Vip magazine march 2015

A BETTERVISIONROB HALLETT READ MORE ON PAGE 10

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VIP-MAGAZINEEDITION #16

MARCH 2015

VIPNEWS

VIP 16#SPOT

ARNDT SCHEFFLERSelf-Ticketing

- Trends And Settings…

Read more on page 16

WELCOME TO THE VIP-MAGAZINE

You now hold the 16th edition of VIP-Magazine in your hands

presenting selected articles from our monthly online VIP-News.

VIP-Magazine and VIP-News exist to keep you

and your colleagues and peers up to date

on what is going on in the business.

Don’t hesitate to keep us informed of your activities,

opinions or any other contributions you’d like

to share with our ever increasing readership.

The VIP-Team will once again be attending

all the major industry events taking place during the year

and as usual this started at Eurosonic/Noorderslag in Holland.

A full report on this event can be found in this issue along

with interesting interviews and reports on a wide range of subjects.

We hope you enjoy this issue and look forward to meeting you out there.

THE VIP TEAM ®

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#3VIP-MAGAZINE 16/2015www.vip-booking.com


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CONTENTS:

30

05 Wonderful Tallinn Music Week

06 Eurosonic 2015

08 Rob Hallett: A Better Vision

14 This Business of Live Music

16 Self-Ticketing Trends And Settings

18 Jack Daniel’s Launches Venue Initiative

20 Festivals in the Melting Pot

22 Profile Industri

24 Artist Avails

26 Multimedia For Festivals

28 Phillips CEO of Global Entertainment

30 Bestival expands in UK and Canada

VIP-MAGAZINE 16 #2015

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WRITER AND EDITORIAL: Allan McGowan | [email protected] & Manfred Tari | [email protected]

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VIP-BOOKING.COM The No 1 Information Resource For The Live Entertainment IndustryHaving 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, promoters, 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.

26

14

During the last weekend of March,

205 artists from 26 countries will per-

form at the 7th edition of Tallinn Music

Week, the biggest talent festival in the

Nordic-Baltic region from 25th to 29th

March.

In its seventh year Tallinn Music Week

has grown into a major meeting point for

Eastern , Western and Central European

music communities as well as an attractive

spring time travel destination for the

region’ s music , culture and food lovers.

An annually increasing number of foreign

artists – 84 acts from 25 countries – proves

the point. This year’s international line-up

includes 12 artists from Finland, 9 from

Denmark, Latvia and Russia, 6 from Poland

and 5 from UK, Sweden and Belarus.

The seventh edition of the festival features

a special focus on Denmark – currently one

of the most exciting new music sources in

Europe. The Danish party, hosted by SPOT

on Denmark by Music Export Denmark,

JazzDanmark, World Music Denmark and

Rosa, is also the opening party of the

festival on 26th March at Von Krahl theatre

with the finest representatives of Danish

pop and rock, among them the melting

pot of ethnic and modern influences called

The Sexican, noise-pop warriors Lowly and

the adrenaline heavy hiphop act Slowolf.

Furthermore SPOT on Denmark brings you

two of the finest jazz outfits, Emil De Waal

+ Spejderrobot and Rune Funch Picture

Music.

TMW is part of CEETEP and ETEP

programme s within Eurosonic. Tallinn

Music Week’s international activities

introducing Tallinn and Estonia as an

attractive tourism destination of music and

culture are supported by The European

Regional Development Fund.

TMW’s two-day music industry conference ,

taking place at Nordic Hotel Forum’s

conference centre, traditionally covers a

wide range of topics from local cultural

policy and regional cooperation to hands-

on artist management tips and global

music business models. Panelists include

both industry professionals from abroad

and local specialists.

Throughout TMW’s existence, a number

of well-known international experts have

participated in the conference panel

discussions , among them Seymour Stein,

the legendary founder and president of Sire

Records (Madonna, Ramones), influential

managers Petri Lunden (Cardigans ,

Europe ), Edward Bicknell (Dire Straits, Scott

Walker, Bryan Ferry), Peter Jenner (Pink

Floyd) and many others.

See both festival – and conference

programme on www.tmw.ee

WONDERFUL TALLINN MUSIC WEEK


Helen Sildnais the founder and director

of Tallinn Music Week. She has been

in the music industry for more than

a decade as an Estonian-based

promoter and artist booker. In 2009

she established Musiccase, a music

promotion company, with an aim to

see more interesting international

artists in Estonia and help Estonian

acts start their careers abroad.

Among some international artists

that Musiccase has promoted:

Morrissey, Air, SigurRos, Patti Smith,

Feist, Swans, ReginaSpektor to

mention a few.

Manfred Tari [email protected]


Allan McGowan [email protected]

Eurosonic Noorderslag continues to grow, and

might I say, mature and innovate, for those

who don’t already know, Eurosonic is the in-

ternational part of the event and Noorderslag

concentrates on Dutch talent.

In fact Noorderslag is the older, or should I say

‘senior’ element of the overall event. Dutch

acts are doing well these days, with acts like

Birth of Joy becoming festival favourites, Kens-

ington selling out national venues and The

Common Linnets winning an European Border

Breakers Award (EBBA), EBBA Public Choice

Award and the Dutch Pop Award.

Selling out earlier than previously, this year’s

29th edition upped the number of venues to

50 in which 345 European acts performed to

an audience of 41,200 gig goers, from the

14th to the 17th of January in the city of Gron-

ingen, The Netherlands. The 2015 focus coun-

try Iceland showcased 19 new acts.

Eurosonic is also the home of The European

Talent Exchange Programme (ETEP), and we’re

told by the organisers that so far, 186 acts have

been selected to play at the European festivals

in the programme.

Eurosonic Noorderslag is preparing for its 30th

edition with the Central East European regions

as the focus for 2016. Each year a different

country is highlighted in order to showcase

the diversity of musical talent across Europe.

We are delighted to announce that in 2016,

13 CEE countries will be the focus region of

Eurosonic Noorderslag.

Countries that have been showcased at

previous editions include France, Germany,

Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Norway, The Nether-

lands, Ireland, Finland, Austria and Iceland.

The 30th edition of Eurosonic Noorderslag will

take place on 13, 14, 15 and 16 January 2016.

CEETEP (2010 – 2015)

The focus for 2016 is the conclusion of the

Central European Talent Exchange Programme

(CEETEP). Together with 18 CEETEP festival s

in the CEE region and selected CEE media

partners , Eurosonic Noorderslag and co-

organisers Sziget and Exit Festival, have

developed a plan to encourage the circula-

tion of CEE artists and repertoire in Central

and Eastern Europe, both at festivals and in

the media. By working together, the CEETEP

festival s and their media partners aim to

help more CEE artists perform across borders

within Central Eastern Europe, and, via shows

at Eurosonic Noorderslag, throughout the

whole of Europe and beyond.

