Spanish music biz associations and artists will attend a music fiesta on Oct. 14 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the 400-strong managers, promoters, booking agents and festival directors group, the Association of Entertainment Technical Representatives (ARTE).
Artists lined up to perform at Madrid’s Circo Price Theater include Miguel Bose, Spain’s biggest selling artist at home and abroad over the past 18 months, and whose manager Rosa Lagarrigue is one of ARTE’s longest serving members. Lagarrigue, who owns Latin management and tour promotion company Rosa Lagarrigue Management (RLM), also manages Alejandro Sanz, Melendi, Malu, David DeMaria, Marlango, Revolver, Raphael, and Ana Torroja among others.
“It is true the biz is living in turbulent times,” ARTE president Carmen Peire tells Billboard.biz ahead of their first major event. “But we represent live music, rather than record labels or other aspects of the industry, and we at ARTE have run live music since 1983.”
She adds, “Live music has been in our hands for 25 years, and we have made it the best performing part of the music industry, the part that sustains the majority of artists.”
ARTE says it has 400 professional members represent more than 1,300 artists and some 600 orchestras. It publishes the monthly magazine Escenarios, which covers management and promotion.
Peire says, “We are celebrating, we want to congratulate ourselves, but also we want to start the next 25 years with all the other sector organisations who we have invited to the fiesta. Our challenge from now is to professionalize this work much more, and to dignify the artist and our profession.”
