Status: 11.10.2022 06:00
From clubs to arenas: the seats in front of the small and large stages are no longer full. There is also a lack of sound engineers. Event handlers focus on other pillars, if they have any. A situation report.
Nina Graf is a Norderstedt musician. She is tired. And that should mean something. Because it usually goes like this with her: even if she might be satisfied, she still completes it all. As an emerging talent, she leaves the advertising industry and gets a job with a record company, releasing her third album under her own label and reaching number one on the soul charts.
But now, that’s something else. “Miu”, as 35-year-old Nina Graf calls herself, had to cancel a concert in Rostock. The first ever. Too few tickets have gone away. That’s the way it goes for most of them, regardless of the industry.
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Musicians are the last link in the chain of events
“On the one hand, people have learned that Corona is coming back and people have become more comfortable,” says Graf. “And then we have a shortage of personnel in the technical area and at the same time a massive increase in costs, precisely because there are fewer qualified personnel, and then we must not forget that the war in Ukraine and also the energy crisis have a great impact on how much money. people left for so-called fun. “
However, this deprives autonomous artists like Nina Graf of their foundation. What the musician criticizes: whoever is on stage must make financial compromises. Unlike sound engineers, for example, they cannot set fixed daily rates, the last link in the chain.
Opportunities for newcomers are dwindling
Then there are the musicians who no longer have gigs because club owners now particularly try to see which acts fill the place, says Nina Graf: “That means: even if I’m talking about a newcomer band they don’t really get somewhere. because they have few opportunities to play. Or they have the opportunity to play but without money. Obviously I understand how these accounts come about, but it’s a very unhealthy relationship. reorienting. I would also say: it is only a question of who can overcome this phase and who is still after “.
“The big organizers will survive, the little ones will die”
Matthias Zöllner has canceled and canceled the scheduled concerts. Ten out of 24 outdoor concerts in total this year. For the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania event organizer, this means by cancellation: paying a contractual penalty. So: the entire agreed fee for the artist – not newcomers, but musicians who have been successful for a long time. They too no longer filled the halls. 5,000 instead of 22,000 spectators – it just isn’t profitable anymore: “The staff they have there, the lighting technicians, the sound technicians dictate the prices at the moment. And then it’s hop or top, yes or no. If only we served this pillar. , we would be insolvent. We will have bankruptcies here and there. The big ones will survive, the little ones will die. “
“Zöllner Concerts” exists since 2017, founded by a passion for music. This means: Matthias Zöllner has other pillars. On that he focuses: “I don’t have much hope there. In any case: it won’t be the same as before.”
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