TEG joins forces with Laneway Festival
Laneway Festival, the much-loved Australasian touring festival, has joined the TEG family.
Laneway, in full St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, was founded in 2005 as a Melbourne street party and has grown into a respected festival of domestic and international music, with events in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore (currently Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Fremantle and Auckland). Past performers include Billie Eilish, Lorde, Haim, Denzel Curry, Run the Jewels, Tame Impala and Flume.
In total, Laneway events deliver more than 85 hours of contemporary live music to over 100,000 fans annually. The company also has a touring arm, Laneway Presents, which has co-promoted the festival, as well as a number of tours, with Michael Chugg’s Chugg Entertainment.
It is believed Sydney-based TEG has acquired a majority in stake in Laneway Festival, with founders Jerome Borazio and Danny Rogers staying on as co-managing directors and “substantial owners”.
“We have enormous respect for Laneway, which has grown from a Melbourne street party into a world-class festival and with a strong touring arm, consistently breaking new local and international artists to the youth market in the region,” says TEG CEO Geoff Jones.
“The festival started in a tiny alley in Melbourne in 2005 and has grown to become an institution in Australia, NZ and Singapore”
“Laneway will continue to operate as it always has, with founders Jerome and Danny and their team working closely with TEG Live managing director Tim McGregor as they continue to innovate and plan for the 2022 Laneway Festival. Watch this space.”
The acquisition is TEG’s second of 2021, following February’s takeover of Australian promoter Handsome Tours.
In a joint statement, Borazio and Rogers say: “Firstly, we would like to thank everyone who has helped to make Laneway what it is today. The festival started in a tiny alley in Melbourne in 2005 and has grown to become an institution in Australia, NZ and Singapore, thanks to the hard work and passion of some of the most genuine and talented music lovers in the country. We are endlessly thankful for and humbled by their contribution.
“To the fans and artists: we are super determined to get Laneway Festival back on the circuit ASAP, delivering you the amazing line-ups and experiences that you’ve grown accustomed to. And, of course, we want to thank Michael Chugg and his incredible teams, past and present. The festival would not exist today without his, and their vision, passion and support.
“Finally, to the current team working on the festival: thank you for your ongoing patience throughout this challenging period for our industry. With our new partnership with TEG we’ll be able to navigate these next few years knowing we have a team who shares the festival’s long-term vision.”
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UK govt affirms post-Brexit commitment to music
In a move welcomed by industry groups, the British government has appointed TV executive Sir Peter Bazalgette to lead an independent review into the UK’s creative industries as part of its wider post-Brexit industrial policy.
Sir Peter’s review, announced yesterday in the Building Our Industrial Strategy green paper, will be joined by similar reviews into four other ‘key sectors’ – life sciences, ultra low-emission vehicles, industrial digitalisation and nuclear power – and focus on “how the UK’s creative industries, like our world-leading music and video-games industries, can help underpin our future prosperity by utilising and developing new technology, capitalising on intellectual property rights and growing talent pipelines” following Britain’s exit from the EU.
Outgoing UK Music chief executive Jo Dipple says the government’s commitment to “the development of skills, starting and growing businesses, encouraging trade and inward investment, cultivating world-leading sectors and driving growth are all to be welcomed and supported”.
“The announcement that Sir Peter Bazalgette is to take a lead in fashioning a deal for the creative industries is encouraging and sends a powerful message about the importance of this valuable sector,” she comments.
Dipple also draws attention to the umbrella body’s own Industrial Strategy for the Creative Industries report, published last September, “based on three pillars of trade: a framework to trade, incentives to trade and regionalisation of trade”.
“The announcement that Sir Peter Bazalgette is to take a lead in fashioning a deal for the creative industries is encouraging, and sends a powerful message about the importance of this valuable sector”
The Creative Industries Federation, whose Brexit Report in November called for “the creative industries to be put at the heart of government thinking as the country develops its new industrial strategy”, says it “look[s] forward to working with [Sir Peter] on how the UK’s creative industries can help underpin future prosperity”.
Federation president John Kampfner says: “When we first began talking about the creative industries being a crucial part of any future industrial strategy, no such strategy was on the table and many people believed such a move unlikely. But the strength of argument has won the day. We have come a long way in a short time.”
The federation’s founder and chairman, graphic designer Sir John Sorrell, adds: ” I founded the Creative Industries Federation because for decades the sector had been under-represented in government. Recognition of the economic contribution and the potential for growth across the whole of the country is exactly what we wanted to achieve.
“But this is just the start, and the federation will continue to lead the way, not just in the UK, but in the regions and internationally.”
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