Four independent California music festivals have unveiled a joint ticket for their 2025 editions, allowing holders to visit all four events.

For US$599, individuals can purchase one of a limited number of IndepenDANCE Passes, granting general admission entry to Joshua Tree Music Festival in May or October, Desert Hearts in early July, Northern Nights Music Festival in mid-July, and Same Same But Different in September. The pass has a notional value of more than $2,000.

“Independent festivals have always been about community, and now we’re taking that to the next level,” said Brad Sweet, Same Same But Different co-founder and CEO, in a roundtable discussion about the passes.

“We pour everything we have into creating spaces where people can truly connect, dance freely, and experience something real, and now we’re uniting to create something bigger than any one festival, a collective that strengthens the entire scene and gives our community more access, more connection, and more unforgettable experiences across the festival season.”

“With collaboration and supporting one another, we can really make a difference”

As the festival sector faces sustained challenges — mounting costs, rising artist fees, and the ‘festivalisation of concerts’ being a key concern as highlighted during this year’s International Live Music Conference — independent events are disproportionately affected.

“Most independent festivals do not come from deep pockets […] None of us are in it to get rich, we know that’s not the case of what this business is, but I think that with collaboration and supporting one another, we can really make a difference in this world,” said Desert Hearts’ Mikey Lion.

Last year, more than 100 Dutch festivals and dozens of UK festivals were cancelled or discontinued. Australia has had several notable cancellations in recent years, most recently with Groovin The Moo for its second consecutive year.

In response to the crisis, the Australian state of Victoria is offering grants of up to AU$ 50,000 to local festival organisers.

Other innovations have seen German event network Höme offer refundable tickets to 120 events, while Iowa-based Hinterland has introduced a 90 Degree Guarantee, which allows ticket holders to request a refund if the forecast predicts 90 degrees or higher. Last year, Slovakian festival Pohoda shifted 500 lifetime passes priced at €999 each.

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At its heart, the story of the first decade of Earth Agency is one of a forward-thinking business consistently ahead of the curve. It is now ten years since four female agents – Claire Courtney, Isla Angus, Naomi Palmer, and Rebecca Prochnik – united with Luke Williamson to form the company, which has managed to stay on the cutting edge every step of the way.

“We’re not a small major, but neither are we a big boutique agency,” muses Williamson over lunch with IQ in London. “We have 400 artists, 18 agents, and we do eight-figure sales on behalf of artists, so we’re not at the scale of a UTA or WME or Wasserman, but we have headliners, we have people capable of doing 20,000-cap tours, and a lot of emerging acts. If you ask around the industry, you’ll get different opinions, but I think we’re known as an agency that curates talent.”

Williamson, Palmer, and Prochnik decided to branch off on their own after growing disillusioned in their previous workplace at the now defunct Elastic Artists.

“It was slowly becoming clear that the company that Rebecca and I had been at for ten years wasn’t moving progressively and helping us to address the way in which the live booking landscape was changing,” remembers Palmer.

“We felt like it wasn’t being managed in a way that was good for agents – particularly as agents became more senior,” adds Williamson. “During that whole process, it became evident that we needed to go and start our own thing. It was pretty rapid after that.”

Fleshing out the point, Earth Agency had already been up and running for 18 months when the founders’ worst fears about their former employer were realised, as Elastic Artists fell into administration in late 2015.

“We’re not financially targeted; it’s for agents to find their own financial targets”

“Ultimately, we left two years before it collapsed, so we were proven correct, and events conspired to accelerate the process of starting Earth,” says Williamson. “There was no one moment; there were a series of moments, and it was more of an evolutionary process.”

When Planets Align
The trio became a quintet after enlisting Courtney and Angus from Nomanis to officially launch Earth in May 2014.

“We got a call one day from Rebecca, Luke, and Naomi, who asked if we wanted to form a company with them,” explains Courtney. “We all shared the same values of wanting to remain independent and trying to find a nice balance between not being stuck in the office all hours that god sends but still being able to deliver a really good service for our artists. We went from it just being the five of us, to eight, to 12, to 20-something now, which I still find quite astounding.”

Attaining that work-life balance was central to Earth’s pledge to offer a “fresh agency environment for both artists and agents.”

“The industry talks a lot about mental health issues but doesn’t necessarily address its own role in that,” opines Williamson. “So we’re not financially targeted; it’s for agents to find their own financial targets. If we think an agent is dynamic but isn’t necessarily making a huge amount of money, we’ll try and create a deal that works for them.”

“At the time, larger agencies were not keen on remote working,” says Palmer, who worked as an actors’ agent for eight years before switching to music. “We all had very young children and had a culture of remote working at our previous company, which worked really well, and we wanted to continue that.

“A lot of the companies we met wanted us in the office from 10-6 or 9-5, but that just wasn’t an option. We were doing great business with our model, and we knew we could continue to do great business that way. We’ve had people working from all over the world – and successfully – in the last 10 years.”