Fruzsina Szép (former programme director

of Sziget (HU) between 2009-2014,

now Director of Festival Coordination

and Public Affairs Berlin Festival and

Lollapalooza Berlin):


The conference programme, which again in-

cluded the European Production Innovation

Conference & Fair (EPIC), attracted 3,900 in-

dustry professionals from all over the world.

Highlights included keynotes from Duncan

Stutterheim (SFX, NL), Alex Macleod (ex- tour

manager of acts like Nirvana and The Smash-

ing Pumpkins), Lennart van der Meulen (VPRO,

NL) and Nic Jones (Vevo, UK). Very well at-

tended panels covered a whole raft of current

topics.

I was priviledged to be the interviewer for

the keynote with veteran German promoter

Karsten Jahnke (Karsten Jahnke Konzertdirek-

tion, DE). At 77 years of age Karsten is still go-

ing strong and speaks a lot of sense – experi-

ence and wisdom are a strong combination!

Inspired by his love of jazz he presented his first

show as a part-time promoter in 1959, becom-

ing a full time professional in 1972, his compa-

ny now employs 35 people. He spoke highly of

artists such as Herman Van Veen, and warned

that fierce competition amongst the bigger

corporate concert companies was driving up

artist fees to a point where independents were

being forced out of the market.

The Agents panel looked at the ever increas-

ing importance of the agent’s role in a busi-

ness where artists are more and more depend-

ent on live income. Alex Bruford of ATC (UK),

Marty Diamond of Paradigm Agency in the US,

Clotaire Buch, of Junzi Arts in France and Peter

Elliott of Primary Talent (UK), gave insights into

the much wider aspects of their jobs, and high-

lighted the different ways in which they now

interact with their acts. Elliott commented that

Agents are now often the first in with new art-

ists, helping them to develop, and that there

was a lack of ‘really smart’ new young man-

agers in the business. He commented that he

often got as excited meeting a new manager

with a good plan as he did meeting great new

performing talent. Bruford talked of the artist

SOAK, who’s showcases were sold out, recall-

ing that he got involved with her when she

was 16 and being managed by her Mother!

The next edition of Eurosonic Noorderslag

takes place from 13 to 16 January, 2016.

“My deep wish to strengthen the circulation

of artistic repertoire and the cooperation

and exchange of know-how between the

cultural workers, festivals, media in the CEE

region started long back in 2005. In 2006

the idea of CEETEP was born at the RegiON

music conference in Budapest. With the

only strong believe that we can build up

something together for our region, for the

artists by building cultural bridges between

our countries .

With the great cooperation between all

the wonderful people, festivals, media and

Eurosonic Noorderslag and Exit Festival

involved a 10 year period will come now to

its final phase. In January 2016 we will unite

all the positive energies and the region which

we call Central and Eastern Europe and we

will become ONE within the stages of Europe .

January 2016 at Eurosonic a long time dream

will come true… I can only say that I´m so

happy, honoured and thankful to be part

of that family and I´m honestly thankful for

every person being part of making the CEETEP

project possible.”

Peter Smidt (creative director Eurosonic

Noorderslag):

“With more or less half of the European people

living in what we call Central Eastern Europe,

Eurosonic Noorderslag feels it is crucial to

make much more and better connections

betwee n Western Europe and Central Eastern

Europe. We are curious for all talents in this

large area and would like to facilitate much

more and better business relations between

music professionals and media.”

The 13 focus countries in

the CEE group are:

Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia ,

Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the

Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Serbia,

Slovakia and Slovenia.

The CEE-focus will be organised by: Fruzsina

Szép (HU/DE), Exit (RS), Open’er Festival (PL),

Pohoda (SK), Waves Bratislava (SK), Talinn

Music Week (EE), Guna Zuika (Creative

Industries Council at the Ministry of Culture,

Latvia) (LV) and Eurosonic Noorderslag (NL).

EUROSONIC 2015 2016FOCUSES ON CENTRAL EAST EUROPEAN (CEE) COUNTRIES

Peter Smidt

Karsten Jahnke Photo by Mike Breeuwer

Fruzsina Szep




Ad_JazzMachine_VIP_82,5x257_rPROD.indd 1 16/02/2015 10:07

EUROPEAN FESTIVAL AWARDS WINNERSBest Small FestivalFestival Tauron Nowa Muzyka (Poland)

Best Indoor FestivalI Love Techno (Belgium)

Green Operations Award in association with Yourope and The GO GroupRoskilde Festival and Stop Wasting Food (Denmark)

Best Newcomer ActStromae (Belgium)

Artists’ Favourite FestivalPrimavera Sound (Spain)

Best New FestivalDown The Rabbit Hole (The Netherlands)

Anthem Of The YearArctic Monkeys – ‘R U Mine’

The Health & Safety Innovation Award in association with The YES Group and ICM&SSMOJO/LOC Festivals (The Netherlands)

Best Medium-Sized Festival in association with EventbriteSea Dance Festival (Montenegro)

Promoter Of The YearLive Nation (Belgium)

Best Line-UpGlastonbury Festival (United Kingdom)

Best HeadlinerArctic Monkeys (United Kingdom)

Best Major Festival in association with PlugGoSziget Festival (Hungary)

The Lifetime Achievement AwardMelvin Benn (United Kingdom)

The Award for Excellence And Passion in association with YouropeRikke Øxner (Denmark)

Europe’s best music festivals, artists and

promoters of 2014 were revealed at the 6th

annual European Festival Awards, which took

place at Groningen’s De Oosterpoort in The

Netherlands, crowning the opening night of

Eurosonic Noorderslag.

The ceremony also featured some of

the hottest new European artists with

performances from Danish electro-pop

sensation MØ, London-based R&B musician

Jack Garratt and Norwegian singer-

songwrite r Aurora Asknes.

Hungary’s Sziget Festival reclaimed its title

of Best Major Festival (after its previous win

in 2012), with Belgium scooping multiple

gongs in the form of Best Indoor Festival

(I Love Techno), Promoter Of The Year (Live

Nation Belgium) and also Best Newcomer

Artist (Stromae).

The United Kingdom had a higher profile than

usual with Festival Republic’s Melvin Benn

receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award

(as previously announced), Glastonbury

winning Best Line-Up and the Arctic Monkeys

scooping not one but two awards (Best

Headliner and Anthem Of The Year, the latter

for ‘R U Mine’).

The event honoured its first ever winner

from Montenegro with Sea Dance Festival,

organised by the Serbian team behind Exit,

awarded Best Medium-Sized Festival.

The host country of the event (The

Netherlands ) also landed two trophies

with Down The Rabbit Hole Festival being

voted Best New Festival and MOJO/Loc

Festivals scoring the YES GROUP Health &

Safety Innovation Award which recognises

innovative ways festivals have enhanced

health and safety within their spaces.

