Full Bloem: Kim Bloem’s 25 years in the business

Despite early ambitions to pursue a career in medicine, Kim Bloem was destined to work in music. Now, as head promoter and MD of one of the world’s most successful operations, Mojo Concerts, she looks back on 25 years in the business. IQ talks to the winner of this year’s Arthur Award for Promoters’ Promoter as she celebrates another landmark year…

Growing up in the quiet town of Zeist, live music was never an obvious career choice for Kim Bloem. But raised in a household filled with music, where she was encouraged to learn to play instruments, provided a path to a life that has seen her become one of the industry’s most influential – and popular – promoters, enjoying an enviable reputation that recognises her quiet determination, as well as the sense of humour with which she approaches everything and everyone.

Sharing her earliest memories, Bloem tells IQ, “My dad worked in the Dutch Royal Air Force, so he sometimes lived far away, only coming home at the weekends, while Mom was at home looking after me. But Zeist was a great place to grow up, and my parents still live in the house where I was born, which is really nice.”

The youngest of three children, Bloem benefitted from listening to a range of music beyond her years. “My brother listened to AC/DC, Madonna, Elton John, and other ’80s stuff, while my sister was into bands like Led Zeppelin. The radio was always on, and my parents listened to lots of different music, like The Carpenters, Genesis, J.J. Cale, Mercedes Sosa, but also Bach and Grieg, and they’d take me to lots of classical concerts. So my tastes then and now are very eclectic.”

With music at the heart of the family, Bloem started playing recorder aged six. “I was quite fanatical,” she laughs. “An oboe student from the conservatory taught me, so I reached quite a level. Then we got an electronic organ, and I loved it because it had a rhythm box where you could push the samba button and then play something that sounded pretty professional.”

“A lot of promoters say that they went into the business side because they failed to be a real musician, but that was never an ambition for me”

She was hooked.

“I was taught by a very religious woman who I’d turn the pages of sheet music for during her pipe organ recitals in church. It was my introduction to a different kind of live music, and it was a lot of fun.”

Soon music had taken over, at the expense of Bloem’s early career choice. “I wanted to be a doctor, so the plan was to study medicine, and I’d lined up my school subjects accordingly – maths, science, and all of that. But in high school, music became a bigger part of my culture, so I started playing piano and singing. In the end, I only cared about my music exam, for which I achieved an A [grade], but all the other subjects suffered, and I never got my high school diploma.” She adds, “I still sometimes have those anxiety dreams where, as a 48-year-old, I have to go back to high school to sit my exams…”

Still, she’d impressed her teachers enough that they recommended she become a music teacher, and upon leaving school, she found herself at the Conservatory in Utrecht – a 30-minute bus ride from Zeist. “I stayed at home for the first year, but in year two, I went to live in Utrecht and got into a student fraternity. My house was literally 20 metres from the conservatory and 500 metres from the pub, so those were five fun years. And they included a six-month exchange in Malmö, which was fantastic because in 1997 there was a lot of money for music education in Sweden, so the level of musical talent was really high.

“However, unlike others, I never thought that I would be an artist. A lot of promoters say that they went into the business side because they failed to be a real musician, but that was never an ambition for me.”

Nevertheless, life at the conservatory introduced Bloem to the industry side of music. “I started organising lots of classical concerts and also some jazz. And I learned the process: renting out a venue, bringing in crew, making sure artists knew where to go and at which time, and, of course, selling the tickets. It was a bit of an initiation for me.”

1999
Having left the conservatory armed with her teaching diploma, 22-year-old Bloem began to doubt her career choice. “I convinced myself that if I became a teacher I would have three burnouts before I reached 30,” she recalls. “So, I began studying music and arts, and through that course I had to find an internship.”

“I started booking jazz acts into different venues across the Netherlands”

Connections at her student fraternity included somebody who worked at Mojo Concerts. “I’d told her that I’d like to work at North Sea Jazz Festival, and out of the blue she called to tell me that there was an internship available and could I come in for an interview.”

In January 2001, she began the internship, initially working in the programming department, where she was given responsibility for a stage that included high school big bands from America. “Although there was a lot of administration, it was a great internship, but after it ended, I had to start working without finishing my studies, as the costs were too high, so I actually put my diploma to use, and in August 2001 I planned to start working as a music teacher.”

That position was to be short-lived because Bloem had impressed her bosses enough that they were not prepared to lose her to academia. “Sander Grande, programmer of North Sea Jazz, asked me to stay. At that point, there were just three venues that properly programmed jazz in the Netherlands, but we believed it could be interesting for theatres and other pop venues. So that’s how we constructed what turned out to be my first full-time job, and in September, I started booking jazz acts into different venues across the Netherlands.”

