vip magazine #17 2015

THE MEANING OF LIVE NATION GERMANYREAD MORE ON PAGE 6

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WELCOME TO THE VIP-MAGAZINE

Once again VIP-Booking.com brings you VIP-Magazine.

VIP-Magazine is an in-depth magazine with longer stories

collected from our monthly free news service VIP-News.

In this issue we bring you a festival feature

that sums up some of the European festivals,

most of which have been attended by VIP-representatives

either for business matters or as concertgoers ;-)

It’s with great sadness that all of us at the VIP office

learned about the death of John Gammon who has been in

the Live Music Business for many years,

the last 15 as the UK and Europe correspondent for Pollstar.

We will miss your laughs and jokes

when we met at Live music conferences

all over Europe. RIP John.

THE VIP TEAM®

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#3VIP-MAGAZINE 17/2015www.vip-booking.com


1329

7

CONTENTS:

20

05 UTA buys The Agency Group

06 The meaning of Live Nation Germany

09 John Gammon passes at 64

10 Festival Feature – Paleo

12 Festival Feature – EXIT

13 Festival Feature – Sziget

14 Festival Feature – Roskilde

18 Solomon Parker joins Coda Agency

20 Booming times for GLP

24 Rikke Øxner new director of Aarhus City Festival

26 Artist Avails

VIP-MAGAZINE 17#2015

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WRITER AND EDITORIAL: Allan McGowan | [email protected] • Manfred Tari | [email protected]

DISTRIBUTION: 3.000 copies of the magazine are distributed to professionals within the Live Entertainment Industry FREE OF CHARGE

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FRONT COVER: Marek Lieberberg – Photo by Jim Rakete

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24VIP-BOOKING.COM The No 1 Information Resource For The Live Entertainment IndustryHaving 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.

14

In a move to significantly bolster its music business, United Talent

Agency announced Thursday that it acquired the Agency Group,

the world’s largest independent music agency.

The Agency Group represents some of the biggest global touring

and live music artists, including Muse, Paramore and the Black

Keys. The company has more than 95 agents operating out of

offices in London, Los Angeles, New York and several other cities.

Adding TAG, which will be combined with UTA’s existing music

division , instantly makes UTA a heavy hitter in the space, with a

roster of about 2,000 clients headlined by artists including Muse,

The Black Keys, Paramore, Nickelback and Guns N’ Roses and

featuring emerging acts including Chris Janson, Action Bronson

and G-Eazy, who will all join existing UTA clients including Kanye

West, Mariah Carey and Milky Chance.

TAG has more than 95 agents across seven offices in London, Los

Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York, Toronto and Malmo, Sweden ,

which will give UTA a presence beyond L.A. and New York for the

first time – yet another major milestone for the agency.

“It’s a quantum leap forward for us in the music business,”

UTA CEO Jeremy Zimmer tells THR, highlighting TAG’s resources

in Nashville and the global and Canadian market as well as in

corporate and festival booking. “There are so many different areas

of expertise that go into being a top-shelf music agency, and we

were able to find all of those in one place at The Agency Group,

along with a tremendous reservoir of real veteran leadership.”

TAG founder and president Neil Warnock (pictured) will become

UTA’s head of worldwide music, filling the vacancy left by Rob

Prinz when he departed for ICM Partners in April, while TAG CEO

Gavin O’Reilly will leave the company.

UTA’s acquisition of TAG was financed by a new minority investmen t

from Jeffrey Ubben, founder and CEO of San Francisco- based

ValueAct Capital, which has significantly invested in companies

including Microsoft, 21st Century Fox, Adobe and CB Richard Ellis.

But unlike those investments, the UTA relationship is a personal

investment from Ubben, who joins the board of directors as a non-

votin g member and becomes its first non-agency shareholder.

“It’s not a typical institutional investment that comes along with

all kinds of restrictions and voting rights,” Zimmer says. “This

investmen t is really about bringing a smart, seasoned investor into

the company to help us consider our future growth. It’s a much

more comfortable and organic relationship.”

Neil Warnock, founder of The Agency Group

Manfred Tari [email protected]

BUYS THE AGENCY GROUP

From VIP-Daily News


The market entry of Live Nation in Germany

by taking on Marek Lieberberg as CEO and

Daniel Lieberberg as President came as a

surprise to many industry players. The move

is the second attempt by Live Nation to run a

subsidiary in Germany following a trial period

with German promoter Johannes Wessels as

Managing Director in 2010.

