The VIP-Booking european live entertainment Book

1 

McGowan’s Musings: 

Some of the VIP crew have recently re- 

turned from long and wide corridors of 

Tempelhof. The almost monumental passenger 

areas of this legendary Berlin airport 

are now the new home of Popkomm, 

and facilitate the business of international 

music business people rather than the 

devious journeying of the international 

spies and men and women of mystery of 

yesteryear – although, come to think of 

it I have met a few characters at various 

music conferences who might quality for 

the latter descriptions! In fact if I’m honest 

I do get the “What exactly do you do?” 

query myself every now and again – still 

as I’m not even sure myself what I want 

to be when I grow up how can I expect 

anybody else to know? Anyway, I didn’t 

make it to Popkomm myself, as I was double 

booked into a cabin with a sauna by 

a lake in Finland – don’t ask! Bit you’ll be 

glad to know that you will find reports on 

the return of Popkomm in this issue. 

I will however be heading to Hamburg to 

take part in various panels during Reeperbahn 

Campus in the next few days, followed 

by a trip to ‘You Are In Control’ in 

Reykjavik at the start of October, then to 

VIP- News 

PreMIuM ›› VOl. 128 ›› SePTeMBer 2010 

Paris for the MaMA event in mid October 

– again details are in this issue and we’ll 

report back from all of these events in the 

October issue. 

Some of the panels in these upcoming 

conferences will no doubt address live 

music topics, festivals, touring, ticket 

prices and the like, and it’ll be interesting 

to see, considering certain developments 

whether the sector continues to 

be referred to in the upbeat tones which 

we have become used to. Following a 

summer of cutting ticket prices Live Nation’s 

4th quarter returns are expected to 

make even more distressing reading, particularly 

for shareholders, than the ‘disappointing’ 

3rd quarter figures. AEG, who 

VIP-BOOKING.COM 

Allan McGowan 

www.VIP-BOOKING.COM 

seemed to be quietly getting on with it 

have just been sued by Michael Jackson’s 

mother, who is seeking unspecified damages 

alleging the firm failed to provide 

life-saving equipment and oversee a doctor 

who was hired to look out for the pop 

star’s well-being as he prepared for what 

were intended to be his comeback concerts 

in London. 

Even HMV who seemed to have sorted 

out the shortfall problems in their core 

music retail business by moving into live 

with the purchase of the Mama Group are 

having their problems (see report in this 

issue). To add to it all, UK Collection Society 

PRS are proposing to raise Performance 

Royalty Rates, at the moment UK 

promoters pay 3% on concert returns, in 

other territories this is a lot higher, with 

Italian promoters for instance paying 

10%, so there are fears that this could rate 

could escalate dramatically, responses to 

an industry open consultation document 

are due in the next month. 

In the light of all this Music Tank, a business 

development network for the UK 

music industry, owned and operated by 

The VIP-Booking european live entertainment Book 

Advertising in the VIP Book will make you visible to 10.000 business 

professionals all over europe. You will find no better place to expose your 

company to the whole european live entertainment Industry. 

›› reSerVe YOur Ad NOw ON www.VIP-BOOKING.COM

2 

VIP- News - September 2010 

Colophon ›› 

VIP-News is published by: 

VIP-Booking 

26 York Street 

London W1U 6pZ 

Managing director: 

Ronni Didriksen 

rd@vip-booking.com 

General Manager: 

Peter Briggs 

pb@vip-booking.com 

writer and editorial: 

Allan McGowan 

am@vip-booking.com 

writer: 

Manfred Tari 

mt@vip-booking.com 

For advertising enquiries pls. contact 

Peter Briggs pb@vip-booking.com 

or +44 870 755 0092 

lay-out: 

Pekaye Graphics, Phuket – Thailand 

info@pekayegraphics.com 

the University of Westminster which 

sets up regular panel events engaging 

with industry, innovation and change 

across the music business, are presenting 

a session in London, at PRS headquarters, 

called ‘Saving the Golden 

Goose’ investigating the present situation 

for live. (see story in this issue) This 

will I feel be the first of many such scrutinies 

over the next few months. 

However, lets not go out on a complete 

downer, as far as we can see at VIP, 

there are areas of the live business that 

still seem to be ticking over quite nicely, 

most of the problems seem to be at the 

top end, where cash strapped punters 

feel that they are not getting value for 

money, but the grassroots live business 

has generally continued to offer good 

value for money. So, all of you in that 

sector keep up the good work! 

Right, while I get back to seeing if I can 

get away with being an international 

man of mystery, here is the News! 


AeG live 

refute Jackson 

lawsuit 

Allan McGowan am@vip-booking.com 

AEG Live has responded to Katherine 

Jackson’s filing of a lawsuit filed which 

accuses the live music major of liability 

for the death of her son Michael. 

Mrs Jackson’s lawsuit claims that the 

promoters had a contractual duty of 

care of her son in regard to the ‘This 

Is It’ London residency. She maintains 

that they failed to to oversee Michael 

Jackson’s well being when they hired 

Dr Conrad Murray, the medic accused 

of causing the late king of pop’s death. 

The lawsuit concludes that AEG put 

a “desire for massive profits” before 

Michael Jackson’s well being. 

In a short statement yesterday, AEG’s 

lawyers called Mrs Jackson’s lawsuit 

“inaccurate, unsubstantiated and meritless”. 

They stressed that Murray had a 

professional relationship with Jackson 

before he began work on their ‘This Is 

It’ show, and that he was hired as the 

singer’s personal physician at the star’s 

request. 

The statement says: “The lawsuit is inaccurate, 

unsubstantiated and meritless. 

Dr Murray was Mr Jackson’s longtime 

personal physician. AEG did not choose 

him, hire him or supervise him”. Having 

pledged to fight the Jackson family’s 

lawsuit, AEG added: “In honour of our 

professional relationship with Mr Jackson 

and his estate, we will make no further 

public statements”. 

AEG Live

3 


Berlin Music week, Popkomm and Berlin Festival 

Manfred Tari mt@vip-booking.com 

According to the promoters the kick off for 

the newly formed Berlin Music Week was 

successful, though for many foreigners and 

even Germans the set up of Berlin Music 

Week, combining Popkomm, A2N (All Together 

Now) and Berlin Festival under one 

roof still seems complex. 

After last year’s cancellation Popkomm 

took place on September 8 to 10 in the 

former airport Tempelhof. The organizers 

reported satisfactory visitor and exhibitor 

figures. According to the promoter of the 

convention, Popkomm was visited by 7.500 

trade visitors and 10.000 normal visitors 

on the open to public day re-instated after 

many years. 

Spokespersons for the stands of Austria 

and Switzerland said that they were 

pleased with their results, also the Swedish 

and Finnish stand organizers seemed 

to be satisfied with their presence at Popkomm, 

while the feedback from the Dutch 

stand was negative. The current edition of 

Popkomm proceeded with the absence of 

stands for France and the UK, previously 

long established regular stand participants 

at Popkomm. 

The lay out of the massive Tempelhof airport 

necessitated lengthy walks; also the 

the stands location was one very long tunnel 

in the part of the building where the 

airport gate ways were located. As a result 

companies and countries who had their 

stands located in to the middle part of the 

building gained more footfall than those 

located towards the end of the left and 

right of the terminal gang way. 

On the airfield and in the airport hangars 

the Berlin Festival also took place. On September 

10 festival ticket holders could also 

access Popkomm. But also on the public 

day, not many people found their way to 

the stands on the left and right extremes 

of the terminal gang way. Also the signposting 

caused some problems, at least for 

Popkomm and A2N, as some visitors simply 

couldn’t find stands or conference rooms. 