Spain’s Primavera Sound was declared the

Artists’ Favourite Festival whilst Best Small

Festival went to Poland’s Tauron Nowa

Muzyka . The Green Operations Award hailed

Denmark’s Roskilde Festival in co-operation

with Stop Wasting Food as the night’s

champions of sustainability.

The brand new Award for Excellence and

Passion , recognising an individual whose

dedication and creativity has produced a truly

magical event, went to Roskilde Festival’ s

Rikke Øxner, who retired this year after

serving the festival for two decades. Famous

for continuing to camp at the festival, with

her audience, Rikke continues to help shape

the event as its Artistic Director.

Steve Jenner, co-founder and Director

of Festival Awards Ltd, which organizes

the Awards, said: “It’s inspiring to have

a winners ’ list that is so reflective of the

cultural diversity and strength of passion ,

dedication , creativity and quality of delivery

that underpins Europe’ s incredible festival

scene today. Despite the competition in an

increasingl y crowded market, and under

some tough conditions in recent years,

tonight saw Europe’s festival organisers

gathering to celebrate as one industry. That’s

a very special thing that can only strengthen

the market and we are honoured to be the

hosts of this event. Our thanks go out to all

who took part in this year’s awards.”

Presented in association with YOUROPE

and Eurosonic Noorderslag the European

Festival Awards are the only pan-European

body solely dedicated to recognising the

contributions and achievements of the

event organisers and performing artists that

generate billions of Euros for local economies

and brighten up the summer for tens of

millions of festival-goers each year.

The winners were decided by a combination

of public votes and the EFA jury – made

up of journalists, booking agents, festival

organisers – who had a 25 per cent say in the

final outcome of the public voted categories.

More than 1.2 million votes from festival fans

all over the world were cast (an astonishing

100% increase on last year’s figure) with

festivals in more than 35 countries taking

part, showing that passion for festivals across

the continent continues to grow.

SZIGET NAMED BEST MAJOR FESTIVAL IN EUROPE > > > >




A Better Vision The following is an extract from

a 13 page inteview conducted

by Larry LeBlanc. For the full

unedited version go to www.

booking.com

Rob Hallett is back. Boy is he back!

The wily, seasoned London-based deal

broker who exited as president of

international touring , AEG Live in April, 2014

after a decade , has launched a formidable

boutique music firm.

Hallett’s AEG portfolio is filled to the brim

with unprecedented (if unlikely) triumphs,

including : Global tours by Leonard Cohen,

Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bieber, Usher, and

Black Eyed Peas; three Bon Jovi stadium

tours of Europe; a record-breaking 21 nights

of Prince at The 02 Arena in London; the

Barclaycard presents British Summertime

serie s at Hyde Park; and the Capital Radio

Summer Time Ball.

Hallett’s recently-announced new company,

Robomagic, is a 360-styled operation.

A promotion unit, Robomagic 360, seeks to

strike 360-styled deals with emerging artists,

encompassing recording, publishing, artist

management and brand management, while

making use of strategic partnerships.

Robomagic Capital offers financing to

emerging and established artists to help

them grow their businesses.

Finally, a live promotion company, Robomagic

Live, will oversee arena and stadium tours on

a national and global scale.

You have taken various components of

your career to forge this new company.

I have always been enamored with the entire

(music) industry. I think that it’s very hard to

de-compartmentalize an artist’s life. I have

tried, when I’ve been able to and when I have

been in a position to, to have an overview of

the whole thing. That is what I have kind of

done all my life. It’s not that I can’t decide

what part of the industry that I want to work

in. An artist is in all sides of the industry. Why

shouldn’t their reps be?

In essence, Robomagic is a three-tiered

company.

Yes, it is three-tiered, basically. There’s (the

promotion unit) Robomagic 360, which is

set up to sign new talent; to invest in new

talent in ways that record companies don’t.

With revenue streams across the board, I

can sign an act, like a label signs an act for

three years, for touring, and for production.

I’m not going to be a label. It’s going to be

series of partnerships. That’s how I built up

my global business at AEG, and before with

Mean Fiddler.

Still, you are acting as a label in that you

are funding acts while controlling their

musical rights.

We don’t own any music rights. Basically, we

provide capital. There are variances (with the

different licensing deals). It sort of switches

to a record company deal a little bit with the

developing acts. We lend them money. It’s

guaranteed against the income. Once they

repay the mortgage, they own their material,

however.

Rights revert back to them?

The rights go back to the artist.

Your intent is to make your investment

back?

Yes, and have an override. It flips the

(traditional record deal) model on the head.

Instead of it being 80/20 in the favor of the

label, it’s more likely to be 60/40 or better

depending on the artist’s sales base in the

artist’s favor.

Will Robomagic be involved in recording ,

publishing or management activities

where there may not be an early rever-

sion of rights?

Yeah, on the developing side. Basically,

making a fair deal for the artist is at the

heart of the company. Artists should always

own their own art. It’s hard to own stuff. In

this day and age, very few artists sign for

perpetuity for anything.

Perhaps, with their publishing.

Any act that is hot, they don’t.

Of course not. The traditional template

for the music industry is that developing

acts get screwed over for three album

cycles and then hammers the label and/

or music publisher in negotiations for

futures , and tries to regain ownership of

their full catalog.

I would rather do a fair deal, and save on

the legal costs. Do a fair deal in the first

place. Do the 10 year license, and then get

screwed with the new advance to keep it

(the licensin g deal) in 10 years’ time. You are

making the majority of the income in the first

10 years of a song anyway, unless you are

very lucky to get a band that is....

I don’t know if that’s true. For recording

income, yes, but not necessarily on the

music publishing side.

Yeah, but how many songs are there that

can be placed in syncs? Can be chosen to be

in movies, and for other things? I hear you.

There are songs that can earn money for

hundreds of years or for the life of copyright.

But that number is small, and I’d rather be

fair. Give them back (rights) after 10 years

and, because you are being fair, you hope

that they will give you a fair deal to extend

the license.

You are going to be a music publisher,

however.

We are going to be a music publisher in a

new model. I wouldn’t be signing life of

copyright. I think that artists should end up

owning everything once they get to a certain

level. It’s their pension, you know. It’s going

to be strategic partnerships. Everything is

going to be strategic partnerships. You can’t

be all things to all people.

Are there different licensing time periods

with some of the deals?

No. As long as we have a good relationship

we will be able to work together. I am still

working with Duran Duran 35 years later.

For emerging bands?

It’s all down to negotiation, if anything else.

But the heart of the model is that the artis t

at the end of the relationship will end up

owning their own stuff.

It took you 9 months to set Robomagic

up. Obviously, you set it up carefully and

as your own vision connecting the dots

in the industry.

