All Things Live buys Dutch festival promoter
Nordic live entertainment giant All Things Live is expanding in the Netherlands with a majority stake in festival promoter Loveland Events.
Established in 1995, the Amsterdam-based organiser has launched several renowned dance festivals that draw over 150,000 visitors annually.
The company’s stable of events includes Loveland Festival, 909 Festival, Music On Festival and Loveland Orange Festival, as well as several ADE (Amsterdam Dance Event) events.
The addition of Loveland expands All Thing Live’s existing festival portfolio throughout Europe as well as its footprint in the Netherlands which already includes Concert at Sea, HIER Festival, In Het Volkspark and Agents After All.
Kim Worsøe, member of the executive board of All Things Live Group, says: “Marnix and his team have built fantastic festivals over the years, and we are excited to welcome Loveland to the All Things Live family and our growing festival business fueled by passion for great live events and love for music.”
“By combining powers, we get the chance to learn from a variety of festival entrepreneurs in [ATL’s] extensive portfolio”
Marnix Bal, founder and CEO of Loveland, adds: “We believe that Loveland Events and All Things Live is a perfect fit that comes at the right time. After producing events for over 25 years, the partnership offers the unique opportunity to do better events for the city of Amsterdam and its residents. By combining powers, we get the chance to learn from a variety of festival entrepreneurs that make up the extensive portfolio of All Things Live and incorporate best practices in our own events.”
All Things Live was established in December 2018 following Waterland Private Equity’s acquisition of leading Nordic live entertainment companies in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The partnership has since expanded into Finland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and the Middle East.
The company represents 522 local artists on exclusive contracts, arranges 17 festivals, promotes 8,200 local and international events with more than 2,100,000 tickets sold per year and continues to grow its current portfolio of 35 corporate partnerships.
All Things Live has promoted artists including Justin Bieber, The Rolling Stones, Rammstein, Green Day and Eminem.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
High demand for Lana Del Rey surprise concerts
Tickets for Lana Del Rey’s surprise shows in Dublin, Paris and Amsterdam have flown off the shelf.
The singer announced the shows last Tuesday (27 June), just three days before tickets went on sale: “I love Europe and after playing at Glastonbury I’ve decided to play a few more shows around my Hyde Park London concert.”
General sale for Del Rey’s concert at the Ziggo Dome (cap. 17,000) in Amsterdam – the largest of the three shows – took place last Friday (30 June) and sold out within 10 minutes. A pre-sale exclusive to subscribers of MOJO’s newsletter launched a day prior.
At present, 1,440 tickets are wanted on the resale platform Ticketswap and 849 have been sold since the general sale.
“I love Europe and after playing at Glastonbury I’ve decided to play a few more shows”
The 4 July concert will mark the first time in a decade that Del Rey has performed in the Netherlands, after a sold-out show at the 6,000-capacity AFAS Live (then known as Heineken Music Hall) in 2013.
The 38-year-old will also visit the 3Arena (13,000) in Dublin on 7 July and the Olympia Music Hall (1,996) in Paris on 10 July. Both shows are sold out.
The New York-born singer, represented by WME worldwide excluding North America, also played Italy’s La Prima Estate festival on 2 July and is due to close BST Hyde Park (AEG Presents) this Sunday (9 July).
It comes after Del Rey’s headline slot at Glastonbury was cut short as a result of appearing on stage 30 minutes late.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
TicketSwap shares resale profits with promoters
TicketSwap has introduced a new feature that divides profits from secondary ticket sales equally between the seller and the organiser of the event.
The FairShare feature also helps to discourage ticket dealers (who resell tickets for profit) as the profit margin for them is decreased, according to the ‘ethical resale platform’.
“The event industry, as well as fans, face challenges,” said Hans Ober, CEO at TicketSwap. “For example organisers’ profit margins are also coming under increasing pressure, and for fans, usurious rates are a major frustration. With the introduction of FairShare, we are making the ticket market a lot fairer again. This is how we invest together in the event industry.”
If an event organiser chooses to use FairShare, the profit on a resold ticket – which at TicketSwap is a maximum of 20% – is split between them and the seller.
“With the introduction of FairShare, we are making the ticket market a lot fairer again”
Event organisers using TicketSwap’s Sealed Tickets service can choose to activate FairShare on their own. The advanced feature allows barcodes on tickets to be released only several hours before an event begins. Until then, the buyer can also choose to resell their ticket within this system.
TicketSwap says this gives the organiser more control and fans maximum assurance that their ticket is valid.
