VIP-BOOKING.COM

PreMIuM ›› VOl. 125 ›› MAY 2010

www.VIP-BOOKING.COM

Since the last News I have dined on very fresh fish on a mountaintop and eaten even fresher seafood in a restaurant in a fjord on a small island accessible only by boat. It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it! All will be explained in the Ber-genfest/Summer Sundae report in this issue. My trip to Norway was marred only by slight worries about the possibility of volcanic ash clouds grounding flights, but all was well. For the second music business event of May, I had no such travel anxie-ties, as the business came to me! For the fifth year running I was gracious enough to allow The Great Escape to take place in my home town – city actually – of Brighton. In truth they didn’t ask me they just turned up, but as you will read in this issue they did ask me to chair a couple of panels, and it would have been churlish to refuse!

For once the sun came out to greet bands and business from all over. Having arranged meetings with Noorderslag/Eurosonic, The Reeperbahn Festival, MaMA, the new event planned for Paris this October, and the Swiss Music Export Office, amongst others, an outside table at a the pub across the road from the event’s headquarters be-came the ideal place to relocate my office for a couple of days! Most people were very taken with Brighton, and it appeared that

some of them even liked the sight and the sound of the seagulls – there’s no account-ing for taste! At one point it seemed that my modest dwelling (with a view of the sea!) was going to be overrun by stranded international music business people when it was announced that UK airports were being closed on the Sunday. This was not helped by train companies that, even in the middle of the Brighton Arts Festival, the second biggest in the UK, never mind The Great Escape, are unable to run a full service, substituting clapped out buses for part of the journey to Gatwick Airport and beyond, still in the end everyone managed to get home, and my mate Ken the taxi driver did very well!

An interesting sub-text to the Live Nation and Ticketmaster merger concerns rock

singer Axel Rose of Guns ‘n’ Roses fame. In a dispute over management royalties he is counter-suing the man who could arguably be considered the most pow-erful man in the music business, his ex-manager Irving Azoff, now the Chairman of Live Nation Entertainment, and still boss of Front Line Management, which looks after 200 top artists from the Ea-gles, Van Halen and Christina Aguilera to Willie Nelson and the Kings of Leon. Axel wants $5 million in damages from Azoff, and has included in his suit, amongst many other things I’m sure, an accusation that by coercing and bullying artists he is in violation of the government decree which granted consent for the merger to go ahead. I can’t really see it happening, but as there are many concert companies who expect to be at the very least, shall we say, overshadowed, by the live music giant, it would be remarkable to see the US Government withdraw merger permis-sion on the grounds of bullying!

So – talking of monsters, volcanic ash and the worrying prospects of new eruptions permitting, particularly as I am heading in that direction, I will be reporting back from Inverness and Loch Ness next month, as I will be attending Go North. For now I wish you all well and … here is the News!

1

McGowan’s Musings:

Allan McGowan

The VIP-Booking european live entertainment BookAdvertising in the VIP Book will make you visible to 10.000 business

professionals all over europe. You will find no better place to expose your

company to the whole european live entertainment Industry.

›› reserVe YOur Ad NOw ON www.VIP-BOOKING.COM

VIP- News

2

VIP-BOOKING.COM

Colophon ››

VIP-News is published by: VIP-Booking26 York StreetLondon W1U 6pZ

Managing director: Ronni Didriksenrd@vip-booking.com

General Manager: Peter Briggspb@vip-booking.com

writer and editorial: Allan McGowanam@vip-booking.com

writer: Manfred Tari mt@vip-booking.com

For advertising enquiries pls. contact Peter Briggs pb@vip-booking.com or +44 870 755 0092

lay-out: Pekaye Graphics, Phuket – Thailandinfo@pekayegraphics.com

VIP- News - M a y 2 0 1 0

Last month Micki Pick and business part-

ners Daniel Czichopad and Georg Schmitz-

Behrenz celebrated the 20th anniversary of

their venue, Live Music Hall. The 1.800 ca-

pacity venue is located in Cologne Ehren-

feld and is equally well known nationally.

In 2004 the business partners of Live Music

Hall also took over the concert club The Un-

derground, a smaller concert club with two

rooms, one for 400 and one 200 persons.

Micki Pick (53) is well known in the concert

business. He started in the music business

as an agent, working for acts such as the

Phantom Band with Jaki Liebezeit, the bass

player of Can, and Helmut Zerlett the key-

board player, who later became popular as

the band leader for the late night show of

Harald Schmidt, a German adaptation of

the Jay Leno TV show in the US.

Over the years Pick continued to work

as an agent. Currently he is setting up a

worldwide tour with Swiss Electro pio-

neers Yello. VIP-News talked with Pick

about the difficulties for local promoters,

offers from abroad and the level of today’s

ticket prices.

VIP-News: How were these 20 years for the Live Music Hall in Cologne?

Micki Pick: Up and downs. The beginning

was amazing, a lot of surprises. During the

20 years we saw a lot of shows, parties and

I suppose after a while we just found our

way.

VIP-News: Did you need to invest a lot in refurnishing the location and improving PA and Lights?

Pick: Every five years we changed things

like the backstage facilities and decoration

in the venue we use for our party and disco

events. We changed a lot of things espe-

cially regarding the sound and lighting sys-

tem. We don’t have an option of not doing

it because after a while you simply have to

do it. It is not a question of if we want, we

simply have to do it. So we changed the

sound company and right now I guess we

have a really nice sound.

VIP-News: Is it the artists or the audience who really require and demand this?

Pick: Actually it’s both. You get a good vibe

and good feedback from the audience and

the artists. They come in and say “Wow

what’s happened here? You changed things

and the sound is much better”.

VIP-News: When it comes to the business for local promoters in the Cologne area what has changed in the last, let’s say one and a half or two years? Did you see any major changes?

Pick: Oh yes. Things changed because we

have more clubs, particularly in the area

of Cologne-Ehrenfeld. In the early days

we started here almost alone and noth-

ing else was happening around our venue.

But right now there are six, seven clubs if

it’s rock or electronic or whatever. There

are more and more people coming. That

is good because everybody is doing his

or her thing and this is really positive. The

more clubs there are the better it is.

