The VIP-Booking european live entertainment Book
Transcription
The VIP-Booking european live entertainment Book
www.vip-booking.com VIP- News premium ›› Vol. 103 ›› MAY 2008 McGowan’s Musings: For the third year the international music conference crowd came to visit me – well, maybe not me particularly, actually they came to Brighton for the third edition of The Great Escape. This City Festival with a conference/trade event attached has established itself as the event to see the breaking bands from the UK with an increasing number from the Nordic countries, the rest of Europe, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere. A delegation and Friday morning presentation by Frank Takeshita and ‘Z’ Masayohi Zaitsu, who signed two UK acts at last year’s event, indicated that the ‘elsewhere’ will include Japan next year. The festival staged in 32 venues around the City (I didn’t know we had that many and I’ve been here since 1968! – According to Radio 1 Legend, and friend of mine, there are 73 clubs in Brighton!) sold out, and of course even though many of the headline acts played twice over the 3 days, getting in to see the likes of The Fratellis, The Ting Tings, Futureheads, Bon Iver etc, etc if you didn’t have a badge meant lengthy queues and/or disappointment. Punters complain as they do at SXSW, but really there is no substitute for getting there early and after all it’s meant carat gold sprayed plastic trophy now sits proudly on the kitchen table only partially obscured by Sunday’s papers and a loaf of bread. Allan McGowan to be a showcase event, there were over 200 acts to choose from and the raison d’être of these events is supposed to be the discovery of new talents – these are the opportunities for new fans to tell their friends – I saw them first! Anyway, the big news is that your beloved editor – yes me! – won an award at the very first Yearly Music Conference Awards (YMCA’s) – I can hear you all singing now! I was nominated in the ‘Conference Junkie’ category (OK – so I go to a lot of these things – it’s my role in life!) and was swept to victory by the fact that Ben Garcia of Spain’s Novasonik and Ana Hildur from Export Music Iceland were in the wrong room! Still, the highly attractive 28 Right before I let this fame go to my head I thought I’d give a mention to women of a certain age. I have to admit that I questioned the wisdom of Live Nation’s enormous pay out to Madonna – she had not long finished a tour at the time of signing and still owed Warner’s two albums. Also I felt that she had seen her finest days, but what do I know, her upcoming Sticky & Sweet tour, which begins August 23 in Cardiff, Wales, reported weekend sell-outs in Paris (Sept. 20), Boston (Oct. 15) and Chicago (Oct. 26), followed by sell-outs at Madison Square Garden in New York (Oct. 6-7), followed by a third show now confirmed for October 11. Also it seems that Tina Turner is to re-form – if you get my meaning! – and is, according to something said on the Ophra Winfrey show, to tour later this year. It just goes to show that you can’t keep a good woman down and that audiences still can’t get enough of performers who know their stuff. So – on with the show, or in this case – The News. The VIP-Booking European Live Entertainment Book Advertising in the VIP Book will make you visible to 10.000 business professionals all over Europe. You will find no better place to expose your company to the whole European Live Entertainment Industry. ›› Reserve your ad now on www.vip-booking.com VIP-BOOKING.COM VIP- News - M a y 2 0 0 8 Royal Albert Hall Targets New Bands Allan McGowan [email protected] London’s prestigious Royal Albert Hall which opened in 1871 now competes with the huge capacities of the O2 and Wembley arenas, but the 5,500-seat venue, once nicknamed ‘the nation’s village hall’, is undaunted and undergoing some considerable success. Having presented 359 performances last year, it looks as though this year will match that figure and possibly rival the record 365 shows in 2004, for sound checks. The idea is to encourage a new young audience feel comfortable attending gigs at what may appear to them as a very grand and possibly intimidating location. In the 60’s the Hall championed new bands, including The Beatles, The Stones and the Yardbirds. Now the venue, although not turning its back on classical music and relatively ‘intimate’ shows from big name artists has launched an initiative called the Albert Sessions to re-establish itself as a venue for young, up and coming new bands. Lucy Noble Liverpool’s pop three-piece the Wombats, two Liverpudlians and one Norwegian who came together at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts will this week become the first act to take advantage of the scheme whereby selected bands agree to cap ticket prices in order to benefit from a 50% cut in the normal rental fee for the hall. Ticket prices would be pegged at between £14 and £17.50 apiece. Colophon ›› VIP-News is published by: VIP-Booking 26 York Street London W1U 6pZ Bands will also take part in daylong sessions with local children, allowing them to meet and talk with the artists and to be present Lucy Noble, head of programming for the Royal Albert Hall. Noble told VIP-News, “The Albert Hall is excited to be launching the Albert Sessions this May with one of Liverpool’s hottest new bands, The Wombats. We look forward to supporting and working more closely with young British and international talent this year, through both the Albert Sessions and other initiatives such as hush – our intimate gigs taking place in the 200 capacity Elgar Room.” Managing Director: Ronni Didriksen [email protected] General Manager: Peter Briggs [email protected] Writer and editorial: Allan McGowan [email protected] Writer: Manfred Tari [email protected] For advertising enquiries pls. contact Peter Briggs [email protected] or +44 870 755 0092 Lay-out: Pekaye Graphics, Phuket – Thailand [email protected] Albert Hall VIP-BOOKING.COM VIP- News - M a y 2 0 0 8 H\Y:ihifYcZAig]W6ig]bYgg %-h\!&$h\>ibY&$$, 9Uf`g7cifh @cbXcb FY[]ghYfBck @cbXcb7U``]b[Ã95F@M6=F8F5H9:=B=G<9GA5M&'F8 @cbXcb7U``]b[]gh\Yd`UWYk\YfYI?UbX]bhYfbUh]cbU``UVY`g aUbU[Yfg X]ghf]Vihcfg ZcfkUfX!h\]b_]b[VfUbXg gYfj]WY dfcj]XYfgUbXhYW\bc`c[mWcadUb]Yg[Uh\Yfhcg\UdYh\YZihifYcZaig]W"@cbXcb7U``]b[Èg`]bY!idcZ]bhYfbUh]cbU` aig]W]bXighfmWcadUb]Yg 5ggcW]Uh]cb5;Ag ]hgkcf`X!W`UggWcbZYfYbWYdfc[fUaaY ]bhYfbUh]cbU`fYWYdh]cbg dUfh]Yg UbXg\ckWUgYgWfYUhYgUjYf]hUV`Yfc``!WU``cZU`acghYbX`Yggcddcfhib]h]YgZcf]bZcfaU`UbXacfYZcfaU`bYhkcf_]b[ UbX XYU`!aU_]b[" Hc[Yh\Yf h\]g aU_Yg @cbXcb 7U``]b[ h\Y I?