But she didn’t get off to the best start, as her first-ever show – Bill Bruford’s Earthworks – still gives her shivers. “It was January 2002 at De Lantaarn in Hellendoorn, and I got lost on my way to the gig. It was in the days before sat nav, and I was struggling to figure out where I was on the map. At some point, I found myself in a closed-off nature reserve, where it was forbidden to drive after sundown. Panic was setting in – I was breaking the law, and I thought I was going to miss my first show. But thank goodness I did not: I got there, and it all worked out.”

Let’s Work
With a foot firmly in the door, Bloem had created the launch pad for her own rocket ship trajectory at North Sea Jazz parent company Mojo, as some of the emerging talent in her fledgling jazz roster were soon enjoying crossover stardom.

“People like Norah Jones and Jamie Cullum started breaking through, meaning jazz became mainstream”

“People like Norah Jones and Jamie Cullum started breaking through, meaning jazz became mainstream,” says Bloem, also citing the like of Michael Bublé, Amos Lee, and John Legend. “The numbers for Norah Jones were huge, and Jamie Cullum was able to sell out three AFAS Lives, which was 15,000 people, which people couldn’t believe was possible for this genre. For me, it was right time, right place, and luck maybe, and taking acts outside of the three recognised jazz venues really helped make my reputation. But if the talent is good enough, then you can take it anywhere – a pop venue like Paradiso, or even Ahoy, where we did Michael Bublé, so that approach really helped grow the acts I worked with.”

Forcing her bosses to take notice of her ingenuity, the Mojo hierarchy were not slow in entrusting Bloem with greater responsibilities. “In the office, Leon Ramakers, Robert Van Ommen, and Rob Trommelen really supported me, and I remember Leon asking me to help him with Lou Reed. In fact, when he played at Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the venue did a special VIP thing that I didn’t know anything about. I was there all day making sure things ran smoothly, and when Leon arrived in the evening, he came to me about the VIP thing. He didn’t need to highlight my mistake – I knew I should have spotted it, but it was a real lesson: you can make a mistake but you only make it one time. But my Mojo bosses gave me a lot of space to grow my roster, and to grow my network, and that was just fantastic.”

As Bloem’s star rose, in 2005, Robert Van Ommen asked her to join Mojo’s promoting team. “He wanted me to grow more into the booker and promoter networks,” she recalls. “A lot of the gigs I was doing were ‘sold shows’ because jazz was subsidised, so risk of loss was not with Mojo, and a lot of the marketing would also be done by the venues. As a result, moving into Mojo’s main promoting team was definitely a step up – to take on the risk for your company, as if it’s your own money, is a very different proposition. It forces you to make sure you are convinced a show is going to do well.”

Thankfully, luck was on Bloem’s side: “In the beginning, I was really very fortunate and didn’t lose any money, which meant people put confidence in me, and that helped me make the right decisions. But a lot of it was down to luck. The business is, of course, about the fans – I can’t force anyone to buy a ticket.”

Nevertheless, there were some nervous moments.

“I also remember one gig that I had in a club where I didn’t actually dare to go to the toilet because otherwise, the venue would have looked really empty”

“Some of the first artists I promoted were Jamie Cullum, Earth, Wind & Fire, and then Stevie Wonder, whom I thought would be a slam-dunk because he hadn’t been to the Netherlands for ages. It was not a financial disaster – the first Stevie Wonder show sold out but the second one did not, and that was the first time I experienced such a situation. It certainly helped pull me back down to Earth. Having those conversations with an artist or artist manager about why there’s empty seats is never fun.

“I also remember one gig that I had in a club where I didn’t actually dare to go to the toilet because otherwise, the venue would have looked really empty. But sometimes, there are just shows that don’t go well; that’s reality.”

Bloem’s promotion to the Mojo booking team coincided with the company shedding its domestic department. “Leon supported them to make sure they could start their own company – Agents After All – so there was still involvement but not under the Mojo flag anymore.”

Twenty years later, however, Mojo has reinstated a domestic department, and Bloem is more involved than ever. “It’s a very big topic for us,” she states. “We have four dedicated people who only book domestic acts. And other promoters are also involved – I have only one domestic act, Anouk, while Maarten van Vugt has a 50/50 split in his roster: half international, half domestic, and that includes Holland’s biggest rapper, Frenna.

“Like a lot of countries, after Covid, our domestic scene grew a lot. But we had been building before that – in 2018, we really started devoting a lot of energy into domestic talent because we could see demand growing, and I think this will continue in the years ahead.”

