Live Nation Spain appoints new head promoter
Live Nation Spain has upped Nacho Córdoba to head promoter after a decade at the firm.
Córdoba joined the company as a promoter in 2015 and was boosted to senior promoter six years later. In addition, he became the festival director of Live Nation Spain’s rock music event Dcode and supported the booking of Mad Cool – both of which are based in Madrid.
“With over a decade of dedication to the company, Nacho brings a wealth of experience across all areas of the live music business,” reads a statement from Live Nation Spain.
“The leadership team at Live Nation is proud of his achievements and offers full support as he steps into this new role. Nacho has proven himself to be a committed and visionary leader, and he is seen as a key figure in the future of the company.”
Live Nation Spain recently wrapped a busy summer which featured 10 stadium concerts with the likes of Metallica, Pearl Jam and Travis Scott.
“Nacho has proven himself to be a committed and visionary leader, and he is seen as a key figure in the future of the company”
Most notably, the firm promoted four record-breaking shows with Colombian superstar Karol G at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid.
The Live Nation-produced shows sold 240,000 tickets – the highest number of tickets any artist has ever sold in Spain, including Taylor Swift.
She became the first artist to hold four consecutive stadium concerts in Spain and the first artist to have four sold-out nights at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
The Spain run concluded the Mañana Será Bonito Tour, which sold more than two million tickets, grossed $300 million and shattered attendance and revenue records in Europe, the US and Latin America.
Live Nation Spain’s upcoming concerts include Olivia Rodrigo, Paul McCartney, Sum 41, Pearl Jam and Jonas Brothers.
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IFF 2024 unveils International Showcase partners
A top line-up of emerging acts from the Netherlands and Spain will take to the stage to entertain delegates as part of the International Showcase at this year’s International Festival Forum, which is presented in association with TicketSwap.
An invitation-only event organised by the International Live Music Conference (ILMC), IFF is returning to Omeara in London Bridge with an expanded campus for its 10th edition from 24-26 September, in association with TicketSwap.
Supported by Dutch Music Export and The Spanish Wave, the 25 September showcase in London will feature two artists from each nation.
Dutch Music Export is an initiative by Fonds Dutch Performing Arts, Buma Cultuur and Stichting Popcoalitie, created with the core mission of highlighting and strengthening the international status of Dutch pop music around the world.
“The Netherlands has a vast musical landscape with an incredibly diverse range of domestic artists touring worldwide throughout all different types of musical genres,” says Marcel Albers, general director of Dutch Music Export. “Make no mistake – there’s a lot this small country has to offer to the world when it comes to live music and events!”
The Spanish Wave, meanwhile, is Live Nation Spain’s local talent export and internationalisation programme, working closely with booking agencies, record labels, public institutions and national and international promoters.
“We will be presenting two incredible young and fresh urban Latin acts from Spain”
“In 2024 we will bring a tsunami of the best, coolest, freshest, and most varied emerging music coming from Spain, taking showcase festivals and conferences worldwide by storm,” says The Spanish Wave’s César Andión. “We are back at London’s IFF, which is one of the most important music industry gatherings in the world, where we will be presenting two incredible young and fresh urban Latin acts from Spain.”
Since launching in 2015, IFF (International Festival Forum) has brought the industry’s principal buyers and sellers together each autumn, when conversations about the following year’s festival lineups are well underway. More than 600 delegates have signed up for this year’s gathering so far.
As previously confirmed, the team behind Primavera Sound will star in IFF’s keynote interview on Thursday 26 September from 11.30am to 12:30pm. The Barcelona-hailing festival’s co-director Alfonso Lanza, head of press and institutional relations Marta Pallarès and head of booking Fra Soler will sit down to discuss the history, identity and development of one of the leading lights of the European scene at the 10th edition of the leading annual gathering for festivals and booking agents. Full details are here.
The conference programme is doubling in number this year, with two new sessions already announced. On Wednesday 25 September, the programme will kick off with The Festival Season 2024, chaired by European Festival Report editor James Drury, with Jana Posth, head of festival operations at Berlin-based DreamHaus, chairing The Responsibility Session: Festival power later that morning.
