked at the growing practice of ‘Fan-Funding’; one of the companies we featured in the article was the newly formed investment platform, Pledge Music.

The Company has announced that it has exceeded its funding target for one of its first artist campaigns by raising over €60,000 in ‘pledges’ for Danish artist Tina Dico. An established artist in Denmark, Dico worked with Pledge Music to offer fans a series of premium and exclusive packages for her new album – a movie soundtrack entitled ‘The Road To Gävle’, based on the musical score she’s written for the new Danish feature film ‘Oldboys’.

Various premium packages ranging in price from 10 to 300 euros were offered to fans, including: a personalised video greeting featuring an acoustic version of a fans choice of song; a complete, personally signed set of her albums; a signed CD with a personalised Christmas card - right through to a simple digital download of the album. The full pledge target of €30,000 was reached and then doubled in just 30 days.

Singer-songwriter Tina Dico (Tina Dickow) comes from Aarhus in Denmark, and released her first indie album ‘Fuel’ in 2001 to critical acclaim and she released her second album ‘Notes’ and an EP entitled ‘Far’ in the UK and North America shortly after that. Tina tours extensively and announced her Pledge the day she played a sold out show at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire.

Pledge Music encourages all artists to make a charitable donation from the money they raise using the

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platform and Tina Dico has given a percentage of all money pledged during this campaign to Amnesty International.

Working through Pledge Music allows artists to raise funding via their fans in form of ‘pledges’. For instance an artist an amount may wish to raise funding for the recording and marketing of their new album; they then approach their fans to ask for pledges towards the total in return for a digital download of the resulting album. The pledges available are tiered so that the fan can pledge one amount for a simple digital download, a slightly higher amount for the digital download + physical CD, an even higher amount for a bundle that includes the digital download, the physical CD and a gig ticket and so on. The artists can determine exactly how they wish to incentivise the pledge amounts.

Benji Rogers said, “By reaching her pledge Pledge target of in just 30 days Tina Dico has proved that, not only does she have a really motivated and devoted fans but also there is a real future for our type of fan funded model. For a motivated, independently minded and creative artist like Tina Pledge Music is perfect – it allows an artist to give their fans exactly what they want and the fans in return feel closer to the artist than they have ever been. By removing the barriers between fan and artist and by letting the fan become part of the whole process we are helping to create long term, intimate relationships that benefit both parties.”

Malcolm Dunbar MD Pledge Music said, “To work with an artist of the quality and stature of Tina Dico so early in the company’s development is a great achievement.”

news #

Music First Success To work with an artist of the quality and stature of Tina Dico so early in the company’s development is a great achievement.”

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# news

By: Allan McGowan · am@vip-booking.com

UK Festival Awards Unlike last year when the first Conference took place at The Gibson Showrooms

and The Awards at the O2, this year saw both elements of the UK Festival Awards event take place under the same huge roof at London’s O2 Arena.

The Conference: Panel sessions were presented in the dauntingly large space of the Vue Cinema, all sessions were well attended but audiences seemed less than they actually were as delegates, as is their wont, spread out across the tiered plush red seating.

One huge advantage though was a crystal clear sound system, meaning that everything that panelists and chairmen had to say was easier to hear (sometimes a good thing – sometimes not!) than I have encountered at any other conference.

The first session covered sound pollution levels, a subject very much to the fore during this year’s festival season with a rise in local inhabitants complaining that events are too loud and festival goers complaining about not being able to hear certain acts properly. The second morning session covered the industry’s attempts

to crackdown on criminal activities – assaults, theft, forged tickets, fake merchandise etc in and around festivals.

During this session Iridium Security’s Reg Walker warned the UK festival industry that thousands of ‘highly convincing’ fake wristbands could be circulated next summer. He believes that the seizure of 100 wristbands at this year’s Reading Festival was evidence of a ‘test run by criminals in 2009. He added: “The amount of effort and expense they have gone to, means it is not commercially viable to produce these in their hundreds.

One or more of the major festivals is going to get hit unless we deal with this now. This is the most serious problem and the most serious challenge we face in 2010.” Organisers from the Isle of Wight festival said that in 2007 “one in five” festivalgoers had turned up with fake tickets.

Promoters said they needed to work together to stop organised crime at their events - which include sales of drugs, theft from tents and pickpocketing gangs targeting valuable items such as mobile phones and

Best Toilets: T in the Park

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wallets. “We are rivals when it comes to trying to get bands, but we are not rivals in keeping our industry safe and our customers safe.” said Colin Roger, of Scotland’s T in the Park festival. Bestival curator Rob Da Bank called for a “robust” database of criminals known to target the festival circuit.

Prior to first afternoon session a short presentation highlighted some of the major findings of the UK Festival Market Report: Research has identified a 60% growth in the festival industry between 2004-8. Tickets rose 10% per annum, year on year, and costs, unsurprisingly rose massively. The worth of festivals to the UK economy in 2009 was estimated at close to £1 billion. 2009 was seen as a year of market consolidation and with Glastonbury already sold out, 2010 is looking positive.

The session covered the sustaining of a successful brand and ranged from; the international spread of the Creamfields brand into territories identified as offering the least competition, to work put into events like Bestival to develop a ‘visual unique-

news #

ness’ to the problems of weather, sales predictions, a lack of and the high prices of headliners and the costs involved in maintaining, soon to be mandatory, environmental sustainability.

The founder of The Big Chill, Katrina Larkin, spoke of her struggles to keep the event on track, which culminated in the huge losses that led to the sale of the event to Festival Republic. There was some controversy about Katrina receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award later as many suppliers are supposedly still seriously out of pocket as a result of the festival’s losses. Upon receiving the honour she did say that she had offered to refuse it, but had been encouraged to accept and intended to work with Melvin Benn of Festival Republic for a better future for the Big Chill for the benefit of all involved.

The final session, quite fittingly, looked to the future, and kicked off with concerns about the growing competition for fewer headline acts leading to excessive fees, and the lack of investment in new talent causing a lack of future headliners.

