Breakout Meeting Reports

Phillipe Cornu

Christof Huber

The Festival Forum
It was interesting that at this years festival forum, quite a lot of other professionals in the music business joined the session besides a lot of festival promoters. Even the beginning was early in the morning, the session was very well attended.
To find out what the main issues for the Festival Forum in the next years might be, we handed out questionaiares to the attending people where they could cross their main interest in terms of festivals. The respond was very positive and will help to prepare the next Festival Forum.
Our main topics for the Festival Forum were the growing European market and the booking difficulties that festivals and agents have and ideas and solutions to prevent that in the future.
As our planned guest Clive Underhill-Smith had to cancel the session, Bernard Batzen, French agent and festival promoter (Mediteranees de Ceret) joined us.
Even though everybody would like to see more European talent at festivals to build them, it still seems that festivals give more value (fees, top slots, etc.) to English or American acts.
There is still equal support missing from the side of the record companies for European acts. However, it does get better and the festivals play an important role in that game to present acts from Europe in their festivals to grow the acceptance. Eurosonic Festival, Yourope and the European Broadcasting Association are working on a project to grow and exchange European acts at Festivals.
In terms of the festival booking, both agents and festivals seem to have their difficulties. We discussed issues like a booking pool, a booking season for festivals and agents that is limited for a certain period. There are similar projects at Jazz Festivals and in the US, but the variety of festivals etc. does make this difficult. This discussion should have a follow as there could be a better solution and rules as there are right now.
- Do agents hold slots even if they are absolutey not sure that the act will confirm?
- Are festivals doing double offers for the same slot?
Ideas, inputs and new solutions should be discussed next ILMC.
Philippe Cornu & Christof Huber

Read the Pollstar Review

Meet the Venues
ARENA BUSINESS INCREASES IN 2001
RESULTS FOR YEAR 2001 ANNOUNCED AT INTERNATIONAL LIVE MUSIC CONFERENCE
Promising startling results at its Saturday morning breakout session, the UK's National Arenas Association presented its annual results from its survey of its fifteen active members.
Despite the negative operating environment in 2001, the Arena market had a very buoyant year, thanks in part to The Tweenies.
844 performances were held in 2001 (up 14% on 2000).
476 of which were music events.
360 performances were family shows (from just 13 tours), with multiple performances on the same dates - some starting as early as 10am.
The 2001 statistics were presented by Phil Mead of the SECC and the session was chaired by Peter Tudor from Wembley Arena.
The Foot and Mouth outbreak had no affect on the Arena touring market, but eight tours had been cancelled in the wake of September 11. The total tally of performances in 2001 would have been even higher had those shows progressed.
However, the fourth quarter - usually the busiest period in the touring calendar - was quieter than usual, with 156 of the year's music performances falling between October and December (compared with 236 the previous year). In contrast, the third quarter enjoyed 80 concerts (up from 17 in 2001) with Madonna and U2 choosing to tour in this period.
The highlights of the research include:
Total attendance at arena shows was 4,866,568 people.
Teen bands (such as Westlife and Hear'say) played the greatest numbers of concert nights in 2001 - 122 shows (up from 109 nights in 2000).
Family Shows (such as The Tweenies and Disney On Ice) played the most shows of all - 360 during the year.
Westlife were seen by 446,070 people in the year, but Steps retain their 2000 record for most shows (492,466 people over 55 nights). Westlife have beaten the previous record holders however - Boyzone who played to 443,524 people over 41 nights in 1999.
The year 2001 saw a decrease in the average ticket prices paid from Ł22.51 in 2000 to Ł19.86. However, the average price for music events has increased from Ł22.51 to Ł29.27, mainly because of the Ł85.00 Madonna ticket price last summer.
Further information: Eileen Naughton, Administrator, National Arenas Association:
Enaughtonnaa@aol.com
NAA website: www.ilmc.com/naa

