Live Nation Sweden’s Summerburst called off
The 2023 edition of Sweden’s Summerburst festival has been cancelled by promoter Live Nation.
The electronic dance music staple had been slated for 2-3 June at the 75,000-cap Ullevi stadium in Gothenburg, with acts such as Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Galantis, Martin Garrix, Steve Akoi, Purple Disco Machine, Icona Pop, Meduza and Joel Corry.
However, its cancellation was confirmed in a message to fans on the Summerburst website, just days after its most recent line-up announcement.
“Unfortunately, we need to inform you that this year’s Summerburst will not take place as planned,” it says. “All ticket purchasers will be refunded. Words cannot describe how grateful we are for your support. We hope to see you all again soon.”
“We have decided to focus on the other festivals that take place during the spring and summer”
Organisers elaborated on the reasons for the decision in a statement released to Swedish publication Dagens Nyheter.
“We have decided to focus on the other festivals that take place during the spring and summer,” says a spokesperson.
Launched in 2011, Summerburst had been held in stadiums in both Gothenburg and Stockholm. Returning last year for its landmark 10th edition after a three-year break due to Covid, artists included Marshmello, David Guetta, Afrojack and Alan Walker.
Live Nation Sweden festivals still taking place over the summer include Sweden Rock Festival (7-10 June), Lollapalooza Stockholm (29 June-1 July) and Way Out West (10-12 August).
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Festival Focus: Anna Sjölund, Live Nation Sweden
In addition to her new role as SVP touring international for Live Nation, Anna Sjölund continues her festival work in Sweden overseeing Summerburst and serving on the board of Sweden Rock Festival. She brought Lollapalooza to Stockholm in 2019, which had a highly successful debut and then the pandemic hit. Here she tells us what it took to get through and looks ahead to the future.
How did you and the team get through the pandemic?
The first Lollapalooza Stockholm was fantastic. We had a great bill ready for the second year and then the pandemic struck. It was really tough for us mentally. In 2021, there was a window where it looked like we could have festivals, so we announced, but then everything closed down again. That was particularly challenging. I spent my pandemic time – apart from cancelling and moving shows – being one of the leaders of the industry movement that worked with authorities and politicians here. We’re a commercial company and never relied on government funding before. When the pandemic hit, we realised the people that held the crisis funds didn’t even know what the music business was, let alone festivals. So, we came together as an industry and spent time educating politicians about the value of our industry.
We got great support from [tourism organisation] Visit Stockholm. They see the value in Lollapalooza, especially considering that as a first-year festival 15% of our visitors came from outside Sweden (and this year, that increased to almost 19%). Those numbers are important for a city like Stockholm. So, we got funding – not enough to cover our losses but it meant we kept the majority of our team intact, thankfully.
When we finally got to have the festival this year, it was fantastic. We’re so happy that we got support from many of the acts who stayed on the bill and from everyone who came. It was just amazing to come back and do the festival again.
“I think that the ‘experience’ will be increasingly important”
What trends do you think we will see play out in the next few years at festivals?
Rock music seems to be coming back at the moment, which I love. I also think that the ‘experience’ will be increasingly important. A festival is something you attend all day, and we want people to have a great time from early until late. People expect more every year because the ticket prices go up, but we can offer a great experience for everyone. We have high-end stuff for the people that want that, which means we also can deliver a great product for the kids that saved up their money to come.
Local artists are going to be very important in the coming years because touring costs are up, and the dollar exchange rate is challenging. Having strong local talent that attracts a local audience means you don’t have to programme only the very expensive international talent. We’re in a great position for that because we have very strong local talent in Sweden.
What challenges does the festival industry face?
Staffing, production costs, and the dollar exchange rate. We’re aiming to improve the staffing issue by launching a trainee programme, which will see people working on our festivals on six- to 12-month contracts; we’ll train and pay them. We’re focusing the recruitment outside our standard channels because we want new people. They aren’t obliged to stay with us after the programme, but I hope they will.
“Now more than ever, we need places where we gather and enjoy things together, no matter our background or political views”
Together with Spotify we are the main partners to IFPI on You+ Music, an initiative for youth from urban areas of Sweden. The aim is to open the door and inspire young people with a love of music to work with it – they’ve heard you can be an artist, producer, promoter, or manager – we’re showing them how to get there.
Why are festivals important, and what role do they play in our cultural landscape?