John Giddings of the Isle of Wight Festival and agency, Solo, commented, “You have to go for the headliners, otherwise you’re screwed, but in 20 years time where are they, it all seems a bit thin on the ground,” adding, “Luckily I won’t be around!”

Christof Huber, organiser of Switzerland’s St.Gallen Festival, and also secretary of European festivals association, Yourope, said that his event can no longer afford acts like Metallica and The Red Hot Chilli Pep-

pers, who have played it before, so it is now a matter of being innovative with the billing, citing the combination of Nine Inch Nails and Nick Cave as an example.

John Probyn of Live Nation spoke of “embracing our on-line audience” by taking note of comments on the Forum, which he described as “an invaluable resource.”

New technologies, such as the use of Iphones to locate friends and services on festival sites were mentioned by event organiser Steve Jenner of Virtual Festivals and Head of Sponsorship for Barclaycard, Daniel Mathieson described the possible use of cards, or even wristbands to top up specifically targeted funds at festivals.

The Award Winners: Festivals: Best Major Festival: Glastonbury Best Medium: Bestival Best Small: Beach Break Live Best Line-Up: Lounge on the Farm Best Dance Event: Creamfields Best Family Festival: Camp Bestival Best New Festival: Sonisphere Best Metropolitan Festival: Camden Crawl The Grass Roots Festival: Leefest The Greener Festival Award: Croissant Neuf Summer Party Best Toilets: T in the Park Best Overseas Festival: Oxegen (Ireland) Artists: Best Headline Performance - Blur, Glastonbury Virtual Festivals’ Critics Choice Award - La Casa Azul, Indie Tracks Best Breakthrough Act - Florence and The Machine Anthem of the Summer - Kings Of Leon – ‘Sex On Fire’ Festival Fitty Award - Damon Albarn (boys), Lily Allen (girls) Organisers: Lifetime Achievement Award - Katrina Larkin Promoter of the Year - Beach Break Live

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# news

By: Manfred Tari mt@vip-booking.com

m o o R s s e r P e In th : g n i k c Ki d n - Alive a 0 1 0 2 m m o k p o P Who ever thought that Popkomm is dead might have to

BerMuDa, a festival for electronic music, All Together Now

reconsider his assumptions. There are things afoot in Ber-

(A-2-N.de) launched as a music conference in September,

lin. Almost like the situation when Popkomm moved from

and the new Popkomm team, approaching former exhibi-

Cologne to Berlin in 2002, this year surprisingly postponed

tors and the German major music offices. And then there

music convention motivated new players to fill the gap

is the Berlin Festival promoted by Melt-Booking and its

left by the trade fair.

partners.

In this case the Berlin Music Commission, the Berlin Club

While the various players are in talks with each other and

Commission and political and administrational forces in

developing ideas and concepts it was an interview with

the Berlin Senate are those mobilising to develop a so

Dieter Gorny the former Popkomm founder with DPA, the

called Berlin Music Week, integrating potential partners

leading German news agency that has stirred further media awareness for Berlin Music Week and Popkomm. Gorny who meanwhile became the president of the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI), the German branch of the IFPI (International Federation of Phonographic Industries) complained angrily about not being involved.

Gorny is the ultimate lobbyist for his own interests and the interview caused upset reactions from most Berlin Music Week involved parties. In particular Gorny predicted that the Berlin Music Week is only a local happening lacking the impact to attract international awareness.

The interview even prompted the Senator Harald Wolf, head of the Department of Economics, Technologies and Women in Berlin to issue a press release, saying that Stefan Michalk, Managing Director of the BVMI had been informed about Berlin Music Week and Popkomm 2010. Wolf furthermore announced a meeting, under his guidance, to which he will invite all interested parties that might contribute to a successful Berlin Music Week.

But that is exactly the problem with Gorny, guidance is something he does not really welcome. And being guided by someone else is for Gorny completely out of question.

Dieter Gorny

Nevertheless with the interview he definitely ensured that this meeting won’t take place without the involvment of his organisation the BVMI.

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NEWS #

For the German speaking community within the VIP-News readership we recommend reading the article “Understanding Dieter� by the highly recommended journalist Stefan Niggemeier. Niggemeier writes for nationwide newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung and just recently decrypted another interview by Gorny. For those who are not able to understand German, the conclusion of the Niggemeier story simply is that the rhetorical skills of Gorny differ from his expertise.

However, back to the facts: it currently looks as though Popkomm will move on to Tempelhof-Airport where it will

and is almost as ambitious as, Gorny. Nothing is confirmed

set up its exhibition area. The surrounding festival event

yet, but at least Popkomm is once again in the media.

will be under the guidance of Melt-Booking and promoted

Not to forget to mention that the most likely date for the

within the framework of the Berlin Festival, which is also

events is the second weekend in September 2010.

located at Tempelhof-Airport. Additionally A-2-N aims to take over the congress part. Everything will come under the umbrella of Berlin Music Week for which Senator Wolf

For further information please check:

aims to create a holding company organized as a joint venture with whoever fits into this construct.

www.stefan-niggemeier.de/blog/understanding-dieter www.a-2-n.de

Behind A-2-N, amongst others, is Tim Renner, the former

www.berlin-music-commission.de

managing director of the German Universal Music branch

www.berlinfestival.de

who probably is one of the very few that could deal with,

www.popkomm.dev

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# news

r e b u H f o t s i r Ch d n a on ELMF e p o r u Yo By: Manfred Tari mt@vip-booking.com

VIP-News caught up with the very busy Christof Huber of St Gallen Festival to get an update on his ongoing work with Festival organisation, Yourope and the future of the European Live Music Forum.

VIP-News: What is currently going on with the ELMF? Christof Huber: Well, there are plans to put the association into hibernation. We are discussing this right now within the

r

Christof Hube

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remaining board. And we hope to have a proper solution very soon. Currently the ELMF is not that active but, so far, no final decisions have been made regarding putting it into hibernation.

