SANCTUARY IN TROUBLE? 19/06/05
International music company, Sanctuary Group PLC has warned that its full year EBITDA will be substantially less than the previous year, and "very
substantially less" versus market consensus.
In an AGM statement, executive chairman Andy Taylor also cautioned that first half EBITDA will be about 40 pct lower year-on-year.
He blamed the expected lower results to significant slippage of record releases in the Records division and therefore lower sales, as well as the expected additional operational costs incurred due to its international growth strategy.
Sanctuary Group is currently reassessing full year forecasts and will update the market when the interim figures are released.
Taylor also said the company is now undertaking a thorough review of all the operating divisions.
IFPI POSTPONE PLATINUM AWARDS 17/06/05
IFPI has decided to postpone the 5th IFPI Platinum Europe Award which was due to take place in Brussels on 12th July, 2005. The four recently announced Live 8 concerts happening around Europe in early July have drawn on a huge number of artists. The concerts have meant that artists have had to re-arrange their schedules at short notice.
The Platinum organising committee therefore took the decision to postpone the Awards ceremony to avoid any possible conflicting demands on artists' time. The committee will meet again in the near future to discuss plans for a re-scheduled event. In the meantime, IFPI will continue to announce on a monthly basis the latest artists who have reached Platinum status by achieving sales of one million albums in Europe.
BOB BEATS E-TOUTS AND LAUNCHES EDEN PROJECT LIVE 8 16/06/05
Bob Geldof has forced auction website eBay to remove all advertisements for London Live8 tickets after a public outcry about profiteering and a concerted effort by website users to spam the auctions by playing ten million pound bids. Ebay, which had offered to donate its sales fee for each transaction to eBay, finally agreed to remove all adverts although some earlier transactions will go through. And after complaints from around the world concerning the 'anglo-saxon' line up at Hyde Park including an attack by Damon Albarn of Blur, Peter Gabriel has agreed to organse a 5000 capacity 'Africa Calling' show at the Eden Project in Cornwall featuring Youssou N'Dour, Salif Keita, Thomas Mapfumo and Maryam Mursal.
Gabriel added that whilst he understood that Geldof had booked London Hyde Park to keep the TV audience watching he didn't agree that this was the right criteria but then added 'but there it is'. The Scottish Live 8 line up now has Texas, Dido, Travis, Annie Lennox, Snow Patrol and Ronan Keating all confirmed.
DCMS ASKS FOR INPUT ON TOUTING 16/06/05
As the Live8 eBay dispute calms down, the UK's Department of Media Culture and Sport has asked leading sporting bodies to comment on the impact of online touting on their business and has said it might call for further legislation. Touting tickets online is not illegal in the UK except in the case of football matches where the practice is forbidden by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act.
The Guardian newspaper quoted Jonathan Brown of STAR (Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers) as saying "In many ways the internet has given everyone the opportunity to be a tout .... it is difficult to combat because it is a cultural thing. People believe they should be able to buy tickets at a price rather than accept that an event is sold out." According to an Office of Fair Trading study in the UK the more sophisticated traders use "high-speed dialling equipment and other methods" to get tickets before ordinary customers and use various credit cards and identities to bypass restrictions on the number of tickets that can be purchased by one person, and join clubs and societies that receive preferential mail order tickets. They also trade tickets between themselves and scour online sites for bargains. Tickets bought from unauthorised websites cost on average 69% more than their face value, according to a recent report by Group 4 Securicor, which provides security at events such as Wimbledon and the Ryder Cup.
Glastonbury restricted its tickets ales to debit card only for 2005 with ticket holder identity proof a condition of entry to the Festival. Both 3A Entertainment and the Mean Fiddler Group cancel tickets where there is proof of multiple applications or where tickets are re-sold on-line.
OECD CASTS DOUBT ON FILE SHARING DAMAGE 14/06/05
A new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development suggests that making a connection between P2P and falling music sales is not as clear cut as the music industry has argued. It states: "It
is very difficult to establish a basis to prove a causal relationship between
the size of the drop in music sales ... and the rise of file sharing."
CD-burning is cited as perhaps a bigger cause behind the market slide. It recommends the industry 're-evaluate' how people access music digitally and the industry's desire to protect copyright, within this calling for moves to embrace and monetise P2Ps.
The IFPI has criticised the report for failing to properly understand the damage P2Ps cause and also for over-simplifying the issue of DRM
Source: Five Eight
ALANIS DEAL IS NOT HMV'S CUP OF TEA 14/06/05
HMV Canada has pulled all Alanis Morissette albums in protest at her signing a deal with Starbucks to give the high street coffee shop an exclusive six-week retail window on her new album. The Rolling Stones had previously angered retailers after signing exclusive deals with a sole retailer for their greatest hits DVD.