That’s the plan. It took me 9 months because

I wanted to get it right. I didn’t want to come

out half-cocked. Having worked at the level

I had worked at I wanted to maintain that

(level). In this day and age, the independent

promoter working with his own check book,

it is virtually impossible. The big boys have

to come in. The big money is there. Without

the right backing, I just would not have been

able to work at the level I have been in the

past 10, 15, 20 years or whatever it is. I didn’t

want to become a club promoter.

Or a manager?

No. I want to be a manager. I love mana ging .

Being part of Usher’s management team

was great. I really loved, and enjoyed it. It

was one of my favorite times in my life. So

managemen t is something I aspire to again.

[Hallett has promoted Ushe r

since he was 14, and was

brought on as part of the

management team for the al-

bum “Raymond v Raymond”

in 2011.]

How did you attain the financing for the

company?

Through my own endeavors. One thing that I

have learned is you can’t sit back and rely on

other people. I just kept knocking on doors.

Every meeting that I had, I listened to what

they said, and I tweaked the business plan a

little. I had another meeting. “Well, we like

this, but you really need a little bit of that.” I

tweaked it again.

Did you meet with bankers and venture

capitalists?

I met with everyone. I spoke to venture

capitalists , and to equity investment

companie s. The first thing they said was,

“What’s the out in five years?” I said,

“What do you mean what’s the out in five

years? I don’t want an out. This is my life.

It’s my career .” I spoke to banks. I spoke to

privat e individuals . In the end—a magician

never gives away his secrets—however, it’s

(the financing is) a combination of private

individuals , and private banks; depending

on the capital (for projects). I put together

a jigsaw of investment people who are like-

minded , and who want to be in our industry .

They see the opportunity (in the music

industry ). They see it as a growth area, unlike

some of the pessimism that is out there. And

I really do see our industry as a growth area.

Larry LeBlanc (www.CelebrityAccess.com)

“It’s not that I can’t decide what part of the

industry that I want to work in. An artist is

in all sides of the industry. Why shouldn’t their

reps be?”

Rob Hallett:

Rob Hallett


“I have never known

so much talent being

around”

Why?

I have never known so much talent being

around. The artist being able to make music

without a recording studio has really moved

the talent hunt leaps and bounds. People

on an iPad can make music, can make hits

in their bedrooms. So the amount of talent

that is emerging is staggering. Artists don’t

have to spend 1,500 or 2,000 bucks a day

in a recording studio. The kind of talent that

is emerging because of the home recording

studio is just incredible.

As well, with the use of social media,

their potential audience reach today is

global.

And this is what I specialize in, and this is

what I want to do. I’ve got on my (office) wall

a plaque that I am looking at with Leonar d

Cohen; where he played three continent s, 30

countries, and 372 shows. Jennifer Lopez, 5

continents, and 65 cities. That’s what I do. As

you said, social networking and everything

else has made it much easier to get a message

across, and for an artist to make music and to

immediately put it out. If we had had this in

the punk rock era, the music landscape would

be very different today. The whole thing then

was everybody wanting to do it yourself, but

you couldn’t.

Nor did punks want anything to do with

branding or corporate sponsorships.

The punk ethos could have gone more

globa l with these things. Now major

corporations want to get involved with

rock music. There was a time when I was

knocking on corporation doors, and they’d

be saying , “You guys

are a bit dangerou s

with scandal s and

drugs. We’ll stick with

sports.” In the post

Tiger Woods era, it’s

kind of, “Hang on a

moment, you think we

are dangerous? Look at

them (sports celebrities). We

are actually squeaky clean (in

comparison).”

Within the music industry, it’s argued

that there’s too much money either

being left on the table or being siphone d

off by others.

Yes. Absolutely. One of my roles for the

company is to help guide new artists through

the jungle with my 35 year experience of

where all of the landmines lie. I hopefully can

use that experience with a young team to

guide people through that minefield

Labels, music publishers and managers

are all trying to do 360 deals. I don’t

think that labels can quite pull them off

well because they don’t understand live

music business.

They say they don’t. Of course, they

understan d it. It’s not rocket science. What

they don’t like is the fact that you can lose a

million bucks each time.

Manager Peter Rudge and I recently

discussed that if you go back 15 or 20

years ago, few label executive are in

the business today, but almost all of

the promoter s are. Live music is just a

differen t world.

I think it is, but I think also there’s different

ethos. Record companies don’t value people

over 40. They don’t value experience. I have

friends in the record business who, just as

they were getting great at their jobs, and

they knew everybody, they got fired, and

it’s, “We’re going to bring the kids in.” We,

in the live industry, may not have been as

good a success as them because we like

our jobs and we hang on to them. Until the

adven t of companies like Live Nation, and

AEG Live we could because we owned our

own businesse s. The live music business until

the advent of Live Nation wasn’t a corporate

business. It was a cottage industry.

What staff do you have at Robomagic?

I have 6 people. It took me awhile to find

people. I’ve got mostly a young staff that has

just left university. Young promoters. Svetlana

Scheck, my head of marketing, though, has

been with me 10 years. Then there’s a pool

of production people that i have worked with

over the years such as Kahren Williams, Keith

Morris, and Keith Wood. Keith Morris, I have

known for over 30 years.

That’s more staff you had when you

launched AEG Live in the UK.

The time at AEG was good for me. It

enhanced my reputation, undeniably. I’m

starting out now with more visibility, and

with a bigger vision. A better vision.

Larry LeBlanc is widely recognized as one

of the leading music industry journalists in

the world. Before joining CelebrityAccess in

2008 as senior editor, he was the Canadian

bureau chief of Billboard from 1991-2007

and Canadian editor of Record World from

1970-89. He was also a co-founder of the

late Canadian music trade, The Record.

He has been quoted on music industry issue s

in hundreds of publications including Time,

Forbes, and the London Times. He is co-

autho r of the book “Music From Far And

Wide.” Larry is the recipient of the 2013

Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award,

recognizing individuals who have made an

impact on the Canadian music industry. He

is a board member of the Mariposa Folk

Festiva l in Orillia, Ontario.


Small venue owners complain that promoters

don’t understand the venue business – that

venues can’t operate solely from the profit

of ‘wet’ sales (drinking at venues is in steady

and continued decline); that they can’t rou-

tinely take a hit on splitting door takings un-

less takings are sustained at capacity or near-

tocapacity levels; that the perilous economics

of running a venue are simply not understood

by other’s in the ecosystem – promoters, mu-

sicians and booking agents alike. The simple

truth is that the vast majority of small capacity

live music venues ironically can’t sustain them-

selves solely through live music; rather they

cross-subsidise live music from the profit made

by club nights and private hires. It’s a pretty

grim state of affairs.