Èg `YUX]b[ hfUXY WcbZYfYbWY UbX Yl\]V]h]cb Zcf h\Y ]bhYfbUh]cbU`aig]W]bXighfm" 5h@cbXcb7U``]b[&$$, mciÈ`` ÑbXUkcf`XW`UggWcbZYfYbWY" @cbXcb7U``]b[&$$,ZYUhifYXUb ibf]jU``YX`]bYidcZgdYU_YfgUbX dUbY`]ghg]bW`iX]b[. ;YcZZHUm`cf7\]YZ9lYWih]jY 6D=Ô5^UlGWchh9l DiV`]g\Yf Aig]WKYY_Ô:fUbBYjf_`U7\U]faUb 79C DD@ÔDUhf]W_DUfcX]7\U]f AcV]`Y 9bhYfhU]baYbh:cfiaÔ5bh\cbm5W_Yb\cZZA8 :cibXYf :FI?HÔ?]a6Um`Ym8]fYWhcf;YbYfU` 9F5ÔDUi`FYgb]_cZZ:cibXYf#9X]hcf 8][]hU` Aig]WBYkgÔFUm5bXYfgcb79C:cibXYf 6Ub[cÔ5bXfYk:]g\Yf79C G\UnUaÔDUi` <]hW\aUb7c!:cibXYf79C D`Um`ciXYfAGD ÔF]W\6Yb[`cZZDfYg]XYbh 5&=AÔ7`]ZZ:`iYh DUfhbYf @Yk]gG]`_]bÔDUi`;]`VYfhAUbU[]b[ 8]fYWhcf 9GD'Ô7\f]gh]UbAUfghfUbXYf79C DfYZiY`YXÔ:YUf[U`G\Uf_Ym79C 6AFÔDUi` K]``]Uag9X]hcf Aig]WKYY_UbXaUbmacfY 5h@cbXcb7U``]b[&$$, mciÈ`` ÑbXUaU^cfhfUXYYl\]V]h]cb" :YUhif]b[\ibXfYXgcZYl\]V]h]b[ WcadUb]YgUbXh\cigUbXgcZ hfUXYXY`Y[UhYgZfca($!d`ig Wcibhf]Yg]bW`iX]b[. """dUfh]Yg dfYggVf]YÑb[gUbX fYWYdh]cbgUWfcggkcf`XZUacig @cbXcbjYbiYg"6UbXgg][bYXid gcZUfUfY/ DfYZiY`YXÔ75J57\]bYgYAig]W=bXighfmÔ5=AÔ H\YCfW\UfXÔ9F5ÔA7DG!DFGÔ5&=AIG5ÔH\Y 7Uf]VVYUbÔB][Yf]UÔ:fYbW\Aig]W9ldcfhCZÑWYÔ 6iaU7i`hiifH\YBYh\Yf`UbXgÔ=hU`]U=bAig]WU ÔGk]ggAig]W9ldcfhÔKcf`XAYX]UJYbhifYg Figg]UÔ6fUg]`Aig]W95fhYgÔ6f]h]g\7cibW]`Ô 987ÔAig]W9ldcfh<ib[UfmÔAig]W=bhY``][YbWY Gc`ih]cbgÔ>Uj]YbÔ9GD'Ô<cgd]hU`FYWcfXgÔ6][ :]g\ÔKY;chH]W_YhgÔ6Ub[cÔAig]WKYY_ÔAinY Ô7=DF57UbUXUÔB]b^UHibYgÔ7cc_]b[J]bm` UbXaUbmacfY 7cifhbYmD]bYÔ5_U`UÔBYkF\cXYgÔ:][\h`]_Y 5dYgÔ?UjÔ:cmJUbWYÔ6UVY`ÔH\YGi[UfgÔ:fUb_ HifbYfÔ7UdhU]b6`UW_ÔAU_YAcXY`Ô:cfhibY 8f]jYÔ<YmAc``mÔAYXU``]ghÔ8UbHcffYgÔ@YjY``cUX Ô7\f]gHHÔH\Y?fU_Ô,$SDUb H\Y:ihifYcZAig]W6ig]bYggÔkkk"`cbXcbWU``]b[&$$,"Wca <YUX`]bYGdcbgcf. ;c`XGdcbgcf. 7cbZYfYbWYGdcbgcf. =b5ggcW]Uh]cbk]h\. 5h@cbXcb7U``]b[&$$, mciÈ`` ÑbX`]jY[][g g\ckWUgYg""" G]`jYfgdcbgcfg. 8iU`7cibhfmGdcbgcfg. GiddcfhYX6m. LC08 VIP Booking 2.indd 1 HC8=G7CJ9F<CKMCI75B69 D5FHC:@CB8CB75@@=B;5B8 H5D=BHCH<9:IHIF9C:H<9 AIG=76IG=B9GG7CBH57HIG. Cb(($&$+-))'-,'cfgYYcif kYVg]hYkkk"`cbXcbWU``]b[&$$,"Wca AU]bAYX]UGdcbgcf. ?5A8>7UZ. AYX]UGdcbgcfg. 20/5/08 16:00:32 VIP-BOOKING.COM VIP- News - M a y 2 0 0 8 The Great Escape in Numbers Allan McGowan [email protected] Over the 15th-17th May, the already busy City of Brighton, hosting its annual arts Festival welcomed even more arts and music fans attending the third edition of The Great Escape. The organisers have now completed their figures and tell VIP-News that the following numbers were well up on last year: Festival: 10,800 punters bought wristbands for the festival; Including all the official gigs at 32 venues, plus street gigs and the Alternative Escape programme, some 25,000 people attended the shows which featured 300 bands and solo artists, including 135 international acts. 350 event staff looked after all of this. The Great Escape Conference/Trade Event: 2,500 delegates attended with access to 45 panels and talks. 850 media representatives attended to cover the event. Organiser Jon McIldowie told VIP-News, “We are very pleased with the numbers and with the way everything went. The stated aim of The Great Escape is to assist in the growth of both business and artists, so the presence of professionals and artists from all over the world cements what we are trying to achieve. We will develop all the areas that worked well for next year and make improvements on anything that needs work – we have already receive a lot of valuable feedback from attendants and we will incorporate all of this into our planning for Great Escape 2009”. New Venues for Birmingham Regeneration Allan McGowan [email protected] The Midlands City of Birmingham in the UK is undergoing determined regeneration underlined by the revitalising of venues as part of the city’s plans. a full £4m refurbishment programme of the 45,000sq foot purpose-built 1970’s nightclub, which has been closed for many years. VIP-News recently reported the acquisition by The Mama Group of the lease of Birmingham’s Sanctuary. After refurbishment this year the venue will revert to its former name - The Institute, and will have four different sized spaces with state of the art facilities. Mama are also developing The Birmingham Barfly, the main Auditorium will eventually hold 1500 -1700 people and will fill a regional gap for medium scale venues. In 2006, Birmingham City Council granted planning consent to Martineau Galleries for a £600m Eastside Parks development, including the Priory Square Shopping Centre and Dale End, incorporating the existing location of Carling Academy Birmingham and surrounding area, work is planned to start in 2009. The Academy will continue to trade whilst development of the new venue takes place. Now the Academy Music Group (AMG) has agreed terms with Portmanor Projects to acquire the ‘Dome’ on Bristol Street, Birmingham, for development as a premier live entertainment venue. AMG proposes club ticks all our boxes, it’s a landmark building in a City Centre location, it’s the right size and space to develop our strategy of a multi-room format and we can really push the boundaries to create Birmingham’s very best concert venue. Birmingham is very important to the Group as it was first City I chose outside of London some eight years ago to expand our Academy brand. From the off, it was a real success and without a doubt, is our busiest venue in the estate and it marked a true footprint for the roll-out of Academy venues nationwide John Northcote, Academy Music Group’s Chief Executive Officer said, “We’ve known of the proposed development at Dale End for a number of years and have been actively looking for a new venue for some time. The site of the former Dome nightAMG VIP-BOOKING.COM VIP- News - M a y 2 0 0 8 Go North 2008 Allan McGowan [email protected] Scotland’s leading trade and showcase event previously staged in Aberdeen moved to Inverness last year as part of the Highland 2007 year of Culture, This 2008 edition will take place in Dundee on 5/6 June, and will return to Inverness in 2009. goNORTH was launched in 2001 so acts from Northern Scotland and the Highlands and Islands could showcase in front of music industry and media representatives attracting industry delegates from around the UK, around Europe and as far afield as Russian and the US, companies attending range from majors to the smallest indie. Iain Hamilton, Head of Creative Industries, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) said, “Although Dundee is outwith the Highlands and Islands, we are delighted to still be a partner in goNORTH. What is important is that acts from the region are appearing in front of a wider audience. Dundee is a great location too, a real music city. At the last goNORTH we launched the Scottish Music Futures Fund, aimed at helping Scottish businesses develop. Dundee provides a great opportunity for us to show- case the talent of the Highlands and Islands to a wider audience and also to highlight how successful some of the recipients of the Futures Fund have been, with labels like Soma and Chemikal Underground, studios such as Watercolour Music in Lochaber, and management and publishing such as No Half Measures or P3 Music”. » I think that we probably have our best line up to date...« - Sean Arnold Sean Arnold of goEVENTS told VIP-News, “Dundee has great talent and venues, so we are delighted to be here for goNORTH. Dundee rightly has a reputation for music, but it also fits in with our ethos, it is not Glasgow, so we are attracting industry to places that they might not otherwise go. It is also great that we will have a lot of the individuals and organisations that we have worked closely with over the years attending again such as Music Export Norway, and some of our ‘sister’ events represented such as goMOSCOW. We have worked hard again this year to ensure that we have good quality acts, good industry delegates and good audiences. I think that we probably have our best line up to date, and we expect this to be one of our best events yet”. The Go North Dundee showcase line-up and workshop programme is now online at www.gonorth.biz We have extended the programme this year with over 70 performances, and a much larger programme of panels and workshops, and of course, the famous goNORTH mystery tour. Last year cruising on Loch Ness to the Rockness festival site was pretty special, but Dundee won’t disappoint. GoNorth 2008 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. ??????