Festivals have a huge role in people’s lives. Live music is very important for many reasons, but festivals in particular, because now more than ever, we need places where we gather and enjoy things together, no matter our background or our political views.
With Lollapalooza, we have people travelling from all over the world to come to Stockholm, and we’re showing the best we have here, so festivals are a great way to showcase your culture.
Finally, festivals employ so many people, from cleaning squads to food sellers, and that’s really important. You’re putting together teams of people who don’t know each other. And it’s a great way to integrate and find communities together.
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Live Nation & Luger launch ‘The Shuffle Ticket’
Live Nation and its Luger subsidiary have launched The Shuffle Ticket, a scratchcard-style promotion offering fans tickets to a randomly selected concert in Sweden.
For 300 SEK (€27), fans will receive two tickets to an event in Stockholm, Gothenburg or Malmö between February and September 2023, but will not discover what show they will be seeing until scratching off their ticket post-purchase.
“When you buy the ticket at shuffleticket.se, a physical ticket is sent to your home,” fans are advised. “Scratch it, and you’ll find a link to your digital tickets.”
The promotion features more than 100 shows of all sizes, including gigs by artists such as Bruce Springsteen, The Weeknd, Arctic Monkeys, Coldplay, First Aid Kit, Louis Tomlinson and The Chats, as well as festivals including Lollapalooza Stockholm, Way Out West, Summerburst and Melodifestivalen.
Designed in collaboration with creative collective Forsman & Bodenfors, the initiative is mainly aimed at younger music fans.
“We hope The Shuffle Ticket will give young people the chance to discover new music in an exciting way”
“We hope The Shuffle Ticket will give young people the chance to discover new music in an exciting way,” says Luger project manager Christa Murley, as per Little Black Book.
“During 2022, ticket sales went up again after two years of a negative trend caused by the pandemic,” notes Live Nation Sweden CEO Mattias Behrer. “People are eager to hear live music again. Our new ticket encourages young people to be a part of a new concert experience.”
The first ticket drop took place yesterday (25 January) and sold out in minutes, with further sales to take place on 1 February and 8 February.
Emilie Olsson Lignell, project and campaign manager at Live Nation Sweden, adds: “Putting a playlist on shuffle is a great way to discover new favourites, so why not do the same with live shows? We hope many young people will find their new favourite artists.”
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Live Nation ups convertible note offering to $900m
Live Nation has increased its offering to $900 million in aggregate principal amount of its 3.125% convertible senior notes due 2029, up from the previously announced $850m.
A convertible note is a form of short-term debt that converts into equity. The promoting giant says it intends to use a portion of the net proceeds from the offering to fund the cost of entering into capped call transactions – an option that automatically sells a stock if the price goes beyond or below some predetermined price.
LN intends to use the remainder to “effect the repurchase of a portion of its 2.5% convertible notes due 2023, to pay related fees and expenses and for general corporate purposes”.
The cap price of the capped call transactions will initially be $144.52 per share, representing a premium of 100% over the last reported sale price of the company’s common stock of $72.26 per share on NYSE.
On 9 January 9, the company agreed to repurchase approximately $440m in aggregate principal amount of the existing convertible notes from a limited number of holders.
“We look forward to creating one of the most attractive venues with a modern and dynamic mix of concerts as well as musicals and other events”
Elsewhere, Live Nation Sweden has announced that it has acquired Stockholm’s historic Göta Lejon venue, which has attracted artists such as Metallica, AC/DC and Patti Smith since opening in 1928.
Shows previously in the diary will take place as scheduled through April 2023 ahead of Live Nation beginning a full renovation of the venue to provide artists with options for both standing and seated audiences. It will reopen in 2024 with an increased capacity of 1,400, up from 1,100.
The executive team will be led by former Cirkus Arena, Stockholm CEO Palle Gustafsson, who will run day-to-day operations in close connection with the local Live Nation team.
‘We’re thrilled to add Göta Lejon to the Live Nation family,” says Live Nation Sweden MD Mattias Behrer. “With its location right in the city centre, it’s a great venue for artists, promoters and producers, and we look forward to growing the range of outstanding live experiences on offer to fans in Stockholm. We look forward to creating one of the most attractive venues with a modern and dynamic mix of concerts as well as musicals and other events.”
Swede Sensation: Sweden Market Report
When arena-dwelling Swedish metal band Sabaton attempted to get back out on the road again in early 2022, the challenges of late-pandemic international travel soon scuppered the plan. So it was replaced with another: a tour of just about everywhere in Sweden.
