VIP-Magazine 08, 2011 by VIP-Booking.com

EDITION #08 MARCH 2011

GET

VIP-BOOKING.COM - The No 1 Information Resource For The Live Entertainment Industry Having the right tools for the job is often the key to success. Through our ongoing communication with key Live Entertainment Industry Professionals, we have developed a range of services to meet the demands of agents, promoters, talent buyers, venue bookers etc. It’s no coincidence that we are now considered to be the No. 1 information provider for this thriving industry.

08#2011 THE NO 1 INFORMATION RESOURCE FOR THE LIVE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY

S VIPO-UNREINW BOX

VIP-MAGAZINE

IN Y EE EVERY MONTH FR – SIGN UP AT OM VIP-BOOKING.C

LEIF SKOV

WINNER AT THE FESTIVAL AWARDS SHOW AT EUROSONIC READ MORE ON PAGE 14

08#SPOT

GREG LOWE JOINS THE AGENCY GROUP READ MORE ON PAGE 17 FKP Scorpio expand into the Northern Europe Festival market With his engagement in Hulsfredfestivalen in Sweden and Northside Festival in Denmark German promoter Folkert Koopmans has moved into a new territory, we have asked him why? READ MORE ON PAGE 18#

WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

vip-booking.com

Your Scandinavian Alternative Looking for acts who can fill 5,000-70,000 capacity venues Contact us now Gigantium, DK – Aalborg Capacity: 7,500 – 12,000

MCH Multiarena Herning, DK Capacity: 11,500 – 15,000

New alliances are emerging One of them is bigger than we like But as you know, it’s not always size that matters … CSB is free, flexible and independent of other commercial businesses We’ll match any market development – procurement, contracting, joint venture and cooperation in general Work with us and we’ll prove that we are better than the biggest! Carsten Svoldgaard/Kenneth Svoldgaard Managing Directors, CSB

Forum Horsens, DK Capacity: 5,000

Horsens Arena, DK Capacity: 30,000

Faroe Islands Capacity: 1,500 – 6,500

Augustenborg Castle, DK Capacity: 7,000 – 10,000

Dalhalla Sweden: Capacity 4,000

CSB is a worldwide entertainment company and one of the Nordic region´s largest tour promoters and organizers. In spring 2011 we’ll be promoting two of the largest sold-out indoor concerts in Denmark, in the new Multi Arena, MCH in Herning (capacity 11,500 seated and 15,000 standing guests). In addition to this, we’ll promote four stadium concerts, five arena concerts, eight festivals and castle concerts with capacities from 5,000 to 70,000 guests. We also promote more than 50 international events annually in Copenhagen at the Falkoner Salen (2,200 capacity) plus regular co-promotions with more than 50 of the most important Scandinavian venues.

CSB #2 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

Rock Under Broen, DK – Middelfart. Capacity: 30,000

C S B I s l a n d e n t e r ta I n m e n t Th. Schmidts Vej 2 • 6720 Fanoe • Denmark Phone: (+45) 7516 6722 • E-mail: csb@csb.dk • www.csb.dk

13297

Blue Water Arena, DK – Esbjerg. Capacity: 20,000

INTRO #

WELCOME

E N I Z A G A M P I TO THE V ng

What The Future Will Bri

3D concert film 3D at our local cinema, a t to see the premier of U2 6. Just over a year ago I wen 200 in r Tou forming during the Vertigo featuring rock band U2 per capture the full er nev ld cou e skepticism – surely they som h wit ma cine the nding g I remember enterin to restrain myself from sta over 3 minutes later I had t Jus en. scre a on t me cer had atmosphere of a live con fect view of the stage an amazing sound and a per h wit d bine com cts effe I was. up to applaud. The 3D reminding myself of where fooled and I had to keep on box ber 19 at the United States tionally and peaked at num rna inte rs ate the the 600 ing at The film was shown far as saying that view ase. Some critics went as rele of r yea a hin wit ion t. office, earning $20 mill ter than attending a concer film’s 3D effects was bet ller so demand outweighs sma are r die, especially if formats eve will ts cer con live recorded, I personally don’t believe 3D concerts, both live and tainly see that screened cer can I s rove imp logy supply, but as techno requiring more comfort. among the “concert goers” have a future, especially at which takes a broader look find an interesting article In this VIP-Magazine you will rs. yea ht look like in 10 what the Music Industry mig e.

We hope you enjoy this issu

Peter Briggs General Manager

THE VIP TEAM vip-booking.com

#3 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

# CONTENTS

CONTENTS: VIP-MAGAZINE 08 #2011

05 GERMAN PROMOTER FIGHTS FAKE TICKETS RESELLER 08 25TH YEAR OF EUROSONIC NOORDERSLAG – SUCCESSFUL AS EVER! 11

RHEINKULTUR FESTIVAL SAVED!

NEW RATES FOR CONCERTS ROYALITIES IN GERMANY

FESTIVAL AWARDS EUROPE WINNERS ANNOUNCED

DANISH DANCE MUSIC AT MIDEM 2011

LOWE JOINS THE AGENCY GROUP

KP SCORPIO EXPAND INTO THE NORTHERN F EUROPE FESTIVAL MARKET

LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE

23 CONVERSE STEP IN TO SAVE 100 CLUB 24 FEATURED ARTIST – FOOLS GARDEN 25 AIF MEMBERSHIP GROWS FOR 2011 FESTIVAL SEASON 26 ARTIST AVAILS

To reserve your ad call +44 (0) 870 755 0092 or send an email to vip@vip-booking.com. Read more online www.vip-booking.com vip-booking.com

#4 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

Manfred Tari mt@vip-booking.com

R E T O M O R P GERMAN R E L L E S E R S T E K C I T E K A F S T FIGH The upcoming three Take That shows in Germany in July 2011 have set new standards in many terms. Except for the Munich show all ticketing is handled exclusively by Smart Tickets and as such excludes not only the market leader CTS Eventim and its rival Ticketmaster. de from selling Take That tickets, apart from a small number of high price VIPpackages.

When asked about this Scumeck Sabottka, MD of MCT said: “MCT and our assigned law ﬁrm CMS Hasche Sigle will take action against every unauthorized vendor that is offering tickets.” To further conﬁrm that Seatwave & Co aren’t eligible to sell Take That tickets, Sabottka said: “There are, apart from Tickets.de and München Ticket (Munich Ticket) no other authorised platforms.

MCT, the German promoter of the three shows in Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Munich have undertaken a promising attempt to exclude secondary ticketing platforms.

”In reference to the legal consequences arising from the unwanted resale of tickets, Sabottka said: “There are manifold legal options, which we prefer not to make public in detail.”

Smart Tickets provides a state of the art tick-eting platform and MCT is using all possible features to make the ticketing for these concerts very different. All tickets will be sold personalized and ticket buyers need to produce ID-cards at the shows. Another remarkable move involves the business terms that accompany purchase of these tickets. Conditions for the resale of tickets are clearly deﬁned and can only be done through a ticket exchange provided by Smart Tickets. Resale is made consumer friendly by restricting surcharges to a maximum of 15 percent of the original purchase price.

