VIPNEWS PREMIUM > VOLUME 185 > DECEMBER 2015

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VIPNEWS > DECEMBER 2015

McGowan’s Musings

So here we are with the last News of 2015,

an eventful year with, as we mentioned

in the last edition, some terrible events

besetting the world of live music. But there

were good things of course and maybe we

can concentrate more on those in this pre-

Christmas edition, hopefully a time of good

will to all men and women and their friends

and families in all sectors of the business

which keeps us all busy! We’ve asked a

few of our readers to let us know how their

year’s went, and what they have in mind for

next year, and as ever we invite you all to

keep us informed on your activities so that

we can spread your news…

Overall 2015 has been an extremely good

year for the live industry; the ever reliable US

publication Billboard has just released highly

impressive and improved figures for the year

in al sectors of live, and talks of, “… the

vibrant power of community that has driven

the concert industry since its inception, and

has now re-invigorated it into an estimated

$20 billion global juggernaut in the digital

age.” The inference is, I’m sure you’ll all be

glad to hear, that people, of all ages, still

have an appetite for the live experience,

and still wish to spend time sharing an

experience in the company of others, no

matter how many more digital pastimes and

communications become available.

Interesting to see that the biggest selling

concert of the year was again by a ‘heritage’

act, with the surviving, and presumably

gratefully alive, members of The Grateful

Dead with Phish’s Trey Anastasio taking the

guitar spot left vacant by the sadly deceased

Jerry Garcia, staging two ‘Fare Thee Well’

50th anniversary concerts. The shows in

Chicago and California grossed $52 million!

But although a lot of other ‘old-timers’,

including The Stones, U2, Paul McCartney,

AC/DC, Madonna etc were on the road and

more than ‘doing the business’, the worries

about new acts coming through seem to

have been put to rest, for now, with the likes

of Taylor Swift and One Direction breaking

box office records and acts like Ed Sheeran

and Nicki Minaj following up. The figures

also show that the US is not completely

ruling the roost as 11 of the top 25 top

performing acts this year are from other

countries. However the two top promoters

are US Companies with global offices, Live

Nation dominates the touring market and

the European Festivals, and is on a par with

the overall second placed AEG Live as far as

operating US Festivals. Live Nation called its

earnings report for Q3, the biggest quarter

for live music, the “biggest quarter revenue

in the history of the company,” up 10%

year-over-year with over 24 million fans

attending its shows.

So, with international touring moving into

more and more emerging and expanding

markets the top end of the business is

experiencing its most successful phase for

quite some years, perhaps even ever!

Of course we’re aware that many of you are

operating at the top end of the market, but

with small to medium clubs for instance this

has been a year that has, as we’ve reported

in recent issues, seen great efforts being put

into supporting the ‘grass-roots’, by helping

small venues to survive. Also, as I discovered

in Brussels a few days ago, the European

Commission are looking at ways that music

can benefit more from existing and future

Culture Funds. Of course we cannot take

anything for granted, but there seems to be

grounds for optimism in 2016. So, Ladies

and Gentlemen have a great holiday break,

and here’s The News!

COLOPHON >

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VIPNEWS > DECEMBER 2015

Russian legislators have proposed new regulations for the live

entertainment industry, under which a self-monitoring organization

of promoters, to be titled Soyuzkontsert, will be formed.

Aimed to improve the sector`s operations generally, the proposed

regulations outline greater responsibility for promoters around

customer care.

Promoters that have already joined the organizations include SAV

Entertainment, PMI and NCA, while other major players in the sector

are expected to join.

Industry insiders say that the organization would make the industry

more professional and efficient. The proposals include:

• Creating an emergency fund to cover expenses for cancelled shows

• Forming a disciplinary commission that will assess professional

standards of industry players

• Liaising with local authorities to avoid cancellations of show at their

demand

“The creation of a self-regulating organization is a natural step as the

live entertainment industry moves towards greater professionalism,

Similar professional organizations exist in many countries,” said

Dmitry Bogachev, head of the company Stage Entertainment to

Billboard,. “And, similarly to them, we shouldn`t restrict ourselves to

formal regulation of relations with consumers.”

According to Bogachev, companies in the live entertainment sector

have many common goals and tasks that the new organization could

address, such as regulating relations between partners, lobbying

the industry`s interests, competing with cinema and television for

customers and tackling contemporary challenges related to security

issues. The organization also plans to deal with such issues as

simplifying the process of obtaining visas for touring foreign artists

and resolving taxation issues related to their fees.

The regulatory push arrives during a difficult period. An overall

economic downturn in the country has hit many promoters, especially

those who specialize in booking in foreign artists. The ruble hit an

all-time low this week against the US dollar and -- as foreign acts`

fees are largely negotiated in US dollars and Euros while ticket prices

are in rubles -- promoters assume big risks organizing shows by most

foreign artists.

Legislators are expected to adopt the new regulations in early 2016.

Go online - www.vip-booking.com

Need to know who is touring Europe? ®

vip-booking.com

Russia propose newLive Industry regulationsAllan McGowan am@vip-booking.com

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VIPNEWS > DECEMBER 2015

135,000 people took part in Roskilde Festival 2015, celebrating

music, art, community and much more. All profits from the summer

celebration are now being donated to social and cultural charities.

For many people, December in general and Christmas in particular are

reasons to celebrate. For some, however, there is less reason to rejoice,

and these are the people that many charities try to reach out to.

Roskilde Festival has donated 1,150,000 DKK to help ten different

organisations with these important efforts during the otherwise

festive holidays.

