IQ58

An ILMC Publication. Mar 2015

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Issue 58

ILMC 27 AGENDA AND EVENTS • THE EMPIRE BUILDERS • TEN YEARS OF X-RAY TOURING • GREENER FUTURES

‘15EUROPEANARENA REPORT


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ILMC 27 BLACK AND WHITE VERSIONREVERSED OUT

REVERSED OUT

ILMC 27 MAIN LOGO

ILMC 27 2 COLOUR LOGO

Super-powered by the galaxy’s mightiest sponsors

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ILMC has a new schedule this year (we might have mentioned once or twice…!) which sees a full day of panels and workshops on Friday and Saturday before an earlier finish on Sunday. In fact with 50% more conference sessions

than last year, there’s enough to keep even the most tenacious hero occupied. ILMC has to constantly adapt with the changing live music industry, and we hope that this year’s conference schedule reflects this

ongoing evolution. From iBeacon and social media to holistic, ‘joined up’ business models and new revenue streams, we’ve aimed for a progressive agenda this year.

That said, the most important ingredient of any discussion is the people in the room… and that means you! If you’re present at an ILMC session, you’re part of the discussion. We can provide the framework for the conversations and line up some guest speakers, but the sessions need your input to work. So to get the most from them, please get involved.

ILMC Production Meeting The seventh annual IPM will see production professionals from across the globe converge for a day of panel sessions, discussion and networking. Delegate numbers will again be expanding this year, but with a strict 200-capacity in the room, the event is likely to be oversubscribed. IPM includes a five-star buffet lunch, tea, coffee and a closing drinks party.

Sponsored by eps, EFM, Fly Victor and Megaforce, registration is separate to the main ILMC conference but ILMC delegates benefit from a discounted rate. See 27.ilmc.com/ipm for more info.

Green Events & Innovations Conference (GEIC)Presented by A Greener Festival, Bucks New University and the Association of Independent Festivals, the GEIC – now in its seventh year – is a leading conference for sustainability at live events. GEI will continue to demonstrate the latest solutions and technologies for practical event management and in 2015 will be exploring social and cultural sustainability of events, in addition to solely environmental factors, and how these issues intertwine.

Registration is separate to the main ILMC conference but ILMC delegates benefit from a discounted rate. See 27.ilmc.com/gei for more info.

10:00 – 10:30New Delegates’ OrientationHosts: Tom Hopewell & Lou Percival, ILMC (UK)

Lou Percival and Tom Hopewell open the doors to all new ILMC delegates and explain how the conference is structured and how to get the most out of it. An important introduction for first-timers, or

those long-timers who just need reminding, this informal session gives the necessary lowdown on the ILMC world and how to survive the conference with your cape intact.

11:00 – 11:15The User Guide to ILMC 27Chair: Greg Parmley, ILMC (UK)

ILMC’s Greg Parmley welcomes all the supermen and wonder women of the live music world to ILMC 27 – the most amazing edition of the conference yet. This brief session marks the official start of the conference and is a quick rundown of all the key

facts you need in order to have a most heroic weekend…

11:15 – 12:45The Open Forum: The directors’ reportChair: Herman Schueremans, Live Nation Belgium (BE)

As the main session to kick off ILMC 27, The Open Forum sets the tone for the weekend’s discussions throughout the chat caves and bars. It includes a review of the last 12 months in the international business, predictions for the year ahead, and comment from

some of the industry’s leading figures. Confirmed speakers for this year include John Meglen, president and co-CEO of AEG Live; Folkert Koopmans, CEO of festival giant FKP Scorpio; Professor Peter Schwenkow, CEO of Deutsche Entertainment AG; Solo Agency head, John Giddings; and Russell Warby from WME Entertainment.. To ensure that the session is as productive as possible, delegates can submit questions in advance – anonymous or otherwise – to [email protected].

14:00 – 15:00Festival Forum: The indestructibles? Chair: Stephan Thanscheidt, FKP Scorpio (DE)

Has the festival market peaked? And as consolidation ups the pace of competition in many countries, are the summer playing fields no longer level? With headliners getting scarcer and some identifying a move in public taste back towards concerts, it’s tough

to be in the festival game right now. Yet with others reporting record sell-outs, new features and expansion, this entrepreneurial and creative juggernaut of an industry shows no sign of slowing its pace. FKP Scorpio CEO Stephan Thanscheidt leads this annual debate to consider the state of the international festival market and its future in 2015 and beyond.

14:00 – 15:00The Dance Club: All sold out?Chair: Tom Schroeder, Coda Agency (UK)

EDM continued to become a consolidated sector run by multinationals in 2014, having moved firmly from the underground to become more overground than the Orient Express. From SFX to Live Nation and beyond, it was a year in which a lucky few collected

sizeable cheques, while brands such as Tomorrowland and EDC continued their global expansion drive. But is there a danger that the bubble might burst? How much beat is left in EDM’s drum and what can rock ‘n’ roll learn from it?

AND IT BEGINS...

Thursday 5 March

Friday 6 March

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15:30 – 16:30 Sponsorship: Up, up & away?Chair: Ruth Mortimer, Marketing Week (UK)

Brands spent $1.34billion on music sponsorship in the US in 2014*, and with touring and festivals providing more possibilities for activations than ever, globally, more money is being invested than ever before. So how best to secure that lucrative

sponsorship income? Marketing Week editor Ruth Mortimer opens up this vital part of the business to discuss sponsor relationships; ‘the deal’; expectations and realities of consumer engagement; naming rights at venues and the ever increasing allure of technology for brand activation.* Source: IEG

15:30 – 16:30 Market Focus: Latin AmericaChair: Bianca Freitas, Enjoy Experiences (BR)

Facing unprecedented levels of interest from abroad, and with many festival brands launching regional editions, Latin America appears to be booming right now. And as ticket sales rise, some promoters are forging new relationships and working cooperatively,

changing the traditional structure of the business. From ticketing and venue facilities to currency and sponsorship income, Bianca Freitas leads this must-see session to ask whether Latin America is truly the land of gold that some believe.

15:30 – 16:30 The Dragons’ Den with Pino Sagliocco & Jackie Lombard

Presenting two of Europe’s best known and most successful promoters, the first Dragons’ Den mentoring session of ILMC 27 promises to be a lively session indeed. Live Nation Spain chairman Pino

Sagliocco and Jackie Lombard, head of Inter Concerts in France, discuss a lifetime at the top of their respective markets and impart a few tricks of the trade. Expect 60 minutes of insight and expertise from two of Europe’s most respected professionals.

17:00 – 18:15The Joined-up Industry: Artist development mattersChairs: Greg Lowe, The Agency Group (UK) & Juha Kyyrö, FKP Scorpio Nordic (FI)

With less funding, fickle fans, rising costs and dwindling royalties, who would want to be in the business of developing artists? Yet building live careers is still the bread & butter for thousands of dedicated

professionals, many of whom are now setting aside old rivalries to work more collaboratively. So what new business models are beginning to bear fruit, and which emerging business models are worth a look? And internationally, how are promoters launching and developing career artists? Greg Lowe and Juha Kyyrö consider what shape the ‘joined-up’ business might take in the future, and how artists may benefit as a result.

10:00 – 11:00 The Emerging Markets Place: Heroes & villainsChairs: Barış Başaran, Pozitif Live (TR) & Michal Kaščák, Pohoda Festival (SK)

This year’s Emerging Markets session is, to a large extent ‘part 2’, continuing on from the extremely well attended discussion presented by Barış Başaran and Michal Kaščák last year. Many aspects of geopolitical instability, and

the worst excesses of extremism continue to take their toll on the music business in certain markets; as the corporates retreat from some territories but enter others, will the competition and high fees price out ‘the indies’, and what’s the fate of each region?

10:00 – 11:00The Venue’s Venue: Fortresses of solitudeChair: Marie Lindqvist, Stockholm Globe Arenas (SE)

From the constant innovation demanded at arena level, to the fight for survival at the grass-roots end, being in the venue business is no easy thing these days. This year’s annual tour of the venues sector gets deep into topics of technology, customer service, new models for

naming rights deals, and the shape of venue partnerships. Meanwhile, chair Marie Lindqvist asks what new revenue opportunities are emerging within this evolving sector, and what new forms of content are worth considering. The session also includes exclusive presentation of arena statistics by the NAA, EAA and IQ Magazine.

11:30 – 13:00 Corporatisation: The masters of the universeChair: Ben Challis, Glastonbury Festival (UK)

Ben ‘I am the law’ Challis considers the state of a dramatically different international industry that sees even the most successful of independents dwarfed by the corporates in all sectors of the business. With the involvement of representatives from all levels, we

consider the effects of these seismic changes, and just how ongoing consolidation might shape the business over the next ten years.

11:30 – 12:30 The Dragon’s Den with Andrew Zweck

Whether as production director for Live Aid or as the agent and producer of worldwide tours for the likes of Roger Waters, Depeche Mode and Mark Knopfler, Andrew Zweck has worn many hats over his 40-year career. Expect 60 minutes of eye-opening

touring tales and decades of wisdom as Andrew imparts advice in the second of ILMC’s Dragon’s Den mentoring sessions.

14:00 – 15:00New Technology: Jet packs & super gadgets Chair: Steve Machin, Dot Tickets (UK)

Batman may have Alfred to rely on, but not too be outdone ILMC has its own master of gadgetry, Steve Machin, to keep us ahead of the curve on the wizardry that has the ability to change our lives. Expect quick-fire presentations from a swathe of boffins, each invited to showcase their

new product or invention. Perhaps this year will finally reveal that most coveted of weapons – the ticket tout death ray.

Saturday 7 March

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14:00 – 15:00Touring Exhibitions: Exploring new worlds Chair: Christoph Scholz, Semmel Concerts (DE)

For many rock ‘n’ roll promoters and concert venues, the touring exhibitions market is proving a more reliable and consistent form of income. But as a relatively young industry, there’s still plenty that can go wrong for the inexperienced. Exhibition promoter and producer

Christoph Scholz leads a discussion on the business behind a successful exhibition, providing best practice examples, as well as a whistle-stop tour through the key international markets for these products.

15:30 – 16:30Ticketing: Presales & resalesChair: John Langford, SEC Ltd. (UK)

ILMC’s ticketing panels are always among the most popular – and the most contentious. And this year should be no different with a session that will explore the myriad presale opportunities that now. With John Langford presiding over a panel of some of the industry’s

most opinionated individuals, there will be a need for some strong-willed superheroes in the room as we also prise open that perennial can of worms: resales…

15:30 – 16:30Festival Income: Fields of greenChair: Hugh Phillimore, Cornbury Festival (UK)

As the festival industry faces rising artist fees and production costs, it’s entrepreneurial spirit is being put to good use in identifying new ways to turn a profit and stay solvent. Aside from primary ticket sales, and that all-important income from beer and burgers, what new

income sources are adding to the bottom line for festivals? Hugh Phillimore chairs an all-star cast examining opportunities that range from VIP packages to RFID and cashless systems, and the monetising of content through streaming, amongst others.

15:30 – 16:30 The Dragon’s Den with Phil Rodriguez

Having built the most extensive concert promotion company in Latin America, Phil Rodriguez is renowned as a pioneer in the region. From booking Rock in Rio’s main stage to promoting Live Earth’s Copacabana Beach leg, he’s one of the region’s most

legendary characters. In this final Dragon’s Den of ILMC 27, Phil will discuss a lifetime working in this fascinating market, imparting advice and tips to a surely packed room.

17:00 – 18:15Industry Out-takes: ‘It’ll be alright on the night’Chairs: Michael Chugg, Chugg Entertainment (AU) & Claudio Trotta, Barley Arts (IT)

In this business, despite all the intricate planning and best intentions, sometimes things go wrong. And when they do, it’s often in a spectacular fashion. Come and join two ILMC stalwarts universally

recognised for their enjoyment of a good laugh – Chuggi and Claudio – as they invite a few friends to recount amusing anecdotes about when things went wrong, to them or to others, either through their own fault or just plain bloody circumstance.

10:30 – 12:00 The Breakfast Meeting with Arthur FogelHost: Ed Bicknell, Damage Mgmt (UK)

Sunday morning gets underway with this hotly anticipated session as Ed Bicknell interviews Live Nation’s Chairman of Global Music and President of Global Touring, Arthur Fogel.

Highlights over a 35-year history include producing U2 360° tour (highest grossing tour of all time), Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet Tour (highest grossing tour by a solo artist) and Lady Gaga’s The Monster Ball Tour (highest grossing tour by a debut artist). Far be it from us to dampen anyone’s Saturday night fun, but this is definitely a session to arrive early for…

12:30 – 14:00The Booking Ring: Live music crime-fighting Chairs: Julia Frank, Wizard (DE) & Marc Lambelet, Mainland Music (CH)

This year’s edition of the Booking Ring considers what the future holds for booking agents given the growth of promoter operations in some markets. And with some tours now being booked

up to 24 months in advance and venue availability limited, is spontaneity being sucked out of the business? Julia Frank and Marc Lambelet also ask how sustainable overpaying for artists is, and in the scramble to sign the next big thing, whether agency commissions should or will continue to be discounted? Expect 90 minutes of frank (no pun intended) conversation as the two sides square up once more…

12:30 – 13:30 The Unconference Session: A lotto topics Chair: Gordon Masson, IQ Magazine (UK)

Mirroring Hollywood’s current obsession with the darker side of superheroes, ILMC 27 wraps up with a session devoted to its arch nemesis – the unconference. In an attempt to prove that spontaneity can be best, chairman Gordon Masson will be drawing random

topics from a hat for discussion. All legal and biologically possible suggestions will then be covered by a gathering of superhuman guest speakers and the audience.

15:30 – 16:15

THE ILMC 27 AutopsyChair: Greg Parmley, ILMC (UK)

Wrapping up the conference, ILMC head Greg Parmley invites all delegates to first share their thoughts and then a glass of something. A chance to give feedback on any aspect of ILMC, participation is encouraged in this informal final session.

Sunday 8 March

REGISTER AT27.ILMC.COMREGISTER AT27.ILMC.COM

1010

Workshop Programme

YouTube: Music discovery and live streamingHosts: David Thorpe & Matias Llort Lorenz, YouTube (UK)

The live broadcast of concerts and festivals brings new income streams and partner opportunities (as well as operational and rights issues), while as the world’s most popular music website, YouTube is a

powerful music and fan discovery tool. YouTube executives discuss how to get the most from the platform, be that streaming shows, planning tours or selling tickets.

Facebook: Making more of social mediaHosts: Niall Fagan, Facebook (IE) & Paul Brindley, Music Ally (UK)

With its user base gradually moving towards 1 billion, Facebook is the undisputed Incredible Hulk of social media, and frequently plays a key role in promoting tours and events. Following on

from last year’s social media marketing session. Niall Fagan and Paul Brindley discuss getting the most from the service with 60 minutes of insight into music discovery, marketing and ticketing.

Festivalisation: Giving your event a soulHosts: Fruzsina Szép, Hörstmann Unternehmensgruppe (DE) & Chris Tofu, Continental Drifts/Glastonbury’s Shangri-Las (UK)

As a festival’s environment becomes ever crucial to success, there are certain pioneers making careers from the art of ‘festivalisation’. Why are some festivals so unique or such magical or memorable

places? How can a festival environment inspire and enthral? From site choice to planning, environment and curation, Fruzsina Szép and Chris Tofu offer case studies and tips on building a strong identity for your event.

Touring and taxationHosts: Dr Dick Molenaar, All Arts Tax Advisers (NL) & Dr Harald Grams, Grams und Partner (DE)

ILMC’s resident tax experts, Dick Molenaar and Harald Grams lead a 60-minute workshop designed to arm delegates with the latest knowledge on the deduction of expenses; new rules for

tax treaties and taxation of merchandising income; sponsoring and endorsement income and image rights; VAT and social security. Also covering tax credits in national markets and withholding tax rules in various countries, it’s a jam-packed session that no one in the business of touring should miss.

The 10 commandments for production heaven Hosts: Bryan Grant, Britannia Row (UK) & Carl A H Martin, cahm.uk (UK)

With the ILMC Production Meeting (IPM) an established part of the ILMC schedule, this dedicated workshop session aims to provide promoters, agents, venues and managers with a rundown of ten top

tips to make productions safer, more efficient and cheaper. Expect an upbeat 60 minutes as Bryan Grant and Carl A H Martin distill decades of experience along with key findings from this year’s IPM.

Safeguarding the music venueHosts: Mark Davyd, Music Venues Trust (UK) & Fabien Miclet, Liveurope (BE)

Small- and medium-sized venues around the world are reporting a set of rising challenges to their future. Yet as the R&D department of the music ecosystem, the importance of venues cannot be

underestimated. Mark Davyd and Fabien Miclet present several new initiatives designed to safeguard these vital breeding grounds for new talent. The workshop will explain how those networks are being built, what initiatives and funds are available for touring or operating venues in Europe and beyond, and will offer practical steps for supporting them.

Location data and iBeaconHosts: Dan Brown, AXS (UK) & James Cobb, Crowd Connected (UK)

New technology is allowing the relationship with ticket buyers to go further, deep into the venue or site. Technologies including iBeacon have scored some impressive early results in the live arena. So much so that

some major ticket companies are already offering location-based solutions. Dan Brown and James Cobb explain what new data and understanding these developments are driving, and discuss how it might change the relationship with the fan in the future.

Friday 6 March Saturday 7 March

APP APP AND AWAY!

THE NEW ILMC APPWith partners Airbeem

• Build a personalised conference schedule• Comprehensive speaker biogs and details

• Full schedule of events and info• Live social streams around ILMC

To download, search Apple’s App Store or Google Playfor ‘International Live Music Conference’

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20:00 - late ILMC ‘Avengers Assemble’ Opening PartyILMC starts with a ‘Bang!’ (and no doubt the odd ‘Pow!’ and ‘Wham!’) when live music avengers from around the world gather to kick off the weekend in style. With ILMC now beginning earlier, the new Opening Party is the official start of the conference weekend. Taking place across the mezzanine of the hotel, hosts Dot Tickets will be laying on some complimentary drinks while in The Phantom Zone (York Suite), the most daring delegates can front their very own rock band and truly kick-ass. A definite diary date for any self-respecting crime-fighter (or super villain)!

12:30 - 14:30 THE Crime-Fighter’s Super SnackWith the ILMC now starting earlier, The Crime-Fighter’s Super Snack will keep delegates energised for a full day of conferencing. Enjoy two hours of tasty meze and Turkish delights on the mezzanine floor of the hotel, courtesy of hosts Istanbul Entertainment Group. With everything else happening during the first day of ILMC, it’s a chance to rub caped-shoulders with fellow guardians of the music universe before the afternoon sessions begin.

18:00 - 21:30 Captain Netherland’s Impact PartyMusic, drinks, presentations, snacks, competitions... Friday night at ILMC would not be complete without a swoop into the annual Dutch meet and greet. The Dutch Performing Arts’ event this year takes place right next door to the Royal Garden Hotel. There’s a Eurosonic registration up for grabs, as well as some of the nation’s hottest new stars to check out including Mozes and the Firstborn SEVDALIZA My Baby; and Kuenta I Tambu.

21:00 - lateThe SSE Hydro Super ShindigOn Friday night, delegates will be transported to the land of the brave for The SSE Hydro Super Shindig, as contemporary Scotland comes to the Royal Garden Hotel. With a live ceilidh band; whisky sampling and cocktails; tasty regional treats and a few more surprises besides, this special event will be hosted by one of the world’s newest and busiest arenas.

21:30 - 00:00The World ‘Just-Ace’ Texas Hold’em Poker TourneyThe World ‘Just-Ace’ Texas Hold’em Poker Tourney is a favourite at ILMC, and a great way to make new friends, lie to their faces and win the capes off their back. Seats are issued on a first-come, first-served basis. It costs £20 to enter, with all proceeds going to charity. Sign-up when you register, or if you feel like a gamble, swing by on Friday night and enquire about any last minute places.

00:00 - 03:00The Sidekicks’ Table Football ‘Coupe du Monde’ This battle for international glory and the world’s smallest cup is this year hosted by our friends at AXS. Be in the bar with your chosen teammate by 10pm to sign-up and then feel like a true superhero as you and your chosen sidekick control 12 tiny football players in your quest for fame and glory.

12:30 - 14:30 Complimentary LunchLunches at ILMC are not to be missed, as the Royal Garden Hotel’s chefs showcase their own superpowers and lay on a buffet menu to remember. With everything from light sushi to super filling hot meals on offer, and more opportunities to mingle whilst you recharge your special powers.

16:00 - 17:00Feld’s Marvel-Ice Cream BreakEven the toughest and roughest heroes and villains need to take a break now and again. Fortunately, our friends at Feld Entertainment are on hand with their marvel-ice cream break: some welcome relief after a long night saving the planet or a hard day’s conferencing

19:30 - 21:30Match of the Year FootballThis galactic annual showdown sees the fearless UK take on the Rest of The World in a match of epic proportions, as these giants of the world of live industry face off and kick a ball at each other once more. Places are limited and must be booked in advance, so to get involved contact [email protected].

Friday 6 March...

Thursday 5 March...

Saturday 7 March...

EVENTS FOR DAREDEVILS AND NIGHT OWLS...

19:30 onwardsAccess All AreasThe Access All Areas programme gives delegates a chance to catch some of London’s hottest shows using just their delegate pass from Thursday 5 to Sunday 8 March. The listings of all available shows is published in the Globetrotters conference guide, and while some venues are quite literally across the street, for others you’ll need to get on the road for the show. Entry requirements differ, so please check at the Help Desk before heading out. With the whole of London on your doorstep, there’s an abundance of live music to get stuck into and enjoy…

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19:30 - 00:00The ILMC ‘Night on the Tiles’ Gala Dinner & Arthur AwardsThe heart of every ILMC and the pinnacle of the live music calendar, The Gala Dinner & Arthur Awards welcomes the great and the good; the heroes and the villains of the international music business to meet, dine and celebrate its most super. It all takes place at London’s finest hotel, The Savoy, with guests treated to a champagne reception followed by a four-course feast with fine wines, as well as hair-raising entertainment and the annual Arthur Awards ceremony. If you’re going to make one ILMC event, it should be this one. Add a ticket to your registration when you sign-up, or email [email protected] to check availability.

22:30 – 02:30Sonic Boom Karaoke Hosted by the awesome ID&C, Sonic Boom Karaoke is a late-night melting pot for anyone who can attempt a tune, shake a tambourine or who just fancies a giggle. With a nifty photobooth, boxes of props and original 90s costumes for inspiration, this late night mayhem and zone of bad fashion sense will keep you amused for hours. It all takes place in The Phantom Zone (mezzanine level) of the Royal Garden Hotel.

