Editor's note

It has been an active time of late, and I must admit that I am enjoying this extended summer, although of course working hard to bring you news of live music from afar, the sun has shone upon me over the last two weeks, so I have been feeling fine in Finland and France as I attended two very different events.

It was a great shame to hear of the death of Johnny Cash, a 'one-off' character if ever there was one. His wife had died a short time earlier, and it seems that he had decided it was also his time to follow her. His last, and many claim, his best album had all the hallmarks of a man saying his goodbyes and making his peace with his past and the world, this is a great thing to be able to do and we may all learn something from it. I was lucky enough to hear him make the keynote speech at SXSW a few years ago, he carried a guitar, he wasn't due to play, but he just felt more comfortable with it round his neck, although he said he never was much good, for a long time only knowing three chords till his new producer (Rick Rubin) taught him three new ones - he strummed and demonstrated - "this one, that one" - and, with a wry grin on a battered face, he drawled "the other one I forgot". It didn't make any difference, a great character, a great singer and a great performer till the end. R.I.P

 

I wonder to which extent it is true what people tell me - that the cost of going to gigs keeps going up while service levels and set lengths go down. If the claim is true, there's a course to be adjusted.

The cost of the actual ticket is one thing. The costs inside the venue - drinks, food, merchandise etc. are another. New technologies should improve service on tickets and cut the costs selling them. Instead it seems that commissions on tickets increase - in some cases 10-15 % are added to the price of every single ticket, never mind the price of the ticket a 10 % commission on a 125 £ festival ticket is absurd. Also a fixed 2.50 £ commission on an 8 £ ticket is far beyond a fair level.

Gigs "belong" to the artist and the promoter. They should take control over the ticket sales. Cut the commission the punters are paying, cut the profit for the ticket operators - lower the ticket prices, sell more tickets or allow the punters to go to more gigs and improve the situation for the venues. The artists and their fans will benefit from it. And the music industry in general.

 

The Finnish music industry continued their energetic pro-active export push by inviting over 30 international music industry professionals from the Nordic Countries, the UK, Ireland and Germany, to attend the Helsinki Export Showcase arranged by Music Export Finland and the Finnish Music Information Centre on 4th - 5th September.

Your editor was lucky enough to be invited and enjoyed Finnish hospitality in an unusually warm and sunny autumnal Helsinki. This is a city with a very big sky, and on the Thursday, obviously arranged by Paulina Ahokas of Musex just for the guests, the biggest and most perfect rainbow I have ever seen - is this an omen -is Finnish music about to find its pot of gold?

 

Although there has been much discussion and controversy about the choice of Dizzee Rascal as winner of the Mercury Music Prize, some have said that this is political correctness taken too far, he and his record company must be untroubled. Sales of his album have soared following his victory on Tuesday. According to the BBC, the HMV chain reported sales of Boy In Da Corner were up by 150% on Wednesday, compared with the previous day.

Spokesman Genarro Castaldo said: "With the weekend to come, he's going to pick up a lot more sales and the album could go into the top 20 for the first time." He added The Darkness' sales had not risen by as much - but could go up once the awards are shown on BBC Two. Dizzee Rascal's album is currently at number 44 in the chart, and Mr Castaldo said he could see the album selling over 300,000 albums - meaning the 19-year-old will win a platinum disc.
"Longer term, we could see a similar effect that the Mercurys had on The Streets and Ms Dynamite last year," he said.

 

VIP-Booking.com is proud to present a new cooperation with Music2deal.com

music2deal.com facilitates a direct contact between professionals in the music business worldwide and presently cooperates with partners in 5 territories (GSA, Scandinavia, Benelux, U.K., U.S.A.)

music2deal.com is an effective and time-efficient alternative to sending demo tapes and information material around the world. All tools and services provided by the 3 forums are designed to suit the needs of professionals within the music business and in addition save time and money. Everything can be administered from the superordinate forum of music2deal.com or by using the services provided by the subordinate forums. Under the roof of music2deal.com publishers, producers and vocalists can offer their songs (songs2deal.com), artists (artist2deal.com) and their voice

(vocals2deal.com) enable labels, producers, managers and advertising agencies to find exactly what they are looking for in an easy and effective way.