Booking agency partners on this year’s IFF are CAA, WME, Solo Agency, Primary Talent, ATC Live, Wasserman Music, ITB, One Fiinix Live, and Pure, with many agencies showcasing new artists at the event. Previous editions of IFF have included early performances from Lewis Capaldi, Tom Grennan, Yonaka, Bob Vylan, Sam Ryder, Slaves, Raye, Black Midi, Loyle Carner, Dermott Kennedy, Shame and others.
Alongside the agency showcases and this year’s International Showcase, the final night of IFF sees a Rising Metal night presented by Doomstar Bookings, Catch 22, Napalm Events and The Link Productions. Partners on this year’s event include CTS Eventim, See Tickets, Tysers Live, FKP Scorpio, All Things Live, iTicket Global, TVG Hospitality and LMP Group.
This year’s edition is expected to sell out with more than 1,000 delegates.
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Is a mid-level touring crisis emerging?
The litany of challenges facing the live industry – from breaking acts to gaming – came under the microscope in ILMC’s Touring: The Bread & Butter Business session.
Chaired by One Fiinix Live founder Jon Ollier, the panel featured Jan Digneffe of FKP Scorpio Belgium, Mercury Wheels/Live Nation Spain’s Barnaby Harrod, Finland-based Fullsteam founder Rauha Kyyro of FKP and agent Marsha Vlasic, president of Independent Artist Group in the US.
While the top end of the business is booming with record earnings for A-list tours, the discussion focused its attention on the potential crisis emerging in the mid-level.
Kyyro suggested the sector was struggling not only with high ticket prices, but from competition from other forms of media – such as video games.
“I think we’re losing out on a lot of young people going to the shows to get that experience because, well, first of all, the ticket prices are high. And also the market has changed in other ways, too,” she said. “But it actually might be a better 90 minute experience to play Fortnite than to go and see to a little show. If you look at what’s happened with gaming, just as an example, it’s developed so much faster than our live experience has. But the price of the live experience is going up all the time.”
“There’s a whole generation that don’t leave their rooms… They don’t even think about going to a live show”
Vlasic agreed the shift in habits among younger people was an issue.
“There’s a whole generation that don’t leave their rooms, and they know an act by one song,” she said. “They don’t even have the desire to go for the live experience. They’re very content on their group chats and TikTok and just discovering new songs, not artists. And that’s the worrisome generation, because they don’t even think about going to a live show.”
Vlasic added that the reluctance of some artists – particularly those outside the United States – to embrace VIP ticketing was a growing source of frustration.
“VIP is huge,” she said. “We had a package two summers ago that broke every record. But I have artists that just won’t do it. And it’s so frustrating because again, they don’t understand the value of it. It’s actually mostly non American artists that don’t allow it. But it’s such a big source of additional income.”
The subject switched to the topic of festival headliners, as Kyyro warned against an over-reliance on big name talent.
“We gave up on trying to get a seven-figure acts and we just focused on whatever we actually have access to and that the audience actually likes”
“If you’re really dependent on getting those few big names, then that’s going to kill your budget,” she said. “You’re probably not even going to even make any money unless you sell out.
“The key is to build a brand that is not so much dependent on having the number one artist every year. Provinssi, which is a Finnish festival we work with, has been around for over 40 years and it has had its ups and downs. I think the reason it’s now doing so well is that we gave up on trying to get a seven-figure acts and we just focused on whatever we actually have access to and that the audience actually likes. Then it doesn’t need to sell out, but we can still keep it going.”
The rise of joint headline and packaged tours was also touched upon, with Vlasic suggesting the acts do not necessarily have to be a perfect fit.
“As bigger acts are getting off the festivals and going into stadiums, the only way to do it is to piggyback and share the cost of the production,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be completely compatible, it’s just entertainment. When you think of packaging an act… it’s [about], how does this package look in terms of bringing in additional people and different audiences?
