vip-news premium vol. 127 - august 2010
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VIP-BOOKING.COM
PreMIuM ›› VOl. 127 ›› AuGuST 2010
www.VIP-BOOKING.COM
Like many of you – although I know a lot
of you are workaholics and rarely take time
off from your efforts of achieving live mu-
sic industry domination (!) -. I have been
on holiday, and were you able to see me
you would I’m sure be impressed by my
suntanned and relaxed good looks, but
you’d have to make it quick – the pasty
white chap with the harassed demeanour
will be back in this seat soon! The holiday
was great, I thoroughly recommend the
joys of the Greek island of Ikarea, but not
so the Athens Metro where some light fin-
gered bastard lifted my wallet on the very
first day!
Oh, and while I’m having a moan - the
seagulls, yes you remember Shitty and his
crew, have been dive bombing people,
and are now a recognised menace as far
inland as London – I’m not making it up,
it’s in the newspapers! I tried to warn them,
but would they listen? – These screeching
raptors live on rubbish and refuse and use
newly washed cars as toilets, so this is an
ideal world for them! (Calm down!- Ed.)
Anyway, back to the wonderful world
of live music; for years now many have
warned that increasing ticket prices for big
name artists would eventually backfire on
the live sector, though it never quite hap-
pened, now it seems that the chickens have
come home to roost and the US live indus-
try is struggling this year as a result of ever
increasing ticket prices combining with
the continued impact of the recession. As
a result the giants of the concert industry
are contemplating emptier pockets, their
own, their investors and those of the ticket
buyers. But they are not the victims of pick-
pockets on crowded Metros, according to
Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino a drop in
ticket sales is hitting all segments of the
market, “The bottom line across all busi-
ness, whether it’s a club or an amphithea-
tre, was fewer tickets per show - as you can
tell from Ticketmaster’s industry number,
for them to be down 15-16% across an in-
dustry, that would tell you it would have
to hit all segments of the industry.” Rapino
also warned that the second half to 2010
could be slow. Cheaper tickets seem to be
the order of the day for tat least the rest of
the year. Watch this space
The picture is not looking quite so bad in
the UK, the recently released Adding Up
The UK Music Industry 2009 report from
PRS indicate that Live music revenues have
increased 9.4% to £1.5bn including direct
ticket sales, secondary ticketing and ‘on
the night’ spend. However this increase has
slowed from 2008’s outstanding growth of
13%.<
Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden believes
years of ticket price hikes are to blame for
the number of major gig cancellations that
have taken place this year, especially in the
US live music market. He is reported as say-
ing, “It’s a massive commitment to come
to see a band. They [the fans] deserve not
just a great show but they deserve a rea-
sonable ticket price. Other people have
inflated ticket prices to obscene levels
1
McGowan’s Musings:
Allan McGowan
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and it’s just not right. It’s a rock n roll
show, it’s not a cash cow.”
Although the festival market – with a
few weeks still to go – seems to be faring
reasonably well, Spain’s summer music
festival, Benicassim (FIB), purchased out-
right this year by Vince Power, suffered
a 40% slump in attendance this year,
dropping to 127,000 from the record
200,000 at last year’s 15th annual event.
International attendance dropped 10%
and Spain’s economic problems, includ-
ing high unemployment, are likely to
have affected Spanish attendance.
Well, after that we should really con-
clude the Musings with some festival
good news. A couple of issues back we
reported on the first of the Association
of Independent Festivals twinnings,
pairing Norway’s Bergenfest and Sum-
mer Sundae in Leicester, UK. After the
success of Bergenfest in May, organiser
of its twin, Rob Challice tells me that,
“Summer Sundae went incredibly well.
We had over 17000 attendees over the
weekend. Despite heavy rain on Friday
and Saturday the site held up well. The
sun came out Sunday and we had our
biggest crowd ever for Mumford and
Sons.
Our Bergenfest twins arrived on Satur-
day and had a great time, vowing to be
back next year. All in all a very successful
10th Summer Sundae.”
It’s good to hear about people coop-
erating and things going well! So, with
that uplifting thought, Ladies and Gen-
tlemen - The News!
Having been absent from the interna-
tional music market calendar last year,
Popkomm returns to Berlin in Septem-
ber under the umbrella of Berlin Music
Week.
The Popkomm Showcase Festival will
take place in the Berlin suburb of Kreuz-
berg on 8 and 9 September 2010. 60
artists and bands will be featured over
the two days at 14 locations on the site
at the legendary Tempelhof Airport in
Berlin as well as in the adjoining neigh-
bourhood.
This year a number of bands that are
appearing at the Showcase Festival can
also be seen on the main festival stage:
Cast of Cheers, De Staat, Jesse, Rich Au-
coin, Spleen United, The Megaphonic
Thrift, Therese Aune and Yes Cadets
will also be on stage on 10 September
at Tempelhof Airport during the Berlin
Festival. The rest of the showcase line-
up features bands from Scandinavia
such as Familjen, I Got You On Tape and
Murmansk, as well as Iiris from Estonia,
Film from Greece, and Budam and The
Ghost from the Faroe Islands.
The Showcase gigs will be available to
Popkomm delegates and tickets Fes-
tival are available to the public for ten
euros. Tickets for the Berlin Festival on
10 and 11 September also entitle hold-
ers to admission to Popkomm on 10
September.
More information:
www.berlinfestival.de
Popkomm Showcase Festival 2010Allan McGowan am@vip-booking.com
Popkomm at Tempelhof
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Everything is new at Popkomm 2010, new
location, new partnerships, new aspira-
tions, and a new team. Paul Cheetham has
been appointed to head up the manage-
ment of the Showcase Festival. VIP-News
talked to him about this new challenge in
his varied career.
VIP-News: What, briefly, is you background in the business, I know you’ve worked in various territories for some time now, was it always your intention to move around, or did it just work out that way?
