LN’s Vibee announces first curated travel experience
Vibee, the new music-led destination experience company, is teaming up with dance promoter Insomniac for a three-day immersive experience in Cabo, headlined and curated by Tiësto.
Tiësto – Chasing Sunsets will take place in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, from 9–12 November and will feature multiple performances from the Grammy-award-winning artist.
The weekend is also said to include “exclusive sets from some of the hottest artists in the world, beach activities, pool parties, local cultural excursions,” and more.
The home base and headline venue will be ME Cabo, the five-star resort located on the beach, near the marina in Cabo San Lucas.
The weekend’s home base and headline venue will be ME Cabo, the five-star resort located on the beach
Additional weekend events will take place at ‘sought-after’ Cabo hot spots such as Mango Deck, Funky Geisha, Taboo and SUR.
Live Nation-backed Vibee was officially launched last week, promising “unforgettable immersive trips for music lovers in the most sought-after destinations around the world”.
The company says its mission is to amplify fan-to-artist connections through three core areas: curated experiences, festival integrations, and Las Vegas residencies.
Vibee has already announced a partnership with Live Nation-backed Insomniac to produce EDSea, a premium cruise and music festival experience, and Hotel EDC, a Resorts World takeover during the 2023 edition of Insomniac’s Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas.
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LN launches music-led destination experience firm
Live Nation has announced the launch of music-led destination experience company Vibee.
Vibee promises to build “unforgettable immersive trips for music lovers in the most sought after destinations around the world”, and has already confirmed partnerships with LN producers including Insomniac, C3 Presents and Country Nation.
Targeting cross-generational and genre diverse audiences, the firm will offer everything from multi-day events and activations on land and sea, to bespoke festival & residency packages.
“We are poised to deliver a range of once-in-a-lifetime destination experiences for every type of fan in vibrant locations all over the world”
“Vibee was founded to build indelible memories between fans and their favourite artists in a new way,” says Vibee president Harvey Cohen. “We are poised to deliver a range of once-in-a-lifetime destination experiences for every type of fan in vibrant locations all over the world.“
The company says its mission is to amplify fan-to-artist connections through three core areas: curated experiences, festival integrations, and Las Vegas residencies.
Curated Destination Experiences: Vibee will create extraordinary multi-day events with today’s top artists in the Bahamas, Mexico and more that also hit a wide variety of fans’ passions and interests, including gourmet dinners & spirit tastings, artist conversations & panels, health & wellness classes, limited edition artist merchandise and memorabilia, and more.
Vibee celebrated a successful sold-out weekend at Rock the Ocean’s 2023 Tortuga Music Festival earlier this month
Vibee, which celebrated a successful sold-out weekend at Rock the Ocean’s 2023 Tortuga Music Festival earlier this month, is partnering with Insomniac to produce curated experiences and festival integrations including premium cruise and music festival experience EDSea. It is also planning Hotel EDC – a Resorts World takeover during the 2023 edition of Insomniac’s Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas.
Vibee Hotel Experiences will be hosted at festivals including Lollapalooza and ACL Festival, which include accommodations at a premier hotel partner properties along with VIP treatment for the weekend, while Las Vegas Residencies will feature unique packages to enhance the fan experience for sought after Vegas residencies, including concierge services, VIP access, and exclusive fan opportunities.
In the coming months the company says it will announce numerous curated events including a boutique autumn trip to the Bahamas with a legendary artist, a four-day Cabo adventure with one of the world’s top DJs, and a bespoke country music weekend in Nashville.
The full list of upcoming events confirmed so far includes:
May 19-22: Hotel EDC
June 16-18: Beyond Wonderland at The Gorge
June 24-25: Day Trip Festival
June 23-26: BEACH IT!
August 3-6: Lollapalooza 2023
August 11-13: TidalWave Music Festival
September 21-25: Format Festival
Oct 6-8: ACL Festival
Oct 13-15: ACL Festival
November 4-8: EDSea
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Alda expands to Croatia with new office and festival
Alda, the Amsterdam-based company behind leading EDM events including AMF, New Horizons and more, is expanding to Croatia.
The Dutch promoter, which is 50% owned by Live Nation-backed Insomniac, today announced it has opened an office in the capital, Zagreb.