“[But] so many of them want to headline on their own and the market is saturated. I don’t know how to the summer’s going to do this year – and everybody’s gone on sale so much sooner.”
Some people need to step down from their throne in order to be able to play better venues
While Digneffe applauded the concept, he cautioned that persuading all parties of its merit was easier said than done.
“I think it’s an it’s an interesting idea, but you have trouble getting everybody on board,” he said. “If you look at the metal and the hard rock scene, there is a lot more going on and there is a lot more understanding between bands as well.
“We all know it’s an ego business. But I think that some people need to step down from their throne in order to be able to play better venues, and that will make the costs go down. It’s a more fun night for the punter anyway, so I see nothing but advantages. But to get it done, you need everybody on board. You need the agents to be on board. You need the management to be on board.”
“The metal thing is true,” added Harrod. “I went to see four metal bands in a 300-cap club in Barcelona. The kids had a great time.”
There was concern, however, about the lay of the land for breaking acts, and the apparent dearth of viable new headliners. Digneffe believed the focus on global tours was hurting those lower down the food chain.
“If I hear more streaming numbers I’ll go crazy. It’s just maddening – and streaming numbers don’t sell tickets”
“What is frustrating everybody about these world tours is this cherry picking that’s going on all the time,” said Digneffe. “I don’t want to be like a preacher in a church or anything, but the cherry picking also comes with a responsibility to look after the next generation. No one is doing that at the moment and I think that’s a real problem. The promoters that find solutions for that will help keep our business healthy.”
Vlasic lamented the obsession with streaming numbers, arguing they can give a false impression of an artist’s worth on the live scene.
“It’s all about the streaming and if I hear more streaming numbers I’ll go crazy,” she said. “It’s just maddening – and streaming numbers don’t sell tickets. I’ve always prided myself in working with career artists. How do we develop groups? It’s a really frightening thought.”
Harrod, meanwhile, remained hopeful that the tried and tested approach to building rising stars would still bear fruit going forward.
“We have to be proactive,” he said. “We have to get out, we have to support the new acts. Push them, get them out, and that’s it. It’s always been that. Nothing is easy. It’s [about] supporting bands, keeping doing those 200 and 300-cap shows and enjoying them.”
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Mad Cool promoters prepare new central site
Organisers of Mad Cool Festival are busily finalising preparations on their brand new site for this year’s edition, in an effort to make the event more accessible for fans.
The festival’s management have secured use of a location south of Madrid city centre in the Villaverde District, which is at the centre of long-term plans for development as a cultural hub for the capital city. The three-day festival kicks off next Thursday, 6 July.
Mad Cool’s promoters have inked a pact with Madrid City Council to help transform the Villaverde site, which benefits from extensive public transport connections – a move which will also help meet the festival’s sustainability goals.
“Our main goal is to create a creative and environmentally friendly space of cultural development in Europe, to transform the area into a cultural hub for people who are environmentally conscious as well as lovers of art and music,” says Mad Cool director Javier Arnáiz. “The new site will increase tourism in the area whilst promoting the creation of new jobs in the area.
The proximity of the venue to the city centre is vital to strengthen the ties with the community and to ensure that everyone can enjoy the experience.
“This new location will be more accessible for festival goers, thanks to the extensive transportation network which also facilitates a more responsible and sustainable mobility. The venue capacity is 70,000 pax per day. We have built, everything from the ground, with great infrastructures that are totally prepared for any [inclement] weather, such as the absorption of rain.”
The relocation of the festival, closer to the centre of Madrid, has been embraced by fans, with general access tickets for the Saturday sold out while other passes can still be purchased via Mad Cool’s official channels. Organisers anticipate a large international audience for the event, alongside local residents and buyers from elsewhere in Spain.
In its new Villaverde home. Mad Cool will boast eight stages “with an incredible sound and space to enjoy the three days full of good vibes, music, sun… in the center of Madrid,” notes Arnáiz.