Paul Cheetham: I’ve been involved in the
business for almost 20 years as a promoter,
agent and artist manager. I worked in Lon-
don for the Mean Fiddler before moving to
Scandinavia 11 years ago and working for
the EMA Telstar group that eventually be-
came Clear Channel. When it was bought
by Live Nation I left to set up my own man-
agement consultancy and worked as an
advisor for several Finnish artists, includ-
ing The Rasmus and The Crash. In summer
2009 I relocated fulltime to Berlin. After a
decade of Nordic darkness I was ready for a
change and Berlin is a city I have always felt
at home in. It’s a great place to be based for
geographical, economic and social reasons
so the move made a lot of sense.
VIP-News: Popkomm has a long, varied and illustrious history but particularly follow-ing last year’s cancellation this edition is in many ways an entirely new event. Although I know you have attended many previous editions as a delegate, this Popkomm is cer-
tainly new for you in your role as part of the team. What exactly is your role and how did you come to take it on?
Paul Cheetham: I was recommended to
Popkomm by the guys behind Berlin Fes-
tival, which is one of Popkomm’s partners
under the new Berlin Music Week umbrella.
I saw the offer to work on the event as an
opportunity to try to make a positive contri-
bution. The job involves all the aspects I en-
joy – live music, promoting, artist develop-
ment, and communicating with people all
over the world. Although I was aware there
would be obvious difficulties in bringing
the event back, I accepted this as the kind
of challenge I thrive on. Initially I took the
role of Festival Coordinator on a one-off ba-
sis to help organise the music segment of
Popkomm 2010. As things progressed, I got
more involved, and was able to introduce a
clearer, more defined direction for the fes-
tival to take, and became Festival Manager
with a view to overseeing the overall organ-
isation and development of the festival into
the near future.
VIP-News: Have you adopted a particular booking policy for acts appearing at Pop-komm, and as far as you know is this very different to the way things were arranged for past editions?
Paul Cheetham: We’ve taken a quite radical
approach to the music programme this year
in order to break the perception of what
Popkomm was in the past and to introduce
a concept of what it can be in the future.
As a visitor to previous Popkomm events, I
personally felt it was a sprawling jumble of
parties, gigs, fairs, conferences and events
all over the city which was always great fun
but ultimately difficult to achieve anything
from a business perspective. So now I want
to give the programme a definite epicentre
of usefulness and significance for the visit-
ing delegates, in order for them to do busi-
ness effectively and immediately.
First, the number of slots for Popkomm art-
ists is drastically reduced to only 60 places.
This gives us the possibility to introduce
firm criteria to raise the quality of artists, as
well as the opportunity to promote each
artist effectively.
Second, these are all showcasing artists
who are in the position of wanting to be
seen and heard in order to find partners
and opportunities to get to the next level in
this, and surrounding, markets.
Third, we are building a festival location
around Tempelhof airport and the vi-
brant Kreuzberg neighbourhood of Me-
hringdamm and Bergmannstraße that is
new, intriguing, and with endless room
for development. We have some untested
venues and it will be a challenge to fill them,
but I’m confident that over the next couple
of years these venues and this location will
give Popkomm the strong new identity it
needs to have.
Other major differences this year are that
Popkomm is tied closely with Berlin Festi-
val as our live music partner, incorporating
some of our artists on to the Berlin Festival
programme, as well as everything being
promoted under the umbrella of Berlin Mu-
sic Week, which aims to bring together the
diverse energies within Berlin and is a very
positive direction.
VIP-News: Are you dealing mainly with agencies, managements, artists or export offices, or is it a mixture? - Are Sonicbids in-volved at all? How are the acts selected?
Paul Cheetham: There is lots of talk with
the music export offices and similar organi-
sations, as they are particularly important
to the structure of Popkomm. But overall
it has been a complete mixture. Sonicbids
is an official partner this year and we also Paul Cheetham
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VIP- News - A u g u s t 2 0 1 0
selected artists through the Sonicbids
system, as practically all events do. I have
involved the local showcase partners in se-
lecting the final line-up for their events, so
VISIONS magazine, Karrera Klub, Nordic By
Nature, for example, were all given a short-
list of appropriate acts for them to choose
their final line-ups from. That helps in terms
of promoting each event.
VIP-News: Will the festival be aiming at at-tracting punters as well as professionals, and if so are you booking established acts as attractions, alongside newer ‘export ready’ talent?
Paul Cheetham: The showcases will start
at the airport venues in the afternoon and
extend into the evening using some of the
other venues in the area and will be targeted
at both delegates and members of the pub-
lic. Delegates are, of course, able to access
any showcase event and we are allowing
anyone who has purchased a Berlin Festival
ticket to get into the Popkomm showcases
for no additional charge, otherwise there
will be a 2-day combi-ticket available for an
advance price of only 10 euros, all subject
to venue capacity. We want to help people
discover these new artists in this new loca-
tion and have created an easy environment
in which to do that.
Essentially, though, we want the showcase
festival to be about generating business for
all those participating. Ideally, every artist
will go away with real results to show for
their efforts and we need to involve the
delegates as much as possible to be able to
achieve that.
When it comes to bigger, more established
acts then it made sense for us to let Berlin
Festival take the lead and not get in the
way of them building the strongest line-up
available and for us to benefit by becoming
a sort of feeder event for their festival. We
arranged an excellent situation where we
are able to include eight Popkomm artists
on the Berlin Festival line-up, which has
received very positive feedback. Working
with Berlin Festival has been a highlight
and I’m looking forward to continuing that
relationship in future as I see a lot of pos-
sibilities to grow Popkomm alongside it in
the way people would appreciate.
VIP-News: Are you finding this work very different to your previous experience?
Paul Cheetham: The job perhaps involves
more lines of communication than any-
thing I’ve done before so information has
been flying at all angles. Popkomm is a big
name and attracts massive interest from all
over the world so getting on top of all that
has been overwhelming at times and I must
develop an effective system to handle the
increased workload. Otherwise, the work
involves all the things I have experience in.
VIP-News: What do you think a successful appearance at this event can do for the ca-reer of a new, or even established, act, and do you think Popkomm and other showcase
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events are now an established and useful part of the live industry?