VIP-News: So you benefit from the compe-tition in your neighbourhood?

Pick: It is good that we have competition.

I wish we would even have ten clubs next

to us. It is good because in this case Live

Musik Hall and our affiliate venue The Un-

derground benefit from so much going

on in the neighbourhood. We are very

happy with the results due to this devel-

opment.

VIP-News: When it comes to ticketing, what kind of changes have you seen within the last couple of years in the market?

20 Years of live Music HallManfred Tari mt@vip-booking.com

Live Music Hall - Cologne

3

VIP-BOOKING.COM

VIP- News - M a y 2 0 1 0

Pick: Well, a lot of promoters hire the Live

Music Hall. So I can’t tell you really much

about their situation. When we are doing

our own shows I would say nothing has

changed a lot because the settings have

been in place for so long. We are selling

our tickets through Köln Ticket, and in

this case we haven’t found anything new

or changed.

VIP-News: Isn’t there a development in terms of the consumer behaviour? It is still the case that most shows sell out in advance or is there something like a re-turn of the box office walk-up to be seen?

»Selling tickets in advance is the main thing and selling tickets at

the door seems to belong toa long time ago...«

- Micki Pick

Pick: No. Selling tickets in advance is the

main thing and selling tickets at the door

seems to belong to a long time ago, even

for Reggae and Electronic Music events.

Even these types of audience now buy

their a tickets long time in advance.

VIP-News: Today there are ticket opera-tors such as Smartticket or Ticketskript, which offer their services to venues to sell tickets directly. Would that also be a solution for the Live Music Hall or do you prefer that tickets are available via the big networks like CTS Eventim or Ticket-master?

Pick: There are still companies that make

us offers to sell tickets for the Live Music

Hall but we don’t want to do it. We are still

handling the ticketing with Köln Ticket

because it is much easier for us.

VIP-News: In the past, correct me if I’m wrong, you also promoted many more shows yourself. Doesn’t this make more sense for you?

Pick: No, we don’t want to do more our-

selves. Of course we promote shows but

we rather prefer to promote parties and

disco events, which are linked with a far

lower risk. The fees and production costs

for concerts went up and I believe it oc-

casionally doesn’t make sense to pay so

much money. Other colleagues should do

so if they want to do. I’m already happy

when we supply them with the venue and

I very much hope that they’re happy with

the venue too.

VIP-News: What’s your view on increased fees and production expenses then?

Pick: My experience is that the fee and

the whole production costs are much too

high. But it wouldn’t change anything

because you have always somebody, an

agent or promoter who is willing to pay

the requested fee. Because even if nine

promoters say we don’t agree to pay so

much money you will find one, the tenth,

who will say “Yes, I’ll pay it”. So, the agent

is in a very nice position when he ap-

proaches local promoters and says “make

me an offer with a ‘like whatever’ guaran-

tee fee and if a local promoter says ‘No’

they will go to the next one, to the third,

fourth or whoever. Someone will say yes

and is going to pay it.

VIP-News: Do you also get offers for art-ists or shows from agents outside of Ger-many for instance?

Pick: Yes, we get offer from offers from

UK agencies, not only once or twice, but

indeed very often, even for arena shows.

We tell them, “No way, we don’t agree to

pay a one hundred or two hundred or

three hundred thousand fee”. It does not

make sense for us to bear such big risks.

VIP-News: Did something like this already take place in the past?

Pick: Yes, of course, it’s happened.

VIP-News: Is there an increase or is it pret-ty much the same number of agents that

come to you with direct offers for shows concerts?

Pick: It is more less the same. I mean ac-

tually I’m convinced they tried before

somewhere else. Because somebody says

no way, they come to us and to sell their

act to us. But I’m sure that I wasn’t the first

one they approached.

VIP-News: What’s your impression of the level of prices for tickets?Pick: I guess for club shows they’re ok,

but outside the club circuit in particular

on the arena level it is too much, too high.

But you see the result. I mean club shows

are very often sold out. If you take a look

on shows with a capacity of ten thousand

and more they’re very often not sold out

and I suspect they’re even losing the

money.

VIP-News: Do you expect that what is happening on the top level in this indus-try may also sooner or later affect the club business?

Pick: No, I guess the club business will

always be like twenty years ago because

this is where the concert business begins.

If it’s a club for 100 people or for 1000

people it doesn’t matter, this is the first

step to coming to see a live show and this

is what the people like, small venues and

I expect nothing will change on this level.

It was twenty years ago the same, ten

years ago, it is still the same today and in

ten years it’ll be the same.

VIP-News: So what are the plans for the Live Music Hall in the near future?

Pick: Well, to do as many shows as we can

and of course parties and disco events.

This is the basis of or our business and

this how we are earn our money, so noth-

ing will change a lot. Sometimes we have

a month with more shows and a month

later with fewer shows. But on the week-

end on Fridays, Saturdays when we have

party events it is always the same; we al-

ways have a full house.

VIP-News: Well done and good luck for the next 20 years.

Pick: Thank you very much.Micki Pick, Georg Schmitz-Behrenz and

Daniel Czichopad

4

VIP-BOOKING.COM

VIP- News - M a y 2 0 1 0

60 hours live broadcast on Radio, TV and

the Web.

For the 25th anniversary of Rock Am Ring

public station Suedwestrundfunk will ex-

pand its engagement and devote tri-me-

dial coverage to the Rock am Ring Festival.

In particular the radio station SWR3 will run

a ‘Festivalradio’ within its regular program-

ming and on SRW3.de, the tri-medial youth

format DasDing will feature the event via

TV, Radio and Online, while the TV-Outlet

SWR will screen concert recordings.

The total amount of TV coverage adds up

to 30 hours. EinsPlus which is part of the

digital TV channel outlet of the public sta-

tion network ARD will screen live concerts

from June 3to 6. The TV-coverage is dedi-

cated to the Alternastage of Rock Am Ring.

The ARD-affiliated station Suedwestfunk

will act as the lead station and provide the

recording facilities for the media coverage.

