MEDIA PACK 2020 PRINT & DIGITAL 01 About IQ 02 What we do 04 Our audience 05 Why advertise 06 Rates and specifications 10 Contact us ABOUT IQ IQ is a leading information resource for the international live music business. IQ operates across multiple platforms including a daily news resource and Index direct email news digest, IQ Magazine and a number of annual reports including the International Ticketing Yearbook and European Arenas Yearbook. With subscribers in more than 60 countries, IQ Magazine reaches over 20,000 professionals working in the global concert and festival business. Readership at IQ-mag.net is currently growing at 30% annually with 500,000 unique users per year, while Index reaches over 12,000 subscribers. An extension of the International Live Music Conference (ILMC), IQ’s readership includes the leading innovators and operators in the live music industry, including concert promoters, booking agents, festival organisers and venue operators. Mixing up-to-the-minute news, comment, features, analysis and in-depth reports, IQ is a title for the industry, by the industry. 1 Slipknot_Feature For two decades, Slipknot have been hell-bent on enticing ver the course of two decades, the met- al juggernaut known as Slipknot has people into their twisted world – one sold-out show at a continually grown in stature, thanks to the band’s long-term vision and sheer, bloody-minded determination. time. As they embark on their largest tour to date, rock Over six albums, the heavy met- allers from Des Moines, Iowa (where scribe James MacKinnon speaks to some of the key players many of the nine masked members still call home), have garnered no fewer than 14 ROD WHAT WE DO in the band’s team to discover how The ’Knot reached the O platinum albums and 39 gold discs, alongside a Grammy win for Best Metal Performance. top on entirely their own terms… Couple that with a fervent fan-base that extends across the world, and even the mainstream is un- able to ignore the band’s idiosyncratic presence. As their tour manager Mike Amato aptly puts it, “I work with a band that wear masks for a living. How come everyone recognises them when we’re at airports? That’s how big this has become.” MACSWEEN Even by the band’s own considerable career standards, 2019 proved to be a bumper year, AGENT OF THE DECADE with the release of their sixth album We Are Not Your Kind beating Taylor Swift’s Lover, and topping the album charts in ten countries in the first week of its release. The band’s 29-date pro- prietary Knotfest Roadshow, meanwhile, sold 525,000 tickets in the States last year, with a 2020 Photography © Anthony Scanga sequel due to commence in May. Beyond North IQ MAGAZINE America, standalone Knotfests have expanded as far afield as France and Colombia – and are still spreading. But more on that in good time for Slipknot are currently nearing the end of the biggest European tour of their career, traversing 15 countries over SONS 28 arena dates. They sold out 25 of those shows well in advance, backed by their loyal team of tal- ented creatives and promoters, who take us inside OF the planning and concept of the tour below. Tour promoters Live Nation are delighted. A roster that reads like a Who’s Who of rock “Slipknot only continue to grow and push the boundaries,” says Shane Bourbonnais, Live Na- royalty easily helped Rod MacSween earn IQ’s title tion’s president of talent for international music. “The band and their team are professionals to of Agent of the Decade, as his artists accounted the bone and the success of the We Are Not Your Kind campaign, both live and recorded, is testa- for more ticket sales internationally, than that of ment to the incredible work they put in. Over half a million fans have seen the band in the last any other agent. But trying to get to the root of the year and we’re not done yet. We look forward to everything they throw at us in the future” man who has helped his acts entertain countless ANARCHY At the time of writing, Slipknot have sold 302,000 tickets on the current leg of the tour. For millions of fans over the past ten years is a longtime manager and friend, Cory Brennan, Index in Brief founder/CEO of 5B Artist Management, these numbers not only signify the band’s enduring tricky task, as Gordon Masson discovers. commercial muscle, but also their position as one of metal’s leading players. The main headlines of the last two months. 