“We did 30 dates and sold 40,000 tickets,” says promoter David Maloney of All Things Live Sweden. “It was unique because no one has done a tour like that, ever, in Sweden. We played markets where we sold 2,000 tickets in a town where 4,000 people live.
“They are an arena band – they have a show next year at the [former] Globe in Stockholm, and they’ve sold 10,000 tickets for that. But rather than sitting at home complaining, they said, ‘Fuck this shit, we’ll go out on tour. If there’s a stage and a roof, we’ll play there.’ And we played places in Sweden I had never even been to.”
Maybe we’re not on the brink of a world in which every band has to rip up small Swedish towns like Mölnlycke, Ålmhult, or Ronneby to make a living, but Maloney still believes there is a lesson here.
“In one sense, that’s the way it has to be in future,” he says. “If you want to play for an audience maybe you have to change your whole way of thinking. Especially for local bands. There’s a limited amount of big stages, a limited amount of festivals, a limited number of people.”
With its sturdy and experienced promoters, its plentiful festivals, and its smallish population, it is true that Sweden is not an easy place in which to innovate, and it is hard to find pockets of demand that aren’t being catered for by someone.
“We are quite a mature and well-developed and well-exploited market,” says FKP Scorpio partner and promoter Niklas Lundell. “If you want to develop a new concept and you think you are going to be on your own,” he notes wryly, “maybe Scandinavia is not your priority market if you know what I mean.”
“We are quite a mature and well-developed and well-exploited market”
With the exception of some small clubs in Stockholm where rents have rendered the grassroots business model inadequate, Sweden has more or less everything it needs. World-class venues? Check. Well-heeled audiences? Definitely.
A spot on every serious European touring schedule. No problem. Big, loud festivals and cool boutique ones? No need to ask twice.
Sweden is a model of a compact, modern market, with three very viable touring cities in Stockholm, Malmö, and Gothenburg. And at the mass-market end of the scale, at least, the post-pandemic boom has been a thoroughly fulfilling experience.
“It’s doing very well,” says Thomas Johansson, father of the Swedish live business and Live Nation’s chairman of international music and Nordics.
“We have just finished a bunch of outdoor shows: Iron Maiden, Rolling Stones, Lady Gaga all sold out stadiums. Then, we had a lot of other shows that have done very well all over Scandinavia, so I would say the business is good.”
As with any prosperous market, Sweden in the first year after the pandemic gives every appearance of being in the form of its life, but as always, the glory of the packed-out arenas and stadiums does not necessarily reflect right across the business.
“The shows that are suffering most from poor ticket sales in the post-Covid period are the ones that would usually sell 700-2,000 tickets,” says Edward Janson of increasingly diversified rock and metal specialist TADC, formerly Triffid And Danger Concerts.
“The big shows are doing well but it’s rather difficult in the middle segment these days”
“The smaller club shows are doing okay, and the big shows are doing well. But it’s rather difficult in the middle segment these days,” he adds, noting that ticket sales are currently around 25 to 30% down.
Johansson notes a similar trend when it comes to artists a little further down the scale. “Generally, the big artists are doing very well, whether they are local or international,” he says. “The mid-range artists are a little softer, the smaller club acts, too. Basically, it’s because there are so many tickets on sale. A lot of people were sitting with tickets for 2020, and then all of a sudden they were sitting with tickets for 2021, and when 2022 came around they already had five or six tickets booked.”
Certainly, there are challenges, even for an affluent market like Sweden. “There is huge competition now, since almost all artists are touring at the same time,” says Janson. “And inflation is rising, and the Swedish krona is getting weaker compared to the dollar and the euro. With that said, during the upcoming winter, I’m sure that it will stabilise and that ticket sales will go back to where they were before the pandemic.”
Svensk Live, the local live music body that gathers together clubs, festivals, promoters, and agents, recently launched its Life is Live campaign with performing arts group Svensk Scenkonst, aimed at encouraging fans to return to live events at all levels. Operations manager Joppe Pihlgren says there is a strong sense of industry cohesion around such initiatives.
“We have 270 members in Svensk Live,” he says. “We have the big companies, but they also understand that if you don’t have the grassroots then ultimately everything else suffers. We had that kind of [indie vs corporate] struggle a little bit more in the past, but we have got all these people very much together now.
