VIP-News Premium - Vol. 146 April 2012

VIPNEWS PREMIUM > VOLUME 146 > APRIL 2012

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VIPNEWS > APRIL 2012

It’s been pouring with rain here for the last

couple of days, but it seems that it’s not the

right type of rain, or there’s not enough of

it because we are still officially in drought.

River levels across England and Wales are the

lowest they’ve been for 36 years, since our

last severe drought in 1976, with, according

to the Environmental Agency, two-thirds

‘exceptionally ’ low, and most reservoirs

below normal levels. As the festival season

looms and the situation continues, we may

see our increasingly ‘green’ events having

to consider contingency plans to deal with

water shortages and yet more problems

caused by increasingly erratic weather. I’m

sure that many in other countries who still

picture England as a rain swept country

where everybody carries umbrellas will find

it strange to see us indulging in rain dances

over the next couple of months!

Since the last issue of VIP News I have

journeyed to Canada, Estonia and Paris, and

talking of strange weather, things on that

front were not as usual. Having prepared

myself to pack thermal underwear and ski

wear for Toronto, having been told by old

hands at Canadian Music Week to expect

temperatures of – 10º and below, I discovered

on checking that shorts and swimwear were

nearer the mark (especially as my hotel room

flooded on the first night – but that’s another

story!) and in fact the first day there turned

out to be the hottest March day ever recorded

at 21º. Estonia a few days later was cold, but

just above freezing, unlike last year when The

Great Escape’s Martin Elbourne managed to

bring attention to himself, becoming Tallin

Music Week’s first casualty by skidding on

the ice covered pavement and breaking three

ribs. This year was happily as far as I know

injury free. Then a trip to Paris in connection

with this year’s MaMA event was positively

spring like! – Oh no! - I’ve just realised that

I’ve done that most English of things and

spent the whole time talking about the

weather! Still the events themselves do get

covered in the News you’ll be glad to know.

I was very taken by the Neil McCormick

report in UK newspaper The Telegraph from

the Coachella festival in California, as he

wrote, “The hairs went up on the back of my

neck…” as he watched the live performance

of Tupac Shakur…” This is perfectly

understandable , as unfortunately, and not to

put too fine a point on it, Tupac is actually

dead. His apparently very realistic appearance

was made possible by the application of new

holographic projection technology. This all

puts a new slant on the phrase, You can’t

recreate the Live experience ’ and opens

up all sorts of quite bizarre and disturbing

possibilities , as apparently you can do more

than just holographically present a pre-filmed

performance, it is now possible to work the

images to present something entirely new.

We hear all the time that there is a lack of

new headliners, and about bands reforming

all the time to sell out tours, but bringing

acts back from the dead now seems at

least visually – and of course acoustically –

possible ? The Sonisphere show with Adam

Lambert fronting Queen at Knebworth in the

UK was recently cancelled, seemingly due

to poor ticket sales – now if Freddy made

a virtual comeback it may well have been a

different story…

So, with Frankenstein images and thoughts

of the Grateful Undead going through my

head – Ladies and Gentlemen – The News…

COLOPHON >

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McGowan’s Musings

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The UK Live Music Act Becomes OfficialAllan McGowan [email protected]

It has been confirmed that The Live Music

Act will come into effect on October 1.

The implementation of the Act means that

performances of live amplified music with

audiences of less than 200 people between

the hours of 8am-11pm will no longer

require local authority permission in England

and Wales. Also there will be no audience

limit for performances of unamplified live

music.

The Private Members Bill which became the

Live Music Act was introduced by Liberal

Democrat Peer, Lord Tim Clement-Jones and

was championed in the Commons by the

Member of Parliament for Bath Don Foster.

The intention and the hope is that the Act

will encourage more pubs and small venues

to host live music events in 2012 and beyond.

VIP News attended the party held hosted

by UK Music and the Musicians Union at

Westminster to celebrate, as did musicians

such as Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera,

folk artists Show of Hands and producer

Trevor Horn along with various MP’s and

representatives of the music industry. There

weren’t that many small venue operators

that I was aware of, but presumably they

were at their desks preparing for more gigs!

Jo Dipple, chief executive of UK Music

said: “This act will reverse the damaging

effec t the Licensing Act had on live musical

performances in the UK. Our most successful

musicians, such as Joy Division, The Sex Pis-

tols and the Rolling Stones all learnt their

trade and earned their livings in small clubs

and bars. Reversing overzealous licensing

regulations will create new opportunities for

British artists. The Rose & Crown in Totteridg e

Park and The Constitution in Camden Town

will be - thanks to this Act - full of music and

seedbeds for talent. Tomorrow’s headline

acts will grow from these seedbeds which is

great for music lovers and for the wider UK

economy.”

John Smith, MU General Secretary, said:

“The MU is delighted to be hosting this

event alongside UK Music. Personally, I

have been campaigning on this issue ever

since the Licensing Bill first started going

through Parliamen t in 2002-03, and once

the Licensing Act came into place in 2003

our members immediately started telling us

that the number of gigs being held in small

venues was going down.

“The exemption that the Live Music Act will

bring in is fantastic news for musicians and

will be a real boost for live music, and we

thought it was right to celebrate it with a live

music party in Parliament.”

Lord Tim Clement Jones told VIP News,

“After a campaign lasting several years it was

hugely satisfying to see the Bill go through

on the 20th January, especially when no-one

except Don Foster seemed to understand

the procedure! I am sure the Act will make a

real difference especially to young musicians

and local small venues. It’s high time we

celebrated not regulated our musical talent.”

Jo Dipple

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Canadian Music WeekAllan McGowan [email protected]

This was the 30th edition of CMW and

it’s taken me this long to actually gets

there. For the last few years the event has

unfortunately clashed with ILMC, but a

strategic rescheduling to allow international

professionals to fit in both SXSW and CMW

made it possible for me to make it to Toronto

– and I’m glad I did!

The event is big… nearly 3000 delegates

attended . CMW incorporates the Conference ,

Awards Shows a Trade Show, and Comedy,

Film, and of course Music Festivals; featuring

international and home grown acts in 35

venues over three nights.. There are a lot of

good bands coming out of Canada and I was

particularly impressed by Half Moon Set from

Montreal (playing at Brighton’s Great Escape

next month) and Sheepdogs from Saskatoon.

The venues are pretty spread out across the

City and a lot of time is spent in cabs –

although a certain Scottish delegate walked

everywhere resulting in severe chafing of

his inner thighs as the heavy fabric of his

kilt swung backwards and forwards as he

marched from venue to venue!

CMW is truly international and as far as

Europe was concerned this year Portugal

and Spain were featured territories. The

International Market Place was the main

meeting point for the out of Canada guests,

and the room in the Tardis like Fairmont Hotel

was one of the main networking places.