The second edition of the Berlin Festival 

promoted by Melt Booking in visitor terms 

was a success, reporting around 20.000 

visitors. This is the first festival event to succeed 

in Berlin; previous attempts by other 

festival promoters have never managed 

to install a proper festival in the German 

capitol. 

Due to architecture and lay out of Tempelhof 

the set up for this festival was quite 

unique. One main stage directly located 

under the roof topped airfield in the middle 

of the building and two side stages in 

the hangers within the gigantic building 

made this festival very special. 

The event was very well produced and instituted 

various measures to ensure high 

safety standards. Since the fatal disaster 

at the Loveparade in Duisburg, much has 

changed in Germany. Limited capacities 

in the two hangars on the opening day of 

Berlin Festival on the night of Friday September 

10, an incident at the entrance of 

Hangar 4 led to drastic changes to the festival 

program. 

Melt Booking had set up separate gates 20 

metres before the hangars in order to con- 


trol the flow of people into the hangar. In 

a press release regarding the incident the 

promoters wrote: “Since a lot of people 

were denied entrance at hangar 4, a very 

few festival goers vented their displeasure 

via aggressive behaviour towards the 

security and the police resulting in uncontrolled 

activity in front of the pass gate at 

a late hour. This consequently led to the 

police’s recommendation to discontinue 

the event even though the hangar itself 

was not overcrowded at any time, and the 

authorities’ regulations and requirements 

regarding the hangar’s capacity were satisfied.” 

After the incident Melt Booking rescheduled 

many concerts and even cancelled 

some of them, just to make sure of avoiding 

a repeat situation. But what comes out 

of this shows how seriously safety measures 

are being taken in Germany since 

Loveparade One visitor wrote a readers 

letter to Pop100 after a report on the incident 

at Berlin Festival, saying that he was in 

the group of people that wanted to enter 

Hangar4 and at no time did he have the impression 

that he was in any danger. He described 

the situation as normal for festivals 

when people are queuing up. 

After the incident Melt Booking undertook 

enormous efforts, printed over night leaflets 

about the changes in the line up and set 

up trouble shooter counters where punters 

could receive their money back when they 

wanted so. However, as a result, on the 

second day the Berlin Festival continued 

smoothly and only a minority claimed their 

money back due to the significant changes 

in the line up of the event.

4 



The music business community 

vip_booking_198x272.indd 1 30/08/10 12:37

5 


reeperbahn Campus 


Hopefully you will be reading this just 

before this increasingly important event, 

Sept 23-25, if so try and come along, if 

you’re reading it whilst in Hamburg please 

come along to the panels mentioned below, 

three, perhaps four, will be hosted by 

your’s truly so come and say hello. 

If you are looking for “New International 

Music” in Germany, 180 bands and solo 

artists from 20 nations will appear in 

clubs and venues, most of which are walking 

distance from each other, during the 

Reeperbahn Festival. On the occasion of 

the fifth anniversary of the Reeperbahn 

Festival the First Mayor of Hamburg, Christoph 

Ahlhaus, will welcome the guests. 

Following this the State Minister Bernd 

Neumann (Photo), Federal Government 

Commissioner for Culture and Media, will 

hold a speech on the importance of funding 

for Popular Music in for Germany. Sey- 

mour Stein, who discovered international 

stars like Madonna, the Ramones, Talking 

Heads, The Cure or The Pretenders, will 

then open up the in-depth discussion with 

his keynote “Memories of Germany… and 

others” on Thursday, 23.09.2010, 3.00 p.m., 

at the Schmidt Theater. 

Reeperbahn Campus aspires to be a new 

fixture for all professionals of the creative 

industries in northern Europe and will 

present some 70 events . 

Music City Hamburg: In 1997 the traditional 

industry meeting point “Music City 

Hamburg” was established. This is where 

the local, national and international music 

industry meets up to discuss current 

topics. This year’s topic: “National and 

international networking”. During the informal 

get-together Peter Smidt (NL, Creative 

Director EuroSonic and Manager Pop 

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& Rock Buma Cultuur) will introduce the 

EuroSonic Nooderslag Festival to the audience. 

Moderator Olaf Furniss (UK, Born to 

be Wide) will then take a short (outside) 

look at the music scene and music industry 

in Germany. Thursday, 23rd of September, 

7.00 p.m., Grünspan. 

Also on Thursday 23rd, 1:30 pm-2:30 pm, I 

will have the pleasure of moderating three 

panels. Starting off with: 

‘Do They Ever Listen to Music?!’ will look 

at how the music industry features, or 

doesn’t, alongside other cultural industries 

in the workings of diverse national and regional 

political and administrative bodies 

throughout Europe. Panelists: Peter Smidt, 

NL (Eurosonic Festival) Phil Patterson, UK 

(UK Trade & Investment), Egbert Rühl, DE 

(Hamburg Kreativgesellschaft) and Aline 

Renet, FR (Prodiss - Veranstalterverband) 

info@hallenduo.de 

www.hallenduo.de 

AZ_in_stutt_VIPbook_RZ.indd 1 23.11.2009 18:17:54 Uhr

6 


Festival season 2010/11; 4:00 pm-5:00 pm, 

the name is pretty self explanatory and I 

will be joined by international festival promoters, 

Stefan Lemkuhl, DE (Melt!) Christof 

Huber, CH (Sankt Gallen Open Air), Rikke 

Oxner, DK (Roskilde Festival), Rob Challice, 

UK (Association of Independent Festivals), 

and Eric van Eerdenburg, NL (Lowlands). 

We will consider the trends of the festival 

season 2010, look at how the business did, 

and, most important, what are the results 

for the upcoming season. 

The Sound of Politics, 5:15 pm-6:15 pm, 

is the second stage of an experiment – a 

Transpanel format consisting of a series of 

single performances that allows expanding 

an idea and a process of understanding 

over 3 different events: C’n’B – Creative 

Business Convention, Cologne – Reeperbahn 

Campus, Hamburg – You are in Control, 

Rejkjavik. This uses ‘fishbowl’ format 

involving panellists but bringing on-stage, 

into the ‘fishbowl’ audience members who 

wish to contribute to the ongoing discussion. 

The first step: at C’n’B - June: addressed 

The Sound of…Creativity - Production, 

Distribution, Communication of Music and 

Creative Content. 

In Hamburg the Second step moves on to: 

The Sound of…Politics - Social Responsibility 

and Political Influence of Music. Panelists 

include Benny Adrion, DE (Founder 

of Viva Con Agua), Zhou Yunpeng, CN 

(Chinese folk singer), Kolbrun Halldorsdottir, 

IS (artist, journalist, Minister for the 

Environment (2009), Minister for Nordic 

Cooperation (since 2009), President of 

the Federation of Icelandic Artists (since 

2010), and Jacob Bilabel (Green Music Initiative. 

The Third and final step will take place at 

You are in control (see separate story below 

– Ed.) – September, Reykjavic, and will 

conclude with - The Sound of…Change - 

Music and Creatives as Game Changers. 

Reeperbahn Campus in cooperation with 

Network Europe will invite all Reeperbahn 

Campus delegates to meet agents, bookers, 

promoters and talent buyers from all 

over Europe on Saturday 25.09., 12 - 4 pm, 

at Restaurant Medusa. 

