Editor's note

The concept of time has been preoccupying me whilst preparing this Newsletter - particularly how it certainly seems to accelerate. It seems that as soon as the Festival season goes out with Summer, the fast, frantic and often startling arrival of deadlines for participation in the round of annual events that make up our industry's year increasingly brings to mind the old, usually black and white, cinematic device of pages fluttering, turning and tearing from a calendar or a newspaper. Final Showcase applications are imminent for SXSW, Midem, Eurosonic and others, and you can sense minds at work at ILMC headquarters dreaming up next year's extravaganza theme already! The time it takes a show to sell out has also been an omnipresent part of the news - apparently AC /DC and Duran-Duran sold out their London shows in 4 minutes, and, as we report The MTV European Music Awards, after taking care of the great and the good, unloaded what they had left to sell to the public in 14 minutes - Just how do they work that out exactly!? Don't get me wrong I'm all for shows that sell out, and fast sell outs are good, but these stop-watch calculations conjure up the same images of flashing pieces of paper as described above, it's a damn good thing I'm not susceptible to epilepsy! - Anyway, no time to hang around; let's get on with the News!

 

Through decades the music industry had its ups and downs. Record sales thundered through and collapsed, live venues suffered and were revitalized, sponsors showered the industry with money and found other media. Various parts of the industry tried to save their own skin at the expense of others. Can some of the groaning and complaints in our industry be avoided if we focus on increased dialogue and cooperation inside the industry by realizing that if there is a dangerous competitor or enemy, he's outside the industry.

It's been seen that heavily competing breweries find each other in solid campaigns - "drink beer - rather than wine ". Are we in our business able to keep in step? Have we really tried to add to one overall agenda for our industry in order to achieve the highest respect for music and its values and qualities so that we take off from one united platform when we approach officials, governments, the EU etc. regarding regulations for PRS, visas, tax, carnets, adds, support. Should we have one body to handle our interests in any aspect irrespective of genre of music, live or plastic format, German or Greek, tax or education.

 

With a reputation as one of the friendliest festivals in Europe – not to mention being renowned as the place to discover new music and artists - the Noorderslag Weekend is an ideal opportunity to do concrete business and attracts prominent representatives from European festivals, EBU radio, promoters, agents, bookers and managers, while the Dutch music industry is out in full force at Noorderslag Seminar.

Click to directly download the registration form.

 

"The South by Southwest Music & Media Conference has long been the music industry's most telling barometer -- the best way to forecast pop-music trends and spot promising up-and-comers certain to make noise in the months to follow." Chicago Sun-Times, March 17, 2003.

Well, where does the time go? As with everything else, the pages of the international music industry calendar flip with amazing, and seemingly increasing speed. Una Johnston, SXSW European Manager informs us that due to stringent border security, SXSW Music has prioritised the processing of international Music Festival applicants.

In order to facilitate the review process, the deadline for international showcase applications is October 31st. So if you want to your act to be one of the over one thousand showcasing artists and solo acts from all over the world to perform on one of the 50 stages over the course of five nights, March 17 - 21, 2004 in Austin, Texas, and you haven't yet applied get your entries in quick. You can save time and $10 by using a check (U.S. bank only) or credit card with the online showcase application available at: http://www.sxsw.com/music/showcase/ US final applications must be in by November 7, 2003.

 

Coldplay singer Chris Martin has asked Australian police to drop a charge of malicious damage after allegedly attacking a photographer's car while staying at the Australian resort with Hollywood actress girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow. Martin had been surfing and accused photographer Jon Lister of taking pictures of him and police said an argument and the alleged attack ensued.

Martin was charged in July after allegedly breaking a windscreen with a rock. He did not appear in court at Byron Bay, New South Wales, on Wednesday, when his lawyer asked for the charge to be dropped. Malicious damage carries a maximum sentence of five years in jail. The Magistrate adjourned the case until 21 November.

 

ADE reports a last-minute boost in the numbers of new registrations. Currently the figures stand at more than a 1000 participants and the organisers expect a final total of around 1200 registrations for the Amsterdam Dance Event. According to a convention spokesman the surge of late registrations has come particularly from France, Southern Europe (Italy, Spain, Portugal) and the US.

With the agenda and programs now set, key note speakers confirmed and time schedules figured out, it appears that this business event is ready to do business.

With the record business suspected of being an endangered species these days, the live music business is receiving more and more interest and attention. This certainly goes for the ADE and for the very first time there will be a special Live Music Dance Conference. This will feature special debates and topics that refer to the specialized business of delivering 3D entertainment in real time for real beings.

 

The winners of the 2004 Polar Music Prize were announced Wednesday the 15th of October 2003 at The Royal Swedish Academy of Music in Stockholm. The two men honoured are from very different musical and social backgrounds but are both held in the utmost esteem in their fields.

The first Citation was for the Award to Blues legend B.B.King: "The Polar Music Prize for 2004 is being awarded to the American composer, singer and performer Riley B. King for his significant contributions to the blues. King's total dedication to his music, a rich recording history and tireless touring lasting more than half a century have made him one of the most prominent figures within the blues.