Among others, event organisers Rotterdam Rave, Chasing the Hihat, Elevation Events and This is Live Group are already using FairShare.
Since launching in 2012, Amsterdam-headquartered TicketSwap has attracted 9 million users active in 36 countries worldwide, plus 1.5 million registered users in the UK.
Last year alone, the company opened offices in Sao Paulo (BR), Stockholm (SE), Berlin (DE), Paris (FR), Madrid (ES), Milan (IT) and Krakow (PO).
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
Paradiso, Melkweg co-founder Willem de Ridder passes
Willem de Ridder, co-founder of iconic Amsterdam venues Paradiso and Melkweg, passed away aged 83.
The Dutch national died peacefully last Thursday (29 December) after “a short-term illness”, according to his website.
De Ridder, along with others, founded the 1,500-capacity Paradiso (formerly known as Cosmic Relaxation Center Paradiso) in 1968.
“Everyone sat on the floor, smoked joints and there were projections with liquid slides,” said De Ridder about the early days of Paradiso. “Anyone who wanted to could do something on stage and as a DJ I played whatever people gave me. Everyone in power.”
Paradiso has hosted artists such as David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Nirvana and Prince
In the 50 years since, the former church on Weteringschans became a pop venue, night club and cultural palace, hosting artists such as David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Nirvana and Prince.
Two years after unveiling Paradiso, de Ridder helped to open Melkweg (Milky Way), a former sugar and, later, milk factory located on Lijnbaansgracht.
The historical building now houses two concert halls (the biggest being 1,500 capacity), a cinema, a multidisciplinary room and an exhibition space, which attract a combined 540,000 visitors annually.
De Ridder was also an artist, a magazine maker and a radio and television producer.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
Dutch venues set to benefit from €2m culture fund
Dozens of Netherlands music venues are to benefit from a share of €2 million to help them withstand challenges such as inflation, rising energy costs and the aftermath of Covid restrictions, it has been announced.
Sixty-five venues affiliated with the Association of Dutch Music Venues and Festivals’ (VNPF) will each receive an additional €30,000 from the Prince Bernhard Cultuurfonds (culture fund) for marketing initiatives to rebuild post-pandemic audience numbers and showcase new artists.
“We have looked at where we can currently make a targeted extra investment to make a difference for young audiences and young makers, in places where programming takes place all year round,” says the fund’s director Cathelijne Broers. “Pop culture often comes off badly in subsidy land, so we opted for this.
“Music venues are pre-eminently places where culture reaches young people. And they are essential breeding grounds for young makers and new music movements. So it’s super-important to support them extra.”
The Amsterdam-headquartered cultural foundation says it was moved to act by the findings of the VNPF’s recently-published Pop Stages and Festivals in Figures 2021 report, which showed that 883,000 visits were made to VNPF stages last year, down 16% on 2020 and 83% from 5.2 million recorded in the last pre-pandemic year of 2019.
“With a contribution like this we can start next year with a new plan”
VNPF stages received €36.1m in Covid intervention in 2021, with most support coming from the national government (96%), but warned of a “bleak” financial outlook and said continued assistance was “still very necessary”.
The intervention by the Prince Bernhard Cultuurfonds has been warmly received by the Dutch live industry.
“Paradiso is very happy with this contribution,” says Geert van Itallie, director of Paradiso Amsterdam (cap. 1,500). “We have a relatively low subsidy from the municipality of 5% of our turnover and we almost always have to arrange extra financing for activities that do not cover their own costs.
“With a contribution like this we can start next year with a new plan: every week on Tuesday evenings we keep our small upstairs room available as free space for initiatives that result in something really different than that we already programme regularly ourselves and which do not yet have a good place in the city. An open call will be issued shortly. With this budget, we can support these new activities/programmes from external parties and provide them with a nice new audience.”
“This is so welcome,” adds Kelly Hammer, director of the 500-cap Burgerweeshuis Deventer. “Poppodium Burgerweeshuis is pre-eminently a stage that pays a lot of attention to regional talent. We want to encourage young people to discover their own taste in music and thus make all genres accessible to them.
“With this extra grant we can do more with specific target group marketing, for example by letting the young people themselves be active within Burgerweeshuis in the field of marketing and by letting talented people participate in our talent development programmes.”
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
TicketSwap continues to expand with UK launch
Ethical ticket resale platform TicketSwap is continuing its European expansion by launching in the UK.
The resale firm caps all ticket resale prices and also works directly with event organisers to offer verified SecureSwap tickets on its platform.
