Almost all the big dance festivals in the Netherlands will soon be owned by American entertainment giant SFX Entertainment, the Volkskrant reports on Wednesday.
In 2013, SFX spent €120m buying up three big dance organisations, of which ID&T – organiser of the Sensation and Mysteryland events – is the biggest. The company plans to organise similar events all over the world.
But the Volkskrant says SFX is also on the verge of taking over Amsterdam club and festival organiser Air.
In addition, it is in ‘exclusive talks’ with Rocco Veenboer, who organises the Awakenings events. Awakenings, described as the biggest outdoor techno festival in the world, takes place in Spaarnwoude this weekend.
The owner of SFX is 65-year-old Robert Sillerman, one of the founders of the worldwide concert group Live Nation.
Dutch market
ID&T’s founder Duncan Stutterheim, who now works for SFX, said the American group will never serve the entire Dutch market.
‘There are far too many festivals for that. We are not looking for dominance but a key group of big, great festivals with content,’ he told the paper.
Erik van Eerdenburg, director of Lowlands, Pitch and Down The Rabbit Hole told the Volkskrant he did not think the owners of Air and Awakenings would allow themselves to pushed around by the Americans. ‘In the end, the public is the real boss,’ he said. –
source: www.dutchnews.nl