As Deutsche Entertainment (DEAG) posts its 2024 year-end financial results, CEO Detlef Kornett speaks to IQ about the firm’s “tough but transformational” year.

On Friday, the Berlin-based promoter, events operator and ticketing company reported the highest revenue result in the company’s history: €369.8 million – up 17.9% year on year.

With over 11 million tickets sold in the DEAG Group in 2024 (previous year: 10 million), the rapidly expanding ticketing business was particularly successful, as was the Spoken Word & Literary Events division.

The Group’s increased revenue can also be partly attributed to its bullish M&A strategy, which this year included the acquisitions of UK-based promoter and live entertainment organiser ShowPlanr, German festival organiser black mamba Event & Marketing and Italian rock promoter MC2 Live.

“MC2 Live co-founder Andrea Pieroni is a big asset within the European network”

“M&A is an essential part of our business, so there hasn’t been a year when we haven’t acquired new companies,” says Kornett. “I think we made fewer acquisitions than usual in 2024, but with MC2 Live, for example, it was a very important and sizeable acquisition.”

DEAG acquired Milan-based MC² Live in October 2024, bringing its co-founders and legendary promoters Andrea and Stefano Pieroni into the group. Over the past few decades, the stalwart promoter has organised numerous concerts, festivals and events with stars such as Judas Priest, Slipknot, Rammstein, 50 Cent, Ne-Yo, Eros Ramazzotti and Negrita.

“MC2 Live co-founder Andrea Pieroni is a big asset within the European network and we have managed to tap into new cycles of contacts and so forth,” Kornett adds.

Though he admits that the Netherlands and Benelux are obvious gaps in DEAG’s marketplace, the CEO is resistant to “expansion for the sake of expansion”. “There has to be a fit with the people and how to approach business,” he adds.

“It’s been a tough year and I don’t want to portray everything as hunky dory”

With the acquisition of MC² Live, DEAG is now present in Germany, the UK, Switzerland, Ireland, Denmark, Spain and Italy.

“In 2024, we’ve not been outstandingly successful in just one country or one specific segment; it was hard work and everyone pitched in,” says Kornett. “It’s been a tough year and I don’t want to portray everything as hunky dory.

“In continental Europe, stadium acts and big shows were selling like hot cakes, but on the flip side, lots of good household names were clawing for every ticket to get to the water line.”

With former CEO Peter Schwenkow stepping down in March last year, Kornett framed 2024 as a “year of transformation to lay the foundations for sustainable and profitable growth”.

This is how the company explains a drop in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to around €14.4 million in 2024, compared to €26.4 million in 2023.

“It’s not a matter of if the weather will hit your festival, it’s when”

“With Peter stepping down, there was lots of reorganisation,” explains Kornett. “I have put a big emphasis on strengthening the executive vice president level within the company. We’re not on the stock exchange right now, but we are a company structured that way, and having a new board with all new board members just takes some time.”

The company also invested in a sustainability officer and the evolution of its IT infrastructure, both of which Kornett is confident will pay off in 2025.

An unexpected cost last year was the weather-related challenges in staging open-air events in parts of Europe.

“It’s not a matter of if the weather will hit your festival, it’s when,” says Kornett. “If it hits early enough, then you’re usually in an okay place because you’ve got insurance. But last year, we had to turn away 10,000 people at Nature One because of unsafe weather conditions. Then you miss all the auxiliary revenues, too. It was still a very good festival but the economic damage is done.”

“There are a lot of issues in the festival sector – from weather to headliners to costs to audiences”

Kornett says the company will continue to invest in weather prevention, having accepted that it increases the cost of putting on an outdoor event.

Last year, the company organised over 30 festivals and open-air concerts across the continent, but with margins decreasing, the firm has streamlined its outdoor event portfolio for 2025 and axed less profitable events and festivals in the UK, Germany and Italy.

“There are a lot of issues in the festival sector – from weather to headliners to costs to audiences,” he explains. “And when the rest of the year has strong events, you think ‘Do I need to risk it all for a small festival of the same genre?’  –probably not.”

DEAG Group’s rapidly expanding ticketing business was particularly successful in 2024, with over 11 million tickets sold compared to 10 million in the previous year.

“We have created a very good instrument to drive success for our events”

A steadily growing share of these tickets is sold via the DEAG Group’s ticketing platforms, which include myticket.de, myticket.at, myticket.co.uk, gigantic.com and tickets.ie.

“It’s one segment of a business that has a very good margin and now contributes significantly to the total EBITDA, but for us, it’s more complementary [to the success of the company],” the CEO explains.

“Having our own ticketing machine in the core markets helps us put our content into the best possible light and it allows us to promote acts that otherwise would not get the limelight on that day of the week,” he says.

“Having access to data is also very important and other ticketing companies don’t do that. But I can’t stress enough: we’re not in competition with Eventim or Ticketmaster or vice versa. We have created a very good instrument to drive success for our events and add to the overall mix of our business, and that’s really important.”

“Spoken Word & Literary Events is probably the most important non-music segment we have”

Another segment of DEAG’s business that has seen significant growth is the Spoken Word & Literary Events division, which achieved a 10% share of revenue within just three years.