Paul Cheetham: The aim with the shaow-
case festival is definitely to create a plat-
form for artists to benefit from their appear-
ances. It is essential that they achieve their
goals and Popkomm can develop its own
success stories from that.
These kinds of events have become increas-
ingly crucial to the business. The perfect
showcase event should be a combination
of a high concentration of talented acts
and a dense presence of effective decision-
makers from the business, all taking place
in a compact, user-friendly environment.
VIP-News: Are there any parts of the pro-gramme that you are particularly looking forward to, and is there anything else you’d like to mention?
Paul Cheetham: I am particularly pleased
to be able to involve some strong local part-
ners in the programme, such as Four Artists
- one of Berlin’s premier booking agencies,
and Karrera Klub – the Kreuzberg kings of
indie-disco club promoting. Canadian Blast
is always sensational. I’m delighted with
the inclusion of The Great Escape and ways
we can cooperate at each other’s events in
future, and we have a very impressive load
of Scandinavian acts that I am a big fan of
already. But my time will be spent meeting
as many people as possible and showing
them around the location, explaining the
plans we have to develop things next year
and getting their feedback.
Between now and Popkomm 2011 we will
continue to build personal relationships
with all those we wish to cooperate with on
a local, national, and international level and
work on ways to continuously freshen the
Popkomm brand in the eyes of the industry
and audience. For example, we are planning
a monthly Popkomm club night in Berlin for
some of the new artists we hope to bring
in next year, as well as taking this concept
to partnering showcase events around the
world in future. This year of transition is a
perfect opportunity to try new ideas and
put well thought-out plans into action.
For more information and updates
check the Popkomm Showcase Fes-
tival blog at:
http://popkommlive.com
Follow on Twitter at:
http://twitter.com/popkommlive
Paul Cheetham - Festival Manager
paul@clockwork-management.com
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VIP- News - A u g u s t 2 0 1 0
For the first time the FKP Scorpio promot-
ed M’era Luna Festival attracted 24.000
visitors. The festival is well liked by fans
of so-called Gothic and Dark Wave music
and takes place at the Drispenstedt air-
port near Hildesheim.
The festival has two stages and was head-
lined this year by acts such as Unheilig,
The Sisters of Mercy, In Extremo and Pla-
cebo. The first edition of M’era Luna was
in 2000. It is remarkable that the festival
billing offers a wide range of various mu-
sic genres that seem to meet the inter-
est of this target group. In particular this
audience is pretty much into styling and
fashion, and it could almost be said that
the festival is a sort of beauty contest for
people into high heels, latex & leather
and other fashion items, as long as they
are in predominately in black. Besides
the line up and the fashion extravaganza
a medieval market completes the basic
configuration of this festival.
The dates for M’era Luna 2011 are August
13th & 14th.
For more information please check:
www.mera-luna.de
New visitor record for M’era luna FestivalManfred Tari mt@vip-booking.com
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VIP- News - A u g u s t 2 0 1 0
The facts are horrifying and inescapable; 21 fatalities and more than
500 people injured at Loveparade in Duisburg, Germany, one of the
biggest tragedies in the history of live entertainment events.
The July 24 event on is understandably still attracting extensive
media attention as the latest reactions and new information about
the tragedy are examined. The disaster is still moving minds and
moods in an incomparable manner. Shortly after the event the
main question was how did this happen and who was responsible
for this tragedy. With are no clear answers to these questions yet
the situation still appears to be something of a witch-hunt. There
have been many politicians, officials, even promoters, normal citi-
zens, bloggers and journalists that have put forward their opinions
of what happened.
Some of those directly involved fear legal consequences and have
more or less stopped saying anything, as they know that it is likely
that every statement could lead to accusations against them.
There is no lack of people making accusations and apportioning
blame for what happened. There are many self appointed prosecu-
tors and sometimes it seems that majority of these are not aware
of their lack of feeling for the friends and relatives of those killed
and injured.
Shortly after those directly involved with the running of the event,
Lopavent, the police, the fire brigade and the local authorities in
Duisburg started to accuse each other. One of the very few facts
that has become evident is that the entrance situation on the site
wasn’t properly managed. The audience were intended to enter
the site via one tunnel and a ramp, while a second ramp just a few
meters away supposed to be used as an emergency exit was obvi-
ously closed and these factors, in combination with communica-
tion failures created a death trap for those trying to enter the site.
It is still not known what went wrong in the communication chain,
neither is it clear who was in charge of logistical decisions before
and during the event. So far only Carsten Walter, a psychologist
acting as the crowd manager in charge, admitted responsibility
and told the news magazine Spiegel, that it took him 45 minutes to
get hold of a decision maker at the relevant police unit.
Walter, together with a subordinate police offer, was sitting in an
office container on the ramp near to the place where the people
died. From the container Walter apparently tried to direct the flow
of people entering the tunnel before progressing to the event lo-
cation via the ramp. The police officer simply had no walkie-talkie
with him, as communication between the crowd manager and the
police at the tunnel entrance was supposed to be being conducted
via cell phones. But as more and more people arrived at the site,
the cell phone network collapsed.
But this seemed to be only one aspect in a row of various fac-
tors that combined to lead to the tragedy. The location for the
Loveparade, a former freight yard just next to the central station
in Duisburg covers about 300.000 square meters. After very early
announcements that approximately 1.4 million visitors were ex-
pected to visit Loveparade, three weeks after the event the mayor
of Duisburg Adolf Sauerland told the news magazine Spiegel, that
the actual number had been much lower. In the current statement
he said that he had been asked by Lopavent to announce the 1.4
million visitor figure for marketing reasons.
Several politicians demanded that Sauerland should resign, but
the mayor claims he would like to complete internal investigations
before taking steps concerning his own position. He has been
sharply criticized for this approach. Other sources says that he is
not resigning to avoid defaulting on a law that would mean the
loss of his pension entitlements if he were to step down from his
post as mayor.
