Features
Asia: World Club Dome, MMI Live, Alibaba
World Club Dome Korea Controversy
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Attendees complained of delays and a late cancellation of DJ Snake at World Club Dome Korea 2017, a much-anticipated three-day EDM festival imported from Germany featuring Afrojack, Armin van Buuren, and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, among others.
The event took place the weekend of Sept. 22 at the
Many attendees were disappointed with the way the festival was organized, raising questions as to whether the event will happen again next year as planned.
One of the chief complaints, according to the Joongang Daily newspaper, was the cancellation of headliner DJ Snake “less than a week” before the festival, leading some fans to think that the French star was placed in the lineup “simply to sell more tickets.” DJ Snake’s appearance was still being touted in some local media on the opening day of the festival.
More to the point, ticketholders were forced to wait more than an hour to enter the venue on the opening day, a delay that led to a change in scheduling that caused some latecomers to miss the set by Kygo, one of the most hotly anticipated acts.
Ticketholders were also invited to an after party at two “club stages” late at night. Unfortunately, the club stages were in a wedding hall outside the main venue and not big enough to hold everyone who showed up. Many were turned away.
One concertgoer told the newspaper, “Seeing the lineup, I initially expected WCD Korea to be even better than Ultra Music Korea. But the organizers’ poor and irresponsible management skills greatly disappointed me.”
Yonhap news agency also reported on the festival, and in a more positive tone, saying that Incheon was chosen because it is closer to the country’s biggest international airport, thus making it easier for foreigners to attend the event.
In addition, Incheon has more lax regulations than Seoul when it comes to noise volume. Bernd Breiter, the founder of Big City Beats, which founded the festival in Germany, told Yonhap, “We came here with the intention to build something in Incheon which is unique and in Asia. The idea of doing a World Club Dome is not doing simply a festival, it’s building a club.”
Breiter said he hopes the festival will continue in South Korea.
“If you remember that one year ago there was nothing. And one year after now, there is a stadium with people who are happy who are dancing with the biggest stars coming together for the gathering. Of course we want to continue,” Breiter told Yonhap.
Philippine Promoter Warns Of Investment Scams
Jen Lowery / @JenLoweryPhoto.com – Bruno Mars
“KIIS FM Jingle Ball,” Staples Center, Los Angeles, Calif.
MMI Live CEO Rhiza Pascua told Inquirer.net that someone has been impersonating a representative of her company and offering shares in next year’s Bruno Mars‘ concerts at the
Pascua says that MMI pays for concerts with its own money and has never gone outside for financial help, especially with a sure thing like the Bruno Mars tour.
Consequently, the company posted a message on its Facebook page that said, in part, “It has come to our attention that there are malicious people soliciting funds under the pretense of providing an opportunity for profit in exchange for an investment. Please be informed that we unequivocally do not engage in such arrangements.” The message asks anyone who is approached with such a deal to contact MMI Live directly.
Alibaba Going Live?
China’s Alibaba Group is starting a new entertainment business group that will create content, sell tickets and launch concerts and other live events.
The new venture will combine its Damai ticketing platform and its MaiLive and Maizuo content creation and technology units under the Alibaba Digital Media and Entertainment Group. Mailive and Mizuo will work with content partners and MaiLive will be in charge of concert preparations. Damai’s chief executive, Zhang Yu, will head the unit. In March Alibaba acquired Damai, China’s largest ticket platform, for an undisclosed sum.
Alibaba is China’s leading e-commerce company, and is desperately looking for ways to diversify its reach beyond its current markets. In the last month the company signed a music licensing deal with rival Tencent, which allows Alibaba access to licensing deals with Sony, Warner and Universal.
In return, Tencent will have access to the Ali Music Group, which has exclusive content from Rock Records. The two companies run China’s biggest streaming services.
700 Delegates Attend IMS Asia-Pacific
The International Music Summit concluded its fourth installment of IMS Asia-Pacific in Shanghai on Sept. 24.
The premier platform for leadership in the electronic music field presented panels and keynotes comprising 60 speakers, including noted artists like Sebastian Ingrosso and representatives from Warner Music, Elrow and others.
– IMS Asia-Pacific 2017 in Shanghai
Keynote with Warner Music
More than 700 dance music industry players from 24 countries attended the conference for two days of production and DJing workshops, reports and parties that revealed the scale of Asia’s burgeoning electronic music market, including 286 hundred million electronic music listeners in China alone. Seventy-four percent of the attendees were from China, 9 percent from the rest of Asia, and 18 percent from the larger world.
Homeless Sumo Scam
Tokyo police reportedly arrested five persons for hiring homeless persons to scalp tickets for sumo tournaments and other events.
A 56-year-old man and his 83-year-old mother, along with three other persons, allegedly recruited homeless persons to purchase 52 tickets for sumo matches and the famous Takarazuka Revue all-female musical theater company for a total of 334,000 yen ($2,993) from ticket sellers in Tokyo, according to Japanese broadcaster TBS.
Then the suspects used online channels to resell the tickets at prices of up to 17 times their face value. The homeless purchasers were paid a fixed amount for buying certain numbers of tickets. The suspects have reportedly confessed to police, who estimate they made about 20 million yen from the operation since 2009.