Speakers included Harvey Goldsmith, Slash

and Paul Rodgers of Free and Bad Company

fame. The panels were full and active, with

the Festivals session attracting 400 plus - one

of the best-attended panels I’ve ever seen!

CMW President Neill Dixon told VIP News,

“For Canadian Music Week’s 30th anniversary

and beyond our goal is to be on the forefront

of issues and trends shaping both the digital

environment and opportunities for both the

live and recorded music business in the years

ahead.

We spent a lot of effort to create a first-wave

think-tank, one that maps out our industry’s

future for our participants benefit. I think

we succeeded this year. In a business

sense, these insights may be life-or-death

– especially in the face of the exponential

growth of social networking, mobile web,

viral marketing and online TV. Competitive

executives need an “edge,” and CMW is

the place to acquire it. Of course have not

forgotten our roots and CMW continues to

be Canada’s biggest, internationally-focused

new music fest showcasing over 1,000 bands

from 40 countries”

Next year’s CMW European focus will be

on Northern Europe’s Nordic Countries –

Norway , Iceland, Finland, Denmark and

Sweden – and the associated regions of

the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Aaland.

Japan the second largest music market in the

world, just after the US will also be featured.

Harvey Goldsmith at CMW 2012

VIPNEWS > APRIL 2012 > CONFERENCE ROUND UP

Neill Dixon

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Tallinn Music WeekAllan McGowan [email protected]

This was my second visit to Tallinn and it is more than clear that something is going on in Estonia! This small republic with a population of only

1,318,005 people, historically and culturally connected to the nearby Scandinavian countries, and neighbour to Russia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Estonia is the home of Skype and has recently fared better than many countries beset by the ongoing financial difficulties.

The annual showcase festival and music industry conference took place for the fourth time and as you can see this year’s figures

show a significant advance on 2011.

The conference was again opened

with a welcome speech from

the President of Estonia

Toomas Hendrik Ilves .

I was extremely

impressed by his

knowledge of

music in general

and his attitude

last year and

we featured

an interview

with him in VIP

News. This year’s

address was, if

anything, even more

striking, referring to the

perhaps recently overlooked

connection of rock’n’roll to

democracy and freedom of speech. It is

worth taking the time to watch and listen to Pres.

Ilves speech which can be accessed in full here: http://www.

youtube.com/watch?v=SyMN3hmcoHE

The close connection to the Nordic countries in terms of geography,

Helsinki is only two hours away by ferry, and increasingly, business,

was emphasised, by NOMEX, the recently formed umbrella for the

music export organisations of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and

Sweden, choosing the event to outline its strategy for the first time in

a speech by MD Anna Hildur Hildibrandsdottir.

Organiser Helen Sildna commented, “We are happy to see that TMW

has now a solid place at the annual calendars for our region’s music

industry key players and organizations. If we manage to boost up the

artist and knowledge exchange between the neighbouring countries

by making it possible for the right people to meet each other, we

have already succeeded, simultaneously providing a gateway into the

market for the whole Europe and the world. Just five years

ago it was quite rare to see an Estonian band play in

Finland or Latvia and as rare to see any Latvian

bands play in Estonia. Things have changed

significantly and suddenly the whole region

is a bigger and more open market place

for new talent.”

The confe-

rence also addressed

copy right, music entrepreneurship,

and the essential role of a manager. This section included

entertaining and informative interviews with Ed Bicknell, long

time manager of Dire Straits, Brian Ferry and others, and

Russian cultural figure Artemyi ‘Artjom’ Troitsky.

It’s only 20 years since Estonia gained independence and delegates

were reminded of this by a trip to the KGB Museum (Which I

201227 stages

183 artists from 13 countries

150 artists from Estonia

11.200 festival visitors

589 delegates – 283 from Estonia

306 international delegates

61.549 unique hits on the website

from 110 countries

201116 stages

147 artists from 10 countries

123 artists from Estonia

7.600 festival visitors

423 delegates – 229 from Estonia

194 international delegates

52.483 unique hits on the website

from 88 countries


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unfortunately missed) in a Hotel opposite the Conference hotel,

apparently the door to the office displayed a sign saying, “There’s

nothing behind this door.”

Undeterred by his injuries from a fall on the ice last year, Martin

Elbourne of The Great Escape and Glastonbury told VIP News, “I

have seen this event develop over the last three years. It was always

well organised in a fantastic city, and is now bigger, with more

delegates and better bands. As a regional event it can only become

more important . Aside from the Great Escape it’s the one conference

showcase event that I will definitely attend next year.”

Ed Bicknell commented, “I thoroughly enjoyed it. Extremely well

organised , great people, interested and enthusiastic audiences. Oh...

and the interviewer wasn’t bad either (I wonder who that could have

been? Thanks Ed – ED.). Thanks to Helen and all her colleagues for

their professionalism, hospitality and sheer doggedness in getting the

Conference/Festival established in such a short time, really impressive.

I would definitely go again”.

Mark Meharry, CEO of UK based Music Glue said, “The setting was

great and the town is picture postcard. The bands that I saw were

not that great, but then I am not the target demographic. I didn’t

see many panels except the ones I was on. It was a great networking

event and the people Helen brought in were of a good level. Maybe

less vodka would be a good thing!”

Dan Panaitescu of he Sziget Office in Budapest was short and to the

point, “The best ever. Very well organized, interesting panels, good

artists... no complaint...”

Following on from TMW the European Talent Exchange Programme

announced that a Estonia’s Ewert and the Two Dragons are leading

the field in this year’s ETEP festival bookings following Eurosonic

2012, having been confirmed to play at festivals in Finland, Sweden,

Belgium , France and Lithuania. The band were the winners of the

Skype Award at TMW 2011 and since then they have played festivals

across Europe and played their first tour in North America. Manager

Toomas Olljum told VIP News, “Helen Sildna and Tallinn Music Week

have played an important role in my development into an artist

manager . I started working with acts a few years before TMW, but

the event gave me a networking possibility with key international

industry players in my hometown. 4 years after its start, my artists are

doing well - Ewert and The Two Dragons just finished a series of gigs

in North America where they played at Canadian Music Week and

in NYC, and Iiris, Tallinn Music Week skype ‘Go Change The World’

award winner 2010 just released a debut album on EMI.”

The Skype Award winner 2012 will soon be announced and the prize

of 3500 EUR will go to an artist with the most international potential

as selected amongst TMW


Ed Bicknell and Helen Sildnaat Tallinn Music Week

Ewert and the two dragons - photo by rasmus jurkatam

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This year’s prestigious categories:Best Delegate’s Bag

Best Delegate Bar

Best Hotel/Convention Centre

Best App Or Digital Tool

Best Export Office

Best Networking EventOr Feature

Best Award Show

Best Small/Regional Event

Best Panel Near Punch-Up

Accident (or Incident)Of The Year

Conference JunkieOf The Year.

