November 2007

Franz Ferdinand

November 2007

MAMA Group: Contenders to London's Live Crown

UPFRONT, One to Watch, November 2007, COMMENTS

2007 has seen a major restructuring in the London music scene. The O2 has finally opened along with its second venue Indigo2, while Stepney’s Troxy is set to be a hot contender for one of the capital’s best new venues in 2008.

But the closures have been grabbing equal column inches in the press. Camden’s Stables Market (and with it a number of live spots, including Vince Power and Alex Proud’s At Proud gallery and open air live bar) has been closed down, Spitz in Spitalfields Market and the legendary Astoria has been pegged for conversion to offices, while the Hammersmith Palais closed its doors last year and is pending demolition. Meanwhile, the controversy surrounding the licensing of live entertainments was renewed by the Liberal Democrat Party in October, who repeated calls to reduce the amount of prohibitive expense and red tape associated with public entertainments licensing.

Swimming against this tide, the MAMA Group, the company that manages Kaiser Chiefs and Franz Ferdinand [pictured], have been making dramatic inroads into the London music scene, purchasing from Live Nation last month the Mean Fiddler Holdings estate, which includes live venues such as Garage, Jazz Café, Borderline and the now legendary Mean Fiddler itself. MAMA, which already owns various high performing units, such as the Barfly in Camden, said in October that it had bought the venues as well as a 75% stake in G-A-Y, for £6m.

MAMA has now spent £20 million on buying up venues this year after it bought the Kentish Town Forum and the Hammersmith Apollo in June, also from Mean Fiddler owners Live Nation and Hamsard.

The reason for this expansion? Partly because of the Competition Commission, who found in March that Mean Fiddler’s parent company Live Nation had an undue influence in London, and were ordered to sell two of their large capacity venues. But it was also the intention of MAMA Group to find more venues in which to put their acts, bridging the gap being between artist management and venue ownership. With a third of the company devoted to artist management, recording and music publishing, MAMA want to bring their production, promotion and customer service values in house, ensuring the quality of their live events meets their high standards.

“We’ve probably got the strongest collection of music assets in any company in the UK at this point,” MAMA joint Chief Executive Adam Driscoll has said. “Linking live and artist management is key because live has effectively become the key thing - that’s where real revenue is for artists.”
And this year’s purchases, as well as their recent appointment as exclusive promoter at the University of London Student’s Union, ensures that the MAMA Group has a London venue for every artist on their books, explains Barfly Group MD Be Rozzo.

“We are pleased to be able to increase our promotional activities in London. Our parent company recently announced the acquisitions of the Hammersmith Apollo with a 5,000 capacity and The Forum in Kentish Town with a 2,000 capacity. The addition of the University of London Union with its 828 capacity room, alongside our smaller Barfly and Fly venues will give the group a full spread of capacities within central London.”

With Live Nation and Mean Fiddler announcing their intention to concentrate exclusively on the lucrative festival sector, MAMA now has the rights to the Mean Fiddler name, as well as the Mean Fiddler website - time will tell if they choose to use them. Meanwhile, they have some refurbishment to do. The famous Mean Fiddler in Harlesden has stood empty for five years, while the Garage has been closed for a year. Hopefully, we’ll see the openings sooner rather than later - watch this space.

From: November 2007 Issue

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