12:30 - 14:30Complimentary LunchLunches at ILMC are not to be missed, as the Royal Garden Hotel’s chefs showcase their own superpowers and lay on a buffet menu to remember. With everything from light sushi to super filling hot meals on offer, and more opportunities to mingle whilst you recharge your special powers.

14:45 - 15:15 Nikos Fund Grand Prize Draw Be in the Park Terrace restaurant in the Royal Garden Hotel at 14:45 start for the chance to win some colossal prizes as our chosen charities Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy and The International Committee of the Red Cross benefit. But don’t forget – you must be in the room to win.

18:00 - home Stragglers’ Bar TimeILMC may have wrapped up for the year but delegates still have exclusive use of the Royal Garden Hotel’s bar. Crime-fighters who just can’t face the flight home yet can join the stubborn few for a final cheeky tipple (or three) before Monday dawns and we all Zod off back to our own galaxies, until next year.

Sunday 8 March...ILMC MOBILE APP!

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16

“What does it mean to be a superhero? We’re all fighting for the better good. But, at the same time, I think what stands out is, as superheroes, you don’t give up; you don’t surrender. I think that’s what makes a superhero.”

– Ellen Wong

Thursday 5 March 201509:00 - 17:00 IPM Registration 10:00 - 18:00 ILMC Production Meeting 10:00 - 18:00 Green Events & Innovations Conference13:00 - 21:00 ILMC Early-Bird Registration 13:00 - 18:00 Travel Desk14:30 - 18:30 Association Meetings (invitation only) 18:00 - 20:00 IPM Closing Drinks Party 18:00 - 22:30 Park Terrace Table Reservations 20:00 - late ILMC ‘Avengers Assemble’ Opening PartyVarious Access All Areas

Friday 6 March 201509:00 - 18:00 Travel Desk09:00 - 20:00 Registration Desk & Help Desk09:30 - 11:00 Co�ee Break 10:00 onwards Pollstar’s Tech Laboratory 10:00 - 17:00 Association Meetings (invitation only)10:00 - 10:30 New Delegates’ Orientation 10:00 - 18:15 Conference Sessions 12:00 - Late AEG’s Heroes & Villains Bar 12:30 - 14:30 The Crime-fighters’ Super Snack 18:00 - 21:30 Captain Netherland’s Impact Party 18:30 Dinner in The Garden Various Access All Areas 21:00 - Late �e SSE Hydro Super Shindig 21:30 - 00:00 The World ‘Just-Ace’ Texas Hold ‘em Poker Tourney00:00 - 03:00 The Sidekicks’ Table Football ‘Coupe du Monde’

Saturday 7 March 201507:00 - 13:00 Breakfast Available 09:00 - 18:00 Registration Desk & Travel Desk09:00 - 19:30 Help Desk 09:30 - 10:30 Tea & Coffee break 10:00 - 13:00 Conference Sessions 11:00 - late AEG’s Heroes & Villains Bar 12:30 - 14:30 Complimentary Lunch 13:00 - 19:00 Robertson Taylor’s Pow! Wow! Suite14:00 - 18:15 Conference Sessions 16:00 - 17:00 Feld’s Marvel-Ice Cream Break 19:30 - 21:30 Match of the Year Football 19:30 - 00:00 The ‘Night On the Tiles’ Gala Dinner & Arthur Awards Various Access All Areas 22:30 - 02:30 Sonic Boom Karaoke

Sunday 8 March 201507:00 - 13:00 Breakfast Available 10:00 - 11:00 Complimentary Tea & Coffee 10:00 - 12:00 Registration Desk 10:00 - 16:00 Travel Desk & Help Desk 10:30 - 14:00 The Breakfast Meeting & Conference Sessions 11:00 - Late AEG’s Heroes & Villains Bar13:30 - 15:30 Complimentary Lunch 14:45 - 15:15 Nikos Fund Grand Prize Draw 15:30 - 16:15 ILMC Autopsy 18:00 - home Stragglers’ Bar Time

a full list of terms and conditions can be found online, but please note:• ILMC conference sessions may not be videoed or recorded

• Children are not allowed in the conference areas• Conference passes must be worn at all times

• Lost passes will incur a replacement fee

Provisional SCHEDULE...

The Not-so-Small Print

IT’S ALL

ONLINE AT

27.ILMC.COMIT’S ALL

ONLINE AT

27.ILMC.COM

Cover photo © Ami Barwell www.musicphotographer.co.uk

IQ Magazine March 2015 19



IQ Magazine Issue 58

News and Developments22 In Brief The main headlines over the last two months

24 In Depth Key stories from around the live music world

36 Techno Files Revealing the hottest new technology in live entertainment

Features

3 ILMC 27 Superguide The Intergalactic League of Music Crime-fighters…!

38 The X-Men X-ray Touring celebrate ten years of success

62 European Arena Report 2015 Venues invest for the future as management

prepares for growth

74 The Empire Builders Industry observers discuss the pros and cons

of corporatisation

78 A Greener Future Chris Austin looks at environmental schemes

and developments

82 China: 1.3 Billlion Thin on the Ground Archie Hamilton scales the The Great (fire)Wall to

reveal a complex market of opportunities

Comments and Columns30 Virtually Live Jeremy Silver reviews the impact of digital

developments on the live industry

31 Is Festival Utopia Within Reach? Keith Jopling ponders how festivals are set to be

affected by technologies

32 Venues and the Emerging Proletariat Small venues are key to developing talent, argues

Steen Jørgensen

33 From Floor to Bed – A Touring History German band Egotronic share their

touring experiences

34 Accidents Waiting to Happen James Cobb asks why the effects of fatigue on

crews are ignored

92 Members’ Noticeboard Keeping you posted on what ILMC members are up to

94 Your Shout Who is your hero, and why?

Contents

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21IQ Magazine March 2015

Issue 58LIVE MUSIC INTELLIGENCE THE ILMC JOURNAL, Mar 2015

IQ MagazineUnit 31 Tileyard RoadLondon, N7 [email protected]: +44 (0)20 3743 0300Twitter: @iq_mag

Publisher ILMC and Suspicious Marketing

Editor Gordon Masson

Associate Editor Allan McGowan

Marketing & Advertising Director Terry McNally

Design Martin Hughes

Sub Editor Michael Muldoon

Editorial Assistant Susanna Moro

Contributors Chris Austin, Torsun Burkhardt, James Cobb, Archie Hamilton, Keith Jopling, Steen Jørgensen, Emmanuel Legrand, Greg Parmley, Jeremy Silver, Manfred Tari, Kilian Teichgräber, Adam Woods

Editorial Contact Gordon Masson, [email protected] Tel: +44 (0)20 3743 0303

Advertising Contact Terry McNally, [email protected] Tel: +44 (0)20 3743 0304

To subscribe to IQ Magazine: [email protected]

An annual subscription to IQ is £75 (print) or £60 (electronic).

As ILMC 27 approaches, Gordon Masson prepares to deal with his own personal kryptonite: The Royal Garden Hotel hangover...

Where’s that utility belt?

Here at IQ Towers, we’ve been sweating over our sewing machines for months making our superhero outfits for the forthcoming extravaganza at ILMC 27 – the Intergalactic League of Music Crime-fighters. Attaching underpants to lycra is a superhuman mission in itself.

But as the next thrilling edition of our annual get together comes around quicker than Superman in a revolving door, we have a similarly action-packed edition of IQ for you, which we’re confident will help you plan which panels and all-important events to attend and, more importantly, where the bars are (see our guide beginning on page 3). And no doubt I will see you there for a glass or two of networking.

Ahead of our 5-8 March rendezvous, however, the following pages should give everyone something to ponder ahead of the various panel sessions at the Royal Garden Hotel, with a swathe of articles and comment pieces designed to engage the old grey matter.

Firstly, I should draw your attention toward Archie Hamilton’s excellent overview of the live entertainment business in China (page 82). For anyone considering doing business in this vast market, Archie’s observations are a must-read. But even for those not contemplating exploitation of the world’s most populous country, the scale of opportunities and the ambitions of those hoping to capitalise in the communist state make for some fascinating insight.

Another captivating read is Adam Woods’ conversation with some of the industry’s deep thinkers on the pros and cons of the corporatisation of the live entertainment business (page 74). And as easy as it is to knock the big corporations, it’s heartening to hear some forthright honesty about how a more professional approach has helped strengthen the industry and, more crucially, treat the people that matter

– the fans – with respect, rather than fleecing them and providing them with substandard facilities.

Elsewhere, Chris Austin takes a look at various developments in the battle to cut the carbon footprint of both our indoor and outdoor events (page 78), while the big venues business is given IQ’s annual health check in our European Arena Report 2015 (page 62), which reveals a downturn in visitor numbers, but promises good times ahead, thanks to a busier touring schedule in the next 24 months.

And as if that wasn’t enough, our star feature celebrates ten years of X-ray Touring (page 38). Having enjoyed a hugely successful decade, the quintet of agents that launched X-ray talk candidly about the reasons behind the creation of their agency powerhouse, which naturally leads to the question of when we’ll see a group of established pros breaking free to set-up a similar venture in the future? That’s maybe another topic to debate at ILMC 27.

Finally, if you’re wondering about the stunning photograph on the cover, we’d like to thank Ami Barwell for allowing us to use one of her iconic shots to grace our ILMC edition. More of Ami’s work can be seen at www.musicphotographer.co.uk.

Talking of rock photographers, I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate our friend Guido Karp and his wife Nicole on renewing their vows (page 92). The Karps originally tied the knot ten years ago, but had to cancel their honeymoon when en route to the Maldives, a tsunami washed away the airport. Fresh from his recent honeymoon, Guido will be back at ILMC offering his services (which normally cost $5,000 per session) to delegates, for the price of a charity donation. And if that doesn’t merit superhero status, I don’t know what does.

I hope to see you all at the Royal Garden Hotel in March!

News

22 IQ Magazine March 2015

DECEMBERA number of victim lawsuits are filed against Austin, Texas, event SXSW, fol-lowing the deaths of four people and many more injuries at the music festi-val in March 2014, caused by a driver smashing through a barricade and into a crowd of concertgoers. The legal action accuses organisers of failing to antici-pate the danger by neglecting to use a traffic design consultant. Lawyers for SXSW release a statement expressing grief for the families but do not address the lawsuit claims.Rock Scully, manager of the Grateful Dead from 1965 to 1985, dies after a battle with lung cancer. He was 73.The inaugural Big Sky Blues & Roots Festival in Deniliquin, Australia, is can-celled, with the 4-5 April event organis-ers, Chugg Entertainment and Rob Potts Entertainment, blaming issues with securing headline artists.Proposals to protect existing live music clubs are tabled in San Francisco to make sure new housing developments in the city don’t shutdown existing neighbourhood venues. The legislation would require developers to inform potential residents that a live music club is located nearby before they sign a lease or buy a property, thereby prohib-iting new residents from complaining about venues that are operating within the requirements of their licences.

JANUARYA stampede during New Year’s celebra-tions in Shanghai kills 36 people and injures 47 others. The tragedy prompts the government to clamp down on a number of popular events in big cities ahead of February’s Chinese New Year. Live Nation takes a controlling stake in Austin City Limits and Lollapalooza pro-moter C3 Presents (C3), with a reported $125million (€110m) investment buying a 51% stake in C3. C3 founders Charles Attal, Charlie Jones and Charlie Walker will remain at the company.Amsterdam’s legendary ‘temporary’ club, Trouw, closes its doors for the

final time with founder Olaf Boswijk admitting, “When you work on a tem-porary basis there’s no other way but stopping on a climax.”Manchester Arena drops the Phones 4U title from its name following the insol-vency of its naming rights partner. The venue is reportedly looking for a new headline sponsor.The Sunday Times reports that Cirque du Soleil is seeking investors to help fund new productions, after recording a fall in profits. The article states that interested bidders could include Live Nation Entertainment, IMG and AEG Live. Cirque founder Guy Laliberté could offer a stake of up to 30% for around $750m (€658m). News circulates that the Dalai Lama is set to appear at Glastonbury Festival 2015, following a diary confirmation announcing a 28 June “public talk” on his official website. The post is subse-quently removed.Austrian concert organiser Arcadia agrees a new partnership with four German companies – Four Artists, Chimperator Live, KKT and FKP Scor-pio – to found Arcadia Live, a new

concert agency. The Vienna-based oper-ation is already working on this sum-mer’s Nuke Festival in Graz.The Music Venues Trust publishes a research paper, Understanding Small Music Venues, which warns that the grass-roots UK tour circuit is in a “peril-ous and precarious state.” (See page 26)Gary Gersh joins AEG Live as presi-dent of global talent. He was previously CEO of The Artists Organization and in his new role his experience in dealing with talent will be crucial as he is tasked with managing and enhancing relation-ships between AEG and artists, agents and managers.Jay-Z offers a reported $56m (€49m) to acquire Swedish music streaming pro-vider Aspiro. The Stockholm-based com-pany is set to launch its digital services in North America imminently, to take on established market leader Spotify.Warner Music Group agrees to settle a class action lawsuit filed against it by former unpaid interns. Details are not disclosed but the deal covers approxi-mately 3,000 individuals who did unpaid work for the music giant.The UK Government is to introduce new tax relief for orchestras from April 2016, following a public consultation. Chan-cellor George Osborne first announced the move, which mirrors similar reliefs in theatre, film, videogames and anima-tion, in his autumn statement last year, and has now issued a consultation docu-ment outlining proposals. Live Earth co-founders Al Gore and Kevin Wall announce a similar cam-paign for 2015 in the lead-up to this year’s UN climate change conference in Paris. On 18 June, Live Earth concerts will take place in six continents on one day, with shows in Paris, New York, Brazil, South Africa, China and Aus-tralia, while one act will play a seventh concert in Antarctica.Live Nation agrees a joint venture with Thailand-based entertainment firm BEC-Tero. The new company, Live Nation BEC-Tero, will promote concerts by West-ern, J-Pop and K-Pop artists in the region, a pursuit in which BEC-Tero’s concerts division is already a market leader locally.

In Brief...

Jay-z

News


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Mobile ticketing platform, Dice, launch-es a new app that can sell tickets at face value with no booking fee. Tickets are sent straight to mobile phones and the app also offers a queueing service for sold-out shows. Dice counts the Robbie Williams management team of David Enthoven and Tim Clark; Metropolis Music boss Bob Angus; and 13 Artists agent Angus Bask-erville amongst its backers.

Former AEG Live UK boss Rob Hallett launches his new venture, Robomagic. (See page 24)

FEBRUARYVenues operator SMG Europe acquires UK-based catering group CGC Events Limited, which services sports facilities including horse racing tracks, as well as museums and civic centres. Financial details are not disclosed, but CGC will bolster SMG’s existing F&B division, Savor, which services a host of UK ven-ues, including Manchester Arena, First Direct Arena, Metro Radio Arena and Odyssey Arena.

Venues NSW, the Australian government department agency that runs four of New South Wales’ sports and entertainment stadiums, reports a AUS$7.8m (€5.3m) loss for 2014, blaming competition from wineries for rock acts and sporting events opting for larger venues. Venues NSW controls Sydney’s Pirtek Stadium; New-castle’s Hunter Stadium and Entertain-ment Centre; and Wollongong’s WIN Sports and Entertainment Centres, which the previous year made a combined profit of AUD$3.78m (€2.6m).

AXS ticketing agrees a deal with music streaming service Rdio that will allow fans to hear songs by an act before a con-cert via mobile devices in technology-enabled cars and internet-connected TVs. The contract gives AXS customers access to free 30-day trial subscriptions of Rdio Unlimited, which has a catalogue of more than 32 million songs, with Rdio person-alising playlists according to each fan’s ticket purchases.

Dutch dance party Mysteryland unveils plans to rebrand itself as a festival by moving from a one-day format to a week-

end event. The 29-30 August festival will take place at Haarlemmermeer, near Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, where Mysteryland has taken place since 2003.Spotify abandons plans to launch in Rus-sia and confirms its office in the country will close. Russian news agency TASS reports that the head of the streaming ser-vice in the country, Alexander Kubaneish-vili, wrote a memo explaining, “There are several reasons for that: the economic recession, the political situation and new laws controlling the internet.”The Agency Group acquires UK-based electronic music agency Futureboogie, whose roster includes the likes of Bonobo, Crazy P and Nightmares on Wax. Future-boogie founder and CEO Steve Nickolls will remain based in Bristol.Visage frontman and club impresario, Steve Strange, dies in hospital in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, aged 55. He reportedly suffered a heart attack. A leading light in the 80s New Romantic movement, Strange, whose real name was Steven Harrington, was a major player in Lon-don’s nightclub scene, where he co-founded The Blitz Club.The state of Washington passes a bill to outlaw ticket bots in an attempt to clamp down on the computer software that often prevents humans from buying seats online for concerts and sporting events. The move brings the number of states that have banned bots to 13.BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe reveals he is leaving the station after more than a dec-ade to take on an unspecified role at Apple. The 41 year old will move to the United States in March, with observers speculat-ing that he will take up a senior position at the iTunes Radio streaming music service.Accountants Deloitte, administrators of UK music retail giant HMV, will invoice for a total of £11.7m (€15.9m) for its ser-vices, while two law firms who advised on the administration, Linklaters and Simmons & Simmons, will receive more than £3m (€4m) between them. Another interesting payment is £2.7m (€3.7m) invoiced by Retail Agents 260, a retail consultancy owned by Hilco, which bought the HMV business. HMV’s unpaid creditors are likely to see only nominal payments, if anything.

The UK’s Bestival announces a new event in Toronto, Canada. The 12-13 June gath-ering will be hosted at Hanlan’s Point Beach, Toronto Island.The City of London’s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) arrest three people on suspicion of creating coun-terfeit clothing bearing the trademarked names of famous musicians including Justin Bieber, One Direction, Nirvana and Motörhead. PIPCU says the operation had made £100,000 (€135,000) in profits.Morrissey cancels a show at the Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavík, Iceland, after the venue refuses to remove meat prod-ucts from sale for the show. Morrissey tells fans, “I love Iceland and I have wait-ed a long time to return, but I shall leave the Harpa Concert Hall to their cannibal-istic flesh-eating bloodlust.”

Morrissey

News


Ticketmaster UK has appointed Gillian Henderson as business development director to head up operations in Scotland. Her previous experience includes a period as general manager at The Picture House venue in Edinburgh.

Czech Republic-based lighting manufacturer Robe has launched a new subsidiary in Paris. Robe Lighting France will be headed up by managing director Bruno Garros, a familiar face in the world of the French professional entertainment lighting market alongside Elie Battah, who as business development manager for France, will spearhead the parent company’s business plan.

The Agency Group has promoted Rob Zifarelli to senior vice-president. Canada-based Zifarelli has more than 20 years’ experience in the industry and has been with the company for over a decade.

Rob Hallett’s Robomagic venture has hired promoter Bonita McKinney. Previously at DHP Family, McKinney has been given a specific remit to seek out and sign up the music stars of the future and develop the careers of artists at the start of their musical journey.

Crowd management and event security specialists Showsec have implemented a restructure to create two distinct geographical areas in a new-look Manchester, UK office. As part of the shake-up, Mark Wilcock, area manager for Manchester in the old set-up, takes on responsibility for Greater Manchester, while Tom Bailey is the latest graduate of the company’s management development programme to be promoted to area manager for central Manchester.

Narcís Rebollo has been appointed president of Universal Music Iberian Peninsula. Based in Madrid, in his new role Rebollo will oversee the company operations in Spain and Portugal. Rebollo, was founding partner of independent music company Vale Music, which specialised in EDM as well as TV formats such as Operación Triunfo, developing superstar artists such as David Bisbal and David Bustamante among others. Vale was acquired by Universal Music Spain in 2006.

Adam Vodofsky has joined APA as an agent. He was previously a marketing manager for Live Nation in their North American Concerts division. In his new role he will oversee tour marketing for a number of APA comedy and concert clients.

Former ICM vice-president, David Unger, has joined Three Six Zero Group co-founders, Mark Gillespie and Dean Wilson to form Three Six Zero Entertainment. Unger and Gillespie will serve as co-CEOs overseeing offices in Los Angeles, New York and London. The new venture will operate in partnership with Roc Nation, with Three Six Zero expanding the company’s existing music roster to include actors, writers and directors with a focus on the core functions of talent and literary management, as well as production (film, television and digital projects).

Movers and ShakersIndustry professionals from around the world made their way to the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana in early Febru-ary to take part in the inau-gural MENT conference and showcase event.

According to the organis-ers, 250 delegates from 27 countries attended the debates while 50 acts provided the live music throughout the 4-6 February event. No fewer than 2,500 fans took advantage of the €35 festival pass in order to enjoy the three-day pro-gramme of performances.

Taking advantage of Slo-venia’s geo-strategic loca-tion, MENT founder Matjaž Manček reveals the idea of introducing a new industry event in the opening weeks of the year was to showcase carefully selected, high-profile international guests and new music talent “from the Balkans to the Baltic and beyond”.

Among the panellists who participated in the confer-ence were Grímur Atlason,

manager of Iceland Airwaves; Rebecca Ayres from Liverpool Sound City; Barış Başaran from Pozitif Live in Turkey; Ruud Berends from Eurosonic Noorderslag; Scott Cohen, co-founder of The Orchard; Paul Cheetham from Reep-erbahn Festival; Nick Hobbs, owner of Charmenko; Stefan Juhlin from Pitch & Smith in Sweden; Michal Kaščák, pro-moter of Slovakia’s Pohoda Festival; and Helen Sildna from Tallinn Music Week, among many others.

“We are really happy with the first edition of MENT,” says Manček, who is also music programme manager at the Kino Šiška Centre for Urban Culture in Ljubljana, where the conference was hosted. “The feedback from the audience and all of our international visitors was excellent and we are already looking into strengthening the conference schedule and adding to the festival compo-nent ahead of MENT 2016.”

Rob Hallett has launched his new venture, Robomagic, with divisions specialising in global tours, artist devel-opment, music publishing, 360-degree deals and an investment vehicle that will allow artists to tap into fund-ing for creative projects.

According to Hallett, Robomagic will “offer expertise in a variety of areas across the ever chang-ing smorgasbord of musical opportunity.”

The live boutique opera-tion will try to break new artists, and work with some of the biggest artists. The company will use a global network of independent pro-moters with local knowledge

in order to produce interna-tional tours.

Robomagic Capital will offer finance to both estab-lished and emerging talent. The cash could be used to record an album while allow-ing the act to retain the rights to its music. Robomagic Capital also has funds to help independent promoters com-pete with the multinationals.

“The desire to make the lives of both established and aspiring artists much fairer and more equitable is at the heart of the company,” says Hallett. “We can be nimble in an industry notoriously encumbered by bureau-cracy and, most importantly, deliver an excellent deal.”

