IQ issue 39

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The story so far...

In the year 2012 — just as the Mayan calendar had predicted — the world came to an end. Almost...

For 24 years the warning signs had been there: crazed zombies and killer vegetables stalked the streets, alien races arrived — stretching resources to breaking point — and all-powerful machines rose up to take over the world. Finally a massive impact rocked the planet and a three-year Nuclear Winter followed, threatening the very existence of life on Earth...

But there was hope. In the 24th year a small group of plucky survivors banded together and set up a base in the ruins of a once-proud London five-star hotel. The International League to Mend Civilisation – or ILMC 24 – was formed and began broadcasting messages around the world…

International Live Music Conference 9-11 March 2012 • www.ilmc.com The Royal Garden Hotel, 2-24 Kensington High street, London

ILMC Registration Guide

ILMC brings hope to all survivors of the live music world…

From unexplored primeval jungles to a postapocalyptic wasteland. It’s tough being an ILMC delegate. No sooner have you escaped the savage and mysterious Lost World of ILMC 23 than you’re thrown into another strange land – but this time with the ruined London skyline as a backdrop and the almighty collapse of civilisation still ringing loud in your ears.

Yes, with the Mayan calendar rapidly running out of stone to carve hieroglyphics on, and the end of the world apparently looming, where else could the ILMC be headed in the fateful year of 2012 but the twisted landscape of a post-apocalyptic world.

After 24 years of narrowly avoiding catastrophes, the ILMC’s venerable leader, Mad Mart (The Road Worrier), and his plucky band of fellow survivors have rallied together under the hastily conceived banner of the International League to Mend Civilisation (aka ILMC 24…). We’re calling on the top professionals that make up our membership to traverse the desolate wastes to London in March where the ruins of the once-proud Royal Garden Hotel offers shelter, and a place to begin rebuilding society.

Unlike most post-apocalyptic scenarios, however, it’s not enough to be among the world’s elite to be guaranteed a place in our safe haven…With space and supplies for only the first 1,000 and a history of selling out in advance, you should book in early to avoid being left out on the zombie-infested streets among the killer mutant vegetables and stalking Terminator robots.

This new feature – now nestling within the pages of your

4 ILMC Registration Guide January 2012

surprisingly glossy and miraculously undamaged copy of IQ – contains everything you need to know (and everything we know at the moment) about the conference weekend. We’ll bring you all the news and developments by mail in the next issue of the magazine, and direct to your inbox via our eNews email service.

Meanwhile www.ilmc.com is not only the place where you can register online, but also the definitive source of information about the event – with updates continually added right up to the conference weekend. So while dodging berserk motorcycle gangs and making your way across the dystopian wasteland, make sure you get online where you can register, research and plan your salvation.

ILMC 24 will introduce a new schedule of events in 2012 that look set to make a deep impact on the conference. From extra breakout meetings on the first day, to new offsite events like paintball, Dragon’s Den style chances to meet the industry’s pioneers, a series of showcases a stone’s throw from the hotel, a new on-site club – and even a special massage service to soothe weary delegates throughout the weekend – there’s enough to occupy the most hardened wasteland warrior.

So Escape from New York, or wherever, and make your way to London. Together, the survivors of the recent explosions and shifts in the live music business have hope. By sharing our expertise from The Road, the international live music industry can survive the apocalypse now. Well, from 9-11 March 2012 anyway…

Divided We Fall The primary aim of the ILMC has always been to bring people together, and throughout the weekend there are many ways to meet, greet and catch up with other survivors.

The perennial Networking Scheme allows delegates to sign up to a secure area of ilmc.com and arrange meetings before the conference weekend, while a host of events and socials let delegates swap tips and tales from the road, as we strive to build a brave new world. For new delegates, ILMC can be an overwhelming experience the first time out, so the New Delegates’ Orientation (Friday 9 March at 11:30) is a must, immediately after which the Survivors’ Reviver Opening Party welcomes all foot-weary travellers who’ve journeyed across the globe to get there, as the conference begins proper.

Rules & Regulations The ILMC website and this copy of IQ contains all the necessary information for your attendance at ILMC 24, and any ILMC dinners or events that require booking. Please note in an effort to be as environmentally responsible as possible, there will be no paper registration form this year.

All registrations must be made online. Please complete the Registration Form at www.ilmc.com/24 If you are not paying by credit card or bank transfer you may send a cheque to the following address: ILMC Headquarters: 2-4 Prowse Place, London, NW1 9PH When registering online, payment will be made via our secure server at www.ilmc.com.

NO final reservations can be made on your behalf (for the conference and/or particular events) until payment has been received.

The Blunderdome

Gala Dinner and Arthur Awards The heart of every ILMC and the focus of our survival efforts is the Gala Dinner and Arthur Awards. An evening of consummate luxury, it’s the one night of the year that the great and good of the live music world never fail to miss. The setting is the savaged borderland outpost known as the Jumeirah Carlton Tower where, inside, The Blunderdome awaits. A meeting point for travellers from every toxic wasteland across the world, the dome is far from a gladiatorial arena, but a post-apocalyptic oasis where conflicts and duels are set temporarily aside as champagne and fine wines are imbibed. Sponsored by Robertson Taylor Insurance Brokers and Last Second Tickets, the fourcourse, five-star feast is guaranteed to revitalise while on-hand entertainment lets you forget the world outside.

It takes place on Saturday 10 March, and later that night, the highlight of the weekend – and the climax of the year for a lucky few – is The Arthur Awards, when we hand out our Oscar equivalents to those most deserving. Categories up for grabs are the Promoters’ Promoter, Liggers’ Favourite Festival, Second Least Offensive Agent, First Venue to Come into Your Head and Tomorrow’s New Boss. The Most Professional Professional recognises the industry’s finest suits, Best in Show rewards the family and theatre show element, and Services Above and Beyond is the category for tour service companies.

This year, The People’s Assistant returns for its second outing, recognising the efforts of those tireless troupers behind the scenes, while our rotating category, the ‘Unsung Hero’, will give a nod to those hardworking ticket-sellers in the shape of The Golden Ticket award. However, the pinnacle of proceedings Survive the zombie hordes, battle the robots, or just register to attend everything you need is online at ilmc.com.

The ILMC is an invitation-only event. ALL new delegates must be nominated by two existing ILMC delegates, who have attended on more than one occasion.

Email: registration@ilmc.com for further information.

Invoices and GTG entries will contain the company name that appears on the Registration Form. No changes will be made.

Conference passes can display an alternative company name.

Alternative names should be indicated on the online registration form in the section entitled ‘Conference Pass’.

Visas are the responsibility of the attending delegates and letters of invitation are not issued by the ILMC.

CONFERENCE PASSES MUST BE WORN AT ALL TIMES

whilst in the Royal Garden Hotel, throughout the ILMC weekend.

The organisers reserve the right to charge the full registration fee for the replacement of lost or misplaced conference passes.

The ILMC takes no responsibility for the fulfilment of gifts or prizes offered by third parties during the conference.

Get to Shelter!

The Royal Garden Hotel – the five-star oasis which provides the backdrop for the weekend – is now fully refurbished, and so has many additional rooms for delegates to shelter in.

Plus, anyone taking advantage of the early bird booking via our travel agent, The Tour Company, will get complimentary internet access during their stay.

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ILMC Registration Guide

Help on The Road As always, Berryhurst are providing transfers for delegates from main London airports to the Royal Garden Hotel in luxurious S-Class Mercedes limousines at special reduced rates.

is The Bottle Award, where we honour one special person for their outstanding contribution to the live music industry. Any prior ILMC adventurer or IQ subscriber is eligible to vote for The Arthurs, with voting open at www.ilmc.com until 5 March.

TRANSFER FROM HEATHROW AIRPORT £85.00 + VAT & airport parking.

TRANSFER FROM GATWICK, STANSTED OR LUTON AIRPORTS £150.00 + VAT & airport parking.

To book, contact Sacha Levy at Berryhurst.

Tel: +44 (0)20 8959 1962 or +44 (0)7951 384114 Email: berryhurst@aol.com

ALTERNATIVELY…

• From Heathrow Airport (21.5kms) 45mins by taxi (approx £45).

15mins by rail on Heathrow Express to Paddington Station (from £16.50 one way or £32 return).

Taxi from Paddington Station to Royal Garden Hotel (approx £10).

• From Gatwick Airport (48kms) 75 mins by taxi (approx £100).

30 minutes by rail on Gatwick Express to Victoria Station (from £16.90 one way or £28.80 return).

Taxi from Victoria Station to Royal Garden Hotel (approx £10).

• From St Pancras International Eurostar Terminal (8.5kms) 45 minutes by taxi to Royal Garden Hotel (approx £17).

From Waterloo International Eurostar Terminal (7kms) 15 minutes by taxi to Royal Garden Hotel (approx £15).

• Please note that delegates who drive to the venue between 07:00-18.30 on weekdays are subject to a Congestion Charge of £8/£10 (on the day of travel/day after day of travel) unless their vehicles use alternative fuels. For more information or to pay, refer to www.cclondon.com.

All costs are correct at time of going to press.

Activate the Network Many years ago, when the ILMC was but a smallish affair, meeting people was easy: you simply nudged the person next to you or across the table and said hello. But as the conference has grown, people found it harder and harder to meet, so the ILMC Networking Scheme was introduced.

Members of the scheme are issued a code to access a password-protected section of the ILMC 24 website where they can access the contact details of other members that have signed up for the scheme. To take part, please tick the relevant box when registering or contact registration@ilmc.com.

The Mayan ‘End

of Daz e’

Dinner

Beyond the Blunderdome, there’s one dinner that every self-respecting survivor of the apocalypse should attend. Even if the Mayan calendars got it wrong, the Mayan colanders at this restaurant are sure to get it right (sorry! – ed), at our ‘End of Daze’ dinner. It’s a chance for our Neo-Mayan members to make up for their ancestors’ knee-trembling prophecies, by hosting our traditional food-of-all-nations dinner in this fateful year of 2012.

Popart Music, Plan Music and Water Brother will be welcoming delegates to an evening of South American cuisine, rich wines and the usual blend of madcap competitions and silliness that these events are famed for. Starting on Sunday evening at 19:30, our resident coach company Berryhurst will safely transport delegates through the desolation of London to Gaucho Piccadilly for some of the most mouth-watering cuisine this side of The Andes. It’s a fitting way to wind down from the ILMC weekend, although places are limited, so make sure you sign-up early.

Unless you ask us not to, certain details about every registered delegate will be listed on the ILMC website (name, company, country and sector) but the networking scheme is the only way for delegates to access each others’ contact details in advance. As usual, delegates’ details will be printed in the Globetrotters Guide, which delegates will receive on arrival at the conference.

On Friday 9 March, immediately after the last conference sessions finish, the bar will be open in the Lower Ground Floor Lobby (just outside the main conference room) and we suggest that this is an ideal place for the networkers in our midst to meet up.

6 ILMC Registration Guide January 2012

Survive the zombie hordes, battle the robots, or just register to attend - everything you need is online at ilmc.com.

Dead Lines REGISTRATION RATE CHANGE Tuesday, 31 January (18:00 GMT) Registration rates change from early to late fees.

DELEGATES FIRST UPLOADED TO WEB Friday, 10 February (18:00 GMT) Registered delegates’ details uploaded to website (and then each Friday after that).

INCLUSION IN GLOBETROTTERS GUIDE

Building a New World The theme of ILMC is always linked to the state of the industry – such as rewriting the rulebooks with punk, or watching out for icebergs on steamships – but this year carries a stronger message than ever. The world that we once knew is changing, and with the destruction of these old ways spring new hope and opportunities. Because, for all the ruined cityscapes and cyborg costumes you can expect to see during the conference, ILMC has a serious element to it as well.

At the core of the conference – and what drives it to continue and survive – are the meetings that provide an open forum to discuss those issues affecting the business. With the explosion of change witnessed over the last few years, there’s always plenty to talk about, and 2012 will be no exception. So much so, that this year we’re introducing an extra tranche of meetings on Friday 9 March, to allow more delegates to attend more sessions.

It also means that there will be less congestion with meetings the following day.

As the music industry continues to rebuild its broken frame, there are many who continue to forge a new future for themselves. Regardless of our past we must all adapt to the new world presenting itself to us, so there are many parallels to draw and topics to discuss. There’s the spate of recent disasters at outdoor events and some high profile safety concerns that have raised many questions across the business. And the ongoing, widening gap between the sell-outs and the left-outs. Or maybe it’s the continuing influence of technology, not just the terminator machines around our event, but social media, RFID and cashless payments which look set to change the shape of our business.

As the grass roots scene struggles, we’ll be asking what hope there is for the new blood attempting to break through, and what effect the fallout from recession is continuing to have. The full ILMC agenda will be published in the next issue of IQ and also online at www.ilmc.com but if there is a topic you strongly feel we should cover, please get in touch at info@iq-mag.net – it’s YOUR conference, and we rely on YOUR input.

TAKING PLACE AT THE ROYAL GARDEN HOTEL

(2-24 Kensington High Street, London) from 9-11 March 2012, ILMC will be welcoming 12 Monkeys and over 1,000 of the world’s most influential live music professionals. With Judgement Day upon us, the question is not simply whether you should be there, but how you would survive if you missed out…

Friday, 24 February (18:00 GMT) Delegates’ details will not be listed in Globetrotters Guide unless payment received by this date.

GLOBETROTTERS GUIDE LISTING Friday, 24 February (18:00 GMT) Changes to delegate details to be published in the Globetrotters Guide will no longer be accepted by this date.

REFUND FOR REGISTRATION AND EVENT FEES Wednesday, 29 February (18:00 GMT) Prior to this date registration refunds will be less £50 admin fee; and events will be refunded less 12.5%.

FINAL ACCEPTANCE DATE FOR NEW DELEGATES Friday, 2 March (18:00 GMT) New delegates must have been officially accepted and registered by this date.

GALA DINNER TABLE BOOKINGS Friday, 2 March (18:00 GMT) Gala Dinner table bookings must be received by this date.

LEAFLET TABLE BOOKINGS Friday, 2 March (18:00 GMT) Leaflet Table bookings must be received by this date.

PRE-REGISTERING Monday, 5 March (18:00 GMT) ALL pre-registered places must be booked by before this date.

LATE DELEGATES LIST Monday, 5 March (18:00 GMT) Final date to have delegate details included in Late Delegates List.

LEAFLET TABLE MATERIAL DELIVERY Not before Monday, 5 March (18:00 GMT) Materials for Leaflet Table MUST NOT arrive before this date.

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ILMC Registration Guide

Survivors’ Guide Thursday

1. ILMC Production Day (IPM) The fourth annual IPM will see production professionals from across the globe converge for a day of panel sessions, discussion and networking. Building on the success of last year’s event, IPM will be hosting more sessions and delegates will be treated to a delicious buffet lunch, followed by a closing drinks party. Sponsored by eps, Megaforce and Mediapower, registration is separate to the ILMC. Email marketing@ilmc.com for more info or check online at www.ilmc.com.

2. The World (what-used-to-be) Texas Hold’em Poker Tourney Taking place in the broken heart of Club Apocalyptica in the Royal Garden Hotel, the poker tourney returns to sort the mad dogs from the mutants in this annual showdown of bluff and bravado. It takes place from 22:30 until late, and an abundance of bar tab prizes awaits the victors. American Talent Agency sponsors, and the tourney costs £20 to enter – sign up by emailing marketing@ilmc.com.

2. The Walk-in & Fallout Party With so many early arrivals these days, this new ILMC fixture will be a chance for all survivors to meet. Road warriors from the ILMC Production Day and all weekend delegates alike are welcome to rock up for some devastatingly good first night fun.

3. The Breakout Sessions In partnership with Music Week and All Night Long Promotions and some of our most esteemed agency friends, we’ll be using the venue directly opposite the Royal Garden Hotel – AAA – to full effect over the ILMC weekend. Thursday, Friday and Saturday will all see showcases from some of the hottest talent and most promising new outlaws. Check ilmc.com and future issues of IQ for details.

The scene of some of the most ferocious battles across the weekend, the annual Table Football ‘Coupe du Monde’ takes place in the hotel bar from 22:00 ‘til late.

It’s possibly the only chance you’ll get to play for your country with a drink in one hand. IQ’s Terry ‘offside’ McNally will be accepting entrants on the night.

6. Access All Areas shows If you’re sufficiently fleet footed to dodge the zombies prowling London’s streets, our Access All Areas programme allows entry to some of the hottest gigs around the capital. AAA brings you the best shows happening across the capital.

Check your conference guide or the Help Desk for listings.

1. Match of the Year Football 3. The Dutch Meet and Eat Those towering visitors from the Never Lands welcome all delegates to an evening of showcases, presentations, competitions, drinks and nibbles. Always a conference highlight, MusicXport.nl’s annual meet and greet takes place across the road from the Royal Garden Hotel at AAA from 18:00 to 19:30.

Unbelievably, the hallowed turf of Wembley Stadium, the home of soccer, is again the venue for this annual match where UK conquerors take on marauding hordes from across the rest of the world.

Sponsored by Aiken Promotions, places are extremely limited, so contact Peter Aiken (Peter@aikenpromotions.com) to get on side.

2 Access All Areas shows Access All Areas shows, and the nearby Breakout Sessions continue. It wouldn’t be a live music conference without some of the best gigs that London can offer. Just don’t get bitten by the hordes… Check your conference guide or the Help Desk for listings.

