VIP- News · November 2008 Bon Jovi’s North America and Europe Lost Highway tour promoted by AEG...

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PreMIuM ›› VOl. 109 ›› DeCeMBer 2008

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The last News of 2008, would you credit

crunch it - it all started off reasonably

well, then indications of unease became

apparent in the US in the spring, but we

got through the Festival season in pretty

good shape before the true and increas-

ingly ugly picture revealed itself and we

became more aware that things were so

serious that even our seemingly buoyant

live industry was likely to be affected and

we were taking Banks of our sponsor wish

lists, now we’re having to keep a close eye

on things – by March 2009 there will be

much to discuss at ILMC 21!

Certainly 2008 had its success stories and

at least at the top end of the business the

money continued to roll in, according to

the ever dependable keeper of the figures,

Billboard Boxscore, from November 2007 to

November 2008 Bon Jovi’s North America

and Europe Lost Highway tour promoted

by AEG Live, grossed $210.6 million and

drew 2,157,675 fans. Bruce Springsteen

& the E Street Band’s Magic tour came in

second grossing $204.5 million for the pe-

riod. The rest of the top 10 included Ma-

donna, The Police, Celine Dion (!), Kenny

Chesney, Neil Diamond, The Spice Girls,

The Eagles and Rascal Flatts who grossed

a mere $55.8 million! Grosses reported to

Billboard Boxscore for the international

touring industry, totalled just under $4

billion worldwide, the most ever for a year

and up almost 13% over last year.

A recent press release from live industry

investment specialists Edge Performance

VCT plc stated, “The live music and fes-

tival market in the UK has continued to

demonstrate strong growth. Research by

BRMB/TGI data indicates that 60 million

visits are made annually to paid live music

events across all musical genres generat-

ing £1.9bn in 2007 in UK ticket revenues

alone, up 20% on 2006.” 2008 figures are

of course not yet fully collated.

But although these figures are impressive

they are mainly inflated by high ticket pric-

es paid for long established and re-formed

acts with fewer shows taking place and,

concert attendance down, although this

reflects the decrease in the number of

shows, on individual shows, at least in the

US, the data is more encouraging with av-

erage attendances up.

Certainly the industry is expecting to deal

with the fact that there will be less money in

ticket buyers pockets next year; Edge Group

founder (see Business News in this issue.)

David Glick said: “No sector is recession-

proof, but we believe the impact of the cur-

rent downturn on live music will be a flight

to value. Acts who set ticket prices at the

appropriate level will continue to do well.”

Michael Rapino, head of Live Nation, has

stated that they may have to consider dis-

counting tickets, although their own new

ticketing operation may save fans money

as they have announced that they intend to

cut back on the sort of handling fees previ-

ously charged by Ticketmaster. The newly

formed Ticketmaster Entertainment has

jumped in quickly however announcing

that their first major tour of 2009 with the

Eagles will be free of handling fees.

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

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

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General Manager: Peter [email protected]

writer and editorial: Allan [email protected]

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VIP- News - D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 8

T in the Park Ticket scamAllan McGowan [email protected]

T in the Park 2009

T in the Park organisers have warned fans not to buy tickets from a Hungarian-based web-

site, www.tinthepark2009.com, which falsely claims to have passes for next year’s festival.

Promoters DF Concerts emphasise that the site has no ticket allocation and that fans should

not under any circumstances give their credit card details, legal action is to be taken against

the unauthorised Hungarian site.

Meanwhile The Bonnaroo and Langerado

music festivals have responded to the eco-

nomic crisis in the US by employing a famil-

iar tactic used by many other retailers by

offering staggered payment plans, what we

used to call hire-purchase, on weekend tick-

ets to the festivals in 2009. It will be interest-

ing to see if other events in both the US and

Europe adopt the idea.

As far as acts on the road next year there

seems to be no let up in this reformation

business, (as the Pope said to Henry VIII) –

next year we’ve got Tina, Fleetwood Mac,

The Faces (allegedly!), The Kinks, Cliff Rich-

ard & The Shadows (!) and now …Blur (isn’t

it a bit soon?) and apparently Morrisey and

Johnny Marr are speaking again, so anyone

want to put a bet on dates on hold for The

Smiths?

But whatever happens in 2009 we must take

confidence from the fact that the live indus-

try is made up by resilient characters, quite

capable of dealing with crises, and I think

now, perhaps more than in the past, adapta-

ble enough to work together – co-operation

may well be necessary to see us through

this. Also in down times people need cheer-

ing up, they will still be looking to be enter-

tained and that’s our product and when and

where there’s demand there’s business!

So we hope you all have a good and relaxed

Christmas holiday and a Happy and if not

exactly prosperous – comfortable - New

Year (if anyone is thinking of sending me

a Christmas present Euros would probably

fit quite nicely thanks – my pounds appear

to have shrunk!) Finally lets all add positive

thinking to our New Year Resolutions and

please – continue to let us have your opin-

ions and your news in 2009.

In the meantime, Ladies & Gentlemen – here

is the last News of 2008….

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http://www.ilmc.com/21

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6th european Border Breakers Awards at eurosonic Noorderslag 2009

On January 15, 2009, ten European groups

and artists will receive this year’s European

Border Breakers Awards during a show to

take place on the opening night of the Eu-

roSonic Noorderslag Festival in the Neth-

erlands. The ceremony will be hosted by

musician and presenter of the BBC-televi-

sion programme ‘Later’, Jools Holland, and

Jan Fígel, the European Commissioner re-

sponsible for Education, Training, Culture

and Youth.

In giving these awards the European Com-

mission, in cooperation with the European

Broadcasting Union (EBU) wishes to re-

ward debut artists’ and groups’ success in

crossing national borders. The prizes are

also intended to highlight and promote

the richness and diversity of European

music, its creativity and its contribution to

innovation.

10 debut acts will receive a European Bor-

der Breaker Award during a spectacular TV-

show recorded live at The Oosterpoort, Gro-

ningen and broadcast throughout Europe.

The ceremony will be recorded by Dutch

national television (NOS) and broadcast on

Saturday January 17th from 20.15 hrs on-

wards, and will receive European coverage

through the EBU broadcasting network of

European television and radio stations.

Former winners of European Union Bor-

der Breaker Awards include artists such

as Carla Bruni, Tokio Hotel, Damien Rice,

The Thrills, Gabriel Rios, The Fratellis,

Basshunter, Dolores O’ Riordan and many

more.

This is the sixth edition of this European

Union award, with which the European

Commission – in close partnership with

the European music industry – aims to

highlight the creative richness and diver-

sity of European contemporary music,

the existing need to open up the Europe-

an market to European creativity and to

stimulate the mobility of artists and their

work within Europe and beyond. The Eu-

ropean Border Breakers Awards honour

those debut artists, groups, the compa-

nies, composers and text writers who suc-

ceed in reaching audiences outside their

own country.

The artists receiving this award are se-

lected on the basis of statistics provided

by the Billboard Information Group and

the European Broadcasting Union ac-

cording to the following criteria: Original

debut album of artists or groups from a

country participating in the EU Culture

Programme; Sales in EU Member states

outside the country of production; Sales

during the last year (between September

2007 and 31 August 2008) Experience in

touring outside the country of origin and

ability to perform live.