The departure of Lieberberg from Marek

Lieberberg Konzertagentur (MLK) is remark-

able for many reasons . For years MLK has

been a key asset within the value chain of

CTS Eventim. Lieberberg had already sold

100 percent of his stakes in three companies

containin g his name to the Medusa Music

Group, the holding name under which CTS

Eventim bundles its Live Music Activities .

MLK used to be a vital concert provide r

for CTS Eventim, filling up the content

pipeline for their ticketing division that

within a decade became Europe’s biggest

ticketing company. Since the beginning of

the collaboration betwee n CTS Eventim

and MLK, the company has been the

gatekeeper of Live Nation artists for the

German market. It is presumed that Live

Nation Germany will launch its busines s

activities on January 1, 2016.

In July 2000, shortly after the IPO (Initial

Public Offering) of CTS Eventim in February

2000 at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange,

CTS Eventim acquired 51 percent of Marek

Lieberberg Konzertagentur (MLK) Holding.

The MLK Holding each owned 100 percent

stakes of MLK GmbH & Co KG and MLK

Verwaltungs GmbH.

By the end of 2003, the Live Nation

forerunner Clear Channel Entertainment

(CCE), had acquired a 20 percent stake

in MLK GmbH & Co KG. Since 2010 CTS

Eventim no longer reported concrete figures

of stakes it holds in its various subsidiaries. As

of 2011, MLK is listed as a fully consolidated

asset within the annual report of the trade

register Bundesanzeiger.

Originally Marek Lieberberg operated as

the managing director for these companies ,

which also means that the MLK companie s

remain as an asset within the CTS Eventim

networ k of companies. Even more

interesting is the fact that the naming rights

of the festival Rock Am Ring are owned

by MLK GmbH & Co KG. Rock Am Ring

is one of the biggest festivals in Germany,

attractin g 80,000 visitors and due to its

relevance has been an important strategic

instrumen t within the value chain of MLK

and subsequently for CTS Eventim.

In 2014 the trademark

rights for Rock Am

Ring became a

matter of

contention

between

MLK

and

the

THE MEANING OF LIVE NATION

GERMANY


Andre and Marek Lieberberg


THE MEANING OF LIVE NATION

GERMANY


administrators of the Nürburgring, the race

track where the festival had taken

place since its first edition in 1985. Due

to difficulties with the new owners of the

racetrack , MLK moved the festival last year

to an airfield in Mendig, very closely located

to the Nürburgring.

As recently as March 2015 MLK GmbH &

Co KG filed an application to obtain the

trademark rights for this festival in variou s

areas such as merchandising and print

products ; in June an objection was filed

to this and the application is still

pending.

Nevertheless, the

main message

is that the

departure

of

Marek

and

Andre Lieberberg opens up wide ranging

challenges for CTS Eventim. Currently no

official news has been published as to what

the departure means for the festival Rock

Am Ring. According to industry players

the festival is supposed to be organized by

Lieberberg in 2016 at least as part of a joint

agreement with CTS Eventim.

When the announcement for the launch of

Live Nation Germany was released on August

3, it also included the news that the new

company is supposed to add more than 700

shows towards the concert catalogue of Live

Nation. Bearing in mind that such a number

of shows needs a certain infrastructure , it is

currently not clear with whom Live Nation

Germany will work in the future as local

promoter .

Until now, MLK benefited from the network

of local promoters that belong to CTS

Eventim. At the moment MLK has already

announced shows and concerts for 2016

including, among others, Motörhead,

Halestorm and Tesserac T, Tickets for these

shows still will be sold via CTS Eventim. Live

Nation however expect Live Nation Germany

in the long run to sell tickets via its local

division of Ticketmaster Germany.

Live Nation is also involved in the Berlin

festival and the first edition of Lollapalooza

in Berlin via its subsidiary Festiva l Republic

due to a joint venture with the Unter-

nehmensgruppe Hörstmann. It is not

clear if Live Nation Germany will, in the

long run, include those events within its

portfoli o. Taking many of these aspects

into consideration it looks like Live Nation

will follow a soft launch policy and that it

will take some time before CTS Eventim has

a solid competitor in the live music sector in

its own home market.

Unlike CTS Eventim, Live Nation and its

forerunners have until now never been

profitable . The US-company follows a strategy


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like the on-line retailer Amazon, who also

never delivered any profits to its shareholders .

But at least Live Nation deliver s impressive

revenue figures and is following an expansion

strategy. Even if Live Nation has reported

profits for the second quarter of 2015. It has

over the years become a tradition for the

company to report a year end loss.

In the short run, the departure of Lieberberg

may cause a potential gap in CTS Eventim’s

revenue results. This of course will be filled

as soon as FKP Scorpio is fully consolidated

again into CTS Eventim’s company results.

