DEAG acquires Schlager powerhouse Mewes Entertainment
Deutsche Entertainment AG (DEAG) has acquired a majority stake in Mewes Entertainment Group, a booking agency and artist management company representing some of Germany’s best-known Schlager and folk music (Volksmusik) artists.
Among the acts Mewes Entertainment represents are septuagenarian pop singer-actress Mary Roos, lion-taming Vegas mainstays Siegfried and Roy, and Heino, one of Germany’s most popular Schlager performers, who has sold more than 50 million records since the 1960s. (For the uninitiated, Schlager – literally “hit” – is a genre of sentimental, traditional German pop, whose practitioners are sometimes compared to English-speaker crooners like Tom Jones, “although it is hard to imagine Heino ever having been showered with women’s panties on stage”, notes Der Spiegel).
The company, now 51% owned by DEAG, also offers event planning and production services for music and comedy, including conception, sound and light, catering and marketing.
Mewes Entertainment founder Jan Mewes says: “In DEAG, I have a strong partner at my side. Many of my network contacts have had very good experiences with DEAG and [CEO] Peter Schwenkow in the past. So, it was only a matter of time until I jumped on board the train.
“I would like to thank the company for its trust. I look forward to working with them and am convinced that we can benefit from each other in the long term.”
“I am convinced that we can benefit from each other in the long term”
Mewes is a multiple German Live Entertainment Award (LEA) winner, having picked up manager of the year in 2014 and show of the year in 2017, for Nutten Koks und Frische Erdbeeren with Mary Roos and Wolfgang Trepper. He also books German shows for artists including Robbie Williams, Mark Forster and Revolverheld.
DEAG is already active in the Schlager/Volksmusik sector, and took full control of Schlager promoter Gold Entertainment in 2017.
“Jan Mewes brings along very good and long-standing expertise in the area of pop and Volksmusik,” says Schwenkow. “I look forward to working with him.
“With his broad network and our structural resources, we will create additional synergies for DEAG. The joint content will be [ticketed via DEAG-owned] MyTicket, so our ticketing business will also benefit from this investment.”
Berlin-based DEAG revealed earlier this month it had sold 110,000 tickets for its open-air events this summer, bolstered by other recent acquisitions.
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DEAG acquires 100% of Gold Entertainment
Deutsche Entertainment AG (DEAG) has taken full control of Gold Entertainment, the company it co-founded in 2010 with Sony Music Entertainment Germany to promote schlager (crooner) shows.
The move will, says the Berlin-based live entertainment giant, bolster its presence in the schlager and family entertainment sectors and allow it to better “utilise DEAG’s own formats, such as Disney On Ice and others, more efficiently in this area”.
DEAG has said previously that family entertainment is a key growth area for the company, predicting in July turnover from family shows would surpass €30 million in 2016.
The full acquisition of Gold follows news that Rockavaria – one of three major music festivals launched by DEAG in 2015 – would not go ahead this year
The full acquisition of Gold Entertainment follows news that Rockavaria – one of three major music festivals launched by DEAG in 2015 at a cost of approximately €23m – would not go ahead in 2017 due to difficulty attracting talent. The loss of Rockavaria follows the earlier cancellation of Rock im Revier, leaving only Rock in Vienna of the original three events, which many saw as an attempt to rival CTS Eventim’s Rock am Ring and Rock im Park.
The company also today announced the sale of its stake in Manfred Hertlein Veranstaltungs, a promoter of primarily German-language concerts and other live shows, in which Gold Entertainment held a 66.6% stake.
“We have achieved a great deal together with Manfred Hertlein and his team since 2010, and we will realise certain productions together in the future,” comments DEAG COO/CDO Christian Diekmann (pictured). “Nevertheless, this step was important in order to be
able to take better advantage of our opportunities in this segment.”
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