Hip-Hopping To Bigger Profit

It didn’t manage to equal last year’s record-breaking sellout, but promoter Andy Locher says it’s the most profitable Frauenfeld Festival (Switzerland) he’s produced.

Last year, Frauenfeld sold out its 50,000 capacity on all three days but Locher knows he can’t get acts of the caliber of Jay-Z and Eminem every year.

This year he was happy with 142,500 over three days, 7,500 fewer tickets, but the money saved on the talent budget made the bottom line even better.

Locher’s Pleasure Productions took over the event in 2003, shortly after former Frauenfeld promoter Gert Hubatka’s Event AG had crashed with debts of around $240,000.

Harry Sprenger’s Free & Virgin Agency, Good News Productions and Conti Productions had all previously had various goes of making a success of Frauenfeld but none could do it consistently.

Locher’s moved it toward hip-hop and dance, creating what’s arguably Switzerland’s biggest festival and the world’s biggest hip-hop festival.

The acts helping to make the tills ring July 8-10 included Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Cypress Hill, Wu-Tang Clan, The Roots, Taio Cruz and Bushido.