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‘The Lineup Of Events Is Impressive’: DEAG CEO Detlef Kornett On Acquiring MC² Live, Entering Italy & Growing Strategically
DEAG Deutsche Entertainment AG continues its international expansion course by acquiring Italian live entertainment organizer MC² Live S.p.A. through its subsidiary DEAG Concerts GmbH, which is acquiring all of the shares in MC² Live. The company was founded by Andrea and Stefano Pieroni, who will continue to manage MC² Live in the long term together with their team, who will all remain with the company, according to the press release announcing the acquisition.
The two brothers are among the leading independent live entertainment promoters in Italy, headquartered in Milan, with a strong partner network and a diversified event portfolio. Over the past few decades, they have organized and hosted many concerts, festivals and events with international music stars such as Judas Priest, Slipknot, Rammstein, 50 Cent, Ne-Yo, Eros Ramazzotti and Negrita. MC² Live was founded by Andrea and Stefano Pieroni after coming out of a CTS Eventim deal made in 2017, when they sold a 51% stake in their former business, Vertigo, to the German live entertainment giant.
By acquiring MC² Live and partnering with Andrea und Stefano Pieroni, DEAG is expanding its activities in the Italian market and sustainably strengthening its good market position in Europe.
‘Business Was Never Easy, And Should Not Be’: Q’s With Detlef Kornett, CEO, DEAG
Pollstar reached out to DEAG CEO Detlef Kornett, to talk more about the deal. “This decision was driven by our admiration for the business and its relationship of Andrea and Stefano Pieroni and the market size of Italy, and the opportunities within the market across international rock pop, as well as the very important domestic section of the country’s music industry,” he said, “Building a company from scratch takes a very long time, and can be a very uphill struggle. We were looking for something of size to give us a standing in the market right away, which we managed with Andrea and Stefano. We, in turn, offer an environment where there’s intense communication between all members of the DEAG Group. There’s lots of information exchange, lots of plans. Many of them do not work in the end, but there’s always something that is being created in collaboration. It is that type of environment that attracted Andrea and Stefano to consider our proposal. It is key that whoever we work with is interested and willing to communicate and exchange information, because we feel that is somewhat our USP. Andrea and Stefano have a very well working unit of people around them, partly very young, partly old veterans, who’ve been doing this for a long time.”
Kornett said, MC² Live was “working with a number of artists and bands that we do not work with traditionally,” and vice versa. One upcoming result of this new partnership will be the European solo tour of Rammstein frontman Lindemann. Kornett said to expect “a very strong 2025 in Italy. The lineup of events is impressive from big names doing stadiums to smaller open airs, and club shows with Italian talent.”
DEAG is also considering the development and realization of new event formats, in addition to launching formats it has already successfully staged in its other national markets. In the long term, the expansion of business activities in Italy will also include synergies with DEAG’s own ticketing business.
“With DEAG, we have a strong partner at our side with whom we can make our presence even more international and further develop DEAG’s European network. I am convinced that we will benefit from each other in the long term and I am very much looking forward to working together,” commented Andrea Pieroni, founder of MC² Live.
The acquisition of MC² Live marks a continuation of DEAG’s international expansion strategy following this year’s transactions with Showplanr, How to Academy, District Live, and Sputnik/Black Mamba. We are expanding our presence in Europe to include another national market. “This is in line with our plan to expand and deepen DEAG’s international network of promoters. By 2025, MC² Live will have already organized quite a few concerts, with acts including Pantera, Iron Maiden and Marilyn Manson. We will continue to expand MC² Live’s good market position by offering high-quality content and position the company even more prominently and internationally,” Kornett commented.
He told Pollstar, that while he still wouldn’t call DEAG a pan-European company, “we’re more European than ever. At the same time, we’re humbled by the sheer size of the other market participants, like Eventim and Live Nation. We will continue on our path of strategic expansion, and, within reasonable time, find the right opportunities, the right people that fit within our overall network. There is no benefit in being pan-European as such, there’s only a benefit if you’re pan-European based on true synergies, that add value, and make you profitable.”