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Well perhaps you’ll be glad to know he’s back – yes, Shitty the Seagull, or another airborne rat that looks like him- no it’s him. I can tell from the particularly nasty gleam in his eye. There I am just starting to mull over these Musings and there’s a tapping on the widow, of course I leap down the stairs cursing and yelling, “Get off my roof foul creature!” and what does he do, he just stands his ground and stares! I’m sure he’s about to say something, in Gullese of course, then the phone goes, I leap up the stairs grab the phone and run back down, he’s still there! It’s Chris from ILMC, I tell him I’m eye to eye with Shitty who does one of those “Who’s that?” squints, I say (sanity is now disappearing fast!) – “It’s Chris from ILMC”, and I swear Shitty squawks, “Can I come this time, my cousin was on stage with Michal Eavis last year!” “No!” I yell, and looking disgusted he flaps off, doing a quick detour to shit on a pass-ing cat. Then I have to explain all this to Chris, who confirms my (hopefully) tem-porary insanity….Sorry I couldn’t help it, I haven’t had a seagull rant for a while.

Anyway back to the world of the live mu-sic industry and the people and events, which maintain its vibrant nature! We’re now well into 2011 and despite some worrying moments last year everything seems as active as ever. The Conference season kicked off last month with Eu-

rosonic and Midem, and we refer to out-comes from both events in this News, but there are many major events still to come, SXSW will soon pack the streets and bars of Austin Texas, and prior to that many live industry types will be gearing up for their annual visit to London for the ILMC. This 23rd edition, as usual at The Royal Garden Hotel, March 12-14, will consider the ups and downs of 2010, and has instituted a radical change for the opening session on Friday afternoon, previously so ably and humorously presented by Carl Leighton-Pope. The new format, presumably in-spired by a year which indicated that the live market was not as secure in many are-as as we had come to believe, reviews the major stories of the previous year with the help of some of the major players. The cast of the first ‘Have I Got Live News

for You’ will include The Agency Group founder and CEO Neil Warnock, Paul Latham, COO of Live Nation International Music, and Peter Schwenkow, chairman of Deutsche Entertainment AG.

The Festivals are in full swing with an-nouncements of this year’s bills appear-ing in inboxes and on line every day. Glas-tonbury have confirmed Coldplay to play the main Pyramid Stage on Saturday 25 June as one of the three headliners with Beyonce doing the Sunday, and perhaps – U2, do we think to make up the trio? – Exciting isn’t it! The Industry big boys are not holding back in 2011 either, after a more than bumpy year which had many speculating as to whether their next moves may be a little more conservative than previously; Live Nation have been shopping again, seemingly undeterred by being hit with a $22 million bill to set-tle a lawsuit, and saying goodbye to a founding figure. Also AEG are going head to head with Ticketmaster with their new ticketing venture. All is explained in this issue’s Business News

At the other end of the business scale it’s good to see that London’s 100 Club has been extended a life line and will con-tinue to bring live music to London’s Ox-ford St. (see report) Right - I’m off to calm down, and here is the News...

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McGowan’s Musings:

Allan McGowan

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New rates for Concert royalties in GermanyManfred Tari mt@vip-booking.com

In a joint press release the German copy-

right collection society GEMA and the live

music trade organisations bdv and VDKD

have outlined an agreement on new rates

for concert royalties for concerts.

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 pro-

moters for income streams such as spon-

sorship and advertisement fees (from sales

for space in concert brochures and festival

newspapers 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, ex-

cept for ticket service fees and ticket sys-

tem fees.

The share of promoters sponsoring and ad-

vertisement 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 pay-

ing fees to the artists, and ensuring that

all donations will only benefit causes con-

cerned with humans in difficulty, which

excludes festivals such as Rheinkultur or

organisations like Amnesty International

or Greenpeace.

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 GEMA’s charges to

Kindergartens, on behalf of VG Musikedi-

tion, the copyright collection society for

sheet music publishers, authors and com-

posers. The Society demanded 56 Euros

for the copying of 500 sheets for children’s

songs and 168 Euro for 1500 copies. GEMA

sent out this payment request to a total of

36.000 German Kindergartens. Well, charg-

ing Kindergartens speaks for itself...