Reviver

Rising from the ashes of what was once the ILMC opening drinks session, our German friends Ticketmaster Germany and others host two hours of food, wine and networking. It’s the only way to begin your ILMC weekend, and a must for new recruits or hardened road warriors. From 12:00-14:00 outside the conference rooms.

5. Table Football ‘Coupe du Monde’

Saturday

Friday 1. The Survivors’ Opening Party

this could be the best £45 you’ve ever spent. Sign up online at ilmc.com.

4. Paintball Wars:

The Battle for Bunker 51

Let’s face it, in this new post-apocalyptic reality, if you can’t shoot straight, you’re finished. So, set in a genuine ex nuclear bunker, Paintball Wars gives delegates a chance to test their skills at terminating the competition. It’s a great new way to meet new and exciting people, and then shoot them! Berryhurst buses will transport challengers to and from the hotel, and with food and drinks included,

8 ILMC Registration Guide January 2012

Survive the zombie hordes, battle the robots, or just register to attend - everything you need is online at ilmc.com.

3. The Blunderdome Gala Dinner and Arthur Awards The ILMC Gala Dinner and Arthur Awards (page 5) is the highlight in the industry’s annual calendar. Over 350 survivors from across the live music world congregate for an evening of sumptuous five-star cuisine, champagne and fine wines, where the annual Arthur Awards are also presented. Sponsored by Robertson Taylor and Last Second Tickets. The apocalypse never felt so good… see page 5 for more details.

4. Club

Apocalyptica

Club Apocalyptica is the only fallout shelter worth mentioning, and the place where all the wasteland heroes and proto-punks congregate. The club – situated on the first floor of the Royal Garden Hotel – opens late on Saturday, with war games and some Armageddon-inspired competitions to keep even the most baffled delegate amused. With sponsors Rock it Cargo on board, prizes and cataclysmic cocktails will be in abundance…

Register online at www.ilmc.com no later than 6pm GMT on Tuesday 31 January 2012 to qualify for the early-bird discounted registration fee and make sure that you have booked for the following events or features:

THE WORLD (WHAT-USED-TO-BE) TEXAS’ HOLD ‘EM POKER TOURNEY

York Suite, Mezzanine Level, Royal Garden Hotel Friday 9 March 22:30 – 02:30 To participate: marketing@ilmc.com (Entrance is a £20 donation to the Nikos Fund.)

PAINTBALL WARS: ‘THE BATTLE FOR BUNKER 51’

Bunker 51, 3 Herringham Road, North Greenwich (Berryhurst transport provided) Friday 9 March 19:30 – 22:00 To participate: Places are £45. Tick the box on the online registration form

MATCH OF THE YEAR FOOTBALL

Wembley Stadium Saturday 10 March 19:30 – 21:00 (Berryhurst transport provided) To participate: contact Peter Aiken at Aiken Promotions Tel: +353 (0)1 77 55 800 Email: peter@aikenpromotions.com

THE BLUNDERDOME GALA DINNER AND ARTHUR AWARDS

The Ballroom, Jumeirah Carlton Tower. Cadogan Place, London Saturday 10 March 19:30 – 00:00 (Berryhurst transport provided) To participate: Tickets are £135. Tick the box on the online registration form

Sunday 1. Nikos Fund Grand Prize Draw The ILMC raises a significant amount of money every year, and in exchange for taking a donation from every registration we receive, delegates are entered into the Nikos Fund Prize Draw. Rock up for a 14:45 start as our chosen charity, the Disasters Emergency Committee, benefits, but you must be there to win.

2. The ‘Armageddon out Champagne Farewell

of here’

All road warriors are welcome to the ILMC’s closing drinks from 17:30.

Preparing to return to any homeland, there’s no better place to steel your nerves and pick up some last minute survival tips.

A glass or two of bubbly will help round off the weekend in style before we set out to rebuild civilisation.

3. The Mayan ‘End

‘Preppers’ Checklist

of Daz e’ Dinner

Beyond the Blunderdome, this is the one dinner that every survivor should attend.

Our neo-Mayan members Popart Music, Plan Music and Water Brother welcome delegates to the final event in the ILMC24 calendar and the promise of some of the most mouth-watering cuisine this side of the Andes. From 19:30 ‘til late including complimentary Berryhurst shuttles (see page 6 for more).

THE MAYAN ‘END OF DAZE’ DINNER

Venue to be confirmed (Berryhurst transport provided) Sunday 11 March 2011 19:30 – late…

To participate: Tickets are £55. Tick the box on the online registration form

THE NIKOS FUND LEAFLET TABLE

To display up to two types of marketing material on the leaflet table.

To participate: Tick the box on the online registration form

AND DON’T FORGET TO…

• Sign up for the Networking Scheme by ticking the relevant box when you register, or email registration@ilmc.com and take advantage of a chance to pre-arrange meetings with other members of the scheme.

• Book your accommodation with The Tour Company on our website www.ilmc.com or email christine@thetourcompany.co.uk.

• Book your discounted limo airport transfer by calling Sacha Levy at Berryhurst on +44 (0) 20 8959 1962, or email berryhurst@aol.com.

• Make sure your company details are printed in the Globetrotters Guide by registering no later than 18:00 GMT Friday, 24 February 2012.

EMAIL ANY QUERIES REGARDING:

Conference production, events & features to ....................... conference@ilmc.com Marketing & press to ..................................................................... marketing@ilmc.com Session topics, chairmen & speakers to ..............................................ilmc@ilmc.com Registration to ............................................................................. registration@ilmc.com

FOR MORE DETAILS

Website: www.ilmc.com Email: To receive e.News and e.Flashes, email registration@ilmc.com. Post: Look out for an update in the February edition of IQ Magazine.

PLEASE EMAIL ANY COMMENTS OR SUGGESTIONS TO ILMC@ILMC.COM

January 2012 ILMC Registration Guide

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ILMC Registration Guide

Provisional

Saturday

Survival Plan

07:00 - 12:00 09:00 - 18:00 09:00 - 19:30 09:30 - 10:30 10:00 - 13:30 11:00 13:00 - 15:00

The times are subject to change. Check ilmc.com for details.

Thursday 10:00 - 18:00 10:00 - 18:00 13:00 - 21:00 13:00 - 18:00 18:00 - 20:00 18:00 TBA TBA

TBA TBA 22:00 - 01:00 22:30 - 02:30

14:30 - 18:00 15:30 - 16:30

Association Meetings IPM (ILMC Production Meeting) Early Bird Registration Travel Desk The Walk-in & Fallout Party Park Terrace Table Reservations The Breakout Sessions at AAA Access All Areas shows

Friday 09:00 - 20:00 09:00 - 18:00 10:00 10:00 - 18:00 11:00 - 12:00 11:30 - 12:00 12:00 - 14:00 14:00 - 18:00 18:00 - Late 18:00 - 19:30 18:30 19:30 - 22:00

08 March 2012

19:30 - 21:30 19:30 - 00:00

TBA TBA 22:30 - 02:00

09 March 2012

Registration / Help Desk Travel Desk Pollstar’s Cyberpunk Café opens Association Meetings (Invitation only) AEG’s Last Orders! Bar New Delegates’ Orientation Survivors’ Reviver Opening Party Conference Sessions AEG’s Last Orders! Bar THE DUTCH MEET AND EAT Dinner in The Garden PAINTBALL WARS: ‘THE BATTLE FOR BUNKER 51’ 3 Herringham Road, North Greenwich The Breakout Sessions at AAA Access All Areas shows TABLE FOOTBALL ‘COUPE DU MONDE’ THE WORLD (WHAT-USED-TO-BE) TEXAS HOLD’EM POKER TOURNEY

10 March 2012

Breakfast available Registration / Travel Desk Help Desk Coffee Break (complimentary) & bars Conference Sessions AEG’s Last Orders! Bar Survival Rations Complimentary Lunch Buffet & Pay Bar Conference Sessions Feld’s Ice Age Break Complimentary ice cream service MATCH OF THE YEAR FOOTBALL Wembley Stadium THE BLUNDERDOME GALA DINNER & ARTHUR AWARDS The Ballroom, Jumeirah Carlton Tower, Cadogan Place, London SW1X The Breakout Sessions at AAA Access All Areas shows Club Apocalyptica in the York Suite

Sunday

11 March 2012

14:45 - 15:15 15:30 - 17:30 17:30 19:30 - late

Breakfast on Mezzanine Help Desk Travel Desk Coffee Break (Complimentary) and Bars The Breakfast Meeting and Conference Sessions AEG’s Last Orders! Bar Survival Rations Complimentary lunch buffet and pay bar Nikos Fund Grand Prize Draw Conference Session & ILMC Autopsy ‘Armageddon out of here’ Champagne Farewell THE MAYAN ‘END OF DAZE’ DINNER

23:00 - 03:00

Club Apocalyptica’s Last Blast

07:00 - 12:00 09:00 - 18:00 09:00 - 16:00 10:00 - 11:00 10:30 - 14:00 11:00 13:30 - 15:30

Gaucho Piccadilly, 25, Swallow Street, London, W1B 4QR

Clean-up Crew Producer Alia Dann Swift ....................+44 (0) 7774 446 446 .....conference@ilmc.com Marketing & Press Chris Prosser ..... +44 (0) 20 7284 5860 .....marketing@ilmc.com Agenda Greg Parmley ..........................+44 (0) 20 7284 5867 .....greg@iq-mag.net Agenda Allan McGowan ......................+44 (0) 1273 880 439 .....allan@ilmc.com Registration Lou Percival ....................+44 (0) 20 7284 5868 .....registration@ilmc.com Travel Christine McKinnon ...................+44 (0) 141 353 8800 .....christine@thetourcompany.co.uk Road Worrier Martin Hopewell .......... +44 (0) 20 7284 5868 .....ilmc@ilmc.com

10 ILMC Registration Guide January 2012

Survive the zombie hordes, battle the robots, or just register to attend - everything you need is online at ilmc.com.

Contents News 14 In Brief The main headlines over the last two months 15 In Depth Key stories from around the live music world

Features 3 A New Beginning at ILMC 24 ILMC brings hope to all survivors of the live music world 24 2011 Review Allan McGowan analyses the past 12 months in the live business 34 Getting Louder Rihanna’s Loud tour enters the record books 44 Market Report: Nordics Adam Woods discovers robust markets in Europe’s far north 54 The Gaffer Production guru Chris Kansy talks about hitting The Wall

Comments and Columns

3

24

21 Facing up to Olympian Challenges Paul Latham urges live business to go for gold in 2012 22 Take That! You Secondary Ticketers German lawyers reveal how to thwart ticket resale 23 Sowing the Seeds Engage school kids to create new generations of fans, writes Steve Andrews 64 In Focus

Award winners and show producers in the spotlight 66 Your Shout ‘Go and find me a left-handed pencil!’

34

44

54 January 2012 IQ Magazine | 11

NeW BeGINNINGs...

Gordon Masson ponders how much belt tightening might be necessary to maintain the health of the business...

IF ECONOMISTS AND FINANCIAL pundits are to be believed, we ain’t seen nothing yet in terms of the recession in which the world finds itself. The fact that entire nations are in danger of going bankrupt brings into sharp focus the tribulations that could lie ahead for the live music sector – to paraphrase Festival Republic MD Melvin Benn in Allan McGowan’s end of year review people have to pay their bills and they have to eat, but they don’t have to buy tickets to concerts.

It’s heartening, therefore, to hear confirmation that PRS For Music has seen the light and ended its year-long deliberations on the live music tariff in the UK by deciding to keep things exactly as they are. Paul Latham’s assessment of that showdown (page 21) is definitely worth a read, as are his warnings about the challenges the industry faces going into the New Year. On a similarly upbeat note, Adam Woods’ journey to the Nordic territories (page 44) proves there are still some markets that are prospering and that the recession isn’t quite as global as it’s often made out to be.

However, businesses around the planet continue to shut up shop on a daily basis and you don’t have to glance too far across the music industry to foresee job losses when EMI is broken up. Contrary to popular belief, the live music business is not recession-proof and you don’t need me to tell you that the task of getting bums on seats, or feet in fields, is getting harder by the year, as more and more events compete for what little disposable cash there is in an already saturated market. Big Day Out

promoter Ken West cautions that the next 12 months could claim a number of big name festivals and although Folkert Koopmans might be on hand to rescue one or two, some events will inevitably go to the wall, potentially taking down suppliers with them.

Without wishing to sound like my former British prime minister namesake, prudence might be the best policy for the foreseeable future, as the luxury of going to gigs slips down the list of priorities for Joe Public. In saying that, promoters by their very nature live and breathe risk and if Benn is correct, continental-wide exclusivity deals could see artist fees climb even higher.

Only time will tell, but my prediction, for what it’s worth, is that people will always want to be entertained and in a year’s time when we publish our review of 2012, stories of failure will be surpassed by those of triumph.

On a final note, it would be remiss of me not to thank my predecessor in the editor’s chair, Greg Parmley, for his hard work in making IQ the publication that it is. Indeed, although Mr P has been working around the clock for his new employers, Intellitix, he has somehow managed to find the time to help shepherd through this issue of the magazine. If the one thing I can learn from Greg is how to manage my time more efficiently, then that’ll be a valuable lesson when it comes to working through 2012 and beyond.

Which only leaves me to wish you all the very best across the holiday season and a healthy and prosperous New Year.

THE ILMC JOURNAL

LIVE MUSIC INTELLIGENCE Issue 39, January 2012 IQ Magazine 2-4 Prowse Place London, NW1 9PH, UK info@iq-mag.net www.iq-mag.net Tel: +44 (0)20 7284 5867 Fax: +44 (0)20 7284 1870

Publisher ILMC and M4 Media Editor Gordon Masson Editorial Consultant Greg Parmley Associate Editor Allan McGowan Marketing & Advertising Manager Terry McNally Sub Editor Michael Muldoon Production Assistant Adam Milton Contributors Lars Brandle, Manfred Tari, Paul Latham, Steve Andrews, Prof Dr Winfried Bullinger, Kai Manuel Hermes, Uwe Frommhold, Ben Challis, Adam Woods & Christopher Austin Editorial Contact Gordon Masson, gordon@iq-mag.net Tel: +44 (0)20 7284 5867 Advertising Contact Terry McNally, terry@iq-mag.net Tel: +44 (0)20 7284 5867

To subscribe to IQ Magazine: +44 (0)20 7284 5867 info@iq-mag.net Annual subscription to IQ is £50 (€60) for 6 issues.

January 2012 IQ Magazine | 13

News

In Brief... undergoes throat surgery to repair damaged vocal chords, forcing her to cancel all remaining tour dates and promotional appearances for the year.

Adele

November

October Apple computer founder Steve Jobs dies, aged 56.

Live Nation forms a strategic alliance with Bill Silva and Andrew Hewitt, key promoters in the Southern California and Las Vegas markets.

A London coroner rules that Amy Winehouse didn’t have illegal substances in her body when she died, but she had consumed enough alcohol to cause her death.

Financial troubles force the UK’s biggest nightclub operator, Luminar Leisure, to call in administrators, threatening the future of its 75 outlets and 3,000 staff.

DNA Networks cancel what was supposed to be Metallica’s debut show in India amid safety concerns at the Delhi outdoor venue. The promoter puts on a successful show with the rockers two days later in Bangalore.

German powerhouse FKP Scorpio continues its buying spree by taking a majority stake in Sweden’s Getaway Festival.

Live Performance Australia warns consumers against dealing with unauthorised ticket sellers, naming Sydney-based Ticketfinders.com.au as public enemy number one.

The Stone Roses confirm their reunion by announcing dates at Manchester’s Heaton Park, promoted by SJM Concerts.

2011’s biggest selling artist, Adele,

Google Music launches with an artist hub feature for musicians who want to control their own fan sales and relationships.

Quebec government passes ticket resale laws that require brokers to obtain permission from content providers, such as concert promoters or venues, before they can resell tickets above face value.

Belfast’s Odyssey Arena and Ulster Hall host the MTV Europe Music Awards where Lady Gaga wins four statuettes (best song, female, video and biggest fans) to add to the trio she won in Madrid a year earlier.

Ticketscript continues its European expansion with entry into the Spanish market, launching an online Spanish service and opening a local office in Barcelona.

Rumours of a 50th anniversary reunion for the Rolling Stones gather pace when guitarist Keith Richards reveals the band is planning to rehearse in London before the end of the year.

At least 90 claims are filed by victims of the August stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair by the 1 November deadline.

Voters in South Dakota approve a $115m (€85.3m) project to build a new multipurpose auditorium to replace the Sioux Falls Arena.

Heavy D (real name Dwight Arrington Myers) dies of respiratory issues in Los Angeles. He was 44.

Live Nation appoints former Destiny Productions president Ryan Kruger as managing director of its newly formed Electronic Nation Canada.

Michael Jackson’s physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, is found guilty of manslaughter.

Live Nation Entertainment’s net income rises 1% in the third quarter to $51.7m (€38.4m), but revenue from concert tick-

et sales falls 7% to $1.28bn (€950,000) as overall attendance drops 6% to 15.6m.

Bankers Citigroup agree to sell EMI Music to Universal Music Group for $1.9bn (€1.4bn), while EMI Music Publishing will become part of Sony ATV in a $2.2bn (€1.6) deal.

Live Nation gets permission to use Hyde Park and Victoria Park as concert venues during the 2012 Olympics in return for erecting giant TV screens at the parks and in Trafalgar Square.

DEAG chief Peter Schwenkow expands his Swiss operations by establishing concert agency Starclick Entertainment and hiring the directors of the bankrupt Free & Virgin to run it.