One problem is communication 2.0. In the beginning when tickets went on sale for the tour, the German version of the search engine Google ranked the official website takethat.tickets.de in places ﬁve to seven in the top ten search results.

Meanwhile this has changed and the official ticket sale website is in ﬁrst place. But with Seatwave and Viagogo placing online advertisements at Google linked with the match words ‘take that’ & “tickets”, Google.de also beneﬁts indirectly very well from the upcoming Take That tour. The search results for the tour are spiked with several advertisements of questionable ticket sellers that certainly can’t be considered as legal ticketing platforms at all. As regards the business terms of MCT and Smart Tickets for this tour, Google simply misdirects punters to noneligible ticketing platforms for this tour. Adapting the search words ‘Take That’ & ‘tickets’ & ‘Düsseldorf’ bring up at least two referrals to press articles in the newspapers Rheinische Post and the tabloid paper Bild, warning about extortionate

But what has upset many promoters since resale platforms such as Ebay, Fansale.de, Seatwave and Viagogo entered the ticketing market has happened again. While all the afore mentioned business terms and conditions that go with Take That-tickets are well displayed on the website of Smart Tickets and MCT, there are, as usual, lots of overpriced tickets on sale at the mentioned resale platforms.

#5 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

R GERMAN PROMOTE S RESELLER ET K IC T E K FA S T H G FI prices for Take That-tickets by not only the usual suspects. But this is only the case for search results for the show in Düsseldorf. Top ten search results by Google.de for shows in Hamburg and Munich do not display any articles warning about the strict business terms that are linked with these tickets. The main problem is that punters can’t see on the ﬁrst view who legally sells these tickets. Besides this, normal concertgoers in general have no idea how second-ary ticketing works and they are fooled by touts on many of these platforms. Having asked Sabottka about the communication strategy regarding the business terms he said: “Before the preticket sale started a press release with information about ‘regulated pre ticket sale’ was

send out. Additionally on our website mct-agentur.com we display information about this too. Furthermore we are going to do interviews regarding this matter. ”While Seatwave has a disclaimer on the web site informing that Take That tickets are only sold personalized, Viagogo only inform purchasers about this restriction after they have bought a Take That ticket. But that’s it. Both companies actually undertake no e”orts to inform that they are actually not allowed to sell Take Thattickets. And of course, ticket prices are rising on these platforms. The most expensive ticket for a single ticket in the standing room in Hamburg is 550 Euro plus a serv ice charge of 82.50 Euro for Viagogo plus postal service charges. However, the law ﬁrm that Sabottka have engaged is an international company that employ 600 lawyers and is specialized in antitrust and competition

right. Bearing this in mind and considering the very strict terms and conditions that apply for Take That tickets in Germany, Sabottka seems to be the very ﬁrst promoter that is able to cut out ticket resellers. Unfortunately other promoters like Marek Lieberberg do not seem to back Sabottka’s efforts in doing something against second-ary ticketing. In the trade paper Musikwoche Lieberberg said in a press conference regarding the upcoming Herbert Gröne-meyer tour in Germany in 2011, “On the Grönemeyer 2011 tour there are already tickets available for just only 36 Euro, this is very reasonable for a stadium concert com-pared to U2 or other international artists” Lieberberg furthermore says in Musikwoche that he does not work with these ticketing platforms. Whatever he means by that, the fact is that Viagogo and Seatwave are selling tickets for this tour as well.

Get VIP-News directly in your inbox ®

vip-booking.com

THE LivE EXPERiENCE:

RHEiNENERgiEsTadioN CoLogNE.

THis is WHERE THE MUsiC’s aT. More information at www.koelnersportstaetten.de or on +49 (0)221 i 71616-150.

#7 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

Manfred Tari mt@vip-booking.com

F O R A E Y 25 G A L S R E D R O O N C I N O S O EUR ! R E V E S A L U F – SUCCESS TH

Rather than writing a full journalistic report there are occasions when it is better to let industry professionals give their reactions in their own words. Manfred Tari took a wander around Groningen and spoke to a variety of Eurosonic Noorderslag delegates: This report reveals an unfiltered chorus of opinions and covers a spread of news items that concern all of the industry, not just those that attended the anniversary edition of a very successful edition of the one and only Eurosonic Noorderslag music convention in Groningen in the Netherlands. VIP-News talked to some of the Eurosonic Noorderslag visitors and asked them for their observations of the event as well as their expectations for business in 2011. VIP-News: What’s your impression of Eurosonic Noorderslag 2011? Bernard Batzen - Azimuth Productions in France: As usual very good. I saw some exciting new bands. The new thing is that you can also discover a lot of bands who are not in the official programme. I think it’s quite impressive because 400 bands are playing during 4 nights and it’s just incredible. I think it makes Groningen now the new centre for Europe emerging talents. VIP-News: Well, what were your favourite bands? Batzen: I’ve seen several very good acts. I wouldn’t say musically politically correct because Swiss guys playing Zydeco and Cajun music and the Bavarian Ska Dub. It´s not the next big thing but it is really good and honest music, played by very good musicians.

VIP-News: What are the name of the bands? Batzen: Mama Rosin and LaBrassBanda from Germany. Stefan Reichmann, Haldern Open Air in Germany says that he liked: “LaBrassBanda. My favourite band, I love all kind of bands that discover their roots - they’re completely Bavarian and this comes across so well on stage. Ben Howard was really good but I think as usual the best thing about Eurosonic is that you meet all the other people to drink beer together in a relaxi g atmosphere. And to find out about who is buying which acts…” VIP-News: What do you expect for the business year 2011? Reichmann: I don’t know. I think everything will work out. As a German saying has it; the farmer says “it’s going deeper and deeper”. I expect a wonderful year. “ Rob Challice from Coda Agency in UK said: “I think I am going back and for the first time booking a German band and one from Switzerland. LaBrassBanda and Mama Rosin.” About the convention itself Challice said: “Everything’s fine except the weather, the rain. Some people say some years are better than the others but it is really about how hard you work, how many bands you are going to see. I like to arrive on the Wednesday, it really makes sense. I am not sure if the European Festival Awards were useful three hours of my life. I rather prefer seeing bands and networking more. VIP-News: What is your expectation for the business year 2011? Challi ce: I think its overseeing the issues over the last year or two and some of the things that took us by surprise like less attendance on certain levels, but business is in a very good position, festivals are even in a great position. I think club promoters and smaller promoters have adjusted to the recession and basically I think the business is in a good position.

Rob Challice #8 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

Hilde Spille

VIP-News also talked to Roman Pitone who is the head of booking at the German music magazine Visions: “I think it’s an improvement over the last 2 years. The program was even

better and the surroundings were improved. For journalists they have this new media centre booth in the Oosterport, this was really great.” VIP-News: What were the most interesting bands you have discovered?

couple of bands, but it’s always a gamble whether you see the good or not so good ones. Anyway, I saw Kvelertak, which I found very good. Yesterday I saw Inspector Clouseau from France, they’re brilliant, and Murder from Denmark and that’s about it. VIP-News: By the way, what is going on at Rheinkultur?

