Features
UK: ATC Live, TRNSMT, MVT, Arena Group
Marlon Burton Joins ATC Live
– Marlon Burton
ATC Live
Marlon Burton has joined
Burton “will be helping to build the urban/contemporary side of ATC Live,” the announcement states.
TRNSMT Debut Success
DF Concerts & Events welcomed some 120,000 festivalgoers to its new TRNSMT festival on Glasgow Green, Scotland, July 7-9. The inaugural event welcomed headliners Radiohead, Kasabian and Biffy Clyro alongside many more, including The 1975, Stormzy, Two Door Cinema Club, Twin Atlantic and London Grammar.
Festival director Geoff Ellis said: “The first ever TRNSMT event has been an immediate hit with fans and it’s safe to say our team has delivered an exciting new addition to the festival calendar.”
He added that “the site layout worked beautifully and we received positive feedback from music fans, staff and vendors on the overall smooth flow of the event.
“We would like to thank Police Scotland, Glasgow City Council, Ambulance Scotland and Fire Scotland for their support in the lead-up-to and during the festival weekend. And, finally, a thank you to our fans, for creating the positive energy that we hope will be part of TRNSMT for years to come.”
Police Scotland praised the behavior of the crowd, reporting 10 arrests in total over the three days of the event.
Ryan Johnston – TRNSMT 2017
Biffy Clyro plays the Scottish festival July 9.
New Ticket Website For UK Grassroots Venues
The Music Venue Trust (MVT) and Live Nation’s Ticketweb launched Grassroots Venues Tickets, a service for fans to find tickets for gigs at the UK’s many small and independent music venues.
The ticket deals on the new website are “specifically built to support grassroots music venues across the UK,” according to the announcement. Tickets bought through Grassroots Venues Tickets will be “the lowest priced tickets on the market for the customer,” with a service charge of just 5 percent. Each ticket contains a direct 50p donation to the respective venue, to sustain and improve it.
What is more, Ticketweb allocates a proportion of the service charge to the MVT, “to support the national network and to fight for venues across the country.”
The service also frees venues of the need to document each night’s song repertoire for the UK’s performing rights organization PRS – a process for which few operators of grassroots venues have time. “In our exclusive ticket offer to venues, MVT is going to be able to track, monitor and pay collection agencies such as PRS for Music on behalf of grassroots music venues, while filing great information that ensures grassroots writers and artists are getting paid when their work is performed. It removes a significant burden of work and responsibility from venues and is a real win for writers and artists at this level,” MVT founder and CEO Mark Davyd explained.
Ticketweb MD Sam Isles said “the launch of this site is a culmination of lots of work behind the scenes to ensure it empowers both independent venues, and music fans alike.”
UK Live Music Audience Increases
Industry lobbying body UK Music published a new report claiming that the number of people visiting music events in the UK grew by 12 percent in 2016, totaling 30.9 million.
The figure is up from the 27.7 million audience in 2015. The new figure can be split up into 3.9 million festival and 27 million concertgoers in the UK.
“Live music fans generated £4 billionn in direct and indirect spending in 2016 by flocking to concerts and festivals across the UK – a rise of 11 percent on the £3.7 billion they spent in 2015,” the report states. Music tourism increased as well, with 12.5 million people visiting from different parts of the UK and abroad, which marks an increase of 20 percent compared with the previous year.
Music tourists made up 40 percent of the total live music audience in 2016. Music tourists from overseas spent £850 on average in the UK, with domestic tourists spending £150 on average.
UK Music claims that 47,445 full-time jobs are sustained by music tourism. T
he full report can be viewed and downloaded on UK Muisc’s website.
Arena Group Going Public
Event design and delivery experts Arena Group announced intentions to list its shares on the London Stock Exchange, aiming to raise approximately £60 million from investors to fund future growth.
The group, which operates in the UK, Europe, Middle East, Asia and the Americas, provides structures, seating and interiors solutions for all sorts of events, taking care of concept and design through to construction and delivery.
Current clients include the All England Tennis Club (Wimbledon), The R&A, Henley Regatta, the Jockey Club, Abu Dhabi Sports Council, the European Tour, The Ryder Cup, the US Open and the PGA Championship.
As part of the listing on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM (Alternative Investment Market), Kenneth Hannah, Chairman of Aggreko plc and Inchcape Plc, has been appointed group chairman.
The AIM sub-market is for smaller, growing companies with more flexible regulations than the main market.
Ian Metcalfe, chairman of commonwealth games England and a member of the Rugby Football Union Council, joined as non-executive director of the board.
The group’s CEO, Greg Lawless, said: “The new funding leaves us with a significantly stronger balance sheet and provides us with the necessary funding (as well as access to further capital) that will help us to continue to grow the business both organically and by way of potential acquisitions.”