sonar, the international festival of advanced music and new media art of barcelona case study...

Case-study: Sonar, the International Festival of Ad vanced Music and New Media Art of Barcelona 1

1. Precedents Sonar, the International Festival of Advanced Music and New Media Art of Barcelona, has taken place every year, over three days in June in Barcelona, since 1994. In 2011, it celebrated its 18th edition. Sonar is organized by Advanced Music, S.L. (AM), a company founded and co-directed by three friends and lovers of Electronic Music: Sergio Caballero, Enric Palau and Ricard Robles. Sergio and Enric had a musical group in the 80s named Juno. They met Ricard during an interview with the latter, who in those days worked for Ajoblanco2. From this moment on they would meet to listen to and exchange music. This sparked the idea for the festival. They worked on the conceptualization of Sonar for two years, until, in 1994, the first Barcelona International Festival of Advanced Music and New Media Art emerged. According to Sergio Caballero, “in 1994 there were two types of electronic music here: the electro-acoustic, a closed niche, and on a more popular level, bakalao3. You would go to speak to a sponsor of electronic music and they would tell you “but you play bakalao. It could be that today you play bakalao and it’s super cool” One of the differentiating qualities of the festival was the division of its content into the diurnal activities of Sonar by Day (which take place at the MACBA and CCCB, two centers of contemporary culture in the center of Barcelona) and the nocturnal activities (Sonar by Night), which were originally held in the Pavelló of Mar Bella4. Regarding this initial period, R. Robles notes that Sonar was created “in a time where non-conventional music (alternative or experimental) practically didn’t exist in our country. There were a few small groups out here, which shared no real connection. Also, there was little information on what happened outside of our country on the topic and it was difficult to find. Keep in mind that we’re talking about a period when Internet didn’t exist and when there were just a few information channels that had limited space for such type of offer... Sonar has always been a strange thing open to everyone. It’s specialized but the same time open… From the start, we combined different sectors, which came from their own “churches”, some of which were very closed off from classical or electro-acoustic music, those were closed off from experimental music and electronica, and the latter made the dance music. We created the conditions for a meeting.“ Due to the rapid growth of the festival (from 5,949 spectators in 1994 to 12,237 the following year, to 53,000 in 20005), in 2001, Sonar by Night changed venue, first from Mar

1 Case-Study elaborated by Jorge Bernárdez López for his use as teaching material in the course Music Management of the Master’s Degree in Arts Management of the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC). The author would like to offer thanks for the collaboration of: Oriol Amat, Rector of Finance Economics of the Universitat Pompeu i Fabra; Sara Bernárdez Lai; Ricard Robles and Sílvia Palau, of Advanced Music, and of Enrique Banús and Consuela Dobrescu, of the UIC; as well as of Cristina Brenea, student of the 10/11 Master’s Degree in Arts Management of the UIC. This Case-Study is available to all participants who wish to use it, with previous written authorization from the author: ([email protected]) and making clear reference to him. 2 Vanguard and countercultural magazine edited en Barcelona between 1974 y 1999. There is also available a video on the case (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px87D5u34ks). 3El Periodico de Catalunya, an important newspaper in the region of Catalonia, 2008. 4 Municipal Sports Installation at the beach of Mar Bella. 5 Sonar’s attendance record is 91,014 (2002).

Case Study: Sonar, the International Festival of Advanced Music and New Media

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Jorge Bernárdez López© 2012 · [email protected] 2

Bella to the Fira de Barcelona 6 in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat (Fira Gran Via (M2)), a higher capacity location, that despite not being a cultural center, was able to comfortably accommodate the public. At the same time, it guaranteed the technical and sound quality of the artistic activities of the festival. The daytime activities continue in their location at the two cultural centers in the city center. Over the years, Sonar has grown into a “must” for anyone who is interested in what can currently be done with nonconventional music in conjunction with other media. As such, the festival extends its activities beyond the musical sphere and speaks using New Media as yet another creative ingredient. Annex 1 displays the principal indicators of the festival activities from its inception to 2010. 2. Mission For Ricard Robles, “The intention of Sonar in 1994 is still valid. It has the goal of being a meeting point for the public, the artists and the electronic music professionals. The artists that attend have the opportunity to be seen by the professionals of record distribution and tour contracting and make deals for other events. Likewise, people who are not daily consumers of electronic music can come to encounter things that they wouldn’t find anywhere else7”. 3. Advanced Music, SL: The Promoter Behind the Fest ival Currently, Enric, Ricard, and Sergio are the artistic and executive directors of Sonar and Advanced Music (AM), the promoter behind the festival. Sergio Caballero is the director of corporate image, while Enric Palau is in charge of Programming and Ricard Robles Communication and Press. "Three works well, because we are different. There is a lot of respect between us, even if we scream at each other at times. We have known each other for many years, we know each other very well, and each one has a clearly defined line of responsibility.” AM has a team of 15 full-time employees, that has been tripled on occasion8. As June (the month of the festival) approaches, new auxiliary personnel will be incorporated (not necessarily in the offices, but through subcontracted companies that take responsibility for specific areas). At the end of March, the team is composed of 25 people. Annex 2 relates the areas and the person(s) of the organizing team of Sonar 2009. Given the striking growth of the festival in Barcelona, Advanced Music has become increasingly focused on its operation and that of its “children” (such as Sonar Kids or the increasingly frequent international events under the sonar brand that are organized in diverse cities across three continents), abandoning other activity areas that were important in the early years of the partnership. ”It has been a long time since we’ve being promoters of isolated concerts, although we continue working with Jeff Mills, Laurent Garnier and other artists: we act as a local agency in Spain, but we’re performance organizers. It is small part of our business, we do it more for friendships or affinity”, Robles declares. Annex 3 collects the financial statements of Advanced Music, SL between 2003 and 2009.

6 Barcelona Conference Centre. 7 Ricard Robles, in ADN (free newspaper), 2008. 8 46 persons in 2008.


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Financing of Sonar

In 2010, the budgeted income of Sonar was 4,445,300.14€, primarily funded by Self-Financing (3,485,574.30 €, or 78.4% of the total), and the rest by external sources: Support from Public institutions (461,525.80 €, or 10,4%) and Sponsorship (498,200.00 €, or 11.2%). As you can see in the P&L of the 2003 and 2004 editions, the festival even generated profits (Annex 4). Ricard Robles believes that the search for profit does not pervert the cultural product. “It is precisely the opposite”, he declares, “If you really want to be independent, you must do so from an economic standpoint. If you need public subsidies to work, and I do not deny that it can help you build a product of extraordinary cultural significance, but you will always be limited by state aid that may or may not be available. And this does not mean rejecting public support, provided that such funding allows you to be able to build a better, and without a doubt bigger, product. But we start from the premise that we live and work thanks to the public, and that we generate our own income in effort to be able to allow a real dimension of the event. And from that point, we should be able to establish quality standards that attract the public by the intrinsic value of our work, not by the budget. But independence first comes through economic independence”. Robles continues his explanation of the meaning of economic independence: “we must be able to live off what we like to do. But, this is a premise that can be applied to the festival or any other activity that arises in a particular vocation. It makes no sense not to be able to live off the festival. Sonar cannot depend solely on subsidies or the success we may have with sponsors. It is an important part of this balance, but the main premise is that whatever we do be the interest of the public and that they be willing to buy the tickets. With these three ingredients (grants, sponsorship and public) we do such festival that people expect from Sonar. That is, we perform as the best electronic music festival possible through the range of the electronic term, which is not a rigid discipline, not to mention the spirit of innovation that the vast majority of people expect to see in each year’s festival content.” 4. The competition Regarding the proliferation of music festivals in Spain9, Robles expressed in 2008 that: “At this moment in time, the quality supply of festivals does not take priority. They are making up excuses to create festivals, like tourism. For this reason the artists are being paid well above market rates, and this impacts the price of tickets. I think there will be a re-adjustment, many festivals will change, others will disappear, but the best will remain10. I hope that Sonar survives because it is a festival with personality; it has an attitude that justifies its continued existence, a trajectory and proven quality. The supposed war is centered in Rock, and Sonar is well removed from that. There could be a moment of conflict over a concrete artist that interest us and that other festivals also want, but nothing more. The rest of our content, I mean 95%, is not susceptible to conflict. The impossible names end up being the object of greed of the festivals. Any big artist will have a million offers at any given time asking them to return to the stage. I prefer the sensation of bringing something incipient and later realizing that I made a discovery”.