Christmas donations for lonely children

These organisations are actively working on improving the standards

of life for marginalised groups of society, and this Christmas most of

the donations are dedicated to lonely and socially isolated children

and young people.

Red Cross have teamed up with Avnstrup Asylcenter (refugee camp

Avnstrup) to organise an evening of festivities with food and music

for 300 young refugees. The Red Cross Youth-driven organisation

Spilopperne have received funds for Christmas activities for children

at 15 different crisis centres for women.

Other organisations are bringing people together for town square

parties, inviting homeless to the cinema, out for dinner and much

more.

The 1,150,000 DKK have been donated to the following Danish

organisations:

Røde Kors (Asylcenter Avnstrup)

Foreningen Grønlandske Børn

Spilopperne (Ungdommens Røde Kors)

Kofoeds Kælder

INSP!

Fundamentet

Frelsens Hær

Børnenes Kontor

Kafe Klaus

Mødrehjælpen

Roskilde Festival donates one million DKK to Christmas charitiesAllan McGowan am@vip-booking.com

Roskilde Festival

www.joybringer.com

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VIPNEWS > DECEMBER 2015

PRS for Music Foundation, Arts Council England and Spotify have

announced the next round of artists to receive Momentum Music

funding.

The list includes Eagulls from Leeds, Bristol’s Rozi Plain, and lyrics

and Manchester’s Grime MC Bugzy Malone; full list is:

Anna Meredith – Developing live and touring

Big Narstie – Mixing, mastering, promotions and marketing

Bugzy Malone – Recording and promotions of new work

Clock Opera – Recording, mixing and promotions for the 2nd album

EAGULLS – Touring and promotion

Fyfe – Recording, marketing and promotions of 2nd album

Get Inuit – Recording and marketing

Holly Macve – Recording, mixing and mastering

Ibibio Sound Machine – Recording

Rozi Plain – Touring

Steve Mason – Touring

Swifta Beater – Produce, record and market debut album

Momentum funded Swifta Beater said:

“I’m so over the moon to be selected by PRS Foundation and Arts

Council England as one of the Momentum Music Funded artists.

Momentum is one of the few schemes that provides the much

needed support to make things possible for talented musicians

that struggle financially and help them create music, promote their

projects and embark on tours. This funding will really enable me to

take my career to the next level and I’m proud to have been selected

to carry the torch for the Midland’s Grime scene.”

Vanessa Reed, Executive Director

of PRS for Music Foundation said:

“Congratulations to all the

songwriters and bands who’ve

been supported following the

latest deadline for Momentum

Music Funding. It’s thanks

to the huge array of talent in

this country that each round

of funding continues to be so

competitive and to generate such

strong results: for those who have completed their project , £1 from

Momentum is generating £7.46 for the music industry. I’m looking

forward to seeing the latest artists benefit from Momentum and get

to that next stage of their careers.”

Darren Henley, Chief Executive of Arts Council England said;

“Our creative industries are now generating 1 in 20 new jobs and

fuelling economic growth. Arts Council England’s investment in

cultivating the next generation of talent in this country through

programmes like Momentum is already paying real dividends. It’s

incredibly important that we continue to bring the creativity of

performers, producers and songwriters to the fore.”

Bryan Johnson, Director, Artist Services of Spotify said:

“Congratulations to the twelve artists who will benefit from this

latest round of Momentum funding. We look forward to assisting

all artists involved in building their profiles and audience on Spotify

and to help surface their music to our 75 million plus active users.”

These supported artists will also benefit from Momentum’s digital

partner, Spotify and its reward package which contains exciting

promotional opportunities and gives the artists a closer working

relationship with the Spotify team. Benefits include access to tools,

features and best practices that will enable them to connect with

Spotify’s 75 million active users across 58 markets globally. You can

follow and listen to the official Momentum Spotify playlist here.

Managed by PRS for Music Foundation, the Momentum Music fund

awards grants of £5,000-£15,000 using funding from Arts Council

England. For a full rundown of all the artists supported so far see:

www.prsformusicfoundation.com/Funding/Momentum-

Music-Fund/Momentum-Artists/Latest-Artists/

The next deadline for applications to the Momentum Music Fund

is 26th January 2016 via the PRS for Music Foundation website.

We are particularly interested in receiving more applications from

outside of London:

www.prsformusicfoundation.com/Funding/Momentum-

Music-Fund

PRS for Music Foundation Announces Latest MomentumMusic funded ArtistsAllan McGowan am@vip-booking.com

Vanessa Reed, Executive Director of PRS for Music Foundation

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VIPNEWS > DECEMBER 2015

Promoter Thomas Ovesen Joins Al Ahli Group as CEO of 117 LiveAllan McGowan am@vip-booking.com

On December 1st, Thomas Ovesen, one

of the leading live events promoter in the

Middle East was announced) as CEO of the

newly created 117 Live.

117 Live is part of the Al Ahil Holding

Group, a Dubai based conglomerate led

by Group CEO Mohammed Khammas that

has built a large media and entertainment

portfolio over the past few years. The

appointment of Ovesen to run 117 Live is

the next stage of the group’s growing media

and entertainment empire. Based in Dubai,

Thomas will take on this post effective

immediately. He will direct all global activity

for the division with a focus on live events,

from music through to comedy. He will also

head up plans to expand the new division’s

interests into local and international talent

management, venue management and

programming.

