vip-news may 2010
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PreMIuM ›› VOl. 125 ›› MAY 2010
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Since the last News I have dined on very fresh fish on a mountaintop and eaten even fresher seafood in a restaurant in a fjord on a small island accessible only by boat. It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it! All will be explained in the Ber-genfest/Summer Sundae report in this issue. My trip to Norway was marred only by slight worries about the possibility of volcanic ash clouds grounding flights, but all was well. For the second music business event of May, I had no such travel anxie-ties, as the business came to me! For the fifth year running I was gracious enough to allow The Great Escape to take place in my home town – city actually – of Brighton. In truth they didn’t ask me they just turned up, but as you will read in this issue they did ask me to chair a couple of panels, and it would have been churlish to refuse!
For once the sun came out to greet bands and business from all over. Having arranged meetings with Noorderslag/Eurosonic, The Reeperbahn Festival, MaMA, the new event planned for Paris this October, and the Swiss Music Export Office, amongst others, an outside table at a the pub across the road from the event’s headquarters be-came the ideal place to relocate my office for a couple of days! Most people were very taken with Brighton, and it appeared that
some of them even liked the sight and the sound of the seagulls – there’s no account-ing for taste! At one point it seemed that my modest dwelling (with a view of the sea!) was going to be overrun by stranded international music business people when it was announced that UK airports were being closed on the Sunday. This was not helped by train companies that, even in the middle of the Brighton Arts Festival, the second biggest in the UK, never mind The Great Escape, are unable to run a full service, substituting clapped out buses for part of the journey to Gatwick Airport and beyond, still in the end everyone managed to get home, and my mate Ken the taxi driver did very well!
An interesting sub-text to the Live Nation and Ticketmaster merger concerns rock
singer Axel Rose of Guns ‘n’ Roses fame. In a dispute over management royalties he is counter-suing the man who could arguably be considered the most pow-erful man in the music business, his ex-manager Irving Azoff, now the Chairman of Live Nation Entertainment, and still boss of Front Line Management, which looks after 200 top artists from the Ea-gles, Van Halen and Christina Aguilera to Willie Nelson and the Kings of Leon. Axel wants $5 million in damages from Azoff, and has included in his suit, amongst many other things I’m sure, an accusation that by coercing and bullying artists he is in violation of the government decree which granted consent for the merger to go ahead. I can’t really see it happening, but as there are many concert companies who expect to be at the very least, shall we say, overshadowed, by the live music giant, it would be remarkable to see the US Government withdraw merger permis-sion on the grounds of bullying!
So – talking of monsters, volcanic ash and the worrying prospects of new eruptions permitting, particularly as I am heading in that direction, I will be reporting back from Inverness and Loch Ness next month, as I will be attending Go North. For now I wish you all well and … here is the News!
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Last month Micki Pick and business part-
ners Daniel Czichopad and Georg Schmitz-
Behrenz celebrated the 20th anniversary of
their venue, Live Music Hall. The 1.800 ca-
pacity venue is located in Cologne Ehren-
feld and is equally well known nationally.
In 2004 the business partners of Live Music
Hall also took over the concert club The Un-
derground, a smaller concert club with two
rooms, one for 400 and one 200 persons.
Micki Pick (53) is well known in the concert
business. He started in the music business
as an agent, working for acts such as the
Phantom Band with Jaki Liebezeit, the bass
player of Can, and Helmut Zerlett the key-
board player, who later became popular as
the band leader for the late night show of
Harald Schmidt, a German adaptation of
the Jay Leno TV show in the US.
Over the years Pick continued to work
as an agent. Currently he is setting up a
worldwide tour with Swiss Electro pio-
neers Yello. VIP-News talked with Pick
about the difficulties for local promoters,
offers from abroad and the level of today’s
ticket prices.
VIP-News: How were these 20 years for the Live Music Hall in Cologne?
Micki Pick: Up and downs. The beginning
was amazing, a lot of surprises. During the
20 years we saw a lot of shows, parties and
I suppose after a while we just found our
way.
VIP-News: Did you need to invest a lot in refurnishing the location and improving PA and Lights?
Pick: Every five years we changed things
like the backstage facilities and decoration
in the venue we use for our party and disco
events. We changed a lot of things espe-
cially regarding the sound and lighting sys-
tem. We don’t have an option of not doing
it because after a while you simply have to
do it. It is not a question of if we want, we
simply have to do it. So we changed the
sound company and right now I guess we
have a really nice sound.
VIP-News: Is it the artists or the audience who really require and demand this?
Pick: Actually it’s both. You get a good vibe
and good feedback from the audience and
the artists. They come in and say “Wow
what’s happened here? You changed things
and the sound is much better”.
VIP-News: When it comes to the business for local promoters in the Cologne area what has changed in the last, let’s say one and a half or two years? Did you see any major changes?
Pick: Oh yes. Things changed because we
have more clubs, particularly in the area
of Cologne-Ehrenfeld. In the early days
we started here almost alone and noth-
ing else was happening around our venue.
But right now there are six, seven clubs if
it’s rock or electronic or whatever. There
are more and more people coming. That
is good because everybody is doing his
or her thing and this is really positive. The
more clubs there are the better it is.
VIP-News: So you benefit from the compe-tition in your neighbourhood?
Pick: It is good that we have competition.