Rainer Schaller, the owner of McFit, a chain of gym studios, bought
the Loveparade brand in 2006 from the former promoter Planet-
com in Berlin, then founded Lopavent to be the company that then
promoted the event. In 2007 the event was moved from Berlin to
Essen in the Ruhr district in West Germany. McFit became the main
sponsor for a Loveparade projected to have a production budget
of around 3 million Euros. The move to Essen was linked to the
RUHR2010, the name for the European capital for culture 2010 in
the Ruhr district. The original plan foresaw that five cities within
the Ruhr district would become Loveparade hosts. The 2008 edi-
tion took place in Dortmund, while in 2009 the city of Bochum
cancelled the event due to safety concerns. Dieter Gorny, head of
the German IFPI branch and also one of four creative directors for
the RUHR2010 was one of the leading proponents in brining the
Loveparade to the Ruhr district.
Currently official investigations are still ongoing. Although many
details have been reported in the media, the entire picture is still
not not clear. But several politicians are already demanding new
regulations for health & safety laws for public events.
As a result, it is to be expected that the German live music industry
will directly or indirectly, soon or later, be affected by the follow up
of the Loveparade tragedy.
loveparade 2010 – dimensions of a disasterManfred Tari mt@vip-booking.com
Loveparade 2010
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Conference registrationsThe conference registrations for EuroSonic Noorderslag are now available. The early bird registration is available till 18th of June 2010.
Artist submissionsShowcase applications are available through www.eurosonicnoorderslag.nl and www.sonicbids.com.Deadline for application is 1st of September 2010
www.euroSonic-noorderSlag.nl
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With a population of approximately 7.8 mil-
lion people, Switzerland is one of the rich-
est countries in the world. The main cities
Zürich and Geneva have respectively been
ranked as the cities with the second and
third highest quality of life in the world.
Switzerland has a somewhat unique make
up, comprising three main linguistic and
cultural regions, German, French, and Ital-
ian, plus the Romansh-speaking valleys,
and is a federal republic consisting of 26
cantons, with Bern as the seat of the fed-
eral authorities. As such the Swiss people
do not form a nation in the usual sense of
a common ethnic or linguistic identity, but
there is a long history of cooperation, the
establishment of the Swiss Confederation
is traditionally dated to 1 August 1291.
In music terms then Switzerland displays
quite a unique picture, with artists from
the French speaking area rather tending
to seek their audiences in neighbouring
France, whilst acts in the German lan-
guage area address their efforts to the
German market. This seems to be quite
typical for Switzerland and is also mirrored
in something known as the ‘Röstigraben’,
a language divide between the Romands
(French speaking Swiss) and the German
speaking Swiss.
In the last couple of years the downsizing
of the local subsidiaries of major record
companies has lead to an erosion of op-
portunities for domestic repertoire caus-
ing major concerns within the Swiss Mu-
sic Community. These fears are especially
prevalent in the French language part of
Switzerland, more so than in the German
speaking area of the country, following
the closure of both the EMI and Warner
Music offices in Geneva. Sony Music still
retains an office in Lausanne as does Uni-
versal in Geneva, but effectively these are
now just smaller promotion units. All main
branches of the record companies are
based in Zurich.
A Land of Festivals:
However, as in most other European mar-
kets, it’s the live music industry that still
generally appears to be in good shape,
buoyed up mainly by the festival market.
Switzerland is light heartedly referred to
as a land of mountains, cheese and cuckoo
clocks, but in live music industry terms we
may just as well describe it as a land of fes-
tivals. Christof Huber, organiser of Open
Air St. Gallen and also Secretary General
of Yourope, the pan European festivals as-
sociation, told me that he would put the
number of festivals staged in Switzerland
at around 300, this includes the eleven ma-
jor events (see box) but does not include
a substantial number of locally organised
City and town events.
Avo Session Basel, Basel
Blue Balls Festival, Lucerne
Caribana Festival, Crans / Nyon
Greenfield Festival, Interlaken
Gurtenfestival, Bern
Nox Illuminata, Basel
Open-Air St.Gallen
Open Air Frauenfeld
Montreux Jazz Festival, Montreux
Paléo Festival, Nyon
Verbier Festival, Verbier
Audiences tend to stick to the events in
their own sectors, which could provide
some explanation for the large number of
events across the whole country. Antonin
Rousseau from Festi Concept, organisers
of the Festineuch Festival in Neuchatel in
the French sector, comments, “ Swiss cul-
tural life has to deal with a complex geo-
graphical situation. What could been seen
as a constraint is actually an advantage: a
stunning variety of musical productions
are coming to life in a small but so diversi-
fied country.”
Being located in a land of mountains lends
some spectacular backdrop to the festi-
vals; one of the smaller events, Caprices,
for instance, is a four-day event present-
ing all styles of music, artists as diverse as
Robert Plant, Texas, Morcheeba and Deep
Purple have played the event, located in
the French sector in the ski resort of Crans-
SwitzerlandAllan McGowan am@vip-booking.com
In response to various requests VIP-News will in future include occasional European Market Fea-tures. Here is the first – we hope you find it interesting and useful.Please let us know if there are territories that you’d particularly like to see covered.
Market Features
Antoni Rousseau
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VIP- News - A u g u s t 2 0 1 0
Montana in the Swiss Alps. More than 80
artists play on three live stages and two
clubs with DJs playing all night. The main
club at the top of the slopes is 2,200 me-
ters high with a view of the highest moun-
tains of Europe.
St. Gallen (in the German sector) was down
on last year’s attendance this year, but still
averaged 24,000 people on each of the
four days. Christof Huber says, “We had
good weather, but we were up against
other events like Sonisphere, which was
only a week before, and the World Cup had
some effect. Also we had been instructed
to introduce a new limit on the amount of
drink that people could bring on site and
that led to a certain group of people trying
to veto the festival! Our other smaller 2 day
event, Summer Days at Arbon by the Lake
of Constance, August 27-29, will sell out,
10,000 people will attend each day.”
