Koko closes headquarters as MDs step down

German promoter Koko & DTK Entertainment, best known for the Rock am See festival, has announced plans to shutter its headquarters in the city of Constance (Konstanz) following the resignation of two of its managing directors.

Dieter Bös and Armin Nissel, who founded the company with Clemens Zipse in 1978, stepped down on Monday (31 October), leaving Marc Oßwald as the sole MD. The Constance HQ will be closed on 31 January 2017, although Koko’s offices in Freiburg and Tübingen will remain open.

Speaking to IQ, Bös reveals he’ll stay be staying on as a consultant, working on Rock am See – which was last year headlined by Muse, The Libertines and Bad Religion – and other Koko festivals, including Zelt-Musik-Festival (ZMF), Meersburg Open Air and Hohentwiel, and a “new festival in Austria”.

Koko’s Constance HQ will close in January, with responsibility shifting to offices in Freiburg and Tübingen

“Some of my long-term contacts have already expressed their interest in cooperating,” he explains, “so’s it going to be quite exciting.” Nissel was not available for comment.

In a statement, Oßwald says it’s business as usual for the promoter, which will be announcing the “first top acts” shortly for its 2018 festivals and open-air concerts. However, the MD has signalled his willingness to cut back on events that are no longer profitable: The Summernight festival in Sigmaringen, for example, has a “50/50” chance of returning in 2017, he tells the Schwäbische Zeitung: “I will look at the numbers and then decide.”

According to Koko & DTF Entertainment’s latest accounts, it lost €1.06 million in 2014 – an improvement on a deficit of €1.74m the previous year.

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