Since 2010, FKP Scorpio has only been

considered to be an associated company

of CTS Eventim, with 47.5 percent partly

owned by the Medusa Music Group. But CTS

Eventim is now forced to re-organize its lines

of defence.

This aspect is certainly the most considerable

component that CTS Eventim will have to

cope with in the future. One of the biggest

efforts by CTS Eventim was the fact that

the management of this company was able

to combine the largest German promoters

under one roof.

The departure of Lieberberg towards Live

Nation Germany underlines the fact that

the purchase of companies by prominent

promoters isn’t a guarantee that the main

people behind a company will be retained as

decision makers within the company.

CTS Eventim have provided its main

promoters in the past with plenty of

freedom to run their business units almost

independently. The recent news, shows how

dangerous such a policy can be for corporate

concert companies. Although the business

expectations of Live Nation might be high,

at the end of the day the German concert

market is still very different from other

European markets.

The fact that domestic talent and artists

have become very popular in recent years

and have enabled many independent

concert companies to grow, won’t make it

any easier for a subsidiary of Live Nation in

Germany.

Instead Live Nation Germany will benefit

from having many international artists on its

roster. The newly found company will also

face a very strong domestic competito r in

CTS Eventim that other subsidiaries of Live

Nation in Europe have not had to cope with

when the World market leader expanded

into those territorie s.


John Gammon, Pollstar’s UK/Europe

Corresponent over the last two decades has

died. He had been fighting cancer.

Gammon covered stories that ranged from

the innocuous to the extremely sensitive

and was the first to break stories such as

Lollapalooza´s entrance into Berlin.

He was also very well known by the

industry people that attends the Live Music

conferences in Europe where John always

was a visible character.

A press release from Pollstar reads:

He was passionate in getting the root of

the story, even if it may have ruffled some

feathers . Gammon¨s background includes a

career as an agent as well as mangaging acts

like Katrina & The Waves and Kingmaker, the

latter of whom could boast opening acts like

Radiohead during its ‘90s heyday.

A native and resident of Ely, Cambridgeshire ,

England, Gammon studied journalism at

harlow College. That education was put to

use when Gammon was recruited by Pollstar

to report from the International Live Music

Conference on a one-off basis.

The response to his reportage was so

overwhelming that Gammon became Pollstar’ s

longtime UK and Europe correspondent .

His work anchored Pollstar’s International

News pages until this week. It is difficult to

encapsulate years of collaboration into a

paragrap h.

The best we can do immediately is say

farewel l and acknowledge his contribution

to not only the company, but the concert

industry as well.

JOHN GAMMON PASSES AT 64

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VIP Sales Manager Charlie Presburg,

worked with John for many years

at Pollstar:

As someone who worked with John

for many years at Pollstar’s UK office ,

I was always impressed with his sheer

tenacity as a journalist and his ability

to get to the core of any news story

that he was writing.

He was a proper old school journalist

who wasn’t afraid to ruffle a few

feathers along the way. I shall miss

his witty banter and seeing him at

the various music conferences he

always loved to attend, he will be

very sadly missed, RIP John.


Allan McGowan [email protected]


FESTIVAL FEATURE

July 20-26 saw the 40th edition of Switzerland’s Paleo Festival. The

event ran over 7 days rather than the usual 6, and featured shows

from Robbie Williams, Kings of Leon, Sting, The Script, Ben Harper ,

Robert Plant, Joan Baez, Patti Smith, Christine and the Queens,

Johnny Halliday and others.

The Festival sold out attracting 35,000 people every day, 10,000

seven day passes were sold. 530 media representatives from 240

companies attended, alongside 600 professionals from other

musi c companies. 1700 artists appeared, including many from

the Far East who took part in an Asian focus on the Festival’s

world stage.

VIP News spoke to Head of Production and Programming, Dani

Hassenstein:

How long have you been involved with the Festival?

– I’ve been in this job for 7 years, but I’ve worked at Paleo for 15 years –

I’m actually one year older than the Festival!

There’s been quite a lot of rain, and therefore quite a lot of mud!

Has that caused any problems?

– No, we typically get a bit of everything over the days of the festival – it’s

a world festival and we get world weather!

As much as every Spring brings a crop of doom laden stories, in the broadsheets particularly, predicting

the collapse of the festival market, it never actually seems to happen and the majority of events seem

to thrive, with even a few new ones popping up here and there. The uptake of registrations for the

International Festival Forum seems to imply that agents and organisers have no doubt that the future

is festivals! As to how many there are – who really knows! Certainly too many for one on-line journal

to cover, but here’s a brief round up of the events we VIP people got to visit or communicate with

so far this season:

PALEO


FESTIVAL FEATURE

What were the high points of this edition?

