United Kingdom

Expect festivals to become either a lot tamer and the bands to get in line, or expect a revolt by the artists. These guys could pretty much crush most artists off the live festival circuit. Most of the festivals are pretty small, but they also own Sziget, which is one of the biggest if not the biggest festival in Europe. There has already been a few boycotts for these.

KKR & Co. bought superstruct entertainment, who own and organise this festival with a few others last year for €1.3bn

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[Archived Link] Loud music, silent takeovers: How private equity is reshaping Europe’s festival scene

Many artists backing out of music festivals snapped up by private equity firm KKR

Many Dutch artists are pulling out of festivals owned by the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR). They don’t agree with the American venture capitalist’s investments, including in companies active in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. They also seem concerned about private equity invading festivals, forcing up ticket prices and food prices, and destroying the vibe.

KKR owns multiple Dutch festivals. DGTL, Mysteryland, Amsterdam Open Air, and Zwarte Cross are among the Dutch festivals that have distanced themselves from their owner in recent days, NOS reports.

The venture capitalist also bought up the British festival organizer Supertruct Entertainment last year. The company owns and operates over 80 festivals in ten countries, including Awakenings and Defqon.1 in the Netherlands, Sziget in Budapest, and Sónar in Barcelona.

Who are KKR? Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KKR_%26_Co.

Main People

Jerome Kohlberg Jr. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_Kohlberg_Jr.

Henry Kravis - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Kravis

George Rosenberg Roberts - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_R._Roberts