Trade events in 2009Allan McGowan [email protected]

The new year launches us straight in to the new trade event calendar: The VIP-Booking team will of course attend all the

major events, here is up to date information on the first three of 2009. This year the dates of Eurosonic Noorderslag col-

lide somewhat with Midem, but in a spirit of ‘entente cordiale’ transport will be provided from Groningen to Amsterdam

Airport to ensure that delegates attending both catch the only direct flight to Nice. Co-operation may well be the order

of the day in many areas of the business in 2009!

Both EuroSonic Noorderslag and Midem will emphasise the trade and cultural need for acts to continue to cross inter-

national borders by showcasing ‘export ready’ talent. After some years in Cannes, The European Commission takes its

European Border Breakers Awards ceremony to Groningen.

ILMC, having considered the showcasing element appear to have found it well enough catered for by these two events

and others, and will continue to do what it does best, which is to provide a high level forum dedicated to the discussion

and often resolution of the major concerns of the international live music industry.

Jools Holland will host European Border Breakers Awards at Eurosonic 2009

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MIDeM Talent 2009

Never mind the Bol***ks, Here’s the IlMC!

The 43rd MIDEM will again take place at

the Palais des Festivals, Cannes, France

from 18-21 January 2009, and will feature

the second edition of MidemTalent.

This event will showcase an array of up-

coming artists with strong international

potential. Around 20 groups or artists cov-

ering pop/rock, electro, folk, world music

and jazz, hailing from every continent, will

perform in Cannes in front of an audience

of industry executives and the public.

American rock group Blue October; Co-

lombian artist Monica Giraldo, recently

nominated in the “Best New Artist” cat-

egory at the Latin Grammys and South

African band The Parlotones, crowned

Best Rock Group at the 2006 South African

Music Awards, are among the artists due

to perform. They will be joined by John

Shannon (U.S.), Hogni (Faroe Islands),

Charlie Winston (U.K.), Ndidi Onukwulu

(Canada), Sliimy (France) and Magnus

Lindgren’s Batucada Jazz (Sweden).

Aimed at discovering and developing art-

ists, MidemTalent event offers four days of

concerts and conferences. It is sponsored

by the world’s leading independent video

game publisher Activision Blizzard Inc.

and its Guitar Hero franchise, and by the

on-line promotional platform Sonicbids.

MidemTalent is organised in association

with Billboard, Musikwoche, Pangaea/A&R

Worldwide and VIP Booking.

Line-up so far:

ABHIJIT POHANKAR URBAN RAGAS

(Big Music - India)

ANNE PACEO (Laborie Jazz – France)

BLUE OCTOBER (Brando/Universal – U.S.)

CHARLIE WINSTON, U.K.

(Atmosphériques, France/Real World, U.K.)

DAVE STAPLETON QUINTET

(Westbury Music – UK)

DORANTES (World Music Factory – Spain)

FRØY AAGRE (Pling Music – Norway)

HJALTALIN (Kimi Rec. – Iceland)

HOGNI (Tutl – Faroe Islands)

JOHN SHANNON (ObliqSound Inc. – U.S.)

MAGNIFICO (ARIH D.O.O - Slovenia)

MAGNUS LINDGREN’S BATUCADA JAZZ

(Higher Ground - Sweden)

MAMAS GUN (Decca Rec. – U.K.)

MATTHEW ANDRAE (France Music – USA)

MISINTERPROTATO (Jazzhead - Australia)

MONICA GIRALDO, Colombia

(Wattsup!/Codiscos - USA & Colombie)

NDIDI ONUKWULU, Canada

(Naïve - France)

ROTARY DOWNS (Rookery Records, U.S.)

SCOTT MCKEON BAND

(Provogue Records – U.K.)

SLIIMY (Warner - France)

THE GHOST, Faroe Islands

(Sunday Best – U.K.)

THE PARLOTONES

(Sovereign Ent. – South Africa)

YODELICE (Mercury - France)

For more information on MIDEM and

MidemTalent:

www.midem.com/midemtalent

Blue October plays at Midem 2009

ILMC 21 will take place from March 13-15th 2009

The annual International Live Music Con-

ference returns to The Royal Garden Hotel,

London, UK on 13th – 15th March 2009

when ILMC 21 will no doubt take a serious

look at, amongst other things, how the live

music industry is weathering the world

wide economic crisis. But, as ever with this

long established market-leading event,

which takes its fun theming very seriously,

all will certainly not be doom and gloom!

Having come down from last year’s spaced

out mellow hippy trip theme, ILMC 21

lurches to the other end of the pop music

spectrum by celebrating all things Punk!

In their own words:

More raw than a nasty sore throat, more

dangerous than running with a pair of scis-

sors, more street credible than a traffic war-

den with toothache. Yes, the ILMC is back

– but this time we’ve moved on from be-

ing boring-old-fart hippies. Thirty years on

from the heyday of punk we’re spitting and

bouncing up an’ down and hell-bent on a

new wave of anarchy and destruction.

It seems that it’s not just ‘Anarchy in the UK’,

but anarchy on a global scale. With chang-

ing fortunes affecting almost everyone in

the industry the ILMC will be focusing on,

amongst other points, the world’s eco-

nomic crisis. As well as the usual spread of

panels, meetings and social events, we will

as ever be offering up a multitude of sur-

prises. Further announcements of panels

will be made early in January 2008.

ILMC has reached the ripe old age of 21,

but rather than leaving home and getting

a sensible job involving a suit, we will be

donning our tartan, safety pins and bad

language and endeavour to bring you more

of what the delegates enjoy every year.

More information:

www.ilmc.com

http://www.midem.com/midemtalenthttp://www.ilmc.com

6

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WITH2500 International delegates250 European acts100 Panels and industry meetings24 EBU public radio stations 150 European festivals 80 European journalists29 Nationalities

MEET THE EUROPEAN (LIVE) MUSIC INDUSTRY AT EUROSONICNOORDERSLAG 2009

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Green initiatives for the live music industry continued to attract at-

tention throughout 2008 and great strides have been made in the

education of both those working in the industry and audiences.

But as I was made aware at last week’s Julie’s Bicycle (The not for

profit company established to find ways to reduce the UK music

industry’s greenhouse gas emissions – www.juliesbicycle.com)

Christmas gathering in London efforts will have to be redoubled

to keep the Green Agenda to the fore during a time when indi-

viduals and companies become distracted by the preoccupations

of the downturn in the world economy.

The financial crisis will pass, but global climate changes continue

to happen, and they are some of the biggest threats to the world.

UN’s climate experts recommend immediate action if the most

serious consequences of human emission of greenhouse gasses

are to be avoided.

The 2009 Roskilde Festival’s ‘Green Foot-

steps’ initiative intends to put the focus

on climate changes calling for a united

approach towards climate change agree-

ment.

The festival’s campaign intends to show

how the festival can shoulder its part of

the responsibility to solve the potential cli-

mate catastrophe. Naturally, festivalgoers

are invited to be part of the campaign to

take Green Footsteps in the right direction

and to join in sending a message to the

world that there is no time to waste with

regards to obtaining a globally sustainable

climate.

It appears that there are still way too many

people who do not take the climate issue

seriously nor recognise that we all play an

active role in the climate changes. Danish

newspaper Politiken carried an article stat-

ing that 40 % of the Danish population still

do not believe in the greenhouse effect.

