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PreMIuM ›› VOl. 129 ›› OCTOBer 2010
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No – I’m not going to mention Seagulls this
month, but I am going to make reference
to another species of bird – the starling.
In Brighton you can see that Winter is on
the way because, out to sea above the two
piers, one intact, another just twisted metal
ruins, the starlings are flocking, thousands
of the birds all wheeling precisely together
in the sky, constantly changing direction as
though they were all parts of one organism
– it’s an amazing sight.
This flock is called a murmuration, and I
am informed they fly together like this for
several reasons, – safety in numbers, infor-
mation exchange (if some come back from
a good feeding area others may learn of it)
and warmth at night through roosting to-
gether. The birds may feed up to 20 miles
from their winter roost but return each
evening.
Having just returned from several Europe-
an conference and showcase events, with
more to come, I suddenly realised that this
phenomenon and the supposed reasons
for it seem to describe the movements of
the members of the music industry that at-
tend these events pretty accurately – we’re
all at some time or another – me included
of course, part of a music business murmu-
ration!
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking any of
this, for me the great thing is that although
we have access to a myriad of wondrous
communication technologies, we still seem
to need human contact, and we definitely
‘grow’ our own expertise and the business
in many ways from coming together like
this. This probably explains why, as with
punters and festivals, there seems to be an
unabated appetite amongst profession-
als for these events. It has now got to the
stage where you have to make your choices
as increasingly the dates of various events
conflict. In the last few weeks you would
have needed access to your own helicopter
or private jet (or been a mate of Flying Of-
ficer Bruce Dickinson of the Iron Maiden Air
Force) to make it to Manchester’s In the City,
MaMA in Paris and Iceland Airwaves not to
mention CMA in New York for instance.
The VIP team attended the Reeperbahn
Campus and Reeperbahn Festival in Ham-
burg and the first ever Paris edition of
MaMA, and at least one of us – guess who?
– also attended ‘You Are In Control’ in Rey-
kjavik, The Summit in London and Musex in
Tampere, Finland.
All of these events were as far as we can
tell, or as far as we are told, well attended,
although it appears to me that different
events have very different ways of totting
up their attendance figures. In the ‘old days’
when there was Midem, and, ‘er, Midem,
and then ILMC and early Popkomm and
SXSW and a couple of others, they were all
‘trade only’ bashes, and everyone with a
badge was a known or still to be met col-
league, or sometimes, rival. Now so many
events also have a festival element that the
numbers may become confused when re-
porting results.
1
McGowan’s Musings:
Allan McGowan
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In the conference and networking rooms
during the day this is still the case, but
once we get into ‘wristband’ time, now so
many events attract both professionals
and punters we should definitely know
where to draw the dividing line. I don’t
think I’ve ever seen an estimate of how
many people work in the European, nev-
er mind the worldwide, music industry,
it is without doubt a very large number,
but I’ve got a feeling that if you added up
all the numbers given by all the events of
all the ‘delegates’, we may find ourselves
with – shall we say – an even bigger mur-
muration?!
Right, I’m just off to catch up with the
flock – and I leave you, Ladies and Gen-
tlemen, with the News.
No Glastonbury in 2012 due to Toilet shortages!Allan McGowan [email protected]
Couldn’t let this story go without a
mention, much as it may be practically
accurate it does come across as being
the basis for a whole raft of jokes. Ap-
parently the huge demand for port-
able toilets in the summer for sporting
events and all the other festivals will
be extended beyond supply by the UK
staging of the Olympics.
According to Portable Sanitation Eu-
rope – (it makes sense, but who would
have thought that there was a trade
association for the portable toilet busi-
ness – what happens at their confer-
ences?!) – anyway, PSE, have confirmed
that demand will definitely outstrip de-
mand in the UK. It appears that we may
have to import toilets from Germany,
but even this drastic measure will not
it seems save Glastonbury, as Michael
Eavis and family are taking the oppor-
tunity to go off on a touring holiday in
a camper van – I hope it’s got all the re-
quired facilities!
Oh – there could also be a shortage of
police, what with all these events, and
with the recent cuts ordered by our
coalition Government. So, will there be
enough toilets for the police? If there
are incidents and they have to carry out
investigations they may not have any-
thing to go on!
Glastonbury in lack of toilets in 2012
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One of the things that I really like about the
way that many of these events are develop-
ing is their willingness to cooperate with
the like minded operators of other events,
Eurosonic/Noorderslag in Groningen, The
Great Escape, c-o-pop, in Cologne, MaMA in
Paris and Reeperbahn, not to forget SXSW.
Of course all these events have their own
characters, but a sharing of knowledge
and ideas between events and countries
can only be good for the business, and
it’s good to see the representatives of one
event appearing as guests at the others. It’s
also very obvious that as European Govern-
ments profess their support of the creative
industries, and in some cases even begin to
invest, these established and semi-estab-
lished events are welcoming and including
representatives and collaborators from a
wider scope of creativity, all of which, TV,
Games, Film, Theatre, use music as essential
content. Events such as ‘You are in Control’
in Reykjavik are already aimed at all creative
industries. The Nordic countries and events
are also developing on-going collaborations
as evidenced by a meeting at last weekend’s
Music & Media in Tampere, Finland.
Reeperbahn Festival and Campus:
I’m afraid it’s a month since the Reeperbahn
Festival and Reeperbahn Campus took
place – doesn’t time fly when you’re confer-
ence hopping! – but it took place just after
our last issue so we get round to it now.
Also it is definitely worth looking back on,
because both events have now confirmed
themselves a regular fixtures in the diaries
of many international professionals.