I wish we would even have ten clubs next
to us. It is good because in this case Live
Musik Hall and our affiliate venue The Un-
derground benefit from so much going
on in the neighbourhood. We are very
happy with the results due to this devel-
opment.
VIP-News: When it comes to ticketing, what kind of changes have you seen within the last couple of years in the market?
20 Years of live Music HallManfred Tari [email protected]
Live Music Hall - Cologne
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Pick: Well, a lot of promoters hire the Live
Music Hall. So I can’t tell you really much
about their situation. When we are doing
our own shows I would say nothing has
changed a lot because the settings have
been in place for so long. We are selling
our tickets through Köln Ticket, and in
this case we haven’t found anything new
or changed.
VIP-News: Isn’t there a development in terms of the consumer behaviour? It is still the case that most shows sell out in advance or is there something like a re-turn of the box office walk-up to be seen?
»Selling tickets in advance is the main thing and selling tickets at
the door seems to belong toa long time ago...«
- Micki Pick
Pick: No. Selling tickets in advance is the
main thing and selling tickets at the door
seems to belong to a long time ago, even
for Reggae and Electronic Music events.
Even these types of audience now buy
their a tickets long time in advance.
VIP-News: Today there are ticket opera-tors such as Smartticket or Ticketskript, which offer their services to venues to sell tickets directly. Would that also be a solution for the Live Music Hall or do you prefer that tickets are available via the big networks like CTS Eventim or Ticket-master?
Pick: There are still companies that make
us offers to sell tickets for the Live Music
Hall but we don’t want to do it. We are still
handling the ticketing with Köln Ticket
because it is much easier for us.
VIP-News: In the past, correct me if I’m wrong, you also promoted many more shows yourself. Doesn’t this make more sense for you?
Pick: No, we don’t want to do more our-
selves. Of course we promote shows but
we rather prefer to promote parties and
disco events, which are linked with a far
lower risk. The fees and production costs
for concerts went up and I believe it oc-
casionally doesn’t make sense to pay so
much money. Other colleagues should do
so if they want to do. I’m already happy
when we supply them with the venue and
I very much hope that they’re happy with
the venue too.
VIP-News: What’s your view on increased fees and production expenses then?
Pick: My experience is that the fee and
the whole production costs are much too
high. But it wouldn’t change anything
because you have always somebody, an
agent or promoter who is willing to pay
the requested fee. Because even if nine
promoters say we don’t agree to pay so
much money you will find one, the tenth,
who will say “Yes, I’ll pay it”. So, the agent
is in a very nice position when he ap-
proaches local promoters and says “make
me an offer with a ‘like whatever’ guaran-
tee fee and if a local promoter says ‘No’
they will go to the next one, to the third,
fourth or whoever. Someone will say yes
and is going to pay it.
VIP-News: Do you also get offers for art-ists or shows from agents outside of Ger-many for instance?
Pick: Yes, we get offer from offers from
UK agencies, not only once or twice, but
indeed very often, even for arena shows.
We tell them, “No way, we don’t agree to
pay a one hundred or two hundred or
three hundred thousand fee”. It does not
make sense for us to bear such big risks.
VIP-News: Did something like this already take place in the past?
Pick: Yes, of course, it’s happened.
VIP-News: Is there an increase or is it pret-ty much the same number of agents that
come to you with direct offers for shows concerts?
Pick: It is more less the same. I mean ac-
tually I’m convinced they tried before
somewhere else. Because somebody says
no way, they come to us and to sell their
act to us. But I’m sure that I wasn’t the first
one they approached.
VIP-News: What’s your impression of the level of prices for tickets?Pick: I guess for club shows they’re ok,
but outside the club circuit in particular
on the arena level it is too much, too high.
But you see the result. I mean club shows
are very often sold out. If you take a look
on shows with a capacity of ten thousand
and more they’re very often not sold out
and I suspect they’re even losing the
money.
VIP-News: Do you expect that what is happening on the top level in this indus-try may also sooner or later affect the club business?
Pick: No, I guess the club business will
always be like twenty years ago because
this is where the concert business begins.
If it’s a club for 100 people or for 1000
people it doesn’t matter, this is the first
step to coming to see a live show and this
is what the people like, small venues and
I expect nothing will change on this level.
It was twenty years ago the same, ten
years ago, it is still the same today and in
ten years it’ll be the same.
VIP-News: So what are the plans for the Live Music Hall in the near future?
Pick: Well, to do as many shows as we can
and of course parties and disco events.
This is the basis of or our business and
this how we are earn our money, so noth-
ing will change a lot. Sometimes we have
a month with more shows and a month
later with fewer shows. But on the week-
end on Fridays, Saturdays when we have
party events it is always the same; we al-
ways have a full house.
VIP-News: Well done and good luck for the next 20 years.
Pick: Thank you very much.Micki Pick, Georg Schmitz-Behrenz and
Daniel Czichopad
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60 hours live broadcast on Radio, TV and
the Web.
For the 25th anniversary of Rock Am Ring
public station Suedwestrundfunk will ex-
pand its engagement and devote tri-me-
dial coverage to the Rock am Ring Festival.
In particular the radio station SWR3 will run
a ‘Festivalradio’ within its regular program-
ming and on SRW3.de, the tri-medial youth
format DasDing will feature the event via
TV, Radio and Online, while the TV-Outlet
SWR will screen concert recordings.