“We have a youth organisation where [Live Nation] bring in volunteers to work for Lollapalooza. And we have a climate project as part of Way Out West – though we also do things with FKP Scorpio.”
“There is huge competition now, since almost all artists are touring at the same time”
And while Sweden may be a highly mature market, with plenty of corporate interest, it is also a major global pop and rock producer with plenty of self-esteem, and one in which local identity remains strong. Pihlgren, himself a home-grown rock star as the frontman of veteran Swedish band Docenterna, is heartened by the rise of local acts to arena and even stadium level.
“Before, it was just Springsteen and the big international artists who could fill up a stadium, but now you have [Gothenburg-born star] Håkan Hellström selling out [four nights in August at Gothenburg’s] Ullevi stadium. Laleh also sold it out in the summer, and we have a lot of smaller acts coming through.”
Promoters
Historically one of Live Nation’s safest markets, Sweden hasn’t got a great deal more perilous for the business’s biggest player lately. As well as taking the lion’s share of the stadium and arena touring business, the corporate owns leading indie and Way Out West founder Luger and holds majority shares in the Summerburst and Sweden Rock festivals, as well as being the local custodian of Lollapalooza since 2019.
As thrill-starved punters all rush to the biggest concerts they can find, the current conditions were made for Live Nation. “This year has been a fantastic vintage,” says Johansson. “And 2023 is shaping up to be yet again an enormous year. We put Bruce Springsteen on sale a month ago – two Copenhagens, two Oslos, and three Gothenburgs – and we sold 400,000 tickets in a day.”
FKP, very much the challenger to Live Nation in the Nordic markets and elsewhere, helped to spearhead the increasingly ubiquitous tendency among Nordic promoters to operate across the region and has had a full set of Scandinavian offices for around five years.
“We are super, super close,” says Lundell. “It has been good to unite our forces and see what we can do jointly, and whoever is best placed to take a lead can basically do it for all four territories.”
“For your own health it’s hard, because ticket sales have picked up really late”
Among its Swedish exploits this year are ten Ullevi stadiums for Ed Sheeran and three for Rammstein; one and four, respectively, for Swedish stars Laleh and Håkan Hellström; shows for Gorillaz; and a new festival, the Rosendal Garden Party, and an older one, Where’s The Music in Norrköping.
“I think there is definitely potential to develop [in the Nordics], but it is also one market, or several markets, that have been dominated by one player,” says Lundell. “So it is about just slowly growing and showing that there’s an alternative and that we can do a good job with both big and small shows and be creative and fast. Showing that there is not a monopoly situation here, that there’s other promoters to speak to.”
The Waterland-backed All Things Live was born in 2018 as a pan-Scandinavian operator built from Denmark’s ICO; Norway’s Friction and Atomic Soul; and Sweden’s Blixten & Co and Maloney Concerts, and had scarcely formed when Covid struck.
“It was an exciting time because we actually had a chance to work together as a group,” says Maloney. “And then it was a bit of an odd feeling, that we were ready to go and then nothing. But now it’s all great.”
Coming out of the pandemic, all promoters have had to learn the new language of the market, including highly unpredictable, occasionally heart-stopping sales patterns.
“I have to say that the big shows we are doing, at least, have sold really, really well – although for your own health it’s hard, because ticket sales have picked up really late,” says Maloney. “We did one show with Green Day in June [at Stockholm’s Tele2 Arena], and in the last two weeks sales just exploded. We came to the level we wanted to be, but a month before the show we were thinking, ‘What’s going on?’ It’s a new chapter, you don’t have anything to go on.”
As the Sabaton example shows, Maloney remains passionate about the idea of creative thinking be- tween promoters and artists. “The thing that we want to remain is independent,” says Maloney.
“This year, we had time to try new products such as climate-friendly fuel”
“We want to have artists come first, and that is our whole point. On some occasions, we will make a deal for all four Nordic countries. Sometimes we just do it in Norway or Sweden or Finland or Denmark. But we want to have the flexibility to work with the artist rather than telling them, ‘This is what we need to do, or nothing.’”
TADC, meanwhile, has diversified while maintaining its roots in rock and metal. Upcoming shows include Manowar, Helloween, Uriah Heep, and WASP, but this year it has sold 10,000 tickets for 50 Cent and also staged Simply Red, Don McLean, and The Beach Boys.
“When TADC started in 2015, our focus was mainly on rock and metal,” says Janson. “Still the majority of our shows are within rock and metal, but we have broadened our focus a lot. During 2023 we will do even more shows in other types of music.”