Managing director Alexander Schulz
summed up, “In 2010 we followed our
approach to position Germany‘s biggest
club festival as a quality oriented discov-
erer festival even more thoroughly. This
proved to be a big success. Although we
had no headliners in 2010, the Reeperbahn
Festival attracted about 17.000 guests, ex-
actly as many as in the record setting year
2009. In other words: 190 fascinating new-
comers from all over the world, 70 highly
informative events during the interna-
tional industry meetings and an inspiring
multimedia Arts-program proved to be as
attractive as big names and were great fun
for everybody.”
»The Reeperbahn Festival is not just a local event, but one that now has a regional and international impact on
the world of music«
- Bernd Neumann
Bernd Neumann, German Minister of State
for Culture and the Media, declared: “The
Reeperbahn Festival is not just a local
event, but one that now has a regional and
international impact on the world of music!
The cultural and creative industries have
revenues of roughly 15 billion euros a year,
which isn’t exactly peanuts, but rather an
enormous economic factor.“
Those attending the Reeperbahn Campus
apparently numbered 1500 professional
visitors and media representatives, about
400 of them coming from 22 countries
from all around the world. Detlef Schwarte,
responsible for the international industry
meeting of the music and live-entertain-
ment industries: “This year the Reeperbahn
Campus transformed itself from a confer-
ence into an international business-plat-
form. Especially focussing on the music and
live-entertainment-area was very popular.
In this regard I would like to say thank you
very much to our partners Warner Music
and BDV.”
I had the pleasure of chairing a few of the
panels, which were well attended by peo-
ple who seemed to want to learn. I myself
was surprised to learn on the Festival panel
that one of the big problems of 2010 was
the aggressive collecting of drinks contain-
ers, to the extent of snatching unfinished
drinks, in order to claim the deposits on
the ‘cups’. Both the Lowlands festival and
Roskilde had been disturbed by what are
thought to be Eastern European gangs tar-
geting the events.
Positive statements of actual follow ups
arose at some sessions, Jens Michow of the
German association for concert promot-
ers, BDV, had quite a go at the the German
publishing collecting society GEMA about
moves by the society to get a cut of the live
sector’s sponsorship revenues in addition
to a slice of ticket, catering and bar sales.
He followed this at a session considering
the ramifications of the Love parade dis-
aster by publicly offering to assist Chrissie
Uerlings and Henrik Bondo Nielsen in their
Safety Focus Group, efforts to share crowd
management knowledge and experience
across Europe within the live entertainment
sector and with those in local government
who regulate large scale events.
Conference round upAllan McGowan [email protected]
Panel at Reeperbahn Campus
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The music business community
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Organised by the same team that organise the long established
Printemps de Bourges Festival this second edition of MaMA on
October 15/16 had to contend with certain problems. Number
one was that this was the first edition to take place in the French
capital, and the first is always the one in which you discover what
not to do as well as what to progress! Apparently there were two
other conferences in town at the same time, which made hotel
booking a bit of a problem when trying to keep all the internation-
al guests together, plus there was the omnipresent threat of Le
Grève, the strikes and anti Sarkozy protests about pension rights,
but to a greater extent all fell into place and this first Paris event
achieved what it set out to do, and will I am sure do what it set out
to do and bringing a more down to earth approach to the music
business in France, and attracting more professional international
guests than those that presently attend Midem. It was for me and
it seems for all I asked, a very enjoyable event.
Panels were all well attended – even those where people learnt to
cope with instant translation – how do they do that!
Official numbers were as follows: 1926 delegates (30% internationals representing 39 countries)
752 companies (38% internationals)
120 journalists
20 conferences:
128 speakers & moderators (30% internationals)
60 concerts (20 internationals bands)
14 venues
Total capacity:
8000 (venues : 6000 - bars : 2000)
Tickets sold:
a) venues : 2860 (95% soldout): 50% sold to the public the rest re-
served for the professionals)
b) bars : 2000 sold out’
5 international festivals partners / network:
SXSW (USA) - C/O Pop (Germany) - Eurosonic (Netherlands)- TIMM
(Japan) - Spot (Denmark)
14 international partners :
IQ (UK) – VIP -Booking (UK) - Canadian Music Week (Canada) -
Liverpoool Sound City (UK) - Reeperbahn (Germany) - Womex
(Germany) - PopKomm (Germany) - Wallonie Bruxelles Musiques
(Belgium) - WAM (Spain) - Catalan Arts (Spain) - Audiocoop (Italy)
- Swiss Music Export (Switzerland) - IMMF (UK) - European Music
Office (Belgium)
MaMA 2010 Allan McGowan [email protected]
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MusicTank, is a business development network for the UK music
industry, owned and operated by the University of Westminster
to engage with industry, innovation and change across the music
business. They have given VIP-News permission, thanks to Sam
Shentob, to feature the bullet points whuch came out of ‘Saving
the Golden Goose’ a recent panel set up to consider the present
state of the UK live music industry. A full transcript can be pur-
chased on-line at: www.musictank.co.uk
The panel was chaired by MusicTank Chairman Keith Harris / Keith
Harris Music Ltd / Director of Performer Affairs, PPL.
Panel:
Stuart Galbraith: CEO, Kilimanjaro Live
Andy Mcleod: Music Promoter & Director, Club Fandango
Malcolm McKenzie: Artist Manager
Geoff Meall: Director, The Agency Group
Steve Machin: Founder, Stormcrowd
The main points covered were as follows:
The fan experience at all levels of gigs in the UK has improved,
but still has some way to go.