Ticket resale marketplace StubHub appoints former Dow Jones executive Brigitte Ricou-Bellan as senior director of international expansion to head up its new UK operations.

Earthquake ravaged Christchurch unveils plans for a new venue to try to attract touring acts, after the New Zealand government approves a NZ$20m (€11.3m) project to construct a 17,000-seat temporary stadium in the city.

Food and support services operator, Compass Group North America, purchases a 49% stake in AEG Facilities for an undisclosed sum.

The Association of Independent Festivals reveals fans spent an average of £461 (€536) per head on festival costs in 2011 – up from £438 (€509) last year, suggesting that the festival market appears to be prospering while other sectors such as nightclubs contract.

CTS Eventim inks a five-year deal, commencing January 2013, to provide ticketing services to three SMG Europe venues: Manchester Evening News Arena, Belfast’s Odyssey Arena and the new Leeds Arena.

Live Nation Spain announces a partnership with Ritmos e Blues and Better World to promote shows in Portugal.

To subscribe to IQ Magazine: +44 (0)20 7284 5867 info@iq-mag.net Annual subscription to IQ is £50 (€60) for 6 issues.

14 | IQ Magazine January 2012

News

Intellitix Hires Key Staff Eurosonic goes digital for European Expansion A pro- Mercato, Songkick, Soundnew

at sites including Coachella, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Outside Lands, Austin City Limits, Electric Zoo, Moogfest and Le Festival d’été de Québec. The company says its RFID access control systems radically reduced queues, eradicated fraud, and were proven to withstand all types of weather.

“We gained an impressive list of festival clients in North America this year, and we are now adding an equally impressive list of respected figures in the entertainment world to our team,” Intellitix CEO Serge Grimaux says.

“My partner Martin Enault and I will continue to grow the Intellitix platform globally to answer the needs of the festival communities, enhance the patrons’ experience and be a generator of new sources of income.”

Although Parmley has left IQ, he retains his role as director of content and media for the International Live Music Conference (ILMC).

Feargal Sharkey departs UK Music The hunt is on for a new head of UK Music after charismatic Irishman Feargal Sharkey shocked the business with his sudden decision to quit as chief executive.

The three-year-old organisation is the first representative body for the whole of the UK’s commercial music industry and, in May 2011, former Undertones frontman Sharkey welcomed Live Nation’s Paul Latham onto the UK Music board to

provide a voice for the live music community as part of the newly formed UK Live Music Group.

Under Sharkey’s leadership, UK Music became the focus of the industry’s political lobbying initiatives and unified the music industry in Britain for the first time, when before there was often division and contention.

Andy Heath, chairman of UK Music comments, “Feargal has worked tire-

interactive

gramme has been added to the schedule at Eurosonic Noorderslag, allowing delegates at the conference and showcase festival to keep tabs on the various new media developments that are generating diverse revenue streams in the music industry.

Hosted by the city of Groningen in the Netherlands, the 11-14 January event is expected to attract more than 3,000 music professionals from around the world.

Aware that the digitalisation of society has hit the music industry harder than most other sectors, Eurosonic creative director Peter Smidt is bringing in some top names to provide insight on a range of opportunities.

“Our keynote speakers will be Shawn O’Keefe, director of SXSW Interactive, and Ralph Simon of the Mobile Entertainment Forum, while we will also have a number of tech companies represented, including YouTube, LastFM, Topspin,

Cloud and Mobile Roadie,” says Smidt.

The Interactive programme is being organised with support from Buma/ Stemra and the Platform Internet Bureaus Nederland, which represents the 100 best internet agencies in the country. Smidt says revolutionary developments in the field of streaming music services, social media and the explosive increase in the use of mobile internet were the driving factors to establishing the Interactive “conference within the conference” which he predicts will be one of the most popular aspects of Eurosonic Noorderslag 2012.

Another tweak to this year’s scheduling has seen Smidt bringing the European Border Breakers Awards (EBBA) and the European Festival Awards (EFA) together on the same evening, which should ensure a big turn-out for the first day of the conference.

lessly to realise the vision of the founders of the company and he has achieved that brilliantly. He has assembled a first-class team whom I’m certain will take the company forward to new strengths and achievements.

Feargal is an ambitious man and I fully respect his decision that he wishes to take up new challenges.”

Sharkey commented, “I shall never forget what an honour and a privilege it has been to have worked with such a dedicated, creative and professional team of staff, without whom, so much simply would not

have been possible. What is now most important is that we can all look forward to the future successes I know that UK Music can, and will, achieve.”

Jo Dipple, UK Music’s senior policy advisor, will lead the organisation until a new CEO is appointed.

Feargal Sharkey

Serge Grimaux

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) specialist Intellitix has appointed two key personnel in its new UK office to focus on the European festival market in 2012.

Former IQ editor Greg Parmley will oversee global communications in his role as chief information officer and he has been joined by Steve Jenner as VP director of operations, UK and Europe. Jenner, who founded Virtual Festivals, most recently worked as digital director at UK promoter Kilimanjaro Live.

Intellitix activated over one million RFID wristbands at festivals in North America during last summer

January 2012 IQ Magazine | 15

News

Greg Parmley with Melvin Benn

Benn Provokes Exclusivity Debate Over Headliners

Festival Republic managing director Melvin Benn believes UK promoters will start demanding Europewide exclusivity clauses for their headliners in a bid to prevent fans going overseas to other events.

The festival guru made the remarks during his keynote interview at the UK Festival Awards Conference on 15 November at the HMV Forum in London, and, despite receiving criticism from the

audience, Benn believes the move is logical for promoters to make.

“We’re already seeing festivals in the United States demanding North American exclusivity for their headliners, so it’s almost inevitable that others will follow suit in Europe,” he says. “If Coachella in California can demand North American exclusivity to prevent headliners from playing at a festival in New York, then the distances between

UK Festivals Could Power 10,000 Homes The energy used at UK music festivals could power 10,000 homes for a year, but this could be dramatically reduced by phasing out inefficient diesel generators.

According to research conducted this summer by environmental campaigners Julie’s Bicycle, the University of Sussex and the Power Providers Forum (an informal network of power suppliers and festival promoters), UK festivals consume about 12 million litres of diesel per year, giving the sector a huge carbon footprint.

One green solution – waste vegetable oil biodiesel – is currently meeting just

3-6% of this festival power supply demand, and on-site renewable energy, such as solar power, wind or pedal power, is meeting only 0.026%. As a result, Julie’s Bicycle is making a number of recommendations, including better planning and rationalising of generators, using more energy efficient kit for PA and lighting, and tour bus operations significantly reducing energy demand.

A Green Suppliers Database has been developed for suppliers to share information and increase awareness of their business and this has now been uploaded to the Julie’s Bicycle website.

16 | IQ Magazine January 2012

festivals in Europe mean the same thing is viable here.”

Asked by a delegate how he could justify enforcing such punitive measures on acts who have to play multiple events to make ends meet, Benn countered that such exclusivity contracts would only likely affect headliners.

“In the UK we pay much more for headliners than festivals in Europe and that’s why certain European festivals are able to have lower ticket prices.” He added that some European promoters are now actively marketing their festivals in the UK, targeting fans that otherwise would be going to British events.

“Bands and their agents want the big fees from the UK, but as promoters we want something in return, so I think we’ll start to see headliners held to Europe-wide exclusive deals.”

Such a concept does not surprise John Giddings of Solo Agency, who, in addition to being a booking agent, promotes the Isle of Wight Festival. “Festival promoting is a dog-eat-dog business and the cheques keep getting bigger and bigger because there are less acts than there are events,” Giddings notes. He concedes UK festivals can pay “twice or three times as much” as continental counterparts in artist fees, but wider exclusivity deals are not on his agenda for Isle of Wight.

“There’s no such thing as a fee for a group: it’s horses for courses and it all depends on how much you are prepared to pay for your market,” Giddings adds. “You could have a worldwide exclusive on a band if you were to pay £10million (€11m). But it’s not worth me paying a premium to exclude the whole of Europe.”

PRS For Music Closes Live Music Consultation The live music industry is celebrating a crucial victory after UK collections society PRS For Music decided to maintain its royalty tariff at 3% of ticket receipts.

In 2010, the organisation launched a consultation to review the tariff, prompting fears of a price hike across the board for live music events, but following vehement opposition from promoters, venue owners and festival organisers, any plans to increase the 3% threshold were scrapped.

“We received many helpful responses with feedback largely supporting the consultation process, regarding it as sensible to review after 20 years,” says Keith Gilbert,

director of public performance sales at PRS For Music. “Since the last review the live industry had changed significantly with live music becoming a more professional enterprise and thriving mainstream leisure activity. However, as the market has grown, so have the costs associated with putting on events. After a number of discussions and reviews it was agreed that no changes should be made at present. We will continue to work alongside the industry to ensure our tariffs both support the rights of the creator, whilst recognising the contribution of all parties involved in making the UK live music business the success that it is.”

News

BDV Launches Collection Society Concert promoters’ trade body BDV is launching its own collection society to take advantage of copyright laws on live music recording royalties, in a move that could be replicated elsewhere.

German legislation gives promoters rights on concerts that are recorded and duplicated on sound and video or broadcast on TV, radio or the internet. To date, however, few promoters have approached existing collection society, GVL, to enquire about royalty payments. GVL claims to be the biggest collection society for neighbouring rights in Europe and distributed €160million to its rights holders last year, including 130,000 artists and 27,000 record labels.

The society itself is owned

by DOV (the German union for musicians) and the Bundesverband Musikindustrie, the country’s branch of the IFPI. Further complicating matters, however, is that the tracking of neighbouring rights is handled by authors’ collecting society, GEMA, while GVL is in charge of the administration.

Johannes Ulbricht, BDV’s head of legal affairs, explains that while GVL already takes care of promoters in terms of secondary rights, related with payments on copyright levies, BDV’s new operation will look after the so-called primary rights – the individual agreements between a promoter and the artist, label or, for example, radio station.

“To avoid a conflict of interest, GVL will not represent the rights of promoters against record companies and broadcasters; we need a separate collection society,” says Ulbricht, but he adds, “As GVL is only representing the promoters regarding a very small scope of rights, [it’s] not paying any sum worth mentioning yet.”

In an opinion poll by trade paper Musikwoche regarding BDV’s proposals, 37% of respondents said they don’t think promoters will benefit from claiming their neighbouring rights on live recordings. But with platforms such as YouTube carrying concert footage, and TV stations such as 3sat occasionally broadcasting concert recordings

for 24 hours, the avenues for promoters to earn neighbouring rights are definitely getting broader.

Ulbricht says, “Many record companies understand it is helpful for the whole industry if there is an incentive for the promoter to invest into the long-term success of newcomers.

There were always conflicts between the different rights holders regarding distribution of income in the past, but the music industry as a whole prospered because there were incentives to invest into new talent.”

Inspired by its German peers, French promoters association Prodiss is lobbying for a similar copyright law, while organisations in other markets are believed to be monitoring BDV’s progress.

News

Antipodean festival Big Day Out (BDO) is enduring some early strife ahead of its 20th anniversary celebrations, with the six-date event announcing some dramatic changes to key personnel and cuts to the previously announced line-up.

Big Day Out’s co-founders Ken West and Viv Lees have gone their separate ways and West will now helm the event as ‘BDO creator.’ Melbourne-based Lees says he will pursue new challenges. West notes, “It was my vision for the show, and his concept was to streamline it as much as possible so he could understand it. You could say we stayed together for the children — the children, the Big Day Out and everyone associated with it.”

Soon after that news bombshell news dropped, West announced one of the show’s headliners Kanye

West now won’t be involved in the scaled-down Adelaide and Perth shows, although his appearance had previously been confirmed.

Admitting there were talks to cancel those shows, the Sydney-based promoter blamed a string of factors, including a Qantas airline strike. But not everyone is buying it.

In one of many posts on the BDO Facebook page, one youth wrote, “I don’t hate the BDO, but this year I am expressing my disappointment by not buying a ticket like so many other people.”

Another BDO no-show is controversial hip hoppers Odd Future, whose appearance at the opening 20 January concert at Mt Smart Stadium was nixed by site owners Auckland City Council following complaints about the group’s homophobic and misogynistic lyrics.

The band’s Australian dates,

Lees and West in happier times

Lees and West End 20-Year Partnership

however, won’t be affected.

At its peak in 2009, the BDO claimed to have sold 335,000 tickets across the six cities it visits – Auckland, Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide. At deadline, none of the dates had sold out. West downplays this, but he’s in no doubt that the Australian outdoor market is softening.

“I know the festival market is really in trouble. There have been 40 festivals (cancelled) around Europe that should have still been here,” he said.

“It might be a really different

Bercy to Undergo €110m Facelift France’s biggest concert hall – Bercy in Paris – is set for a massive overhaul which will see naming rights auctioned off and the arena’s capacity rise to more than 21,000 seats from its current 17,000.

Having recognised the need to modernise in order to keep in step with the five biggest indoor arenas in the world, venue management have drawn up plans for what they are calling ‘Bercy Arena 2015’ to “bring a prestigious, energy-efficient building in the heart of Paris in line with standards for new international arenas.”

Among the contractors involved in the initial €110million refurb are AEG, architecture and engineering firm DVVD, lawyers Clifford Chance and project managers Société d’Aménagement de l’Est parisien.

Bercy opened in 1984 and in addition to gigs, the arena regularly hosts basketball, tennis, figure skating, ice hockey, athletics, horse riding, martial arts, wrestling, gymnastics, handball and volleyball and has even staged motocross and windsurfing events.

However, the building

18 | IQ Magazine January 2012

has now been used without any major modification for 27 years, so an extensive plan to install state-of-the-art technology and facilities in the complex will be phased in over the next four years to bring Bercy in line with the world’s biggest arenas: Staples Center in Los Angeles, Madison Square Garden in New York, The O2 arena in London and o2 World in Berlin.

The renovations will enlarge and modernise all the dressing rooms and areas dedicated to organisers, while a 2,500m2 entrance hall will be created to house

landscape in 12 months time and your favourite festival might be gone.”

West also took a pop at international agents for contributing to Australian promoters’ problems. “It’s a very competitive business and I’ve advised the international agents that the game’s changed and they’ve got to start treating the Australian market like we’re real people. They’ve got to start being realistic about pricing these things and not just putting it out like it’s a bidding war at a fish market.” bars, catering outlets and partner areas that can remain open seven days a week.

New suspended balconies in the auditorium will enable the finished arena to cater for flexible audience configurations ranging from 8,000 to more than 20,000 and the architects are also expanding the number of executive suites from 18 to 52 to develop Bercy’s hospitality offering and open up the building for seminars, conventions and corporate events.

The project is scheduled for completion in September 2015 with two periods of closure for construction work pencilled in during 2014 and 2015.

Comment

Facing up to Olympian Challenges Live Nation UK COO Paul Latham calls for cooperation and continual professional development for the future good of the industry...

Picking up where we left off at the end of 2010, it is great to think we were able to put PRS back in their box for the time being. They obviously saw the error of their ways and were suitably embarrassed that they had their grubby digits out looking to double their already swollen live music coffers. They need to have a word with their Berners St (London) bedfellows in PPL who are looking for up to a 2,500% increase in their royalties.

How many more pubs/club operators/promoters/ festival organisers have to go bust before these selfserving bandits learn that there is no more money in the live kitty? There was great support from the whole of our business to defeat this arrant avarice and we need to continue to stand as one to negate the delusional data and sound bites they continually trot out.

Ironically, this year us denizens of live music were invited to be part of the UK Music Board (the irony comes in that said august body is primarily funded

by PRS and PPL). It has long amused me that our side of the music business was never actually recognised as being part of the business…we were like the defecation on their Doc Martins. So now it is up to us to ensure our voice is heard on the many matters that directly and indirectly inhibit our industry.

I had never appreciated what an immense job Feargal Sharkey and Andy Heath did by disseminating putative legislation and government papers to try to represent UK music in the most appropriate way. What on the surface may appear innocuous Home Office, DOE and Government quango musings regularly appear unchecked as legislation that has considerable impact on our industry (think how a desire to rid pubs of Neanderthal ‘bouncers’ ended up costing us fortunes via the Security Industries Act).

Now there is one voice - thanks to Feargal’s hard work - we must all use this vehicle to properly represent one of the few British industries that can hold its head up in a global market. There are few manufacturing industries we lead the world in these days, but our music and event creation/production is still up there.

Likewise, we need to future-proof our industry by ensuring all our existing staff, and those who aspire to join us, have the opportunity to optimise their talents and that will only come about if those who have some knowledge impart it to those we engage with.

Furthermore, we should actively participate in the initiatives of the Creative and Cultural Skills Council to bring together employers, educators and employees to create the ‘best-in-class’. The music industry cannot cure the disease of unemployment on its own, but we can lead by example by not taking advantage of those who throw their labours gratis at our feet. Such shortterm exploitation does little to build futurethinking companies. Let us create proper apprenticeships in every facet of our business with ample opportunities for continual professional development.

If the governor of the Bank of England thinks the UK is about to enter the biggest economic depression since the 30s we had better take notice. Going to gigs is a luxury item compared with keeping a roof over your head, keeping warm and fed - especially if the unwaged figures grow. The harbingers of doom have been hovering for a couple of years, but this one feels real.

Live music is escapism from the drudgery.

For that weekend of the festival or those few hours of the gig, we help to suspend reality, we help to build memories and experiences that make people feel good on every recall. Being as one with your fellow audience is an experience rarely replicated these days…politicians are barely credible, religions can be divisive, sports always have rival entities… so we are the custodians of the only mass gatherings where people can act as one in adoration of their idols. That is a responsibility we should not take for granted. We should relish and nurture our music communities and make sure every event we stage delivers all that it promises for all customers, from ticket-buyers through to artists.