The event format “An Evening with…” featuring world-famous authors has been particularly successful, as has the international literature festival lit.COLOGNE, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in March 2025 by welcoming around 120,000 visitors.

“Spoken Word & Literary Events is probably the most important non-music segment we have,” says Kornett. “I am very confident that there are more years of rapid growth in front of us, and we’re only just realising how big the audience is. There’s still a whole world for us to capture, outside of personality and literary events, and that’s where I think the growth will come from.”

It’s not just the Spoken Word & Literary Events division that Kornett is feeling optimistic about. If 2024 was DEAG’s year of transformation, 2025 is poised to be its year of success, according to the CEO.

For the financial year 2025, DEAG is aiming to sell 12 million tickets to concerts, festivals and live events

“We’re very confident that our EBITDA will increase significantly in the current financial year – I think all the signs are in our favour,” he says.

DEAG has already sold around four million tickets to events in 2025, achieving a new record for advance sales figures.

The revenue generated and already fixed is around €150 million and significantly exceeds the previous record of €129 million from 2021 for 2022, the most successful financial year to date.

For the financial year 2025, DEAG is also aiming to sell 12 million tickets to concerts, festivals and live events.

“I do feel that our two-to-three-year plan of becoming a company with more than €500 million in revenues will pay off”

This year, DEAG is organising concerts and tours by artists such as Sam Fender, Stereophonics, Andrea Bocelli, Till Lindemann, Lana Del Rey, Iron Maiden and the Scorpions. The tour for the 45th anniversary of German rock band Böhse Onkelz sold 160,000 tickets exclusively via the Group’s own ticketing platform myticket.de within just a few hours.

The firm is also expecting hundreds of thousands of visitors to its festivals, such as the 30th anniversary edition of Nature One, Mayday, Airbeat One and the Belladrum Tartan Heart.

“We’re not only looking at 2026 now, we’re also having bookings in 2027 – and not only at superstar level but arenas too,” he says. “For us as a company, that’s very helpful because it allows you to plan for resources and whatever is needed. So I do feel that our two-to-three-year plan of becoming a company with more than €500 million in revenues will pay off.”

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While parts of the festival business took a hammering, and touring mid-tier and club-level shows proved tricky, contributors to IQ‘s end-of-year issue have cited numerous highlights from the past 12 months.

Detailing the evolution at DEAG, CEO Detlef Kornett points to different areas of expansion. “We’ve seen significant development in spoken word – in particular, literary and personality events,” he says. “Spoken word and literary events got ‘entertainment-ified’; they became a production with lights, sounds, and video, and they have become very attractive for consumers. We ran more than 300 events in Germany, more than 500 events in the UK, we doubled our business in Australia, and we even did our first tours in the US. So, for us, that has become a major development that I was hoping for but did not foresee – it was a bet that we took.”

At Live Nation, John Reid says, “2024 was a landmark year for live music across EMEA. [For instance], Tons of Rock in Oslo had a great year and also became Norway’s largest festival, which was a real highlight for the team. And of course, Adele’s Munich residency was a standout moment for us, breaking records across ten nights with 730,000 tickets sold, the world’s largest temporary stadium and LED wall, and an innovative 75,000-square-metre Adele World that drew over 500,000 visitors.”

That Munich residency won admirers everywhere.

“I was fascinated with what Adele’s team and Marek Lieberberg and his team pulled off,” admits Move Concerts founder Phil Rodriguez. “The whole concept of a temporary venue and residency was ambitious, but the execution was flawless. I have no doubt this will be a model that may be duplicated in different ways and/or scale in the future.”

From a ticketing perspective, Ticketmaster UK’s Andrew Parsons notes, “Residencies are reaching new heights and proving their staying power. From Adele’s groundbreaking run in Munich, the Eagles’ standout week at Co-op Live, Bruno Mars’ residency in Brazil, and Coldplay set for ten nights at Wembley Stadium next year, this trend opens doors for acts to stay on the road longer.”

“I thought we would be in trouble. But whoever said entertainment booms in leaner times was right”

Highlighting “two successful shows with Andrea Bocelli at Pula’s Roman Arena” that Charmenko’s head of promoting, Sara Gigante, organised, company founder Nick Hobbs reveals that the indie is also getting in on the stadia action. “Next year, we’re part of, most likely, four stadium-level shows, which I can’t reveal as they’re still TBC,” he says. “Generally, we seem to have plenty of work and are already deep into ’26. To what degree the work will be profitable remains to be seen; our margins were squeezed severely this year, and I’m trying to figure out what we can do about it.”

In the UK, industry veteran John Giddings, promoter of the Isle of Wight Festival, admits to being pleasantly surprised by the demand for tickets. “When I was reading about the cost-of-living crisis last year, I thought we would be in trouble. But whoever said entertainment booms in leaner times was right. After Covid (and Brexit), people are living for today.”

Reviewing 2024, Age Versluis at Dutch promoter Friendly Fire comments, “We’ve seen some artists that have been growing organically to hit their biggest shows ever here. Personally, I always look forward most to seeing what new things rise. If I see the lineups for the showcase festivals for next year taking shape, it’s going to be a year with some beautiful new music and live shows.”