The total amount of TV coverage adds up
to 30 hours. EinsPlus which is part of the
digital TV channel outlet of the public sta-
tion network ARD will screen live concerts
from June 3to 6. The TV-coverage is dedi-
cated to the Alternastage of Rock Am Ring.
The ARD-affiliated station Suedwestfunk
will act as the lead station and provide the
recording facilities for the media coverage.
As well as the concert recordings on the
Alternastage which features acts includ-
ing Jan Delay & Disko Nr.1, Editors, Kate
Nash, Mötorhead, Slayer, Them Crooked
Vultures and The Hives, the station will
show interview features and background
reports with artists and celebrities and the
promoters.
SRW3, the Suedwestrundfunk radio outlet
announced the broadcast of 60 hours live
from the festival on an extra frequency
While the coverage by the public station
is reserved to Alternastage, commercial
station MTV will screen some shows from
the Rock Am Ring Centre Stage, but at the
time of asking the MTV press office had no
details concerning the acts to be featured.
einsPlus expands rock Am ring Media CoverageAllan McGowan [email protected]
Rock Am Ring festival
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The European Festival Association
YOUROPE has taken the lead in health
and safety issues and has delivered semi-
nars throughout Europe over the past
ten years. Now integrated with the ILMC
Safety Focus Group, the YOUROPE Event
Safety group (YES) will continue this mis-
sion and act as a catalyst in the context of
event safety, crowd management and as-
sociated disciplines.
The non-profit group will facilitate part-
ners across Europe to engage in dialogue
and activities, which support the devel-
opment of best practice at events. The
group has a vision to enhance the knowl-
edge of, and enable participation in, the
support of initiatives, which continually
strive to create safer event environments
in Europe.
The focus of the group is on the
following areas;
Crowd Management •
Health & Safety •
Event Security •
Risk Assessment, Analysis and •
Management
Systems and Procedures •
Business Continuity •
Disaster Management•
Through an active approach to the subject
and support from agencies and event busi-
nesses, the Group intends to support the
development of a generic safety culture
through the following aims and objectives:
To encourage dialogue related to health
and safety, crowd management and as-
sociated disciplines at events through con-
ferences, projects and other forms
To create a forum through which existing
knowledge can be shared by the widest
possible audience
To create new knowledge through projects
based in the live event environment and
through academic approaches
To encourage knowledge exchange/trans-
fer and the dissemination of best practice
from existing events to others
To make Governmental Organisations
aware where conflicting practices or con-
fusing legislation have been identified
To seek funding for individual projects
through the network of industrial partners
and organisations
To create original data in an available for-
mat accessible easily by those working in
events across Europe
To identify and discuss issues pertinent to
the event environment
Over the last ten years the group has
delivered seminars throughout Europe
focusing on the real issues on health and
safety at concerts. The group in partner-
ship with industry and education re-
ceived funding from the European Coun-
cil for Health and Safety to create a health
and safety database for those working at
events to enable them to use good prac-
tice to help them develop and deliver risk
assessment, safety procedures and view
and utilise a range of tools including job
descriptions and guidance from across
Europe.
Presently the group is working on a range
of activities and focusing on show stop
procedures, new configurations of event
venues and topics such as weather and
unusual conditions at events. Whenever
issues occur the group makes it possible
for those at events to discuss these in de-
tail, learn and then apply good practice to
their own events.
Headed up by Chris Kemp from Bucks New
University the seminars and workshops
have already had a big impact on YOUROPE
and have taken place across Europe in Gro-
ningen, Berlin and Great Missenden. There
are two seminars a year. The first exclusive-
ly for YOUROPE members and the second
is opened up to a wider audience from a
range of disciplines working at events and
festivals.
One of the main focuses of the group is to
make as much progress as possible in stop-
ping deaths and injury at events. The use
of Roskilde as a model has been very useful
for this and in conjunction with Bucks New
University a series of research projects have
been carried out trialled firstly at Roskilde
and then pushed out into a range of fes-
tivals around Europe. The pressure barrier
study, questionnaires on health and safety
and most recently the pressure suit project
have all followed this pattern. A new edu-
cation course for those at events is current-
ly being developed and will be available to
YOUROPE members in September.
The next seminar on September 23/24,
2010 during the Reeperbahn Festival in
Hamburg/Germany promises an exciting
and progressive programme and we hope
to attract as many members as possible to
share ideas and knowledge in the develop-
ment of practical health and safety cultures
across the festival arena.
About YOurOPe:
YOUROPE was founded in November
1998. The association currently has over
60 members which are among the most
well established festivals in Europe. All
YOUROPE’s members are dedicated to
improving the European festival scene in
terms of working conditions, health and
safety music talent. The overall aim of the
association is to collaborate and share best
practice, and to pinpoint areas that would
benefit from a joint approach. YOUROPE is
founding partner of the European Talent
Exchange Program www.etep.nl and the
live music lobby European Live Music Fo-
rum www.elmf.eu
Contacts:
For more information about The Yourope
Event Safety Group - The YES Group, please
contact Professor Chris Kemp Executive
Dean, The Faculty of Design, Media & Man-
agement Buckinghamshire New University
Yourope Takes A lead on event Health and safetyAllan McGowan [email protected]
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Elsewhere in this issue festival news has
been very upbeat – in the Great Escape ar-
ticle we refer to the PRS for Music findings
that the festival sector was responsible for
a large percentage of the 2009 growth in
live revenue, and the Bergenfest, Summer
Sundae link up has got the festival twin-
ning project off to a very good start.