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??? ???????? ????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ????????? ›› ?????????›› ????????? ?????????????? ????? ????? ?? ???? ???????? ??? ?????? ???? ?? ???? ????????????????? ????? ??? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????? ???? ??????? ??? ???? ??????????? ??? ?????????? ???? ???????????? ??? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???? ?????????? ?????? ????? ??? ???????????? ??? ????????? ?? ????????? ?? ????? ???????? ????? ?? ???????? ??????? ?? ????? ??? ??? ???? ?????? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???? ??????????????????????? ???? ????? ???????? ???? ??????? ??????? ?????? ????? ???????? ???? ??????? ?????? ???????? ??????? ???? ????? ???? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????? ????????????? ???????? ???????? ??????? ??????? ???????? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????? ??????? ?????? ???? ???? ??????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????? ??????? ????????? ?????? ??????? ????????????????? ??????????? ??? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????? ??? ????? ???? ????????? ????? ????? ??????? ????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????? ???????? ??????? ???? ???????????????? ??????????????? ?????????????? ??????????????????? ??????? ?????????? ???? ????????? ???? ???? ???? ?????????? ????? ????????? ????????????? ??????? ????? ???? ??????? ?????? ???? ??????????? ???? ??????? ?????????? ??????????? ????? ????? ??????? ?????? ????????? ??? ?????????? ???????? ??? ???? ??????? ????? ??????? ??? ?????? ?????? ????????? ??????? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???? ???????? ??? ??? ???????? ???????? ???? ??????? ?????????? ????? ???? ??? ????? ???? ????????????? ???????? ???????? ????? ?? ????? ???????? ???????? ???????? ??????? ???? ??????? ????????? ???????? ?????? ???? ?????? ??????? ????????? ????? ???????? ???? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????? ????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????? ? VIP-Booking.com VIP-Booking.com is now the most widely used online information service for the European Live Entertainment Industry with subscribers in over 25 countries. Using the latest technology and state of the art tools, the service provides indepth information streamlining the day-to-day operations of industry professionals, saving both time and money. VIP-BOOKING.COM The VIP-Book The ultimate print directory for the European Entertainment Industry, packed with contacts and easy to use. An essential reference book for every office providing basic contact information and a solid overview. THE VIP-BOOK VIP-BOOKING.COM VIP-News Written by our highly merited journalists, Allan McGowan and Manfred Tari, with over 50 years of experience between them in the Entertainment Industr y, VIP-News brings the latest news and views directly to your computer keeping you up to date at all times. VIP-NEWS VIP- News - M a y 2 0 0 8 trade show conference festival ht DJ Nig. 2008 11Oct plug in to success essential. effective. global. 08-10 October 2008 Berlin Germany Live Entertainment Area: Popkomm Music Festival is showcasing the worlds hottest brand new acts. Join the Popkomm Live Area, the hunting ground for all promoters, artist managements, merchandisers, venue operators, bookers and all truffle pigs. Partner Country 2008 Turkey Deadline for applications from trade visitors qualifying for the Early Bird rate: 15 June 2008 VIP-BOOKING.COM www.popkomm.com VIP- News - M a y 2 0 0 8 The Mama Group - Be Rozzo Allan McGowan [email protected] Since its formation in 2002, MAMA Group Plc, describing itself as a public company focussed on music and media businesses, has expanded rapidly and dramatically and so far shows no signs of slowing down. Each month appears to bring news of some new acquisition or another. In the last few issues of VIP-News we have reported purchases including an interest in The Nettwerk Music Group, a North American, privately owned record label, artist management and publishing company, venues in Edinburgh and Birmingham, and most recently The Angel Music Group. AMG is the owner of some of the world’s leading dance music festival and nightclub brands, together with LNGaiety Holdings Limited it owns the rights to the award winning UK festival Global Gathering and the leading Welsh dance music festival Escape into the Park. It is also the owner of several dance music club brands, including one of the market leading brands, Godskitchen, which operates from the AMG Group owned Air nightclub in Birmingham. This acquisition will make Mama a majority shareholder in one of the UK’s leading music festival operators and expand its music festival portfolio which currently includes investments in the Lovebox Weekender and Surfstock festivals, based in London and Cornwall respectively and The Great Escape, the annual three day festival/conference event based in Brighton. The AMG Group produces Godskitchen events across the U.K. on a weekly basis and, in addition, routinely produces Godskitchen and Global Gathering events throughout the world, including Europe, the Far East and the U.S. The Mama Group is comprised of three divisions: Artist Services; which includes extensive artist and producer management, music publishing, merchandising and investments in recording businesses; Consumer; which includes The Fly one of the UK’s widest distributed music magazines, and Campus Group, a collection of specialist media and marketing agencies working for clients interested in the student and wider youth audiences and a ticketing business, and of course, Live Music; Mama now claim to be the UK’s largest promoter of live music and currently own a total of 20 venues with capacities of 150 through to over 5000,including the network of 10 Barfly venues as well as the Hammersmith Apollo, Jazz Café, The Forum, G-A-Y, G-A-Y Late, The Borderline and the soon to be renovated Garage, all in London, and also holds interests in live music events including the Lovebox festival; VIP-News spoke to Be Rozzo, Managing Director of Promotions, MAMA Live Division about his career and his work with the Group: VIP-News: How did you get started in the business? Be Rozzo: I’ve spent 28 of my forty-four years in the business. I started off as a singer; I had a few record deals with bands in London. Unfortunately, through a combination of general brashness and a lack of business knowledge we were as successful at derailing these deals as we were at securing them. Eventually I moved to the States and spent the next seven years performing club dates, college tours and doing session work before I finally threw in the towel. VIP-News: Do you still sing, and what brought you back to