AAHG has recently undertaken a huge

diversification drive. This has included the

purchase of social marketing agency The

Audience, a company that represents some

of the most influential social media stars in

the world. The group controls Singapore-

based Universal Events that hosts the

Asia Pop ComiCon events, which recently

launched in the Philippines and will soon be

rolled out in Korea, Singapore, the US and

the UAE.

Creating spaces to host events will be a key

part of the 117 Live strategy. This will begin

with the immediate launch of a temporary

20,000 capacity greenfield site. 2017 will

see the launch of a new state of the art

25,000 capacity open air Amphitheatre in

Dubai, wholly owned by AAHG. The venue,

featuring pavilion hosted boxes, suites and

terraces will be the only one of its kind in the

Middle East. Construction will begin in early

2016, dramatically increasing the number of

events able to be staged in the region.

Thomas Ovesen has produced award-

winning events across the Middle

East, introducing new festivals like

RedFestDXB and Blended to the

UAE market and staging shows with

superstars like Beyonce, Shakira and

R Kelly. He has promoted shows with

Prince and Take That and staged sell out

Dubai concerts with the likes of J-LO,

Justin Bieber, Usher, One Direction,

Katy Perry and many more. He has

helped position Dubai as a regular tour

stop for international artists and bands.

VIP News spoke to him about his new

position.

VIP News: As far as I’m aware you have

some twenty years of experience with

live events in the Middle East, and you

have been very open at events like

ILMC about the problems facing the

markets - why do you think that now

is a good time to be starting up such an

ambitious project? You must think that

the demand is there.

Thomas ovesen: i don’t necessarily think now

is a better time than last year or next year

to both set up a large live events focused

company and build a $40-50 million open

air venue, but short of an indoor purpose

built arena it is the game changer we need

to develop the local live events busines. So it

is a matter of getting our hands on more of

the live events value chain to derive a better

profit margin from what in many cases is

currently a loss making exercise. Through

increased volume and frequency of live

events we can save show costs that can help

finance the increase in business volume and

hopefully also help us bring down the very

high show ticket prices here in the middle

east.

Once al ahli group had agreed to under

write not only the venue build but also the

set up of a live events division able to both

program the venue and produce live events

in the key middle east, asian and americas

markets it was an obvious choice to move

my live team across to what is 117live.

VIP news: having access to the right

venues always seemed to be difficult

in the area. Will these plans to do

something about this make a big

difference?

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VIPNEWS > DECEMBER 2015

Ovesen: ours will be a great addition to a

dubai market with no purpose built venues

bigger than a few thousand capacity and

with a location that is dead centre of the uae

hopefully making it the preferred venue for

local annual events and touring artists from

2017 and onward.

As we will also launch a temporary 20,000

greenfield venue from march 2016 we will be

able to slowly ramp up the volume of events

staged here. By doing so we will hopefully

not only convince current event organisers

to move their events to our venue, but also

encourage new promoters to stage events

as we lower the bar of entry to an industry

currently challenged by absence of venues,

top line taxation and the excessive artist fees

being offered by marketing or government

underwritten events and leisure venues.

VIP news: do you think that you can

assure international touring acts (as

much as anyone can, anywhere these

days!) That you can offer secure shows

in these difficult times?

Ovesen: seems to me that times are perhaps

even more difficult for my colleagues in

paris and elsewhere than here with me, and

whilst it would be foolish not to constantly

assess security levels i don’t think dubai here

in the middle east or my new asia markets in

general are more exposed to security risks

than any major city in the western world so

as dubai and key cities in asia represent both

perfect stop over options and gateways to

large, young fan communities and new tour

markets i am comfortable that as long as we

can manage to bring down costs per events

we can keep attracting touring talents also

in increased numbers.

VIP-news: you are considering working

on the development of local artists. Is

there a lot of talent to be developed?

Ovesen: With sister companies like the

audience and rethink, regional comicon

events etc we are exposed to new

entertainment trends and social media

based talents as well as the need to provide

pop culture events and entertainment parks

with talents across our target markets.

So understanding who are the relevant

talents in such markets and for our target

audience members, combined with the

ability to maximise the appearance and the

booking fees for talent plus owning some

of the upsides from the exposure our group

can offer all parties i think it is only natural

that we get involved with development,

management and representation of talents

from grassroots level and up.

Whether we develop our own set up,

partner with local and international agencies

and management companies or a mix of all

will be decided as we have discussions with

a range of parties in the coming months.

As we are ready to invest and add value

to the business utilising the varous group

outfits i think we could be a great partner or

incubator for existing businesses or serious

competitor to outfits not currently able to

offer a multi facetted service or/and multi

market approach.

VIP-news: What are you most looking

forward to developing and hopefully

achieving with 117 live - what are your

priorities for 2016?

Ovesen: first we need to get the shows i

have been working on for the past months

rolled out and with my long time live team

members onboard i look forward to some

well organised and successful 2016 dubai

concerts – we also need to continue the

expansion of the asia pop comi con events

after the 2015 manila launch by our group

and besides the small (;-) task of launching

the temp 20,000 cap venue followed by the

25,000 2017 state of the art amphitheatre

we have to support the growth of other

group verticals and indeed acquisition of

new group partners so 2016 will not be

a quite year but one full of activities and

opportunities. Back to live events in the dubai

and asia markets i would like to see a major

comedy commitment resulting n regional

tours of middle east and asia as well as some

key live music events staged in asia.

VIP-news: is there anything you’d like

to add?

Ovesen: 117live is a build on, yet a major

expansion of what i have created at arab

media group as done events and i will

continue also booking and producing the

redfestdxb festival i launched there as

well as provide talent bookings for my old

employer. But having assets like a dubai

venue and in-house partners like the

audience available will represent the major

change not only for me and my team but

for the live entertainment industry we will

hopefully become a great part of in the

middle east, asia and the americas.