Festivals are a fine science, and there are now all sorts of VIP
experiences and hospitality packages for the touring circuit.
Fewer festivals went bust this summer than three summers ago.
There were far fewer clueless new entrants attracted by the fes-
tival buzz.
Record companies can no longer be relied on to be the source
of investment into live they once were. Less investment in the
market may lead to fewer stadium acts, but they are not going
to stop entirely.
No sector within the live business has a divine right to exist and
must add value, e.g. 80% of Sonisphere tickets are sold through
the Sonisphere web site. But there’ll always be a need for an art-
ist support business, as artists don’t have the money required
to fund a large tour.
Booking fees are most severe in markets operating with near-
monopolies such as LN/Ticketmaster in US, CTS in Germany,
and large operators in Holland, Switzerland and Scandinavia.
In the UK the CPA has 47 members and there are innumerate
ticket agents.
Fans will get bored if an artist over-tours. And if they consider-
ably over-pay for tickets they don’t tend to go on to see that
artist again.
Some crazy deals in the US see the artist paid 110% of the gross,
with the promoter making money on car parking, popcorn and
the secondary ticket sales. Artist fee conversations should first
be about which venue is right, and then consider appropriate
ticket prices before reaching an agreed fee.
The industry needs definitive figures but is not convinced on
the accuracy of estimates of merchandise and associated tak-
ings in the PRS Live Music report, nor the voluntary submission
of stats for Pollstar. Chris Jenkins’ aggregated Live Music Study
is a step in the right direction, but sharing data is difficult – AEG
are a privately owned company and so are most promoters.
Most agree it’s a good idea in principle, but each company is
reluctant to pool data.
The industry could do a much better job of educating people
on scam ticketing sites. It’s not straightforward though, e.g. the
Advertising Standard Authority requires that an advert that lists
ticket agents cannot be selective. But the space required to list
all ticketing agents makes this prohibitively expensive, so none
are listed. There’s distrust of a government who discussed regu-
lating ticketing for 18 months just to then do an about-turn.
The main conclusion of the panel was:
The UK live sector is a vibrant, mostly thriving business. The reces-
sion has had an impact and other sectors cannot rely on live as a
cash cow, but providing artists don’t over-tour or price themselves
out of the market, the UK won’t go the way of the US.
saving The Golden Goose:Music Tank review of the live IndustryAllan McGowan [email protected]
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MusicTank Chairman - Keith Harris
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The very first industry convention solely dedicated to green issues
that concern the music industry:
Climate change, quite obviously we suppose, has a much greater
affect on the live music business than the rest of the music indus-
try. Green Music Events is the first conference to concentrate spe-
cifically on areas in which the sector can become more environ-
mentally friendly.
The conference agenda will include panels and workshops deal-
ing with:
Sustainability Managment for Beginners:
Wastemanagement 1: How to avoid waste:
Wastemanagement 2: Handling, Disposal, and Separation:
Green Audience: communication and involvement:
Mobility Management: public transport stimulation, rewards &
sanctions:
Festival Camping & sanitary installations:
Tech Forum - new and green production tools:
Green Marketing: sponsoring, sustainability as USP:
Green Law: the legal process, international comparisons, Euro-
pean statutes:
Networking – now it’s your turn (find common interests – start
green projects together – peer audits):
The role of the cultural sector regarding the fight against climate
change:
Energy efficiency & Compensation – pros and cons:
The organizers have managed to assemble a very solid line up of
speakers and panellists.
Holger Jan Schmidt - RhEINKULTUR, Ben Challis - agreenerfestival.
com, Teresa Moore - Bucks University, Sabine Funk, - RhEINKUL-
TUR, Jan Schönhoff, - Aqualogistiker.org, Paul Schurink – Brede-
noord, Alison Tickell - Julie’s Bicycle , Lucile Barras - Green Music
Initiative.
VIP-News strongly recommends this event as the agenda and its
speakers appears to promise a a highly informative conference.
Those who have already attended workshops and tutorials by Ter-
esa Moore or listened to speakers such as Ben Challice know that
these people deliver very worthwhile and state of the art informa-
tion that could help to improve the environmental conditions for
shows and festivals.
The conference will take place in Bonn, Germany on November
3 & 4th 2010. The Registration rate is 200 Euros. Members of the
cooperation partner Yourope benefit from a special reduced reg-
istration offer of only 150 Euro. For registration and further infor-
mation: www.green-events-germany.eu
Green events GermanyManfred Tari [email protected]
VIP-BOOKING.COM THE VIP-BOOK VIP-NEWS
Having the right tools for the job is often the key to success. Through our ongoing communication with key Live
Entertainment Industry Professionals, we have developed a range of services to meet the demands of agents, pro-
moters, talent buyers, venue bookers etc. It’s no coincidence that we are now considered to be the No. 1 information
provider for this thriving industry.
The VIP-BookThe ultimate print directory for the Eu-ropean Entertainment Industry, packedwith contacts and easy to use. An es-sential reference book for every offi ceproviding basic contact informationand a solid overview.
VIP-Booking.com VIP-NewsWritten by our highly merited journalists, Al-lan McGowan and Manfred Tari, with over 50years of experience between them in the En-tertainment Industry, VIP-News brings the lat-est news and views directly to your computerkeeping you up to date at all times.
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VIP-Booking.com is now the most widely used online information service for the European Live Entertainment Industry with subscribers in over 25 countries. Using the latest technology and state of the art tools, the service provides in-depth information streamlining the day-to-day operations of industry professionals, saving both time and money.