Ljubljana debuts first MENT gathering

Hallett Launches Robomagic

News

News


NEC Group sold to banking group

The Music Venue Trust has launched the Music Venues Alliance, an association of ven-ues and organisations that have united behind the work of the Trust to engage with the indus-try, the cultural sector, and politicians, to take actions that protect, secure and improve the UK’s music venue network.

First mooted at Venues Day in December, the Music Ven-ues Alliance has been estab-lished in response to the recent ICMP summary report, Under-standing Small Venues, which underlined the perilous and precarious state of the UK’s

live music venue circuit. On behalf of the Alliance, the

Music Venue Trust has already been invited to be part of the UK Live Music Group and to play a lead role in the Mayor of London’s Music Industry Development Task Force. As part of its campaigning work, the Trust is working with politi-cians to identify tax and invest-ment opportunities that could directly improve the long-term future for grass-roots venues.

The Trust will also be making a major announcement about the future of the grass-roots circuit at the ILMC on Friday

6 March, and will follow this with the launch of their full report on Understanding Small Venues in the UK Parliament on Monday 9 March.

More than 80 venues are already represented within the Alliance, alongside live music agencies, campaign groups, and cultural organi-sations. Membership is open to any UK venue, and the Alliance welcomes applica-tions from industry bodies and professional organisa-tions that want to add their voices to support this vital part of the sector.

Lloyds Banking Group will be the new owner of the Barclaycard and Genting Arenas in the UK, following a £307million (€415m) deal with Birmingham City Coun-cil to acquire the NEC Group. The transaction is expected to complete during the second quarter of 2015.

The sale, to Lloyds’ private equity firm LDC, encom-passes all NEC Group busi-nesses and includes a 125-year leasehold interest in the NEC site (including the NEC exhibition halls, Gent-

ing Arena, and the Resorts World Birmingham develop-ment), and 25-year leasehold interests in the International Convention Centre and Bar-claycard Arena. Birmingham City Council is retaining the freehold of all the NEC sites, while the transaction also protects the existing uses of all venues, as well as the city’s Symphony Hall.

Acknowledging that the new owner’s ambitions of growth open the door for the purchase of new arenas and related businesses, NEC Group chief

executive Paul Thandi says, “The successful conclusion to the sale process is very good news for all concerned. From the start, the management at LDC has understood the Group’s potential with new ways of deploying investment in resources and capital to the benefit of the business, our customers, and our markets. Their support will allow us to capitalise on our market-leading position and our team look forward to building a new phase of organic and acquisitive growth.”

One of the industry’s oldest live entertainment operations, Holiday on Ice, is redefining its strategy to future-proof the brand, thanks to feedback from its fans.

Its latest shows Platinum and Passion have seen Holiday on Ice go back to basics – pure ice skating with beautiful cho-reography – and CEO Henrik-Jan Rinner says, “Extensive market research has shown that our audience very much

appreciates our current shows and this will be reflected in future productions. Pure ice skating is the backbone of our future success.”

Holiday on Ice is estab-lished across a swathe of ter-ritories, but management is embarking on an ambitious growth programme that will see the brand expand while continuing to produce at least one new show per year. Tar-get territories outside Europe

include the Middle East, Aus-tralia and Asia, with Rinner revealing that China is a pri-ority that they are currently exploring in order to create future opportunities.

He adds, We have proven that family entertainment can be a successful business for our partners and ourselves alike, even in difficult eco-nomic circumstances. That is why we are still around and healthy after all these years.”

The Event Safety Alliance is ramping up its international activities through its first symposium on safety stand-ards, later this month.

The organisation is co-hosting the first Event Safety Symposium with the Event & Entertainment Association of Turkey between 26 and 28 Feb-ruary. The event will be hosted by the Istanbul Congress Cen-tre in the Turkish capital and is being heralded as the first global conference specifically examining event safety prepa-ration, standards development and event production.

Explaining that the slogan for the conference is ‘grav-ity works everywhere’, Jon Corbishley, chairman of the Australian branch of the Event Safety Alliance, tells IQ “The intention of the sym-posium will be to arrive at an accepted list of global best practices that can, and should be, implemented regardless of an event’s latitude and lon-gitude. We are making great steps forward with consider-able interest from all sectors of the industry who are keen to improve safety standards and are frustrated by inappropriate regulation and woefully inad-equate government guidance.”

And talking specifically of his work down under, Cor-bishley continues, “We will adapt existing European guidance to match Australian standards, which will com-plement the excellent work done by the American team. Our overall objective is to have truly global guidance written by our industry for our industry.”

Corbishley and his col-leagues will report on the symposium’s progress at the ILMC Production Meeting in London on 5 March.

Music Venues Alliance bolsters grass-roots business

ESA Steps Up International

Presence

Holiday on Ice develops future shows

News

The addition of a dedicated area for the European Pro-duction Innovation Confer-ence & Fair (EPIC) helped Dutch event Eurosonic Noorderslag to yet another record year with a sold-out 3,900 industry professionals in attendance.

The 14-17 January confer-ence and showcase event saw 345 acts performing to a com-bined audience of 41,200 music lovers, across 50 different ven-ues in the city of Groningen.

The European Tal-ent Exchange Programme (ETEP) has resulted in 186 acts being booked by Euro-pean festivals for the year ahead, while the event’s focus country, Iceland, used the opportunity to bring 19 acts to the Netherlands to showcase their music. The most popular

acts in the ETEP scheme so far are Ibeyi, Kate Tempest, Years & Years, Marmozets, Aurora and Seinabo Sey.

The conference pro-gramme included keynotes from veteran German pro-moter Karsten Jahnke, SFX executive Duncan Stutterheim, Nirvana tour manager Alex MacLeod, Vevo senior vice-president Nic Jones, and Len-nart van der Meulen, director of Dutch national broadcaster VPRO. Meanwhile, a separate agenda was programmed for the EPIC attendees, where a number of major international production suppliers and con-tractors also used the fair to display their latest products and services.

Eurosonic also hosted sev-eral awards shows, including the European Border Breakers

Awards, the European Festival Awards, and the Buma Music Meets Tech Award, which was won by the British start-up BandApp. And Eurosonic itself also benefited from new technology as every venue across the conference and concert sides of the event suc-cessfully introduced a cash-less payment system, thanks to German RFID pioneers YouChip, with participating venues reporting revenues of 15-20% higher than normal.

Eurosonic managing director, Dago Houben, says, “The cashless project was one of the largest, most diffi-cult, and innovative projects in the recent history of Euro-sonic Noorderslag. Innova-tion always goes along with some risk, but the result was positive. We are happy with the feedback of our visitors, venues and other partners. This encourages us to take the project to the next level in the future.”

Total number of visitors (sold out): 41,200Conference visitors (sold out): 3,900

Nationalities: 42Acts: 345

Number of venues, Eurosonic: 39Number of venues, Noorderslag: 11

Media & journalists: 336EBU radio stations: 34

International festivals: 432ETEP festivals: 94

Eurosonic Racks Up Another Year of Growth

News


Promoters in Spain are con-sidering putting on concerts without signing - or paying - licence agreements with performing rights society SGAE, after the organisa-tion missed a government-imposed deadline to change its “abusive” 10% tariff.

The Spanish competition watchdog (CNMC) had ordered SGAE to propose a new tariff for concerts by 6 February. Instead the collection society filed an appeal with the High Court, Audiencia Nacional, and requested that the CNMC decision be suspended, despite the fact that the court had already ruled, in April 2009, in favour of promot-

ers association, Asociación de Promotores Musicales - a decision confirmed by Spain’s supreme court in December 2012.

However, if the suspension is granted, the High Court would be required to secure a banking bond from SGAE to cover any possible dam-ages - a complicated process as it would involve the court deciding what a fair tariff would be.

In the meantime, Spain’s promoters consider that they can legitimately organise shows without paying any licence fees, or paying just a provisional amount that they deem fair, because there is no longer a legal tariff.

Northern Europe’s lat-est showcase conference, Where’s the Music?, enjoyed commercial and critical success in its debut year, when the Swedish city of Norrköping welcomed hun-dreds of international visitors.

The 12-14 February gather-ing sold 4,689 festival tickets whilst 410 delegates took part in the conference, including such luminaries as Austral-ian promoter Michael Chugg, UK agent Paul Boswell, and Anders Larsson, founder and CEO of United Stage, one of the largest companies in the Nordic entertainment industry.

The 144 performing artists included select emerging inter-national talent across ten dif-

ferent venues and the response from both local music fans and the greater, global music industry delighted organiser Folkert Koopmans, founder of FKP Scorpio.

“Our goal was to introduce new talented artists to a wider audience, but also to talk about current subjects and offer a platform for discus-sion and exchange, and, with a comprehensive and eventful conference agenda, create new collaborations,” states Koop-mans. “With the first year we have accomplished our goals.” He concludes, “I am espe-cially pleased that so many colleagues and people from the industry from all over the world came to the event.”

It seems that some of the problems encountered by the German music industry in 2014 still show no signs of being overcome .

The battle around the Nür-burgring festival site proved to be continuously newswor-thy and a judicial minefield involving various other com-batants, besides MLK and DEAG. Although the legal proceedings between the two companies have been settled, the consequences of that set-tlement – that DEAG will be holding one of its three new festivals at the Nürburgring site whilst MLK move Rock Am Ring to a new site – is still a cause for concern.

Industry elder Karsten Jahnke has been very outspoken on the subject and made public his views using some high profile avenues. In February, DEAG objected to some of Jahnke’s

statements during a keynote interview at Eurosonic, accua-tions that were later replicated in an article printed in Ger-man trade paper Musikwoche. Jahnke argued that, for the most part, it is DEAG CEO Peter Schwenkow who is respon-sible for Germany’s “festival fight” in the upcoming season. Responding by means of a public letter, a DEAG spokes-man emphasised that it was the Nürburging that had originally approached DEAG, because a new deal for the site in 2015 with MLK had not been agreed. Furthermore, accord-ing to DEAG, the whole proce-dure, at every stage, has been a legitimate business move.

The second incident cur-rently concerning the Ger-man business is a rift between consumer rights watchdog Verbraucherzentrale NRW (VZ-NRW) and CTS Even-

tim regarding ticket sales for upcoming AC/DC shows in Germany. VZ-NRW filed two complaints against CTS Even-tim: one regarding the ticket-ing company not offering a free-of-charge payment option (contrary to German guide-lines) when AC/DC shows went onsale in mid-December; the other criticising a so-called ‘premium mail service’.

For AC/DC tickets with a face value of €80, CTS Even-tim charged a payment fee of €8.72 per ticket and another €29.90 for the postal service. CTS Eventim admitted and signed the first declaration by VZ-NRW at the beginning of January and refunded ticket buyers the payment fee. The second declaration has not been signed by CTS Eventim, prompting VZ-NRW to file a principle case against the company. Indeed, the sales

policy caused angry protests on social media and revealed that the ‘premium mailing’ arrived as uninsured letters bearing a 60-cent stamp.

Finally, Creative Talent’s insolvency rumbles on. According to administra-tors, Creative Talent’s total debts were around €6mil-lion. Of 6,000 creditors, so far, 3,053 have filed their claims. But the administrator has declared that distribution of funds would only cover about 2% of the total debts, although this could be more if the administrator can success-fully reclaim advance pay-ments made by the company for cancelled tours by the Backstreet Boys and Kylie Minogue. However, due to the complexity of this insol-vency case, creditors might not even see their 2% returned until 2018.

SGAE Misses Crucial Tariffs Deadline

Where’s the Music? Finds Itself

German Battles and Feuds

Comment

30 IQ Magazine January 2015

The combination of the Internet and Apple and Android app stores has created a kind of instant lab where companies with a bright idea for a consumer-oriented

product can experiment and see how much of a market they can attract.

Downloads of apps have far exceeded downloads of music from iTunes, but it all started with music. Investors still hesitate to put money into anything that involves licensing music from record companies. Yet, whether in music discovery, live events, or music performance, there are more start-ups than ever doing amazing, interesting, non-traditional, radical and innovative projects related to music.

Trying to grasp the breadth and depth of this is difficult. The array of companies seems fragmented and incoherent. So as a guide, here are three often recurring strands that might help act as a framework:

HIGH DEFINITION. The speed of the Internet and bandwidth has increased so dramatically over the last five years, as has its availability to large numbers of people. It is now possible to run the types of services we could only dream of ten years or so ago.

The speed of bandwidth means more bits of data, meaning higher quality products, so that it is now also possible to achieve really high definition both with audio and imagery.

As a result, we have started to see people who once walked around with earbud headphones now wearing massive headphones on which you can hear incredible quality audio. We’re starting to experience that with TV too, and in the live arena – virtual reality projections are making their presence felt. Tupac at Lollapalooza, for example. In the process, we’re developing our ability to escape into virtual worlds; ones that have all the characteristics of the real world – visually, musically, interactively – and ones that are very compelling.

What goes along with the intensity of a high-definition experience is the degree of attention it commands, and that’s really where the business models fit in. The biggest challenge running an advertising-based business, like Facebook or Google, is how to keep hold of people’s attention so that you can sell ads against their presence. As organisers of live events know only too well, the best way of doing that is by providing compelling experiences.

So, there are two strands to pull together here, quality of experience – one that is intense and more and more real – at the same time, a business model that drives people in that direction as well. Hence, Facebook’s recent purchase of the Oculus Rift virtual reality company.

AUTHENTICITY. Authenticity of an experience is something that people have increasingly begun to crave. Maybe it’s a reaction to the very corporate, fabricated, artificial manifestations of music from the 80s and 90s, but also that need to acquire a one-off, personal, exclusive experience appears to be something people respond to. Perhaps in the face of so much automation of technology, it is authenticity that people want?

Live music has grown incredibly as we know, and there’s been an extraordinary explosion in festivals across Europe, in terms of the numbers of festivals and their audiences. Here too, what seems to be driving this is the idea that there’s a direct relationship with the artist that is entirely authentic and unmediated by anybody else or anything else. Going corporate in that context is the kiss of death. Keeping up the appearance of an intimate, almost amateur feel still counts – although we can see just how professional you have to be to achieve that.

It’s not just around recording or live, it’s also about crowdsourcing. There’s much talk of platforms like Indiegogo, Kickstarter and Pledge being amazing sources of funding. If you’re a creative, a band or a performer, what you really get from crowdsourcing is a committed and passionate audience that stays with you and feels personally involved in your project. They may have put money into it but it wasn’t just about that, it was about the relationship. This sense of authenticity isn’t just about going to a live show; it’s about a sense of intimacy...a sense of direct contact with an artist.

BIG DATA. What do we mean by this? Very large quantities of data being generated by consumer interaction with the Internet and related tech, on the one hand; and on the other, it’s the computing power required to analyse and make sense of all that data – and be able to turn that into something that is monetizable.

We’re at the beginning. It’s still a buzzword. Retailers, however, have really started to mine big data effectively and festival organisers should really do more. With smart tags, event profiles and message boards, the opportunity to understand the festival audience is huge. If you extend that to working with the smart-tag companies who can literally follow the crowd around, the potential to make better experiences – highly professionally with just the right degree of authenticity is huge. Big data is still hyped, but the opportunity to transform the live sector with smart use of audience data is potentially transformative.

Digital music advisor and author of Digital Medieval Jeremy Silver reviews the impact of digital developments on the live industry as presented in a recent Music Tank debate.

Virtually Live

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Imagine the scenario next time you attend your favourite music festival. You drive there, your satnav takes you to exactly where you need to park, and minutes later you walk

right into your campsite area with a wave of your wristband (which you have received beforehand). You’ve been streaming various compilations of key tracks of the artists you are about to see using Bluetooth on the way to the event – sent to you via Spotify. Once you’ve settled in, you check your festival planner app on your smartphone for an update of what’s happening – particularly for those stages and attractions you’ve prioritised.

You get the latest (most accurate) stage times, along with vouchers for a drink at the bar closest to your first planned show. Everywhere you go, access is with a wave of the hand. You successfully avoid any stage clashes with your well-planned itinerary and you’re unlikely to get bogged down by queues since you chose the ‘no queue experience’ option (well worth the premium ticket price). And, you’ll never run out of cash because you’re paying with Apple Pay or your wristband, or both. During the performances, you receive exclusive content – some close-up photos (sponsored by Canon or Nikon) and a few live audio recordings to listen to again later.

After the event, you immediately receive the offer to reserve a ticket for next year at a 20% early-bird discounted rate, rising to 50% if you send a reservation to three friends and they also buy a ticket. Meanwhile, Songkick updates you on when the bands you saw at the festival are next playing nearest to you.

All of the above will happen. Much of it is unfolding now in the festivals space. But at present, it’s still patchy. Even the Wi-Fi at festivals is iffy at best so you can’t use the app (which has poor offline functionality). Since you’re probably paying cash, you could run out, or find yourself in a fruitless hunt for an on-site cash machine or in a time-wasting queue. At present, most festivals can feel like a trip back in time rather than a modern experience. It’s something festival promoters will be addressing fast.

I’m fascinated by the connections between entertainment and technology. My recent Masters research programme focused on the subject of UK music festivals and the various engagement technologies available – particularly smartphone apps and wristbands.

Over the past year, those festivals deploying cashless have reported between a 20% and 40% uplift in spending (eg on concessions, drinks and merch), compared with cash users. The data allows the tracking of hot-selling merch or the best performing vendors, enabling restocks or extra staffing. Examples of cashless deployment in the US include Mysteryland, TomorrowWorld, Counterpoint and Lollapalooza. In the UK, the festival space is so much bigger and more important to the live industry, so it needs to catch-up fast.

Festival providers will need to experiment with the various formats for cashless – wristbands, smart cards and smartphone apps. In my Masters research, among festival goers using wristbands and apps:

44% of those who had used a cashless wristband said their festival experience ‘improved a lot’.

36% of those who had used a mobile app said their festival experience ‘improved a lot’.

On the path to festival utopia, I believe there are a number of key success factors where the festival market needs to achieve new and better things:

User experience – so far, fans have had mixed experiences with technology, and we will need to make sure the investment in user experience makes the technology easy, and ensures that it really enhances being at the event, so it spreads positive word of mouth.

Scalability – including increasing the installed base of apps, particularly those enabled with iBeacon or NFC technology, and also the number of points of sale enabled at events.

Integrated data and reporting – across ticket sales, gate scans, stage location, box office and points of sale such as concessions.

Infrastructure – Wi-Fi or connectivity, data security, reliability of the systems used – for example, having the capacity to validate thousands of unique wristbands per hour as people move around and do different things.

Artist and brand engagement – so we have great content and ideas to work with.

There is much to learn from the exhibitions space. Professional and consumer exhibitions have moved further ahead in making the user experience better, and using the data gathered from the events to improve marketing pre-, during and post-event. Ultimately, festivals and concerts should feel like stepping into the future for fans, not stepping into the past!

Keith Jopling , SVP at UK-based technology and media consultancy KAE, looks at how festivals are set to be affected by technologies.

Is Festival Utopia Within Reach?

“We will need to make sure the investment in user experience

makes the technology easy, and ensures that it really enhances

being at the event, so it spreads positive word of mouth.”

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From Floor to Bed – A Touring History

Being a concert organiser at the present time feels like paddling in the dreams of live music promoting. Never before in the history of the music industry have we

experienced such intensive traffic on the rock & roll touring roads, with punters queuing in vast numbers.

Business is growing tremendously on a global scale, revenues reflect demand and live music promoting has changed its image from being a small part of the music business into a dominant industry in itself, driven forward by multinational, corporate structures.

Closing the books on 2014, there are evidently plenty of achievements to celebrate in the sector overall – at least in the case of ticket sales, revenues, commercial partnering, market expansion, ROI and all that jazz...

To operate and manage a small- to mid-sized venue in a tiny national territory within this framework is a huge task from an entrepreneurial point of view along with the day-to-day struggle in defense of live music as a sociocultural art form rather than solely a commodity.

VEGA is the host of some 350 concerts a year, and proud to be the preferred venue in Denmark of approximately 750 artists and bands and 250,000 concertgoers, annually.

With a 250-1,600 capacity from three stages, we offer an intimate space for audiences and artists, as well as reasonable wage potential for the latter. Despite VEGA having a tiny footstep within a huge global industry, there is no doubt that on a local level we are a key player. A venue of our size is an important part of the journey in the development of emerging national and international artists.

We strive to maintain an independent approach and insist that the music and the audience are always the main focus in everything that we do.

However, whilst the industry races forward with its focus on routings that follow the changing climate zones, and harvesting the never-ending festival and outdoor arena seasons, globally, we are left to deal with the resulting overheated and compromised indoor season. Although, apart from the managerial consequences, from a venue of our size’s perspective, this is still not one of our main concerns.

What is much more scary is trying to adapt to the fact that our industry is on the move, with focal points that hold no attention or reflection for the limiting consequences. This not only affects music as an art form but the ability of smaller venues to introduce music to the market.

In other words, at a fundamental level in the ecosystem of music and live performance, smaller venues are at the mercy of the overall structures and mindset of the wider industry.

No territory is too small to escape the corporate structures and battles inherent in the protection of interest and market share. Few deals are made possible without a cost/benefit terminology developed in higher atmospheres – many more never happen, due to the exact same phenomenon.

As our industry grows and becomes more arrogant, we need to remember the emerging proletariat of artists, eager to perform, but with fewer options to pursue. Not because of a lack of artistic skills or relevance or a lack of interest in the market – but more often due to an inability to meet the industry’s demand.

It’s generally recognised that the live music industry has filled the gap left by the declining label era. It has expanded and achieved glory where once it was considered secondary to the labels. The challenge for us as an industry is to ensure that we do not replicate the mistakes made by the recorded music industry. And this is something that hopefully can be done way before we reach the zenith and/or it is too late.

The bigger the heads and egos and the more unrealistic the perception of self-image is, the skinnier the body and smaller the feet are. There is no reason to doubt that there will be bumps on the road ahead that will challenge the balance of the industry.

Small- to mid-sized venues have always been an integral part of the music scene. Although there may be differences in characteristics and challenges from territory to territory, we all share the ambition of a live music scene that reflects creativity and diversity of music.

Smaller venues need to be acknowledged as an indispensable rung on the ladder and an integral part of the live music industry ecosystem.

Steen Jørgensen, CEO of VEGA Copenhagen, stresses the importance of retaining the values and attitudes necessary to run and maintain the small- to mid-sized venues so vital to the development of up-and-coming artists.

“As our industry grows and becomes more arrogant, we need to remember the emerging proletariat of artists, eager to perform, but with

fewer options to pursue.”

Venues and the Emerging Proletariat

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Torsun Burkhardt and Kilian Teichgräber, founders of the German band Egotronic, outline the various stages of touring in their experience.