UK Conference EventsAllan McGowan [email protected]

May is a busy month in the UK Conference Calendar with both Brighton’s Great Escape and Liverpool’s Sound City. VIP News will cover the

Southern and the Northern events and report back in the nest issue.

YMCAS Return to The Great Escape

This May 10-12 will see the return of The

Great Escape to Brighton, and I am glad

to see that the now semi-legendary Yearly

Music Conference Awards (or YMCAs to its

friends), will again be part of the programme

(particularly as I proudly won one last year –

still it is my hometown)! These Awards aim

to recognise all that is good, and sometimes

quite strange, about the world’s music

business conventions and showcase festivals.

Presented at an exclusive ticket-only

event as part of the final day of The Great

Escape convention , the awards also bring

together the travelling community of agents,

managers , bookers, and business owners

and export offices that visit many of these

events, along with the people who organise

them. Many of you VIP News readers attend

these events so here’s a chance to add your

voices to the selection of the winners.

Nominations are already being accepted in all

eleven categories. These can be emailed to

[email protected]. Nominees for each

category will then be announced and people

will be invited to vote in each section.

Ticket information for the YMCAs will go

online at www.escapegreat.com next week.

Full listings for bands, 42 new names have

recently been added to the line up, etc can

also be accessed at this site.

Red Stripe will be sponsoring this year’s

programme of street gigs; and Ford will be

recording Bands In Transit sessions at the

event. Tthe open air stage on Jubilee Square,

The Hub, will be back; and 20 venues will

appear in the Alternative Escape fringe

programme this year.

Amongst the sessions will be ‘DIY In The

Spotlight ’, specifically aimed at providing

practical advice, tricks of the trade, and

hopefully inspiring stories for artists,

managers and music entrepreneurs early on

in their careers, and those musicians looking

to self-release their own work for the first

time. Holy Roar’s Alex Fitzpatrick, Chris TT,

Good Lizard’s David Riley, Create Spark’s

Debbie Ball, ACUMEN’s Josh Little, Sony By

Toad’s Matthew Young, Memphis Industries’

Ollie Jacob, Tru Thoughts’ Robert Luis and

Sentric Music’s Simon Pursehouse will help

to provide a focus on what artists and their

managers need to do logistically and legally

when setting up their own music enterprise.

The DIY In The Spotlight strand is being

enabled by Arts Council England, who have

confirmed they are supporting a number of

activities at The Great Escape this year. Sally

Abbott, Regional Director of Arts Council

England, South East, told CMU: “Arts Council

England are delighted to support The Great

Escape festival in Brighton with £38,000 of

Grants For The Arts funding”. She added:

“The Great Escape festival attracts music

fans, young people and industry specialists

from all over the world to Brighton and we

are delighted to support it in delivering local

collaborations, education and development

and to promote international diver-

sity and collaboration between artists’’.

PRS For Music will once again present a

whole strand of panels, keynotes and con-

versations on day one of the convention.


Sally Abbott

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Mobile Roadie to Keynote Liverpool Sound City

Sound City will take place in Liverpool the

week after Great Escape on May 17-19.

Andrew Mains, COO of the massively

successful app developer Mobile Roadie

used by amongst others Madonna, Adele,

Noel Gallagher , Take That, Miami Dolphins ,

Cristiano Ronaldo, LA Kings and, yes,

Liverpool Sound City, will deliver the first

keynote speech. Chief Operating Officer at

Mobile Roadie since September, 2011 Mains

oversees business development, grows the

MR global sales team, and manages day-

to-day operations . He is a digital music and

entertainment industry veteran with extensive

experience helping artists, managers and

labels deepen engagement with fans, and will

be discussing the future of music apps.

This year, Sound City will be hosting parties

and events with Sounds Australia, Brazil

Music Exchange, New Zealand Music

Commission, Taiwan GIO, KOCCA (Korea

Creative Content Agency), Generator, Digital

Derry, PPL, Musicians Union and c/o Pop as

well as bands from as far afield as Australia,

Austria, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France,

Germany, Korea, Italy, Japan, Netherlands,

Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden Taiwan

and USA

Alan Welby, Director of Knowledge Economy

at Sound City 2012 partner Liverpool City

Region’s Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)

said:

“This region is home to over 3,000 creative

and digital businesses at the forefront of one

of the most vibrant and competitive sectors in

our economy. Creativity is in our DNA. There

is a very strong core of locally established

and locally grown businesses and we set up

the UK’s first creative industries development

agency in 1997. All of this positions Liverpool

perfectly to build on its success to date in

hosting Sound City. The 2012 event offers

us a unique opportunity to showcase the

region for more leading creative and digital

industries to do business here, and attracting

keynote speakers like Andrew reflects the

importance of the event and its appeal to

delegates from all over the world”.


Andrew Mains

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Legal Action Against Secondary TicketingManfred Tari [email protected]

Within the past decade companies such as Seatwave or Viagogo

have ‘conquered’ Europe and converted a business model previously

widely considered a black market into a viable business model

dealing profitably in the secondary sale of tickets.

The demand for live events has continued to rise, and understandably

the ticketing business has benefited from this development. Leading

ticketing companies such as Ticketmaster and CTS Eventim became

leading players operating and making both high profits from and

returns to the value chain of the concert industry within the primary

sales market.

But companies active within the so called secondary market for

tickets only contribute to a certain and limited extent to this value

chain, as in most cases neither concert promoters nor artists receive

a share on tickets passed on to buyers at above face value. However

observation of the websites of Companies such as Viagogo or

Seatwave proves that the profit margins for selling tickets at inflated

prices can run up to and sometimes even exceed 500 percent.

For many years several concert promoters tried to fight the secondary

ticketing companies, but in most cases failed. Since the TV-magazine

Dispatches on Channel4 aired a report entitled “The Great Ticket

Swindle”, the issue of secondary ticketing once again came to the

fore in the concert industry. Two journalists that worked undercover

at Seatwave and Viagogo revealed the use of business practises

that many in the concert industry already suspected. One of the

findings of the “Great Ticket Swindle” revealed that the majority of

tickets offered on those ticket exchanges are traded by employees

of these companies or so called power sellers. Not long ago these

‘power sellers’ would actually have been considered ‘touts’ by more

concerned concert promoters or artists.

But the Great Ticket Swindle also revealed that prominent companies

such as Live Nation UK or SJM Concerts provided ticket contingents

for concerts and tours of artists such Coldplay, Rihanna or Westlife.

However, there are promoters that strictly refuse to work with

secondary ticketing websites. In France the concert promoter

association Prodiss successfully lobbied for a legal solution against

unauthorized secondary ticketing.