But not all events are experiencing good
times and much as we have talked about
the support of local authorities for events,
the police can still decide to forbid a festival
taking place, even if there is local authority
support. Lawyer Ben Challis finds this wor-
rying and alerted VIP-News about the can-
cellation of The Glade Festival. Amongst
other things Ben acts as General Counsel
for the Glastonbury Festival and helped
found non-profit organisation A Greener
Festival with the aim of encouraging mu-
sic festivals to adopt environmentally con-
scious initiatives. He also pointed out other
events that have become casualties in simi-
lar circumstances, such as Moonfest 2008,
and this year’s Strawberry Fayre.
The Glade Festival scheduled for what
would have been its 7th edition on July
15-18 this year at Matterly Bowl near Win-
chester has been cancelled, even though,
as organiser Nick Ladd states, “The Police
themselves said that the Glade 2009 was ‘a
well run event with low crime figures’. The
local council was in full support of the event
and the local people were in and almost 2
to 1 majority support of it but the police still
tried to stop it. Ticket sales weren’t strong
but they weren’t that bad either – the thing
that tipped us into cancelling was the fact
that at police and licensing authority insist-
ence we had to spend a total of £310,000 on
stewards security and policing. That’s more
than we spend on music. The police bill
alone had gone up from £29.000 in 2009 to
£90,000 this year.”
The Glade Festival, started out as a stage
at Glastonbury Festival in 2001 aiming to
provide a dedicated underground elec-
tronic music stage for the best of non-
mainstream dance music within Glaston-
bury.
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Glade Festival CancelledAllan McGowan [email protected]
Ben Challis
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(Glade will continue to host this stage.) In
late 2003, after a combination of a series
of free parties being stopped by the police
and the fact that the Glade at Glastonbury
was such a success, the idea to bring the
often unlicensed free party vibe under
the umbrella of a proper music festival. In
July 2004 the idea came to fruition, and it
worked. In 2009 Glade moved to Matter-
ley Bowl to present what was considered
the best ever edition. Hopes were high for
2010, but things didn’t work out.
Nick ladd continues, “It’s difficult because
the vast majority of policemen and women
we come into contact with are really good
people but somewhere at decision making
level there are people who really couldn’t
care less about cultural diversity, art or mu-
sic. What they are interested in is numbers
on a spreadsheet and how they are gonna’
look personally at the end of the year, based
on those figures. I don’t see how that is serv-
ing the public interest in any way at all. I
think they need to be reminded that life is
for enjoying as well as being safe and free
from crime.”
There is an official statement regarding the
cancellation and ticket refunds at:
www.gladefestival.com
Nick Ladd concludes, “The communities
and families behind the Glade are still strong
and there is nothing but love for the event;
that’s not just gonna’ go away. First we’re
gonna’ get through this latest chapter and
then we’ll go from there.”
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The Glade Festival cancelled
8
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Visiting Bergenfest for the festival’s first
edition as the ‘twin’ of Leicester’s Summer
Sundae event, we journalists could not
have received better hospitality from the
organisers or from the Norwegian City.
Leicester will have to look to its laurels
when returning the favour to a Bergen
delegation! But how does a city in the mid-
lands of the UK find activities to compare
with lunch on a mountain top accessed by
cable car with – when the clouds cleared
– a more than spectacular view, and an-
other lunch at a restaurant accessible only
by boat, which cultivates its own seafood?
Coda’s Rob Challice and his Summer Sun-
dae team, and the Leicester City Council
are, I’m sure, working on it!
If the Association of Independent Festivals
idea of twinning international festivals is to
work then the local authorities must offer
support, after all the tourism opportuni-
ties are obvious, and who knows what oth-
er cooperation’s may evolve. After years of
initial disapproval, followed by grudging
tolerance, followed by a realisation of just
how much in both economic and cultural
terms, a festival brought to various loca-
tions, national, city and regional authori-
ties have in many cases come to realise
that festivals are quantifiable assets, and
that they should work with, rather than
restrict, the organisers. The report on The
Great Escape elsewhere in this issue in-
cludes a message of support from a city
Council representative. Some realised the
worth of these events earlier than others.
Frode Aasheim, Manager of the Bergen
Convention Bureau, part of the Bergen
Tourist Board, told VIP-News, “Bergen-
fest started in 1993, and is now one of the
leading music festivals in Norway. The fes-
tival has during the years made the city of
Bergen highly visible on the musical scene,
both nationally and internationally. The
festival received the Prize of Honour from
Bergen Tourist Board in 2001 for ‘Excellent
Marketing of Bergen’, and I am sure that the
twinning of Bergenfest and Summer Sun-
dae, not only will strengthen both festivals
in the years to come, but also further con-
tribute to promote our city as an exciting
and popular destination for cultural events.
We highly appreciate it and are looking for-
ward to working even closer with Bergenfest
in the future.”
Bergenfest promoter Frank Nes was equal-
ly as hospitable as the City, and concerned
himself with all aspects of our promotional
visit.