From Floor to Bed – A Touring History

We founded our band Egotronic in 2001. In the beginning, with no booking agency to care for our well-being, it was a time of free concerts and

smelly sleeping bags on dirty kitchen floors or sleeping in rancid squats, mostly bereft of cleaning products. But from these early days, we learned the following:1. You develop a strong tolerance for suffering, even learning to

take it with a smile when you are determined to do your thing and fulfil your dream.

2. If you don’t have a booking agency, pretend you do. Invent a logo and a name to contact clubs. Under no circumstances admit that you are a member of the band. You’ll be surprised what you can gain if your contact person thinks you are the booker! With some luck and negotiation skills, that mouldy sleeping bag might actually become a clean bed. Following this early period of poverty and with the help of a

serious booker, life on the road began to improve. In those days we played 30 shows per month, from which we earned €300 from €10 per show – untaxed, of course!

Then, as our organisational skills improved, we managed to

at least double our profit. It was still not enough to make a living but we could at least claim to be earning whilst doing what we loved. Also, we were now sleeping in clean beds, eating a warm meal and even enjoying breakfast the morning after the show!

We are now in the next stage, and there are still drawbacks and difficulties. For example, in the earlier stages, when we were just musicians with a minimal set-up, we could travel by car, whereas now we are a six-person team and cannot manage without a van.

Luckily, when you are playing major shows you can afford a dedicated driver and a comfortable tour bus. Also, life during festival season definitely has its perks: playing table football with famous bands in the backstage area; drinking champagne; watching concerts comfortably thanks to access-all-areas passes. Wages are reasonably high now too, so that financially you can survive, by playing indoor shows surrounding the big festival summers with 8,000 people listening and partying to your music. And did we forget to mention that now we get to lay our heads in king-sized beds in high-end hotels with spas and breakfast buffets?!

It is when you get to this stage that you know it was all worth it! Our next step: Nightliner tour!

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Back in 2013, I delivered a presentation at the ILMC Production Meeting on fatigue and its effects on accident rates. The presentation was the result of a

research project I undertook in collaboration with the PSA, surveying over 400 individuals actively working on event sites and on tour. The research has subsequently been presented to the HSE’s JACE committee, to the Film and Broadcast Health and Safety Group, and to Live Nation’s European health and safety conference.

It’s pretty obvious to anyone working in live music that the hours are often long, that this causes people to be fatigued, and that this clearly could affect safety. Even so I think the quantitative conclusions we can draw from the research, with high statistical confidence, are shocking. Here are the headlines:• 75% of people working on event sites or on tours are cognitively impaired through lack of sleep to a similar extent as being over the UK drink-drive limit.• Our sector suffers approximately 15 times as many lost time injuries as the construction industry.• 80% of those lost time injuries wouldn’t happen if people got enough sleep.

What’s even more shocking is that since 2013, I don’t think as an industry we’ve made any serious attempt to do anything about this. Individuals and individual companies may well have made progress but it doesn’t feel to me like the industry as a whole has made even a small step in the right direction.

In talking to people, two clear reasons have become apparent as to why any action is non-existent, or, at best, unacceptably slow.

The first is a question of culture. At least one person has criticised my research, and the publicity I’ve tried to give it. “If I wanted a 9-5 job, I wouldn’t be doing what I do. I like the long hours I work, and I don’t take kindly to you trying to stop me…” I’ve also worked on countless shows where excessive working hours are so engrained that to shorten the working day is just not considered. “It’s just how this industry works. If you can’t work 18-hour days, find another job…”

The second is a question of money. Nobody will admit to being responsible for deciding the schedule, and what needs to be achieved within it. Production suppliers blame the promoter. The promoter blames the artist. Everyone, it seems, is increasingly required by the powers that be to build ever bigger shows in shorter and shorter timeframes. The only solution to the fatigue issue is therefore to enlarge the workforce. This will cost money, and make suppliers and

promoters alike uncompetitive. “Until it’s the law, I can’t do anything about it. Regulation will make a level playing field, and that’s when things can change.”

My response to the cultural issue is this. You may like a beer or two but if you’re driving a forklift, or operating the Kinesys, or you’re the production manager or the venue manager or the safety officer, I don’t care – you shouldn’t be drinking at work. The same goes for fatigue: if you’re in a safety critical role at work, your fatigue affects other peoples’ safety as well as your own. And I don’t care whether you like working long hours, or whether it’s just the way this industry’s always done things. It’s just not acceptable.

My response to the budget issue is this. It’s already the law and by choosing to ignore it you put not only your employees but also your company at risk. There is a legal duty to assess the risks to employees in the workplace. And there’s a legal duty to control those risks as far as is reasonably practicable. If you schedule staff in safety critical roles to work 18-hour working days for a week, I don’t think you have any defence when the inevitable accidents happen.

So far, I’ve limited myself to quantifying and explaining the problem. I’ve not offered any solutions. And actually that’s right. Employers are the ones who need to decide what the right controls are to manage the fatigue risk. But given the lack of progress since 2013, we’re going to come up with some suggestions at this year’s IPM, and challenge the industry to adopt new controls, or otherwise explain why it can’t be done.

James Cobb, founder of Crowd Connected, asks why the industry is ignoring his research into the effects of fatigue on production crews.

“If you’re in a safety critical role at work, your fatigue affects other

peoples’ safety as well as your own. And I don’t care whether you like working long hours,

or whether it’s just the way this industry’s always done things. It’s

just not acceptable.”

Accidents Waiting to Happen


Techno filesAS SEASONED INTERNATIONAL travellers, the IQ team is well aware of the hideous charges added to any spending while in foreign climes (and the ensuing difficulties with our expenses). But the days of frittering away money needlessly on currency transactions could be over thanks to the financial wizards at London-headquartered Centtrip, who already count a number of A-list touring acts among their clientele.

Based on the simple premise that what matters most to people (and companies) is how much you get for your money when buying foreign currency, Centtrip has developed a re aid Ma ter ard and u ti urren

account that effectively allows users to trade in up to 14 currencies with authentic 0% foreign exchange rates direct from the currency market, free of any mark-up and commissions.

The financial gurus behind Centtrip have a reputation as the enfants terribles of the banking world. They co-founded Schneider Foreign Exchange and HiFX, which shook up the world of corporate currency transactions to the extent that it had a combined annual turnover of more than $30billion. Bringing that rock & roll approach to the mass market, the company is hoping it can capture the imagination of the man in the street and is targeting the live music market as a place to start its marketing campaign.

With a number of artists already on board as customers and investors, Centtrip is growing by word of mouth as tour accountants realise the hefty savings they can make by loading budgets on to the prepaid cards, while giving them easy control through Centtrip’s smartphone app and secure Customer Control Portal.

FOR EVENTS THAT ARE TRYING to cut their carbon dioxide emissions, the scientists at BOC have developed something called the Hymera fuel cell, which uses a combination of hydrogen and oxygen to create electricity, water and minimal heat. The technology is being used to power the Ecolite-H2 lighting system which has been designed to be used in environmentally sensitive areas where emissions must be minimised.

Ecolite-H2 produces zero carbon or particulate emissions and, as a result, the process is virtually silent, making it ideal for work at night, in built-up areas or on festival campsites. This is the first time fuel cells have been integrated into a low energy, low voltage LED system, which uses only 150W of energy.

UK-based equipment rental company, Taylor Construction Plant, exclusively stock the new Ecolite-H2 and tell IQ, “The feedback we are getting from festival organisers is really positive, while, with smaller events, our customers have said they are impressed with the H2s and their silent running, reduced risk of fuel spillage, reduced light pollution, and no carbon emissions, to name but a few.”

THE UNRELIABILITY OF mobile phone connectivity at festivals can result in text messages taking forever to reach recipients, making it difficult to stay in touch and arrange rendezvous points.

FireChat claims to be the first off-the-grid messaging app as it allows people to send messages even if they have no Internet access or cellular phone coverage. Using the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capabilities on mobile devices, FireChat creates a peer-to-peer mesh network that can bounce messages from phone A to B to Z to Z600. And the more phones available, the stronger the network gets.

Having already been adopted by attendees of Burning Man (and you don’t get much more off-the-grid than that), the free FireChat app made international headlines when it was successfully used by pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong last year. Since its launch in March 2014, FireChat has reached the top ten social networking apps in 124 countries. And it isn’t just for finding wayward friends – the app was recently used by artists at one of the largest music festivals in India to chat live, off-the-grid, with their fans.

PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS glued to their phones, and why not? It’s important to know what Michelle’s dinner looks like or how cute Pete’s dog is on its morning walkies.

Smartphones give us these facilities 24/7, but they can give us so much more. Airbeem is on a mission to unlock the much-hyped potential of mobile and these guys are stealthily facilitating clients’ true ownership of their audiences with highly social, interactive and intelligent apps.

The high tech start-up launched over a year ago and has since created apps for Live Nation, Kasabian and Mama & Co. Airbeem solutions focus on a modular approach that sees plug-in functions combine to create bespoke apps that enable

year-round engagement, automatic data harvesting and laser message targeting.

Airbeem are official suppliers of the ILMC mobile app. Conference delegates can visit them in Pollstar’s Tech Laboratory.

Do you have a new product or technology to contribute to this page? Email [email protected] to be considered for the next issue…

Gig Gadgetry from the Frontline...

FireChat

Airbeem

Ecolite-H2

Centtrip


The X-Men

It’s ten years since five forward thinking agents decided to give up the security of a guaranteed wage to launch their own upstart agency. Gordon Masson discovers that the quintet behind X-ray Touring timed the formation of the company to perfection, allowing them to build a powerhouse agency that even their biggest rivals look upon with envy…

Photo © James Looker


The X-Men

The reaction of the established big name agencies in discovering that a group of London-based agents had decided to set-up shop in direct competition was probably the surest sign that the five founding partners of X-ray Touring had hit on a good idea.

Initial scepticism about the new venture extended both sides of the Atlantic, but after ten years at the top, X-ray continues to go from strength to strength with a 30-strong staff now representing close to 400 acts and a team of hungry young agents discovering new talent on a monthly basis.

However, had it not been for some serious coincidences, the make up of X-ray could have involved a very different set of founding partners. With Jeff Craft, Ian Huffam and Steve Strange incumbent at Helter Skelter, their peers Martin Horne and Scott Thomas were stalwarts at ITB. But with all five nearing the end of their contracts, conversations began in early 2004 about what the next move would be for each agent.

The formation of X-ray acted as something of a catalyst for a sea change in the London agency business, with CAA opening its London offices in late 2006 and William Morris following suit in 2007.

“There had been discussions among a whole host of people, for quite a long time, about leaving their employers to start up a new agency,” recalls Thomas. “We all had similar conversations with other people in the business, but when it boiled down to it, the five of us found some common ground. And although we work very differently, we all have a similar work ethos. So actually once we’d had our first couple of meetings, it was pretty obvious we had the right people on board.”

Strange believes the very first hints of collaboration were mooted by Craft and Horne. “Martin and Jeff had been friends for many years and I think the link for X-ray kind of came from there,” says Strange. “It was a conversation Martin and I had, which he’d already had with Jeff, while others had talked about similar ideas. It was coincidental, but it was time for us all to move to pastures new. If there was ever going to be a time when we were going to leap from working for someone else to owning

our own company, then it was a now-or-never moment.”The meticulous planning to form X-ray actually took

around a year as the founders honed a structure for the new venture. But once the wheels were in motion, there was no turning back. “There were a load of agents around the same age as us who were working for big agencies and earning them a lot of money, but not getting to share in that money,” says Craft. “A lot of the bigger companies had a different outlook on how they ran their businesses and dealt with artists, but we all wanted to work for an organisation that fundamentally puts the artists’ careers first.” At the same time, they have created a structure that allows each agent to work independently, in their own style, without any interference from the board, which means none of the directors have had to alter any existing relationships with their clients.

As the planets moved into alignment, Huffam remembers, “The timing was pretty much perfect to launch a new company. All of the big London-based agencies were run by the first generation of agents, so we became the first generation to leave those companies and certainly the first to set-up a rival agency.”

“We were also the first company that was formed after the live music business became dominant in artists’ careers,” observes Thomas. “Looking back, some people might think

STEVE STRANGEAssistant: Lauren Stewart

Long-term clients: Ash, Coldplay, Eminem, Snow Patrol, Gomez, Queens of the Stone Age.Favourite act to have dinner with: Queens of the Stone Age. Josh Homme is an outstanding host.Most absurd thing heard from a promoter: In a discussion about plant hire, the promoter queried the figure as dressing room decorations...First gig as a fan: AC/DC with Bon Scott (Belfast Usher Hall).Second choice career: A heating engineer, like his father.

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we’ve been fortunate, but even at those first meetings where we talked about setting up a company, we were talking about the growth of the live music business – we all knew what was happening in our business and we could see that live music was going to get bigger and bigger.”

Of course, those opposed to a change in the status quo became vocal about such open rebellion – and the X-ray founders certainly experienced their fair share of negativity. “There was concern among the established agencies, particularly in America, about what we were doing and I know that the hierarchy in certain corporations were asking ‘Who do they think they are?!’ ” says Huffam. Thomas laughs: “Yeah, I heard that someone referred to it as a bloody revolution in London.”

However, that revolution was ultimately bloodless, with the timing of their audacious move absolutely pinpoint. “The power of X-ray was in our client base, which gave us critical mass,” says Huffam. “Between the five of us we had about 150 acts from day one, so our collective power in the marketplace was crucial.”

Thomas concurs, “By our second meeting together, we knew we had something solid and it was more than ‘blue-sky thinking’. So we put a timetable in place and aimed to launch the new company at the start of 2005. It was a pretty seismic shift in the European agency business and there

were a lot of people predicting our downfall, if not actually wishing failure upon us.”

Disclosing just some of that flak, Huffam says, “Our former employer predicted we would not last six months because we didn’t know how to operate the computer system.” On the flip side, Strange acknowledges some of the positivity he experienced. “We walked out of our respective buildings with our entire rosters intact and I have to say I’ve got a lot of respect for our former employers for allowing us to do that without trying to steal any of our acts,” he says. “We expected a backlash, but we left with dignity and that’s got a lot to do with being allowed to leave in such a manner, so I have to give respect where it’s due.”

Explaining the reason behind the company name, Horne recalls, “At the last meeting that we had before we actually formed the company, Ian suggested the name X-ray Touring to suggest transparency. Because it was a good name – and nobody came up with anything better – it stuck.”

With the groundwork complete, X-ray launched in rather inconspicuous surroundings, with the first 12 employees wedged into one compact office in Shoreditch – which in 2005 wasn’t quite the cultural hotspot it is today. Those dozen staff included the five main directors, assistants Jennie Wells, Jo Biddiscombe, Dora Masullo, Nicki Forestiero and Francesca Hicks, an accountant and, within days of the company’s formation, Josh Javor.

Disclosing the financial agreement behind X-ray’s formation, Thomas tells IQ, “From day one, the five of us all put the same amount of money into establishing X-ray. It’s run in the same way as other agencies – the only difference is that there are five people at the top, rather than just one person or a group of faceless investors.”

Strange underlines the company’s credentials, adding, “We were able to launch X-ray with quite a senior roster. All of us


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had several top clients – if you look at the list of acts we had: Eminem, Coldplay, Robbie Williams, Blur, Nick Cave, Black Eyed Peas, Manic Street Preachers, Green Day, Queens of the Stone Age…. we all had top-heavy rosters and that made a hell of an impression. Besides, any cynicism we received was more than matched by the enthusiasm we had to make X-ray work.”

Any nervousness over the financial risk the partners had taken quickly dissipated as the bookings for their clients started to roll in, and by the summer of 2005, the company surpassed break-even point.

It goes without saying that success attracts predators. That’s certainly been the case with X-ray – and continues to be so. But the founders are resolute about their intention to remain independent. “We’ve been approached by investment houses, record companies, you name it, but nothing ever felt appropriate,” says Huffam. “It’s difficult to relinquish control when something runs so well.”

“The fact that we launched X-ray without any outside financial backing has been crucial,” states Craft. “One of the fundamentals when setting up X-ray was that we agreed not to pay ourselves any wages until we could afford it. But we were able to pay ourselves back our original investment within six months and I think that was the first time we realised X-ray was really going to work.”

Although the X-ray founders are not critical of their peers who work for bigger, multinational agencies, they are at pains to stress that their company operates in a fundamentally different way from the more corporate operations,, whose agents are expected to look after scores of acts.

While some of their peers have rosters of 80 or 90-plus acts, that isn’t the case at X-ray where agents personally handle their own rosters, rather than delegate to junior bookers. Underlining that point, Huffam states, “We never talk about market share. Our job is to provide advice and strategies for tangible career-enhancing results. We’re agents, not bookers. The difference between a booker and an agent is the pursuit of money. We don’t have a booking mentality at X-ray.”

Thomas adds, “We all came into X-ray with reputations of

not letting outside influences affect our artists – we were the awkward squad.”

That awkward squad has enjoyed phenomenal success. With X-ray’s office walls covered by the posters of their arena and stadium acts, it’s easy to forget that many of those artists have achieved superstar status during the last decade, under the X-ray banner. Indeed, Huffam recalls one of the early highlights for the company was in seeing one of his

IAN HUFFAMAssistant: Laura Fennell

Long-term clients: Blur, Nick Cave, Moby.First gig as a fan: Cliff Richard (Croydon Fairfield Hall, 1972).Favourite venue: Glasgow Barrowlands.Favourite city to visit on tour: Newcastle.Second choice career: Ian’s mum wanted him to be a policeman.

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acts reach A-list status. “Within 18 months of the company starting, we had one of the biggest tours in the world with Robbie Williams and that was a great moment for me and for X-ray as a company,” he says.

Referred to by one agent as ‘the home of the headliner’, X-ray’s track record is scarily impressive. Among the acts that have reached stadium level are Blur, Coldplay, Eminem, Green Day, Linkin Park, Manic Street Preachers, New Order, The Offspring, Pixies, Queens of the Stone Age and The Smashing Pumpkins, while the acts selling out arenas and headlining festival stages around the world are too numerous to mention.

While serendipity played a bit part in the formation and launch of X-ray, the foresight of the founding partners has provided the company with solid foundations from which operations have since grown exponentially. Messrs Craft, Horne, Huffam, Strange and Thomas do not lack ambition, in any shape or form, but the meticulous way in which they have planned company expansion speaks volumes about the long-term vision they have for X-ray.

Sticking to a fairly rigid plan, the first five years saw the partners establish the X-ray brand and gradually shoehorn in the odd staff member to the office until, literally, there was no more room to move in the Curtain Road offices.

Mel Young recalls, “When I joined the company there wasn’t even a desk for me. I’d have to sit at the ‘meetings desk’, but if someone needed to get past me, I’d have to stand up to let them by – there was literally not enough room to squeeze past.”

Having outgrown Curtain Road, the company relocated to bigger premises in nearby Great Eastern Street. Then, in 2011, it made the move a couple of miles up the road to the current building, a former lighting factory in Holford Yard. However, that second building witnessed a significant change in the company’s structure, when senior agents Paul Bolton and Adam Saunders joined X-ray.

“The plan was to expand after the first four or five years and we did just that when Paul and Adam joined the company,” says Huffam.

Bolton and Saunders were former colleagues of Craft, Huffam and Strange at Helter Skelter, but when their peers left to form X-ray, they instead signed new five-year deals to remain. But those intervening years took that company in an altogether unscripted direction when parent company Sanctuary hit the skids and Universal Music inherited the agency part of the business.

“When Helter Skelter was coming to an end we were getting offers from all over the place, but X-ray seemed the natural place for us to go,” Bolton says. Saunders agrees. “Neither of us wanted to work for a big corporate agency or the Americans, and the indie ethos at X-ray fitted us to a T, rather than being told what to book or how to

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run our business.” However, Bolton confesses a pang of disappointment. “Coming to X-ray didn’t feel like a new job,” he laughs. “It was more like an improved version of the chapter I was in.”

And disclosing some of the misery they endured prior to the switch, Bolton says, “When Universal first took over Helter Skelter, they paid for a conduit to liaise between them and us. He asked us, in all seriousness, what happened after we sold our first ticket to a gig. He basically thought we were promoters…”

Both Bolton and Saunders work on a gentleman’s agreement at X-ray. “We’ve never signed contracts because we don’t need to,” says Saunders. “Because we have a long history with everyone, we’re all bound together by trust.”

Before any company registration documents were drawn up, X-ray’s directors agreed a set of standards to govern operations. “We started with a blank sheet of paper and over the course of our meetings together we drew up eight to ten rules of engagement – commandments that we all agreed we should stick to,” confirms Craft.

One of those rules involved X-ray’s staff working in an open-plan office, with the directors hoping to create an environment where both they and their staff could thrive by learning from the business conversations they heard around B

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them. That policy has paid dividends as X-ray has introduced new employees to bolster operations.

Saunders highlights another advantage of the X-ray building’s layout, where a handful of offices occupy the mezzanine level in the new premises. “They’re a good place to hide when there’s someone coming to visit that you don’t want to see,” he laughs.

On a more serious note, Saunders believes it’s X-ray’s rules of engagement that make it an attractive destination for both agents and artists. “Nobody has the booking mentality here – the company is all about quality over quantity, so none of the agents have vast rosters, unlike at other agencies,” he says.

Backing up that assertion, Bolton comments, “I will take on a maximum of two or three new acts a year. That allows me to put a lot of time and effort into developing those acts and making sure their careers get off to a solid start. And I do that myself, none of my acts are booked by a junior.”

Saunders concludes, “In other places, it’s the company that represents an act. At X-ray, it’s the agent who represents the artist. And X-ray’s agents are a strong collection of misfits and mavericks.”

The rule that keeps the company independent has also proved crucial, as it allows X-ray’s agents to deal with the global powerhouses such as Live Nation, AEG and SFX in the same way they do with all promoters. “The role of a company like ours is more important than ever,” says Craft. “The growth of the corporate sector and the pressures that can sometimes have on artists has to be offset by people like us.” Huffam agrees. “The big corporate groups are free to do what they want, but we have to be above all that and make objective decisions that help the long-term career plan for our artists. By their very nature, the corporates want control. But it would be most unlikely and deeply unpalatable if they ever tried to dilute us and the relationship we have with our artists.”

The slow burn expansion of X-ray has recently seen employee numbers swell, and a raft of up-and-coming artists added to the company roster. Outgrowing their former offices resulted in the move to the current premises three and a half years ago, where the additional space has allowed the directors to introduce new staff.