Network Europe is the only international 

association for agents, bookers, promoters 

and talent buyers, and is represented at 

Reeperbahn Campus by several members. 

This Speed Meeting session (or, if you wish, 

Match Making, or One-on-Ones) of course 

also offers the opportunity to Speed Meet 

with all other Reeperbahn Campus delegates 

who participate. 

Network Europe members that attend 

Reeperbahn Campus are: Alessandro 

Ceccarelli (Estragon Lab, Italy), Attilio 

Perissinotti (Virus Concerti, Italy), Chris 

Burr (S.O.F.A. Agency, Switzerland), Christian 

Bilda (x-why-z, Germany), Christoph 

Storbeck (Striker Entertainment, Italy), 

Hilde Spille (Paperclip Agency, The Netherlands), 

Mattias Albinsson (Headstomp 

Productions, Sweden), Nuno Saraiva (Art- 

House, Portugal), Rob Berends (Paperclip 

Agency, The Netherlands), Sabine Waltz 

(IBD Booking, Germany), Sasha Vadillo 

(x-why-z, Germany), Thomas Ryjord (Polar 

Artist, Norway) and Tom van Dingenen 

(Quiet Concerts, Belgium). . 


Reeperbahn Festival 

German Music Conventions Join up for 

Reeperbahn Event: 

There has been a definite rise in the 

number of German music business conferences 

in the last two years, and with the 

return of Popkomm this year, much discussion 

has revolved around the competition 

amongst the events. But cooperation appears 

to be the way of the (foreseeable) 

future, as three of the annual events have 

decided to cooperate via a new joint venture 

called ‘Drei Dimensionen’ (Three Dimensions). 

Reeperbahn, Berlin Music Week and Cologne’s 

c/o pop will be hosting an event 

next Saturday as part of Hamburg’s Reeperbahn 

Festival. The idea is to individually 

promote each location’s vital music 

scenes and trade associations, whilst further 

developing German music culture 

and jointly presenting it on an international 

scale. 

Reps from the Three Dimensions will be 

revealing more about their collaboration 

at the Campus Lounge at the Reeperbahn 

Festival on Saturday at 6pm. 

More about the Reeperbahn Festival is online 

at: 

www.reeperbahnfestival.com

7 


Manchester Apollo Becomes O2 Apollo Manchester 


Live Nation have announced that one of the UK’s premiere con- 

cert venues, the Manchester Apollo will officially be changing its 

name to O2 Apollo Manchester with immediate effect. 

The O2 Apollo Manchester 


The O2 Apollo Manchester will add to the existing O2 Academy 

portfolio, which has been in operation for just over 2 years. The 

O2 Apollo Manchester is owned and operated by Live Nation 

and becomes the 15th venue in the Live Nation / Academy Music 

Group partnership. The Grade II listed venue will undergo a full 

interior re-decoration in keeping with its Art Deco style. O2 customers 

will get the same benefits, which include access to tickets 

48 hours before general release on O2 Priority. 

O2 Apollo Manchester has been a mainstay of the British touring 

circuit for decades, attracting Best Venue nominations and presenting 

shows from every major rock, pop and comedy act on the 

touring circuit. With both fully seated and part-standing formats, 

the venue increases its footfall and presentations year on year. 

Paul Latham, COO International, Live Nation commented, “It gives 

me great pleasure to announce this partnership with O2 and it facilitates 

our investment in one of the greatest music venues in the 

UK. Concert fans deserve the best and this partnership delivers 

that and so much more”

8 


Festival 

Awards Voting 

Opens 


Voting is now open for the UK Fes- 

tival Awards which will take place 

alongside the UK Festival Conference 

at the O2 Dome on 18 Nov. The 

long lists for each category will go 

live today at: 

www.festivalawards.com 

Everyone who votes will be entered 

into a draw to win tickets to the 2011 

editions of every festival, which 

wins a prize at this year’s awards. 

Recently appointed Festival Awards 

MD James Drury said: “It’s been a 

fantastic season, which has further 

demonstrated the British love of 

Festivals. The UK Festival Awards is 

the chance for the public to tell the 

industry, which were their favourite 

events. Last year 500,000 votes were 

cast and we’re expecting even more 

people will get involved this time”. 

Saving the Golden Goose: 

An Investigation of the present 

State of live 


On September 23 at PRS headquarters in 

London a Music Tank panel will investigate 

the present situation for live, addressing 

the possibility, or more likely the probability, 

that the music industry’s dependence 

on live returns to make up shortfalls in other 

areas is finally taking its toll. Although 

on the surface all seems well at present 

with the UK boasting the most successful 

live market in the world, with six of the 

world’s top ten earning venues, and combined 

tickets sales of £2.9million for the 

first half of 2010, this session is based on 

the premise that if looked at more closely 

things aren’t all they seem. 

The panel outline notes that ‘With more 

and more people looking to get in on the 

action and with artists’ growing dependence 

on touring revenue, booking fees 

have risen, ticket prices have followed and 

just as night follows day, the past twelve 

months has seen a surge in the number 

of tours, concerts and festivals under 

perform or even be cancelled.’ The session 

will ask what can be done to give the 

public a better experience. The panel will 

include artist managers, booking agents 

and promoters. 

VIP will report on the outcomes of this discussion 

in the next issue. 

Full details on: www.musictank.co.uk 

Paul Latham COO Live Nation 


PRS Tariff Increase Proposals: 

Live Nation chief operating officer 

Paul Latham is unable to attend 

the gathering at Copyright House 

but Music Week reports that he 

has written to the organisers to 

contribute his opinions on one of 

the main topics he wishes to see 

discussed, namely PRS For Music’s 

proposals to increase the tariff live 

music has to pay to songwriters 

and composers. 

He writes, “The bounty hunters 

that are PRS are looking for a bigger 

slice of a pie that they already 

get more of, given theirs is a flat 

3% of the box office income. Thus 

in all the time ticket prices have 

been rocketing those who genuinely 

deserve to be rewarded for 

their endeavours have benefited 

while at the same time other participants 

in the equation have seen 

their margins compromised.” 

He adds, “If it really was an attempt 

to deliver more to songwriters I 

would question why nearly 12p 

in every £1 collected goes to the 

overhead of PRS….in such austere 

times that would be the first place 

to look I would think.” 

PRS are waiting to receive industry 

responses to a consultation 

document available on www. 

prsformusic.com/customerconsultation 

before presenting their 

proposals to the industry.

9 


Creative 

Industries 

Conference in 

Iceland 


Reykjavik, Iceland 

You are in Control, an international 

conference exploring digital business 

developments in the music, 

media, arts and gaming industries, 

will take place for the fourth consecutive 

year in Reykjavik, Iceland. 

The conference is hosted by Iceland’s 

creative industries and aims 

to empower attendees with knowledge 

on how to maneuver in the 

fast changing digital distribution 

world. 

You Are In Control brings together 

prominent players from all the 

creative industries in a cooperative 

fashion to answer some of digital 

debate’s most burning questions: 

How to expand the pie so everyone 

receives their fair share? What unites 

design, music, films, visual arts and 

gaming? How do business models 

already overlap and what does the 

future hold? 

Speakers confirmed for 2010 include 

Yancey Strickler, cofounder of 

Kickstarter, Benji Rogers, creator of 

PledgeMusic.com and Christopher 

Peterka, founder of the consultancy 

firm Gannaca. 

Two years of O2 world Berlin 


On September 10th the O2 World Berlin 

celebrated its 2nd birthday, having attracted 

over 2.75 million people to 266 

events in its first two years. 