– The big productions, Robbie Williams and Kings of Leon were great,

but my personal highlights were Joan Baez, Patti Smith and Robert

Plant. They all gathered for each other’ s shows. They have history with

the Festival , Robert Plant tells stories and is a great personality. He

covers such a broad spectrum of music, he once played the world

music stage, and he played the day Amy Winehouse died. Joan Baez

appeared back in ’82.

Putting something this size together for a week is quite an

undertaking , have you had problems with crime or injuries

etc.?

– Yes, it’s like building a city! But even so, we’ve only had 58 reported

thefts, and fortunately we’ve not had any deaths, or births, although

we’d be prepared for that! If there was a birth then we’ve said the child

could have a lifetime membership!

We’ve always tried to make sure that the musician s feel like part of the

family, and understand all the work that goes into building Paleo.

PALEO

From left to right: Michèle Müller (press officer), Daniel Rossellat

(president), Dany Hassenstei n (booking), Jacques Monnier

(vice-president) and Allan McGowan (VIP-News).

Schönhauser Allee 36 · 10435 BerlinTelefon +49 30 44 315 [email protected]

/kesselhausberlinwww.kesselhaus.net

wie

nber

lin.c

om

The GrandMothers of Invention (11.10.) // Bear’s Den (18.10.) // Cäthe (06.11.) // Warren Haynes (08.11.) // Kovacs (09.11.) // Ane Brun (15.11.) // Lianne La Havas (16.11.) // Scala & Kolacny Brothers (28.11.) // Maximo Park (07.12.) // Ibeyi (11.12.) // 17 Hippies (29.12.)

— IM HERZEN BERLINS —

THEATER · FESTIVALS · KONFERENZENKONZERTE · PARTYS · LESUNGEN

HIGHLIGHTS HERBST 2015


On July 9-12, VIP again visited this remarkable event in Serbia, staged

on the Petrovaradin fortress island in the middle of the Danube. A

certain editor was apparently spotted dancing to the music of Manu

Chao! Unfortunately we didn’t make it to Montenegro for the Sea

Dance festival that followed on from EXIT on July 15 – 18 (maybe

next time!) The two events made up this summer’s Exit Adventure,

which resulted in a record-breaking 300,000 visitors to the fortress

and to Montenegro’s Jaz beach. EXIT reported the most well attended

night in the event’s history. Continuing the theme of festivals being

like towns or cities, with all the processes of urban life taking place

besides the music, two marriage proposals were made and confirmed

at EXIT and Seadance.

EXIT also again played host to the annual CEETEP meetings and

workshops . Eurosonic Noorderslag started the European Talent

Exchang e Program (ETEP) in 2003 and since then there have been

a total of 2294 shows by 810 European artists from 30 countries

presente d at the 90 ETEP festivals (2003 - 2014).

CEETEP (Central and Eastern European Talent Exchange Programme) is

an ETEP sub-programme, together with the 18 CEETEP festivals in the

CEE region and selected CEE media partners, Eurosonic Noorderslag

and co-organisers Sziget and Exit Festival developed a scheme for the

circulation of CEE artists and repertoire in Central and Eastern Europe

at the festivals and in the media . The Program is coming to an end

with acts from the region being featured at Eurosonic in Groningen,

Holland, next January.

We will report on the progress made by the program in the next

couple of issues.

FESTIVAL FEATURE

EXIT FESTIVAL

Sziget Festival Hungary sold out the 2015 event despite increasing its

daily capacity to 90,000.

Held from 10-17 August, artists included Robbie Williams, Avicii,

Kings Of Leon, Kasabian and Ellie Goulding. Organisers say 441,000

people from 95 countries attended over the course of the event.

“We worked hard to create a festival that has its own unique

identity ,” said Sziget’s main organiser Karoly Gerendai. “Our aim in

the long term is to make sure Sziget’s image gets independent from

its headliners, as we believe the most important features of the event

are not necessarily playing on the big stages.

“To keep it simple, we try to give good reasons for fans to come to

Sziget. We’re still trying hard to get good bands on our stages, but we

also try to make sure that fans choose Sziget because we offer more:

a huge adventure, a cultural holiday, an experience-packed week full

of positive surprises. That’s what we will keep on focusing on, while

we definitely don’t want to be involved in a dangerous competition

to get overpriced headliners. That’s just not our path.

“We hope our message gets through to our visitors, as they are the

ones who create the magical vibe of the place we call the Island of

Freedom.”

Next year’s Sziget has been set for August 10-17.