While Jo Biddiscombe and Josh Javor have been at X-ray since day one, Mel Young joined the company in 2007. Since the recruitment of veterans Bolton and Saunders, however, the company has taken on agents including Jamie Wade, Jack Cox, Joe Ogden, Shaun Faulkner and latest additions Sally Dunstone, who is actively looking to start her own roster, and Beckie Sugden,

SCOTT THOMASAssistant: Jennie Wells

Long-term clients: Manic Street Preachers, Cypress Hill, Stereophonics, Linkin Park, Black Eyed Peas.Favourite pastime outside music: Scott is a live sports junkie and will watch anything: rugby, speedway, ice hockey, tennis, you name it.Acts he wishes he’d represented: ELO or Beastie Boys or Elvis Costello.Favourite artist to have dinner with: Nicky Wire, Kelly Jones, will.i.am.Second choice career: Sports commentator.


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who joined X-ray from The Agency Group in November. Sugden has been an agent for about the same length of

time X-ray has been in existence and she is relishing her new environment. “It’s always rejuvenating to start at a new company,” she says. “X-ray is all about quality over quantity so I’ve halved my roster to devote more time to the careers of those acts.” And like Bolton and Saunders, Sugden says the move to X-ray has been easy. “It doesn’t feel like a new place because I already knew so many of the people,” she says. “It’s the same job with a different email address.”

The layout at X-ray allows the company’s rising talent to learn on the job from the senior agents, while also being easily able to bounce ideas off colleagues for crucial feedback. Jamie Wade, a four-year X-ray veteran, comments, “It’s good to know what’s going on and what other agents in the company are doing. You can take the best bits of everyone and use them to improve what you do.”

Jack Cox is one of last year’s recruits, although he’s been booking bands since his university days. “Being an agent isn’t a 9 to 5 thing – it’s a vocation, but X-ray has a really enjoyable atmosphere,” says Cox. “We hang out together outside work too – it’s a family atmosphere and we’re partial to a bit of bowling: Steve and Ian are pretty serious bowlers, so the pressure’s on when you go with them.”

Like his mentor, Strange, Javor has thrived in the X-ray set-up and loves the company’s leftfield approach. “I booked an A-Z tour of the UK for Ash,” relates Javor. “Not a tour of major cities – all had to be less known, so we ended the tour in Zennor Town Hall in Cornwall; we brought in everything and they played to 70 people. It was amazing: Zennor doesn’t even have a shop. It’s like a town hall, a church and ten houses…”

Another long-time staffer is Mel Young, who has been at X-ray for eight years. “There’s no pressure from Steve about what I take on to my roster – no financial targets – but I can always rely on him for advice,” she says. Young reveals that the younger agents hold weekly strategy meetings to discuss prospective new clients. “It’s inevitable that acts come up on the radar who more than one of us might be looking at, so it’s good to flag that up and resolve any issues early.”

One of the initiatives the committee has developed is X-ray showcases, the latest of which is being programmed

to coincide with this year’s ILMC. “We started doing the showcases to let people know what our rosters are all about,” says Young. Javor adds, “We did a low-key event at The Great Escape last year, so ILMC is a good time to step it up a level.”

Shaun Faulkner joined the company in July 2014 after interning at The Agency Group, while running his own agency in his spare time. Working under the tutelage of Bolton and Saunders, he says, “They’ve given me an incredible opportunity. I’ve now got 12 acts on my roster, nine of which I’ve taken on since coming to X-ray.” Similarly, while Sally Dunstone is still to take on her first act, she is adamant she is in the right place to kick-start her career. “I used to work at Live Nation, but this is a fantastic opportunity and it’s been a brilliant first few months,” she says.

More seasoned is Joe Ogden, who ran Sparkle Street Talent agency in Manchester before moving south three years ago, and recalling his first days at X-ray he says, “I was next to Jeff and Josh and hearing the level they were working at gave me that realisation of just how big the company was.” Now though, he’s in the thick of things and adds, “When international promoters come in to visit someone else, we can all take the chance to see them at the same time.”

JEFF CRAFTAssistant: Jo Biddiscombe

Long-term clients: PJ Harvey, Pulp/Jarvis Cocker, Elbow, Pixies, Richard Hawley.Most absurd excuse from a promoter: “I was at a funeral.” Jeff was this told this twice in the same week by one late-paying promoter.Act he wishes he’d represented: Roxy Music. Jeff was a member of their fan club.Hobby: Greyhound racing. Jeff has owned many dogs, the best of which is currently running and winning regularly - called Black Francis, his namesake is the lead singer of Pixies.Second choice career: Chef.

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Completing Generation X is Jo Biddiscombe, who, as Craft’s assistant, was one of the company’s original employees before starting her own roster. “I now work together with Joe to scout the new stuff that our team takes on,” she says. And lauding the merits of the weekly strategy meetings, she adds, “When someone else mentions a festival or promoter, then it can lead to other ideas and potential opportunities to help the careers of your artists.”

With ten years of success to look back upon, the directors at X-ray have much to be proud of. And with a younger generation now bringing in the talent that will hopefully provide promoters around the world with another set of arena and stadium acts in a few years time, the long-term health of X-ray Touring seems assured.

“I’m very proud of what we’ve done,” says Strange. “Every year has been more profitable than the previous year and we’ve built something that is pretty special. CAA, William Morris and The Agency Group have a more global arrangement, but as an international agency X-ray can stand shoulder to shoulder with anyone.”

The temptation to accelerate growth has been vehemently avoided and Saunders suggests that experiencing the implosion of Helter Skelter’s parent company, Sanctuary, may have constrained X-ray’s owners into erring on the side of caution.

Strange admits, “We have built slowly, but it’s within the confines of how we wanted the company to expand. In the past, growth was maybe down to the physical office space that we had. Now we have a lot more square footage and the ability to have bigger operations, but there’s still no rush to add bodies.”

Of course, not having to answer to someone farther up the chain has been pivotal to the company’s steady expansion. “We know what level the company should be,” states Thomas. “That’s the beauty of not having any shareholders or a parent company. Last year we added a lot of young agents and that was a very deliberate plan. It was never a case of just bringing in more and more people.”

Asked about future expansion, the partners are coy, although Strange hints that some kind of alliance with an independent American agency could be one possible strategy. But, unlike other agencies who have added the likes of literary divisions or special appearance bookers, such concepts have never been entertained at X-ray. Craft comments, “I’ve repped Jarvis Cocker from the early days and he does all kinds of things outside of live music. But his management take care of that part of his career. By and large, if you are a musician, the major source of your revenue is music and that’s what we concentrate on. I’ve never had an act that’s held a gun to our heads to get into the movies,

MARTIN HORNEAssistant: Roberta Pozzoli

(Amy Compton is on maternity leave)

Long-term clients: Green Day, The Offspring, Primal Scream.Favourite venue: Shepherd’s Bush Empire.First gig as a fan: Mott the Hoople (at Cheltenham Town Hall).Second choice career: Martin studied accountancy but while he was social secretary at Kent University, he was approached by Martin Hopewell to join Cowbell.Football team: Chelsea FC.


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for instance.” Huffam interjects, “When that kind of thing does happen, inevitably the manager regrets it a few months later.”

Nevertheless, it seems expansion plans are very much an open book and a continual conversation in the boardroom. “There are loads of potential avenues where we can grow – America for a start,” admits Huffam.

Despite their relaxed approach, the ambition among X-ray’s partners is undoubtedly strong. But the priority for the founders is that their creation has a long-term future. “We want the company to exist way beyond us, so we’re trying to recruit people that are bright enough to take over from us when we all eventually retire,” says Craft.

And there could scarcely be a better environment for those younger agents to learn their trade. “Of the ten or 12 arena and stadium acts we represent at X-ray, they were all taken on at very early stages of their career,” states Huffam. “The pride that we have is that power to develop acts from an early stage to the top.”

Looking back across the company’s history, X-ray founders can scarcely believe they’ve clocked up a decade. But such has been their success that any initial struggles have been completely forgotten. “I get huge pride from seeing the posters around X-ray’s walls – we’ve all done some pretty amazing tours and shows,” says Thomas. “People thought we wouldn’t be able to work together, but in ten years there’s never been a major issue between any of us.”

Indeed, Bolton says, “The whole time I’ve been here, I’ve only heard raised voices once and that was when a certain agent’s sausage sandwich went missing. And even that turned out to be the cleaner throwing it in the bin by mistake.”

Strange comments, “Until you experience working together, you don’t know how things will pan out. But it wasn’t difficult. We’ve looked back over the years and scratched our heads about how easy it’s been.”

It’s also obvious that X-ray’s founders still enjoy what they do. “Nothing really changes: we’re focussed on doing a professional job in developing the careers of our artists,” says Huffam. “The reward is being involved in successful tours and being part of the team that breaks an artist around the world and helps them develop their career. When all of us started working in live music it was because we loved it. There are easier ways to make a living, but they’re not as much fun.”

And while growth certainly figures in X-ray’s ambitions, Strange draws a very neat analogy to express the directors’ approach for the next ten years. “We don’t want to rush into anything because we don’t want to live in a house of cards,” he says. “I’d rather live in a very sturdy brick house than in a grand mansion where you have to spend a fortune on the upkeep and maintenance to prevent it from falling down around your ears. And the good thing about living in a brick house is that you can always build an extension at the back”

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I have worked with Jeff Craft for over 15 years on a number of projects, notably Elbow. I have to say, every proposal that Jeff has brought to the table has always had the best long-term interest of the artist as a priority. Jeff, and in my experience all the agents at X-ray stand out in their philosophy of always trying to build long-term artists’ careers. However, I was a bit shocked when in 2001 Elbow headlined a sold-out Astoria on their debut album tour, and Jeff turned to me and said “We will break them on their 5th album!” Thankfully, Elbow managed to breakthrough on their 4th album.Phil Chadwick, TRC Management Ltd

X-ray came racing out of the blocks firing on all cylinders and was obviously a class act from day one. They have a very strong teamwork ethic and their roster is a testament to the talent at the agency. They also have the coolest office space in the biz!

Pixies, Elbow and Nick Cave are three of my favourite acts ever and Jeff and Ian have been refreshingly supportive of our company. But can you tell Steve Strange no more guest lists until he gives us an act!Bren Berry, Aiken Promotions

The X-ray company ethos is tough but fair, generally sympathetic towards independent promoters, and when things go wrong they listen and work with us to find the best solution. The quality of X-ray’s support staff is high. We work with all the X-ray agents and they’re characters all – definitely not a bunch of corporate suits.Nick Hobbs, Charmenko

I have been working with Steve for over 20 years now and not only is he a great agent, but one of the few people in the music business whose friendship I value very much.

There are too many stories and anecdotes to tell, but unforgettable is the day after my wedding on Zanzibar with Steve and the late Gary Legge. I think we are still holding the unofficial island record for most pina coladas in the shortest period of time. We started early in the morning and the hotel ran out of rum and pineapples in the afternoon. Here´s to Steve, his team, fellow agents and partners at X-ray: To the next 10 years!Christian Vadillo-Bilda, x-why-z Konzertagentur

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Congratulations to all at X-ray who we have been working with since the very beginning. X-ray has been a big supporter of independent companies like DHP Family and we have seen some great shows from the likes of Nick Cave and Bat For Lashes, to Enter Shikari and Thurston Moore across the country. We look forward to the next ten years working with them and hope to have a few more legendary X-ray nights out.George Akins, DHP Family

X-ray are a great bunch and remembering the uproar when they were launching in the business seems such a long time ago. What can you say? A bunch of mavericks is just what the business needs… don’t mention Dom Pérignon and Greenwoods Hotel though.Mags Revell, AEG Live

When X-ray Touring was founded ten years ago, it was a surprise to all of us. The start of this agency more or less coincided with the founding of our endeavour as promoters. From the very beginning, it was a pleasure to deal with this dynamic agency that gives such a spirited effort. We can call ourselves proud promoters in Austria of acts like Robbie Williams, Linkin Park, Queens of the Stone Age, Green Day and many others. I want to take the opportunity to congratulate them and say thank you for your trust in our work. With the best wishes for the future and another ten years!Ewald Tatar, Novamusic

I’ve known Ian Huffam since about 1989 when we worked together at the Station Agency for three or four years and he was developing some interesting new acts like Robbie Williams.

I remember a few years ago, Ian had come out to Warsaw to see a Coldplay show and was supposed to be flying out afterwards with the band on their private jet, but they left the stadium without him. We managed to get him a police escort out to the airport, with the cars racing through traffic and 150kph. He was very nervous, but we managed to get him on the flight in time.Steven Todd, Live Nation

Always interesting working with X –ray: a massive range of personalities looking after a huge roster of major international artists that make it a very unique agency. So it’s been ten years? Sometimes it feels like we have gone ten rounds with them, but we are both still standing so it must be working. Congratulations, here’s to the next ten rounds!!Steve Homer, Live Nation

Scott is one of the truly great agents in the world. He has the unique ability to significantly alter the trajectory of his clients.Jordan Berliant, manager Linkin Park

Dictionary definition: X-ray – A form of electromagnetic radiation, similar to light but of shorter wavelength and capable of penetrating solids.Well, when this group of talented agency alchemists decided to band together ten years ago we wondered and hoped they would continue to effectively penetrate the world of live music and radiate talent. And no one can deny that this is probably the very least of their achievements.

X-ray Touring now set the bar for others to follow, and that bar is made of pure gold… the making of which they perfected years ago. Congratulations and well done to you all. Now, when you get a moment, can you let me know your secret?Donald Macleod, Triple G Music & CPL

I have known Ian since his days at the Station Agency in the 80s. Ian is as dedicated to the artists as anyone can be; he offers advice and guidance in situation that are difficult and understands the role of the promoter (mostly)... Together we have walked quite some mileage and have had some difficult tasks to conquer but I never had the feeling , that it was ´them and us´. It was always a team effort and that is rare in today’s agent-promoter combination.

I will never forget the call, in which he basically made me promote a new act called Robbie Williams… Now, 15 years later, we are still successfully promoting RW in Germany and it’s been tough but fun! I am looking forward to the next X years!Scumeck Sabottka, MCT Agentu

Over the years, we at Kilimanjaro have had many dealings with X-ray, mostly with Scott and Ian, but we get on with all the agents there and it’s fantastic that they’ve had so much success – it’s well deserved.

We’ve done Stereophonics since the start and taken them all the way to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, while I’ve had some interesting times with Ian and Grace Jones over the years...

It’s great that the big companies exist, but it’s important that the independents continue to thrive and with X-ray that’s down to hard work and a great roster.Stuart Gilbraith, Kilimanjaro Live

Jeff Craft has always been Richard Hawley’s agent. We love having Jeff in the team. I remember Jeff at Primavera Festival in Barcelona after a particularly good set by Richard, and all concerned were in a buoyant mood except someone from the label who felt Jeff should be doing more. A brave man to take on Mr Craft! Eventually, the whole thing got very heated and finally the label guy shouts “Ok I’ve had enough of this, let’s go outside and settle this like men!”. To which, Jeff calmly replied “I hate to point out the blindingly obvious but you don’t seem to have much experience of these situations – this is a festival – we ARE outside.” Ah, magic moments.

Jeff fights for his artists. He’s engaged mentally and emotionally. He’s an old punk stuck in Ian Hislop’s body. Graham Wrench, Electric Canyon

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First and second most important factors affecting the

arena industry currently

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It’s been another stellar year for Europe’s ever-growing arenas sector. While the likes of Earls Court in London has now been deleted from the circuit – and indeed any trace of the art deco building will soon disappear after developers’ bulldozers do their work – there are a number of new venues that are beginning to make an impact on the business, such as the First Direct Arena in Leeds, England and the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.

What is evident from our survey of venue operators around Europe this year is the continual investment programme that arenas are involved in to maintain standards not just for the acts who visit them, but also for the public, especially those paying that additional chunk of change to experience VIP treatment.

Other trends revealed by our survey participants in the following pages include the forthcoming introduction of a number of hotel partners in buildings serving the live entertainment centres, while we also highlight a swathe of naming rights deals that saw a number of important arenas switch sponsors in the past 12 months – and the associated strategies (and technologies) that marketing teams employ to ram home the new partnership details.

This year saw 49 venues across 16 countries participate in our survey – and to those that took the time to share their confidential data with us, we extend a heartfelt thank you and hope that the various issues discussed in this year’s report will go some way to helping you in your day-to-day operations in the year ahead.

Gordon Masson, Editor

Attendance and CapacityOf the 48 venues that provided capacity numbers for both 2014 and the year before, the average figures crept slightly higher by about 1.5% to 14,291, compared to an average cap of 14,066 in 2013. Obviously, not all arenas added seats but for some venues there were significant building reconfigurations to hike up potential audience numbers.

Among the venues in our survey who boosted capacity were: Spain’s Bizkaia Arena, which added 3,500 seats to take full capacity to 20,000; Paris Bercy, whose refurbishment project took capacity from 17,000 to 20,000; Barclaycard

Dutch rockers BLØF at the Ziggo Dome. Photo by Set Vexy




Arena in Birmingham, UK, added more than 1,700 seats to reopen with a 15,892 limit; and o2 World Berlin introduced 1,100 new seats in its revamped 17,000 set-up. And not to be outdone by their German rival, the ISS Dome added 600 seats, while Rittal Arena boosted its capacity by 800.

Unfortunately, the optimism of venue management investing capital in new seating areas was not matched in 2014 by the number of people taking them up on such generosity. Overall audience numbers across our surveyed arenas dipped in 2014, when a total of 30.9million people attended shows and events in their buildings, compared to close to 31.7m visitors in 2013.

Anecdotally, a number of venue operators say that there were fewer of the major arena tours out on the road last year – and that was certainly noticeable in Pollstar’s annual monitoring of the top 100 worldwide tours.

At The SSE Hydro in Scotland, which enjoyed a phenomenal year (ending up as the second most popular venue in the world, bested only by undefeated champion The O2 arena), John Langford confirms those rumours. “Certainly the talk among promoters and ticketing companies was that last year was down in terms of the big-name arena tours,” says Langford. “But all the talk is that 2015 and 2016 will be much better for business, with many more global arena tours planned.”

When it comes to the all-important breakdown of numbers, live music still dominates arena foot-flow, with more than 46% of all arena attendees paying to see bands and artists. However, one slight concern for the business was that our surveyed buildings reported a decrease in music fans in 2014 when 14.6m fans bought tickets, compared to 14.95m throughout 2013 – a downturn of 2.4% year-on-year.

Our good friends at Pollstar recorded similar data in their year-end reports. The publication stated that the size of the North American concert business in 2014 was $6.2billion (€5.5bn) – a sharp rise on 2013’s $5.1bn (€4.5bn), which Pollstar explains was because of the number of new festivals in the United States. When it came to their overall ticket sales and gross figures, however, Pollstar reports a sharp decrease in numbers: the top 100 tours worldwide grossed

$4.24bn (€3.74bn) last year, a decline of 15.2% on 2013, with the observation that the big tours were “not as plentiful”. Certainly, if the number of arena shows took a hit, as reported in both America and Europe, that would be a reasonable explanation behind a fall in audience numbers.

When it comes to our report’s statistics on non-music events, the sector suffered an identical year-on-year slide, with a collective 16.3m visitors in 2014 representing a decrease of 2.4% on the 16.7m people who attended non-music events in 2013.

Over at Pollstar, the top selling non-music event in 2014 was Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey with 1.25m ticket sales, closely followed by WWE with 1.06m ticket sales. However, in terms of gross receipts, there were no non-music shows in the top 20 worldwide tours last year.

Nevertheless, it seems that the strategy among arena operators is to target the non-music side of things going forward, presumably because there is more scope for growth in a sector that is not constrained by the tour plans of a select number of arena-selling acts. However, it’s interesting to note that the world’s most popular arena, The O2 in London, is examining the possibility of hosting music festivals in the future – and it would not be the first time that the iconic building has been a pioneer, prompting others to follow suit. But more about those plans later.

TicketingUnsurprisingly, given the spiralling costs of just about everything at the moment (except oil and gas, ironically), ticket prices climbed higher once again in 2014, with concert tickets smashing through the €50 threshold for the first time in history.

While the average price of tickets for all live music events in 2013 was €47.82, last year that figure climbed nearly 6.5% to €50.86, breaking a perceived psychological threshold where a pair of tickets alone costs more than €100 – and that’s before travel, food, drinks, merchandise etc, for music fans.

By contrast, Pollstar’s data on ticket sales reveals that the top 100 global tours had an average ticket price of $82.07 (€71.95), up 3.9% on the previous year, while tickets for the biggest tours in North America also increased in price by 2.8% to an average price of $71.44 (€62.63).

“The prices of the tickets in economically difficult times are a serious factor,” comments Martina Kuso at the Wiener Stadthalle in Austria. And she believes that while technology such as print-at-home ticketing will make it easier for people to attend shows, the pressure is on venues to make sure they deliver value for money because people will demand luxury if they are buying expensive tickets. “People are expecting an overall experience when visiting a show – everything has to be perfect: catering, arrival, after-show event and so on,” she says.

Interestingly, the biggest selling tour of 2014 had tickets priced below Pollstar’s average of the top 100 global tours. One Direction (1D) grossed $282.2m (€249m) on the back of 3.4m tickets sold at an average price of $82.05 (€72.40). That seems pretty reasonable compared to the likes of Andrea Bocelli and Britney Spears, whose average priced tickets were $169.98 (€149.02) and $151.48 (€132.79), respectively.

1D’s astonishing run dwarfed the competition. Justin

First and second most important factors affecting the

arena industry currently

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Timberlake enjoyed the second highest grossing tour of 2014 with a mere $184.7m (€161.9m), ahead of the Rolling Stones at $165.1m (€144.7m), Katy Perry with $153.3m (€134.4m), and power couple Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s $109.7m (€96.2m).

Among our surveyed arenas, non-music events fared slightly better from the paying public’s point of view. In 2013, the average cost of a ticket to a non-music show was €38.38. In 2014, that nudged northwards to €39.05, but at 1.7%, that increase was around the rate of inflation in most European territories.

Box Office and Sales OutletsIn our equivalent European Arenas Report last year, 84% of our respondents said they had in-house box office operations, but in 2014 that number fell to 82%, with the remaining 18% stating that they did not have box offices – still a healthy chunk of the market considering the success that some venues are having with their sales results.

As our pie chart on page 67 illustrates, 40% of those arenas with box offices reported that those operations account for more than 50% of all ticket sales, while at the very top end, 15% of venues claim that between 76-100% of tickets to events are processed in-house. That proportion has tripled in just one year and bears some investigation.

However, success patently does not go hand in hand with the strength of a venue’s own ticketing services. More than 2m people bought tickets for events at The O2 arena last year, but a mere 5% of those sales were processed by the venue’s box office. On the flip side, The SSE Hydro in Glasgow had an astonishing first full year and was the second most successful arena in the world with more than 1m visitors, 80% of whom bought their tickets through the in-house box office.

