Editor's note

My comments last week about new rock acts, particularly The Darkness taking over the workload of ageing rock legends seem to be more immediately valid than I expected. Mr. Jagger was advised by doctors to miss shows at Amsterdam Arena (August 20) and London's Twickenham Park (23), and now we are faced with the news that the slightly younger, but perhaps less sprightly Mr. Osbourne is forced to cancel tour dates because of an injured foot. Rock of Ages! - In times like these let us hope that these are temporary lapses and that your almost venerable Editor survives the rigours of Helsinki over the next few days to return in one piece!

You may have noticed that we at VIP are of the opinion that music should and does serve as a great medium to bring people together. World Music is by its very definition a harmonising influence, sharing another people's rhythms can teach you more about them in a shorter time than struggling with language differences, and this ever developing genre is becoming more and more mainstream. It must be said that WOMEX, particularly considering its amazinG scope appears to be one of the best organised and interesting of all the music expos, creating access to all cultures via their music and musicians. Apart from featuring the event in this News, we are always keen to hear about music initiatives that cross and perhaps eradicate cultural boundaries. Let us know!

 

Most bands who have played in Danmark in the past have visited Christania - the Free Town - to play the fine venues or to do some shopping. Recently the Danish Liberal-Conservative government decided to try an normalise Christania in every possible way by letting the police persecute the people in the area, laying plans for knocking down houses and building blocks of flats and, in general, trying to put an end to the Free Town by integrating it into standard Copenhagen.

a huge festival last Friday backed by thousands of people marked and supported the campaign for the right to be different and the right for a society to grant such values.

Christania has many fine music venues. The Danish Academy of Rock and Popular Music sent out the following press release:

Don't kill Christania's music life

Christania isn't just Pusher Street - it's a lot more than that. Since its foundation, the Free Town has given space for a varied music environment which has been like a cross-section of Danish music history and has never been afraid of experimenting, development, curiosity and fellowship. The Danish Academy of Rock says that this solitary environment must be preserved.

 

Two incidents marred otherwise successful and peaceful Festivals at Reading and Leeds over the August Bank Holiday weekend: Prolonged and expert attempts to revive an 18-year-old man who collapsed and stopped breathing at the Carling Reading Festival unfortunately failed and he was pronounced dead at the local hospital, the death was not being treated as suspicious, but a post mortem was ordered.

On the first day of the Leeds event 22 people were injured in a crowd surge against a front of stage barrier, interrupting System Of A Down's set for several minutes, Metallica's performance on the same stage followed without delays. Happily organisers confirmed that this was the only such incident, and the violence that took place last year was not repeated. 60,000 people attended Reading, and 50,000 were at Bramham Park, Leeds for a bill topped by Blur, Metallica and Linkin Park. Muse, The Foo Fighters, The Offspring, Slipknot, The Hives, Ash were amongst the acts that performed at both Festivals.

 

The August Bank Holiday capped a summer with temperatures that included the highest ever recorded in the UK, and also yielded record revenues for tours and festivals. According to Music Week, around 1.5 million people attended the top 10 live events, which included the holiday weekend Festivals and The Rolling Stones opening tour dates, generating near £80 million in ticket sales.

Several factors have played their part, not least the good weather, with, as far as we are aware, only Womad being rained on; Glastonbury broke records for speed of ticker sales, V did particularly well, Clear Channel's first Download Festival (Voted event of the year by readers of Kerrang) sold out despite cancellations, and tour dates by The Stones and Robbie Williams have broadened the age group buying tickets.

 

More good news (It makes us happy to report this stuff!) for the future of the UK music industry is indicated by the fact that in very healthy development, nine of the 12 shortlisted albums for this increasingly influential award are debut albums by rising British musical talent. The nominations are:

The Thrills - 'So Much For The City'
Coldplay - 'A Rush Of Blood to The Head'
Radiohead - 'Hail To The Thief'
athlete - 'Vehicles and Animals'
The Darkness - 'Permission to Land'
Dizzee Rascal - 'Boy In Da Corner'
Lemon Jelly - 'Lost Horizons'

