Sørensen Protests
Agency Ban

Roskilde, Skandberborg (Smukfest), Jelling and Nibe have said they’ll not do business with Danish agents Mads Sørensen (Beatbox) and Brian Nielsen (Scandinavia) because of their involvement with the country’s new Tinderbox Festival, which is benefitting from a few million dollars support from the local council in Odense. Mads Sørensen has no relation to Peter.

The fact is Mads Sørensen bailed out of Beatbox when hooking up with German promoter FKP Scorpio for Tinderbox and promoting international acts, which left Peter to get hit by the fallout. In an email to newspaper Politiken, Peter said he’s the victim of a “completely unfair attack.”

He said he has no “practical or economic interest” in Mads Sørensen and Nielsen teaming with Hamburg-based Scorpio, and there’s a “100 percent watertight bulkhead” between Beatbox Booking and Beatbox Concerts.

Beatbox Booking, which was effectively Peter’s side of the agency and concert promoter business, represents some top Danish talent such as Agnes Obel, D-A-D, Kashmir, Mew, Thomas Helmig, and Trentemøller. All of them could expect to get good billing at Roskilde, Skandberborg, Jelling and Nibe.

The festivals are understood to be meeting Oct. 27 to discuss the situation, which is further muddied by the fact the two Beatboxes still share the same office building and some staff. Nielsen says he doesn’t want to talk to the media about being banned by the festivals.

“Debate in the press is not the way forward, it is common dialogue between the respective partners,” he said.

Former Roskilde Festival chief Leif Skov has entered the debate over Odense council’s decision to pay German promoter FKP Scorpio over $4 million to bring its new Tinderbox Festival to the city. He told monthly music magazine Gaffa that the criticism aimed at the Odense Kommune might deter other regional authorities from putting money into festivals.

“Please don’t make it vulgar or odious for other municipalities to invest in culture,” he said. Skov said the council’s critics should consider what happened last year at Sweden’s Bravalla Festival, also owned by FKP Scorpio, which “generated more than $100 million dollars for the area around Norrköping.”