As well as the concert recordings on the

Alternastage which features acts includ-

ing Jan Delay & Disko Nr.1, Editors, Kate

Nash, Mötorhead, Slayer, Them Crooked

Vultures and The Hives, the station will

show interview features and background

reports with artists and celebrities and the

promoters.

SRW3, the Suedwestrundfunk radio outlet

announced the broadcast of 60 hours live

from the festival on an extra frequency

While the coverage by the public station

is reserved to Alternastage, commercial

station MTV will screen some shows from

the Rock Am Ring Centre Stage, but at the

time of asking the MTV press office had no

details concerning the acts to be featured.

einsPlus expands rock Am ring Media CoverageAllan McGowan am@vip-booking.com

Rock Am Ring festival

5

VIP-BOOKING.COM

VIP- News - M a y 2 0 1 0

The European Festival Association

YOUROPE has taken the lead in health

and safety issues and has delivered semi-

nars throughout Europe over the past

ten years. Now integrated with the ILMC

Safety Focus Group, the YOUROPE Event

Safety group (YES) will continue this mis-

sion and act as a catalyst in the context of

event safety, crowd management and as-

sociated disciplines.

The non-profit group will facilitate part-

ners across Europe to engage in dialogue

and activities, which support the devel-

opment of best practice at events. The

group has a vision to enhance the knowl-

edge of, and enable participation in, the

support of initiatives, which continually

strive to create safer event environments

in Europe.

The focus of the group is on the

following areas;

Crowd Management •

Health & Safety •

Event Security •

Risk Assessment, Analysis and •

Management

Systems and Procedures •

Business Continuity •

Disaster Management•

Through an active approach to the subject

and support from agencies and event busi-

nesses, the Group intends to support the

development of a generic safety culture

through the following aims and objectives:

To encourage dialogue related to health

and safety, crowd management and as-

sociated disciplines at events through con-

ferences, projects and other forms

To create a forum through which existing

knowledge can be shared by the widest

possible audience

To create new knowledge through projects

based in the live event environment and

through academic approaches

To encourage knowledge exchange/trans-

fer and the dissemination of best practice

from existing events to others

To make Governmental Organisations

aware where conflicting practices or con-

fusing legislation have been identified

To seek funding for individual projects

through the network of industrial partners

and organisations

To create original data in an available for-

mat accessible easily by those working in

events across Europe

To identify and discuss issues pertinent to

the event environment

Over the last ten years the group has

delivered seminars throughout Europe

focusing on the real issues on health and

safety at concerts. The group in partner-

ship with industry and education re-

ceived funding from the European Coun-

cil for Health and Safety to create a health

and safety database for those working at

events to enable them to use good prac-

tice to help them develop and deliver risk

assessment, safety procedures and view

and utilise a range of tools including job

descriptions and guidance from across

Europe.

Presently the group is working on a range

of activities and focusing on show stop

procedures, new configurations of event

venues and topics such as weather and

unusual conditions at events. Whenever

issues occur the group makes it possible

for those at events to discuss these in de-

tail, learn and then apply good practice to

their own events.

Headed up by Chris Kemp from Bucks New

University the seminars and workshops

have already had a big impact on YOUROPE

and have taken place across Europe in Gro-

ningen, Berlin and Great Missenden. There

are two seminars a year. The first exclusive-

ly for YOUROPE members and the second

is opened up to a wider audience from a

range of disciplines working at events and

festivals.

One of the main focuses of the group is to

make as much progress as possible in stop-

ping deaths and injury at events. The use

of Roskilde as a model has been very useful

for this and in conjunction with Bucks New

University a series of research projects have

been carried out trialled firstly at Roskilde

and then pushed out into a range of fes-

tivals around Europe. The pressure barrier

study, questionnaires on health and safety

and most recently the pressure suit project

have all followed this pattern. A new edu-

cation course for those at events is current-

ly being developed and will be available to

YOUROPE members in September.

The next seminar on September 23/24,

2010 during the Reeperbahn Festival in

Hamburg/Germany promises an exciting

and progressive programme and we hope

to attract as many members as possible to

share ideas and knowledge in the develop-

ment of practical health and safety cultures

across the festival arena.

About YOurOPe:

YOUROPE was founded in November

1998. The association currently has over

60 members which are among the most

well established festivals in Europe. All

YOUROPE’s members are dedicated to

improving the European festival scene in

terms of working conditions, health and

safety music talent. The overall aim of the

association is to collaborate and share best

practice, and to pinpoint areas that would

benefit from a joint approach. YOUROPE is

founding partner of the European Talent

Exchange Program www.etep.nl and the

live music lobby European Live Music Fo-

rum www.elmf.eu

Contacts:

For more information about The Yourope

Event Safety Group - The YES Group, please

contact Professor Chris Kemp Executive

Dean, The Faculty of Design, Media & Man-

agement Buckinghamshire New University

Chris.Kemp@bucks.ac.uk

Yourope Takes A lead on event Health and safetyAllan McGowan am@vip-booking.com

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

6

VIP-BOOKING.COM

VIP- News - M a y 2 0 1 0

Elsewhere in this issue festival news has

been very upbeat – in the Great Escape ar-

ticle we refer to the PRS for Music findings

that the festival sector was responsible for

a large percentage of the 2009 growth in

live revenue, and the Bergenfest, Summer

Sundae link up has got the festival twin-

ning project off to a very good start.

But not all events are experiencing good

times and much as we have talked about

the support of local authorities for events,

the police can still decide to forbid a festival

taking place, even if there is local authority

support. Lawyer Ben Challis finds this wor-

rying and alerted VIP-News about the can-

cellation of The Glade Festival. Amongst

other things Ben acts as General Counsel

for the Glastonbury Festival and helped

found non-profit organisation A Greener

Festival with the aim of encouraging mu-

sic festivals to adopt environmentally con-

scious initiatives. He also pointed out other

events that have become casualties in simi-

lar circumstances, such as Moonfest 2008,

and this year’s Strawberry Fayre.

