Kilimanjaro Live trio hold court at Futures Forum
The team behind DEAG-owned UK promoter Kilimanjaro Live offered a few pearls of wisdom to the next generation in a keynote interview at Futures Forum.
The conference for young and emerging live music executives returned to London’s Royal Lancaster Hotel on Friday (1 March) to conclude the 2024 International Live Music Conference (ILMC).
The FF programme spanned the agency business, artist development, sustainability, the evolution of festivals and more, with speakers including Connie Shao (AEG Presents), Beckie Sugden (CAA), Louisa Robinson (FORM), Caroline Simionescu-Marin (WME), Lottie Bradshaw (TEG Live Europe), Sally Dunstone (Primary Talent) and Jess Kinn (One Fiinix Live).
Rounding off the event, three of Kilimanjaro Live’s principals – Stuart Galbraith, San Phillips and Alan Day – were quizzed by IQ‘s Lisa Henderson about building a modern music company, what they’ve learned on the journey, and how they see both their company and the broader business developing.
Formed in 2008, the London-based firm currently works with artists including Simply Red, Ed Sheeran, Andrea Bocelli, Hans Zimmer, Stereophonics and Don Broco. Here is a selection of key talking points from the session…
“The ability to make a living out of music is getting more and more difficult”
Diversifying the business…
Stuart Galbraith: “The ability to make a living out of music is getting more and more difficult. As a promoter, the risk versus return ratio is atrocious. If you talk to accountants who come into audit our books, they look at you as if you’re mad: ‘You risk this much money to make this much money?’ And if you look at us as a margin business by comparison to any other sector, it just doesn’t make sense – particularly as the world has become smaller and global deals are coming to play, those margins are even more tight.
“So we’ve deliberately in the last seven years diversified [into] more businesses where there is a better market. There is less risk. And it enables us to then justify running a concert promoting business that, to be quite frank, as a standalone business is suspect. However, the fact that you can send an email and say that we promote Ed Sheeran, or we promoted Live 8, or we work with Andrea Bocelli, opens so many doors, and it’s still a very, very crucial part of our business.”
Artist development…
Alan Day: “Some of our biggest acts we met at the very bottom. One of our colleagues, Steve Tilley, met Ed Sheeran supporting Just Jack at Shepherd’s Bush Empire.”
SG: “Which lost £3,500.”
AD: “Sabaton, the metal band, I met at South by Southwest. There were 40 people there [and I] gave them my number. Their first show I did in London was at the Garage, then Electric Ballroom, then Koko… While She Sleeps played Ally Pally recently, first gig Borderline. Don Broco, I met in a bar at a festival where they were playing to 50 people and now we’re in arenas. So that’s how we get there from the get-go.”
“It’s a way of life rather than just a nine-to-five job, seven days a week”
Work-life balance…
San Phillips: “Something that I say to people new to the industry and to the company is that gigs happen at the evenings and weekends. So maybe what do you want when you’re 20, aren’t things you want to be doing when you’re 40, so be mindful of the kind of goals that you want in life. We do what we need to do to get it done. But we love going to gigs. We go to a lot together and that’s what it’s about. You’re not going to necessarily work regular hours, and obviously when you’re launching something, of course it’s time consuming. I’m not going to lie about that. You can’t teach people stamina and I think stamina is one of the things that you really need.”
SG: “Promoting was one of the few jobs where quite literally the more hours you put in, the more successful you’re potentially going to be. And if you look at Alan or Steve, it’s a way of life rather than just a nine-to-five job seven days a week. And if you’re going to go on holiday, the manager still wants to talk to you.”
Challenges for the year ahead…
AD: “Rising costs – from PAs, to security, to crews, riggers, trucking…”
SG: “As a promoter we’re invariably a function of the bottom line, we’re a percentage of what’s left. And those rising costs are unfortunately, as we predicted during Covid, being met by increased ticket prices. So we’re seeing huge escalation in ticket prices that are way beyond anything that we would have expected two years ago. That’s fine if we’re on an indoor tour where we’re working in a finite environment, but when you then come to outdoors and you’ve booked either festivals or small outdoor shows, it becomes very, very scary.
