Roundhouse installs new venue director
Camden’s Roundhouse has appointed experienced venue specialist Rowan Kitching as its new venue director.
Kitching joins from The HAC [Honourable Artillery Company] and brings detailed knowledge of heritage venues and technical event delivery at expansive outdoor event spaces and exhibition centres, including the delivery of large scale global events for both London 2012 Olympics and Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Roundhouse stages hundreds of gigs, events and performances events each year, as well as a year-round creative programme for 11-30 year olds, including in the newly opened Roundhouse Works. Kitching is set to oversee the technical and production, visitor experience and estate teams, and will also spearhead the venue’s sustainability plans.
“I am dedicated to delivering world class events and what a fabulous stage on which to be doing that here”
“I am thrilled to be joining the team at the Roundhouse, at an exciting time for such an iconic music and arts venue,” says Kitching. “The uniqueness and heritage of the space excites me, but most importantly the support to our vital creative youth programme. I am dedicated to delivering world class events and what a fabulous stage on which to be doing that here.”
The 3,300-cap London venue, which has upcoming shows by artists including Amaarae, The Sisters of Mercy, Feist and PJ Harvey, works with 7,500 young people each year through a youth programme where 11-30 year-olds can take part in creative opportunities or use affordable studio space.
“I’m delighted to welcome Rowan to the team at the Roundhouse,” adds Marcus Davey, Roundhouse CEO and artistic director. “She brings a wealth of experience from across the events world, but greater than that is Rowan’s commitment to supporting the next generation of event professionals, something that is so important to us at the Roundhouse.”
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London’s Roundhouse announces new trustees
Camden’s Roundhouse has announced a number of new trustees who will join its board from across the creative industries in 2023.
Sherry Dzinoreva, who is Meta’s director of policy programmes, Africa, Middle East and Turkey (AMET), Rosie Luff, who advises on public affairs for Google in the UK, and creative art and socio-economic growth strategist Kojo Marfo will all join the Roundhouse board, alongside Skilled Education CEO Rajay Naik and Leo Wyndham of Apple-owned distribution and creative services firm Platoon.
The Roundhouse works with 7,500 young people each year through a youth programme where 11-30 year-olds can take part in creative opportunities or use affordable studio space that can ignite a passion, develop skills or help them turn their creativity into a career.
“I have no doubt that they will bring the skills, experience and creativity that will help drive forward the Roundhouse’s mission to raise the UK’s creative potential”
“I’m delighted to welcome a raft of talented new trustees to the Roundhouse Board,” says Roundhouse chair Simon Turner. “I have no doubt that they will bring the skills, experience and creativity that will help drive forward the Roundhouse’s mission to raise the UK’s creative potential.”
Upcoming concerts at the 3,300-cap Roundhouse over the next few weeks include Dry Cleaning, Raye, Young Fathers, Bullet For My Valentine and Pixies.
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Roundhouse Rising offers £1 tickets for under 30s
London’s Roundhouse has announced a partnership with Vice Media Group for the Roundhouse Rising Festival 2022.
The five-day emerging music event will take place at the 3,000-cap Camden venue from 4-8 October, with £1 tickets available across all shows to people aged 30 and under in response to the cost of living crisis.
Vice will curate the festival’s opening night, with the first names to be confirmed including Brooklyn multi-hyphenate artist and creator Talia Goddess, multidisciplinary artist Loshh and vocalist India Shan, who was handpicked from Roundhouse’s Resident Artists programme.
“Rising Festival is where Roundhouse comes into its own, as a home for incredible music experiences and also a world-class creative programme for young people,” says Roundhouse head of music Lucy Wood. “Rising develops, platforms and celebrates talent of the future, and I’m excited that Vice’s involvement will amplify this. We do a lot of excellent things at the Roundhouse, but this is definitely my favourite.”
As part of the new link-up, Vice’s music channel Noisey will also profile a number of Rising Festival’s featured artists as well as publishing additional editorial coverage across a range of Vice platforms.
“Vice is synonymous with finding new voices and providing a platform for diverse communities and individuals,” says Nadja White, chief marketing officer of Vice Media Group. “We are delighted to be working with Roundhouse to support the next generation of artists, providing a global platform for new talent and bringing in new audiences through our award-winning content.”