84 iq-mag.net Magazine 85 42 iq-mag.net Magazine 43 IQ88.Slipknot.FINAL.indd 84 14/02/2020 16:29 IQ88.Slipknot.FINAL.indd 85 14/02/2020 16:29 IQ88.Rod.FINAL.indd 42 14/02/2020 16:27 IQ88.Rod.FINAL.indd 43 14/02/2020 16:27 Analysis Comment Comment In Brief Key stories and news analysis from across the Paving the way No rhythm in the algorithm IN live music industry. Mark Alexander of Twickets discusses the evolution of secondary ticketing in Europe, and Italian promoter Claudio Trotta, CEO of Barley Arts, sounds the alarm about Viagogo’s takeover explains why the platform still has a place when face-value resale is the new norm of StubHub, and the wider consequences of the ‘algorithmisation’ of the music industry BRIEFINDEX The concert business digest n 2015, when the concept for Twickets was born, the tick- time from listing to sale has reduced every year since Twickets s I said at the time, when I received word of Viago- pendent entrepreneur or an employee of one of a few major eting industry was broken. The emergence of four major formed, as users build trust in the service, and now stands at go’s plans to acquire StubHub, it was one of the companies… What’s at stake now is the future of our kids I players in the uncapped resale space allowed a new breed just over a day. It’s this success that brings fans back and helps A worst pieces of news I had received in my more than and, ultimately, their relation to culture and live music and of ticket tout/scalper to thrive. Artist and organiser reputations to create loyal customers. 40 years in the business. the role it plays in their lives. suffered, as did the fans and their bank balances. Horror stories For the fan-conscious artist, it is paramount that the guid- First of all, the fact that Viagogo can spend $4billion With the dawn of dynamic pricing, which uses software of extortionate prices, fraudulent tickets and consumer unrest ance is clear. They don’t want to be giving conflicting instruc- [€3.6bn] in cash is very worrying. Secondly, that Viagogo has to price tickets automatically based on popularity, we have were rife. A worrying pattern was also emerging – tions for every date on a tour. What’s more, in some cas- bought a competitor that operates in most countries taken yet another step towards the algorithmisation of Sofar Sounds agree a settlement Germany’s FKP Scorpio acquires Swiss ticketing solution provider A number of live shows in China, Festival streaming platform New Signings & Rising Stars with fans spending more on tickets, they were able es, even though the primary outlet has a face-value means we are still really far from winning the bat- the live music industry. JANUARY with New York state’s Department a majority stake in Nordic SecuTix announces the acquisition Hong Kong and Singapore are LiveXLive acquires React Presents, to attend less shows and had less to shell out on resale arm in this country, their global offerings tle against this cancer – and I do truly believe it Are audiences of the future going to be able of Labor that will see it distribute Live, formerly Norway’s largest of Belgian white-label ticketing called off or postponed over a Chicago-based promoter of merch and F&B. With the industry coming to are vastly different. If an artist is embarking on is a cancer – which has been eating away at the to grow their identities and personal tastes or- $460,000 [€422,000] among people independent booking agency. company Oxynade. fears related to the spread of the electronic dance music events, for terms with these changes to the ticketing mar- a world tour, what started out as a fan-friendly live music industry for far too long now. ganically, rather than artificially following algo- Vivendi and a consortium led by who worked its concerts for free coronavirus. $2m [€1.8m]. ket, we saw an opportunity to offer an ethical statement targeted at UK consumers could re- I am sure Viagogo has made this deal be- rithms that decide – what they listen to, what Tencent, the Chinese tech and between 2016 and 2019. The 20th anniversary of Primavera CTS Eventim acquires a majority A roundup of the latest acts that have been added alternative. Twickets has been at the forefront sult in their audience being unwittingly cast into cause they absolutely know it means they can they see, what they buy and so on – for them? entertainment giant, finalise the Sound experiences “the most stake in newly founded Swiss Cashless payment specialist Paradigm buys a stake in London- of the fight back in the UK ever since. the hands of touts or scalpers elsewhere. carry on doing secondary ticketing in the ma- The music business has to walk to the beat of consortium’s acquisition of a 10% FKP Scorpio opens its first office significant surge in sales in the powerhouse Gadget abc Intellitix Technologies acquires a based sync and sound branding Five years on, and two of the major players We are the one-stop shop that simplifies the jority of countries in the world and circumvent its own drum, the way it has always has.