Roskilde Festival wants to deal with this.

The Festival’s own Green Footsteps to re-

duce the greenhouse gas-emitting activi-

ties will include: The instigation of a CO2

account, making it possible to calculate

the emission from Roskilde Festival; In the

energy sector, the festival will go over the

possibility of buying windmill power and

getting generators running on vegetable

oil instead of diesel; working on recycling

as much garbage as possible so that in-

cineration of waste and the following CO2

emission is reduced.

Odeon is the festival’s ‘green’ stage, low-

energy stage lighting is used, and an ‘LED

carpet’ functions as a big screen. Power

will be produced with renewable tech-

nology – by generators running on bio-

mass fuel, vegetable oil, solar cells and

windmill(s).

The Audience will be motivated to be

part of it all and to economize on CO2 to

take part in the climate battle. They will

be encouraged to see that it is an advan-

tage to save the environment. As thanks

for their environmentally friendly actions

– e.g. using public transport or turning

off stand-by power at home – the festival

will let the participating audience mem-

bers reserve a spot at the camping area,

thus securing an advantageous spot even

before the camping area opens. These

festivalgoers will be part of the festival’s

Climate Community – a camping quarter

primarily running on CO2-neutral energy.

The energy will come from sources such

as energy-producing bicycles and ditto

dance floors.

Green Footsteps is a step in the right direc-

tion – a step that we all have to take to

stop the global climate changes from run-

ning out of control.

Green Issues - recession May Cause DistractionsAllan McGowan [email protected]

Climate Focus at roskilde Festival ‘09

Roskilde Festival introduce ‘Green Footsteps’

http://www.juliesbicycle.comhttp://www.schleyerhalle.de/index.php?tacoma=webpart.pages.TacomaDynamicPage&navid=4114&coid=4114&&cid=0

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VIP-News asked Karsten Jahnke about his

opinion of Record Companies earning

money from concerts, the recession and

the difference between corporate or own-

er driven concert businesses.

VIP-News: How was the concert business 2008?

Karsten Jahnke: Pretty good, thank you.

VIP-News: You have been in the business for so many years now. What has changed in recent years?

Jahnke: You cannot help but worry about

the big trust companies getting more and

more power

VIP-News: Do you see many differences in working with corporate or stand alone companies?

Jahnke: Well, in stand-alone companies

like mine we have to actually make and

earn money so we have to calculate pretty

hard to compete. On the other hand we

know our business from the inside out and

can offer the best possible promotion plus

we can put our companies reputation (in

my case, even my own name) behind the

work we do. With the corporate compa-

nies it’s a whole different ballpark: To get

an impressive roster together, these com-

panies have a lot more money they can

throw into the pit to raise their chances

of actually getting an act they want. They

do not necessarily have to make money

on the spot as we do, so it’s a bit like them

having the opportunity of ‘playing’ with

money that is actually not their own. Obvi-

ously this kind of distorts the whole finan-

cial system behind our business.

VIP-News: There are many record compa-nies these days aiming to participate in the live music income of their artists. What is your point of view on this one?

Jahnke: Well, good luck to them.

VIP-News: Do you believe that they deserve to take a share out of the concert business earnings of their artists?

Jahnke: I can see their point when it comes

to establishing an act from scratch these

days, but I doubt this will work with any es-

tablished act. And by the way sooner or later

they will find themselves in the same bidding

war as everybody else if the newly estab-

lished act becomes hot news and successful

because of that. The list of artists whose live

careers I’ve built up from the very beginning

is long - I’ve had contracts with all of them

- but as we all know: If you really want, you

can get out of any contract you like.

In Dialogue with Karsten JahnkeManfred Tari [email protected]

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

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

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

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?

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

Karsten Jahnke

http://www.vip-booking.com

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VIP-News: When it comes to the recession there are serious concerns in the business that high price shows won’t sell as they used to do. Do you agree with this?

»It will take until next yearuntil the recession that is in

everybody’s minds now arrivesin real life and is fully felt,

so we’ll have to watch that«

- Karsten Jahnke

Jahnke: Yes and no. It will take until next

year until the recession that is in every-

body’s minds now arrives in real life and is

fully felt, so we’ll have to watch that. But

despite this culture and arts have always

had high times in troubled times. Maybe

not the over-expensive shows, but I have

no fear for the casual live music business.

As long as a band is really good and doesn’t

lose its ground, there will be people want-

ing to see them.

VIP-News: Are you happy with the back-ing and considerations of the political and administrational bodies for the concert industry?

Jahnke: For Hamburg locally, yes. We have

a established a great relationship work wise

over the last couple of years, especially

their support for our Reeperbahn Festival

is excellent. On the national level we’re far

from being quite there yet to be honest.

VIP-News: What are your expectations re-garding developments in the concert busi-ness in the near future?

Jahnke: Well, it’ll stay thrilling, won’t it?

With so many new developments on the

cards you’ll have to watch every step pret-

ty carefully.

VIP-News: What is on your agenda for 2009?

Jahnke: Quite a lot, actually: We’re begin-

ning the planning for our fourth Reeper-

bahn festival, which we’re about to show-

case internationally at the Eurosonic and

SXSW Festivals in 2009 for the first time;

we´re about to set up a sequel to last

years highly successful Open Air Festival

in Uelzen (smaller northern town in lower

Saxony) in August; I’m further establish-

ing my own little concert series for new

young and exciting contemporary jazz

artists called Jazz2day, our beloved Stadt-

park Open Air season is about to take

more and more shape - plus lots of other

things we cannot talk about openly at the

moment.

The general financial crisis, and local author-

ity opposition to live venues aggravated by

the recent closure of several Madrid venues

following the widely publicised death of

an 18-year-old youth following his violent

ejection from a well-known city centre dis-

cotheque, have made things very difficult

for live music in Spain.

Hopefully, two live music initiatives for small

venues will help new talent and strengthen

the live music circuit, in both the Spanish

capital Madrid and the country as a whole.

From December 2 until 21, 19 concerts have

and will be staged in 19 different Madrid

venues of up to 300-capacity. Libertad 8,

Barco, Galileo Galilei, La Sala Live!, Clam-

ores, La Frontera (Villalba ), Colonial Norte

Reciclaje (Guadarrama), Sol, Siroco, La Boca

del Lobo, Jimmy Jazz, Cardamom, Búho

Real, Hebe, Joaquín Sabina -TAF (Móstoles),

Wurlitzer Ballroom and Cafe La Palma.

The event, called ‘Alternativas En Concierto’

and now in its fourth year, sees emerging

artists support better-known stars, many

having begun their careers playing in these

same venues and now with gold discs to

their names. The initiative has been or-

ganised by Madrid’s 45-venue La Noche

En Vivo, the AiE artists and interpreters as-

sociation, the Agedi collection society, and

financed in part by the Madrid regional

government.

La Noche En Vivo VP Angel Viejo, who has

run Madrid’s Galileo Galilei club for the past

26 years, told Billboard Biz that in 1985 the

city had some 112 small venues, but that

the 45 existing members still stage some

10,000 concerts per year.

