The State of Independents 2024
As live music’s corporate giants continue to concentrate on market share dominance and revenue growth, the plight of independent operators battling to compete has never been fiercer. But as IQ discovers, the passion for delivering meaningful events, for artists and audiences alike, is continuing to drive these entrepreneurial outfits forward, albeit amid some challenging circumstances…
Covid may have been the final straw for many independent companies involved in live entertainment, as two years without income left some bankrupt and others disillusioned. But the enforced lockdowns also provided numerous professionals with the chance to set up their own companies, with the agency sector in particular experiencing the birth of numerous new outlets, including Mother Artists, One Fiinix Live, Runway and Midnight Mango, in the UK.
Compiling our inaugural indie-focussed edition of IQ, we heard from countless professionals who are either working at independent companies or running their own enterprises and the myriad challenges they face on a day-to-day basis. But their conviction to remain indie and to excel in their particular sectors or markets is inspiring.
And while Earth Agency’s Williamson believes it is slightly easier to operate as an independent now than when the company first started, it’s clear that in today’s live music business, the obstacles to remaining independent are high. Noting the camaraderie among the indie sector, Rev. Moose at New York-based Marauder comments, “We consider ourselves fortunate to have made strong relationships within the freelance community that allow us to support one another.” He notes that honesty is one of the guiding principles at Marauder, rather than the over-selling that some companies seem to expound. “We’re a small company that manages quite large programmes. Part of this is due to how we communicate with our clients, making sure they understand our practical limitations and needs as much as we understand theirs.”
“I have a healthy company, and I cannot see the benefit of being part of something else”
In Belgium, Steven Thomassen, founder of Toutpartout, is celebrating 30 years of being independent. “I love the luxury of only telling myself what I have to do and having the freedom to do that,” he says. “I don’t have many luxury demands: I don’t need a swimming pool or a big car because I like using public transport. And right now, I have a healthy company, and I cannot see the benefit of being part of something else.”
That’s a philosophy that strikes a chord with Conal Dodds at Crosstown Concerts in the UK. “I didn’t come into music just to make money. It’s a vocation, it’s something I love doing, and I still think I’m in it for the right reasons,” he tells IQ. “I’m not driven by money in the same way that a lot of people are – all I need is enough. Crosstown has 19 full-time employees, and I’d rather be in a position where I can pay them all a really good salary, and they can all have a nice existence, rather than just milking it all for myself.”
Outlining his decision to remain independent, Anthony Jouet of Prague-based promoters, Fource Entertainment, says, “There are no shareholders to tell me that we need to do 50% more shows next year or hit some crazy targets just to try to raise more money. We’d rather do the right shows and deliver them with the same quality of services we are known for than overwhelm myself and the team by booking so many shows that we’re not able to allocate proper time to them.”
That’s an approach that Greenhouse Talent founder Pascal Van De Velde sees as fundamental to his business. “I’ve had bosses before – really good ones who I could look up to,” he says. “But with the big corporations, your superiors are not always people that you look up to. In many cases, you report to the accounts department. Whereas, for me, it’s the music and the concerts and the artist relationships that are key. I don’t want anybody breathing down my neck about much money we’re going to make in six months’ time.”
“Global deals are a major game changer
Losing acts
For those on the promoting side of the fence, while there are always opportunities to begin working with exciting new talent, the increasing popularity of global tour deals is causing some to reconsider whether artist development is still worth investing the time.
Global deals “make our work massively more difficult, as we cannot ever be sure that we are still going to remain as promoters on the next cycle,” says Jouet. Indeed, he can cite examples. Among the acts Fource has worked with, up to arena level, are Imagine Dragons, Billie Eilish, and Twenty One Pilots. “But we lost the last tours to Live Nation because what they can offer the acts was obviously unbeatable,” says Jouet. “It’s a pattern that’s happening more and more. Global deals are a major game changer.”
Dodds has similar experiences. “Those bigger companies can say to new acts, ‘Well, if you don’t let us be your promoter, you won’t get our festivals.’ So, it’s definitely a struggle, but I would still rather be in a position where I know that I’m going to lose an act at a certain point in their career because they’re going to take a European deal or a worldwide deal. I can deal with that just as long as I’m not answerable to someone that’s based in LA or Berlin or wherever.
“I’m philosophical: you have to roll with the punches. But I do think it will get increasingly difficult over the next five to ten years for independent companies like Crosstown to exist, because there aren’t many that will be able to promote at a national level.”
