Within the community of musicians, musical equipment makers and everything surrounding the music scene there are various key players necessary to make the show go on. A key player that few outside of this community is aware of, but that play a very important role in the business are the Backline Rental companies – the tour suppliers.
Bands and artists that experience a certain level of success will sooner or later need their services. Touring is expensive. It comes with a lot of costs and logistical issues. One of these spells b-a-c-k-l-i-n-e. As a band, you need a ‘backline’ of instruments and amplifiers to pull of a show. If you travel the world to play your music you can not always bring your own stuff or keep your fingers crossed the local promoter will meet your demands. You need to find a reliable solution that gets you going and still fits within the budget for the tour. Simply put, you need to rent the stuff from a backline rental company.
Same thing with big events like festivals, live music TV shows and tour packages – whenever such event happens, make sure there’s some level of involvement from a backline rental company.
For a brand like EBS, those companies are very important too. Musical equipment brands support artists and events to raise awareness of their equipment. The only way to make that happen is to build relations with these rental companies. Such relation is usually based on demand and supply. The brand gets known to a level where the rental companies start getting requests on their products, the brand partner with the rental companies so they can obtain equipment at reduced cost, while the brands artists are offered reduced rental costs – and the win for the brand is that their gear will be exposed and promoted to a larger audience.
EBS work with backline rental companies all over the world. Here’s a short presentation of some of these companies:
Centerstaging, Los Angeles Type of services: Tour backline rental equipment, production rehearsal center, events supplier of backline. Clients include: The GRAMMY Awards, Academy Awards, MDA Telethon, Billboard Music Awards, American Music Awards, numerous Presidential Inaugurations, the Olympics, American Idol, Dancing With The Stars, Jimmy Kimmel, The Voice, and many more. Countless tours, and rehearsals with high-profile bands and artists. website: http://centerstaging.com/
Lon Cohen Studio Rentals, Los Angeles Type of services: Specialized in mint condition vintage backline for studio recordings,tv-shows and video recordings. Also taking care of the personal equipment for many top of the line musicians in Los Angeles. Clients include: Coldplay, Ringo Starr, Aerosmith, Slipknot, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Robben Ford, Ellen De Generes talkshow, The Arsenio Hall talkshow etc. website: http://www.loncohen.com/
SIR NYC, New York Type of services: Supply the New York scene including most major TV networks with backline. Clients include: The SNL show, NBC, major studios, venues and artists performing in NYC website: http://www.sir-usa.com/location.php?city=new-york
Soundcheck, Austin Type of services: Backline and production rehearsal center. Clients include: Major artists, local TV stations and not least the famous SXSW (South By Southwest) Festival. website: http://www.soundcheckaustin.com/
John Henry’s, London, UK Type of services: One of UK’s largest tour backline supplier. Service offered within Audio Rental, Backline Rental, Crewing, Equipment Sales, Endorsee Support, Event Production, Flightcases, Pro Shop Tour Supplies, Rehearsal Studios, Staging Rental, Storage, Transport Clients include: Glastonbury festival, BRIT Awards, BBC, Meltdown Festival, X-Factory, The London Jazz Festival, Marcus Miller, Bruno Mars, Prince, Coldplay, Justin Timberlake, One Direction website: http://www.johnhenrys.com/
Captured Live, Essen, Germany Type of services: The largest tour backline rental equipment and events supplier of backline in Germany with a client office (for planning/co-ordinate European tours) in Los Angeles. Clients: Rock Am Ring/Rock Im Park festivals, the Eurovision Song Contest, Live 8, Hellfest, Summerbreeze. website: www.captured-live.com
Backline Sthlm, Stockholm Sweden. Type of services: Backline rental equipment for tours, tv shows and events. EBS first backline partner, now in the process of building a big recording studio in addition to the backline services. Clients: Many major festivals in Sweden, including the Sweden Rock Festival, many major recording sessions in the Stockholm area, TV shows on several major national TV stations based in Stockholm. website: www.backlinesthlm.com
For a complete list, visit www.ebssweden.com/content/rentals.php
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