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Converse, the shoemaker famous for the

All-Star basketball boot beloved by musi-

cians and audience alike has confirmed a

deal with an ‘absolutely thrilled’ Jeff Hor-

ton the owner of London’s 100 Club to be-

come the iconic venue’s new partner.

As previously reported in VIP-News it

looked as though the Oxford Street mu-

sic 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 McCa-

rtney 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 state-

ment a representative of the Company

said, “We at Converse are very excited

about our new partnership with the leg-

endary 100 Club in London. Converse’s

commitment to being a catalyst for crea-

tivity is at the heart of the brand and we

are dedicated to championing and sup-

porting artists, fans, the music scene, ven-

ues 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.”

Converse step in to save 100 ClubAllan McGowan am@vip-booking.com

100 Club

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tallinnmusicweek.ee

24, 25, 26 March 2011

Tallinn Music Week is a showcase festival and a music industry networking event that started out in 2009, a year that was declared the Year of Innovation in Estonia. Having partnered up with Tallinn, European Capital of Culture in 2011, and the country’s very own brain child Skype, it is a music export plat-form for Estonian and the neighboring coun-tries’ talent, as well as a tool to encourage professionalism and growth of our region’s music business. Tallinn Music Week welcomes around 100 international delegates to the fes-tival each year, to build professional contacts with local industry and get acquainted with the local artists and music scene.

At the third edition of Tallinn Music Week in 2011 we will present a lineup of around 100 bands and artists, so it is a perfect time to visit early springtime Tallinn during a weekend full of fantastic music in the best venues for the most demanding tastes: from world music, jazz and contemporary classical to punk, elec-tro, metal and anything in between.

Come and join us in 2011, when Tallinn will be the European Capital of Culture!

Delegates’ registration is open at tallinnmusicweek.ee Contact us: info@tallinnmusicweek.ee

“I thought the level of organization and hospitality Tallinn Music Week provided was superb. Tallinn’s concert venues were great. It was one of the most enjoyable conference showcase events I have been to (and I have been to a few!).” Martin Elbourne (Great Escape, Glastonbury):

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MIDEM:

As we reported in the last issue this

year’s 45th Midem suffered a 4.9% drop

in attendance from 2010 following a

13% on 2009. Organisers Reed- Midem

have responded by confirming that

they will live up to the challenge and

will be around for years to come. They

have also launched a new conference,

Rethink Music, which is set to take

place in Boston, USA between April 25-

May 7 later this year.

However many professionals reported

finding it easier to do business in a less

crowded environment, and rather hope

that things may stay as they are. VIP-

Booking.com for instance had an ex-

tremely good response from their visit

and is looking forward to next year.

To check out the experiences of anoth-

er attending Company, VIP-News spoke

to Oliver Zähringer of CAOZ Promotion

/ Danish Dance Music Export, organiz-

ers of a Danish Dance Music showcase

in Cannes during 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?

Zähringer: Its my 15th or 16th Midem.

Cannes has always been, and continues

to be a place to meet the key people in

the industry, people with checkbooks

that can make things happen and sign

deals. Though the number of partici-

pants has dropped this is still the case

and the reason that Midem will keep

being of importance for the industry.

One comment though, due to high

prices, expensive registration, Midem

has to be careful not to scare too many

potential visitors away, and should

work with the participants on their

requests instead of outlining how

things should be done. Honestly I see

no point in having a stand at Midem

anymore, they could reduce the whole

conference to the Riviera area and

Conference resultsAllan McGowan am@vip-booking.com

Agent Greg Lowe, formerly with the

Elastic Artists Agency has joined the

London office of The Agency Group,

bringing with him his roster of art-

ists, which includes Girl Talk, Crystal

Fighters, Fujiya & Miyagi, Neon Indi-

an, 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 pas-

sion for the industry and develop-

ing artists make him a perfect addi-

tion to our U.K. team.”

“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 of-

fer me and my clients many exciting

opportunities.”

lowe Joins The Agency GroupAllan McGowan am@vip-booking.com

Oliver Zähringer

Greg Lowe

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make it a networking area divided in to

country zones only.

VIP-News: Nothing at Midem is cheap, was this an expensive exercise, who is financ-ing 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-fund-

ing by the Danish Foreign Ministry’s Ex-

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 sec-tors, and so far, to a lesser extent publish-ing, 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?