Prodiss reported that this new French law implemented on March

12th 2012, aims to “facilitate the organisation of cultural and sports

events” creating a new criminal offense (article 313-6-2, French

penal code) for the unauthorized ticket resale to sporting, cultural,

trade events, and live performances”.

VIPNEWS > APRIL 2012 > INDEPtH StORy > SECONDARy tICKEtING DEBAtE

INDEPTH – Continuing the Secondary Ticketing DebateIn the last issue we presented varying views on the ongoing discussion about the whys

and wherefores and the rights and wrongs of Secondary Ticketing, following the active

and sometimes heated debate that followed the screening in the UK of ‘The Great Ticket

Swindle’ , the ‘Dispatches’ investigative documentary on the practice in the UK. In this issue

we present further opinion and comment on the topic…

The statute states: “To sell, offer for sale or expose for sale or

transfer of ownership, or to provide the means for sale or transfer

of ownership of access rights to a sporting, cultural or trade event

or to a live show, habitually and without authorization from the

promoter , the organizer or the owner of the rights of exploitation of

this manifestation or event, is punishable by a 15 000 euros fine. The

penalty is up to 30 000 euros in the event of a repeat offence. For

the purposes of the application of the first subparagraph, any ticket,

document, message or code, in all forms or mediums, evidencing

the right to attend the manifestation or event having been obtained

from the producer, organizer or owner of the rights of exploitation,

will be considered as access card.”

VIP News spoke to Aline Renet of Prodiss about this legal initiative:

VIP news: what does this mean for French concert promoters?

– “The French law now recognizes full control of the tickets for the

live performance producers. Event promoters contracts with the

artist’ s representative for their appearance, hire venues, determine

the face value of tickets and their allocation between the venue

box office and ticket agents, and undertake the advertising and

marketing of the event. The promoter has the sole right to grant

ticket distribution to any third party he may choose. French law

prohibits the resale of tickets to an event by third parties, not duly

authorised by the organiser of the event. The phenomenon of

“unauthorized ticket resale” is largely but not exclusively attributable

to Internet websites, set up for this purpose. Among targets are

resale sites, based in France or abroad, operating without the

agreement of promoters , as well as individuals who habitually

engage in the practice of reselling tickets to an event.”

VIP news: How did you lobby for this law?

– As there were several prior attempts –five rejected bills in total in

the last two years- we focused firstly on the timing: we are close to

the election in France and secondly we got 100 artists to co-sign

a public statement in Le Monde etc. against the resale of tickets

at inflated prices just three days before the vote of the original

amendment in order to raise more pressure, helping to secure the

adoption of the bill. Thirdly we mobilized MPs from Parti Socialiste

and UMP and additionally worked out a media campaign for the

last 6 month with two different but combined approaches: One

was to raise public concern/awareness, the other one was Economic

& Financial press, giving them an outlook on who was pulling the

strings.

This means that France now joins Denmark in implementing a legal

backing for concert promoters, helping promoters and artists to ban

secondary ticketing.

Aline Renet

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It is well known there are promoters that

enjoy working with secondary ticketing

websites. But for those who do not get

involved in this kind of ticketing business,

the following interview with Ben Challis,

general counsel of Glastonbury and music

lawyer might pick up a hint or two, on how

to prevent secondary ticketing or simply gain

a better understanding of the generalities of

the practice.

what did you think when you saw the

TV-report “The great Ticket swindle”?

– I thought it was interesting and a brilliant

expose of some of the less savoury aspects of

ticketing. I think it lifted a veil on what some

in the secondary market had been up to for

some time, so perhaps now we can have a

bit more transparency so fans know who is

making what out of inflated ticket prices. If it

is the band or the promoter making the mark

up - so be it - I just think fans have a right to

know whom they are paying.

what is the policy of glastonbury Festival

when it comes to secondary ticketing?

– The Festival has a registration process ,

limits on ticket sales and personalised tickets

(with a photograph). It is a substantial

investment of time, effort and money but

seems effective so far. We are also vigilant

to ensure websites such as eBay don’t re-

sell our tickets, and as we have a number

of UK and European Community Trade

Marks we can take legal action when

unauthorised vendors purport to have some

kind of ‘official ’ link with the Festival . Where

necessary , in situations where fraud or

criminal activity is suspected, we will involve

the Police’s e-crimes branch or Trading

Standards. However it is difficult to protect

people against their own stupidity.

The French promoter organisation

Prodiss successfully lobbied for a

law against unauthorized secondary

ticketing . would you say that a similar

lobby campaign is possible in the uk?

– My personal view is that no UK Government

has wanted to do this. The re-sale of

Football tickets in England was prohibited

to curb crowd violence. The prohibition

on the re-sale of 2012 Olympic tickets is a

specific piece of legislation. If you read back

through the various debates that have taken

place in our Houses of Parliamen t, the same

arguments come up again and again - free

market policies / consumer freedom to re-

sell vs. consumer protection and the right

of artistes / promoters to control admission .

Is it obnoxious to re-sell a ticket for a big

profit , or a useful market function? It is never

ending ! With the Dispatches programme

identifying a number of major promoters

who are engaged in re-selling tickets and

the somewhat vague comment from the

UK’s Concert Promoters Association - clearly

even the live events sector doesn’t have a

shared view. If WE cant agree as the live

events industry - why should politicians

bother?

There is one more point - who would

actually enforce this sort of law? It is difficult

enough when criminal activity is detected -

I can’t see why this would be high on any

politician’s agenda unless the groundswell

of public opinion pushed it there. And the

music industry now knows from lessons

learnt from peer-to-peer file sharing - that

suing / prosecuting your customers is a VERY

bad idea. And an unenforced / ignored law

is a bad law.

do you think the oFT should look into

the market of secondary ticketing?

– I think it should seek to protect consumers ,

but if it went any wider it would enter the

realms of competition regulation, which

might be very difficult.

For more background information

please check an earlier article by challis

in 2009 at http://www.

musiclawupdatescom/?p=162

Ben Challis on Secondary Ticketing at Glastonbury and the UKManfred Tari [email protected]

Ben Challis

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Steve Roest from Viagogo About The Great Ticket SwindleManfred Tari [email protected]

One might have expected that the following

interview would have proved difficult to

obtain but this was not the case. Actually an

external PR-Agent of Viagogo even offered

the opportunity for an interview shortly

after the first stories about The Great Ticket

Swindle went to print.

The questions and answers were sent and

received by email, supported by a conference

call with Steve Roest, who works as European

Sales Director for Viagogo and his PR-agent.

The great Ticket swindle actually

revealed an inside view on the business

practices of Viagogo. what are your

comments on the programme?

– Viagogo was created to provide people

with a secure place to buy and sell tickets

to live events. Before Viagogo, consumers

looking for the most popular tickets often

had little choice but to take their chances

with a shady character outside the venue or

an auction website, with no guarantee they

get what they paid for.