GELDOF RAGES AT LIVE8 TOUTS 14/06/05
Bob Geldof has unleashed a torrent of fury against lucky ticket lottery winners who have put their London Live8 tickets up on eBay looking for £1000 ( € 1,400)
for a pair of tickets. Although eBay have offered to pass over the profit they make from each auction, Geldof is fuming at the situation. But a number of eBay users have already started action against the touts, bidding ludicrous sums of money for tickets.
Over 2 million text entries were received for the competition raising £3
million ( € 4.3 million) and winners have just been notifed
by text.
However, the London bill has been augmented by by a long unthought of reunion of the Pink Floyd. Roger Waters will join Dave Gilmour and Nick Mason at the event ending a long running feud.
JACKSON FOUND NOT GUILTY ON ALL CHARGES 14/06/05
Michael Jackson is a free man after being found not guilty of the child molestation charges levelled against him. After 30 hours of deliberations the jurors in the trial found Jackson not guilty of molesting 13-year-old cancer survivor Gavin Arvizo at his Neverland ranch - exonerating the pop star who insisted he was the victim of mother-and-son con artists and a prosecutor with a vendetta. Jurors also acquitted Jackson of getting the boy drunk and of conspiring to imprison his accuser and the boy's family at the storybook estate. Jackson had pleaded not guilty to all charges.
NEW LIVE8 ANNOUNCED FOR SCOTLAND 12/06/05
Bob Geldof and Midge Ure have announced another leg of the Live8 concerts - this time in Scotland on July 6th. The Edinburgh show has confirmed appearances from Travis, Texas, Dido, Ronan Keating, Annie Lennox, Snow Patrol, The Thrills, The Zutons and Daniel Bedingfield, 'Men in Black' and 'Fresh Prince' star Will Smith is being mooted as a possible headliner for the Murrayfield event.
PYTHONS SPAM THE TONY'S 07/06/05
Eric Idle 's Spamalot scooped three gongs at the Tony Awards in New York. The musical, based on Monthy Python's film 'Monty Python and The Holy Grail' stars Tim Curry, Sara Ramirez and David Hyde Pierce. The play picked up 14 nomination and director Mike Nichols admitted that he was worried the show might walk away with nothing but in the end he was triumphant. The show is tipped to move to London's West End.
LIVE8 HAS 2.5 MILLION TEXTS IN FIRST HOUR 07/06/05
Bob Geldof 's Live8 Concert in the UK attracted over 2.5 million texts in the first hour of the lottery for tickets going live. Phone company 02 who
are managing the text service confirmed that the system coped. texts cost £1.50.
The text lines are open for a week. All entrants will be then entered into
a draw for tickets. Details of media coverage were becoming clearer. In the
UKBBC TV will cover the concert using three main broadcast channels (BBC1, BBC2 and BBC3) as well as interactive channels to cover feeds from Berlin, Paris, Rome and Phildelphia. AOL will handle global broadband and streaming operations. Geldof is calling for a million people to walk to Edinburgh to coincide with the G8 summit.
JACKSON BACK IN HOSPITAL 07/06/05
Michael Jackson has been re-admitted to Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital suffering from severe back pain. With the jurors now out to decide on Jackson's fate a number of media commentators have noted Jackson's declining health and in particular his loss of weight during the trial. His spokesperson confirmed that his back problem had returned. Last week Jackson visited hospital after complaining of dizziness and tiredness. Jackson denies all charges.
COLDPLAY
LAUNCH X&Y 07/06/05
Coldplay , who played a secret gig in Camden, London last (6 June) to an invited audience, are expected to top the UK album charts this week after their new album X&Y hit the shops on the same day. Numerous fans were queing through the night to get their hands on the album although EMI's success was tempered by the fact that tracks have alreday appeared on the internet as illegal downloads. Virgin Megastores opened two shops at midnight in London to allow diehard fans an early chance to get the album.
UK SPORTS, VENUES AND CONCERT INDUSTRIES LOBBY ON TICKET TOUTING 06/06/05
Some of the UK's most prestigious sports and concert venues including Wimbledon and the Royal Albert Hall are targeting ticket touts after an explosion in re-selling on websites such as eBay.
Representatives of the Cricket, Tennis, Football and Rugby sports in England met with Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell last week to persuade her to make the resale of tickets illegal. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) have said they are looking for a solution to the problem. At the moment only the re-sale of football tickets is illegal in the UK.
However the Independent on Sunday newspaper (5 June) reported that LibDem culture spokesman Don Foster said that the DCMS were 'doing nothing' to rsolve problems for the concert and sports industries The newspaper report also included an investigation into eBay pricing which had a pair of U2 tickets at Twickenham (normal
price each of £50) re-selling at £300, tickets for Centre Court tickets at Wimbledon normally £32 each retailing at at £410
a pair and a pair tickets at Glastonbury (usually £125 each) reselling at £770.
