We're
starting today our Tribute on How the economic crisis affects
Concerts and Festivals in Greece.
Iason
Kaldis responsible
for organizing the concerts by Anosis
analyzes below his own views and we want to thank him for that.
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Concerts and crisis. People have definitely been affected by the
economic crisis in their daily expenses. Have you adjusted your goals
in this new situation, or is there no variation in your planning?
Not
really. Just being more careful on the names and ticket prices.
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Do you think that there will be less summer concerts from now on? Or
will smaller names with lower financial requirements be preferred?
From
what I have seen so far, the opposite is happening. More and more
concerts are announced. Of course this has to do less with the market
and more with the "aggressive" tactics of organizers who
are trying to throw other competitors out of the market. In such a
battle no one wins, not even the public.
-
Will the major Festivals bear it or will they "diminish",
having fewer names on the line-up?
Some
festivals that are well-established may continue, simply because they
are the "crown jewels" for organizers. However, because the
Greeks are not festival people in the sense that the English or the
Germans are, I certainly do not expect a boom of them this year.
-
Musicians "lose" some money because of music piracy and
resort to more live performances to cover their expenses and of
course to reap more profits. Do you think they'll adjust their wages
according to the new situation imposed by the economic crisis or not?
At
the moment it is just the opposite. The fees are increasing rather
than decreasing. This is made worst by the bidding war for an artist.
So agents find the ripe conditions to play their game and sometimes
without even the artist being aware.
-
Is there a behavioural change of concert sponsors and especially from
the government (public grants for example)?
Of
course there is. The reduction in advertising means a reduction of
the budget available for sponsorship. Regarding government grants we
have never gotten any!
-
Do you think that closing a big name for a concert several months
before and the advance sales of tickets long time before the concert
would help the situation?
So
far the Greeks were always last minute people. But with low values in
the first 1000 tickets, and by starting advance sale for several
months before, they have begun to change and will change even more.
But the ultimate judge of a concert is still the popularity of the
name.
-
How do you see your counterparts abroad dealing with the new
situation?
There
are no such issues anymore abroad. Last summer UK festival profits
alone rose by 10 to 15%, while through the crisis all concerts
increased ticket sales by around 13%. And even with increases in
ticket prices. In Greece, now we're really feeling the brunt of the
economic crisis and what shall come we can not predict now. Besides,
there is a very different psychology and consumer habits of the
public.
-
Due to higher costs (transport etc) for a show for a big name in
Greece, compared with that of a Central European country, do you
believe it would help to have a cooperation between companies
organizing concerts in our neighbouring countries (Italy, Bulgaria,
Romania, Turkey), so that the appearance of the big names becomes a
"package deal" for all these countries or are you already
doing this?
All
these many years I have been in the industry, many times I have heard
that discussed, few times being applied and even fewer succeed. The
differences in markets, the "divide and conquer" of the
agents, some peculiar personalities of the organizers (Greek and
foreign) and the project doesn't succeed often enough to be viable.
The one exception is Live Nation (the largest media company
internationally) but it works differently either buying a stake or
entirely a local organizer or work together giving him a percentage.
Tomorrow
is the second part of our tribute with everything Anna Katsa of CTS
Productions told us.