Superstruct’s Ritty van Straalen to exit the firm
Festival behemoth Superstruct Entertainment has announced that Ritty van Straalen is leaving the company on 1 November 2024.
Van Straalen has been the firm’s strategic advisor in the Benelux for the past year and was previously CEO of ID&T when it partnered with Superstruct in 2021.
Van Straalen first joined Dutch promoter ID&T in 2002, becoming a director of the dance music group a few years later and moving to New York to open its US office in 2013.
After three years away setting up his own business, he returned to ID&T as chief operating officer in 2019, before becoming CEO and steering ID&T through the pandemic.
At the height of the pandemic, ID&T signed a partnership agreement with Superstruct, which helped steer the company into a “safe haven” after a tough period that saw the company take out several loans, slash its workforce, and cancel its festivals, including Mysteryland, Defqon.1, Awakenings, and Milkshake.
“ID&T and Superstruct are entering the next phase of their development, and this feels like the right time to move on”
Van Straalen’s decision to leave Superstruct comes soon after it was acquired for €1.3bn by global investment giant KKR, with private equity firm CVC securing a stake in the firm earlier this week.
“After more than 20 years in various leadership roles and boards with ID&T and other international businesses, it is time to start a new chapter in my life,” he says. “ID&T and Superstruct are entering the next phase of their development, and this feels like the right time to move on.”
“Over the past few years, we have been able to continue building the company together with Superstruct, adding beautiful festival brands and various service companies to the portfolio. I look back with great pride on all we have achieved and am confident about the future of all our festivals. The future is open for me – I am looking forward to embracing a new challenge.”
Roderik Schlösser, Superstruct’s CEO, adds: “Ritty’s passion for the industry and dedication to our festival brands have not only contributed to the success of our business but also inspired others. Superstruct is grateful for Ritty’s strong commitment and valuable contributions over the years. We wish him every success with his future endeavours.”
Superstruct owns and operates over 80 music festivals across 10 countries in Europe and Australia, including Wacken Open Air, Parookaville, Tinderbox, Sónar, Øya, Benicàssim, Kendal Calling and Boardmasters. It was founded in 2017 by Creamfields founder and former Live Nation president of electronic music James Barton and Roderik Schlosser while at Providence Equity, which previously owned Superstruct.
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ID&T Group announces management reshuffle
Electronic music giant ID&T Group has adopted a one-tier board structure for 2020, as the company’s former COO Ritty van Straalen succeeds Wouter Tavecchio as CEO.
Tavecchio, who founded hardcore promoter Q-Dance in 2000, became CEO of ID&T Group following a merger of the two companies in 2006. He now serves as the chairman of ID&T Group’s board of directors.
Ushered in on 1 January, the changes also see ID&T co-founder Duncan Stutterheim return to the company as a non-executive board member. Stutterheim founded ID&T in 1992, selling the business to the late Robert Sillerman’s SFX Entertainment in 2013.
Stutterheim comments that it is “the right moment to return to the group in a completely different capacity and support the new generation.”
In addition to his role as Q-Dance creative director, Jonas Schmidt joins ID&T Group’s management team as chief creative officer, completing the team along with Bastiaan Heuft, Martijn van Daalen, Michael Guntenaar and Rosanne Janmaat.
“With the new management team, we start 2020 with the strongest setup possible”
“It was a great honour to operate as the head of this dynamic company for almost 15 years and in good faith I am passing on the baton,” says Tavecchio. “With the new management team, we start 2020 with the strongest setup possible and are poised for a bright future for all the brands and people that are part of the ID&T group.”
CEO van Straalen adds that the changes allow the team to “guarantee the creativity of ID&T for the long-term future”.
The management shake-up follows December’s appointment of former Tomorrowland Brazil booker Edo van Duijn to director of music.
The ID&T Group includes the companies b2s, ID&T Events, Q-dance, Monumental (Awakenings), Air Events, Art of Dance and VD Events. ID&T organises approximately 80 events a year, including festivals such as Mysteryland, Amsterdam Open Air, Vunzige Deuntjes, Thunderdome, Defqon.1 Weekend Festival, Awakenings, Decibel Outdoor and Masters of Hardcore.
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