Red Bull Music Academy and Red Bull Radio are both shutting down in 2019.
Red Bull informed employees of both RBMA and Red Bull Radio of the decision last week. Both of the properties will cease operation by October 31st.
Both services are run by Red Bull, with consulting firm Yadastar managing the creative and curatorial side. Red Bull is ending its association with Yadastar, shutting down its joint projects in the process.
Red Bull Music has no affiliation with Yadastar and will survive the purge. The Red Bull Music Festival will continue as well, with two festivals planned in New York and Tokyo later this spring.
What Happened?
In a statement to Resident Advisor, Red Bull said the main reason for the shift is that the company is ‘moving away from a strongly centralized approach’. Instead, the company hopes to implement a new structure for promoting artists and music.
“After 20 years of supporting artists worldwide with its music program in a rapidly changing world, Red Bull will maintain its purpose of providing a global platform to promote creativity—but it is changing the means of delivery. Red Bull will be moving away from a strongly centralized approach, will gradually phase out the existing structure and will implement a new setup which empowers existing Red Bull country teams and utilizes local expertise. Red Bull will continue to explore new ways to support promising and cutting-edge artists wherever they may be.”
The company did not comment on how many jobs will be lost due to the closures.
The Red Bull Music Academy was founded in 1998 by Torsten Schmidt and Many Ameri. It has toured the world since, offering lectures, workshops, and concerts across the globe.
RBMA also maintained a daily music publication. The Academy recently celebrated its 20th year in Berlin last year.
Yadastar posted their comment to the announcement on Twitter, saying the two companies had “mutually agreed to part ways” at the end of October 2019.
Here’s the complete statement for reference:
— Yadastar (@yadastar) April 3, 2019
Remember when Red Bull was just an energy drink? Some of you don’t. That was back before 100 better, lower-priced competitors came out. Now Red Bull has less money to spend on fun, vanity projects that don’t turn a profit. This is a cost-cutting measure.