Savages’ Jehnny Beth’s artist perspective illus-

trated just how badly-served the artist com-

munity can be by some in business of live, be

they promoter, venue or booking agent – is-

sues long-championed by Andy Inglis (who

frequently considered himself as being in the

customer service business first, and the music

industry second…)

The overzealous and pernicious way in which

noise abatement cases are brought (and on an

increasing basis and at great cost to venues) re-

main the single biggest threat, in a process that

appears to be trying to catch venues out, rath-

er than working proactively towards a mutually

acceptable solution. It’s with heavy anticipation

that the venues business awaits the outcome

of heavy lobbying, led by artist Frank Turner,

for the adoption of the ‘agent of change’ prin-

ciple. This would place the responsibility for in-

coming businesses bringing change to an area

to manage and be responsible for that change,

bringing to an end incidences of, say, new resi-

dential developments near pre-existing music

venues forcing venues to remedy noise issues.

Despite the inevitable gloom, there is a clearm

desire to make the small venue experience

great; for venues to do their bit for new mu-

sic that they all feel so passionate about. And

amidst the call for unity (literally the suggestion

of the formation of a Union for small venues),

some interesting ideas were floated: lobbying

Government for an extension of the tax status

recently afforded theatre and orchestras (VAT

is crippling small venue businesses); pooling of

knowledge via a website (to help each other);

booking agents ‘gifting’ back a successful

band, to, say a venue that helped them on

their way in the early years (supporting and

acknowledging the importance of this sector);

local authorities having to include cultural pol-

icy as part of planning policy; take a lead from

Unesco and introduce its protective status to

areas of music heritage and high cultural value;

further highlight the economic value live music

brings to cities, towns and neighbourhoods;

make a case for state funding for UK bands to

be able to do UK tours (in the same way fund-

ing is available for touring overseas); learn from

(and copy?) European statefunded models for

live music. As commented by Music Venue

Trust founder, Mark Davyd, “…the ‘rule book’

for the small venue sector was written in the

70s, little has changed since and there’s been

a definite lack in asking [government] for what

we need...it’s time to do something radical.”

Having over-regulated music in small capacity

venues to within an inch of its life the Govern-

ment has latterly set about to de-regulate it in

part (small venue capacity exemption), and for

its part has proved it is listening. Much more

could and should be done, however. There’s

a powerful economic and cultural argument

encompassing employment, GDP and cultural

value that aren’t in anyone’s interests to be ig-

nored. Reproduced by kind permission.




THIS BUSINESS OF LIVE MUSIC

ings of sell-out stadium tours commanding

ever-higher ticket prices (and for which there

seems no limit to consumer appetite), and the

vital small capacity venues sector that forms

the bedrock of grass-roots live performance,

which is fighting for its very survival.

With that in mind, the Music Venue Trust

should be congratulated in facilitating Tues-

day’s Venues Day, which drew a capacity au-

dience of venue owner/ operators the length

and breadth of the UK, unanimously galva-

nized in their daily struggle to stay afloat.

Presented as celebration of small venues rather

than a funeral wake, it necessarily began as

gloomy discussion whose role call of ‘macro’

issues remains all too depressingly familiar –

relaxed planning laws, threats from develop-

ment, indifferent landlords, over zealous licens-

ing enforcement, neighbourhood intolerance

and hard-nosed breweries, chief among them.

But there are ‘micro’ issues that continue to

stifle. Informal conversations with a range of

stakeholders present revealed internal mechan-

ics of an industry that doesn’t always appear to

pull in the same direction at the same time…

For a country which punches well above

its weight as one of only three global net

exporter s of music, the disconnect between

that and the grass roots live music sector and

its role in supporting the next-generation of

hit-makers has arguably never been greater.

Little appears to have changed in the ten years

MusicTank has looked at issues afflicting live,

from noise abatement, and Licensing Act re-

form to form 696 and secondary ticketing.

In some areas the sector appears overburdened

in regulation which duplicates pre-existing law

(the Licensing Act 2003), yet is crying out for

more considered regulation in others (ticketing

and noise abatement). Above all, regulation

desperately needs to better balance the live

sector’s ecosystem with consumers’ interests.

It’s beyond the realm of this editorial to cover

‘chapter and verse’, the complex and at times,

conflicting interests of the live music business,

but the ‘helicopter view’ is one of a (appar-

ently) healthy, burgeoning sector that’s pretty

much out-performed the recorded industry

since 2009. Focusing in on the detail reveals

a stark division between the record gross tak-

First published December 2014, by MusicTank here:http://www.musictank.co.uk/

blog/dec-newsletter

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One of the main areas of concern for the future of our business is the development of new talent – the

headliners of the future, and the importance of the small venues that are able to give these new artists the

opportunity to develop their acts in front of audiences which will become their vital fan base. Many of these

venues throughout Europe are struggling to survive and many are having to close down.

To put focus of this challenge, Director, Jonathan Robinson has kindly agreed to act as our guest writer and

to let us feature his report on the small venues situation in the UK.

which they are responsible anyway. We see ourselves as partners

and service providers who prefer to stand in the background.

What are the trends in ticketing from the perspective of

White Label eCommerce in terms of ticket buyers and also

for promoters in 2015. Also, is the in-house ticketing only

supplementary to the distribution channels of CTS Eventim

or TicketMaster or already a fully-fledged alternative?

– The proportion of online ticket sales will continue to rise, the

trend towards e-commerce is unstoppable and it will influence all

aspects of trade. This creates a great opportunity for all promoters

of events, to at least do a part of their business, especially B2C

related , by themselves. Nevertheless, the multi-channel approach

by established ticket providers will stay relevant for many more

years. But it is crucial to know about the ticket buyers and their

buying behaviour, where the ticket price caps are, and which

personal preferences the consumers have.

In my view, a promoter should devise his ticket distribution

policy according to the target group for an event, as there

are no black or white solutions any more. I can only advise to

try new things and encourage to take advantage of the latest

technology available on the market. The digitisations is certainly

unstoppabl e and promoter s should no longer be tools to be used

by third parties, when they are actually able to take care of their

own belongings.

At ILMC ’14, Jan Willem Van der Meer, Managing Director of

Paylogic, raised the topic of, “Social Ticketing”. How does

White Label eCommerce handle this subject and how have

promoters already adapted to associated aspects such as

altered online marketing, or data analysis?

– While the term might be confusing, “Social Ticketing” is an

integra l part of our service and produces above average growth.

Our clients sell a significant portion of their tickets using our

software on social networks, whether Facebook, Twitter or the

artist’s own online environments. Thanks to the analysis tools

of our software, this can be accurately measured and each new

impuls e on these platforms causes additional sales.

What is striking here, is the high percentage of mobile users who

access with smart phones or tablets. According to a research report

published by the Allensbach Institute at the end of November 2014,

already 44 percent of the German internet using population, is

usin g a smart phone or internet-enabled mobile phones. Compared

to the previous year, this number has increased by over 24 percent.

In summary, this offers new great opportunities for promoters and

artists to develop their customer base and benefit from much better

fan relationships. Therefore we invest a lot of time and work in the

creation of features to support these trends.