the UK and made you decide to make the move from artist to businessman? Be Rozzo VIP-BOOKING.COM VIP- News - M a y 2 0 0 8 Rozzo: I still sing in the bath! I think I probably gained too much industry knowledge, enough to prevent me from enjoying it as much as I had done previously, it killed off a lot of my creativity and certainly crushed the majority of my desire. I continued working on film music projects for a while but I saw a lot of similarities between the two businesses. Reviewing my situation I decided to return to the UK, this was around ’95-’96, there was a great energy at grass roots live level and I decided that this was the place to be. I got involved with the Splash Club in Kings Cross (London), I caught the promotions bug and when the Splash came to an end we corralled the fallout and started the Barfly. VIP-News: Where did the name come from? Rozzo: We used to produce a fanzine that had a column called ‘Diary of a Barfly’ we poached it from there. Shortly after the birth of Barfly we launched the Fly Magazine as a promotional aid to the venue; Steve Zapp now an agent at ITB was the first editor. The Fly soon proved to be as time consuming as the club itself, so things needed a bit of a re-think. This was the time when Adam Driscoll (now joint CEO of Mama Group) who came from a print-publishing background got involved in ’99 and took the magazine nationally through a distribution network of music venues and record shops across the UK. VIP-News: Over the next five years you opened more Barfly venues around the country, apart from your own expertise do you think you were helped by the time and the conditions being right to support this expansion, and as seems to be the general assumption are things still good for live? Rozzo: The live industry is buoyant, but the competition is far greater. For every small venue in existence ten years ago there are five now. Since the relaxation of licensing laws many venue operators have been left locked in to devalued leases. Live and late licences were previously far harder to obtain and lease agreements reflected this. The brutal thing about the commercial leases is that the terms for rent reviews are generally set to only go way…. Upwards! The buoyancy is also being pushed to the limit with the saturation of the festival market and the turf battle between the larger national promoters, this is driving artist prices beyond their ticket selling capacity. In some ways the Barfly was born at the toughest time, a non-buoyant time. We started at the tail end of Britpop during a spate of label cutbacks and mergers. The cull led to many bands getting dropped and a gang of A&R men losing their jobs, many never made it back.. You’d have an artist booked to play and the label would call to cancel their ticket order for press, TV and radio. Shortly after you’d get a call from the agent informing you the show had been cancelled because the artist had been dropped. VIP-News: How do you deal with these situations? Rozzo: Short term, there’s not a great deal you can do, you cut your loses and get on with it. It’s also important not to get swept along with passing fads or trends or you can easily find yourself on the end of more of these situations than you’d like. The same applies to our festivals the Great Escape and Lovebox. We work hard Adam Driscoll VIP-BOOKING.COM to achieve diverse and unique line-ups packed with plenty of emerging talent, if you get a late cancellation you hustle to find the best replacement you can. VIP-News: Are there particular problem areas that you feel need watching in terms of maintaining your future growth? What are your dealings like with record companies these days for instance? »As long as there’s talent out there we’ll keep chasing it, booking it and shouting about it…« - Be Rozzo Rozzo: The problem area is one that’s always existed. This industry like many is cyclical and at some point there will inevitably be a downturn. We’ve recently begun a process of refurbishment across our venue estate to ensure we can offer strong options during what’s sure to be a highly competitive period. This process began some months ago with the Kentish Town Forum and will continue across our venues over the coming months. Our most recent purchase in Edinburgh is currently under the knife. The 1500 capacity venue formally known as The Gig, or the Cally Picture House once hosted shows by great artists such as Bowie, Mott the Hoople and Thin Lizzy. Over the years it’s been neglected and allowed to fall in to disrepair. We’ve begun a significant refurbishment process that will see the site ready for this years Edinburgh festival. We’re really looking forward to the venue’s revival and seeing it once again becoming part of the touring circuit. Our dealings with labels remains close as ever although I think their fascination with potential revenues associated with the live market could test the patience of some of the larger agents and promoters in the future. Other than the reduction in tour support for some of the newer touring artists it’s yet to affect us. As long as there’s talent out there we’ll keep chasing it, booking it and shouting about it… You’re only as good as your last gig in this game so best make sure it’s a good one! VIP- News - M a y 2 0 0 8 iTunes-Festival in Berlin Manfred Tari [email protected] The German branch of download portal iTunes promoted its first festival in Berlin. For the Apple subsidiary this was the second attempt to expand its iTunes brand into the live entertainment market. The first event of this type took place in London in July 2007. Apple obviously prefers to develop proprietary solutions for their products, so it was no surprise that Apple created the settings for its iTunesFestival in the way it did. The event took place in the quite snobby Radialsystem venue located directly on the river Spree from April 26 to May 10. The series of 15 concerts featured mainly popular music artists plus one Jazz and one Classical music event. Only two acts performed at each concert, the bill included Katie Melua, Patrice, Clueso, Ich + Ich, Hot Chip and Morcheeba and others. The venue capacity, according to media reports, was only 500. iTunes collaborated with various media partners such as Intro, Berliner Morgenpost, Radio Fritz, Uncle Sally and LastFM to promote the festival. Nevertheless only a small number of tickets went on sale via Ticketmaster Germany who auctioned the tickets, with the income being donated to charity projects. The majority of tickets were distributed via the involved media partners who organised competitions. However, in the current issue of his monthly upcoming tours and concerts newsletter concert agent Bertold Seliger raised the point that iTunes didn’t pay any fees for artists appearing at the Festival. According to his information it was mainly record companies and also the artists themselves who covered the expenses. Perhaps there is some arrangement to recoup this investment through another business model as the live recordings of the concerts were converted into commercial downloads and are now available on iTunes. Seliger finally concludes that record companies who are the greatest complainants about consumers illegally downloading and copying music, in this case appear to support a policy that is based on the devaluation of music. None of the bands represented by Seliger played at the iTunes festival. The agent furthermore declared that he would not support such “scandalous practises” by the corporate company Apple. Katie Melua played the Itunes festival in Berlin VIP-BOOKING.COM VIP- News - M a y 2 0 0 8 2009 EUROSONIC NOORDERSLAG SEMINAR 15 16 17 JAN GRONINGENNL THE PLATFORM FOR NEW MUSIC IN EUROPE... 