Over in Miami, Move Concerts’ 2024 included tours with Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Keane, and Karol G.

“But the biggest thrill was to see the sales we had with Iron Maiden,” says Rodriguez. “We had stadium dates selling out in 30 minutes – they are bigger than ever! We’ve worked together for decades, and they are huge in our markets, but the speed and volume of sales for this tour were totally unexpected.”

That experience is being mirrored in Germany, where DEAG’s Kornett reveals, “Next year, in the UK, we’ve got the Stereophonics in Cardiff for two sell-out stadium shows. And in Germany, we have a fantastic Iron Maiden stadium tour. I haven’t seen Iron Maiden sales at this level in the last ten years.”

Catch up on part one and part two of IQ‘s 2024 Wrapped! feature.

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DEAG Group CEO Detlef Kornett has hailed 2024 as an “important year of transformation” for the company in the wake of its Q3 results.

For the first nine months of 2024, the Berlin-headquartered live entertainment business reported record revenue of €252.8m – up 19% year-on-year – while third quarter takings of €120.1m represented a 33% increase on the equivalent period in 2023. It continues to project a year-on-year increase in revenue for the full year.

However, EBITDA of €5.3m was down from €13.8m in the same period of the previous year, with the firm citing numerous investments and “one-off burdens on profitability”. DEAG made three acquisitions during the period and expanded into Italy last month with the addition of Milan-based rock promoter MC² Live.

“2024 is an important year of transformation for DEAG,” says Kornett. “We have initiated and already implemented several investment programmes and continued our Buy & Build strategy despite a challenging environment for the entire industry. We made a clear commitment to these extensive investments and therefore also accepted a decline in EBITDA.”

DEAG staged more than 6,000 events from January to September, including concerts and tours by AC/DC, Andreas Gabalier, UB40, Simply Red, Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Scorpions and Toto. It has sold around 8.5 million tickets for current and upcoming events  – up 35% on the previous year.

“Thanks to our strong financial structure, a diverse and high-calibre event portfolio and strong ticket sales, we are already bullish about 2025”

It also organised German festivals such as Mayday, Indian Spirit, Nature One and Airbeat One, in addition to other events across Europe.

DEAG notes the reporting period was characterised by “significantly higher production costs”, which “could not be fully offset by the rise in ticket prices”, while inclement weather prevented a number of events from going ahead.

It added that competition from major sports events such as the European Football Championships and Summer Olympics had “a noticeable negative impact”.

Looking forward, DEAG is promoting shows with the likes of Slipknot, The Cult, Marilyn Manson and Tream. Its 2025 schedule also includes Stereophonics, Andrea Bocelli and Iron Maiden, Till Lindemann and Böhse Onkelz, among others.

“We are investing heavily to sustainably drive our company’s development and offer our visitors even more unforgettable live experiences, both digitally and on site,” adds Kornett. “Thanks to our strong financial structure, a diverse and high-calibre event portfolio and strong ticket sales, we are already bullish about 2025.”

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Deutsche Entertainment (DEAG) CEO Detlef Kornett has spoken to IQ about the firm’s latest acquisition and how it fits into a wider expansion strategy.

Today, the Berlin-based live entertainment giant announced its first foray in Italy with the acquisition of Milan-based rock promoter MC² Live.

MC² Live was launched after the company’s founders, Andrea and Stefano Pieroni, sold a 51% stake in their former business, Vertigo, to CTS Eventim in 2017.

DEAG says the brothers will continue to manage MC² Live in the long term together with their team, who will all remain with the company.

Speaking about his admiration for the company’s leader, Kornett told IQ: “Andrea has been in the industry for decades and has a very impressive roster of artists and bands that he works with internationally, as well as Italian-language acts.”

“We have had a very impressive growth curve and I believe this acquisition will help us to continue on that path”

Over the past few decades, the stalwart promoter has organised numerous concerts, festivals and events with stars such as Judas Priest, Slipknot, Rammstein, 50 Cent, Ne-Yo, Eros Ramazzotti and Negrita.

“MC² are of a certain size already so this is a very important step for DEAG where we can really funnel growth, and that’s what DEAG has been all about these years,” says Kornett. “We have had a very impressive growth curve and I believe this acquisition will help us to continue on that path.”

Indeed, DEAG has been on an acquisition spree in the past 12 months, entering the Spanish market in late 2023 with the launch of subsidiary Get Rock Live (GRL) and acquiring three companies in the first six months of 2024. With the acquisition of MC² Live, DEAG is now present in Germany, the UK, Switzerland, Ireland, Denmark, Spain and Italy.

“Benelux, The Netherlands is an obvious gap in our marketplace, and at the same time it’s not an easy market – it’s set in a certain way – so the right opportunity would need to arise for us to expand there,” explains Kornett. “That doesn’t mean that we’re not in conversations, it is just not right yet.”

Though the company is bullish in its international expansion, Kornett insists that being a pan-European company is not the main goal.

“Obviously, there are still so many white spots for DEAG on the European map and we will continue to explore those opportunities”

“Obviously, there are still so many white spots for DEAG on the European map and we will continue to explore those opportunities but the partnership has to fit,” he explains.