Spanish/French Co-Operation:

Also, Acces, Spain’s national association of

concert halls, and its French counterpart,

La Fédurok, continue to develop an accord

signed in late October at the 20th Mercat

de la Musica Viva in Vic near Barcelona, in

the presence of representatives of both

the Spanish and French culture ministries,

aimed at sharing experiences to strengthen

live music and venues, and bringing aware-

ness of their cultural and business value to

local and regional administrations. In atten-

dance were regional live music associations

from Catalonia (Asacc), Galicia (Clubtura),

Andalucia (Cosa), Basque Country (Kultura

Live), and Castilla y León (Old Castile).

The accord aims to encourage small-venue

live music either side of their common

border. Acces communication director

Armando Ruah says Acces is interested in

learning from the La Fédurok’s experience,

as “France is one of the pioneer countries in

defence of its popular music and the recog-

nition of its own culture.”

live Initiatives in spainAllan McGowan [email protected]

Libertad 8

10

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resistant to recession?Manfred Tari [email protected]

Exponents of the concert business mostly

appear unimpressed by the economic cri-

sis. But if we take a look at the event mar-

ket the situation differs: The sector that

earns its money with the organisation of

company parties and business galas is suf-

fering a lot of cancellations. Moreover the

actual economic models seem to confirm

the conclusion that it will take a long while

until ‘Business as usual’ returns.

In the champions league of the live music

industry, the tour and concert business,

the core business seems to be still going

strong. Thorsten Seif of Buback Konzerte,

responsible for well known German acts

like Deichkind und Jan Delay comments:

“For the concert business the economic cri-

sis will not have immediate consequences.

Especially if you try to budget the concerts

carefully and keep them on a good value

level as we do.”

The opinion of Klaus Maack from Contour

Music, who is organiser of the Summerjam

Festival and tour agent of Beenie Man and

Anthony B., is similar. He thinks that the

economic crisis has only little influence

on the concert business because he esti-

mates “that the people will spare money by

avoiding big expenditures but not concerts

and tickets if they are on a reasonable price

level.”

Ralf Scheffler, chief of the venue Batschkapp

in the finance metropolis Frankfurt, an-

swers the question of how the crisis will

affect his daily business as follows: “In no

way, I hope. We still don’t know yet if this cri-

sis really will come or if it is just hysteria. I’m

a little bit sceptical as to whether it is just a

media hype.”

»Strange to say but small eventsor events in the rock and pop segment are yet not affected«

- Berhard Lewkowicz

Bernhard Lewkowicz is executive direc-

tor of the regional presenter Concertteam

NRW. He appreciates the situation in the

event market is more critical: “It is gener-

ally the case in the event market that you can

hardly say exactly why an event works well

or not, so you just can assume.” But Lewko-

wicz adds: “What I can clearly say is that

family events like ‘Bob the Builder’ or ‘Käpt´n

Blaubär’ which normally attract two adults

and two kids from the middle class with only

little money for spare time activities, are suf-

fering a lot from the actual development.

Strange to say but small events or events

in the rock and pop segment are yet not af-

fected.”

All respondents are of the opinion that ne-

gotiations with bankers regarding financ-

ing these days are no fun. Seif remarks:

“This is definitely the case, we are a company

and we don’t even have an overdraft limit

and we won’t get it these days anyway.”

Maack is sceptical, too: “My situation is quite

comfortable because I’ve been running a fes-

tival for 24 years and we have results and ex-

perienced data. But for new projects I think it

will be very difficult to get any credits.”

“Of course I have experienced that.” Lewko-

wicz agrees. The long time Toten Hosen

agent comes to the point: “Every segment of

our business that is affected by the monetary

sector like pre-financing a show, overdraft

credits or what ever has big problems. The

bankers are keeping their wallets closed.”

Scheffler states bluntly: “My banker hasń t

given me money before and he won’t give

me any now. Common sense would say ‘O.K.

let’s be sensible and finance the medium

sized business’, but the reaction of the fi-

nance sector at the moment is ‘We keep our

money and in the best case, do nothing’. But

they can’t do that in the long term because if

they do they won’t earn money.”

Klaus Maack

11

VIP-BOOKING.COM


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DeAG release Business report for the 3rd QuarterManfred Tari [email protected]

CTS Eventim announced that it

will provide European wide tick-

eting for the art exhibition ‘Van

Gogh and the Colours of the

Night’. The exhibition will take

place in the Van Gogh Museum in

Amsterdam and will run from the

13th of February until 7th of June.

The show itself is presented in col-

laboration with the MoMA (Muse-

um of Modern Arts) in New York

where the exhibition is on show

until January 9 and is expected to

draw at least 800.000 visitors of

which two thirds are expected to

come from abroad.

CTS offers the tickets via their

website www.eventim.com and

their network partner. The ar-

rangement furthermore foresees

the usage of a ‘print at home’ ser-

vice that is compatible with the

scanner system of the Van Gogh

Museum as well as hotline and

box office service provided by

CTS Eventim.

CTs handle euro-Ticketing for Van Gogh exhibitionManfred Tari [email protected]

Peter Schwenkow - CEO DEAG

In the first 9 months of the business year

2008 DEAG gained a turnover of 80. 8

million Euros , but declared a good will

impairment of 5 million Euros due to

the “increasing pressure on margins in

the international Rock/Pop business”

and amended currency exchange rates.

Therefore the net loss of DEAG is 5.2 mil-

lion Euro. Nevertheless DEAG expects

to gain a revenue of about 110 million

Euros for the entire business year . The

company furthermore announced a cost

cutting program of its administrative ex-

penses and “a more performance based

executive board remuneration.”

Within the last 52 weeks the DEAG Share

has dropped by about 80 percent. VIP-

News spoke to DEAG CEO Peter Schwen-

kow about the current situation of the

company and the financial market in

general.

VIP-News: Could you please comment on the current situation regarding share price development.

Schwenkow: It’s the same for Live Na-

tion, Ticketmaster or any entertainment

company listed on the stock exchange.

We find ourselves in a gigantic crisis in

the condition of the financial market

and so it has nothing to do with the ac-

tual condition of the company. Look at

shares such as those of Daimler Benz or

Commerzbank.

VIP-News: To what extent in terms of financing and investments is your com-pany affected by the credit crunch?

»I think that we are facingan enourmous economic crisis,which will become even more

dramatic than weimagine today«

- Peter Schwenkow

Schwenkow: At the moment in no way.

In comparison to other suppliers we

have very low commitments. We have

two financial partners: One is Dresd-

ner Anschutz Mezzanine Invest and the

other is the Commerzbank and we have

a very good relationship with both of

them. I can very well imagine that we

will look for acquisitions again in the

coming year and we definitely have

the resources to do this. My opinion is

that the only winners will be those that

stabilize their resources for the next

six or twelve months and learn to run

a leaner operation than at present. We

have started this process very early and

announced two weeks ago that we are

undertaking a good will amortization.

This step has also been well received

within the financial community. I think

that we are facing an enourmous eco-

nomic crisis, which will become even

more dramatic than we imagine today.

Please take a look at the fact that the

three big American automobile compa-

nies have requested $15 billion just to

keep them alive until Barack Obama´s

inauguration on January 20. In refer-

ence to this I think a company must be

very lean and aggressive today to in or-

der to survive.

VIP-News: What about the fact that the DEAG has increased its long-term debts from 5.6 to 9 million Euros?

