Deadline nears for Arthur Awards 2021 voting
Voting for the 2021 Arthur Awards, the Oscars of the international live music business, closes this Friday (14 February) at 18.00 GMT.
Awarding industry excellence in 11 categories – including new-for-this-year awards for Tour of the Decade and Unsung Hero of the year (based on the IQ feature of the same name) – the 2021 Arthurs take place as part of ILMC 33 in March.
Normally a separate, ticketed event, the Arthurs is throwing open its virtual doors for 2021, inviting all ILMC delegates to attend the ceremony on 4 March. The awards will stream live from London’s most iconic venue, the Royal Albert Hall, from 18.30–19.30, with proceedings led once again by long-time Arthur Awards hostess Emma Banks.
In addition to the new awards, some of the Arthurs’ most popular category winners will line up to decide the Arthur of the Decade, while the special Bottle Award will recognise one individual’s outstanding contribution to the industry.
The Arthurs is throwing open its virtual doors for 2021, inviting all ILMC delegates to attend
To vote for your Arthur Awards 2021 winners, click here. A full list of award nominees is below:
THE PROMOTER’S PROMOTER
(Arthur of the Decade showdown)
Phil Bowdery, Live Nation
Kelly Chappel, Live Nation Entertainment
Folkert Koopmans, FKP Scorpio
Barrie Marshall, Marshall Arts
Simon Moran, SJM Concerts
Herman Schueremans, Live Nation Belgium
Anna Sjölund, Live Nation Sweden
Stephan Thanscheidt, FKP Scorpio
Steve Tilley, Kilimanjaro Live
LIGGERS’ FAVOURITE FESTIVAL
(Arthur of the Decade showdown)
British Summer Time, UK
Eurockéennes, France
Glastonbury, UK
Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland
Rock am Ring, Germany
Rock Werchter, Belgium
SECOND LEAST OFFENSIVE AGENT
(Arthur of the Decade showdown)
Natasha Bent, Mother Artists
Rob Challice, Paradigm
Lucy Dickins, WME
John Giddings, Solo
Mike Greek, CAA
Summer Marshall, CAA
Geoff Meall, Paradigm
Steve Strange, X-ray Touring
Steve Zapp, ITB
SERVICES ABOVE & BEYOND
(Arthur of the Decade showdown)
Beat the Street
Eat to the Beat
eps
PRG
Rock-it Cargo
Showsec
THE GAFFER (PRODUCTION CHAMPION)
(Arthur of the Decade showdown)
Jake Berry (U2)
Jason Danter (Lady Gaga)
Tony Gittins (Depeche Mode)
Chris Kansy (Roger Waters)
Arthur Kemish (Taylor Swift)
Bill Leabody (Coldplay)
Chris Marsh (Ed Sheeran)
Wob Roberts (One Direction)
Jesse Sandler (Bon Jovi)
John Zajonc (Metallica)
THE PEOPLE’S ASSISTANT
(Arthur of the Decade showdown)
Claire Bewers, Paradigm
Sarah Donovan, Live Nation UK
Samantha Henfrey, UTA
Sandra Swift, AEG Presents
Amber McKenzie, CAA
Eliza-Jane Oliver, AEG Presents
San Phillips, Kilimanjaro Live
Charlie Renton, Primary Talent International
Clare Utting, Paradigm
TOMORROW’S NEW BOSS
(2021 Award)
Alexandra Ampofo, Metropolis Music (UK)
Jolien Augustyns, Live Nation (BE)
Kedist Bezabih, FKP Scorpio (NO)
Madie Cavilla, Paradigm (UK)
Virág Csiszár, Sziget Cultural Management (HU)
Sally Dunstone, X-ray Touring (UK)
Bertie Gibbon, ATC Live (UK)
Artur Kasper, Der Bomber der Herzen (DE)
Bilge Morden, CAA (UK)
Filippo Palermo, Untitled Group (AU)
Camila Salinas, Primavera Sound (ES)
Joe Skarzynski, production co-ordinator (US)
THE UNSUNG HERO
(2021 Award)
Javier Ajenjo, Sonorama Ribera Festival (ES)
Alexandra Ampofo, Metropolis Music (UK)
Bobby Bähler, Gurtenfestival (CH)
Sandra Beckmann & Tom Koperek, Alarmstufe Rot (DE)
Maria Brunner, Musically Fed (US)
#feedourcrew (ZA)
Charlie Hernandez, Just A Bunch Of Roadies (US)
Michael Kill, Night Time Industry Association (UK)
Barrie Knight, Big Knight In (UK)
Music Venue Trust (UK)
Paul Reed, Association of Independent Festivals (UK)
Evelyn Richardson & Glen Rainsbury, Live Entertainment Industry Forum (AU)
THE ULTIMATE VENUE’S VENUE
(Special Judges’ Category)
To be decided by a committee of industry judges
TOUR OF THE DECADE
(Voting live on the night)
Beyoncé
Bon Jovi
Bruce Springsteen
Coldplay
Ed Sheeran
Paul McCartney
Roger Waters
Rolling Stones
Taylor Swift
U2
THE BOTTLE AWARD
Awarded to an individual who has contributed greatly to the live music industry
Check out the 2020 Arthur Awards winners here. To reserve your ticket for the Arthur Awards 2021, click here to register for ILMC.
