The Skiddle News Round-Up

Looking for all the event industry news?

We’ve got you covered.

Welcome to the Skiddle News Round-Up, where every couple of weeks, we’ll deliver a recap of all the happenings in the industry. Think festival news, new initiatives, capacity reports and more.

If it’s interesting, we’ll aim to cover it.

Scroll down to get all the happenings in the event industry.

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02 Arena & AGF to host ‘carbon removed’ events

AEG Europe, owners and operators of London’s 02 Arena will collaborate with sustainable event company A Greener Future (AGF) and climate tech business CUR8 to deliver ‘carbon removed’ events. 

Said to be the first of its kind, the move will see more than 100 tonnes of residual carbon emissions removed at the 1975’s 02 Arena shows in February 2024. 

AEG say that a “portfolio” of carbon removal methods will be used, physically extracting the carbon generated at the event and storing it safely. 

The work AEG, AGF and CUR8 have been collaborating on involves research on how to record, reduce and predict the emissions from live events. Emissions from audience travel are estimated based on travel surveys and are accounted for with an extra 90p being added to the ticket price. If the pilot is successful, AEG wants to create a series of best practices for venues and promoters. 

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Forwards Festival trials a headset for visually impaired attendees

Forwards Festival returned to Bristol last week, and with it came the introduction of headsets designed to give visually impaired attendees the chance to experience the festival in a way that suits their needs. 

The headset delivered content live-streamed directly from the stage, with attendees able to adjust the content delivery to their needs. Forwards Festival were the first festival to offer the technology to their visually-impaired attendees. 

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ABBA Voyage is making £1.6m a week

Bloomberg reported earlier this week that ABBA Voyage is making £1.6m a week. 

The 3,000-capacity ABBA Arena, purpose-built for the event, has generated more than £119m in sales and sold more than 1.5 million tickets since launch. 

With a 99% capacity every night and tickets going for £85 a head, the weekly income of the event totals £1.6m. 

It’s certainly an interesting piece of news. While ABBA Voyage is a sprawling, ambitious event, the numbers show that it clearly works. Could events like this be the way forward for legacy acts looking to present their music? Only time will tell. But we’ll be keeping our eye out for sure. 

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Music Leaders Network launches international version of development programme for women in music

Music Leaders Network has launched Music Leaders Network Nordic, the first international version of its UK programme. 

Music Leaders Network is a professional development programme for women and non-binary people, and their new initiative will kick off on Feburary 6th 2024. 

Over six months, 12 participants will receive one-on-one, group and peer-to-peer coaching covering leadership and communication styles, executing a vision and more. 

There’ll also be a focus on building a pan-Nordic network of women in leadership roles in the music industry. 

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Chaos at Electric Zoo

New York City-based festival Electric Zoo faced several incidents last weekend. 

First up? The first day was cancelled due to a delay in constructing the main stage. 

All Friday ticket holders were given a full refund, while attendees with weekend tickets will receive credit for one of the days. 

But that wasn’t all. Seven hours after the gates opened on Sunday, attendees were told that capacity had been reached. Ticket holders were turned away and people rushed the festival gates. 

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