VIP-News spoke to him about the event,
his relationship with the City, and his year
round business:
Frank Nes: We do all year round promo-
tions through a company called Bergen
Live www.bergenlive.no, a company with
six employees which promotes shows
in Bergen. This company also has a man-
agement agreement with the foundation
that promotes Bergenfest. Bergen Live
promotes some 45-50 shows a year. Over
the last few years we have sold between
135.000 – 145.000 tickets per year for the
Bergen Live promoted shows. In addition
Bergenfest attracts about 35.000 punt-
ers yearly (the festival is presented over 5
days – this year April 27 – May 2.). Bergen’s
population is approximately 250.000, thus
a large chuck of the city’s population at-
tend shows.
VIP-News: When and how did you start promoting, and what acts have you have worked with over the years?
Nes: I started with concert promotions as a
student in the early nineties at a club then
called Maxime. Then, for ten years I worked
with Bergenfest as a part time employee
along with being head of the western Nor-
wegian branch office for Norway’s fiction
writers. In 2001 I joined Stageway, then
the largest artist management and agency
in Norway, and worked with concert pro-
motions and artist management. From
2003 onwards I have worked full time with
Bergen Live and Bergenfest. Acts I have
worked with are as diverse as they can be,
I guess. With Bergenfest we present just
about any type of musical genre you can
think of. (This is true, on this visit to Ber-
genfest I saw Randy Newman, The Resi-
dents (very strange!) The New York Dolls,
Femi Kuti and various rock acts – very
eclectic! – Ed.) This is also the strength of
the festival. Acts include everything from
Robert Plant, Neil Young and Nick Cave to
seminal world music and folk acts.
With Bergen Live we have promoted acts
such as The Rolling Stones, Metallica,
Bruce Springsteen and Foo Fighters at the
main open air venue Bergenhus Festning –
a 22.000 capacity medieval fortress in the
middle of the city - but we also do small
club shows with artists like Jackie Leven
and The Handsome Family, to name a few.
We pride ourselves in treating the artists
and our audience in such a manner that
they leave our show and Bergen wanting
to come back. It’s as easy as that, really. Be-
ing a local promoter is basically being able
to supply the goods all the way through
the supply chain, and you must acknowl-
edge that everyone is important to make a
show a success.
VIP-News: Has the City always been as supportive as it now appears to be? How’s the competition - is Live Nation a worry to you?
Bergenfest – The First of The Festival TwinsAllan McGowan [email protected]
Frode Aasheim, Manager of the Bergen Convention Bureau
Bergenfest
9
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VIP- News - M a y 2 0 1 0
Nes: The City’s support has grown along
with our own development as a promoter,
i.e. bringing bigger artists to Bergen has
opened the City’s eyes to the importance
of having a local promoter such as Bergen
Live and Bergenfest. The Bergen people
pride themselves in standing out from
the rest of our countrymen and our rela-
tive success with bringing big name acts
to Bergen and making Bergenfest into one
of Norway’s best festivals certainly adds to
the pride of being from Bergen.
As for Live Nation, we do a lot of shows with
them, most of our big shows are co-promo-
tions with Live Nation in Oslo and without
Rune Lem and his team we would never
have made it this far with Bergen Live. The
Norwegian market is pretty transparent
and even though Live Nation is the biggest
player in our country it is my impression
that the market works pretty well and there
is a place for everyone. We work with all the
agencies that can bring talent to Bergen.
summer sundae:
Bergenfest and Leicester’s Summer Sun-
dae are similar in as much as they present
a range of genres and are staged in the
centre of the city, the Norwegian event
uses 10 indoor venues of varying size and
the Leicester festival takes place in the De
Montfort Hall and on outdoor stages in the
surrounding gardens. Organiser Rob Chal-
lice of Coda Agency took a distinctly hands
on approach to promotion on the Bergen
trip! – (See photo) This year’s tenth edition
of Summer Sundae includes, Seasick Steve,
Tinchy Stryder and Mumford & Sons, over
three days, August 13-15.
Not to be outdone by Bergen’s comments
on supporting the festival Tess Booth of
One Leicester Marketing told us, “When
I heard that Leicester’s Summer Sundae
Weekender was to be twinned with Ber-
genfest - I thought what a great idea!
Leicester is well known for its many festi-
vals throughout the year - with Summer
Sundae Weekender now in it’s tenth year it
is recognised as a key event in the calendar
both locally and nationally. I really believe
twinning with Bergenfest will encourage
continued friendship, understanding and
mutual benefit between people across
Europe. Leicester is a very continental city,
so we encourage visitors who have just vis-
ited Bergenfest to come over and experi-
ence the delights of our Summer Sundae
Weekender at Leicester’s De Montfort Hall
- we know they’ll be impressed!”
VIP-BOOKING.COM THE VIP-BOOK VIP-NEWS
Having the right tools for the job is often the key to success. Through our ongoing communication with key Live
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??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????? ???? ????????? ???? ???? ???? ??????????????? ????????? ????????????? ??????? ????? ???? ????????????? ???? ??????????? ???? ??????? ?????????? ???????????????? ????? ??????? ?????? ????????? ??? ?????????? ???????? ??????? ??????? ????? ??????? ??? ?????? ?????? ????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???? ??? ????? ???? ????????????? ???????? ???????? ????? ??????? ???????? ???????? ???????? ??????? ???? ??????? ???????????????????????????????????????? ????????? ????? ???????? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
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???? ??????? ??? ???? ??????????? ??? ?????????? ???? ???????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????? ?????? ????? ??? ??????????????? ???????????????????? ??????? ???????? ????? ?? ???????? ??????? ?? ????? ??? ??? ???? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
?????????? ??????? ?????? ???? ???? ??????? ?????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??? ????? ???? ????????? ????? ????? ??????? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
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Bergen, Norway
10
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Conference registrationsThe conference registrations for EuroSonic Noorderslag are now available. The early bird registration is available till 18th of June 2010.