“The importance is really on the people, the way they conduct business and relationships, and the fit. The way Andrea maintains his relationships, the way he budgets for his events, the way he settles his events fits very well with us.”

Kornett says he’s excited to capitalise on the opportunities available in the Italian live music market alongside MC².

“There’s a huge opportunity for international rock and pop in the market and the Italian language music sector is very important and very big, but it’s also very divided between some major players,” he says.

“There are only very few independents left but now Andrea has a strong partner to continue to be independent in that market. Italy is no different to the UK or Germany, there are opportunities for independent, boutique-type promoters like us, and we intend to take full advantage of that.”

DEAG has set its sights on becoming “a company with more than €500 million in revenues”

The company has already shared ambitions to take some of its pre-existing event brands to the Italian market and introduce some new ones.

“MC² and Andrea have traditionally been focused on Italian artists and international rock and pop,” he says, nodding to the firm’s upcoming shows with Iron Maiden, Pantera, Skunk Anansie and Falling in Reverse.

“I think there are elements within rock that we can add but we would look for synergies the other way. We do all kinds of events in the non-music sector from the spoken word events to the light trails to the family shows to the classical music to jazz. – so we will explore all of these opportunities. Is the market ready for it? Does it work? If it works, then let’s give it a shot!”

While DEAG continues to expand in Europe, the firm has set its sights on becoming “a company with more than €500 million in revenues”. Its highest-ever revenue was €325 million in 2022.

“We will go some way towards that goal in 2025 but it’s more of a three-year plan,” says Kornett. “It’s all in the bottom line, so we have to find the right balance in our portfolio in order to achieve that. We’ve been at 8–9% margin – another thing we hope to grow next year. This year nothing was easy but I generally feel that the business will be in a better flow in 2025.”

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DEAG has delivered a positive financial report for the first half of 2024, with revenue up to €132.7 million despite a challenging economic environment in Europe.

Revenue in the reporting period rose by 8.2% from €122.7m in the same period last year, while EBITDA of €3.1m was down from the previous year’s €5.1m but in line with planning. The dip has been attributed to expenses in connection with the reorganisation of the executive board and integration costs for companies acquired, plus investments in its IT infrastructure related to ticketing.

“DEAG increased its revenue, further expanded its own event formats, successfully continued its Buy & Build strategy and recorded strong ticketing business,” it says in a statement. “The company is therefore optimistic for the second half of 2024 with a high density of events. With a high level of available liquidity of €97 million at the end of the first half of 2024, DEAG has a solid financial basis for a successful, expansive development.”

The company notes that the results come amid a reporting period in Germany characterised by “a decline in economic output and restrained private consumer spending”. It adds that the Euro 2024 football tournament, hosted by the country in June and July, also led to a decline in demand for other leisure and entertainment events.

However, DEAG says its festivals – particularly those in the EDM segment – have held up well in the face of a tough market, which has suffered further from extreme weather. Festival brands under its umbrella include NATURE ONE, Airbeat One, Ruhr-in-Love, Sion sous les étoiles and Belladrum Tartan Heart, which have drawn a combined 800,000 fans this summer.

It has also staged successful concerts and tours by artists such as AC/DC, Andreas Gabalier, Alice Cooper and UB 40, as well as family events including Disney on Ice and the Harlem Globetrotters.

“We defied the difficult market environment in the first half of the year,” says DEAG Group CEO Detlef Kornett. “Unfortunately, the bad weather affected some of our events, which is also reflected in our key financial figures. However, we remain confident for the second half of the year and for 2024 as a whole.”

“Despite the challenges mentioned, we expect revenue to continue to rise and EBITDA to at least the previous year’s level for the year as a whole”

Former co-CEO Kornett took sole leadership of the Berlin-headquartered firm in the spring after founder Peter Schwenkow moved to an advisory role. DEAG has a busy slate of concerts by the likes of Craig David, Lenny Kravitz, James Blunt, Slipknot, Fontaines D.C. and Böhse Onkelz lined up for the second half of 2024.

“DEAG’s second half of the year will be strong, as expected, our event programme is diversified and our calendar of events is tightly packed. Visitors can look forward to hundreds of great events of all genres and sizes. We are also investing heavily in staff, new technologies and our platforms in order to further improve the customer experience and offer our customers first-class entertainment.

“Despite the challenges mentioned, we expect revenue to continue to rise and EBITDA to at least the previous year’s level for the year as a whole.”

DEAG entered the Spanish market in late 2023 with the launch of subsidiary Get Rock Live (GRL), and continued its international expansion by acquiring three companies in the first six months of 2024 and acquired three companies, starting with Black Mamba Event & Marketing – organiser of longstanding electronic music festival Sputnik Spring Break.

In the UK, it enhanced its presence in the spoken word and literary sphere with the acquisition of How to Academy, and l also took a majority stake in live promoter and producer ShowPlanr.” It also spun off its hip-hop booking division into a standalone brand called District Live.

DEAG says it intends to further grow its M&A activities and is currently in “promising talks” with a number of companies, with a particular focus on ticketing and further expansion into other European countries. At last count, the number of tickets to concerts and events it has sold in 2024 and 2025 was up 18% to 5.8 million, with an increase to around 11m expected for the year as a whole.