Thomas Ovesen

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VIPNEWS > DECEMBER 2015

Surrounded by mountains, lit up by sunshine

and full of some the best conference foods

ever served at a music industry conference

in Europe, thus went the first edition of the

European Festival Conference (EFC) in Kals

in Austria on December 2.-5.

The set up for this conference is different.

Just getting up early enough to catch up

with the first conference topics starting on

paper on day one at 9:30 and on day two

even earlier at 9:00 present a challenge

even for experienced convention goers. In

fact these early appointments were operated

with an understandable humanie delay of

15 to 20 minutes, but due to a pretty packed

conference agenda this wasn’t allowed to

last longer, in order to meet the organisers

quality criteria of the “just in time”-mode.

But as this conference is a bit different,

it makes sense to report on the main

essentials in a different manner. Instead of

focusing on the line up of panel and session

topics, it is rather interesting to report on

the vibe and charm of this trade event,

that due to its location alone, the four star

health resort Gradonna at the entrance of

the national park Großglockner, appeared

to be different.

The subjects for the conference programme

were well chosen to serve the interests of

the main target group anyway. With this in

mind it is more relevant to write about the

productive output and the results achieved

by this agenda setting. The EFC is primarily

designed to approach festival promoters

and to supply those within an unusually

smart environment with a massive input

of inspiration and information. Of course,

EFC also addresses and attract players

that operate service festivals, ranging from

production experts to service providers.

The know - how transfer was guaranteed

upfront and in most cases successfully

delivered. The real added value for attendees

followed on smoothly, when hospitality

stimulated a very polite overall environment,

a sort of family affair thing, where nobody

needed to fear appearing irrelevant.

Everybody was accessible, nobody needed

to fill out a form beforehand to permit

shaking hands with an industry power

player.

There were several highlights, but VIP News

leaves it to Yourope, the organisation behind

EFC to reveal the most essential results this

conference gained. But off course some of

those need to be mentioned upfront. For

instance the fact that various power players

from the marketing departments of various

European music festivals worked out a series

of strategy papers could be considered as

mind blowing. Highly progressive, spiked

European Festival ConferenceManfred Tari mt@vip-booking.com

The EFC conference Family

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VIPNEWS > DECEMBER 2015

with up to date findings in terms of modern

marketing measures. Even more surprisingly

those marketing folks apparently get in

to the mood for networking, being open

minded enough to also develop new ideas

for collaboration.

Another meaningful stimulator of this

almost unique profile of EFC appeared in

the person of Robin Cornelius, the founder

of the clothing company Switcher, who was

one of the first entrepreneurs in Europe,

launching , in 1981, a textile company fully

dedicated to a company policy observing

strict environmental and social standards. In

his keynote speech Cornelius explained the

motives and personal guidelines that matter

to him, and how and why he operates a fair

and sustainable business.

He expressed clearly the relevance of

so called soft values considering social,

environmental, transparency and health

& safety issues and recommended

attending festival promoters to list these.

Cornelius is highly in favour of operating

businesses or ventures in line with CSR-

standards (Corporate Social Responsibility)

and expressively asked promoters to

communicate those, when saying: “One

click tells all about your festival, make your

product talk, make your festival talk”

Cornelius follows a very dedicated mission

and delivers convincing arguments as to

why CSR-standards are and will become

more important in the near future.

When Cornelius refer to the clothing

industry saying that a “garment that is

not traceable will not be sold in a couple

of years” his expectation might seem

at first very optimistic. Nevertheless his

recommendations tfor festival promoters

to be smart in marketing, never to lie, to

be transparent in communication and that

fun is necessary to convince people are very

worthwhile considerations, helping music

festivals to sustain, and maintain ,alongside

their artistic programme, the soft value of

being credible in the future.

There are already festival promoters working

in line with the philosophy of Cornelius and

more gradually starting to adopt some of

these aspects. But it is also known, that

there are still other players in the live music

industry, that do not care so much about

these soft values at all.

Cornelius was certainly a well chosen

side kick, also ideally backing trends and

movements within Yourope to put the

currently not so well appreciated European

idea on the agenda of this organisation.

But let’s leaves this to Yourope, to reveal

more at Eurosonic Noorderslag in January as

towhat they have in mind to work out this

topic in 2016. EFC at least already appeared

as a very worthwhile event, bringing on

new ideas and findings on how to operate

festivals smarter and more up to date...

Robin Cornelius keynote speaker at EFC

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VIPNEWS > DECEMBER 2015

Nothing is set yet and nothing is agreed. One of the first public

mentions of this topic came at the Reeperbahn Festival Conference

in September, when at the end of the panel “Why Do We Need An

International Federation For Live Music Industry (IFLI) “ a member of

the European Commission stood up and declared official sources in

Brussels were considering the launch of a support programme for

the European music sector.

Not surprisingly, hardly anybody took notice of this remarkable

comment. In fact first proceedings for such an attempt are already

underway. At the music conference Medimex at the end of October,

the Italian promoters association Assomusica put on a panel entitled

“European Live Music Network”, followed by the European Festival

Conference with a panel under the headline “A New Festival Agenda

For Europe”.

In fact the signs are real and the European Commission are

undertaking first hearings and consultations to evaluate the

opportunities to launch such a programme. If and “IF” written

on this occasion in capital letters, if such a programme will be

developed, this would mean a milestone for the entire music sector,

even affecting policy developments widely on national levels in ways

previously not available.