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Arthur Awards 2020: All the winners
The 26th annual Arthur Awards, the live music industry’s equivalent of the Oscars, took place at London’s Sheraton Grand Park Lane hotel last night. The awards, which take place as part of the ongoing International Live Music Conference (ILMC), honoured the industry’s best and brightest across 11 awards categories.
The prizes were handed out during the Arthur Awards Winners’ Dinner, hosted by CAA’s Emma Banks, who took to the stage in a full hazmat suit and gas mask emblazoned with the letters CAA across her back in hazard warning tape.
As the evening culminated with The Bottle Award, the unique industry achievement gong, Emma was invited back on stage to receive it, to loud applause and a standing ovation. “If I should say anything, it’s that we should all pick up the phone more,” she said. “You can’t have a relationship via text message or Whatsapp. We need to speak to each, to be more nice to each other.”
It was a successful night all round for CAA, as Summer Marshall won the Second Least Offensive Agent award.
The prizes were handed out during the Arthur Awards Winners’ Dinner, hosted by CAA’s Emma Banks
Elsewhere, Live Nation’s Kelly Chappel took the best promoter gong, French festival Eurockéennes was crowned best festival, All Points East won best new event, London’s Roundhouse received the best venue award and Charly Beedell-Tuck from Solo Agency won the Tomorrow’s New Boss award, which recognises the industry’s most promising new business talent.
Notably, all Arthurs for individuals – the prizes for best assistant, professional services, new business talent, agent and promoter, as well as the Bottle award – went to women.
The full list of winners is below:
Venue (First Venue To Come Into Your Head)
Roundhouse, UK
Promoter (The Promoters’ Promoter)
Kelly Chappel, Live Nation
Festival (Liggers’ Favourite Festival)
Eurockéennes, France
Agent (Second Least Offensive Agent)
Summer Marshall, CAA
Production Services (Services Above and Beyond)
Showsec
Professional Services (Most Professional Professional)
Tina Richard, T&S Immigration Services
New Gig on the Block (New Event)
All Points East, UK
Assistant (The People’s Assistant)
San Phillips, Kilimanjaro Live
Ticketing (The Golden Ticket)
Ticketmaster
New Business Talent (Tomorrow’s New Boss)
Charly Beedell-Tuck, Solo
The Bottle Award
Emma Banks, CAA
Prior to the Arthurs, ILMC head Greg Parmley presented two special ILMC Medal of Honour awards for longstanding service to the organisation. Production manager Bill Martin and agenda consultant Allan McGowan were both invited to the stage. “Bill is nothing short of a magician,” Parmley said, “He juggles set design, lighting, stands, stages, and a hundred other elements to make the conference and this dinner happen every year.”
And speaking of McGowan, he said, “Across two decades, Allan has been a central figure in all of ILMC’s panels, putting hundreds of them together. And for ten years, his role as associate editor on IQ was instrumental in the magazine’s growth.”
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The final countdown: ILMC week is here
The 32nd International Live Music Conference (ILMC) is kicking off tomorrow (3 March) in London, welcoming top music industry professionals for a wide range of panel discussions, keynote interviews and networking events.
The 2020 edition of ILMC features the conference’s most wide-reaching agenda yet, with sessions looking at the agency, ticketing, venue and festival sectors, as well as exploring green touring, mental health, the Insta-generation and life after losing a star act.
This year also sees the return of Futures Forum on 6 March, a forward-looking discussion and networking event created by young professionals for the next generation of live music industry leaders.
Highlights of the ILMC agenda include the ILMC Breakfast Meeting, which sees Dire Straits manager Ed Bicknell site down to interview fellow legendary artist manager Peter Rudge, and the Futures Forum keynote, featuring Team Mumford & Sons – founding band member and venue owner Ben Lovett, manager Adam Tudhope and booking agent Lucy Dickins.
The 2020 edition of ILMC features the conference’s most wide-reaching agenda yet
Elsewhere, ILMC’s main opening session The Open Forum: Universally challenged will consider the impact of Covid-19 coronavirus on the business, as well as other key topics; agents line up to discuss recent strategies for both emerging and established artists in The Agency Business 2020; urban music’s meteoric rise is examined in the Urban Legends: Hip hop on top panel; and the industry’s duty of care towards its workforce forms the centre of conversation in the Mental Health: Next steps for live session.
A packed ILMC workshop schedule will look at the impact 5G is likely to have on live music, the benefits video-sharing platform TikTok brings to the business, how to maximise the potential of digital marketing and the advantages of digital ticketing.
The first day of the conference shines the spotlight on live music production at the ILMC Production Meeting (IPM) and sustainability at the Green Events and Innovations Conference (GEI).