“As an independent, you need to know your limit. And if you cross the line, you will get hurt”
Van De Velde takes another view: that not being part of a corporate structure allows him to operate free from a need to increase turnover or maintain a monopoly. “Our goal at Greenhouse, meanwhile, is directly connected to the profession, to the artists. It is to make a concert successful and an artist’s career successful – and that’s not a secondary goal. Of course, the competition from the corporations is enormous, so we have to make sure we are much better than they are – but there’s always room for boutiques and the personal touch.”
He continues, “If you’re a mid-size artist or manager and your guy in Benelux who you’ve worked with for 25 years has always done a good job – he’s very attentive and detailed about your career and knows your sensibilities – I think you’ll definitely consider working with a person like that, because you’re still in touch with the boss of the company.”
That sentiment is reflected on both sides of the Atlantic, with Jose Muniz at Mercury Concerts telling IQ, “Unlike big corporations that can afford to overpay an act for whatever reason – market share, world dominance, executive promotions and bonuses – as an independent, you need to know your limit. And if you cross the line, you will get hurt.”
However, nodding to his 12 years within the OCESA/T4F setup, Muniz adds that experience within a major company has helped shape his business since. “Personally, I learned to apply some of the corporate mentality to my independent operation: the discipline, the way I focus on results, and last but not least, to realise that my bank account, although solid, has limitations.”
“First and foremost, we’re all very entrepreneurial in spirit, and we are all very committed to our artists”
Agents of change
In March 2023, Primary Talent International announced a management buyout following CAA’s acquisition of ICM, Primary’s former parent company.
“First and foremost, we’re all very entrepreneurial in spirit, and we are all very committed to our artists,” says partner Sally Dunstone of Primary’s reinstated indie status. “We enjoy having the freedom to work with whichever artists we want on our roster, and we are very committed to making sure that they’re serviced as well as any other agency.”
And noting that the independent spirit can be a state of mind that can exist within individuals across the industry, she continues, “As an agent, you work with the people who you get on with the best, and there are many promoters at AEG, Eventim, Live Nation, and others, who were independent and then moved into that space, but they still have that indie, entrepreneurial approach.”
Indeed, believing that many live music professionals still pursue their careers from a position of passion, Dunstone adds, “It’s a vocation, it’s not a job, and you have to love it to be able to excel.
“As an agent, you wake up every day and you never know what challenge is going to hit you – it could be a thousand different things. But the important thing is how you react, and here at Primary, we’re a very strong, closeknit team, and we’re very collaborative in terms of solving issues that will benefit our artist clients and promoter partners.”
“I don’t have to ring anybody up to make a financial decision”
Highlighting the multiple hats that many indie operators wear in order to make ends meet, Thomassen explains that in addition to promoting shows across the Netherlands and Belgium, Toutpartout is also an established agency for international and domestic talent, while other sidelines include a record label and a record store.
And while some peers worry about global deals, he’s less concerned about losing talent. “I have a very long relationship with a lot of my acts. For instance, Beach House and Kurt Weill were sleeping on my couch when they first came over – they stayed in my house, and we grew up together. I think those acts don’t forget that because they also have this indie spirit,” says Thomassen.
“I still need to do my job properly, of course, delivering shows or festivals that a band or manager expects, because I’m sure they will move somewhere else if I don’t. And that sometimes still happens. But I love the bands I work with, and I love their music – it’s what I try to send out to the world and also to the promoters or the festivals. I’m not saying that in all the major companies that you’re a number, but it’s a different approach. For me, all of my acts are my priorities, so I give all my attention to them.”
Crosstown’s Dodds thinks the indie approach is, by definition, the most sustainable for the industry. “Nimble is a great way of putting it,” he says. “I don’t have to ring anybody up to make a financial decision. We’re easy to get hold of – the agents deal with me or the relevant promoter, they don’t have to wait for a decision because we’ve got to get someone to sign off our deals, for instance. And they’re not having to wait for six weeks to get paid because we’re a big corporate machine that is top heavy in terms of admin. We’re prompt payers.”
But he concludes that when it comes to independent promoters, at least, Crosstown and its compatriots around the world could become an endangered species.
“I’m never complacent. Even with acts I’ve worked with for a long time, you never know what’s around the corner”
“I’m never complacent. Even with acts I’ve worked with for a long time, you never know what’s around the corner, and I don’t have the pockets to dangle £100m cheques in front of them. And I don’t want to – I’m not in high finance, I’m in showbiz. Developing new acts has always been the thrill for me.
“I might find the hottest new thing and do a few gigs with them, and then suddenly they burst through to arena level, and suddenly Live Nation or AEG have signed them to a global deal. That’s the way the world works. But one of the things that my old Crosstown partner, Paul Hutton, always said was that he saw a future where there would be two or three companies that completely dominated the marketplace and owned everything. And when that happens, then the agents will have ceded too much power, too.”