This efforts to get this mission working are a bit different than

for instance the ones for TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment

Partnership). Already at the upcoming edition of Eurosonic

Noorderslag a spokesman of the European Commission will explain

the current state of the ongoing activities. In June 2016 a European

Music Summit will be staged at Midem in Cannes. Also ILMC might

became the host for an initiative that in particular will have the

potential to widen eyes for the live music sector.

Historically various previous missions such as the European Music

Office (EMO) in Brussels and the launch for an umbrella organisation

named European Live Music Forum did not pay off., though EMO

particularly had lobbied intensively in Brussels and elsewhere for the

development of proper support scheme for the music sector.

While in the past politicians and officials on almost every level did not

show any interest in supporting the development of a programme

in favour for music, it also has been the inability of the music sector

to successfully undertake sufficient lobby efforts to motivate public

authorities to initiate such support programmes as they already exist

for the film industry for decades.

Far too often, especially in the music sector extremely big egos,

driven by a very short sighted interests prevented the successful

launch of such a initiative. Besides external political obstacles

that can be neither controlled or impaired by the music sector, it

is also now in the responsibility of the music sector, to avoid the

same mistakes that have been made in the past. It is going to a be

very interesting challenge for all involved parties, to ally and to tie

loose ends together, but it is the most promising and pretty much

unexpected opportunity for a long time to obtain and to develop

such a programme for the music sector.

A Call for EuropeManfred Tari mt@vip-booking.com

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14

As we all know the international live music

industry has had it’s share of difficult and

distressing events in 2015, but, as mentioned

in the Musings we hope that many of our

readers have had some good fortune and

that the rest of this year continues to be

successful for those who have done well, and

that in general everything improves for all!

We asked some of our readers to let us,

and you, know how things have been for

them and their Companies by responding

briefly to a couple of questions:

Professor Peter SchwenkowCEO, DEAG Germany

What were the highlights of your

year, and what are your conclusions

regarding the state of the business in

general?

Highlight of 2015 was surely the start of

our festivals Rock in Vienna, Rockavaria in

Munich and Rock im Revier in Gelsenkirchen.

Please let us know your outlook and

expectations for 2016….

The business seems to stay very healthy, as

Christmas sales are terrific.

Karsten JahnkeKarsten Jahnke Konzertdirektion GmbH

What were the highlights of your

year, and what are your conclusions

regarding the state of the business in

general?

The Stadtpark season was very successful

– 12 sold out shows. The amazing long

tour with Johannes Oerding. The tour with

Michael Wollny, Gregory Porter, Cypress

Hill, Kamasi Washington.. Wu-Tang Clan.

Please let us know your outlook and

expectations for 2016….

We are happy that THE CURE will be on tour

with us. Herman van Veen will do another

long tour. Al Jarreau & The NDR BIGBAND

will do another tour with us.

Way Back When will happen again!

Rob HallettRobomagic UK

2015 Highlights:

Duran Duran album and tour.

Grace in the top 5 future megastar.

2016:

2016 will be a buoyant touring year with

lots already announced and more breaking

through. Exciting times!

Ben ChallisCharming Music Limited / Glastonbury

Festival UK

My highlght of the year was enjoying

another marvelous Glastonbury Festival,

with Lionel Richie’s Sunday afternoon

show, just after Patti Smith and the Dalai

Lama, being a fantastic performance from

a great artiste.

Overall the live sector remains healthy -

and in some ways the real focus in the

music industry has been on the rapid

changes in the digital sphere - with Spotify,

Apple Music and Pandora all fighting for

market share, and behind that, the music

publishers, songwriters and artistes starting

to battle with the major record labels for

a fairer share of the digital pie. But the

ongoing onslaught in the UK on small music

venues, from rampant development, one-

dimensional planning laws and, in London

at least, a lack of support for clubs and small

venues from local authorities, remains a real

worry.

Going forwards, the on going success of the

festival market has created its own problems:

secondary ticketing is an ongoing drain on

revenues, and festivals, often operating on

tiny margins, now face the looming problem

of the avarice the Valuation Office here in

the UK, and a impending review of the UK’s

Tariff LP for live events by PRS for Music,

Progress ReportsAllan McGowan am@vip-booking.com and Manfred Tari mt@vip-booking.com

VIPNEWS > INDEPTH STORY > DECEMBER 2015

Peter Schwenkow

Karsten Jahnke

Rob Hallett

15

adding to concerns that these and similar

moves will badly damage a sector that

attracts tourists, creates jobs, and which

clearly enriches communities above and

beyond the enjoyment live events provide

for festival fans

Detlef SchwarteReeperbahn Festival

What were the highlights of your

year, and what are your conclusions

regarding the state of the business in

general?

As promoter of an event that serves all parts

of the music sector, I consider the recent

publication of a research study that covers

and evaluated for the first time ever market

figures for the entire German music market

as highly relevant. I very much hope that this

study will enable better and more qualified

analysis when it comes to comparisons

with other segments within the creative

industries in Germany and perhaps even on

a European level.

Please let us know your outlook and

expectations for 2016….

From a general point of view the development

of better framework conditions for the

various parts of the music business remains

a challenging issue for all of us. In particular

more reliable regulations providing a better

protection of copyright protected repertoire

on a European level, significant improved

earnings for artists for recorded music, a

much better engagement by politicians in

favour of keeping concert clubs and other

cultural activities alive. Last not least I wish

that the industry as well as artists will raise

their voices, proactively joining political

debates encouraging the improvement of

overall societal issues, ensuring that music

gains again a meaningful voice within our

society...