In addition, Alda and Insomniac have also planned a new seven-day festival in the Croatian city of Pula, on the Adriatic coast.
The event, titled Secret Project Presents Pula Music Week, will take place in and around one of Europe’s oldest amphitheatres between 30 June to 6 July.
Peggy Gou, Solomon, Disclosure, Tale Of Us, Boris Brejcha, Charlotte de Witte and Black Coffee will each host their own evening. Support acts will be announced at a later date.
“Croatia will be the epic centre for the European dance industry for the foreseeable future”
Project Presents Pula Music Week is the second new festival Alda and Insomniac have launched together, after Saga festival in Bucharest, Romania.
Allan Hardenberg, director and co-founder of ALDA, says: “In the two years that the festival world has been on hiatus, we have of course not been idle. We’ve made plans for when it could all be done again… and that’s now! Earlier this month we officially opened our office in Zagreb, Croatia will be the epic centre for the European dance industry for the foreseeable future.
“There are so many options here, especially for destination festivals. With the Pula Music Week, music lovers can enjoy not just one evening, but a week of the very best DJs in a unique location, where they are provided with everything they need.”
Alda is behind events including A State of Trance in Utrecht, New Horizons in Germany (a JV with CTS Eventim) and Amsterdam Music Festival, the Netherlands’ largest indoor music festival.
Insomniac, meanwhile, has produced more than 2,000 events since 1993, including Electric Daisy Carnivals in North America, Japan, China and Mexico, and Nocturnal Wonderland, the US’s longest-running dance music event.
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Insomniac and Unity reveal metaverse partnership
Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) promoter Insomniac Events has partnered with leading 3D platform Unity on a “brand new, persistent metaverse world”.
The link-up, which promises to create “the next generation of live entertainment”, will focus on expanding dance culture from the physical world to the virtual, teaming Insomniac’s vision and creativity with Unity’s cutting-edge technology.
“It is an honour to be partnered with an incredible company like Unity on this new journey,” says Insomniac founder and CEO Pasquale Rotella. “Our vision is to create a social experience in which everyone is a Headliner – where stories and music unite us in discovery, love and a true sense of belonging.
“Unity is helping us create a world’s first experience for our community as we work together to deliver the next level of what the metaverse can be for entertainment and music.”
“Pasquale and his team are revolutionary and always looking to expand their vision”
Unity’s platform creates and operates interactive, real-time 3D (RT3D) content, allowing creators “to make their imaginations come to life”. The company’s SVP and GM of sports and live entertainment Peter Moore will go into more detail about the partnership and what it means for live music during a talk at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas. this Sunday (13 March), which will also feature a video message from Rotella.
“Partnering with Insomniac Events is a fantastic opportunity for us here at Unity,” adds Moore. “Pasquale and his team are revolutionary and always looking to expand their vision and bring extra value to their community. This partnership is the beginning of a long relationship that we believe will usher in a new level of interactive and immersive experiences within the world of live entertainment.”
Insomniac brought EDC to the metaverse last October, becoming the first-ever music festival hosted in Roblox. Taking place in a virtual space dubbed the Insomniac World Party, it was held concurrently with the physical festival in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Romania’s Saga festival reveals new venue for 2022
Leading dance music promoters Insomniac and Alda have announced a new location for their Romanian festival, Saga.
Saga’s inaugural edition took place across three days in September at Bucharest’s Romaero SA airfield with acts including Don Diablo, Carl Cox and Tiësto.
The electronic dance event will return to the Romanian capital in June 2022, this time taking place at Bucharest’s National Arena (cap. 55,000) and the surrounding park area.
Afrojack, Marshmello and Timmy Trumpet are set to headline the event, with more artists to be announced on 2 December.
In celebration of Saga’s new home, Alda has planned a special event at the National Arena on 1 December, Romania’s National Day.
Afrojack, Marshmello and Timmy Trumpet are set to headline the event, with more artists to be announced on 2 December
According to the promoter, there will be a “dramatic” fireworks display around the stadium during an exclusive on-location DJ performance supported by Du Mad and Kov.
The event will be broadcast live and, during this time (19:00 and 00:00 EET), those who have registered for ticket information on the Saga Festival website will be able to purchase tickets for next year’s edition at a special price. General ticket sales will then commence on 2 December.