Nagi Baz and Tim Dowdall

The Emerging Markets Place
The theme of the intro was that everything is of course in a state of flux (that's F-L-U-X), but that the pace of change in the last 12 months seems to have increased, both macrocosmically and microcosmically. The aim of the session was therefore to look at how these changes had affected those working in emerging markets, and to discuss what measures were being taken to stay ahead of the game.
When we asked the delegates for their comments on the state of their markets, the most surprising thing for me was that nearly everyone claimed to be doing fine. I can only remember Ivan Nestorov from Bulgaria and, of course, Zev Eizik from Israel, expressing their dismay with the current state of affairs. I suspect this may be down to a number of factors.
Firstly, as Nagi Baz explained, business actually boomed in the Middle East post-September 11th, as American sponsors sought to improve their image, and artists looked for secondary markets to play, while the primary markets got over recession and fears about terrorism. This, however, does not apply to Eastern Europe, which is largely dependent on Western European tours.
Secondly, there is little incentive for promoters to admit how badly things are going, as it can amount to a confession of weakness, which would be received with glee by their competitors.
Thirdly, in the jungle we work in, it is a question of survival of the fittest, and the promoters who are really doing badly just didn't turn up this year. Last year, I think there were three delegates from Argentina, for instance. This year there were none. Even though a quite rosy picture was painted by most delegates, with just a few murmurings about increased security and insurance costs, I suspect this is a somewhat distorted view of things. Certainly in my company's case, business is down by 30% or 40% compared to last year.
On the subject of changes within our business, and how globalization is affecting the emerging markets, there did seem to be an increase in the tendency to create national and cross-border alliances and partnerships. Clearly delineated groupings have crystallized in the last year, especially in the Baltic States and Russia, and in the Middle East. In the case of Eastern Europe, there was a feeling that there were more and more tours taking in the whole region, and that a circuit starting in the north (coming from Finland) and ending in the centre (Germany, Austria or Italy) or in the south (Greece or Turkey) (or vice-versa) was becoming ever more realistic. Having said that, there was very little sense, as last year, that the big global players are having a direct effect on the emerging markets.
There was an interesting exchange of views about the accuracy of financial settlements, which resulted in Laszlo Hegedus being the only promoter to claim complete honesty. It might be an idea to consider a new Arthur Awards category next year - Most Honest Promoter. The problem is that Laszlo would probably win it every year. The exchange culminated in a quip about a sham sandwich, which was way above everyone's head, but might be worth relistening to on the tape. The conclusion was that it would be a good idea if the promoters made a concerted effort to explain the conditions of the emerging markets to agents and managers, making clear, for instance, that the 85/15 deal often does not make sense in their territories. However, ultimately it might be better for the promoters of all emerging markets to take Nagi's advice, and employ Arab accountants.
Tim Dowdall
I think that Tim's report summarizes pretty well the general mood of the emerging markets session.
There are now clearly two poles in the emerging markets: Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
Eastern Europe is still an emerging market financially but is now quite established on the western tour map.
Middle East is the contrary : It can come up with pretty attractive offers but has to struggle hard to be part of the tour map.
This is why the middle eastern promoters are building regional alliances that allow them to be part of tours that include one of the 3 routings :
Eastern Mediterranean ( Turkey, Greece, etc..)
Far East ( India and South-east Asia through Dubai)
South Africa ( we are currently discussing an alliance with Attie there).
I thank you again for a great ILMC !
Nagi Baz

Read the Pollstar Review

Messrs Taylor and Robertson & The Grown Ups Panel

The Grown Ups' Room
BUSINESS TRENDS IN 2002
This year's panel in the Grown Ups Room included Keith Harris, Chairman of the Music Managers Forum; Dave Crump for Avesco and Martin Goebbels of Robertson Taylor, with me and co-chairman, accountant Mark Robertson of Haber & Robertson International Plc. We had a full house to compare notes about current trends in the live music industry.
Dave felt that there is increasing pressure on operating margins for companies who provide production services, with increasing statutory regulation pushing up the cost of providing services and taking more time on compliance which could be better spent serving the customer. Also, training opportunities could be better for young people working in the production services sector.
Mark mentioned some problems which can arise for artists touring internationally such as ensuring that cash reserves for withholding tax do actually reach the Revenue authority concerned. We noted that the switch to the Euro is likely to make pricing from outside the Eurozone more transparent over the next twelve months.
Keith felt that the trend of certain commercial radio stations requiring artists to do live promotion work will stay with us and could increase over the coming year.
Martin commented that the number of companies offering insurance cover is reducing and that in the coming year proposal forms for cancellation insurance (which have in the past been rejected as too complicated) may possibly surface again.
A big thank you to the panel and the audience, and we look forward to seeing everyone again next year.
Richard Taylor
The Simkins Partnership

Peter Elliott

The Dance Club
The brief was "underground, cool and funky", the venue was intimate, small and low ceilinged. Come doors open time the guest list queue was round the block.... the buzz growing.... the doors opened and the venue was rammed in minutes.
Quarter of an hour in, the Old Bill (Martin H) come barging in... we've got to move the gig, there?s trouble outside, with punters getting restless, "we got a ticket for this gaff, and they wont let us in".... So they shift the rave into an arena......and The Dance Club is born.
Next year.....? Bigger and better......
Peter Elliott
Primary Talent International