SZIGET FESTIVAL SETS ATTENDANCE RECORD


FESTIVAL FEATURE

Roskilde Festival was once again blessed with blistering sunshine as

100.000 ticket buyers enjoyed what was indeed another magical

event. Headlining acts on the Orange Stage included Muse, Pharrell

Williams, Ryan Adams, Florence & The Machine, Kendrick Lamar,

Nicki Minaj and many more. Following the wide success of the

Rolling Stones show in 2014 the festival opted once again for a

legendary act in Paul McCartney who took the stage as the 2nd to

last headliner on the last night in front of a packed audience who

were entertained with a classic repertoire spanning over 5 decades

including songs from the Beatles era, Wings and new material. All

this ended with a magnificent fireworks display and an audience of

all ages singing Hey Jude for 10 minutes after McCartney had left

the stage – quite a moving moment one hastens to add.

After this year’s success the festival expects to be able to donate

an impressive 15-18 million Danish kronor to charity (approx. 2-2.5

millio n euro).

VIP-News questioned Roskilde’s Head of Music & Creation, Anders

Wahrén, about the success of this year’s event, competition on the

Danish Festival Market and the festival’s future bookings.

How is your general feeling about this year’s festival and how

did it compare to previous years?

– This year’s festival went really well so my general feeling is very

good and I am very happy with the way the festival went and how

our audience took in new initiatives and participated. Every year

is unique and it’s always difficult to compare with previous years.

However in 2015 everything – including the things we can’t plan

ourselves such as the weather – fitted together like a perfect puzzle .

45 YEARS OF ROSKILDE AND STILL GOING STRONG!


Anders Wahrén

– photo by Julie Hjort

The introduction of the new festival Tinderbox which took place

just a week before Roskilde Festival in Odense caused quite a

stir in the Danish Music Industry when it was announced . How

did this affect your bookings, did you end up fighting over the

same headliners and did you notice a change in ticket sales due

to this competition?

– I wouldn’t say that it affected us, we strive to make the best possible

festival every year, regardless of what’s going on around us, and we

haven’t changed our ambitions or way of booking. Roskilde Festival

2015 was sold out extraordinary early this year so the only changes

we have seen there have been from new initiatives from our own

side. But of course there are a few top names that will be relevant

for all broad festivals of a certain size, or ambitions to grow, so in a

packed European summer, there will be some acts that everybody is

fighting to get.

How has the ticket buyer demography changed over the past

10 years and do you see this as a trend for the future?

– Ten years ago about 50% of our audience came from outside of

Denmar k, especially from Sweden, Norway and Germany. That

number has decreased over the last ten years, so today there are

about 15% foreigners attending the festival and the Swedes are no

longer the largest group from abroad. That place now belongs to the

Norwegians. It’s difficult to say how it will develop – we noticed a

small rise in international guests the last couple of years and hope that

that development will continue. Other demographics seem stable; we

have a 50/50 gender mix and an average age of around 24 years.

Besides the hugely diversified program that Roskilde presents,

you’ve put your trust in old legendary acts such as The Rolling

Stones and Paul McCartney over the past few years which

have proved to be hugely successful in not just attracting a big

audience but also bringing together people from all ages. Is

this something you plan to continue in the future?

– The important thing for us is to present a diversified program

with artists that are both relevant and great live performers at the

same time. Topping it off with legendary acts such as the ones you

mentioned is great – and it is amazing to experience how much

recognition they receive from a young audience as well - so as long as

it makes sense in the full lineup I expect we will continue, but it is not

a “must” for us nor for our audience; we can tell from the ticket sales

that it’s the diversity that makes the difference. And I have to say that

legendary acts can come in other sizes than McCartney and Stones.

How do you see competition from domestic festivals and

festivals in neighboring countries such as Sweden affecting

Roskilde in the future and do you think there will ultimately

be casualties in what is a per capita comparatively crowded

festival market?

– I believe you have to look at it in a broader perspective where not

just music festivals but the rising number of cultural, arts, food etc.

festivals and events in general are affecting and inspiring each other,

keeping us on our toes and aware of what is unique about each of

us. In that sense competition is not a bad thing – and it’s not a new

thing either.

Both we, Smukfest and Northside sold out this year so for now at least

it seems that the audience for music festivals is there. But there is a

risk, I fear, that the development with more music festivals bein g built

from the top with lots of money to invest in headliners in time will

challenge the diversity of the market, especially the smaller festivals

and new initiatives since that inevitably will make it harder for them

to both attract artists and pay them.

Have you confirmed any acts for 2016 yet and what would be

your dream booking?

– Well… let’s just say that we’re working on it and we’ll let you and

everyone else know when we have news.