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I was surprised to be reminded on arrival
in Tampere that this event has such a long
history. This was the 21st edition of Music
& Media gathered over 700 Finnish and in-
ternational delegates under the same roof
in Tampere on October 21-24. The festi-
val element, Lost in Music, featured 100
acts over 13 venues, some programmed
by venue owners, agents, promoters and
record company, Fullsteam, with a series of
bands, including the very inpressive Biffy
Clyro, presented by Live Nation, Finland.
Musex Director Paulina Ahokas gave Vip
News her impressions of this edition: “The
21st Music & Media was certainly a suc-
cess from the production point of view:
the event was sold out, we had received
absolutely fantastic feedback from both
Finnish and international delegates. Our
strategic vision of providing a boutique
networking and showcasing bridge be-
tween the Northern Dimension (The
Nordic countries, Russia and Baltics) and
the rest of the world really seems to com-
municate and bring meaningful working
relations. The themes, such as environ-
mental issues, artist branding, changing
media map and the keynotes have raised
really active response, the video streams
of the international panels and keynotes
at www.musex.fi/musiikkimedia2010 ,
(including the one with a certain edi-
tor interviewing the veteran agent Barry
Dickins of ITB) and www.musiikkimedia.
fi have already received over 300 stream-
ings in one day only! It was a true honour
for us to present the 1st ever Tampere
Award for Exceptional Achievent in Music
Business to a most amazing man, Mr. Rein
Lang, currently the Minister of Justice
of Estonia. The festival programme was
varied with several different genres and
styles being presented and for the most
part both the Finnish and the interna-
tional artists enjoyed full houses. I know
of several offers for various artist teams.
But only the couple next forthcoming
weeks will tell what kind of concrete re-
sults it will bring to all participants and
that will measure the concrete full value
of an event like this.”
Music & MediaAllan McGowan [email protected]
Mr. Rein Lang presenting the Tampere award in Finland
Barry Dickens and Allan McGowan on stage at Music and Media Finland
Roskilde Festival honours Dhow Countries Music Academy in Zan-
zibar with its second World Music Award, which will be presented
during the WOMEX music convention in Copenhagen on Sunday,
31. October.
Peter Hvalkof, world music booker at Roskilde Festival, explained
why the Dhow Countries Music Academy had been considered
for its award: “Cultural projects are often launched in third world
countries with the best of intentions. But it’s difficult to sustain the
projects over a longer period in order to achieve the original aims.
The Dhow Countries Music Academy attracts attention not only
because of its stated purpose and level of ambition, but because it
is also a professionally operating organisation that has proven its
worth and managed to make a difference in its area.”
The Dhow Music Academy provides low cost music lessons in Zan-
zibar in Tanzania and specialises in domestic roots genres such as
Taarab, Beni and Kidumbak. For further information please check
www.zanzibarmusic.org
roskilde Festival world Music Awardto be Presented at wOMeXManfred Tari [email protected]
Dhow Countries Music Academy in Zanzibar
10
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While the Sarkozy administration in France
is still under heavy pressure due to amend-
ments of the entrée age for pensions or
its migration policy for Roma, amongst
other issues, it now looks that the French
Government is able to proceed with one
innovative and favourable measure for the
digital music business.
At a press conference at Midem in January
2010 Frederic Mitterand the French min-
ister for Culture announced the idea for a
so called “Carte Musique”. With this card
the French government wanted to raise
awareness and acceptance among young
people to buy music downloads on legal
platforms. The card enables young people
under the age of 26 to buy digital music
worth 50 Euros by paying only 25 Euro for
the card itself. The French ministry for cul-
ture will subsidize the balance of 25 Euros.
The program will last for about two years
and is supposed to be launched by the
end of October. The French government
expect to sell one million “Cart Musique’s”
per year. In order to avoid only big platform
operators benefiting from this measure, a
cap of five million Euros per operator has
been implemented. Due to the cap, opera-
tors of smaller and niche download plat-
forms will additionally benefit.
As subsidies are also an issue that confront
EU-competition laws, the French govern-
ment sought EU-Commission approval of
this campaign. In reference to this Joaquin
Almunia, vice-president at the EU-Com-
mission for competition policy said in a
press release: “We welcome initiatives
from Member States to increase the avail-
ability of music online at a lower price for
consumers and through legal distribution
channels. Music online is certainly a driver
for the success of the Internet and for eco-
nomic development. However, we shall en-
sure that such initiatives are implemented
in compliance with the EU state aid rules.”
Also Helen Smith, Executive Chair of the
music industry trade body IMPALA, said:
“The music card is unique and demon-
strates the importance of a carrot as well
as stick approach. Alongside measures to
guarantee market access and diversity,
a European music card could be part of a
new EC strategy to developing the digital
market.”
Pop & Politics:French Government receive eu-Commission permission to launch Carte MusiqueManfred Tari [email protected]
11
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A chronology about a youth centre in
Dortmund that turned into a concert ven-
ue and has now turned into something
else … and will then become…?:
It started somewhere in the early eighties
when the Freizeit Zentrum West (FZW) in
Dortmund became a regular venue for all
kind of concerts and music events. While
in those days the capacity of the venue
located in the western part of the City
was about 500 the venue evolved and
grew and is now a reasonable concert
hall with a capacity of 1.300 plus a small
300 persons club room plus an additional
bar area.
This story contains political and adminis-
trative elements that could lead to a new
definition of the term creative industries.
