Boiler Room bought by company linked to US Defence contractor
Superstruct Entertainment, owned by KKR Investments, has promised that Boiler Room will "retain its identity".
Dance music is big business, clearly. Overnight, Boiler Room was bought by UK-based festival operator Superstruct Entertainment.
The sale, which was undertaken for an undisclosed sum, sees Boiler Room no longer under global ticketing platform DICE's umbrella, which it has been since 2021. DICE will however still retain all ticketing rights to Boiler Room in the future.
Superstruct Entertainment, Boiler Room's new owner, is responsible for a slew of international festivals including Sziget, Brunch Electronik, Flow, Awakenings and many more. Superstruct was founded in 2017 by Creamfields founder and former Live Nation president of electronic music James Barton, alongside investment firm Providence's Roderik Schlosser.
In June of 2024, Superstruct was purchased by KKR Investments, a multi-national investment firm, for EUR €1.3 billion (AUD $2.15 billion). KKR Investments is active in many industries, but its interest in and portfolio of military investments is clearly making dance fans uncomfortable.
Many comment sections since the announcement of Boiler Room's acquisition have seen fans pointing to these investments by KKR as a sacrifice of the values that Boiler Room has continued to profit from.
In 2019, KKR acquired Novaria Group, a manufacturer of specialty aerospace hardware, and was reported to be "betting big on the U.S. defence industry."
In September of 2023, KKR bought out industrial, aerospace and defence supply firm Circo International for USD $1.6 billion. Also last September, KKR invested AUD $108 million in Advanced Navigation, an Australian defence and technology company.
As Boiler Room continues to influence dance culture, with Superstruct and KKR now profiting themselves, the greater dance music community will no doubt be watching to see what this acquisition means for their reputation, and dance music more broadly.
"As we turn 15 and enter our next stage of growth, we're excited to be partnering with Superstruct for this chapter," Boiler Room founder Blaise Belleville said in a press release. "We feel in good company with their roster of brands, they offer us new opportunities to grow, whilst understanding the importance of staying true to the authenticity that, at its core, is what makes Boiler Room special."
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Jack Colquhoun is Mixmag ANZ's Managing Editor, find him on Instagram.