TADC expanded into Norway and Denmark in 2021 and maintains offices in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Oslo, and Copenhagen. “Sweden, Norway, and Denmark are definitely still different markets with different cultures, but we’re in a good position when we can make offers for all three countries,” says Janson.
Festivals
Everyone knows just how much pain festivals, in particular, suffered in 2020 and 2021, as their annual glorious moment was, in most cases, snuffed out not just once but twice. So 2022 has been a major relief for Sweden’s big names, including 30-year-old rock and metal festival Sweden Rock, which returned in June to Norje in southern Sweden for the first time since 2019, with Volbeat, In Flames, and Guns N’ Roses at the top of the bill.
“It was great to be back. Even better than I hoped,” says man-ageing director Jon Bergsjö. “Our visitors, artists, and staff were very positive and enjoyed the festival.” One silver lining of the three-year lay-off was the time to plan, says Bergsjö, with particular emphasis on experience – waiting times, F&B choice, clean toilets – and sustainability.
“We make changes every year to become more sustainable,” he says. “This year, we had time to try new products such as climate-friendly fuel, and we got a lot further in getting all our food stands to make better choices about cutlery, plates, and other single-use products. We even started serving the draft beer and drinks in specialised paper cups.”
“We ended up selling 50,000 tickets in a market like Malmö that has never had this kind of event before”
Luger’s Way Out West was the first Swedish festival to shout about sustainability, and it is now meat-free, milk-free, and climate-trans- parent. It returned in August with Robyn, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Burna Boy, and First Aid Kit.
Elsewhere, in no order of size, Swedish collective Ladieslovehiphop (LLHH) partnered with Live Nation Sweden and Luger on the 2022 Ladieslovehiphop Festival. The boutique festival, which debuted at Trädgården in Stockholm in 2019, returned on 19-20 August at Fållan & Slakthusområdet in Stockholm with an eclectic female-led line-up starring Stefflon Don, Ayra Starr, Ivorian Doll, Baby Tate, Shaybo, and Dreya Mac.
Of the other Live Nation-related festivals, the two-day electronic Summerburst Festival returned to Ullevi in Gothenburg in June, and Lollapalooza Stockholm – the first Lolla in the Nordics – finally got its second edition in July by the water in Gärdet, with Imagine Dragons, The Killers, Pearl Jam, Lorde, and Post Malone on board.
The big event of the year for All Things Live in Sweden is the acquisition of Malmö’s Big Slap Festival. Founded in 2013, the previously one-day event was one of Sweden’s largest electronic dance music festivals, with a daily capacity of around 15,000 attendees. This year, All Things Live bumped Big Slap up to two days, relocated it from Tallriken park to Nyhamnen on the city’s waterfront, got Justin Bieber on board and was vindicated in doing so.
“We ended up selling 50,000 tickets in a market like Malmö that has never had this kind of event before. People talk about Malmö being Sweden’s Miami, and we could see that at Big Slap.”
TADC has two festivals in Gefle Metal Festival and Atlas Rock, both in Gävle on Sweden’s Baltic Sea coast. “Gefle Metal Festival has grown into an event that fans of extreme metal see as an event that you need to go to,” says Janson. “This is the place where you meet all the other fans of the music and see the bands that don’t play at any of the other festivals.
“This year, we also did the first edition of our new festival Atlas Rock, with acts like Scorpions, Alice Cooper, and Black Label Society. We believe that this also will be an established festival very soon with an audience that keeps returning.”
“The market in Sweden has recovered great from the closedown during the pandemic”
The promoter is also exploring ways of keeping its flagship Gefle Fest active year-round, with a smaller indoor edition in the winter and a Gefle Metal Cruise in the spring. FKP Scorpio’s four-day Rosendal Garden Party launched this year as part of a trio of new festivals also including Loaded in Norway and Syd for Solen in Denmark. It took place on the Djurgården island in central Stockholm, with headliners The Strokes, Florence + The Machine, The National, and Tyler, The Creator, and drew 10-15,000 a day.
“It was a really good first year, and the experience was fantastic,” says Lundell, who also senses a return to old ways of independent creative thinking in the festival market. “Ten to 15 years ago, all the festivals went from being run by a bunch of patient souls out in the nowhere lands to becoming part of a bigger strategy and a new framework,” he says.