“We just steamed in and did what we needed to do”

In certain respects, ignorance was bliss when it came to getting Earth off the ground.

“It wasn’t hugely complicated – because we didn’t know what we were doing,” laughs Williamson, a former musician turned ops specialist. “It’s that Dunning-Kruger [effect] of when you don’t know how complicated something is, you approach it with quite high levels of confidence. We just steamed in and did what we needed to do.

“We were carrying a lot of ongoing bookings. It’s like a moving train: the booking process doesn’t stop, so you’re essentially taking your bookings off one train and moving them onto another while both trains are moving. But I think we were so busy with that that the rest of it just kind of had to happen around us.”

Earthlings
Palmer reels off a list of common characteristics she believes runs through the team.

“They are very independently minded, driven by elevating the culture, self-starters, usually a real specialist in one particular area, and very ambitious,” she says. “And quite quirky!”

The name, incidentally, was Palmer’s choice. “I just wanted something universal but really simple, and I really liked ‘Earth’ because people read into it what they want,” she says. “It’s a place where creatives can thrive.”

“I loved the fact that it was founded by four women”

Setting off with a mission statement of targeting “exciting and interesting” independent artists who “sit outside the mainstream channels,” Earth’s opening address referenced the “somewhat outside-the-box” tastes of its creators. Be that as it may, the agency found itself at the forefront of the grime phenomenon in the latter half of the 2010s.

“A lot of people think of Earth Agency and think of Skepta because his meteoric rise in our early years – out of a scene that was as explosive as that one was – is not seen often,” reflects Palmer. “Maybe that overshadowed a lot of the other work that was being done, but that’s always the case when something is very explosive like that.”

“When we started, there were only seven or eight of us and four agents in relatively distinct genres. We’re a much broader church than that now,” offers Williamson. “In some cases, Earth is going to offer a platform for developing agents that other agencies just won’t, because they don’t have the required roster value. A significant subset of our agents are people who’ve come through from being assistants in the beginning.”

Lucy Atkinson, who started out at Earth in 2015 as Palmer’s assistant and is now agent for the likes of Erika de Casier and Sega Bodega, is one of many to have taken that route.

Lass-tronauts
“I loved the fact that it was founded by four women, and I harassed them for about six months before getting a job there,” reminisces Atkinson. “Eventually, I got an email; I remember it said, ‘Earth calling’ from Luke. He was like, ‘I think we’ve got a job for you,’ and I was stoked. When I moved to Earth, it was always with the intention that I would be released as a full agent, and I really felt like they gave me a lot of space to grow and to do that.

“When I approach new artists, I always let them know that we are independent to the core, and that’s not changing. We’re one of the largest independents with a good infrastructure. I don’t know how it’s perceived from the outside, maybe that we’re a little bit rebellious? We’re definitely a bit rebellious and off the beaten path. The artists that we work with might not have fitted elsewhere, but we give them somewhere where they can be themselves and thrive.”

“We have headliners, but they’re a reasonably fractional part of our business”

The current Earth roster includes acts such as Sega Bodega, Death in Vegas, Bad Gyal, Buzzcocks, Gilles Peterson, James Holden, The Zombies, WSTRN, MJ Cole, M1llionz, BNXN, Lisa O’Neill, Aluna, Balmorhea, and KRS-ONE. Williamson, however, prefers to focus on the collective.

“We have headliners, but they’re a reasonably fractional part of our business,” he emphasises. “Most of the work we do is with people who are a little bit underneath that tier but are creatives with successful touring portfolios. They might not be playing 20,000 to 30,000-cap venues, but they might consistently be playing 500 to 3,000- caps – and that’s kind of the point. There has to be an agency that is available to that part of the ecosystem. So to focus on individual artist successes would be to miss the point slightly.”

Its ways of thrashing out deals can occasionally be unorthodox, as detailed by a memorable encounter between Earth agents Sam Gill and Ben Haslett and The Great Escape team.

“We’re based in Somerset House, so in the summer, there’s gigs, and in the winter, there’s an ice rink,” says Haslett. “We had a meeting with The Great Escape, so you had Adam Ryan, the head booker, on the ice.

Obviously, no one was great at skating, but we were trying to go around in circles and slow down next to him while he was holding onto the side.”

“While we were pitching artists,” chips in Gill. “Definitely out-of-the-box pitching, that.”

And did the unique approach have the desired result?

“Always,” grins Gill. “One hundred percent success rate.”

“People stay with Earth because we offer something bespoke in terms of both agents and artists, and I see that in action on a daily basis”

The Solar System
Haslett came up through the Earth system after being involved in his local DIY music scene, while Gill returned to independence following a spell with UTA.

“Becoming a dad, moving out of London and the rat race, and getting that work-life balance was something that I may have struggled with earlier in my career,” says Gill. “Earth has given me that creative freedom to take that into my own hands, and I appreciate that more than anything.”

Isla Angus became the first Earth founding partner to fly the nest, exiting for ATC Live in 2016. She has since left the agency world entirely and now works for environmental charity ClientEarth. In general, though, Williamson considers the prospect of key agents and artists moving on to be simply “part of the game.”