“That’s always been the good thing about Mojo: we don’t operate in an isolated way; we always try to operate as a team”

Just as Long as We’re Together
Naming Ramakers, Van Ommen, and Trommelen as her mentors, Bloem states, “They would encourage me to take a risk when I was unsure. When all of a sudden you go from guarantees in the thousands to five-figure and six-figure sums, it can be daunting. In those early days, it was fantastic to have reassurance that it was okay for me to agree such deals. Leon, Robert, and Rob really supported me with that. And now things have come full circle. I’m helping the next generation of promoters to find that confidence to do the same thing. That’s always been the good thing about Mojo: we don’t operate in an isolated way; we always try to operate as a team.”

Bloem singles out former colleague Nicoline de Kock as another individual who encouraged her. “Nicoline left Mojo in January this year, and she was always a great mentor, pushing me to build my own career. She would really guide me in what to do, when to do it, and when to ask for certain things.”

Bloem also names Live Nation’s Kelly Chappel and Anna Sjölund (now at ASM Global) as close allies. “We were a little trio at Live Nation,” she says. “It’s easy to ask women of your own age about their encounters and experiences, as well as their advice for certain circumstances, and Kelly and Anna are just the best. But I’d also extend that knowledge circle to people like Barry Dickins and Tony Goldring, who were great to deal since my first day in the business, and also to John Giddings – he’s a very good listener, and he does everything with humour.”

That aspect of Giddings’ personality is super important to Bloem. “I want to enjoy what I do, and so I never write just a boring email: I always want to make sure everything has a fun element to it. John Giddings helped teach me that, but at the same time, when there’s a serious issue, I know I can always call him, or other Live Nation colleagues like Jesper Christensen in Denmark, André Lieberberg, and lots of others.

Delirious
That support network has helped Bloem achieve some remarkable highs during her career to date. But nothing compares to working with her idol.

“I’ve been a huge Prince fan since I was 12, and I always said if I had the chance to work with him, I could happily retire”

“I’ve been a huge Prince fan since I was 12, and I always said if I had the chance to work with him, I could happily retire,” she tells IQ.

In reality, that dream came true many times over. “In 2003, Prince performed at the Ahoy, and I was just happy that I could buy a ticket because it was a no-comp show. Then, in 2010, Kim Worsøe was working on Prince’s tours, and he called me to ask if we could put on a stadium show for 30,000 people. It would be the biggest show I’d ever done, and it was less than a month away. But with a big lump in my throat and a knot in my stomach, I agreed a deal. It was intense, but the stadium sold out within two weeks, and Mojo’s production people, marketing team, and everyone came together to pull it off.”

New Power Generation
That success saw Prince return again and again to work with Bloem, often involving similar challenging timelines. “He wanted to play North Sea Jazz, but the festival was already fully booked, and the budget was spent. But I knew about the late shows he liked to do, so we made an offer that when the festival ended at 1am, Prince could do a night show. We ended up doing three nights after North Sea Jazz at the Ahoy. It was always tricky trying to keep 13,000 people in the venue, as Prince wasn’t known for always being on time. And I was seven months pregnant at the time, so it was exhausting, but the adrenaline got me through, and it all worked well.”

Indeed, Prince’s decisions to play live could be at the literal drop of a hat. “In 2011, he was in Norway when the Utøya bombings happened, so he came to Melkweg to rehearse, which was possible because it was closed. And he liked it so much he wanted to do a show that night. The problem was that all of the Melkweg staff were in Germany on a company trip. So, when I got a call at 6pm asking if Prince could do a show that night, it was a bit crazy. I told Kim [Worsøe] to give me 30 minutes, spoke to everybody at the venue to sort crew, and got the green light within time.”

That flexibility means that 11th-hour shows have become a speciality for Mojo. “We’re a bit like music magicians. We’re not promoters; we’re problem solvers,” says Bloem, referencing a Lana Del Rey performance at Ziggo Dome a couple of years ago, which was booked, sold out, and went ahead within six days of the phone call from CAA agents Emma Banks and Marlene Tsuchii.

But it’s her experiences with Prince that Bloem cites as her favourites. “Kim Worsøe would call me for favours, and he knew I’d do anything to help out with Prince. So, when Usher had to cancel his headline slot at the Curaçao North Sea Jazz Festival three weeks before the 2013 edition, I took a chance and called Kim to ask if Prince could do it. And the deal was done within a day.”