Among the suppliers are: Universal Music Publishing, Peer Music, AMV, A la Carte, Budde Music, Unicade and Koch Musikverlage. Among our more than 600 registered users are managers from Virgin, BMG, Warner, EMI and Sony.

Peter Briggs (General Manager at VIP-Booking.com): "VIP-Booking.com is an information resource specializing in the Live Entertainment Industry, it makes sense for us to cooperate with companies providing B2B services covering other areas within our industry".

The majority of the German concert business operates solely in the domestic market and there are only a very few agencies and promoters doing business abroad. International Booking Department (IBD) is one of the very few German agencies that books tours throughout Europe. Sabine Waltz, together with her business partner Andrea Scholz, has run the Munich based agency (IBD) for over 15 years. Their artist roster includes acts like Dub Syndicate, Wire, UK Subs and Zodiac Mindwarp amongst others.

According to Waltz, IBD tours and concerts on the German concert market do not achieve the same results as gained abroad. The reasons for this should be of interest to promoters both in and outside of Germany. IBD are, so far, the only agency that we know of to raise the issues referred to in this interview, so it may be too early to regard this as a developing trend. Vip News will double check to see if other companies are affected by similar developments.

 

Azimuth Productions in the persons of Geneviève Girard and Bernard Batzen pronounced themselves "very happy" with the results of this seventh edition of their world music festival Les Méditerranéennes on September 12 - 14, the second staged in the seascape setting of Parc de Valmy in Argèles sur Mer near Perpignon, France, close to the border with Spain. Batzen told Vip News, "This is the first edition that really feels like a festival, with this venue we have really found the recipient for the spirit of the festival.

. I am very happy with the reaction from the media and with everything artistically. We put a lot into the way people are welcomed, and into the backstage areas, happy artists give good shows!"

Certainly the setting, in parkland overlooked by a very impressive chateau, was very beautiful, it is the only festival I have attended where I could complain about the oleander blossoms and the pines behind the stage blocking my view of the deep blue Mediterranean!

 

Stuttgart based company Contour Concertbüro have announced the dates for their festivals Summerjam and Bashment. As in previous years the outdoor event Summerjam will take place at the recreational area "Fühlinger See" in Cologne. The very popular Reggae and Dancehall event, which again sold out in 2003, will retain its first weekend in July date.

For Bashment, which took place for the first time this year the 2004 dates are June 5&6. The Bashment Festival is dedicated to sound systems and will, according to Klaus Maack, managing director of Contour, become one of the first events with 24 hours of show time. Next year's billing will feature DJ teams and selectors that play Reggae, Dub and Dancehall, plus Electro music acts and DJ's. The festival will again be located at the Airport in Hahn.

 

Sam Shentob of London based Musictank tells us that they have come up with a novel way of facilitating unsigned artists, bands and songwriters in guitar genres to meet with and pitch to label, publisher and management representatives on a 1-to-1 basis..for free. They are holding their first 'speed dating, event, at City Showcase, a festival of live PA's, gigs and shows taking place 22nd - 26th September in and around London.

Sam emphasises that this is dating of the non-romantic variety, and has a very serious business aim. Labels, management companies and publishers in guitar genres interested in hearing pitches from pre-cleared artists, bands and songwriters in guitar genres, have been invited to take part. Each pitch will last 5 minutes, and will be a private 1-to-1, pre-booked, and scheduled for the afternoon of Friday 26 September. Each participant will have at their disposal a CD player, turntable, VHS & TV complete with headphones to present their music, artist or band.

 

The concert agency Extratours is expanding the business and taking over the booking of two venues in Southern Germany. The company will become the local promoter in the 'Metro' in Friedrichshafen and the Abdera in Biberach. The capacity of the Metro is 800, and the Abdera 400. The program of the Abdera will feature artists from the Crossover, Alternative and Metal genres.

The booking policy for the Metro will depend more on established acts with a wider musical spectrum including Alternative, Singer-Songwriters, plus Dance and Hip Hop. Andreas Walser explained to Vip News why the company has moved into the local market: "As an agency we booked many concerts in our area, but the main reason to book local shows ourselves was to enable us to provide our artists with a good service and a better production and promotion".