Martin ElbourneGlastonbury Festival, The Great Escape - UK

Pretty much everything I was involved

with sold out. Particularly good TGE and

Glastonbury. Sat night in Pune (city in India

- 5 million people 2 hours south of Mumbai.

Probably fastest growing in India) buzz for

nh7 festival was amazing !

Doing the inaugural Music Cities

Conventions in Brighton and Washington

DC also highlights. We appear to have

worldwide movement now of good people

wanting to create better cities using music

as key component, so that’s an exciting

development for world wide music eco

system.

I wouldn’t want to put on festival that was

entirely reliant on its line up. Those days

have gone!

…And Bristol Rovers winning play - offs at

Wembley!

As for next year I don’t really see anything

dramatic happening..Transparency stuff will

slowly edge forward. Music cities related

stuff will progress. EDM thing has peaked.

Festival market stabilising but growing

outside Europe.

Old school festivals that just do bands and

burgers dead.

More growth in urban multi venue festivals.

But no more conferences please!

More consolidation in agency world, and

possibly in management world.

Hilde SpillePaperclip Agency – Holland

My highlights in 2015:

The European tours for Jill Barber and

Chloe Charles. As Compass for Creatives

I introduced the online workshop 5

Empowerment Tools for musicians, with

great reactions from participants to an

article about it in IQ Magazine.

State of the business in general:

There is a lot of really great talent, developing

it is more and more difficult. Festivals are

looking for hypes and well known artists,

venues are booking less concerts.

Outlook and expectations for 2016:

I’m developing other workshops for

musicians and will introduce them in 2016.

I’m looking forward to a Dutch tour of Sass

Jordan in January and a European tour for

Matt Epp in January/February.

Detlef Schwarte

Martin Elbourne

Hilde Spille

VIPNEWS > INDEPTH STORY > DECEMBER 2015

16

Rob ChalliceCODA Agency – UK

Highlight of my year?

Seeing Ezra Furman smash it at a sold out

London Shepherds Bush Empire.

Life affirming stuff. Rise of the underdog!

State of business:

Still cannot believe that the industry has not

dealt with leaches like Viagogo and Get Me

in. They really are a stain on the business.

Let’s see more Adele/Songkick type

ticket situations. And if we have to have a

discussion about more dynamic ticketing,

fine. No more ticket “touting” though.

Rob BerendsPaperclip Agency – Holland

Highlights 2015:

Shows by King Champion Sounds,

Buzzcocks, Musée Mécanique.

State of the Business:

The business in general is making enough

money, but unfortunately only with major

artists and major events. The food chain

(that grows the talent of the future) is even

more under threat. For Bob Sillerman (SFX)

2015 was his well-deserved ‘payback time’,

showing that all he ever did to the live music

business is fundamentally flawed.

2016:

I’ve recently signed three bands for

European agency representation: Bent Knee

(USA), Blind Idiot God (USA), and Leeways

(NLD; winner of the Dutch Rock Contest

2014; debut album out now). Bent Knee will

tour Europe in the summer; Blind Idiot God

will tour Europe in April (3 weeks including

Roadburn Festival); the multicultural band

Leeways will play all over The Netherlands

again in the festival season (over 150 shows

played even before their debut album was

released) with their irresistible mix of reggae

and ska, hiphop, funk and rock.

As a Dutch promoter, in 2016 I will present

(among others) 10cc (six fully seated shows

in March; ticket sales are very strong),

Buzzcocks, Antilopen Gang.

The festival season will become even longer,

with more festivals, and the venues/clubs-

season will become even shorter, with

dangerous effects for the livelihood of these

clubs and venues.

Gordon MassonEditor IQ Magazine – UK

My personal highlight of the year was my

trip to Pohoda Festival in Slovakia, which

has become my favourite festival in the

calendar – there are always a fascinating

bunch of friends, old and new, to hang out

with, while Michal Kascak’s team manage

to outdo themselves year-on-year with a

programme that truly sums up the beauty

of music. Where else would you see an

Israeli act (Lola Marsh) on the main stage,

followed immediately by Syrian singer Omar

Souleyman?!

My other highlights, believe it or not,

involve the various conferences and shows

I am privileged to be invited to and speak

at – this year these included Eurosonic, the

International Live Music Conference (ILMC),

Reeperbahn, the International Festival

Forum, Waves Bratislava and Sonic Visions.

When I hear other people complaining about

their jobs, it always reminds me how lucky I

am to be involved in live music – even if it is

just on the peripheries. But meeting friends,

colleagues and all sorts of creative geniuses

from every conceivable corner of the world,

who are united by a common love for music,

is wonderful. There’s nothing I love more

than some random person I have just met

dragging me off to see a new rap act from

Bulgaria in a club I’ve never heard of before.

Karsten SchölermannLIVE KOMM – Hamburg, Germany

What were the highlights of your year?

For the first time we got a 1,5 million subsidy

for the ‘Digitalisation’ of Music Clubs” from

Ben Challis

Gordon Masson

Karsten Schölermann

Rob Berends

VIPNEWS > INDEPTH STORY > DECEMBER 2015

17

BKM (Bundeskulturministerium). For the first

time we had a survey letting us know that

the grassroots venues in Germany raised a

total of about 221 million in turnover - 2%

of music industries overall - but only 1%

profit within.

What are your conclusions regarding

the state of the business in general?

No extra expenses possible without losing

money.