Since launching in 2012, the Amsterdam-headquartered company has attracted 9 million users active in 36 countries worldwide, plus 1.5 million registered users in the UK.
This year alone, the company has opened offices in Sao Paulo (BR), Stockholm (SE), Berlin (DE), Paris (FR), Madrid (ES), Milan (IT) & Krakow (PO).
The company’s international expansion comes after its first investment of US$10 million from Million Monkeys.
Hans Ober, CEO of TicketSwap says: “We’re delighted to formally enter the UK market, having already built a huge community of more than 1.5 million dedicated live music fans over the last few years.
“It’s clear there is a need for another innovative resale platform in the UK, and we look forward to working alongside the most respected and innovative brands in live British music to get as many fans to the artists and shows they love as possible.”
“It’s clear there is a need for another innovative resale platform in the UK”
Michael Robinson, Country Lead, TicketSwap UK comments: “I’m really excited to be leading TicketSwap’s partnership efforts in the UK, alongside our stellar team Sharen & Chris. TicketSwap has so much to offer promoters, especially with regards to helping them reach sell out quicker and identifying new audiences – something that’s so important in such a competitive landscape. We’re looking forward to working closely both with our partners and associated trade bodies across the UK.”
To mark its UK launch, TicketSwap has announced exclusive partnerships with the likes of LWE (Junction 2, Cogo, Tobacco Dock), with many others in the pipeline.
Paul Jack, Owner LWE (Exclusive promoters at Tobacco Dock) says: “We’re delighted to be one of TicketSwap’s launch partners for the UK market, helping to bring a safe ticketing experience to over 250,000 live music fans across more than 70 events annually. Fans today demand the flexibility to be able to sell their tickets last minute, and through our collaboration with TicketSwap we can ensure every event we run reaches full capacity, which results in a quality experience for everyone; artists, fans and promoters.”
TicketSwap says it works with several UK-based trade associations across the music industry to ensure its operations respect certain industry regulations, as well as providing data and insight on consumer behaviours.
The firm is also a member of the self-regulatory body for the entertainment ticketing industry STAR (the Society of Ticket Agents & Retailers), as well as the Association of Electronic Music, Association of Festival Organisers (AFO) and Music Venue Trust.
TicketSwap this year partnered with the International Live Music Conference (ILMC) and was the title sponsor of its sister event, the International Festival Forum (IFF).
Outside of the UK, TicketSwap works with over 6,000 promoters, venues, festivals and ticketing companies including ID&T Group (Netherlands), Sziget Festival (Hungary), Bootshaus (Germany), Norbergfestival (Sweden), Entourage and Ingresse (Brazil).
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
Friendly Fire ups Pien Feith to head of booking
Amsterdam-based promoter Friendly Fire has upped Pien Feith to head of its Dutch booking department.
In her new position, Feith will lead the team of Dutch bookers and will therefore be responsible for the entire Dutch booking roster, which includes Kensington, Danny Vera, Yade Lauren, Ilse DeLange, Krezip, Jonna Fraser, Sigourney K and Sophie Straat. She also joins the company’s management team.
“In recent years, Pien has shown that he is not only an extremely good booker with an eye and heart for talent and development, but also has very strong management capabilities and vision,” says director Rense van Kessel.
“Pien has shown that he is not only an extremely good booker, but also has very strong management capabilities”
“We are very happy that she wants to fill this position and that the department can go into the future under her leadership. We are confident she will be a valuable addition to our management team.”
Within Friendly Fire, Feith has been actively developing the careers of Dutch artists for seven years now. Having joined in 2015 as a booking assistant, Feith quickly developed into an independent booking agent.
In that role, she has been responsible for the live careers of, among others, Merol, Personal Trainer, WIES, Sophie Straat, Nana Adjoa, Sef and Roxeanne. Hazes.
In addition to her booking work, Pien is involved in programming for Friendly Fire’s festivals, including Tuckerville, Best Kept Secret and Indian Summer. She will continue to combine her programming and booking work with her new position.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
Dutch agencies Earth Beat and Blip join forces
Amsterdam-based booking and artist management agencies Earth Beat and Blip Agency are merging under one umbrella.
Under the name EBB Music, the agencies will bring together their rosters of afro jazz, psychedelic pop and electronic music acts.
The company’s consolidated roster includes Altın Gün, Jambinai, Otoboke Beaver, Ambassade, Gaye Su Akyol, DMX Krew, Daughters of Reykjavik, WaqWaq Kingdom, YĪN YĪN, Romperayo and M I M I.