VIP-News: And what’s going on at Yourope?

Huber: The situation at Yourope is completely different and is, I would say, very good. We have now more than 60 members within this association. The next

planned projects to be held at Bucks Chiltern New University in the UK are the 8th edition of a twoday seminar concerning health and safety which has already gained over 50 registrations – a big success I would say, and one day before this, on September 23rd, we will hold the second sustainability seminar in cooperation with Green and Clean and greenerfestival. com, which now has over 25 registrations. From my point of view these projects are doing very well and heading in the right direction.

NEWS #

Then there are the first European Festival Awards. I just returned from discussing the next steps for this in London. As you may know, the European Festival Awards in cooperation with Virtual Festivals Europe and the Eurosonic Festival will take place at the Grand Theatre in Groningen during Noorderslag/Eurosonic on Wednesday, January 13th. We are now working to prepare the launch of this award-show, which is a big event for us at Yourope. It is an exciting project for us in order to strengthen the profile for festivals and to bring them more closely together. I consider this a very important step forward for Yourope.

VIP-News: What is Yourope doing on a political level? How would you like to see the political profile of Festivals in Europe shaping up?

Huber: This is still a difficult topic which the ELMF was originally supposed to tackle, but was probably not fully prepared. We now have to consider which direction we should go in.

VIP-News: When it comes to creative industries, there are already some countries or governments that are bringing live music and the tourism industry together. Are there any planned activities that have this topic on the agenda?

Huber: The territories, as far as I am aware, that talk about creative industries are mainly the UK, France and Spain. It is difficult for Yourope as an association to work in this area on a panEuropean level. Some of our members are already doing this individually and really successfully and we will certainly discuss this issue. This could involve something like the exchange of information and looking at how other festivals are handling this, how they get funding

and how they get sponsors etc. We will have to see. It is certainly a topic that is often discussed, but I have to say it is not at the top of our agenda.

VIP-News: For many years Yourope was represented at the ILMC, but in 2009, for the first time Yourope wasn’t as active as in the past. Are you likely to reconsider being more active at the Conference?

Huber: Let’s correct this. We have always held our general assembly on Friday morning at the ILMC. It was just a matter of not being involved in the conference in terms of the meetings and panels. We discussed this internally and if I may venture an opinion, I would wish that the ILMC would undertake a little more effort to invest in its conference program to serve its guests and should not only expect its delegates to do so.

I also have the feeling that a lot of delegates of the ILMC are more interested in the bar than in valuable conference sessions.

VIP-News: Does that mean that you are pretty pleased which what you achieve in Groningen in the Netherlands?

Huber: This is of course a different situation. We certainly do have a very good relationship with the promoters of Eurosonic/ Noorderslag. We have a longterm cooperation going on with them and we always try to get involved and to develop projects there. A very good example of this is that we have even extended our partnership with them and are doing an extra evening for the European Festival Awards. It’s definitely the event which most of our Yourope members attend. It is just a perfect platform for us to meet and talk, and to do things together such as a health & safety semi-

nars, panels and meetings. It has beeb a really good cooperation since year one of Yourope.

VIP-News: There are new attempts in terms of getting funding from the European Commission for ETEP 2010. Are you involved in these proceedings?

Huber: Due to the ongoing contact we are involved in the process. They keep me informed of the situation, what they trying to achieve, and what kind of influence this could have on the numbers of festivals participating. We’ve just met in London and had a whole day discussing all the issues of ETEP (European Talent Exchange Programme) and the Eurosonic Festival.

VIP-News: But in general I guess Europe is quiet pleased with the results ETEP has achieved so far?

Huber: Yourope is an important partner for ETEP and is even a founding partner for the project. We are therefore in regular contact with Ruud Berends, the project manager for ETEP who keeps us informed about the current developments. We were involved since the first edition and helped in putting ETEP together. It certainly is a success story, and that’s what I like about our cooperation with Eurosonic/Noorderslag. We’ve tried and achieved something rather than talking about it for 10 years. It is all about getting your stuff together and just getting on with it, this can then lead to a success. as last year we had the worst weather for 61 years!”

This Festival is apparently named after the Viking word for party, and all the signs, including reviews from magazines such as Mojo, seem to indicate that the party will continue.

#15 VIP-magazine 05/2010 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

# News

By: Allan McGowan 路 am@vip-booking.com

s a s r e t o m o r P l a iv Fest s r e s i n a g r O e c n e r Confe s r e p o l e v e D R & A d n a Most of the international trade events, Midem, Popkomm, Eurosonic Noorderslag, Great Escape, Reeperbahn, c/o pop, By Laarm, Go North, SXSW etc, etc have featured live performance elements as part of the events, usually under the banner of showcases initially only available to paying delegates. These have varied in scale but in most cases have grown to be a very large, in some cases the largest, part of the proceedings to the extent that many became known as showcase festivals, available a wristband buying general public,

then just City festivals. It now seems that some of the more straightforward open-air festivals are deciding to expand their remit by adding a business networking and conference element to their activities.

The festivals are becoming increasingly aware of a decrease in the number of surefire headliners, most international festivals are now presenting bills that are strikingly similar as all of the major international acts use them like tour dates e.g. Kings of Leon this year. The festivals need to let the busi-

Melt 1/2 side

#16 VIP-magazine 05/2010 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

ness know what their particular needs and differences are and how their markets operate, inviting agents, record companies, international media etc to take part in discussion events connected to the festivals is a direct way of achieving this.

Also with the major record companies no longer able to invest in building acts there are very few new headliners or even mid range attractions coming through. Economically the ideal would be to have a few national acts that could sell a high number

NEWS #

of tickets but if your national industry, particularly outside of the major territories – in Eastern Europe for example, is lagging behind then how do you build this talent?

