Agents and Festivals Gather in London for IFF`s 10th Anniversary

The 10th Edition of the International Festival Forum in London closed last week, with more than 1,000 festivals and agents having spent two days meeting to plan lineups for events right across Europe. Founded in 2015, the International Festival Forum, presented this year in association with Ticketswap, has grown into the premier meeting point for the festival industry to catch-up on the previous season and to ink deals for the future. Delegates were treated to showcases from top London agencies, with acts from Solo, Pure, ITB, One Fiinix Live, Primary Talent International, X-Ray Touring and ATC Live all taking to the stage at Omeara in London. Other agency partners included UTA and Earth Agency, as well as Wasserman, CAA and WME who sponsored drinks receptions and networking events. Greg Parmley, co-Founder of IFF and MD of ILMC, said: “When we started IFF ten years ago we were hopeful that we had identified a way of bringing agents and festivals together, to the mutual benefit of both sectors, but we never imagined that one day we’d see more than 1,000 people come together to do business. Over its first decade, IFF has gathered 7,000 delegates and more than 350 artists. “We’re incredibly grateful to our event partners, particularly the agencies that have been supportive of us from the beginning and have shared the journey with us. IFF is unashamedly specific in its aim – it’s a place for agencies and festivals to do business – and that focus makes it an incredibly efficient and effective use of very busy people’s time.” Alongside the deals being done in the agency pop-up offices, a conference programme curated by IFF co-founder Ruud Berends presented thinking on some of the key issues facing the international festival industry. The keynote session saw top execs from Barcelona behemoth Primavera Sound, including co-founder Fra Soler, share the story of the festival’s dizzying growth, from its roots as an 8,000 cap event to the mutli-national operation it has become. The team spoke with honesty about the challenges of Covid and international expansion but also laid out a vision for the future of the business in South American markets, alongside its Barcelona and Porto editions. The litany of obstacles facing the festival sector formed the basis of the opening, scene-setting panel of this year’s conference sessions. The Festival Season 2024 was moderated by IQ magazine’s James Drury and featured high-profile agents Summer Marshall of CAA and Primary Talent International’s Matt Bates, plus Serbia’s Exit Festival co-founder Dusan Kovacevic and Goodlive’s Fruzsina Szép, MD of Munich’s Superbloom and festival director of Lollapalooza Berlin. In addition to agency showcases, delegates were also treated to special sessions each evening. Wednesday saw the return of the highly-anticipated International Showcase, with Spanish and Dutch emerging artists highlighted thanks to support from Spanish Wave and Dutch Music Export. And Thursday evening saw a quartet of European metal agencies, Doomstar, Napalm Events, The Link Productions and Catch 22 Present, bring their top talent to London to sign-off IFF in style.