9 Primavera Sound, Cruïlla de Cultures or the Concerts del Poble Espanyol, all in Barcelona, or Rock in Río and FestiMad 2M in Madrid, FIB in Benicàssim (Castellón), Monegros Desert Festival (Huesca), SOS Festival (Murcia) and BBK Live Festival (Bilbao). In June 2011, Live Nation, the world's leading live entertainment company) will launch a new festival in Madrid (Dcode Festival). 10 In fact, two festivals -Dr Loft 05:00 Festival (there was only one edition) and Summercase (celebrated in Barcelona and Madrid simultaneously)- ended in 2008.


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Despite the spectacular increase in music festivals in Spain, the United Kingdom continues being the global country of reference in this respect. The promoter Vince Power, which has organized large music festivals in the U.K., like those of Glastonbury, Reading, Fleadh and Leeds, and that is the current organizer of FIB11, believes that: “Spain has nothing to learn from the U.K. in the area of festivals. Today, the world is very small and people hear things very quickly. When an artist is known in the U.S. or U.K., they become known all over Europe, and also in Spain. Any group from any part of the world can be in the U.K. as easily as in Benicàssim12". 5. The audience of Sonar According to Sergio Caballero, “there is a well defined public for Sonar. Sonar is a different event and people come to discover. It isn’t a festival of big names, but it is a way to spend three days visiting Barcelona, seeing concerts and the city, like being on vacation”. According to results of a market research conducted by the festival in 2004, the profile of the Sonar visitor is of a man (61% of the total) between 25 and 30 years old (40%) with a university education (56%) and an average salary of 900 € per month. His profession is related with new technologies (14%) and music (10%). He comes from Spain (59%), although also from other countries, principally European (33% of the total). Of these, 39% is from the U.K. and 14% from France. The average spending of a Sonar visitor is 87,89 Euros per day, not including transport. In its two most recent editions, Sonar had the following attendance:

2009

2010 Dif 10-09 Dif %

Sonar by Day (CCCB + Museo Arte Contemp. + Auditori) 36.682 35.429 1.253 3,54% Sonar by Night (Fira Gran Via (M2) + Teatre Grec13) 52.294 39.052 13.242 33,91% Total Sonar 88.976 74.481 14.495 19,46%

11 Festival Internacional de Benicàssim, Indie music festival celebrated every July in the costal location of Castellón in Eastern Spain. 12 El Mundo newspaper, Valencia edition (11 April 2011). 13 Only in 2010.


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6. Sonar Locations The locations where Sonar takes place are, to its co-directors, one of the differentiating elements of the festival, especially those situated in the center of the city. Along with Sonar’s own spaces, the other cultural centres and festivals of Barcelona contribute by hosting other Sonar activities. Another differentiating element is the daytime programming of part of the activities (Sonar by Day). The rest (Sonar By Night), as is habitual in the majority of festivals, take place at night in the Fira de Barcelona.

Sonar by Day The daytime activities of Sonar are grouped into Sonar by Day, which are carried out in the two cultural centers in the center of the city: the CCCB and the Museum of contemporary Art of Barcelona. The artistic activities include: Concerts, DJs and VJs Exhibitions, Audiovisual Content. Additionally there is SonarPro, a professional market that attracts the agents of the electronic music industry. -The concerts and the DJ & VJs sessions are split among four stages: SonarHall, SonarVillage, SonarComplex and SonarDome. -SonarMàtica is an exhibition space dedicated to New Media art. In order to select the pieces that make up SonarMàtica the aspects of interactivity and entertainment are taken into consideration. Generally they are themed exhibition, which seek not only artistic and technological relevance (above all, the link between the on and the other: the creation and the tools with which the work is carried out), but they should be non-contemplative activities. Robles declares that: “We don’t want and exposition where you pass through and observe, but and exposition where you pass through and touch, or climb, or go inside, where the public is acting, that it be a friendly, fun, and above all, surprising technology. This is a premise for, in the future, developing projects that revolve around the world of the portrait (as in the case of this year [2011]) or around robotics (2010), with the world of magic, the history of film… In a way that there are slogans that are applied to an artistic concept in which pieces of a diverse nature can appear, even if they are not related to the musical part.” SonarMàtica 2010 was composed of 17 works. -Finally, the audiovisual part of Sonar, SonarCinema, is generally pieces of a documentary character that aim for the festival to have a communicative effect, again, through what they project. In 2010 5 titles were shown at SonarCinema.

Sonar by Night. The Sonar activities (concerts and DJ sessions, principally) that are programmed for after 10pm and that extend into the early hours of the morning have taken place in the installations of the Feria de Barcelona in L’Hospitalet (Fira 2) since 2001. That year, it was necessary to encounter a larger venue for Sonar by Night due to the fact that the festival had outgrown the Pavelló de la Mar Bella, the municipal sports installation in front of the beach of the same name. The concerts and DJ sessions of Sonar by Night take place in three stages: SonarClub, SonarLab and SonarPub.


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Nevertheless, a few concerts are held in collaboration with other spaces and events of the city, such as those from L’Auditori14 and el Teatre Grec (the latter, among the activities of the Barcelona Summer Festival-Grec 2010 y 2011). 7. Sonar artistic programming Sonar’s artistic content combines established artists with hundreds of emerging artists and DJs who represent the newest developments in music and new media. Enric Palau is in charge of the artistic programming. The roster of expositions and audiovisuals is managed by a larger team that includes Enric, Sergio Caballero and external consultants. However, it always ends with one of the festival directors giving their final blessing to the content. Regarding the selection of the creators that participate in Sonar, Palau attests that “We work constantly to bring top international figures, but also each year a brand new talent that has earned the appreciation of our public, that has the confidence in us to come and display their musical talent or their expositional talent, and often with the profile of a peculiar artist because an artist that invents musical and artistic discourses and invents the instrument they are going to use, be it software or a big band of jazz, like in the case of Matthew Hervert, or an old production line of a cookie factory converted into a musical instrument like Cabo San Roque did in the L’Auditori in 2010. In this respect the profile that we support and hope to present at our festival is that of an artist in the middle ground between a pure creator and inventor, be it one person or a collaboration.”15 “Sonar combines many musical activities with other forms of vanguard art. Each has its space, and the best is that there be a natural combination. I believe that the spaces we’ve created meet this standard. For example, during the day there is more cultural equipment dedicated to expository and divulgatory activities, but the musical spaces still predominate16”.

Elaboration of the artistic programming

Sonar’s artistic team follows what occurs in electronic art across the globe. In this vein, they travel and visit other events and places where things of interest are happening. Moreover, there is a team of consultants, both local and external, who often serve as collectors of information. On top of what is uncovered by the Sonar team, Ricard Robles adds other sources of information with which he creates the year’s roster: “Also, there are the inputs from the artists that are interested in us knowing their work for programming purposes. There is also the reality of the market: the artists that are in Sonar that can also be in other events. In this aspect, we go into dynamics of agents, management, timing, routing … [we begin] 9 months before because, as we know, there are always those 2 or 3 headlining artists that are going on tour next year where you have to present your proposal and that they include you in this auction and hope that the offer you make fits into their schedule; and above all, that their road schedule, allows them to end up to the area of Europe where you are in June. Such issues determine in 80% of the cases whether or not the big artist could be

14 Musical space managed by a consortium formed by the Barcelona City Hall and the Catalonian government that is made up of five rooms, headquarters of the OBC (Barcelona City and Catalonian National Orchestra), in which you can also find ESMUC (Graduate School of Music of Catalonia) and the Museum of Music. 15 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pPJjdXpYao (2010). 16 Ricard Robles, in ADN (free newspaper), 2008.