Pitone: First of all the onethat impressed me most which is probably one of the festivals favourite because everyone was chasing them was ‘Dry the River’ I think from England I´m not too sure, and obviously Kvelertak from Norway. What else? ‘The Joy Formidable’ and some Dutch bands which I saw at ‘Ray’s Dutch Impact Revue’ which were Moss and Laura Jansen, which were both really good…. Everybody does interviews with Rob Berends, chairman of Network Europe and owner of Paperclip agency in the Netherlands. So we thought it is about time to start talking to his business partner Hilde Spille as well. VIP-News: What’s your impression of Eurosonic Noorderslag 2011? Spille: I had some very good meetings during the day time about special projects I am working on for Network Europe and I’ve just visited a panel about Eastern European festivals and found it very useful. I saw great bands last night and the night before and I am amazed that it been running for 25 years. So, congratulations to Eurosonic Noorderslag! VIP-News: What do you expect for the business year 2011? Spille: I have no idea what the future will bring. We will just have to see. I think that it will get a bit tougher for Dutch venues. I see that some of them are booking fewer concerts, in the recent months there have been less concerts than in the years before. So, competition will grow harder. It will be more difficult for upcoming acts. But in general I think it will still be a healthy year.

Schmidt: We will decide next week whenever we will go on or not. But I am quite hopeful that we can make it. From Melt-Booking in Germany Stefan Lehmkuhl, Alexander Kralitsch and others attended Eurosonic Noorderslag. Lehmkuhl who also accepted ‘The Artist Choice Award’ for Melt-Festival at the European Festival Awards presented in Groningen on the Wednesday night, didn’t see as many good bands as his company colleague Kralisch.

»I think it’s an improv ement over the last 2 year s. The program was ev en better and the surroundings we re improved« - Roman Pitone

Lehmkuhl said: “It was nice as every year. It is my eighth time now, I think. I have not seen that many good band performances this year but I met a lot of interesting people. I think it is important as well to meet people as well as to see acts here in Groningen. But I noticed a trend; many of the electronic acts are developing into good live acts. Whereas previously many of those acts appeared on stage with just a laptop, they have now merged into real bands in order to be booked and to play at festivals. This goes for instance for Crystal Fighters who have developed in to a real electronic band within two years. I presume that these bands do so in particular to be attractive

Holger Schmidt from Rheinkultur-Festival in Germany, a free event which suffered a financial loss after the last edition was hit by very bad weather and less visitors due to the Football World Cup, said about Eurosonic Noorderslag: “I had a very nice weekend here actually. It was the first time I had the chance to moderate a panel. We did something about ‘Green’ events and I was really surprised by the huge audience we had there. We had about 80 people, usually we discuss this subject before only 10 or 15 people. and it was a very, very fruitful session. I again met all my colleagues from the European festivals and this was good as well. I saw a #9 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

W25TH YEAR OF ERSLAG EUROSONIC NOORD EVER! – SUCCESSFUL AS for festivals and I therefore assume that festivals are also becoming more important for these kinds of acts. VIP-News: Who was your favourite this year? Lehmkuhl: Crystal Fighters, James Blake and SBTRKT. Differing from Lehmkuhl, Kralisch said, “First of all a lot of good bands and surprises from some I did not expect to be so good.” But like Lehmkuhl Kralisch also observed, “I found it very interesting that a lot of bands which I just knew from the internet and from the songs that I heard, that were really electronic are now are able to put on their music on stage like real bands, that was really surprising. Bands like Crystal Fighters, James Blake or Monarchy, you knew that these acts are just guys who created their music on a computer and now put it on stage. That was actually good. VIP-News: Which acts did you like most? Kralisch: I was really impressed by the energy of Crystal Fighters, I really like their album from last year and I was really happy to see it come across so well on stage. Baris Basaran from Charmenko Music Organisation in Turkey said of the business event: “I think the variety of showcases was better than before. They were richer, from my point of view; compared to previous years I was able to discover more interesting bands. Also in my personal opinion the panels were more approachable than in recent years. VIP-News: Any particular panel you’d like to mention? Basaran: I found the festival panel, chaired by Nick Hobbs (of Charmenko) with people from Exit Festival and Sziget Festival was so far the most interesting panel for me. VIP-News: Which were your favourite artists? Basaran: A couple of favourite acts. One of them was Frankie & The Heartstrings, but also K-X-P, Mount Kimbie and SBTRKT VIP-News: How do you think business will be this year? Basaran: I hope it’ll be up, because 2010 was a terrible year for Eastern Europe. It needs to be better in 2011.

#10 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

Manfred Tari mt@vip-booking.com

L A V I T S E F R U RHEINKULT SAVED! Over the last 28 years the Rheinkultur Festival has become Germany’s largest free festival, located on a beautiful site, Bonn’s ‘Rheinaue’ Park on the banks of the Rhein. In previous years the event has attracted on average 170.000 visitors with a high of 200.000 in 2007. But the events of last year’s edition changed everything. Although the festival is run by a large number of volunteers and was one of the first in Germany to adopt a very strict ‘green policy’, it was this event that was almost financially ruined due to extreme weather. VIP-News spoke to Holger Jan Schmidt, Managing Director of the company behind the festival, about his experiences solving serious financial problems and what finally saved the event.

VIP-News: What actually caused the financial loss of the previous Rheinkultur edition? Holger Jan Schmidt: Our last edition took place on July 3rd, the day of the heaviest thunderstorms of 2010 in our area and the football quarterfinal final in which Germany played Argentina. After an exhausting week of building up the festival in 38 degree Celsius heat the torrential rain started at midday, the main time at which our audience travels to the festival. In the end this we had an attendance of only a third of what we are used to. Being admission free we are dependent on the beverage and food sales. The result was a loss of 60,000 Euros.

VIP-News: So what finally saved Rheinkultur and who are the supporters that you consider helped most to save Rheinkultur? Schmidt: We organized a huge Rettercampaign (Retter = saviour). We sold shirts, received donations, founded a supporters club, and finally held a big

»That was all very successful, but we had to cancel our charity sh ow due to low demand, which was a quite negative em otional experience« - Holger Jan Schmidt

#11 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

online-competition. That was all very successful, but we had to cancel our charity show due to low demand, which was a quite negative emotional experience. In the end there are so many people who helped us, it’s not possible to name them all here, but I’d like to say thanks to our partners who really helped us, the fans who bought shirts and of course all of our team who worked so hard for the last half year. VIP-News: As you say the charity concert had to been cancelled due to poor ticket sales. Were you disappointed that the Rheinkultur ‘fans so obviously let you down?

thing is that the fans awareness of our admission free festival is as a spring event, and so it wasn’t possible to move them to a winter show although the advertising was massive due to our wonderful partners. But on the other hand many people bought shirts and took part in our competition in January - so it worked out in the end. VIP-News: How did local authorities and politicians help to save the event?

Schmidt: As I mentioned that was a very emotional moment. It was all set up to solve the problem with a big party on one night - but it didn’t work out. I learned that this is a problem other

Schmidt: Actually we did this on our own. The whole campaign was our idea and run by us with our partners. There would have been support from the city for the charity show, but of course this was cancelled in the end. I should mention however that the city will not cut our subsidies from 2011 on as was originally planned in the beginning of 2010. But although grateful for that I have to

‘public good’ organisations also experience. People tend to take up free offers but when it comes to personal engagement they rely on ‘the others’. Another

say that our festival is such a massive image-maker for our city, especially for the younger target group that we feel worth every cent of these subsidies.