Roundhouse Rising’s subsequent three nights will be curated by BBC Music Introducing, Risen and Shesaid.so
The subsequent three nights at Roundhouse Rising 2022 will be curated by BBC Music Introducing, multi-venue London-based festival and club night Risen; and Shesaid.so, a global community connecting women, gender minorities and allies in the music industry.
The festival is also partnering with Deaf Rave which provides entertainment with music, sign song and visual performances to an all-inclusive audience, globally and across the UK. Line-ups to be confirmed.
Featuring across all Rising Festival gigs will be Beat Blocks. Beat Blocks is a haptic flooring system that takes input from any audio source and creates felt vibrations and audio output to give people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing a new way to experience gigs.
Running since 2011, Roundhouse Rising Festival offers a creative programme of performances, workshops and access to industry events and traineeships, supporting new and emerging artists as well as young people looking to progress their careers in off-stage music roles.
Over the last decade, it has hosted early-career performances from the likes of Little Simz, Jacob Banks, Greentea Peng, Kojey Radical and Kokoroko.
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Roundhouse announces BBC’s Lorna Clarke as trustee
London’s Roundhouse has announced BBC pop controller Lorna Clarke as a new trustee.
The 3,000-cap Camden venue and charity works with thousands of young creatives each year through music, performance, broadcast and digital projects in its in-house Roundhouse Studios.
Clarke is the BBC’s controller of pop music, with responsibility for national music networks BBC Radio 1, Radio 2, 6 Music, Radio 1Xtra, Asian Network) as well as live events, music television commissioning and the visualisation team.
“I’m thrilled that I am now a trustee of the Roundhouse, one of London’s leading creative hubs and iconic performance venues,” she says. “I look forward to playing my role in the future of the charity.”
“I have no doubt that Lorna’s wealth of experience will help us thrive in the coming months and years”
Bringing more than 30 years of broadcasting experience, Clarke previously worked with the venue when she was director of Electric Proms, which were hosted at the Roundhouse between 2006-2010, with performances from artists including Dame Shirley Bassey, James Brown, Oasis, Robbie Williams, Dizzee Rascal and Paul McCartney.
“I’m delighted to welcome Lorna to the board of trustees at the Roundhouse,” adds Roundhouse chair Simon Turner. ” We’re entering an incredibly exciting period as we emerge from the pandemic and expand our creative offer for young people. I have no doubt that Lorna’s wealth of experience will help us thrive in the coming months and years.”
Upcoming concerts at the venue include Sons of Kemet, Pale Waves, The Cribs, Sparks, Celeste, Ride and Girl in Red.
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Driift celebrates success with livestream concerts
UK-based virtual producer and promoter Driift is announcing a slate of ticketed livestream concerts after successful online events with Laura Marling, Lianne La Havas and Dermot Kennedy.
The company, founded by ATC Management’s Ric Salmon and Brian Message, trialled the pay-per-view livestream concerts with a performance from Laura Marling at the Union Chapel in London in June.
“Ticketed live streaming is currently a space that no one controls, and we believe there is a long-term and commercially viable business here. It’s incredibly exciting” says Salmon.
Capitalising on the success of Marling’s show, Driift has since produced livestream shows for Lianne La Havas at the Roundhouse and Dermot Kennedy at the Natural History Museum.
Kennedy’s livestream show, which took place last Thursday (30 June) and featured Normal People’s Paul Mescal, sold over 30,000 tickets worldwide and was broadcast live over four different time zones.
“It strikes me that this is just the beginning of an exciting opportunity for artists and their teams to create new art that many will choose to pay for,” says Message. “If we get this right, ticketed livestream productions, whether live shows or something not yet dreamt of, can comfortably sit alongside promotional videos, traditional live shows and other ways fans and artists relate.”
This is not a replacement for live, this is a coming of age for livestreaming
Now, with investment from shareholders Beggars Group, Driift is producing more high profile livestream shows including a one-off worldwide performance from Biffy Clyro on 15 August from an iconic Glasgow venue and a performance from Sleaford Mods at the 100 club on 12 September.
“We’ve felt for a long time that livestreaming has been undervalued,” says Ruth Barlow, director of live at Beggars Group.