Artist submissionsShowcase applications are available through www.eurosonicnoorderslag.nl and www.sonicbids.com.Deadline for application is 1st of September 2010
www.euroSonic-noorderSlag.nl
The 2011 ediTion is my 25Th birThdAy! Are you Coming To my pArTy?
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euroSonicnoorderSlag
25th Anniversary edition - focus on The netherlands
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The European Border Breaker Awards&The European Festival Awards
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VIP- News - M a y 2 0 1 0
The Great Escape music convention and
festival took place by the sea in from
Thursday 13th - Saturday 15th May. Groove
Armada closed the festival playing to ca-
pacity crowd at Brighton’s Corn Exchange.
According to the organizers, this fifth edi-
tion attracted a record-breaking 16,000
ticket buying fans and music industry ex-
ecutives to the Brighton during the City’s
month long Arts Festival, to see 300 up
and coming acts from around the world
playing at over 30 venues, and a full pro-
gramme of panel discussions and talks
featuring speakers from the global music
business.
The Great Escape has not been particu-
larly fortunate with the weather for pre-
vious editions, it seemed that, as is often
the case with traveling fun-fairs, the event
inevitably brought rain and wind with it.
However, although the evenings turned
cold, 2010 was the year that the sun decid-
ed to shine on The Great Escape. Through-
out the sunny days it appeared that there
were bands playing in every available
space, on tops of bars, on the beach, in the
streets, and in the case of The King Blues
in the sewer system under Brighton Pier –
talk about getting down and dirty!
As usual with so many acts to see it was as
much about what you missed as what you
saw and everybody seemed to have their
own, ‘you should have seen…’ report. Of
those that I saw, LA all girl band Warpaint
will be big, and although being added at
the last minute, resulting in a small crowd,
Holland’s De Staadt were really worth see-
ing. Although UK acts were in the majority
there was a strong international element,
with Australians ( I missed their BBQ!) and
Canadians alongside European acts.
Conference:
The 3-day programme of talks, Q&As, de-
bates and networking events were hosted
by PRS for Music, we:LIVE and Music Ally.
Interesting talks included Great Escape
co-founder Martin Elbourne discussed the
emerging Indian market with last year’s
Young Entrepreneur Award winner Vijay
Nair and CODA’s Rob Challice interview-
ing Tom Windish founder of the Windish
Agency in the US. Amongst other points I
was interested to hear that Windish’s com-
pany had been investigating and begin-
ning to work with alternative venues and
spaces for their artist’s such as Museums.
The agent’s role is still the most traditional
and basically unchanged in an increas-
ingly volatile music business, and it’s good
to see some imagination being applied in
this sector.
New Figures for live:
Focusing, as VIP-News and I tend to, on
the live business I attended the ‘What is
Driving the Boom in Live [Music]?’ session
presented by PRS for Music economist and
statistician, Will Page. On the first day he
presented an overview of the live music
sector in a very well attended Pavilion The-
atre. At ILMC 21 in 2009, Page announced
that live had started to outperform the re-
corded music sector in terms of revenues
in 2008, and according to his team’s stats,
2009 saw revenues up an inflation beat-
ing 4%. Primary ticket sales were up 3.4%
while, according to ticketing stats people
Tixdaq, the secondary ticketing sector saw
its revenues shoot up 15%.
Page told TGE delegates: “The UK live music
industry continues to exceed expectations,
especially during an economic downturn.
In a week when it was shown that recorded
music revenues [according to BPI stats] may
be starting to turn a corner, it’s important
to ‘follow the money’ and appreciate the
The sun shines on The Great escapeAllan McGowan [email protected]
The Great Escape
The Great EscapeThe Great Escape
12
VIP-BOOKING.COM
12
VIP- News - M a y 2 0 1 0
consumers insatiable appetite for live mu-
sic, with more bands and more tickets than
ever before. It’s fascinating to consider that
events-based industries such as live music
have succeeded in growing their overall pie,
whilst so much of the digital media debate is
about cannibalisation”.
However as has been noted at ILMC 22 and
in various reports, there are still problems
with the small, ‘start-up’, and mid level
venues and businesses accounting for just
10% of revenue. The festivals sector ac-
counted for 20% of revenues and most of
the growth in 2009, with another 20% go-
ing to middle-sized venues leaving nearly
50% of live revenues being generated in
stadium and arena venues.
live Panels:
The Saturday sessions in the Pavilion The-
atre were devoted to live industry topics
with the day being hosted by promoter
and venue association we:LIVE. The first
panel, chaired by association founder
Dominique Czopor dealt with noise, and
with the problems of venues being faced
with closure due to local complaints and
lack of support from local and national
authorities. The session produced some
results with A representative of the Noise
Abatement Society being given a lot of in-
formation to take back to digest concern-
ing issues venues and promoters face. Also
we:LIVE has been asked to speak at a con-
ference in London which will be running
workshops for Local Councils on noise on
the 16 September, in attendance will be
approx 200 EHOs Environmental Health
Officers) from around the country.WMF (
Welsh Music Foundation) are to team up
with NAS on Live Music Study, and will be
working with we:LIVE on the bringing the
new promoter qualification AMP (see last
issue of VIP-News) to promoters in Wales.