“I think that our retention of agents is largely very good,” he counters. “When the more senior agents leave, it tends to be because their roster is coming under pressure from the larger agencies. For me, that’s just part of the game – people move.

“People stay with Earth because we offer something bespoke in terms of both agents and artists, and I see that in action on a daily basis. I see senior agents being able to do things with their lives that they would not be able to do at one of the more corporate agencies, and loving it: taking two months out to finish the draft of their book and going to Portugal to do it; having a baby and not having to compromise their position with their roster; deciding that they want to move to another town or another country, and supporting them to do that.”

Un-Earthed
Nevertheless, Williamson describes the departure of Prochnik, who left for UTA in the autumn of 2021 (she has since switched to Wasserman Music), as “seismic.”

“I’ve been friends with her for a very long time,” he says. “It wasn’t entirely unexpected, and I guess the logic of it was understandable. It’s a shame it happened, but it happened. And like I say, Earth is about allowing people to define their own work-life balances. And if it wasn’t working for her within Earth, then it was right that she went.

“For the company, of course, it meant a regrouping. But this all happened in the context of the end of Covid. There were people leaving, but there were also people arriving at the same time, so two steps forward, one step back. Sometimes it is just about grinding it out.”

“We’re very open and very actively wanting to play a part in changing the future look of the executive level in the music industry”

While Williamson attests that Covid was a “nightmare” for the entire live music industry, Palmer can at least take one significant positive from the dark period.

“I think what sums up what Earth is all about is the fact that we came through that pandemic and didn’t have to lay anybody off,” she contends. “We survived and thrived after major changes to the structure of the company in terms of agents and personnel. Even through all of those challenges, we kept at the forefront of our raison d’être to keep pushing our artists and young professionals forward.”

Diversity is another central tenet, with Palmer stressing Earth has always strived to employ a “very diverse workforce.” Furthermore, it invests in company-wide schemes to encourage diverse potential candidates to join the team.

“We’re keen to give people from all different backgrounds a chance to progress and grow,” says Palmer. “We have our own activation, where we hold a brunch and put together an equal number of professionals from each part of the live music ecosystem and an even number of Black participants. Out of that, a mentor-mentee relationship may come, but everyone who takes part is then available to those participants, ad infinitum, for questions, advice, recommendations, and connections.

“We’re very open and very actively wanting to play a part in changing the future look of the executive level in the music industry.”

“Within our company, we always wanted to make sure it had balance,” agrees Courtney. “And not only around gender, but different cultures and backgrounds as well.”

“There’s still a bit of a boys’ club mentality out there, which we’re still cracking away at trying to break”

Having completed its first decade, Courtney is proud of Earth’s impact on the business, even if its work is far from done.

“A lot has changed, but there’s still quite a long way to go,” she says. “Obviously, there are more successful female agents now than there have ever been and that is great to see, but it’s still nowhere near the level that it is on the male scale. There’s still a bit of a boys’ club mentality out there, which we’re still cracking away at trying to break.”

The Blue Planet
And there are other areas where the industry has much to learn on the human side, with Palmer bringing up a recent example.

“I felt quite sad when one of our agents had a baby and two of her female artists left her because she wasn’t doing her job as well as they would have liked, when actually she was still on her email with a one-month-old baby,” she sighs. “Rebecca and I took no maternity leave whatsoever – I was back on that email and so was she, because she could not take the foot off the gas – and I feel like the industry is so aggressive now, they’ll use anything to go after your roster.

“We’ve been through it all: personal tragedy and grief, and you have to keep going. I found it kind of entertaining to go on those online panels during the pandemic. I remember one very well-known agent saying he now had a newfound respect for single, working parents because he was trying to work at home with his kids around, and it was an absolute nightmare.

“I don’t feel like any concessions are ever made for personal circumstances, but that’s probably true of all business, and certainly that ‘we’re all in this together,’ finished the second that venue diaries and festival bookings were back open [after the pandemic].”

“We don’t really think of people as working for us; they work with us”

Williamson considers Earth’s relationship with other agencies to be “largely friendly,” but laments that people tend to work in isolation within the sector.

“That’s a strange quirk of our industry,” he observes. “There’s a subtle, unspoken competition that seems to make people not want to talk to each other very much.”

Overall, Williamson considers there to be “real positives” and “relatively perennial negatives” to working as an independent.

“It’s just about finding the balance between those things,” he asserts. “We work for ourselves – that’s a really important thing to point out – and we allow the people who we work with also to work for themselves. We don’t really think of people as working for us; they work with us.

“For me, independence is also about respecting the ecosystem that you work in and trying to take a slightly longer-term view of the talent that is maturing within that, rather than trying to leverage it up to the maximum earning potential that you can, and then what happens next year? Who cares?”

If anything, Williamson believes it is slightly easier to operate as an independent now than when Earth first started out.