Extratours is owned by Walser and his business partner Peter Vuk. The company employs 5 people as full time staff. Contact: +49-(0)7572-600 330

 

The Grande Monsieur of the German concert landscape is well know for his passion for Jazz music. Karsten Jahnke Konzertdirektion has recently inked exclusive agency contracts to handle bookings for Jocelyn B. Smith, Till Brönner, Nils Landgren and Jacky Terrasson. As a consequence he has also revamped the concert series 'JAZZnights'. Agent in charge is Aissata Hartmann, who has worked for Jahnke since 1990.

When Vip News asked her for her plans for the new artists she said: "I expect to find not only an audience in Germany, but I am sure there is also interest for these artists on a European level. As well as the booking of tours, I would also like to book them at the relevant festivals in the upcoming season".

 

The consolidation policy seems to have paid off. With the sale of an AM Radio station the framework of Mean Fiddler is now completely focussed on the core business of the company. This company structure now relies on a three-pillar model divided between the business sectors: Festival, International Touring and Live Music Venue. After the disposal of 4 bars and restaurants, Bartok, ION, Point 101 and Powers, in June 2003 for £2 million, the company completed the sale of the radio station for £ 1.5 million (£1 million in cash with the outstanding amount deferred to the end of March 2004).

). Furthermore Mean Fiddler has now received £1.65 million compensation from Islington Council in settlement of litigation regarding the live music venue 'The Complex' in January 2000.

Within the current Ad Hoc release, the company also announced successful festival business results in 2003. While no profit forecast has yet been made, Mean Fiddler announced their intention to do so, when half year business results are be revealed at the end of this month.

 

Clear Channel (Symbol CCU.NSE): Not able to maintain the level of $45.27 as reported in Vip News on 02.09.2003 and moves down to $42.82.

CTS Eventim (EVD.FSE): Cheers up the minds and the wallets of investors who bought EVD.FSE one year ago for €1.20. Quoted last time €5.55 Euro and now already 1 Euro more, taking it up to €6.50. Nevertheless, those investors who bought the share when it was floated on February 1, 2000 for €21.50 Euro and hung on to them, might have to wait a little longer to experience similar feelings to more recent acquirers.

However, is this not a lovely chart, with averages lines moving in the right direction for the 38 days and 200 days period?

DEAG (ERM.FSE): Meanwhile gained 26 cents. Last time indicated with €2.62 and now 2.88. These are ups and downs that hurt but allow the investor keep the champagne remaining in the fridge.

Mean Fiddler (MEF.ISE): With a current share price of 24.5 Pence. Remember the 17.75 Pence reported in the last issue? For further information please see our current business update on MEF.ISE in this issue.

 

Nöjeskontoret ('the office of entertainment') is one of Scandinavia's most renowned and successful theatre- and musical production companies. The company was created by Producer Vicky von der Lancken in 1989. We focus on theatre- and musical productions on Scandinavia's major stages. We have also produced shows in countries such as England and Spain. The productions represent a wide range of genres from serious drama to musical comedy and farce.

Together with our associate company the 'FTT Agenterna' (actors agency for film, tv and theatre) we represent some of Sweden's most well known, and talented actors, comedians, singers, directors and writers. In 1998 Vicky von der Lancken took over the management of the famous Oscars Theatre in Stockholm with a seating capacity of 905.

 

Sfinx Experience CDA or Cernea – de Alvare is Romania’s best known showbusiness agency-company encompassing the activities of Booking, Promoting (National and International Artists), Management and Show Production. The company was founded in 1994 by Misu Cernea and Joey de Alvare and today is the best known brand in the business of entertainment in Romania.

The beginning of the company was not easy in post 1989 Romania as the entertainment field was in its early stages. Misu Cernea, the legendary drummer of Sfinx and leader of the Sfinx Experience Band

united his business efforts to the then well known Romanian based American musical producer and manager Joey de Alvare in order to attempt to create a show business company that could cover the main areas and activities of live showbusiness.

The resulting effort brought about a dynamic and small company which rapidly grew into Romania’s foremost ambassador of the field. Sfinx Experience CDA owns and operates one of Eastern Europe largest Sound, Light and Stage systems and also promotes most international acts coming to Romania as well as managing the top Romanian acts.

 

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