As large concerns with a good number of international contacts many of the festival organisers are beginning to realise that they may have to be the ones to take action to ensure a future talent supply for their events. nen

Jouni Markka

this discussion platform created by the Ilosaari Festival. Panellists included Rebecca Wedlake from CAA London, representatives of Ilosaarirock, Vantaa Festivals and Provinssirock, Tomi Saarinen from the Finnish Broadcasting Company, Jason Debiak of Eyeball Records in the US, Scott Lavender of Live Nation,Juha Kyrro of Fullsteam, Jouni Markkanen of King Foo Entertainment and representatives of Musex, the Finnish Music Export Office.

This was one of the subjects discussed at the Ilosaari Summit, where I took part in

k c o r i r a a s o Il VIP-News interviewed two of the many staff that put together this edition of this long established festival.

Susanna Helander / Producer: From my opinion Ilosaarirock 2009 was absolutely great. So far it is the only festival to sell out in Finland, which is a huge thing in this worldwide economic situation.

I have been wondering what it is that attracts people to our festival from near and far every year.

We don’t have any mega acts playing in the festival, but we have managed to programme some interesting bands from different music styles. On five stages there are plenty of opportunities to make this happen. Also I think the key to why people come here is the atmosphere, which is they create themselves. Ilosaari is known as a ‘never rainy festival’, and when there’s sun, people are happy. (It was very sunny and hot – strange that you get that in Finland and Benicassim gets high winds – the world’s weather is definitely getting more unpredictable! – Ed) And when the people are happy, we are happy Panu Hattunen / Booking Agent: This was another successful year for Ilosaarirock. We sold out our 21 000 tickets

in advance. We also have 4 clubs operating over the festival weekend for which we sold all together about 8 000 tickets, so that is good as well. Ticket sales were a bit slower this year than in the last few years, but we are really happy that we sold out.

It seems that people are giving it more thought before buying tickets. That is one thing that indicates the present economic situation. Lots of people that previously visited multiple festivals have to make choices as to which festival to visit this summer, not having the money to tour festivals like before.

Also I think this year we did not have as many customers from abroad. In my opinion this is another thing that the economy has affected. When people have less money, it’s not necessarily the festival ticket price, which is the reason not to go to festivals abroad, people have the money to buy a ticket, but not to pay to travel to the festival. So I think many people choose a domestic festival this summer instead of going abroad. For our part this is not massive problem because our audience is mostly domestic, but maybe it’s more obvious within some other big festivals who usually have lots of international customers?

en

Panu Hattun

Our festival did not have any major changes this year, lots of good bands and happy customers. Of course I liked all the acts at the festival but for me the highlights were Dizzee Rascal, who upped the hip hop bar for the next hip hop act that plays Ilosaarirock, it was an amazing show. Also Röyksopp and Killing Joke played really good gigs. Amongst the domestic acts I have to say that Apocalyptica played one of best gig of weekend, particularly as they came to play at very short notice, when they replace Maximo Park who unfortunately were not able to play at Ilosaarirock.

(Caught up at Benicassim because of the weather – Ed).

#17 VIP-magazine 05/2010 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

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info@hallenduo.de www.hallenduo.de

23.11.2009 18:17:54 Uhr

By: Allan McGowan · am@vip-booking.com

News #

Forty Years of The Pasadenas In uncertain times it’s good to see that some things have longevity and a staying power based on being good, sometimes the best, at what you do. Flying the flag for the dance music of the 20’s and 30’s may have initially been seen as catering for a minority, perhaps a niche, market, but when done well with absolute belief in the power of the music, it is heartening and surprising to see what The Pasadena Roof Orchestra have achieved and the international audiences they have attracted, and in some cases converted, in an existence that celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2009.

In 1969 professional baker and passionate musician John Arthy discovered more than 1000 original arrangements for swing and dance titles from the height of a bygone era.

Amongst them titles like “Puttin’ On The Ritz”, “Minnie The Moocher”, and his favourite, “Home In Pasadena in an attic in Manchester. Inspired he formed the Pasadena Roof Orchestra with musician friends, taking on the role of bandleader. A never ending tour followed, playing absolutely authentic swing and dance all over the world in concert halls and Jazz clubs, at galas and festivals, occasionally stopping to record 40 vinyl LPs, singles, CDs, and DVDs since 1974.

TEN YEARS AFTER ...still rockin´ all over the world

Representation contact:

Sabine Trunzer agentin@kultopolis.com

www.kultopolis.com www.myspace.com/kultopolis Phone: + 49 (0) 6861 - 93 99 80 Fax: + 49 (0) 6861 - 9 39 98 28

Whether you’re in to this particular style of music or not you have to admire any band achieving this sort of track record, and by all reports having a good time doing it – so here’s to the cult of The Pasadena Roof Orchestra!

For more information see: www.pasadena-roof-orchestra.com

Representation contact:

Markus Sollner booking@kultopolis.com

#19 VIP-magazine 05/2010 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

# NEWS

By: Manfred Tari · mt@vip-booking.com

Quart Festival Goes Bust Glastonbury 2010 Sells Out

For the second time in two years Norway’s biggest summer music festival has gone bust. District Court records show that the organizers of the Quart Festival have filed for bankruptcy in the southern coastal town of Kristiansand where the festival takes place.

hours of tickets going on sale. Tickets for the U.K. event at Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset went on sale Oct. 4 at 9am BST, but at 9pm, the festival’s official Web site posted a message announcing that all the tickets had gone.

The 2010 festival will take place June 23-27.

Following the cancellation of the 2008 festival organizer Arild Buli told the commercial network TV2 that Quart is 15 million kroner (€1,8 million) in debt after this year’s festival which took place June 30-July 4 featuring former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash as the headliner, sold just 67,000 tickets, less than half what organizers anticipated.