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DEAG has posted revenues of €52 million for the first three months of 2024 – 7% higher than the same period last year.

The German-headquartered live event company has cited a “well-filled event pipeline and very good ticket sales” for the Q1 figures. Ticket sales via the group’s ticketing platforms myticket.de, myticket.at, myticket.co.uk, gigantic.com and tickets.ie. platforms already increased by around 28% year-on-year in the first quarter.

EBITDA of €2.9m was down from €3.1m 12 months ago, which the firm says was “in line with expectations due to seasonal shifts in business within the genres and the restructuring of the executive board”. DEAG founder and CEO Peter Schwenkow handed over operational management to co-CEO Detlef Kornett at the beginning of last month.

The firm now generates around half of its consolidated revenue with its own and self-produced event formats, making it easier to plan business development and generates a high percentage of recurring revenue.

“We were successful in the first quarter and are right on target,” says DEAG Group CEO Detlef Kornett. “This gives us tailwind for the year as a whole and beyond. DEAG is growing organically and is also strengthening its market position as one of the leading live entertainment providers in Europe through targeted acquisitions.”

“We believe we are very well positioned for further growth and are continuing to expand ticketing in particular as a strong growth driver”

Highlights between January and March included the Christmas Gardens, which drew more than two million visitors at 21 locations in six European countries, as well as tours and concerts by Judas Priest and OMD, shows such as Cirque du Soleil and Disney on Ice, as well as the international literature festival lit.COLOGNE. Upcoming promotions include shows by AC/DC, Lenny Kravitz and Tream.

“Live entertainment means feeling good and getting away from it all,” adds Kornett. “This year, we will once again provide visitors with this ‘little slice of happiness’ on unforgettable evenings. We believe we are very well positioned for further growth and are continuing to expand ticketing in particular as a strong growth driver.”

DEAG has already sold 4.9 million tickets for its 2024 festivals, up 38% year-on-year, and is on track to sell over 800,000 tickets in total for festivals such as NATURE ONE, Indian Spirit, Syndicate, Belladrum Tartan Heart and Sion sous les étoiles.

It also further strengthened its market position in the spoken word & literary events segment by acquiring live promoter and producer ShowPlanr in the UK. DEAG plans to intensify its M&A activities overt the course of the year and says it is currently engaged in “promising talks with interested companies”, with a focus on ticketing and further expansion into new European markets.

For 2024, DEAG forecasts an increase in ticket sales to around 11 million, compared with more than 10 million tickets sold in the previous year, and expects an improvement in EBITDA with an equally positive sales trend.

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DEAG founder and CEO Peter Schwenkow has announced he is handing over operational management of DEAG to co-CEO Detlef Kornett.

Schwenkow, who will step back to an advisory role at the German-headquartered live entertainment firm, made the announcement today (23 March) during a reception for his 70th birthday held at Wintergarten Varieté in Berlin.

“After 46 years at the helm of the company I founded and in the best of health, I am announcing the long-prepared move to a new role,” said Schwenkow. “From 1 April 2024, I will assume the role of founder and senior advisor at DEAG and hand over responsibility as CEO.

“This step, on my 70th birthday, was planned for a long time and carefully prepared. The captain is leaving the bridge, but not the ship. I will continue to be part of the journey as an advisor to the company and – together with my son Moritz – as a major private shareholder in DEAG, in order to make my contribution to the company’s continued growth in the interests of all shareholders.”

He added: “Since 1978, we have continuously and successfully developed new products and markets with committed, loyal and creative partners and employees, without whom this growth would not have been possible. Today, with over 600 employees in seven countries at 22 locations, DEAG is one of the world’s leading live entertainment companies with continuous annual sales of over €300 million.

“Our permanent focus on our customers, artists and guests will continue to be the benchmark of our work in the future.”

“We are sure that – with your continued support – we can look forward to an exciting and prosperous future”

DEAG’s supervisory board paid tribute to Schwenkow for his decades of entrepreneurial work.

“You can be proud of your life’s work,” said supervisory board chair Wolf Gramatke. “And we are sure that – with your continued support – we can look forward to an exciting and prosperous future.”

Kornett, who has been a board member since 2014, was appointed co-CEO alongside Schwenkow last summer. He will be responsible for the firm’s continued growth, together with fellow board members Moritz Schwenkow, Christian Diekmann and David Reinecke, as well as SVPs Stuart Galbraith, Benedikt Alder, Jacqueline Zich and Oliver Hoppe.

Founded in Berlin in 1978, DEAG’s core markets are Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland, Ireland, Denmark and Spain.

Click here to read IQ‘s recent profile of Schwenkow, looking back on his 50 years in the business.

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German live entertainment powerhouse DEAG has confirmed its intention to return to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in Q1 2024.

The group plans a listing and offering consisting of a capital increase of €40-50 million, together with an additional offering of existing shares from the holdings of current shareholders.

The company first went public in 1998 and delisted in January 2021 in the wake of the pandemic after accepting a takeover offer from its largest single shareholder Apeiron Investment Group and its Malta-based subsidiary Musai Capital.