Detlef Kornett, , and Mike Keller, O2 World 

Berlin share their positive look back. 

CEO Anschutz Entertainment Group Detlef 

Kornett said, “We are quite happy 

with the numbers for these first two years. 

Our goal has always been to attract three 

million visitors and host 300 events over 

the first three years – we will reach those 

numbers at a much earlier stage. One of 

the reasons for the success is surely the O2 

World’s wide-ranging appeal since a great 

number of our visitors come from Berlin’s 

surrounding areas. We are especially 

happy to see that the demand for our 

premium-products such as event suites 

and premium-seats continues to grow. 

The turnover in premium sales has doubled 

compared to year one which proves 

that our premium products that were not 

self-explanatory eventually established 

themselves in the marketplace and were 

embraced by satisfied customers.” 

»It is our objective to be even 

more flexible and responsive 

to market requirements« 

- Mike Keller 

General Manager Mike Keller comments, 

“Over our first two years of operation 

we have learned a lot and, by now have 

identified the potentials for adaption and 

innovations. It is our objective to be even 

more flexible and responsive to market 

requirements. That is why we have developed 

a ‘half-house-configuration’, which 

accommodates between 5.000 and 8.000 

people. With this, the O2 World will create 

more interest not only for small concerts 

but also for company-events, fairs and TV 

productions. In addition to that, we have 

managed to increase the standing room 

capacity of the ground level by up to 

1.300. Standing room is particularly popular 

at rock and pop concerts as well as at 

dance events and we are highly delighted 


O2 World Berlin 

about meeting the customer’s demand. 

My greatest debt of appreciation goes to 

all of our O2 World partners, especially to 

our founding partner and suite-holder 

O2, the promoters, service providers and 

public authorities, as well as to the whole 

Anschutz Entertainment Group team for 

the constructive and successful collaboration 

in the first two years.” 

In 2010 the Anschutz Entertainment 

Groups founded the Anschutz Entertainment 

Group hilft e.V. to support several 

non-profit organizations in Berlin. The 

charity currently promotes projects of 

Grenzkultur/Shake!, the doctor’s and dental 

surgery for homeless people at Stralauer 

Platz of the MUT GmbH, the Arche in 

Friedrichshain, as well as the initiative fit-4future 

and other selected projects in close 

proximity to the O2 World. Money will only 

be donated to found specific activities or 

acquisitions, not projects in general. 

Mike Keller General Manager O2 World

10 


Even during periods without events in the 

Arena, the area surrounding the O2 World 

attracted numerous visitors. Over 60.000 

people attended the sand-sculpturesexhibition 

Sandsation and the Beach-Volleyball 

European Championships had over 

20.000 spectators on the spot. 

The “Ausbildungsplatztag - 2010” (apprenticeship 

training position day) which was 

held in cooperation with the Job Centre, 

welcomed 5.000 adolescents on the arena 

plaza in front of the O2 World, who were 

looking for apprenticeship training position. 

The O2 World-team supported the 

Job Centre in the execution and organization 

of the plans and provided the area 

free of charge. 

This year, for the first time, the O2 World 

Ticketing department took over the ticketing 

services for three external events; 

In past issues we have mentioned the activities 

of Pledge Music who work with 

artists in the raising of fan funding. Pledge 

helps artists and bands design a specifically 

tailored fundraising campaign to raise 

money for their next release and encourages 

the artists to participate with their 

fans by creating exclusive content and 

experiences. The list can be anything from 

DJing at your house party, to attending a 

rehearsal, or even a movie and dinner with 

the band. At present 1473 acts are using 

the Pledge facility. 

Most recently long established band, Gang 

of Four released Content, their first set of 

new songs in 16 years, funded entirely over 

the internet, via Pledge having gathered 

417 pledges of money. “What I’ve been 

thrilled by over the years is that our music 

still seems to make sense to our audiences, 

however old they are,” Andy King said in a 

statement, “and these days they’re mostly 

under 30.”. They also sold signed T-shirts, 

hand-written lyric sheets, and box sets including 

phials of band-members’ blood. 

Fans also bought cassette Walkmans with 

bootlegs of Gang of Four’s first gig, costing 

the track and field event ISTAF at Olympiastadium, 

Sandsation and the Beach- 

Volleyball European Championships. O2 

World Ticketing was responsible for the 

complete organization and implementation 

of the ticket sales including the setup 

of the events in the O2 World-ticketing 

system, the sales process of the in-house 

call centre, the maintenance of events on 

site, running the box offices and marketing- 

and promotion- activities. For the 

ISTAF 45.000 tickets were sold by the O2 

World’s selective distribution. The collaboration 

with the ISTAF will continue in 

2011. The expansion of this business field 

is planned. 

So far the O2 World has played host to: 

Metallica, Herbert Grönemeyer, Tina Turner, 

Lady Gaga, Elton John, Paul McCartney, 

Alicia Keys, Udo Jürgens, Leonard Cohen, 

Pledge Music work with Gang of Four 


£175. The band have been issuing updates 

throughout the creation of the record, as 

well as downloadable ephemera like old 

gig posters and reviews. 

Pledge founder Benji Rogers told VIP- 

News, “ Things at PledgeMusic have really 

been moving from strength to strength. 

We’ve been excited and humbled by both 

the amazing calibre of artists and also their 

seemingly endless creativity in the way 

that they communicate with their fans. 


Beyoncé, Neil Young, Coldplay, NOKIA 

Night of The Proms, Britney Spears, Die 

Toten Hosen, KISS, Michale Bublé, Wetten, 

dass..?, ECHO 2009, MTV Europe Music 

Awards, Nena, boxing matches of Vitali Klitschko 

against Samuel Peter and of Arthur 

Abraham against Jermaine Taylor, Basketball 

Final Four, Rihanna, Saltimbanco, 

Peter Gabriel, The Black Eyed Peas, Green 

Day, Depeche Mode, Fleetwood Mac, 

Muse, a-ha, Mario Barth. 

Up-coming event-highlights include: “We 

Are One” with Paul van Dyk, Armin van 

Buuren and Underworld, Sting, Santana, 

Supertramp, Linkin Park, Marius Müller- 

Westernhagen, David Garreth, Peter Maffay, 

Simply Red, Mario Barth, NOKIA Night 

of The Proms, Michael Flatley – Lord of the 

Dance, Die Fantastischen Vier, Joe Cocker, 

André Rieu, Roger Waters – The Wall, Kylie 

Minogue and much more. 

Since launch our success rate amongst artists 

has hit 77%, which we are constantly 

trying to improve upon and the platform 

is scaling wonderfully to cater to the 

number of bands that are now coming to 

us. We are now working with both signed 

and unsigned artists and have some key 

appointments in both the US, UK and now 

Australia & are now running campaigns 

landed in five currencies. We couldn’t be 

happier though we could all use a bit more 

sleep.” 

Benjii Rogers - Pledge Music

11 


The Summit Introduces live Awards 


This year’s edition of The Summit, the event organised by live 

business magazine LIVE UK, takes place on 6-7 October at the 

Radisson Blu Portman Hotel in London’s West End, and is followed 

by the inaugural Live Music Business Awards (LMBAs), which will 

present accolades across 25 categories, ranging from Best Venue 

Teamwork and Agent of the Year to Unsung Hero and Best Record 

Company Partner 

HMV’s CEO Simon Fox, who led the take-over of venues and festivals 

owner MAMA Group earlier this year by the High Street music 

retailer, will be the principle keynote speaker at LIVE UK The Summit. 