Indicating the polarisation of success levels in the European festival market, at the other end of the economic scale the 2010 Glastonbury festival sold out within 12 MW_vip_170x126_0901

26.11.2009

17:13 Uhr

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By: Allan McGowan · am@vip-booking.com

NEWS#

A Year of O2 World, Berlin When the O2 World opened around a year ago Europe was given its most modern multifunctional arena, on September 10th 2009, the Anschutz Entertainment Group, owner and operator of the O2 World, reviewed the venue’s first year of operation which saw 1.48 million guests attend 138 sport, music and entertainment events.

“Our hopes and expectations have been excelled”, says Detlef Kornett, CEO of the Anschutz Entertainment Group in Germany. “We welcomed an average of 10,000 people per event, which means that the O2 World has been well received in Berlin. It is difficult to pick out any highlights, because so many stars played at the arena, but I was very pleased with the enormous attendance at the ALBA Berlin and Eisbäre Berlin games.”

René Schuster, CEO of Telefónica o2 Germany, commented, “More than a naming right’ -this was our motto from the very beginning. Helpful o2 Angels, a separate ‘Blue Lane’ entrance, free drinks at the bar of the Blue Room, seat upgrades and a velotaxi service -we generated lots of benefits for the visitors of the o2 World in general and in particular for our customers to double the positive experience on location. The experiences during the last year have shown us, that this is the right strategy: 80 per cent of all visitors would recommend the o2 World. We are now looking forward to the second year of the o2 World, in which we will surprise customers with further highlights.”

Over the last twelve months the O2 World hosted concerts with Metallica,

Tina Turner, Elton John, Alicia Keys, Udo Jürgens, Leonard Cohen, Beyonce´, Neil Young, Coldplay, Britney Spears, Die Toten Hosen and Herbert Grönemeyer.

Also Germany´s most successful tv entertainment-show “Wetten, dass…?” was broadcast from the arena and the music industry celebrated its stars at the German music award show “ECHO 2009”.

Sporting highlights featured NHL-and NBA stars , and boxing World Champion Vitali Klitschko celebrated his impressive comeback against Samuel Peter.

The Final Four Tournament, comprising the European Basketball elite, set new sportive and organizational standards with no other basketball team attracting more fans than Alba Berlin. Ice Hockey team Eisbären Berlin won another championship, and tripled their attendance in their first year at the Changeovers were usually carried out over night, since concerts and sport events take place in a constant alternation. Mike Keller, O2 World General Manager explained, “138 events in one year require that a concert or game takes place every two or three days. With 20 events per month we had our highest event frequency last December and January. This demands a high degree of flexibility and a major operational readiness of all involved parties. Alterations are needed at nearly every concert or game and most of the events entail some sort of special

modifications. Whether it’s 1,800 tons of sand, which were scattered throughout the arena previous to the “Night of the Jumps” and removed firsthand afterwards; the 61 tons of light-and soundequipment, which were required for Britney Spears´ only concert in Germany or the 800 members of security staff, who were responsible for the safety in the arena during the Euroleague Final Four basketball tournament. From the beginning on we had no problems in taking on these challenges due to the excellent co-operation between promoters, service providers, public authorities and the members of our team.”

The following essential facts indicate in a very real way how audiences have taken to the O2 World: More than 1 million cups of beer were drunk and 100,000 fried and curried sausages and 40,000 pretzels were sold at the 138 events!

Highlights of the O2 World agenda for the next few months feature Green Day, Depeche Mode, Fleetwood Mac, the Backstreet Boys, MUSE, aha, Mario Barth, the MTV Europe Music Awards and Arthur Abraham´s boxing match against Jermain Taylor in the course of the Super-Six-Tournament.

Mike Keller.

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# IN-DEPHT

By: Manfred Tari · mt@vip-booking.com

) s ( e s u o H l l u F – ADE 2009 T N E V E E C N A D M A AMSTERD

Sold out for the third year in a row the Amsterdam Dance Event has become the leading European trade event for the international dance music community. Once again the event sold out in advance and set a new record with a total visitor figure of about 2100 delegates.

ADE is housed in the historical Felix Meretis building. In order to accommodate more visitors the organisers of this trade event made an arrangement with the nearby Dylan Hotel.

But even with this extra space the number of music industry representatives that wanted to attend exceeded the available capacity.

Besides the question of room capacities the ADE organizers had also added another day to the event. For the first time the Wednesday was used to launch a new conference program entitled “Music & Bits”. With seven panels this program was dedicated to two peer groups, on one hand the virtual technology nerds, on the other, the music nerds.

However, once ADE started it was just as in the past, generating that

#22 VIP-magazine 05/2010 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

very special ADEvibe that appears to be the fuel that drives this conference. This energy is first referred to in general manager Richard Zijlma’s editorial introduction to this unique convention, which concludes, “You’re A Winner!”. The welcome in the ADE Guide advises delegates,” So now you are here, as a winner, so we expect you to act like one. So come on over, smile bring your music and let’s dance!”, this statement turned into something of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Within its conference program ADE delivered a wide range of topics and issues that concern the dance music community. Far too many to mention them all, but the titles pretty much reveal what currently moves this business.

‘Do DJ’s need Managers?’, ‘App-Earance: To App or Not To App’ a panel about media applications that enrich web and mobile services, ‘The Artist Debate’ an evergreen ADE panel, and many so called master class sessions with established industry folks such as Eric Harle, the manager of Moby, Peter Hook (New Order), Mike

Banks (Underground Resistance), Carl Craig (Planet E), Richie Hawtin, Derrik May, etc..

Dietmar Schwenger of the German trade magazine Musikwoche interviewed Eric Harle and did well in eliciting information that helped the audience to understand the conversion the entire music industry is currently undergoing. Harle said he structured his management company D-E-F Management like a record company, with departments for A&R, Promotion and Business Affairs and answered the question about 360 degree deals simply saying “I don’t understand them”, a statement that speaks for itself.

Regarding such statements it must be said that several speakers produced meaningful conclusions at this years ADE, besides others that using ADE primarily to promote themselves (That’s the business we’re in! - Ed.).