The benefits of running more tickets through the venues’ own facilities are pretty straightforward, allowing the venue to control a proportion of the ticketing allocation and to tap into the associated revenue stream. But SSE Hydro is using a hybrid system for its audience, with unprecedented results. “Our box office isn’t strictly all in-house,” admits SSE Hydro’s Langford. “It’s a collaboration between our own in-house operation and Ticketmaster, which has turned out to be a fantastic partnership. Basically, we have the local knowledge and established database of fans, while Ticketmaster has the system to sell the tickets quickly and efficiently. So we still own our own box office and call centre, but Ticketmaster runs the back end and infrastructure behind it.”

So why do some venues persist in not having their own box office facilities? In certain countries, such as some in the Nordic region, venues can be tied into exclusive deals with ticketing operations. Among venues without box offices in this year’s survey were the Hartwall Areena in Finland, Telenor Arena in Norway and Malmö Arena in Sweden.

However, other venues have more practical reasons for not setting up expensive in-house operations, with one smaller arena telling IQ that it does not make economic sense to employ people full-time in a box office when the venue does not hold events every day. Louise Lonie, head of sales at AECC in Scotland says, “We work closely with Ticketmaster as our appointed ticket agent rather than having the function in-house. This includes having an on-site box office in operation on show days. Due to the level of entertainment

TICKET PRICES 2013/14Average ticket price (music) 2014: €50.86Average ticket price (music) 2013: €47.82

6.5%Average ticket price (non-music) 2014: €39.05Average ticket price (non-music) 2013: €38.38

1.7%

What’s in a Name?It wasn’t too many years ago that Europe’s arenas were simply named after the place where they were located. But the hugely successful practice of venue naming rights was perfected in America and has now become standard on the other side of the Atlantic.

Now, those initial sponsorship contacts are beginning to reach a conclusion and that resulted in a slew of European arenas hoisting new names on to the front of their buildings in recent months. Among the UK venues who have successfully negotiated a change in identity are: Genting Arena (formerly the LG Arena) and Barclaycard Arena, (the NIA), both in Birmingham; SSE Arena Wembley (Wembley Arena); and Manchester Arena, which was forced into a name change when sponsor Phones 4u went bust. Additionally, o2 World Berlin will become the Mercedes-Benz Arena this summer after the automotive giant inked a 20-year partnership with AEG Global Partnerships. That deal will see the venue being painted black, rebranded with the Mercedes name and being used for auto shows, car launches and sponsored events.

While new sponsors can bring in huge sums of cash for the naming rights, even when existing deals mean rebranding, the exercise can be expensive. At the 3Arena (formerly The O2) in Ireland, deputy general manager John Johnston reveals that the venue’s ID change was simply down to a corporate deal involving the previous sponsor. “O2 was bought out by 3 in Ireland and that’s why we’ve had the name change,” he explains. “All the O2 paraphernalia has had to be changed, and that includes branded signage, colour schemes and even staff uniforms – it’s been a big investment on 3’s behalf.”

Meanwhile, Moritz Hillebrand at o2 World Berlin, is at the early stages of discussions with new sponsors Mercedes-Benz. “It’s very interesting because a brand like Mercedes is not looking for awareness – they are very well known by everybody – but how they rebrand things is very important because it will reflect on their luxury brand, so every step is critical for them.”

Hillebrand reveals that architects are already going through the venue with a check list of things they would like to change and the challenge going forward will be to produce a realistic timeline to action those changes. “Legally, the name change is an overnight switch, but obviously that cannot be the case,” he adds. “The new name will be on the arena in the first week of July, but before then we have some interesting debranding discussions to go through with o2, while at the same time the rebranding plans need to work around our venue remaining operational throughout the summer.”




business, this works for us – having our own permanent box office is not a viable option for the Arena at this time. Using an external ticketing company also allows us to tap into their marketing streams and industry expertise as well as their ready-made user friendly systems.”

TechAmong the slew of panels that we offer to delegates at ILMC every year, the annual examination of new technology remains one of the most popular sessions, with standing room only as people cram into the room to get a heads up on the latest gadgets, apps and services that might help improve their business, and potentially add to profit margins.

It’ll be interesting to see what the boffins wow us with at ILMC 27, but the array of technology that is now being used by venue operations to help improve their business has never been greater, or more diverse.

Jorge Vinha da Silva at the MEO Arena in Lisbon, Portugal, believes technology will have a major part to play

in transforming the arena business. “Global companies like Apple and Google are entering into new areas like payments, and that will change the business,” he says. “Cashless payments, like Apple Pay or Google Wallet, [could drive] a significant upgrade in customer experience inside the venues.”

And revealing the kind of high-tech assistance that venues will be banking on to generate additional revenues in years to come, da Silva tells IQ, “With a 360º view of customers’ behaviours and preferences, CRM tools will allow a real customised experience more than ever before, transforming each act in a long, rich and engaging communication moment, starting from the ticket purchase until after the show. This can link with all value-added services you can provide related with ticketing.”

That might sound like blue-sky thinking, but already one of the world’s biggest arena operators is working to develop exactly this kind of scenario. AEG is experimenting with iBeacon mobile technology at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in a pilot scheme that if successful, could see it rolled out across its entire international venue portfolio. AEG is one of the investors bankrolling Gimbal, the parent company of iBeacon, which has developed the capability to send targeted marketing messages to fans’ mobile devices as they walk past different concession stands or retail spaces in a building. The initial results of those tests appear to be encouraging and AEG is reportedly now working to integrate iBeacon wizardry with its fan analytics tools so that such messaging can specifically be tailored to each individual ticket buyer.

“We have to get the messaging right, because if users turn their notifications off, they’re hard to get back on,” AEG president of digital, ticketing and media, Bryan Perez has admitted. “It has to be the right kind of message to the right person at the right time. But we’re very big believers in this technology.”

Of course, the right kind of infrastructure is needed to facilitate such connectivity and MEO’s Da Silva adds, “All around Europe, venues are investing significant amounts in refurbishments, which will upgrade the level in terms of conditions for the audience in many ways. For instance, Wi-Fi networks that will be key to all the digital processes.”

VIPIt’s only been in relatively recent history that the whole subject of VIP packages and offers has become a mainstream concern for the continent’s larger event spaces. As disposable income has risen and corporate clients have been wooed by clever marketing campaigns, the growth of VIP customers has risen sharply. But our VIP-related survey questions this year appear to suggest that the size of that particular market may have reached a plateau.

Of our 49 participating venues, 83% report that they offer some level of VIP upgrades to customers. That’s a shade down on the 86% of venues that were in the VIP game last year, but that could also suggest that certain venues have pulled the high-end packages because of the economic situation in their territory.

Nonetheless, nearly a third (31%) of this year’s report participants reveal that they have plans to invest additional sums in their VIP areas and concepts in the year ahead. Investigating those plans a little further, however, it appears

26-50%25%

0-10%30%

51-75%25%

11-25%10%

76-100%15%

Sport24.5%

Other12.7%

Family13.8%

Music43.5%

Comedy5.5%

Part time71%

Full time29%

Proportion of ticket sales via in-house box office 2014

26-50%19%

0-10%28%

51-75%31%

11-25%17%

76-100%5%


Venue Usage2013

Sport22.8%

Other9.1%

Family16.7%

Music45%

Comedy6.4%

Venue Usage2014

26-50%25%

0-10%30%

51-75%25%

11-25%10%

76-100%15%

Sport24.5%

Other12.7%

Family13.8%

Music43.5%

Comedy5.5%

Part time71%

Full time29%


26-50%19%

0-10%28%

51-75%31%

11-25%17%

76-100%5%


Venue Usage2013

Sport22.8%

Other9.1%

Family16.7%

Music45%

Comedy6.4%

Venue Usage2014




that a lot of those arenas are simply refurbishing and enhancing their existing VIP facilities. And, of course, by their very nature, VIP facilities will need to be continually upgraded and maintained – any facilities or services that look at all worn or shabby will not exactly send the right message to an arena’s more affluent clientele.

At The O2 arena in London, the need to constantly maintain and improve the VIP areas is recognised. “We’re always looking to increase our VIP offering,” says the venue’s Barnaby Hooper, noting that the building’s VIP lounge was given a thorough overhaul and remodelling in 2014.

Across town, Jessica Silvester at the Royal Albert Hall comments, “We are always looking to enhance the customer experience for artists, promoters and audiences. We constantly renovate front-of-house areas and are currently working on a large-scale heating and cooling project, as well as some refurbishment to backstage areas.”

Ian Congdon at the Echo Arena Liverpool reports that the venue has refurbished 13 of its VIP boxes, while Felix Frei from the Hallenstadion Zürich says it is working on new VIP box packages.

But it’s not just the wealthiest patrons that need to feel that they are being prioritised and Martin Ingham at the Capital FM Arena Nottingham reveals it is planning, “additional offers and capacity to cater for the mid-range customer.”

Another interesting move that facilities managers are contemplating is partnerships with luxury goods retailers, which could benefit from access to well-heeled music fans. Discussions over such transactions are ongoing at o2 World Berlin, where Moritz Hillebrand hints at “special products in premium areas,” as a way of boosting revenues.

Plans for ExpansionAmong the major projects this year was a £26m (€35.2m) redevelopment of the Barclaycard Arena, formerly known as the NIA, in Birmingham, UK; while across the sea in France, the Bercy arena in Paris is in the midst of its makeover. “Bercy’s full refurbishment started in March 2014 and will end in October 2015, but there was a small break from October to December 2014,” reports Bercy’s programming and operations manager, Raphaelle Plasse.

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Germany, Johannes Schuster notes that a decade-long project to upgrade the Munich Olympic Hall is now at its halfway point. “This rehabilitation work will end in about 2019,” he adds. “For this, we close the hall every year for 11 weeks.”

Of course, savvy management are keen to engage sponsors in any venue upgrade programmes. “With the redevelopment of the Barclaycard Arena, there are new and enhanced facilities,” says the arena’s Guy Dunstan, whose day-to-day remit includes the Genting and Barclaycard Arenas in Birmingham, as well as being chairman of the UK’s National Arenas Association “Therefore, new hospitality lounges and offers are available to our customers and customers of Barclaycard. We are also looking at integrated packages with our partner Genting at the Genting Arena, when the Resorts World complex – casino, retail, cinema, conference centre, bars, restaurants, hotel and spa – opens in summer 2015.”

At The SSE Hydro, Langford says the involvement of the naming rights sponsor – and energy company – has been crucial.

“SSE has been massively important, and not just through the financial injection,” he says. “They are a very engaged sponsor who are really willing to commit funds to interesting projects around the venue. It’s great to have someone else to help with marketing budgets, while there are a number of customer touch points around the arena that we might not have even attempted if it wasn’t for the input of our sponsor.”

Stanislava Doubravová at the O2 Arena in Prague observes, “The arena sector is growing up. A lot of new modern arenas [were built] recently, [so] existing venues are investing a lot of money to repair and improve their facilities.” She adds, “It increases competition. Therefore, we have to be very proactive and flexible in order to maintain the current position.”

At the Mediolanum Forum in Milan, there is an annual war chest to handle such ongoing programmes. Massimo Davico tells IQ that there is €400,000 per year allocated for special maintenance (40%), substitution of plant and equipment (30%); and improvements and image investment (30%).

While some might argue that Europe’s arenas circuit is close to saturation, the continent’s architects remain busy sketching proposed new facilities for interested cities and venue operators. Laura Yeats at the GE Oil & Gas Arena in

26-50%29%

0-10%14%

51-75%31%

11-25%17%

76-100%9%

Sport24.5%

Other12.7%

Family13.8%

Music43.5%

Comedy5.5%

Part time71%

Full time29%


26-50%19%

0-10%28%

51-75%31%

11-25%17%

76-100%5%


Venue Usage2013

Sport23.7%

Other14.7%

Family13.6%

Music41.5%

Comedy6.5%

Venue Usage2012

26-50%25%

0-10%30%

51-75%25%

11-25%10%

76-100%15%

Sport24.5%

Other12.7%

Family13.8%

Music43.5%

Comedy5.5%

Part time71%

Full time29%


26-50%19%

0-10%28%

51-75%31%

11-25%17%

76-100%5%


Venue Usage2013

Sport22.8%

Other9.1%

Family16.7%

Music45%

Comedy6.4%

Venue Usage2014




Scotland reports that a decision is imminent on a new venue for Aberdeen. “Plans for a new AECC are currently being discussed and a decision will be made early 2015,” she says. “These include a contemporary and innovative new arena, which will have a much larger capacity.”

As noted before, many refurb schemes involve VIP zones within buildings. For instance, the O2 Arena in Prague is investing approximately €1m on its VIP facilities. “We are extending the VIP area on the sky boxes level and opening a new restaurant,” explains Doubravová.

Elsewhere, Wiener Stadthalle’s Kuso highlights plans for, “Additional accessible entrances for people with disabilities, renovation of sanitary installations, conversion to LED technology, and the repainting of the total outer façade.”

And finally, the good people of Oslo, where the temperature can drop below zero for weeks at a time, will be relieved, quite literally, to learn that the Telenor Arena is planning to construct indoor toilets on the ground floor. “No more outdoor porta potties,” says Marcia Titley, who adds that 2015 will also see the installation of a mother-grid and more points in the arena ceiling; improved ventilation; and a new entrance to the building.

Outside of the actual arena buildings, on-site accommodation facilities seem to be a bit of a hot trend as well, with hotels due to open this year adjacent to The O2 arena in London, Malmö Arena in Sweden and the Genting Arena in Birmingham. Quite what the impact will be of having beds on-site for fans remains to be seen, but presumably venue chiefs envisage that more people will remain within the arenas for longer periods of time, both before and after shows, driving up spend on the likes of food and beverages.

Indeed, Barnaby Hooper reveals that The O2 Arena is actively looking to diversify the scope of events that fill the venue’s calendar. “We’re looking to programme longer content, including festivals and corporate events, as well as increase the breadth of family programming and matinee shows,” Barnaby tells IQ. No doubt, the arena’s operators will be hoping that the likes of their festival audiences will make use of the hotel facilities and it will be interesting to monitor any accommodation packages that are developed once the hotel opens.

Venue UsageWith live music providing Europe’s venues with the majority of their customers throughout the year, it’s hardly surprising that arena management devote as much time as they possibly can to concert dates. Across our 49 venues in 2104, live music accounted for 45% of all events – marginally more than the 43.5% in the previous 12 months.

That increase in music seems to have been to the detriment of sports bookings, which dipped a corresponding 1.5% to 23% of all events in 2014. But the biggest move in arena usage was in the family entertainment market, which increased its share of venue occupancy from 13.8% in 2013 to 17% last year.

Such healthy growth won’t come as too much of a surprise to IQ readers, given the feedback we received from show producers in our annual Family Entertainment report (see IQ issue 54), and it seems that the holiday seasons

are now becoming a massively important period for arena management across Europe.

“A venue isn’t just a place to play shows,” states Jorge Vinha da Silva at the MEO Arena, “it’s also an entertainment district which can embrace your community and add value for all – promoters, sponsors, venues and the audience.”

Returning to live music’s share of the pie, one worrying trend to highlight is that although concerts accounted for a larger proportion of arena shows in 2014, there has been a corresponding fall in the total audience numbers going to gigs. However, without actually knowing the precise number of event days involved across the European arena sector, no absolute conclusion can be drawn from those statistics – but that’s something we will move to clarify when it comes to next year’s survey of venues.

MEO’s Da Silva concludes, “In theory, all venues aspire to have a full-year occupation, and the challenge is how to go that way with economic sense. At the end of the day venues are becoming more modern and expensive facilities so there’s an increased pressure to keep them full. The challenge is how to do that beyond the regular acts.”

Business ConcernsIn an attempt to make sure we cover all potential issues, we asked those who took the time to complete our survey to flag up the areas of the business that prompt most worries for their arena and the industry in general.

It’s hardly surprising that Artist Fees/Ticket Prices were the biggest concern, as that has been the case for all but one of our seven European Arenas Reports. The only anomaly was in our 2012 tome when the State of the Economy was the issue causing most sleepless nights – and a prophetic nightmare that turned out to be all too accurate as the Continent became entrenched in arguably the deepest recession in history.

So it’s a little worrying that the State of the Economy was the second biggest concern among our surveyed management this year, with arena hierarchy no doubt anxious about government hints, in certain territories, that a double-dip recession could be an all-too-real possibility in the coming months.

The likes of France, Germany and the UK are officially out of recession, but politicians in those countries remain cautious when predicting figures for economic growth and recent turmoil in the foreign exchange markets saw the Euro take a bit of a hammering, meaning that artists fees for the likes of American and British acts could cost promoters across most European countries more than they did a couple of months ago.

Summing-up most arena management thoughts on the subject, Echo Arena’s Congdon is praying that the recession is well and truly over. “Hopefully, as the economy picks up, customers will have more disposable cash to attend more shows, so the demand will increase for more shows,” he says.

Another growing concern is competition – and not just from existing arenas. While Paul Tappenden at the Metro Radio Arena believes that the market will become more competitive as new arenas open, one specific concern of the smaller venues is that their larger competitors are introducing flexible capacity configurations, thereby depriving them of business. Neil Rudram at the Edinburgh Corn Exchange




comments, “Gigs will go to fewer venues, large or small. The middle-sized venue will go – it is easier to sell out as opposed to take a punt on a ‘maybe’.”

But it isn’t just the competition from similar venues that is causing concern, especially with issues like festival exclusivity deals impacting the tour circuit. Dan Roberts at the Motorpoint Arena Cardiff, comments, “There will be more competition for tours, but also more festivals taking the larger headliners.” That’s also a concern in Portugal, where MEO Arena’s Da Silva says, “I believe it will be important to compare open-air festivals’ and arenas’ activity once they are competing for the same acts and audiences from May to September.”

ConclusionOverall, 2014 was not exactly a stellar year for Europe’s arena sector, but with the big-name acts not visiting as many markets as venue operators would like, business leaders across the continent appear to be looking at other areas to maximise the number of event days in their buildings.

Echo Arena’s Congdon says, “We’ve had a really productive year in terms of recent upgrades to our facilities, services and equipment. We have refurbished and upgraded our star dressing rooms to give them a more luxurious feel; refurbished 13 of our VIP boxes which now have a more informal and relaxed setting; upgraded our catering units with better catering and beverage offers to our audience;

developed a new website that is more user-friendly and better for our customers and clients; and increased our promotions unit to give an increased support in ticket sales.”

The good news for contractors across Europe is that despite suffering a slight dip in numbers last year, venue complexes are bullishly investing for the long-term. Congdon adds, “Our greatest opportunity lies ahead – the completion of the new Exhibition Centre Liverpool, due to open September 2015, will provide more space, flexibility and the potential to host large, standing concerts/events.”

Adoption of new technologies to drive revenue growth in conjunction with CRM data is no longer theory, but could be one of the major projects in the coming months for arenas in Europe and around the world.

Meanwhile, the opening of new hotel facilities twinned with entertainment centres will also be under the microscope in 2015, as other venues await feedback on what such investments can do, long-term, for profit margins. And, on a smaller scale, the planned infiltration of luxury brands into VIP suites is also an experiment that will be monitored closely, as business development managers try to balance the desire for new revenue streams against the dangers of over-marketing to their VIP customers.

Looking ahead over the next few years, Dunstan says arenas must continue to focus on growing their databases, and work hard on ticketing and sales capacities to strengthen venue appeal to promoters, agents and artists. He predicts, “Increased focus and reliance on sponsorship; providing

compelling offers for sponsors through quality facilities; customer engagement; and enhancement of customer experience and activation opportunities.” Central to this, Dunstan believes, will be, “Partnerships that can enhance the customer journey and drive additional footfall to venues.”

And while The SSE Hydro’s one million-plus ticket sales surprised even the venue’s management team last year, the expectation is that even better times lie ahead given the number of tours expected to come through Europe. “We were surprised and delighted by our audience numbers,” says Langford. “We thought we might achieve the million mark after two or three years, so to have done it in year one is incredible – and obviously, the more tickets you sell, the more tours will want to include you on their routing.” And he adds, “All the signs are that there will be more live music content in 2015 and 2016, so we are expecting even better results in the next 24 months.”

PARTICIPATING ARENAS 3Arena Dublin (IE), Ahoy Rotterdam (NL), Amsterdam Arena (NL), Ancienne Belgique (BE), Antwerp Sportpaleis (BE), Arena Leipzig (DE), Arena Riga (LV), Barclaycard Arena (UK), Bizkaia Arena BEC (ES), Capital FM Arena Nottingham (UK), Echo Arena Liverpool (UK), Edinburgh Corn Exchange (UK), Ethias Arena (BE), GelreDome (NL), Genting Arena (UK), GE Oil & Gas Arena (UK), Hallenstadion Zürich (CH), Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle (DE), Hartwall Arena (FI), ISS Dome (DE), Lotto Arena (BE), Malmö Arena (SE), Manchester Arena (UK), Max Schmeling Halle (DE), Mediolanum Forum (IT), MEO Arena (PT), Metro Radio Arena (UK), Mitsubishi Electric Halle (DE), Motorpoint Arena Cardiff (UK), Motorpoint Arena Sheffield (UK), Munich Olympic Hall (DE), O2 arena (CZ), The O2 arena (UK), o2 World Berlin (DE), o2 World Hamburg (DE), Odyssey Arena (UK), Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy (FR), Porsche Arena (DE), Rittal Arena Wetzlar (DE), Rockhal (LU), Royal Albert Hall (UK), SSE Arena Wembley (UK), SSEC (UK), SSE Hydro (UK), Telenor Arena (NO), Velodrom (DE), Vorst Nationaal (BE), Westfalenhalle 1 Dortmund (DE), Wiener Stadthalle (AT)

3 A

rena


The Corporates

“I don’t deny the fact people are concerned,” a man said in March 2000, “and there are things you have to be careful about. But some great things come from having the size and resources to experiment.” Fifteen years on, it’s hard to take issue with Robert F.X. Sillerman’s comment to the New York Times, made as SFX Entertainment, the company he had smoothly rolled together from around 40 formerly independent music and sport promoters, at a cost of around $2.2billion (€1.9bn), was acquired by Clear Channel Communications for roughly $3.3bn (€2.9bn) in stock.

People were indeed concerned; that year’s ILMC could scarcely talk about anything except the corporate, consolidated death of the live industry as we all then knew it.

Maybe it died; maybe it didn’t. But Sillerman’s point about great things and size and resources sounds like a prophecy of today’s live business. The global live music market last year

was worth an estimated $27.2bn [source: PwC] – roughly a $10bn (€9bn) increase on 2000. And, of course, the Live Nation empire for which Sillerman laid the foundations has done as well as he clearly thought it might, with 60m tickets a year sold for more than 23,000 shows and 65 festivals.