In the year of the London Olympics let us shoot for the gold standard, and every other year after. For those about to rock, I do indeed salute you.

January 2012 IQ Magazine | 21

Comment

Take That! You Secondary Ticketers Prof Dr Winfried Bullinger and Kai Manuel Hermes, lawyers with CMS Hasche Sigle, Berlin, update us on action taken against secondary ticketers...

The German promoter MCT Agentur presented three concerts of the Take That tour in Germany in late July 2011. MCT was also responsible for the Robbie Williams tour in 2006, during which all 13 concerts in Germany were sold out and tickets were traded on the secondary ticket market for up to €1,000. To prevent the unauthorised trade in Take That tickets and to ensure an equitable pricing structure with no ticket being sold for more than €100, MCT decided to conduct the stadium tour entirely with personalised tickets. This required restrictive general terms and conditions (GTC) which effectively had to be included in every contract.

“B y maintaining complete access control and taking comprehensive action against infringements, MCT has shown the market that the concept is serious, vital and can be enforced.”

The tickets were sold by the official distributor, Smart Tickets, on their online platform Tickets.de, where it was technically impossible to purchase more than six tickets per transaction. By maintaining complete access control and taking comprehensive action against infringements, MCT has shown the market that the concept is serious, vital and can be enforced.

Presently, the majority of unauthorised ticket traders are extremely professional and use the internet. They exploit the fact that the authorised sales platform does not necessarily land in the top position on search engines.

By positioning themselves above the official platform the unauthorised dealers confuse customers as to where the tickets can be bought officially.

The main targets of our actions were commercial dealers with their own websites, offers on internet sales platforms and ticket exchanges. Private individuals were not targeted.

Since commercial dealers were often disguised as private individuals, it was important to clarify whether a commercial dealer or a private person was acting. This was quite difficult because the dealers used numerous prohibited methods to circumvent technical boundaries, such as fantasy names, straw men and so on. In the end, we could prove that several thousand tickets were bought by commercial dealers directly at Tickets.de. In most cases, detected violations were prosecuted successfully, ie traders have been issued a cease and desist declaration and paid a penalty to MCT.

22 | IQ Magazine January 2012

More problematic are ticket exchanges. Here, the seller’s data will not be disclosed by the exchange even if the tickets have already been purchased. Therefore, test purchases will not help much. Instead, customer complaints about improperly personalised, overpriced or counterfeit tickets are very helpful. MCT launched a test case against one of the largest European ticket exchanges and received a preliminary injunction by the regional court of Hamburg, which forbade the exchange to enable the commercial trade of personalised tickets. This injunction was confirmed by a court ruling and because of the issuance of the final declaration by the ticket exchange, the ruling is now the final settlement in this matter.

The legal prohibition not only had judicial consequences (eg as a precedent and as a basis for a fine for the defiance of the court’s order), but also generated a lot of publicity.

Personalised tickets have a completely different legal structure than normal tickets. In German law, they are socalled ‘assigned tickets’ which means that entrance to the concert is only granted to the person who has obtained the right of access and whose name is printed on the ticket. If someone wants to transfer his ticket he needs to assign the right of access; it is not enough to just sell it.

As a promoter, you have the advantage of providing conditions for this assignment in your GTC with which you can make sure that the GTC applies to the subsequent sales. In the Take That case, we defined that the contract as a whole must be transferred together with the GTC and that the consent of the promoter is necessary. According to the GTC, the consent of assignment was refused in certain clearly defined cases, such as commercial or overpriced sales.

There can be several reasons for a promoter to apply restrictions, especially given his interest in combatting the secondary ticket market, thereby guarding his reputation against ticket buyers associating him with the overpriced sale. But there are also advantages for the buyers. Using personalised tickets, the promoter deters commercial dealers from jeopardising his equitable pricing structure. It is in the buyer’s interest that tickets are not oversold. Moreover, there are no disadvantages for private buyers because they can still sell their tickets according to the GTC if they want to and get their money back.

All in all, MCT believes that the concept was a success and will continue to use personalised tickets for major events.

Sowing the Seeds Steve Andrews believes that the way to guarantee future audiences is to hook them when they’re young....

School Touring has been sending artists of all types into British schools for 16 years. Up and down the country when these artists have appeared, one thing has become very clear – nowhere near as many kids as we’d like to believe are actually going to see music live.

Many teachers say, “It’s great you send these artists into schools, otherwise many would probably never see a live act.” We tell ourselves the live sector is still healthy, but where will we be in ten or 20 years if we don’t grow a new crop of gig-goers?

Our school shows include a Q&A session and, where possible, some kind of workshop. Allowing kids to interact with the artist and discover they’re not mystic gods, but normal people they can relate to, is the best way to encourage budding musicians. Giving kids a great experience in the safety of their school is a fantastic way to introduce them to live music and to urge them to go to local gigs and support live acts.

“ S o many other platforms vie for their time and attention and PlayStation, EA Games, Nintendo, etc have bigger marketing and promotion budgets than all but the biggest labels.”

There are now many under-18 gigs around the country so it’s easier than ever for youngsters to see artists, but they need encouragement. So many other platforms vie for their time and attention and PlayStation, EA Games, Nintendo, etc have bigger marketing and promotion budgets than all but the biggest labels. We need to get these kids excited about the live music experience and to adopt it as an important part of their social lives.

Last year I toured an all guns blazing, swaggering rock band around the schools and those who enjoyed it most were in the 14-17 age range. But I was stunned to hear so many say they’d never seen a live rock band before. These are the ‘converts’: the zealots discovering a world they never knew existed. We need more and more of these. They will ensure the safety and vigour of the live business when we’re happily ensconced in the Aerosmith Wing of the Chillaxin Retirement Home for Retired Rock Rebels and the Terminally Bewildered...

Review

Review

It’s been an interesting 12 months in the business of show, as the global recession started taking its toll on spending habits around the world. Allan McGowan looks back over the year in live music that was 2011...

I can’t quite believe that I’m yet again writing a review of the year, but here I am considering the fortunes of the international live industry in the first year of the second decade of the 21st century, and I’m sure that I only just signed off on a rundown of 2010! Still, I suppose time flies when you’re having fun, but then again were you? Let’s see…

Following the bumpy ride of 2010, with the US Summer season described as the worst since the mid-90s, promoters at all levels were anxious to avoid a repeat of a year in which US concerts’ gross receipts fell 7.6% and UK box office figures dropped for the first time in a decade. However, recovery and improvement were difficult goals to achieve against an economic backdrop of rising unemployment, and national debts expressed in figures so astronomical that even agents selling headliners to major festivals couldn’t quite comprehend them.

But, against these odds, albeit with some rewrites, the show goes on…

“What happened last year was a wake-up call. What we realised was that you can’t just wish a show home now the way you could before. You really have to work it.”

Mark Campana – president, Live Nation Entertainment’s North American concerts business

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In Brief...

December

• David Campbell, chief executive of The O2 in London, departs the world’s top arena to work for Bernie Ecclestone’s Formula One Management.

• Aussie promoter Chugg Entertainment announces the launch of Grassroots – The New Zealand Blues & Roots All Music Festival, which will take place from 23-24 April.

• Captain Beefheart, real name Don Van Vliet, dies on 17 December having battled multiple sclerosis for two decades. He was 69.

• Kings of Leon’s 21 December concert at The O2 in London is postponed after fire breaks out on a tour bus.

• The High Court dispute between Eamonn McCann and Denis Desmond, the original partnership behind MCD Production in Ireland, settles out of court.

• Live Nation sells the 1,800-capacity Stockholm Circus to a syndicate that includes executives Thomas Johansson and Carl Pernow.

Review

The Numbers let’s start by taking a look at the figures. With the addition of the regular IQ reports, we now have access to much more information on the returns of the various sectors of the business. Much as the persuasive power of numbers is still considered by some as fabricated, particularly when used by the media to exaggerate and indicate declines in the business, the figures provide a useful overview of the industry.

“Once an act becomes big internationally they simply don’t have the time to tour up and down arenas in the UK, so increasingly it’s domestic things like ‘The X Factor’ that are keeping them alive. The business is not as big as it used to be. The NAA numbers show that arenas should be down on their knees to Simon Cowell.” Phil Mead – former chairman, NAA In the UK, PRS For Music reported a 6.8% drop in the overall value of live music in that market to £1.48billion (€1.69bn); box office takings for pop and rock concerts fell by 12% in 2010, with fans spending £843.5million (€965.3m) on face value tickets. However, in the first quarter of 2011, the collective performing right royalties for the use of songs in broadcasting, at gigs and in public spaces passed onto PRS members, topped £127m (€148m) – the largest ever.

IQ’s European Arenas Report in March indicated an attendance drop of 7% for all entertainment types, and a 16%

January

• Festival Republic announces that it will launch a new 50,000-capacity, four-day festival in Orlando, Florida from 11-13 November.

• Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty dies from liver failure, aged 63.

• After reporting a drop in sales of 16% in December, retailer HMV announces it will close 60 shops across the UK. • Former Roskilde Festival head Leif Skov is given the Yourope Lifetime Achievement Award at the European Festival Awards in Groningen.

• A judge rules that Michael Jackson’s personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, will stand trial for involuntary manslaughter.

• Germany’s FKP Scorpio buys Sweden’s Hultsfred Festival from receivers and appoints former booker Gunnar Lagerman to run it.

decline in music shows. At ILMC 23 in March, the National Arenas Association (NAA) reported 2010’s attendance figures down by 19% at 10.9m. But that followed a record attendance figure of 13.6m in 2009 across the UK’s 17 largest arenas.

“Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself…” Mark Twain (1906) However, there were some 2011 highlights for the UK industry, such as Take That’s eight-night July run at Wembley Stadium which played to a reported 623,737 fans, and brought in £38m (€44m), making it the highest grossing concert series of all time by Billboard Boxscore.

“Our view is that the live music business is not entering a cycle of boom and bust, but rather showing signs of maturity, and cooling to a more sustainable growth path, after a period of unprecedented growth.”

Will Page/Chris Carey – ‘PRS for Music Report’ Down under, meanwhile, Live Performance Australia’s 2010 figures reported a 22.6% jump in revenue to AUD$1.3bn (€0.95bn).

The ever-dependable Pollstar (which supplies figures accepted by the industry as accurate), had to make a few estimates in 2011 when concert giant Live Nation, wary of the previous year’s declines (and possibly nervous of negative effects on its variable share price) elected to withold some returns.

Mid-year figures reported mixed fortunes; concert grosses

• Music Export Norway opens an office in Berlin to promote its national talent across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

• Three people are killed in a stampede at West-Balkán, a nightclub in Budapest, amid claims that the building was overcrowded.

• The Wukesong Arena in Beijing, China, is renamed the MasterCard Center in a five-year naming rights deal with Bloomage International Investment Group and AEG. • Academy Music Group adds the 550-capacity Bournemouth Fire Station to its UK roster.

• Serbia’s Exit Festival ends its business relationship with Charmenko agency and begins booking international artists directly.

• Live Nation cuts its profit forecast by 7% after Ticketmaster paid $22.3million (€16.7m) to settle a

class action lawsuit over online ticket delivery and booking fees.

February • Citigroup seizes control of music major EMI from Terra Firma, writing off £2.2billion (€2.6bn) of its debt.

• AEG announces that it will be using Outbox for all 100+ of its global venues within two years, giving individual buildings more control over ticket fees and their sale.

• Agent Ron Baird, who opened CAA’s Nashville office in 1991, dies following complications due to Parkinson’s disease. He was 60.

• After opening the 52,000-cap Türk Telekom Arena in January in Istanbul, AEG wins the contract to manage the 12,500-cap Ülker Arena when it opens late 2011.

• Nick Blackburn, former MD of See Tickets, joins the board of Ingresso

January 2012 IQ Magazine | 25

Review

Group, a new ticket distribution and marketing venture.

• Ticketmaster buys Spanish ticketing company ServiCaixa, allowing it to sell tickets through over 8,000 ATMs owned by financial services company and bank La Caixa.

• The Bahrain Formula 1 motor race and the F1 Rocks event (due to take place the day before), are cancelled due to political unrest.

• German entertainment company CTS Eventim announces 2010 earnings before interest and tax of €70.6m, a similar amount to 2009.

• After going into administration, staging and trucking firm ES Group is split and sold to UK-based Transam, and a UAE-based consortium.

• Live Nation Entertainment is confirmed to run live entertainment planned around London’s 2012 Olympic Games.

26 | IQ Magazine January 2012

• Scores of fundraisers are announced in response to the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, that killed more than 180 people on 22 February.

• Live Nation Entertainment’s 2010 report shows losses tripled to $228m (€160m) as concert attendance continued to fall.

March • UK football club West Ham United and Live Nation win their bid for the London Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games. Rivals Tottenham, partnered with AEG, launch legal challenge.

• Nelly Furtado announces she is giving the $1m (€700,000) fee she was paid for performing in front of Libyan leader Colonel Gadhafi in 2007 to charity. Beyoncé follows suit.

• The Western Australian parliament launches an investigation into whether

U2’s ‘360’ tour in Milan

were up, but worldwide ticket sales declined 2.1%. The Top 50 Worldwide Tour charts showed a cumulative gross of $1.65bn (€1.21bn), a $166.2m (€122m) or 11.2% jump in total gross-dollar ticket sales on the same period in 2010.

But… although overpriced tickets had been identified as a major factor in audience decline in 2010, with promoters blaming ‘greedy’ artists and excessive ticketing fees, the Pollstar figures insisted that these continued to climb with an average hike of $10.23 (€7.50), or 13.6%.

In the US, the deep concerns of 2010 were somewhat allayed by a total gross of $1.12bn (€0.82bn), including $25m (€18m) from the Coachella Festival; an overall increase of $157m (€115m) or 16.2% on the top 100 Tours. At the same time, the number of tickets sold rose 5.3% to 16.7m. Even in the UK, where the overly expensive ticket debate was at its fiercest, the average price rose 10.2%, increasing $6.25 (€4.58) and making a record average of $67.02 (€49.01). Where will it all end?!

U2 topped the 100 North American Tours chart grossing $85.8m (€62.96m). The Irish rockers also ruled the roost worldwide, grossing $164m (€120m), and selling 1,679,467 tickets for 23 shows in 16 cities. The 360 Tour ticket prices varied internationally, but averaged out at $97.65 (€71.66).

Roger Waters’ spectacular production of The Wall put him in second place on the Top 50 Worldwide Tours chart with a total gross of $97.9m (€71.86m); with runners-up Bon Jovi, Lady Gaga and Usher.

Music festivals now play an ever-important role. In the UK alone, they account for more than 25% of all concert tickets sold, with a total audience spend of £546m (€637m). The German festival market is estimated at €340m while France now boasts a staggering 3,800 festivals annually (including local events). the AUD$2.95m (€2.17m) it spent on supporting Perth’s One Movement event was beneficial.

• The overcrowded Finnish festival scene sees the cancellation of Ankarrock, while Helsinki’s Tuska Open Air Metal Festival switches dates to avoid clashing with Sonisphere.

• UK-based insurance brokers Doodson Broking Group acquires Dallas-based CSI Entertainment Insurance to form Doodson Entertainment.

• According to Fuji TV news, the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit Japan caused over 1,300 concerts by foreign artists to be cancelled or postponed.

• Figures released by the National Arenas Association show attendance at UK arena shows down by 19% in 2010, while ticket prices continued to climb.

• Live Nation Entertainment launches

Review

The Big Boys…

2010 was of course a nail biting time for Live Nation and Ticketmaster and last year’s review referenced a story with romantic Shakespearian overtones of star-crossed lovers.

But early in the year, with the knot well and truly tied, there were already hints of marital strife. In February Live Nation Entertainment’s 2010 report showed that losses tripled to $228m (€160m) as concert attendance continued to fall. The company was also forced to cut its profit forecast by 7% after Ticketmaster paid $22.3m (€16.7m) to settle a class action lawsuit over online ticket delivery and booking fees.

At the top end, rivalries continued. With less returns from the giant, Pollstar still reported 7.8m Live Nation tickets sold, 2m down on last year, but maintaining first place with 33 of the top 100 grosses worldwide (although I see elsewhere that LN claims 41). AEG were just behind with 32, reporting 5.5m tickets sold. In Europe, German entertainment company CTS Eventim announced healthy 2010 earnings of €70.6m before interest and tax, a similar amount to 2009.

In January, unrest in the Live Nation camp was indicated as chairman Barry Diller stepped down and John Malone of Liberty Media took over. Promoter Michael Cohl countersued his former employer over the right to promote tours with the Rolling Stones. 2011 marked the Stones’ fiftieth year and a tour could have been the biggest rock tour ever in terms of revenue, but it failed to happen. Well, Mick and Keith aren’t getting on, but don’t be too surprised if they kiss and make up to mark the actual 50th anniversary of the band in 2012.

In February, the musical chairs continued with Irving Azoff taking over from Malone as chairman of the board, LiveAnalytics to capitalise on its combined 180 million-strong database, identifying customer preferences and trends.

• AEG Facilities and Nederlander Entertainment purchase the US Bank Arena in Cincinnati.

• President of Madison Square Garden Jay Marciano moves to London to take up a new role as CEO of AEG Europe.

• A French stagehand dies after falling from the roof of Lyon’s Halle Tony Garnier before a Jamiroquai show.