Schwenkow: Yes, through this we fi-

nanced acquisition of Raymond Gubbay

Ltd., which is from our point of view a

brilliant acquisition.

http://www.eventim.com

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13


VIP-News: But at the same time it is stated that within the financial results 1 Million Euros is specifically a result of interest paid.

Schwenkow: Yes, but that is consequential.

When I buy something I have to pay higher

rates and have bigger bonds. I think that

Raymond Gubbay Ltd is a superb acquisi-

tion such as the one in Good News which

is one of the best investments we have ever

made. They make their business exclusively

in in the fourth and first quarter.

VIP-News: What will happen to Good News when André Béchir steps down as MD?

Schwenkow: At the moment he has a con-

tract until the end of 2009, which will cer-

tainly be extended. Béchir is Good News

and Good News is Béchir! André wanted

to have a four-day working week to have

more time for himself after spending more

than 30 years in the business. He wants to

do more private things and that is a wish we

totally understand. In order to accommo-

date that we have to supplement the team,

but besides that Béchir will always stand for

Good News and that is very good.

VIP-News: I assume that your competitors have put you under pressure this year in the light of Waldbühne and the ticketing deal with the O2 Arena?

Schwenkow: The Waldbühne is a great

loss even though the venue hasn’t made

money in the last years. Although it is not

a financial loss for us it is bitter for us be-

cause Waldbühne was part of the identy of

DEAG as the venue was the first deal we did

in 1981.

VIP-News: DEAG built up the reputation of the Waldbühne and undertook a lot of ef-forts to run the arena…

Schwenkow: Of course it hurts us, but in my

opinion every breakup is also the chance for

a new start. Nevertheless we have a joint

venture with Anschutz Entertainment for

the O2 Arena and we will present concerts at

Waldbühne in the future as well. I think we

already started the pre-ticket sales for the

first events last week. There is a saying that

the death toll is counted after the battle, so

we have to analyse the situation very gradu-

ally. Over a three-year run it is quite a chal-

lenge to guarantee a mortgage of 750.000

Euros per year, that’s quite something!

VIP-News: Yes, that’s right, but you have to admit that CTS Eventim is certainly in a good condition today and can therefore easily afford to take this on…

Schwenkow: I can’t say anything against

that...

VIP-News: There are rumours that CTS is also interested in moving into the classic music market which is a domain of DEAG.

Schwenkow: First of all: I think 95% of the

stars in classical music have long-term con-

tracts with us. Secondly: I don’t see any

CTS activity in the classical segment so far,

with this in mind I can´t comment. The only

exception is Juan Diego Florés for whom Marek Lieberberg is responsible because of

private passion, that’s it!

The British venture capital company The

Edge Performance VCT PLC have an-

nounced another live music investment

fund. The new fund aims to raise £10 mil-

lion and aims to invest in ‘Blue-Chip Artists’.

The Edge, which has already issued C- and

D-Shares for their existing investment bas-

kets, declared that it will issue a new share

entitled as E-Share.

The minimum investment is £5,000 and

is linked with an incentive program that

means that every subscriber who signs be-

fore the first of January will receive a bonus

of 30 additional E-Share for every1.000 E-

Shares, then before 1st of February 20, and

until the 1st of March 10 E-Shares. Holders

of C- and D-Shares who apply for this offer

also receive another bonus of about 20 ad-

ditional E-Shares for the purchase of every

1000 E-Shares.

In the press release Alasdair George, Di-

rector of Edge Investment Management

concludes, “The live music and events sec-

tor continues to attract strong demand with

world class individual performers and groups

selling out within minutes of tickets becom-

ing available. As the industry leader we an-

ticipate good deal flow and that we will con-

tinue to have a pick of first class investment

opportunities.”

He goes on to explain the investment tar-

gets of Edge PerformanceVCT: “Since the

establishment of Edge our performance has

outstripped those targets set out by the Board

by some considerable margin. [A total return

per Ordinary share of 87p is anticipated, for

a net cost of investment of 60p, versus a tar-

geted return of 75p] While the economy and

stock markets are unsettled, Edge has offered

both capital security and dividend flow.”

David Glick the founder of the Edge Group

founder is quoted as saying: “No sector is

recession-proof, but we believe the impact

of the current downturn on live music will be

a flight to value. Acts who set ticket prices at

the appropriate level will continue to do well.

We believe our market-leading position as

an investor, our unrivalled team of executive

talent and our established relationships with

market-leading promoters will stand us in

good stead.”

According to the Edge, the company invest-

ed 2008 in concerts of ‘blue-chip names’

such as Bon Jovi, Primal Scream, Kanye West.

The term Blue Chip itself is a well know term

within the financial community and means

- well, maybe in these days probably meant

- financial heavy weights.

The edge Offer New live Music FundManfred Tari [email protected]

14

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14


TICKeTINGAllan McGowan [email protected]

where Next in the Fight against Ticket Touts?

regulation Attempts

In January 2008 The House of Commons

Culture, Media and Sport Select Commit-

tee, chaired by MP John Whittingdale,

criticised eBay’s practices in allowing the

auction of charity event tickets (such as

Live 8) and called for the estimated £1 bil-

lion ticketing industry to clean up its act.

Event promoters have repeatedly urged

MPs to recommend a change in the law to

make ticket touting illegal, claiming those

who sold tickets at grossly inflated prices

often deprived grassroots fans of the op-

portunity to see their favourite bands or

sports team or collaborate with criminal

gangs – and promoters have tied the issue

to dodgy websites selling non-existent

tickets.

Recently legitimate online ticketing agen-

cies called on the UK government to

clampdown on rogue online sites after a

spate of cases involving bogus tickets and

high profile examples of consumers being

ripped off - including Reading Festival tick-

ets, the Led Zeppelin reunion, and shows

by Bruce Springsteen and the Kings of

Leon amongst others. The Association of

Secondary Ticket Agents called for a ‘kite

- mark’ (a recognised industry stamp of ap-

proval) scheme to reassure consumers but

promoter Harvey Goldsmith said “there is a

huge criminal element involved in this busi-

ness - they send hundreds of people out to

buy tickets, then have a cache of tickets they

sell for as much as they can”.

The UK government is already working with

the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers

to draw up a new code of conduct in an at-

tempt to soft-touch regulate ticketing. But

the Select Committee cited recent polls

that showed many consumers saw touts as

a ‘godsend’ to fans who were desperate to

obtain tickets for oversubscribed events, or

who wanted to sell on tickets they could no

longer use. At present, buying and selling

second-hand tickets is not illegal, except

for football games in England and Wales.

Under the 1994 Criminal Justice and Pub-

lic Order Act, now extended by the Foot-

ball (Offences and Disorder) Act 1999 and

Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 any fan

selling or offering to sell, without authority,

a ticket for a ‘designated football match’ in

any public place faces a fine of up to £5,000.

The law was introduced after the Taylor re-

port into the Hillsborough disaster. Its aim

was to crack down on touts, and keep op-

posing fans segregated.

David MacLean, then a Home Office minis-

ter, indicated that the law was not intended

to trap the fan seeking to get rid of an un-

wanted match ticket (although it does and

can be seen as particularly criminalising for

those with innocent intentions). The Guid-

ance for the 2006 Act, which extends the

legislation to internet sites, makes it clear

that the legislation is in place to preserve

public order rather than for commercial

considerations. Similar legislation will be

introduced for the 2012 London Olympic

Games, prohibiting the re-sale of tickets.