“There are more independents around, so I think it’s more acceptable,” he reckons. “The way that we operate probably seems less unusual than it did at the beginning.”

“Many artists and creatives just want to make a living out of doing things the way they want to do it, and we provide a home where that’s okay”

He continues: “We were traditionally a bit sceptical about making statements and took the view that an agency was a background entity. People were interested in artists, and who cares who dresses the shop window? But the next period is about taking our place a little bit more.

“I think that we offer a reasonably unique position within the ecosystem and have some things to say. Sometimes there’s a real lack of leadership in the music industry, so we’d like to come out from under our rock a little bit.”

Gravitational Pull
Palmer’s priorities revolve around “attracting more people with likeminded views and continuing to grow and retain headline artists down to grassroots artists.

“We also have an appreciation that it’s not every artist’s goal to be the massive touring headliner,” she adds. “Many artists and creatives just want to make a living out of doing things the way they want to do it, and we provide a home where that’s okay.”

With the final word, Courtney views Earth Agency still being around for its 10th anniversary as cause for celebration in itself.

“I don’t think people ever expected us to still be here,” she adds. “I know there was some negativity that we heard when we started, but we ignored all of that and had the drive, ambition, and goal to be a great place for people to work, without applying pressure to deliver. I never had any doubt in the fact we would still be here in 10 years’ time.”

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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 continue to publish entries across all categories over the coming days, and you can find the whole cohort in the latest edition of IQ here. Find part one, which includes Alter Art, Crosstown Concerts and more, here.

evenko (CA)

One of Canada’s largest independent promoters, evenko produces nearly 1,600 music, family, and sports events throughout Quebec, the Atlantic provinces, and the eastern United States on an annual basis. Its key events include hugely successful music festivals OSHEAGA Music and Arts Festival, FUEGO FUEGO, îLESONIQ, and LASSO Montréal, while throughout the year, the company regularly presents shows by Disney on Ice, Cirque du Soleil, and several Broadway shows.

In 2024, evenko’s four festivals attracted more than 270,000 music lovers of all genres – îLESONIQ (55,000), OSHEAGA (147,000), FUEGO FUEGO (35,000), and LASSO Montreal (35,000) – while the company also promoted shows by the likes of Madonna, Burna Boy, Olivia Rodrigo, Andrea Bocelli, Noah Kahan, Snoop Dogg, Missy Elliott, Charli XCX, Troye Sivan, Cyndi Lauper, Justin Timberlake, and Sabrina Carpenter. It will round off the year with performances by Bruce Springsteen, Iron Maiden, Cirque du Soleil, Sebastian Maniscalco, and Russell Peters.

Legendary acts such as Green Day, the Smashing Pumpkins, and Justice appeared as part of the lineup for OSHEAGA’s 17th edition

The company’s festival lineups in 2024 included acts like SZA, Chappell Roan, Maluma, Noah Kahan, Sam Hunt, Tiësto, Rauw Alejandro, and Eric Church, while legendary acts such as Green Day, the Smashing Pumpkins, and Justice appeared as part of the lineup for OSHEAGA’s 17th edition.

Jelly Roll and Bailey Zimmerman are set to headline the fourth edition of LASSO Montréal country music festival next August, and the company will promote shows by Kylie Minogue, Jerry Seinfeld & Jim Gaffigan, Heart, Kane Brown, and more at Montréal’s Bell Centre in the coming year.

Fource (CZ)

Anthony Jouet founded Fource in 2011, after finding himself working in Prague as a consultant in-house promoter at the city’s O2 Arena. “I felt there was a gap in the market, but I was frustrated to be tied to arena shows, so I told my boss, Jacob Smid, and between us we set up Fource to specialise in artist development,” he explains.

The idea was a success and, in 2017, Fource opened a second office in Warsaw, Poland.

“Our business model is based on artist development. So usually, we begin at club level with the artists that we decide to work with. And then we develop them in the market and work with all the possible venues in town up to arena level. 95% of what we do is promote shows.”

“It was very important that we are accountable for everything that we do”

Jouet’s approach to artist development is taking everything in-house. “We have our own ticketing [team], we do our own production, and we have our own marketing team, rather than doing what other players do here, which is relying on venues to promote their shows. For me, it was very important that we are accountable for everything that we do.”

Now employing eight people in Prague and five in Warsaw, the organic growth of Fource sees the company now promoting around 100 shows a year in Czechia and 80 in Poland.

Gérard Drouot Productions (FR)

Founded by Gérard Drouot in 1986, Gérard Drouot Productions (GDP) has become a pillar of concert production in the French music industry, while its name is recognised, appreciated, and trusted by artists and their fans all over the world. Now run by the late founder’s son, Matthieu, the company remains fiercely independent through its continual desire to renew itself and to approach each tour and event as a unique project, requiring creative marketing and promotional strategies.

As a lover of jazz, Gérard Drouot quickly added rock and pop, and more recently, rap, to the company’s portfolio, while film concerts have also become a speciality.