#12 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

VIP-News: What will be the impact and consequences for the upcoming festival due to last year’s financial loss? What of measures might be necessary to avoid such a financial loss in the future. Schmidt: Well of course we’ll try to be less affected by the weather. But to be honest 2010 was pretty much the worst case we could imagine and this year there’s no World Cup, is there? We have very good sponsor deals for an event like this, but could use one more main sponsor to help lower the risk for us. That would solve a lot of problems and we are working very hard on all of this. VIP-News: What are your plans and ideas for Rheinkultur 2011? The festival’s concept is set and has worked well for many years. We will stick to the variety of styles and acts, our environmentally friendly policy and the free entrance. We all look forward to celebrating our 30th edition in 2012!

Manfred Tari mt@vip-booking.com

NEW RATES FOR CONCERT ROYALITIES IN GERMANY In a joint press release the German copyright collection society GEMA and the live music trade organisations bdv and VDKD have outlined an agreement on new rates for concert royalties for concerts.

the artists, and ensuring that all donations will only benefit causes concerned with humans in difficulty, which excludes festivals such as Rheinkultur or organisations like Amnesty International or Greenpeace.

While the minimum rates were reduced those for concerts with more than 2.000 visitors have been raised significantly. For the first time GEMA will also charge promoters for income streams such as sponsorship and advertisement fees (from sales for space in concert brochures and festival newspapers

These stipulations appear to illustrate the attitude of those in charge at GEMA and perhaps those who benefit from GEMA. Another story that caused something of a media buzz over the holiday season in Germany concerned GEMAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s charges to Kindergartens, on behalf of VG Musikedition, the copyright collection society for sheet music publishers, authors and composers. The Society demanded 56 Euros for the copying of 500 sheets for childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s songs and 168 Euro for 1500 copies. GEMA sent out this payment request to a total of 36.000 German Kindergartens. Well, charging Kindergartens speaks for itself...

for instance,). For shows with less than 2.000 visitors, the 2011 royalty is set at 3.5 percent, but this rate will increase annually, to 4 percent in 2012, 4.5 percent in 2013, before levelling off in 2014 at 5 percent. More drastic hikes will apply to concerts and events ranging from 2.000 to 15.000 persons. In 2011 the rate is 4.20 percent, rising to 5.20 percent in 2012 to settle at 7.20 percent in 2014. Promoters of shows attracting more than 15.000 visitors are facing tough times with escalating fees of 5.65 percent in 2011, 6.65 in 2012 and 7.65 in 2013/2014. The rate is deducted from all income gained from ticket sales including VAT, except for ticket service fees and ticket system fees. The share of promoters sponsoring and advertisement income negotiated by GEMA with the officials from bdv and VDKD is as follows: For concerts with less than 2.000 visitors the rate is set at 0.35 percent on these revenue streams, from 2.000 up to 15.000 visitors per show this rises to 0.38 percent, shows with more than 15.000 visitors will have to pay out 0.42 percent. Promoters presenting more than 31 shows a year will qualify for a discount of 14.5 percent, those staging up to 30 shows 10 percent, but there will be no concession for smaller promoters doing less than 15 shows. For charity events GEMA will only grant a discount of 10 percent. But to access this concession the promoter will have to fulfil various conditions. These include not paying fees to

#13 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

By: Allan McGowan · am@vip-booking.com

e p o r u E s d r a Festival Aw d e c n u o n n A s Winner The best European festivals, artists and promoters of 2010 were revealed at a sold out ceremony, which took place at Groningen’s Stadsschouwburg in The Netherlands, on the opening night of the 25th Anniversary edition of Eurosonic Noorderslag. Decided by a combination of public vote and industry juries, Festival Awards Europe is the only event solely dedicated to recognising the contributions and achievements of the event organisers and performing artists that generate billions of Euros for local economies and brighten up the summer for tens of millions of festival-goers each year. For the 2009 Awards Belgium did extremely well, coming away with multiple prizes, but this year Ireland led, taking 3, Poland and Germany took two each. Muse also took two awards, but were unfortunately not there to receive them. More than 350,000 votes were cast by fans to decide the winners in the following categories:

#14 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

- Best Major European Festival: Heineken Open’er Festival - Poland - Best Medium-Sized European Festival: Electric Picnic Music & Arts Festival - Ireland - Best Small European Festival: 5 Tauron Nowa Muzyka Festival - Poland - Best New European Festival: Temple House Festival - Ireland - Best Indoor Festival: Rolling Stone Weekender - Germany - Best European Festival Line-Up: Oxegen - Ireland - Best Newcomer: Florence and the Machine - Best Headliner: Muse - Festival Anthem of the Year: Muse - Uprising

The following winners were chosen by an industry jury, which included prominent journalists, booking agents, managers, artists and promoters:

Stefan Lehmkuhl from Melt Festival Germany was surprised to win the artist best festival award saying “It was the greatest honour” adding that “according to Noel Gallagher Melt Festival looks like the inside of Marilyn Manson’s brain” Leif Skov, one of the pioneers of Denmark’s Roskilde Festival was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award. In a moving and inspiring speech on receiving his award, he said: “People and music together can move mountains and change opinions. And through all of our work with our festivals we have invented and defined for the world a new set of values that lie above and beyond a standard set of values that can be measured.” James Drury, MD of Festival Awards Ltd, which organises the Awards said: “With over 350,000 votes and a 37% increase in

Leif Skov from Roskilde Festiva l received the Lifetime Achieve ment Award in Gr onningen

the number of events our second edition demonstrated the breadth and strength of feeling among fans and festivals across the continent. This was a great celebration of the world leading festival scene.” Christof Huber, General Secretary YOUROPE commented, “It was a major step forward from last year’s awards. We are really looking forward to the next edition and are confident that they will continue to go from strength to strength.” There were performances on the night from Alice Gold, Laura Jansen and Ben L’Oncle Soul. http://eu.festivalawards.com

Shit happens! Specialized in Contingency Event Cancellation Insurance since 1989 Call: +49-(0)89-54 01 63-20 Mail: contingency@erpam.com

Idea: Christian Raith · Advertising Agency: www.milk-and-honey.de

- YOUROPE Green ‘N’ Clean Festival Of The Year: Boom Festival - Portugal - Artist’s Favourite European Festival: Melt! - Germany - Virtual Festivals Europe presents Promoter Of The Year: Kilimanjaro/K2 - Yourope Lifetime Achievement Award: Leif Skov

® Versicherungen für alle Eventualitäten®

Eberhard, Raith & Partner GmbH · Insurance Brokers Trappentreustr. 1 · 80339 Munich, Germany · Phone +49-(0)89-54 01 63-0 info@erpam.com · www.erpam.com

#15 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

By: Allan McGowan · am@vip-booking.com

C I S U M E C N A D H DANIS AT MIDEM 2011 This year’s 45th Midem suffered a 4.9% drop in attendance