 

Marek Lieberberg Konzertagentur faces a problem regarding the date and the location for Rock Am Ring. The festival normally takes place at the Nuerburgring motor racing circuit on the Whitsuntide Weekend. But for May 28-30, 2004 a Grand Prix race is scheduled for the site. Jacky Jedlicki, head of production at the Marek Lieberberg office told Vip News: "We were very surprised when we discovered in the newspapers that the date for the European Grand Prix had been scheduled for May 30. We have informed the Nuerburgring that this date is already confirmed for our festival." As of now no further information is available, however Jedlicki emphasized that Rock Am Ring should definitely take place on the traditional date.

 

Tickets for the MTV Europe Music Awards ceremony, taking place in Leith, near Edinburgh, Scotland on November 6 next month, were sold out last week - 14 minutes after they going on sale. An exclusive hotline number was deluged by fans the moment the £34 tickets went on sale, at 5pm. Members of the public still hoping to get in to one of Europe's biggest musical events will now have to hope to be lucky in competitions offering tickets as prizes.

The evening, to be hosted by the American pop star Christina Aguilera, has already attracted controversy, with accusations that very few Scots would be able to get tickets as the hotline applied to the whole of Europe, with no tickets reserved for sale locally. Also MTV had launched an inquiry following claims reported by the newspaper Scotland on Sunday of London ticket agencies purporting to guarantee customers entry to their 10th Anniversary star-studded music awards event for as much as £800, despite the fact that MTV at the time had not released details of how they would be sold.

 

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) has teamed up with British Underground, PPL and Trade Partners UK to stage a showcase of up-and-coming British bands at CMJ in New York on Saturday October 25. Clearlake, Kinesis and The Koreans will be performing as part of the College Music Journal (CMJ) Music Marathon (October 22-26), an annual festival attracting thousands of delegates from the US college radio circuit and international music industry.

The choice of bands for the CMJ line-up reflects the nature of the event, which is seen as a portal to US college radio for new and breaking bands. The acts have been booked by Metropolis, who put together this year's successful UK showcase at SXSW in Austin featuring The Darkness and British Sea Power.

In addition to the showcase, BPI and British Underground have compiled a sampler CD of UK acts performing during the CMJ festival.

 

The ongoing campaign for tax on CDs in Europe to be cut announced at this year's EMO meeting at Midem has been championed by a group of musicians led by French composer Jean Michel.

Jarre said the refusal to include CDs on a list of EU cultural products that have a lower VAT rate, such as books, amounted to discrimination. He said: "Does Europe think Shakespeare, Umberto Eco, Nietzsche or Victor Hugo are worth 15% more than Beethoven, Edith Piaf or the Beatles?"

Jarre said high taxes posed a "life and death situation" to Europe's ailing CD sales. "We have to respect these new media as we respect old ones," he said.

Campaigners say lower VAT would encourage fans to buy more music. We at Vip have commented on this before and believe that the same reasoning should apply to VAT on concert tickets, and any campaign should take this into account.

 

Vapour is the brainchild of Cymon Eckel and Marcus Weedon, who staged their first Vapour event in 1998. Conceived as a reaction to bland production line events and clubs, they wanted to produce an event that broke down the barriers between musical styles and genres, The launch event in London was staged in a 20,000 sq ft warehouse and separated into four special environments featuring Soma, Warp, Heavenly and Wall Of Sound.

Vapour then toured the country with even more labels, including Nuphonic, XL, Grand Central, Concrete, Athletico, and Skint. It was a huge success and led them to put two years of their energies into developing the idea for this new Festival

Vapour is sub-titled: "From Live Bands To Programs!" 3 Days Of Labels And Their Artists and will run over three nights of gigs and parties in and around London¹s East End from 30th October -1st November.

 

It took a while but finally the new organisers of Popkomm in Berlin have announced September 29 to October 1, 2004 as the dates for the first edition of the convention to take place in Berlin.

The Messe Berlin will announce further details at a press conference in November 2003.

The latest insider gossip infers that Christian Hoeferle, deputy editor at the trade publication Musikwoche is in talks with the organizers and will probably move from Munich to Berlin to take up his new post. France is supposed to become the official partner country for the music fair in 2004. Like the international book fair in Frankfurt, Popkomm proposes playing host to a guest nation each year, featuring artists and products of the particular country.

 

The leading German ticket provider has, through agreement with Berlin.de and the German version of Yahoo Launch, gained two new online outlets for their ticket service. Yahoo Launch is the music and entertainment section of the web search engine Yahoo.com, while Berlin.de is the official portal of the German Capital.
The ticket service becomes an integral service for both sites and offers the opportunity to purchase tickets for a portfolio of around 50.000 events per year. The online service will provide full background information about shows and tours.