He continues, “Madrid is now one of the essential stops [for] national and international tours. Our line-up consists of 101 bands including huge names such as The Black Keys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lizzo, Mumford and Sons, Queens of the Stone Age, Ava Max, Sam Smith, The 1975, Nova Twins, Robbie Williams, Lil Nas X, Kaleo, Morgan, Franz Ferdinand, Tash Sultana, Paolo Nutini, Rina Sawayama, Jamie XX, Primal Scream, Machine Gun Kelly, among others.”
Having established itself as a summer destination for people in the music industry to meet and mingle, Arnáiz adds, “Our goal has always been to create an event and space capable of hosting major music stars, where the venue and its services would be one of the festival’s headliners, and where the audience – all the audience – would feel at home. People are really perceiving it this way, and the festival’s growth and establishment are happening very quickly. The proximity of the venue to the city centre is vital to strengthen the ties with the community and to ensure that everyone can enjoy the experience.”
Tickets for Mad Cool 2023 can be purchased here, with prices starting at €85 + booking fee.
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LN Spain sues council in €2m GNR sponsorship row
Live Nation Spain is taking legal action against Vigo council over the voiding of a near €2 million municipal sponsorship deal for Guns N’ Roses’ recent concert in the city.
The promoter stepped up to guarantee the 12 June date at Estadio Abanca Balaidos “out of respect to the fans” after it was plunged into doubt due to an “administrative error”, when local production company Sweet Nocturna allegedly failed to present the relevant documentation.
Sweet Nocturna argued the requested deed was “subject to confidentiality and data protection to which local companies have no possibility of access or management”.
According to El Periodico de Espana, LN Spain president Pino Sagliocco says the GNR show “would never have been possible” without the council’s €1.9m sponsorship pledge, and vows to pursue the authority “with all the laws”. “We have no choice but to claim our rights,” he adds.
The organisers say they are taking legal action to ensure “these bad, arbitrary practices do not happen again for the good of the sector”
The gig, which was attended by around 28,000 people, was described by Sagliocco – who has previously brought acts such as the Rolling Stones, Madonna and Muse to Vigo – as “one of the best concerts in the history of Galicia”. Sagliocco says he pressed ahead with the event given the “emotional and economic consequences”, claiming that cancelling would have undermined Vigo’s “prestige”.
Nonetheless, the organisers allege the show “was in danger at all times due to the malpractice of the Vigo City Council,” adding they are taking legal action to ensure “these bad, arbitrary practices do not happen again for the good of the sector”.
However, a joint press conference by Sagliocco and Sweet Nocturna planned for last Friday (16 June) was cancelled, leading Vigoe to speculate that a settlement may have been reached with the authorities.
Guns N’ Roses, who are represented by ITB outside North America, also performed in Spain at Madrid’s Civitas Metropolitan Stadium on Friday 9 June as part of the European leg of their We’re F’N’ Back! Tour. The US band also has upcoming festival headline dates at Tons of Rock in Norway (21 June), this weekend’s Glastonbury festival (24 June) and BST Hyde Park in London (30 June).
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LN Spain allays fears over Guns N’ Roses’ Vigo gig
Next week’s Guns N’ Roses’ show in Vigo, Spain is set to go ahead after being thrown into doubt due to an “administrative error”.
More than 25,000 tickets have been sold for the concert at Estadio Abanca Balaidos on Monday 12 June. But reports surfaced last week that a €1.9 million municipal sponsorship deal for the gig had been declared void after local production company Sweet Nocturna allegedly failed to present the relevant documentation.
According to Vigoe, the firm told Vigo City Council that the requested deed “is not a document that exists as such in most cases”, due to nature of artist contracts.
Around 22,000 tickets were sold for the show on its first day of sale
“On these agreements, there is usually no contract as such, nor some deeds,” it said, arguing that the documentation between the artist and agency/promoter was “of a private commercial nature” and was therefore “subject to confidentiality and data protection to which local companies have no possibility of access or management”.
Nevertheless, Faro De Vigo reports that national promoter Live Nation Spain has guaranteed the GNR event, agreeing to assume the expenses resulting from the sponsorship shortfall “out of respect for the fans”. Around 22,000 tickets were sold for the show on its first day of sale.