Since the beginning in the late sixties, the
FZW operated under the administration
of the local office for youth welfare. But to
make a long story short we will just focus
on developments in recent years.
In 2007 the city council of Dortmund
agreed on a master plan to move the FZW
from its former location into a new and
bigger building more centrally located in
the inner city. At this stage the VUK (As-
sociation for independent culture) was
still in charge of promoting concerts and
music events in the old location.
The VUK was founded in 1988/89 and
since then became the main organisation
for concerts and party events in the FZW.
Already in the planning phase opponents
complained that the dimensions of the
new building created unfair competition
with existing commercial venues in the
town. In particular the VUK made profits
on party events which balanced out loss-
es they made on concerts. The so-called
“Ü30 parties” (disco events for people
aged over 30 years) became very success-
ful, not only in Dortmund.
The very first version of the city council’s
master plan poposed that the VUK would
look after concert and event manage-
ment for the still to constructed FZW with
the Arbeiterwohlfahrt (Workers’ Welfare
Association) taking care of the catering,
while the office for youth welfare should
oversee the so called youth work.
But in 2006 the city of Dortmund found
itself short of money. As a result the city
council agreed to involve a private in-
vestor to finance and construct the new
building, and signed a 30 year rental
contract with local real estate company,
Limberg.
In 2008 Limberg started work on the build-
ing and the official opening took place in
September 2009. Meanwhile a few things
had already changed. The office for youth
welfare didn’t want to continue with the
VUK as the main booking party for the
venue as the association appeared to be
in financial trouble. In response to this
development the office for youth welfare
hired Volker May from Energie Musik as
the head of booking for the FZW.
May worked the venue very efficiently
and was able to book very popular acts
and artists resulting in a high number of
sold out shows. But as the FZW was open-
ing up in September 2009 other political
events occurred. In the same month new
local elections took place. New elections
don’t usually make a lot of difference in
Dortmund as the Social Democrats have
ruled the town since the first free elec-
tions following World War II. In this case
however, a new mayor was elected, but
nevertheless the main post-election event
that affected the FZW was, that one day
after, it became public knowledge that
the City of Dortmund had a funding defi-
cit of about 100 million Euros. The former
plan for the FZW foresaw that the office
of youth welfare would set up a separate
public company to run the venue, but the
new mayor, Ulrich Sierau (SPD) withheld
his approval.
For the first few months May helped out
and also took care of the financial man-
agement of the FZW. But the success of
his work and his team also created more
opponents and sharper critics. One of
these opponents was the city-subsidised
Westfalenhalle, quite surprisingly the
management of the Westfalenhalle com-
plained about unfair competition.
The Westfalenhalle GmbH is a complete
facility of the city of Dortmund and
somehow since 2007 managed to incur
losses in the boom years for the live mu-
sic industry. It also begs the question as
to where the competitive edge should
actually lie between an arena and an
ensemble of smaller halls catering for
around 2.000 people and a concert hall
for 1.300. However this becomes clear im-
mediately when recalling that a manager
Pop & Politics:The Complicated story of A City VenueManfred Tari [email protected]
FZW Halle
12
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VIP- News - O c t o b e r 2 0 1 0
of the Westfalenhalle once answered a
question from the author of this article
regarding the absence of representatives
of the Westfalenhalle at conferences such
as the ILMC with the question: “Do you re-
ally believe that there is business made at
the ILMC?”
In addition to the top management of
the Westfallenhalle local politicians and
other administrative bodies such as lo-
cal audit office and the local newspaper
Ruhr Nachrichten joined the chorus of
criticism. Representatives of the political
party CDU complained that the office for
youth welfare did not fulfil the require-
ments for youth work at the FZW, the local
audit office launched investigations after
complaints by third parties regarding the
tendering processes for the purchase of
the sound and light system and the ac-
counting standards of the venue. In addi-
tion, Ruhr Nachrichten regularly reported
on the complaints and inquiries.
In a non-public council meeting on July
8 before the political summer break, the
city council of Dortmund agreed on a
resolution for a new call for tenders for
a new leaseholder of the venue at the
beginning of 2011. In the draft the ad-
ministrative board of the city asked its
council members for permission to en-
ter into talks with ‘surprise, surprise’ the
top management of the Westfalenhalle
as a preferred partner or other potential
partners. As the reason for the new call
for tenders the board argued that this
measure would reduce the financial loss
of about 600.000 Euro for the FZW in the
ongoing business year to 200.000 Euro.
But a number of licensing requirements
were also made part of the tender. Among
other items the new leaseholder must
consider a black list of party events such
as “Flat Rate”, “Après Ski” or “Bad Taste”
parties. Another one is a non-competi-
tion clause with a newly created centre
for creativity and culture. The so-called
“Dortmunder U” is huge former brewery
building located just next to the FZW and
houses a museum amongst other attrac-
tions. The “Dortmunder U” is a prestige
object of the city, developed with fund-
ing of more than 60 million Euro from
the European Commission, the district
government of Northrhine Westphalia
and the City of Dortmund as a contribu-
tion for the European Capital of Culture
“Ruhr2010”. Further compulsory points
for the new lease holder foresee that
they have to take over fixed deals with
the brewery Radeberger Gruppe for beer
with a hectolitre price of 199 Euro, and
CTS Eventim for Ticketing.
On September 30 another non-public
council session took place. The council
members received a further non-public
document reporting on the call for ten-
ders. Over the summer the top manage-
ment of the Westfalenhalle came to the
conclusion that it probably would need
too much funding to run the venue and
pulled out of the bidding. Of the remain-
ing four bidders the offer by the company
PanUrama was the best. The other bid-
ders were Volker May’s Energie Musik, the
music magazine Visions based in Dort-
mund and AWC AG from Cologne.