In Spain, Xavi Manresa launched Cap-Cap Produccions in 1988, and admits he is becoming more reluctant about working on new acts only to lose them to global deals. “It’s hard to be independent, knowing that I’m probably not going to recuperate all the time and energy and money that I put into developing a band in the market. That’s why I don’t do that many new bands these days.” he says.
However, he discloses his own simple plan to reinvigorating those early independent sensibilities – the expansion of a new office in an emerging market – in Cap-Cap’s case, Tbilisi, Georgia. “It’s something really interesting for me because everything has to be built from the ground up,” he reports, “It’s like Spain in the 80s, but with more infrastructure because there’s already some people working there.”
And while he confesses he may launch a festival in Georgia, it’s the intimate shows that titillate the music fan within, keeping his indie spirit alive. “I’m not interested in arenas or stadiums. Who wants to see Green Day on a screen when you can do a club of 2,000 capacity?! That’s the kind of show I did for them in 2019,” Manresa adds.
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Indie Champs 2024: Alter Art, Crosstown Concerts & more
To celebrate the hard work of the numerous independent operators that make the live entertainment industry such a vibrant – and growing – business worldwide, IQ is publishing its inaugural Indie Champions list.
Our shortlist of 20 companies were chosen by the IQ readership and have headquarters across 11 different nations but service live events the world over, thanks to their various satellite offices and the artists and partners they work with.
The Indie Champions will become an annual staple of IQ, so if your company did not make it onto this year’s debut list, fear not, as you have a full ten months to prove your credentials to friends, colleagues, and business partners ahead of next year’s nomination process.
IQ will publish entries across all categories over the coming days, and you can find the whole cohort in the latest edition of IQ here.
Alter Art (PL)
Alter Art is the largest independent promoter of festivals and concerts in Poland, with a history that dates back over 25 years when it was launched by Mikołaj Ziółkowski. Emerging from the world of alternative and punk music, Ziółkowski has helped shape today’s live music business in Poland, driven by his profound passion and love for music, coupled with a desire to foster new phenomena.
Alter Art promotes a swathe of international and local acts across a portfolio of events from small clubs to stadium shows, while it also runs some of the biggest festivals in Poland, including Orange Warsaw (40,000) and its flagship event, Open’er, which in 2024 attracted more than 130,000 festivalgoers. This year’s highlights include co-promoting Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, which became the first tour to play three consecutive nights at PGE Narodowy Stadium, and arena shows for Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Cigarettes After Sex, and Jacob Collier.
With a workforce that comprises 58% women, Alter Art champions equality and diversity
The company also has a family entertainment division, Alter Art Show, which hosts events including Cirque du Soleil, Disney On Ice, and PAW Patrol Live!.
With a workforce that comprises 58% women, Alter Art champions equality and diversity.
In 2024, the company organised around 50 concerts in Poland, entertaining hundreds of thousands of music fans.
Bird On The Wire (UK)
Bird On The Wire was conceived by Clémence Godard and Tim Palmer in 2009, who met at a concert at the now closed Bardens Boudoir in London. “We had the opportunity to book some shows into the same venue. We met… and to our surprise, we managed to break even and have a great time. That led us to book one more show, then another, and it just built organically from there,” says Palmer.”
Among the first acts to benefit from Godard and Palmer’s enthusiasm were The Tallest Man On Earth, and The War On Drugs, who both remain on the roster to this day. Also on the company’s promoting roster are Big Thief, Mac DeMarco, Moses Sumney, Weyes Blood, Nils Frahm, and Black Country, New Road, to name a handful.
“It was only in 2012 that we realised we could make this our actual jobs and founded the company,” says Palmer, noting that the payroll has now expanded to seven people.
2024 has been another busy year, with close to 150 shows, most of them sold out long in advance
Bird On The Wire strives to nurture artists from early on in their career, and despite primarily focusing on booking/producing concerts in London, more recently they have promoted national tours for Bikini Kill and Le Tigre.
2024 has been another busy year, with close to 150 shows, most of them sold out long in advance, and the second edition of 10,000-capacity RALLY festival in Southwark, where the likes of Mount Kimbie, Nilüfer Yanya, Two Shell, and ML Buch performed to an already dedicated audience.
Cap-Cap Produccions (ES)
Xavi Manresa established Cap-Cap Produccions in 1988, driven by his passion for bringing punk, hardcore, and alternative music to the forefront of the Iberian peninsula’s live music scene. “At the time, there was a significant lack of representation for these genres, and we aimed to fill that gap by offering a platform for both emerging and legendary bands alike,” he tells IQ, noting that early tours included the likes of Green Day, The Offspring, and Fugazi, playing 300-800-capacity clubs.
