Editor's note

I have just returned from Amsterdam where, as you will see from this News, my colleague Manfred Tari and I attended the Amsterdam Dance Event and The Live Dance Music Conference. Although this City is a favourite of mine, I am always aware of witnessing, and sometimes being involved in near misses, somehow trams, trucks, cars, bicycles and cars negotiate the narrow streets criss-crossing the canals by coming within inches of each other and rarely seeming to be phased by this at all, I'm sure they develop a radar system that most us don't have. In fact the sound of bicycle bells warning we inexperienced tourists that we have wandered on to cycle paths and are about to be mown down, is a constant soundtrack which made me wonder how soon it will be before music publishers, having made a fortune from licensing tunes for mobile phones hit on the idea of this as a market for ring-tones - apart from the flatland European cities just think of the potential (not to mention the cacophony!) in the far East!

On a far more serious note, and there has been far too much of this sort of bad news of late, we regret to report the death of one of the great managers, Steve O'Rourke, manager of Pink Floyd since 1968, died last Wednesday, October 29, of a stroke. He was 63. The band have not made a studio album since 1994, but O'Rourke still took care of business and managed David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Rick Wright. RIP

 

The Amsterdam Dance Event together with the Live Dance Music Conference achieved something that many of other music conventions this year had hoped for. Unlike the big players like Midem or Popkomm, ADE & LDMC bucked the downward trend, the specialized business congress maintained their visitor figures and may even have lured even more attendants to Amsterdam this year.

While the 1300 registrants is a better result than expected, a spokesman for the event explained to Vip News that particularly the number of walk up registrants was a surprise. Also new registrants and companies were attracted to the event, making up almost 40 % of the total attendance. The spokesman explained that, in the past, medium and bigger companies used to come to the event with 4 to 5 people, it is now the case that those companies show up with only 1 or 2 delegates.

 

Pieter van Adrichem - PR Amsterdam Dance Event:

"This year, we've been able to put on over 200 shows and artists. The best thing about that is that we had the chance to put a lot of very unexpected artists on, including special showcases by the French and Finnish Music Export Offices and a special Berlin show with Sascha Funke, Massimo d'Electro and others. With performances by T. Raumschmiere (d), Vive la Fete (b), Armin van Buuren (nl) and Men In Blue (nl) still ringing in my ears, I think we've shown that there is a lot of European talent around in the dance scene."

Peter Elliot - Primary Talent:

Elliot: The ADE 2003 had a very buzzy atmosphere. It has the balance of fun and business about right. Lots going on, lots being discussed.

Vip News: What about the current state of the live dance music business?

Elliot: Live dance music is going threw a state of flux. A lot of bad promoters and dull artists will fall by the way side, and unfortunately so will some good people. However I am very optimistic that most of the 'good guys' will survive, and new blood will come in, creating a stronger more creative business.

 

Sweden was one of the first countries to set up an office dedicated to the support and development of the country's music industry and possibly, at the time of its inauguration, to proving that music talents other than Abba existed, a fact now proven, and pretty obvious to all. The UK's Q Magazine recently reported: "Forget London, LA or even Paris: Scandinavia is the new epicentre of culture". Certainly the music world cannot ignore the fact that the Swedish music industry is making a lot of noise about the undoubted talent that the country has to offer.

Strange then, that with the existence of Export Music Sweden, coming second only I think to the French Export Office in longevity, and very evident and active at all the international music trade shows, Sweden has not, until now, established their own event. Interesting also that when this does finally happen, it has been suggested and initiated by ex-pat Brits. Whatever, the final well-intentioned result is that Access All Areas will now take place in Stockholm on 26-27 November. Both the British Council and ExMS are dedicated to promoting the talents of their respective countries.

 

I am very pleased to note that the 'Trojan Horse', the legendary Paard van Troje in The Hague, has completed its refit and reopened for business. Formerly a single auditorium, the venue now has one 1,100-capacity room and a smaller hall for up to 400 - both equipped with state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems designed by the Ampco Flashlight Group. Both rooms have been constructed using a 'box within a box' construction as used for recording studios, this allows acoustic isolation to deal as a concession to the neighbours, the building is located in the city centre and surrounded by housing.

The main hall can be configured in various formats, now having moveable first and second floor balconies.

Press releases refer to the venue as a 20-year-old facility, however I remember booking UK acts into the club with the then manager of what was still a Government subsidised 'youth club', John Van Vueren in 1975. Even then the venue had much better facilities than the majority of UK clubs of the time. I continued to work with John Van Vueren on artists such as Kevin Coyne when he formed the agency Rock in Waterland, he then founded the Pink Pop - to become Park Pop - Festival. John is unfortunately no longer with us, but his brother Ben continues the business.

 

The Profiling of a Dance Event was the title of the panel that Vip-Booking.com presented on Friday October 31 as part of the Day Programme of The Amsterdam Dance Event. The event handbook billed this panel as follows:

This panel will elaborate on most of the issues that refers to such events. There are several aspects to be considered in order to make a dance-festival pay off:
The participants will explain their experience in terms of: The impact of the location; The image of the event; The design of the production, is almost as important as the right artists; The artwork for promotion and the pricing of tickets are tools the promoter uses to stimulate the success of a show. The exploitation of an event does not only rely on the marketing budgets of sponsors.

