COLDPLAY AND GORILLAZ HEAD UP MTV EUROPE AWARDS 28/09/05
Coldplay and Gorillaz, both signed to EMI, are head the list of potential gong winners at the MTV Europe Music Awards (in Lisbon on 3rd November). They have five nominations each.
Gwen Stefani is in 'second place' with four and then we have 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Green Day, U2 and James Blunt all with three apiece.
DROPKICK MURPHYS CANCEL JAPAN 28/09/05
"Dropkick Murphys singer Al Barr was hospitalized on Friday with severe stomach pains. After emergency surgery and lots of bed rest his doctor expects him to make a full recovery. Unfortunately this sudden illness has meant he will not be able to perform in Japan. The Dropkick Murphys tour dates will be rescheduled once Al has been released from hospital, given a full bill of health and will be well enough to make the long flight from Boston to Japan. We would like to thank all our fans for their patience and understanding and to assure everyone we expect Al to make a speedy recovery.
Japan is one of our favourite places to tour and we hope to be there again
very soon."
RITA FORCES CANCELLATION OF OASIS' HOUSTON SHOW 23/09/05
Organisers have been forced to cancel Oasis' show scheduled for Sunday in Houston, Texas due to the predicted arrival of Hurricane Rita. Along with the Oasis concert, all major live music events in the Houston area over the next few days have been cancelled or postponed.
Oasis , with special guests Jet and Kasabian had been due to play to 10,000 fans at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion in Houston. Due to the state of emergency and evacuation of the city the promoters took the decision to cancel the show. Tickets holders should refer to point of ticket purchase for refunds. Organisers of the Austin City Limits Festival where the band are due to play on Saturday are currently reviewing the situation and will be making an announcement later today. However, the Oasis concert tonight in Dallas will go ahead as planned.
Source: www.oasisinet.com
LEMAR SCOOPS TWO MOBOS 23/09/05
Soul singer Lemar was a double winner at the 10th MOBO Awards ( Music Of Black Origin ) as the former Fame Academy star beat Joss Stone and Estelle to UK Act of the Year. He also won best album for 'Time To Grow'. Lauryn Hill opened the show at London's Royal Albert Hall. Public Enemy were honoured with an award for Outstanding Contribution to Black Music. Other winners included singer-songwriter John Legend who won Best
R&B Act and Damian Marley who won Best Reggae Act. Damian also accepted a Posthumous Achievement Award for his father Bob Marley. He closed the show with a performance of 'Could You Be Loved', accompanied by brothers Julian and Stephen. Best Video was 'Drop It Like It's Hot' by Snoop Dogg ft Pharrell. Kano won Best UK Newcomer, unsigned Sway won Best Hip Hop and BBC Radio 1 jock Tim Westwood won Best UK Radio DJ.
SANCTUARY'S SHARES PLUNGE AGAIN 22/09/05
Sanctuary 's shares dropped 18% after the company issued
its third profit warning since June. It estimates that it will make a £1M full-year loss this year but states that it has the support of its bankers. It posted a £14M
profit in the first half of the year.
Source: news.ft.com
MAJOR LABELS SEEK TO BAN CHINESE MUSIC SEARCH ENGINE 20/09/05
China 's leading internet search engine said on Monday that it would appeal a decision by a Beijing court that it should pay compensation to a unit of global music group EMI Music, over downloads of pirated pop music offered through its website. The ruling, which also ordered the company to stop providing the services, highlighted the potential legal vulnerability of the popular "MP3" digital music search service offered by Baidu, which enjoyed a hugely successful listing on the Nasdaq last month.
The Baidu search engine (commonly refered to as 'the Chinese Google') has been sued for making copyright infringement easy via its MP3 search option. Baidu commands 37.4% of China's search market.
German courts have already held that internet links sites to other illegal download sites are in themselves illegal. The company claims that it is not offering downloads itself: it is merely offering a search option. Baidu's VP of Marketing, Liang Dong, says: "From the copyright point of view, we think differently than the music companies. Baidu is just a platform for music search".
Source: Five Eight Magazine
BOOSEY HAWKES
UP FOR SALE AT £130 MILLION 20/09/05
One of the UK's leading independent music publishing companies, Boosey Hawkes,
is up for sale for an estimated £130 million . The sum represents almost
double paid for the company less than three years ago by a management buyout
team funded by venture capitalists HgCapital which valued
the company then at £75 million HgCapital own 77% of the business. CEO John Minch and fellow director Janis Susskind own 10% of the equity.