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present or not in the festivals. And that really is a lottery in which you are waiting for 3, 4 or 5 months. Yes, it’s true that there are many artists, that because they have a new project or for a strategic reason that might seem important that they approach the festival well in advance and usually tell us: "we would like to be in the festival next year because we’re are going to present a new show. That has been the case Kraftwerk, Chemical Brothers, Justice, Bjork - including other big artists due to the idiosyncrasies, type of public and industry target of the festival that it seems relevant [to these artists] that Sonar be in their calendars as a stop over point”.

Local and emerging artists One of the most relevant functions of the festival is its role as a platform for global dissemination of both new and local creation. With respect to the proportions of emerging and established performers on the one hand, and for local and international artists on the other, Robles articulates that: “There is no standard, but if there are 120 performances, there’d be around 10 to 12 well-known artists and the rest being new talent. New talent are artists that have a history of at least one or two years’ work, with one or two records on the market. Which is to say: less than 10% represent established artists and the rest represent emerging talent. And, within these artists, we feel a strong importance as much as with Sonar by Day as well as with Sonar by Night that there is a presence of local talent: both Spanish and Catalan artists should have the opportunity to show what they are doing to the rest of the world. Whereupon the day program about 25-30% of artists may be Spanish; and at night, such figure is lower than this percent; but we’d say at the same time that the: “Who's Who?” in music from this country has to be present in the festival.” Profitable and non-profitable artists Robles explains that “In the end, there are artists who are more profitable than others. The bulk of the artists performing at Sonar are not profitable, because if they acted in a town hall any day of the week outside the scope of Sonar, its market share, their attractiveness, would be very small. But under the cover of Sonar everything acquires a special dimension. The event itself generates its own interest. Our task is that what's inside is interesting, even if it’s not known. There are artists who are expensive but have the ability to energize the public and end up being profitable. But if we isolate a case by case would not be economically profitable. So this stew is always brewing and is based on the credibility of what they show, beyond the specific profitability of each part.” “In the end, we handle a huge volume of information that ends up becoming a hundred-odd performances representing 10-15% of all that may be on the table to be able to schedule“, concludes Robles. In 2010, Sonar as a whole incorporated 561 artists proceeding from 23 countries, for a total of 135 concerts, DJ and VJ sessions. Criteria for the selection of non-musical content The non-musical content is concentrated in the daytime in three areas: the expositional (SonarMàtica), an area dedicated to the world of audiovisual (SonarCinema) and an area oriented towards networking and the work of the professionals that come to Barcelona during this week to do business within the brand of the festival (SonarPro). SonarMàtica and SonarCinema are curatorial works, which is to say that there are a series of responsible persons who define the content of the year’s exhibition or the programming of audiovisual material.


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SonarPro is a world on its own: Sonar offers a complete series of resources to allow accredited professionals to contact and network amongst themselves. In this case there are no artistic criteria. 8. Promotion and corporate image: how the Sonar fes tival is marketed. A central element of the promotion of Sonar is its corporate image. In 2008, for example, the image of Sonar was predominantly videographic and spread over the Internet. Seven films of one minute duration were made in the style of home videos. The corporate image of Sonar, with which the festival is advertised each year, in that edition opted for seven hybrids of animals and men “genetically created” –joked Sergio Caballero– “in a genetic engineering lab in China”17. These videos were uploaded in stages, in the style of viral marketing, on the phantom website http://www.b1158.cn/b1158.html and on Youtube, without establishing any link with the Sonar festival. The result was spectacular: in just two days 180,000 visits were reached, which was good for #13 in the ranking of “Most Viewed” of Youtube and #3 in the area of Science and Technology. This type of campaign is known by way of “viral marketing”, an advertising strategy that consists of uploading images on the Internet without giving any information about what the images are referring to. In this case, the viral marketing was done on Myspace and gathered close to 75,000 visits. As to the importance of such an innovative image to promote a music festival, Robles states that “The image is one of the ingredients of communication. It has to be something that provokes interest or unintended controversy. It [the image] has to be intended as an artistic masterpiece, a part of creation from which something like this year’s can be derived: we do a promotion of a sale, in this case the festival itself, or it has a characteristic which is purely plastic, always trying to get out of the usual tools that the world of music uses to communicate. Such could be carried out in a series of names that are as big as possible or any item associated with a pop iconography or culturally close to the actual music. In the beginning, we thought that we would never be interested in working with an iconography related to the electronic or virtual worlds or with these aesthetics, which seem ugly. Thus, Sergio has his own personal battle every year to seek which idea is the leivmotiv from which to develop a campaign. Not just any idea that is shocking or surprising or artistically beautiful has a practical application in a campaign that needs to work with all graphic media. It is an artistic process conditioned by communication needs of the festival that seeks the self-interest of the piece to be developed; and then the application (of the final product) throughout those sectors that pertain to the festival”.

17 See Annex 5.


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9. SonarPro: an electronic music market for profess ionals In addition to the artistic activities, during Sonar by Day there is also SonarPro, an event designed for professionals of electronic music. SonarPro, which defines itself as: “the point of encounter for professionals from the music industry and the applied technologies of audiovisual creation and new media”, was able to count upon, in this 2010 edition, the participation of more than 2,030 accredited professionals from 724 companies from 38 countries. In the typology of the accredited professionals, the following were found:

- Agents and representatives of national and international artists. - Promoters and organizers of festivals, and musical and cultural events. - Professionals from the record companies, both independent companies and

multinationals, and record stores. - Professionals from editorial and record distribution companies. - Makers, importers and distributors of computer software and hardware. - Persons responsible for areas of culture and shows from public institutions. - Owners and promoters of discotheques, concert halls and shows in general. - Teaching staff from centers of musical education. - General press and specialized press in areas of music, culture and technology. - Professional in marketing, advertising and fashion. - Graphic and New Media designers.

The table below displays the participation in SonarPro in recent editions: 2003 2005 2007 2009 2010 - Professionals 1.623 1.818 1.998 1.200 2.030 - Companies 665 716 662 530 724 - Nationalities 29 32 39 35 38

The accredited professionals of SonarPro are spread between the professional forum (Forum Pro) and the Demo Area, where they attend masterclasses, conferences and demonstrations, network and receive expert assessment. In the Annex 6 the details of the activities of SonarPro are shown, while Annex 7 shows the attendance by nationality. 10. New markets (exportation) and new products (Son ar Kids) Exportation and internationalization of the Sonar Model The activities of Sonar have been exported to other cities, such as London (Sounds of Sonar, A Taste of Sonar), New York, Washington and Tokyo (SonarSound), Madrid (Hypersounds), and Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Seoul and Frankfurt. Since 2010, Advanced Music organizes a parallel Sonar festival (although only for two days) in the northwest of the Iberian peninsula, in the city of A Coruña, called Sonar Galicia. -SonarSound Tokyo The international route of the festival was born in 2002 “almost by luck, when we had our first experience outside Barcelona, our most familiar place. The moving around of the event was came about as a result of invitations from different promoters who would like to somehow reproduce the essence or content of Sonar in their own city. It has been a long time, [since we have received] invitations to participate in other events or as part of a cycle of activities, which looks for a space occupied by Sonar”, says Ricard Robles. Beyond the