FESTIVAL FEATURE


Roskilde Festival

Arcade fire, Baseballs, BB King, Ben Miller Band, Billy Idol, Black Star Riders, Bo Kaspers Orkester, Bon Jovi, Boney M, Bryan Adams, Cecilia Bartoli, Cesaria Evora, Chigago Blues, Cliff Richard & Shadows, Grace Jones,

Deep Purple, Diego El Cigala, Dionne Warwick, Dream Theater, Femi Kuti, Fran Perea, Gary Moore, Gregorian, Gypsy Queens & Kings, Heaven and Hell, Helmut Lotti, Ian Andersson, Ian Hunter, Jean Michel Jarre, Jerry Lee Lewis,

Joan Armtrading, Johnny Winter, Jose Feliciano, Kings of Salsa, Lady Gaga, Leonard Cohen, Linkin Park, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Mahala Rai Banda,

Manhattan Transfer, Mötley Crüe, Nazareth, Neil Young, Omara Portuondo, Over the Rainbow, Patricia Kaas, Paul Potts, Rival Sons, Roberta Flack, Roxette,

Roxy Music, Scooter, Scorpions, Status Quo, Steve Lukather, Stevie Wonder, Suzanne Vega, Take 6, The Count basie Orchestra, The Duke Ellington Orchestra,

The Moody Blues, Thriller Live, Uriah Heep, Wailers, Whitesnake, Youssou N´Dour, ZZ Top...

[email protected] Tel. +358 400 408 423

Agent Solomon Parker has left William Morris Endeavour (WME) to

join Coda Agency as a Senior Agent.

Parker, who will be based in Coda’s London offices, has been at WME

since 2007 – before which he ran Concorde International Artistes.

He brings with him a roster of acts that includes include Take That,

The Prodigy, Cheryl Cole, Matt Corby, Haelos among others.

Solomon Parker said, “I am excited to be joining what I consider a

fast moving and dynamic company who, over the last few years,

have garnere d a reputation for breaking acts that is second to none.

“Between the partners there they have created a fantastic culture

and following their recent far-reaching partnership with Paradigm

Talent Agency in the U.S. they are now perfectly placed to deliver a

bespoke service to their clients that is second to none.

“Coda put their artists and managers front and centre of everything

they do and I’m very much looking forward to being a part of it.”

Claire Horseman, Managing Director of Coda Music Agency said,

“Bringing someone of Sol’s standing into the Coda team further

demonstrates our ambition to continue building a world class agency .

His experience and reputation in the industry are second to none and

he will add real value to our overall offering.”

Alex Hardee, Partner at

Coda Music Agency said,

“Solomon Parker’s dad, Louis

gave me my first job. Cris Hearn who

recently joined Coda also worked there, the

company was called Concorde.

“I think Cris left with Solomon’s dad’s car and I took a tankful of

terrapins . Solomon’s dad and those early days at Concorde were very

influential to my career.

“It’s great that Solomon, Cris and myself are back under one roof,

along with Tom Schroeder, James Whitting, Rob Chalice, Nick

Matthews , David Exley, and Paul Buck plus the multitude of younger

agents and bookers.

“We represent acts as diverse as Take That, Prodigy, Bastille,

Disclosure , Ellie Goulding, The Libertines, Jess Glynne, Years & Years

, John Newman , The xx, Jake Bugg and Emeli Sande. That’s just a

short list from the top of my head – but what it also represents is that

exciting times are ahead of us.

“Anyway I am not sure where Cris left the car and the terrapins

died, proving that agents are the most durable of the reptile species. ”


From left to right: Claire Horseman, Rob Challice, Solomon Parker, Alex Hardee, Tom Schroder

From VIP-Daily News

SOLOMON PARKER JOINS CODA AGENCY

®

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GLP is currently experiencing a boom with

many of the acts represented by the agency.

The success of the collaboration between

CHIC feat Nile Rodgers with Daft Punk 3 Years

ago was followed by an 80 city world tour

(booked by GLP). This paved the way for a

revival for many of the other Funk & Dance acts

represented by GLP (Kool & the Gang, Sister

Sledge, Earth Wind & Fire Experience feat

Al McKay etc). Recently GEORGE CLINTON

PARLIAMENT / FUNKADELIC ´s collaboration

with RUDIMENTAL lead to a similar marketing

input. Similarly more and more Rock acts are

teaming up with Funk artists such as KOOL

& THE GANG’s tour with VAN HALEN and

FOREIGNER’ s tour with KID ROCK.

In the light of this success VIP-News asked

CEO Georg Leitner about the company’s

principles, future plans and strategies:

How many shows & concerts is GLP

handling per year and what are your

strategic plans for GLP in the future?