Outside of the conference programming, the best and brightest of the industry will be crowned at the ILMC Arthur Awards Winners’ Dinner on Thursday night and delegates will go head to head in a series of activities including the It’s a Copout game show night, as well as staples of the ILMC night-time programme table football and karaoke.
ILMC takes place at the Royal Garden Hotel in London from 3 to 6 March. Companies supporting this year’s conference include Live Nation, Ticketmaster, Eventim, Universe, Livestyled, Tysers, Joy Station, Mojo Rental and Showsec.
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Countdown to the Arthurs 2020: Mad Cool
Individuals and events will be crowned across 11 categories at the Arthur Awards Winners’ Dinner on 5 March, as the music industry’s response to the Oscars returns to the glamorous Sheraton Grand Park Lane hotel.
Last year’s 25th anniversary awards saw success for Britannia Row’s Bryan Grant, FKP Scorpio’s Folkert Koopmans, ICM Partners’ Kevin Jergensen and Live Nation’s Selina Emeny, as well as the teams at the Royal Albert Hall, British Summer Time Hyde Park and Mad Cool Festival, among others.
As the Emma Banks-hosted ceremony draws ever closer, IQ chats to some previous winners to find out what receiving an Arthur meant to them and to discover their biggest hopes and dreams for the future.
Up next is Nara Pinto, head of booking at Live Nation’s Mad Cool festival, last year’s winner of the Arthurs’ New Gig on the Block award.
It was great to win the New Gig on the Block award at the Arthurs 2019 – it means we are moving in the right direction as a brand new event [the inaugural Mad Cool took place in 2016]. It has not been easy – our office has put in a great deal of hard work and effort.
Speaking as a promoter, I think most of us enjoy going to ILMC as a get together with people, professionals and colleagues. We work together all year round, but we do not get to see each other or hang out with each other all that often. We live in different countries – there were around 60 nationalities represented last year – and despite our close relationship with agents, managers and other promoters, we don’t usually get the chance to meet in a relaxed environment. ILMC allows this, big time. Then, of course, there’s the valuable business and networking side to the conference as well.
We will keep delivering the acts and curating our line-up as best as we possibly can, but the overall experience is crucial
For Mad Cool, the future means improving the experience for the festivalgoer, which is something I talked about as part of the Festival Forum: Fan First? panel at ILMC last year. We will keep delivering the acts and curating our line-up as best as we possibly can – Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, the Killers, and Twenty One Pilots are among acts on our 2020 line-up, but the overall experience is crucial.
It’s hard to say what’s going to happen with the festival industry going forward. There is a level of uncertainty at the moment that we have not seen before. I do hope we’ll find a way to go around difficulties and continue to strengthen the festival scene, but there are many important goals we need to achieve collectively first.
Personally, I really want to see things like parity, inclusiveness and sustainability become a reality in the near future.
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Countdown to the Arthurs 2020: Andrew Parsons
Individuals and events will be crowned across 11 categories at the Arthur Awards Winners’ Dinner on 5 March, as the music industry’s response to the Oscars returns to the glamorous Sheraton Grand Park Lane hotel.
Last year’s 25th anniversary awards saw success for Britannia Row’s Bryan Grant, FKP Scorpio’s Folkert Koopmans, ICM Partners’ Kevin Jergensen and Live Nation’s Selina Emeny, as well as the teams at the Royal Albert Hall, British Summer Time Hyde Park and Mad Cool Festival, among others.
As the Emma Banks-hosted ceremony draws ever closer, IQ chats to some previous winners to find out what receiving an Arthur meant to them and to discover their biggest hopes and dreams for the future.
Up first is Andrew Parsons, managing director of the UK division of Ticketmaster, four-time recipients of the Arthurs’ Golden Ticket award.
Arthur has been very kind to us over the years. Well, every other year really but who’s counting? (I am). It is always great to receive recognition from within the industry but all the more so from a room full of event partners past, present and future to whom we owe so much. Even if half of them won’t remember who actually won anything come that painful next morning!
Arthur resides on the edge of a desk, where all awards should be kept. He unfortunately took a bit of a battering on the night though from victory laps with team TM. So, Arthur’s head is now somewhat disconnected from his pedestal.
It is always great to receive recognition from within the industry, all the more so from a room full of event partners past, present and future
Emma Banks’ regal-like presenting performance at the Arthurs is always very good value. And Alex Hardee’s stand-up routines are now pretty legendary. Overall though, it is that the awards do not take themselves too seriously that makes them so unique and such a positive experience – nothing that will overly get in the way of a good dinner with friends.
ILMC is a great opportunity to catch up with friends and colleagues from other territories. Our Ticketmaster Australia ticketing cousins always live up superbly well to all the stereotypes and are a guaranteed excellent night out every time.
On a serious note to finish, 2019 was the year we brought accessible ticketing online and mobile. All fans should be able to have the same level of access to buying tickets the way they want on any given on sale and we were determined to make that happen. It was also the year that digital tickets exploded onto the scene opening up so many opportunities. We can’t wait to see where 2020 takes us.
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