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festival itself, which began to develop its own lines of business abroad, It] responds to a strategy that prioritizes the public relations side, such as the case in London, where in one night, an annual event energizes a public to subsequently attend the festival in Barcelona or gather industry professionals that are going to be talking about Sonar for a while - generating positive public opinion to get people to come to Barcelona”. The first attempt to export Sonar was in Tokyo. “SonarSound Tokyo was an invitation to participate in a cycle of activities which then became a festival with its own funding with a local partner and an ambition to occupy a market share in the country. The first phase was done in 2002, 2004 and 2006. There was a growth crisis, in which the festival was full (we are talking about 6,000 people), and the local partner got more frightened than we did. We are now back in 2011, in circumstances that have not been the most favourable, but with the intention to establish an annual event in Tokyo as well. There will be more experiences like this. Yes, we would like to develop other festivals in other parts of the world and are in the process.” “Tokyo SonarSound will take place during two days, in 2011: a Saturday (from 8pm to 9am) and Sunday (from 3pm to 11-12pm). There will be four spaces: three music, and one audiovisual. The festival will evolve, in the future, in response to the market and our ability to insert ourselves into the Japanese market. It is a festival in a spirit of belonging, in close collaboration with a Japanese partner. You must also keep in mind, especially in Japan, that the local market is quite important, and that the presence of Japanese artists has to be very noticeable, although it is true that Japan is a market with a high absorption capacity, interested and anxious for everything that comes from outside, 80% of consumption is from Japanese products. So you have to land there, taking into account what the rules of the game are; and, it is essential to work with someone who is Japanese that knows that market”. Ricard Robles explains the role of the local partner in SonarSound Tokyo: “The local partner is instrumental in defining artistic event in Barcelona how to adapt the reference (it is to be a festival that reflects the essence of Barcelona) but then has to be qualified and seek space for local artists. Then there are the aspects of production, logistics, local media ... We need to know the rules of each country, the right suppliers, its own corporate culture, the tempos of communication, an appropriate message for each of the media or sectors in which it seeks to influence. It is a 50/50: it is necessary to have a local partner involved in virtually all aspects of the festival.” Regarding the role and contribution of Sonar Barcelona toward SonarSound Tokyo, Robles declares that Sonar provides the seal of quality, art direction, definition of format, type of event, sound level standards and technical equipment as well as the actual campaign itself, (provided that the image can be adapted). Sonar Barcelona has its own DNA that is transferred and translated into each of the contexts, sometimes in an almost identical reproduction. But, the spirit of the event in Barcelona in terms of art direction and how the final product will be presented before the public is rooted from Barcelona.“ As for the weight of the internationalization on the model of sonar in the future, Robles observes that “We hope that it gets bigger and bigger. From the point of view of teh business, we aspire to continue to grow the share of international business over the next few years. I won’t dare claim a percentage, but if we are aspiring for our investments –in SonarKids and events abroad– to bring returns and become a notable volume of the business of AM”.


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-SonarGalicia In 2010, the directors of Sonar accepted an invitation from the Xunta18 to organize a Sonar festival (although with a two-days duration) in La Coruña, a region of Galicia in the extreme northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Sonar Galicia was born as a sibling festival to the original one in Barcelona, as they take place over the same dates. In this regard, Robles manifests: “In this case, we were dependant on public funding, which allowed us the chance to organize the festival there simultaneously to that of Barcelona. And, we were granted continuity as long as the festival runs [financially] well. That was our only compromise and the turn out was amazingly successful; not only from an organization or profit standpoint, but also the competitive position it allowed us in terms of tapping into new territory and the ability to offer two performing dates to the artists. Based on the extraordinary outcome of Sonar Galicia, in 2010, we are now looking into the feasibility plan and now it is a project officially positioned from here as a private initiative. There is an important contribution from the regional government to help in the consolidation, with the aim of which is a fixed event in the calendar of A Coruña parallel to Barcelona”. The Galician Sonar event attracted almost 14 thousand people in 2010.”This year, with similar figures, we feel that we are moving in a good direction”. SonarKids: an investment in the family segment Added to the musical expositional and audiovisual content of Sonar, there is, since 2009, a new festival called SonarKids (SK), which is aimed at families. Its content includes concerts DJ sessions, beatboxing and hip hop classes, workshops of skateboarding, fingerskate, drawing, architecture and sewing. Enric Palau explains how the idea of creating a festival for families began: Sonar has a strong suite in visual and interactive arts. It was groundbreaking in its moment because of the placement of Sonar by Day in museum facilities, where it continues to this day. In this expositive part, we began to see more families and children participating in a natural manner with the more interactive elements. The fact that many of us now have children of our own, and our public has grown up and has had children, would explain this. We have had the life experience that we want to share with our children. It was this, that led us, four years ago, to think about an event formatted for children According to R. Robles, “SK was born with the same spirit as Sonar, at the time. You notice that throughout the years, part of the team grows, and have children; and thus, one begins to have views that didn’t exist 18 years ago. From this observation from the team itself - including people that you interact with on a daily basis and from the general public, you realize that the market of leisure and entertainment for families has existed for ages and that there is not so much really going on. There are well-defined standards in mainstream entertainment proposals, Hollywood, grand factories [theme parks] on the one hand and the other, a certain type of smaller offer, more fragile, which seems quite similar to what I raised upon back when was a child, and I was bored. So, is there room for a new type of family, with parents who have a cultural background or interest in the consumption of culture and entertainment conditioned by those from their generation, and that would like to convey to their own children a set of values that, when looking at the market, are non-existent. We are in a phase of opening up a space, in which family entertainment needs not be the resignation of parents watching how their children are taught values or aesthetics in which they do not share; but they [the parents] go along as there is no other alternative besides staying with the child(ren) at home all day. We are provoking creators that work for adult audiences to develop ideas and experiences that are interesting to both children and

18 La Xunta is the name of the regional government of Galicia.


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parents, because what is sought is not to create a huge nursery, but a place to participate and have fun with the whole family”. In 2010, Enric Palau noted that: “We wanted to create a space with affinity between parents and children within the content, and that can also provide the children a creative space is natural, but without a doubt different from what they receive in school. In this sense, I am referring to all of the technological aspects, where we are in the presence of a generation that was born with technology in their hands (not mine for whom the internet appeared in the 90s). My children were born with video game consoles, ADSL at home, with PCs, and the manner in which they relate to technology is innate. But at the moment of creation, their day-to-day in school is not sufficiently developed and the creative space they receive in school isn’t either”. The first edition of SonarKids, with a duration of just one day, was held in 2009 and counted the participation of more than 5,320 people, including parents and children. In 2010, the event was expanded to two days and the participation was 6,565 visitors19 (9,000 were expected), concentrated on the weekend prior to the main festival. In 2011, however, SonarKids will once again take place in a single day on the Sunday of the weekend of the main festival. Ricard Robles remarks: we have not found the right formula for the SK, we are investigating format, the pros and cons of content in how to present them. It is a job that will take us some time, as happened with Sonar at the time. You are born with an idea in which you have to be adapting and correcting based in terms of your own experience and [also be conscious] on how demand has conditioned you, whether a revolution is possible or if we have to keep resigned to a certain type of imagery, message with the idea that children can not enjoy other types of cultural activities.“ The Annex 8 includes a link to the presentation of SonarKids in 2010. 10. The Future Ricard Robles comments about the challenges for the future of Sonar: ”What is on the map right now is what we want to continue deepening in the coming years. The Barcelona festival does not have to be bigger, nor does it have to evolve into something else. It is the festival of reference. Size and configuration are always issues to improve each year, but a substantial change is not on the map. The immediate challenges are to continue researching the better opportunities for SK - trying that what we have cut out for a festival can make its own way always having the reference of its “father” and to develop its activities in terms of what the demand requires; And, try to consolidate the abroad events. Tokyo is one and one project in Latin America (which we hope to announce soon) we are confident of achieving other stable branches of the festival. Further down the line, we’d like to try to recover the Chicago festival, which was an exciting first step, and due to various complications we could not arrive on time for 2010; but it is one of the destinations to which we would like to establish regularly”. “There still remain lots to be done because you cannot think that 18 years of festival guarantee 18 more. It is very expensive to create a brand or the reputation of that brand and so easy to lose. This is extremely delicate, not only in the world of festivals: it can happen to a footballer, an actor, a filmmaker, ... there is very thin line between the status of an untouchable brand or values beyond reproach and suddenly you're on the other side without knowing what went wrong. So for what is still left for Sonar to do with the public,

19 http://www.sonarkids.com/es/festivales/barcelona-12-y-13-de-junio-2010/intro.