But let’s consider the more meaningful speakers such as Peter Hook, former bass player of Joy Division and New Order, interviewed by Eric

IN-DEPTH #

van den Bogaard, editor in chief of the Dutch Magazine DJ Broadcast.

Van den Bogaard also did very well and obviously managed to supply Hook with the right questions, allowing him to score with statements such as ‘Record companies do not promote their artists anymore!’.

When asked what kind of marketing Hook and the other owners of the famous Hacienda did in Manchester, he retorted, “We didn’t do marketing because it’s anti-punk!” Hook also explained the main difference between the pioneer years and what goes on today; in the late 70’s when he started his career there almost was no competition, while today there is huge competition in almost every sector of the music industry.

Other legendary appearances for ADE 2009 were the Q&A session with Mike Banks of Underground Resistance and the DJ and producer Carl Craig. Both are from Detroit and really liked New Order’s 1983 rave hit Blue Monday, which Peter Hook referred to in the previous session, saying, “When we did Blue Monday we never thought that this song was going to be the end of our problems.”

(Presumably he is referring to financial problems as this was and still is a huge selling record. – Ed.) Craig emphasized the impact Kraftwerk’s ‘Trans Europa Express’ had on him in 1977, Banks at that time assumed that Kraftwerk were robots! In reference to Detroit and its social prob-

lems, Craig expressed a conclusion, which could be considered essential for everybody in favour of a policy dedicated to the support of the so called Creative Industries when he said, “Make something out of nothing, that’s creativity”.

Towards the end of this session Mike Banks concluded that he sees, “…a mutation coming” meaning that there is a new music scene on its way to further the evolution of music. This sentiment more or less summed up the attitude of ADE 2009 and it’s delegates.

#23 VIP-magazine 05/2010 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

# In-depth

By: Allan McGowan · am@vip-booking.com

iceland music export iceland music export VIP-News spoke to Anna Hildur about the history of Iceland Music Export and the current situation in Iceland.

1: How long has Iceland had a Music Export Office? What prompted the set up?

Anna Hildur: Iceland Music Export was established in November 2006 with an agreement between Unison, which is an umbrella of music industry bodies, three ministries, and a private bank. Trade Council of Iceland then offered to host the office and has been a given invaluable support to the inititive. Unison had been discussing strategies and its vision for quite some time and one of their aims back in 2003 was to get an office like this up and running. People felt the need to have a one stop shop which could respond to requests and interest there was and is in Icelandic music. It was also felt that we needed a business and marketing office to organise the approach and make the most of the international opportunities for Icelandic Music.

2: When did you take over and what is your background both in the music industry and anything else. You are based in London - is this an advantage or otherwise for your work?

Anna Hildur: I was hired as the first MD for IMX in February 2007. My board agreed an arrangement where I could still live in London as I comitted to be in Iceland the first week of every month.

My office is based with in Trade Council of Iceland where IMX gets all the support it can wish for. That is the key to the mobility of the office which is transported in my laptop around the world. The flexibility is definitely an advantage. Having instant access to larger networks, being able to meet people regularly with short notice and access regular training and

#24 VIP-magazine 05/2010 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

networking opportunities is very beneficial. It makes sense to be out on the field when you are networking, branding and opening up opportunities.

My background is in journalism. When I moved to the UK 18 years ago my main ambition was to be at home with my two little girls aged 2 and 3 at the time. I realised very soon that I was perhaps not the best housewife material and took the first chance I got start writing for Icelandic media. Shortly afterwards I was offered to be a correspondent for radio and TV which was a fun experience. After having done the job for three years I decided to do an MA in Radio at Goldsmith’s College and learned a lot about my job. I kept being a correspondent for good many years and did some freelance work for UK media alongside this.

In 1996 - 1998 I was hired to work with NHK (the Japanese National TV) in London on a freelance basis for 2 years doing TV productions in the Nordic Region.

This was an exciting job, which took me to Greenland as well as the most northerly parts of Norway. I also had the opportunity to experience Iceland like I had never dreamt of. In one of this trips I got to know rock band Bellatrix. I chose them to frame a programme on Culture. A year later they contacted me and asked me to help them out in London. This was back in 1998. I resisted fro 6 months as I knew nobody in the music industry. The singer who is a stubborn lady got me to help them out on their first visits which resulted in a deal with Global Warming and then later Fierce Panda/Mushroom and finally I became their professional manager.

I set up my management and consultan-

cy company called Hill Media and managed acts such as Botnledja from Iceland and Bird from the UK. I worked on the PR and Media strategy for Iceland Airwaves from 2002 - 2006 and set up the UK branch and digital distribution for Sugarcube owned label Smekkleysa.

3: For a country of its size - what is the population? -Iceland has had a fair amount of international success - name a few of these successes. What do you think put Iceland on the musical map and when?

Anna Hildur: We have a population of 320.000 people. Some people say we punch above our weight. Whether that is true or not I know that I have a dream job.

There is an endless pool of exciting music happening in Iceland. The pioneers were Anna Hildur - Iceland Music Export Mezzoforte who broke into top 20 in the uk 1983 with their instrumental track Garden Party, this was followed by the Sugarcubes who broke in 1986 with their single Birthday. The Sugar cubes started a scene that has been ongoing ever since. Since then we have had Björk, Sigur Rós, Gus Gus, Múm, Emiliana Torrini and Iceland Airwaves.

4: Has Airwaves, and/or other events helped to build the reputation of Iceland and its artists? Has your office become more involved with live work and touring as record sales and opportunities have decreased?

Anna Hildur: Iceland Airwaves has been instrumental. It sums up the scene and

IN-depth #

people like the experience of coming there. We are definitely looking more at the live market and have developed a project in Germany with Iceland Express which is all about creating an opportunity for developing acts to tour in a professional environment. This is the fastest growing sector within the music industry at the moment. But we are of course monitoring all the other developments at the same time.

gramme we run where we offer monthly workshops for Icelandic artists and companies. We are also developing a 9 weeks internet workshop with Ariel Hyatt in US. This will be open to international participants for the first time when our new edition starts 24 August.

artist from Iceland every month through this scheme. Germany has been our target market for this year. Next year it will be Japan and China.