“That is maybe going back on itself a little bit. I think people will move away from concentrating on the urban markets, and I think a lot of fantastic new ones will be popping up around the country.”
Venues
ASM Global’s Stockholm Live has the capital’s venue market pretty well cornered. Since 2008, the company (as AEG Facilities) has operated the 6,000-14,500-capacity Avicii Arena (formerly the Ericsson Globe), the 8,100-cap Hovet, and the 3,400-cap Annexet. In 2013, it added the new Tele2 Arena in south Stockholm, with configurations for between 18,000 and 37,000, and in 2017 took over the 30,000-57,000-cap Friends Arena in Solna in Stockholm County, north of the city centre.
Last year, ASM Global signed a long-term lease to manage the Södra Teatern, a theatre venue with a capacity of up to 600, and Mosebacketerrassen, a rooftop terrace that can accommodate around 2,000 people.
“The market in Sweden has recovered great from the closedown during the pandemic, and after being up and running for a couple of months, we do see an increasing demand for live acts again,” Stockholm Live event sales director Jenny Blomqvist told IQ’s Global Arenas Guide.
“The challenge for the industry in Sweden is to get back to its previous strength again, focusing on all the staff rehires we need, at the same time as educating and developing our organisation for the coming months of events – all this while delivering the acts in our arenas today.”
“Today we face a completely new challenge in trying to foresee even the next six months”
And as for everyone, the future is suddenly harder to read, in all kinds of ways. “Today we face a completely new challenge in trying to foresee even the next six months, as the market is not acting as it did before the pandemic,” says Blomqvist. “International shows are released with shorter sales periods than previously – two to five months – so whereas in previous years we would have known by now how the summer of 2023 would be, today we are still releasing shows for 2022. So we have to be even more flexible in our calendars and have tighter deadlines in all we do.”
The change to the name of the venue known as The Globe, or Globen in Swedish, came as a tribute to local DJ and producer Avicii. The iconic building is now also a hub for initiatives focused on young people’s mental health, in cooperation with sponsors [home improvement store] Bauhaus and [insurance company] Trygg-Hansa.
Also new, in a very different vein, is the introduction of AXS’s new AXS Mobile ID ticket across the Stockholm Live venues. The ticket is non-transferable, except through AXS, and is intended as an antidote to the illicit secondary market.
“What we see with Rammstein, Ed Sheeran, and these other big artists is they want personalised tickets; they don’t want their tickets to end up on the secondary market at ten times the price, and this is a way to guarantee that,” says Jay Sietsema, AXS general manager, Sweden.
Other key venues in Sweden include the Malmö Arena, which has a capacity of 13,000 for sports (predominantly ice hockey) and 15,500 for concerts, and, of course, the Ullevi Stadium. The stadium’s all-time crowd remains the 70,144 pulled by local boy Håkan Hellström on 5 June 2016 – beating the old record of 70,091 set the previous night, and comfortably exceeding the 69,349 that came through the turnstiles two days later.
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The LGBTIQ+ List 2022: Jonas Sjödén, Live Nation Sweden
The LGBTIQ+ List 2022 – IQ Magazine’s second annual celebration of queer professionals who make an immense impact in the international live music business – was published in the Pride edition (issue 112) last month.
The July 2022 issue, which is available to read now, was made possible thanks to support from Ticketmaster.
To get to know this year’s queer pioneers a little better, we interviewed each individual on their challenges, triumphs, advice and more.
Throughout the next month, IQ will publish a new interview each day. Catch up on the previous interview with Joel Siviour, director & booking agent at Seismic Talent Agency in Australia.
The series continues with Jonas Sjödén (he/him/his), chief financial officer at Live Nation Sweden.
Tell us about a personal triumph in your career.
A great personal triumph for me was being part of the strategy behind bringing both Summerburst and Sweden Rock Festivals into the Live Nation family. For me personally, it has become one of my proudest moments in my career.
What advice could you give to young queer professionals?
Always be yourself and be proud of who you are. Most people are more open-minded than you might think.
What’s the best mistake you’ve ever made?
I was heading to one of our concerts but went to the wrong arena. There was only me and another guy there, while thousands of fans were on the other side of the city – at the correct arena. We then went together to the actual concert, and become more than friends after that.
Tell us about a professional challenge you’ve come across as a queer person in the industry.
Having kids as a gay man was challenging in the beginning, many years ago. Now my kids are teenagers and so much has improved in terms of the view of rainbow families.