Last month a pair of Bruce Springsteen tickets were retailing at over £1000 on the intenet and Cream tickets had similar resale values, both at the Albert Hall. The ILMC debated the issue at ILMC 17 wth the industry calling for legislative action aroud the world to stamp out touting. Both Melvin Benn (Mean Fiddler) and John Giddings (U2) are quoted in the Indepdendent on Sunday article calling for a change in the law to make ticket resales illegal.
LIVE 8 FACES UK TAX BILL 03/06/05
Bob Geldof 's UKLive 8 concert faces a VAT bill as the monies raised through the mobile phone levy for entry to the ticket competition will not be used for charitable purposes in the first instance but will pay concert presentation costs.
Another £1.6 million (E2.2 million) has been promised to the Prince's Trust who gave up their Party In The Park to allow Geldof's event to take place in Hyde Park. Geldof has said that the concerts are to campaign for political justice. Band Aid trustee and IFPI chair John Kennedy confirmed that the VAT issue was a complication but it is expected that Geldof will campaign to have the tax lifted.
Geldof was facing criticism from local authorities in Scotland for calling for a million person 'Long Walk to Justice' march to the G8 summit.
Edinburgh City Council doubted that it had the infrastructure to cope with projected numbers and has serious concerns about unaccompanied young people. The police are worried about extremists subverting the march and have said they will speak with Geldof and fellow organiser Midge Ure.
The black community has also voiced concerns over a lack of afro-carribean and asian acts on the UK line-up.
JACKSON JURY OUT 03/06/05
The jury in the Michael Jackson trial are expected to being their deliberations tomorrow. They have been given detailed instructions by Judge Rodney Melville who has said that the jury can convict on some or all of the charges - including a conviction alone for giving alcohol to minors. It is expected that charges of kidnapping will not stand up after evidence was presented by the defence showing that the accusers mother was not kept against her will at Neverland and regulalry went on shopping trips. The defence also raised key issues against the credibility in the evidence given by accuser Gavin Arvizo, his brother and mother. Charged with false imprisonment, abduction, four counts of child molestation, one count of attenpted molestation and four counts of furnishing an intoxicant Jackson faces a possible 18 years in jail if convicted on all counts. Jackson denies all charges
GELDOF ANNOUNCES LIVE 8 AROUND THE WORLD 01/06/05
Bob Geldof and Midge Ure have confirmed rumours that they are organising a new 'Live Aid' with plans for concerts in Rome, Berlin, Paris, London and Philadelphia on July the 2nd to raise awareness of world povery.
The concerts, which coincide with the 20th anniversary of Live Aid, will be free and are aimed to raise awareness of world poverty and third world debt and put pressure on world leaders meeting in Scotland for the G8 summit. Geldof said the concerts were to raise awareness of "political justice". Acts roumoured to be taking part include U2, Coldplay, REM, The Cure, Robbie Williams, Madonna, Muse, Keane, Razorlight and Paul McCartney who have all been suggested for the 150,000 capacity London Hyde Park show and Lauren Hill, A-ha and Die Toten Hosen feature in Berlin. Duran Duran, Zucchero, Jovanotti and Faith Hill will be in Rome, Craig David, Jamiroquai, Youssou N'Dour, Placebo, Manu Chao and Andrea Bocelli will hopefully strut their stuff in Paris and Bon Jovi, Stevie Wonder and 50 Cent lead off the US show. Tickets for the UK show will be allocated by lottery based on entries sent via text.
BRIAN HARVEY BADLY INJURED IN MYSTERY CAR CRASH 01/06/05
East 17 singer Brian Harvey is fightig for his life after a bizarre accident where it seems he was run over by his his own car. The singer who recently had his profile raised after featuring in reality show 'Im a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here', has broken ribs, a shattered pelvis and broken legs. His parents and girlfriend Emm B are at his bedside. No one else is believed to be involved in the accident. In April last year Harvey had reported mental health problems and underwent therapy last year. UK newspapers recently reported on an earlier suicide bid.
CRAZY FROG SINGLE TOPPLES COLDPLAY 01/06/05
The Crazy Frog new single, based on the Jamster download mobile ringtone, has beaten Coldplay to Number One in the UK's singles charts after the motorcycling maniac apparently outsold Coldplay four to one in the run up to last Sunday's chart.
GELDOF ANNOUNCES LIVE 8 01/06/05
Bob Geldof ands Midge Ure have confirmed rumours that they are organising a new 'Live Aid' with plans for concerts in Rome, Berlin, Paris, London and the US on July the 2nd to raise awareness of world povery. The concerts, which coincide with the 20th anniversary of Live Aid, will be free and are aimed to raise awareness of world poverty and third world debt and put pressure on world leaders meeting in Scotland for the G8 summit. Geldof said the concerts were to raise awareness of "political
justice". Acts rumoured to be taking part include U2, Coldplay and Oasis.