Global Branding Boosts Sonar

Exporting the brand to South Africa, Japan and Brazil has helped Spanish electronic music festival Sonar do even better at home, according to event PR chief Georgia Taglietti.

Having staged events in Cape Town in March, Tokyo in April and Sao Paulo in May, the festival returned to its native Barcelona June 14-16 and easily broke its attendance records by pulling 98,000 people over the three days.

“Over 60 percent of the crowd came from outside of Spain,” Taglietti told Pollstar, reinforcing the suggestion that globalisation is raising awareness of the brand.

The average attendance at the last three Spanish Sonars has been nearer the 80,000 mark.

Acts benefiting from playing to a bigger crowd included New Order, Lana Del Rey, Richie Hawtin, The Roots, Hot Chip, Deadmau5, and Friendly Fires.

Last Tour International, Spain’s biggest festival promoter, saw a slight downturn in its fortunes at Azkena Rock Festival June 14-16.

Azkena Rock, which is the company’s oldest festival but also its smallest, pulled about 13,000 per day to the Mendizabala Park near Vitoria-Gasteiz.

It’s hardly a major problem, as Azkena, which was originally started in a local pub, was down about only 2,000 per day on its average crowd.

Last Touring has already had a flying start to the 2012 festival season as the Spanish leg of Sonisphere, which it co-promotes with Stuart Galbraith’s Kilimanjaro Live and London agent John Jackson, drew 92,450 to the Getafe Park site in Madrid May 25-26.

This year’s Azkena lineup had Twisted Sister, Status Quo, Ozzy Osbourne & Friends, Lynyrd Skynyrd, My Morning Jacket, and Blue Oyster Cult.