Driift plans Australia/New Zealand launch

Driift, the UK-based livestreaming business behind ticketed shows by the likes of Nick Cave, Laura Marling and Kylie Minogue, has hired veteran promoter Paul Sloan to spearhead its launch in Australia and New Zealand.

‘Sloanie’, the founder of Supersonic Enterprises and managing director of booking agency Billions Australia, will head up Driift’s operations down under, where the company is planning a slate of shows in venues in both countries.

Co-founded by Ric Salmon and Brian Message of ATC Management (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey, Faithless, Katie Melua), and with Beggars Group as a major shareholder, Driift officially broke cover in August. The company has already sold more than 100,000 tickets across the world to performances by Nick Cave, Biffy Clyro, Dermot Kennedy, Laura Marling, Lianne La Havas, James Bay and Sleaford Mods.

This weekend (Saturday 7 November), Driift will present two more high-profile shows, with Kylie Minogue streaming her immersive Infinite Disco and Niall Horan performing live from London’s Royal Albert Hall. Global sales for these two shows have already surpassed 125,000 tickets.

Ric Salmon, CEO of Driift, comments: “In what’s been a tough year, the growth of paid-for livestreaming has provided our industry with one of its few shoots of optimism. At Driift, we believe this is a format with enormous untapped potential, and one where the pandemic has unlocked previously unforeseen demand for unique, one-off, artist-led events.

“In what’s been a tough year, the growth of paid-for livestreaming has provided our industry with one of its few shoots of optimism”

“That demand has been strongly evident across Australia and New Zealand, which made expanding our operations down under an obvious step. With Nick and Kylie, Driift has already worked with two iconic Australians, and by bringing the experience of Sloanie onto the team we look forward to working with many more over the coming weeks and months. There are some exciting announcements ahead.”

“In this weird year I’ve been horrified by the amount of artists dropping their pants, literally and financially, by offering free, poorly produced live streams in their underwear,” adds Sloan. “What the industry needs now is another mechanism other than live performance to ensure artists and all their connected industry partners can still connect with fans and survive in a world where physical shows are just so uncertain and unreliable.

“I was so relieved to see Driift enter the market and to solve this problem with a model that honours the music and the art, and that is artist centric, with strong creative direction and high production values. I hate things that ignore the fact we are in a business about feelings, so am very proud to be involved with Driift as an enterprise that leans towards the artists, respects the music and delivers worthwhile and memorable streaming experiences.

“I think this curated approach will become one of the primary tools the artists and industry use to navigate us through these dark times, and beyond. I’m looking forward to seeing some great stuff happen with this great team.”

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