SELF-TICKETINGTRENDS AND SETTINGS

Arndt Scheffler

Arndt Scheffler worked as vice president of sales at CTS Eventim

till June 2012 when he left the company and in the same year

launched the company White Label eCommerce, a ticketing

service provider offering a DIY ticketing-platform for promoters

and artists . Today White Label eCommerce serves 76 clients,

among others the Wacken Open Air, the concert promoter

Bomber der Herzen and lately DEAG with their own ticketing

portal Myticket.de.

VIP News spoke with Scheffler about what it needs to serve

promoters that sell a 1000 tickets per minute and what is on the

ticketing-trend-agenda in 2015....

What is the difference between White Label E-commerce

and the Business model of companies such as Ticketscript,

Paylogic or Amiando?

– Our scope is actually much wider. Besides the ‘Do It Yourself’-

aspect we also offer a full-service approach, with accompanying

services such as merchandise products for instance. For

merchandise in particular we can even offer storage solutions on

request. The opportunity of offering a variety of products in our

clients’ shopping carts is a big advantage and provides the option

to gain additional income.

Furthermore we offer premium colour tickets with a customizabl e

print on the backside, another potential additional income

source for our clients. Basically we benefit from our wide-ranging

knowledge regarding the needs and requirements of the ticketing

market, which is also reflected in the diverse functions of our

software .

Our clients support us by giving valuable feedback regarding

the ongoing development of our software and services and we

are able to adapt very fast, thanks to the use of state-of-the-art

technology . With these obvious advantages over our competitors

we are able to gain many customers from various sectors.

What are the technical and human resources of White Label

e-Commerce available to service business partners such as

the Wacken Open Air (WOA)?

– This depends heavily on the degree of cooperation. ICS, the

promote r behind WOA, largely operate the ticketing for its festival

themselves, we take care of the performance of the technical

platform . High loads occur particularly in the launch phase of

ticket sales, which requires a very solid IT infrastructure.

We were lucky to attract the WOA festival, as one of the best-

selling top events worldwide, as our first customer. This allowed us

to design our software and hardware infrastructure appropriately

from the very beginning and create a system that is able to

serve clients selling thousand tickets per minute. Most systems

are initiall y designed to service significantly smaller events and

graduall y grow as the number of customers increase. But this type

of growth causes a constant renovation process and brings a lot

of problems. Our software framework has already proven many

years ago in other e-commerce environments that it perform s well

under high load. Additionally, the experience of our IT staff in

terms of building portals and redundant infrastructure with more

than 10 million views per day is an important groundwork for

the design of our software. The modern structure of our system

is certainl y one of the reasons why we, as a relatively young

company , in terms of the performance, are able to do even better

than many of the established players.

White Label eCommerce recently launched a cooperation

with DEAG for their new ticketing portal Myticket.de. How

did this deal come about?

– Well, DEAG has dealt extensively with the issue of ticketing and

got in contact with us. They performed a professional evaluation

process, in which we were able to convince.

Also the ticketing giant CTS Eventim intend to launch a

white label shop solution. How can and, how will, a much

smaller company like White Label eCommerce respond to

such a challenge?

– The term white label is not clearly defined, there are many ways

of interpretation. As a matter of fact, Ticketmaster Germany

promoted their white label solution many months ago. However ,

it is not comparable to our offer. We are neither the first nor

the only provider of white label solutions; more important is

the business model behind it and the respective benefits for the

participant s of the business. We help our clients to retain their

identity and help them to gain more out of the value chain for

white labeleCommerce

white labeleCommerce




JACK DANIEL’S LAUNCHES VENUE INITIATIVE

From VIP-Daily News

The Tennessee Whiskey brand Jack Daniel’s has launched an initiative

supporting some of the UK’s independent small venues. Jack Daniel’s

will team up with venues across the country to host regular events

featuring both up and coming talent and established acts.

It is third time Jack Daniel’s up-weighted its music budgets and it now

represents 30% of the whiskey brand’s total spend on marketing.

Jack Daniel’s senior brand manager, Michael Boaler, says:

“Independent venues such as the Southampton Joiners and the

Brighton Joker are essential to every new band’s development, playing

the small venue circuit is how you learn your trade. From a fan’s point

of view it’s about those real memorable moments, discovering ‘that

band’ playing to a handful of people before going on to headline

Glastonbur y years later.

“That’s why we think it’s important to support and put a spotlightn on

these places by creating an initiative dedicated to smaller, independent

live music venues as part of our music plan – we really hope that our

Jack Rocks nights help the venues to continue the great work they’re

doing whilst discovering some top notch new bands along the way.



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But the recent past has already proved that all

events are not assured of success. Within just

five years the Swedish market saw the depar-

ture of events such as Hultsfred, Arvika and

Peace & Love. The Greenville- Festival by Crea-

tive Talent failed in 2014 and the unknown

events (okay, amongst others and for the

record: the Berlin Festival) who have already

suffered losses are indicators and presages for

what the industry could expect in 2015. Sziget

Cultural Management, the promoter of the

Sziget Festival in Hungary, for the first time has

started to book an edition of the winter sport

combined with music event into its neighbour-

ing country for the first time in Vienna on No-

vember 21-22, running simultaneously with

the edition in Budapest on November 21-24.

Due to the mild winter the Vienna edition has

been re-located in the indoor arena Marx Halle.

The line up of both events varies but both edi-

tions features an extensive DJ-program with

top acts such as Fedde Legrand, Moguai,

Grandmaster Flash and Paul Kalkbrenner.

Fruzsina Szep, once a booker for the Sziget

festival has left Hungary and moved to Berlin

to work on the new Berlin edition of Lollapa-

looza. Particularly the situation in Germany has

definitely heated up, so this one is certainly

an event that faces a challenges as the festi-

val market in the German capital has already

showed that it is more than tough.

In Denmark alone FKP Scorpio found their an-

nouncement of Tinderbox, being referred to

as a “declaration of war” by Gunnar Madsen

of the Danish Rock council Rosa. Hopefully it

won’t be so dramatic, but certainly the festival

season 2015 will become more than interest-

ing...

We can take it for granted that the festival

landscape in 2015 will look very different. First

announcements for new festivals such as Tin-

derbox in Denmark by FKP Scorpio, Der Ring

Grüne Hölle Rock at Nürburgring and its sister

events Rockaviaria and Rock in Vienna in Aus-

tria by DEAG and an edition of the US-Event

Lollapalozza in Berlin are only the tip of a festi-

val iceberg heading into some sort of a climate

change.

Competition is heating up. Newcomers such as

Bravalla in Sweden or the Best Kept Secret in

the Netherlands by the local branches of FKP

Scorpio or Down The Rabbit Hole by Live Na-

tion subsidy Mojo Concerts have already indi-

cated the new movement in the festival circuit.