Berlin-headquartered DEAG says the proceeds from the re-IPO will be primarily used to further accelerate its growth “in line with its Buy & Build acquisition strategy”, with a focus on “high margin” ticketing businesses and live entertainment opportunities.

As part of the move, DEAG plans to restructure the business into two new segments – live entertainment and ticketing and service – with a key part of the strategy being to drive more of DEAG’s ticket sales through its own ticketing platform. The firm intends to appoint an additional independent supervisory board member within six months of the listing.

“We believe that there is an enormous growth potential in our business,” says DEAG co-CEO Detlef Kornett. “From driving ticket sales toward our own ticketing platforms to acquiring companies which increase synergies within our group and strengthen our strategy of expanded growth in both our live entertainment and ticketing and services businesses, the road ahead of us is paved with opportunity.”

“The foundation of our business stands on our strong historical growth, as shown by the ever increasing number of events we offer since 2019”

The transaction is expected to consist of an admission to the prime standard on the regulated market of Frankfurt Stock Exchange, plus an offering of new shares together with an amount of existing shares from the holdings of current shareholders.

DEAG subsidiaries include Kilimanjaro Group (UK), Wizard Promotions (DE), UK Live, My Ticket (DE, AT, UK) and Belladrum Tartan Heart festival (UK). The live entertainment group announced a “consolidation break” in early 2023 after acquiring 15 companies in the previous two and a half years, including Scottish promoter Regular Music, Ireland’s tickets.ie. platform and German festivals Indian Spirit, Classic Open Air and Airbeat One, along with CSB Island Entertainment, Fane Productions, Gigantic.com and C² Concerts.

In its most recent financial results, released last November, DEAG trumpeted a “new level of revenue and earnings” after revenue leapt by 73.3% from €123.1m to €213.3m, compared to the last pre-Covid year of 2019.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) also rose significantly. The company was aiming for revenue of more than €300m for 2023 as a whole. In 2022, DEAG achieved revenues of €324.8m and an EBITDA of €30.9m.

“The foundation of our business stands on our strong historical growth, as shown by the ever increasing number of events we offer since 2019 – recurring revenues from over 30 festivals, intellectual property created from children’s musicals to lightrails and our hallmark New Year’s Eve event at the Brandenburg Gate,” adds Kornett.

“We continue to expand our existing, and capitalise on new, business opportunities and develop strategies to complement this business growth in our existing and new markets. As we have shown in the past, we will look to the future with full confidence at the prospects for our business.”

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DEAG says it plans to “continue playing an active role in the consolidation of the live entertainment industry in Europe” after confirming the full acquisition of electronic music promoter I-Motion.

The German-headquartered giant secured a majority 50.1% interest in the company back in 2019, and has now acquired the remaining 49.9% share from former JV partner LiveStyle, which formed following the collapse of the late Robert Sillerman’s SFX Entertainment in 2016.

I-Motion was founded in 1994 and draws around 250,000 visitors to its EDM festivals each year, including Nature One, Mayday, Toxicator, Ruhr-in-Love and Syndicate.

“The cooperation with I-Motion has developed very positively since 2019,” says DEAG co-CEO Detlef Kornett. “Our expectations have been more than fulfilled, both strategically and economically, so that the acquisition of all shares in one of Europe’s most successful EDM event promoters is now the logical next step for us.”

“We have steadily expanded our open-air and EDM events in recent years and see high potential for expansion in this area”

The live entertainment group adds that it will continue to drive its growth through M&A, and is placing a focus on complementary acquisitions in ticketing as well as expanding into other European markets and further business segments.

“Together with the long-standing managing director of I-Motion, Oliver Vordemvenne, and his great team, we have steadily expanded our open-air and EDM events in recent years and see high potential for expansion in this area, also in other European countries,” adds Kornett. “I am very much looking forward to the continued successful and trustful cooperation with Oliver and the I-Motion team as part of the DEAG family.”

DEAG is aiming to generate revenue of over €300 million (compared to €325m in 2022) and a further improved EBITDA compared to the previous year (€30.9m) in 2023.

“We are very pleased that we are now fully part of the DEAG family and will continue to write our success story,” says Vordemvenne. “Together with a strong team, we want to further develop our event formats and expand into new markets. We still have a lot of plans for the future.”

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With fans still sitting on event tickets that they bought as long ago as 2019, the industry is facing a dilemma when it comes to who merits a refund and who does not. And as Covid becomes endemic, should refunds remain obligatory for ticketholders who test positive? James Hanley investigates.

The race to contain Covid-19 outbreaks and variants over the last 24 months has been likened to a game of Whac-A-Mole. But as the international live music business begins to emerge from the horror of the pandemic, it will need its own mallet at the ready to combat the litany of fresh problems popping up day-to-day.

One of the more mundane but contentious debates to be sparked in recent months surrounds the matter of refunds. The issue was brought to the fore by Dead & Company and promoter CID Presents’ Playing in the Sand destination festival, which was set for Mexico’s Riviera Cancún over two weekends in January this year.