250 bands and acts, 100 panels radio broadcast all over Europe 2500 music business professionals ‘THE PLACE TO SECOND GUESS WHO’LL BE THE BIG EUROPEAN BANDS OF THE YEAR’NME (UK) SUPPORTED BY WWW.EUROSONIC.NL EUROPEAN TALENT EXCHANGE PROGRAM ETEP SINCE 564 shows at 55 festivals in 2003 20 countries by 205 artists BRINGING NEW TALENT TO A FESTIVAL NEAR YOU WWW.ETEP.NL 10 VIP-BOOKING.COM VIP- News - M a y 2 0 0 8 It’s Reporting Season! Manfred Tari [email protected] Depending on the rules of the various stock markets and the type of company now is the time for the first quarter results. CTS Eventim, Deutsche Entertainment (DEAG) and Live Nation opened the seasonal business figures show down. But also MAMA Group moved swiftly with the figures striptease and reported the interim results for the half year results ended at January 31. CTS Eventim sets new targets Almost surprisingly CTS Eventim sets new revenue targets. In the past CTS Eventim used to be more or less reluctant when it came to the prediction of revenue forecasts, but this seems different this time. On May 15 CTS Eventim released its business report for the first quarter (Q1) of 2008. In the first three months of the year CTS gained a turnover of 81.0 million Euros, in Q1-2007 the company made 73.5 million. The company declared that the revenue growth was mainly driven by the ticketing business of the company. In the company segment Live-Entertainment CTS had to accept a little drop in terms of previous profit results. The Earnings Before Taxes, Interests, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) for CTS was 10.9 million Euro (Q1-2007 11.7 million Euro), the Earnings before Taxes and Interests (EBIT) 9.1 million Euro (10.5 million Euro). As group result (net result) CTS declared 4.9 million Euro (4.8 million Euro). For the CTS ticketing division online ticket sales are the main driving force for higher profit and turnover. According to the company CTS already sold 2 million tickets in Q1 2008 compared to 1.5 million in the same period the year before. The EBIT within this part of the company went up from 5.1 to 5.9 million Euro, while the EBITDA was 7.3 million Euro (Q1-2007 6.1 million Euro). However, CTS declared that the profit results are reduced due to initial investments linked with global roll out for its ticketing partnership with Live Nation. In the company division Live-Entertainment the turnover raised from 56.7 (Q12007) up to 57.7 million Euros. The EBIT went down from 5.4 to 3.2 million Euro, the EBITDA from 5.6 to 3.6 million Euro. As reasons for the profit decline CTS declared start up expenses for new to be launched event formats such as a Tutankhamun exhibition in Zurich/Switzerland. Shortly before, on April 28 at a press conference in Munich, CTS Eventim declared that the company was aiming for a turnover target of about 500 million Euro. In 2007, which was another record-breaking year for CTS, the company gained revenue of 384.4 million Euros, 342.9 million the year before. Even when the profit results did not climb as high as the better turnover figures may have indicated, CTS-CEO Klaus Peter Schulenberg suggested paying a dividend of about 0.49 Euro per share (EPS). The EBIT for the business year 2007 was 46.8 million Euro (45.7), the EBITDA 53.9 (52 million Euro). In 2006 CTS paid exactly the same dividend of 0.49 Euro. Having asked an analyst about CTS Eventim setting higher targets after recordbreaking years, he commented that CTS aspired to improve its current share price level. After the business report was released the share price went up slightly to 26.03 Euro. On January 11 it peaked at a level of 30.66 Euro, on April 23 it dipped down below the 22 Euro border. But according to Schulenberg CTS is on its way to becoming a global player in the ticketing business. From 2009 onwards Live Nation will use the CTS ticketing software exclusively for a period of 10 years in the US and other markets. Live Nation will use the software of CTS in the main European markets and England as well as others including Canada, Mexico, Japan and South Africa. CTS expect to gain revenue of 100 to 120 million per year as a result of this deal. Live Nation - Between Higher Turnover and Less Losses The business reports seem to indicate a suffering Live Nation, the company had again to declare a loss. For Q1 2008 the net loss is $35.4 million, the year before it was $45 million. The turnover in the first three months rose from $520.3 million (Q1-2007) up to $ 636.5 million. But when it comes to the stock market it is not doing so badly Bearing in mind that Live Nation undertook several acquisitions such as House Of Blues, AMG in Sheffield and the management company that operates the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam, and signed some long term deals with acts 11 VIP-BOOKING.COM such as Madonna and U2, the company at least reduced its long term debts and liabilities from $878 million to $837 million. Live Nation furthermore completed the sell of their North American theatres for about $ 90 million. For Michael Rapino, President and CEO of Live Nation the situation looks promising: “The first quarter represented a solid start to VIP- News - M a y 2 0 0 8 what we believe will be a very healthy year for concerts globally. He added: “Our ticket sales to date remain strong despite the slowdown in the economy. Our priorities for 2008 continue to be focused on improving the profitability of our core concert distribution platform, building our ticketing divi- sion for our 2009 launch and continuing to divest non-core assets to reduce debt.” But as in the record business the digital business of Live Nation is still far off being a cash cow. Within the division Global Digital it gained a turnover of just $5.7 million ($1.3 million). Shortly after when the business report for the first quarter results was released on May 8 the stock market more or less failed to react. The share went down the day after from $14.11 to $13.50. Since then the share price rose to $15.50. DEAG - On the Rally for Revenue Compared to CTS and Live Nation the business figures revenue of DEAG is a bit more presentable. In Q1 2008 DEAG increased its revenue results from 11,8 million Euros in the same period 2007 up to 14,6 million. In an interim report the company furthermore declared an EBIT of 0,7 million Euro. According to the company the profit the strengthened Classical Music Division and higher sponsoring fees had mainly driven results. Results of the recent acquired classical music company Raymond Gubbay Limited will be included from the second quarter onwards. lier in January the share started the new year at 1.63 Euro, the share price meanwhile is at 1.45 Euro. In a three months review the business report had almost