Alda and Insomniac, based in Amsterdam and Los Angeles, respectively, have been partners since October 2018, when majority Live Nation-owned Insomniac acquired a 50% stake in Alda.
Insomniac has produced more than 2,000 events since 1993, including Electric Daisy Carnivals in North America, Japan, China and Mexico, and Nocturnal Wonderland, the US’s longest-running dance music event.
Alda, meanwhile, is behind events including A State of Trance in Utrecht, New Horizons in Germany (a JV with CTS Eventim) and Amsterdam Music Festival, the Netherlands’ largest indoor music festival.
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Pioneering festivals set to launch in metaverse
Virtual blockchain-based world Decentraland is preparing to host the world’s first multi-day festival in the metaverse – a virtual world made up of permanent, shared, 3D virtual spaces.
The event, simply titled ‘Metaverse Festival’, will feature more than 80 high-profile artists and personalities across four days and five stages.
Deadmau5, RAC, 3LAU, Nina Nesbitt, 3Lau, Alison Wonderland and Aluna (of AlunaGeorge) are all scheduled to make appearances.
The festival organisers have even secured Paris Hilton – whose in-game avatar was designed by avatar technology company Genies.
Alongside music, Metaverse Festival will also offer a funfair, games, merch stands, a VIP lounge, chill-out zones, a psychedelic sculpture garden and – in a world-first – virtual portable toilets.
“Every festival needs portable toilets – even in the metaverse”
According to festival coordinator, Sam Hamilton, “every festival needs portable toilets – even in the metaverse”.
“These are no ordinary portable toilets. Every toilet contains a different experience. Some good, some bad, some mind-blowing. Definitely worth your while checking them out,” he adds.
Hamilton says festivalgoers wanting to ‘experience’ the virtual toilets will have to “queue up like everyone else”.
“But the toilets change with each visit. No two Dump ‘N’ Pump experiences are the same,” he adds.
The central theme of the Metaverse Festival is Evolution and the event will “transform” throughout the four days, from Water on day one, to Earth, Space, and finally, Metaverse.
This metamorphosis will be visible in the main Evolution stage, presented by Bitcoin trading platform Kraken, which is sponsoring the event, along with drinks brand Heineken and crypto-exclusive fund Metapurse.
“The beauty of the metaverse is you never know what you’ll find”
“This is our way of expressing human evolution – emerging from the water onto the land, reaching space and of course the next big leap which is a pioneering exploration of the metaverse,” explains Hamilton.
The line-up will be added to up until the last minute, which Hamilton says is “the beauty of the metaverse – you never know what you might find”.
The event runs from tomorrow (21 October) until 24 October and is accessible through the festival home page or Decentraland Events page.
Elsewhere, Roblox and event promoter Insomniac today announced they will bring one of the largest electronic music festivals in the world – Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) – to the metaverse.
Taking place concurrently with EDC in Las Vegas, Nevada, sets will be streamed on Roblox after the in-person shows
The event will be the first-ever music festival hosted in Roblox and will take place in a virtual space dubbed the Insomniac World Party.
Taking place concurrently with EDC in Las Vegas, Nevada, sets will be streamed on Roblox after the in-person shows – mirroring the real-life festival – and artists will join the experience in Roblox after their sets to hold ‘meet and greets’ and interact with fans.
The festival will capture the environment that EDC is known for, replicating the event’s iconic stages and featuring interactive activities like dance battles. Joining the event will also give attendees the chance to win real and virtual merchandise.
EDC will be held in the metaverse from 22–25 October with the virtual space opening on 19 October.
Today’s news comes days after Facebook announced it plans to hire 10,000 people to develop a so-called metaverse, as the race to build the ‘next iteration of the internet accelerates.
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Romania’s Saga festival draws 45,000 for debut
Leading dance music promoters Insomniac and Alda welcomed 45,000 guests to the inaugural edition of Saga, Romania’s first large-scale music festival since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
The electronic dance event took place between 10–12 September in the Romanian capital of Bucharest and drew both domestic and international guests.