Terri Walker - 'Untitled'
Floetry - 'Floetic'
Martina Topley-Bird - 'Quixotic'
Soweto Kinch - 'Conversations With The Unseen'
Eliza Carthy - 'Anglicana'

Following our mention of The Darkness in the last News it is not surprising to see them nominated, the band also scored for best album (Permission To Land) and best live act at the Kerrang Awards. Other winners included Linkin Park for international act Red Hot Chili Peppers for songwriter, Evanescence for international newcomer, Feeder for British act and Electric Six took the best video award for 'Gay Bar'

 

Tightened security is presenting a growing problem that will impact on touring in the world's biggest market, the US. In the UK Artists, managers and all crew will have to apply for a specific visa from the US Embassy in London, involving multiple form filling, extra costs and the requirement for every applicant to visit the Embassy in person, it seems that fingerprints will now be required. In the past visas have of course been required for anybody intending to undertake paid work in the US,

but one company, or a representative have been able, often with the assistance of specialist advisors and brokers, to complete the necessary arrangements for a whole party. Also the turnaround time for the paperwork has been reasonable, this will now lengthen considerably, considerably affecting forward planning. This threatens to affect every European musician and various music bodies, such as the UK's British Music Rights, have taken up the issue with the European Commission, citing it as a potential barrier to trade in services..

 

The Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) is to add a new section. 'Live Dance Music Conference' is the title for a special congress that mainly covers the interests of the live music business concerned with dance and electro music. The live market of dance events is more or less completely separate from the live music industry that focuses on rock and pop music. The aim is to provide a forum that concerns itself with the different and specific conditions experienced by players in the live dance sector.

Vip News asked Richard Zijlma about ADE and the Live Dance Music Conference in particular: "Amsterdam Dance Event is heading for a perfect edition I think. Because we are a specialized small conference, we are able to keep up with the latest developments in the electronic music industry. And maybe even better is the fact that it's time for the creative minds in the music industry to come up with new business models, new ways of developing talent, which is the main theme of this years ADE.

 

David Bowie opens another avenue to extend the value chain of concerts. As part of a promotional measure for his new album, Sony Music have arranged for the digital broadcast of his concert in the Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, to cinemas in London, Zurich, Munich and Paris on September 8

. On September 15, the 90 minutes show will also be broadcast to cinemas in the US. The event should also demonstrate the high quality of modern digital sound systems for cinemas. The show will be simultaneously transmitted via satellite converting involved cinemas into so called E-Cinemas.

 

Two of the most famous club names in the UK, and indeed the world, The Marquee and The Cavern meet their fate with the demise of one, and the resurgence of the other. The failure to reincarnate London's legendary Marquee has resulted in administrators selling the Islington site to venue owners McKenzie Group (MKG) last month for something over £1million. The historic name will not be retained; the re-vamped club will open as 'The Carling Academy' which somehow doesn't have the same ring, but will hopefully add something to the London live circuit.

Nobody seems sure as to the fate of the Marquee brand, but it would be a shame if such an iconic name, so closely associated with some of the greatest ever names in popular music, the Stones, Hendrix, the Who, Bowie etc. etc. were to disappear for ever Liverpool's now world famous Cavern Club, the crowded, damp and sweaty basement which provided an early stage for The Beatles and the other bands that made up the 'Merseybeat' in the early '60's is to be given a new and extended lease of life as a global brand, with plans for Cavern Clubs in Australia, the US, Brazil, Spain and other exotic locations.

 

The premiere edition of the Terremoto-Festival on August 29-31 did not go the way that promoter Folkert Koopmans would have liked. Terremoto is a joint venture between Scorpio Concerts, Marek Lieberberg Concert Agency and Peter Rieger Concert Agency. The festival was intended to sup become the main open air event to round off the open-air season in Germany.

The line up for the festival was massive and the involved promoters spared neither hard work nor expense in their attempts to establish the event in the concert market. But all efforts failed to pay off at this first step. When Vip News talked to Folkert Koopmans on Sunday Morning (August 31), the festival was still in action. Koopmans, at that stage, was very disappointed and said: "We have 26.000 visitors, this is without any doubt below our expectations." But, Koopmans complained even more about other difficulties than poor visitor figures.

