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Montreux Jazz Festival Launches International Media Company
FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images – Ian Gillan of Deep Purple performs at the 50th edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2016 Ian Gillan of Deep Purple performs at the 50th edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2016
It’s iconic moments like these that the festival’s organizers intend to exploit more effectively with Montreux Media Ventures
With the launch of the Montreux Media Ventures, the famous Swiss Jazz festival aims to address the changing model of the music festival industry and Montreux Jazz Festival itself.
The concrete aim of the new company is to tap into the festival’s rich musical archive and produce immersive live content with cinematic production values: longform concerts, exclusive interviews, backstage footage – whatever the festival’s creatives decide to do together with artists and their teams.
But Montreux Media Ventures will not only expand the festival’s content but also develop tailor-made music events and content for partners, brands and labels. T
The company is for instance producing a 13-dates world tour with The Fairmont Hotel Group that will cover Rio, the U.S., Asia and Europe, featuring live performances in Fairmont Hotels with custom content produced for social media, long form video and more. The line-up and tour-dates haven’t been announced yet.
The idea is to evolve the Festival from an annual event and hospitality model to an international media company sustainable in itself.
Emilien Itim – The beautiful site of Montreux Jazz Festival
Lake Geneva in Switzerland
In order to create new content and formats, Montreux Media Ventures has access to the vast audiovisual catalogue of Montreux Jazz Festival. The collection includes more than 11,000 hours of live music and has been inscribed in the UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register.
Quincy Jones, ambassador to Montreux Jazz Festival, described the collection as the “most important testimonial to the history of music, covering jazz, blues and rock.”
The 54th edition of Montreux Jazz Festival takes place in Montreux, at Lake Geneva in Switzerland, July 3-18. So far, Lenny Kravitz and Lionel Richie have been confirmed.
The town of Montreux became part of rock history, Dec. 4, 1971, when a fire at the Montreux Casino during a concert by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention inspired Deep Purple’s classic “Smoke on the Water.”
At this year’s edition, Janelle Monáe and Lizzo jammed together on stage.
It is stories like these, that the festival’s organizers want to retell in new, digital ways through Montreux Media Ventures, headed by former MTV, Discovery Channel and Vice Media senior executive, Nicolas Bonard.
“Innovation both creatively and technologically will drive our content strategy. We are collaborating closely with talent, from musicians to star directors, to shoot our live content in a new, creative way with full cinematic production capabilities. Our ambition is to go behind the scenes, generate fascinating stories and truly immersive music content, with our audience always at the centre of it all,” Bonard explained.
Anne-Laure Lechat – Want to turn Montreux Jazz Festival into an international media company sustainable in itself
From left: Nicolas Bonard, CEO of Montreux Media Ventures, and Mathieu Jaton, CEO of Montreux Jazz Festival
Montreux Jazz Festival was founded in 1964 by Claude Nobs, and has featured music legends including Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, David Bowie and more. This year, the festival drew 250,000 people to the Lake Geneva Shoreline with performances by Lizzo, Elton John and Janelle Monáe.