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Montreux is constantly being reinvented. Yes, we encompass a lot of styles, and can fall prey to wanting to do too much, wanting to touch upon everything, and losing the central soul in the process. We can change it as much as we want, play with new stages and new projects, but the challenge for me is to preserve the event’s true DNA. The music business, with massive festivals around the world, has changed a lot: it’s a far cry from our model and pushes us to compete differently. We have to compete with soul, with human spirit, with quality, sensitivity, relevance, consistency. All these gigantic open-air events, with all their strike power and size, are no longer able to deliver craftsmanship. For me, Montreux is an event of craftsmanship. We’re so very small as far as venue capacity goes – 20,000 people a day – that we must make it an asset in our programming, with connections between all the stages, from the biggest to the smallest. We really build it like a watch, and the wheels have to interlink perfectly. So that naturally makes it a risky venture. Our operation goes against everything that should be done to ensure financial stability.
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