(See story below) 

Other major speakers at the event will include John Giddings 

of Solo, agent for artistes such as Madonna, U2 and the Rolling 

Stones; Neil Warnock, worldwide CEO of The Agency Group; Sonisphere 

festival co-founder Stuart Galbraith of Kilimanjaro Live; 

CAA agent Emma Banks, Primary Talent International agent Dave 

Chumbley and See Group CEO Rob Wilmshurst. 

reports Indicate Big losses at HMV 


According to a report in UK Newspaper 

The Daily Mail, HMV has lost a tenth of its 

value after warning that its push into live 

music events had failed to live up to its 

billing. 

Although CEO Simon Fox is scheduled 

to give a keynote speech at The Summit 

event in London (see above story in this 

issue), which was expected to be ‘bullish’, 

recent events have not been positive for 

the books and music retailer. 

HMV’s first foray into the festival market 

with the High Voltage festival featuring 

ZZ Top and Foreigner in London’s Victoria 

Park in July was not a success, Fox was reported 

as saying, “‘Our expectations for a 

brand new, year-one festival were just too 

high.” 

Last year’s £46million purchase of Hammersmith 

Apollo venue owner Mama 

Group was seen as a bold and initially effective 

move to revive HMV’s fortunes by 

moving into the more buoyant live music 

scene. Having already branded several 

major venues with the HMV tag, Fox said 

his aim for the company is to “have a venue 

in every major city”, and provide a comprehensive 

service for music fans. In the press 

release for The Summit (see above) in reference 

to his keynote speech, the following 

quote from Fox is used, “Not only will 

what HMV achieves in the live sector have 

a huge impact, if successful, but it will also 

change the shape of music marketing and 

distribution for the wider music industry.” 

However the initial results of business in 

the concerts and festival world have not 


Summit registration costs £315 + VAT, with a special rate of £275 + 

VAT available until 10 September. 

See www.livemusicuk.com and www.livemusicawards.com 

John Giddings will keynote The Summit in London 

provided the boost needed to offset the 

loss of 89-year old HMV’s music business 

to the internet. Sales at its music store 

chain fell a massive 14.9 per cent between 

May and September, even worse than City 

analysts had expected. 

However, to be fair to Simon Fox, it is still 

early days, he made a bold move and it’s 

difficult to imagine what other sector, other 

than live, in the overall music business 

he could have targeted to recover HMV’s 

fortunes. Let’s see what happens in the 

longer run. 

hMv

12 


werner 

Ponesch 

Passed Away 


Werner Ponesch 

The managing director of the Post- 

hof in Linz died on September 3. 

Since 1985 Werner Ponesch had 

been one the driving forces behind 

the Posthof venue in Linz in Austria. 

He leaves a wife and three children. 

Ponesch was a very passionate music 

manager who also launched the 

independent record distribution 

company Ixthuluh. 

The Posthof whicht celebrates its 

25th anniversary in 2008 is currently 

considering setting up a farewell 

tribute concert for Ponesch. 

25 Years of AVO Sessions in Basel 


It’s quite a unique set up, the framework 

for the AVO Session’s in Basel, Switzerland; 

the list of acts of top artists playing in an 

exclusive environment in the Festhalle of 

the Basel Fair, the number of broadcasts 

of live music recordings taken from the 

AVO Sessions and the fact that the AVO 

Sessions even have their own fan club of 

local heavyweights that support the sessions 

financially. 

A look at the current list of artists playing 

the 25th anniversary edition of the AVO 

Sessions reveal that this concert series is 

taken very seriously. The opening concert 

on October 22 features Jamiroquai 

and Roy Ayers, followed by Robert Plant 

and the Band of Joy on October 23, Sheryl 

Crow on October 25, Ray Davies and Razorlight 

on October 26. Further concerts 

until November 14 include artists such as 

Mary J. Blige, Joe Jackson, Anastacia and 

Jessye Norman. 

The line up of previous editions featured 

such prominent names as Chuck Berry, 

Pink, Natalie Cole, Tom Jones, Diane Krall 

and upcoming artists such as Emiliana 

Torrini, Amy Mc Donald or Stefanie Heinzmann. 

VIP-News spoke to Beatrice Stirnimann 

and Matthias Müller of the AVO Session’s 

about their history and the development 

as a media format. 


VIP-News: Who had the idea for the AVO 

SESSION Basel and how did it all get started? 

Matthias Müller (President): I founded 

the festival in 1986 together with two 

colleagues. Today I am happy to run the 

Avo Session Basle in its 25th jubilee edition 

together with Beatrice Stirnimann, as 

the other founders are not working in our 

company anymore. We started as a fiveday-festival 

in five different locations and 

it was quite informal if you compare it to 

today’s 30 TV-recorded concert highlights. 

VIP-News: Looking back, what has 

changed in terms of the early years and 

recent editions for the Avo Sessions. 

Beatrice Stirnimann (CEO): In the first 

years we only covered jazz, blues and 

gospel. After a while we integrated world 

music, singer-songwriting and in the past 

years our main focus turned towards pop, 

rock and soul. But we will never forget our 

roots, which are based on jazz, blues and 

gospel. This year we are happy to present 

Jamie Cullum and Dianne Reeves playing 

the same night what means a lot of fun 

for us. 

VIP-News: You have many top artists playing 

your events. Due to the limited size of 

the Festsaal Basel, how do you finance 

these concerts? 

Avo Session

13 


Matthias Mueller: The reason why huge 

acts like Mary J. Blige, Pink or Robert Plant 

accept to play our small 1,530-seats venue 

is our image. We managed to prove to artist 

managers and agents that we are a very 

reliable partner. The artist receives a very 

nice fee (calculated per seat it might be 

one of Europe’s highest), and additionally 

the artist can get interesting added value 

like huge promotional impact due to our 

TV broadcasting clients in 40 countries on 

all 5 continents. This is especially interesting 

for Acts with new products like Jamiroquai 

in this year, who will launch his new 

CD at our event in a pre-listening show. 

VIP-News: Please tell us about the network 

of supporters. Who are these people and 

what are there motives? 

Beatrice Stirnimann: We have a group of 

commercial sponsors who can buy a limited 

number of tickets. They pay an upfront 

fee to be part of the festival. Further, we 

have a very prestigious members club. We 

have a lot of applications for participation 

but keep the club limited to 40 people. 

They support us in order we are in the position 

to afford our most expensive artists. 

Said support by Basel residents is unique 

and I doubt that such a members’ club 

consisting of festival fans could be founded 

in another city. 

VIP-News: How is the supporters network 

involved in the development of the AVO 

SESSIONS? 

Matthias Mueller: The festival format, 

program and concept is our idea and creation. 

We are quite experienced in balancing 

artist’s needs and requests and realize 

whether an artist fits our format or not. 

Therefore, a direct contact between artist 

and sponsor is not necessary. 

VIP-News: Does the supporters network 

also have an impact on the booking policy? 

Beatrice Stirnimann: Not directly, but if 

they have an input, we are happy to have a 

drink with them. 

VIP-News: How many people are working 

full time and how is the company structured? 

Matthias Mueller: For all operational work 

it’s Beatrice who is in charge with a team of 9 

full time managers. So I have the privilege to 

focus on the program and special projects 

or to help wherever we have a problem. 

VIP-News: Does it become more difficult to 

convince artists to accept the production 

settings? 