– GLP handles around 800 shows per year

across the globe. Over the past 35 years

GLP has become a strong force in the area

of Funk / Soul / R&B as well as Reggae /

Dancehall and World Music. Strategically

we will focus to expand on the EDM area,

especially with a view to further develop

musical collaborations between some of the

top DJs and our Funk/R&B artists.

We are also looking to expand the area

of Rock (e.g. next year we celebrate

FOREIGNER’ s 40th anniversary tour – and we

are considering some great collaborations

with other Rock acts.

Furthermore we will focus on Show Acts.

This is currently the fastest growing depart-

men t within the GLP family with shows such

as Peter Pan on Ice, Royal Moscow Ballet and

Vivaldianno.

Lastly we are focusing on bringing talent to

developing markets. We recently had some

exciting tours in India, the Pacific Islands

(Tahiti , new Caledonia etc.) and Africa. This is

Peter Briggs [email protected]

BOOMING TIMES FOR GLP

Georg Leitner


in line with our history – with GLP being one

of the first international companies to tour

artists behind the iron curtain in Europe in

the early eighties.

As one of your company principles

you are mentioning on your web-

site: “Academic striving towards

improvement s of the methods applied

in the industry” What do you mean with

this policy?

– Having studied marketing & economics

at University – we’ve always had the goal

to deliver a service at the highest standards

– with a strategic outlook to expand the

market potential of our artists.

When we started the company in the early

80’s with artists such as James Brown, Ray

Charles and Kool & the Gang, there was

generally a lot more “wheeling & dealing”

going on in the music business - so GLP stood

out with a strategic outlook.

Also today we have a very high rate of

academically trained personnel – and I am

happy to say that in this spirit the members

of the GLP family continue to follow the

principles of flexibility, internal mobility,

multi- skilling and retraining.

The market concentration and corpora-

tization in Europe is rising. Do you

consider this development as a positive

one?

– The music industry was one of the first

industries in the world that applied globali-

zation. In terms of the corporatization of

the live market in Europe – the national

promoters , even as part of multinational

companies in Europe still act highly

independently – so in terms of people, not

much has changed.

To give you an idea – on the same tour we

work with AEG in one territory and Live

Nation in another territory. Right now we

are in negotiations for one of our show acts

for a worldwide deal with one multinational

promoter.

Georg Leitner with Robert KOOL Bell and Nile Rodgers


In reference to the current market set

up, what are the issues that concern you

most?

– I am most concerned about the fact that

there are too many tours pushing into the

market (due to lack of income from the

recorded music side) – and we have come

close to an oversaturation. Also we have

to find ways to focus again on developing

tomorrow´s talent. With the decline of the

record companies – the agencies have to

take a more active role in the A&R area.

At GLP we have a section dedicated to the

development of new show formats as well

as new talent.

The relevance of the Live Music Sector

within the value chain for music products

has risen significantly over the years.

Nevertheless, compared to the Record

Industry or the Publishing Business the

live music sector runs no trade bodies on

a European or International level. Do you

consider this as a lack of professionalism

or just as something the Live Music

Sector is not ready for yet?

– There are many issues where we as the

most important sector of the industry should

act united and have our interests represented

on a Pan European scale. These issues reach

from harmonizing authors rights companies

rates to security, standing strong when you

have national tax issues (such as recently

in Spain with the drastic increase in VAT on

tickets ), harmonizing Foreign Entertainment

Tax etc. GLP will support any effort in that

direction – maybe this can be brought up

again at next year’s ILMC?!

VIP-News: What are the next milestones

you’ve set for GLP?

– We are right now developing touring festival

concepts (like we did in the past – MASTERS

of SOUL, or the Tribute to BOB MARLEY

FESTIVAL tour). Last year we had the RTL Chart

tour with a 4-act-bill concept including KOOL

& THE GANG, CHIC feat Nile Rodgers, SISTER

SLEDGE and IMAGINATION. Similar to that

we are developing a touring festival that will

include some current EDM musicians joining

together with some of the classic acts.

We will bring to the road what is currently

hitting the charts (e.g. co-operations like

Nile Rodgers / Daft Punk or George Clinton /

Rudimental ).

I am looking forward to some exciting times

ahead!




Anne Frank Alsted [email protected]

Rikke Øxner

Aarhus City Festival has hired 50-year-old Rikke Øxner as their new

director. She joins in October replacing Jens Folmer Jepsen, who has

headed the Aarhus City Festival for nine seasons. Rikke Øxner has

a very experienced and recognized cultural profile after 20 years at

Roskilde Festival, where she has over the last several years, been part

of the leadership team, as head of booking and artistic director.

