Live Nation/Gaiety/SJM to take 45% stake in Boomtown

[editor]

Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.

Live Nation Entertainment UK & Ireland chair Denis Desmond and its COO Stuart Douglas have joined the board of Boomtown Fair, with the world’s biggest promoter partnering with Gaiety and SJM to collectively take a 45% stake in the 76,999-capacity event.

Founded by Lak Mitchell and Chris Rutherford in 2009, Boomtown had grown to become the biggest independent festival in the UK behind Glastonbury.

Companies House filings show that Desmond and Douglas joined the board of Boomtown Festival UK and parent company Circus of Boom as directors on 6 July. On the same day an Ordinary Resolution suggests that Mitchell and Rutherford passed 45% of the shares in the company to Live Nation.

Boomtown’s founders issued a statement today, 17 August, explaining that Live Nation UK acquired 18%, Gaiety 18% and SJM 9%.

The move has raised concerns about the dwindling number of major independent festivals in the UK and Live Nation’s perceived market dominance.

Association of Independent Festivals CEO Paul Reed said, “AIF has raised competition concerns about Live Nation’s singular grip on the market for a number of years now and this latest move only strengthens the case for further scrutiny into a single company’s dominance in the market.”

Rutherford said that while he is excited by the possibilities of the deal it will not impact the running of the event: “For us it’s business as usual, we still hold the keys, we are still running the show. We just have the safety of knowing there is now group support to help us pull through the tail end of these tricky years and provide stability for the future. This means we can continue to thrive, provide employment to one of the best festival crews in the world, and deliver to our audience the magic that is Boomtown. We feel incredibly lucky to still be here after such difficult times.”

Live Nation/Gaiety/SJM take 45% stake in Boomtown Fair sparking market dominance concerns - Access All Areas

Live Nation Entertainment UK & Ireland chair Denis Desmond and its COO Stuart Douglas have joined the board of Boomtown Fair, with the world’s biggest promoter partnering with Gaiety and SJM to collectively take a 45% stake in the 76,999-capacity event. Founded by Lak Mitchell and Chris...

accessaa.co.uk

 

[t0bytoo]

Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.

Not surprised, unfortunately. Boomtown was fun, but there were shortcomings, and it felt like this was on the cards.

I didn't think much of the line up, bars and overall shrinkage of the place. A lot of the changes they made would have sat well with the local community - much less traffic than usual and the local birdwatchers with their sound level recorders didn't have much to twitter about. All that would have helped the sale along and made sure that they could continue to hold the event.

 

[editor]

Not surprised, unfortunately. Boomtown was fun, but there were shortcomings, and it felt like this was on the cards.

I didn't think much of the line up, bars and overall shrinkage of the place. A lot of the changes they made would have sat well with the local community - much less traffic than usual and the local birdwatchers with their sound level recorders didn't have much to twitter about. All that would have helped the sale along and made sure that they could continue to hold the event.

To be honest, I referred Boomtown when it was smaller, and more off the radar. I was more into the vibe than seeing big bands.

 

[t0bytoo]

I wanted more bands - big or small. There were a lot more DJs. De la Soul's set, for example, was a scaled-down DJ version.

The shrinkage was more physical. As in, there was still a lot of stuff going on, but it was almost all in the bowl. We'd go up top for a while and then talking about going 'back into the arena'.

For the record, though, I had a fucking great time!

 

[ska invita]

Probably provides some financial security ... Music scene could be really hurt by next summer depending how inflation and cost of living play out.