Please let us know your outlook and

expectations for 2016….

More Expenses – (After Paris: Extra Security

!) will lead to grassroots-clubs closing.

Rense Van KesselFriendly Fire – Holland

We had a fantastic year actually. Notable

highlight was our domestic pride

Kensington doing two sold out shows at

the Ziggodome (34.000 tickets), we went

on sale with 3 Ziggodomes for them for

2016 just after this year’s shows and have

already sold 90%! It is fantastic that ‘our

own’ music is becoming so strong and such

incredible business.

Ville LeppanenThe Animal Farm – London

What were the highlights of your

year, and what are your conclusions

regarding the state of the business in

general?

My professional highlight was bringing

Little Brother Eli to Reeperbahn Festival and

seeing them blow away a crowd that had

never heard of them. The deals the ensued

were a bonus. My personal highlight was

making it through to the last 16 in the

European Squash Masters Championship,

out of a field of 128 players from across

Europe... ;-)

Please let us know your outlook and

expectations for 2016….

Guitar solos will make a long awaited return.

Stefan LohmannTalent Buyer & Booking Agent – Hamburg,

Germany

Highlights of this year:

My main business is my work as a talent

buyer / artist relationship manager for event

agencies and event organizers, brands and

cultural festivals. I do this for events like

the German Sustainability Award www.

nachhaltigkeitspreis.de with artists like Art

Garfunkel, Nelly Furtado, Annie Lennox,

Scorpions, Anastacia, Marlon Roudette,

Ute Lemper, Roachford, Yusuf/Cat Stevens,

Robin Gibb and many more.

I founded a new concert series: Festspiele in

concert – which will take place in 2016 for

the first time as part of the Bad Hersfelder

Festspiele - Artists this year Johannes

Oerding and Jan Josef Liefers – Radio

Doria – we sold out within few hours. - We

already started to look for suitable artists

in 2017 and we are also interested to bring

international artists to Bad Hersfeld.

The location „Stiftsruine“ is amazing and the

media reach out is unbelievable.

And last but not least I founded a new

Orchestra: the Berlin Show Orchestra.

This orchestra is young and fresh and is

able to create a authentic sound from

classical music to David Guetta with the

best musicians from Berlin (played for

Udo Lindenberg, Sido, Munich Symphonic

orchestra …) The premiere show at ‘Tag der

Deutschen Einheit’ presented and organized

by Hessischer Rundfunk in front of 10.000

people was a huge success.

Organizer and the special Guests like Jimmy

Somerville, Howard Jones and Nik Kershaw

were amazed.

Also the show at the German Sustainability

Award was a huge success. Ute Lemper

felt inspired by the orchestra, Marlon loved

especially the strings in the arrangement the

orchestra did for his No1 Hits.

Rense Van Kessel

Ville Leppanen

Stefan Lohman

VIPNEWS > INDEPTH STORY > DECEMBER 2015

www.ilmc.com

Steve Homer and Toby Leighton-Pope both senior promoters at the

UK operation of Live Nation have left the organisation and are now

rumoured to be heading to rival AEG Live.

Steve Homer and Toby Leighton-Pope have exited the company

last week. The duo are well-known faces on the worldwide live

music business circuit.

While neither side has commented on the matter, numerous

sources have indicated the long-serving pair will resurface at AEG

following a period of gardening leave.

Homer, Live Nation’s VP of music, promoted the Wireless Festival,

among other events, while Leighton-Pope was the firm’s VP of

promotions and was the promoter of the Calling Festival.

The development comes during a turbulent few months for Live

Nation, which appointed Irish promoter Denis Desmond as non-

executive chairman of its UK operations.

Desmond formed the LN-Gaiety Holdings Ltd joint-venture with

Live Nation in 2004 and runs Ireland`s MCD Productions, the

company behind festivals such as Oxegen.

Live Nation’s long-serving chief operating officer John Probyn left

the company earlier this year to take up a role with new family

event The Sports Show.

The firm acquired venue and festival operator MAMA & Company

in August but recently offloaded Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen to

bar and events operator Mothership Group.

Homer and Leighton-Pope rumoured to AEG From VIP-Daily News

Steve Homer

Toby Leighton-Pope

19

NAMES & JOBSVIPNEWS > DECEMBER 2015

20

MUSIC IN SHARES

MusicIn SharesManfred Tari mt@vip-booking.com

Time again for a round up on the yearly performance of the share

price of corporate concert companies within live music industry.

CTS Eventim- A Share Price Power Booster

Guess what, one year ago on December 16, 2014 the price for CTS

Eventim share was 23.19 Euro! Now on December 16, 2015 its 34.03

Euro.

Yes, CTS Eventim faced some not so nice risks in the meantime,

one of the biggest threats has been very long lasting investigations

against the CEO Klaus Peter Schulenberg regarding suspected

bribery and sale of tickets for the World Cup 2006 on the black

market. Anyhow, the prosecution department of the higher

regional court Munich closed the files in August after Schulenberg

paid an unknown sum and is not being considered for a criminal

record.

Still outstanding are the results of an ongoing investigation by the

German Cartel Office regarding the unfair use of market power by

CTS Eventim. Besides this there furthermore is a case filed against

the company regarding overpriced payment charges for the pre-sale

of tickets for the AC/DC-shows in Germany by consumer watch dogs

in Bremen.

Okay, the departure of Marek and Andre Lieberberg to set up

a German branch of Live Nation probably is also bit awkward,

but would you care, if you like Schulenberg were listed in Forbes

magazine on place 1250 of billionaires ranking with an estimated

fortune of 1.65 bn Euro ($1.84 bn)?