The Glade Festival scheduled for what

would have been its 7th edition on July

15-18 this year at Matterly Bowl near Win-

chester has been cancelled, even though,

as organiser Nick Ladd states, “The Police

themselves said that the Glade 2009 was ‘a

well run event with low crime figures’. The

local council was in full support of the event

and the local people were in and almost 2

to 1 majority support of it but the police still

tried to stop it. Ticket sales weren’t strong

but they weren’t that bad either – the thing

that tipped us into cancelling was the fact

that at police and licensing authority insist-

ence we had to spend a total of £310,000 on

stewards security and policing. That’s more

than we spend on music. The police bill

alone had gone up from £29.000 in 2009 to

£90,000 this year.”

The Glade Festival, started out as a stage

at Glastonbury Festival in 2001 aiming to

provide a dedicated underground elec-

tronic music stage for the best of non-

mainstream dance music within Glaston-

bury.

Trade FairShowcase FestivalConferenceNetworkingFilm MarketAwardsvirtualWOMEX

Copenhagen, Denmark27 – 31 October 2010

www.womex.com

��������

��������

����

���

���������

Glade Festival CancelledAllan McGowan am@vip-booking.com

Ben Challis

7

VIP-BOOKING.COM

VIP- News - M a y 2 0 1 0

(Glade will continue to host this stage.) In

late 2003, after a combination of a series

of free parties being stopped by the police

and the fact that the Glade at Glastonbury

was such a success, the idea to bring the

often unlicensed free party vibe under

the umbrella of a proper music festival. In

July 2004 the idea came to fruition, and it

worked. In 2009 Glade moved to Matter-

ley Bowl to present what was considered

the best ever edition. Hopes were high for

2010, but things didn’t work out.

Nick ladd continues, “It’s difficult because

the vast majority of policemen and women

we come into contact with are really good

people but somewhere at decision making

level there are people who really couldn’t

care less about cultural diversity, art or mu-

sic. What they are interested in is numbers

on a spreadsheet and how they are gonna’

look personally at the end of the year, based

on those figures. I don’t see how that is serv-

ing the public interest in any way at all. I

think they need to be reminded that life is

for enjoying as well as being safe and free

from crime.”

There is an official statement regarding the

cancellation and ticket refunds at:

www.gladefestival.com

Nick Ladd concludes, “The communities

and families behind the Glade are still strong

and there is nothing but love for the event;

that’s not just gonna’ go away. First we’re

gonna’ get through this latest chapter and

then we’ll go from there.”

UNIQUE AND DOUBLY GOOD

Tel. +49 (0) 711/9554-40Fax +49 (0) 711/9554-500

info@hallenduo.dewww.hallenduo.de

ThE hALL DUO IN NEckArpArk

STUTTGArT cATchmENT ArEA: mOrE ThAN 3 mILLION pEOpLE • hANNS-mArTIN-SchLEYEr-hALLE: Up TO 15,500 SpEcTATOrS

pOrSchE-ArENA: Up TO 7,500 SpEcTATOrS • 2010: ...WhITNEY hOUSTON, DEEp pUrpLE, rONAN kEATING, chrIS rEA...

AZ_in_stutt_VIPbook_RZ.indd 1 23.11.2009 18:17:54 Uhr

The Glade Festival cancelled

8

VIP-BOOKING.COM

VIP- News - M a y 2 0 1 0

Visiting Bergenfest for the festival’s first

edition as the ‘twin’ of Leicester’s Summer

Sundae event, we journalists could not

have received better hospitality from the

organisers or from the Norwegian City.

Leicester will have to look to its laurels

when returning the favour to a Bergen

delegation! But how does a city in the mid-

lands of the UK find activities to compare

with lunch on a mountain top accessed by

cable car with – when the clouds cleared

– a more than spectacular view, and an-

other lunch at a restaurant accessible only

by boat, which cultivates its own seafood?

Coda’s Rob Challice and his Summer Sun-

dae team, and the Leicester City Council

are, I’m sure, working on it!

If the Association of Independent Festivals

idea of twinning international festivals is to

work then the local authorities must offer

support, after all the tourism opportuni-

ties are obvious, and who knows what oth-

er cooperation’s may evolve. After years of

initial disapproval, followed by grudging

tolerance, followed by a realisation of just

how much in both economic and cultural

terms, a festival brought to various loca-

tions, national, city and regional authori-

ties have in many cases come to realise

that festivals are quantifiable assets, and

that they should work with, rather than

restrict, the organisers. The report on The

Great Escape elsewhere in this issue in-

cludes a message of support from a city

Council representative. Some realised the

worth of these events earlier than others.

Frode Aasheim, Manager of the Bergen

Convention Bureau, part of the Bergen

Tourist Board, told VIP-News, “Bergen-

fest started in 1993, and is now one of the

leading music festivals in Norway. The fes-

tival has during the years made the city of

Bergen highly visible on the musical scene,

both nationally and internationally. The

festival received the Prize of Honour from

Bergen Tourist Board in 2001 for ‘Excellent

Marketing of Bergen’, and I am sure that the

twinning of Bergenfest and Summer Sun-

dae, not only will strengthen both festivals

in the years to come, but also further con-

tribute to promote our city as an exciting

and popular destination for cultural events.

We highly appreciate it and are looking for-

ward to working even closer with Bergenfest

in the future.”

Bergenfest promoter Frank Nes was equal-

ly as hospitable as the City, and concerned

himself with all aspects of our promotional

visit.

VIP-News spoke to him about the event,

his relationship with the City, and his year

round business:

Frank Nes: We do all year round promo-

tions through a company called Bergen

Live www.bergenlive.no, a company with

six employees which promotes shows

in Bergen. This company also has a man-

agement agreement with the foundation

that promotes Bergenfest. Bergen Live

promotes some 45-50 shows a year. Over

the last few years we have sold between

135.000 – 145.000 tickets per year for the

Bergen Live promoted shows. In addition

Bergenfest attracts about 35.000 punt-

ers yearly (the festival is presented over 5

days – this year April 27 – May 2.). Bergen’s

population is approximately 250.000, thus

a large chuck of the city’s population at-

tend shows.

VIP-News: When and how did you start promoting, and what acts have you have worked with over the years?

