Industry Profile: Claudio Trotta

— By Jane Cohen and Bob Grossweiner

Claudio Trotta of Barley Arts Promotion is one of Italy's leading promoters. A longtime supporter and participant of the annual ILMC in London since its start in 1988, he was voted Promoter's Promoter in 1998 at the Arthur Awards presentation.

Claudio started his career with Radio Montestella. In 1975 he organized his first live shows at Canale 96, the very first news radio. In 1979 he graduated from the Civica Scuola di Arte Drammatica as music operator, spending a training period at the Teatro alla Scala (Scala Theatre). After gaining some TV experience (TeleRadioMilano 2), Claudio got involved with Lucio Salvini (chairman at Ricordi by that time) in his Country e Folk Label project and became the Italian promoter for the artists on the roster.

Later on, Salvini entrusted him with the artistic and marketing direction of the Blues & Rock Project series at Carosello. From here Claudio took the name Barley, as a homage Trotta pays to his first passion, Anglo-Saxon country and folk.

As one of his latest personal side projects, Trotta edited The Milan Music Dictionary (1995), together with Paolo Zenoni. Moreover he's one of the board directors and founders of the following Associations: Assomusica (Italian Association of Producers and Organisers of Live Music Entertainment, founded 1996); Yourope: The European Festival Association (founded 1998) and remained a board member until a few months ago.

Barley Arts Promotions operates mainly in eight areas: Promotion of international artists in Italy, among them Sting, Limp Bizkit, Shaggy, Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen, Jimmy Page & Robert Plant, KISS, Lenny Kravitz, Phil Collins, Billy Joel, Metallica, Bryan Adams, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Rage Against The Machine, Van Morrison, Slipknot, Hooverphonic, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Lenny Kravitz and others.

Promotion and production of Italian artists in Italy including Paoloa Martella, Sottotono, Neffa, Addiction, Folder, Mistonocivo, Litfiba, Elio E Le Storie Tese, Pitura Freska, Gang, Timoria and Massimo Bubola.

Production and promotion of festivals of various genres including jazz, blues, heavy metal, rock, Irish music, world music festivals -- Monsters of Rock, Sonoria, Milano Blues Festival, Crossroads, Irlanda In Festa, Laghi Lombardi in Festival, Fleadh, Balkanika and the co-production of Monza Rock Festival, Neapolis, Pistoia Blues Festival, Coca Cola Dance Festival among others.

Organization, production and promotion of Italian artists' concerts and tours abroad, such as Eros Ramazzotti (at Radio City Music Hall in New York; at Palau San Jordi in Barcelona and at the Rock Am Ring Festival in Nurnberg ) and Vasco Rossi (for his first European tour throughout Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France).

Logistical organization on behalf of corporation, state organization, private and public companies, for the set up of venues and commercial activities, promotion at the top level of Martial Arts and other sport events (presentation of Eurodisney with engineering project and realization of The Sleeping Beauty Castle on the Piazzetta Reale ), WWF National Convention at the Filaforum Assago in Milan; logistics and plant engineering for Yellow Trophy ).

Logistic and artistic organisation for private conventions, such as, recently, Grace Jones in Dubai and Randy Crawford in Rome for Omnitel; Kid Creole & The Coconuts in Cannes for Mediaset; Acuvue Tour with DJ sets of Mushroom (Massive Attack) DJ Falcon (Daft Punk) and many more for Johnson & Johnson.

Casting for prime time TV shows such as L'ultimo Valzer on RAI 2, Stasero Pago IO and 125 Milioni Di Caate on RAI 1.

Promotion of family shows -- Lord Of The Dance, Shaolin Monks among others.

How do you feel about SFX (now Clear Channel) acquiring promoters in Europe like in the U.S.?
This can be an opportunity both for those who decide to be acquired and for those who choose to maintain their independence, as much as the game will be played fairly. Perhaps as a matter of fact Europe, and Italy in particular, is not the USA, thus the acquisition strategies in Europe might bring to very different effects than those you see in the US.

What are some of the industry trends you see?
Wide interest, even from the young generation, for rock legends from the '60s and the '70s, bands from the '80s, progressive music and everything that belongs to history in music; packaging new acts of different types of music for shows produced by corporations at a cheap ticket price and with a more active partecipation of the audience; and acoustic music and high quality concerts in beautiful venues, sharing a cultural or music theme. Many people keen on good music, playing acoustic or with symphonic orchestras, an audience paying attention to the sound quality of the venue and of the musicians.

Then I notice a great chance for the development of music from Europe, from the Balkans and from Asian and Indian countries, above all considering the current "dance music revolution" in the Western countries and the fact that dance music is the most creative genre at the moment.

First industry job
Flyposting and journalist in radio and newspapers.

Career highlight
On the artistic and emotional point of view: My first show with John Martyn alone back in May 1979, the first show with Ry Cooder in Milan 1982, the three years of Sonoria festival in 1994-96, the reunion of Bruce Springsteen with E-Street Band in 1999, the three shows with Tom Waits in 1999 in Firenze at the Opera Theatre, Pearl Jam at the Arena di Verona 2000; every tour through the years with Robert Smith and the Cure.

With an eye to the businness: all the Monsters of Rock from 1987-92, Guns 'N Roses at the Torino Stadio delle Alpi in 1992; Sting tour 2000-01; all of Barley festivals Irlanda in Festa 1996-2001, many arena shows with Aerosmith, Pearl Jam, Kiss, Cure, Iron Maiden in the '90s and 2000s.

Career disappointment
A tour with Stevie Wonder in 1992 which unfortunately was a disaster on every point of view: the show was terrible, sold really few tickets and reviews were just the bad consequence.

Greatest challenge
This job is always a great challenge, even more if you try to interpret your role with personality, curiosity, courage and applying your view of things, often ahead of times. In particular, my biggest challenge probably was promoting my second Sonoria festival in 1995 after the disaster of the 1994 edition when, in three days with 33 acts like Bob Dylan, Aerosmith, Peter Gabriel, Sepultura, Jimmy Cliff, Willy DeVille, Chris Rea, Huey Lewis and The News, Whitesnake, Blur, Big Country, Paul Rodgers, Cheb Khaled, Dwight Yoakam, etc., I didn't reach 6,000 people!!!!!!!! But I was right, because in 1995 I had 25,000 people in two days with Page & Plant (God bless my friend Robert forever and ever), The Cure, Faith No More, Paul Weller and 23 more acts.

Best business decision
Saying NO a few times.

Worst business decision
Saying NO a few times.

Best business advice you received
Saying NO many times.

Most memorable event/experience
Definitely the third edition of Sonoria with 114 acts playing over three years.

What your friends be surprised to learn about you
I have more than 10,000 vinyl and over 5,000 CDs at home, and I regulary spend around $1,000 (USD) per month in buying CDs; I play basketball every Thursday evening, and I'm a terrific dancer (TRUETRUETRUE!!!! Have a look at him in the office - note by BARLEY employees)

Industry pet peeve
Greedy people, people close to the artist often not professional, lack of respect.

Claudio can be reached at 39 02 76113055; e-mail: claudio.trotta@barleyarts.com.