Operating profits were £6 million this year on sales of £22 million. The company sold its musical instrument manufacturing business in 2003 to concentrate on publishing. Boosey's suitors are thought to include Andrew Wilkinson's Kingsteet Music, Bob Wise's Music Sales and EMI Music Publishing alongside a number of private equity companies. The Company was formed by a merger in 1930 but dates back to the Boosey company founded in the 1760s and Hawkes founded in 1865.
UK THEATRES UNITE TO FIGHT
'CHRISTIAN' CENSORSHIP 20/09/05
UK theatres are uniting against lobbying from an organisation of so called
Christians called Christian Voice. They are going to put on Jerry
Springer - The Opera depite Christian Voice saying
it is planning to have the production charged with the criminal offence of
blasphemy.
When the show was broadcast on BBC TV, Christian Voice mobilised
a massive email campaign although the true numbers of 'concerned viewers' was
hard to judge.
ISABELLE HEADS FOR THE DOCKS 19/09/05
After 22 years as one of the leading lights behind the major Swiss open air event, the Paleo Festival, Isabelle Primault has announced that she is leaving to take on a new challenge. From September 20th she will be working as artistic director of Lausanne's eagerly-awaited venue, Les Docks - a club in the heart of the city which is due to open its doors on December 1st.
UNIVERSAL'S PROFITS LEAP 14/09/05
As it nears the end of a two-year restructuring programme, Universal Music Group has announced that its costs have been lowered and its profits are significantly up in the first half of the year. The company's earnings from operations stood at E142M for the January-June 2005 period. This is a massive 178% increase from E52M a year earlier. Digital makes up around 5% of the company's turnover currently, although the split between mobile and downloads was not made clear. It is expected that realtone/callertune revenue made up the lion's share of this 5%. Universal controlled 25.5% of the global recorded music market in 2004.
Source: FiveEight magazine
KORN SIGN ALL IN DEAL WITH EMI 13/09/05
Following the much discussed deal between Robbie Williams and EMI, The LA Times reports that EMI has signed a five-year deal with Korn whereby the label will have a stake in the band's additional earnings beyond sales of recorded music. Similar deals are being done with new acts such as A&M/Interscope's deal with the Pussycat Dolls.
My Chemical Romance 's deal with Warners covers both recording rights and merchandise. Under Korn's new deal, EMI will get more than 25% of the band's publishing, merchandising and touring revenue as well as profit from the group's albums The signing of a band as big as Korn is seen as possibly indicative of how recording contracts will change across the industry. Some see this as a way for labels to get a better / quicker return on their investment (as bands will be marketed more aggressively through all media channels). However, others are suggesting that Korn's recording and touring fortunes are on the slide, making this a curious time to sign a deal such as this with the band. Music executives and artists say that if all-encompassing agreements become common, they could significantly shift the focus of the $11-billion recording industry and bring new heavyweights to the concert and merchandise businesses.
PUNK ACTS PLUG IN FOR KATRINA RELIEF 10/09/05
The Used , Taking Back Sunday, Bad Religion and Rise Against are among the hard-hitting punk and rock acts confirmed for "Unite
the United", an all-star concert event to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina. To be held on October 8th at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Irvine, Calif., the all-day show will be presented by the organizers of the Warped and Taste of Chaos festival tours.
Hoobastank , Disturbed, Pennywise, MxPx and Sugarcult are also on the bill. A major telethon is also planned for Sept 9th to raise funds for victims with all six major networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, the WP, UPN taking part in the one hour show along with radio and internet coverage.
U2 , Alicia Keys, Garth Brooks, Paul Simon, Rod Stewart and the Dixie Chicks are among the artists that will perform during "Shelter From the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast" will also feature Sheryl Crow, Foo Fighters, Kanye West, Randy Newman and Neil Young.
NEW MUSIC BIZ MBA VALIDATED AT BCUC 10/09/05
Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College and the Buckinghamshire Business School have formally announced the launch of the specialist MBA (Master of Business Administration) in Music Business Management. The University College already has a very successful undergraduate programme in music industry management as well as specialist short courses and a foundation degree in crowd and safety management. The MBA will allow the student to complete usual MBA business courses as well as a specialist module in intellectual property law and finance and complete a self selected dissertation on a topic relevcant to the music industry. The qualification is aimed at those who already have at least two years valid work experience in the music industry.
