Ema Acquires Chunk Of Concert Industry

It's merger round-up time in the Scandinavian concert industry, and SFX-owned EMA Telstar Group is corralling the entire herd.

The Stockholm-based company, founded in 1969 by current chairman Thomas Johansson, has since its inception had informal talks and partnerships with leading companies in other Scandinavian cities. Now, all of them are wholly owned affiliates of EMA.

The buying spree started two years ago, when EMA acquired Motor, a Gothenburg, Sweden-based agency that manages such acts as the Cardigans and books small- and medium-size acts from home and abroad.

Last year, EMA itself was absorbed by U.S. giant SFX Entertainment. Backed by those deep pockets, EMA so far this year has purchased Dansk Koncert Bureau (DKB) in Copenhagen, Welldone Agency & Promotion in Helsinki, and now Gunnar Eide Concerts (GEC) in Oslo (BillboardBulletin, Aug. 8).

While these companies control a substantial share of the market, the deals are not subject to regulatory approval, according to Johansson. Although the companies now share the same parent, they will not make alterations in their staffs or profiles, he says.

All of EMA's operations amount to revenue of some $79 million. EMA, which employs 70 people, last year had sales of 470 million Swedish kronor ($50.9 million). As for the individual affiliates, DKB had revenue of 60 million Danish kroner ($7.3 million); GEC, 65 million Norwegian kroner ($7.2 million); Welldone, 63 million Finnish markka ($9.6 million); and Motor, 40 million Swedish kronor ($4.33 million).

"For the past 10 years, me and my colleagues have had intentions to make one business unit for the whole of Scandinavia," Johansson tells Billboard. "This would have happened even if [the SFX deal] wasn't made. We have to do this if we are to make it in the international market and continue to offer global megastars."

In his tenure, Johansson has arranged all Swedish dates from major international artists, as well as coordinating the world tours of such acts as Abba, Europe, and Roxette. His company books approximately 800 international concerts annually and produces the tours of Roxette, Antiloop, Emilia, Jessica Folcker, Robyn, and others.

Despite the consolidation, EMA has apparently maintained its broad repertoire scope, booking concerts by such bands as the Delgados, Afro Cuban All Stars, Mr. Bungle, Radiohead, and the Reverend Horton Heat.

Motor, which is still based in Gothenburg, has cultivated a profile as "the cutting edge of EMA," according to managing director Petri Lundén. "A transition like this demands a lot of hard work. Sometimes the focus has been on the administration part and political details rather than the creative side. But I feel we're back on the rail now," he says.

Welldone managing director Risto Juvonen, who founded the company in 1990 and has collaborated with EMA for the past six years, has mixed feelings on the recent acquisition of his company. "This wasn't exactly my plan when I started out," he says. "[Welldone] comprises somewhat crazy people, and it will lose some of its character when large companies enter into it. I hope it'll be positive, but you can't tell by one week's experience."

However, he says, "it's suicide to believe that you can operate on your own in today's marketplace. It was just a question of assembling the logical part of the brain and making the decision based on that."

Rune Lem, managing director at GEC, says, "Thomas [Johansson] and I actually started to talk about this five years ago. Scandinavia is still a great place to be for artists, but Europe has become an expanded market, and artists prioritize their tours differently. It was a pleasant time when we were pioneers and independent, but the world has changed. I can't actually see any negative sides. We now have a stronger position, which means that we're able to present an artist for more dates."

But Lem adds that he doesn't necessarily think that the bottom line will be improved. "We can't increase the number of concerts, since there's a given point of saturation."

When asked about the state of the Danish concert industry and his relative lack of competition, Flemming Schmidt, managing director at DKB, says, "We sit on a very big share of the market. I don't know how much, but it's a major part. [EMA and DKB] just tied the knot after a long engagement, and it's really business as usual."

The reporting structure at the new EMA is understood to be democratic. A 10-person executive-management group, which is already in place and includes Motor's Lundén, oversees operations. Meanwhile, the operating heads of the non-Swedish companies, Steen Mariboe and Schmidt at DKB, Lem at GEC, and Juvonen at Welldone, are forming an executive board, which will be "a fair split of power," one source says. EMA will be represented on that board by Johansson as chairman, as well as managing director Staffan Holm and financial director Carl Pernow.

On the management side, there are surprisingly few negative reactions to the acquisitions. Basic Music Management managing director Lasse Karlsson—who oversees the careers of Jessica Folcker, Meja, Emilia, and Ace Of Base—says, "One advantage may be that it's possible to get international artists to Scandinavia, which [EMA] previously couldn't afford. Additionally, the consolidation could also motivate new companies to emerge in the marketplace."

Erling Johannessen, managing director at Sirkus Management in Oslo, representing bands such as a-ha, says, "I think those who disapprove of this most are international booking agents, since EMA can become a more fierce negotiator. If I had been at EMA, I would have used my power to negotiate a good deal, lower the price, and get more people to come to the concerts."

Johannessen—who was managing director at BMG Norway from 1989 to 1998—adds, "I hope they're able to maintain the array of artists in development. When I was at BMG, I tended to think that [Gunnar Eide] was a bit cautious with some of the newer artists, but I don't think there'll be fewer opportunities for artists to tour in Scandinavia."