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Discuss this article (0 Comments)UAE battles high costs to attract world's top stars
by This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it on Friday, 07 November 2008
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The UAE is facing a major challenge as it bids to attract some of the world's top international stars to the region, according to an event industry expert.
While the country is experiencing huge growth in the live touring business with more and more events businesses setting up, high costs could force concert organisers to take their leading artistes elsewhere, said Mel Tyler, general manager of Midas Promotions (Midas) in Dubai.
The company is bringing one of the pop industry’s top female singers and the lead vocalist for Black Eyed Peas band Fergie, to Dubai Media City on November 14.
Fergie is the latest pop star attracted to the UAE in recent years, following the likes of Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, Shakira, and Robbie Williams.
Kylie Minogue, George Michael and Alicia Keys are also due to play their first Middle East gigs in the UAE soon.
But Tyler told Arabian Business that event promotion companies faced more challenges than ever in the UAE, as the industry becomes “much more developed with applied business strategies”.
The days of promoters earning extra revenue on items such as t-shirts specifically made for the concert, have disappeared, added Tyler.
Midas promotes events in 13 Asian countries including Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippine, Korea and China. These markets all produce different percentage returns with the main determining factors being production and venue costs in the areas.
Back in the eighties up to the late nineties, Dubai had been a good market in terms of returns for companies such as Midas. Today, this has changed.
“Certainly, Dubai is by far the most expensive on both technical equipment and venue hire, which obviously affects the promoter returns. Also, artiste fees are much greater here in the UAE for commercial concerts compared to what we as a company pay the same artiste in Asia.
“This is due to the fact that there is no income derived from record sales in the region, coupled with the fact that the booming economy and real estate market has certainly boosted the expectations of artistes’ agents and managers.”
But Tyler expressed optimism towards the future of the industry, saying it looked “very promising”.
Consumer appetite in the UAE for “large profile” events was very strong, he said, with more than 12 international concerts planned for the months of October and November.
He noted greater diversity in opportunities as more live venues become available to promoters with the completion of projects such as Dubai Sports City and The Exhibition Centre at Jebel Ali.
“This will greatly enhance our industry and allow promoters to operate on a 12 month year round basis, as opposed to the seasonal business that we are able to operate at the moment due to climate restrictions for concerts.”
He said the competition is getting stronger for Dubai, as Abu Dhabi seeks to up its stake in the market, becoming an increasingly popular venue for concerts.
“Dubai has traditionally been the front runner over the past two decades for international concerts, but with Abu Dhabi now entering the arena it remains to be seen whether or not the majority of the larger international shows will end up playing in Abu Dhabi as opposed to Dubai,” added Tyler.
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