»All 3 of our festivals againsold out in advance in 2010«
- Andy Locher
The Open Air Frauenfeld Hip-Hop event
did particularly well this year. Andy Locher
of Frauenfeld organisers Pleasure Produc-
tions says, “We were always very much
focused on festivals and with the Openair
Frauenfeld becoming the biggest Swiss
festival seen from the capacity of 50,000
visitors, and also becoming the biggest
European Hiphop-festival, we are more
than happy. We are also more than satis-
fied with our 2 other festivals, Heitere Ope-
nair Zofingen and Openair Lumnezia– all 3
of our festivals again sold out in advance
in 2010.”
The Paleo-Festival in Nyon on Lake Geneva
is regarded as one of the best festivals in
Europe. The festival sells the majority of its
tickets in Switzerland and France. About
4400 volunteers, mainly from Nyon and
neighbouring towns, work within the pro-
duction of the event. The managing direc-
tor of this very exceptional festival, Daniel
Rossellat even became the mayor of Nyon.
This year’s event took place on 20 - 25 July,
and yields some interesting facts and fig-
ures: Budget: CHF 22,200,000, 230,000
spectators, 1532 artists and technicians, 6
stages, 195 concerts and shows attended
by 525 accreditated press representatives.
The Paleo team combined to answer some
VIP questions about the current state of
the market: “There are perhaps too many
festivals in Switzerland, however things Andy Locher
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went very well this year for us, selling out
months before doors open (150,000 tick-
ets sold in 20 minutes on April 21st 2010,
230,000 spectators in total). Some other
festivals, big, middle or small sized had
some problems selling tickets. Paléo has a
strong identity and it’s very well rooted in
its region. The average price for one night
at the Festival is CHF 55. - That is 35% less
than the average ticket price.”
So, the festival market generally appears
buoyant, although there are those urging
caution and warning against complacen-
cy. Andy Locher says, “Most of the festivals
still do very well, specially those who have
a strong fan base and who do not rely only
on the lineup but also take care about the
punter. Of course there are a lot of festivals
in our small country and I am also pretty
sure that only those who are ready and ca-
pable to build their festival up from year
to year will have success – there is no “fast
money” in our business.
The State of the Market:
The single, one-headliner, open air shows
and the indoor shows are perhaps not do-
ing as well, it seems that there’s too much
activity in the market. As we all know the
live industry is currently facing problems
in certain sectors and particularly in cer-
tain territories; the US and some European
territories are suffering due to the eco-
nomic downturn. We asked a few profes-
sionals for their view of the overall state of
the market in Switzerland at the moment:
Francois Biollay of Metropop Festival and
Sold Out Productions comments, “Clearly
there are too many events, festivals, etc.
The first cancellations and bankruptcies
are coming. The festivalgoers’ agenda is as
full as their bank account is empty. Thus,
some promoters still pay too high fees to
get the band from their competitors. This
increases the ticket prices and empties the
venues. We also have to face cancelled
events (Eros Ramazotti in Vevey, Prince in
Geneva) because of poor selling. I think it’s
mainly due to too many events combined
with too high ticket prices rather than eco-
nomic downturn effects.”
»Clearly there are too manyevents, festivals, etc. The first
cancellations and bankruptciesare coming. The festivalgoers’ agenda is as full as their bank
account is empty«
- Francois Biollay
Antonin Rousseau is somewhat more up-
beat about the situation, “It is indeed a fact
that the current economic situation has
had some challenging effects on many in-
dustry sectors. However, in Switzerland, the
artistic production branch has managed to
maintain itself to a good level. We had some
fears in 2009 that, due to the bad economy,
the spend per festival visitor would de-
crease in 2010 but it didn’t happen. We tend
to believe that the households are rather
limiting their spending on more important
purchases, vacations, cars etc, but are not
willing to save on local culture.”
The members of the Paleo Team are cau-
tious: “The Swiss market is probably fac-
ing the same economic problems as else-
where. CD sales are weaker every year.
Regarding shows, this year, some major
events, in particular single shows, didn’t
sell as well as they used to. The prices are
quite high: average price for a single show
went from an average of CHF 64.- to CHF
85.- in the past five years.
Being more concerned with local acts and
the local market, booker Stefan Schurter of
Deep Dive Music sees obvious changes in
record sales, but thinks that the live sector
remains reasonably steady: “It is still pos-
sible to book many shows with a Swiss art-
ist and sell lots of tickets; the only change I
see, is that it got harder to start with a new-
comer band. It needs much more effort, as
the international concurrence is much big-
ger than it was a few years ago. And that’s
exactly what changed the most: there are
many more international artists looking
for shows in Switzerland, I think. The qual-
ity level of these artists is also much higher
than it was in the past. Some of these art-
ists now perform at much smaller venues
than they probably did in the past.”
Andy Locher says, “You mostly see some
influence in headline shows/indoor-shows.
The visitor will maybe not see the same act
2-3 times in a couple of years, so promot-
ers should take care while booking the
same act yearly. And you have to be very
focused on the potential of your artists, as
not all the bigger headliners still work as
they did for many years. While young visi-
tors are still buying tickets, I am pretty sure
that older visitors think twice.” Francis Biol-
lay agrees with Andy regarding major acts
overplaying the country, “There’s certainly
enough headliners coming to Switzerland.
The problem is that some of them begin
to be ‘residents’. I cannot remember how
many gigs Pink! played in Switzerland over
the last 12 months. The audience is tired of
seeing the same artists so often.”
Club Circuit:
While local communities and cantons
seem to get behind popular music activi-Francois Biollay
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VIP- News - A u g u s t 2 0 1 0
ties there seems to be a lack of support on
a federal level. Sponsorship still appears to
be available for the club and middle-sized
venue circuit. The Paleo People report: “A
lot of clubs get subsidies from the state,
mostly from the cities and the local au-
thorities. Sponsorship is still available in
Switzerland, but we notice some decrease
in their outlay.” Stefan Schurter thinks the
clubs are still doing well, although as he
says, “There are too many good bands on
the road, so it’s harder for people to chose
what they want to see and where they
want to spend the money. There is still lots
of money from the state involved; I don’t
know about the sponsors though as I am
not a club-owner. But I see from the bands
view, that there IS sponsorship at the ven-
ues.”
There are numerous live music clubs in
Switzerland, we name check only a few in-
teresting venues – see box.