 

This positivity was abundant throughout the particularly well attended Dance Event and The Live Dance Conference. My first impressions of the buzzing networking rooms reminded me of early Midems when enthusiasm was still permissible, and not 'uncool', I even saw people playing each other music, and at one point money changed hands, although that could have been for something else of course, we were in Amsterdam!

Major promoter Claudio Trotta of Italy's Barley Arts, having had to use his mature authority to diffuse some local dissent on his panel, 'What Can We Learn from the Rock Community', was enthused by the energy. Even as we discussed glory days with Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa at The Paradiso, he was making plans to work with younger promoters in the Dance field in Italy, he with many years of experience had the same view as the 22 year old Hanka, with three years in the business from the Czech Republic, who although aware of many problems was sure that she could work with many of the people that she had met in Amsterdam to ensure a future.

 

The 2nd annual MTV VMA LA awards took place Thursday, 10/23 and were aired on MTV-2, MTV LA & MTV Espanol. Hosted by Diego Luna the ceremony featured performances by Korn, La Ley, Vicentico, Dido, Natalia Lafourcade, Café Tacuba, Control Machete and many others.

Mexican band Molotov were the top winners of the night, taking home 4 'lenguas' for Video of the Year, Best Group or Duo, Best Alternative Artists & Best Mexican artist. Natalia Lafourcade received 3 awards, and Juanes picked up 2. In an paradoxical twist, Latin rock pioneer of the past 2 decades, Vicentico, singer of Fabulosos Cadillacs, won 'Best New Artist' for his solo project 'Vicentico'

 

The Asian American Music Conference (AAMC) will take place on November 15, 2003, at the Crowne Plaza, Burlingame, California. This one-day conference will feature Asian American music professionals who will share their experience, their views of the future of music, and their ideas on how to contribute to the success of Asian American musical artists. The AAMC hopes to provide insights to individuals aspiring to become an Asian face in the mainstream music scene.

With the ever-growing Latin market providing a successful platform for Latin artists in the US and abroad, the Asian community in the US appears to be aspiring to create similar opportunities for their musicians. Topics to be considered and debated at AAMC will include:

San Francisco is the "Mecca" for Asian American Entertainment - is the rest of America ready? : What is the formula to making a successful selling album?:

 

Clear Channel (CCU.NSE) moved up from 39,91 USD (Vip News October 20.10.2003) to 41,10 USD.

CTS Eventim (EVD.FSE) announced according to DPA-News Agency that they will achieve a 2003 turnover of 200 million Euro. On that news, the share price went up another 0,50 Euro from 6,55 Euro to 7,05.

DEAG (ERM.FSE) increased some cents too even in the absence of any spectacular news. From 2,50 Euro to 2.69 Euro.

Mean Fiddler (MEF.FSE) suffers slightly. In the last issue the share was indicated with 21,00 Pence and is now traded with 20,50 Pence.

 

Festival History
Storsjöyran Festival (or The Great Lake Festival) is an annual event going back to the early sixties. The festival was started in honor of the ancient can-do spirit of the people of Jämtland (the county where Östersund is situated), and to show the rest of Sweden that although this region is sparsely populated its people has the zest, courage and knowledge to create a festival of international size and standard. Something that is well reflected in the fact that ithe festval gathers around 55 000 visitors every year and is the second biggest festival in Sweden (the biggest city festival in Sweden).

"The best city festival in Sweden"
The most wellknown music journalist in Sweden Per Bjurman, Aftonbladet, has rated Storsjöyran Festival as the best city festival in the country for several years. After the festival 2000 he wrote "Nowhere else is the music programme as strong, the organisation as smooth and the festive atmosphere as high as at Storsjöyran".

Artist references 1983-2000
Some of the international artists who has performed at Storsjöyran: Bryan Adams, Melanie C, Pulp, All Saints, The Corrs, Suede, The Jayhawks, Texas, Motörhead, BB King, Skunk Anansie, Maria McKee, Crash Test Dummies, Inner Circle, Deep Blue Something, Junior Delgado, Anouk, Neneh Cherry, Del Amitri, The Misson, Buddy Guy, Siouxsie And The Banshees, The Buzzcocks, The Saw Doctors, Saint Etienne, Leningrad Cowboys, Taraf De Haiduks, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown.

Much more than just music
Though this is mainly a musical festival it includes a variety of other occurrences such as daytime theater, street artists, mimes, impersonators, escapologists e.t.c, as well as a large number of outdoor restaurants put up just for the event.

 

Danartist is a management- and Bookingagency with more than 25 years of experience. We take care of the daily management for some of the most popular artists in Denmark and we represent a variety of domestic and and foreign artists.

With many years of experience in hiring out stages, Danstage has build up a large selection of stages and platforms for nearly any purpose.
Max Bruun, Danstage: max@danartist.dk

 

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