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scene, and the sector depends on what happens every year. Our job is to continue providing the best possible festival yet, each year. And, if we are able to develop SK, and other events with the same spirit with a saying that goes: "do not sleep, because what you have doesn’t last until eternity. It is a great value to have; and therefore, be careful so that the run can be long, fun, and exciting” Asked if Sonar was truly for sale, as was announced by the corporate image of Sonar 2011 (Annex 9 ), Ricard Robles clarifies: ”Everything is for sale. We will not say that Sonar is not for sale and that this is a performance. This is a calculated operation from the start to finish; but we have to be consistent that when we launch such message that things can happen. And what happens will be part of this adventure. So, if someone calls with the willingness to buy, we wouldn’t say: "No, you’re joking". If you have something interesting to explain, you will be listened to, of course”


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Questions 1. In your opinion, are the goals of Sonar being met? How have their goals

evolved/changed in the past few runs of the festival? 2. From an artistic point of view, what has been the greatest success of Sonar?

What advantages/disadvantages are there in the festival's program? 3. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the politics of expansion of

Sonar? Threats and opportunities? 4. How would you explain the fall of profits of Sonar between 2003 and 2004? 5. What are the major strategies of promotion? How is it related to the profile of the

visitor? 6. What vision of Sonar do you have for the future? Give your answer with respect

to the content (type of cultural activity, format), cities and sectors? 7. Would you buy the Sonar / Advanced Music of 2009 or would you have preferred to do it in another year? What price are you willing to pay? 8. As a cultural manager, what conclusions do you draw of Sonar's experience? Justify your responses.


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Annex 1: The Evolution of Sonar (from 1994-2010)

Año: Year Espectadores: Spectators Visitas www.sonar.es: Visits to www.sonar.es Artistas participantes: Participating artists Coste del festival: Festival cost Acreditados: Professionals Países representados: Countries SonarPro Entidades participantes: SonarPro-Participating entities Medios nacionales: Spanish Media Medio internacionales: International Media


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Annex 2: Sonar Team 2009 EXECUTIVE AND ARTISTIC DIRECTION Enric Palau Sergio Caballero Ricard Robles DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS Ventura Barba PRODUCTION Lourdes Español DIRECTOR OF FINANCES Gemma Navarro BOOK KEEPING AND TICKETING Sílvia Palau SPONSORS Diana Simón Alessio Campo ARTISTS CONTRACTS Mikaël Benhamou Vir Rousse Cristina Vila COMMUNICATION Dolo Huguet PRESS Georgia Taglietti Gustavo Sánchez SonarPRO and RRPP Astrid Rousse ADMISNISTRATION Soraya Subirana LOGÍSTICS Laura Vila TECHNICAL DIRECTION Pedri González Sergi Merino Jordi Picazos GRAPHIC DESIGN Aurelio Sánchez WEB MASTER Lluís Alegre EXHIBITION SPACES Advanced Music Óscar Abril Ascaso SECRETARY Shar Cunningham

Annex 3: Financial Balance, Profit and Loss Stateme nt of Advanced Music, SL (September 2003-December 2 009) Financial Balance

31/12/2009 % 09 31/12/2008 % 08 31/12/2007 % 07 31/12/2006 % 06 31/12/2005 31/12/2004 % 04 09 - 04 30/09/2003 % 03

Fixed assets 707.762 28,5% 763.426 31,5% 1.105.944 32,5% 789.022 29,3% 322.611 346.395 17,7% 361.367 283.129 14,5%

Intangible assets 32.284 1,3% 56.767 2,3% 463.012 13,6% 473.953 17,6% 33.842 33.617 1,7% -1.333 11.992 0,6%

Tangible assets 672.376 27,1% 698.425 28,8% 314.531 9,2% 265.471 9,9% 242.183 254.227 13,0% 418.149 248.749 12,7%

Other fixed assets 3.102 0,1% 8.234 0,3% 328.401 9,6% 49.598 1,8% 46.586 58.551 3,0% -55.449 22.388 1,1%

Current assets 1.776.689 71,5% 1.662.115 68,5% 2.301.158 67,5% 1.902.169 70,7% 1.646.839 1.605.198 82,3% 171.491 1.573.140 80,6%

Inventory 186.288 7,5% 198.075 8,2% 147.470 4,3% 123.744 4,6% 131.600 97.781 5,0% 88.507 36.781 1,9%

Receivables 177.192 7,1% 296.380 12,2% 794.993 23,3% 345.403 12,8% 118.260 352.350 18,1% -175.158 245.983 12,6%

Other liquid assets 1.413.210 56,9% 1.167.660 48,1% 1.358.695 39,9% 1.433.022 53,2% 1.396.979 1.155.067 59,2% 258.143 1.290.376 66,1%

Cash 534.039 21,5% 712.745 29,4% 110.114 3,2% 1.338.742 49,7% 1.357.565 1.144.299 58,6% -610.260 1.271.951 65,2%

Total assets 2.484.451 100,0% 2.425.541 100,0% 3.407.102 100,0% 2.691.190 100,0% 1.969.451 1.951.593 100,0% 532.858 1.856.268 95,1%

Equity 1.918.531 77,2% 1.771.534 73,0% 2.134.717 62,7% 1.643.462 61,1% 1.484.635 1.235.124 63,3% 683.407 842.249 43,2%

Subscribed capital/Capital stock 48.080 1,9% 48.080 2,0% 48.080 1,4% 48.080 1,8% 48.080 48.080 2,5% 48.080 2,5%

Other capital/equity 1.870.451 75,3% 1.723.454 71,1% 2.086.637 61,2% 1.595.382 59,3% 1.436.555 1.187.044 60,8% 683.407 794.169 40,7%

Fixed liabilities 267.445 10,8% 306.060 12,6% 344.546 10,1% 445.217 16,5% 145.195 156.564 8,0% 110.881 170.139 8,7%

L. P. Accounts payable 210.331 8,5% 252.299 10,4% n.d. 445.217 16,5% 145.195 156.564 8,0% 53.767 170.139 8,7%

Other fixed liabilities 57.114 2,3% 53.761 2,2% n.d. n.d. 0,0% n.d. n.d. n.d.

Supply/Provisions n.d. n.d. 0,0% n.d. n.d. 0,0% n.d. n.d. n.d.

Liquid Liabilities 298.475 12,0% 347.947 14,3% 927.838 27,2% 602.512 22,4% 339.620 559.906 28,7% -261.431 843.881 43,2%

Financial debt 56.626 2,3% 38.672 1,6% n.d. n.d. 0,0% n.d. n.d. n.d.

Trade creditors/accounts payable n.d. n.d. 0,0% n.d. n.d. 0,0% n.d. n.d. n.d.