Further details can be obtained from Teresa Moore on 01494 603042 or tmoore01@bcuc.ac.uk
NAPSTER UPBEAT IN THE FACE OF MORE ONLINE COMPETITION 10/09/05
Napster , the one time byword for illegal downloading,
has announced strong new figures from legal online sales of recorded music
since its relaunch 15 months ago. The company claims to be attracting 50,000
new members every month who pay £9.95 (E14) to 'rent' an unlimited number of songs. Napster has said it will not be reducing prices despite the entry of HMV and Virgin into the market with songs as low as 39p (E0.55) although the average price is 79p per track..
FIRST CRIMINAL RULING AGAINST INTERNET PEER-2-PEER SERVICE IN THE WORLD 10/09/05
The IFPI, representing the international recording industry, has welcomed the conviction of Taiwan-based internet file-sharing service Kuro, in what is the first criminal conviction of a peer-to-peer (p2p) service in the world. A Taiwan court today convicted Kuro of criminal copyright infringement, imposing a fine of NT$3 million (approx US$90,000) and sentencing the three principals of Kuro, along with a user, to jail terms of up to three years.
The judgement follows three other court rulings on file-sharing services - all within the past three months. All four - the ruling against Kazaa in Australia, the unanimous US Supreme Court ruling against Grokster, and the injunction against Soribada in Korea - establish there is no defence for file-sharing services that build their businesses on the back of unauthorised trading of copyrighted material. Lauri Rechardt, IFPI Taiwan has called upon Kuro to stop immediately the unauthorised file-sharing, to either close or make the necessary changes to allow the technology to be used legally.
The Chen brothers, who ran the service, have been each sentenced to three years imprisonment; their father, who was president of Kuro, to two years; and the user - convicted of uploading copyrighted material onto the service - to four months. Kuro was established as a subscription peer-to-peer service, charging users for access to music files via the service. This was predominantly local repertoire, but nothing has been paid to the artists or the record labels.
Source: www.ifpi.org
SEPTEMBER 20TH BENEFIT FOR KATRINA VICTIMS SET 08/09/05
New York's Madison Square Garden will host a September 20th benefit for victims of Hurricane Katrina, dubbed "From
the Big Apple to the Big Easy". The show will pair a variety of top acts with some of New Orleans' most notable musicians, including Fats Domino and Allen Toussaint, who were rescued just days ago from the devastated city. Among the artists set to appear are Elton John, Jimmy Buffett, Rod Stewart, Stevie Nicks, Lenny Kravitz, Bette Midler, John Fogerty, Loggins & Messina and Earth,
Wind & Fire. New Orleans will be represented by the Neville Brothers, the Original Meters, the Dirty Dozen and Rebirth brass bands.
Source: www.billboard.com
ROD MUST PAY BACK ADVANCE FOR CANCELLED SHOW 08/09/05
A federal jury has decided that Rod Stewart should pay a Las Vegas casino $2 million plus interest for a cancelled show in December 2000. The seven-member jury found unanimously that Stewart should not have kept an advance he was paid for the show at the Rio Hotel Casino. 60-year-old Stewart had said he was unable to perform because of throat surgery several months earlier. It is thought the star will appeal the decision.
ANTONY AND THE JOHNSONS WIN MERCURY 07/09/05
Anthony & The Johnsons were announced as the surprise winners of the Mercury Music Prize beating off competition which included Coldplay, The Magic Numbers and favourites The Kaiser Chiefs.
CENTRE FOR CROWD MANAGEMENT AND SECURITY STUDIES FORMALLY LAUNCHED 07/09/05
The Centre for Crowd Management and Security Studies has been formally opened by the Rt Hon Bruce George MP on the 6th September. The Centre, part of Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College is headed up by industry veteran Mick Upton who received an honourary doctorate from the University College the same day. Keynote speakers at the launch were Iain Hill and Professor Chris Kemp. The legal consultant is Ben Challis. The Centre was set up to help promote the creation of a safer concert and security environment.