X-Tra, Zürich
Kaufleuten, Zürich
Abart, Zürich
Bierhübeli, Bern
Reitschule, Bern
Kaserne Basel
Fri-Son, Fribourg
Les Docks, Lausanne
Mascotte Zürich
Labor Bar Zürich
Schüür Lausanne
Kofmehl Solothurn
Salzhaus Winterthur
Grabenhalle St.Gallen
Usine Genève
Andy Locher observes that sponsorship is
still available for bigger venues and festi-
vals but smaller clubs have major problems
in finding funds, as he says, “Local media
will support them, but not with cash. Ad-
ditionally in my opinion the clubs suffer
from several and increasing showcases
with free entrance, supported by spon-
sors, media and labels: we all, including
artist managements, should take care that
particularly smaller concerts do not be-
come ‘goods with no value’ as happened
in the last years to the record industry.”
Francois Biollay is upbeat about this sec-
tor, “This is probably the healthiest part of
the business, even if subsidies are far less
than in France and sponsorship decreased
during the crisis. Young people still go out
at least once a week in main cities, Zurich
obviously, but also Lausanne, Bern, etc.
Developing Local Talent:
As far as the local market and new talent
is concerned local communities and can-
tons seem to get behind popular music
activities, although it’s still difficult for acts
to cross over into the different language
areas. However there seems to be a lack
of support on a federal level. Also there
aren’t that many music magazines in Swit-
zerland, apart from Rockstar and Daily-
Rock.ch, so it is mainly the radio stations
like DRS3, DRS Virus, Radio Rumantsch,
Rete Tre and Couleur3 that promote Swiss
talents. All these stations combine to run
MX3.ch an online portal with streams and
online libraries for bands, venues and fes-
tivals.
Antonin Rousseau says, “ Current musical
trends are not widely represented in fes-
tivals compared to other territories. Swit-
zerland has definitely taken more time
than other countries to understand the
importance of support to export and art-
ists’ management. Since 2003, Swiss Music
Export (www.swiss-music-export.com)
has gathered several music support orga-
nizations and is striving to promote Swiss
music outside of Switzerland. This is start-
ing to pay off and we can now see Swiss
artists such as Sophie Hunger getting a
name at a European level.” However, as far
as we understand The Swiss Music Export
office currently only has a budget of about
400.000 Swiss Francs and have two offices,
one in Nyon for the French speaking com-
munity and one in Zurich for the German
language community.
Our Paleo People are optimistic about the
local market: “It’s growing and growing.
We have probably more than ever ‘export-
ready’ artists. Sophie Hunger is doing very
well in Europe, France, Germany and else-
where; she played at Glastonbury this year.
The Young Gods are still touring all over
Europe and some French Chanson artists
are doing quite well in France. The market
is still very small in Switzerland, but Europe
is big enough! The scene in general is very
dynamic, in every region and on every
level. A lot of smaller bands could make it
in the international market, My Heart Be-
longs To Cecilia Winter, for example.
This year’s Swiss Music Awards held in
March recognises international and na-
tional successes; the national top album
awards went to Lovebugs, Stefanie Hein-
zmann and Yello (not exactly new talent,
having been around for 30 years or more!).
The Best Newcomers Awards went to: Bu-
cher & Schmid – Isziit Liricas Analas – Ana-
lectrica Pegasus – Heroes & Champions,
and the Jury Prize went to: Big Zis, Filewile
and Heidi Happy.
»They are definitelyexport-ready when it comesto the quality - we never had
so many brilliant andyoung Swiss artists before«
- Andy Locher
Andy Locher comments, “In every small
country it is very difficult for a local act
to live out of music – specially if they
are only playing within Switzerland or in
their language-part of Switzerland. But
there are some Swiss acts who are not
only focusing on the Swiss market and
have a certain success and many shows
abroad. They are definitely export-ready
when it comes to the quality – we never
had so many brilliant and young Swiss
artists before.” Stefan Schurter agrees, “I
really think we have lots of great artists
that should discover the world. But it’s
not easy to get out of the market, being
surrounded by big markets like Germany
and France for example, nobody is sitting
there waiting for the Swiss bands unfor-
tunately, but I have the impression that
there are more bands exported than a
few years ago.”
Francois Biollay has a slightly different
opinion, “There’s very few Swiss artists
‘export-ready’, because they often have
to play music as a hobby and not as a job.
However alternative clubs with capacity
around 300-400p can work well with local
artists. I think it’s almost half of their book-
ing. For bigger clubs, you need interna-
tional artists, even if it’s a newcomer.”
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VIP- News - A u g u s t 2 0 1 0
Present and Future:
To conclude this relatively brief overview
of the Swiss market we asked our com-
mentators to give us an idea of how busi-
ness is for them today, and how they think
things may be in the near future:
The Paléo People : “Things went very well
this year, as they did in the past ten years.
Business was much the same, but still, we
are aware that the economic crisis could
hurt us as well. Our low price policy makes
us one of the cheapest open-air events in
Switzerland. We work very hard to wel-
come our audience in a comfortable and
nice looking site. We also try to innovate
with new projects every year. That is part
of what makes us what we are.
We can feel around us that a crisis has oc-
curred. Unemployment in Switzerland is
around 4%, which is high for Switzerland,
but quite low compared to other Europe-
an countries. We can sense that sponsors
had budget cuts, but the situation is not
dramatic. We will work hard on keeping
our low prices in order to offer our specta-
tors a nice cultural and social moment in
a beautiful atmosphere. In general, some
events may disappear, some other will
probably emerge.”
Stefan Schurter: “Things have got much
faster I think. I get more and more emails
with the request to answer within only a
few hours, it gets more and more short-
term on making decisions, and on the oth-
er hand, instead of booking shows only 2-3
months in advance, I am actually booking
them up to a year in advance. There’s too
many artists touring in all markets at the
moment, trying to make up for the shortfall
in record sales, they’re not selling enough
tickets to continue financing the touring. I
think the market will shrink and with less
on the road then each one will gain value
and will sell more tickets again.”