Despite the death of Gérard in 2022, GDP has a bright future ahead of it

GDP’s reputation revolves around relationships built on trust, offering artists opportunities to go beyond the norm to produce memorable performances, be they in a 400-seat venue or at the massive Stade de France. Despite the death of Gérard in 2022, GDP has a bright future ahead of it, with Matthieu Drouot overseeing 600 shows per year, including a raft of upcoming shows whose eclectic range is emphasised by the likes of Fally Ipupa, Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls, Shaârghot, The World of Hans Zimmer, Cradle of Filth, and Laura Pausini.

Greenhouse Talent (BE)

Founded by Pascal Van De Velde in 2005, Greenhouse Talent has become the largest indie concert promoter in Benelux, with 50 employees across Belgium and The Netherlands organising around 1,500 events annually for 1.5m fans. Van De Velde’s promoting career began when he was a teenager, and his pathway to launching Greenhouse saw him working for Belgian independent Make It Happen before that became part of the SFX/Clear Channel/Live Nation stable in 2001, where he worked as a consultant before creating his own operation.

“We promote international and domestic shows, we are a booking agency, and we organise festivals, comedy, and family shows,” says Van De Velde. “We do it all: production, marketing, admin, legal, and ticketing; and our mission is to remain talent-driven and participate in the growth process of our artists, based on a personal approach tailored to the artist’s career demands.”

“We do it all”

Among the company’s cornerstone events are Gent Jazz (57,000 attendees in 2024) and Netherlands events such as Zuiderpark Live (25,000), Spoorpark Live (22,500), and Country to
Country festival (10,000).

Looking ahead, Greenhouse has sold more than 200,000 tickets for a series of 40th anniversary shows for Clouseau at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp, and two sold-out shows with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds at the same venue. And in the Netherlands, the company will host UB40 at Ziggo Dome, Fally Ipupa at RTM Stage, NCT Dream at Rotterdam Ahoy, Max Richter at Carré, and Kaleo at AFAS Live before the end of this year.

Karsten Jahnke Konzertdirektion (DE)

The company was officially founded in 1962 by Karsten Jahnke, who finally turned his hobby of promoting concerts into a business. These days, it offers touring services in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, as well as local shows in Hamburg, including, for the past 49 years, Stadtpark Open Air from mid-May to mid-September.

The company is involved in festivals like Reeperbahn, MS Dockville, Spektrum, Habitat, Vogelball, Elbjazz, Überjazz, and Baltic Soul Weekender. Touring clients include The Cure, Beck, Childish Gambino, BLACKPINK, ATEEZ, Branford Marsalis, Cypress Hill, Diana Krall, Gianna Nannini, Gregory Porter, Erasure, Herbie Hancock, Ludovico Einaudi, Nils Landgren, Portishead, Royel Otis, Taylor Swift, Thundercat, Tower of Power, Sasha Velour, Walk off the Earth, Trixie & Katya, Van Morrison, and Wu-Tang Clan.

It offers touring services in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland

With a staff of 50 employees, this year, the company promoted two shows with Taylor Swift at Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion; tours with Joss Stone, Diana Krall, Sean Paul, Cypress Hill, Birdy, Garbage, Kaleo, Childish Gambino, Gianna Nannini, Gregory Porter, and Tower of Power, amongst many others; around 1,200 shows in the GAS region; and 350-400 shows in Hamburg each year.

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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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Independent, female-driven US festival All Things Go is set to celebrate its 10th anniversary this September, with its organisers highlighting how curating a diverse event has paid off.

Speaking with IQ, co-founders Will Suter and Stephen Vallimarescu and brand partnerships and advocacy manager Carlie Webbert discuss the evolution of the DC-based festival. Launching in 2014 as the one-day All Things Go Fall Classic, organisers began curating female-led programming to highlight festivals’ gender imbalance in 2018, with that year’s edition curated by singers Maggie Rogers and LPX.

Since then, the festival has boasted a majority of female and non-binary performers, with the 28-29 September event to be led by Laufey, Bleachers, Hozier, Reneé Rapp, Janelle Monáe, Conan Gray, and Chappell Roan. It marks the third consecutive sellout for the indie event, with 40,000 fans to attend across two days. Last year, the late-summer event expanded from one day, with the 2023 edition headlined by Lana Del Rey, Maggie Rogers, boygenius, and Carly Rae Jepsen.

Gender-balanced festival lineups are rare, with 90% of headline performers being male across 50 European festivals, according to a study by IQ and ROSTR. Across complete lineups, only 35% of artists were female and 1% were non-binary. Attendees have lovingly received the event, dubbing it “Gay-Chella,” “All Things Gay,” and “Lesbopalooza”.

“Once you prioritise inclusion, your community will be stronger because you platform voices that usually don’t get the stage,” Webbert says.

Thirty-six artists will perform across multiple stages at ATG’s Maryland amphitheatre base, its biggest edition yet, including Maren Morris, Remi Wolf, Ethel Cain, and Julien Baker. Alongside the music programming, organisers will continue their one-night panel series, the Creator Summit, bringing together leaders in music, media, activism, and technology.