Zähringer: The 3 Danish Showcases (2009,

20110 and 2011) have been unique at MI-

DEM for the genres it represents (elec-

tronic/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 ex-

ample. 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 Edi-

na for the US. We also have interest from a

few other territories not yet closed and a

request for DK artist performances at Mu-

sexpo in LA 1-4 may. Plus we are doing a

DK music export event in Tokyo 5 - 8 May.

south By southwest Announces Yoko Onoas Featured speakerAllan McGowan am@vip-booking.com

This year marks the 25th edition of SXSW,

taking place March 16 - 20, 2011 in Austin,

Texas. Having recently announced Bob

Geldof as a keynote speaker, SXSW has

now also announced Yoko Ono as a very

special featured speaker for the 25th Music

Conference and Festival. She will sit down

with Jody Denberg for a SXSW Interview

on Friday, March 18th.

Most well known of course from her mar-

riage and collaborations with John Len-

non, Yoko Ono’s work dates back to the

Fluxus movement of the 1960s. Recent

projects have included the Imagine Peace

Tower in Iceland and she has had five con-

secutive dance singles charting at #1 on

the top of the Billboard Dance Chart. In

2009, she received Mojo Magazine’s Life-

time Achievement Award, and she assem-

bled a new PLASTIC ONO BAND for her lat-

est album, Between My Head And The Sky,

co-produced with son Sean Lennon, on his

Chimera Music label.

She will also be a special guest performer

at a Chimera Music night, Saturday, March

19 at The Elysium.

This year’s showcase event will again fea-

ture over 1900 acts on stages throughout

downtown Austin. For more information

on every aspect of SXSW visit:

http://sxsw.comYoko Ono

Outlandish at Midem Showcase

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- Official numbers Eurosonic Noorderslag 2011

- Total number of Festival visitors (sold out) 33,000

- Including 3,000 Conference visitors (sold out)

- Nationalities 43

- Artists 292

- Journalists & Media 187

- EBU radio stations 24

- ETEP festivals 58

- International festivals 431

- Number of stages @ Eurosonic 36

- Number of stages @ Noorderslag 10

The first ETEP (European Talent Exchange Program) results for 2011

have been announced: 157 Eurosonic Noorderslag festival acts

were mentioned by the ETEP festivals and the EBU radio stations

who are interested in booking the acts for this year’s festivals. The

Eurosonic Noorderslag acts that were mentioned often are:

James Blake, Junip, Kvelertak, LaBrassBanda, Crystal Fighters, De

Staat, Dry the River, Ben LÓncle Soul, Claire Maguire, ZAZ and

The Black Atlantic.

ETEP is an initiative of the Noorderslag Foundation to stimulate

the circulation of European repertoire on festivals, radio and me-

dia in Europe.

Visit the ETEP website for more information.

Eurosonic Conference photo by Jack Tillmanns

eurosonic Noorderslag – eTePAllan McGowan am@vip-booking.com

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Over the last 28 years the Rheinkultur Fes-

tival 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 volun-

teers and was one of the first in Germany

to adopt a very strict ‘green policy’, it was

this event that was almost financially ru-

ined 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 finan-cial loss of the previous Rheinkultur edi-tion?

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 ex-

hausting 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 admis-

sion free we are dependent on the bever-

age and food sales. The result was a loss of

60,000 Euros.

VIP-News: So what finally saved Rheinkul-tur and who are the supporters that you consider helped most to save Rheinkultur?

»That was all very successful, but we had to cancel our charity show due to low

demand, which was a quite negative emotional

experience«

- Holger Jan Schmidt

Schmidt: We organized a huge Retter-

campaign (Retter = saviour). We sold shirts,

received donations, founded a supporters

club, and finally held a big online-com-

petition. 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?

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 ‘public good’ organisations

also experience. People tend to take up

free offers but when it comes to personal

engagement they rely on ‘the others’. An-

other 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: 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 begin-

ning of 2010. But although grateful for that

rheinkultur Festival saved!Manfred Tari mt@vip-booking.com

Rheinkultur Festival

Holger Jan Schmidt

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I have to say that our festival is such a mas-

sive image-maker for our city, especially

for the younger target group that we feel

worth every cent of these subsidies.