Francis Biollay: “My business as booker
for Soldout Productions and Metropop
Festival is doing well: For some time now
I have been able to let a band pass if the
fees goes too high because of local com-
petition: our policy is to keep a low ticket
price for our young audience. This was a
Stefan Schurter
15
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VIP- News - A u g u s t 2 0 1 0
long term policy, and it begins to pay now
so that all will be well in the future!
Andy Locher: “Business has been even
better from year to year in the past 7 years
– we could never have expected that.”
Andy expresses an attitude to his future
business which seems to also apply to the
country, “As long as we remain focused
on that what we can do, as long as we
know the market and punter, as long as
we don’t want to do everything and as
long as we love our job and the music, I
personally see a bright future for us! An-
tonin Rousseau concludes in a similarly
positive vein, “Even though Swiss music
is not a key player on the international
market, it has a lot to offer and is eager to
let itself be widely known. Switzerland is
not a country with a big export tradition
yet but it is exciting to think that it could
become one...Switzerland
16
VIP-BOOKING.COM
16
CTS eventim grows:
The German company declares itself to
be the leading player on the European
ticketing market. Within the preliminary
business report for the first half-year of
2010 CTS Eventim reported growth fig-
ures for all of its business segments. The
turnover rose from 249 million Euros in
the same period one year ago to 270.9
million Euro. The Earnings before Inter-
ests and Taxes went up from 35.3 to 38.2
million Euro as well as the Earnings be-
fore Interests, Taxes, Depreciation and
Amortisation (EBITDA), which increased
from 39.5 to 43.9 million Euro. The Com-
pany furthermore reported profit figures
being a little lower than they would have
been normally, as a result of the acquisi-
tions of Ticketcorner and See Tickets.
Once again the company declared that
the key drivers for the positive results of
its ticketing division were online sales
and the ongoing international expan-
sion policy. In particular the company
reported strong growth in tickets sold
via the internet. While in H2-2009 CTS
Eventim sold 5.7 million tickets online,
this time it is already 7.4 million tickets.
The turnover for this sector rose from
67.1 to 81.5 million Euro, as did the EBIT
from 18.7 up to 19.9 million Euros and the
EBITDA from 21.9 to 24.5 million Euros.
In the first six months the Live Entertain-
ment division of CTS Eventim gained
a turnover of 192.8 million compare
to 183.4 million in H2-2009. The EBIT
reached a level of 18.3 million Euros,
with the EBITDA at 19.3 million Euros.
CTS Eventim announced that for the on-
going business year the company would
continue to develop its internet ticketing
business and to maintain its growth pol-
icy with further acquisitions in Germany
and abroad. The complete business re-
port will be published on August 26.
Over the period of the last six months the
share price almost maintained a price
level of 36.60 Euros. In mid July the share
hit a peak of almost 43 Euro but dropped
quickly to 36.45 Euro on July 20. On the
day the preliminary business report was
release the share price went down from
37.10 to 36.50 Euros.
Purchase of See Tickets by CTS Eventim is Scrutinised:
The German competition commission
will review the July take over of See
Tickets Germany from See Tickets Inter-
national by CTS Eventim. The Federal
Cartel Office has now approached the
Company requesting detailed informa-
tion on the deal.
The Company declared that it is confi-
dent that the acquisition of See Ticket
Germany does not cause any conflict
with German take over laws. CEO Klaus-
Peter Schulenberg commented on
the investigations: “We are confident
that, after detailed examination of all
the facts, the Federal Cartel Office will
reach the same conclusion as we did.”
CTS Eventim paid 145 million Euro for
See Tickets Germany. The deal included
the companies Ticket Online Software
GmbH, Ticket Online Sales & Service
Center GmbH and Ticket Online Polska
Sp zoo in Poland.
Live Nation Loss Widens:
Once again reporting a loss Live Nation
faces tough business results. While the
first half-year results after the merger
show an increase in turnover from $1.532
to $1.989 billion, the turnover figures of
the second quarter 2010 (Q2-2010) re-
veal a decline of about 9.7 percent from
$1.402 in Q2 2009 down to $1.266 bil-
lion.
VIP- News - A u g u s t 2 0 1 0
live Music in SharesManfred Tari mt@vip-booking.com
live Nation and CTS eventim report Half Year results
VIP-BOOKING.COM
within TemptationTerritory: WorldwidePeriod: March 2011 and onwardsAgency: X-Ray TouringAgent: Paul BoltonPhone: +44 (0) 20 7749 3500E-mail: paul@xraytouring.comHomepage: www.xraytouring.com
darko rundekTerritory: EuropePeriod: Autumn 2010 - Summer 2011Agency: MenartAgent: Maja ValjakPhone: +385 91 2333 507E-mail: maja.valjak@menart.hrHomepage: www.menart.hr
Fischer-ZTerritory: EuropePeriod: 01/07/2010 - 31/12/2010Agency: Artist AgencyAgent: Bart QuintensPhone: +32 1677 7670E-mail: bart@artistagency.beHomepage: www.artistagency.be
Sass JordanTerritory: EuropePeriod: February / March 2011Agency: Paperclip AgencyAgent: Hilde SpillePhone: +31 24 323 9322E-mail: hilde@paperclip-agency.comHomepage: www.paperclip-agency.com
Skid rowTerritory: EuropePeriod: 6/12/2010 - 31/12/2010Agency: ARM EntertainmentAgent: Dana StrutzPhone: +1 651 483 8754E-mail: ds@armentertainment.comHomepage: www.skidrow.com
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17
artist avails ››
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VIP- News - A u g u s t 2 0 1 0
In Q2 Live Nation reported a revenue decline in all of its business segments.
The Concerts business unit turnover dropped from $924.8 to $859.5 million,
and the division Artist Nation only gained $88.8 compared to $107.7 million,
the same goes for the Ticketing department down from $308.3 to $264.1 mil-
lion. The turnover result for Sponsorship went down only $1.1 million from
$39.9 to $38.8 million. The result for E-Commerce shrunk from $21.1 to $18.9
million.
