Expect festivals to become either a lot tamer and the bands to get in line, or expect a revolt by the artists. These guys could pretty much crush most artists off the live festival circuit. Most of the festivals are pretty small, but they also own Sziget, which is one of the biggest if not the biggest festival in Europe. There has already been a few boycotts for these.
KKR & Co. bought superstruct entertainment, who own and organise this festival with a few others last year for €1.3bn
KKR: From Greece’s “red loans” to the occupied territories of Palestine
Flow Festival faces boycott calls over Israel links
Many artists backing out of music festivals snapped up by private equity firm KKR
Many Dutch artists are pulling out of festivals owned by the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR). They don’t agree with the American venture capitalist’s investments, including in companies active in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. They also seem concerned about private equity invading festivals, forcing up ticket prices and food prices, and destroying the vibe.
KKR owns multiple Dutch festivals. DGTL, Mysteryland, Amsterdam Open Air, and Zwarte Cross are among the Dutch festivals that have distanced themselves from their owner in recent days, NOS reports.
The venture capitalist also bought up the British festival organizer Supertruct Entertainment last year. The company owns and operates over 80 festivals in ten countries, including Awakenings and Defqon.1 in the Netherlands, Sziget in Budapest, and Sónar in Barcelona.
[Archived Link] Loud music, silent takeovers: How private equity is reshaping Europe’s festival scene
Who are KKR? Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KKR_%26_Co. Main People Jerome Kohlberg Jr. - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_Kohlberg_Jr. Henry Kravis - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Kravis George Rosenberg Roberts - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_R._Roberts
sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 2 days ago
Artists with principles... Refreshing in the age where selling is the MO
mannycalavera@feddit.uk 2 days ago
Yup. I feel they wouldn’t have done anything (the organisers that is) until The Last Dinner Party stood up. Good to see the larger acts take a stand. A lot of the “legacy” acts from the 2000s and before doing the rounds just want their performance fee.
sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 2 days ago
Art was about counter cutlure and fighting the man... Sometime in 1980s but deff after Kurt Cobain died, selling became the MO.
And that's why I call them regime whores. These are not people are they are NPCs doing tricks for money. They don't serve their fandoms