The 2010 Glasgow Commonwealth Games

will also have similar provisions although

Without doubt all sectors of Ticketing have

been the biggest area of discussion in the

live industry throughout 2008. Particu-

larly, the vexed question of the legitimacy

of secondary ticketing has been hotly

debated, by government, in conference,

on-line, in print, and of course privately.

This Newsletter has of course regularly

reported on developments, so in this last

issue of the year we turned to an expert

observer for a summing up of this ever-

contentious topic. UK Lawyer Ben Challis

had already compiled an overview of de-

velopments for his excellent Music Law

Updates (see link at end of article), which

he has adapted for VIP-News. Although

this concentrates mainly on the UK Market

it is relevant to the secondary practice in

all main markets.

Ben specialises in entertainment law, acts

as General Counsel for 3A Entertainments,

one of the UK’s leading concert promoters,

and for the Glastonbury Festival for which

he is also Executive Producer for televi-

sion, managing the Festival’s broadcast

and other media rights. He regularly writes

articles and other material on music busi-

ness and intellectual property law, contrib-

utes to books and is a regular conference

speaker in particular on the live music in-

dustry. Ben sits as a magistrate in Cumbria,

England and is a Visiting Professor in law at

Buckinghamshire New University.Ben Challis

Promoter Harvey Goldsmith

15

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15


there may a distinction to protect fans re-

selling tickets at face value.

The re-sale of other event tickets might be

‘immoral’ to some and indeed is usually

in breach of the terms and conditions laid

down by the event organiser - but it is not

currently a criminal offence in the UK. The

use of terms and conditions can give pro-

moters a legal tool to prevent the re-sale of

tickets but such terms have to be reason-

able and certain in the UK when applied

to consumers (under the Unfair Contracts

Terms Act 1977) and in the only test case

this writer is aware of, the Australian Fed-

eral Court found against the promoters of

the Big Day Out, Creative Festival Entertain-

ment, who included a term prohibiting re-

sale, as it was found to be misleading under

the Australian Trade Practices Act 1974. In

fact one solution to touting that has been

put forward is the ‘Queensland Solution’,

an Australian concept that allows fans to

resale tickets up to 10% over face value.

A long Term Debate

Industry self regulation

The debate on whether or not to crimi-

nalise ticket touting is hardly new. In 1989

this exchange took place in the House of

Commons between conservative MP The-

resa Gorman and Home Office minister

John Patten:

Mrs. Gorman “Will my hon. Friend agree that ticket touting is a form of brokerage between

a willing seller and a willing buyer - that it is

no more reprehensible when it takes place

on a pavement than when it takes place in

one of our City exchanges, that brokers are

risk-takers and that everyone is jealous of

them when they make a profit but nobody

has sympathy for them when they make a

loss?”.

Mr. Patten: “I do not want to get into ideo-logical trouble with my hon. Friend, but I

agree with her that nobody is compelled to

take part in the process, that the person who

raises the price of a ticket to sell it on the street

does not defraud the person who originally

set the ticket price and that the person who

pays the price is not unaware of the differ-

ence. I believe that it is pretty obnoxious and

that it is extraordinary the prices people are

prepared to pay, but it is a lawful activity”.

A similar debate took place in the House

of Lords in 1990 with Baroness Gardner

saying “the way that the system works now

it is not a free market. It is being taken over

to too large an extent by a criminal ele-

ment. Big money has become involved. If

there were some system whereby people

were licensed to sell tickets they would

still be making a profit. It could still be an

open market with tickets freely sold. But

we would not have tickets being sold and

resold for so many times their value” and

calling for legislation on ticket tout-

ing which would include local author-

ity licensing. In response Lord Monson

compared ticket touting with the City of

London saying “always providing that they

are acting within the law, the touts fulfil

the useful, indeed Thatcherite, function of

bringing supply into line with demand... In

a sense touts can be compared with jobbers

in the City of London ... Surely the solution

is to let the initial price of the ticket reflect

the demand just as the price of old masters,

Impressionists or first, second, third, fourth

or fifth growth clarets reflect the ebb and

flow of demand, and let a due proportion

of the additional profits made by increas-

ing the prices be paid over to the Treasury

in corporation tax to the benefit of the rest

of us ... Therefore if one wishes to eliminate

the unsavoury type of ticket tout one must

encourage the promoters to get their prices

right in the first place”.

Whilst free markets are perhaps now

seen as the main cause of the current

global economic downturn, ticket tout-

ing wasn’t banned in 1994 and there

seems little chance it will be now or in

the near future. Select Committee chair

John Whittingdale criticised companies

and individuals selling second-hand tick-

ets for popular events but stopped short

of recommending a change in the law,

http://www.recordoftheday.co.uk/http://www.pop1000.com/

16

VIP-BOOKING.COM

16


saying that legislation should remain “a

last resort”. Whittingdale called for a vol-

untary code of practice to be drawn up

by the Office of Fair Trading that would

block the resale of charity tickets (with

perhaps a test case against secondary

agents) and he gave his support to a

“middle way” which would see promot-

ers license secondary ticket sellers in re-

turn for a share of the profits adding “It

would neither be practical nor in the inter-

ests of consumers to impose a ban on the

onward sale of tickets to events through

the secondary market”.

Artist manager Petri Lunden’s view re-

flects this “although loud voices within the

live industry scream for legislation against

the touts, I am sure the industry as a whole

is brighter than this” calling on the live

music industry to come up with realistic

solutions to ticket reselling and saying

that ticket trading isn’t going to go away,

adding “if you own it, you should be able to

trade it if you so wish, at whatever price you

can get for it”. The UK government’s posi-

tion is set out in its response to the Select

Committee’s report:

The Committee commented that regula-tion must be a last resort and the Govern-ment agrees with this. The Government does not see a case for any general restric-tion of ticket resale. However, the Govern-ment has listened to the arguments that some aspects of ticket resale may restrict access to sport or major cultural events; especially where these events are unique,

of national or international significance and meet public interest objectives.

John Whittingdale

The Fans View

Fraudulent sales

The Football example

Now a recent survey of 5,200 predomi-

nantly UK music fans seems to support the

idea that the public are reluctantly toler-

ant of ticket touts, often considering them

a necessary evil! Results from the www.vir-

tualfestivals.com survey of music fans on

a range of matters ranging from environ-

mental concerns to festival tourism asked

fans about touting and with the question

‘what do you think about tickets being

sold above face value on eBay and other

sites’. Only a tiny percentage (2%) didn’t

care about the issue at all, and 4% posi-

tively supported online auction sites say-

ing it was a great way to get tickets. 10%

didn’t see a real problem in a free market,

leaving a finely balanced argument be-

tween those who thought the procedure

was appalling - 40% saying online touting

should be stopped, and 44% feeling that

whilst they didn’t approve, the practice

was acceptable in a demand driven mar-

ketplace and it couldn’t be stopped. In fact

more fans are agitated about booking fees

charged by bona-fide ticket agencies. Four

out of five consumers surveyed by watch-

dog magazine Which? thought that book-

ing fees from ‘official’ agents expensive

and poor value for money, and many were

incensed that ticketing charges and ‘credit

card’ fees were not refunded in the event

of a cancellation - even more wanted more

transparency in pricing event tickets.