The current market capitalisation of CTS Eventim is 3.2 bn Euro and

within one year the share gained a plus of more than 44 percent.

DEAG- A Year To Remember

From a long time investors point of view only positive:. One year

ago the share price was at 6.75 Euro, this time it is 4.06 Euro.

Within this period the share lost 41 per cent of its former value and

the latest news concerning the outcome of a case filed by DEAG

against the new operator of the Nürburgring for compensation

worth 1.8 million Euro is, according to media reports supposed to

be limited.

Nevertheless DEAG already announced Iron Maiden as one of its

headliners for their festivals Rock Im Revier and Rockavaria. These

two new festivals caused DEAG in 2015 significant losses, Iron

Maiden will also perform at Rock In Vienna 2016. The current

market capitalisation is 67.72 million Euro.

Live Nation- Status Quo

One year ago $24.84, this time $25.20. Surprised? Yes and no. Live

Nation is a cash flow machine and even if latest business reports for

Q3-2015 earnings, the best the company reported since its IPO five

years ago, at the end of each business year regular net losses are

reported.

The current market cap a solid figure at $5 billion...

SFX Entertainment- Could Be Bargain...

If there weren’t the debts. The current market cap is just $33 million,

the share price $0.33 and managed to lose within one year 91.7

percent of its former value....

VIPNEWS > BUSINESS > DECEMBER 2015

VIPNEWS > MISC > DECEMBER 2015

MY BABYTerritory: World incl. USA and CanadaPeriod: From March 2016Agency: Value Added TalentAgent: Dan SilverPhone: +44 20 7704 9720E-mail: dan@vathq.co.ukHomepage: www.vathq.co.uk

50 CENT & G-UNITTerritory: Europe & aroundPeriod: Summer festivals & upon requestAgency: Georg Leitner Productions GmbHAgent: Georg LeitnerPhone: +431 914 86 15E-mail: gleitner@glp.atHomepage: www.glp.at

ÁrstíðirTerritory: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, DenmarkPeriod: April - May 2016Agency: NivalisAgent: Maria ChelnokovaPhone: +79 169 227 376E-mail: booking@arstidir.comHomepage: arstidir.com

ALPHAVILLETerritory: Europe & aroundPeriod: January 2016 onwards rest of the yearAgency: Georg Leitner Productions GmbHAgent: Georg LeitnerPhone: +431 914 86 15E-mail: gleitner@glp.atHomepage: www.glp.at

Chris Thompson (Ex-Manfred Mann’s Earth Band)Territory: WorldPeriod: Available all year on requestAgency: Live Concept Entertainment GmbHAgent: Michael WidmannPhone: +49 7203 9219180E-mail: info@live-concept.deHomepage: www.christhompson-central.com

MICHAEL BOLTON Territory: Europe & aroundPeriod: Before / after August 27th & upon requestAgency: Georg Leitner Productions GmbHAgent: Georg LeitnerPhone: +431 914 86 15E-mail: gleitner@glp.atHomepage: www.glp.at

MORE ARTIST AVAILS ON:WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

POST YOUR ARTIST AVAILS ON:WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

ARTIST AVAILS

Árstíðir

MEMBER PRESENTATION

Bulgarian Live Music is a company, which started its activity only a few years ago,

but has already become well-known for organizing music events in Bulgaria. A good

example for the professional qualities of Bulgarian Live Music is the successful events

in which world famous artists from all genres had taken part.

ROCK/METAL

The company organizes and manages the biggest rock festival in Bulgaria – Kavarna

Rock

During the three day edition of the festival in 2012 the audience heard the energetic

Dio Disciples, Glenn Hughes, Michael Schenker, BTR, Commanda 5, Stryper, Dokken,

Big Noize & Sebastian Bach, D2 & Dicho, Lizzy Borden, Kamelot, Rhapsody of fire,

Renegat And Ahat.

Last summer “Kaliakra” stadium in Kavarna city gathered more than 20 000 fans of

the legendary bands Deep Purple, Accept, Doro Pesch, Alisa, Analgin, Aria, Thunder

and Cherno Feredje. The festival went on for 2 days and gained popularity and

positive response from the Bulgarian fans as well as from those from other countries.

On the 28th and 29th of June 2014 as a tradition at Kavarna Rock guests will be

legendary artists like Europe, Helloween, Sabaton, Krokus, Gotthard, Pretty Maids,

Jon Uli Roth и Jorn. The ambition of Bulgarian Live music to support young artists is

followed by the challenge Black Sea Battle of the Bands 2014 – a contest for young

rock musicians from the Black sea region.

BALKAN/FOLKLORE

The genre variety of events was supplemented with “The Great Balkan Outplay”

which was held on 15th of October 2013. Some of the biggest orchestras from

Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria took part in it. Representatives of Bulgaria were the

clarinet’s genius Ivo Papazov – Ibryama and “Trakia” orchestra, well-known world

wide with their improvisations and Bulgarian folklore. The Serbian musicians Boban

and Marko Markovich and their orchestra, consisting of 13 people, took part in the

event, too. Their music is can be heard in Emir Kusturica’s movies “Underground”

and “Arizona Dream”. In the outplay were included the Romanians from “Fanfare

Ciocиrlia” ( “Lark orchestra”), known as the fastest brass band in the world – the

orchestra became popular because of the high-energy sound, complex rhythms and

high-speed clarinet, trumpet and saxophone solos.

Bulgarian Live Music Presentation

21