“We’re excited about the creative and commercial opportunities for the business, the artists and their fans; who no longer have to be in a particular city at a particular time to experience unique live music events.
“This is not a replacement for live, this is a coming of age for livestreaming.”
Driift will oversee ticketing, production, licensing, rights management and digital marketing for the livestream concerts – allowing artists to rebuild live music into their release campaigns and overall strategies.
Having collaborated with live industry giants such as CAA, Dice, Universe/Ticketmaster, YouTube, Pulse Films and Jackshoot, Driift is expanding its offering outside of the UK, with a number of shows being set up in North America.
This article forms part of IQ’s Covid-19 resource centre – a knowledge hub of essential guidance and updating resources for uncertain times.
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Arthur Awards 2020: All the winners
The 26th annual Arthur Awards, the live music industry’s equivalent of the Oscars, took place at London’s Sheraton Grand Park Lane hotel last night. The awards, which take place as part of the ongoing International Live Music Conference (ILMC), honoured the industry’s best and brightest across 11 awards categories.
The prizes were handed out during the Arthur Awards Winners’ Dinner, hosted by CAA’s Emma Banks, who took to the stage in a full hazmat suit and gas mask emblazoned with the letters CAA across her back in hazard warning tape.
As the evening culminated with The Bottle Award, the unique industry achievement gong, Emma was invited back on stage to receive it, to loud applause and a standing ovation. “If I should say anything, it’s that we should all pick up the phone more,” she said. “You can’t have a relationship via text message or Whatsapp. We need to speak to each, to be more nice to each other.”
It was a successful night all round for CAA, as Summer Marshall won the Second Least Offensive Agent award.
The prizes were handed out during the Arthur Awards Winners’ Dinner, hosted by CAA’s Emma Banks
Elsewhere, Live Nation’s Kelly Chappel took the best promoter gong, French festival Eurockéennes was crowned best festival, All Points East won best new event, London’s Roundhouse received the best venue award and Charly Beedell-Tuck from Solo Agency won the Tomorrow’s New Boss award, which recognises the industry’s most promising new business talent.
Notably, all Arthurs for individuals – the prizes for best assistant, professional services, new business talent, agent and promoter, as well as the Bottle award – went to women.
The full list of winners is below:
Venue (First Venue To Come Into Your Head)
Roundhouse, UK
Promoter (The Promoters’ Promoter)
Kelly Chappel, Live Nation
Festival (Liggers’ Favourite Festival)
Eurockéennes, France
Agent (Second Least Offensive Agent)
Summer Marshall, CAA
Production Services (Services Above and Beyond)
Showsec
Professional Services (Most Professional Professional)
Tina Richard, T&S Immigration Services
New Gig on the Block (New Event)
All Points East, UK
Assistant (The People’s Assistant)
San Phillips, Kilimanjaro Live
Ticketing (The Golden Ticket)
Ticketmaster
New Business Talent (Tomorrow’s New Boss)
Charly Beedell-Tuck, Solo
The Bottle Award
Emma Banks, CAA
Prior to the Arthurs, ILMC head Greg Parmley presented two special ILMC Medal of Honour awards for longstanding service to the organisation. Production manager Bill Martin and agenda consultant Allan McGowan were both invited to the stage. “Bill is nothing short of a magician,” Parmley said, “He juggles set design, lighting, stands, stages, and a hundred other elements to make the conference and this dinner happen every year.”
And speaking of McGowan, he said, “Across two decades, Allan has been a central figure in all of ILMC’s panels, putting hundreds of them together. And for ten years, his role as associate editor on IQ was instrumental in the magazine’s growth.”
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Lucy Wood joins Roundhouse as head of music
Former Festival Republic booker Lucy Wood has joined iconic London venue the Roundhouse (1,700-seat) as head of music, effective from the end of March.
Wood succeeds Jane Beese in the role, who left the Roundhouse at the end of last year to take up the position as head of music at Manchester International Festival (MIF) after five years at the venue.
Having previously led the music programming for Latitude Festival, which last year saw performances from Lana Del Rey, George Ezra, Snow Patrol, Loyle Carner and Primal Scream, Wood will now head up the music team at the Roundhouse, which hosts over 100 shows a year, as well as in-house festivals In the Round and Roundhouse Rising.