With Viagogo every ticket on Viagogo is

guaranteed – the buyers are guaranteed to

get the tickets they paid for in time for the

event. In the rare instance that a problem

arises, Viagogo will provide similar or better

tickets, or in the worst case a full refund.

These core business principles of delivering

every ticket on time for the event were not

questioned or challenged by the programme,

which gives us confidence in the service we

offer consumers.

The report stated that employees of

Viagogo offer the vast majority of ticket

offers on the websites of Viagogo.

The report even presented evidence of

Viagogo employees using various credit

cards with different names to purchase

multiple tickets offered by primary

ticket vendors. As such Viagogo staff

present false identities in order to work

around per person capped ticket sales.

will Viagogo continue these kinds of

business methods in the future?

– The section where Viagogo was accused of

buying up tickets was misrepresented in the

programme. It is certainly not the case that

the tickets on Viagogo are offered by Viagogo

employees. We have in the past purchased a

very small number of tickets ourselves . The

primary objective in purchasing tickets is to

ensure we have a small number of tickets

in reserve for fulfilling our guarantee that

purchasers will receive their tickets in time for

the event. In the secondary market there are

a number of reasons as to why a seller may

not fulfil their obligation to the buyer. We

firmly believe that every customer should get

the ticket they paid for or their money back.

Therefore, a small number of tickets are

purchased as “replacements” in the instance

a seller fails to deliver. If the tickets are not

used they get sold on – sometimes at a profit,

sometimes at a discount.

If as maintained by the dispatches

programme the majority of Viagogo staff

members apparently sell tickets offered

on Viagogo websites, this would mean

that the Viagogo business model is

actually business-to-consumer. If this is

the case the Viagogo claims to be a resale

platform for “fans to fans” is actually in

contempt of the “unfair competition

Act” as part of ucP-directive (2005/29/

Ec) by the European union. so as such

Viagogo is misleading consumers. do

you maintain the claim that Viagogo is a

fan to fan ticket exchange following the

channel 4 airing of the dispatches TV-

report “The great Ticket swindle”?

– Viagogo is an open marketplace and we

allowed anyone to use our platform provided

that they deliver the tickets that they sell.

This is clear on our website and we have

never claimed to be exclusively a fan-to-fan

exchange. While, the overwhelming majority

of sellers are ordinary sports and music fans

who sell one or two tickets, there are larger

sellers on the platform, including promoters

and event organisers.

The report furthermore revealed that

Viagogo received ticket contingents

from promoters. which promoters does

Viagogo officially work with, and what

are the benefits for these promoters

selling tickets on the secondary instead

of the primary market?

– Viagogo has publicised many partnerships

where we work with event organisers to sell

certain premium tickets on our marketplace

at market prices for example; Madonna

and Roger Waters. However, as a ticket

marketplace , our sellers are our customers,

and it is not our place to discuss the details

of our contracts publicly. These are legitimate

business arrangements, but like many

commercial contracts, the specific details are

confidential.

14

Steve Roest


In an advertisement for the madonna

concert in germany in the weekend

edition of tabloid paper “kölner Express ”

on march 3 it says, “To secure best tickets

and selling at Viagogo.de”. How is

Viagogo involved in the ticketing for this

madonna show or even the entire tour?

– Viagogo is the official premium and

secondary ticketing partner for Madonna’s

2012 European tour, which includes

Germany . We are officially endorsed by the

organisers of the tour as the place where

fans should go to sell on their spare tickets

and to buy tickets once they have sold out at

the box office.

The French promoter association Prodiss

currently lobbies against the resale

of tickets. similar political efforts are

going on in the uk, as well in sweden.

In particular the TV-report “The great

Ticket swindle” can been seen and used

as piece of evidence against Viagogo

and other ticket re-sale platforms and

their existing business practises, which

not so long ago were considered a “black

market ” business model. don’t you fear

that politicians or consumer protection

organisations will undertake efforts to

forbid the resale of tickets as for instance

in the case of tickets for sport events

such as the olympic games in London?

– We believe that legislation would

drive the secondary ticket market back

underground with all the consequent safety

and transparency issues that arise from

that. Powerful legislation already exists to

outlaw scam websites and fraudulent street

touting , which already face problems of

effective enforcement . These policing and

enforcement problems would mean that the

bill would have little effect on the ‘wild west’

of scam websites and street touts, but would

unfairly restrict the activity of legitimate

websites like ours.

What’s most important is providing

customers with a secure environment, and

the guarantee of getting what they pay

for. We’re proud that the problem that

existed before we launched six years ago, of

thousands of fans every weekend being left

disappointed after buying dodgy tickets from

sites like eBay, is now almost a thing of the

past.

did Viagogo close its german office last

summer as a result of the several court

cases filed against ticket sellers who

offered tickets via Viagogo for the Take

That concerts in July 2011?

– No, Viagogo has managed its operations

from its main office in London since the

beginning of 2011.

where else does Viagogo have

subsidiaries in Europe and how many

people does Viagogo currently employ?

– Viagogo manages its operations from

its main office in London where it employs

around 100 people

15

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Anzeige_VIPMag_ProSky_X4.pdf 1 09.12.10 10:43


16

YOUROPE Creates Standard Terms for European Festival ContractsAllan McGowan [email protected]

The European Festivals Organisation,

YOUROPE, having introduced health & safety

programs with the YES Group (Yourope

Event Safety Group) and addressed the

matter of sustainable festivals with a series

of workshops with the GO Group (Green

Operations Europe), have now turned their

attention to the problems of artiste contracts

and riders.

For those who don’t know YOUROPE was

founded in November 1998, and now

represents close to 80 festival members

including the most well established festivals

in Europe. The intentions of the Association

and its members are to collaborate and

share best practice to improve the European

festival scene in terms of working conditions,

audience welfare, health and safety and

music talent.

Over the past year the members have

conducted workshops at their meetings in

Groningen and Hamburg, and most recently

in London, to produce a final version of

standard contract terms applicable to the

engagement of artistes and performers for

all participating YOUROPE member festivals ,

as well as a simple and fair standard booking

agreement for smaller bands. During

the project music lawyer Ben Challis and

insurance broker James Dodds (Doodson

Entertainment ) advised YOUROPE.

In the Press Release Christof Huber, General

Secretary of Yourope said “It was the wish

from so many members to create such

Standard Terms for the European festivals. It

should make life easier for festivals as they

have standard terms for important topics,

rather than a number of contract terms that

they can’t fulfil.”

VIP News spoke to Ben Challis:

VIP news: what exactly was your role in

this initiative?