“I try to take my responsibility by being as open and relaxed as possible, talking openly about any type of ‘sensitive’ topics”
One thing the live industry could do to be a more inclusive place?
More education on what LGBTQ+ means and widen the recruitment pool.
A cause you support.
I try to take my responsibility by being as open and relaxed as possible, talking openly about any type of “sensitive” topics and being proud of who I am.
The queer act you’re itching to see live this year
It would be great to see Lil Nas X and I’m beyond excited about Lady Gaga and The Chromatica Ball Tour, playing here in Stockholm in July.
Your favourite queer space.
Stockholm Pride and of course Melodifestivalen, the annual Swedish song competition leading up to Eurovision Song Contest, which Live Nation Sweden is co-producing locally.
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LGBTIQ+ List 2022: This year’s queer pioneers revealed
IQ Magazine has revealed this year’s LGBTIQ+ List – the second annual celebration of queer professionals who make an immense impact in the international live music business.
The landmark list is the centrepiece of IQ’s second Pride edition, which will be available for subscribers online and in print, in the coming days.
The 20 individuals comprising the LGBTIQ+ List 2022 – as nominated by our readers and verified by our esteemed steering committee – are individuals that have gone above and beyond to wave the flag for an industry that we can all be proud of.
The sophomore class comprises agents, promoters, CFOs, CIOs, tour managers, marketing managers and more – all of whom identify as LGBTIQ+ and, in the face of adversity, have made enormous contributions to their respective sectors.
In alphabetical order, the LGBTIQ+ List 2022 is:
Alexander Rastén Rydberg, head of diversity and talent management, Dansk Live (DK)
Alexandra Ampofo, promoter, Metropolis Music (UK)
Can Büyükcinar, head of operations, Wizard Promotions Konzertagentur (DE)
Cloe Gregson, senior events manager, Manchester Pride (UK)
David Davies, founder and head of live, Double D Live (UK, IE)
David Jones, chief information officer, AEG Global Technology (UK)
Georgie Lanfranchi, tour manager for Years & Years, Only Helix (UK)
Hatice Arıcı, promoting director/ artist agent, Charmenko (TR)
James Fleury, marketing lead, Ticket Swap (NL)
Jill Wheeler, director of booking, Red Mountain Entertainment (US)
Joel Siviour, director & booking agent, Seismic Talent Agency (AU)
Jonas Sjödén, CFO, Live Nation Sweden (SE)
Natalie Rudland, senior promotions assistant, Live Nation (UK)
Nikos Kazoleas, agent, UTA (UK)
Nix Corporan, fan support team lead, DICE (US)
Patrick Erhardt, senior manager content & creation, Goodlive (DE)
Patrick Janssen, marketing manager, Live Nation Germany (DE)
Paul Bonham, director of professional development, MMF (UK)
Peter Taylor, promoter, Cuffe and Taylor (UK)
Troy Suda, chief product officer, Ticketmaster (UK)
Throughout the next month, IQ will be publishing full-length profiles of each person on the LGBTIQ+ List 2022.
“We work in an industry that aims to entertain the entire population. And that population is made up of extremely diverse audiences,” says Ticketmaster’s Troy Suda in his profile.
Joel Siviour, Seismic Talent Agency, adds: “I’ve witnessed plenty of virtue-signaling from within our industry, but when push comes to shove there are companies whose actions don’t align with the values they claim to hold.”
Check out last year’s cohort of queer pioneers here.
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Ladieslovehiphop fest teams with LN Sweden & Luger
Swedish collective Ladieslovehiphop (LLHH) has partnered with Live Nation Sweden and Luger on the 2022 Ladieslovehiphop Festival.
The boutique festival, which debuted at Trädgården in Stockholm in 2019, returns from 19-20 August at Fållan & Slakthusområdet in Stockholm with an eclectic women-led line-up led by Stefflon Don, Ayra Starr, Ivorian Doll, Baby Tate, Shaybo and Dreya Mac.
Founded in 2014 as a DJ collective and club concept by childhood friends Nataša Marijana, Rebecca Tegegne and Linda Nápoles, LLHH has evolved into a cultural and creative movement.
“The festival presents both up-and-coming and internationally claimed headliners in hip-hop, R&B, afrobeats and their sub-genres”
“It feels amazing to finally have a proper festival summer after these past two years,” say Marijana and Tegegne. “We have curated a line-up of artists and DJs that we truly love and believe our community are excited to see perform.