CTS Eventim’s purchase of See • Tickets Germany and Ticket Online Group is cleared by the German federal cartel office.

April • Latest IFPI figures show that global music sales fell $1.4bn (€980m) in 2010, with the UK market dropping

after Live Nation took complete control of his company, Front Line Management. Liberty increased its shareholding in Live Nation and their CEO, Greg Maffei, joined the board.

Things improved in the first quarter, with the sale of 34.6m tickets, up from 31.2m in Q1, 2010. However, a net loss of $48.5m (€35.6m) was still posted by Live Nation, but this was significantly less than the $122.2m (€89.7m) loss in the same period the year before. Azoff told investors that while “economic factors are still of some concern” the company is generally optimistic about the year.

“We believe that our business environment is starting to improve over last year and we’re encouraged with overall trends to date. Our healthy first quarter performance reflects improvement in ticket sales, solid growth in our sponsorship and e-commerce segments and our focus on carefully managing our costs. It’s still early in the year, but fans are responding well to our ticket pricing initiatives.”

Michael Rapino – president and CEO, Live Natio Unusually, in the second quarter, LN actually made a profit!

Concert attendance grew in North America and people spent more money on beer and parking, up 3% to $19.21 (€14.10) per concert-goer. Attendance increased 13% to 8.9m; total revenue was up 23.1% to $1.56bn (€1.15bn); concert revenue rose 25.9% to $1.08bn (€0.79bn) and ticketing revenue increased 7.3% to $284m (€208m).

11%, the US dropping 10% and Japan dropping 8.3%.

• After UK retailer HMV issues a third profit warning for the year, its share price falls 20%, while major labels relax their supply covenants in support.

• Germany’s Live Entertainment Awards are publicly ridiculed by promoter Marek Lieberberg who calls them “obsolete”, after refusing to pick up his lifetime achievement award.

• Sziget’s cultural director Fruszina Szép leaves the festival role to become director of Hungary’s Cultural Institute in New York.

• A Miami judge rules that Michael Cohl’s countersuit against Live Nation, over his right to promote the Rolling Stones, can go ahead.

• The UKs Festival Republic buys a 51% majority share in Berlin Music Week.

• First results from the European

Talent Exchange Programme reveal 46 acts from 14 countries have secured 76 shows following the January showcase event.

• U2’s 360 Tour becomes the highest grossing tour of all time, beating the Rolling Stones’ Bigger Bang Tour record of $554m (€388m). 360 is set to gross over $700m (€491m) by the time it ends.

• New Zealand passes a three-strikes law that allows copyright holders to demand ISPs ban repeat illegal filesharers.

• Live Nation expresses interest in running the new Copenhagen arena after the tender process is restarted when AEG struggles to raise the necessary funds.

• Dutch theatre producer Stage Entertainment launches a new division to focus solely on international touring.

January 2012 IQ Magazine | 27

Review

But… outside of North America, Live Nation presented 16% fewer shows — 1,591 in total; and attendance fell 6% to 4.2m. Still, worldwide attendance grew 6% to 13m. Rapino states, “We are seeing the global ticketing business stabilise and concert business grow year-over-year. The third quarter lacks the fear that permeated the industry last year and will mean business-as-usual for artists.”

Unfortunately, the third quarter (ending 30 September), didn’t exactly play ball. North American concert attendance dropped 4% to 12.3m, and worldwide attendance fell 6% to 15.6m. One positive aspect was that parking and hot dogs etc were up 6.7% from last year, with each attendee spending an average of $17.54 (€12.85).

Live Nation executives have no doubt welcomed the steadier results this year, but Tuna N. Amobia, (the remarkably named) media analyst at Standard & Poor’s Equity Research, put things into perspective. “Last year was such a down year it’s almost inconceivable that this year would be down in terms of attendance.”

“We believe the stabilisation of consumer demand for live events will continue into 2012, and, looking ahead, we are increasingly optimistic about our opportunities.”

Michael Rapino – president and CEO, Live Nation Main rivals AEG Live also received disheartening news early in the year, having been told that Lloyd’s of London insurers could avoid a multimillion-pound payout to the promoter of Michael Jackson’s ill-fated This Is It concert series if the singer’s personal physician Dr Conrad Murray

• LG Arena in Birmingham (UK) and local police confiscate more than £10,000 (€11,400) of bootlegged merchandise at a WWE show.

May • Speaker manufacturer Klipsch signs a multi-year naming rights deal for Live Nation venues in New York and Miami.

• In the UK, Live Nation and Festival Republic announce that they will begin posting out tickets soon after purchase in an attempt to cut-down on fraud.

• Pollstar reports that a three-year partnership between Charmenko’s Nick Hobbs and Borek Jirik’s Berlinbased Transmusic dissolves with losses of “hundreds of thousands of Euros”.

• Live Nation partners with discount specialist Groupon to form a new concert ticketing site – GrouponLive.

• The principal associations repre-

28 | IQ Magazine January 2012

was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. In November, Dr. Murray was found guilty of just that.

But there was some Turkish delight as the company opened the 52,000-cap Türk Telekom Arena in January in Istanbul, and won the contract to manage the 12,500cap Ülker Arena scheduled to open in late 2011. In January, AEG Facilities’ Brian Kabatznik told IQ that the company’s formula is based around four major income streams: “Naming rights, sponsorship, premium seating, and food and beverage.”

“Concert promoters work on 3-5% margins and it’s not a sustainable business. It’s no surprise that Live Nation is now a ticketing company because Ticketmaster runs on a (much higher) margin. It’s no surprise that AEG is a facilities company because it makes more money running venues.”

Stuart Galbraith – CEO, AEG-owned Kilimanjaro Live In February, AEG Live showed that they too can tie the knot, announcing a global joint ticketing venture with Outbox and Cirque du Soleil. CEO Tim Leiweke told Billboard.biz, “Some people will see this announcement as a shot across the bow of Ticketmaster, but it’s not. The fact is, this was expected.” Since the completion of the LN/T merger in January 2010, AEG had licensed Ticketmaster software under one of the approval conditions set by

senting the UK’s live music industry unite to form the UK Live Music Group, with its nominated chair, Paul Latham, taking a seat on the board of trade body UK Music.

• Former See Tickets MD Nick Blackburn is announced as the head of CTS Eventim’s UK operation.

• Azerbaijan wins the 56th Eurovision Song Contest with Running Scared at the event in Düsseldorf’s Fortuna Arena.

• Galaxy Macau opens for business on Macau’s Cotai Strip. Owners of the HKD 14.9bn (€1.4bn) development pledge to increase the number of concerts by foreign artists.

• U S ticketing company Eventbrite (which integrates social media and mobile) announces a $50m (€35m) influx of venture capital finance.

• Irish promoter Denis Desmond is paid the $2.95m (€2.08m) in damages he was owed for a cancelled

Prince show in 2008, just as the artist announces two European festival shows this summer.

• The ticket service run by German promoter Karsten Jahnke is voted most customer-friendly in the country by a top consumer body.

• Gil Scott-Heron dies in New York at the age of 62.

June • Moroccan activists carry out a campaign of online and street protests against the government and sponsor-funded Mawazine world music festival, describing it as a “waste of money”.

• Banks bailout beleaguered UK music retailer HMV with a £220m (€251m) refinancing lifeline, subject to high exit fees and interest charges of between £10-15m (€11-17m) per year.

• The insurer of Michael Jackson’s

Lady Gaga at Zurich’s Hallenstadion © konzerbilder.ch

Review

the US Department of Justice to help it establish its own ticketing business and preserve competition in the market.

The licence period allowed for five years, but the new AEG venture came together in one, with some tickets already available through Outbox by midsummer. Indeed, the company aims to have the network of 105 global venues it owns and/or operates running the system within the next two years.

“The uniqueness of this partnership is we give them 10 million tickets and they become the second-largest ticketing company in the US, because of our business.”

Tim Leiweke – CEO, AEG

Festival Fever The festival season was of course overshadowed by the double tragedies that occurred only five days apart in August with seven killed in the Indiana State Fair disaster and five at Pukkelpop in Hasselt, Belgium. Both incidents resulted from extreme weather conditions; heavy winds and rain had also caused a stage to collapse in Ottowa, Canada in July. Of course, the industry continues to discuss what can be done to ensure that all possible precautions are taken to guard against the effects of extreme weather in the future.

30 | IQ Magazine January 2012

The 50,000 site is due to launch in either 2012 or 2013.

• UK based luxury tent company MyHab stop trading a week before Glastonbury after taking up to £500,000 in advance bookings, leaving festivals to arrange alternative accommodation.

• Three weeks from launch, Arvika Festival in Sweden cancels due to ongoing financial difficulties having gone into administration in 2010.

• Bloomberg reports that AEG plans to refinance The O2 arena in London with a £150m loan and equity injection.

July • A 35-year-old German woman dies at Roskilde Festival after jumping from a 30metre platform, part of a sponsor-operated aerial ride.

• Promoter Vince Power raises £6.5m

by floating his company, Music Festivals, on London’s Alternative Investment Market exchange.

• One of Live Nation’s largest shareholders, John Malone, states that taking the company private would make economic sense.

• Pollstar’s mid-year figures report an 11% jump in gross of the top 50 tours worldwide to $1.65bn (€1.22bn), with ticket prices also rising 13.6% to an average of $84.92 (€63).

• Willie Robertson, co founder of Willie Robertson

This Is It shows sues AEG Live and the late singer’s estate to nullify the policy it issued for the string of 2009 London shows.

• UK ticket operation CrowdSurge sells what it claims is the first ticket via a fully integrated Facebook app.

• Two festival-goers die of heatrelated conditions at US festival Bonnaroo after temperatures at the Tennessee event stretch into the 90s.

• Simon Fuller and ex-Island Records boss Chris Blackwell announce Blackwell Fuller, a new venture focussed on monetising artist content.

• The Dutch government cuts its arts budget by 30% just before VAT in tickets rises from 6% to 19% on 1 July.

• The Bulgarian leg of Sonisphere is cancelled due to slow ticket sales.

• German festival promoter Folkert Koopmans announces his second Swedish festival in Norrköping.

Review

“I have seen many tropical storms, but this was unprecedented. This is the blackest day that any Belgian festival has experienced.”

Chokri Mahassine – promoter, Pukkelpop “More festivals will, of course, generate more risky moments, but it would be an error of judgement to attribute extreme weather events to the increased number of festivals – the consensus of 97% of the world’s scientists would probably refute this claim and point to climate change as a more likely trigger, as might our own common sense.”

Alison Tickell – director, Julie’s Bicycle Festival collector Folkert Koopmans of FKP Scorpio commented in his usual quietly understated manner on the 2011 summer season by saying, “In general, it was good…”

IQ’s 2011 European Festival Report highlighted artist fees as the runaway issue worrying festival organisers, but the newly introduced category of ‘Weather’ appeared large on the agenda, just behind production costs and the financial climate.

In the UK, despite claims that 31 events had been cancelled

by August, many remained upbeat about festivals. Simon Fox of the beleaguered HMV, for instance, was able to give shareholders a rare bit of good news as High Voltage, Global Gathering and Lovebox saw attendance rise by 30%. Vince Power, promoter of the Hop Farm and Benicàssim also upped his festival interests, listing his company, Music Festivals on the alternative investment market. insurance specialist Robertson Taylor loses his fight with cancer, aged 67.

• Hong Kong promoter Abba ChanTat is sentenced to three years imprisonment for embezzling more than HK$63m (€6m) from two companies he chaired.

• It’s announced that the three stages from U2’s 360 tour will be sold, with the undisclosed purchase price including delivery, and assembly by designers Stageco.

• Five people are injured when the main stage at the Ottawa Bluesfest collapses in high winds.

• Award winning singer songwriter Amy Winehouse is found dead at her Camden home, aged 27.

• SMG secures a management contract for Movistar Arena in Santiago, Chile, its first in South America.

• Perth’s One Movement festival and conference, established by Sunset

“In what is clearly a troublesome year for the UK in general, it is incredible that so many of the independent festivals have sold-out or had record years for ticket sales. I think it shows that people are finding warmth and inspiration from the more creative end of the festival sector. The love being put in by our promoters is being sent back by consumers voting with their feet.”

Ben Turner – co-founder, AIF But promoters agree that the economy is having an effect, with events like Reading taking a lot longer to sell out than usual. At The Summit conference, organised by Live UK, John Giddings (promoter of the Isle of Wight Festival) said, “Overall, it’s rubbish to say that the festival market is fading, but people are certainly watching their pennies.”

Melvin Benn, MD of Festival Republic agreed, “In 1988, probably less than 30,000 people went to a festival in this country. This year, on the August bank holiday weekend alone, just between Reading, Leeds and Creamfields, more than a quarter of a million people went to a festival. So, the concept that the UK has suddenly fallen out of love with festivals is just wrong. But the UK is definitely counting its pennies. There’s no question of that.”

Events and Chugg Entertainment, is axed after two years having accumulated seven figure losses.

Live Performance Australia’s 2010 • Ticket Attendance & Revenue Survey show a 22% increase in revenues in Australia’s live sector to AUS$1.3bn (€970,000).

August • Live Nation sues Lloyds of London for $10m (€7.4m), alleging that it was wrongly insured for lawsuits against Ticketmaster.

• Live Nation posts profits of $13.3m (€9.9m) in Q2 with revenue up 23% to $1.56bn (€1.16bn).

• Sony’s main UK distribution warehouse is gutted by fire as riots spread across London and other major UK cities.

• Academy Music Group founder John Northcote dies, aged 62, after

“You’ve got to buy the groceries, you’ve got to pay the rent, but you don’t have to buy a festival ticket.”

Melvin Benn – MD, Festival Republic

a long illness.

• Five people die at the Indiana State Fair in the US, when a stage is struck by high winds and collapses.

• After a spate of lawsuits in 2009, Ticketmaster trials new links between its primary ticketing site and secondary operation TicketsNow. • After striking a five-year naming rights deal, Sydney’s Acer Arena becomes Allphones Arena.

• AEG launches its new ticketing system, AXS, in several Denver and San Francisco theatres. Powered by Outbox, the system includes a mobile app and social media integration.

• Steve Jobs resigns as Apple’s CEO after a long struggle with pancreatic cancer.

• Japan’s Summer Sonic Festival reduces its power consumption by 30% following a government request

January 2012 IQ Magazine | 31

Kaiser Chiefs at Isle of Wight Festival

Review

According to Eric van Eerdenburg of Lowlands Festival in Holland, a lack of headliners is an increasing worry. “Seven festivals wanted Arcade Fire, but they decided not to tour. Our programme lacked one or two bigger names,” said van Eerdenburg.

Benn commented, “What we may be looking at is a bit of a reshaping of what a festival is – becoming less dependent on headliners and more dependent on an overall vibe.”

“There are no new rock acts, traditional-type festival acts, the range is less. When an act like REM goes there is no replacement.”

John Giddings – promoter, Isle of Wight Festival In the US, Coachella is so good they’ve named it twice, or at least the promoters have announced that next year they will stage the event over two weekends at their Indio, California site.

Oh, and even the November issue of the illustrious Time Magazine includes an article on the business success of festivals in the US and Europe entitled, ‘Live, at a Field Near You: Why the Music Industry Is Singing a Happy Tune’, and even quotes figures from a certain IQ Magazine…

Let’s Work Together In March, Deloitte, one of the ‘big four’ international accountancy firms took a look at our industry predicting that in 2011, following a particularly prosperous first decade of this millennium, “All aspects of the live music sector” would take over the A&R role previously handled by record companies. with backstage air conditioning and lighting being reduced.

• China orders music download sites to remove 100 songs by Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Backstreet Boys and others, because they have not been approved by the state.

• Belgium’s Pukkelpop creates a private foundation to support the victims of the storm that claimed five lives at the festival.

September • Roger Water’s The Wall sells out eight nights at Buenos Aires’ Estadio River Plate with over 600,000 tickets sold.

• Global entertainment giant Vivendi buys UK number two ticketer See Tickets for a sum thought to be around £80m (€92.5m).

• PJ Harvey becomes the only artist to

32 | IQ Magazine January 2012

Over the next few years, label-sourced A&R is likely to decline by roughly $50m per year, globally. It seems reasonable to assume that the live music industry – or other source of funding – will need to step in to prevent the well from running dry. Deloitte Report – 2011 It seems that, like it or not, we will see more encroachments from other sectors, or we will accept future responsibility and move into new cooperative areas. In April, Warner Music added to its growing network of promoters, buying Italian live events company Vivo. In late May, Michael Rapino told the Financial Times that despite “kicking the tyres” of Warner Music he will not buy a record label, and that although labels are trying to get into touring, having seen the live music industry’s success, he says he sees little threat.

“Anybody can write a cheque, but when you do 22,000 shows a year and have 1,300 people in call-centres, it’s a logistics business.”

Michael Rapino – president and CEO, Live Nation

win the prestigious Mercury Music Prize on two separate occasions.

• Florida’s Langerado Music Festival cancels for the third year in a row.

• Burning Man sells out all 60,000 tickets for the first time in the 25year history of the countercultural, Nevada event.

• Following a long campaign, the European Union agrees to extend the length of time performers can claim revenues on recordings from 50 to 70 years.

• AEG Ogden wins the management contract for the new 15,500-capacity Perth Arena, due to open in mid 2012.

• eBay announces that it will launch secondary resale platform StubHub in the UK, the first market it will have operated in outside of the US. • Live Nation’s Front Live Management Group and Universal

Music announce a strategic partnership linking artists with sponsorship, marketing and branding opportunities.

