TOMORROWLAND
Tomorrowland is firmly established as one of the world ’ s biggest festival brands , with multiple international events , a huge online community , and revenue streams stretching far beyond ticket sales to travel packages and a truly remarkable merchandise line that encompasses a Tomorrowland novel series and even furniture .
Since the first festival was staged at the De Schorre park in Boom , Belgium , back in 2005 , brothers Manu and Michiel Beers have built Tomorrowland into a global entertainment company active in Belgium , Brazil , Colombia , Mexico , the Netherlands , France , Spain and Dubai . With a festival in Thailand in the pipeline .
The Tomorrowland team has generated a vast following both in the real world and online . The release of the beautifully produced festival ‘ after movies ’ have become a hugely important aspect of Tomorrowland ’ s reach , with its YouTube channel having more than 11.2 million subscribers .
Not even the pandemic halted Tomorrowland ’ s progress , with virtual festival Tomorrowland Around the World seeing more than one million people pay up to € 20 to watch the action across eight virtual stages , with performances by around 60 artists including David Guetta , Armin van Buuren , and Adam Beyer . That was followed by a digital-only New Year ’ s Eve online event adapted for all 27 worldwide time zones , with more than 25 artists performing in an immersive virtual venue named NAOZ .
Aside from festivals and other live events , the Beers brothers ’ reach now extends to areas including artist management and booking , media ( One World Radio ), the Tomorrowland DJ Academy and fashion . There is also the charitable Tomorrowland Foundation , which has launched Tomorrowland Music and Arts Schools in India , Nepal and Brazil , while working with mobile schools in 30 countries .
Michiel Beers
“ THE HARSH REALITY WAS THAT HE TOOK OFF WITH THE TURNOVER .”
At the heart of the operation remains the original Tomorrowland festival in Belgium , which started out as a 10,000 capacity one-day event , with performances by acts including Armin van Buuren and David Guetta . It has been expanded steadily over the years and now takes place across two weekends , involving more than 800 dance acts over 16 stages , with around 400,000 visitors from 200 countries in attendance .
The Beers brothers , who are now fully independent owners of the Tomorrowland empire , have invested around € 40 million in the De Schorre park since they started staging the festival there . Clearly appreciative of the huge benefits of Tomorrowland , the local government recently signed a contract with the Beers ensuring the festival can be staged in the park for the next 66 years .
In August , WeAreOne . World , the company behind Tomorrowland , reported a profit of € 8.4m for 2023 , with revenue amounting to € 129m . The company was reported to have net assets of € 30m .
The local and domestic economic impact of Tomorrowland Belgium is , not
surprisingly , huge . The organisation of the Belgian edition of Tomorrowland in 2023 saw WeAreOne . World purchase goods and services from more than 1,200 Belgian suppliers , at a cost of € 37m . The company reported that the the two festival weekends in Boom increased local economic activity by nearly € 28m , resulting in an increase of 1,900 full-time jobs . The financial return to the Belgian government , through contributions including corporate tax and VAT , amounted to € 75.9m .
It ’ s a hugely impressive achievement by the Beers brothers , and the result of their remarkable perseverance , imagination and self-belief from the outset . However , before Tomorrowland became a reality , the duo ’ s entrepreneurial endeavours could have been abruptly halted if it wasn ’ t for one investor sticking his neck out .
Speaking at the Amsterdam Dance Event conference , Michiel Beers gave a rare insight into how he and his brother Manu first got involved in staging events , the years leading up to the launch of Tomorrowland , and the fact that support from one lone banker proved pivotal .
“ It all started in 1997 when my brother Manu threw a party for the Boy Scouts ,” says Beers . “ I was 21 , four years older than him , and I had a driver ’ s license , so he asked me to drive him around to distribute posters and flyers . They ended up having 500 people at the party , and we thought ‘ this is fun let ’ s do another party together ’, so we did a club night on a Wednesday and 1,500 people showed up , which was amazing . Then we said to each other , ‘ Okay , we ’ ve made a bit of money , let ’ s start a company ’.
House music “ In 1998 we started Lineup Productions . Our office was our bedroom in our parents ’ house . We spent a lot of time together planning , and thought we should do something for students on a Wednesday in Antwerp . Club culture in the city was really big back then , you had very famous clubs in Antwerp . accessaa . co . uk 19