Zähringer: Its my 15th or 16th Midem. Cannes has always

from 2010 following a 13% on 2009. Organisers Reed- Midem

been, and continues to be a place to meet the key people in

have responded by confirming that they will live up to the

the industry, people with checkbooks that can make things

challenge and will be around for years to come. They have

happen and sign deals.

also launched a new conference, Rethink Music, which is set to take place in Boston, USA between April 25- May 7 later

Though the number of participants has dropped this is still

this year.

the case and the reason that Midem will keep being of importance for the industry. One comment though, due to high

However many professionals reported finding it easier to do

prices, expensive registration, Midem has to be careful not

business in a less crowded environment, and rather hope

to scare too many potential visitors away, and should work

that things may stay as they are. VIP-Booking.com for in-

with the participants on their requests instead of outlining

stance had an extremely good response from their visit and

how things should be done. Honestly I see no point in hav-

is looking forward to next year. To check out the experienc-

ing a stand at Midem anymore, they could reduce the whole

es of another attending Company, VIP-News spoke to Oliver

conference to the Riviera area and make it a networking

Zähringer of CAOZ Promotion / Danish Dance Music Export,

area divided in to

organizers of a Danish Dance Music showcase in Cannes dur-

country zones only.

ing the event.

Danish Dance Music at Midem: VIP-News: You have been coming to Midem for quite some time - how many editions have you attended? Have you always done good business in Cannes and how have things changed?

VIP-News: Nothing at Midem is cheap, was this an expensive exercise, who is financing the project and what do you ideally wish to gain from the event? Which venue did you use for this project and what acts did you showcase? Zähringer:The participating labels are financed the project, with a 50% co-funding by the Danish Foreign Ministry’s Ex-

OUTLANDISH MEDINA

#16 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

INFERNAL

port Council. Without the co-funding this would not have been possible. The venue was Le Loft, and we showcased Medina, Infernal, Outlandish, Kato, Jon, Providers. There is more info about the showcase at www.ddme.dk.

VIP-News: It’s no secret that as the music business, particularly the recording sectors, and so far, to a lesser extent publishing, has been suffering a decline, Midem which has always relied on these sectors has also suffered a drop off in business.You have I’m sure been aware of this, yet you must still think it worthwhile to attend and to invest in a showcase project. Did you do a lot of preparatory work on the showcase in terms of inviting specific delegates to the event? Do you think that there is still business to be done in Cannes, and to any extent is the reduction in numbers helpful in accessing buyers?

Greg Lowe

Zähringer: The 3 Danish Showcases (2009, 20110 and 2011) have been unique at MIDEM for the genres it represents (electronic/ cross over dance) – why it makes sense to host such party at Midem there is no great competition during the evening programme, unlike WMC and ADE for example. It’s a nice way to kick off a new year, fresh budgets etc… and as mentioned before, Midem has all key players in the industry visiting.

VIP-News: Have you had any tangible and confirmed results from this year’s Midem? Zähringer: We have closed a deal with Medina for the US. We also have interest from a few other territories not yet closed and a request for DK artist performances at Musexpo in LA 1-4 may. Plus we are doing a DK music export event in Tokyo 5 - 8 May.

LOWE JOINS THE AGENCY GROUP Agent Greg Lowe, formerly with the Elastic Artists Agency has joined the London office of The Agency Group, bringing with him his roster of artists, which includes Girl Talk, Crystal Fighters, Fujiya & Miyagi, Neon Indian, The Phenomenal Handclap Band and Zola Jesus, among others. “I’m delighted that Greg has joined us here in the U.K. office,” stated Geoff Meall, director of The Agency Group. “Greg boasts an impressive career, having worked in a variety of areas of the music industry, from journalism to public relations to the agency side. His long-standing passion for the industry and developing artists make him a perfect addition to our U.K. team.”

KATO

“I’m thrilled to begin a promising career at The Agency Group and look forward to the new challenges ahead of me,” said Greg Lowe. “I’m confident that the company will offer me and my clients many exciting opportunities.”

#17 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

Manfred Tari mt@vip-booking.com

D N A P X E O I P R FKP SCO E P O R U E N R E H T R O N E H T O T IN T E K R A M L A FESTIV A top item of news discussed between delegates at Eurosonic Noorderslag 2011, was the move to expand his business activities into Sweden and Denmark

Koopmans:s: “Briefly, very good as always. Loads of nice people and new bands, very interesting.

this festival won’t happen anymore. But then I got the opportunity to bid at the official receiver auction for the brand rights and the domain, which I got. After

made by FKP Scorpio MD, Folkert Koopmans.

VIP-News: Which were your most favourite bands here?

that I went to the city council and did a long term deal with them; we have set up a 3 year plan to re-establish the festival.

FKP Scorpio currently employs a team of 60 people and promotes 12 festivals including Hurricane and Southside, Mera Luna and Area4. According to Koopmans the festivals business segment contributes one-third to the total gross of FKP Scorpio. The company belongs to the CTS Eventim group of companies, but since last year Koopmans again holds the majority share in his company.

Koopmans: Dry the River was the favourite.

VIP-News: What is your impression of Eurosonic Noorderslag 2011?

VIP-News: Everybody is aware that you have expanded your range of business activities into the Northern European festival market with the purchase of Hultsfred Festival. What made you decide to do this? Koopmans: Well, I had a look at when I found out that this festival had gone bankrupt. Everybody was saying that

VIP-News: How did you get Gunnar Lagermann on board? Koopmans:: I’ve known Gunnar for more than 20 years. Actually he, Leif Skov, Klaus Mack and I, among others, belong to the group that founded Yourope, which Christof Huber is still running today. Gunnar’s been out of business for a while. He wanted to do something different so I gave him a call and he was very interested in getting back in. VIP-News: What will Gunnar’s position be at the festival? Koopmans: “We have a production team and this team will work on Hultsfred now as well, but as it is in Sweden I need somebody to run the office in Hultsfred, so this will be done by Gunnar. Regarding the booking I will mainly do it, but also in conjunction with the expertise of Gunnar, who has the local knowledge. For everything else, we have a production team. At the moment we do not have a festival on that weekend. So, I can take up most of my production team to Sweden, when it comes to producing the festival.”

Folkert Koopmans at the Hultsfred press conference.

#18 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

VIP-News: Will you also promote Hultsfred through your promotion channels in Germany?

Koopmans: I don’t think so. I mean not particularly as I believe there are enough festivals in Germany for people can go to. Hultsfred was one of the leading festivals in Sweden and I would love to make it the leading festival again. I know that there is some more competition right now but I think this site is beautiful. I still think that the brand is really strong, everybody knows the area and the festival name, so I think it must be possible to reestablish the event. VIP-News: What is your relationship with Brian Nielson? (MD of Skandinavian in Denmark) Koopmans: “We have a long term relationship, because we have been working together on some acts for a long while and he came up with the idea to found a new festival in Denmark which I got involved in. This festival we are really building from scratch, so last year we did 5000 people with local acts. This year we will

have some international acts and we are aiming to reach 10000 this year.”

VIP-News: You even bought back one percent of your company from CTS Eventim...

VIP-News: What’s the name of this festival?