Nes: I started with concert promotions as a

student in the early nineties at a club then

called Maxime. Then, for ten years I worked

with Bergenfest as a part time employee

along with being head of the western Nor-

wegian branch office for Norway’s fiction

writers. In 2001 I joined Stageway, then

the largest artist management and agency

in Norway, and worked with concert pro-

motions and artist management. From

2003 onwards I have worked full time with

Bergen Live and Bergenfest. Acts I have

worked with are as diverse as they can be,

I guess. With Bergenfest we present just

about any type of musical genre you can

think of. (This is true, on this visit to Ber-

genfest I saw Randy Newman, The Resi-

dents (very strange!) The New York Dolls,

Femi Kuti and various rock acts – very

eclectic! – Ed.) This is also the strength of

the festival. Acts include everything from

Robert Plant, Neil Young and Nick Cave to

seminal world music and folk acts.

With Bergen Live we have promoted acts

such as The Rolling Stones, Metallica,

Bruce Springsteen and Foo Fighters at the

main open air venue Bergenhus Festning –

a 22.000 capacity medieval fortress in the

middle of the city - but we also do small

club shows with artists like Jackie Leven

and The Handsome Family, to name a few.

We pride ourselves in treating the artists

and our audience in such a manner that

they leave our show and Bergen wanting

to come back. It’s as easy as that, really. Be-

ing a local promoter is basically being able

to supply the goods all the way through

the supply chain, and you must acknowl-

edge that everyone is important to make a

show a success.

VIP-News: Has the City always been as supportive as it now appears to be? How’s the competition - is Live Nation a worry to you?

Bergenfest – The First of The Festival TwinsAllan McGowan am@vip-booking.com

Frode Aasheim, Manager of the Bergen Convention Bureau

Bergenfest

9

VIP-BOOKING.COM

VIP- News - M a y 2 0 1 0

Nes: The City’s support has grown along

with our own development as a promoter,

i.e. bringing bigger artists to Bergen has

opened the City’s eyes to the importance

of having a local promoter such as Bergen

Live and Bergenfest. The Bergen people

pride themselves in standing out from

the rest of our countrymen and our rela-

tive success with bringing big name acts

to Bergen and making Bergenfest into one

of Norway’s best festivals certainly adds to

the pride of being from Bergen.

As for Live Nation, we do a lot of shows with

them, most of our big shows are co-promo-

tions with Live Nation in Oslo and without

Rune Lem and his team we would never

have made it this far with Bergen Live. The

Norwegian market is pretty transparent

and even though Live Nation is the biggest

player in our country it is my impression

that the market works pretty well and there

is a place for everyone. We work with all the

agencies that can bring talent to Bergen.

summer sundae:

Bergenfest and Leicester’s Summer Sun-

dae are similar in as much as they present

a range of genres and are staged in the

centre of the city, the Norwegian event

uses 10 indoor venues of varying size and

the Leicester festival takes place in the De

Montfort Hall and on outdoor stages in the

surrounding gardens. Organiser Rob Chal-

lice of Coda Agency took a distinctly hands

on approach to promotion on the Bergen

trip! – (See photo) This year’s tenth edition

of Summer Sundae includes, Seasick Steve,

Tinchy Stryder and Mumford & Sons, over

three days, August 13-15.

Not to be outdone by Bergen’s comments

on supporting the festival Tess Booth of

One Leicester Marketing told us, “When

I heard that Leicester’s Summer Sundae

Weekender was to be twinned with Ber-

genfest - I thought what a great idea!

Leicester is well known for its many festi-

vals throughout the year - with Summer

Sundae Weekender now in it’s tenth year it

is recognised as a key event in the calendar

both locally and nationally. I really believe

twinning with Bergenfest will encourage

continued friendship, understanding and

mutual benefit between people across

Europe. Leicester is a very continental city,

so we encourage visitors who have just vis-

ited Bergenfest to come over and experi-

ence the delights of our Summer Sundae

Weekender at Leicester’s De Montfort Hall

- we know they’ll be impressed!”

VIP-BOOKING.COM THE VIP-BOOK VIP-NEWS

Having the right tools for the job is often the key to success. Through our ongoing communication with key Live

Entertainment Industry Professionals, we have developed a range of services to meet the demands of agents, pro-

moters, talent buyers, venue bookers etc. It’s no coincidence that we are now considered to be the No. 1 information

provider for this thriving industry.

The VIP-BookThe ultimate print directory for the Eu-ropean Entertainment Industry, packedwith contacts and easy to use. An es-sential reference book for every offi ceproviding basic contact informationand a solid overview.

VIP-Booking.com VIP-NewsWritten by our highly merited journalists, Al-lan McGowan and Manfred Tari, with over 50years of experience between them in the En-tertainment Industry, VIP-News brings the lat-est news and views directly to your computerkeeping you up to date at all times.

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

????????

???????

????

??? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

????????? ›› ?????????›› ?????????

???????????????????

?????????

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

??????????????????????????????????????????????

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????? ???? ????????? ???? ???? ???? ??????????????? ????????? ????????????? ??????? ????? ???? ????????????? ???? ??????????? ???? ??????? ?????????? ???????????????? ????? ??????? ?????? ????????? ??? ?????????? ???????? ??????? ??????? ????? ??????? ??? ?????? ?????? ????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???? ??? ????? ???? ????????????? ???????? ???????? ????? ??????? ???????? ???????? ???????? ??????? ???? ??????? ???????????????????????????????????????? ????????? ????? ???????? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

??????????????

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

???? ??????? ??? ???? ??????????? ??? ?????????? ???? ???????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????? ?????? ????? ??? ??????????????? ???????????????????? ??????? ???????? ????? ?? ???????? ??????? ?? ????? ??? ??? ???? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

?????????? ??????? ?????? ???? ???? ??????? ?????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??? ????? ???? ????????? ????? ????? ??????? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

?

VIP-Booking.com is now the most widely used online information service for the European Live Entertainment Industry with subscribers in over 25 countries. Using the latest technology and state of the art tools, the service provides in-depth information streamlining the day-to-day operations of industry professionals, saving both time and money.