“We run the festival in Scotland called Belladrum, which is now Scotland’s biggest camping festival and our costs at Belladrum in three years have increased by a million pounds. And I just can’t put the ticket price up to match that. With Belladrum, we’ve been able to get a margin increase in capacity, which has helped offset that cost, but we’re having to accept that that festival now can’t be as profitable as it used to be.”
“If we had a discussion, we probably would have avoided making the biggest mistake in Kili’s history”
Biggest career lesson…
SG: “I think our biggest lesson was making sure that within your opinion, because it can be absolutely crucial. When we took Kili private in 2012, within a week, we launched Sonisphere at Knebworth. Within three days, it became very evident that we’d made a huge mistake, and when we took a final decision to cancel it, Alan came up with the line which was, ‘I knew it wouldn’t work. I didn’t think it was a good idea.’
“From that day on, we said, ‘Well, if you have an opinion, then you must express it – particularly in a team environment, because Alan’s viewpoint was absolutely correct. And if we had had a discussion, then we probably would have avoided making what was then the biggest mistake in Kili’s history.
“It was a mistake because we were ahead of our time because we booked Queen with Adam Lambert as the lead singer and Queen fans had not embraced Adam Lambert at that point in time. Now, Queen sell more tickets with Adam Lambert as the lead singer that they used to with Freddie Mercury. But in that particular year, no one wanted to buy the tickets – and Alan knew that.”
SP: “Everybody gets their voice heard. Anybody can come up to you, whatever their position in the company, and say, ‘Oh no, what were you doing that for? Why haven’t we chosen to do this?’ And they’re not told off… Everybody in the company is a [music] fan, and we encourage them to say things.”
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Team Kilimanjaro Live for Futures Forum keynote
Futures Forum has announced a keynote interview with the team behind Kilimanjaro Live, one of the most successful live music promoters in the UK.
The conference for young and emerging live music executives will return to the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London on Friday 1 March 2024 as part of the International Live Music Conference (ILMC).
For the final session of the day, three of Kilimanjaro Live’s principals – Stuart Galbraith, San Phillips and Alan Day – will take to the stage to discuss building a modern music company, what they’ve learned on the journey, and how they see both their company and the broader business developing.
Formed in 2008, the London-based firm currently works with artists including Simply Red, Ed Sheeran, Andrea Bocelli, Hans Zimmer, Stereophonics and Don Broco.
Three of Kilimanjaro Live’s principals will take to the stage to discuss building a modern music company
With the Kili team now setting the bar in comedy, spoken word, theatre and exhibitions, the company’s growth and development have been seismic.
Just yesterday (22 February), the firm launched a new parent company to support its “major expansion”. The company’s 16 live entertainment brands will now operate under the new umbrella company KMJ Entertainment, owned by parent group DEAG.
News of the keynote comes days after Futures Forum unveiled the full speaker lineup for panels, which will span the agency business, artist development, sustainability, the evolution of festivals and more.
Speakers include Connie Shao (AEG Presents), Beckie Sugden (CAA), Maddie Arnold (Live Nation), Louisa Robinson (FORM), Caroline Simionescu-Marin (WME), Lottie Bradshaw (TEG Live Europe), Sally Dunstone (Primary Talent) and Jess Kinn (One Fiinix Live).
Limited passes are available for Futures Forum for just £125+VAT, which includes all of the above, a five-star lunch, refreshments, drinks, and networking opportunities. For more information or to purchase passes, click here.
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Kilimanjaro elevates Alan Day, hires new promoter
Kilimanjaro Live stalwart Alan Day has been appointed a director at the company.