Amid the omicron surge of late 2021, organisers opened a 48-hour refund window for fans having second thoughts about attending (all ticketholders were ultimately refunded when the event was pulled at the 11th hour due to a spike in infections). However, CID declined to repeat the offer for its other January festivals: Crash My Playa and HootieFest: The Big Splash.

“If, at any point during the two weeks leading up to a particular event, the CDC Risk Assess- ment Level for Covid-19 for the Quintana Roo (Cancún) region of Mexico rises to a Level 4 or Mexico designates the area unsafe to hold an event, we will be offering full refunds to those not wishing to attend the particular event,” said a statement by the promoter. “We continue to recommend buying travel insurance, which may help protect against the risks of Covid-19 and travelling internationally during the pandemic.”

It was a similar situation at Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky “concert vacation” in Mexico, also in Janu- ary, produced by Cloud 9, The Bowery Presents, and Higher Ground Presents, which stressed its no-refund policy and encouraged festivalgoers to purchase travel insurance. “A refund, or the ability to hold one’s spot for a rescheduled date, will be available to purchasers if the event were to be postponed,” Cloud 9 told Billboard.

But far from limited to sun-drenched getaways, the refund question is pertinent at all levels of the industry, in every market across the globe. “There is a set Live Nation policy across the board,” explains Barnaby Harrod of Mercury Wheels, part of Live Nation Spain. “When an event is cancelled, you get an automatic refund. With reprogramming, the original tickets are, of course, valid for the new dates. However, if some- body can’t make the new show, or doesn’t want to, they have 21 days to ask for a refund, and that has been applied across the pandemic.”

Certain events and promoters also offer refunds or a voucher for anyone who is unable to attend due to testing positive. Harrod advises that every claim is assessed on its own merits.

“For exceptional refunds, which are requested outside the established timeframe, we work on a case-by-case basis,” he says. “So in the current climate, where the government has restrictions in place for people who have Covid, if somebody can certify that they have Covid, then they should be entitled to a refund.”

Elsewhere in Europe, AEG Presents France GM Arnaud Meersseman points to France’s “very protective” consumer laws, which allow customers to claim refunds up to five years after the event.

“Obviously, if a show is rescheduled or can- celled, it’s an automatic refund and there’s no discussion there whatsoever,” he tells IQ. “As for no-shows, as of today, they can warrant a refund. But we’ve seen in practice that it’s not really the case, as a lot of people don’t ask for them.

“The last big show I did was December at the Zenith Paris, and out of 6,000 tickets, we had 20% no-shows. The only other big shows I had be- tween September and December were two nights of Nick Cave, but they were seated shows at 2,000- cap each, and we had almost zero no-shows.

“Over here, what most people have done in practice is wait out a month in terms of refund requests, and if those refund requests haven’t come in during that time, we settle off the show basically. But that’s not really the law, I mean, people can ask for refunds after five years. But we’ve noticed that essentially, past one month, there’ll be the odd refund request here and there, but it’s really rare.”

DEAG executive Detlef Kornett says it is difficult to make general statements due to the fragmented nature of the German market but suggests most promoters have maintained a flexible approach to refunds.

“We have demonstrated a lot of flexibility and offered customers the opportunity to re-book their ticket if and when possible, use it for a different show, get a voucher, or in certain instances, even reimburse the ticket value,” he says. “That was true also if they were unable to attend due to Covid.”

DEAG’s UK subsidiary Kilimanjaro Live returned to action in August 2021, staging two arena dates by Gorillaz at The O2 in London. Kili CEO Stuart Galbraith attempts to sum-up the story so far.

“We never get 100% attendance – between 3% and 5% of people indoors and up to 10% outdoors buy tickets and then just don’t come – but we were back up at 95-97% attendance rates all the way through September, October, and November,” he says. “Then as omicron started to come into play and we headed into Christmas, those rates started to drop again to as little as 70% on some occasions.

“When we came back after Christmas, almost instantly, those attendance rates went back up to 95-97%, and that’s where they’ve been ever since. But what was very interesting is that virtually none of the customers who didn’t attend the shows before Christmas asked us for refunds. They’d just decided they weren’t going out and would take it on the chin.”

He continues: “The analogy I’ve used over the last couple of years is that, if you had an EasyJet flight booked that cost you £20 to £40, in my personal experience, I haven’t bothered to ask for a refund on that because I can’t be bothered. It’s just one of those things. However, if I’ve got a transatlantic flight, which is worth several hundred quid or thousands of pounds, I do want a refund on it. And I think that tickets and concert tickets fall into that EasyJet category – I don’t think people can be bothered to ask for the refund, to be quite frank.”

“People have almost been treating a ticket like something they bought off Amazon and saying, ‘Oh, we don’t really fancy that now,’ the day before. And at that point, what do you want the festival organiser to do about it?”

Paul Reed, CEO of the UK’s Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), reveals the organisation took legal advice with regards to refunds last year on behalf of its 90 members – and reached a definitive conclusion.

“The fact is a consumer is not legally entitled to a refund if they’re isolating and not allowed to travel, in the same way as if they were unable to travel for any other reason,” asserts Reed. “The view was that, ultimately, the customer is not due a refund, but I think it’s a decision that has to be up to the individual event. It is entirely at their discretion and there is no obligation. But from speaking to others in the industry, my sense is that it is being assessed on a case-by-case basis, irrespective of the legal situation.”