That giant is just the biggest of a collection of major corporates that now dominates the live music business, including, in no particular order, AEG, Time4Fun, DEAG, WME, CAA, CTS Eventim and a revived SFX. Not only promoters, but agents, venue groups, ticketing firms and production companies have now all scaled up to global, or at the very least continental proportions.

As scandalous as the notion may have been as little as a decade ago, this is what companies in mature industries naturally do – they consolidate, play to the stock market, buy the competition, acquire talent and grab good ideas. As a result, the business is mature and respected, the money flows, the touring map continues to expand, and artists and managers, desperate for new revenues in recent years, have certainly been glad of high-powered, globalised partners.

It is surely too late to ask whether it has all been for the best, but – well, has it?

Against increased professionalism, power to the larger

EMPIRE BUILDERSTHE

What we are selling, what people call a ticket, is really a promise, and you have to stick to that promise. The more we stick to that promise, the more people trust us, and the more successful we become.”

Peter Schwenkow, DEAG

2015 marks the tenth anniversary of Live Nation being spun out of Clear Channel as a standalone corporation. Adam Woods asks some of the industry’s strategists whether the live music business is better off for embracing corporate life.

“


The Empire Builders

artist, enhanced facilities and blockbuster experiences, should we also be accounting for any losses? Some magical, old spirit of thrillingly crappy gig-going? The legendary, buccaneering personalities of yore?

Was the kneading together of allegedly wild, inspired, entrepreneurial indies into streamlined, publicly-quoted giants the only way forward? Is the business unequivocally better for it?

“I don’t know if it is better,” says Phil Rodriguez of Latin American indie Move Concerts. “There are pros and cons. One of the unfortunate effects has been the pressure to deliver results to the market. In some cases, that created things I personally dislike, such as Groupon sales and ‘flex pricing’ for concerts that are soft. Also, to a certain degree, we have lost the long-term view and development of artists’ careers. It is more about the money now than ever before.”

That last point also strikes Barry Dickins, co-managing director of ITB. The agency recently came out from under the umbrella of Live Nation, and while he has only warm words for the agency’s former partners, Dickins nonetheless confesses to a sense of unease about exactly what is driving the wider industry towards ever-greater scale. “I think you have got a different mindset these days,” he says. “When I came into the business, it was all about the music. Now, it’s all about the money. I mean, it’s very important to monetise this thing. I just think there’s a degree where you go a touch too much.

“The whole thing with corporatisation is you get some guy sitting up there saying, ‘let’s go into the music business’. I’m not talking about Live Nation or AEG; you look at these private equity companies – they don’t give a shit,” continues Dickins. “They say, ‘we paid twenty million for this; we want to see two million a year profit.’ It’s a business, fair enough, but it’s not the sort of business I want to be in.”

The spectre of faceless, non-music people at the helm of major music-driven corporations is one that haunts the live business to its soul. And in fact, as Dickins suggests, most corporate live entertainment groups have, to date, played a smart game, staffing up with seasoned veterans and giving them the room to move while grooming a new generation.

There can be no denying, meanwhile, that the arrival of big money in the background hastened the live industry’s clean-up job and lifted its ambitions, even at an independent level.

“I think everyone has had to re-adjust their game,” says Rodriguez, “whether that means more scale or offices to generate more volume and deliver a better, tighter service, or by focusing on emerging genres of music, or building a strong festival brand.”

It also seems reasonable to suggest that, had promoters and agents not dramatically increased their footprint, they would have been poorly placed to take the strain from the faltering record companies, as recorded music revenues sank and managers and artists looked elsewhere for partners in career building.

“I think agents and managers do expect a certain size of company to fulfil their expectations,” says Professor Peter Schwenkow, CEO of German giant DEAG. “We must be able to not only pay the artists’ fees, but do a brilliant job. Which

means that any marketing, any distribution tools must deliver 100% of what everybody is expecting.”

Before SFX was absorbed into Clear Channel, DEAG was the first live promoter to go public, in September 1998. And Schwenkow remembers well why it was important to do so. “If you look back to the 1970s in our business, the truth was you had 15% presale and 85% on the door on the night, because one third of all shows were cancelled,” he says. “What we are selling, what people call a ticket, is really a promise, and you have to stick to that promise. The more we stick to that promise, the more people trust us, and the more successful we become.”

Schwenkow describes the live music industry’s travails in those years as something akin to the later record business piracy problem, as fans took advantage of loose security to bribe their way in cheaply backstage, while festivals were even leakier. “But I think we didn’t criminalise our audience – we tried to explain that this costs a lot of money, and if you don’t pay, you can’t see it,” says Schwenkow. “We achieved a lot of growth in our industry by being professionals.”

Schwenkow adds, “Of course, artists and managers expect you to be passionate about music. But if you are only passionate about music, it doesn’t help at all. This is an industry, and we have billions of pounds, Swiss francs, Euros and dollars, etc passing through our hands, and that is why everything has been professionalised in the last 30 to 40 years.”

Rock Werchter founder and Live Nation Belgium boss Herman Schueremans came into the SFX fold in May 2001, and is equally unapologetic about the live industry’s consolidated efforts in drawing a line under its adolescence. “The past is the past,” says Schueremans. “I really enjoyed it, as it was a period of putting Belgium on the map for touring and festivals. But there was also a lot of amateurism, tours that were confirmed far too late and cancelled, and the audience was therefore not treated well. There were a lot of cowboys.

“Slowly, but steadily, the cowboys and robbers were wiped out and today we have a wealthy business in the creative industry that makes millions of people happy, creates long-term careers, creates a lot of jobs and VAT and tax income all over the world. Shows are rarely cancelled and the audience gets value for money at shows and festivals.”

AEG Live CEO and AEG COO Jay Marciano’s memory is similarly acute. “For the first 20 years of the live business, you were fortunate to get a black box with a sticky floor, tiny rest rooms and bad food and beer. We have gotten much better at it; I think we offer a better consumer experience and a better artist experience – everything from great dressing rooms and good sound and consistent production, to how well the fan is treated on the way in.”

Marciano observes, “There will be those that say the discipline that was involved in bringing about that change came at the expense of personality. Maybe yes, maybe no. I would point to people we work with, like Barrie Marshall, Paul Tollett and Louis Messina – these are still large personalities that have the backing and the discipline of a large company, but still are allowed to do what they do, and do it well.”

They say, ‘we paid twenty million for this; we want to see two million a year profit.’ It’s a business, fair enough, but it’s not the sort of business I want to be in.”

Barry Dickins, ITB

We have the advantage of a long-term view, and some of the investments we have made require the ability to hang in there for the long term.”

Jay Marciano, AEG“

“


The Empire Builders

AEG remains unusual among big-time live entertainment companies, as it remains in private hands. Indeed, Marciano attributes the success of risky, long-term projects such as the L.A. Live complex, The O2 arena in London and Berlin’s O2 World to patient owners with no obligations to the stock market.

“If you had done a survey prior to us taking over what became The O2, I’m pretty sure that Londoners would have said, ‘stay away, it’s a white elephant’,” he says. “We have the advantage of a long-term view, and some of the investments we have made require the ability to hang in there for the long term.”

The business may have provided a better fund of anecdotes before it grew up, but ultimately even the most free-wheeling sections of the industry have succumbed to the maturing process, or they wouldn’t have survived in the new, professionalised, globalised environment.

Mickey Curbishley, PRG president, touring, recalls that, until 17 years ago, the company was still called LSD, nominally standing for Light & Sound Design, but with the potential for other interpretations. “It wasn’t called LSD for no reason,” says Curbishley. “It was a bunch of hippies that were having the time of their lives, designing shows for the big rock bands of the time.”

When LSD was acquired by PRG, as part of PRG founder Jere Harris’s own ambitious 1990s roll-up of production companies, “everybody was down on us,” says Curbishley. “Our clients said, ‘I can’t believe you have sold-out, you’re not the boutique anymore.’ And of course, now they can’t live without that structure and that global reach. They want to do the same thing in São Paulo that they do in Southend.”

Again, a key factor, Curbishley believes, has been in the right corporate guiding hand. “The reason we are still here, 20 years later, still able to purchase companies and grow and open offices in Argentina and China, is because Jere’s passion is the same as ours. He wasn’t there just to make a quick buck,” he says.

Relationships and professional standards remain the lifeblood of the live business, and any model that arches over the industry has to take both things into account. “It still matters who builds the best mouse trap,” says Rodriguez. “The good [independent] promoters will endure – look at Simon Moran or Michael Chugg or Peter Aiken or Bowery Presents. The reality is that consolidation happened and changed our business. The power today lies with artists, managers and promoters. Was this consolidation required? Maybe. The truth is we will never know. Here we are – we have to get on with it.”

Jay Marciano agrees, with a faintly different tone. “Anyone waxing poetic about the old days…that’s nice. I have a saying at AEG: ‘I really don’t want to hear your 20-year-old war stories. I want to talk about the future.’ I love to talk about those times,” he clarifies. “But they’re not what’s happening now.”

Before big business came to the music business, Romanian-born, German-based promoter, Marcel Avram, had the idea that would ultimately turn live entertainment into the kind of product that needs a multinational company to sell it: international touring. Or rather, his dad did.

“When I was young, he said to me, ‘Son, if the money doesn’t come to us, then we better go where the money is’,” says Avram. “If you can’t make it in your part of the world, then you have to go wherever.”

Avram moved to Germany but continued to apply his father’s principle, promoting Leonard Cohen internationally in the early 1970s and going on to do the same for Cat Stevens, then Andrea Bocelli and Eros Ramazzotti, capitalising on the fact that, unlike most promoters, he spoke English, Italian, French and German, and was able to negotiate directly with managers. Rod Stewart, Michael Jackson and others would famously follow.

While you suspect he makes his own private distinction between those who promote with their own money and those who do it with a corporate chequebook, Avram – still an indie, who had sold nearly 700,000 AC/DC tickets in Germany just before he spoke to IQ – commends Live Nation for pioneering advances that involve artists in the risks of promoting.

“What Live Nation are doing with the 360° deals, I think is wonderful,” says Avram. “They are paying a lot of money, but everyone has to work until they recoup. If you buy just a tour or a couple of concerts and they do badly, but you have already paid a big advance, all you have is the promise that they will work with you again next time.”

As far as Avram is concerned, the other great irritation of the industry isn’t the corporates, but the swarms of amateur promoters throwing money around. “When I started, there were two or three promoters in Germany,” he says. “Today, there are 400. Every year, it’s another ten, another 20, and it’s not like they are learning the business, they just want to get into the music industry. And they lose money, and they increase competition. And obviously agents accept those offers, and so artists are making more money than ever before – even when they can’t sell tickets.”

Contributors (left to right): Barry Dickins (ITB), Mickey Curbishley (PRG), Jay Marciano (AEG), Peter Schwenkow (DEAG), Phil Rodriquez (Move Concerts), Herman Schueremans (Live Nation).

The past is the past. I really enjoyed it as it was a period of putting Belgium on the map for touring and festivals. But there was also a lot of amateurism, tours that were confirmed far too late and cancelled, and the audience was therefore not treated well. There were a lot of cowboys.”

Herman Schueremans, Live Nation

“ PAVING THE WAY FOR GLOBALISATION

Green Initiatives

A GreenerFuture

With an ever more saturated festival market, Chris Austin looks at how greening our festivals can not only minimise environmental impact but also results in substantial financial savings for conscientious event organisers.

An estimated 6.5 million people attend summer music festivals in the UK alone each year. The amount of camping waste and abandoned tents is staggering but

travel emissions generated by fans on the road to events is the biggest concern and accounts for 70% of the festival market’s carbon footprint.

When assessing the environmental impact of the international festival business, shocking statistics are two a penny. Take the huge problem of abandoned tents. A survey by Buckinghamshire New University of 1,200 festivalgoers from an array of countries found that 86% of respondents recognise waste has an impact on the environment at festivals, yet a massive 60% admitted to having left a tent behind at a festival.

Denmark’s Roskilde Festival has calculated that every festivalgoer generates 17 kilogrammes of waste. In 2013, 1,509 tonnes of waste were collected at the event, much of it food. Last year it partnered with campaign group Stop Wasting Food for an initiative that saved around 30 tonnes of food that was then redistributed to the needy.

Organisers of the Shambala Festival in the UK took things a little further and in 2014 the event was powered 100% by renewable energy. Festival director Chris Johnson says running the event on vegetable oil, solar and wind power not only minimised the event’s environmental impact but also the

impact on his bank balance. “We did not have to pay a penny more. While some of the equipment is more expensive, you save money on the fuel bill, and it also creates an improved audience experience,” says Johnson.

Shambala is at the forefront of green initiatives and innovation but many committed individuals and organisations are working to reduce the festival market’s giant carbon footprint.

GEIC at ILMC

The seventh Green Events & Innovations Conference (GEIC) will again be held under the ILMC banner in the Royal Garden Hotel on 5 March 2015. It will

focus on three key themes: communication, social impact and changing to more sustainable behaviours. Among the many panellists will be Rob Scully, who will present a case study that examines the quest for sustainability at Glastonbury.

Alongside holding Green Trader Awards, reducing onsite waste and the use of diesel generators, an ongoing initiative overseen by Scully at Glastonbury is improving public transport to the event. “In 2013, for the first time, less than 50% of people brought a car to the festival. It is the result of



Green InitiativesGreen Initiatives

new coach and ticket packages and improvements to the public transport infrastructure onsite that enables people to get there easily without a long walk from a bus station,” says Scully.

Power generation has also been a major issue, caused in part by inefficient use of diesel generators. “Often generators are oversized for the job they are doing and it is hard to specify how big they should be in order to reduce pollution and cost,” continues Scully. “At Glastonbury we measured real-time data showing exactly what loads are on them and when, so we can plan for future years to only use appropriately sized generators. During low power load times, like build and break, we can use renewable energy sources.”

GEIC co-founder and organiser Claire O’Neill is also

the co-founder of A Greener Festival (AGF), a non-profit organisation dedicated to reducing the environmental impact of music festivals. For the past eight years AGF has been certifying environmentally efficient events with a visible badge of eco authenticity.

“This year is an exciting one for AGF, we are restructuring and reviewing the awards and certification processes and have just launched a new website, which will supply the latest information for event organisers,” says O’Neill.

Among the many current AGF initiatives is the Festival Wood reforestation project in the Scottish Highlands with Trees for Life, supported this year by delegates of the ILMC.

However, festival organisers say it is not just about minimising the environmental and financial impact of their events but also improving the experience for punters.

Johnson says that after the 15,000-capacity Shambala Festival gates closed, his team received much praise from attendees about the improved site. No generators could be heard on the campsites at night and litter was virtually eradicated following a move to ban disposable plastic onsite. “We banned bottled drinks, reusable cups were used at bars and we asked the audience to bring their own bottles or buy one onsite for charity,” says Johnson. The ‘bring your own bottle’ campaign will now become a national campaign in partnership with the RAW Foundation. “We have produced a Guide To Plastic-free Festivals for both festivalgoers and organisers,” says Johnson.

Shambala is also working on a project called Energy Revolution, which asks audience members who have driven to festivals to account for the environmental impact by contributing toward the funding of new renewable energy sources. The aim is to help build tomorrow’s green energy infrastructure. Festivals including Bestival, Camp Bestival, Standon Calling, Boomtown, Kendal Calling, Secret Garden Party and Wilderness are among those on board already. The target is to have 100 UK festivals involved within three years and to fund a 1MW turbine.

Elsewhere, FareShare South West collects food waste at UK festivals and redistributes it to charitable organisations or uses it in its own fine-dining operation. FareShare has worked with events including Shambala, Womad, Bestival

and Glastonbury and this year has gained the funding to create a food waste toolkit for festivals offering process and procedures advice.

“There is a cost involved for festival organisers, but the saving is massive,” says FareShare’s Jacqui Reeves. “When waste goes to landfill it costs per weight and food is one of the heaviest materials. To be able to save on that is tangible and once the toolkit is developed, it is something that festivals can take on themselves. Food waste is often talked about across the media so it is also a great PR opportunity for a festival.”

A GreenerFuture

Green Initiatives

FareShare staff take stock of unused food at a festival

Shambala’s Energy Revolution campaign

FareShare delivers supplies to a lunch for elderly people


Green InitiativesGreen Initiatives

Changing attitudes

Mountains of abandoned tents are also not cheap to clear, collect or dispose of. With campsite waste contributing to a staggering 86% of total music festival detritus, campaign group Love Your Tent and Buckinghamshire New

University teamed up to examine festivalgoers’ attitudes to the problem. The resulting survey makes stark reading with 35% of respondents saying they would never change their behaviour.

Teresa Moore, a leading sustainable event management expert and head of music & event management at Buckingham New University says there is a concerning “attitude/behaviour gap” that needs to be addressed. “85% said they believe waste has an impact on the environment at festivals yet 62% said that they had abandoned a tent at a festival. While people recognise they are impacting the environment, it doesn’t effect how they behave at festivals,” says Moore.

Happily, the Love Your Tent campaign, which started life at the Isle of Wight Festival in 2012, is proving influential. The Love Your Tent message was communicated via an animated film shown on stage screens and via social media and posters. A new Respect campsite was created where campers were asked to sign up to a list of Tent Commandments that encouraged people to respect the environment and clean-up after themselves. “Even though there was horrible weather, only four tents were left behind and two of them were very badly damaged,” says Love Your Tent founder Juliet Ross.

This year there will be two Respect fields and a dedicated Love Your Tent field for which an additional £30 is charged for extra facilities. It sold out within a day. Ross is now working with festivals as far and wide as Belgium’s Pukkelpop and Rhythm & Vines in New Zealand.

Paul Schurink spent 20 years working for a generator supplier in Holland before dedicating his career to renewable energy sources. His company ZAP Concepts B.V. provides green power consultancy services to festivals including Indian Summer and DGTL in The Netherlands, plus Belgian dance event Extrema Outdoor.

“I organise the optimum power generation for an event’s needs. If there is a green power available via a local grid connection then that is the best way, if not I look for the best available way of avoiding diesel generators,” says Schurink. “All the festivals I have worked with saved between 20-40% in fuel consumption. Extrema Outdoor in 2012 used 90,500 litres of fuel, we cut that back to 11,200 after a smart fuel plan was implemented.”

Johnson comments, “Environmental initiatives should be cost neutral or better. Our goal is to enhance the festival environment and reduce environmental impact.”

Green Initiatives

Contributors (left to right): Jacqui Reeves (FareShare), Juliet Ross (Love Your Tent), Teresa Moore (Bucks New University), Claire O’Neill (A Greener Festival), Chris Johnson (Shambala), Rob Scully (RPS Event Management), Paul Schurink (Zap Concerts)

Bastille and Seasick Steve lend their support to the Love Your Tent campaign


China

T H I N O N T H E G R O U N D1.3 BILLION

Photo: Storm Festival in Shanghai October 2014

THE VERY BASIS of the live music industry is the individual’s willingness to buy a ticket to a show. The ability to exercise this decision in the first place has finally been realised in China for a generation that – for the first time – has access to real disposable income. Consumption in China began with ‘conspicuous’ items like watches, cars, clothes and mobile phones – in other words, permanent and demonstrable objects of status. But luckily for us, members of the growing middle class are now looking to use their money to discover and explore new experiences – including live music events.

China is a rare case as there is a specific date to which we can peg the founding of a market for foreign touring talent. In 1985, the young, shoulder-padded Andrew Ridgeley and

George Michael (performing as Wham!) were brought to the mainland by their enterprising manager Simon Napier-Bell. It was a groundbreaking tour, which saw the act play to an audience of 15,000 in the People’s Gymnasium, Beijing. At that time a domestic live music sector was already established, consisting almost exclusively of top-tier talent with a bias toward artists from Taiwan and Hong Kong.

The story remains more or less the same to this day, though TV talent shows such as The Voice of China have helped to popularise Chinese acts amid increasing competition from Korea. During a panel at the Dong Dong Music Festival and Convention in Beijing, one music fan argued that international artists would never be able to replicate the success of Korean pop


China

1.3 BILLION Figure 1: Pricewaterhouse Coopers. 2014. Global entertainment and media outlook 2014-2018. Revenues divided into those derived from sponsorships vs. ticket sales.

Figure 2: (CAPA, 2013)

stars in China, as there is a fundamental lack of transferability with English music due to language and broader cultural barriers.

YG Entertainment, representing the likes of Psy, Big Bang and occasional Justin Bieber collaborator G-Dragon, ended 2014 by brokering an exclusive distribution partnership with Tencent’s QQMusic – one of the country’s most popular digital music streaming services. The deal was cited as a starting point for further collaborations, which may include a platform to discover and develop new talent. International press are taking note, with The Wall Street Journal last year reporting on a deal between Hong Kong’s Media Asia, Taiwan’s Fubon Group, and South Korea’s SM Entertainment to set up an investment fund with $20million (€18m) in seed capital. This fund will support various projects, focusing on China and global Chinese-language audiences.

K-Pop will continue to be a major growth area within China in the coming years, though it is a game that requires big money.

THE INDEPENDENT SCENE

CHINA’S OWN INDEPENDENT scene emerged in earnest around 1989 with acts like Tang Dynasty and He Yong spearheading the movement. Various researchers and local commentators claim that 1989 marked the point when Chinese rock & roll achieved popularity - or at least awareness – even in the general public sphere. Independent music continued to both grow and fragment stylistically through to the 90s, when the next generation of fans (post-90s and cynically referred to as ‘little emperors’), empowered by an increased worldliness and access to wealth, made it their own. Cities beyond the cultural centers of Beijing and Shanghai have now developed their own scenes, with notable examples being Chengdu, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Xi’an.

GRASSROOTS

GROUPS CONSISTING OF local Chinese musicians and foreigners alike are now proactively organising, promoting and financing their own tours within and beyond the mainland. While long-standing festival platforms such as Midi, Strawberry Festival and JUE | Music + Art are able to capitalise on this new stream of self-financed artists, it has become clear over the last few years that the domestic talent pool is too small, resulting in similar line-ups between festivals. Foreign acts are often used as the key means of differentiating, providing the international music industry with interesting options during the key May and October holiday festival periods.

INTO THE NUMBERSTO GET AN IDEA OF THE VALUE of China’s live market, we have cross-referenced official statistics provided by China Association of Performing Arts (CAPA) with Pricewaterhouse Coopers’ Global entertainment and media outlook 2014-2018.