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 hon-

est 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?

Schmidt: 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 cel-

ebrating our 30th edition in 2012!

Pollstar AwardsAllan McGowan am@vip-booking.com

Early this month the US live industry magazine Pollstar presented

awards for live music achievements in the States, as well as a cou-

ple of international acknowledgements, mostly it seems going to

the UK, (in bold) the winners were:

- Major Tour Of The Year: Roger Waters

- Most Creative Tour Package: James Taylor / Carole King

- Most Creative Stage Production: Roger Waters

- Best New Touring Artist: Lady Antebellum

- Music Festival Of The Year (Non-Touring):

Coachella Valley Music Festival (Indio, CA)

- International Music Festival Of The Year:

Glastonbury Festival (UK)

- Nightclub Of The Year: Club Nokia (Los Angeles, CA)

- Red Rocks Award For Small Outdoor Venue:

Greek Theatre (Los Angeles, CA)

- Theatre Of The Year: Ryman Auditorium (Nashville, TN)

- Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue:

Hollywood Bowl (Los Angeles, CA)

- Arena Of The Year:

Madison Square Garden Arena (New York, NY)

- Best New Major Concert Venue:

Consol Energy Center (Pittsburgh, PA)

- International Theatre Of The Year:

Royal Albert Hall (London, UK)

- International Arena Of The Year: The O2 (London, UK)

- Bill Graham Award For Promoter Of The Year:

Debra Rathwell (AEG Live - Northeast)

- Independent Promoter Of The Year:

Arny Granat & Jerry Mickelson (Jam Productions)

- Nightclub Talent Buyer Of The Year:

Johnny Beach (Bowery Ballroom, NY)

- Talent Buyer Of The Year: Don Sullivan (Jam Productions)

- Independent Booking Agency Of The Year:

Monterey International

- Bobby Brooks Award For Agent Of The Year:

Frank Riley (High Road Touring)

- Third Coast Booking Agent Of The Year:

John Huie (Creative Artists Agency)

- Personal Manager Of The Year:

Coran Capshaw (Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Tim Mcgraw)

- Facility Executive Of The Year:

Rena Wasserman (Greek Theatre, Los Angeles, CA)

- Road Warrior Of The Year:

Jake Berry (U2, Walking With Dinosaurs)

- UK Booking Agent Of The Year:

Emma Banks (Creative Artists Agency)

- International Promoter Of The Year:

Michael Chugg (Chugg Entertainment)

- Lighting Company Of The Year: Upstaging

- Sound Company Of The Year: Clair

- Staging Or Equipment Company Of The Year:

All Access Staging & Productions

- Transportation Company Of The Year: Rock-It-Cargo

- Video Company Of The Year: MootvEmma Banks won best UK agent award

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A new ticketing company will launch in the UK next month ris-

ing from the grave of the Seatem Group, which quietly went into

receivership last year.

Ingresso has bought various of the assets of the old Seatem Group,

including TicketSwitch, Keith Prowse Tickets, Applause and First Call,

and is being spearheaded by Seatem’s founder and former CEO Paul

Burns. Also playing a key role in the new company is Nick Blackburn,

a former Ticketmaster executive and the founder of See Tickets.

It is thought it is the TicketSwitch system that will be at the heart of

the new company, which, according to a statement from Ingresso,

“empowers producers, promoters and ticket vendors to increase

their sales revenues by facilitating low cost access to a vast array

of previously untapped channels and customers”. Whatever that

means.

According to The Stage, the system allows multiple agents to have

live access to one central box office, and would make it easier for

third parties, such as travel agents and airlines, to sell tickets to

theatre and music shows.

They quote Blackburn as saying: “I have sought to bring inno-

vative solutions and high service levels to the market. I believe

that, with the increasing importance of electronic sales and dis-

tribution in the event ticketing market, TicketSwitch will offer a

hugely compelling service to providers and distributors reach-

ing previously unavailable sales channels, which will increase

their sales and lower their costs”.

