Features
Europe: Thekla Bristol, Open Club Day, LiveStyled App
Iconic UK Club In Need Of ‘Agent Of Change’
– Thekla
in Bristol, England
The Thekla in Bristol, England, may be under threat by a new residential development directly opposite the venue. The venue’s owners say the burden of soundproofing should be on the developer.
Thekla’s general manager Alex Black said: “It’s vitally important that planners take into consideration existing venues when making decisions on new developments. The decision they take could potentially have a disastrous impact on the Bristol music scene and night-time economy. We’ve seen too many venues fall victim to residential developments and being forced to close.”
The principle of developers having to take on any costs for soundproofing is known as “agent of change.” The UK is considering turning this principle into law. So far, venue operators rely on the developer’s goodwill.
Since no provisions for taking up sound proofing are part of the plan for the development opposite Thekla, venue operator and promoter DHP Family is calling for a second noise assessment to take place “so the findings can form part of the decision-making on the planning application.”
The company’s head of compliance, Julie Tippins said: “If this development goes ahead with inadequate soundproofing, it would leave the Thekla vulnerable to complaints from residents about noise. The Thekla’s whole future is at risk.”
Music Venue Trust founder Mark Davyd thinks “sensible and adequately planned residential developments near to grassroots music venues like the Thekla mean that residents and music lovers can happily co-exist. That outcome starts at the planning application stage when a good developer recognizes the cultural value of the existing music venue and takes steps to protect it.”
According to Davyd, recognizing a venue’s importance starts with a “thorough environmental impact study that specifically understands the noise in the area. Properly understanding noise and activity results in great design for any refurbishment or new building, ensuring noise is managed and controlled, and in commitments such as Deed of Easement and accurate marketing to future residents.”
It was such a deed of easement that saved London’s legendary Ministry Of Sound club in 2014 when it came under threat by a new residential development.
Added Davyd: “We are concerned if that process has happened so far in the proposed development near Thekla and would encourage the developer to start it.”
Open Club Day: Europe Edition
On Feb. 3, 2018, clubs all over Europe are opening their doors during the day to demonstrate to the public the amount of work that goes into putting on a show each night.
The Open Club concept started in Switzerland, created by two non-governmental organizations, one representing bars and clubs, SBCK, the other representing live music venues and festivals, PETZI.
Live DMA, which combines 17 live music associations from Europe under one roof, coordinates the European edition of Open Club Day. Its members include the aforementioned PETZI, ACCES (Spain), ASACC (Catalonia), Club Circuit and Club Plasma (Belgium), Collectif Culture Bar-Bars and FEDELIMA (France), Dansk Live (Denmark), KeepOn Live (Italy), Kultura Live (Basque Country), LiveKomm (Germany), LOFTAS (Lithuania), NKA (Norway), Salon IKSV (Turky), Svensk Live (Sweden), VNPF (Netherlands) and the Music Venue Trust (UK).
Together these organizations represent more than 2,100 venues and several hundred festivals. The ones participating in Open Club Day have free rein to shape the Feb. 3 date, whether that includes guided backstage tours, exchange with staff and volunteers, introduction to the different professions and activities, workshops and participatory activities, live acts, etc.
“The Open Club Day aims to raise awareness about the reality of the daily work in a live music venue among its neighbors, local cultural players, authorities, and policy makers. By highlighting daily activities of music venues, the Open Club Day offers the right circumstances for a constructive exchange that can help to clear up negative stereotypes that are so often cultivated about live music venues and nightlife,” Live DMA wrote in a statement.
The association states that, in 2015, its member venues attracted over 56 million people to more than 381,000 music performances organized by the more than 49,000 venues employees.
“The live music venues’ activities go beyond live music programming. Just 17 percent of Live DMA member venues exclusively devote their activity to live music programming only, while 56 percent engage also in social & educational activities, 47 percent provide tools and space for musicians and 47 percent support artistic projects,” the association states.
Telenor Arena Introduces App
Telenor Arena in Oslo, Norway, used technology by LiveStyled to introduce a white-labelled venue app called T·App.
– Telenor Arena
in Norway
The 25,000-capacity area intends to engage customers by offering benefits such as pre-order and click-and-collect for food, beverage and merchandise.
“Customers can also use the app to browse upcoming events, find their way around the venue and earn rewards which they can spend on future visits,” the announcement reads.
While Telenor Arena has been offering a click-and-collect option via an app for several years, LiveStyled allowed the venue to engage with its customers in ways beyond.
“This encompasses pre-event build up, on-the-night fan engagement and ongoing monetization. The customer data collected via the app will empower us to understand their behavior and accurately target them with relevant offers for future events,” according to Marcia Titley, sales and marketing director of Euforum AS, the owner of Telenor Arena.
She said that on T·App launch night, Nov. 5, the venue sold 14 percent of food and beverage orders on the app, “which, for a family show, is really high.”
As LiveStyled founder Adam Goodyer explained in a Pollstar interview, “the guts of LiveStyled are the services that sit behind it: the data, the intelligence, the ability to link to other systems via API, and being able to communicate individually with each customer.”
Once a customer grants LiveStyled access to their data, the technology looks to capture them wherever it can along each users live event journey – from purchasing the ticket to reliving the event afterwards.
LiveStyled has a deal in place with AEG and powers the official app of The O2 London arena and the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm, Sweden. The SSE Arena Wembley will become available later this week, while Barclaycard Arena Hamburg, Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin, and the Eisbären Berlin ice hockey team will follow in the new year.
LiveStyled also has access to AEG’s ticketing system AXS. The first integration with Ticketmaster’s API will take place in the beginning of next year.