Nearly four decades later, Cap-Cap’s core team of five staff specialise in organising tours across all capacity venues and festivals, while Manresa also books international acts for a number of festivals, as well as providing advice on production and business development.
“The potential of Georgia for club, auditorium, arena shows, and new festivals, it is extraordinary”
Harking back to Cap-Cap’s inception, Manresa says working in Spain when there was very little infrastructure and corporate promoters did not yet exist were the most memorable days of his career. As a result, he this year launched an operation in Tbilisi, Georgia – where the current scene reminds him of 1980s Spain.
“We want to export our knowledge and experience to help develop the live music industry in this country,” he says. “The potential of Georgia for club, auditorium, arena shows, and new festivals, it is extraordinary, and we already booked our first show, the fantastic band Tinariwen, this past September, while we have major projects coming for 2025 in Georgia in the main cities, Tbilisi and Batumi.”
Crosstown Concerts (UK)
When Metropolis Music was acquired by Live Nation in January 2017, self-confessed “anti-corporate” promoters Conal Dodds and Paul Hutton decided to start afresh. They partnered with businessman Fraser Duffin to launch their own firm, Crosstown Concerts.
“Principally, we are concert promoters, but we now also promote book tours, spoken word tours, are dabbling in comedy, have launched a new student club-night series (Choker), and have interests in a management company and PR,” says Dodds of the expanding empire.
With 19 full-time staff across Bristol, London, Cardiff, and Oxford, and dozens of freelancers, Crosstown has organised around 600 shows this year, including tours with Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Pixies, The Vaccines, Richard Hawley, Slowdive, The Cat Empire, Patti Smith, and Barenaked Ladies.
“2025 is going to be a big year for us!”
“Our open-air series, Bristol Sounds, has expanded to seven shows, and we had the likes of Placebo, Annie Mac, Busted, and James Arthur appear this year,” says Dodds.
Next year is looking strong, too. “We already have dates on sale with the likes of Snow Patrol, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Franz Ferdinand, Jack Savoretti, and we’ve just announced a four-night series at the Royal Albert Hall with Sigur Rós,” adds Dodds. “2025 is going to be a big year for us!”
Destroy All Lines (AU)
Destroy All Lines was formed 20 years ago, but up until 2016 was primarily a nightclub promoter that actively toured around ten artists a year. Chris O’Brien joined the business in 2016 to head up touring, and as a result, its 2024 activity will amass in excess of 750,000 tickets across 120 tours.
Destroy All Lines has a touring company, booking agency, and organises festivals, including Good Things and Knotfest Australia. Among the acts to benefit from its efforts are The Offspring, Bring Me The Horizon, Parkway Drive, Simple Plan, They Might Be Giants, Soft Cell, James Blunt, Falling In Reverse, The Dropkick Murphys, The The, The Flaming Lips, Deftones, Belle and Sebastian, The Human League, While She Sleeps, The Happy Mondays, Hanabie, Babymetal, Slipknot, Behemoth, and Weezer.
2024 activity will amass in excess of 750,000 tickets across 120 tours
Helping the business operate are 29 employees and hundreds of freelancers across its festival brands. Among 2024’s highlights are Korn headlining Good Things with Sum 41, The Violent Femmes, Electric Callboy, and Mastodon; and Parkway Drive and James Blunt’s sold-out arena tours. Other tours hitting the market between October and December include Dropkick Murphys with Alkaline Trio, Heilung, Chris Williamson, The Reytons, and Real Estate. Meanwhile, Monolith Festival will feature Coheed and Cambria, Periphery, and Leprous.
Looking further ahead, Slipknot will return to headline Knotfest in March 2025.
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Crosstown Concerts hires promoter Connor Cupples
UK promoter Crosstown Concerts has expanded its team by welcoming Connor Cupples as a new national promoter.
Cupples has 18 years of live music industry experience, starting out as a local promoter and going on to serve stints as manager of Cardiff’s Gwdihw venue, and as operations manager and promoter at Wales’ Orchard Live.
He has worked with artists such as Thunder, You Me At Six, IDLES, Viagra Boys, TV Girl, Feeder and Rufus Wainwright, in addition to helping deliver Paul McCartney’s Glastonbury warm-up show, plus major outdoor gigs with the likes of Diana Ross, Bryan Adams, Tears for Fears, Paul Weller and Gerry Cinnamon.
“Connor has been on my radar for a few years now and we are delighted to have him joining our team,” says Crosstown Concerts director Conal Dodds. “He’s very well regarded across the industry and we look forward to him developing new opportunities for us across the UK.”
