Goodlive Artists Austria (GAA) co-MD Silvio Huber has brought IQ up to speed on the industry’s fortunes since the resumption of touring.

The Vienna-based promoter belatedly kicked off its concert year in March with a concert by Yanya Nilüfer at 700-cap club Grelle Forelle in the capital, while recent successful shows have included Conan Gray at the city’s 3,000-cap Gasometer.

And while Huber, who was head of booking for Arcadia Live before switching to Goodlive’s newly launched Austrian office last year is delighted to be back in business, it has not all been plain sailing so far.

“First of all, it’s great that we are able to promote shows again, but I would call it a bumpy restart,” he says. “There are lots of different and new challenges we must adapt to. We started with the first shows when the country saw the highest infections numbers ever, which wasn’t really a solid argument to buy a ticket.”

“We have noticed a very late buying pattern, especially in the first weeks after reopening”

Huber says the natural enthusiasm from the public to see international artists for the first time in two years has been tempered by the market being “slightly overplayed”.

“Postponed shows compete with new ones and not everyone is feeling ready for indoor shows yet,” he observes. “We have noticed a very late buying pattern, especially in the first weeks after reopening. Sometimes almost 50% of total sales were in the last one to two weeks, followed by high no-show rates of 30% or similar.

“Currently those figures are better, but we do see a hesitant buying attitude for shows in the autumn and winter.”

GAA has forthcoming dates with the likes of George Ezra, Moderat and Macy Gray, and has just started working with Dice following the ticketing platform’s expansion to Germany.

“That will be an exciting journey for sure,” says Huber. “Additionally, it underlines our ambition to abandon the well-trodden paths and break new ground.”

“We need to find a way to balance out rising costs, ticket prices and artist fees”

Though Huber admits to some trepidation with regards to the latter part of 2022, he believes that live music is well placed to overcome the obstacles of an increasingly challenging economy.

“This year’s cold season will be an unpredictable and tough challenge,” he advises. “Even if Covid isn’t an issue anymore and most of the current problems have been solved, we still have to deal with the impact of high inflation. Therefore we need to find a way to balance out rising costs, ticket prices and artist fees, but need to consider that people have less money to spend.

“On the other side, they will be looking for entertainment to get distracted. With this in mind our industry should be able to overcome another big challenge after the pandemic.”

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Goodlive Artists Austria (GAA) co-MD Silvio Huber says the domestic live business has cause for optimism despite the country being plunged back into lockdown.

As Covid cases hit another record high, a nationwide lockdown will come into effect on Monday in a bid to avoid a fifth wave of the virus, with people told to work from home and non-essential shops to close. The measures, announced by chancellor Alexander Schallenberg, will last a maximum of 20 days.

Industry veteran Huber, who anticipated the course of action, describes the tightened restrictions as “like Groundhog Day”.

“It’s a tiring process for sure,” he tells IQ. “We have to move or cancel shows and uncertainty comes back just at the point when people were in the mood for buying tickets and attending shows again.”

We’re still looking positive into 2022

Having previously imposed a lockdown on unvaccinated residents, Austria is also set to become the first European country to make Covid vaccinations compulsory (its current 65% vaccination rate is the lowest in Western Europe) – news of which was welcomed by Huber.

“Today’s announcement of the vaccination mandate for all starting on 1 February is great news for our industry,” he says. “I wish we had that in place already but who would have guessed that some people prefer deworming medicine to vaccination? So we may need some gentle ‘pressure’ to get out of this cycle.”

As a result, Huber, who was head of booking for Arcadia Live before switching to Vienna-based GAA earlier this year, believes the signs for the next 12 months are a lot more promising.

“We’re still looking positive into 2022,” he says, adding: “Let’s get through this bloody winter.”

Prior to today’s announcement, Huber was one of a handful of leading promoters to speak to IQ about the impact the latest Covid spike is having on the European live music business.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

A handful of top European promoters have spoken to IQ about the impact the latest Covid spike is having on the continent’s live music business.

Record daily infections have been reported in Germany and the Netherlands, while Austria and Belgium have introduced new measures. In the UK, Northern Ireland is following Scotland’s lead in introducing Covid passports to gain entry to venues.

In France, however, the government has just lifted capacity restrictions on standing at indoor concerts following a campaign by French live music association Prodiss.

“France is always different to everywhere else,” laughs Paris-based promoter Arnaud Meersseman, who says he senses “clouds on the horizon”.

“There is a general sense that whilst Germany and Austria have rather low vaccination rates, it is very worrisome that countries such as Belgium and Netherlands – that have a vaccination rate close to ours – are in the situation they are in. So there is some anxiety,” he tells IQ.

Meersseman suspects new rules could be introduced at a government meeting next week after president Emmanuel Macron fired a “warning shot” in a public address earlier this month.

You start losing territories like Holland and Germany and suddenly your tour isn’t viable economically anymore

“We were at 12,000 cases a day a week ago, and now we’re at 20,000,” says the AEG Presents France head. “So it’s getting to that point where it trickles and then suddenly, boom, it becomes exponential.

“I don’t think we’ll go back into full lockdown. But in terms of our business, well, there’s not much going on anyway – even for domestic acts – in November and December. I think there could be some impact there, we’ll see. But I’m not very positive about it and I’m not feeling super positive about January/February either.