– I was approached by YOUROPE in 2011 to

advise on a set of standard terms that could

be eventually used by all of their member

festivals. Christof Huber had already had

one meeting in Hamburg in 2011, and we

then sent out a questionnaire to members

before EuroSonic in Groningen to see what

members ’ views were. After a very well

attended meeting in Groningen and input

from a number of events, I drafted a set of

terms that covered areas of concern that all

of the festivals felt needed to be rectified

- in particular force majeure provisions ,

cancellation , insurance, payment terms, tax,

noise limits, visas, curfews and safety. We

then re-consulted members and received

another good response and additional

comments led to the final draft being

finalised over the ILMC weekend in March

after another meeting with members.

obviously you think this is a good idea,

do you think it will have positive results,

and how do you see agents taking to it?

– We introduced similar terms at Glastonbury

in 2010 across four of our main stages (the

Pyramid Stage, The Other Stage, The John

Peel Tent and West Holts) and extended this

to the Dance Village in 2011. Like the new

YOUROPE terms, we designed these terms

to be fair, reasonable and appropriate. We

were receiving many, many riders at a very

late stage, often with wholly inappropriate

and often irrelevant provisions: Often theatre

tour or standard arena or stadium tour riders

were sent containing provisions that could

never be met by a festival.

Marc Lambelet chaired an interesting session

at the ILMC 2012 on this issue with a good

and well-informed panel - and some of the

pitfalls of ‘bad’ contracts became clear - not

least when nothing is signed at all. I can say

that in 90% of the cases the use of our terms,

which are festival specific, saves time and

adds clarity and I think many European festi-

vals had the same feeling. To be fair - its not

usually the agency contract that is the prob-

lem - it is more and more the artist contact

riders which have expanded to cover issues

such as cancellation, control of the venue,

force majeure and insurance for example .

I have spoken to a number of agents and

obviously their first loyalty is to their artiste

- and their own contracts - but most can

see some benefits. However I have to say

some don’t like the idea. That said, I think

that the weather related tragedies at Pukkle-

pop and the Indiana State Fair are focussing

everyone ’s minds - not least when in appears

from some press reports that Sugarland are

potentially exposed to litigation because of

their own contract terms. I hope what these

terms provide is a ‘win win’ situation in the

long term:


Christof Huber

17

christof Huber was on holiday when we

called, and then went on to Budapest for the

next GO Group Seminar, but he mailed us to

say, “We have informed the main agencies

about the standard terms. We have received

some questions and some comments, but

only a few. We will have to work on these

feedbacks within our group and check if we

have to react.”

VIP News contacted a few agents to get

their views on whether or not a ‘standard’

contract is viable. Some had not yet seen it;

John Giddings of Solo, who operates both as

an Agent and promoter of the Isle of Wight

Festival said, “…Never read it, in my experi-

ence it’s all about trust, all the contracts in

the world don’t mean that you get paid...”

Rob Challice of Coda Agency has read it and

replied, “I have taken a look at the ‘standard

contract’ and have to ask whether any agents

were consulted in putting this together? He

continued, “It just seems that this introduces

an extra level of work that is not needed.

We think we do a good job on marrying

artists requirements with those of festivals.”

Rob also thinks that the contract has been

circulated too late “ With more consultation

perhaps it should be for 2013, not 2012.”

Rob Challice also runs the Summer Sundae

Festival in Leicester but as he says, “I’m not

sure I have formed an opinion as a festival

organiser yet.”

Eric van Eerdenburg organiser of the

Lowlands Festival in the Netherlands told us,

“We did not use it.I have been looking into it

and think it’s pretty good but there are details

that need adjustment. Yourope -at this stage-

asked not to make any adjustments.”

It seems to be a fair point that it artist booking

arrangements for the 2012 season must

in most cases be fairly well advanced, but

according to the Yourope press release the

following festivals have already confirmed their

participation in the new scheme, and will use

the new standard terms for the 2012 festival

season:

No doubt there will be a lot more discussion

on the use – or not – of this ‘standard’

contract and we will of course report on

developments . VIP News has seen the

contract and those that haven’t yet and have

need to see it will we presume be able to get

a copy from Yourope. www.yourope.org


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• MELT!(GERMANY)

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• SUMMERDAYSFESTIVAL

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WOCHEN (SWITZERLAND)

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• INMUSIC(CROATIA)

• BERGENFEST(NORWAY)

• SELECTOR(POLAND)

• LIVEMUSICFESTIVAL(POLAND)

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• ROCKWAVEFESTIVAL(GREECE)

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18


New Gema-Rates for Music Clubs and DiscothequesManfred Tari [email protected]

Following the German copyright collection society GEMA introducing

significant rises in the rates for performing rights on concerts last year,

the society has now announced, among others, a new scheme for

rates for playing recorded music in bars, music clubs and discotheques .

Besides the usage of recorded music, the new scheme also foresees

revamped rates for live performances with musicians in restaurants,

piano bars and other locations.

The new rates system is intended to become effective in January

2013 and has caused an outcry from those who will be affected. The

“Bundesvereinigung der Musikveranstalter”, (BMV - Association for

Music Promoters) commented on the new rates schemes insisting

that, “GEMA has lost its sense of proportion.” The Association of

Culture Promoters in Munich (VDMK) even published on its website

a calculator that evaluates what promoters are supposed to pay for

their events in the future. According to this calculator the future looks

great for composers and rights holders, but definitely not good for

promoters.

Various calculations reveal that even for smaller clubs the new rates

easily rise by about 500 percent. For instance a music club of 80

square meters, open three days a week charging 5 Euro entrance fees

currently pays a yearly flat fee of 3417,71 Euro. According to the new

scheme the annual fee charged by GEMA would increase to 11.700

Euros. For bigger locations the new rates go up even more drastically.

A big discotheque with 1.200 square meters, open 2 days a week

charging an entrance fee of 7 Euro so far pays 22.389,67 Euro per

year. From 2013 onwards such a venue will supposedly pay 131.000

Euros annually.

These examples were given at a press conference by VDMK, an

association that also represents most relevant concert promoters and

clubs in Munich such as Target Concerts and United Promoters AG.

While previous negotiations with BMV have failed, GEMA has

announced an appeal to the arbitration court at the German Office

for Patents and Brands (DPMA) for clearance of the new rates. The ar

bitration court is known for being very GEMA-friendly and so it is no

big surprise that Georg Oeller, a GEMA board member who is also

know for being a hardliner is quoted in a press release as saying:

“We are convinced that going ahead with the new rate scheme is the

right direction and looking forward positively to the outcome of the

arbitration case.”

Meanwhile the promoter Matthias Rauh of Giga Event launched an

online appeal petition at openpetition.de, presumed to be the petition

commission of the German Government. The petition has already

gained more than 43.000 signatures but unfortunately never will be

accepted by the petition commission as the website openpetition. de

isn’t the official website.