Bergen, Norway

10

VIP-BOOKING.COM

VIP- News - M a y 2 0 1 0

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

The 2011 ediTion is my 25Th birThdAy! Are you Coming To my pArTy?

The European music conference and showcase festival

euroSonicnoorderSlag

25th Anniversary edition - focus on The netherlands

GRONINGENTHE NETHERLANDS

GRONINGENTHE NETHERLANDS

The European Border Breaker Awards&The European Festival Awards

EuroSonic

Conference

EuroSonic

Conference

Noorderslag

Conference

11

VIP-BOOKING.COM

11

VIP- News - M a y 2 0 1 0

The Great Escape music convention and

festival took place by the sea in from

Thursday 13th - Saturday 15th May. Groove

Armada closed the festival playing to ca-

pacity crowd at Brighton’s Corn Exchange.

According to the organizers, this fifth edi-

tion attracted a record-breaking 16,000

ticket buying fans and music industry ex-

ecutives to the Brighton during the City’s

month long Arts Festival, to see 300 up

and coming acts from around the world

playing at over 30 venues, and a full pro-

gramme of panel discussions and talks

featuring speakers from the global music

business.

The Great Escape has not been particu-

larly fortunate with the weather for pre-

vious editions, it seemed that, as is often

the case with traveling fun-fairs, the event

inevitably brought rain and wind with it.

However, although the evenings turned

cold, 2010 was the year that the sun decid-

ed to shine on The Great Escape. Through-

out the sunny days it appeared that there

were bands playing in every available

space, on tops of bars, on the beach, in the

streets, and in the case of The King Blues

in the sewer system under Brighton Pier –

talk about getting down and dirty!

As usual with so many acts to see it was as

much about what you missed as what you

saw and everybody seemed to have their

own, ‘you should have seen…’ report. Of

those that I saw, LA all girl band Warpaint

will be big, and although being added at

the last minute, resulting in a small crowd,

Holland’s De Staadt were really worth see-

ing. Although UK acts were in the majority

there was a strong international element,

with Australians ( I missed their BBQ!) and

Canadians alongside European acts.

Conference:

The 3-day programme of talks, Q&As, de-

bates and networking events were hosted

by PRS for Music, we:LIVE and Music Ally.

Interesting talks included Great Escape

co-founder Martin Elbourne discussed the

emerging Indian market with last year’s

Young Entrepreneur Award winner Vijay

Nair and CODA’s Rob Challice interview-

ing Tom Windish founder of the Windish

Agency in the US. Amongst other points I

was interested to hear that Windish’s com-

pany had been investigating and begin-

ning to work with alternative venues and

spaces for their artist’s such as Museums.

The agent’s role is still the most traditional

and basically unchanged in an increas-

ingly volatile music business, and it’s good

to see some imagination being applied in

this sector.

New Figures for live:

Focusing, as VIP-News and I tend to, on

the live business I attended the ‘What is

Driving the Boom in Live [Music]?’ session

presented by PRS for Music economist and

statistician, Will Page. On the first day he

presented an overview of the live music

sector in a very well attended Pavilion The-

atre. At ILMC 21 in 2009, Page announced

that live had started to outperform the re-

corded music sector in terms of revenues

in 2008, and according to his team’s stats,

2009 saw revenues up an inflation beat-

ing 4%. Primary ticket sales were up 3.4%

while, according to ticketing stats people

Tixdaq, the secondary ticketing sector saw

its revenues shoot up 15%.

Page told TGE delegates: “The UK live music

industry continues to exceed expectations,

especially during an economic downturn.

In a week when it was shown that recorded

music revenues [according to BPI stats] may

be starting to turn a corner, it’s important

to ‘follow the money’ and appreciate the

The sun shines on The Great escapeAllan McGowan am@vip-booking.com

The Great Escape

The Great EscapeThe Great Escape

12

VIP-BOOKING.COM

12

VIP- News - M a y 2 0 1 0

consumers insatiable appetite for live mu-

sic, with more bands and more tickets than

ever before. It’s fascinating to consider that

events-based industries such as live music

have succeeded in growing their overall pie,

whilst so much of the digital media debate is

about cannibalisation”.

However as has been noted at ILMC 22 and

in various reports, there are still problems

with the small, ‘start-up’, and mid level

venues and businesses accounting for just

10% of revenue. The festivals sector ac-

counted for 20% of revenues and most of

the growth in 2009, with another 20% go-

ing to middle-sized venues leaving nearly

50% of live revenues being generated in

stadium and arena venues.

live Panels:

The Saturday sessions in the Pavilion The-

atre were devoted to live industry topics

with the day being hosted by promoter

and venue association we:LIVE. The first

panel, chaired by association founder

Dominique Czopor dealt with noise, and

with the problems of venues being faced

with closure due to local complaints and

lack of support from local and national

authorities. The session produced some

results with A representative of the Noise

Abatement Society being given a lot of in-

formation to take back to digest concern-

ing issues venues and promoters face. Also

we:LIVE has been asked to speak at a con-

ference in London which will be running

workshops for Local Councils on noise on

the 16 September, in attendance will be

approx 200 EHOs Environmental Health

Officers) from around the country.WMF (

Welsh Music Foundation) are to team up

with NAS on Live Music Study, and will be

working with we:LIVE on the bringing the

new promoter qualification AMP (see last

issue of VIP-News) to promoters in Wales.

Brighton venue The Freebutt, currently

facing a Noise Abatement Notice are go-

ing to liaise with NAS, and also Brighton

Creative to hopefully secure some help

and advise.

The Delegate feedback was that the lack of

communication/understanding between

councils and promoters/venue owners/

festival organisers is at the heart of a lot

of the issues- we:LIVE hopes to work with

other music trade associations to lobby

the Government.The Great Escape

13

VIP-BOOKING.COM

13

VIP- News - M a y 2 0 1 0

A second session covered Independent

Festivals, looking at their relationships

with agents amongst other things. Steve

Zapp of ITB was refreshingly open on the

question od festivals wanting exclusive

appearances from his acts.

