Features
DEAG Enters Into Cooperation With Black Mamba Event
Deutsche Entertainment Aktiengesellschaft (DEAG) expands its festival activities by entering into a cooperation with Black Mamba Event & Marketing, promoter of electronic urban festival Sputnik Spring Break on the Pouch peninsula in east Germany.
Sputnik Spring Break, a multi-genre festival that combines electro, alternative, hip hop, and urban, has been taking place since 2008, and has grown to attract some 30,000 visitors every year. The 2024 edition of the festival took place May 17-20, headlined by Cro, Scooter, Nina Chuba, Tream – indicating the strong domestic German scene the festival draws on each year – and Timmy Trumpet.
Sputnik Spring Break fits into DEAG’s portfolio of EDM/techno/urban music events, adding to a lineup that includes Airbeat One, Mayday, Nature One, Indian Spirit, Syndicate, Ruhr in Love, Toxicator, and Kessel Festival in Stuttgart, which sell more than 250,000 tickets each year – making DEAG “the leading producer of EDM/techno/urban festivals in Germany,” by its own admission.
“Comprehensive synergy effects with the DEAG Group in terms of production and infrastructure as well as artist acquisition will lead to continuous margin improvements,” according to the press release announcing the deal.
See: DEAG Launches Hip Hop Imprint District Live In Germany
DEAG is banking on the electronic music segment, which has a strong domestic market in Germany, where it reaches a fan base that leads the ranking of monthly electronic music listeners with 369 million, ahead of the United States, the press release states.
According to the IMS Business Report 2024, electronic music outperformed other genres such as rock, latin, hip hop in terms of growth in online consumption, and recorded the strongest growth worldwide in 2023, generating sales of $11.8 billion in 2023, a 17% year-on-year increase.
In total, DEAG is now organizing more than 30 one-day or multi-day festivals and across al genres in its core markets Germany, UK, Switzerland, Spain, and Ireland, attracting a combined 800,000-plus visitors each year. These include Sion sous les étoiles (Switzerland), Belladrum Tartan Heart (Scotland), and Barcelona Rock Fest (Spain), for example.
As the most recent partnership with Sputnik Spring Break indicates, DEAG intends to “continue to drive the consolidation of the live entertainment industry in German, and Europe, as well as its organic growth in the future,” according to the press release.
Rico Tietze, managing director of Black Mamba Event & Marketing, commented, “We are delighted to have found a strong cooperation partner in our segment in DEAG. Together, we will continuously improve our festival for our guests and use the network within the Group featuring other strong festivals and the experienced team for further expansion.”
After 46 Years At The Helm: Schwenkow Hands Over DEAG Management
Christian Diekmann, CEO national of DEAG, added, “With its extremely attractive location and open music programme, Sputnik Spring Break is one of the most successful festivals in East Germany and has been established for 15 years. I am really looking forward to the intensive cooperation with our new partners, who will contribute a lot to the realisation of our goals and strategy in the festival sector through their experience and understanding.”
DEAG group CEO Detlef Kornett commented, “We have successfully and profitably implemented our growth strategy in the EDM festival segment since 2019. The cooperation with Rico Tietze will enable us to leverage synergies throughout the Group and in various projects beyond Sputnik. This is the next big step for us at DEAG to strengthen our leading role in this segment.”