Koopmans Calms Controversy

In an interview with Paul Cheetham, head of Germany’s Heartburst Management, he reportedly said the Finnish promoters were “too old and conservative.”

“I thought Folkert Koopmans showed some balls to walk in to Finland and tell the promoters that they are too old and conservative, to their faces,” Cheetham later posted on Facebook. “It was a pleasure to interview him and I appreciated that he answered some tricky questions about his move into the Nordic market. We haven’t heard the last of this.”

“I was just trying to make the point that people have to get used to the idea of change,” Koopmans told Pollstar. “I had been on a panel with three older Finnish promoters who’ve have all done well from the business. They want to keep things the way they are, and I understand that, but there is another generation of younger promoters and there will be changes.”

Koopmans’ Hamburg-based FKP Scorpio has recently bought Helsinki-based promoter Fullsteam, whose chief Juha Kyyrö is one of that younger generation of promoters.

Apart from Koopmans facing “some tricky questions” from Cheetham and Tampere Music Prize winner Helen Sildna (Tallinn Music Week) facing some less tricky ones from Music & Media moderator Tapio Korjus, the conference was packed with some key players from the Nordic and neighbouring Baltic markets, including Miika Särmäkari (Music Finland), Mikko Saukkonen from Finland’s Comusic Productions, Samu Haber from local stars Sunrise Avenue, and Sergey Chernov from St. Petersburg Times.

M&M Oct. 16-1 matched last year’s attendance of 700 delegates and the Lost In Music showcase festival drew 15,000.