• An Ernst & Young study estimated that live music contributed AUD$1.2billion (€0.87bn) to the Australian economy in 2009/2010, and was responsible for 15,000 jobs.

• The number of claims following the stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair rises to 45, all seeking a share of the capped $5m (€3.7m) pool available to victims.

• Copenhagen venue KB-Hallen is destroyed by fire. Owners of the 3,000-capacity venue subsequently begin discussions with local authorities about rebuilding it.

For October and November, please see page 6.

Review

Nevertheless, in September, a joint venture between giants was announced. Universal Music Group, the largest music company in the world, and Live Nation Entertainment, came together to manage musicians. The deal brought Universal’s cluster of four management companies under Live Nation’s Front Line Management Group, whose 90 executives manage 250 artists.

“We are creating a series of new platforms and global direct-toconsumer initiatives that will further expand the presence of our artists in the evolving marketplace while providing music fans with even more flexibility in how they consume music.”

Lucian Grainge – CEO, Universal Music Group In May, UK Music published Destination: Music, an evaluation of the economic contribution of music festivals and major concerts to UK tourism, revealing that the sector contributes £864m (€1bn) to the national economy and is equivalent to 19,700 full-time jobs. This confirmation of the live industry’s importance to the economy coincides with the newly established UK Live Music Group, a coming together of the live industry’s main trade associations and representative bodies, joining the board of UK Music and ensuring that, for the first time, the UK’s entire commercial music industry is represented by one umbrella body.

In July, with the help of a recent grant from the European Commission, the European Talent Exchange Program (ETEP) announced ETEP 2.0. Eight new festivals from Central Eastern Europe (CEE) will join ETEP in 2012.

Together with 13 CEE-ETEP festivals in the region and 26 media partners, Eurosonic Noorderslag and co-organisers Sziget and Exit Festival will develop a scheme for the circulation of CEE artists and repertoire at festivals in the region, called CEETEP (Central and Eastern European Talent Exchange Program).

“With radio stations and media from all countries confirming their participation, I am confident CEETEP will have an impact for talent in the CEE countries. This is another step in better circulation of European repertoire in Europe.”

Peter Smidt – creative director, Eurosonic Noorderslag

However, the exercise of this right has been very limited thus far. In particular, promoters have never received adequate compensation for the initial exploitation of their events through reproduction or broadcasting. We want to change this.”

“The music industry as a whole will profit from the new copyright collecting society. Artists, recording companies, and promoters all benefit equally when improved use of related copyrights enables promoters to make longer-term calculations instead of being dependent on fleeting one-time results.

This gives promoters a greater incentive to invest in developing new talent.” Jens Michow – president, bdv

THE SHOW MUST GO ON So, as usual, so much to say but so little space. Ticketing for instance has seen so many changes and so many new ideas, like the use of radio frequency identification (RFID), and the contentious use of Groupon-style discount sites to unload ‘distressed inventory. Plus there is the eternal secondary debate.

You’ll just have to refer to IQ’s ticketing report in issue 35 to keep you in the loop until this and many other outstanding issues are discussed at ILMC 24.

“We need to recognise the potential of young people with fresh ideas; those who think outside the box and aren’t afraid to do things differently. Some of the most successful managers of the last two years and the agents who represent their artists are under 30 years old.”

Craig D’Souza – agent, Primary Talent It’s been a curate’s egg of a year – good in parts. We lost some good people, including Willie Robertson and John Northcote who passed away this year, but both of them would, I feel, still be quite proud of the way things have been handled, considering the prevailing economic conditions. And I’m sure they would have been optimistic and looking forward to again meeting and putting the world of live music to rights in London in March, where I’ll see all (well at least some) of you…

Meanwhile in Germany in November, the members of the German Federal Association of the Concert and Promotion Industry (bdv) resolved to form a copyright collecting society to represent the economic interests of promoters in the reproduction, dissemination, and broadcasting of live recordings. Bdv president Jens Michow said, “German copyright law has long granted promoters their own related copyright under Section 81 of the German Copyright Act.

January 2012 IQ Magazine | 33

Rihanna

34 | IQ Magazine January 2012

Rihanna

Rihanna

While debate rages over where the next generation of stadium acts will come from, Adam Woods discovers, after a gargantuan global arenas tour, Barbadian songstress Rihanna has emerged as a firm favourite…

We knew Rihanna could sell tickets, but no one entirely saw this coming. It’s her London dates that really betray the extent to which the European leg of Rihanna’s monumental Loud Tour has taken even its schedulers by surprise. Between October and Christmas, Rihanna brings her show to the English capital on no fewer than five occasions, accumulating a combined run of ten shows at The O2 arena – a record for a solo female.

“I wish I could say we had an idea that we would go to ten O2s,” says Shane Bourbonnais, president of talent, Live Nation International, reflecting on a heady ride. “If we had thought there would be ten, we would have put them all together. But the demand was incredible and the shows were selling out so quick, so we just kept adding more.”

As a result, a 56-date European leg that first landed in London with a two-night stand in early October will conclude there too, with a three-night run immediately before Christmas. Throw in an appearance at Global Radio’s

Jingle Bell Ball at the same venue in early December, and Rihanna must be getting fairly accustomed to that room.

In fact, she has had plenty of opportunity in recent years to get used to arenas and sell-out crowds in general. But the Loud Tour, a racy, thunderous spectacle that landed in Europe in September after a handful of South American shows, a brief August festival interlude and 33 US shows through June and July, has captured a big star right at the point where she became huge.

“It’s the biggest arena tour of the year, by a long way,” says Rihanna’s Los Angeles-based agent Tony Goldring of William Morris Endeavor. “It’s a huge story, it really is, especially when her last tour – where we performed two O2s – wasn’t that long ago.”

If 2010/11’s Last Girl On Earth Tour was a hefty thing, (grossing $37million [€27m] worldwide over 67 dates and four legs), the Loud Tour has managed to be bigger in every conceivable way.

Loud January 2012 IQ Magazine | 35

Rihanna

That’s in spite of the fact that her fourth tour sprang more or less off the back of her third. Rihanna only finally wrapped up Last Girl On Earth in Perth in March, albeit six months after the preceding North American leg.

Goldring considers those Australian shows as the starting point for this ongoing run of dates. “We started off in Australia in February, then went and did the US, and then did a few big outdoor shows – Bergen Calling, On The Beach in Finland, the V Festival – and she established herself as a festival artist.

At V, she played just before Eminem and she was great.”

Named after the Barbadian 23-year-old’s album of late last year, Loud might be taken to reflect not just the 8 millionselling record or the show itself, but the reaction to the star as she has raced around the western world in 2011. In Belfast, Goldring recalls, where she opened Europe with three nights at the Odyssey Arena, taxi drivers regaled him with Rihanna stories, entirely unprompted. In Bergen, approximately one in six local residents bought a ticket to see Rihanna headline Bergen Live.

In London in October, the star rode the Tube to North Greenwich for a show, demonstrating another knack she has: wherever she goes, the girl known as RiRi has left a trail of newsprint in her wake, prompting the question of exactly what is behind this quantum leap?

“I think it’s a number of things,” says Goldring. “I think, obviously, having huge records, having big hit singles – all of these things are very significant. But I also think there’s a lot to say for the way the shows, the production and the previous tours, have been received. When you invest in the production, you get good word of mouth.”

At 23, as both agent and promoter are quick to point out,

Rihanna can already stage a remarkably hit-heavy concert, from opener Only Girl (In The World) via hits including Shut Up And Drive, Unfaithful, What’s My Name? to the encore double-whammy of Love The Way You Lie (Pt II) and Umbrella.

“I think [Loud is] an incredible record, with some great hits, and I think she has really grown as an artist,” says Bourbonnais.

“Even her stage presence. The show has got a lot of energy, a very innovative stage design, a great band, great dancers. And the great thing is, you listen to the set and it’s a set of hits. It’s fantastic.”

“

If we had thought there would be ten [O2 arena sell-outs], we would have put them all together.

But the demand was incredible and the shows were selling out so quick, so we just kept adding more.

- Shane Bourbonnais, Live Nation

”

Creatively conceived by LeRoy Bennett, (production/ lighting designer to Lady GaGa, Paul McCartney and Madonna), in co-operation with creative director/ choreographer Jamie King, the show itself is huge, dazzling and impactful, making visual use of everything from the industrial onslaught of the introduction to the bright colours of Rihanna’s Caribbean home.

“It’s modern, clean and different,” Bennett says. “The idea was to give it diversity, create different vibes and looks.

Her last tour was so dark, so this is the opposite of that.”

Stage designer Erik Eastland, president of All Access Staging Productions, was in on the early discussions.

Rihanna at Bergen Calling © Skjalg Ekeland

36 | IQ Magazine January 2012

Rihanna’s press coverage has boosted ticket sales globally

Rihanna

“LeRoy, as usual, had some interesting ideas,” he says.

“His vision, and the rendering they can do these days, is incredible, but somebody has to make it reality, and that is kind of our job. If you had seen the original renderings, there wasn’t room in the arena for people. They were really going for it. A little reality had to come in, but it’s always great to work with LeRoy – you know you are going to have a good time.”

Joe Sanchez takes charge of the production out on the road, with the support of video director Bert Paré Jr and lighting director Dom Smith. If there are significant gaps between the

vision and the eventual spectacle, the compromises are not immediately obvious.

In a show not short of interest, the technological stars are LED light and video screens that are capable of turning the entire set into a flashing, moving, three-dimensional riot of images. A full wall of LED tiles lines the rear of the stage, and four nine-foot LED spheres shift restlessly in front of them.

“The back video walls that are built into wall units – they are supposed to replace old PA systems,” says Eastland.

“Where the speakers would be, we just put video tiles.”

The unmissable LED spheres were built by Chicago lighting specialist Upstaging, another American supplier on a tour that has brought much of its technology, most of its production crew and all of its production design from home.

“It is very complicated, so they brought everything over from the US,” says John Huddleston, Upstaging director of lighting services. “It’s not something they wanted to come to Europe and recreate. It would be very difficult to take that stage out of a US system and rebuild it for Europe, though from our point of view, we do get a lot of support from Neg Earth as far as distro. They play a big role in making sure it all works over there.”

Production real estate like this is not an easy thing to master on the road and Sanchez confirms that the four spheres, added to the uncommonly wide 106-feet (32.3 metres) stage, were the key challenges. “We have got a lot

Rihanna One of Rihanna’s many performances at The O2 arena, London

“

There’s a lot to say for the way the shows, the production and the previous tours, have been received. When you invest in the production, you get good word of mouth.

”

- Tony Goldring, William Morris Endeavor

going on the air,” he says. “It is quite a large, automationbased show and we have got four large spheres that weigh 7,000 pounds (3,175 kilograms). They take up a lot of space in the air and when you drop them they take up a lot of space on the floor, so it took us a while to figure out the right order to do things in.”

The LED spheres, needless to say, aren’t something any old lighting supplier could source for you. Inside, they harbour 112 Martin MAC 101 LED moving-head wash lights.

“They are one of a kind,” says Huddleston. “That’s pretty much how LeRoy Bennett does things – it’s how they work. It’s very custom, it’s not straight-ahead... it’s a greatlooking show,” he adds. “It’s a big arena show, and of course every arena show wants to make a big impact. There’s a lot of energy and they do a great job of bringing that energy right out to audience. There’s a lot of fixtures; there’s lights mounted in scenery all over the place.”

There are other stage tricks, too. Infinity boxes outline the stage and embellish the band risers, made up of a 1,000-channel strip of LED tape backed by a mirror. There

40 | IQ Magazine January 2012

is a circular turntable, four onstage trap doors, a conveyor belt and a hydraulic B-stage, out in the audience, on which Rihanna materialises mid-set to bang the drums at the close of her Sheila E cover This Glamorous Life.

“It is a very complex tour,” says Jeremy Schilling of Road Radios, which has supplied around 70 radio units to the road crew. “It’s got lots of moving parts and lots of trusses. There’s speakers tracking, a lot of motion control stuff. It’s definitely got more than your average rock show.”

Nor is this the type of pop show in which the star drifts in and out of the action. Over the course of a 23-song, timecoded set, Rihanna is centre-stage for 90 minutes, allowing for costume changes, from the moment she emerges from the dividing LED wall beneath the main 20ft x 60ft screen. Her work rate, on-stage and off, is what essentially powers the tour, in more ways than one. In late-November, she released a new album, Talk That Talk, which came just a year after Loud and was mostly recorded on the road.

No wonder, you might say, that she was hospitalised with flu in Sweden in November, cancelling shows at the Malmö Arena and the Ericsson Globe. All the same, within a few days, she was back onstage again in Hanover, Leipzig, Zürich, Cologne, Arnhem, Antwerp and on and on.

“The touring she has done this year has really been great,” says Goldring. “She has a fantastic work ethic, and there’re no gaps. The continuity is really quite amazing. She doesn’t go away, and she keeps coming with big songs and big TV appearances, and all of that really has a big effect, especially in England, but I think across the whole of Europe, people really do love her, and I think it is partly because she is different to a lot of the US pop stars. She has a lot more character. Perhaps it’s because she is from Barbados, but I think people can really relate to her,” he adds.

Pulling up real-time sales updates as he talks in early November, Bourbonnais counts 781,965 tickets sold, which adds up to pretty much a full house of sell-outs. “It’s all dependent on the different holds we are releasing, but there are really only scraps left; it’s minimal stuff,” he says.

“There’s essentially nothing left.”

Remarkably, as widely as the tour ranges, from northern and western to central and southern Europe, the sales patterns have been broadly the same, in spite of very different buying power and spending habits from market to market. “To be completely sold out in markets like Barcelona, Madrid and Lisbon, which don’t happen until mid-December and where there’s usually such a big walk-up, that’s just incredible,” says Bourbonnais. “Even going to Poland, Czech Republic and those markets, it’s all sell-outs.”

Rihanna

The only thing keeping the jaunt at its present size, according to Bourbonnais, is Christmas, which has provided an immovable full-stop even as the tour has expanded.

“We didn’t want to leave all the gear and the crew sitting for a couple of weeks, so Christmas was always going to be the point where it ended,” he says. “As it is, it’s almost like two full tours for any normal act.”

As you might expect, Sanchez, speaking with a month of shows left to do, reports that the production has only become better as the dates have shot by. “If I think back to the first three or four shows in the US, you just battle through the day,” he says. “A couple of weeks in, your system improves and you get smoother and smoother and smoother. To the point where, last night, we got out of Nottingham [Capital FM Arena] in three hours, and today in Glasgow we are loading in 20 trucks at ten in the morning for 6.30 doors.”

The footprint of a trek of this size on the roads of Europe is, needless to say, fairly substantial. It employs 20 trucks and seven coaches, and the density of shows has brought the usual logistical challenges. Fly By Nite, for instance, flew 18 drivers out to Norway for a long weekend to handle the double-driving shifts necessitated by a busy Scandinavian leg.

At a less logistical, but no doubt equally essential level, Coach Service customised Rihanna’s own bus to her specifications. “She lives on the bus, more or less,” says

“

It is a very complex tour. It’s got lots of moving parts and lots of trusses. There’s speakers tracking, a lot of motion control stuff. It’s definitely got more than your average rock show.

”

- Jeremy Schilling, Road Radios

Coach Service managing director Clemens Behle. “Of course she has hotels as well, but sometimes she just stays on the bus because of privacy. Her bus is very special,” Behle adds, discreetly declining to say how. “It’s what she wants. She had a couple of good ideas. Now it’s like a little flat – 53m2, all on eight wheels.”

Fly By Nite, which supplied trucks for Rihanna as far back as 2007, is in a perfect position to quantify the long-term boom in her appeal. “The first tour we did, a European tour in late-2007, was just three trucks,” says director Carl Reed.

“And then we went out again, early in 2008, with four.”

Back then, the singer was already on a high with the global success of her first Jay-Z collaboration, Umbrella, which topped the charts in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Poland, Sweden, Belgium, Austria, Norway, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Germany and Spain. However, she was still a year off the limousine fight with then-boyfriend Chris Brown that would, for better or worse, elevate her profile to another level again.

Having released six albums in six years, capped with a tour that leaves no one in any doubt of what she has achieved, Rihanna will apparently be spending 2012 off the road, promoting her movie debut Battleship and possibly shooting another feature film, according to manager Jay Brown of JayZ’s Roc Nation stable.

She currently has just one date scheduled – at the Wireless Festival in Hyde Park in July – although that doesn’t mean the next slab of live work isn’t already under consideration.

“The next tour is planned for 2013, because there is finally going to be a gap,” says Goldring. “There’re various other things that she is going to be involved in. But this has been a great way to finish the year.”

Rihanna gets close up to her fans in Norway

January 2012 IQ Magazine | 43

Nordics

Nordics

While robust economies in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden make the Nordic region a lucrative touring market, Iceland’s financial woes have decimated its once booming music scene. Adam Woods reports‌ 44 | IQ Magazine January 2012

Nordics

Introduction Its population of 263,500 would make Bergen the 72ndbiggest city in Russia, say, or the 16th-biggest in the UK. But as the second-biggest in Norway and the industrial centre of the country’s western Atlantic coast, it is safe to say it gets better shows than either Taganrog or Stoke-on-Trent, its Russian and British equivalents by size.

Bergenhus Castle, at the entrance to Bergen’s harbour, has welcomed The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Metallica, Coldplay, Muse, Kanye West and Rihanna since 2006. Springsteen drew 47,000 people over two nights last year; Rihanna 44,000 in August. “Neat, for a small city,” says Frank Nes of Bergen Live, local partner to Live Nation.