Looking back in the recent history, it is
maybe worthwhile mentionng that the
new building of the FZW was built as a
dedicated concert hall. Looking into the
non-public documents by the administra-
tive board of the City of Dortmund reveals
that the word “concert” is not mentioned
once. Nevertheless, in the documents the
administrative board emphasised several
times that the new lease holder must con-
tinue to cater for “youth culture”.
Dendemann
Blumentopf
13
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13
VIP- News - O c t o b e r 2 0 1 0
Unfortunately at no point within the
documents is the term “youth culture”
officially defined. But looking deeper
into the details of the deal reveals that
the officials of the city council have ac-
quired a deep insightful knowledge
about the concert business and in par-
ticular what the term “youth culture”
entails.
Now, to return to the offer by PanUra-
ma; the company offers 135.000 Euro
for a lease for 2011 and 150.000 Euro
for a further five year lease. For the first
three years PanUrama would pay in to-
tal the amount of 435.000 Euro.
But as mentioned before, the City of
Dortmund is itself a leaseholder, as the
investor Limberg owns the venue. The
deal between Limberg and the city
foresees for the next three years pay-
ments of 496.300 Euro. Internal city
sources even say that the lease pay-
ment increases over the duration of
the 30-year long leasing contract. In
the internal document it is also stated
that the administrative board will now
supply a draft of the lease contract with
PanUrama on November 18 for the ap-
proval of the city council.
Not mentioned in the internal document
is that PanUrama is also the lease holder
of two catering locations in the “Dort-
munder U”. The managing directors for
PanUrama are Till Hoppe from Dort-
mund and Thomas Pieper from Münster.
Both are experienced gastronomes that
have successfully run discotheques, but
certainly neither are well known players
in the concert business (yet).
Bearing in mind that the new leasehold-
ers may receive an official go-ahead on
November 18 for the lease contract, it
still remains a challenge for them to in-
stall a proper program for the first half
year of 2011 before the end of the year.
Nevertheless on September 30 Volker
May received a written notice of the ter-
mination of his contract. The same goes
for most other staff members who so
far worked for the concert department
of the venue.
For the Westfalenhalle who so far
feared the unfair competition and the
political coalition of opponents this is
probably good news. Not to forget to
mention that Dortmund has no other
regular commercial concert hall for
1000 people plus.
Considering that the new leaseholders
are experienced discotheque entre-
preneurs and ignoring the time restric-
tions for booking acts that capable
of selling more than 1.000 tickets per
show, this means that for the time be-
ing Dortmund is probably the very first
town worldwide, that ever managed to
create a subsidised discotheque. Well,
there probably was a hidden agenda
but let’s simply not question why they
built a concert hall...
Sabaton
14
VIP-BOOKING.COM
14
The Bundesverband der Veranstaltungswirtschaft (Association for
the German Live Entertainment Business) together with German
trade magazine Musikmarkt has released the results of the current
market survey for the business year 2009. The study is carried out by
the research company GFK (Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung) and
reveals significantly reduced results.
GFK reports a decline within all key figure segments. The visitor
figures for events shrunk by 6 percent from 32.7 million visitors in
2008 to 30.7 in 2009. The average spending by consumers at events
declined by 6 percent from 110 to 103 Euros, the number of tickets
sold also decreased. According to the survey 106.4 million tickets
were sold, compared to 118.7 in 2008 and 127.3 in 2007. The accu-
mulated turnover was calculated as 3.173 billion Euros, down on the
2008 turnover of 3.608 and 3.872 for the business year 2007. The
average variant was less dramatic: 29.83 Euros in 2009, 30.39 in 2008
and 29.45 in 2007.
The study differentiates between music and non-music events. For
music events the turnover was given as 2.266 billion compare to
2.566 billion Euro the year before. The number of tickets sold for
music events is 66.6 million compared to 74.5 million in 2008.
The complete study could be ordered at www.musikmarkt.de
The management of CTS Eventim went on tour in Frankfurt, the un-
declared German capital of the German financial industries. The set
list for the current road show included bullet points covering the
financial prospects and the business agenda of the company.
CTS Eventim currently appears to consider that Live Nation does
not present any frightening competition in Germany. In regard to
the formerly much noted global ticketing service provider partner-
ship with Live Nation, CTS Eventim expects that the arbitral court
could come to a decision at the end of 2011 regarding the prema-
ture collapse of this collaboration.
CTS Eventim intends to make up the previously forecast turnover
growth expected as a result of the ticketing partnership with Live
Nation, through international expansion. Looking ahead to 2014
the Company foresees equity turnover growth of 100 to 200 million
Euros through acquisitions in other European markets. In particular
CTS sees opportunities in France, Ireland, Spain and Belgium.