According to CAPA, in 2013 the total revenue generated by the entire live performance industry was ¥32.3bn ($5.2bn), versus the figure reported by Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) of $188m or €167m (as shown in figure 1). However, the CAPA figure includes all live performance forms such as theatre, which would explain the discrepancy to a degree. Ticketing revenue amounted to ¥16.9bn (€2.4bn), while PwC’s live music figure was US$138million (€122m). The CAPA report states that, in all, 1,400 large-scale concerts including 150 music festivals took place in 2013. Figure 1 draws from PwC’s numbers, and illustrates the steady growth we have seen since 2009 in both ticketing and sponsorship revenues. Figure 2 illustrates the growth of Chinese music festivals between 2007-2012. These figures suggest that China can expect continued growth in the mid-term, though the dependence of major festival platforms on third-party investment means the sector remains highly volatile and vulnerable to changes in the market.

150

CHINA LIVE MUSIC MARKET(US DOLLAR MILLIONS)

TOTAL NUMBER OF CHINESE MUSIC FESTIVALS FROM 2007-2012

YoY Growth Total number of Chinese music festivals

SponsorshipTicket Sales

112.5

75

37.5

0

60%

45%

30%

15%

0%

100

75

50

25

0

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

93

6966

44

2924

0%

20.8%

51.7% 50%

4.6%

37.7%


China

Shan Wei at the Shanghai Midi Festival in April 2014

PROMOTERS

MAJOR STALWARTS LIVE NATION and AEG have continued to grow their presence in mainland China. At the end of 2013, John Cappo, president and CEO of AEG China, claimed he wanted to double business over 2014. Whether this goal was achieved is hard to gauge, but highlights of 2014 included tours by the Rolling Stones, Bruno Mars, Metallica, Taylor Swift and classical cross-over André Rieu. AEG’s president of Asian touring, Adam Wilkes, has already secured full Asian routings in 2015 for the likes of Katy Perry, Ed Sheeran and a return for Taylor Swift.

The current prevailing question is, how much more programming can the Chinese audience cope with? There have been a number of recent high-profile flops, including Live Nation’s 2013 tour for The Killers, which was downscaled in Beijing at the last minute from the 10,000-capacity MasterCard Center to the 2,000-cap ThinkPad Space. This was an interesting snapshot that illustrates that the popularity of a band abroad does not always translate literally into audience pull in China. It was one of many under-performing tours in recent years, alongside the likes of Lionel Richie, Michael Bublé and Suede.

On a more positive note, the Chinese market is now seeing legitimate careers being carved out by artists. Those who are succeeding are returning to play bigger venues (Maroon 5, Taylor Swift), going to more cities (Linkin Park, Avril Lavigne, Pitbull) and becoming the beneficiaries of myriad brand tie-ups.

AEG’s Wilkes believes it is important to remember that the novelty factor of touring China has long gone. Of the artists that have carved out careers here, all of them have reached into Chinese social media platforms and painstakingly built domestic audiences. “Artists that do well here on an ongoing basis are active in the parallel world of Chinese social media,” says Wilkes. “Maroon 5, Avril Lavigne and Taylor Swift all regularly populate their Chinese social media accounts with a mix of English content, content translated from English to Chinese, and finally and most effective of all, localised content for the Chinese market.”

A number of new entrants – mostly mid-sized players

– have helped to develop the live circuit and bring in well-respected niche foreign acts, including Godspeed You! Black Emperor, The Lumineers and Swans (Split Works, 2013-15); Cat Power (Modern Sky, 2013); and Tom Odell and Starsailor (Demo Live, 2014). The market has benefited from increasing professionalism, and business models are diversifying. Venues such as Yugong Yishan (Beijing), MAO Livehouse (Beijing/Shanghai) and On Stage (Shanghai) are booking and promoting their own shows, while promoters are also operating hybrid business models as it is nearly impossible to run a company on show revenues alone. For example, Split Works operates a music and creative consultancy, a booking agency and a small media entity, while Modern Sky is home to one of the country’s major indie labels. Some promoters even own their own venues; Shanghai-based collective STD, for instance, operates the underground club Arkham.

The success of these smaller players – who maintain a healthy balance between competing and collectively nurturing the mid-level touring circuit and artists – has unfortunately been undermined over the last two years by cash-rich incumbents who willingly bet big on high-profile artists, creating the perception abroad that the Chinese market can entertain prices at parity with foreign markets. Live Planet was one of these – a venture-backed promoter with a lot of money that some established players believe had very little logic governing how to spend it. “A string of disastrous tours were booked over a three-year period, mostly with the help of third party middle men based out of Thailand who unduly hiked fees, all but guaranteeing failure,” observes Split United MD Archie Hamilton. The likes of Suede and Sum 41 performed to tiny audiences in large 9,000 capacity arenas, and even James Blunt – who had sold incredibly well on his first two tours in the region – had a relative failure on tour number three with Live Planet. This highlights, as always, the value of working with established promoters rather than just following the money.

One experienced operator all too aware of the need for trustworthy local partners is Stage Entertainment Touring Productions, which is taking Ice Age Live on an eight-week Chinese tour in the second half of 2015, visiting Beijing, Shanghai, Shengzen, Guangzou and Hong Kong. If that first leg brings the expected success, the show is scheduled to return to China later in the tour. Henrik-Jan Rinner, CEO of Stage Entertainment,says, “We have invested a lot of time and resources in exploring China and finding the right partners. We truly believe that it is a market with many opportunities, however with specific characteristics which are different from other territories and which should not be under-estimated. Good research and the right partners are the key to success and we are now ready to bring our first show to the Chinese audience. We are very excited about this.”

The big moves are now happening in the ‘interior’ of the country. Smaller acts have been frequenting second-tier cities for a number of years, but recently, even arena-level artists have started to explore these further afield possibilities. The size of second-tier cities such as Chongqing, Chengdu and Wuhan shouldn’t be downplayed, as their populations dwarf those of European and American counterparts.

Jaime Welton, PM of the MasterCard Center in Beijing, points to the fact that while the audiences in Beijing and Shanghai are now jaded, even the police in Chongqing were


China

THE

The Lumineers at Tango 3rd floor, Beijing, in February 2014

excited to see Mariah Carey play last year. Big international companies are on-selling acts to local promoters, which mitigates their financial risk, but ensures an insurance policy for both the international artist and the local promoter: Live Nation, for example, send experienced production ops on the road to make sure there are no unfortunate incidents.

Robb Spitzer, managing director, China Concerts at Live Nation Entertainment, observes that tastes are becoming more refined. “As the Western novelty factor recedes, the audience is getting more mature and sophisticated and demanding a broader selection – and that includes international artists,” says Spitzer. “We are very focused on the Chinese cities beyond Shanghai and Beijing. Last year, we took Mariah Carey on a five-city stadium tour and Avril Lavigne on an eight-city arena tour, and we are building on this. We have an eight-city tour and another five-city tour already in the book for the first half of 2015. We’ve all been at this a long time, but we’re all looking at pretty positive trends right now.”

Finally, it should be noted that over the last few years bands too have taken things into their own hands, using crowdfunding platforms such as Pledge Music (as in the case of Second Hand Rose who recently toured the US) and IndieGoGo to get tours off the ground. Such initiatives highlight just how far the territory has come, and dispel any myths that the Great Firewall or censorship somehow prevent the realisation of great independent projects.

FESTIVALS

BEFORE 2000, THERE WERE VIRTUALLY no established large-scale outdoor music festivals in China. In the year 2000, the first Midi Music Festival took place in Beijing, marking the start of a new era of music festivals in China. Since then, the number of events has proliferated to the point that there is now a saturation of under-performing festival properties.

As of the October 2014 national holiday (one of two peak periods), Shanghai music fans had around six large-scale festivals to choose from that all fell between 10 September and 19 October. For a relatively nascent market, supply is clearly outstripping demand.

One high-profile incumbent is the Budweiser Storm Festival – the country’s biggest EDM extravaganza. Though Storm returned for a second year in 2014, with sponsorship from Budweiser, and is set to expand its presence going forward, Eric Zho, CEO at A2LiVE, admits, “[There] is a lot of money in China looking for a home and as soon as an event like Storm looks like a success, lots of other players jump in, potentially saturating the audience in the short term.”

On the other hand, Zho has observed a five-fold increase in ticket sales between years one and two, and notes that the genre of EDM is relatively accessible to the average Chinese consumer as they are able to enjoy the full experience, both recorded and live, without having to be adept at English.

MUSIC FESTIVALSAND THE GOVERNMENT

IN THE EARLY YEARS, obtaining the appropriate licences to host a music festival was a major barrier to entry for organisers in China. The government had a very strict stance, as the congregation of large audiences was generally prohibited. However, as the market continues to mature, the government is showing a friendlier attitude toward music festivals in China, and there have even been some cases where governments have sponsored events. One such example was the 2009 Midi Festival in Zhenjiang. The Zhenjiang government invited Midi Festival to take place to boost tourism in the area. ¥1m (€140,000) was initially invested. Then, in 2010, the Zhenjiang government co-operated with the Midi Festival crew to run a Yangtze River Midi Festival, paying ¥5m (€710,000) to cover production costs. The experiment was broadly felt to have worked, and this strategy has been replicated all over the country.

According to Shan Wei, CEO of the Midi Music Festival, nobody has created a dominant position in China’s festival space yet and with regards to the current festival glut, some will succeed and some will fail, the same as every other industry. Whoever can persist with consistent delivery will continue to grow, but those looking to get in and get out with a quick profit will be less likely to succeed, as will those backed by local governments.

“Our model has developed so that, increasingly, we will try to develop long-term interests in specific locations,” comments Wei. “For example, in Suzhou we will set up permanently across the summer with a campground and music every weekend, a sort of series of mini festivals.”


China

Contributors (left to right): Eric Zho (A2LiVE), Archie Hamilton (Split United), Li Zhiqiang (Yugong Yishan Cultural Promotions), Michael Enoch (Mercedes-Benz Arena), Shan Wei (Midi Music Festival), Robb Spitzer (Live Nation)

The MAO Livehouse venue in Beijing

Going forward, festival organisers are erring on the side of caution. The tragic New Year’s stampede that took place on the Bund in Shanghai this year – attributed to poor crowd control by the authorities – is likely to result in a downturn in event applications and approvals across the country.

TICKETING AND PROFITABILITY

CHINESE MUSIC FANS have limited spending power and the market is still very much new to the idea of investing disposable income in experiences, rather than consumables or luxury goods. The average ticket price for a day at a multi-stage music festival sits at around US$20-25 (€18-22). But, at the same time, artist-booking fees continue to increase.

Though there is a certain expectation that foreign acts will demand a premium, due naturally to the added costs of travel and logistics, a feature by major state-owned media powerhouse, CCTV, revealed that it is the intermediaries who are the source of the issue, as they often overcharge for their services. These include such things as arranging transport and accommodation for the touring parties. This point reinforces the need to work closely with businesses that not only know the market, but that can also be trusted to do the right thing by the artists and associated parties.

To offset costs, most festival organisers, and promoters more generally, will look to brands to subsidise their events, enabling organisers to book compelling line-ups while keeping prices low. Brand involvement in the live music sector has continued to provide a steady source of growth, but this may

tail off as brands look to align with the next big thing.A large festival will typically require three to five years to

mature and develop a sustainable economic model. However, with brand sponsorships providing the launching pad for such projects, event organisers are often under a lot of pressure to achieve scale and a clear return on investment. Attaining this often involves organising ancillary events and pop-up shows across developing regions of the country to generate buzz, or in the case of Modern Sky, launching a series of similar festival properties in different locations across the year.

Split United MD, Archie Hamilton, has noticed a shift in direction over the last couple of years through working with brands via music and creative consultancy Splatter.

“Brands in China have been long associated with the live and festival scene, and in many cases make up more than 50% of the overall revenue of a festival. We’ve seen a trend over the last couple of years towards brand-owned properties rather than sponsorships,” says Hamilton, citing the likes of House of Vans, Tuborg Greenfest, Guinness Wood+Wires, Budweiser Storm and Converse Rubber Tracks. “This poses significant short-term problems for the big-ticket festivals and arena shows that increasingly have this income built into their budgets. Brand-owned events are often very cheap or even free, which is reducing incentives to pay for a previously reluctant ticket buyer.”

Conclusively, this unhealthy dependence on brand subsidy has made the Chinese festival market highly volatile, and there are likely to be casualties in the not too distant future.

VENUES

THE CONSENSUS AMONG THOSE working in the live sector – veterans and upstarts alike – is that there is a gap in the infrastructure between small live houses with capacities of no more than several hundred people, and large arena-style venues, home to the big Chinese pop stars, international superstars and gala-like extravaganzas.

This naturally impacts on artists’ careers as they are often unable to progress beyond a certain level. But there is hope. MAO Livehouse (a key stronghold for developing artists with venues in Beijng and Shanghai) recently hosted a ceremony to celebrate the opening of a string of new venues in Beijing, Chongqing, Hangzhou and Kunming.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai was named China’s most dynamic large-scale performance venue of 2013. Pollstar confirmed the arena hosted 148 performances in front of an aggregate audience of 641,000. A number of multi-purpose arenas are also breaking new ground in Chengdu and Dalian. And smaller developers are working on the mid-sized venue model, with the people behind the Qianshuiwan Creative Arts Centre, a multi-purpose real estate development containing 1,200- and 500-capacity venues, are also in the process of opening something similar in Guangzhou.


China


China

IQ’s China market report is presented by Split United, a group of companies founded a decade ago in China by Archie Hamilton and Nathaniel Davis. Split Works has promoted over 300 tours in China and launched six distinct festival platforms in partnership with some of the biggest Chinese and global brands. The company has grown to include music specialist brand consultancy Splatter (Apple, Levi’s, MixRadio, Vans, VW), Asian booking agency Scorched (Mac DeMarco, Ólafur Arnalds, Shabazz Palaces), China’s #1 music community Wooozy.cn and Chinese music industry resource ChinaMusicRadar.com.

Swans performed at QSW, Shanghai, in February 2015.

Michael Enoch, general manager of the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, notes that they already have a similar number of shows in the book for 2015 as they had in the whole of 2014, and there is no shortage of quality shows coming through China. “I’m very optimistic about the show part of the upcoming year,” says Enoch. “What I’m not so optimistic about is the sales side of things. A lot of our deals – sponsorship, suites, etc – were done when China’s growth rate was at 15%. Now that it’s at 7%, we have to work a lot harder than a couple of years ago, doing more, but smaller, deals.”

Venues continue to face rigorous demands from the government and are often caught in a precarious balance between being passively surveilled (the strength of their relationships with authorities being a key remedying force) or else aggressively investigated. This can vary depending on the type of establishment in question.

Jaime Welton, an American who has been the production manager at the 10,000 capacity MasterCard Center since it opened in 2010, believes that one of the reasons they are facing a reduction in the number of shows set to come through their venue in 2015 is because of the increasing demands that the local police are putting on the venues and promoters. “The authorities are causing Beijing to fall off the map as a viable touring location due to the amount of overflow tickets that they want and the restrictions they put on the promoters,” warns Welton.

Rising costs are also adding to the pressures faced by small venues. Speaking on behalf of one of Beijing’s most iconic live houses, Lu Zhiqiang, founder of Yugong Yishan Cultural Promotions, states, “We have to be more selective about the shows that we do and the promoters we work with, choosing shows that we think will make money. This is also our biggest challenge at the moment – just being able to pay rent and cover

staff costs. What we are doing is still comparatively small and I do believe the market for live music will continue to grow. But we can only stay open if it grows on pace with rising costs.”

EXPORT

THERE IS AN INCREASING AMOUNT of export taking place from China to the United States and other territories. However, domestic artists often lack the necessary skills and management expertise to seek such opportunities independently.

The biggest advances abroad were recently taken by Modern Sky, which rolled out its eponymous festival to the US for the first time. Modern Sky Festival NYC successfully provided a platform for showcasing the label’s growing stable of indie rock bands. Despite this, some of the greatest successes at an individual level have been bands with a more world/folk/traditional appeal.

Beijing rock stalwarts, Second Hand Rose, recently completed a self-financed tour of the United States, and Inner Mongolian folk rock band, Hanggai, have carved a place in the global touring circuit for themselves. Zhang Ran, organiser of the Sound of the Xity expo/festival in Beijing, provides an interesting take. “I used to take Western music people to Chinese heavy metal and punk shows, but they always told me, ‘if I want an AC/DC, I don’t need to find them in China, I can find millions of them in my home country.’ Through years of experience, I found it is always jazz, world music or ska and reggae that suit the tastes of music fans all over the world,” observes Ran. “It used to be the case that essentially Chinese bands would try to mimic then sell in the Western world, but I can see the situation is changing now.”

CONCLUSION

THE GROWTH OVER THE LAST five years in China’s live music scene has been quite stunning. The number of tours, venues, festivals and ticket buyers has increased beyond all reasonable expectation, while brands have been spending freely on attracting a new generation of economically empowered music fans.

On the other hand, there is a danger that supply is outstripping demand in the short-term due to a flood of new promoters and festivals entering the market. This – allied to brands pushing very cheap or even free events – puts even more pressure on those that need to sell tickets. Furthermore, the economic conditions in China as of the beginning of 2015 are lacklustre compared to the growth experienced over the last ten years, which will add to this pressure.

But even under these difficulties, the prospects for growth in China are exciting.


Members’ Noticeboard

If you, or any of your ILMC colleagues, have any notices or updates to include on the noticeboard, please contact the club secretary, Gordon Masson, via [email protected]

�e sta� of International Talent Booking started 2015 fully independent again following the conclusion of the company’s contract with Live Nation. And as part of that new start, the business moved to spanking new grown-up o�ces in London (6th Floor, 9 Kingsway, London WC2B 6XF).

Helen Sildna (Tallinn Music Week), Ruud Berends (Eurosonic), Igor Vidmar (ŠKUC Ropot, Slovenia), Tibor Holoda (Waves Bratislava), Franz Hergovich (MICA, Austria) and Bernhard Hammer (Elektro Guzzi, Austria) at the Showcase panel during the inaugural MENT Festival in Slovenia. Photo by Polona Eržen.

Ben Challis and �e Illegal Terms opened the show at the European Festival Awards (EFA) in Groningen. And no, your eyes do not deceive you - alongside Glasto lawyer Challis are Christof Huber (OpenAir St Gallen), Steve Jenner (EFA), Holger Jan Schmidt (Green Events Europe) and drummer extraordinaire Michal Kaščák (Pohoda Festival).

Friend of ILMC, Paul Crockford, enjoyed the task of interviewing Nirvana tour manager MacLeod during one of the busiest sessions at Eurosonic’s EPIC programme.

Mojo Barriers boss Cees Murling allowed IQ editor Gordon Masson to blow o� some steam by testing the company’s new barrier system with a sledgehammer at Eurosonic. �e system has already been used successfully at the G20 government gathering in Brisbane. (It also provides a great hangover cure - Ed.)

ROBE CEO Josef Valchar celebrates the lighting supplier’s sponsorship deal for the Czech Republic 2015 Fed Cup tennis team with team captain Petr Pála and players Tereza Smitkova, Karolína Plíšková, Lucie Hradecká, and Denisa Allertová.

Rock & roll photographer Guido Karp and wife Nicole used the excuse of their tenth anniversary to renew their wedding vows on Silhouette Island in the Seychelles, before enjoying a long overdue honeymoon.

Fruzsina Szép (Berlin Festival), Steve Zapp (ITB), Allan McGowan (ILMC), Juha Kyyrö (FKP Scorpio Nordic) and Julia Gudzent (Melt! Festival) make the most of being in Norrköping, Sweden, on Valentine’s Day at the Where’s �e Music? event.

Your Shout


“Who is your hero, and why?”

TOP SHOUTDave Russell is my hero. He inspired, supported and taught me so much – he was a brilliant tour manager and a loyal friend. No matter how tough times were, how long the working days, or how few the chances to snatch some sleep, he would still do everything in his power to lighten things up. Practical jokes, Mr Load In call sheets, cartoons, absurd stage cameos for people ranging from pizza delivery men to the entire crew, under stage choreography, balloon hats for everyone!… He was funny, intelligent and above all, kind. He treated everyone as though they were actually human beings, from the act to the local crew – something all too rare in our business.

When he got ill, he kept his pain and problems to himself to such an extent that some people on the tour he managed a few months before he died didn’t even know he was sick. �ose of us lucky enough to have worked with him are poorer for his going but so much richer for having known him. Mr Load In – my hero.Alia Dann Sw ift, ILMC

Michael Stipe – for leading his band all the way to stadium level without compromising his integrity.Donal Scannell, gigstarter.com

My hero is my father. Growing up I hardly saw him because he would be out to work before I was home and back in post me going to bed. He has always put us �rst, given me the work ethic I have today and was also the one who introduced me to the entertainment industry. He has always been a strong guide in my life and made me the person I am today!Danielle Russell, Wembley Stadium

�at’s an easy question: My hero is Mrs �atcher for pulling the UK out of the gutter. No contest.Ed Grossman, MGR Touring

All my heroes died a while ago, but there’s always the Dutch band, �e Ex. �ey’ve never compromised, done their thing for the last 30 years and made a living, almost completely outside the regular music biz. Total uncompromising independence, and wild music too – that’s something to respect.Nick Hobbs, Charmenko

My hero was Bill Graham: he inspired me throughout my entire career. He was the �rst nationwide promoter in our business and did tours on both coasts of America, from San Francisco to New York. From Fillmore East to Fillmore West.Marcel Avram, United Promoters AG

Fritz Rau is my hero. At one of my early charity events in Frankfurt, Fritz showed up and I asked about the secrets of his success. He told me, ‘I usually went to my o�ce earlier than all the others and also got home way later. Always try to do what you believe in, and whatever you think is right. �ere are so many skeptics out there, better watch out for those people who walk the same path you are walking – even if it gets a bit bumpy on the way.’ �is conversation inspired me ever since, especially when in doubt.Werner Lindinger, Hand in Hand Concept

My hero is Guy Martin, the motorbike racer and TV personality. No relation, unfortunately. He does a myriad of things, apart from riding and getting results in the terrifying road races such as the Isle of Man TT Races. He relishes setting world speed records for bicycles, sledges, soap boxes (90mph), and also refurbishes old barges. His latest adventure is riding around India on an old Royal En�eld motorbike. He has no airs and graces – whatever he does he does with total passion. He loves to learn, he is patient, humorous, gregarious and, the best bit is, he’s a total bleedin’ nutter! What a wonderful human being – marvellous man!Carl A H Martin, cahm.co.uk

My hero is Mark Fisher who is probably the smartest person I ever worked with. He was a pioneer who transformed the landscape of rock concerts and large-scale events over the last 30 years.Andrew Z w eck, Sensible Events

My hero is Shiroh ‘Onta’ Kawaguchi, promoter of Summer Sonic festival in Japan. I really admire the way he communicates with people and does his Festival for so many years.Vladimir K ravchenko, Colisium Conferences

If you would like to send feedback, comments or suggestions for future Your Shout topics, please email: [email protected]

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