Here, the All Things Go organisers answer 10 questions in celebration of its 10th anniversary.

“Music is a powerful vessel for creating change”

This year marks your 10th anniversary. How are you planning to celebrate the accomplishment this year, and what are you proud to have accomplished over the past 10 years?

Will Suter: We’re celebrating our 10-year anniversary with our biggest lineup to date! We’ll have 36 artists performing over the two days at Merriweather Post Pavilion, in addition to a few surprises along the way. We’re proud to have created a robust community of music fans who circle ATG on their calendar every year and keep coming back — in addition to the new festival fans who might be experiencing the event for the first time.

This year’s edition takes place roughly one month before the presidential election in the capital. What plans do you have to intertwine social activism within the two-day schedule?

Carlie Webbert: Music is a powerful vessel for creating change. For the past few years, we’ve worked with advocacy organisations to ensure we do our part in platforming important causes. Last year we worked with Spotify EQUAL and The Ally Coalition to create a physical activism village on site with six non-profit organisations that were set up for fans to interact with. This year we’ll be working with Propeller, Calling All Crows, Headcount, Peta, Reverb, and more to drive awareness for those organisations along with raising funds. Ultimately, the advocacy arm of the festival will continue to grow and given how engaged the fans at ATG are, we are excited to see the impact that comes from it.

The cost of two-day general admission passes started at just under $200. With the cost of living and live music rising, how could you keep ticket prices down and why is it important to your team to keep the event affordable for different budgets?

Stephen Vallimarescu: Despite costs increasing substantially over the past few years, we strive to keep ticket prices as accessible as possible — and often lower than industry averages. As an independent music festival with a thriving community, we are constantly polling fans to understand what we can do to ensure a better fan experience, which includes affordable pricing and payment plans that start around $35.

All Things Go has openly called attention to putting women and non-binary individuals on the stage, but how is the organisation supporting and engaging those groups working in roles behind the scenes?

CW: Two of our longstanding partnerships are with Women in Music and Amplify Her Voice. These collaborations help us prioritise inclusion month after month. Women in Music supports us in organising the Creator Summit, a panel series held the night before our festival. This event highlights leading women in music, media, and technology. Through our partnership with Amplify Her Voice, we launched a program last year that provided hands-on backstage experiences to over 20 young women and at last year’s festival — an incredibly impactful opportunity for seeing first-hand what happens behind the scenes.

What’s the most memorable bit of feedback you’ve received in the 10 years of programming?

WS: In 10 years of programming, every year has brought new hurdles and new opportunities. We realised a few years into the festival that we need to really listen to and trust our fans. We take our post-festival fan survey very seriously and have launched a few iterations of an ATG fan club to really connect with those fans year-round. It’s ongoing feedback, year after year, on how we can improve our lineups in addition to the overall experience at the festival from the people who are buying the tickets.

“At the very least, ensure you book 50% female or non-binary acts — there is so much talent out there across genres”

Your planning process begins before the previous year’s edition takes place. Can you speak about keeping up with trends in your lineup curation process and how you are set to deliver your biggest offering yet?

WS: The planning process never really ends for the festival. We’re constantly discovering and listening to new music from emerging artists in addition to setting calendar milestones for established artists’ album releases, shows/tours and other festival appearances. The more we’re able to consume and monitor, the better — and it feels like there is more quality across music being released and live shows performed than ever before.

How would you describe the atmosphere of the festival to those who’ve never attended?

SV: The atmosphere at All Things Go is a reflection of our vibrant community, made up of both dedicated fans and boundary-pushing artists. It’s a unique and indescribable energy that covers the festival grounds. Most artists have commented on stage about the distinctiveness of All Things Go compared to other festivals. Our fans are united by a deep love for live music and a common ethos. We stand for something meaningful, and we strive to curate a festival experience that minimises scheduling conflicts and emphasises special moments that fans will remember forever.

In 2023, you hosted the first Creator Summit and brought together voices from the entertainment, music, political, and activism realms. Are there plans to continue this event, and can you highlight any major takeaways from last year?

CW: Yes! The Creator Summit is a significant part of our festival weekend, providing festival attendees with the ability to hear impactful voices from music, media and technology. The event provides a meaningful platform for engaging dialogue for our fans.

Your lineup has been female-driven since Maggie Rogers curated an all-female festival in 2018. Many festivals are still struggling to offer a diverse and balanced bill — what do you have to say to them?

CW: I would say, “Come on! The people want it!” We’ve sold out three years in a row, very fast, with a mostly female lineup. At the very least, ensure you book 50% female or non-binary acts — there is so much talent out there across genres. Once you prioritise inclusion your community will be stronger because you platform voices that usually don’t get the stage.

Describe how you’d like to see All Things Go evolve in the next 10 years.