VIP- News - O c t o b e r 2 0 1 0
Business NewsManfred Tari [email protected]
Report on the German Live Entertainment Market
CTS Eventim On Tour
VIP-BOOKING.COM
BauchklangTerritory: WorldwidePeriod: 2011 Agency: Georg Leitner Productions Agent: Nina Pernica Phone: +43 1 914 8615 E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.glp.at
within TemptationTerritory: WorldwidePeriod: March 2011 and onwardsAgency: X-Ray TouringAgent: Paul BoltonPhone: +44 (0) 20 7749 3500E-mail: [email protected]: www.xraytouring.com
skid rowTerritory: Europe, Asia Period: 1/6/2011 - 31/8/2011 Agency: ARM Entertainment Agent: Dana Strutz Phone: +1 651 483 8754 E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.skidrow.com
Groove ArmadaTerritory: Europe / WorldwidePeriod: Europe Winter 2010 Worldwide 2011Agency: WME - William Morris Endeavor Ent.Agent: Steve HoganE-mail: [email protected]: www.groovearmada.com
Admiral TTerritory: WorldwidePeriod: 2010 - 2011Agency: CARAMBA SpectaclesAgent: ClotairePhone: +33 1 4218 1718E-mail: [email protected]: www.caramba.fr
sass JordanTerritory: EuropePeriod: February / MarchAgency: Paperclip AgencyAgent: Hilde SpillePhone: +31 24 323 9322E-mail: [email protected]: www.paperclip-agency.com
15
artist avails ››
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Live Nation is a thoroughly corporate
company. In most cases the business
outlook for stock market listed com-
panies looks reasonably assured and
there is usually nothing too much to
worry any potential investors.
Considering the size of the global
concert player however Live Nation
is way off course in line with this cor-
porate assumption. Of late one hears
stories not documented in official
press releases from the department
of corporate communication at Live
Nation.
One of these is covered by trade
paper Billboard who reported that
on October 15 Live Nation ticketing
division Ticketmaster stopped pay-
ing commissions to affiliate partners.
Many online stores such as Amazon
for instance run affiliate partner pro-
grams that offer kick back schemes
to third party websites for transac-
tions resulting in a purchase. Affiliate
programs are considered as low cost
marketing tools that help to gain traf-
fic and sales via external websites.
Once unofficial reports are now of-
ficial regarding the withdrawal of
the Live Nation Germany GmbH. The
former Live Nation Company once set
up as the subsidiary for the German
market was transformed into Music
Pools Wessels GmbH. In fact as a re-
sult Live Nation now only has, apart
from its ticketing subsidiaries Tick-
etmaster Holding GmbH and Ticket-
master GmbH, one company left in
Germany. According to the German
trade register this is the Live Nation
Germany Holding GmbH in Berlin.
On October 13 Live Nation Germany
GmbH in Hamburg converted to Mu-
sic Pool Wessels GmbH and appointed
Johannes Wessels, the former head
of Live Nation Germany as managing
director. With the move the former
registered managing directors Niall
Dunphy and Allan Ridgeway resigned
from the company.
Wessels who worked for Live Nation
from February until September takes
on most of the previous Live Nation
staff for his new company. The team
now has seven staff and Wessels has
already confirmed that he is working
on dates for Neil Young.
For Live Nation the short-term incur-
sion into the German market at least
ended relatively happily. Wessels
took his former team with him and
therewith saved Live Nation some
redemption payments. In return
Wessels received a new company and
commented: “I am very happy to be
my own boss again.”
Nevertheless the exit story also re-
veals that Live Nation has problems
making its way into the German con-
cert market. The website livenation.
de is already off line and is redirected
to livenationinternational.com. Once
again the conclusion is that it seems
that Live Nation in Germany has lim-
ited chances of competing with CTS
Eventim as the undisputed German
market leader.
In the mid term CTS Eventim fur-
thermore predicts a surprising mo-
mentum that could could arise from
a collaboration with Anschutz Enter-
tainment, presuming that the Ticket-
master ticketing software may not be
the favoured long term solution for
the US giant.
With all this in mind recent price tar-
gets projected by various analysts
currently look like this:
Berenberg Bank 49 Euro (buy); Com-
merzbank 35 Euro (Hold); SES Re-
search 34 Euro (Hold); Cheuvreux 42
Euro (underperform); Macquarie 42
Euro (hold); Nord LB 37.80 Euro (hold);
and Deutsche Bank 30 Euro (hold).
The share price of CTS Eventim is cur-
rently at 38.04 Euro.
Live nation unofficial Equity Stories
16
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AbOuT
Taking place on November 26 & 27, Buma Rotterdam Beats is a brand
new event focusing on the whole range of urban genres, featuring
two-days of music conferences, workshops, seminars and a night
time music festival across five venues plus a program for new talent.
Combining all these different elements, Buma Rotterdam Beats of-
fers a versatile program which will be a first, modest step toward a
future in which the event aims to grow into the main European plat-
form for urban musical styles. www.buma-rotterdam-beats.nl
COnFEREnCE hEAdLinES
Alongside a nighttime festival featuring hip-hop, soul, dubstep
and reggae, the daytime conference program will feature a
broad, two-day line-up of match-making initiatives, lectures and
debates focused on the current and future music industry, as well
as several interactive and online technology workshops.
During the conference, key industry figures and artists will be tak-
ing part in workshops, panel discussions and interactive presenta-
tions in order to deliver a dynamic and informative series of events.
Keith Harris, the former manager of Stevie Wonder, will be discuss-
ing his work for the iconic soul label Motown. Entertainment Law-
yer Hector Baldonado will be talking about his work with independ-
ent artists and labels from the American entertainment industry.
Baldonado recently brought together two of his own clients, Juelz
Santana and Lloyd Banks, resulting in the surprise US hit of the year,
Beamer, Benz or Bentley. Booker Rolf Radny (Kingstone), who works
with German reggae star Gentleman, will be talking about the Eu-
ropean reggae business, as well as giving tips on how to get acts on
the bill of the larger European festivals.