Case Study: Sonar, the International Festival of Advanced Music and New Media Art of Barcelona


Other liquid liabilities 241.849 9,7% 309.275 12,8% 927.838 27,2% 602.512 22,4% 339.620 559.906 28,7% -318.057 843.881 43,2%

Total liabilities and equity 2.484.451 100,0% 2.425.541 100,0% 3.407.102 100,0% 2.691.190 100,0% 1.969.451 1.951.593 100,0% 532.858 1.856.268 95,1%

Working capital 363.480 494.455 942.463 469.147 249.860 450.131 -86.651 282.764

Number of employees 24 46 31 19 19 19 5 24

Profit & Loss Statement

31/12/2009 % 09 31/12/2008 % 08 31/12/2007 % 07 31/12/2006 % 06 31/12/2005 31/12/2004 % 04 09 - 04 30/09/2003 % 03

Operating revenue 4.913.983 100,0% 7.303.033 100,0% 7.696.521 100,0% 5.227.745 100,0% 5.151.830 5.293.959 100,0% -379.976 5.328.246 100,6%

Net Turnover 4.524.591 92,1% 6.677.645 91,4% 7.167.575 93,1% 4.917.930 94,1% 4.897.814 4.979.908 94,1% -455.317 4.987.792 94,2%

Consumption of goods and materials n.d. 0,0% n.d. 0,0% n.d. 0,0% n.d. 0,0% n.d. n.d. 0,0% n.d. 0,0%

Gross profit n.d. 0,0% n.d. 0,0% n.d. 0,0% n.d. 0,0% n.d. n.d. 0,0% n.d. 0,0%

Other operating expenses n.d. 0,0% n.d. 0,0% n.d. 0,0% n.d. 0,0% n.d. n.d. 0,0% n.d. 0,0%

Operating result 190.175 3,9% 475.844 6,5% 658.592 8,6% 185.485 3,5% 367.925 656.226 12,4% -466.051 894.384 16,9%

Financial income 17.727 0,4% 89.647 1,2% 73.072 0,9% 18.288 0,3% 9.154 13.141 0,2% 4.586 9.041 0,2%

Financial expenses 12.767 0,3% 53.819 0,7% 42.865 0,6% 16.342 0,3% 5.913 6.907 0,1% 5.860 10.199 0,2%

Financial Results 4.960 0,1% 35.828 0,5% 30.207 0,4% 1.947 0,0% 3.240 6.233 0,1% -1.273 -1.158 0,0%

Ordinary profit before tax 195.136 4,0% 511.673 7,0% 688.798 8,9% 187.432 3,6% 371.165 662.459 12,5% -467.323 893.226 16,9%

Income tax 46.845 1,0% 143.150 2,0% 197.543 2,6% 66.215 1,3% 120.786 217.180 4,1% -170.335 315.253 6,0%

Result Ordinary Activities 148.291 3,0% 368.523 5,0% 491.256 6,4% 121.217 2,3% 250.379 445.279 8,4% -296.988 577.973 10,9%

Extraordinary revenues n.d. 0,0% n.d. 0,0% n.d. 0,0% 58.932 1,1% 1.381 12.165 0,2% 9.850 0,2%

Extraordinary expenses n.d. 0,0% n.d. 0,0% n.d. 0,0% 21.323 0,4% 2.249 9.937 0,2% 9.605 0,2%

Results extraordinary activities n.d. 0,0% n.d. 0,0% n.d. 0,0% 37.609 0,7% -868 2.228 0,0% 245 0,0%

Profit for the period 148.291 3,0% 368.523 5,0% 491.256 6,4% 158.827 3,0% 249.512 447.506 8,5% -299.215 578.218 10,9%

Case Study: Sonar, the International Festival of Advanced Music and New Media Art of Barcelona


Materials 2.204.951 44,9% 3.826.095 52,4% 3.871.983 50,3% 2.483.215 47,5% 2.438.565 2.223.494 42,0% -18.543 2.237.373 42,3%

Staff costs 1.293.247 26,3% 1.536.188 21,0% 1.362.544 17,7% 1.236.793 23,7% 1.152.486 1.103.532 20,8% 189.715 964.291 18,2%

Depreciation and amortization of assets 48.351 1,0% 52.487 0,7% 44.323 0,6% 36.115 0,7% 28.482 25.960 0,5% 22.391 23.896 0,5%

Financial expenses and similar expenses 12.657 0,3% 17.872 0,2% 25.901 0,3% 15.032 0,3% 5.557 6.253 0,1% 6.404 9.570 0,2%

Cash flow 196.642 4,0% 421.010 5,8% 535.579 7,0% 194.942 3,7% 277.994 473.466 8,9% -276.824 602.114 11,4%

Added value 1.549.391 31,5% 2.118.220 29,0% 2.121.567 27,6% 1.512.982 28,9% 1.556.823 1.800.431 34,0% -251.040 1.891.228 35,7%

190.175 3,9% 475.844 6,5% 658.592 8,6% 185.485 3,5% 367.925 656.226 12,4% -466.051 894.384 16,9%

238.526 4,9% 528.331 7,2% 702.915 9,1% 221.600 4,2% 396.407 682.186 12,9% -443.660 918.280 17,3%

31/12/2009 % 09 31/12/2008 % 08 31/12/2007 % 07 31/12/2006 % 06 31/12/2005 31/12/2004 % 04 09 - 04

Operating revenue 4.913.983 7.303.033 7.696.521 5.227.745 5.151.830 5.293.959 -379.976

Ordinary profit before tax 195.136 511.673 688.798 187.432 371.165 662.459 -467.323

Total Assets 2.484.451 2.425.541 3.407.102 2.691.190 1.969.451 1.951.593 532.858

Equity 1.918.531 1.771.534 2.134.717 1.643.462 1.484.635 1.235.124 683.407

Economic return/ Profitability 7,85 21,10 20,22 6,96 18,85 33,94 -26

Financial re turn/ Profitability 10,17 28,88 32,27 11,40 25,00 53,64 -43

General/Overall liquidity 5,95 4,78 2,48 3,16 4,85 2,87 3

Debt 22,78 26,96 37,35 38,93 24,62 36,71 -14

Number of employees 24 46 31 19 19 19 5

Annex 4: Income, 2003-2004 Sonar Expenses Income 2003 % 2004 % Income 2.221,30 64,0 2.132,10 62,0 Ticket sales 1.627,30 46,9 1.534,90 44,6 Stands y accreditations 183 5,3 192,4 5,6 AD Sales 28,7 0,8 12,8 0,4 Hotel Operations 285,1 8,2 329,5 9,6 Merchandising 90,6 2,6 55,5 1,6 Other 6,7 0,2 7 0,2 Public Funding 408,9 11,8 398,3 11,6 CCCB (Public Cultural Space) 94,5 2,7 77,7 2,3 ICUB (Barcelona City Hall) 110 3,2 110 3,2 Department of Culture (Cat. Government) 99,9 2,9 99,4 2,9 Ministry of Culture (Spanish Governm.) 9 0,3 9 0,3 Barcelona Regional Authority 18 0,5 24 0,7 ICIC (Cat. Government) 35 1 36 1 MACBA (Contemporary Art Museum) 42,6 1,2 42,2 1,2 Sponsors 839,4 24,2 907,4 26,4 Total Income 3,469.60 100.0 3,437.80 100.0

Expenses 2003 % 2004 % Artistic Contracts 447,7 12,9 504,3 14,7 Rentals (technical equipment, space...) 505,3 14,6 531,8 15,5 Staff 764,9 22 790,5 23 External Services 344,7 9,9 429,5 12,5 Infrastructure 137,6 4 179,3 5,2 Marketing 381,6 11 461,6 13,4 Copyrights 127,9 3,7 126,2 3,7 Other 340,8 9,8 301,2 8,8 Total Expenses 3,050.50 87.9 3,324.40 96.8

Surplus/Deficit 419.10 12.1 113.40 3.3

Source: Technical Cabinet, Department of Culture. Catalan Government

Caso: Sonar, el Festival Internacional de Música Avanzada y de Arte New

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Jorge Bernárdez López© 2011 21

Annex 5: Sonar’s Corporate Image 2008


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Annex 6: SonarPro 2010. Contents. The professional and Sonar by Day attendants are permitted access to select activities.

