Hallett In Limbo

It may be that Hallett, who described himself as “unemployed” (although presumably not needing to claim the UK’s Jobseekers Allowance benefit), doesn’t yet know what he’s going to do next. If he does, then he’s keeping quiet about it. Hallett said he’s never had a “proper job.”

Former IQ editor and new ILMC owner Greg Parmley, who clearly enjoys moonlighting as a panel moderator and interviewer, quickly realized there was nothing to be gained from pushing the point.

Hallett did say he’s been “flirting with potential partners and talking to some of his friends from time to time.” He said he’s been talking to promoters, equity funders and bankers. He said he’s spoken to more billionaires than he’d previously known existed.

When he parted company with AEG in April, there was widespread speculation that he’d team with UK radio entrepreneur Ashley Tabor and former AEG Live president Randy Phillips in their new joint venture.

Parmley also tried to glean a little more info on why Hallett and AEG had parted company, which at least indicated that the interviewer and interviewee hadn’t pre-agreed that was a “no-go” subject. Either way, it didn’t make any real difference. 

Although there was no hot news coming out of what was one of Reeperbahn’s main interview slots, even though it did score well for entertainment value, some delegates may later have witnessed real news unfolding in real time as Finnish promoter Juha Kyyrö sold his live music interests to Germany’s FKP Scorpio.

At about 3 p.m. Sept.19, Kyyrö was on his phone outside Schmidt Theatre, where the agency panel he was supposed to be on was starting without him. He was apparently talking to Scorpio’s office, which is in Hamburg and barely a mile from Reeperbahn. Kyyrö didn’t make the panel and the press release announcing the deal was out before he’d returned to the conference hotel. Nobody needed to ask him where he’d been. “Can’t stop now, I’m in the middle of selling my company,” may go down as one of the more original reasons for pulling out of a conference panel at the very last minute. See also: FKP Steams Into Finland

Reeperbahn was probably the largest showcase conference to be staged in Europe this year, pulling 3,423 delegates – including 450 journalists – from 39 countries. It’s about 12 percent up on last year. There were more than 250 acts to keep delegates entertained throughout the day and late into the night.

Like Eurosonic-Noorderslag in The Netherlands and the UK’s ILMC, Reeperbahn’s success and profile are best measured by how many international delegates they attract. Fewer than two-thirds of the Reeperbahn crowd were from Germany, with noticeably large contingents from the UK, and neighbouring countries such as Denmark, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Austria and France.

Apart from Hallett and a reduced appearance from Kyyrö, who had already been on a first day panel, there were 252 speakers at nearly 100 panel sessions, which were comfortably slotted into three days.

The other speakers and panelists included top German entertainer Herbert Grönemeyer, Peter Lewis and James Minor from America’s South By Southwest, Getty Images Music chief Melinda Lee, Frank Dostal from German royalty collector GEMA, BDV promoters association lawyer Dr. Johannes Ulbricht, Musikwoche editor in chief Manfred Gillig Degrave, MUSEXPO founder Sat Bisla, Cooking Vinyl chief Martin Goldschmidt, Coda Agency chief Rob Challice, and Molotov Club owner Andi Schmidt, whose venue was only completed a few days before it was being extensively used for the Reeperbahn showcases.

Molotov was one of the buildings along Spielbundenplatz that were demolished – and in some cases rebuilt — because they were starting to crumble, apparently as a result of car exhaust fumes affecting the type of concrete that was used. Other bars used during the festival including Sommersalon, Hörsaal and Das Herz von St. Pauli were also rubbled. Reeperbahn was Sept.17-20.