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44 l April 2014


www.psneurope.com


livefeature


conference facilities, bars, churches, etc.”


Stefano Cantadori of


AudioLink, Italian DiGiCo and Quested distributor, is slightly more optimistic, “Although the industry was hit hard by the crisis over 2012 and 2013, I must say that Q1 2014 has been one of the best we’ve ever had! We streamlined our workforce, reducing costs, and QSC products have picked up sales-wise to pre-crisis figures, for installations and small rental firms.”


GAME ON!


Among the major end users of pro audio equipment, Agorà is Italy’s largest rental firm (with 3,300sqm of warehouse space), and, as well as touring with numerous top Italian names simultaneously, also looks further afield for interesting work, such as the Celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the Turkmenistan Republic, the inauguration of Donbass Arena (Ukraine), the 75th anniversary of FC Shakhtar Donetsk and the recent Olympic and Paralympic Ceremonies (see previous pages). CEO Vittorio DeAmicis


opines, “The economic situation hasn’t greatly effect on our work, but the very short time frames have definitely worsened working conditions on the whole – you’ve got to optimise rehearsal times, set-up times,


plus tours often stop and start. It’s not an easy situation and clients depend a lot on our logistics facilities, as well as our availability of both equipment and experienced crew. However, the great advantage of digital technology is the possibility of storing entire show set-ups for any future use that may be required, which saves a great deal of time.”


Another angle on the Italian touring industry comes from Mister X, a rental firm that also equips tours by popular Italian artists, but mainly works on mini-tours by international names. GM Lele Gurrado adds:


obvious effect of the crisis is that payment terms have been greatly extended, leading to a lack of liquidity and therefore reduction in investments, In spite of this, working regularly with foreign artists, we’ve must be able to supply the latest hardware found on international technical riders.”


THAT’S AMORE Summer festivals are probably among the few regular sources of income for rental companies, but the pinch has been felt there too, even if spending on technical production is not apparently at risk, with each


“Although the industry was hit hard by the crisis over 2012 and 2013, Q1 2014 has been one of the best we’ve


ever had!” Stefano Cantadori, AudioLink


“Although we’re on tours with Italian names such as Max Pezzali, Negrita and Francesco Renga, we work mainly with foreign artists – this summer Black Sabbath, Aerosmith and Iron Maiden. Concert takings have remained basically the same, but live events have become artists’ main source of revenue, so fees have risen and budgets allocated to contractors thus been reduced. Another


adopting a different strategy Umbria Jazz is a summer


festival in its 40th year in Perugia. Cristiano Romano confirms the crisis has hit public sponsors and to an even greater extent private ones. “Rather than laying off employees, they reduce advertising. To cut costs, instead of two or three really big names, we’ll have just one, and stage original artist combinations, like Chick Corea


Poretta Soul Festival


and Stefano Bollani. Audio contractors have remained unchanged, but instead of four grand pianos, we rent two or three and move them around the venues.” Graziano Uliani founder


of Poretta Soul Festival, this year at its 27th edition, adds, “We try to host artists that only perform here – it’s costly, but distinguishes us from the others. As private sponsors and public finance have been reduced, top grade performers and come on trust [alone].” Mauro Valenti is artistic


director of the 28th Arezzo Wave Love Festival, a showcase for young bands selected throughout Italy and alternative performers from all over the world, “Since we’re a non-profit organisation with a cultural role, we’ve always been able to count a lot on public financing, which this year has been reduced. We’ll therefore concentrate even more on Italian names instead of international


headliners, rather than cutting technical production costs.” ‘Necessity is the mother of


invention’ couldn’t be a more apt phrase to describe the tenacity with which Italian manufacturers are managing to conquer increasingly large shares of foreign markets when faced with a domestic market that in part still suffers incredibly from xenophilia, but is also strangled by tax, red tape and a serious financial crisis. And service companies and event organiser manage to give audiences a good show for their money, nevertheless.  www.audiofactory.it www.audiolink.it www.audiosales.it www.bcspeakers.com www.eighteensound.com www.faitalpro.com www.k-array.com www.montarbo.com www.outlinearray.com www.powersoft-audio.com www.rcf.it www.wisycom.com





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