Even if promoters do secure legislation

against ticket touts and touting, what

shape this would take? It is important here

to differentiate between selling counter-

feit or non-existent tickets and touting.

Counterfeiting, fraud, theft and obtain-

ing money by deception are all charges

at the disposal of the Crown Prosecution

Service and the courts have a variety of

disposals available for existing criminal ac-

tivities. Only recently police closed down

Paperticket who had advertised shows by

Barry Manilow and Kings of Leon amongst

others and have arrested the owner, John

Koukoullis who now faces charges under

the Fraud Act. In another case four compa-

nies including London Ticket Shop linked

to the owner of GetMeTickets, Michael

Rangos (which had itself been compulsory

liquidated in 2006) were wound up in the

High Court with registrar John Simmonds

saying that having read the evidence he

was satisfied that there had “been a con-

spiracy to defraud the public and benefit

Rangos”. And finally here, after an inves-

tigation by the Serious Fraud Office there

have now been five arrests in connection

with Xclusive Tickets, the operation that

allegedly sold non-existent tickets to over

4,000 people for music festivals including

Reading and sold out events at the 2008

Beijing Olympics. Ebay users are most cer-

tainly not exempt; a fraudster who sold

counterfeit electronic goods on the inter-

net auction site has been fined £55,000.

Ebrahim Rahimtulla had previously been

sentenced to 12 months in prison after

being convicted in August 2007 of selling

fake phone accessories and games.

Criminalising touting of legitimate tickets

will produce its own ‘law of unintended

consequences’ - and will the music in-

dustry end up with the same position as

football where “hundreds of normally law-

abiding football fans involve themselves

17

VIP-BOOKING.COM

17


each weekend in a criminal act because a

law aimed at ticket touts can trap ordinary

supporters. It is a familiar scene outside

every football ground, or in nearby streets

and bars. A supporter, let down by a friend

who unexpectedly cannot attend a game,

makes contact with someone looking for a

spare ticket. they complete their seemingly

innocent transaction and proceed content-

edly to the match. But in the eyes of the law,

their exchange amounts to illegal touting.

The offence is committed even if - as gener-

ally happens - the ticket has changed hands

between followers of the same club and

at face value”. I for one wouldn’t want to

differentiate between the fan who needs

to sell a ticket and ‘any reasonable offer

secures’ and the fan out to make a profit

who advertises a ticket as ‘highest offer

secures’.

A Telegraph survey of police forces with Pre-

miership clubs in their areas back in 1996 re-

vealed stark differences in the way the police

deal with the re-sale of football tickets. A fan

arriving at Southampton’s ground, the Dell,

looking to dispose of a ticket would proba-

bly be successful - police are unlikely to take

action unless he offers it to a rival supporter.

However, someone attempting the same

exercise outside the away end at Leeds or

Bradford could expect to be arrested and

charged. Remember here the police are pri-

marily concerned with maintaining public

order - something that couldn’t be levelled

at music events - and even here there have

been unintended and sometimes harsh

consequences for fans just wanting to pass

on unwanted tickets - as well as empty seats

at games - when there are willing fans want-

ing to see the game.

Another possible unintended conse-

quence is the potential cost to promot-

ers (and fans) here. With the Association

of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) wanting to

now charge for policing large scale events,

promoters will also then have to ‘pay’ to

police touting and would have to pass on

the cost to fans (or the artist) – otherwise

they would be paying to arrest their own

customers! I am not sure that making the

re-sale of tickets a criminal offence would

help event organisers remove tickets from

being resold on eBay and other online

sites. Whilst two recent French court deci-

sions held that eBay was liable for damag-

es after allowing the auction of counterfeit

goods, the internet site’s ‘mere conduit’

defence proved successful in a US fed-

eral court when accused of allowing trade

mark infringement.

So where to next in the fight against touts?

Some events like Glastonbury have intro-

duced complex registration systems to try

and eliminate touting and enable real fans

to buy tickets; certainly well written terms

and conditions prohibiting re-sale might

prove valuable in the future but the ef-

fectiveness of these have yet to be tested

in a British civil court and the Glastonbury

system is not fool proof - and indeed was

partially abandoned in the run up to the

2008 Festival when Glastonbury almost

didn’t sell out.

The Resale Rights Society has been set up

by the Music Managers Forum with the

support of the MCPS-PRS Alliance with the

role of (attempting) to regulate the second-

ary ticket market and impose a levy on tick-

ets re-sold on sites like Viagogo and Seat-

wave. The RRS has two primary aims: first,

to ensure music fans are protected from

unscrupulous or bogus resellers through

the introduction of a ‘kite-mark’ scheme

for ticketing sites; second to ensure that

artists and the live music industry share

in the proceeds of resold tickets. But there

must be inherent difficulties here: Whilst

the MCPS-PRS Alliance can legally collect

royalties for its own members because of

the statutory provisions of copyright law,

tickets have no such ‘protection’. Other

ideas are more pragmatic. There are the

fan’s own ticket exchange sites like Scarlet-

Mist where tickets can be swapped at face

value and indeed the Concert Promoters

Association recently talked of setting up

their own similar scheme. Some artists, like

Madonna, have embraced secondary tick-

eting as a solution to the ‘problem’ of tout-

ing and secondary ticketing, appointing

an ‘official’ premium and secondary ticket-

ing partner. But will any of these schemes

really put an end to touting?

Recent headlines from world of football

such as “touts net huge profit on ille-

gal cup final tickets” suggest not: Whilst

Football League spokesman John Nagle

might well say “Re-selling match tickets is a

criminal offence and where tickets are made

available for purchase this year action will

be taken” the fact remains that there are very

few prosecutions of any nature and the prob-

lem is compounded because “almost all the

sites are based abroad, making it harder for

the authorities to bring prosecutions.”

As the live industry (as well as the leisure

sector) still comes to terms with the neg-

ative fallout from the 2003 Licensing Act,

is more government legislation which

may not even be effective really what

the live sector needs? In the 2004-2005

football season just 146 individuals were

arrested for touting football tickets and

in the 2005 - 2006 season just 99 – and in

both seasons just fourteen club grounds

were affected. In 2006 eight premiership

grounds had arrests - with 11 at Chelsea’s

home ground, 10 at Arsenal, 7 at Liver-

pool and just 2 at Manchester United.

The majority of Premiership clubs had

no arrests and these included Tottenham

Hotspur, Fulham, West Ham, Everton,

Blackburn and Manchester City. Only six

Championship clubs had arrests (with

the highest being just 2 at Preston North

End). There were no arrests in Divisions

1 and 2.

Football fans say that they “doubted that

the highly lucrative practice would ever

be stamped out” and Toby Brown, editor

of Chelsea fans’ online forum CFC.net,

said “For every site you close down five

will spring up”. Perhaps in the digital age

the issue of touting is one which promot-

Next?

New Thinking Versus legislation?