Beatrice Stirnimann: No, we used to have 

more problems in the earlier days when 

our format was not yet known. Today, 

all big agencies and many different artist 

managers have experienced our high 

standards of production and they usually 

are very happy here. 

VIP-News: Which stage riders and productions 

caused you to raise your eyebrows? 

Matthias Mueller: James Brown wanted to 

use a helicopter to come to town from the 

airport. As I explained to his manager that 

it would take the same time from the airfield 

to the helicopter as it takes to get to 

the venue via car, he accepted our stretch 

limo… But basically, if an act accepts to 

play our format, he does this for a special 

reason and we always found ways of compromise 

so far. Our production director is 

Christoph Stahel, who is also in charge at 

the Montreux Jazz Festival, so this is a very 

experienced and relaxed guy. 

VIP-News: The AVO Sessions are widely exploited 

media wise in terms of broadcast arrangements. 

You even managed to establish 

your own media format. Can you please 

explain the settings for this part of the AVO 

Sessions; how does it work and how long 

did it take to develop this format? 


Beatrice Stirnimann and Matthias Muller with Grace Jones 

Beatrice Stirnimann: This is a long story 

and without all the legends that have already 

played our festival, we would never 

have reached this level. A lot of our success 

is based on a system of classical WIN-WIN 

situations. If the artist gets what he wants, 

he is prepared to grant rights to the festival 

in order that the festival can finance the 

high production costs of such high level TV 

recordings. We do not earn money from 

the broadcasts; we just want cost recovery 

for us and for the artist. We want to control 

what happens so that the artist can trust 

us. 

VIP-News: Has the demand for live concert 

recordings by TV stations risen in the recent 

past and how many media partners 

do you work together with? 

Matthias Mueller: No, the number of slots 

for live music has decreased so you need 

to offer the TV channels more for less 

money. That’s what they get: More quality, 

more variety of genres and a very reliable 

service. On the other hand we can create 

a huge impact for acts with new products 

what makes our festival sexy. 

VIP-News: How much do you have to deal 

with affiliated partners of artists such as 

record companies, publishers & managers 

when it comes to broadcasting agreements? 

Beatrice Stirnimann: Every artist has a different 

procedure and system of work. You 

have to understand a lot of different companies 

and personalities. You need to be 

able to travel and convince people. Based 

on 25 years of successful work we have 

achieved what it needs for this.

14 


VIP-News: In which way have these kind of 

arrangements evolved in the last of couple 

of years, in particular since you have to 

consider more and various media formats 

for clearance? 

Matthias Mueller: You can’t move in giant 

steps. Managers need to understand 

what’s in it for their clients and then they 

push the agents to book their artist at our 

festival. But one more time: If you don’t deliver 

the top-level quality at first, you won’t 

achieve managers’ attention. 

VIP-News: When you are intent on booking 

a certain artist, who do you approach 

first, the particular concert agent or the 

manager of the artist or even his record 

company? 

Matthias Mueller: Of course it’s the agent 

who is our contact person. In special cases 

– for example with new products – we 

have direct contact with band managers 

and record companies. But it’s not our 

goal to go around the agent, that would 

confuse the process. 

VIP-News: Quite early on you developed 

hospitality packages for corporate clients. 

What do these packages include and do 

these arrangements still sell well these 

days? 

Beatrice Stirnimann: You have to put 

more into a package than in the earlier 

days. But basically it’s the same: The price 

earning ratio has to be fair compared to 

other music festivals or similar events. The 

companies like our event, as they know 

exactly what they get. We again sold all 

hospitality packages in 2010. 

VIP-News: AVO Sessions became a brand 

for concerts of top artists in a more or less 

exclusive environment due to the limited 

capacity of the Festsaal Basel. What does 

this means for the ultimate fans of certain 


artists? Where does the audience comes 

from and what is your point of view on secondary 

ticketing platforms? 

Beatrice Stirnimann: Fans have to be especially 

well informed and have to secure 

their tickets fast. We sell out some shows 

within minutes or hours. Our sold capacity 

is regularly between 97 and 100% of the 

whole ticket capacity and this has been 

our tradition for years. 

VIP-News: Were there any shows that ever 

caused you sleepless nights? 

Matthias Mueller: The worst case was 

when we presented B.B.King on Nov 1, 

1986. Due to a chemical accident near Basel 

all flights and trains were cancelled for 

several hours. We did not know until the 

afternoon if the authorities would approve 

the show going ahead. But B.B.King came, 

played and won! This was exactly 25 years 

ago by the way...

15 


VIP-BOOKING.COM

16 


German Promoters Association IdKV 

to be Known as BdV 


Prior to the occasion of its forthcoming 

AGM, the German Promoters Association, 

known till now as IDKV, have taken the opportunity 

to remind the foreign media and 

others that it is constantly updating the 

English section of the website www.idkv. 

de in order to make information about its 

activities and researches readily available. 

The forthcoming AGM will see a change in 

the present branding acronym from idkv 

- to bdv. This changes the old initials to 

the actual name Bundesverband der Veranstaltungswirtschaft, 

which has actually 

been in use since 2003. The new domain 

will be www.bdv-online.com. The mailaddress 

will change to info@bdv-online. 

com although the old communication 

details will still be usable. For further details 

visit the website or call Doris at +49 

40 4605767 

VIP-News spoke to Association President 

Jens Michow. 

VIP-News: How did the IDKV start? 

Jens Michow: First of all please allow me 

to correct you regarding our brand: our 

association is about to enter into the next 

25 years with the new abbreviation: ‘bdv’. 

This finally takes into account the fact that 

correctly this stands for ‘Bundesverband 

der Veranstaltungswirtschaft’. The old 

abbreviation ‘idkv’ results from the 80’s, 

when the association was founded to represent 

agents. When in the beginning of 

the 90’s more and more promoters joined 

the association, we changed its name to 

‘Federal Association for the Promotion 

Business’, however without changing the 

abbreviation too. So it’s now high time to 

bring the abbreviation into accordance 

with the name. 

VIP-News: Ok, so the ‘bdv’ started as an association 

of agents? 

Jens Michow: That’s correct. It was started 

in 1985 as a bastion against the German 

Federal Employment Office. At that time, 

the work of agents and managers was 

considered to be an illegal employment 

service. Punishment and banning from 

the profession of many colleagues was the 

consequence. Lots of companies gave up. 

When they started proceedings against 

my agency Michow Concerts, I initiated the 

idkv as an alliance against this practice. In 

response, we started proceedings against 

the Employment Office and in 1989 we finally 

secured a ruling by the Federal Social 

Board of IDKv with Jens Michow in front 


Court stating that the work of agents and 

managers was not all a breach of law. By 

winning this extraordinary victory, the idkv 

had virtually achieved its aim, but as by 

that time more and more promoters had 

joined the association, we decided, to let 

the idkv become the professional trade association 

and representation of all German 

promoters, agents and managers. I know, 

that a common association of these three 

branches would be totally unimaginable 

in the UK or the US. However, it worked 

fantastically over here, as the main issues 

of all three branches are very similar. 

»The German Parliament hears 

us whenever industry-related 

laws such as ‘withholding tax’, 

‘artist social security’ or 

VAT- issues are to be changed« 

- Jens Michow 

VIP-News: What is the AIM for bdv? 