The three-day event featured some of the biggest names in electronic music including Don Diablo, Carl Cox, Tiësto, Topic, Allan Walker, Fisher and Sigala, who performed across four stages.
Alda and Insomniac, based in Amsterdam and Los Angeles, respectively, have been partners since October 2018, when majority Live Nation-owned Insomniac acquired a 50% stake in Alda.
“We found a place we can call home… Saga has Bucharest and Bucharest has Saga”
Insomniac has produced more than 2,000 events since 1993, including Electric Daisy Carnivals in North America, Japan, China and Mexico, and Nocturnal Wonderland, the US’s longest-running dance music event.
Alda, meanwhile, is behind events including A State of Trance in Utrecht, New Horizons in Germany (a JV with CTS Eventim) and Amsterdam Music Festival, the Netherlands’ largest indoor music festival – which was cancelled yesterday.
Following the event, Alda said: “We found a place we can call home… Saga has Bucharest and Bucharest has Saga. During the past three days, we have all seen the beginning of something that goes beyond our imagination. We’ve shared our energy and vibrated together for the first time, all in the name of electronic music.”
Saga was set to debut in 2020 but was postponed due to the pandemic. The festival will return in 2022 at the earlier date of 3–5 June.
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IMS: Covid-19 set to cost electronic sector $4bn
After slight growth in 2019, the value of the global electronic music industry is estimated to fall by 56% this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the latest edition of the annual International Music Summit (IMS) business report has revealed.
The yearly report, which is usually presented at the IMS conference in Ibiza, this year cancelled due to the pandemic, states the value of the electronic is sector is set to fall from $7.3 billion to $3.3bn this year, with dance and electronic clubs and festivals set to lose 75% of their income, equivalent to $3.3bn.
By 20 April, around 350 electronic music festivals had been cancelled or postponed, the majority in Germany, with almost 9 million fans unable to attend. According to event discovery and ticketing platform Skiddle, around 4,000 electronic music events in total have been affected by Covid-19 so far.
In Ibiza alone, 2m club tickets were sold last year, with clubbers spending €260m and contributing €500m to the local economy. Bigger clubs and mid-sized venues (over 300-cap.) on the island are to remain shut this season.
DJ and artist income is predicted to fall by as much as 61%, from $1.1bn in 2019 to $400m in 2020. Earnings of the top-ten electronic artists had increased 4% year-on-year in 2019, with the Chainsmokers ($46m) and Marshmello (40m) coming in as the highest earners.
Despite a bleak outlook for 2020, the IMS report notes that the positive trends that led to growth in 2019 – the first since 2016 – “should help fuel a strong recovery in the coming years”.
“The value of the global electronic music industry is estimated to fall be 56% this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic”
The report also details the sector’s livestreaming success. It it predicted that streaming will grow by 18% in 2020, with continued growth expected to generate around $100m in additional revenue for the dance and electronic sector this year.
In May 2020, seven of the ten most watched music streamers on Twitch were electronic focused, totalling 6m viewer hours. EDM promoter Insomniac racked up 2.6m viewers hours by running virtual versions of their events, including the Electric Daisy Carnival rave-a-thon. The promoter is putting on digital editions of Secret Project, Peekaboo and Awakening festivals later this month.
The IMS report also shows that DJs who performed in the video game Fortnite, following the initial success of Marshmello, saw their Instagram followers grow by ten times during and after the event.
Dillon Francis, Steve Aoki and Deadmau5 played the launch of the game’s virtual hang-out Party Royale mode, adding a collective 55,000 to their Instagram followers in four days.
Overall, however, it is believed that livestreamed events, as well as other alternatives including drive-in shows and socially distanced club nights, are “unlikely to be commercially viable, with live streams serving predominantly to raise money for good causes and capacities art physical shows greatly reduced.
Some platforms have started to adapt to paid-for models, the report notes, with Soundcloud introudincing a ‘support link’ button for fan contributions; TikTok launching ‘donation stickers’ for good causes; and Festicket allowing the sale of merchandise. Brands including Coca-Cola, Amazon and Henieken have also sponsored DJ live streams.
The full report is available to download here.
This article forms part of IQ’s Covid-19 resource centre – a knowledge hub of essential guidance and updating resources for uncertain times.