The Nordics in general are on the neat side. It may be the chillier end of the continent, but much of the region has the

feel of a northerly oasis, as economic conditions in southern Europe lurch from bad to worse.

While a little tighter than last year, when major cities in the region enjoyed booming ticket sales, 2011 has been another steady time. Big shows and very small shows have been a trickier sell in some cities than others; but in a region where only three urban areas have more than a million inhabitants, the Nordics support a lot of music.

A stream of international names including Rihanna, Paul McCartney, George Michael, Linkin Park, Britney Spears and Roger Waters’ The Wall (see page 54) will have visited the area by Christmas, and domestic acts are no poor relation. Stir in some of Europe’s best-loved festivals and you have, with the exception of the still-struggling Iceland, a region of rare health.

Promoters: Sweden, Finland & Iceland In Sweden, Live Nation’s Thomas Johansson has ruled the roost ever since there was a roost to rule, having founded EMA Telstar in 1969. These days, the one-time ABBA promoter oversees the region while also serving as Live Nation’s chairman of international music. Johansson has personally kept records of his own shows and revenues since the mid70s, and by his reckoning, 2011 has been “one of the top two or three years” since those records began.

A more or less never-ending stream of hit artists has helped – Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bob Dylan & Mark Knopfler, Metallica and the million-selling Roxette reunion are the first few names off the top of his head – but he points to another factor too. “We managed to keep fighting for ticket prices, to keep them on a decent level,” Johansson says. “When you consider Roxette, all of the promoters you talk to, anywhere in the world, say one of the big reasons it has been so successful is that we have been very modest with ticket prices.”

A challenge from AEG Live in Sweden has now quietly folded, for the time being at least. Other promoters in a narrow field include Luger, a busy promoter for indie and alternative international acts and a worldwide booker for Swedish talent, and Julius Production, a family entertainment specialist whose shows this year have included Spamalot and Lord of the Dance.

In Finland, major operators besides Live Nation include the multi-faceted Fullsteam label, promoter and agency group, which plays a strong hand of international and domestic alternative talent, and Tampere-based booker and promoter Nem-Booking.

By turnover, Fullsteam is Finland’s second-biggest promoter after Live Nation – and by number of shows, it is the biggest – though according to Fullsteam founder Juha Kyyrö, plenty of work goes into keeping it so. “In general, I am very happy with our ticket sales this year, but there are not many shows that sell out immediately and every sold ticket requires more hard work,” Kyyrö says. “That’s not all bad, as it also separates the good and creative promoters from

the ones that really don’t know their audience but just keep putting shows on sale.”

Iceland, while still a major exporter of talent, has more active volcanoes than active promoters. “Sorry to say, not much is going on here,” says Lisa Hanson, once of RR Concert Promoters. “We have had one decent concert here this year, the Eagles in June, but other then that, Cyndi Lauper and Paul Young both played in 1,500-capacity venues and sold badly. It just seems that with artist fees going up and our króna being so weak, it will be very difficult to make [an Icelandic live business] work.”

Kaizers Orchestra at Øya Festival

January 2012 IQ Magazine | 45

Nordics

Promoters: Norway and Denmark The Nordics support a lot of promoters, and it is a strong region for Live Nation. Historically constructed from a cluster of venerable independents – specifically DKB Motor (Denmark), EMA Telstar (Sweden), Gunnar Eide Concerts (Norway) and Welldone Agency & Promotion (Finland) – Live Nation’s Nordic arm still constitutes a set of cooperative but individual operations, even if they do all now use the family name.

The supply of international talent has kept all four Live Nation operations at the top of their respective local trees.

All speak for themselves, though Live Nation Norway head promoter Rune Lem could easily be talking on behalf of the rest of Scandinavia when he reflects on the underlying serenity beneath a prosperous business.

“Norway is a very healthy country – always has been,” he says. “We haven’t been that directly affected by the economic uncertainty across Europe, though we have probably felt an indirect effect. But still we are very, very fortunate to be in a sound economy. We have had a good result this year – lots of good shows. We have done well with Roger Waters, as

“

We haven’t been that directly affected by the economic uncertainty across Europe, though we have probably felt an indirect effect. But still we are very, very fortunate to be in a sound economy.

”

Iron Maiden at Ullevi Stadium, Sweden © Tommy Holl

Rune Lem, Live Nation Norway

everyone has; Rihanna was a great, great show.”

As small as Norway is in population terms, its cities are scattered widely, with Oslo an eight-hour drive from Bergen, so Live Nation works with local partners outside Oslo, including Bergen Live in the country’s second city.

Other substantial promoters in Norway include rock and alternative agency/promoter Gold Star Music, whose recent shows have included Dungen, Ryan Adams and The Horrors; and booking, management and promoting stable Atomic Soul, which was recently part-acquired by Denmark’s ICO Concerts.

ICO managing director Kim Worsøe declares that Copenhagen-based ICO is “definitely the largest independent promoter in the Scandinavian market. We are the only promoter who does business in all of Scandinavia, besides Live Nation.” ICO was the lead promoter for 24 summer dates of Prince, including his own two-day, 38,000-ticket festival, the NPG Music and Arts Festival, at Amager Beach in Copenhagen.

Other sold-out ICO shows have included Fleet Foxes, Bruno Mars, The National and George Michael, though Worsøe is not overwhelmed by the market in general.

“Tickets are selling at an acceptable level, but still at a slower speed than five years ago,” he reports.

Other key Danish promoters include the indie-leaning Beatbox Booking & Concerts, and Skandinavian which, as the name suggests, focuses on booking and promoting regional talent. Then there is CSB Island, with its focus on both artist shows and tribute tours; Pandrup-based blues specialist Blues Productions and, of course, Flemming Schmidt’s Live Nation.

46 | IQ Magazine January 2012

Nordics

AC/DC at Telenor Arena © Scanpix

Venues

“

Venues look at things in a different way. They take bar sales as an income.

Compare that to a venue in London, where the offer is strictly based on ticket sales.

”

- Stefan Juhlin, Pitch & Smith The unhappy headline for Nordic venues in 2011 was inevitably the destruction by fire of Copenhagen’s KB Hallen. The 73-year-old, 3,000-capacity hall was not the city’s mostused venue, but it was of significant historical interest having staged early shows by The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Led Zeppelin.

In Copenhagen, then, that leaves Parken, the 40,000-capacity national football stadium with a retractable roof, which has welcomed Britney, Madonna and Take That in recent years.

After that, bands eager to play in the Danish capital go down to the 10,000-capacity Forum, though that gap will be partially filled in 2013 when a multi-use 15,000-capacity arenawill be completed in Ørestad South, near Copenhagen.

AEG Facilities and Live Nation are both reputedly still in the running to manage the building.

“I think the venue situation in Copenhagen is really bad, to be honest,” says Mads Sørensen at Beatbox. “We have one 1,500-capacity [the Vega Musikkens Hus], we obviously need a new 3,000, and we have a 6,000 [the converted brewery Tap 1 in Vesterbro]. Don’t get me wrong, that is a great venue – we just had Robyn and Band of Horses there. The problem is the clearance, which is so low you can only do international stuff if they are using local production.”

Among a number of well-used, relatively modern arenas, Oslo has the 9,700-capacity Spektrum, which last Christmas

played host to the final concerts of local heroes A-ha, plus the 12,500-capacity Vallhall.

Telenor Arena, at just two years old the youngest arena in Oslo, has had Andrea Bocelli, Metallica, AC/DC and the Eurovision Song Contest since 2010, and can take crowds of up to 23,000. Meanwhile, the Rockefeller complex downtown has three venues – the 1,350-capacity Rockefeller Music Hall and John Dee Live Club & Pub (with rooms of 400 and 120), as well as the 1,750-capacity Sentrum Scene across the road.

From the bottom to the top, Helsinki has the 50,000-capacity Olympic Stadium, the well-used Hartwall Areena (13,000), the elderly but still active Ice Hall, and the 1,500-capacity Circus, where Mastodon, Jason Derulo and LMFAO are all due early next year. Turku has the 11,820-capacity HK Arena, or Turkuhalli, and Tavastia in Helsinki and the Klubi venues in Tampere and Turku are important indie clubs.

The jewel in Stockholm’s crown is AEG’s thriving Ericsson Globe, with 16,000 seats for concerts and slightly fewer for sports, of which ice hockey is the most prominent.

Annexet is its smaller, 300-3,500-capacity hall, and within the same group, the newly facelifted 1920s sport arena Hovet continues to welcome acts such as Deep Purple and Jean Michel Jarre. Cirkus, a 19th century concert hall in Djurgården, can hold 1,650.

Stockholm will also see two major new facilities opening in the next couple of years. The Swedish Football Association will open its 50,000-capacity Swedbank Arena at the end of 2012, while the Ericsson Globe Arena will have a new neighbour in 2013 when the Stockholm Arena, operated by AEG, opens its doors. Indeed, with a 30,000-capacity for sports, extending to 40,000 for concerts, that building will also be able to open its roof, making it an attractive venue for visiting stadium acts.

Gothenburg, Sweden’s second-city, has its stadium concerts at Ullevi Stadium, its arena shows at Scandinavium (40 years ago the largest covered arena in northern Europe with space for 14,000) and its metal and Morrissey shows at the 3,500-capacity Lisebergshallen. Clubs include Trädgår’n, Sticky Fingers and jazz venue Nefertiti.

Debaser, meanwhile, has indie-centric clubs in Stockholm and Malmö, which also boasts another major newish construction, the 15,500-capacity Malmö Arena, which draws much of its audience from nearby Copenhagen, just 39km away via the 8km-long Øresund Bridge.

“We built in good times, and we opened in a nearrecession three years ago, so taking that into consideration, I think we have done well,” says Malmö Arena CEO Karin Mårtensson. “Of course, we suffer the same as every big venue in Europe, in that we have a really busy winter season, and then in May, June, July, August, it’s not as good as we would wish.”

Mårtensson’s tactic has been to chase corporate events in those months when Scandinavia’s highly active festival scene roars into life.

January 2012 IQ Magazine | 49

Nordics

Touring conditions The Nordics are not a region dependent on the UK and US for live entertainment, and each country sustains a credible talent pool of its own, from Finland’s metal factory to Sweden’s electronic boundary-pushers, with plenty of indie, alternative and pop talent right across the board.

In fact, according to Stefan Juhlin of Stockholm-based international booking agency Pitch & Smith, domestic artists often do better at home than their international peers, but for both varieties, there is money to be earned.

“I would say the average fees in Sweden, for instance, are a lot better than for an international band touring in Germany or the UK,” he says. “In terms of fees, I would say Sweden, Denmark and Norway are still paying a lot better than the rest of Europe.”

Aside from the strong Scandinavian currencies, Juhlin puts the situation down to enlightened venues. “It is not really about selling more tickets,” he says. “I think it is that the venues look at things in a different way. They take bar sales as an income. Compare that to a venue in London, where the offer is strictly based on ticket sales.”

All Nordic territories, of course, are not alike. Finland, for instance, maintains a particularly strong line in domestic

talent at home, sustaining large festivals such as Ruisrock substantially on the basis of local artists, with a smattering of international headliners.

Tuomo Tähtinen, project manager for Music Export Finland, highlights the strength of his country’s homegrown artists. “The number of small and mid-range artists making their mark on the international touring circuit has grown rapidly during the past few years,” Tähtinen says. “The flag bearers shouldn’t be forgotten either; for example, heavy metal giants Nightwish are preparing for the release of their new album and an 18-month arena world tour.”

Prices and taxes are different from country to country – Denmark, for instance, has no withholding tax, unlike its neighbours – and languages obviously vary too, although the region has a history of political and economic cooperation.

Juhlin is confident, however, that Nordic markets are pleasant ones for international acts to visit. “From the promoter’s side, when a band comes to your venue, they actually want you to be there. It feels like people here are doing it for the right reasons. Promoters here promote shows because they love music – it is not purely about the money.”

Nordics

Metallica at Forum, Denmark © Martin Rosenauer

Festivals

Numerous and often strikingly imaginative, the best of the Nordic festivals stand comparison with events anywhere in the world.

Roskilde, 40 years old and widely known as the Glastonbury of Scandinavia, continues to innovate. Juha Koivisto’s 33-year-old Provinssirock, in little Seinäjoki, kicks off the Finnish festival season on a similar scale, this year drawing 77,000 over three days for an almostcapacity crowd.

It’s not all invincible super-festivals, however. Sweden’s Hultsfred, once a 30,000-a-day festival, collapsed two days before its 25th anniversary show in 2010 due to poor ticket sales. But even that was acquired and revived in 2011 by FKP Scorpio, which also promotes Denmark’s Northside Festival.

Other major names are Gothenburg’s Way Out West, Oslo’s Øya Festival and smaller electronic festivals such as Arvika in western Sweden and Flow in Helsinki. For metal fans, there was Sonisphere, in both Sweden and Finland once again, and Tuska, the Helsinki metal festival, its name meaning ‘pain’ in Finnish.

Famously deep thinkers, Roskilde added a new, more intimate enclosed stage in 2011, called Gloria, and also made a conscious decision to focus on the provision of Nordic and organic food, as a festival that lasts for ten days (including several days ‘warm up’) should.

Roskilde tweaked its ticket distribution, selling 81,500 all-weekend tickets in 2011 compared to just 1,500 oneday tickets, largely because, says head of communications Christina Bilde, the festival wants visitors to immerse themselves in the experience.

In 2012, it will invite campers to come and build their own campsite, in the style of Burning Man. “We don’t just want them to bring a tent, but to bring something very special that you can create from the ground up,” says Bilde.

“

It just seems that with artist fees going up and our króna being so weak, it will be very difficult to make [an Icelandic live business] work.

”

- Lisa Hanson, RR Concert Promoters

“It can be anything.”

Speaking of innovative festivals, Thomas Johansson believes Way Out West to have one of the smarter propositions in Europe, and the MTV Online Music Awards clearly agree, recently awarding it Most Innovative Festival.

Co-promoted, along with Accelerator and Where The Action Is festivals, by Luger and Live Nation, Way Out West’s defining characteristic is its proximity to urban civilisation, spilling out into clubs, restaurants, churches and other unusual venues across Gothenburg.

“It is a lovely three-day event in a beautiful park, in walking distance of the city,” says Johansson. “Once you have grown out of the teenage years and you don’t want to camp in a mud bath, but you still love music and want to go to a festival, I think this is a great example of how you can do that.” Øya coincides with Way Out West as a mutual tactic to secure acts, sharing Kanye West and Pulp this year. Head of booking Claes Olsen rates Øya 2011 as the best edition of the 12-yearold event to date. “We didn’t increase the capacity, which is still 15,000 a day for four days, but we did increase the production, and the headliners got really amazing reviews and there were good shows from a lot of smaller acts,” says Olsen.

Another city festival that continues to do well, despite financial challenges in its host nation, is Iceland Airwaves.

The annual event still draws in tastemakers from both sides of the Atlantic and this year’s edition saw the likes of Sinead O’Connor, The Twilight Sad, Dustin O’Halloran, Beach House and Yacht complementing the homegrown talent, which was led by Björk and Gus Gus. In Finland, Loud ‘n Live Promotions rose from the ashes of the bankrupt Speed Promotions, and plans, according to promoter Kalle Keskinen, at least eight festivals for 2012, including further editions of 2011 ventures such as the Oulu Hip Hop Festival and Aura Fest in Turku. Among these are several acquired from Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus.

“Riihimäki Rock has been arranged now five times and it has had about 11,000 visitors every year,” says Keskinen.

“Kokkola Rock will be organised for the sixth time next year and we are expecting 10,000 visitors. Wanajafest 2012 is already the ninth in a row and it has gathered 16,000 visitors to Hämeenlinna annually.”

January 2012 IQ Magazine | 53

Chris Kansy

54 | IQ Magazine January 2012

Chris Kansy

The Gaffer

As one of the go-to production managers for world tours, Chris Kansy is celebrating his 30th year in the business by working on arguably the most artistic and technological outing ever staged – Roger Waters’ The Wall Live. Christopher Austin spoke to him about the challenges of the production, as well as the journey he has made to reach the upper echelons of the business...

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Seventies, Chris Kansy has maintained his love of the era’s music to this day. Back then though, if someone had told him he would end up working with Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters he doubtless would have responded “and pigs might fly.” Now Kansy helps fly pigs for a living.

Aside from overseeing the remote control 30-foot-high floating hogs that have become a Roger Waters live show trademark, Kansy is one of the world’s most respected production managers and a linchpin in arguably the planet’s most complex and spectacular live rock show.

Thirty years after Roger Waters’ magnum opus, The Wall, was first staged, the Pink Floyd co-founder has revitalised the show and taken it on the road in tremendous style.

The Wall Live tour kicked off in Toronto in September 2010 and the wheels are still rolling. It has already grossed more than $121million (€88m) and is yet to hit Australia in January and South America in March, before a second Live Nation-promoted run in the States in May takes in vast outdoor venues including Wrigley Field in Chicago and the AT&T Park in San Francisco.

While the 1980 production saw Waters and project design partner Mark Fisher deliver a breathtaking show, the duo have outdone themselves once again with the new incarnation.

An extraordinary gig that packs a powerful political punch The Wall Live not only includes huge helium-filled swine, but a near life-sized replica World War II German Stuka bomber that swoops over the audience before crashing into the 35-foot-high and 240-foot-wide wall. Then there are the huge puppets, waves of pyrotechnics and the stunning visual projections. The imagery was inspired by the original work of Gerald Scarfe and needs to be projected on to the vast wall and seamlessly grow with it as the wall is assembled brick by brick throughout the show.