SV: We aim to further support the next generation of artists and fans by championing their creativity not only through our annual festival but also through our expanding digital platforms. We’re allocating more and more resources to avenues such as newsletters, podcasts, and technology-driven initiatives. Our goal is to enable our community to connect and engage with each other seamlessly, regardless of where they live and beyond the festival weekend.

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UK-based independent booking agency Upsurge has hired Philippe Van Leuven from Bandwerk in Belgium as the company’s first EU agent.

Van Leuven brings a roster that includes Death Lens, Ruby Haunt, Trauma Ray, Wrong Man, Soft Blue Shimmer and Chase Petra.

“Joining Upsurge is a very logical step to keep developing and growing the acts I’ve been working with the last few years,” says Van Leuven. “In an already competitive market, it also feels natural to combine forces. I very much admire Upsurge’s existing roster and their artist-focused approach. I’m super pleased to be able to reinforce the team and bring my own personal touch to the already amazing line-up.”

Upsurge, which is overseen by tour coordinator Flick Price-Thomas, has grown to a team of five since its inception by Eddie Griffiths in July 2022. The firm has booked artists on festivals such as Download, 2000Trees, Outbreak, Full Force, Resurrection, Summer Breeze, Copenhell and Damnation.

“Upsurge was born out of a love for alternative music and putting on shows”

“Upsurge was born out of a love for alternative music and putting on shows,” says Griffiths. “There’s so many incredible artists coming through those scenes and the underground, so with Upsurge I wanted to provide a home for these types of artists for touring.

“The stellar network of independent venues throughout the UK and Europe plays a very key role in what we do and is vital to our artists. I’m stoked to be part of an incredible team of Flick, Oscar, Lee and now Philippe who all share that same passion as I do and do it for the love of it.

“I didn’t expect things to grow like they have over such a short period of time and I’m truly honoured that Upsurge gets to work with so many of our favourite artists. This is all down to the hard work of our growing team.”

The agency’s roster includes the likes of Superheaven, Fiddlehead, Wicca Phase Springs Eternal, Speed, Split Chain, Bug Bath, Knives, Sick Joy, Pure Hex, Present, Panik Flower, Shooting Daggers, Splitknuckle, Stiff Meds, Out Of Love, Plastics and Cruelty.

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Wales’ largest independent concert promoter Orchard Live has ceased trading and has gone into liquidation, citing “enormously challenging trading conditions”.

The company has promoted shows with acts such as Queens of the Stone Age, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Diana Ross, George Ezra and Sam Fender

But the firm says trading conditions since the onset of Covid-19, compounded by the impact of the cost-of-living pressures on ticket sales, had made it impossible to continue operating.

“Despite the best efforts of a hardworking and very talented team, Orchard Live has been unable to fully recover from the consequences of the pandemic and the ensuing challenging trading conditions,” says a spokesperson for the promoter. “After exploring all possible strategies to avoid this action, the difficult decision has been made to put Orchard Live into creditors voluntary liquidation.

“The past three years have been enormously challenging for the music industry”

“The past three years have been enormously challenging for the music industry and there have been a number of casualties in the sector.”

The statement points out that the company lost summer seasons in 2020 and 2021, and costs increased significantly for rescheduled shows in 2022.

“Despite some great successes, an oversupply of concerts, a slow public return to live events, the cost-of-living crisis and increased competition from national promoters has not produced the required level of sales, leading to unsustainable losses,” adds the spokeperson. “This news will unfortunately be a blow to music lovers in Wales who have been able to enjoy Orchard Live’s work over many years.”

Any ticket-holders for an Orchard Live show are advised to contact the ticket outlet they purchased their ticket from for more information.

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Independent UK-based ticketing company Bristol Ticket Shop has announced it is closing down, citing overdue payments from a debtor.

Launched in 1987 as a concession in Virgin shops and then in record retailer Our Price, Bristol Ticket Shop later found its own home in the centre of the UK city of Bristol. With a focus on supporting the local music scene, Bristol Ticket Shop also sold tickets to events such as Glastonbury Festival and Download Festival.

“After more than 30 years being part of Bristol’s incredible music scene, Bristol Ticket Shop is sadly closing,” reads a post on the ticketer’s Facebook page.

“All the staff here are devastated. The list of incredible events we have supplied tickets for is overwhelming. There are so many regular customers, old and new, that we have really enjoyed talking to over the years and we will miss you all dearly.”

“After more than 30 years being part of Bristol’s incredible music scene, Bristol Ticket Shop is sadly closing”

The management team owes the closure to “news that a debtor owing a large amount of money was unlikely to be able pay in a timely manner”, as well as to the illness of the company’s owner, which has “had a large impact on the resilience of the business”.

The company states it is instructing a third party to negotiate with promoters in order to ensure that “there is as little impact to the customer as possible”. Although the ticketer aims “to honour tickets for future events”, it notes this may not always be possible, in which case refunds will be issued.

Bristol music fans have responded to the “sad news”, showing support for the ticketer, which formed a “huge part” of the local live scene.