“Domestic tours, maybe they go ahead in February/March. But for international tours, it feels highly unlikely that anything happens between January and March because you start losing territories like Holland and Germany and suddenly your tour isn’t viable economically anymore.”

He adds: “You can see that the weather definitely has an impact. If you look at Spain, Italy and Portugal; on top of having extremely high vaccination rates, they’re having very nice weather and their cases aren’t rising. It’s as soon as you get people back inside, basically, that the cases are rising again.”

Rock Werchter founder Herman Schueremans explains that, with Belgium entering a semi-lockdown this weekend, concert-goers for Saturday’s performance by Bazart at Antwerp’s Lotto Arena will be required to wear masks, whereas those attending the band’s first show tomorrow night will not.

“It’s a bit of a strange situation,” remarks the Live Nation Belgium boss. “But even though we know a percentage of the audience will not show up, we’re happy that our sold-out shows in November and December can all happen at full capacity. It’s key for the artists and their teams, and the venues, suppliers, security teams and crew, as well as our team.”

People don’t trust the shows in the near future will take place

Pascal Van De Velde of Greenhouse Talent reports that ticket sales for concerts in Belgium over the next two to three months have been “decimated” by the worsening situation.

“People don’t trust the shows in the near future will take place,” he says. “And people don’t feel like going anymore, as they think it’s no fun with the masks, etc.”

It is a similar state of play in Austria, where Goodlive Concerts MD Silvio Huber describes the current picture as a “mess”. Proof of a negative PCR test will be needed to attend concerts in Vienna from tomorrow, with a return to a full lockdown in the coming days looking increasingly likely.

“Restrictions are going to change every few days,” says Huber. “In the federal states of Salzburg und Upper Austria, the situation is out of control. Shows have been cancelled there already, and hospitals are getting their teams ready for triage as they are running out of intensive care beds slowly, but surely.

“Furthermore they have just announced there will be will a lockdown in Salzburg und Upper Austria from Monday onwards. We will see tomorrow if the rest of the country will join them. I’m pretty sure we will see a nationwide lockdown.”

Scores of shows in the Netherlands were postponed earlier this week after the Dutch government imposed a new partial lockdown. A capacity limit of 1,250 has been imposed on venues, with restrictions due to last until 4 December at the earliest.

We had to cancel or postpone all shows above 1,250-cap

“We had to cancel or postpone all shows above 1,250-cap, at least for three weeks and even beyond those dates,” says Jan Willem Luyken of Mojo Concerts. “Indoor, fixed seated shows can still happen with limited capacity, with proof of vaccine, negative test or [natural immunity from a previous positive test]. Bars and catering need to be closed from 8pm, so it’s a very complex situation indeed, and we’re still figuring it out.”

In light of the fresh measures, Luyken says the Dutch government has announced an extension of support programmes for the live event industry and cultural sector.

Germany’s Event Management Forum (EMF), which consists of five major organisations including live music associations BDKV and LiveKomm, has urged the German government to meet with music industry representatives before imposing new restrictions on the business. Outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel has called the country’s current Covid situation “dramatic” and said a fourth wave of the virus was hitting Germany with “full force”.

BDKV chief Jens Michow earlier laid bare the stark financial impact of the pandemic on the business.

“In the 20 months of actual lockdown, the loss of sales for concert, tour and festival organisers alone was around €3.5 billion by the end of last year,” he said. “By the end of 2021, the loss in sales will add up to at least €8.5bn.”

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Goodlive Artists, the booking and touring division of Berlin-based Goodlive, has launched Goodlive Artists Austria in Vienna.

Headed up by Silvio Huber, formerly head of booking for Arcadia Live, and Philipp Maly, co-owner of Czech promoter Selection and formerly part of the management team at Colours of Ostrava festival, Goodlive Artists Austria will focus on creating “new concepts and visions in the Austrian market”, according to an announcement from the new company.

Huber brings his own roster to Goodlive Artists Austria, having promoted shows by George Ezra, Tame Impala, AnnenMayKantereit, Conan Gray and more, while Maly’s Selection has worked with acts including Lewis Capaldi, Jamie Cullum and Woodkid.

“Above all, we would like to thank Goodlive Artists for the trust they have placed in us in such turbulent and unusual times, and so we are looking forward to a positive industry relaunch in a strengthened, motivated and hopeful manner,” say Huber and Maly in a joint statement.

“Philipp and Silvio fit perfectly into our team … With this step, we will be able to expand our touring services for our artists”

“Although we have only had a few and limited opportunities to get to know our new colleagues, we feel more than welcome and part of the family after only a short time.”

Goodlive Artists sits alongside other Goodlive companies including Melt! Booking, Der Bomber Der Herzen, Full Force Concerts and the recently launched Nitelive Artists, and Goodlive Artists Austria says it plans to take advantage of the synergies between the firms “in the best possible way”.

Justus Mang, managing director of Goodlive Artists, comments: “Philipp and Silvio fit perfectly into our team, both personally and professionally. With this step, we will be able to expand our touring services for our artists and act more strategically.

“In our talks beforehand, we all quickly realised that we share the same views on many things, that our visions are similar and that we could draw great motivation from this exchange. I’m incredibly excited about this collaboration and more Wiener melange in my life.”

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.