Brighton venue The Freebutt, currently
facing a Noise Abatement Notice are go-
ing to liaise with NAS, and also Brighton
Creative to hopefully secure some help
and advise.
The Delegate feedback was that the lack of
communication/understanding between
councils and promoters/venue owners/
festival organisers is at the heart of a lot
of the issues- we:LIVE hopes to work with
other music trade associations to lobby
the Government.The Great Escape
13
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13
VIP- News - M a y 2 0 1 0
A second session covered Independent
Festivals, looking at their relationships
with agents amongst other things. Steve
Zapp of ITB was refreshingly open on the
question od festivals wanting exclusive
appearances from his acts.
Two afternoon sessions were chaired by
your VIP-News Editor. The first, ‘The Next
Stage - New Approaches to Promoting’,
looked at changing roles for promot-
ers, with panellists Dominique Czopor
(we:LIVE), Steve Machin, ex of Tixdaq, now
MD of Stormcrowd, Dave Newton MD of
We Got Tickets, Juha Kyrro of Fullsteam
in Finland, and young promoters Callum
Negus-Fancey of Lets Go Crazy, promot-
ers of shows for under-age audiences and
Russ Tannen of London Venue The Old
Blue Last. The younger promoters gave
an insight into their business models and
promoting techniques, and discussion
focused on how the promoter defines his
role. Also how promoters are diversify-
ing revenue streams, but offering acts
more than simply a show, how promoters
engage with their audiences, and brand
deals.
»From now on, those of us that have been knocking around that little bit longer should
probably shut up about how “we remember it when it was
all fields round here”«
- Dave Newton
Dave Newton summed up the panel find-
ings, “I think that what came out of it for
me was that it was obvious that things had
changed significantly compared to, say 20 or
even 10 years ago with those now involved in
live shows all playing their part in the promo-
tion of the show as well as having direct regu-
lar communication with all the other parties
involved (including the artist in many cases).
The potential for the ‘fan’ to be an active part
of the promotional mix in a structured (and
possibly rewarded) way is possible to realise
with the distinction between the ‘fan’ and
the ‘customer’ being more clearly visible than
it was. However the change in this structure
is largely irrelevant as it was obvious from
the newer promoters on the panel and in the
room that they just viewed the landscape as
it was now and not in comparison to how it
used to me. Their approach is based on how
it is and not how it has changed. From now
on, those of us that have been knocking
around that little bit longer should probably
shut up about how “we remember it when it
was all fields round here”!
The title of the second panel was, ‘Who
Puts the Fun in Funding?, with Chris Carey
- Economist, PRS for Music, Lord Tim Clem-
ent-Jones – Liberal-Democrat spokesman
on Arts and culture in The House of Lords,
Gary McClarnan - Sparkle Street, Benji
Rogers - Pledge Music, Laura Whitticase
of the PRS Foundation, Pip McEvoy of UK
Trade and Investment, and Robert Hacker
Jessett of the band Morton Valence (UK):
The session kicked off with Chris Carey
giving a concise run down on the pres-
ent financial state of the music business,
in response to the question, ‘Is this still an
industry considered worth funding?!’ Hav-
ing established that the figures confirmed
that it definitely is, the ‘establishment’
representatives outlined what they have
available and how to make approaches.
UKTI talked about budgets, and gave an
overview of what they do, PRSF also did
the same discussing funding options.
Lord Tim Clement-Jones explained the
efforts he has made to ease the licens-
ing strictures on small venues in order,
amongst other things, to make it more
viable for them to be able to present and
even pay start up acts. He agreed that the
UK should move more towards the setting
up of a dedicated UK Export Music Office
to extend the work of UKTI and to explore
with Music UK ways of making sure that we
support the development of new artists to
retain our music industry’s leading posi-
tion in the future. Perhaps his party’s new
role in Government may help to make this
happen – eventually.
The Great Escape
The Great EscapeThe Great EscapeThe Great Escape
14
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14
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Pledge music really engaged the audience
with their fan –funding business model,
and discussed the importance of NOT
looking like you are begging for money!
Robert Hacker Jessett explained the fan
funding, or as he says crowd funding, of
their release, and discussed how it had
worked for them. Gary McClarnan looked at
legalities of funding by donation, and dis-
cussed various options for artists. (Gary later
suggested that a follow up session should
be, ‘How to put the ding! in funding’)
Strangely enough the stage was not
rushed by people with open hands or beg-
ging bowls, but notes were being taken
and it appears that the session engen-
dered some optimism and a realisation
that there are other doors to knock on if
the first one gets closed in your face!
As one might expect from a city that con-
tinually profiles itself as a centre for the
Arts, The Great Escape is supported and
encouraged by the local authorities. Don-
na Close of Brighton & Hove City Council
and Made In Brighton, commented, “ Once
again Brighton was delighted to host The
Great Escape offering up 3 days of excit-
ing new talent from around the world at
Europe’s most exciting festival and net-
working event for new music. We were
also delighted to have so many Brighton
based artists and acts on the bill as part of
our new Made In Brighton initiative.”
