Features
Germany: Ricke Leaves Myticket; PRO, Concert Organizers Reach Agreement
The COO of DEAG’s online ticketing company Myticket, Kai Ricke, is going to leave the company, effective March 15, 2018.
– Kai Ricke
Ricke had always planned to be with Myticket for only three years . Alongside CEO Moritz Schwenkow, he helped the company enter the market and grow. Both men claim to have accomplished the objectives set at the foundation of Myticket.de in 2014.
Myticket’s board of directors expressed its gratitude to Ricke for bringing in his experience in ticketing and family entertainment. Ricket joined the ticketer from musical experts Stage Entertainment.
Schwenkow thanked Ricke for a “very good and trustful cooperation during the last years. Together we were able to establish Myticket as one of the most successful new brands in the ticketing market in Germany and Austria. I wish him Godspeed for the future!”
Ricke said he was sure Myticket would continue to grow and develop in the coming years and that he was looking forward to taking up a new challenge.
Germany’s concert organizers, represented by BDV and VDKD, have concluded three-year long negotiations with the country’s performing rights organization GEMA.
– GEMAOne of the most significant changes: the rates concerts organizers have to pay the PRO for the usage of music will no longer be oriented towards gross revenue including VAT, but towards the net event revenue.
The tariff is tiered as follows: 5.75 percent of net revenue for up to 2,000 people, 7.60 percent of net revenue for up to 15,000 people and 8 percent of net revenue for over 15,000 people.
BDV and VDKD managed to successfully stave off the demand for a rise in tariffs by GEMA, which had established a general tariff payment of 10 percent on Jan. 1, 2016. The new tariff (dubbed U-K tariff) is valid from Jan. 1, 2018, until Dec. 31, 2021, at which point it will be renewed on a yearly basis, unless one of the parties terminates the contract.
BDV president Professor Jens Michow said, “the new U-K tariff was established as a permanent, global solution. The rate cannot be changed any further in the future without significant modification of the use identity.”
He added that “the new tariff contract represents a result with which we can, and will, offer concert-goers attractive shows in the future, on an economic basis that makes sense.”
VDKD president Pascal Funke said, “the arbitration body followed our line of argument, which states that many concerts would not be viable with the huge hike in price demanded by GEMA, above all smaller concerts for which the financial burden is far higher in comparison to the expected revenue than for larger events. We are pleased about the conservation of the price rates for concerts with up to 2,000 attendants. Like the tariff for work with young musical talents, it takes into account the special cultural and economic significance of this category of event and the commitment involved in the development and promotion of artists who must first capture a share of the market.”