no significant impact on the share price of the company. While ear- The Edge sustain its D-Share Offer The Venture Capital Trust Edge Performance extended its offer for the so called D-Shares. The Edge wanted to open another fund and aimed to raise another £25 million on the financial market. In a short notice the Edge has now announced move ofthe deadline for the offer from May 23 to June 27. Half Year Results by Mama Group The London Stock Exchange listed Mama Group has reported its interim figures for their business half year until January 31. The company declared revenue of £12.72 million. Last year within the 6 months until January 31 2007 the company gained £ 5,475 million and within 12 months until July 31 £12.24 million. Mama declared a profit of £1.095 million as its EBITD-result. The profit before taxation is £152,000, the net profit £125,000. As loss per share the company declared 0.03 Pence. The management of the company undertook several investments recently, the latest being the purchase of 70% of the Angel Music Group Limited for about £2,625,000. The festivals Global Gathering & Escape to the Park and the event brand God’s Kitchen belong to AMG. Mama said it tripled its live music division and also refers to its investment of the Nettwerk Music Group. In the business report Adam Driscoll and Dean James as the Co-Chief Executives of Mama were quoted as saying: “We have transformed the prospects for the Group over the last 12 calendar months and now believed that we are the best strategically positioned UK music company. We have significant operations in live music, artist management and publishing – all are music industry growth areas. The stake in Nettwerk gives us an important bridge in to North American markets and we expect further exciting developments (together with growth in revenues and profits) over the coming months.” The company has now three divisions: Live Music, Artist Services and Consumer. Currently Mama has a market capitalisation of about £33,77 million. On April 9 the share price was 5.5 Pence on May16 it was 5.13. London Stock Exchange 12 VIP-BOOKING.COM VIP- News - M a y 2 0 0 8 Ticketing – Part 2 The Secondary Ticketing dispute still rages, following our review of the present state of play on this practice and the division it has caused in the industry we continue the main theme with the following two items. Manfred Tari’s interview with Arndt Scheffler responsible for ticket distribution for the German market leader CTS and we are also happy to pass on the press release from Tixdaq which contains news on the future working of the Resale Rights Society (RRS), the new organisation launched in December by the Music Managers Forum (MMF) who were involved in the discussions reported in our last issue. Arndt Scheffler Arndt Scheffler on Ticketing Manfred Tari [email protected] Continuing the theme of the resale of tickets extensively covered in our last issue on we spoke to Arndt Scheffler who works for a company that knows both worlds very well, being responsible for ticket distribution for the German market leader CTS. Heavy weight concert businesses such as Peter Rieger, FKP Scorpio and Semmel Concerts are owned by CTS Eventim, but also through their deal with Live Nation will sooner or later take on the role of Germany’s first global player in the international ticketing business. VIP-News: Currently several promoters and concert agencies are still expressing grave concerns regarding the resale of tickets on the Internet. What arguments are there for the existence and use of resale platforms? »Consumers expect CTS Eventim as the market leader to offer a reliable and secure auctioning and resale platform for them« - Arndt Scheffler Arndt Scheffler: In the case of fansale.de it’s simply security. When a seller submits a ticket issued by Eventim for sale he has to enter a barcode printed on the ticket. This code will automatically be checked via the eventim.ticketcheck. For purchasers this is the certificate for Eventim-tickets and for all approved tickets the buyers receive a money back warranty. Furthermore buyers have to lodge valid credit card numbers so that a non-payment of tickets is avoided. Due to the administrative payment handling by us the buyer is protected against misuse and fraud. Also the logistic pro- cess is controlled by us: our logistic partner DHL picks up the tickets at the vendor and delivers the tickets directly door to door to the purchaser. VIP-News: Wasn’t one of the reasons for the launch of fansale.de to offer a serious alternative to many other resale platforms primarily focussed on forcing up prices? Scheffler: fansale.de positioned itself as an auctioning portal offering a safe and comfortable resale opportunity for tickets on the internet. Due to our background and experience we believed that is was quite obvious that such a service should be set up. We recognized that there was an ongoing development in the market and that we wouldn’t be able to prevent it, as it is just a phenomenon typical of our times. But consumers expect CTS Eventim as the market leader to offer a reliable and secure auctioning and resale platform for them. VIP-News: Promoters and agents argue that auctioning of tickets removes purchase power from the concert market. In Germany CTS Eventim is the market leader in both market segments. Do you have any evidence that this contention is justified? Scheffler: Without any doubt it is right that you can only spend one Euro once. The concert market is in heavy competition with many other industries, all are trying to attract the audience’s favour. At the end of the day purchase decisions are made individually and autonomously, which makes this question difficult to answer. Until now figures and statistics indicate that we have an intact primary market. However, you 13 VIP-BOOKING.COM also should bear in mind, that the system of dynamic pricing also offers the opportunity to sell tickets below face value. VIP-News: There are a lot of rumours in the market that it isn’t primarily the fans that are offering tickets on many reselling platforms on these sites. Instead it is proposed that it is the case that the site operators are offering ticket contingents themselves. According to those who have concerns the operators are the ones who are conducting a business almost without any economic risk as they just sell the tickets for the highest bid. Are these accusations correct? Scheffler: CTS Eventim runs a very successful business in the primary market and created an additional offer to enable fans to resale tickets in a simple, safe and comfortable way. And the name fansale does not come out of the nowhere. Our business model is not based on the assumption you mentioned. VIP-News: How can artists, promoters and agencies benefit from additional returns accruing via the auctioning of their tickets at fansale.de? Scheffler: This is a current discussion that will certainly be continued. In terms of tickets for sport events we have already been able to successfully realize such participation models. For instance together with the football club HSV (Hamburger Sportverein) we developed an offer entitled as the “HSV-Ticketbörse powered and developed by fansale.de”. We have to