In May 2009 the promoter Monika Bestle of the Kulturwerkstatt

in Sonthofen successfully filed an official petition against GEMA

regarding the unfair distribution of royalties, a lack of democracy and

transparency. This petition gained more than 107.000 signatures and

as such qualified to be taken on by the petition commission. But until

now, the Parliamentary Members of the petition commission have not

made a decision.

Also it is interesting to be note that promoter associations such as the

BDV or the VDKD did not ally with the BMV in taking joint measures

against the latest attempt by GEMA do increase royalty payments

from the live music business.

However the BMV might benefit from the political rise of the Pirate

Party in Germany. Since the party recently obtained 7.3 percent of

the votes in the March province election in the Saarland, established

parties in Germany are rethinking their copyright policies. As

elsewhere , the Pirate Party expressly calls for a reform of copyright

laws. Nevertheless , this development probably won’t harm the

traditionally good relationship between GEMA and the arbitration

court at the DPMA for some time…

19


Bruno Kramm Commissioner for Copyright at the Pirate Party GermanyManfred Tari [email protected]

Actually Bruno Kramm is a long time musician and owner of the

dark wave label Danse Macabre. But aside from his music business

activities Kramm has been active in politics for a long time. Before he

joined the Pirate Party, he was on the copyright steering committee

of the Green Party but left this party as didn’t agree with the agenda

of his party colleagues.

VIP News asked Kramm about his point of view and his experience

with the copyright collection society Gema and the copyright agenda

of the Pirate Party in Germany.

what is your point of view on gEmA’s new proposed tariff

scheme for music promoters?

– Wrong Tariff - Wrong Timing. I wonder how a corporation like

GEMA, equipped with a large strategy department causes so big harm

for its own public image by releasing this tariff file while the public

debate is fired up concerning copyrights. There are many reasonable

proposals for changes in tariff structures - starting from small events

to welfare and public performances of small artists with their own

repertoire, but GEMA takes the big cut. Making the difference for

recorded music in MP3s and higher tariffs for regular CDs shows how

20


little GEMA respects transformational music styles which tend to use

computer driven systems like Ableton Live and others for creative and

spontaneous performances.

do you think the new rates are appropriate?

– From all points of view GEMA is blowing up tariffs massively while

not giving any rebate for smaller performances. Even performances

free of admission are inflated. Club culture in metropolitan areas are

deprived as they start to perform much later than in smaller cities.

They also pay exorbitantly higher fees up 300% on the old tariff.

As club culture is hard enough to schedule for success these tariffs

will put the small businesses at much higher risk. This is the way to

suppress culture in times of a global culture industries downturn.

Gema puts chains on to the organizers and imposes sanctions for the

smallest mistakes.

gEmA already appealed the arbitration court at the german

office for patents and brands (dPmA). This court is known for

being very gEmA friendly. How would you comment if the

court once again comes to a decision on the new rates that are

only in favour of gEmA?

– It would be further proof that the patent court is not the right

place for conciliating perceptual copyright agreements. It will create

another 1 complicated climate for urgent structural reformations,

which are so much, needed for artists and the modern informational

society.

You are yourself a musician and a label owner. what is your

experience with gEmA?

– Still the old routine for mechanical payments: When it comes to

licencing repertoire from GEMA they are so quick in sending their

invoices. The GEMA legislative conjecture stresses us a lot when it

comes to GEMA free repertoire, as they always find some artist with

the same name and quickly send an invoice. On the other hand as

an artist, I wait forever for my GEMA royalties. It took so long for the

VUT to get independent labels a tariff, which can compete with big

industries. When it comes to our own shows and tour booking it is

horrifically complicated to arrange all the paperwork to get at least a

small share of what we pay for our own live repertoires. GEMA still

believes that most listed music is so called standard repertoire, which

commands a higher multiplicator in the royalties. Therefore our own

alternative songs will never have a chance to get the fair and real

royalties since the PRO system tariff is dismissed.

since the Pirate Party won 7.3 percent of the votes in march

for the province election in the saarland, established parties in

germany rethink their copyright policies. The Party expressly

calls for a reform of copyright laws, could you please explain

what kind of copyright policy it is aiming for?

– When it comes to Urheberrecht (A copyright term, but very distinct

from US copyright) we want to accompany the paradigm shift into

informational society by putting the creator and the user on a priority

level and cutting out some more of the privileges of industry and lobby.

We need to rethink the protection periods of TRIPS into a reasonable

level of max 20 years after death. Those 70 years just help law trolls

and publishers. Modern society runs today so fast in rearranging

and recreating styles and art. Those long limits would obstruct the

development of societal participation. Bill Gates reference , “We are

sitting on shoulders of giants” is not only a term for technology; it is

about all human creation. The far more intensively discussed demand

of our copyright reformation is the uncommercial legal exchange and

copy of immaterial goods and files for the private field. We do not

accept that evaluation rights disproportionately harm privacy in the

net; this means classical systems like P2P sharing and copying. We

need to find as we did already for the CDR and the music tape a kind

of compensation for the culture balance - but this is something that

does not need the lobby. It needs to be a direct agreement inside the

human society between creator and user. We are still discussion about

various ideas from cultural flat rates to micro payments and crowd

funding systems. In contrast to many other parties, we also discuss in

depth the necessary reforms of copyright corporations and contract

law for artists and also the need of more support for artistry and

culture . Culture is the essence of our society - simple economisation is

not the ongoing solution; culture better follows utilitarianism.

In a current position paper you request a significant reform of

gEmA. In may 2009 a petition filed by the promoter monika

Bestle at the petition commission of the german government

also appealed for significant amendments at gEmA. so far the

petition commission has not come to a conclusion. However,

could it be the case that in the case of gEmA, politicians

may have no legal opportunities to intervene on the internal

settings of the copyright collection society?

– This is one of the problems. Through the Urheberrecht GEMA holds

an institutional level as an economic association with many direct

links into the political system. This makes it too hard to change it as it

is still an association, which is driven by members. Unfortunately the

weight, division and vote is not balanced, therefore, drastic changes

are almost impossible. Therefore we want to change the Urheberrecht .

We want to check GEMAs actions for their compatibility with Basic

Law, Associational Law, and start this reformation with simplification,

transparency and the change of collection procedures and tariffs, to

finally make the GEMA what it should be: An association for all artists .

For further information please check

Twitter: @brunogertkramm

21

VIPNEWS > BUSINESS > APRIL 2012 MUSIC IN SHARES

Music in SharesManfred Tari [email protected]

cTs Eventim – waiting for the Arbitration court:It is about time for the Arbitration Court at the International

Chamber of Commerce to reveal its decision on their findings

as to whether or not CTS Eventim will receive compensation

concerning its former fulfilment agreement with Live Nation.