VIP-BOOKING.COM

steve winwood Territory: Europe, Australia & Asia Period: January - February 2009 Agency: Helter Skelter Agent: Peter Nash Phone: +44 207 376 8501 E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.stevewinwood.com

Alvin Youngblood Hart Territory: Europe Period: March 2009, Summer 2009 Agency: Kultopolis GmbH Agent: Markus Sollner Phone: +49 6861 939980 E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.kultopolis.com

Barclay James Harvest feat. les Holroyd Territory: Worldwide Period: Summer 2009Agency: Kultoplis Gmbh Agent: Markus Sollner Phone: +49 6861 939980 E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.kultopolis.com

Bobby CaldwellTerritory: Europe Period: May - July 2009 Agency: H.O.T.B Agent: Mark van den Burgh Phone: +31 20 470 9474 E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.hotb.tv

scooter Territory: Worldwide Period: By request Agency: Boese & Friends GbR Agent: Maik Boese Phone: +49 40 736 775 610 E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.boeseandfriends.com

eddie & The robbers feat. eddie Jordan Territory: Worldwide Period: 2009 Agency: Incredible Artists Ltd Agent: Anita Watson Phone: +44 7768 848119 E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.incredibleartists.co.uk

18

artist avails ››

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ers, artists and fans will just have to live with - whether face to face or in

cyberspace.

The digital age has led to significant challenges for the music industry. The

recorded music sector, particularly in the USA, has provoked hostile criti-

cism and public ridicule for brining civil and criminal actions against music

fans – and for each illegal download the record labels get paid nothing. For

each legitimate ticket sold on eBay the promoter has at least been paid the

value they set for the ticket. If promoters and artists are concerned about

the number of tickets reaching the secondary market then they should

implement systems to control this – or embrace secondary ticketing. If

promoters and artists are concerned about tours selling tickets at vastly

inflated prices then they should look at pricing structures – the live sector

already has sponsors tickets and hospitality tickets – Live 8 had a very vis-

ible golden circle for the privileged not-so-few – and at the moment it is

the travel industry who have set the standard in flexible pricing balancing

supply with demand. We don’t need new laws. We need new ideas.

Ben Challis is a lawyer and edits www.musiclawupdates.com.

He is a visiting professor in law at Buckinghamshire New University.

ht tp://w w w.homeof f ice.gov.uk /documents/ VCR A-football - guidance.pdf?view=Binary

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm198889/cmhansrd/1989-05-11/Orals-2.html

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1990/apr/18/ticket-touts

http://www.urban75.org/football/tickets.html(Article by Colin Randall Daily Telegraph 1996)

Crackdown urged on rip-off web ticket touts The Observer 23 December 2007

Pressure grows on the online touts dream ticketThe Observer Media 6th January 2008

Whose Ticket? (Petri Lunden)IQ Issue 15 2007 p13

eBay International AG v Creative Festival Entertainment Pty Limited at http://www.craddock.com.au/Document/eBay-Scores-Partial-Win-in-Big-Ticket-Case.aspx and in Legal News (Ben Challis)IQ Issue 18 2008 p10

Virtual Festival’s fan survey (European Festival Report)IQ Issue 20 2008 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/technology/15ebay.html?em&ex=1216267200&en=4dcc0c8323ecf63b&ei=5087%0A

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23437322-details/Touts+net+huge+profit+on+illegal+cup+final+tickets/article.do

Statistics on Football-Related Arrests and Banning Ordershttp://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/football-arrests-0506?view=Binary Greenfield S, Osbourne G & Roberts S Contradictions Within The Criminalisation Of Ticket Touting: What Should Be The Role Of The Law?http://webjcli.ncl.ac.uk/2008/issue3/greenfield3.html

Which? Survey reported in Live UK Issue 1-2 p8

Court Closes rip-off ticket website companies Live UK issue 99 p4

references

http://www.stevewinwood.comhttp://www.kultopolis.comhttp://www.kultopolis.comhttp://www.kultopolis.comhttp://www.kultopolis.comhttp://www.hotb.tvhttp://www.decimacolina.pthttp://www.boeseandfriends.com http://www.incredibleartists.co.ukhttp://www.vip-booking.com/http://www.vip-booking.com/http://www.musiclawupdates.comhttp://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/VCRA-football-guidance.pdf?view=Binaryhttp://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/VCRA-football-guidance.pdf?view=Binaryhttp://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm198889/cmhansrd/1989-05-11/Orals-2.htmlhttp://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm198889/cmhansrd/1989-05-11/Orals-2.htmlhttp://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1990/apr/18/ticket-toutshttp://www.urban75.org/football/tickets.htmlhttp://www.dailytelegraph.co.ukhttp://www.craddock.com.au/Document/eBay-Scores-Partial-Win-in-Big-Ticket-Case.aspxhttp://www.craddock.com.au/Document/eBay-Scores-Partial-Win-in-Big-Ticket-Case.aspxhttp://www.craddock.com.au/Document/eBay-Scores-Partial-Win-in-Big-Ticket-Case.aspxhttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/technology/15ebay.html?em&ex=1216267200&en=4dcc0c8323ecf63b&ei=5087%0Ahttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/technology/15ebay.html?em&ex=1216267200&en=4dcc0c8323ecf63b&ei=5087%0Ahttp://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23437322-details/Touts+net+huge+profit+on+illegal+cup+final+tickets/article.dohttp://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23437322-details/Touts+net+huge+profit+on+illegal+cup+final+tickets/article.dohttp://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/football-arrests-0506?view=Binaryhttp://webjcli.ncl.ac.uk/2008/issue3/greenfield3.html

19

VIP-BOOKING.COM

In this section we offer members of VIP-Booking.com some space to present their company to VIP-News readers. If you would also like to present your company please contact Peter Briggs at [email protected]

united stage Artist

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 [email protected]

®

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: [email protected]

19

About Our Company

VIP-Booking’s core product is the Internet’s oldest and largest data-base for the European Live Entertainment Industry www.vip-book-ing.com developed as a tool for industry professionals. Since it’s launch in the year 2000, we have consistently offered our subscrib-ers the very best in database services and now boast subscribers in over 30 countries.

Today VIP-Booking offers a range of tools for the industry – inclu-ding VIP-News, VIP-Booking, VIP-Book and VIP-Contract.

Please visit vip-booking.com for further information.

Your comments and suggestions are always appreciated.


United Stage Artist is an independent company within the

Swedish music industry. Our main activities are to exclusively

represent record-artists as tour agents and tour producers. The

company represents close to 100 artists today. (enclosure: ros-

ter) History/ United Stage was set in 1984. When Managing Di-

rector, Anders Larsson, founded the company in Malmö it had

a very strong regional influence but has over the years become

one of the two leading companies in the Swedish market. In

1991 United Stage established a minor office in Stockholm and

in 1996 the whole operation was moved to the capital. During

the autumn of 1997 a rival company, Siljemark Production AB,

was incorporated within the company. Activity/United Stage

Artist is a service company catering for the artist, its client. This

service is divided into two parts, consulting and administration

It´s very important with co-ordination in the market, negotia-

tions and agreements. New Adventures/ Recently, the company

established a department that will act as a concert promoters

for public shows, an activity that is not limited to the perform-

ances of the artists represented by United Stage. It includes a

wider range of entertainment arrangements, without artistic or

geographical limits. Along with the development of the concert

promotion department, the company will increase its activities

in the growing market of corporate events Best Regards! United

Stage Artist
http://www.vip-booking.com

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