Ritty van Straalen @ Dance Music 101

Ritty van Straalen was one of the partners and CEO of ID&T before the company was sold to SFX in 2013 and he has more than 17 years of experience in international management and executive leadership in entertainment, having overseen multiple international live entertainment companies that produced and created high quality massive festivals such as Tomorrowland, Sensation and Mysteryland.

Ritty recently relocated to Amsterdam from NYC where he served as the COO and later as CEO of SFX Live, responsible for the global event & festival portfolio. He is currently he serves on the executive board of the AFEM  (the Association of Electronic Music) as representative for the live sector and he is starting a new company in live entertainment.

Life: when was the moment you figured out that Dance Music was meant to you? 

The funny thing is that when I started at ID&T I did know anything about electronic music. I was a project manager at a large event company where I did a lot of things with and on electronic music events & festivals but until then I never actually actively listened to the music.

That changed when ID&T approached me in 2004 and asked me to join them. I started there as F&B and project manager of different brands like Sensation and Innercity. I had all kinds of jobs. Later on I became a partner and ended up being responsible for the company as the group CEO.

The good thing was that I worked at almost every department and therefore had the chance to literally learn and appreciate the whole culture and music.

Laugh: when was the last time you had real fun?

The moment I decided that I was going to start my own business, Fourmation Entertainment, with a couple of great partners.

Love: name the one thing you love more than anything – and why is that?

My 3 kids, Jolie, Sam and Liz. First of all because they are great. They are very open minded, relaxed and enjoy life.

Next to that: There is nothing that becomes more pure than your own kids.

The past year I went thru a very difficult and hectic period on different levels but they always gave me the right perspective.

The good thing about this period was that I also had much more time to spend with them.  Watching one of their soccer matches or going to a parent teacher night without a phone in my hand was nice for a change.

Past: name a significant moment in your career in Dance Music – and why is that?

I am a festival guy.

Really special to me has been introducing Mysteryland New York USA as the first festival on the exact same grounds as where Woodstock 1969 took place.

I was always a dream of me to do something there.  In January 2013, 2 weeks after I moved from the Netherlands to New York my business partner Jeroen (Jansen), creative director of ID&T and I drove up there on a snowy day. We literally rang the doorbell and asked if the owner was open for a talk. From that moment on we felt like it was our home. After a difficult permitting process of almost 16 months we finally achieved our dream in May 2014.

Another one on my list is Tomorrowland Brasil in 2015. After TomorrowWorld USA that one was definitely the one with the biggest impact.  Together with the Belgian team (the creators of Tomorrowland) and the local Brazilian team (Plus Talent) we worked very hard to bring this amazing festival to a mind blowing venue just outside of Sao Paulo, a place called Itu, Brazil.  The first year we had almost 180.000 visitors.

Present: what do you think that is trending today in music, clubs and festivals?

There are too many politics between the different (electronic) music promoters around the world. The biggest clubs, festivals and promoters are fighting too much about talent and they are not talking enough about that.

The result is that the price of talent goes up way to fast and that the promoter / club owner is taking too much risk. The balance is gone.

We are in the business of delivering the best experience and with soaring artist and production costs in the end there are more losers than winners and eventually the fan is paying for that.

Another one is that there is a real need, globally, of shifting the negative perception and association that (electronic) music events have with drug use. Together with the AFEM we are setting up a harm reduction campaign. We will start with that in the USA first but soon after that, when we have the funds available, we will also start a global campaign.

It is needed that promoters unite and use their power of speech.

Future: where is industry heading in the years to come?

China is opening up. 1.3 Billion people are screaming for new music, content and experiences. The demand for content and talent will be bigger because of that, a massive opportunity for the whole industry and the one with the best plan.

Next to that: Data, data, data. Data will be the key driver for the success for festivals in years to come, even more then the passed experience.