Koopmans: No, I didn’t, that’s not true.

Koopmans:: Northside Festival.

VIP-News: Why? But CTS...

VIP-News: So, taking both new business relations into consideration that means that you are expanding your business into non-German speaking countries?

Koopmans:: Well, you’ll find out later. But yes, CTS gave away their majority on FKP Scorpio, so that the only thing that I can say on that at the moment….

Koopmans:: “Yes, but I think there is not such a big difference between Germany and Scandinavia. I guess it will be much more difficult to go into Eastern Europe and promote events over there. I think that Scandinavia is quite simple. I am relying on good partners as well, like Brian Nielson and Mats Soerenson from Beatbox, who is partly looking after the booking for the festival in Denmark.”

VIP-News: What are your expectations for the business season 2011? Koopmans: You never know but I think it will be the best year ever. We have scheduled festivals now with the Foo Fighters, Arcade Fire, Blink 182, and we have tours on with the Foo Fighters, Blink 182, James Blunt, the Gaslight Anthem, Within Temptation, so I expect it is going to be a good year.

#19 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

the vip book 2012

book info

M e D i A i N F o R M At i o N

VIP Book

the

the No. 1 iNFoRMAtioN ResouRce FoR the live eNteRtAiNMeNt iNDustRy

ReseRve youR AD NoW FoR the vip book 2012 The 8th edition of the ViP-booking European Live Entertain-

Advertising guarantees maximum exposure throughout the

ment book will be released in January 2012.

Entertainment industry.

The ViP book is a yearly publication distributed to 10.000

for more information on format, delivery and pricing please

Entertainment industry professionals at key trade fairs and

go to www.vip-booking.com.

conferences all over Europe. Packed with information on over 5.000 European Venues, 4.500 European booking Agencies, Management Companies & Promoters, 15.000 Artists and enhanced with useful country facts and information from top industry professionals, the ViP-book is

to reserve your ad call +44 (0) 870 755 0092 or send an email to vipbook@vip-booking.com. Ads can also be reserved online at www.vip-booking.com

the ultimate reference book used throughout the year.

速

vip-booking.com 145-157 St. John Street | London EC1V 4PW | United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 870 755 0092 www.vip-booking.com | vip@vip-booking.com

#20 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

By: Allan McGowan · am@vip-booking.com

O T N I G N I K O O L THE FUTURE The following two items both deal with looking at the future for the industry; the Ten in Ten project initiated by Music Supported Here, reminded me of a project which I worked on with the Mama event in Paris last year called Muzik 2025 which invited people from various disciplines connected with music to write a scenario of how they thought society and the music industry would operate in 2025. I was particularly taken by academic Simon Frith’s very humorous, but possibly accurate scenario, so this seemed a good time to make it available to a wider audience. I wonder how the Ten in Ten poll responses will compare with Simon’s take on things, I look forward to reading them and urge you all to contribute your ideas to the poll.

Music Supported Here Launches Poll of Industry Future:

that backs MSH, said yesterday: “Although we can guess, none of us know what the next ten years will do to the music industry - that’s why Music Supported Here will be launching Ten In Ten. The concept is simple. Ten questions that will be answered by experts from the music industry - musicians, fans, managers, labels etc - to give an overall picture of what we think is going to happen”.

He added: “Will illegal downloading become less of a problem? Will recording contracts be fairer? Will there be less new talent emerging? None of us can really be sure of what 2021 holds for the music industry, but we think that the opinions of thousands of people who live and breathe the music industry will produce some pretty accurate predictions”. The ten questions can be found online at www.musicsupportedhere.com

Music in 2025 - Simon Frith:

Music community Music Supported Here has announced a poll that will pose ten questions to industry professionals about the future of their sector, asking those who are polled to predict where the business might be in ten years time. Results of the poll will be announced at an event at The Roundhouse on 18 Mar, where a live panel will also discuss the questions posed and the results off the poll. Introducing the concept, Horace Trubridge, Assistant General Secretary of the Musicians’ Union, one of the body’s

Simon Frith is Tovey Professor of Music at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He is also the Chair of Britain’s Mercury Music Prize and author of many books on the sociology and aesthetics of music, including Sound Effects, Art Into Pop (with Howard Horne) and Performing Rites: On The Value Of Popular Music. In addition to this work Professor Frith has also published a large body of music criticism over the years, some of it anthologized in Music For Pleasure. He is currently working on a project about live music in Britain.

These things we can be fairly sure of: By 2025 there will be no stadium gigs. Economically and aesthetically they will long have been thought pointless. The Rolling Stones, in their eighties, and U2, in their seventies, hung on to the model but even they finally had to give up and stadium rock wasn’t even the object of nostalgia. Uncomfortable, poor sight and sound lines, tedious travel and car park queues— who would go back to that? As people’s willingness to pay high prices (and all the add-ons) for such gigs declined (and state funding cuts meant a lack of resources for stadium maintenance), so Live Nation and Ticket Master went bust.. Meanwhile the London Dome (with a succession of sponsors) and its equivalents in other big cities continued to flourish—smaller, flexible, comfortable spaces, in which bands could settle for a live season and music was only one of many kinds of entertainment. By 2020 AEG had overtaken Sky as the world’s biggest entertainment corporation. By 2025 there will be no record shops, but then there will be no record companies either. There will be tracks and albums but they won’t be funded, published, promoted or distributed in physical form by companies on the model of EMI, Universal, etc. Indeed, by 2015, when Lord Sharkey left UK Music to become Minister of Youth in the new Labour/Liberal Coalition Government, the BPI had become the least significant of the UK’s lobbying bodies while a joint campaign of

#21 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

the Music Mangers Forum and the Feature Artists Coalition had transformed the power structure of the collecting societies. Everybody in the business now had to accept what had long been apparent to outsiders: music could no longer be treated as an asset. It was, rather (as it had always been) a service, for which musicians were paid at the point of delivery (the campaign was copyright extension was at last abandoned). A new kind of large music company emerged, based not on the ownership of rights but the packaging of services, whether musicians for weddings or the provision of ever more sophisticated ‘apps’ for the various news sorts of personal computer/communications devices. Such companies, brought together in one place the old roles of artist management, music agency and concert promotion with a new expertise in music placement and worked as brokers between musical supply and demand. A music economy built round services rather than assets did not need musicians to sign long-term contracts and shifted the way consumers thought about music, not as an object (record, song) to be possessed but as an experience (of which music might be only one part) to be enjoyed. This was worth paying for but not as a single sort of transaction (buying a record or a ticket) but as a whole series of different transactions and the result was a fragmented rather than a mass market. The era of the global superstar died with the Rolling Stones. A musical career was now more localised, more erratic, more humble.