New uK Ticketing Firm To launch Next MonthAllan McGowan am@vip-booking.com

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The following two items both deal with

looking at the future for the industry; the

Ten in Ten project initiated by Music Sup-

ported 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 mu-

sic industry would operate in 2025. I was

particularly taken by academic Simon

Frith’s very humorous, but possibly accu-

rate 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:

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 Musi-

cians’ Union, one of the body’s 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 launch-

ing 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 pic-

ture of what we think is going to happen”.

He added: “Will illegal downloading be-

come 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 in-

dustry, 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 will go online next week

at www.musicsupportedhere.com

Music in 2025 - Simon Frith:

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 so-

ciology 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 absolutely sure of:

People will still express and under-stand 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 pub-lic and private entertainment.

Music that gave pleasure in the past will still give pleasure in the future.

There will be new technological ways of storing, sharing and hearing music that we can’t yet imagine.

These things we can be fairly sure of:

By 2025 there will be no stadium gigs. Eco-

nomically 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 spon-

sors) 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, pro-

moted 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 Gov-

ernment, the BPI had become the least sig-

nificant of the UK’s lobbying bodies while

a joint campaign of 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

looking Into The FutureAllan McGowan am@vip-booking.com

Simon Frith

Music Supported

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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 ex-

tension 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 en-

joyed. 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.

In the economy of musical services the

model for what, in the era of the musi-

cal 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 record-

ed) was permanently available on a great

variety of digital outlets and devices over

which the listener had a great deal of con-

trol in terms of how and when they lis-

tened. These services were paid for by a

license fee, which enabled the musicians

involved to be directly rewarded accord-

ing 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 pio-

neering but short-lived service, Spotify

(which became over-dependent on its

record company support). It was perhaps

not coincidental that in Britain the Con-

servative/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 hal-

lowed name of John Peel and under the

leadership of Lauren Laverne

By 2025 there were three distinctive musi-

cal 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 dif-

ferent kinds of club (and club sound) for

different age groups with tea and disco

dances for pensioners (by now the 75+

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 televi-

sion 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 lon-

ger 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 compa-

nies 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.

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Business NewsManfred Tari mt@vip-booking.com

Music in shares

Research Report on CTS Eventim and

DEAG Predict Growth:

A recent research report by DZ Bank comes

up with new conclusions and findings. Ac-

cording to financial analyst Christoph Bast

the live music sector in Germany will ex-

perience a new boom year. Bast assumes

a correlation between the revenue devel-

opment of CTS and DEAG and consumer

spending. One of his main assumptions is

that the German concert industry in 2011

will benefit from a strong growth in con-

sumer spending since 2001.

Bast furthermore expects that Internet

based ticket sales will continue to grow.

In particular he sees that the growth will

be driven by consumer demands for ‘print

at home’ and mobile ticketing solutions.

Nevertheless he does not expect lower

ticket service charges to drive tough com-

petition on the German ticket market. Bast

rather sees that ticketing portals will also

become information sources for live en-

tertainment. But this assumption might

not necessarily be the case as more and

more festivals and venues institute their

own ticketing via their websites, prompt-

ing consumers to check their favourite fes-

tivals’ or artists’ websites instead of going

to ticket portals first.

CTS as Take Over Candidate:

Another topic raised within the report is

the potential of CTS Eventim as a target for

possible take over bids. The analyst goes

so far as to raise his price target for the CTS

Eventim share from 47 to 58 Euros. While

seeing big corporate media and IT-compa-

nies or even the record industry as poten-

tial buyers, Bast mentions that a purchase

of CTS Eventim will need the approval of

CEO Klaus Peter Schulenburg who is the

biggest shareholder of the company.

For DEAG the report perceives a push for

growth in the Company’s revenue results,

driven by higher consumer spending and

also the collaboration with Sony Music.

But the author of the report also expects

DEAG to expand its international business

into countries like Austria, France and Den-

mark. With this in mind the price target has

been raised from 3.0 to 3.9 Euros.

The CTS Eventim share stands at 46.90

Euro with a market capitalisation of 1.131

billion Euros. The DEAG share price is 2.70

Euro with a market capitalisation of 50.11

million Euros.

Limited chances for Ticketmaster in Ger-

many:

Another interesting topic covered in the

report is the assumption that Ticketmaster

won’t be able to raise its market share sig-

nificantly in Germany against CTS Eventim.