According to the International Ticketing Yearbook 2019, the primary ticketing business in the UK is “incredibly competitive”, with major international companies including Ticketmaster, See Tickets, AXS, Eventim and Eventim taking a large share of the market.

Many local independent outfits, such as Manchester’s Ticketline, Birmingham’s the Ticket Factory, Leeds’ Ticket Arena and Nottingham’s Gigantic – now majority owned by DEAG – also perform well.

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Exit Festival, a live music event spawned from the desire for peace and freedom in the Balkans, is turning twenty years old this year, with a brand new set of social aims appearing at the top of its agenda.

Founded by Dusan Kovačević, Ivan Milivojev, Bojan Boskovic and Milos Ignjatovic in 2000, the first edition of Exit Festival took place in University Park in the Serbian city of Novi Sad, with the objective of connecting like-minded Balkan people and encouraging political engagement among the youth.

“Exit was the first mass gathering of young people from former Yugoslavian countries after the Balkans War [which took place from 1991-1999],” Sagor Mešković, the festival’s chief communications officer, explains to IQ. “It started off as a youth activism movement for peace in Serbia and the Balkans.”

“After ten years of war and isolation in the region, the first edition of the festival was characterised by a feeling that normal life was back again,” adds Exit co-founder Kovačević. “Emotions were so high, that most of the artists said that they played the best concert of their tour , or even their whole career, at the event.”

Twenty years on, Exit Festival has just enjoyed its biggest year yet, welcoming 200,000 fans to its permanent site at Novi Sad’s Petrovaradin Fortress for four days of performances from the likes of the Cure, Carl Cox, Amelie Lens, the Chainsmokers and Greta van Fleet.

“After ten years of war and isolation in the region, the first edition of the festival was characterised by a feeling that normal life was back again”

Adding to its flagship event, the Exit team have now developed an extended festival network, providing “the biggest cultural bridge between the countries of the former Yugoslavia” in the form of No Sleep Festival in Serbia, Sea Star in Croatia, Revolution Festival in Romania and Sea Dance Festival in Montenegro.

This unique history and ethos is the driving force behind the desire for Exit to remain independent.

“Exit didn’t start for profit,” states Kovačević. “I respect the investment funds that are taking over festivals – they are still doing great shows and people are having fun – but we have decided to stay independent because we know the festival world needs something like this.”

With so much history behind them, the twentieth anniversary of Exit Festival is “important on so many levels, not just for us, but for the whole region,” says Kovačević.

Exit 2.0, as the anniversary event is dubbed, will look to the future as well as celebrating of the past, a fact reflected in the very programming of the festival. “We are going to bring back some of the acts that marked our history and mix them together with those who are making an impact in this day and age,” states Kovačević.

With over 20 stages and even more genres of music, Exit’s line-ups are broad and diverse, frequently seeing pop stars and leading electronic acts headlining alongside rock, and even metal, bands. A dedicated Latin stage has been present at Exit since day one, which now seems “almost prophetic”, given the global Latin music rise we see today.

“I respect the investment funds that are taking over festivals, but we have decided to stay independent because we know the festival world needs something like this”

Although line-ups are always eclectic, the billing never tends towards the generic due to the team’s habit of booking based on “gut feeling”, in addition to using data, metrics and ticket sales figures. “The irrational part of us is the one that makes a good line-up,” states Mešković. On a more personal level, the team also strive to work with the artists “who have a similar ethos to ours.”

For Exit, it is vital to “be one with the audience”, making sure every decision is guided by the wants and needs of the fan. To this end, the festival aims to keep tickets affordable, especially for the local audience. “We never want to lose our local fans,” says Kovačević, “because if we did, we would lose our soul.”

In addition to its core audience of locals, Exit’s fan base has become more and more international over the years. Fans travel to Serbia from elsewhere in Europe, as well as from Asia, America and Australia to attend the event.

“We are bringing a lot of tourism into the country,” says the Exit co-founder, explaining that the boost the festival has given to the country’s international reputation is often compared to that made by Serbian tennis champion Novak Djokovic.

Together with the tennis player, Exit Festival has now set up a foundation to help build nursery schools in Serbia, one example of the festival’s continuation of its social activist roots.

“We know that through a good party and the love of music, you really can engage people in a meaningful way and make a difference”

Another example is Life Stream, the environmental campaign launched by Exit at Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) in October. “The Life Stream project aims to put the festival industry at the forefront of the fight for life on the planet,” explains Kovačević.

The idea is to inject imagery, text and data relating to environmental issues into live streams from music festivals, to harness the “visibility and influence” they have for the good of the planet.

“We don’t want to show despair only,” says Mešković, “we also want to show there is some hope and to mobilise people to take action – because there is still time.”

The upcoming edition of Exit will serve as a major platform for the project, with both Kovačević and Mešković hoping other festivals will follow suit.

“We know that through a good party and the love of music, you really can engage people in a meaningful way and make a difference.”

Exit 2.0 takes place from 9 to 12 July 2020 in Novi Sad, Serbia.

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