In the panel discussion ‘7 Billion Rappers, How to Find the Right
One’, international A&R managers including Matthew Haynes (Gef-
fen, UK), Walter Harris (Blue Colla Music, UK) and Latoya Lee (Kon-
vict, US), will reveal how they scout for new talent, plus what to look
for and what to avoid. Kees de Koning (Top Notch) and Noah’s Ark’s
Jiggy Djé will be talking about their respective labels, the business
of signing new talent, and how it feels to be working in a rapidly
changing music industry.
National highlights include a Q&A with Lange Frans who will talk
about his business experiences with labels, managers and artists,
plus a Q&A with former Opgezwolle producer Peter ‘Delic’ Blom
talking about his influential and innovative productions. Perquisite,
who will also be giving a workshop on creating beats, will talk with
La Melodia about their shared experiences of the Japanese market
and the realities of success there. On top of that, Salah Edin will be
giving a talk about the process which led him to success in dozens
of countries, and in “My Bio” a presentation from the new Rotter-
dam ROTTZ label with DuvelDuvel, VSOP, Presto, Midkade and DJ
MP will take place.
And there are loads more interesting guests discussing a range of
topics, including the ins and outs of independent labels, the search
for new promotional opportunities in hip hop, r&b, dubstep and
reggae, and the state of affairs in the European urban scene. Names
include Hef, Tim Beumer (FunX), Bart Suer, GMB and representa-
tives of Puna, State Magazine, Buma, 22Tracks, Diversidad, Stichting
Brein, HipHopConnection, NPS, MTV, Top Billin and HipHopHuis.
Workshops are given by Tasha’s World, Excellent, Saul van Stapele
and I.N.T.
Expect even more soon, stay tuned!
FESTivAL PROGRAM COMPLETE
Being officially kicked off on November 25, by Typhoon
and the New Cool Collective, the festival will offer two days
packed to the rim with the best music, with performances
by: Zwart Licht, Postman, De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig, Nt-
jam Rosie, Pam Feather, VSOP, La Melodia, Kalibwoy, The
Others, Sir OJ presenteert ‘Goed Ontmoet’, Smiley, Gomes
vs. Brutuzz, Kleine Jay & Cartes, Soul Sinners, Steffen Mor-
risson, Reverse, Adje & Jayh, Aisha, Nicon, Bluey Robinson,
Boom Boom Du Tèrre, Lyrical, Skinto, Seven, Furlan Williams
& Shirma Rouse, Ackachar, KC The Funkaholic, FS Green, DJ
Jah, Mixturess, Thelonius, Lucky Dubz, Riddim Up DJ’s, Rass
Motivated, Git Hyper and Deep Diggin’.
notiCe board ››
Another new service in the improved and redesigned viP-news is the notice-board, which is available for all readers. Reader’s messages will be posted on the notice-board as a free service, passing on announcements, job postings, buy-ing and selling notices, inquiries or alike. Announcements should be emailed to [email protected]
VIP- News - A u g u s t 2 0 0 5
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Conference Newsletter
17
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in this section we offer members of viP-booking.com some space to present their company to viP-news readers. if you would also like to present your company please contact Peter briggs at [email protected]
MeMber presentation ››
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About Our Company
VIP-Booking’s core product is the Internet’s oldest and largest data-base for the European Live Entertainment Industry www.vip-book-ing.com developed as a tool for industry professionals. Since it’s launch in the year 2000, we have consistently offered our subscrib-ers the very best in database services and now boast subscribers in over 30 countries.
Today VIP-Booking offers a range of tools for the industry – inclu-ding VIP-News, VIP-Booking, VIP-Book and VIP-Contract.
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sziget FestivalSziget festival is the biggest musical and cultural festival in Central
Europe–a seven-day multicultural expo offering more than 800
programs on more than 30 venues. Sziget means island in Hungar-
ian and the festival, in addition to being on an island in the heart of
Budapest, is an island in the metaphorical sense.
Sziget has a unique atmosphere: it is a meeting place, a musical and
cultural show, a life-style, an enormous cafe and party place, a place
of learning about the world and each other. No matter what style of
music you like listening or dancing to, you will find the place of your
taste. You can enjoy performances, shows, you can party and dance
or just walk around and gaze at the ever-increasing flow of interest-
ing and different people passing by.
From the beginning in 1993 until 2001 Sziget’s capacity has grown
from 43,000 to over 360,000 over the seven days of the event pre-
senting stars such as Jethro Tull, Ten Years After, Jefferson Starship,
Byrds, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Eric Burdon, Stranglers, Jeff Healey,
Clawfinger, Slash, The Bates, Stone Roses, Iggy Pop, The Prodigy,
The Levellers, Sonic Youth, Therapy?,Galliano, David Bowie, Apollo
440, Motörhead, Toy Dollz, Rollins Band, Chumbawamba, Faith No
More, Foo Fighters, New Model Army, Cardigans, DEUS, Boney M,
Shane McGowan, Coolio, Trans-global Underground, Rammstein,
Mory Kante, Goldie, Patti Smith, Green Day, Brand New Heavies,
Kool and the Gang, Suede, Faithless, Guano Apes, Jovanotti, Baaba
Maal, Apocalyptica, The Klezmatics, Liquido, Rachid Taha, Para-
dise Lost, Asian Dub Foundation, Suzanne Vega, Mambo Kurt, The
Bloodhound Gang, Lou Reed, HIM, Bad Religion, Oasis, The King,
H Blockx, K”s Choice, Bomfunk MC’s, Noir Desir, Run DMC, Fun-
Da-Mental, Morcheeba, Leningrad Cowboys, Frestylers, Incognito,
Eagle-Eye Cherry, Ash, Placebo.
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