 

TThe world music expo WOMEX is exclusively dedicated to world, roots, folk, ethnic, traditional, local and diaspora music of all kinds, and has become the leading international event in the world music calendar. The first WOMEX took place in 1994 and seven editions have taken place in Berlin, Brussels, Marseilles, Stockholm, Rotterdam and Essen. For the ever-growing world music community these events have affirmed the value and potential of networking across musical, political, cultural and commercial borders, and has always aspired to be as much a friendly meeting point as an important business opportunity.

This year the eighth edition will take place from Wed 22 - Sun 26 October under the directorship of Christoph Borkowsky Akbar. Following its two-yearly rhythm of one year at home and one year abroad, WOMEX 2003 travels to Seville, the Andalusian capital of southern Spain. Invited by FIBES (www.fibes.es), the Bienal de Flamenco (www.bienalflamenco.org) and Turismo Andaluz (www.andalucia.org), WOMEX will join forces with the World Flamenco Fair. WOMEX registration this year will also give free access to all of the Fair daytime activities.

 

MTV Networks will screen 'A Night With Limp Bizkit' throughout Europe on September 6. The concert will be broadcast live and free of commercial breaks. Upfront MTV presenter Ina Geraldine will host a warm up show entitled 'Countdown To A Night With Limp Bizkit' with background and backstage reports, featuring interviews with the band and singer Fred Durst, as well as a special report showing Limp Bizkit in the studio recording their new album 'Results May Vary'.

The concert takes places in Finsbury Park in London and as well as the TV-Coverage, MTV have additionally set up special online micro sites in different languages, featuring highlights of the concert after the show. Harriet Brand, Senior Vice President, Music at MTV Network Europe elaborated; 'Limp Bizkit are hugely popular with the MTV Europe audience and we are proud to say that we have supported them for many years.

 

As Andrea Heuer leaves the company on September 1 after successfully serving her apprenticeship as businesswoman for events, Julia Bendlin joins the agency. Bendlin will take care of productions and the agency website of and will supposedly book tours in the future. She studied culture management and specializes in dancing acts. Sonja Gehner arrived in the office in July and, since the departure of Heuer, is, responsible for the promotion department of the agency.

 

The Hamburg based advertising and promotion agency Conrad Gley Thieme (CGT) won the pitch for the promotion of the Color Line Arena. CGT will be responsible for consumer and b2b communications for which the agency is designing new advertising art work and image brochures. Additionally Salon Digital, a partner company of CGT hasjust launched a new web site for the arena.

 

As in previous years Dutch agency Buro Gogo will take care of the bookings of concerts and showcases of the Eurosonic festival program. The dates for the event are Thursday 8 & Friday 9 January 2004 and will again take place in Groningen in Holland. Eurosonic is the Pan-European business event of the Noorderslag-Seminar. Due to the media partnership with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the Eurosonic has very quickly become one of the very few music industry conventions that has seriously proved to be a gateway for international success and recognition.

Inquiries for concerts and showcases should be directed to Igor Mönnink and Sjikke Meijer, the booking team for Eurosonic. Bands must send 2x CDs and press kits with their application. Deadline for applications is October 1, 2003

EuroSonic, PO Box 7092, 9701 JB Groningen, The Netherlands
Tel: +31-(0)50-314.4110
Fax: +31-(0)50-314.0174
e-mail: info@eurosonic.nl
web: www.eurosonic.nl

 

On August 26 DEAG released figures for Q2 (2nd Quarter). The turnover increased from 47.4 million Euro in the same period last year u to 63.8 million. The Earnings before Interests and taxes (EBIT) for the first half of 2003 is indicated with 3.0 million Euro (minus 3.6 million Euro in Q2/2002) while the cash flow increased from 0.7 million Euro to 2.5 million. DEAG declared the Artist & Tours Department the 'Value Driver' of the corporate company.

The turnover in this segment alone for Q2-2003 was: 44.5 million Euros with an EBIT result of 3.7 million. Due to cost cuttings measures and results above expectations from the DEAG subsidiaries in Switzerland and the UK, the company expect to gain positive results for the rest of the year. On the agenda are tours and shows with acts like Eros Ramazzotti, Mariah Carey, Fleetwood Mac, 50 cent, Udo Jürgens and Peter Maffay's Tabaluga.