Activities open to the Public SonarPro Forum: 18 exhibition spaces where companies can show their products and novelties at the festival. Demo Area: The space is designated for the display of new products, services, and ideas. 21 product displays for an alert public. Demo Tutorials: 12 Master classes where the attending public can go deeper into their knowledge and learn new things and get contact advice from instructors and experts.

Activities exclusively for Professionals Digital Music Day 2.0: 4 conferences that presents both national and international experts with lots of experience that explains the music world using real life cases. Meet the Expert: 12 brief meetings with experts from different business sectors related to the cultural industry. Attendants of SonarPro get the chance to a 10 minute chat. Participating professionals: - Festivals: George Hull & Alex Benson (Festival Bloc Party) - Artist: Patrick Pulsinger (Cheap Records & Feed Back Studio) - Management: Mark Davyd (Outstanding Artists) - Digital Media (Nacional): Isaac Marcet (Playground) - Digital Media (International): Nick Sabine (Resident Advisor) - Brands: Davide Bortot (Red Bull Music Academy) - Legal: Enric Enrich (Enrich Advocates) - Communication/musical promotion: Marc Tapias (In Silence) - Digital Marketing: Scott Cohen (The Orchard) - Streaming: Paul Brown (Spotify) - Mobile Technology: Peter Vestabacka (Mobile Monday) - International Marketing: David Loscos (Tenzing Media) Common Project: a new experience, in which accredits professionals of SonarPro to participate together with alumni from Elisava –Superior School of Design of Barcelona in creating an common audiovisual art piece from the work: “4:33” by John Cage.


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Annex 7: Nationalities Attending SonarPro 2010


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Annex 8: Enric Palau that explains the philosophy b ehind SonarKids 2010 “SonarKids is the “child” of Sonar. Sonar is the meeting point for professionals, artists, and the public linked to electronic art as a format (growing until reaching between 70 and 80 million annual visitors). We continuously work with the idea of bringing in a strong international presence. Our audience trusts that they will discover novice talent and they attend the festival, as much for the music as for the exhibition. And often with a peculiar artistic profile because the artists invent their music and artistic scenes with the very instrument they use whether being software or a big jazz band like the case of Matthew Hervet or an old cookie manufacturer production chain converted into musical instrument that he uses this year in Cabo San Roque, at L’Auditori. Quite often, a profile that gives us reputation we program such artists into festival between being creator and inventor regardless of it being solo or collaboration with others. The festival has a heavy job on the visual and interactive side. It was a breakthrough for the festival at the time having Sonar by Day located in museum spaces where the festival is held (CCCB and Museum of Contemporary Art). Classic spaces in a way, but evidently conceptually thought for contemporary culture that attracts crowds differently: a very diverse public that comes from different trend backgrounds and a younger crowd. This is why in a way collaboration has lasted this long. In this part of the exhibition where we started to have more and more family visits: parents that follow the festival and that come with their children and we continued seeing that the children that participated every time in one way or the other were very natural; and above all with the interactive gadgets installed around the festival. That is way to when I think about it, we have had children and part of our public also has been growing older and having children and we have life experience that we would like to share with our children. Such it what has brought us 4 years thinking about the format of the event for children which started its first steps last year (2010) and this year being the 2nd edition. The reason: mainly the idea to share an event with amusement content where parents and children can enjoy (as a father myself, I had to share what I like: music) and such has been the case with parents because that have negated the idea of the theme parks. We want to create a space where there is a lot of affinity between the parents and the children in a sense of content and where also you can provide for children a creative xamp taht has a natural form and for sure different than what they have at school. In the sense, I am referring to the technological aspects where are facing a generation that has been born with the technologies in hand (not like mine where Internet started in the 90s). My children have been born with consoles, ASDLs at home with PCs, and the way that they relate to technology is innate. But, when it comes to creating, day to day, the work that the do at school isn’t sufficient enough and the creative camp allows something they don’t receive at school”. Video Interview link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pPJjdXpYao (track 7:48)


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Annex 9: Sonar’s Corporate Image (2011)

“SONAR FESTIVAL ON SALE. Anual Festival on sale with a great international projection”. Razón: Sr. Samaniego +34 627 030 543 [email protected]”


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Transcripción hasta el minuto 7 de la entrevista a Enric Palau en www.djsounds.com (2008).

“Well this is the roof of Sonar offices, in Barcelona. I’m Enric Palau, the director of the Sonar FESTIVAL. Well the original ideas were to create a meeting point for artists and professionals around electronic music and arts that started in 1994. I think the main idea that keeps being this one and the changes are more related in the context and the size of the event. The festival has been growing becoming a large event and one of the main dates in the calendar for a lot of fans and professionals.” What does the future hold for Sonar in the coming y ears? We are always looking for someone creating something new and very connected to creating something new and very connected to the technology. So, the changes the feeder for us will be linked to those concepts – the creation of the artist and the technology. Of course mobility is one factor that has changes in the way artists are performing and doing their jobs and that’s of course where changes are reflected now and there will of course be more changes the future. What part does new technology play in Sonar’s celeb ration of the futuristic? Well, Sonar is connected, largely connected with technology, so we are always looking for artists using new technologies and creating new pieces of art and music through that technology even if its self made as you can find this very interesting link between a equipment developer and artist. The things with the pioneer equipment is very interesting because it gives opportunity to the traveling artist – the DJ to put the visual element and control that element through something which is very usual to him. I think it is really interesting to see the works of DJ Yorder Hestatic the way they mix images with sounds as they were mixing just records and now they have the possibility to work on another format which is the visual one. How do you select the artists to perform at Sonar? We’d like to explore and find artist who have a strong personality through the work they do and explore non-obvious territories. Obvious territories would be Anglo British-American public because it’s a market that sometimes is the main source for music and we pretty much want to explore other platforms than this finding new sounds which is going to be the squeeze sound coming from Scandinavian this year which is a very fun mix of a kind of A (or 8) beat music with a funk flavor. We also like to present people that represent certain much style or certain moment in history, which in the case of Yazoo this year being one of the main back bands, one of the beginners of the techno pop. And, also we like very much to explore inside of our territory so we like to be kind of a platform to present the new talent coming out from Barcelona Catalonians. Who are you excited about seeing this year at Sonar ? I think I’m very curious to see of a night where we will be mixing MADNESS and JUSTICE on the same stage with ART AURKIN and DEEP FLOW. I think it could be a very good party that night. And then, there’s a lot of little things. I like very much a record that came to our hands, which is the COH, a German artist that has been processing the voice of ‘Cosi Fan Tute’ and making a whole album just only processing these vocal elements and turning these into an element that has kind of a pop melody and pure experimentation working on panoramic.


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The Female Factor is the theme this year. How did you arrive (at) to this theme? Working on since September last year listening to a lot of music, and watching new AD we just thought it was a strong moment for women in music and we start to think of the question if the female factor exist in music today and if this female factor exist on the way the artist do their music and performance and if the female side that everyone has is relevant in the artist process. So, we ended up doing line up work where women have a strong presence such as pop divas like RAZA MURPY, GOLDFRAPE or CAMIL to pure experimentation artists. La entrevista entera puede encontrarse en: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2NS1MhGuto&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2NS1MhGuto&feature=related Pressupost 2010 = 4.445.300,14 € Origen ingressos: Recursos propis: 3.485.574,31 / Aportacions Entitats Públiques: 461.525,83 / Patrocini: 498.200 Pressupost 2009 = 3.582.119,36 € Origen ingressos: Recursos propis: 2.553.544,44/ Aportacions Entitats Públiques: 443.474,92. Patrocini: 585.100 8. Would you have bought Sonar/Advanced Music in 2009, or would yo prefer

another year? What price would you be prepared to pay? How has the mission been evolving in the most recent editions?


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Questions 1. In your opinion, is the mission of Sonar being fulfilled? 2. From an artistic perspective, what has been the greatest accomplishment of

Sonar? What advantages and disadvantages are there in the elaboration of the programming?