Reed adds that some AIF members have ex- pressed concerns that a “refund culture” has seeped in among punters.

“Perhaps it’s understandable, but people have almost been treating a ticket like something they bought off Amazon and saying, ‘Oh, we don’t really fancy that now,’ the day before. And at that point, what do you want the festival organiser to do about it?” he sighs. “You’re not due a refund, but I think that mindset has permeated a little bit more throughout festivals and live experiences – customer expectation shifting – and people feeling more entitled to a refund when it is more complicated than that.

“When you buy a ticket, it is binding, and that is all very clear in the Ts and Cs. I think customers need to understand a little bit more about what they’re committed to when they buy a ticket, so I don’t know whether some education is needed around that.”

Fans no longer able or willing to attend events are encouraged to sell on their tickets via face-value resale sites.

“Specific insurance is also available to the customer as a voluntary upsell, and I believe some travel insurance policies also cover it,” says Reed.

Guy Dunstan is MD, ticketing and arenas for Birmingham-based NEC Group, which manages five of the UK’s leading indoor venues including Birmingham’s Resorts World Arena and Utilita Arena, as well as national ticketing agency The Ticket Factory. He tells IQ the company has been proactive on the issue by offering ticket insurance with Covid cover included.

“I know that some venues and ticketing companies have been hit harder than others with regards to the refund situation,” says Dunstan. “We’ve been offering ticket protection insurance to customers for a significant period of time, so the refunds we’ve given have been pretty minimal because we’ve been able to point customers to the fact that they were offered the insurance at the time when they purchased the tickets.

“We were able to get that as cover quite early on in the pandemic through the ticket insurance provider that we work with, and it’s been of real benefit to us. So our sense is that we’re well protected from that moving forward.”

Down under, Live Performance Australia (LPA) administers the ticketing code of practice for the entertainment industry that outlines consumers’ rights to a refund. First released in 2001, the trade body reviewed and updated the code in 2020.

“While the impetus for the most recent changes was the Covid-19 pandemic, LPA was conscious to ensure any updates have a life beyond Covid-19,” says the group’s CEO Evelyn Richardson. “The ticketing code was widely used by the industry pre-Covid and will continue to be the go-to resource about refunds as Covid-19 moves to becoming endemic and beyond.”

Richardson says the LPA expects its members to treat ticketholders fairly if shows are forced to can- cel or are postponed due to government mandates.

“Whether ticketholders are entitled to a refund, exchange or other remedy will depend upon the ticket terms and conditions applicable when tickets were purchased,” she states. “Many companies have a Covid refund and exchanges policy, which sets out if ticketholders will get a refund, exchange or credit note if they are un- well with Covid symptoms, unable to attend the event due to contracting Covid, awaiting test results, [have been] in close contact, or [due to] border closure.”

With the world slowly emerging from the pandemic, the conversation turns to how flexible the live industry will be as things return to something like normal. Richardson indicates there could still be room for a little leeway.

“Ordinarily, if a ticketholder is unable to attend the event because they are unwell or other personal circumstance, they are not entitled to an automatic refund under Australian consumer law,” she says. “However, event organisers always have discretion to provide a refund or other remedy, if they wish, even though there may not be a legal requirement to do so.”

UK prime minister Boris Johnson has already announced the ‘Living with Covid-19’ plan, which has put an end to the legal requirement in England to self-isolate after a positive Covid test. Free testing has also been scrapped, although that isn’t an issue everywhere.

“They’ve never had free Covid tests in Spain,” testifies Madrid-based Harrod. “You would always have to go to the chemist to buy one.”

For Galbraith, however, the ramifications for the sector’s refund policy are obvious.

“Realistically, now that Covid has no legal status over and above any other disease, then that’s it, life is back to normal from an event organiser’s point of view,” he offers. “If somebody has flu, chickenpox, mumps, or whatever, and they can’t go to the show, then, unfortunately, that’s just part of life, and I think the same will be true of Covid.

“In the last two years, we have seen a significant increase in the number of customers taking out personal insurance on their tickets. For a very small percentage of the ticket cost, you can insure your ticket in the way that you can a holiday or anything else. That insurance, in many cases, does actually give you illness cover. So I think that is an easy customer solution going forward.”

“Now the isolation rules have changed, and you don’t have to isolate, then I think it just becomes like any other illness,” agrees Dunstan. “We all have to take a sense of responsibility to make sure that we’re healthy and well [enough] to be going to events. But as for venues and companies that have been offering refunds if you can demonstrate you are Covid positive, I can just see that going away.”

On that point, there appears to be something approaching a consensus.

“Once it is endemic, Covid would most likely not be a reason that entitles you to a refund as such anymore,” muses DEAG’s Kornett.

“At the end of the day, if somebody has gastroenteritis or common flu, or gets grounded by their parents because they have bad grades, do you refund them?” concludes Paris-based Meersseman. “At some point, there is no law in this, it’s going to be commercial practice. Once this virus becomes endemic and breaks out of the pandemic stage, I don’t see us offering refunds for people who have Covid.”

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