She still lives in Copenhagen, but is moving to Aarhus soon. “I

must have my base here and have the city under my skin and I can

only do that if I live here”, she says. “Both Roskilde Festival and

the Aarhus City Festival are about doing events in a defined area.

At Roskilde Festival, we had a great field where we had to create

something, and here we have an urban space that we need to put

in play”, she says.

She will not transform the festival week and shake all the traditions:

“I have no ambition to turn the city festival into a music festival, but

I have many, many ideas”, she says. She will not concretize her vision

before the upcoming festival week is held and she starts the new job.

Rikke Øxner has been hired on a four-year contract. Her first task

will be to help to hire a new head of administration for the festival

week. Aarhus Festival was first held in September 1965. Last year the

festival week had 500,000 visitors.

RIKKE ØXNER NEW DIRECTOR AT AARHUS CITY FESTIVAL

MEGAFORCE

A concert without our stage is like a body without a soul

WWW.MEGAFORCE.DEMegaforce Veranstaltungs GmbH

Jöhlinger Straße 118D-76356 Weingarten

Phone: +49 7244/7202-0Fax: +497244/7202-22Mail: [email protected]

The Tennessee Whiskey brand Jack Daniel’s has launched an initiative

supporting some of the UK’s independent small venues. Jack Daniel’s

will team up with venues across the country to host regular events

featuring both up and coming talent and established acts.

It is third time Jack Daniel’s up-weighted its music budgets and it now

represents 30% of the whiskey brand’s total spend on marketing .

Jack Daniel’s senior brand manager, Michael Boaler, says:

“Independent venues such as the Southampton Joiners and the

Brighton Joker are essential to every new band’s development,

playing the small venue circuit is how you learn your trade. From

a fan’s point of view it’s about those real memorable moments,

discovering ‘that band’ playing to a handful of people before going

on to headline Glastonbur y years later.”

“That’s why we think it’s important to support and put a spotlightn on

these places by creating an initiative dedicated to smaller, independent

live music venues as part of our music plan – we really hope that our

Jack Rocks nights help the venues to continue the great work they’re

doing whilst discovering some top notch new bands along the way.”


Go online - www.vip-booking.com

Need to know who is touring Europe? ®

vip-booking.com

ARTIST AVAILSSee/Add more Artist Avails at VIP-Booking.com

Bo Kaspers Orkester

BANCO DE GAIATerritory: World incl. USAPeriod: May 2015 onwardsAgency: Value Added TalentAgent: Dan SilverPhone: +44 2077049720E-mail: [email protected]

Noel Gallagher`s High Flying BirdsTerritory: EuropePeriod: 2015Agency: Primary Talent InternationalAgent: Ben WinchesterPhone: +44 20 7400 4500E-mail: [email protected]

The “Original” Blues Brothers Band Territory: EuropePeriod: on request, May - August 2016Agency: BasitoursAgent: Peter BaslerPhone: +41 79 7692393E-mail: [email protected]/artist/original_blues_brothers_band

Placido Domingo Jr.Territory: World TourPeriod: July 2015 - July 2016Agency: TotalisimoAgent: Manuel Villegas Phone: 0034670666023E-mail: [email protected]/en/artists/placidodomingojr.html

Basement JaxxTerritory: EuropePeriod: 2015Agency: Primary Talent InternationalAgent: Peter EilliotPhone: +44 20 7400 4500E-mail: [email protected]/basement-jaxx/

Dionne Warwick Territory: WorldwidePeriod: 2016Agency: World Entertainment Associates of America, Inc.Agent: John RegnaPhone: +1 4079934000E-mail: [email protected]

Dionne Warwick

Chris Thompson (Ex-Manfred Mann’s Earth Band)Territory: WorldPeriod: available all year on requestAgency: Live Concept Entertainment GmbHAgent: Michael WidmannPhone: +49-7203-9219180E-mail: [email protected]

Bo Kaspers Orkester Territory: World widePeriod: By requestAgency: Lifeline EntertainmentAgent: Michael HenrikssonPhone: + 46 70 632 00 23E-mail: [email protected]

SandroTerritory: World TourPeriod: July 2015 - July 2016Agency: TotalisimoAgent: Manuel Villegas Phone: 0034670666023E-mail: [email protected]/en/djs/sandro.html

Alan Parsons Live Project Territory: WorldwidePeriod: 2016Agency: World Entertainment Associates of America, Inc.Agent: John RegnaPhone: +1 4079934000E-mail: [email protected]

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vip magazine #17 2015

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