There are rumours in the market that the decision has already

been made, but one of the two involved parties has asked for

the judgement to be held back for a certain time. Anyhow,

since Mid April the share went up from 25.77 to 27.85 Euros.

dEAg – First dividend Ever:For the very first time ever the DEAG board will propose to

its shareholders to decide on the payment of a dividend of 4

Cents per share at its upcoming general assembly on June 22.

Since the Beginning of April the share price ranged between

2.75 and 2.84 Euros.

Live nation – Business Results for Q1 to be reported on may 9:Live Nation has announced that it will reveal its business results

for the first quarter in the second week of May. Looking at the

share price performance indicates that there may be a certain

reluctance, as the share price went down from $9.80 to $8.45

since the end of March.

music Festivals PLc – A Lack of optimism: The share price reflects, so to say, a lack of optimism regarding

prosperity and profitability. Since the end of February the share

price of the company went down from 58 to 48.5 Pence.

22


PrimaveraPro- First Details DayPro Programme

PrimaveraPro 2012 will programme over thirty conferences,

workshops , presentations, receptions and exclusive showcases within

the framework of DayPro, its programme of activities has been

extended to three days from Wednesday 30th until Friday 1st June

from 11am till 6pm.

Hotel Zero will be the headquarters of daytime operations with a

programme that has been tailor made for professionals from the

music sector. It is just opposite the Parc del Fòrum de Barcelona site,

where the San Miguel Primavera Sound and the showcases associated

to PrimaveraPro will take place. The increase in the number of

accreditations for this, its third edition is highly significant with more

than 65% of international professionals.

The DayPro programme will focus on three main subjects: The role of

the artist in society and in their music career; Festivals and big music

events; and The new ways to promote and finance music.

One of the main novelties of the DayPro will be a series of interviews

with important national and international artists who will tell us, what

their participation in the development of their professional careers has

been, all based on first-hand experience. The artists, key players in the

music industry, will also participate in round table discussions that will

analyse the current Spanish scene and the role of musicians in these

times of profound social change. The conference about music events

will deal with questions such as the economic impact of festivals ,

their future, the opinions of fans… and will discuss the creative

strategies that they must adopt in order to survive. The Association

of Independent Festivals UK will be present at this debate. Other

activities will tackle the crowd funding system as a way to finance

projects and its application in the different areas of the sector, as well

as new tools for the promotion of music.

For more info: http://pro.primaverasound.com/

NOtICE BOARD

®

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The No 1 Information Resource For The Live Entertainment IndustryHaving 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, promoters, 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.

To read the VIP-Magazine or book your advert – go to www.vip-booking.com

VIP-Magazine: The most In-Depth B2B Magazine for the people of the LIVE Music Industry. All readers of VIP-Magazine are key decision makers in the live entertainment industry:

- Agents- Promoters- Booking Agents- Venue managers- Festivals & outdoor show organisers- Industry organisations

24

VIPNEWS > APRIL 2012 VIPNEWS > MISC > SEPtEMBER 2011

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24

Christopher EntertainmentChristopher Entertainment is a Danish owned management, promotor

and booking agency, established in 1986.

Christopher Entertainment has over the years presented some of

the world’s finest artists such as: Whitney Houston, Tina Turner,

Santana, Boyzone, The Corrs etc. As a booking agency Christopher

Entertainment has delivered artists to major festivals such as: The

Roskilde Festival, The Midtfyns Festival, The Langeland Festival,

The Skanderborg Festival, The Jelling Musicfestival etc. Christopher

Entertainment is management for mostly Danish artists: Stig Rossen,

Gudrun, Jacob Andersen etc and we represent Andrew Strong and

Barrage in Scandinavia. For more info please see www.christopher.dk

MONtHLy FEAtURED ARtISt POWERED By

oRBITAL Territory: WORLD Period: APRIL 2012 ONWARDS Agency: VALUE ADDED TALENT Agent: DAN SILVER Phone: +44 207 704 9720 E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.vathq.co.uk

dub syndicate feat. style scott Territory: Europe Period: July-September 2012 Agency: Paperclip AgencyAgent: Rob BerendsPhone: +31 (24) 323 9322E-mail: [email protected]: www.paperclip-agency.com

THE dooRs ALIVE - BEsT dooRs TRIBuTE AcT In woRLdTerritory: WORLD Period: JANUARY 2012 ONWARDS Agency: VALUE ADDED TALENT Agent: DAN SILVER Phone: +44 207 704 9720 E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.vathq.co.uk

magnum BandTerritory: EuropePeriod: July / AugustAgency: Paperclip AgencyAgent: Hilde SpillePhone: +31 24 323 9322E-mail: [email protected]: www.paperclip-agency.com

Terah Taali Territory: Europe Period: 16th June - 7th July 2012 Agency: De Kulture Music Agent: Berenika Rozanska Phone: 0048 667130595, 00919587659609 E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: soundcloud.com/de-kulture-music/sets/terah-taali/

X.o.V.A Territory: THE WORLDPeriod: APRIL - NOVAgency: STRATOSPHERE MUSIC LTDAgent: STEVE HUGHES & ANDY CLIFFPhone: +44 [0] 7779 257 295E-mail: [email protected]: www.xovalive.com

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25

Mercury Tide feat. Dirk Thurisch

Dirk Thurisch – The voice of Angel Dust is back!After a break of ten years, for-

mer Angel Dust vocalist Dirk Thurisch finally returns with his band MERCURY

TIDE, which once started as a project and now grew to a full-fledged band.

The new album “Killing Saw” is a natural progression from Dirk‘s last album

“Why”. Eventually the time has come that one of the most important German

Melodic Metal singers returns like a Phoenix, rising from the ashes!Dirk Thurisch

has closed the chapter “Angel Dust” once and for all. Several failed attempts to

revive Angel Dust only strengthened Dirk‘s wish to get started with MERCURY

TIDE on a grand scale. Contrary to the debut from 2003, Dirk and his band,

including drummer and producer Carsten Rehmann, bassist Chris “Dagger”

Pohlmann and keyboarder Sim Reaper, place value on a more traditional sound

that suites the band‘s stage persona. Great emphasis lies on the creation of

a diversified, consistent atmosphere.Magnificent melodies meet playful guitar

riffs and catchy choruses, to which you want to sing along immediately. The

opener and title track “Killing Saw” is a suiting introduction to MERCURY TIDE‘s

musical landscapes. With “Home”, Dirk gives a clear-cut statement. He is happy

to be back in the Metal scene and doesn‘t only look forward to meet up with

his old fans, but also to make new ones. The song “Searching” is one of the

album‘s highlights: drifty riffs, fine hook lines and Dirk Thurisch at his best!

Read more about mercury Tide feat. dirk Thurisch:

http://www.mymusicmailer.com/epk/209/bio

Documents

VIP-News Premium - Vol. 146 April 2012