Sim on Fr ith

#22 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

In the economy of musical services the model for what, in the era of the musical product, were called distribution and promotion turned out to be the radio and, more specifically, BBC Radio. The BBC had established radio services through which a great variety of music (live and recorded) was permanently available on a great variety of digital outlets and devices over which the listener had a great deal of control in terms of how and when they listened. These services were paid

By 2025 there were three distinctive musical worlds, which, in business terms, were organised by different kinds of company and entrepreneur. The dance music world, organised around the provision of sounds and spaces for dancers, had not much changed since 2010 although there were now clearly different kinds of club (and club sound) for different age groups with tea and disco dances for pensioners (by now the 75+

These things we can be absolutely sure of: • People will still express and understand themselves through music. • People will still make and listen to music together. • People will still dance to music • People will still try to make money out of music. • Music will still be necessary for public and private entertainment. • Music that gave pleasure in the past will still give pleasure in the future. •T here will be new technological ways of storing, sharing and hearing music that we can’t yet imagine.

for by a license fee, which enabled the musicians involved to be directly rewarded according to how much and often their work was used, and were successful in constructing musical communities, audiences sharing tastes determined by musical rather than commercial judgements. Inspired by the BBC model, a number of successful music providing companies followed the pioneering but short-lived service, Spotify (which became over-dependent on its record company support). It was perhaps not coincidental that in Britain the Conservative/ Liberal coalition broke up over a Conservative plan (which turned out to have been devised in James Murdoch’s office) to abolish the license fee and make British broadcasting entirely commercial. In the subsequent election (in which the Conservatives lost a significant number of votes) veteran activists from the 2010 campaign to save 6 Radio masterminded a brilliant defence of the BBC in the hallowed name of John Peel and under the leadership of Lauren Laverne

age group) the most profitable. The talent music world (as in The World’s Got Talent, still under the autocratic rule of Britain’s only remaining global celebrity, Sir Simon Cowell) was organised around the provision of performers for television entertainment shows and songs for adverts, soundtracks, private pa systems and shopping malls around the world. The art music world was organised around the ideology of music as art— something uplifting and transcendent, a source of national pride and an activity requiring state educational and financial investment. Such ideology was no longer applied only to classical or ‘academic’ music. ‘Art’ music included folk, jazz and rock music and, by now, the album, on the one hand, and the concert programme, on the other, were seen as the forms most appropriate to music as art. State subsidies were directed accordingly, to acts, venues and music service companies alike (a necessary substitute for the now banned alcohol company support). By now the only sector of the market for which music meant little (because they were not considered a group of listeners who mattered much) were the young.

By: Allan McGowan · am@vip-booking.com

O T N I P E T S E S CONVER B U L C 0 0 1 E V SA Converse, the shoemaker famous for the All-Star basketball boot beloved by musicians and audience alike has confirmed a deal with an ‘absolutely thrilled’ Jeff Horton the owner of London’s 100 Club to become the iconic venue’s new partner. As previously reported in VIP-News it looked as though the Oxford Street music venue was to close down as a result of a massive rise in its running costs. High level protests and support came from stars such as Mick Jagger, Liam Gallagher and Mani from Primal Scream all backing a campaign to save it, with Sir Paul McCartney and present and past Rolling Stones Ronnie Wood and Mick Taylor playing benefit shows at the Club. However a sponsor was still required and Converse decided to step in. In a statement a representative of the Company said, “We at Converse are very excited about our new partnership with the legendary 100 Club in London. Converse’s commitment to being a catalyst for creativity is at the heart of the brand and we are dedicated to championing and supporting artists, fans, the music scene, venues and the experience. Converse and the 100 Club both share a love for music and this partnership is a great opportunity to reunite the 100 Club with a generation who experienced history inside its walls, as well as introduce it to a new generation with a vow to bring the best in music to its legendary stage.”

#23 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

FEATURED ARTIST #

FOOLS GARDEN Origin: Germany Style: Pop Tour period: Open Exclusive Agency: Lautstrom Music Name: Olaf Menne Email: olaf@lautstrom.de Agency (CH & A): Suonix Group Name: Rainer Froehlich Email: rainer.froehlich@suonix.com

When Peter Freudenthaler and Volker Hinkel founded their Fools Garden in the German town Pforzheim in 1991, they did not suspect that their musical plants would be world-famous a few years later. They attained first national attention with their song “Wild Days”, which was used in an advertising spot for “C&A”. But the real wild days began with “Lemon Tree”. The “Lemon Tree from

#24 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

the Black Forest” has fascinated the whole world since 1995. The song was translated into over 40 languages and achieved a sales quota of over six million units. With “Lemon Tree” the band Fools Garden grew up to be one of the “Big Ones” in the world wide music business. Since then Fools Garden has played concerts around the whole world. In May 2005 they played their biggest concert until now in Kalingrad (Russia) in front of over 100.000 spectators. Fools Garden has always made a point of leading their career on their own. All Fools Garden songs are own-written and since 2003 they have also run their own label. Since 2003 they also have new band members on board. The first album of the new band “(Are You Ready For) The Real Life” was released in 2005. For many fans and critics it is the best Fools Garden album ever.

So far Fools Garden published six albums, which contain many international radio hits. While songs like “Wild Days”, “Suzy”, “It Can Happen”, “Probably” or “Why Did She Go?” jumped into the German charts, tracks like “Closer”, “Dreaming” and “Does Anybody Know?” became popular in Russia. The 7th album “High Times - The Best Of Fools Garden” combines these hits. It also includes the new single “High Time” and a new version of Lemon Tree. Fools Garden are: Peter Freudenthaler - vocals Volker Hinkel - guitar Dirk Blümlein - bass Claus Müller - drums 2011 Fools Garden celebrate their 20year jubilee !

By: Allan McGowan · am@vip-booking.com

S W O R G IP H S R E B M E M AIF N O S A E S L A IV T S E F 1 1 0 2 FOR The UK’s Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) started the year in very buoyant fashion, looking ahead to the 2011 festival season and welcoming seven new festival members into the fold. These latest additions take membership of the two-year-old organisation up to 31. Joining the likes of Bestival, Green Man, Glade and Cream fields are: - North Dorset’s End of the Road Festival -F estival Awards’ Best Small - Festival 2010 Winner, Kendal Calling - Jersey’s Grassroots Eco Music Festival - Lancashire’s Beat-Herder Festival - Deer Stalker Festival -R eading’s three weekend long Outside:Inside Festival -D erbyshire’s family music festival Bearded Theory AIF, a not for profit body, was conceived by Bestival promoter Rob da Bank and Graphite’s Ben Turner, and was set up in 2008. The association’s founder members included Bestival, Cornbury Festival, Creamfields, Evolution Festival, Field Day/Underage, Secret Garden Party, Summer Sundae Weekender and WOMAD. The aim was to establish best practice for independent festivals in a variety of areas such as security, the environment and beyond. Successes include its ‘twinning’ initiative, which sees members linking up with like-minded festivals across the world for mutual promotion and exchange of information, the Security Task Force, created to tackle festival related crime, as well as a groundbreaking marketing deal with Visit Britain. The Association offers these new members the benefit of the organisation’s collective power in promoting their interests to the wider music business and government.