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Dutch DJs W&W plan ‘world’s first XR livestream’
In what promoter Alda Events is calling the dance music world’s first-ever extended-reality (XR) live stream, Dutch DJ duo W&W have announced a show that will take place inside a specially created 3D virtual world.
For the 23 May event, the pair – who have been among DJ Mag’s top 100 DJs since 2010, and are renowned for their live shows – will play a set in a custom-made virtual stadium overlaid with futuristic, videogame-like ‘XR’ effects, pointing the way towards “a potential future route for the events industry during the global lockdown,” says Alda.
In addition to Alda – the part-Insomniac-owned, Amsterdam-based EDM promoter – the show’s partners include Chinese sports brand Li-Ning (which lends its name to the virtual ‘Li-Ning Arena’), DJ Mag, livestreaming platform Twitch and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef).
The concert will see W&W “implement green screens to enhance the illusion of their creative 3D reality”, surrounding themselves with “a series of mind-blowing special effects”
According to the show announcement, the concert will see W&W “implement green screens to enhance the illusion of their creative 3D reality”, surrounding themselves with “a series of mind-blowing special effects” and “creating a space that welcomes everyone”.
The W&W shows follows Travis Scott’s pre-recorded show in the videogame Fortnite, which was seen by an estimated 12 million people and won praise for its spectacular visual effects, as well as the boom in livestreamed shows of all kinds during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The event will be streamed live on Facebook and Twitch on Saturday 23 May at 5pm CEST.
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Romania’s Saga postpones as lockdown lifting nears
The inaugural edition of Insomniac- and Alda-promoted Saga festival has been postponed to September, as the Romanian government prepares to begin a staggered easing of lockdown restrictions in mid-May.
Organisers of Saga, which was originally set to debut from 5 to 7 June in Bucharest’s Izvor park, state the postponement is “the best option for Saga festival with the health and wellbeing of visitors a main priority”.
Although the line-up for the rescheduled event on 11 to 13 September “may be slightly different due to artist scheduling”, organisers assure fans the billing “will be up to [the] standards” of dance music giants Insomniac (Electric Daisy Carnival) and Alda (Amsterdam Music Festival, New Horizons).
Saga joins fellow Bucharest festival Europafest, a multi-venue jazz, blues, pop and classical music event, to change its 2020 dates in view of the coronavirus crisis. Scheduled for May, organisers say they are now planning for Europafest to take place in the second half of July, with dates depending on the evolution of the situation in Romania and at European level.
Other major festivals in Romania, including electronic music events Untold and Neversea and European Festival Awards 2019 winners Electric Castle, Jazz in the Park and ARTmania, have yet to announce changes to their 2020 editions. The government expected to give more details on the future of public events when it begins to ease its stringent lockdown laws – which have seen citizens collectively fined up to €78 million for flouting restrictions – on 15 May.
“Large-scale events are unlikely to take place given the announced and forecasted restrictions”
Although Emil Boc, mayor of the city of Cluj-Napoca where Untold, Electric Castle and Jazz in the Park take place, has said that large-scale events are “unlikely to take place given the announced and forecasted restrictions”, he notes that “difference and diverse ways of organising these events can be found”.
Festival organisers in Romania have also found diverse and different ways of helping the fight against coronavirus in recent weeks.
Promoters in Cluj-Napoca are selling “solidarity tickets” as part of the A Single Cluj (Un Singur Cluj) campaign, which brings together event organisers and others in the region to synchronise relief efforts and pool resources. By purchasing a solidarity ticket, fans can make direct donations to hospitals and other public institutions. “Ticket” prices range from RON 10 to RON 5,000 (€1,034).
Money raised by the campaign has gone towards buying surgical masks for help workers and supplying food to frontline staff. Members of the initiative have also helped to construct emergency triage centres.
The team behind Untold festival, currently set to take place from 30 July to 2 August with acts including Martin Garrix, Steve Aoki, Pussycat Dolls and David Guetta, launched the United Romania initiative, which aims to “bring together the good in Romania”.
So far, the campaign has helped supply six trucks with equipment such as portable flooring, geotextile and lighting from Untold and Neversea festivals for a field hospital in the city of Constanta and has provided 12,000 tests and other medical materials to hospitals in Cluj.
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