Without any doubt the trend is that the big

players within the concert industry are aiming

to gain market shares and to occupy niche-

playgrounds as well as the battlefield of big

major festivals.

Good News



PROFILE industry

1. Brief history of career…

I started my business on July 23, 1971 as a promoter of sorts.

I ran small events such as dances and local shows in New Jersey

and worked my way into concerts by 1972. In my late teens, when

beginning college, I was fortunate enough to occasionally work as

a back-up musician for Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, The Shirelles and

others . It was through those relationships that I went onto meet

Dionne Warwick who is still a client, as well as many other stars

in all areas of music. I went on to promote shows for Bette Midler,

Kool & The Gang, Focus and a number of other performers. I was

also fortunate to work on shows during the early years of Bruce

Springsteen and Cheech & Chong and then to diversify working in

Rock, R&B, Bluegrass and with a number of Motown artists.

2. Highlights of career.…

This is a difficult question to answer. I would have to say that

successfully breaking into the international market to book tours in

1984 was the beginning of the most important and interesting part

of my career. I currently conduct business in 53 countries. I have

great relationships with venues, promoters, festival organizers as

well as fellow agents and managers which allow me to book my

own artists and to consult with purchasers who require assistance

with negotiations for artists we do not represent on an exclusive

basis . While it is not music, we also have a robust business with

family entertainment shows which we produce and book all over the

world. This segment of our business started in 1988.

3. The best skill and worst habit…

I think I share a particular good skill with certain other of my

colleagues which is the ability to ask questions which give a clear

picture of the conditions of a project before discussing money. Too

often a representative might quote a price without first spending

a few minutes going over details. By reviewing facts beforehand,

it allows a representative to qualify or disqualify a certain artist or

show due to financial or production limitations. The best deal is a

comfortable deal for all parties. We have virtually no cancellations or

postponements and we attribute it to this way of working. My worst

habit is that I work too many hours.

4. Your New Year’s resolution…

On a personal note, it’s to have a little more time to give to my

2 grandsons. On a professional note, it is to grow our business

in another 3 to 4 countries which could be considered emerging

markets . There are a tremendous number of people who would like

to do business in certain countries and with the many calls and letter s

I receive from emerging markets, I believe 2015 and 2016 will be

exciting years.

5. 10 years from now…

I believe that with the many changes that are taking place in the live

performance industry, those of us who have been in this field for

many years will be searched out for new and interesting projects . It

will also be the case that as the careers of certain of today’s artists

go up and down, certain of us will be called upon to bring clarity on

goals they must set to sustain their touring business.

JOHN

REGN

A Name: John Regna

Company: World Entertainment Associates of America, Inc.

Email: [email protected]

Direct Phone: (407) 993-4000

Years in Music Industry: 44

Favorite artist: Eric Clapton

Favorite Interest outside of music: Reading Live Entertainment


Go online - www.vip-booking.com

Need to know who is touring Europe? ®

vip-booking.com

ARTIST AVAILSSee/Add more Artist Avails at VIP-Booking.com

Bo Kaspers Orkester

Orquesta Buena Vista Social ClubTerritory: Scandinavia, Eastern EU, UK, IrelandPeriod: June-JulyAgency: Sasa MusicAgent: David FlowerPhone: +44 20 7359 9232E-mail: [email protected]: www.sasamusic.com

Patti SmithTerritory: EuropePeriod: 2015Agency: Primary Talent InternationalAgent: Andy WoolliscroftPhone: +44 20 7400 4500E-mail: [email protected]: www.primarytalent.com/patti-smith/

THE ORCHESTRA starring ELO former members Territory: WorldwidePeriod: 2015Agency: World Entertainment Associates of AmericaAgent: John Regna - Artist Agent/ManagerPhone: +1 407-993-4000E-mail: [email protected]: www.THEORCHESTRAonline.com

8:58 PAUL HARTNOLL FROM ORBITALTerritory: The World excluding USAPeriod: May 2015 onwardsAgency: Value Added TalentAgent: Dan SilverPhone: +44 207 704 97 20E-mail: [email protected]: www.vathq.co.uk

Basement JaxxTerritory: EuropePeriod: 2015Agency: Primary Talent InternationalAgent: Peter EilliotPhone: +44 20 7400 4500E-mail: [email protected]: www.primarytalent.com/basement-jaxx/

Dionne Warwick Territory: WorldwidePeriod: 2015-2016Agency: World Entertainment Associates of AmericaAgent: John Regna - Artist AgentPhone: 407-993-4000E-mail: [email protected]: www.DionneWarwickTourPromo.com

Dionne Warwick

SYSTEM 7 FEATURING STEVE HILLAGETerritory: WORLD INCL USAPeriod: MAY 2015 ONWARDSAgency: VALUE ADDED TALENTAgent: DAN SILVERPhone: +44 2077049720E-mail: [email protected]: www.vathq.co.uk

Bo Kaspers Orkester Territory: World widePeriod: By requestAgency: Lifeline EntertainmentAgent: Michael HenrikssonE-mail: [email protected]: www.lifeline.se

TrickyTerritory: EuropePeriod: 2015Agency: Primary Talent InternationalAgent: Ben WinchesterPhone: +44 20 7400 4500E-mail: [email protected]: www.primarytalent.com/tricky/

Alan Parsons Live Project Territory: WorldwidePeriod: 2015-2016Agency: World Entertainment Associates of AmericaAgent: John Regna - Artist Agent/ManagerPhone: +1 407-993-4000E-mail: [email protected]: www.AlanParsonsTourPromo.com

Kölner Sportstätten



MULTIMEDIA FOR FESTIVALS Previously to promote a concert or a festival it just took

some billboards, flyers, perhaps some advertisements

and proper PR-work for printed press and radio. Today

of course it needs more. Communications around live

events have changed significantly and it is not only the

generation of digitals natives who know how to serve

and to handle a modern communication environment

for music events. The conversion of communication

and new media services is an ongoing process. Beside s

social media gadgets such as Facebook, Twitter or

Instagram it is furthermore music streaming services

such as Deezer, Spotify or SirusXM, that take up the

opportunity to replace the old school media format

radio. With this in mind, VIP News spoke with Richard

Zijlma from Amsterdam Dance Event and Eric van

Eerdenburg from Lowland Festival about their findings

regarding new media experiments and the experience

gained from them.

On the ADE website various new media services such as

Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Google are prominently

displayed. Nevertheless, the “media reports” section is also

make this efficient for both parties and were able to control this

content . We broadcast live and also recorded dedicated shows.

Total reach was about 30 million listeners globally so a great next

step. Serius SM for example had a reach of 9 million listeners in

the states!

What are your main conclusions regarding the data gained by

Spotify in reference to this years ADE edition?

– Richard Zijlma: Very interesting of course; we just hired a staff

member purely focused on data, cause we now want to interpret all

the data we collected from all platforms, our own website and ticket

sales for example. To be honest some outcome even surprises me,

on the other hand I have to be honest, this is also for us a relatively

new field.