Some of the reasons for this are based on

the findings of the GFK study published by

the trade magazine Musikmarkt and the

industry association bdv, saying that con-

sumers tend to stick with the ticket portals

they trust. Only 14 percent, according to

the survey, care about the price of a ticket.

Another limiting factor for Ticketmaster’s

fortunes is the Live Nation subsidiary’s

much smaller network of box offices in

Germany.

Live Nation – Between Acquisitions and

Win Warning

By the end of January Live Nation had

already reported that it had to lower its

operating income result from $389 down

to $362 million due to a lawsuit against

its subsidiary Ticketmaster and restruc-

turing expenses for its North American

concert business. The settlement of the

class-action lawsuit cost the company

$22.3 million, the restructuring measures

cost another $4.9 million while another $6

million additional expenses resulted from

currency exchange rates. Also at the end

of January Barry Diller, the mastermind

and creator of a stock market financed cor-

porate concert company quit his post as

board member of Live Nation.

At the beginning of February AEG de-

clared that it was to launch its own tick-

eting system. Following this announce-

ment, Live Nation reported the purchase

of Spanish ticketing division ServiCaixa

previously owned by the bank La Caixa.

Both companies announced a long term

agreement that allows Ticketmaster Spain

to continue to use the ATM network of the

bank for the distribution of tickets. While

no figures were revealed regarding this

particular deal, Live Nation completed the

outright purchase of the Front Line Man-

agement group for $116.2 million in cash

and shares.

The former owners Irving Azoff and Madi-

son Square Garden received $56.5 million

and newly issued shares worth about $59.7

million.

In a press release Live Nation CEO Michael

Rapino stated: “By acquiring full ownership

of Front Line, we expect to benefit from

substantial savings related to cash taxes,

the elimination of the dividend and oper-

ating synergies resulting in an increase in

our free cash flow in excess of $20 million

annually. Front Line is a tremendous asset

and a key component of our live entertain-

ment and marketing platform. We look

forward to Irving’s ongoing contributions

as we continue to focus on increasing the

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Groove ArmadaTerritory: Europe / Worldwide Period: Worldwide 2011 Agency: WME - William Morris Endeavor Entertainment Agent: Steve Hogan E-mail: SHogan@wmeentertainment.com Homepage: www.groovearmada.com

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growth potential of our combined

operations.”

Furthermore Azoff is now instated

as chairman of the board at Live Na-

tion, taking over from John Malone

who departed from the board, while

Greg Maffei, Chief Executive Officer

of Liberty Media Corporation joined

the board.

Shortly before these moves Liberty

bought $18.8 million worth of Live

Nation shares and intends to invest

$57.7 million buying a further 5.5

million shares of the company. The

additional purchase has to be ap-

proved by the other stockholders of

Live Nation at the annual meeting.

The Liberty Media Corporation is an

American media company that owns

via various entities TV-channels such

as the shopping channel QVC and

the Discovery Channel. The biggest

shareholder of this conglomerate

is John Malone. Liberty Media now

owns about 20 percent of the share

capital of Live Nation. According to

latest media reports within his new

role at Live Nation Azoff intends to

buy some of these Liberty Media as-

sets. Possible candidates could be

QVC, Sirius XM Radio or the cable

channel Starz.

The share price of Live Nation cur-

rently is at $11.48 with market capi-

talisation of $1.987 billion.

Liberty Media

Michael Rapino

17

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When Peter Freudenthaler and Volker Hin-

kel founded their Fools Garden in the Ger-

man 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 ad-

vertising spot for “C&A”.

But the real wild days began with “Lemon

Tree”. The “Lemon Tree from the Black For-

est” 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 mem-

bers 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 20-year

jubilee !

Monthly featured artist ››

Origin: GermanyStyle: PopTour period: OpenTerritory: Worldwide

Agency: Suonix GroupName: Rainer FroehlichEmail: rainer.froehlich@suonix.comPhone: +41 61 976 2078

VIP- News - A u g u s t 2 0 0 5

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FOOls GArdeN

Fools Garden

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In this section we offer members of VIP-Booking.com some space to present their company to VIP-News readers. If you would also like to present your company please contact Peter Briggs at pb@vip-booking.com

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About Our Company

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

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

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