Vivendi backs French festivals

French mass media giant Vivendi, the parent company of See Tickets and Universal Music Group (UMG), is this summer providing financial and marketing support to 10 French music festivals.

As part of the partnership, television channel D17 (operated by Vivendi subsidiary Canal+) is broadcasting footage from Brive Festival, Déferlantes, Eurockéennes, Garorock, Hamac Festival, Hellfest, Mainsquare, Musilac, Marciac Jazz Festival and Vieilles Charrues, and the festivals are promoted via UMG, ticketing company Digitick, TV stations D17, D8 and i-Télé and video-sharing website Dailymotion.

The company also receives an allocation of festival tickets to be handed out to subscribers to loyalty programmes such Canal’s Premier Rang (‘Front Row’).

Vivendi’s Solange Maulini tells IQ the agreement, part of the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme, is now in its second year, although last year’s festival partnerships consisted solely of financial support.

As part of the partnership, D17 is broadcasting footage from the 10 festivals, and organisers can promote the events via Vivendi subsidiaries

She adds that there are no strings attached with regards to booking musicians signed to Universal, with “the festivals, and not Vivendi, choosing the artists”.

Despite high-profile terrorist attacks in Paris and Nice, IQ revealed last week that this year’s festival season in France has been one of the best in recent memory, with a positive debut for Download and Vieilles Charrues and Mainsquare both selling out.

Vivendi in May and June bought two businesses from bankrupt dance music promoter SFX Entertainment: Flavorus, via Vivendi Ticketing (See Tickets and Digitick), and Fame House, through UMG.

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