serve market demands and we do this together with our business partners. VIP- News - M a y 2 0 0 8 Tixdaq Launches ‘Ethical’ Price Checker for Online Ticket Market 21 May 2008: Ticketing consultancy Tixdaq (www.tixdaq.com) has launched an ethical price checker for online ticket sites which aims to help music fans save money while paying some of the profits to artists. Tixdaq technology provides 24/7 monitoring of the price and availability of over 125,000 tickets from the UK’s leading primary and secondary ticket agents, enabling fans to get the best available deal. The company is pledging to share 50% of the proceeds of any commissions it earns on ticket resales over face value with the artists performing the concerts concerned. Tixdaq says its new service goes some way towards resolving the controversy over secondary ticketing sites which have faced calls that they should be banned for exploiting music fans, offering a poor service and robbing artists of potential revenues. Tixdaq founder Will Muirhead said, “Secondary ticketing platforms which match buyers and sellers are great in theory, but fans can easily end up paying over the odds if they don’t have information about what’s going on in the market as a whole. The Tixdaq price checker is a market solution to the problem.” Tixdaq research indicates music fans can pay many times more than they need to for near-identical concert tickets on secondary ticketing websites. Muirhead cites a Dolly Parton gig at London’s O2 Arena in July for which near-identical Block A tickets currently range from £103 to £595. “A diehard Dolly fan will obviously pay whatever it takes to see her, but would you really want to pay £492 more than you need to? The British public spend over £900m every year on concert tickets. By increasing transparency in the market we believe we can save the public millions of pounds a year.” said Muirhead. Identical Seats Available at Dramatically Different Prices 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Artist/Event Date Venue Ticket type Min. Max. Difference Bruce Springsteen 31/05/2008 Emirates General Admission £47.50 £151.00 £103.50 Boyzone 30/05/2008 O2 Arena Block A Seating £76.00 £300.00 £224.00 Kylie Minogue 11/06/2008 MEN Arena Block A Seating £90.00 £329.00 £239.00 Madonna 11/09/2008 Wembley Stadium Level 1 Seating £275.00 £658.00 £383.00 Kaiser Chiefs 24/05/2008 Elland Road General Admission £35.00 £165.00 £130.00 Bon Jovi 28/06/2008 Twickenham Stadium Gold Circle £79.00 £225.00 £146.00 Foo Fighters 07/06/2008 Wembley Stadium General Admission £40.00 £195.00 £155.00 Neil Diamond 19/06/2008 Millenium Stadium Block A Seating £110.00 £329.00 £219.00 Avril Lavigne 04/06/2008 O2 Arena General Admission £12.28 £120.00 £107.72 10. Dolly Parton 06/07/2008 O2 Arena Block A Seating £103.00 £595.00 £492.00 Source: Tixdaq. Research collated 17:00 19 May 2008. Chart lists Top 10 current most popular tickets in the UK secondary market. While a price differential is inevitable between front row and back row tickets, Tixdaq research shows that there is often a wide discrepancy in pricing on secondary ticketing sites for identical tickets. In the case of Avril Lavigne – playing the O2 on June 4 – general admission tickets range from £12.28 to £120. “When it became clear the Government wasn’t going to regulate secondary ticketing, we set out to find a market-based so- 14 VIP-BOOKING.COM lution to benefit the two most important parties in the equation – the music fan and the artist” said Muirhead. “The Tixdaq price checker will help music fans protect themselves from being ripped off while at the same time benefiting artists.” VIP- News - M a y 2 0 0 8 Marc Marot Artists to share in secondary ticket revenue Users of the Tixdaq price checker can click straight through to buy the ticket of their choice. Said Muirhead, “We aim to be the first port of call for tickets. Tixdaq is pledging to share 50% of the proceeds of any commissions it earns on ticket resale over face value with the artists performing the concerts concerned. Where profits are being made, we feel strongly that artists ought to share in the benefits of the secondary ticketing market, and we’re prepared to put our money where our mouth is.” Tixdaq will pay the money to the Resale Rights Society (RRS), a new organisation launched in December by the Music Managers Forum (MMF) to raise standards of consumer protection in secondary ticketing and to ensure a proportion of the proceeds goes back to the artists. RRS chairman-designate Marc Marot said, “Artists want to ensure that fans don’t overpay for tickets and so we welcome the Tixdaq pricechecker service. As managers we obviously want our artists to get paid too, so we wholeheartedly welcome Tixdaq’s innovative approach. We hope that Tixdaq’s lead in looking out for artists’ interests is ultimately followed by the whole industry.” The Tixdaq 100 best selling tickets on secondary ticketing platforms increased in value by 117% over the past three months – compared with a 6% increase for the FTSE 100 over the same period. Muirhead said the Tixdaq pricechecker will help bring down prices on the secondary market, “If you’d bought 4 tickets for each event in the Tixdaq 100 at face value on 10th February, your £20,000 odd investment would now be worth £43,400. The kinds of increases we have seen in recent months are not sustainable. Reality is now catching up with the speculators. The Tixdaq price checker will work against the cowboys and increase the pressure to share the proceeds with the artists whose work makes the events possible in the first place.” For more information, contact Steve Redmond at: [email protected] or 07770 924720 15 VIP-BOOKING.COM VIP- News - M a y 2 0 0 8 artist avails ›› Carlene Carter & Band Territory: Europe Period: Late June & July 2008 Agency: Denis Vaughan Agent: Denis Vaughan Phone: +44 20 7486 5353 E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.yeproc.com Cuba All Stars Territory: World Wide Period: September, October, November, December Agency: DÈcima Colina lda. Agent: Antonio Lobo Phone: +35 121 321 9000 E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.decimacolina.pt Dan Janisch Territory: Europe Period: September / october Agency: Rockpartner Agent: Birgit Osnes Phone: +47 91744647 E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.danjaisch.com Gentleman & The Far East Band Territory: Worldwide Period: May - Sep 08 Agency: Bushhouse Booking GmbH Agent: Rolf Radny Phone: +49 221 7887 1880 E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.bushhousemusic.com Mandinga Territory: Period: Agency: Agent: Phone: E-mail: Homepage: Europe May 30 - September 30, 2008 Star Management Anca Lupes +40 722 396 640 [email protected] www.mandinga.ro ZORRO - Ice Theatre Budapest - performed by 24 amazing skate dancers Territory: Worldwide Period: Summer/Autumn 2008, Winter/Spring 2009 Agency: Multimedia Agency Hungary Agent: Laszlo Hegedus Phone: +36 1801 1021 - Skype: laszloh E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.mmconcerts.hu More Artist avails on: www.vip-booking.com Post your Artist avails on: www.vip-booking.com 16 VIP-BOOKING.COM VIP- News VIPNews - A u-g M u s ta2y0 025 0 0 7 notice board ›› Speak out - participate