The Centre is also endorsed by the Security Industry Authority (SIA) to offer licensed qualifications in the security industry. The Centre has already worked with the ILMC Safety Focus Group to produce the www.safety-rocks.org website and has conducted research at the VE Day event in London's Trafalgar Square, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers in London's Hyde Park, at the Robbie Williams concert at Knebworth, the Eminen concerts at Milton Keynes Bowl and at the Roskilde Festival. The Centre is now looking at safety barriers in conjunction with Mojo and Professor Kemp added that the Centre is looking at "scientific evidence to prove that the three barrier system used at Roskilde and elsewhere is the safest system the Centre has come across". Details about the Centre can be found at www.crowdsafetymanagement.co.uk and further details can be requested from tdanzi01@bcuc.co.uk.
MUSIC INDUSTRY RESPONDS TO HURRICANE KATRINA 03/09/05
In the horrific aftermath of Hurricane Katrina the music industry in the US is doing what it can to help. After the MTV Video Awards were battered by the hurricane, Faith Hill and Aaron Neville starred at the September 2nd "A
Concert for Hurricane Relief," staged in New York by NBC Universal which also featured Tim McGraw, Wynton Marsalis and Harry Connick Jr. Meanwhile, music channels BET and Great American Country have announced plans for benefit events on Sept. 9 and Sept. 27, respectively.
The Dave Matthews Band is the first act to come forward with a benefit show for Hurricane Katrina victims It is expected that the band will add a fourth date to its September sellouts at Red Rocks near Denver, with proceeds from the September 12th show to benefit Katrina victims. Tickets will go on sale next week.
Meanwhile, Katrina is making its presence felt in the touring industry. Among the large venues in the region impacted by Katrina are the Louisiana Superdome; New Orleans Arena and Keifer UNO Lakefront Arena in New Orleans; the Cajundome in Lafayette, La.; the RiverCenter in Baton Rouge, La.; the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi; the Mitchell Center and Mobile Civic Center in Mobile; the Pensacol and the Grand Casino Gulfport, Mississipi.
On a slighly happier note, legend Fats Domino (Antoine Domino,77) has been found safe and well after it was feared he may have been stranded or even killed in New Orleans where he lives in the low lying 9th ward.
Source: www.billboard.com
STONES ALBUM ALREADY PIRATED 03/09/05
The Rolling Stones first studio album for nearly eight years, 'A Bigger Bang', has been posted on the internet a week before its official release. The illegally posted songs are understood to be bootlegs of songs that have already been legally played on the radio. U2, Coldplay, Radiohead and the White Stripes have all suffered internet piracy in 2005.
HMV AND VIRGIN SET TO CHALLENGE I-TUNES 03/09/05
HMV Digital , the stores eponymous download service, goes online on Monday 5th September as a potential serious competitor for Apple's iTunes.
The service will have a basic price of 79p per track and a subscription price
of £14.99 per month allowing subscribers to download as much music
as they want. Virgin Digital has announced a similar service with a similar pricing structure as well as 'bundle' offers on certain albums. Some tracks will cost less than 79p.
The two chains together dominate high street CD retailing in the UK. The HMV and Virgin systems are not interoperable with iTunes and iPods cannot play downloads from rival stores. Apple have now announced a new deal with O2 to deliver downloads by mobiles and to create a new combined mobile phone and iPod. There are currently 16 million iPods worldwide but hundreds of millions of mobile phones and Apple believe consumers will flock to buy a combined music player and phone.
DESTINY'S CHILD TOP WORLD MUSIC AWARDS 03/09/05
Destiny's Child won best pop group in the world at the World Music Awards in Los Angeles. The Awards which have moved to Hollywood from Monaco, are based on worldwide record sales. Regional awards based on continents are also made. Mariah Carey completed
a remarkable comeback with the prize for best R&B artist at the WMA.
CBGB RISKS FINAL CLOSURE 03/09/05
CGBG 's lease expired on the 1st September and stars are now fighting to save the New York club. The club's landlords, a homless charity, have told club owner Hilly Kristal that the club must close after Kristal refused to agree to pay triple its current rent of $19,500 per month.
The club, whose full name is CBGB&OMFUG for 'the Country Blue Grass Blues and Other Music for Uplifiting Gourmandisers' (we always wondered what that stood for - excellent ILMC trivia) is being supported by artists including Blondie, Public Enemy and Little Stevie Van Zandt who is co-ordinating efforts to save the venue.