With 15 years’ experience in the music industry, Wood has previously held roles at 19 Entertainment, Warp Records and Eat Your Own Ears, working on festivals such as Field Day and promoting shows by Grimes, the xx and Four Tet.
As part of her Roundhouse role, Wood will help expand the venue’s onsite music programme for 11 to 25 year olds, developing the current site with a new talent development centre.
“We are really looking forward to welcoming Lucy to the team at such an exciting time for the Roundhouse”
“We are really looking forward to welcoming Lucy to the team at such an exciting time for the Roundhouse,” says the Roundhouse programmes director Delia Barker.
“She has a great track record and is well respected across the industry and will bring an incredible energy to support our emerging artists – all whilst programming some of the biggest names in the world on our iconic stage.”
Wood comments: “I’ve had a brilliant three years working with amazing music from across the spectrum of genres at Latitude, as part of Festival Republic – building on my time promoting at London’s cherished Eat Your Own Ears.
“I’m thrilled to be joining the team at the Roundhouse, a world-class arts institution with incredible history, and to be supporting its exceptional work with young people.”
Upcoming acts playing at the Roundhouse include Sigala and the Growlers, as well as shows by Sports Team, Michael Kiwanuka, Kate Tempest and Roisin Murphy as part of the 6 Music Festival. The Strokes performed a special, intimate show at the venue last night (19 February).
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Jane Beese exits the Roundhouse for MIF
Manchester International Festival (MIF) has announced the appointment of Jane Beese, currently of London venue the Roundhouse, as head of music.
Beese is currently head of music at the 1,700-seat Roundhouse, in Camden, which she joined from the Southbank Centre/Meltdown Festival in 2015.
She joins MIF as it prepares to move to the Factory, a new arts venue being built in Manchester, which in addition to the festival will host around 80 music events annually.
Beese will work with external companies and the Factory’s artistic team to commission, present and co-promote a range of musical events, including both larger commissioned/interdisciplinary work and projects focused on emerging talent.
John McGrath, artistic director and chief executive of MIF and the Factory, says: “We’re delighted that Jane is joining the team as we get ready for the Factory. She has a fantastic track record that includes some of the most memorable live events of the last decade and relationships across the music industry, which will ensure the Factory is able to create a strong and distinctive music programme that will add to Manchester’s reputation as one of the greatest music cities in the world.”
“We’re of course sad to see Jane go, but we are excited for her”
“It’s a huge honour to be accepting the new role of head of music at Manchester International Festival and the Factory,” adds Beese, who moves into her new role next April. “Manchester has been responsible for all my formative music experiences and I’m really happy to be returning to a city that has always inspired me.
“I’ve had an amazing time working at the Roundhouse and I will miss it and the team deeply. But this is an opportunity like no other and I’m really excited to be joining the exceptional team at MIF at this pivotal juncture as we move toward the next Festival in 2021 and the historic opening of the Factory.
“The ethos and ambitions of the MIF are unparallelled, and I am most looking forward to engaging firsthand with the brilliant and visionary music community in Manchester.”
Notable past musical performances at MIF include Kraftwerk performing Tour de France alongside the British cycling team, Massive Attack collaborating with film director Adam Curtis, Kanye West’s first Manchester performance, a seven-day FKA Twigs residency and Gorillaz’s Demon Dayz Live.
Delia Barker, programmes director at the Roundhouse, says the venue will appoint a new head of music in the coming months. “We’re of course sad to see Jane go, but we are excited for her,” she tells IQ. “We’ll be looking to appoint to the role of head of music soon.”
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Apple Music Festival axed after a decade
Apple Music Festival (AMF) is no more, Apple has confirmed, bringing to an end its decade-long run bringing arena-sized acts to mid-sized London venues.
The festival previously took place in the last two weeks of September, but a line-up announcement had been conspicuously absent this year, leading to speculation it had been axed. The Roundhouse, the 3,300-cap. venue where AMF had taken place since 2009, had been telling customers the festival was no longer going ahead, and Apple confirmed the cancellation to MBW yesterday.
The annual concert series, which distributed free tickets to competition winners, was first held as iTunes Festival at ICA, moving to Koko for 2008 and the Roundhouse in 2009. It was rebranded Apple Music Festival in 2015.