We are also developing some few partnerships, which we will probably announce next year.

We have developed a club tour project in Germany called Norรฐriรฐ, which runs on a monthly basis. In collaboration with more established artists we introduce a new

5: The recent economic crisis hit Iceland very badly - how has this affected your work? Are the Icelandic authorities still supportive of the work of the Export Office - is this seen in trade or cultural terms - or both. Do you have any other offices around the world, or do you work with the cultural departments in your Embassies?

Anna Hildur: For a start the economic crisis means that the funding we have is worth half of what it was a year ago.

A pound was worth app. 110-120 kronas a year a go and is now worth 210 Ikr despite the devaluation of the pound. Most of our work is promoting Icelandic music abroad so we have to be more resourceful and creative in our approach. Traditionally the public outlet has looked at music as decoration for events. This is now changing and the support we have had from Trade Council confirms that people see opportunities on a trade level.

Through that channel we have access to all the business attaches in the Icelandic embassies around the world and we work very closely with them as well. Of course this is both culture and trade but the part we are dealing with is cultural trade.

6: What are you working on now, and are there any future plans that we should be aware of?

Anna Hildur: Right now I am focusing on You are in Control, which is a conference on the digital development. We are focusing on now and the future and how the creative industries overlap in the new space. This has been a revolution, which has created a lot of new opportunities and we find it important to create an informative and cutting edge debate, which leaves the past behind it.

This is part of a bigger educational pro-

Anna Hildur - Iceland Music Export

#25 VIP-magazine 05/2010 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

FACTS&FIGURES 60 live acts 60 DJs

CAPACITY

3 stages 3 dance tents 4 days, 3 nights

20’000 people per day

BOOKING

Philippe Cornu p.cornu@appalooza.ch

PROMOTER

Gurtenfestival AG P.O. Box 260, CH-3000 Berne 5, Switzerland

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#26 VIP-magazine 05/2010 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

23.11.09 15:08

# Industry Profile

5 QUICK QUEST

IONS TO An

industry

PROFILE FACTS:

Your name: Stefan Lehmkuhl Company: Melt! GmbH & Co.Kg Email: stefan@meltbooking.com Direct phone: 0049 / 30 / 40 39 36-0 Years in the Music Industry: 10 Favourite Artist: Radiohead and many more Favourite interest outside music: Brasil vacations Name 5 Artists you have worked with during 2009: Oasis, Fever Ray, Gossip, Buraka Som Sistema, Fatboy Slim Name 5 Artists you have confirmed to work with in 2010: Booka Shade, Tiga, Miike Snow, Schlachthof Bronx, Animal Collective

Five Questions to Contributors: 1 . A brief history of your career in the Live Music industry.

Started 1999 as trainee at Intro and Festivalguide Magazine in Osnabrück, later cologne, then Berlin, then Editor for Live-Entertainment & Calender of Event including Marketing/Sales (selling advertises to promoters and media collaborations), since 2002 changed sides, working on Intro Eventseries “Intro Intim”, since 2004 Mainfocus on Melt! Festival, being Festivaldirector, since 2009 also for Berlin Festival, founded Booking Agency “Melt!

Booking” in 2008...to be continued.

2. D escribe the highlight of your career and the biggest disappointment.

One of the highlights was probably the confirmation of the only german shows in 2008 of Björk and Franz Ferdinand to headline Melt!

Festival, as i got them confirmed by fone by two different agents on

the same day within three hours after months of shivering. The biggest acts confirmed until then.

Worst “moment” was making an announcement in front of 5,000 people from stage at 4am that the festival needs to be evacuated due to heavy weather in 2009 (we were still lucky though and the festival was continued the other day as normal).

5. What do you see yourself doing 10 years from now?

Working with good music for people (probably) younger then me and still do something that is not just average. Probably it will be somewhere, where it s hot while there is winter in germany and hopefully i ll only be working and staying in germany during german summer...

3. W hat’s your best skill and worst habit in the context of your work?

Good and bad alike sometimes: i m very passionate about what i do and i m a very friendly person. Am i in the wrong business or does the business have the wrong habits?

4. What’s your new year’s resolution/plans for 2010?

To delegate more, quit smoking, do sports, this typical shit that never happens anyway...

#27 VIP-magazine 05/2010 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

saturday NOORDERSLAG De Oosterpoort Groningen

friday EUROSONIC downtown Groningen the Netherlands

thursday EUROSONIC downtown Groningen the Netherlands

13

14

THE EUROPEAN MUSIC CONFERENCE AND SHOWCASE FESTIVAL

www.eurosonic-noorderslag.nl

#28 VIP-magazine 05/2010 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

15

JANUARY

2011

# COMPANY PRESENTATION

COMPANY PRESENTATION #

American Talent Agency

Company name: American Talent Agency Address: 248 West 35th Street suite 501 New York, NY 1001 Tel: 212 695-9740 Fax: 212 695-9766 Email: info@americantalentagency.net Web: www.americantalentagency.net Founded: 2001 Number of employees: 12 10 artists from roster: Akon, T-Pain, Sean Paul, Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliott, Fat Joe, Lil Kim, Eve, Pitbull, Jadakiss

Based in New York and Johannesburg, South Africa, and expanding to a third, commercially strategic location in the Middle East by the first quarter of 2010, the dynamic role played by the executives at American Talent Agency – urban music’s largest, independent international booking firm – is as much about debuting elite-level rap and hip hop artists in emerging and currently underserved global markets, as it is about providing talent with a positive and often groundbreaking vehicle for humanitarian and social change.