For further info on The Great Escape check
out www.escapegreat.com
The Great Escape
The Great Escape
15
VIP-BOOKING.COM
15
First quarter results underline growth-strategy.
In the first three months of 2010 CTS Eventim managed once
again to increase all relevant key positions. The turnover rose by
7.5 percent from 119 to 127.8 million Euros. The Earnings before In-
terests & Taxes (EBIT) rose 25.3 percent growing from 18.1 to 22.7
million Euro, the Earnings before Interests, Taxes, Depreciation
and Amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 23.8 percent from 20.2 to
25 million Euro.
According to CTS Eventim the growth, driven by the international
subsidiaries and online sales, was mainly within its Ticketing divi-
sion. The company sold 3.9 million tickets via the web compared
with 3.2 million tickets in Q1-2009. The turnover for the ticketing
segment of CTS Eventim before consolidation went up from 35.9
to 40.3 million Euro, the EBIT from 10.6 to12.3 million Euro, and the
EBITDA from 12.2 to 14.1 million Euros.
For the Live-Entertainment business segment the company even
achieved a new record for its Q1-results. Last year’s Q1- turnover
result was 83.9, this year it is 89.1 million Euro. The indicated EBIT
was 10.4 million Euro which is an increase of 38.1 percent com-
pared to 7.5 million Euro in Q1-2009. Also the EBITDA went up
36.2% from 8.0 to 10.9 million Euro.
The entire business report will be published on May 27. However,
the good results are currently not mirrored in the share price of
CTS Eventim. Impacted by the volatile situation on the financial
markets the share price is currently at 37.06 Euro. On April 7 the
share peaked at 40 Euros.
At the annual general assembly the shareholders approved pay
out of the highest dividend ever. In total the company distributes
19.9 million Euro which is an Earning Per Share (EPS) of 0.83 Euro.
Currently CTS Eventim has a share capital of 24 million shares. The
market capitalisation is 902 million Euro.
Once again Live Nation produces a loss.
Whilst due to the merger with Ticketmaster turnover rose 49.1%in
Q1-2010 from $484.9 million to $723.0 million, it’s the net loss of
$112 million ($0.76 per share) that burdens the company. For Q1-
2009 the net loss was $103 million or $1.29 per share.
Live Nation furthermore reported that the company had been
able to complete a refinancing measure worth $1.45 billion and
as a result had been able to improve its liquidity management.
Within the various segments of the company, Live Nation report-
ed a turnover decline for its Concerts division of minus 1.2 % from
$413.2 to $408.1 million. The turnover for its subsidiary Artist Na-
tion went up 66.4 % from $41.7 to $69.4 million, that of the Tick-
eting division jumped thanks to Ticketmaster from $9 to $208.9
million. The Sponsorship division also gained and went up 10.4 %
from $19.2 to $21.2 million, E-Commerce revenue leapt from $1.8
to $18.1 million.
Michael Rapino, CEO and president of the company was quoted in
the business report as saying: “We remain on track in eliminating
redundancies and driving a minimum of $40 million in merger syn-
ergies across our operations in 2010. In addition, we believe that our
recently closed debt refinancing will further improve our financial
position by providing operating benefits through a simplified capi-
tal structure and substantially improved liquidity. Our core concert
and ticketing businesses are entering the busiest time of the year
and show count and ticket sales globally remain on track to achieve
our plan for 2010.”
Live Nation reported long term debts of $1,526.8 million. Since
the beginning of May the share went down from $15.83 to $12.83.
Currently Live Nation has a market capitalisation of $851,79 mil-
lion (690 million Euro) lower than the CTS Eventim figure of 902
million Euro.
Business NewsManfred Tari [email protected]
VIP- News - M a y 2 0 1 0
Oops, CTs eventim did it again!
Oops, live Nation did it again!
Michael Rapino - CEO Live Nation
VIP-BOOKING.COM
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Fischer-ZTerritory: EuropePeriod: 01/07/2010 - 31/12/2010Agency: Artist AgencyAgent: Bart QuintensPhone: +32 1677 7670E-mail: [email protected]: www.artistagency.be
sass JordanTerritory: EuropePeriod: November 2010Agency: Paperclip AgencyAgent: Hilde SpillePhone: +31 24 323 9322E-mail: [email protected]: www.paperclip-agency.com
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EARLY biRD tickets available until 31st May – register until 31st May and save
33% off the normal price!
Register now and get your ticket for 156 Euro instead of 236 Euro and get
full access to:
B2B marketplace from 8 to 10.09., networking events, Jazzkomm, Berlin Music
Week Congress powered by a2n, Popkomm opening party incl. New Music
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Popkomm GmbH
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Tel. +49 (0)30 3038 3009
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notiCe board ››
Another new service in the improved and redesigned viP-News is the Notice-board, which is available for all readers. Reader’s messages will be posted on the Notice-board as a free service, passing on announcements, job postings, buying and selling notices, inquiries or alike. Announcements should be emailed to [email protected]
Popkomm 2010- Airport Berlin Tempelhof
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.
17
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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 [email protected]
MeMber presentation ››
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 [email protected]
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17
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.
Please visit vip-booking.com for further information.
Your comments and suggestions are always appreciated.
VIP- News - M a y 2 0 1 0
MKeMKE is an internationally-oriented commercial agency for star
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Nationally and internationally renowned stars and artistes offer a
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