The US band, who are represented by ITB outside North America, will also perform in Spain at Madrid’s Civitas Metropolitan Stadium on Friday (9 June) as part of the European leg of their We’re F’N’ Back! Tour. The group also has a slate of festival headline dates including at Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium (15 June), Denmark’s Copenhell (17 June), Tons of Rock in Norway (21 June) and the UK’s Glastonbury festival (24 June) and BST Hyde Park (30 June).
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Gay Mercader honoured by Spanish government
Live Nation Spain’s Gay Mercader has become the first rock promoter to receive the gold medal for merit in the fine arts (la Medalla de Oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes) from the Spanish government.
Born Lluís Jordi Mercader Aguilar in Barcelona in 1949, Mercader brought many household names to Spain for the first time, including The Rolling Stones (1976), Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley (both 1980), Bob Dylan (1984), and Michael Jackson (1988).
In 1973, the Spaniard launched his own company, Gay & Company (later, Gamerco) which was bought by Live Nation in 2006, marking the live entertainment giant’s first foray into Spain.
The Spaniard’s company Gamerco (formerly Gay & Company) was bought by Live Nation in 2006
The purchase brought Mercarder, along with Pino Saggliocco and Roberto Grima, under the Live Nation umbrella.
Spain’s minister of culture and sports, Miquel Iceta, says that one of the reasons for Mercader’s nomination is his organisation of The Rolling Stones’ first concert in Spain, “which was quite an event and put [the country] on the map for the great concert tours of artists such as Bob Dylan, AC / DC or The Cure, among many others”.
In Mercarder’s 40-year career, he has staged nearly 3,400 concerts and counts Keith Richards, Iggy Pop, Patti Smith and Sting among his friends.
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Live Nation Spain’s Cesar Andion plots AMF sequel
Live Nation Spain’s Cesar Andion tells IQ he hopes to establish the Andalucía Music Forum as an annual event following its successful launch earlier this month.
The newest gathering for the international music industry in southern Europe debuted at the Albeniz Cinema in Málaga from 5-7 September, attracting 350 delegates and speakers.
Showcases were limited to acts from guest country Mexico, alongside local Andalucían talent.
“We are all super-happy with how everything turned out – it was exactly what I had in my mind when I was designing it,” says Andion. “The attendance was perfect for deep and friendly networking, as we wanted AMF to be a forum and not a big conference fair.
“The vibe was friendly, professional, easy-going, laid back and fun, and Málaga was the perfect spot as a gateway for Latin America in Europe and vice-versa. It’s very different to most of music conferences and we want to keep it that way in terms of the concept, vibe and style.”
“We are also planning another one in Madrid that will be completely different to AMF”
Andion says the biggest organisational challenges concerned the timing.
“We organised it all in just a few months and during the summer, which is quite a hard time to work because everyone is either on holidays or working on festivals,” he says. “But we have a great team with pros in Europe like Ruud Berends (Netherlands) and Ignacia Snadoval (Germany), Fabrizio Onetto and Malfi Dorantes from Mexico, and of course Esteban Ruiz and Erica Romero in Andalucía. The Mad Cool team worked really hard to make it happen and I am very thankful to everyone.”
And not only does Andion now have a sequel in the works, he also has his sights set on launching a sister conference in Madrid.
“We are also planning another one in Madrid that will be completely different to AMF,” he reveals.
AMF is part of the Andalucía Big by Mad Cool project, which also included the new 30,000-cap Andalucía Big Festival, held near Sacaba Beach from 8–10 September, with acts such as Muse, Jamiroquai, Years & Years, Glass Animals, Michael Kiwanuka, Wolf Alice, Franz Ferdinand and Aurora.
“It’s a very ambitious project and has been a total success”
“The project is ‘big’, as it is titled, because it has three ‘legs’ as we say in Spanish: the pro forum, the festival and a tour of Andalucían provinces,” explains Andion. “It’s a very ambitious project and has been a total success. Málaga deserved a big festival as it’s one of the coolest and most visited cities in Spain, but also because it’s the cultural and event capital of Andalucía.