Two afternoon sessions were chaired by

your VIP-News Editor. The first, ‘The Next

Stage - New Approaches to Promoting’,

looked at changing roles for promot-

ers, with panellists Dominique Czopor

(we:LIVE), Steve Machin, ex of Tixdaq, now

MD of Stormcrowd, Dave Newton MD of

We Got Tickets, Juha Kyrro of Fullsteam

in Finland, and young promoters Callum

Negus-Fancey of Lets Go Crazy, promot-

ers of shows for under-age audiences and

Russ Tannen of London Venue The Old

Blue Last. The younger promoters gave

an insight into their business models and

promoting techniques, and discussion

focused on how the promoter defines his

role. Also how promoters are diversify-

ing revenue streams, but offering acts

more than simply a show, how promoters

engage with their audiences, and brand

deals.

»From now on, those of us that have been knocking around that little bit longer should

probably shut up about how “we remember it when it was

all fields round here”«

- Dave Newton

Dave Newton summed up the panel find-

ings, “I think that what came out of it for

me was that it was obvious that things had

changed significantly compared to, say 20 or

even 10 years ago with those now involved in

live shows all playing their part in the promo-

tion of the show as well as having direct regu-

lar communication with all the other parties

involved (including the artist in many cases).

The potential for the ‘fan’ to be an active part

of the promotional mix in a structured (and

possibly rewarded) way is possible to realise

with the distinction between the ‘fan’ and

the ‘customer’ being more clearly visible than

it was. However the change in this structure

is largely irrelevant as it was obvious from

the newer promoters on the panel and in the

room that they just viewed the landscape as

it was now and not in comparison to how it

used to me. Their approach is based on how

it is and not how it has changed. From now

on, those of us that have been knocking

around that little bit longer should probably

shut up about how “we remember it when it

was all fields round here”!

The title of the second panel was, ‘Who

Puts the Fun in Funding?, with Chris Carey

- Economist, PRS for Music, Lord Tim Clem-

ent-Jones – Liberal-Democrat spokesman

on Arts and culture in The House of Lords,

Gary McClarnan - Sparkle Street, Benji

Rogers - Pledge Music, Laura Whitticase

of the PRS Foundation, Pip McEvoy of UK

Trade and Investment, and Robert Hacker

Jessett of the band Morton Valence (UK):

The session kicked off with Chris Carey

giving a concise run down on the pres-

ent financial state of the music business,

in response to the question, ‘Is this still an

industry considered worth funding?!’ Hav-

ing established that the figures confirmed

that it definitely is, the ‘establishment’

representatives outlined what they have

available and how to make approaches.

UKTI talked about budgets, and gave an

overview of what they do, PRSF also did

the same discussing funding options.

Lord Tim Clement-Jones explained the

efforts he has made to ease the licens-

ing strictures on small venues in order,

amongst other things, to make it more

viable for them to be able to present and

even pay start up acts. He agreed that the

UK should move more towards the setting

up of a dedicated UK Export Music Office

to extend the work of UKTI and to explore

with Music UK ways of making sure that we

support the development of new artists to

retain our music industry’s leading posi-

tion in the future. Perhaps his party’s new

role in Government may help to make this

happen – eventually.

The Great Escape

The Great EscapeThe Great EscapeThe Great Escape

14

VIP-BOOKING.COM

14

VIP- News - M a y 2 0 1 0

Pledge music really engaged the audience

with their fan –funding business model,

and discussed the importance of NOT

looking like you are begging for money!

Robert Hacker Jessett explained the fan

funding, or as he says crowd funding, of

their release, and discussed how it had

worked for them. Gary McClarnan looked at

legalities of funding by donation, and dis-

cussed various options for artists. (Gary later

suggested that a follow up session should

be, ‘How to put the ding! in funding’)

Strangely enough the stage was not

rushed by people with open hands or beg-

ging bowls, but notes were being taken

and it appears that the session engen-

dered some optimism and a realisation

that there are other doors to knock on if

the first one gets closed in your face!

As one might expect from a city that con-

tinually profiles itself as a centre for the

Arts, The Great Escape is supported and

encouraged by the local authorities. Don-

na Close of Brighton & Hove City Council

and Made In Brighton, commented, “ Once

again Brighton was delighted to host The

Great Escape offering up 3 days of excit-

ing new talent from around the world at

Europe’s most exciting festival and net-

working event for new music. We were

also delighted to have so many Brighton

based artists and acts on the bill as part of

our new Made In Brighton initiative.”

For further info on The Great Escape check

out www.escapegreat.com

The Great Escape

The Great Escape

15

VIP-BOOKING.COM

15

First quarter results underline growth-strategy.

In the first three months of 2010 CTS Eventim managed once

again to increase all relevant key positions. The turnover rose by

7.5 percent from 119 to 127.8 million Euros. The Earnings before In-

terests & Taxes (EBIT) rose 25.3 percent growing from 18.1 to 22.7

million Euro, the Earnings before Interests, Taxes, Depreciation

and Amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 23.8 percent from 20.2 to

25 million Euro.

According to CTS Eventim the growth, driven by the international

subsidiaries and online sales, was mainly within its Ticketing divi-

sion. The company sold 3.9 million tickets via the web compared

with 3.2 million tickets in Q1-2009. The turnover for the ticketing

segment of CTS Eventim before consolidation went up from 35.9

to 40.3 million Euro, the EBIT from 10.6 to12.3 million Euro, and the

EBITDA from 12.2 to 14.1 million Euros.

For the Live-Entertainment business segment the company even

achieved a new record for its Q1-results. Last year’s Q1- turnover

result was 83.9, this year it is 89.1 million Euro. The indicated EBIT

was 10.4 million Euro which is an increase of 38.1 percent com-

pared to 7.5 million Euro in Q1-2009. Also the EBITDA went up

36.2% from 8.0 to 10.9 million Euro.

The entire business report will be published on May 27. However,

the good results are currently not mirrored in the share price of

CTS Eventim. Impacted by the volatile situation on the financial

markets the share price is currently at 37.06 Euro. On April 7 the

share peaked at 40 Euros.

At the annual general assembly the shareholders approved pay

out of the highest dividend ever. In total the company distributes

19.9 million Euro which is an Earning Per Share (EPS) of 0.83 Euro.