Breakout Meeting Reports


Phillipe Cornu Christof Huber	The Festival Forum It was interesting that at this years festival forum, quite a lot of other professionals in the music business joined the session besides a lot of festival promoters. Even the beginning was early in the morning, the session was very well attended. To find out what the main issues for the Festival Forum in the next years might be, we handed out questionaiares to the attending people where they could cross their main interest in terms of festivals. The respond was very positive and will help to prepare the next Festival Forum. Our main topics for the Festival Forum were the growing European market and the booking difficulties that festivals and agents have and ideas and solutions to prevent that in the future. As our planned guest Clive Underhill-Smith had to cancel the session, Bernard Batzen, French agent and festival promoter (Mediteranees de Ceret) joined us. Even though everybody would like to see more European talent at festivals to build them, it still seems that festivals give more value (fees, top slots, etc.) to English or American acts. There is still equal support missing from the side of the record companies for European acts. However, it does get better and the festivals play an important role in that game to present acts from Europe in their festivals to grow the acceptance. Eurosonic Festival, Yourope and the European Broadcasting Association are working on a project to grow and exchange European acts at Festivals. In terms of the festival booking, both agents and festivals seem to have their difficulties. We discussed issues like a booking pool, a booking season for festivals and agents that is limited for a certain period. There are similar projects at Jazz Festivals and in the US, but the variety of festivals etc. does make this difficult. This discussion should have a follow as there could be a better solution and rules as there are right now. Do agents hold slots even if they are absolutey not sure that the act will confirm? Are festivals doing double offers for the same slot? Ideas, inputs and new solutions should be discussed next ILMC. Philippe Cornu & Christof Huber Read the Pollstar Review

	Meet the Venues ARENA BUSINESS INCREASES IN 2001 RESULTS FOR YEAR 2001 ANNOUNCED AT INTERNATIONAL LIVE MUSIC CONFERENCE Promising startling results at its Saturday morning breakout session, the UK's National Arenas Association presented its annual results from its survey of its fifteen active members. Despite the negative operating environment in 2001, the Arena market had a very buoyant year, thanks in part to The Tweenies. 844 performances were held in 2001 (up 14% on 2000). 476 of which were music events. 360 performances were family shows (from just 13 tours), with multiple performances on the same dates - some starting as early as 10am. The 2001 statistics were presented by Phil Mead of the SECC and the session was chaired by Peter Tudor from Wembley Arena. The Foot and Mouth outbreak had no affect on the Arena touring market, but eight tours had been cancelled in the wake of September 11. The total tally of performances in 2001 would have been even higher had those shows progressed. However, the fourth quarter - usually the busiest period in the touring calendar - was quieter than usual, with 156 of the year's music performances falling between October and December (compared with 236 the previous year). In contrast, the third quarter enjoyed 80 concerts (up from 17 in 2001) with Madonna and U2 choosing to tour in this period. The highlights of the research include: Total attendance at arena shows was 4,866,568 people. Teen bands (such as Westlife and Hear'say) played the greatest numbers of concert nights in 2001 - 122 shows (up from 109 nights in 2000). Family Shows (such as The Tweenies and Disney On Ice) played the most shows of all - 360 during the year. Westlife were seen by 446,070 people in the year, but Steps retain their 2000 record for most shows (492,466 people over 55 nights). Westlife have beaten the previous record holders however - Boyzone who played to 443,524 people over 41 nights in 1999. The year 2001 saw a decrease in the average ticket prices paid from Ł22.51 in 2000 to Ł19.86. However, the average price for music events has increased from Ł22.51 to Ł29.27, mainly because of the Ł85.00 Madonna ticket price last summer. Further information: Eileen Naughton, Administrator, National Arenas Association: Enaughtonnaa@aol.com NAA website: www.ilmc.com/naa