“The festival had incredible vibe, I was really impressed with the audience, which was Spanish in majority but with great attendance of Brits.”
Mad Cool Festival and The Spanish Wave are also teaming up to promote Spanish talent at next week’s International Festival Forum (IFF), ILMC’s invitation-only event for music festivals and booking agents. The event will mark the culmination of a nationwide project to find the best emerging acts from Spain.
Three Spanish artists – Hickeys, Irenegarry and Pablo Drexler – were chosen from more than 500 applications and will perform at the Mad Cool Festival & The Spanish Wave Presents showcase at London’s Camden Assembly from 9pm on Wednesday (28 September).
Spain is the guest country for IFF 2022, which takes place in London between 27-29 September.
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Pino Sagliocco appointed UNWTO tourism ambassador
Live Nation Spain chair Pino Sagliocco has followed in the footsteps of the likes of Giorgio Armani and Lionel Messi in being unveiled as the United Nations World Tourism Organisation’s (UNWTO) newest special ambassador.
Italian-born Sagliocco, who will be tasked with championing tourism as a pillar of sustainable development and opportunity in the new role, was recognised both for his career as a promoter and for his support of UNWTO, as illustrated by his presence at the 112th session of its executive council in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 2020.
He received the honour from UNWTO secretary-general Zurab Pololikashvili at a ceremony at the MOM Culinary Institute in Madrid.
“Music and tourism are both powerful vehicles for bringing people together”
“Music and tourism are both powerful vehicles for bringing people together, to celebrate culture and to peace and understanding,” says Pololikashvili. “UNWTO is proud to welcome Pino Sagliocco into our growing family of ambassadors and l look forward to working closely with him to grow sustainable tourism, both in Spain and worldwide.”
Sagliocco has worked with music legends such as Prince, Elton John, Queen, Madonna, the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney.
In 2017, Sagliocco was appointed a cavaliere (knight) of Order of the Star of Italy, an order of chivalry awarded to those who have boosted the profile of Italy abroad.
The knighthood, granted by the Italian president at the recommendation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, recognised what Caserto-born Sagliocco “has worked at ceaselessly for more than forty years: to keep Italian culture alive outside of Italy”.
Other career highlights included Sagliocco’s executive production of the Festival La Nit in 1988 – an event commissioned by the Barcelona 92 Olympic Organising Committee to celebrate the arrival of the Olympic flag to Barcelona.
The event included the official presentation of the song Barcelona by Montserrat Caballé and Freddie Mercury, with Sagliocco coming up with the idea to fuse the two styles and use the two artists.
Revisit IQ‘s feature on Sagliocco’s first 40 years in the music business here.
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Live Nation Spain spearheads industry benefit campaign
Live Nation Spain president Pino Sagliocco has galvanised some of the biggest names in the music, sport and film industries for a benefit campaign supporting the music industry.
Under the umbrella ‘The Carbonería del Siglo XXI’, Universal Music Spain, Sony Music Spain and Warner Music Spain have come together to re-record Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’ with more than 40 artists including Queen’s Brian May.
Renowed tennis star Rafa Nadal and film star Paz Vega are among the celebrities who appear in the video for the song, recorded in the studios of The Art House Records in Miami and produced by Grammy-award winner Julio Reyes Copello.
The stars that participated on the record will come together for a benefit concert
The single and the video were launched at a press conference hosted by the Live Nation Spain president in the Atletico de Madrid stadium last Thursday (15 April).
Following the success of the campaign, the stars that participated on the record will come together for a benefit concert as soon as the current Covid restrictions allows.
Sagliocco formed non-profit cultural association Carbonería del Siglo XXI to support and give voice to a sector especially devastated by the pandemic.
The associaton also comprises members of Es Música and Federación de Música, FPM Entertainment, the Latin Grammys and Lionfish Entertainment.
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