According to EBB Music, the amalgamation will better serve its artists across Europe, Benelux and the rest of the world.
“EBB Music’s goal is to give non-European artists a chance to build a career in Europe”
Earth Beat was co-founded in 2002 by Jerome Williams who previously worked for ten years as a sound engineer and tour manager.
Having started out as an agency for ‘world music’ in the Benelux countries, Earth Beat gradually expanded into a company with a theatre division (operating in Holland and Belgium until 2013), an international agency and a local promoter in Benelux.
Blip, meanwhile, was founded in 2016 by Jeroen van den Bogert and Ronald Keizer and became a successful agency for ‘cutting-edge and leftfield artists’. Williams, Bogert and Keizer will lead the newly formed EBB Music.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
Ziggo Dome partners with GUTS Tickets
The Netherlands’ Ziggo Dome has partnered with blockchain ticketing company GUTS Tickets.
The move, which sees GUTS added to the venue’s preferred ticketing partners, marks the next step in the collaboration between the two Amsterdam-based parties.
Previously, GUTS has handled ticketing for shows by Dutch artists BLØF, Suzan & Freek and Antoon. The firm utilises GET Protocol, a “fraud- and scalping-proof ecosystem”, which allows event organisers to track their tickets, with all transactions being registered with blockchain technology. The result is a ‘smart ticket’, which cannot be duplicated or sold for a price other than that set by the issuer.
“We are immensely proud to take our collaboration with the Ziggo Dome to the next level in this way,” says GUTS Tickets CEO Rempko de Bie. “After working together on several great shows, this step feels like a validation for our system, while at the same time motivating us to push even harder and continue the exponential growth we are experiencing.
“Together we are going to give it our all in order to make the ticketing experience for attendees of the Ziggo Dome easy, honest and even fun.”
“Every day we hear about ticket buyers who have not received their tickets or were forced to pay an outrageous price”
The 17,000-cap Ziggo Dome is set to host upcoming concerts by acts such as The Killers, KISS, Pearl Jam, Snoop Dogg, Arcade Fire, The Weeknd and Kendrick Lamar.
“Every day we hear about ticket buyers who have not received their ordered tickets or were forced to pay an outrageous price,” says Ziggo Dome commercial director Danny Damman. “We are also seeing a rise in the number of fans showing up with fake tickets or ones that have already been invalidated. The result of which is that they can’t see the show.
“GUTS Tickets uses innovative technologies such as blockchain to issue honest tickets. These digital tickets prevent unwanted reselling and ticket fraud. That’s why we are happy to share that we have added GUTS tickets to our list of preferred suppliers.”
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
Alda expands to Croatia with new office and festival
Alda, the Amsterdam-based company behind leading EDM events including AMF, New Horizons and more, is expanding to Croatia.
The Dutch promoter, which is 50% owned by Live Nation-backed Insomniac, today announced it has opened an office in the capital, Zagreb.
In addition, Alda and Insomniac have also planned a new seven-day festival in the Croatian city of Pula, on the Adriatic coast.
The event, titled Secret Project Presents Pula Music Week, will take place in and around one of Europe’s oldest amphitheatres between 30 June to 6 July.
Peggy Gou, Solomon, Disclosure, Tale Of Us, Boris Brejcha, Charlotte de Witte and Black Coffee will each host their own evening. Support acts will be announced at a later date.
“Croatia will be the epic centre for the European dance industry for the foreseeable future”
Project Presents Pula Music Week is the second new festival Alda and Insomniac have launched together, after Saga festival in Bucharest, Romania.
Allan Hardenberg, director and co-founder of ALDA, says: “In the two years that the festival world has been on hiatus, we have of course not been idle. We’ve made plans for when it could all be done again… and that’s now! Earlier this month we officially opened our office in Zagreb, Croatia will be the epic centre for the European dance industry for the foreseeable future.
“There are so many options here, especially for destination festivals. With the Pula Music Week, music lovers can enjoy not just one evening, but a week of the very best DJs in a unique location, where they are provided with everything they need.”
Alda is behind events including A State of Trance in Utrecht, New Horizons in Germany (a JV with CTS Eventim) and Amsterdam Music Festival, the Netherlands’ largest indoor music festival.
Insomniac, meanwhile, has produced more than 2,000 events since 1993, including Electric Daisy Carnivals in North America, Japan, China and Mexico, and Nocturnal Wonderland, the US’s longest-running dance music event.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.