Nagi Baz and Tim Dowdall	The Emerging Markets Place The theme of the intro was that everything is of course in a state of flux (that's F-L-U-X), but that the pace of change in the last 12 months seems to have increased, both macrocosmically and microcosmically. The aim of the session was therefore to look at how these changes had affected those working in emerging markets, and to discuss what measures were being taken to stay ahead of the game. When we asked the delegates for their comments on the state of their markets, the most surprising thing for me was that nearly everyone claimed to be doing fine. I can only remember Ivan Nestorov from Bulgaria and, of course, Zev Eizik from Israel, expressing their dismay with the current state of affairs. I suspect this may be down to a number of factors. Firstly, as Nagi Baz explained, business actually boomed in the Middle East post-September 11th, as American sponsors sought to improve their image, and artists looked for secondary markets to play, while the primary markets got over recession and fears about terrorism. This, however, does not apply to Eastern Europe, which is largely dependent on Western European tours. Secondly, there is little incentive for promoters to admit how badly things are going, as it can amount to a confession of weakness, which would be received with glee by their competitors. Thirdly, in the jungle we work in, it is a question of survival of the fittest, and the promoters who are really doing badly just didn't turn up this year. Last year, I think there were three delegates from Argentina, for instance. This year there were none. Even though a quite rosy picture was painted by most delegates, with just a few murmurings about increased security and insurance costs, I suspect this is a somewhat distorted view of things. Certainly in my company's case, business is down by 30% or 40% compared to last year. On the subject of changes within our business, and how globalization is affecting the emerging markets, there did seem to be an increase in the tendency to create national and cross-border alliances and partnerships. Clearly delineated groupings have crystallized in the last year, especially in the Baltic States and Russia, and in the Middle East. In the case of Eastern Europe, there was a feeling that there were more and more tours taking in the whole region, and that a circuit starting in the north (coming from Finland) and ending in the centre (Germany, Austria or Italy) or in the south (Greece or Turkey) (or vice-versa) was becoming ever more realistic. Having said that, there was very little sense, as last year, that the big global players are having a direct effect on the emerging markets. There was an interesting exchange of views about the accuracy of financial settlements, which resulted in Laszlo Hegedus being the only promoter to claim complete honesty. It might be an idea to consider a new Arthur Awards category next year - Most Honest Promoter. The problem is that Laszlo would probably win it every year. The exchange culminated in a quip about a sham sandwich, which was way above everyone's head, but might be worth relistening to on the tape. The conclusion was that it would be a good idea if the promoters made a concerted effort to explain the conditions of the emerging markets to agents and managers, making clear, for instance, that the 85/15 deal often does not make sense in their territories. However, ultimately it might be better for the promoters of all emerging markets to take Nagi's advice, and employ Arab accountants. Tim Dowdall I think that Tim's report summarizes pretty well the general mood of the emerging markets session. There are now clearly two poles in the emerging markets: Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Eastern Europe is still an emerging market financially but is now quite established on the western tour map. Middle East is the contrary : It can come up with pretty attractive offers but has to struggle hard to be part of the tour map. This is why the middle eastern promoters are building regional alliances that allow them to be part of tours that include one of the 3 routings : Eastern Mediterranean ( Turkey, Greece, etc..) Far East ( India and South-east Asia through Dubai) South Africa ( we are currently discussing an alliance with Attie there). I thank you again for a great ILMC ! Nagi Baz Read the Pollstar Review

Messrs Taylor and Robertson & The Grown Ups Panel	The Grown Ups' Room BUSINESS TRENDS IN 2002 This year's panel in the Grown Ups Room included Keith Harris, Chairman of the Music Managers Forum; Dave Crump for Avesco and Martin Goebbels of Robertson Taylor, with me and co-chairman, accountant Mark Robertson of Haber & Robertson International Plc. We had a full house to compare notes about current trends in the live music industry. Dave felt that there is increasing pressure on operating margins for companies who provide production services, with increasing statutory regulation pushing up the cost of providing services and taking more time on compliance which could be better spent serving the customer. Also, training opportunities could be better for young people working in the production services sector. Mark mentioned some problems which can arise for artists touring internationally such as ensuring that cash reserves for withholding tax do actually reach the Revenue authority concerned. We noted that the switch to the Euro is likely to make pricing from outside the Eurozone more transparent over the next twelve months. Keith felt that the trend of certain commercial radio stations requiring artists to do live promotion work will stay with us and could increase over the coming year. Martin commented that the number of companies offering insurance cover is reducing and that in the coming year proposal forms for cancellation insurance (which have in the past been rejected as too complicated) may possibly surface again. A big thank you to the panel and the audience, and we look forward to seeing everyone again next year. Richard Taylor The Simkins Partnership
Peter Elliott	The Dance Club The brief was "underground, cool and funky", the venue was intimate, small and low ceilinged. Come doors open time the guest list queue was round the block.... the buzz growing.... the doors opened and the venue was rammed in minutes. Quarter of an hour in, the Old Bill (Martin H) come barging in... we've got to move the gig, there?s trouble outside, with punters getting restless, "we got a ticket for this gaff, and they wont let us in".... So they shift the rave into an arena......and The Dance Club is born. Next year.....? Bigger and better...... Peter Elliott Primary Talent International