Claire O’Neill, AIF General Manager, said, “We are happy to see the continued growth of the AIF membership. It’s a positive reinforcement of the Association’s value, providing a voice that will be heard for the independents. 2010 has seen a host of industry wide issues come to light that will directly affect independent festivals. The need to join together for collective action has never been more apparent.” VIP-News asked Claire to specify a couple of the issues she refers to and to illustrate some of the moves planned to tackle these in 2011: Claire O’Neill: One of the key industry wide issues that AIF and the event industry as a whole is faced with at present is the PRS LP and DP Tariff review. The 31st Dec 2010 was the deadline for interested parties to submit their responses to the consultation, which we have done. We now await the announcement to come from PRS in light of the submissions they have received, and any necessary action will follow. This is coming at a time of VAT increases and a national financial low, which makes forward planning and having a group to talk to who are ‘in the same boat’ very valuable.

VIP-News: - Do you envisage more crossover work with some of the bigger festivals that are not AIF members? Generally would you say that your members are optimistic about their fortunes in 2011? Claire: As in the case of the PRS review, legislation, environmental issues etc, there will always be some scope for festivals of all sizes and styles to work together. This is not about entertainment on site etc, but the external influences that affect the industry as a whole. With the exception of one or two festivals who were sadly cancelled in part due to hiked police charges or land issues, the AIF membership enjoyed a very healthy year with a great number of sell out events. As a whole the independent festival sector who are represented by AIF are looking positively forwards to 2011 and beyond with some exciting projects on the horizon.

Late 2010 also saw the police charge guideline review, and also a consultation for review of the Licensing Act 2003. These legislative or licensing decisions can have impact upon festivals large and small, and both sides of the fence welcome a collective voice for their representation in responding to such matters. In 2011 we will also be working collectively towards improved environmental management of festivals and ethical issues, which are of concern to our members such as secondary ticketing.

#25 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

ARTIST AVAILS #

ARTIST AVAILS

See/Add more Artist Avails at VIP-Booking.com

Kaizers Orchestra Territory: Europe Period: 1st of April (Vienna day after) + Summer Festivals Agency: Vox Artist Agent: Eivind Brydoy Phone: +47 45 048 048 E-mail: eivind@voxartist.no Homepage: www.kaizers.no

Within Temptation Territory: Worldwide Period: March 2011 and onwards Agency: X-Ray Touring Agent: Paul Bolton Phone: + 44 (0) 20 7749 3500 E-mail: paul@xraytouring.com Homepage: www.xraytouring.com

Anthony B Territory: Europe Period: 24th of June to the 23rd of July 2011 Agency: Magicbox Agent: Pedro Pontes Phone: +315 915378951 E-mail: pedropontes@magicbox.pt Homepage: www.magicbox.pt

GROOVE ARMADA Territory: Europe / Worldwide Period: Worldwide 2011 Agency: WME - William Morris Endeavor Entertainment Agent: Steve Hogan Email: SHogan@wmeentertainment.com Homepage: www.groovearmada.com

EPMD Territory: Europe Period: 27.05 - 31.05 Agency: Company Entertainment Agent: Nawid Company Phone: +49 511 562411 E-mail: nc@company-entertainment.de Homepage: www.company-entertainment.de

LA Guns (feat. Phil Lewis & Steve Riley) Territory: Europe Period: 1/9/2011-31/10/2011 Agency: ARM Entertainment Agent: Dana Strutz Phone: 1-651-483-8754 E-mail: ds@armentertainment.com Homepage: www.laguns.net

Warrant Territory: Spain, France, Belgium, Netherlands, UK, Ireland Period: 1/9/2011-30/10/2011 Agency: ARM Entertainment Agent: Dana Strutz Phone: 1-651-483-8754 E-mail: ds@armentertainment.com Homepage: www.warrantrocks.com

Gary Lucas & Gods and Monsters (ex-guitarist Captain Beefheart (r.i.p.) Territory: Europe Period: June - July Agency: Paperclip Agency Agent: Rob Berends Phone: +31 24 323 9322 E-mail: rob@paperclip-agency.com Homepage: www.paperclip-agency.com

Admiral T Territory: World Period: 2010-2011 Agency: CARAMBA Spectacles Agent: Clotaire Phone: 00 33 1 42 18 17 18 E-mail: caramba@clotaire.fr Homepage: www.caramba.fr

Junior Kelly

Briganti di Terra d’Otranto Territory: worldwide Period: generally available Agency: Maffucci Music Agent: Canio Rosario Maffucci Phone: +39.339.4858107 E-mail: info@italianworldmusic.com

Kaizers Orchestra

Hairball Territory: Europe Period: 1/6/2011-31/12/2011 Agency: ARM Entertainment Agent: Dana Strutz Phone: 1-651-483-8754 E-mail: ds@armentertainment.com Homepage: www.hairballonline.com

Junior Kelly Territory: Europe Period: July / August 2011 Agency: Magicbox Agent: Pedro Pontes Phone: +315 915378951 E-mail: pedropontes@magicbox.pt Homepage: www.magicbox.pt

MORGAN HERITAGE Territory: EUROPE Period: JULY & AUGUST 2011 Agency: JAH LIVE Agent: Luis Phone: +351916692043 E-mail: Luis@JahLive.Pt Homepage: www.jahlive.pt

Thieves Like Us Territory: GAS Period: generally available Agency: Solar Penguin Agency Agent: MichËl Dion Baltin Phone: +49 (0)69 25626960 E-mail: michel_dion@solarpenguin.de Homepage: www.solarpenguin.de

Tamburellisti di Torrepaduli Territory: worldwide Period: generally available Agency: Maffucci Music Agent: Canio Rosario Maffucci Phone: +39.339.4858107 E-mail: info@italianworldmusic.com Homepage: www.italianworldmusic.com

Homepage: www.italianworldmusic.com

Need to know who is touring Europe

Go online - www.vip-booking.com vip-booking.com

#26 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM

VIP-contracts.com

VIP- Contracts.com VIP-BOOKING introduces a whole new contract, calendar and marketing tool specifically developed for Booking Agencies. VIP-CONTRACTS is guaranteed to save you and your agency both time and money. With this solution you will not have to worry about expensive consultancy, license, hardware or maintenance costs. No start up costs. Access to VIP-CONTRACTS regardless of where you are in the world. User friendly (Windows). Transfer of data from your existing system. No running expenses such as licenses and hardware. Minimum demands to your companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s workstations and internet connection. 24 hour firewall surveillance and backup. VIP-Contracts is available in ALL European languages

VIP-Contracts consists of 4 modules: Contracts Module

Calendar Module

Invoice Module

CRM Module

FUNCTIONS: Contractsmodule: Send your contracts by email immediately after the agreement is made. (Printing and posting is of course possible as well). Personalized contracts with your company logo etc. Automated reminder system that constantly helps you manage returned contracts with automatic reminders sent to The Promoter if the expire date is exceeded. Complete report system with the possibility to; for instance, produce reports on turnover per Artist or per Agent. Attach files (Riders, Press material etc.) automatically to individual contracts.

Calendarmodule: Allowing all agents access to Artist calendars for entering reservations. Complete reservation system that automatically notifies you when reservations have expired. Quick overview of contracts/reservations for both Artists and Promoters/Venues.

CRMmodule: Easily accessible Promoter database. Possibility to target email campaigns to Promoters. Automatically send your newsletter or anything else along with your contracts. ÂŽ

vip-booking.com

#27 VIP-MAGAZINE 08/2011 WWW.VIP-BOOKING.COM