 

A spokesman for co-promoter FZW confirmed to Vip News that, "Talks are taking place". One participant in these talks is Carlos Fleischmann, who works on behalf of DEAG in Berlin and also promotes the Berlin Nova Festival near the German capital. According to the spokesman, Fleischman is an interested potential partner for the Visions Westend Festival. After the first edition of the 2 day festival this year, the event could well expand to include another day. The scheduled dates are June 11 to 13 and the plan is to collaborate on the booking of acts for the show.

 

The provision of education and training in the live music area is an increasingly important consideration for the future of the business. Vip News asked Nick Roos, a trainee event manager who started his apprenticeship at Musikkomm, the former organizer of Popkomm about his experience and the association for trainees for this new/old profession. It is almost 3 years since the first group of trainees for the profession of event manager started their course.

The final examinations are now scheduled for November.

Vip News: What are the aims of the association of V-People?

Roos: We as the organization of Apprentice Event Managers in Cologne want to practice our newly learnt skills in our area of business, because our profession was founded in 2001 and we are the first to learn it. Some companies from the event sector still don't know that the profession exists. We are informing people about it with our website www.veranstaltungskaufleute.com, and at several Events.

 

Clear Channel (Symbol CCU.NSE) from 40,60 USD (Vip News October 3 2003) down to 39,91 USD

CTS Eventim (EVD.FSE) plus 5 cent from 6,50 Euro up to 6,55 Euro

DEAG (ERM.FSE) recovers slighlty and move up from 2,38 Euro to 2.50 Euro .

Mean Fiddler (MEF.ISE) 23,5 Pence last time and 21,00 Pence at the beginning of this week

 

Welcome to the 36th Umeå International Jazz Festival Oct 22-26 2003 In Umeå you can find a unique scene for jazz music. This cultural and innovative centre in the north of Sweden has over the years produced the highest yield of jazz musicians in Sweden. It has also one of the most excellent Jazz Clubs (Jazz i Studion) in Scandinavia and an extremely devoted audience. Since 1968, the highlight of the year is Umeå International Jazz Festival, one of Europe's oldest and most well-known festivals. The 36th festival opens on October 22nd at the NorrlandsOperan and ends on Sunday afternoon October 26th at the StudioJazz, Umeå Folkets Hus. On the weekend we focus on different stages at Umeå Folkets Hus. Every stage has a different character; the Jazz Laboratory gives you the possibility to hear experimental jazz, the Apple´s Ballroom gives you the possibility to eat, drink, dance and hear shows performed by different groups. In Freja JazzBar you can find anything from an unknown jazzsinger to top bands from the region of the North.

In StudioJazz you can find an intimate international club atmosphere and at midnight we are introducing jamsessions at the SoundGarden. The Idun Theatre is the main stage of the festival and gives you the possibility to hear both international stars and top names from the Swedish jazz arena. You can experience all this by getting a Festival Pass "Huskort" which opens the doors for all events in Folkets Hus, including four stages filled with jazz on Friday and five on Saturday. The festival ends on Sunday. Umeå International Jazz festival has also the honour of presenting pianist Mr. Lars Jansson as this year's guest of honour and pianist Michel Camilo as Artist in Residence. We want to give our audience a magic melting-pot consisting of the landmarks of jazz today - at least for some intensive couple of days, hours or seconds.

 

Roskilde Festival is the largest international music festival in Northern Europe – attracting audiences from all over Europe. It is an independent, non-profit festival organised by The Roskilde Charity Society. Roskilde Festival presents an up to date and progressive music programme ranging from contemporary rock to electronic music, hip hop and global beat plus an extensive programme of events, art and activities. Each year, more than 150 acts play at six stages during 4 days from Thursday to Sunday. The camping areas open on the Sunday before the festival with music on the Camp Stage and many activities during the days up to Thursday. An extensive environmental programme is implemented each year, including refund on drinking cups. All profits from the festival are donated to national and international humanitarian charity and cultural purposes. The festival is located on the Festival Site, outside the town of Roskilde, 35 km from Copenhagen.

Roskilde Festival was established in 1971 and have since then presented acts like Aerosmith, Beastie Boys, Björk, Blur, David Bowie, David Byrne, Nick Cave, Ray Charles, Chemical Brothers, The Clash, Elvis Costello, The Cure, Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel, Garbage, The Flaming Lips, Iggy Pop, Kraftwerk, London Chamber Orchestra, Manic Street Preachers, Marilyn Manson, Bob Marley, Metallica, Van Morrison, New Order, Nirvana, Oasis, Pet Shop Boys, Pretenders, Primal Scream, Pulp, Radiohead, Rammstein, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lou Reed, REM, Simple Minds, Patti Smith, Sonic Youth, Suede, Talking Heads, U2, Underworld, Robbie Williams, Neil Young and many many others.

The festival has four main camping areas, each with a central plaza as a focal point. The facilities include : hot and cold showers, cooking areas, food stalls, beer stalls, clothes stalls, cinema, street sports, skater ramp with DJs, massage, luggage storage and various events.

In 2004, Roskilde Festival takes place from 1 – 4 July.

 

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