Apple is still involved in live music, sponsoring various shows, notably Drake’s Summer Sixteen tour and, per MBW, London dates by Haim and Skepta and Brooklyn shows by Arcade Fire.
Artists who played iTunes/Apple Music Festival between 2007 and 2016 include Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Lady Gaga, Adele, Elton John, Oasis, Britney Spears, One Direction and Take That.
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Beese: Balance key for venues promoting own shows
The Roundhouse’s head of music, Jane Beese, has spoken of the challenges involved in venues producing their own shows – and the importance of not “pissing off” promoters in the process.
Beese appeared at ILMC’s new Venue Summit on 9 March, where she was a panellist for the Industry relationships session alongside AEG Ogden’s Tim Horton, Emporium Presents’ Jason Zink, Kilimanjaro Live’s Stuart Galbraith, UTA’s Paul Ryan, Ticketmaster’s Doug Smith and chair Lucy Noble, of the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Noble asked all three venue operators (Beese, Horton and Noble) on the panel whether they promote their own shows – and, if so, how much friction it causes with promoters. Noble said part of her role at the Royal Albert Hall is to develop its own and co-productions, which currently make up around 14% of the venue’s total programming. These shows – although still a relatively small part of its business, so “no one should panic yet!” – are good for the venue as “we can control the brand more, have an input on artistic quality and link in our education and outreach programme,” she continued, “and, being honest, we do quite well financially out of them as well.”
Beese said the north London venue welcomes more than 100 shows a year from external promoters, so “balance is important: balance between promoters coming in, corporate events and our own programming, which also includes circus, spoken-word and performing-arts events.”
“We’ve had steal shows from us – and that’s the last time we’ll work with that venue”
“Promoters are a huge chunk of our business,” she continued, “so it’s not in our interest to be pissing them off.”
UTA agent Paul Ryan said he “see[s] it from both sides.” “The word ‘balance’ was used – I think that’s a good term,” he explained. “As an agent working across multiple territories, we’ve got to look at what’s good for the artist. Venues like the Royal Albert Hall and Roundhouse are a bit different, but if it’s a standard rock ’n’ roll venue […] there’s got to be a good reason why you’d want to go into a venue directly instead of dealing with a national promoter.”
Noble asked Kilimanjaro CEO Stuart Galbraith if he’d be angry if the Royal Albert Hall bid against him for a one-night show. “Yes!” he replied, to laughs. While “there are a lot of reasons why venues should self-promote in certain circumstances,” Galbraith said going promoter-free only works if the show is a “slam-dunk sell-out. If you’ve got a show that stops at 60% there’s nowhere else to go,” he commented. “That’s where we [the promoter] would make a difference.”
The reason he’d be angry if Kili and a venue both bid on the same show, he added, is because “you’d only bid on shows you think are going to sell out,” leaving the promoter to handle the riskier prospects.
Emporium Presents talent buyer Jason Zink said he’s had venues that have “stolen shows from us – and that’s the last time we’ll work with that venue.”
“Promoters are a huge chunk of our business. It’s not in our interest to be pissing them off”
The discussion also touched on ticketing: specifically the merits and drawbacks of venues operating their own box offices. Ticketmaster’s Doug Smith said it’s up to venues whether they want to ticket their own shows, but by doing so they miss out on Ticketmaster’s “good technology line [and] huge market reach.” “We want to assist you in selling out your venue,” he commented.
Zink said venues have be to sure that if they do go the self-ticketing route, they have the infrastructure in place to deal with demand. “We had a case last year – an arena show – where the website went down for an hour after on-sale,” he said. “That’s not acceptable: if people can’t buy tickets when they want to.”
Beese said the Roundhouse holds on to 70% of ticket inventory, with the remaining 30% going to the promoter. That’s not enough, said Galbraith: “Many venues now are saying you need to give us 60–70%, and then the only tickets that aren’t selling are the venue’s allocation. I have to pay to take them out of the box office, which is wrong. […] Venues are stopping us being able to effectively promote.”
“The proportion held back is sometimes an issue,” agreed Ryan. “As an agent, all I really care about is having those tickets spread as widely as possible.”
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