Currently CTS Eventim has a share capital of 24 million shares. The

market capitalisation is 902 million Euro.

Once again Live Nation produces a loss.

Whilst due to the merger with Ticketmaster turnover rose 49.1%in

Q1-2010 from $484.9 million to $723.0 million, it’s the net loss of

$112 million ($0.76 per share) that burdens the company. For Q1-

2009 the net loss was $103 million or $1.29 per share.

Live Nation furthermore reported that the company had been

able to complete a refinancing measure worth $1.45 billion and

as a result had been able to improve its liquidity management.

Within the various segments of the company, Live Nation report-

ed a turnover decline for its Concerts division of minus 1.2 % from

$413.2 to $408.1 million. The turnover for its subsidiary Artist Na-

tion went up 66.4 % from $41.7 to $69.4 million, that of the Tick-

eting division jumped thanks to Ticketmaster from $9 to $208.9

million. The Sponsorship division also gained and went up 10.4 %

from $19.2 to $21.2 million, E-Commerce revenue leapt from $1.8

to $18.1 million.

Michael Rapino, CEO and president of the company was quoted in

the business report as saying: “We remain on track in eliminating

redundancies and driving a minimum of $40 million in merger syn-

ergies across our operations in 2010. In addition, we believe that our

recently closed debt refinancing will further improve our financial

position by providing operating benefits through a simplified capi-

tal structure and substantially improved liquidity. Our core concert

and ticketing businesses are entering the busiest time of the year

and show count and ticket sales globally remain on track to achieve

our plan for 2010.”

Live Nation reported long term debts of $1,526.8 million. Since

the beginning of May the share went down from $15.83 to $12.83.

Currently Live Nation has a market capitalisation of $851,79 mil-

lion (690 million Euro) lower than the CTS Eventim figure of 902

million Euro.

Business NewsManfred Tari mt@vip-booking.com

VIP- News - M a y 2 0 1 0

Oops, CTs eventim did it again!

Oops, live Nation did it again!

Michael Rapino - CEO Live Nation

VIP-BOOKING.COM

Admiral TTerritory: WorldwidePeriod: 2010-2011Agency: CARAMBA SpectaclesAgent: ClotairePhone: +33 1 4218 1718E-mail: caramba@clotaire.frHomepage: www.caramba.fr

lady GaGaTerritory: EuropePeriod: Spring 2010 onwardsAgency: William Morris Endeavor Ent.Agent: David LevyPhone: +44 20 7534 6800E-mail: dsl@wmeentertainment.comHomepage: www.ladygaga.com

ChristelleTerritory: WorldwidePeriod: 2010Agency: McGann MusicAgent: Don McGannPhone: +1 702 927 0100E-mail: posmcgann@aol.comHomepage: www.christellemusic.com

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: November 2010Agency: Paperclip AgencyAgent: Hilde SpillePhone: +31 24 323 9322E-mail: hilde@paperclip-agency.comHomepage: www.paperclip-agency.com

sweetTerritory: WorldwidePeriod: Generally availableAgency: ABS AgencyAgent: Nigel KerrPhone: +44 208 399 3474E-mail: absagency@btconnect.comHomepage: www.thesweet-now.com

16

artist avails ››

MORE ARTisT AvAiLs ON:www.viP-bOOkiNg.COM

POsT YOUR ARTisT AvAiLs ON:www.viP-bOOkiNg.COM

VIP- News - M a y 2 0 1 0

EARLY biRD tickets available until 31st May – register until 31st May and save

33% off the normal price!

Register now and get your ticket for 156 Euro instead of 236 Euro and get

full access to:

B2B marketplace from 8 to 10.09., networking events, Jazzkomm, Berlin Music

Week Congress powered by a2n, Popkomm opening party incl. New Music

Award on 7.09, listing in Popkomm guide and online database, Popkomm Fes-

tival @ Tempelhof and Kulturbrauerei, Berlin Festival @ Tempelhof (10 + 11.09),

free public transportation (BVG ticket)

Online registration: http://bit.ly/bpsRs9

Popkomm GmbH

Messedamm 22

14055 Berlin

Tel. +49 (0)30 3038 3009

Fax +49 (0)30 3038 2149

info@popkomm.de

www.popkomm.de

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, buying and selling notices, inquiries or alike. Announcements should be emailed to noticeboard@vip-booking.com

Popkomm 2010- Airport Berlin Tempelhof

VIP-Booking ApS cannot be held responsible for loss or damages

incurred as a result of transactions with individuals or companies

through the notice board. We recommend all to make the necessary

enquiries before entering into any agreements.

VIP-Booking ApS may not, for reason of space, be able to post all

announcements received. Announcements should be emailed to

noticeboard@vip-booking.com, including name and email address.

Please shorten your message to the extent possible, to make room for

as many notices as possible.

17

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

17

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.

VIP- News - M a y 2 0 1 0

MKeMKE is an internationally-oriented commercial agency for star

acts, personalities and high-carat artistes with a focus on the

event sector, the advertising and industrial sector

Nationally and internationally renowned stars and artistes offer a

wide variety of options in event marketing and other sectors of

the communications industry for image transfer to products and

services as well as effective media presentations of very different

kinds.

Our direct contacts with celebrities and our know-how in event

marketing enable us to offer professional consulting when it

comes to the stars and personalities for your special events - per-

haps the appearance of an artiste, a patron or a guest of honour

at an evening gala, trade fair, product presentation, kick-off func-

tion, company anniversary or incentive event.

We advise you on what stars fit in with your concept and we of-

fer cost-effective celebrity endorsements according to the type of

event, your budget and their availability.

But our work doesn’t stop with negotiating a celebrity appear-

ance. We also offer professional advice in all legal aspects of the

events industry. Examples include contract law, non-performance

or deficient performance of contracts, limited tax liability (known

as non-resident tax), sales tax, artists’ national insurance contribu-

tions, copyright and ancillary copyright / GEMA and GVL [German

performing rights and ancillary copyright associations].

We can, on request, see to all the logistical arrangements, such as

flight and hotel reservations, transfers, security and other services

associated with the usually comprehensive contracts for stars and

artistes.