“At some point, you find you’re one of the more mature promoters in the office. So you want to help your younger colleagues”

That combination of Prince and one of her beloved events is another career high. “We did that festival for the first time in 2010, when the island hadn’t hosted many live events. The first festival was Lionel Richie and Simply Red, and people in the audience were crying because they had this opportunity to experience live music. We forget how spoiled we are for concerts, but that was a great reminder about how powerful music can be.”

Musicology
Now elevated to managing director and head promoter at Mojo, Bloem is finally able to put her teacher training into practice. And she is reassuringly honest about the way in which her approach to business has evolved over the decades.

“When I became a promoter, I wanted to represent as many hot acts as I could. But as I’ve become more mature, I’ve realised there’s a lot more out there. So now I also promote shows that just sell a lot of tickets in the Netherlands. It’s important for the company that we’re there to service that connection between artists and their fans, no matter who they are. Another more experienced act I work on is Level 42. Mark King is such a great artist and such a pleasure to work with, and the increase in ticket sales over the last couple of years for the band is just amazing. So I also love being involved with these more experienced acts.

“Also, at some point, you find you’re one of the more mature promoters in the office. So you want to help your younger colleagues, and that’s allowed me to fulfil my ambition of becoming a teacher.”

She continues, “I really enjoy teaching people how I operate and helping them be as efficient as possible or trying to keep informed about the newest developments in ticketing, or whatever, that can help make more money for the artist. I really enjoy that aspect of my job, so when Robert Van Ommen left the company in 2012, I started to develop more and more into that role. Young people have such a different view of the world, so I can learn from them, while teaching people who join Mojo to have fun in what they do.”

“Time flies when you’re having fun, so to realise I’ve been doing this for 25 years is a bit of a surprise”

Let’s Go Crazy
Looking ahead at Mojo’s busiest year in history, Bloem finds it challenging to namecheck all of the events she is looking forward to in 2025, reeling off dozens of acts and events with her infectious enthusiasm, including the likes of Doechii, Olivia Rodrigo, Duran Duran, Brandi Carlisle, Kendrick & Sza, Lady Gaga, and Snoop Dogg.

“Time flies when you’re having fun, so to realise I’ve been doing this for 25 years is a bit of a surprise,” she confesses. “I can’t believe how the industry continues to grow, and the number of shows we are doing is expanding. You need to keep a close eye on the people who work at your company and keep them motivated. We work in the best-ever industry, and Mojo is such a great company, with such a great team, so every day at work is a pleasure.”

But she reserves the greatest praise for her non-Mojo family.

“I met my husband, Bjorn, when I moved to Amsterdam in 2000, when we were both in the same student house. He was at the Conservatory in Amsterdam when I was in Utrecht, so we both have a musical background.

“Bjorn took the choice of not wanting to become a professional musician, so it’s also a team effort at home. When I have a working week of 60 or 70 hours, there is still family life, and I rely on my husband and sons – Abel, Tjerk, and Olaf – to be a team. To that end, I believe there’s a lot more understanding now in the business, and it’s important for me to be vocal about such things.

“I want to be able to inspire people so that they know they can have both aspects. It’s hard work, and I have to admit it can be difficult when my youngest son says, ‘Where are you? I never see you.’ But it’s part of life, and they’re also very proud, so I’m grateful for that.”

“The goal is to develop new events for crowds that we are not seeing at the events we are already producing”

Admitting she finds it tough to envisage the day when she is no longer called upon to make big decisions, Bloem also expresses admiration for Nicoline de Kock’s choice to retire at the age of 61, “to leave it to the younger crowd.” Bloem comments, “I think that’s very healthy, so although I’m only 48, I’m already thinking of my successor, as I believe that making way for the next generation helps to make your company stronger.”

Sign o’ the Times
But there are still many, many years until that day comes, and Bloem’s determination shows no sides of waning just yet. “At some point you think, ‘We can’t top last year; we can’t grow all the time.’ But we do. So, in ten years from now, who knows how big it will be, and what level of demand we will be dealing with.

“It’s an exciting prospect because the way music is now being marketed is so different from 20 years ago, when you’d read an article about a band and then go to the vinyl shop to buy the record. Now, it can be instant, and I don’t know where that technological evolution ends, but I don’t think we’re anywhere close to the end game yet, so it will be fascinating to see how that develops.”

And in the meantime, her hopes for the future?

“The goal is to develop new events for crowds that we are not seeing at the events we are already producing. We’re always looking for opportunities, and I can see that there might be developments on the domestic side of Mojo that will be exciting and give a lot of new energy to the team.”

“And I’m hoping for a last-minute show again. Those challenges are really good – watching the Mojo team go into overdrive to squeeze in another show in a matter of days… I love that.”

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