The overall net loss for H2 2010 increased from $27.19 to $34.61 million. Since
the merger Live Nation has had to cope with long-term net debts of $1.692 bil-
lion, long term deferred incomes taxes of $200.80 million and other long-term
liabilities of $195.63 million.
Nevertheless Michael Rapino, CEO of Live Nation explained “Our second
quarter results were in line with our plan and financial guidance for the full
year.” But he also stated in reference to the results: “Our performance to date
reflects the impact of the uncertain economy on consumers, offset in part
by our efforts to aggressively promote, price and expand access to concerts
across our global platform.”
The share is already under pressure on the stock market; on April 26 it stood at
$16.9 it is now (August 19) at $9.09.
DEAG Launches Joint Venture with Sony Music Germany:
DEAG and Sony Music Germany have set up a new company named Gold En-
tertainment. The company will focus on so called Schlager and Volksmusik.
Each company held a 50 percent stake in the new company that intends to
promote concerts within the market for these two genres in Austria, Switzer-
land and Germany. As DEAG declared, Gold Entertainment needs the approv-
al of the cartel authorities, but the economic dimensions of this joint venture
are certainly less in danger of being challenged by the Federal Cartel Office
than the takeover of See Tickets by CTS Eventim
The link back to Sony Music will be via the record label Ariola that will feed
Gold Entertainment with artists. In addition to this Gold Entertainment ac-
quired a 66.6% percent stake in the Manfred Hertlein Veranstaltungs GmbH
. Hertlein, in business for 30 years, reported a turnover of 12 million Euro in
2009. Hertlein committed himself to remaining as managing director within
his former company.
The DEAG share benefited from the news and since the beginning of August
gained a plus of 0.23 Euro from 2.01 up to 2.24 Euro.
18
VIP-BOOKING.COM
Norwich Sound & Vision 2010 is taking place for the first time on
16-18 September 2010. The event is a conference featuring expert
speakers from the music, film, TV and games industries, as well as
live music, film screenings and other interactive performances.
Ever heard of the music and film conference called SXSW in Austin,
Texas? Well, think of S&V as a taster…in Norwich. Norwich is burst-
ing at the seams with new music and film (to name but a few art
forms). We’re lucky to have a unique community playing host to a
plethora of multimedia based artistry, so why not have a conven-
tion based at the heart of it?
S&V will provide a platform for those of you who are involved (or
would like to be) with the multimedia channels mentioned above.
You’ll get the opportunity to listen, engage and perhaps mosey
around with labels, promoters, press, internet media peeps and
artists who are coming to Norwich.
If learning how to get your music licensed in film/TV is your bag or
even how to get your band out on the touring and festival circuit,
those are just a couple of the subjects open to discussion with our
delectable roster of panellists from across the music/radio/film/
multimedia industry.
Come and meet like-minded individuals, bands/musicians, record
labels, filmmakers, designers, writers and anyone with an inter-
est in multimedia industries. Those of you that just want to learn
something new - embrace your inner mind’s sponge, be inspired
and have a fantastic time on us.
Norwich Sound & Vision Conference Day
The full conference day at Norwich Sound & Vision takes place on
Saturday 18 September 10am - 4.45pm at Norwich Arts Centre.
We have a stellar line up of expert speakers who will be covering a
range of topics such as ‘How to get your music licensed to Film, TV,
adverts and video games’, ‘How to use the digital services avail-
able to distribute your creative content to the world’ and ‘How to
make a living from music’. For a full line up visit the conference
page in our website at www.norwichsoundandvision.co.uk
Delegate passes, priced £35 (£25 for AIM, BPI, MMF or MPA mem-
bers or those in full time education) are available from our website
www.norwichsoundandvision.co.uk or from Norwich Arts Cen-
tre www.norwichartscentre.co.uk
Email us at norwichsoundandvision@cme.org.uk
Phone us on 01603 628367
We are very excited to begin announcing the line up of acts
performing over the three days in Norwich. There will be
gigs each night at Norwich Arts Centre and at various ven-
ues across the city. Bands confirmed include:
Here We Go Magic
Dinosaur Pile-Up
Serena Maneesh
The Kabeedies
Sennen
The Miserable Rich
The Lost Levels
Sargasso Trio
Bearsuit
Fever Fever
Pumajaw
These Ghosts
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 noticeboard@vip-booking.com
VIP- News - A u g u s t 2 0 0 5
18
VIP- News - A u g u s t 2 0 1 0
Norwich Sound & Vision Music Festival16 - 18 September 2010
19
VIP-BOOKING.COM
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 pb@vip-booking.com
MeMber presentation ››
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 pb@vip-booking.com
®
vip-booking.com
VIP-BOOKING.COMVIP-BOOKING.COM | 26 York Street | UK - London W1U 6pZ | Phone +44 870 755 0092 | Fax +44 870 622 1953 | e-mail: vip@vip-booking.com
19
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.
Please visit vip-booking.com for further information.
Your comments and suggestions are always appreciated.
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König-Pilsener-AreNA- SMG entertainment deutschland GmbH
The König-Pilsener-ARENA is a multi-functional venue, offering a
superb setting for a variety of sports events, theatrical presenta-
tions, ice-skating and concerts. Flexible configurations provide
room for audiences ranging from 800 to 13,000 who enjoy family
shows such as Disney on Ice, sports including handball matches,
musicals like Grease, and concerts from rock and pop icons and
orchestras alike.
Since its opening in 1996, the Kõnig-Pilsener-ARENA has earned a
reputation as one of the most sophisticated venues in Europe, of-
fering excellent operational facilities and an unforgettable experi-
ence for all its visitors. The König-Pilsener-ARENA meets the latest
standards in engineering, architecture and security.
Its central location, at the heart of one of Europe’s largest con-
urbations, the Ruhr area, means the Arena is easily accessible by
road, rail and air for the 15 million people living within an hour’s
drive-time. The arena offers great accessibility with 12 motorway
junctions, more than 10,000 free parking spaces, bus and tram ter-
minals immediately outside the venues.
König-Pilsener-ARENA
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