Jens Michow: The general aim, or let me 

better say target, is to exert constant influence 

on an appropriate legal framework 

for our industry. We feel responsible for all 

our members’ professional issues. We have 

developed an influential network to connect 

with political Berlin and we are lobbying 

on all relevant legal issues affecting 

the branch. The German Parliament hears 

us whenever industry-related laws such 

as ‘withholding tax’, ‘artist social security’ 

or VAT- issues are to be changed. bdv’s 

yearly branch meetings and international 

conferences, especially on tax matters, are 

legendary. 

VIP-News: How many members do bdv 

have and what types of members? 

Jens Michow: Today the bdv represents 

more then 330 companies within the industry. 

The greatest numbers of them are 

promoters, followed by agents and managers. 

The level of members ranks from small 

one man companies to the big stock listed 

companies of the industry, be it the pro-

17 17 


moters of the CTS Eventim Group, DEAG or 

the musical company Stage Entertainment 

AG, besides one to three single promoters. 

bdv now counts nearly every promoter in 

the pop and rock field as its members. 

VIP-News: What is the most important issues 

that IDKV has dealt with since it’s beginning 

in 1985? 

We are proud that we were able to provide 

professional education of the young 

generation through the establishment 

of an official apprenticeship. More then 

8.000 (!) young people were approved 

as “Event Managers” since 2001. We had 

decisive influence in the German tax legislation, 

mainly the withholding taxation 

in the beginning of this century and the 

later transfer of the ruling of the European 

Court into German Law as well as the artist 

social security fund legislation, which 

we constantly try to keep as practicable as 

possible. 

We started in the 80’s to develop standard 

form contracts for promoters, agents and 

managers, which are used today by almost 

all companies. Since 1995 we have been 

releasing constant statistical data on the 

German concert and event market provid- 

ing the only statistic information available 

to the branch. 

Just now we are working on the foundation 

of a bdv-collecting society in the interest 

of more efficient recognition of the ancillary 

copyright of the promoter. This will be 

unique in Europe. Our members are paying 

the monthly artist social fund contribution 

via an association ruled organisation. This is 

a unique relief on administration. 

And finally we succeeded in establishing, 

with LEA - The German Live Entertain¬ment 

Award, a highly renowned media event, 

which inimitably gathers every participant 

of the branch for one night in one location. 

By this, LEA has become ‘the’ yearly German 

meeting point for the whole industry 

and a most helpful voice for all issues of 

our business. 

VIP-News: What is the biggest challenge 

for bdv in the years to come? 

Jens Michow: Every year brings new challenges. 

If you had asked me five years ago, 

I wouldn’t have dreamt of what we have to 

deal with today. One of my personal aims 

is that the withholding taxation system 

gets totally abolished as in the Nether- 


lands for example. I can’t see any reason, 

why at least European artists and production 

companies shouldn’t be taxed in their 

country of residence as is common procedure 

for all other companies. 

I am personally most involved as a lecturer 

in business education - be it in business 

schools or universities like the Pop-Academy 

Mannheim or the high school in Munique. 

Also the 2 ½ year apprenticeship of the 

event manager must become a more highly 

recognised qualification in the school system 

responsible for the theoretical part as 

well as by the companies responsible for 

the practical part of the education. The time 

of learning by doing has long expired. The 

industry needs real professionals, mainly 

with serious mercantile knowledge. 

Last but not least: although an association 

can’t do much about it: the industry has to 

make strong efforts in order to maintain 

control over artist fees and in consequence 

ticket prices. In Germany for two years in a 

row we have been faced with a substantial 

downturn in the turnover of the concert 

and event market. So far, it might not have 

led to severe consequences for many promoters, 

as sometimes less may even mean 

more, however: the writing is on the wall! 

Having the right tools for the job is often the key to success. Through our ongoing communication with key Live 

Entertainment Industry Professionals, we have developed a range of services to meet the demands of agents, pro- 

moters, talent buyers, venue bookers etc. It’s no coincidence that we are now considered to be the No. 1 information 

provider for this thriving industry. 

?????????????????????????????????????????????????? 

??????????? 

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 

VIP-Booking.com The VIP-Book 

VIP-News 

VIP-Booking.com is now the most widely used online The ultimate print directory for the Eu- 

Written by our highly merited journalists, Al- 

information service for the European Live Entertainment ropean Entertainment Industry, packed 

lan McGowan and Manfred Tari, with over 50 

Industry with subscribers in over 25 countries. Using the latest with contacts and easy to use. An es- 

years of experience between them in the En- 

technology and state of the art tools, the service provides insential 

reference book for every offi ce 

tertainment Industry, VIP-News brings the latdepth 

information streamlining the day-to-day operations of providing basic contact information 

est news and views directly to your computer 

industry professionals, saving both time and money. 

and a solid overview. 

keeping you up to date at all times. 

VIP-BOOKING.COM THE VIP-BOOK VIP-NEWS 

???????? 

??????? 

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?????????????? 

??????????????????? 

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18 


Johannes wessels quits at live 

Nation Germany 


The March 2010 appointed manag- 

ing director for Live Nation Germany 

has unexpectedly left the company. 

Wessels who brought in his team 

from his previous company Music 

Pool Europe to launch the company 

wasn’t available for a comment on 

the move. Currently only shows of 

five artists, Steve Winwood, Richard 

Marx, Ben Horward and Exit Calm 

are announced at LiveNation.de 

In the imprint of the website Alan 

Ridgeway and Niall Dunphy are 

named as managing directors of 

Live Nation Germany. Since 2007 

Ridgeway is the CEO of the International 

Music Division of Live Nation. 

The latest developments at Live Na- 

tion Germany lead to speculation 

amongst industry insiders as to Live 

Nation’s future plans for the German 

concert market. Previously tours and 

concerts by Live Nation acts such as 

Sting and Shakira have been promoted 

by MLK and sold via CTS Eventim. 

Wessels former company Music Pool 

lately belonged to DEAG but is now 

in liquidation. 

Johannes Wessels 


artist avails ›› 

deadmau5 

Territory: UK / Europe 

Period: UK Winter 2010 

Europe Spring - Summer 2011 

Agency: WME - William Morris Endeavor Ent. 

Agent: Steve Hogan 

E-mail: shogan@wmeentertainment.com 

Homepage: www.deadmau5.com 

within Temptation 

Territory: Worldwide 

Period: March 2011 and onwards 

Agency: X-Ray Touring 

Agent: Paul Bolton 

Phone: + 44 (0) 20 7749 3500 

E-mail: paul@xraytouring.com 

Homepage: www.xraytouring.com 

Adler’s Appetite 

Territory: Europe 

Period: 1/2/2011 - 1/3/2011 

Agency: ARM Entertainment 

Agent: Dana Strutz 

Phone: +1 651 483 8754 

E-mail: ds@armentertainment.com 

Homepage: www.adlersappetiteonline.com 

Groove Armada 

Territory: Europe / Worldwide 

Period: Europe Winter 2010 

Worldwide 2011 

Agency: WME - William Morris Endeavor Ent. 

Agent: Steve Hogan 

E-mail: shogan@wmeentertainment.com 

Homepage: www.groovearmada.com 

Admiral T 

Territory: Worldwide 

Period: 2010 - 2011 

Agency: CARAMBA Spectacles 

Agent: Clotaire 

Phone: +33 1 4218 1718 

E-mail: caramba@clotaire.fr 

Homepage: www.caramba.fr 

Sass Jordan 

Territory: Europe 

Period: February / March 

Agency: Paperclip Agency 

Agent: Hilde Spille 

Phone: +31 24 323 9322 

E-mail: hilde@paperclip-agency.com 

Homepage: www.paperclip-agency.com 

MORE ARTIST AVAIlS ON: 

WWW.VIP-BOOkING.COM 

POST yOuR ARTIST AVAIlS ON: 

WWW.VIP-BOOkING.COM

19 19 

VIP- News - August - September 2005 2010 

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 noticeboard@vip-booking.com 

Popkomm 2010 upbeat after relaunch 

Popkomm was successfully relaunched in 2010 and reclaimed its 

place as the leading platform for the music and entertainment industry. 