3. What are the strong and weak points of the policy of expansion of Sonar? And its

opportunities and threats? 4. How would you explain the fall in profits of Sonar between 2003 and 2004? 5. What are its principal advertising strategies? How do they relate to the profile of

the visitor? 6. How do you envision Sonar in the future? Give examples in terms of content

(cultural activities and formats), cities, etc. 7. Describe the value chain of the sector. Identify and name as many players as

possible. 8. As a cultural manager, what conclusions can you draw from the experience of

Sonar? Justify your responses.


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ANSWERS TO THE CASE-STUDY 1. In your opinion, are the goals of Sonar being me t? How have their goals

evolved/changed in the past few runs of the festiva l? For Ricard Robles, “The intention of Sonar in 1994 is still valid. It has the goal of being a meeting point for the public, the artists and the electronic music professionals. The artists that attend have the opportunity to be seen by the professionals of record distribution and tour contracting and make deals for other events. Likewise, people who are not daily consumers of electronic music can come to encounter things that they wouldn’t find anywhere else20”. 2. From an artistic point of view, what has been th e greatest success of Sonar? What advantages/disadvantages are there in the festival's programming? To balance renowned artists and emerging artists (page 6). - Established, international artists - An artist in the middle ground between a pure creator and inventor, be it one person or a collaboration. - “Sonar combines many musical activities with other forms of vanguard art. Each has its space, and the best is that there be a natural combination. I believe that the spaces we’ve created meet this standard. For example, during the day there is more cultural equipment dedicated to expository and divulgatory activities, but the musical spaces still predominate See also:

Elaboration of the artistic programming Local and emerging artists

Profitable and non-profitable artists 3. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the pol itics of expansion of

Sonar? Threats and opportunities?

Politics of expansion Sonar Abroad: Sao Paulo Tokyo, London, Cape Town, Buenos Aires Sonar Galicia Sonar Kids Threats - Too dependant on public funding (Galicia) - Non-positive attendance response (Galicia: expected = 10-14 thousand; real = 8.400). Opportunities Strengths

20 Ricard Robles, in ADN (free newspaper), 2008.


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- Knowledge of the product - Successful itinerary Weaknesses - Has the risk been evaluated? (Galicia, Kids) 4. How would you explain the fall of profits of Son ar between 2003 and 2004? Income 2003 % 2004 % Income 2.221,30 64,0 2.132,10 62,0 Ticket sales 1.627,30 46,9 1.534,90 44,6 Stands y accreditations 183 5,3 192,4 5,6 AD Sales 28,7 0,8 12,8 0,4 Hotel Operations 285,1 8,2 329,5 9,6 Merchandising 90,6 2,6 55,5 1,6 Other 6,7 0,2 7 0,2 Public Funding 408,9 11,8 398,3 11,6 CCCB (Cultural Space) 94,5 2,7 77,7 2,3 ICUB (City Hall of Barcelona) 110 3,2 110 3,2 Department of Culture (Cat. Government) 99,9 2,9 99,4 2,9 Ministerio de Cultura (Spanish Governm.) 9 0,3 9 0,3 Diputación of Barcelona 18 0,5 24 0,7 ICIC (Cat. Government) 35 1 36 1 MACBA (Contemporary Art Museum) 42,6 1,2 42,2 1,2 Sponsors 839,4 24,2 907,4 26,4 Total Income 3.469,60 100 3.437,80 100

Expenses 2003 % 2004 % Artistic Contracts 447,7 12,9 504,3 14,7 Rents (technical equipment, space, etc.) 505,3 14,6 531,8 15,5 Staff 764,9 22 790,5 23 External Services 344,7 9,9 429,5 12,5 Infrastructure 137,6 4 179,3 5,2 Marketing 381,6 11 461,6 13,4 Copyrights 127,9 3,7 126,2 3,7 Other 340,8 9,8 301,2 8,8

Total Expenses 3.050,5

0 87,9 3.324,40 96,8 Surplus/Deficit 419,10 12,1 113,40 3,3


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5. What are the major strategies of promotion? How is it related to the profile of the visitor? Audience (page 4) According to Sergio Caballero, “there is a well defined public for Sonar. Sonar is a different event and people come to discover. It isn’t a festival of big names, but it is a way to spend three days visiting Barcelona, seeing concerts and the city, like being on vacation”. According to results of a market research conducted by the festival in 2004, the profile of the Sonar visitor is of a man (61% of the total) between 25 and 30 years old (40%) with a university education (56%) and an average salary of 900 € per month. His profession is related with new technologies (14%) and music (10%). He comes from Spain (59%), although also from other countries, principally European (33% of the total). Of these, 39% is from the U.K. and 14% from France. The average spending of a Sonar visitor is 87,89 Euros per day, not including transport. In its two most recent editions, Sonar had the following attendance:

2009

2010 Dif 10-09 Dif %

Sonar by Day (CCCB + Museo Arte Contemp. + Auditori) 36.682 35.429 1.253 3,54% Sonar by Night (Fira Gran Via (M2) + Teatre Grec21) 52.294 39.052 13.242 33,91% Total Sonar 88.976 74.481 14.495 19,46% Promotion A central element of the promotion of Sonar is its corporate image. In 2008, for example, the image of Sonar was predominantly videographic and spread over the Internet. Seven films of one minute duration were made in the style of home videos. The corporate image of Sonar, with which the festival is advertised each year, in that edition opted for seven hybrids of animals and men “genetically created” –joked Sergio Caballero– “in a genetic engineering lab in China”22. These videos were uploaded in stages, in the style of viral marketing, on the phantom website http://www.b1158.cn/b1158.html and on Youtube, without establishing any link with the Sonar festival. The result was spectacular: in just two days 180,000 visits were reached, which was good for #13 in the ranking of “Most Viewed” of Youtube and #3 in the area of Science and Technology. This type of campaign is known by way of “viral marketing”, an advertising strategy that consists of uploading images on the Internet without giving any information about what the images are referring to. In this case, the viral marketing was done on Myspace and gathered close to 75,000 visits. As to the importance of such an innovative image to promote a music festival, Robles states that “The image is one of the ingredients of communication. It has to be something that provokes interest or unintended controversy. It [the image] has to be intended as an artistic masterpiece, a part of creation from which something like this year’s can be derived: we do a promotion of a sale, in this case the festival itself, or it has a

21 Only in 2010. 22 See Annex 5.


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characteristic which is purely plastic, always trying to get out of the usual tools that the world of music uses to communicate. Such could be carried out in a series of names that are as big as possible or any item associated with a pop iconography or culturally close to the actual music. In the beginning, we thought that we would never be interested in working with an iconography related to the electronic or virtual worlds or with these aesthetics, which seem ugly. Thus, Sergio has his own personal battle every year to seek which idea is the leivmotiv from which to develop a campaign. Not just any idea that is shocking or surprising or artistically beautiful has a practical application in a campaign that needs to work with all graphic media. It is an artistic process conditioned by communication needs of the festival that seeks the self-interest of the piece to be developed; and then the application (of the final product) throughout those sectors that pertain to the festival”. 6. What vision of Sonar do you have for the future? Give your answer with respect to the content (type of cultural activity, format), cities and sectors? 7. Would you buy the Sonar/Advanced Music of 2009 o r would you have preferred to do it in another year? What price are you willing to pay? 8. As a cultural manager, what conclusions do you d raw of Sonar's experience? - Experience in other industries before music. - A broad set of skills (“a music manager needs to have a broad set of skills (management knowledge, management of people…): - “I need to know marketing, client management, contracts, how to DJ in large clubs, how to design a poster, how to hype a new track or a new act, how to sensitively comment on a new track, how to pitch a remix, how to book an act”. “Outside music, someone will usually help you learn what you need to know. In music, it’s hard to get accurate information, let alone training”. “You always may learn something from any situation. You only need to have the right attitude.”

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