the debate. and The redesigned VIP-News Reader’s-page is open for letterswhich and contributions from readers. Another new service in in the improved VIP-News is the Notice-board, is available for all readers. Consider the VIP-News Reader’s-page, as your “speaker’s corner” towards professionals in the entertainment industry all Reader’s messages will be posted on the Notice-board as a free service, passing on announcements, job postings, buyover Europe. The purpose of the Reader’s-page is to encourage more and to allow our readers to voice their ing and selling notices, inquiries or alike. Announcements should be interaction emailed to [email protected] opinions about the many aspects of our industry. Contributions should be emailed to [email protected]. Last Chance For Early Bird Delegate Offer at London Calling 2008! LONDON CALLING 2008 (19-20 June, Earls Court, London) is the UK’s largest music industry trade exhibition and conference, in association with AIM, WIN and Impala. London Calling brings together 3,500 senior buyers and influencers from the music, mobile and digital industries, including major labels, operators, digital distributors, independent labels, artists, publishers, management, manufacturers, promoters, live agents and more. More UK music companies attend London Calling than any other global music trade event. Book your delegate places now at the early bird rate until 23 May at www.londoncalling2008.com There are only three days to go to book at this reduced rate!! • • • • UK Industry will be there – no other event anywhere in the world delivers as many UK based music businesses as London Calling. Internationals will be there – 40+ countries represented by hundreds of execs, with country pavilions from Brazil, Canada, China, The Caribbean, France, Ireland, India, Italy, The Netherlands, Nigeria, Russia, USA. Associations will be there – we work with everyone that matters – MEF, AIM, WIN, Impala, MCPS-PRS, British Council, ERA, MMF, MPA, Music Week, FRUKT, Music Ally, Audience, IQ and MEF. Media will be there – Music Week, FRUKT, Five Eight, IQ Magazine, Mobile Music Now, Stream, Useryourears.com., Songlink, Audience, Musique Info, Musik Woche, Tillate, Music Network Australia, Musicians Atlas, Impact, Xfm and Filter. AIM (The UK Association of Independent Music) will once again host its AGM at London Calling, and bring 300+ of its members: the UK independent record labels to the event for A2IM members to network and do business with. Conference Speakers include: Geoff Taylor - Chief Executive: BPI • Feargal Sharkey, Chief Executive and CEO, British Music Rights • Fran Nevrkla: Chairman & CEO, PPL • Patrick Parodi: Chair, MEF • Stuart Galbraith, Kilimanjaro • Nick Godwin, 19 Management • Tim Parry, Big Life Management • Pete Jenner, Sincere Management, • Sanjay Wadhwani, Ingenious Media • Tom Bywater, Power Amp Music • Shelley Taylor, All Dig Down • Tim Grimsditch, Nokia Music • Luke Magnuson, T-Mobile International • Jim Griffin, Warner Music • Dave Williams, Nokia • Anthony Ackenhoff: MD & Founder, FRUKT • Kim Bayley: Director General, ERA • Paul Resnikoff: Founder/Editor, Digital Music News • Ray Anderson: CEO & Founder, Bango • Andrew Fisher: CEO, Shazam • Paul Hitchman: Co-Founder & CEO, Playlouder MSP • Rich Bengloff: President, A2IM • Cliff Fluet: Partner, Lewis Silkin • Paul Gilbert: Managing Director, ESP3 • Martin Blomkvist: Head of Content Acquisition & Management, Sony Ericsson • Richard Wheeler: Head of Music, Orange • Angel Gambino: Global VP, Music & Content, Bebo • Ric Salmon: Managing Director, Harvest • Jon Webster: CEO, MMF • Pim Betist: Founder, Sellaband • Will Muirhead: Founder, Tixdaq • Andrew Blachman: Chief Executive, Getmein • Peter Quicke: Managing Director, Ninja Tune • Ronnie Traynor: COO, TuneTribe • Andrew Allen: MD, Backstreet Merchandising • Jack Horner: Creative Director, FRUKT • Sarah Tinsley: Global Marketing Manager, Bacardi • Dylan Williams: Creative Director, Mother Artists: Courtney Pine, Akala, New Rhodes, Fight Like Apes, Kav, Foy Vance, Babel, The Sugars, Frank Turner, Captain Black, Make Model, Fortune Drive, Hey Molly, Medallist, Dan Torres, Levelload, more to be confirmed shortly... VIP-Booking ApS cannot be held responsible for loss or damages incurred as a result of transactions with individuals or companies through the notice board. We recommend all to make the necessary enquiries before entering into any agreements. VIP-Booking ApS may not, for reason of space, be able to post all announcements received. Announcements should be emailed to [email protected], including name and email address. Please shorten your message to the extent possible, to make room for as many notices as possible. For more information visit www.londoncalling2008.com 17 VIP-BOOKING.COM VIP- News - M a y 2 0 0 8 Member presentation ›› In In this this section section we we offer offer members members of of VIP-Booking.com VIP-Booking.com some some space space to to present present their their company company to to VIP-News VIP-News readers. readers. If you would also like to present your company please contact Peter Briggs at [email protected] If you would also like to present your company please contact Peter Briggs at [email protected] Festival Rock Oz’Arènes Since fifteen years, a constantly growing audience appreciates concerts of a large variety of musical styles such as Rock, Pop, Trip-Hop, World Music, Chanson and Reggae... always arranged on a “Theme-night” base. The roman amphitheatre of Avenches harbours the festival and provides incomparable identity by offering: • a capacity of 7000 places • the possibility to enjoy the concerts while seated (4000 places) • a panoramic view on the main stage • the particular acoustics of the site • the intimacy of the limited space... and an ideal geographic situation just between the German and the French speaking part of Switzerland. Many world wide recognized artists have thrown themselves in the lion’s pit since the beginning of the festival: Radiohead, The Cure, Marilyn Manson, Jamiroquai, Franz Ferdinand, Texas, Massive Attack, Joe Cocker, Faithless, The Prodigy, Iggy Pop, Morcheeba, Incubus, Muse, Green Day, Patti Smith, Patricia Kaas, Placebo, PJ Harvey , K’s Choice, Heather Nova, Eagle Eye Cherry, Johnny Clegg, NTM, Toure Kunda, Manau, Korn, The Wailers, Neneh Cherry, Jimmy Cliff, The Young Gods, Melanie C, Ice-T, Alpha Blondy, Jimmy Eat World, Stereo MC’s, Asian Dub Foundation... About Our Company VIP-Booking’s core product is the Internet’s oldest and largest database for the European Live Entertainment Industry www.vip-booking.com developed as a tool for industry professionals. Since it’s launch in the year 2000, we have consistently offered our subscribers the very best in database services and now boast subscribers in over 30 countries. Today VIP-Booking offers a range of tools for the industry – including VIP-News, VIP-Booking, VIP-Book and VIP-Contract. Please visit vip-booking.com for further information. Your comments and suggestions are always appreciated. ® vip-booking.com VIP-BOOKING.COM VIP-BOOKING.COM | 26 York Street | UK - London W1U 6pZ | Phone +44 870 755 0092 | Fax +44 870 622 1953 | e-mail: [email protected] 18 VIP-BOOKING.COM