“We will transform Stockholm’s very own meatpacking district into an indoor and outdoor festival area where our visitors can enjoy concerts during the day and dance all night long to DJ sets. Besides a carefully selected line-up, the festival will offer tasty vegetarian food, art installations and much more.”
Live Nation Sweden promoter Karolina Kozlowska adds, “Ladieslovehiphop, along with the booking agencies Luger and Live Nation Sweden have curated a line-up with the most interesting names in popular culture today. The festival presents both up-and-coming and internationally claimed headliners in hip-hop, R&B, afrobeats, and their sub-genres. Together, we offer a great mix of everything in pop music right now for all the music lovers out there.”
Curated across three stages, the event will also offer art installations and exhibitions, with each night culminating in DJ sets from the likes of Uncle Waffles and Jordss. A two-day pass costs SEK1,255 (€120).
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Live Nation Sweden appoints new head of agency
Live Nation Sweden has appointed booking agent Lina Pettersson as the new head of its agency division.
Pettersson, who formerly both an agent and head of sales for the company, says it feels “fantastic” to have been chosen to “lead and develop the business going forward. I am driven by being part of, and strengthening the work of, a progressive agency that manages and develops the artists’ live careers, from booking to touring.
“I think it is great that we as a company are focusing our resources and expertise, so that we can prioritise the initiatives which are most beneficial for the entire company and for our artists.”
Mattias Behrer, who was appointed Live Nation Sweden MD earlier this year, comments: “We have fantastic talent within the company, including many future leaders. I am incredibly happy about the opportunity to promote Lina Pettersson to take over responsibility for Live Nation’s agency operations. Lina has solid experience as both agent and manager of our booking team and is appreciated throughout the organisation, as well as by our artists and partners. She stands for strong and inclusive leadership, relationship building, strategic maturity and creativity.
“Lina stands for strong and inclusive leadership, relationship building, strategic maturity and creativity”
“I look forward to working with Lina, the entire agency team and all our resources to continue to give Sweden’s most exciting artists the best conditions to build their live careers at clubs and arenas around the country, as well as at the largest festivals and new digital platforms.”
LN Sweden’s international scope will also be expanded, adds Pettersson, “to give local artists a broader platform and take part in Live Nation’s global network”, with the company offering everything from marketing to partnerships, sponsorships, production services and promotion.
Live Nation Sweden’s roster of domestic talent includes the likes of Zara Larsson, Jonas Lundqvist, Agnes, Jëlly, Sabina Ddumba, the Ark, Per Gessle and Den Svenske Björnstammen.
Other Live Nation businesses in Sweden include leading promoter Luger, festivals Summerburst, Sweden Rock and Lollapalooza Stockholm and agency Appelgren Friedner, which joined Live Nation last year.
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Tales from Covid: Thomas Johansson, Live Nation
Ahead of the next issue of the magazine – which features concert business leaders offering their predictions for the industry’s post-coronavirus recovery – IQ is running a series of Q&As online looking at how our panel of experts are weathering the current crisis, as well as their forecasts for the months ahead.
Following the inaugural Tales from Covid with Australian veteran Michael Chugg, Live Nation’s chairman of international music and the Nordics, Thomas Johansson, chats working from home, Crew Nation and why live music will be a “tonic” after months in lockdown…
IQ: What professional lessons have you taken away from the Covid-19 outbreak?
TJ: My key takeaway has been to witness the outstanding dedication and hard work of our staff and promoters, who have responded to this unprecedented situation with flexibility and aplomb.
Live Nation in particular has stepped up with Crew Nation, a global fund to support the live infrastructure and the essential parts of our business who are experiencing a tough time at the moment. It makes me very proud to be a part of Live Nation when we all pull together in times of need.
Also, anyone who said home working doesn’t work was wrong!
“Live music is a major tonic and the whole world needs that”
When do you think the recovery might start, and what shape will it take?
It looks likely that the recovery will follow the pattern of the spread of the virus, with Asia opening up first, and Europe next, hopefully over the summer. Of course, we are planning for the other outcomes, too.
I’ve every faith in our business. It’s resilient and adaptable. I’m pretty sure that demand for live music will be stronger than ever when we get there.
What challenges do you think the industry will face in getting back up to speed?
We’ll need to bear disposable income in mind, of course, but we also need to remember that live music is a major tonic and the whole world needs that.
I have immense faith in our fans.
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