[Meet Daniel Treseler from Landstreicher Booking] Networking på SPOT Festival

Udgivet
21.04.2015

landstreicher logo

A lot of international music industry folks have already confirmed that they’re on their way to this year’s edition of Spot Festival in Århus. During the coming weeks, MXD would like to highlight a few of the international guests and their companies, which you will be able to meet at the festival.

Daniel Treseler is a booking agent and promoter at Landstreicher Booking in Germany. Landstreicher Booking was founded in 2010 by its current managing directors Felix Hansen and Beat Gottwald. The first bands were domestic artists K.I.Z., Casper and Kraftklub, who shortly after aigning with Landstreicher became very succesful. The company constantly grew over the years and extended its portfolio with an increasing number of artists and genres. In 2013 Landstreicher even started its own festival, together with the band Kraftklub – the Kosmonaut Festival in Chemnitz.

Although Daniel doesn’t play any instruments himself, he’s has always been very passionate about music and fascinated by live shows.

-Already when young, I loved to see bands having fun on stage, people singing along and everybody enjoying themselves. But I grew up in a small town in Germany where there was hardly any opportunity to experience alternative music without driving to bigger cities… Which is pretty tough if you’re not allowed to drive a car yet.

Daniel started to promote shows together with a friend when he was a teenager. He realized that he had found his passion. He continued to arrange gigs and help out bands in town and around his last years in school he knew that this was what he wanted to do for a living. He was successful in his pursuit.

-After finishing school I was lucky to get a half-year internship, followed by 2,5-year traineeship at A.S.S. Concerts/Selective Artists in Hamburg, where I learned how the “real“ live business works and what it takes to deliver a good job on a professional level.

And what was that?

-Well, all the small stuff that you don’t do when you’re working at a DIY-level. Proper contracts, social security, riders, taxes… The first time I heard of GEMA was when they sent me a fine! Accomodation is another thing. Most bands I used to book DIY lived only a few hours drive away from the venue, so they always drove back home after the gig. When I was young and booked bands from England I’d let them sleep on the floor at my parents’ place, but it worked really well!

Daniel points out that a lot of people book and play gigs in Germany on a DIY level. He says it’s just another way of doing things, and it gives a lot of niche bands the opportunity to play a decent amount of gigs.

At the beginning of 2015 Daniel joined Landstreicher Booking in Cologne and he is now looking after artists like AnnenMayKantereit (DE), Go Go Berlin (DK), Dúné (DK), Birth of Joy (NL) and Agent Fresco (IS). The Landstreicher Cologne office that Daniel joined came to be through a merger between the former Selective Artists booking agents Phillip Jacob-Pahl and Carlo Schenk and Landstreicher Booking.

-The merger was a benefit for both sides as similar visions and attitude towards our work are now combined. Also, there’s a slight difference between how the offices work. The Berlin office represents about 80% domestic artists while the Cologne office is promoting more international bands.

So what is the core competence of Landstreicher?

-I think the no. one core competence is 100% belief in every artist, their music and their potential as an artist. It is important to everyone at the company that we don’t decide to work with an artist out of economic motivation only. Every booker has to fully avow for her or his acts.

Landstreicher Booking works with a load of Nordic artists, like Ásgeir Trausti, Aurora, Broken Twin and Baby in Vain, only to name a few. Daniel says the music is still what is most important when deciding on whom to work with, but that the quality and export potential of Nordic artists tend to be very high.

-The best example would probably be Iceland: how this tiny country manages to develop so many fantastic bands, that are also very successful!

Daniel pictures the Scandinavian industry people he’s become familiar with as friendly and kind. It’s his third time at SPOT festival, and he’s looking forward to the easy-going atmosphere and accessible venues. In comparison to other showcase festivals, Daniel thinks it’s easier to talk to people at SPOT and to attract the crowd to the shows. He also has also made some discoveries there himself.

-I saw Go Go Berlin! the first time they played SPOT and I was totally blown away by the live show. I had booked a couple of support shows for them before, but when I saw them at SPOT I just thought that we had to get them out on the streets and play, play, play – regardless of labels and promotion.  I was convinced that they were going to make it as a live band.

As for other festivals important for artists hitting the German market, he has two recommendations.

Eurosonic and Reeperbahn Festival are probably the best stepping stones to the German market, as the number and variety of German delegates is huge. But this also applies to the competition. My personal favourite is the Reeperbahn Festival. I love Hamburg and I lived there for more than five years. The city has a great vibe, which seems to transfer to the people at the festival, and it’s nice that everything is so close on the Reeperbahn. At Reeperbahn you will also find a lot of different delegates: from small and independent labels and agencies to the majors; many venues, blogs, magazines etc. And of course a great crowd, curious for new music!

He says the most important part of going to a showcase for him as a booking agent is networking – keeping in touch with your partners and finding new contacts. It’s during these meetings and get-togethers that the buzz is created.

What’s important for a band playing a showcase?

-The key to be seen at a showcase festival is always to be well prepared. You need to have people talking about your band already before the festival and telling other people to check you out. So if you’re a band that is outstanding you should make sure that people talk about you and spread the word about your performance.

-I don’t think that it’s always good to accept the first chance to play at a showcase festival, because your band should play there when they are ready and have a certain setting that ensures that the band gets all the attention they need and deserve.

When looking for potential acts, in addition to the music, Daniel also looks out for growth-potential and the crowd the band is attracting in the home market. Also, an existing team working on the development of the artist is a plus.

Any artists you’ve got your eyes set on?

-I’m mainly looking for rock. I’ve only just had time to go through the Spotify-playlist with the bands performing. A band called Astronaut sounded really good. And Yung  have been recommended to me a while and I saw that they are playing as well.

So, what’s the first thing you’re going to do when you arrive in Århus?

-I assume I will arrive at night, so I will probably be at the Sway bar!

Find links to other profiles at the bottom of this article.

  • Mød mere end 300 internationale musikbranchefolk og -journalister i SPOT+ området
  • Meld dig til MXD Networking (Lørdag d. 2. maj. kl. 13:30-15.00) i SPOT+ området nu, og modtag en liste over alle internationale delegerede, ca. 14 dage inden festivalen starter. Tilmelding her: anders@mxd.dk
  • Køb adgang til SPOT+ området og få adgang til bl.a. MXD Networking her: spotplus.dk
  • Følg med her på mxd.dk, Facebook og Twitter, hvor vi løbende vil præsentere de internationale profiler, der gæster årets festival
Redigeret
21.04.2015