The first leg of the tour has involved a production team of 66 people, 21 articulated lorries, and 112 tons of equipment.

And with shows back-to-back, the build and breakdown process has been a mammoth task. child of the

Chris Kansy relaxing at home in New Orleans © Les Schmidt

Throughout the tour Chris Kansy has been kept on the edge of his production management hot seat, but the mellow voiced yet sharp-witted veteran takes responsibility for this remarkable live music expedition very much in his stride.

The Wall Live tour director, Sensible Events’ Andrew Zweck, is among many on the team who appreciate Kansy’s ability to hold his nerve under pressure and calmly deliver excellent results. “He is the best kept secret. He is cultured and considered. He is not a ranter or a raver, but he is a great leader and motivator,” Zweck says.

Now in his 30th year in the business, Kansy is very much at the top of his game. He has worked on an array of impressive tours with artists including the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mötley Crüe, Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails, Beck, Janet Jackson and Van Morrison.

Kansy has come a long way over those three decades and appreciates the way the live business has enabled him to develop within it. “I have great respect for the industry.

It has taken me, someone that was uneducated beyond high school, and matured me into a worldly individual,” he says.

Back when Kansy was graduating high school, he cut his teeth working for a friend’s band in Connecticut and got his hands dirty doing all the basic tasks involved in running a show; everything from loading-in to running cables.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t Kansy’s love of music that led him to roll his sleeves up and pursue a career in the live business – lights had long since sparked his interest. “Lighting was something that was tangible to me, something that could be used in an artistic sense; whether you are focusing a light on a musician and using a different gel or creating shadow to set the mood. “Lighting intrigued me very early. I love working with lighting designers now and I always play close attention to lighting – more so than just about any other aspect of a show.”

Back in the early 80s, Kansy began working the lights for local bands in and around New York, saving up money to buy a new light every couple of months and improve and experiment with his set-up.

January 2012 IQ Magazine | 55

Roger Waters (l) fine tunes his show with Kansy (r) and the production team

Kansy’s view of ‘The Wall Live’ Live during the show

Chris Kansy

Kansy recalls being inspired by Rush’s lighting designer Howard Ungerleider. “Early on, people put lights in front of bands so people could see them. Howard Ungerleider was the first person that I noticed that was lighting air. He was creating beams and artistic elements like putting lighting behind the band. I remember he put these Lekos on the floor behind the band and shot them up to silhouette them – it is the most basic thing now, but back then it was revolutionary.”

While Kansy is now able to coordinate a crack team of creatives and contribute to the seamless running of one of the most complex shows ever staged, he was not always so competent and cringes at the recollection of one particular show with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. His first real step on his path toward a career as a production manager came when Joan Jett and the Blackhearts lighting director Bryan Hartley asked Kansy to fill in for him. On Hartley’s return, Kansy

56 | IQ Magazine January 2012

was asked to stay on as guitar tech.

“It was really odd because I knew nothing about guitars, but I lied through my teeth and pretended I did. I figured it out and I have to give Joan a lot of thanks for putting up with my naivety and mistakes,” Kansy admits.

He recalls one such mistake at a gig in a park in Detroit with a little horror and a lot of amusement. “We flew in and it was one of those land, grab your gear, go to the park, set-up and play as soon you are ready situations. We were on a really tight schedule. Little did I know that I had set-up Joan’s guitar rig way too far back. So I give Joan her guitar, she plugs in, makes a little noise, gives me the thumbs up, turns to go to her mic stand and she probably made it about two thirds of the way there before her cable length gave up and proceeded to yank her whole amp stack over on to the ground. Here we are at this big rock moment and her amp stack falls over in front of everybody. It really was very embarrassing.”

He admits to messing up “countless” times, but despite that he was given his first stab at being a production manager while working with Joan Jett.

“They put up with me because without being given the responsibility I was always there to take it. I came from the school of hard knocks where we drove the truck and set everything up. I was simply carrying on the only way I knew how,” he explains.

Another turning point in Kansy’s career came when Joan Jett and the Blackhearts supported Robert Plant on his Now and Zen tour. It gave Kansy the opportunity to observe Plant’s seasoned production manager, Roy Lamb, in action.

“I was keen to learn everything Roy was doing and see what a production manager in a real setting actually does. I would stay for the Robert Plant show and watch them load

Chris Kansy

out, break down and back trucks in. By the time that was over I kinda had an idea of what I had to do, and when other gigs started coming my way I was a lot more prepared for it.”

Over the preceding years the gigs and tours rolled in, but only after Kansy left New York for the sun, sea and shed load of work on offer on America’s west coast. It was the 80s and hairspray metal was exploding in and around California.

Not one to miss an opportunity, Kansy relocated and began working with the likes of Poison and Ratt before moving on to tours with Megadeth, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Ozzy Osbourne in the early 90s.

Kansy recalls the 1991 New Year’s tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana and Pearl Jam as being particularly raucous due to Nirvana’s antics.

“The shows were absolutely insane – watching Kurt Cobain throw his guitar up in the air and run full speed into a drum set with no fear of harm; he dove onto the drum set like he was diving into a pool. Then Dave Grohl would take every piece of his drum set and throw it into the audience – they would walk off with an empty stage and they did that every night. It was remarkable to see,” he says.

While everything was being thrown off the stage by Nirvana, Kansy’s next job as stage manager for Ozzy Osbourne’s No More Tears tour was to control the flow in the opposite direction.

“Ozzy was working his way through sobriety and acting crazy. The stages were a riot, Ozzy would call people up on

Testimonials Mark Fenwick – manager, Roger Waters ‘The Wall’ is Roger Waters’ brainchild and it is a very technical and difficult production to stage. Chris Kansy has contributed greatly to the smooth running of the show and its continued success.

Chris Weathers – Live Nation When I learn that Chris Kansy is the PM on a show, I am confident that it is going to be good day for all.

Jon Lemon – mix and sound engineer I’ve been lucky enough to witness him grow into one of the great production managers of this era. It’s always a pleasure to watch him deal with all facets of the biz.

Kansy gets to grips with an Ozzy Osbourne stage invader in 1991

Chris Kansy

stage every night and none of us were able to do our jobs because we had to spend the whole show fending off punters who were getting on stage, knocking things over and stage diving. It was a pretty crazy era.”

In subsequent years Kansy went on to work with a number of artists and bands who he would end up greatly respecting.

Not least Jane’s Addiction, who he remains good friends with, but also Nine Inch Nails’ frontman Trent Reznor.

In 2000, Kansy worked as production manager on Nine Inch Nails’ Fragility 2.0 tour of the US, Europe, Japan and Australia. Kansy was brought onboard via NIN management and describes the tour as an “unbelievable experience”, not only because he got to work alongside video artist Bill Viola, but because of the groundbreaking nature of the production.

“I believe we were the first ones to move video panels around with motion control, something that is pretty much standard today but was unheard of back then. We were using chain motors.

It wasn’t smooth and beautiful like it is today, but it worked.”

Kansy also enjoyed working very closely with Reznor who had a clear vision and a hands-on approach.

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spare time, Kansy has an obvious respect for artists and creativity, something which has served him well while working with Roger Waters. Chaos Visual chief executive John Wiseman has painter in his somewhat limited

known Kansy since the 80s and has worked with him on Mötley Crüe and Roger Waters tours. He has the greatest respect for Kansy’s artistic integrity. “I have seen Chris turn down jobs that he felt were unfulfilling artistically.

He is an artist hidden in a production manager’s body,” Wiseman states.

Kansy first began working with Waters on his Dark Side of the Moon tour in 2006, a job which he admits was secured with a little good fortune. London-based production manager Mark Ward had been hired to get the production created, but was unable to do the tour. As a result, Andrew Zweck looked elsewhere and recalls hiring Kansy on a recommendation from Shuki Sen who was involved in managing Pink Floyd at the time.

“I rang her and she suggested Chris. On the basis of that recommendation I hired him and it worked out really well,

ansy in a Pink Floyd crew shirt, circa K 1992 in the Dio production office

Kansy’s 2005 tour with Mötley Crüe

Jolyon Burnham – 3a Entertainment Ltd He is without doubt one of the most effective and certainly one of the most pleasant production managers I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. I’m sure that actually he’s half English!

Nigel Buchan – SW Music (Live Nation) I knew one day Chris would be in the higher echelons of the best production managers on the planet and he now has that place of honour. His calm nature and funny side always make the day a pleasure.

Anthony Giordano – DMB I have known Chris since the early 80s when we would go to the clubs in Long Island, New York. We have had a lot of good times. He is a great guy.

Dan Parise – DPS I have watched him grow over the years and he has really taken everything up to a whole new level. He is a real good, down to earth, hard-working production manager. I’m happy to call him my friend.

Chanon DiCarlo – Upstaging Chris is wonderful to work with. He is very serious about his job and he understands at the end of the day that it might be a very important rock show, but it isn’t life or death and he doesn’t treat it like it is. That’s refreshing.

January 2012 IQ Magazine | 61

Chris Kansy

Kansy backstage with one of the giant inflatables used on ‘The Wall’

Mark Grega – Strictly FX, LLC CK, it’s always a pleasure to work with you, brother! Next time, I’ll remember to keep the wine at room temperature!

Amelia Davis – Mobile Airships Inc. We have spent extensive time working together on the Roger Waters tours. I have always found Chris to be very pleasant, able to express creative ideas and accepting to our visions.

Julian Edwards – PRG Los Angeles Apart from being an excellent production manager and someone that is exciting to work with, I like to think of Chris as a dear friend.

Tony Bowern – Brilliant Stages Having worked with Chris on ‘The Wall’ project, he was pro-active, supportive and knowledgeable in the development of the supply of the puppets and their automation.

Some of ‘The Wall Live’s’ spectacular pyro effects

he fitted in like a glove. So I rang up Shuki and told her ‘Chris Kansy has turned out to be a diamond, that was a great recommendation, do you do a lot of work with him?’ She said ‘No, I’ve never even met him, I just spoke to him on the phone and thought he sounded good’.” So I was lucky there!” laughs Zweck. Kansy ended up being hired for a six-week tour and was busy for two years. He recalls that even on the last day of the Dark Side of the Moon tour, Waters was making changes.

With the Pink Floyd album, film and tour inspired by the death of Waters’ father in World War II, it is not surprising that the project is intensely personal. Yet few artists could possibly be more hands-on in making sure every element of the show matches his vision so exactly.

“There are artists in the past that have stuck their nose in when they really shouldn’t have and slowed down the process and cost thousands of pounds, but The Wall is Roger’s project; there is no project without Roger,” Kansy says. “He is involved in everything; lighting, sound, video – he spent a year in an edit suite putting video content together for The Wall.

“There are days when we all look at each other and scratch our heads and say ‘he wants to do what?’ But the show happens that night and you look at it and it is better. It is uncanny. It is a pleasure to work with him,” Kansy says.

Such was the attention to detail that Kansy was brought in a year early to start figuring out the construction process and when Tait Towers should start cutting metal. The most important, complex and time-consuming aspect of the $60m (€44m) production was the wall; the machinery needed to erect it and deconstruct it and the projection on the front. The first step was to learn how to build it and so the Mohegan Sun Arena in Pennsylvania (strategically close to Tait Towers) was hired.

“We set it up and knocked it down for the best part of a month because there is a certain cadence and sequence that the wall has to have for the video to tie in,” Kansy reveals.

Waters and Sean Evans, the show’s creative director, came up with all the imagery and content while Richard Turner from the UK was hired to figure out how to do it.

“None of us had done anything like it before,” Kansy recalls. “There are 700 shots of pyro in the first song alone, so we did pyro for a week. It was one process after another and was more of a military exercise than a touring exercise.

“There was not an element of the build process that Roger was not involved in, he sat out front and every lighting cue, every spot cue, they would all be his ideas.”

According to Kansy around 20% of the show – from song structures to lighting fixtures – have been changed since that first gig in Toronto and he is now looking forward to the challenges presented in staging the show outdoors in the US. After that, the tour is due to end and Kansy will be looking for the next new challenge, but he is already convinced nothing is going to come close to working on The Wall.

“The Wall is so far out of the norm, we all had to learn new skills. This is unlike anything I have ever done or seen.

I mean U2 are incredibly creative but they are still within the box – the rock and roll extravaganza. But The Wall is like a big performance art installation that we are putting together on a daily basis. After working with Roger on The Wall, everything is going to feel easy.”

January 2012 IQ Magazine | 63

Photos

In Focus...

Do you have a photo for inclusion? email info@iq-mag.net

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1. Showsec provided a 15-strong management consultancy team, including Mark Logan and Simon Battersby (pictured), to oversee security operations surrounding the MTV Europe Music Awards in Belfast, which used Odyssey Arena, Ulster Hall and an outside stage at Belfast City Hall.

2. Jools Holland was honoured with the Music Industry Trusts’ Award at a star-studded gala on 7 November. Pictured with Holland are Rumer, Ruby Turner and Imelda May who all performed at the ceremony.

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Yellow Go-Rilla Productions took Tito Jackson & His Bowler Band to Narbonne, France for the Festival de Jazz a L’Hospitalet. Pictured with Jackson are Yellow’s Dennis Armstead and former French rugby captain Gérard Bertrand, who stages the event at his magnificent chateau and vineyard.

4. Promoter Michael Cohl and artist manager Tony Smith relax on the set of stage show Rock of Ages, which, as executive producers, they have now seen performed across three continents.

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5. It’s business as usual at EMI Music until the regulators green light its sale to Universal and a slew of the label’s acts (including The Japanese Popstars and Alex Metric) supported Calvin Harris at The Coronet in London for the Lynx All Nighter, co-produced by (l-r) Sefton Woodhouse VP artist relations at EMI and Dan Craig of Loudsound.

6. Live Nation’s John Probyn keeps his fellow panellists – Paul Glossop from V Festival, James Barton of Creamfields and John Robb of Louder Than War – amused during the Keeping Up Appearances session at the UK Festivals Conference.

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7. A Greener Festival flags (made from recycled tents) were presented to organisers from Cambridge Folk Festival, Greenbelt, Hadra Trance Festival, Festibelly, T-in-the-Park, Wood, The Isle of Wight Festival and Shambala at the UK Festival Conference 2011. Shambala won the overall UK ‘Greener Festival Award’.

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64 | IQ Magazine January 2012

Your Shout

TOP SHOUT!

“ What’s the best trick or initiation ritual you’ve come across when someone new joins the business?”

Karsten Jahnke –Karsten Jahnke Konzertdirektion Gain access to the newbee’s computer, change all system settings and then switch the system language into Korean. This will give the newbee some hard times.

Akiko Rogers –William Morris Endeavor Tony Goldring had been with the William Morris Agency (pre WME) for just a short time and was new to Los Angeles. There’s a jazz club here in Hollywood called Catalina’s. There’s also a small island an hour away by ferry from Long Beach called Catalina.

We had a show at Catalina’s that we were asked to cover. I told Tony to make sure he wore a jacket because the ferry ride would be cold. He asked several people in the office for a jacket and by that time I made sure everyone was in on the joke. As he made his way north to Hollywood with the directions that he was given, he figured out he wouldn’t be needing the jacket. We all had a good laugh when he arrived.

Bryan Grant –Britannia Row Back in the day, I sent out a rookie on our sound crew for pizzas before a Dylan concert in an outdoor ‘shed’ in Washington. The concert had just started and our rookie appeared from the backstage entrance carrying a stack

of pizzas, brushed past a clearly startled Mr Dylan, jumped off the stage and sauntered up the centre aisle towards the front of house mixer. I have never before, or since, seen so many sound crew crammed behind a lighting console.

Will Page, PRS For Music At Glasgow University, they made you smash a pint glass off your forehead before joining the rugby club. My brother (the one with the brains) played rugby, I didn’t.

Anonymous This is cruel, but watching the victim’s reaction is priceless: hold down the Ctrl and Alt keys while pressing either the Down or Left or Right arrow key.

Depending on your preference, this will turn the computer screen display upside down or on its side. After much shaking of heads and ‘What the hell did you do?’ interrogations of your new colleague, the issue can be just as easily rectified by holding down Ctrl, Alt and the Up Arrow.

get a special deal on his artist – tell him we really need his help to make the event work and to build a market for his artist here. After having been yelled at by the said agent it’ll take six months before the new employee will ever want to call an agent again, so a real tough initiation.

Gordon Masson –IQ When I was a staff reporter at a newspaper, the office junior was fooled into believing he was typing too loud and that us seasoned hacks could tell what he was typing by the sound of each key (it was an oldfashioned typewriter). When he was told that nobody could concentrate on their work because all we could hear were his ham fisted efforts, he took it upon himself to go and apologise for his misdemeanor to the editor.

Needless to say gullibility doesn’t get you very far in the newsroom, but I’m told the lad has had a fine career in the civil service…

Ed Grossman –MGR Our initiation ritual is to get them to call a promoter or agent, explain that they represent Royalty and ask for ten free VIP tickets with all-access laminates and valet parking at a venue for a show that people would die to go to. Some of the responses are hilarious. A couple of agents (who will remain nameless) actually fall for it.

David Glick, Edge Media Great move bringing in Gordon as IQ’s new editor. As his initiation, I’d make him give me his Arsenal tickets!

Thomas Ovesen –Done Events Call this agent and ask him if we can

If you would like to send feedback, comments or suggestions for future Your Shout topics, please email: info@iq-mag.net

66 | IQ Magazine January 2012