On the Lowland website various new media services such

as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and so on are prominently

displayed . Whoich of them are so called ‘media partners’ and

which are perhaps sponsors?

– Eric van Eerdenburg: None of them are sponsors. None of them

are official media partners. Again, the fans subscribe to our festiva l

pages on these services. They are communication channels. We

need to be where the fans are.

spiked with many media reports from ranging from 3voor12,

BBC, Guardian NBC News. How much has ADE meanwhile

turned itself into a media venture and what is the strategy

behind this?

– Richard Zijlma: The essence is simple; we try to connect and to

engage with both electronic music lovers and music professionals

worldwide . I think, as we all do, nowadays, that we all switch during

the day to new media and old media, between online and off line

all the time. I think ideally the presence of an event like ADE should

be prominent in all those fields. And of course we are focused on

increasing presence online more and more. For example I think

a communication staff member should start watching his phone

instead working behind a desktop, cause most online time is now

spent on the phone. The whole landscape has changed over the

years. I love the challenges and specifically we like to work with those

companies because they know how to connect with the audience,

have a lot of relevant data and they are upfront when in comes to

innovation which fits the key values ADE has. For example we worked

also with Spotify and agreed to work on specific values; bring reach,

engagemen t and innovation. The partnership ended very successfully.

For example we had homepage takeover in several countries during

ADE for example USA and Mexico!

You even ran ADE Radio for the first time. How does it work

and what is your experience of working with SiriusXM?

– Richard Zijlma: There was a lot of demand from international

radio station to cover ADE. With ADE Radio we were able to

What are your main conclusions regarding the data gained by

Spotify in reference to the previous Lowland edition?

– Van Eerdenburg: It gives a great insight into the importance of

festivals in discovering new music. The dynamics of a festival are

different from a headline show, or small specialized festival. People that

don’t necessari ly buy a ticket for the festival to see certain acts, still

try to find out about the acts that they do not know. And this survey

proves they do it in large numbers. Unlike a lot of other big festivals

Lowlands is a festival that does not exclusively thrive on headliner s,

but on ‘subliners ’ and debuting acts; an ideal festival to put on the

acts that are looking for a bigger audience. In the old days one tried

to sell ticket s at the specialize d record stores for unknown acts. That’s

the place where the true music fans would be. Almost 70% of the

Lowlands fans use Spotify . This number will grow since it’s a very well

organised service. We need to be where the music fans are. Artists that

are not on this type of service are not of this age. It’s this, or it’s piracy.

How many people are working for Lowlands to serve the

various new media channels?

– Van Eerdenburg: I have three people working on promotion, mixed

on- and offline at the peak promotion times. It’s not a separate thing.

They run Lowlands & Down The Rabbit Hole. More and more Social

Media gains importance in communication with our audience.


MEGAFORCE

A concert without our stage is like a body without a soul

WWW.MEGAFORCE.DEMegaforce Veranstaltungs GmbH

Jöhlinger Straße 118D-76356 Weingarten

Phone: +49 7244/7202-0Fax: +497244/7202-22Mail: [email protected]

Eric van Eerdenburg, Photo by Sanne CouprieRichard Zijlma, Photo by Aico Lind


armentertainment.com

Legendary EntertainmentICONIC , CLASSIC, CONTEMPORARY


Randy Phillips

Randy Phillips, former AEG Live CEO, is

now the CEO of Global Entertainment, a newly-launched U.S. division

for London-based Global, The Media and Entertainment Group.

The multifaceted company will include touring, label, publishing, artis t

management, branding/sponsorships and marketing divisions, with

new headquarters based in Los Angeles and a London office. Phillips

will be based in LA and oversee U.S. affairs and worldwide content for

Global Entertainment.

Phillips believes the Global model is the way of the future. “I believe

that within three to five years, all of the major labels that exist will look

like Global”, he told billboard earlier this year.

Global founder/executive president Ashley Tabor has used U.K.’s

largest commercial radio company Global Radio as a base to create

an entertainment company that now includes Global Television and

Global Publishing (Ellie Goulding, Corinne Bailey Rae, LMFAO), with

the latter to be part of the Global Entertainment U.S. division under

Phillips.

“This is a defining moment for Global as we open our first office in

the U.S. and create a new type of content company,” Global founder

Ashley Tabor said earlier this year.

“Our goal is to redefine the possibilities for a 21st century music

and entertainment company and I am thrilled to have Randy and the

team on board.”

Phillips comes to Global Entertainment after 13 years as CEO at AEG

Live, where he promoted world tours by artists such as Justin Timberlake ,

Bon Jovi, Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Jennifer Lopez, Enrique Iglesias , Rod

Stewart, and Prince. He oversaw the expansion of AEG Live`s Festival

Division (Coachella, Stagecoach, New Orleans Jazzfest) and produced

films featuring Michael Jackson, Bieber and Katy Perry. Phillips also

managed or co-managed Stewart, Toni Braxton, Lionel Richie and Usher,

and, with former partner Arnold Steifel.

Phillips surprisingly left in late 2013 a year after he signed a new five-

year contract. The departure came shortly after a jury found AEG not

guilty in the wrongful death suit filed by the family of Michael Jackson.

PHILLIPS CEO OF GLOBAL ENTERTAINMENT


Rob da Bank

Keep a cool head.

www.novitas-hamburg.de

novitas insurance brokers. In any event.

novitas_Anzeige_VIP_2015_A4_03.indd 1 10.02.15 13:55

BESTIVAL EXPANDS IN UK AND CANADA Bestival recently announced a new festival in

Toronto, which will take place on the city’s

Hanlan’s Point Beach on 12-13 May.

“We have waited twelve years to decide to

launch another Bestival outside of the UK. It

took a really special city, and an even more

exciting site, with Toronto and Toronto Island,

to make us take the leap. So, the waiting is

over and we are so excited to be launching in

North America in June, with a classic Bestival

line-up waiting to thrill, intrigue and party”,

Rob da Bank said to CMU earlier this year.

The event is being launched in partnership

with Canadian promoters Embrace and the

ever expansive SFX Entertainment.


Team Bestival has also expanded their UK

operations with their new city-based festival

in Southampton called Common People. That

is due to take place 23-24 May, with the first

day headlined by Fatboy Slim.

Rob da Bank says about this:

It’s the first new venture since we

started Camp Bestival seven years

ago. We have been inundate d

with offers to start new

festivals every year but it

wasn’t until we found the

beautiful site of the Common

that we felt it was right to start a new chapter

in Bestival’s history. This isn’t a camping show,

it’s not a tents, wellies and car packed to the

rafters experience… it’s a metropolitan two

day show easy to access and

open to all ages, compact

but packed with

experiences and

priced very, very

reasonably. ”

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