“I’ve worked with some amazing acts in my time at Orchard Live and can’t wait to get stuck in at Crosstown to achieve even more”
Crosstown’s forthcoming shows include Ash, Pixies, Vaccines, The Menzingers, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Barenaked Ladies, Max Cooper, Slowdive and Royksopp. The company is also broadening its output by staging 18 sold-out dates with comic Brian Butterfield, a sold-out UK tour with broadcaster James O’Brien and launching a Polar Express Christmas experience on the Swanage heritage railway.
”I’m thrilled to be joining the amazing team at Crosstown Concerts, they have a brilliant and passionate team and I’m very much looking forward to learn from them,” adds Cupples. “I’ve worked with some amazing acts in my time at Orchard Live and can’t wait to get stuck in at Crosstown to achieve even more.”
Formed by Dodds and Paul Hutton in 2016, Crosstown added four young industry professionals to its team earlier this year in Danny Morris, Richard Walsh, Simon Bailey and Hayley Thompson.
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Crosstown Concerts embarks on new era
Independent promoter Crosstown Concerts has added four young industry professionals to its team to extend its network of artists and live shows as the firm enters a new era.
Formed by Conal Dodds and fellow director Paul Hutton in 2016, the company has promoted more than 2,000 live shows across the UK with a focus on nurturing a loyal stable of artists and “protecting fans from the excesses of the secondary ticketing market”.
With Hutton now planning to step back to an advisory role, the firm says it is looking forward to a new era bolstered by an injection of fresh talent in promoters Hayley Thompson, Richard Walsh, Simon “Blaze” Bailey and Danny Morris.
“I was keen to introduce new voices into Crosstown that face the future”
“Promoting live music has never been more vibrant, as we rise from the turmoil of the pandemic to shape a new landscape,” says Dodds. “I was keen to introduce new voices into Crosstown that face the future. This new breed of promoters each bring their own passion, individual ideas and ambitions that will bring progression to our business, the artists and fans.
“Paul Hutton is stepping back from front line promoting from the end of March to take up an advisory consultancy role, so our new team is the way forward for Crosstown. We celebrated our seventh anniversary in business earlier this month and we look forward to the next seven.”
Thompson ran her own website, Music Festival News, before joining Crosstown as a freelance digital marketer in 2017 and was upped to head of marketing in 2020 before she began booking and promoting her own shows for Crosstown. Her debut showcase event Do It Without You begins on April 18th at The Lexington in London, featuring upcoming talent including Bekah Bossard, Rosie Shaw and Harriet Rock.
Walsh, who joined Crosstown as a national promoter in January, helmed early releases with Porridge Radio, The Orielles and The Golden Dregs via his own Art is Hard label, before making the switch to promoting in Bristol. For six years, his company, 1% of One, staged shows with the likes of Weyes Blood, Alex G, Bill Callahan, Mitski, Yard Act and Black Country, New Road. During this time, Walsh also founded Factor 50, managing the careers of Katy J Pearson, Happyness and Young Knives, alongside working as an assistant on the Adam Buxton podcast.
Bailey, aka Blaze, brings over a decade of promoting experience, starting his career in the booking team at Wolverhampton Civic Halls in the late 2000s. He has also worked in venue, artist and tour management.
Bailey founded Future Perfect in 2015, bringing artists such as Loyle Carner, IDLES, Tom Grennan, Slowdive, Easy Life, Dermont Kennedy, Courtney Barnett to Oxford. He has worked with Crosstown since 2018 and promotes the likes of Katy J Pearson, Pale Blue Eyes, Kurt Vile, DIIV, Bellowhead, Thea Gilmore, Easy Star All-Stars and The Comet Is Coming. In 2020, he launched Ritual Union Festival in Bristol in collaboration with Walsh and will promote more than 150 shows in 2023.
Morris, meanwhile, started out booking the likes of Idles, Catfish & The Bottlemen and Bill Ryder Jones into grassroots indie venues. Moving over to the Preston Guild Hall as the in-house promoter, booking artists such as White Lies, Bowling for Soup, Pigeon Detectives, Soul II Soul and British Sea Power.
After a brief stint working for VMS Live, he moved over to TEG MJR, where he promoted 300-plus gigs a year, and worked with the likes of De La Soul, Dinosaur JR, Eagles of Death Metal, Kiefer Sutherland, Alfa Mist, Starsailor and Red Rum Club. He moved to Crosstown in 2022, where he promotes UK tours for the likes of The Sherlocks, Badly Drawn Boy, John Cooper Clarke and Max Cooper.
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