The rock music specialist joined the award-winning promoter in 2008 and works with artists including Don Broco, Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets, Steve Hackett, UB40 feat Ali Campbell, Erasure, Babymetal, Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes, Sabaton, Suzanne Vega, Bullet For My Valentine, While She Sleeps and The Cult.
In addition, Kili has strengthened its live music division by hiring Josh Casey as a promoter. Casey, who joins from Robomagic, founded J-Bone Collective in Scotland and also had a spell with DF Concerts/Live Nation.
Bringing eight years of promoting experience to the Kili team, Casey has staged concerts by the likes of Skepta, Giggs, Bugzy Malone, AJ Tracey and Tion Wayne, and will be based in the company’s London office.
“These are exciting times for Kilimanjaro Live, and we’re reflecting that with the expansion of our team”
“These are exciting times for Kilimanjaro Live, and we’re reflecting that with the expansion of our team,” says Kili CEO Stuart Galbraith. “As an instrumental member of the Kilimanjaro Live promoter team for the past two decades, Alan has been integral to the growth of the company, both in terms of his live tours, and his expertise within Kilimanjaro Live as we continue to navigate the ever-changing landscape of live entertainment.
“We are delighted that Alan has agreed to become a director here at Kilimanjaro Live, and we are excited as a group for the opportunities of expansion that this will bring. We also welcome Josh Casey from Robomagic. Josh brings an exciting new area of live music to Kilimanjaro and we are looking forward to seeing where his expertise plus our experience can go.”
DEAG subsidiary Kili announced the opening of a new office in Wales earlier this month, headed by former Orchard Live boss Pablo Janczur.
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Kilimanjaro Live launches rock-oriented live brand
Kilimanjaro Live is launching a new rock-oriented live promotion brand called Action! Presents, spearheaded by the company’s veteran promoter Alan Day.
The first tour announced under the new brand is Bring Me The Horizon’s five-date arena run which kicks off in September 2021 at Glasgow’s SSE Hydro (cap. 14,300) and ends in London’s O2 (21,000).
The Action! Presents team has helped build the careers of rock acts such as Muse, Don Broco, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Sabaton, While She Sleeps, Deaf Havana and more, taking them from small clubs through to the country’s biggest theatres, arenas and even stadiums.
“We aim to build a social community around this brand, and bring audiences the best in alternative music that goes up to 11”
“During these trying times of quiet in the world of live music, we are all looking forward to a return to Action! and the full live music experience,” says Day.
“From the record to the stage to the mosh pit to the lyrical content, the word Action! is pivotal to rock. We aim to build a social community around this brand, and bring audiences the best in alternative music that goes up to 11. To launch with a new tour from one of the UK’s hottest acts, Bring Me The Horizon is very exciting.”
Day joined Stuart Galbraith’s Kilimanjaro Live during its first year of launching in 2008, along with promoter Steve Tilley.
Kilimanjaro has previously been behind major rock events such as Sonisphere festival (70,000) and the European leg of the Vans Warped Tour, as well as staging Babymetal’s SSE Arena (12,500), Wembley in 2016 – the largest, sold-out show a Japanese act has ever played in the western world, which smashed the venue’s merchandise sales record.
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The Cult awarded for sell-out UK tour
Veteran British rockers the Cult celebrated the 30th anniversary of their fourth album, Sonic Temple, with a sold-out UK tour that sold over 25,000 tickets.
Promoted by Kilimanjaro Live, the UK leg of the Sonic Temple tour saw the band play venues including Rock City (2,000-cap.) in Nottingham, the O2 Apollo Manchester (3,500-cap.), Portsmouth Guildhall (2,500-cap.) and the Eventim Apollo (5,000-cap.) in Hammersmith throughout October.
Pictured at side stage after the Hammersmith Apollo date on 27 October are (L–R) agent Steve Zapp of ITB, Cult band members Billy Duffy and Ian Astbury, and Kili promoter Alan Day.
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