I have chosen this title because, certainly, organizing a summer festival of live music for one or more days or for a weekend requires internal legal work that is not visual but is as substantial and relevant as the sound. And it is a puzzle to form the festival legally combining and assembling all the pieces so that in the end it can be held with all the guarantees and security that the event demands.
The first piece is the contractual one: revision of the contracts, anticipation of disputes over image rights… A festival implies signing multiple contracts to make up the poster. Macrofestivals such as Arenal Sound or Valencia’s Medusa, which mark the date on the calendar of electronic music fans each year, close around 1,500 contracts a year in addition to the circumstantial that complements them: commercial agreements, sponsors, service companies , influencer, either food trucks. Everything must be linked by managing two legal concepts that are very present in civil liability and contract law: predictability and avoidability with which legal and administrative contractual response is given to behaviors that may have a correct solution foreseen and contractually ruled, avoiding the increase or increase of the risk.
Fan Fan Fest (Madrid) was canceled two days before it was due to be held due to disagreements between the organization and the venue; Primavera Sound had problems with overcrowding and long lines at the drink bars; while Capital Fest (Talavera de la Reina) is receiving complaints from attendees for not having enough supplies in the midst of a heat wave. Other recently arrived events such as the Boombastic Festival changed location a week before being held, moving from the Caja Mágica in Madrid to the neighboring municipality of Rivas; while at the O Son do Camiño festival a stage fell in full assembly, leaving six injured.
The figure of the promoter is key. All the decision-making powers fall on him, but also the universal responsibility of the event, so that he will be the one who chooses the location, authorization of licenses, hiring and insurance of the hand of expert jurists who will then begin the review and development of the contracts with the artists. . And this between a dispersion of rules with a certain asymmetry according to the different autonomous communities and municipalities, given that, in terms of organization of shows, there is a national regulation: security requirements in the assembly and stabilization of the stage that complying with the regulations must then accommodate the contractual requirements resolved with the artists, which may include equipment and instrumental means, together with the formation of the poster, typography, position and relief that the artists must occupy, which is the management of egos with a psychological mediation that escapes in opportunities for legal understanding. The transfer of the image that is transferred with the perfection of the contract is decisive, not being able to launch the artistic proposal, using the image of the group or singer, with mere preliminary negotiation deals.
It has been generated around the promotion of concerts legal structures that make up societies called holding company. The anglicism comes from the English verb to hold which, according to the Oxford University dictionary, means, among other things, to possess. Thus, the main company has control of the subordinates, which have their own legal personality but not decision makers. In Cervantine language, we will refer to article 42 of our Commercial Code, where we find the definition and some obligations of the dominant company. The way in which the parent company, which is called the holding company, exercises control over the management of the dominated companies is through direct and majority participation in their capital. This facilitates the unitary management of the entire group, with its consequent advantages in planning, which will be global, as well as in the intra-company coordination of activities, as is the case at the international level of Live Nation which, aside from being a promoter, is the owner of Ticketmaster.com which, according to its website, is a global leader in ticket sales for events. As a promoter, Live Nation produces more than 20,000 shows a year around the world. This involves the work of more than 2,000 international artists. Planet Events is a Spanish promoter that emerged in 1999 and in which both Live Nation and Grupo PRISA have shares.
The macro-festival industry has an estimated impact on the Spanish economy of 5,000 million euros per year. Social phenomenon of the summer, after two years of mandatory suspension, a trend that was already on the rise until the pandemic collapsed is restarted. The live music industry aspires this summer to break its own ceiling and revolutionize outdoor entertainment. The Fan Music Fest platform, which accounts for and promotes this type of event in Spain and Portugal, has registered 628 festivals throughout the year 2022, regardless of its duration.
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Music Law. Music festivals. The legal puzzle