 

DEAG (ERM.FSE) suffer losses. From 2.70 Euro down to 2.62. Nevertheless when the business report for Q2-2003 was released, the share dropped to 2.20 Euro. An Analyst explained to Vip News that this refers to the high expectation of investors due to the good results of CTS Eventim. Even although DEAG results were positive, investors expected figures as good as CTs and did not consider that there should be a difference between the two German major players. However, the DEAG share is on almost the same level as two weeks before.

Mean Fiddler (MEF.ISE) 17.75 Pence compared to 18.00 Pence last reported. The share is maintaining a level and it is good to see, according to the chart, a rise over the 38 days curve in the last 3 months. If Mean Fiddler follows this trend, sooner or later the 200 days curve will move up and this is a pretty good sign for investors.

'Hear, See, Feel The World' is the device of the 22nd edition of CACTUSFESTIVAL, which takes place on 11 - 12 - 13 July in Brugge (Belgium).

CACTUSFESTIVAL is a colourful festival, with a refreshing view on modern musical culture; enclosed in a cosy atmosphere and with a surprising program.

The Minnewaterpark ("Lake of Love"- park) in Brugge is the unique spot where this three-days lasting musical happening takes place.

CACTUSFESTIVAL guarantees a different atmosphere and philosophy.

The festival intends to stay a "human sized" musical happening, with a limited number of bands, which all play full concerts and which are presented in a unique global atmosphere.

CACTUSFESTIVAL keeps on looking for new discoveries and combines these with artists with an established international reputation. Year after year a wide variety of musical genres is presented; a "global" presentation card of what the worldwide music scene has to offer, in all it's diversity.

CACTUSFESTIVAL hosted in the past a.o.: Paul Weller, Gavin Friday, Rachid Taha, 16 Horsepower, Marisa Monte, Marianne Faithfull, Burning Spear, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Buckshot LeFonque, Ani DiFranco, St Germain, Asian Dub Foundation, Bill Janovitz Living Colour, Calexico, Marc Ribot, John Cale, Walkabouts, Ziggy Marley, Tindersticks, Thomas Mapfumo, The The, Jurassic 5, Brooklyn Funk Essentials, Compay Segundo, Soul Coughing, Defunkt, Lee Perry, Salif Keita, Alfredo Rodriguez, Radio Tarifa, Cheb Mami, Geoffrey Oryema, Kristin Hersch, Lucky Dube, Virginia Mukwesha, Bootsy Collins, Cheikh Lo, Bruce Cockburn, Israel Vibration, My Morning Jacket, Mose Fan Fan, Black Uhuru, Sam Mangwana, Candido Fabre, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Michelle Shocked, Skatalites, Habib Koite, Boukman Eksperyans, Hassan Hakmoun, Ali Hassan Kuban, African Jazz Pioneers, ...

CACTUSFESTIVAL is a production of Cactus Muziekcentrum vzw, which a.o. is active as concert promoter (a.o. Cactus Club, Ma/Z, Concertgebouw, ...), festival promoter (Cactusfestival, Klinkers, Benenwerk) and music education center in Brugge, Belgium

 

CONTRA PROMOTION GMBH

CONTRA PROMOTION was founded by Björn Gralla 1992. Together with compagnon Enrico Karolczak he continually established a very successful booking agency and management company in western europe. With the discovery of German crossover-sensation GUANO APES and the finnish Gothic-Rock heroes HIM CONTRA PROMOTION gained more and more weight in national and international booking topics.

Today, many bands know about CONTRA PROMOTION´s power, so that it is no surprise that newcomer-bands as well as established acts such as H-BLOCKX or OOMPH! find a new home in CONTRA PROMOTION.

Meanwhile five people are working on various subjects within this company. Thomas Matiszik is doing exclusive booking for bands like H-BLOCKX, GLOW or CREMATORY, Markus Nau takes care of the local activities and last but not least Marion Wieck co-ordinates all the touring-activities and also takes care for local PR.

Since most of the bands on CONTRA´s roster are going to release new albums in 2002 it is likely to become an extremely successful anniversary year for CONTRA PROMOTION

 

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