Led by urban music impresario and CEO, Matthew “Mateo” Rajkumar, and founded in 2001 by entertainment visionary Peter Seitz, American Talent leverages key relationships with independent promoters around the world to bring A-list talent to new and developing audiences. Beyond the traditional rewards of ever expanding stardom and sold-out, live performances and appearances, American Talent artists’ have often been instrumental in growing destination tourism; promoting improvements in the developing world’s infrastructure, such hospital and educational facilities, and access to telecommunications; and in helping to bring understanding and connection between disparate peoples where before there were only cultural divides.

Witness ATA’s booking of Akon for a concert in Uganda in association with a major mobile telecom brand, and 50 Cent’s concert in Angola where, through the auspices of the American Embassy, he spoke to teens about AIDS awareness. In addition to Akon and 50 Cent, ATA’s franchise signatory artists and clients include Busta Rhymes, T-Pain, Missy Elliott, Fat Joe, and Wyclef Jean.

Fully aware that successful music events require diligent planning and street-level intel that come only as a by-product of direct access and experience, Mateo and his associates at American Talent began developing industry resources in virgin, international territories at a time in the business when other agencies were only concerned with booking talent into traditional markets and venues, which have since largely maxed out, or worse, are presently shrinking.

In the effort to protect artists’ interests and effectively negotiate on their behalf, American Talent conducts hours and collates reams of indispensable research. ATA agents know just whom to talk to in the Middle East, Asia, Europe, Africa and Australia. And its staff is constantly exploring and even creating new markets and audiences, frequently with the participation of global brand sponsors and foreign governments.

“You wouldn’t engage a music agent to shepherd your bookings in Dubai, or the Federal Republic of Nigeria, if he’d only done business booking performers into sports auditoriums in Ohio,” explains Mateo. “American Talent has not only done tremendously rewarding business in these exhilarating new territories, we regularly travel with our signatory artists and clients to these venues to ensure no detail is overlooked, and every opportunity for success – commercial, artistic and cultural – is fully embraced and realized.”

Sean-Poul

Akon

Lil-Kim

T-pain #29 VIP-magazine 05/2010 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

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vip-booking.com #30 VIP-magazine 05/2010 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM VIP-Booking.com | 26 York Street | London W1U 6PZ | United Kingdom | Phone: +44 (0) 870 755 0092 | Fax: +44 (0) 870 622 1953 | vip@vip-booking.com

artist avails #

Artist avails

See/Add more Artist Avails at VIP-Booking.com

The Neon Judgement Territory: Europe Period: General Available Agency: Artist Agency Agent: Bart Quintens Phone: +32 16777670 E-mail: bart@artistagency.be Homepage: www.artistagency.be

ichael McDonald M Territory: Europe Period: June 2010 Agency: William Morris Endeavor Entertainment Agent: Sheraz Qureshi Phone: +44 20 7534 6947 E-mail: squreshi@wmeentertainment.com Homepage: www.wmeentertainment.com/michael_ mcdonald/summary/

Portmanteau Territory: Worldwide Period: Festivals 2010 Agency: Solar Penguin Agency Agent: Florian Lippmann Phone: +49 69 256 269 60 E-mail: florian@solarpenguin.de Homepage: www.myspace.com/portmanteaumusic

Lady GaGa Territory: Period: Agency: Agent: Phone: E-mail: Homepage:

Europe Spring 2010 onwards William Morris Endeavor Entertainment David Levy +44 20 7534 6800 dsl@wmeentertainment.com www.ladygaga.com

Ice T Territory: Period: Agency: Agent: Phone: E-mail: Homepage:

Fischer-Z Territory: Period: Agency: Agent: Phone: E-mail: Homepage:

Europe One off shows William Morris Endeavor Entertainment David Levy +44 20 7534 6947 dsl@wmeentertainment.com www.icet.com

Europe 01/07/2010 - 31/12/2010 Artist Agency Bart Quintens +32 16777670 bart@artistagency.be www.artistagency.be

Cyndi Lauper Territory: Europe Period: June 2010 Agency: William Morris Endeavor Entertainment Agent: Sheraz Qureshi Phone: +44 20 7534 6800 E-mail: squreshi@wmeentertainment.com Homepage: www.cyndilauper.com

Admiral T Territory: Period: Agency: Agent: Phone: E-mail: Homepage:

Cushh Territory: Period: Agency: Agent: Phone: E-mail: Homepage:

World 2010-2011 CARAMBA Spectacles Clotaire 00 33 1 42 18 17 18 caramba@clotaire.fr www.caramba.fr

Worldwide On Going Mission Control Artists Agency Craig D’Souza +44 (0) 207 252 3001 craig@missioncontrol.net www.missioncontrol.net

Bride Territory: Period: Agency: Agent: Phone: E-mail: Homepage:

Europe October 2010 We Rock U Menno Zweers +31-6-14803918 mennoger@gmail.com www.werocku.nl

Ghetonia Territory: Period: Agency: Agent: Phone: E-mail: Homepage:

worldwide generally available Maffucci Music Canio Rosario Maffucci +39.339.4858107 info@italianworldmusic.com www.italianworldmusic.com

Massive Attack Territory: Europe Period: 2010 Agency: William Morris Endeavor Entertainment Agent: David Levy Phone: +44 20 7534 6800 E-mail: dsl@wmeentertainment.com Homepage: www.massiveattack.co.uk

Emma Lanford Territory: world Period: all year Agency: Peppermint Jam Booking Agent: Alpay Taskin Phone: +49 511 768 60 23 E-mail: alpay@peppermint-jam.com Homepage: www.peppermint-jam.com

Sweet Territory: Period: Agency: Agent: Phone: E-mail: Homepage:

Worldwide Generally available ABS Agency Nigel Kerr +44 208 399 3474 absagency@btconnect.com www.thesweet-now.com

Macy Gray Territory: Europe Period: Spring 2010 Agency: William Morris Endeavor Entertainment Agent: David Levy Phone: +44 20 7534 6800 E-mail: dsl@wmeentertainment.com Homepage: www.myspace.com/macygray www.wmeentertainment.com/michael_ mcdonald/summary/

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#31 VIP-magazine 05/2010 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

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