Unraveling Creative Mess

Rw konzept GmbH lawyer Thomas Kühn will need to get back the deposits that Creative, owned by Carlos Fleischmann, paid for Kylie Minogue’s four canceled German shows and try to make good the losses of the 12,000 or so fans who bought tickets. Minogue pulled out of the late October shows in Cologne, Munich, Berlin and Hamburg because – according to her website – she wasn’t confident that the venues could be secured.

Kühn says his claim for the refund is based on the premise that Minogue didn’t actually perform the shows, although he also points out that he’s “under a duty to do this.” “We are currently exploring the legal options – if necessary through the courts – for recovering the advance,” he said.

Minogue’s agent, Emma Banks from Creative Artists Agency’s London office, had no comment on the matter.

Creative’s apparent demise appears to be the result of a few tours and a festival falling through. In the early summer Creative lost its Backstreet Boys dates because of poor ticket sales. On that occasion Ticketmaster and the act had to club together to refund ticket-holders.

The next casualty was Creative’s Greenville Festival, which was scrapped when it became clear it would lose money. Next came Minogue’s shows, which were reportedly set to do less than 20 percent business. At the time of the cancellation, they had sold 12,000 tickets out of a potential 68,000.

Ticket receipts were euro 840,000 ($1.04 million) but the tour costs are estimated to be in the region of euro 1.4 million ($1.74 million).

Fleischmann wasn’t the only one to get caught by the Minogue tour under-performing. Her Spanish show at the 14,000-capacity Palacio de los Deportes in Madrid only did 6,000. As for the ticket-holders, Kühn hopes many will try to claim their refunds for the German Minogue shows through their credit cards.

Ticketmaster, which had passed on its box office takings to Creative until local German chief Klaus Zemke got wind that the promoter was in trouble, is now offering to exchange the tickets for Minogue’s shows in France, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. Fleischmann filed Creative

Talent’s application for insolvency at the local district court in Berlin-Charlottenburg Sept. 11.