This was the first time Popkomm took place as part of the 

Berlin Music Week. Dr. Ralf Kleinhenz, Managing Director of Popkomm 

GmbH: “This week the city impressively demonstrated its 

potential as a creative venue. As the nucleus of the Berlin Music 

Week Popkomm positioned itself as an event that not only provides 

a forum for artistic creativity and new business models, but 

also for supply and demand. The positive mood on the stands was 

proof that the new concept and the new location were very well 

received.“ 60 per cent of the 470 exhibitors were from abroad, making 

Popkomm the leading international meeting place of the music 

and entertainment industry in Germany. 

Popkomm Showcase Festival – a major attraction for the public 

At the Popkomm Showcase Festival on 8 and 9 September, 60 artists 

and bands representing an eclectic range of music performed 

in front of audiences at 14 venues on the grounds of legendary Tempelhof 

Airport in Berlin, as well as in the pulsating neighbouring district 

of Kreuzberg. Over a period of two days Popkomm provided 

talented musicians from around the world with an ideal platform to 

showcase their acts in front of industry experts and music fans. In 

the past, Popkomm has launched the international music career of 

a number of artists. Some of the bands who performed at the Popkomm 

Showcase Festival have already made it onto the big festival 

stage this year too. In addition to performing at Popkomm, Cast of 

Cheers, De Staat, Jesse, Rich Aucoin, Spleen United, The Megaphon- 

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 

noticeboard@vip-booking.com, including name and email address. 

Please shorten your message to the extent possible, to make room for 

as many notices as possible. 


ic Thrift, Therese Aune and Yes Cadets played on stage at the Berlin 

Festival on the grounds of the former airport in Berlin Tempelhof. 

Peter James, Popbüro Region Stuttgart and VuT board member: 

“Happily the effort was worth it – Popkomm and the Berlin Music 

Week are the right pairing for Berlin to calmly face up to the challenges 

of the future. Keep up the good work!“ 

Scott Cohen, founder, The Orchard, uSA: “I love the new postapocalyptic 

setting for the conference at the abandoned Tempelhof 

Airport. It is a living analogy of our industry. As the old ways 

crumble down a new business rises in its place. Popkomm is back. 

Better than ever.” 

Sudhir Shreedharan, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, India: 

“I think Popkomm 2010 redefined the way in which Indian music 

labels export music content and talent internationally. We had a 

number of positive meetings and look forward to attending Popkomm 

2011 with a much larger delegation.” 

Rofhiwa Manyaga, Producer Manager, IMEXSA, Independent 

Music Exporters South Africa: “Popkomm 2010 was very helpful 

for us because we were able to meet people from different cultures, 

with whom we will exchange music in the future, among them Germany, 

Denmark, China, Austria and India.” 

www.popkomm.com

20 


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 pb@vip-booking.com 

european Talent Broker AB 

European Talent Broker is an independent company within the 

Swedish music industry. Our main activities are to exclusively represent 

record-artists as tour agents, tour producers and/or as management. 

The company represents 10 artists today. (enclosure: roster) 

History/ The company Siljemark Production was founded by Lars 

Telbrant and Jonas Siljemark in 1992 and grew to one of the bigger 

agency’s in Europé within it’s niche during the 1990s, with clients 

such as Ace of Base, Dr Alban, E-type, Haddaway, Culture Beat, Rednex, 

Lutricia McNeal and many more. During the autumn of 1997 

Siljemark Production merged with Sweden based United Stage and 

formed one of the largest agency’s in Scandinavia called United 

Stage Artists 2001. Lars Telbrant sells his stocks in United Stage and 

founds the new agency and management company European Talent 

Broker AB Geographic/ The Company is situated in Rosersberg 

just outside of Stockholm, Sweden, its focus is on the World wide 

market Activity/ European Talent Broker is a service company for its 

client. The agency part of the company’s responsibilities include… 

* Booking tours and concerts * Economising the project * Renting of 

technical equipment / hiring of personnel * Arranging travel, transport 

and accommodation * Project direction and co-ordination 

* Sponsorships * Consultation in general management with the 

project * Consultation in marketing and copyright legislation * Consultation 

with record companies. Current Roster/ ALCAZAR / Top 3 

in Germany, Top 2 in Italy, Top 13 in UK etc during 2001 with the 

song “Dancing in the discoteque” ARMY OF LOVERS / New album 

out “Le Grand docu-Soup” BOBBY FARRELL / Former member of 

Boney M with more than 150 million sold units and hits like “Daddy 

About Our Company 

VIP-Booking’s core product is the Internet’s oldest and largest database 

for the European Live Entertainment Industry www.vip-booking.com 

developed as a tool for industry professionals. Since it’s 

launch in the year 2000, we have consistently offered our subscribers 

the very best in database services and now boast subscribers in 

over 30 countries. 

vip-booking.com 


VIP-BOOKING.COM | 26 York Street | UK - London W1U 6pZ | Phone +44 870 755 0092 | Fax +44 870 622 1953 | e-mail: vip@vip-booking.com 


Cool”, “Sunny, Ma Baker”, “Rivers of Babylon”, “ Rasputin” and many 

more. Bobby is currently working in the studio on his new album 

together with parts of the “Army of Lovers/Alcazar/Vacuum” production 

team. This is something to look up for. BOSSON / Top ten 

in 10 country’s in Europé with the song “One in a million” DEE / The 

sidekick of E-type has gone solo, now with two released singel’s in 

the luggage. The new upcoming singel is the titel team from the 

American movie “Blade” DR ALBAN / World wide mega star with 

over 11 million albums sold. Hits: “Its my life” “Sing halleluja”, “Hello 

Africa”, “No coke” and many more. LUTRICIA MCNEAL / 1,2 million of 

the debut album “My side of town” and 1,5 million of the first singel 

“ Aint it just a way” sold throughout the world. New album released 

during 2002 partly produced by Brian Rawling (Tina Turner, Cheer, 

Enrique Iglesias etc.) REDNEX / Number 1 in the German chart for 10 

weeks with the song “spirit of the hawk” autumn 2000. Other hits 

“Cotton eye joe”, “Old pop in an oak”, Wish you where here”. New 

singel of the upcoming album is released during march 2002 RICHI 

M / Released his debut album 1998 and the second album “Songs of 

tomorrow” the year after. Both of them top 20 in the Swedish chart 

and was also nominated to the Swedish Grammy Award in the category 

of “Modern dance”. Richi M makes us dance. A few people are 

born to make people dance and he is one of them. The first singel of 

the new album will be released soon. VACUUM / Biggest territory’s, 

Scandinavia and Russia. Biggest hit: “II breathe” Specialization / 

Dance & pop oriented festivals Rantarock festival in Vaasa Finland 

Beat machine festival / Beiruth, Dubai Gorgy park dance festival / 

Moscow / 150 000 in the audience/ 

Today VIP-Booking offers a range of tools for the industry – including 

VIP-News, VIP-Booking, VIP-Book and VIP-Contract. 

Please visit vip-booking.com for further information. 

Your comments and suggestions are always appreciated. 

®

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