Coldplay avoid Spotify

Coldplay's new album, 'Mylo Xyloto', will not be available on Spotify or most other streaming services, and the reason seems to be to promote conventional record sales. The album will be available as download to owns on iTunes and other online stores and as physical product.

46 festivals win green festival award

46 festivals across the UK, Europe, Australia and North America have been awarded the prestigious Greener Festival Award for their green efforts in reducing their environmental impact 2011. The Awards are made by environmental campaign and advice group A Greener Festival and to achieve the Award each festival must complete a detailed 53 part questionnaire, submit relevant information such as a carbon footprint, traffic plans and waste and recycling management schemes, and then have an independent environmental audited to complete the Awards scheme. Organisers said they were extremely pleased with the results which took place against “very difficult financial pressures in some parts of the festivals sector” and “challenging summer weather” in both hemispheres. Ben Challis, Co-founder of A Greener Festival said “one highlight was the real reduction in car use at many festivals as people swapped to coaches, trains, shared cars or even cycled. A downside was the thousands and thousands of tents ands other perfectly reusable camping equipment left behind at festivals in the UK – “what a mess and what a waste”. The Awards scheme is sponsored by Robertson Taylor who specialise in insurance for live events and the music industry.

Outstanding inners of the Greener Festival Award 2011 included the Croissant Neuf Summer Party (England, Falls Festivals(Australia), Isle of Wight Festival (England), Lightning in a Bottle (USA), Oya Festival (Norway), Peats Ridge (Australia), Shambala (England), Sunrise Celebration (England), We Love Green (France), Wood (England)and the Woodford Festival (Australia. Highly commended awards went to the Glastonbury Festival (England), Bonnaroo (USA), Bestival (England), Lollapalooza (USA) and the Cambridge Folk Festival (England) amongst others. An overall UK winner will be announced at the UK Festival Awards at the London Roundhouse on November 15th.

Stubhub gains seating patents

Ticket resale marketplace StubHub has been granted U.S. patents relating to methods of "mapping price and location" for tickets at an event venue, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Newly filed documents indicate that the company has been granted other ticketing-related patents dating back to 2009, but the most recent of the StubHub patents was granted earlier this month.

Luminar goes into administration

The UK's biggest nightclub operator, Luminar, has gone into administration threatening 3000 jobs. The chain of 75 clubs which operate under the Oceana, Lava & Ignite and Liquid banners, suffered a 19% drop in revenues last year as the recession bit and its core market of 18 to 24-year-olds were hit by high levels of youth unemployment. The recent UK riots added to its woes, as did the recent death of student Nabila Nanfuka from traumatic crush asphyxiation at their Northampton Lava & Ignite nightclub. It is understood that administrator Ernst & Young will continue to run the business as a going concern while it seeks a buyer.

Q the Awards

OK OK, not many more awards to go now, but the winners of the Q awards are out, and the grown ups list is headed up by Queen and U2 who both win lifetime awards. Ed Sheerhan wins the newcomer gong and Lana Del Ray and those lips is next big thing

Q Best Male Artist: Tinie Tempah
Q Best Female Artist: Adele
Best Live Act: Biffy Clyro
Best Act In The World Today: Coldplay
Breakthrough Artist: Ed Sheeran
Best New Act: WU LYF
Q Next Big Thing: Lana Del Rey
Best Track: Adele - Rolling In The Deep
Best Album: Bon Iver - Bon Iver
Best Video: Jessie J - Do It Like A Dude
Q Classic Song: Snow Patrol, Chasing Cars
Q Classic Songwriter: Gary Barlow
Q Innovation In Sound: Kaiser Chiefs
Q Icon: Noel Gallagher
Q Inspiration: Fatboy Slim
Q Outstanding Contribution To Music: Siouxsie Sioux
Hall Of Fame: Queen
Greatest Act Of The Past 25 Years: U2

Death at Club in Northampton

A woman has been crushed to death and at least eight other people have been injured, two critically, at a nightclub in Northampton. Nabila Nanfuka, 22, of Neasden, north-west London, died in Lava and Ignite in St Peter's Street in the early hours of Wednesday 19th October. One witness told the BBC that a "stampede" had begun as people made for the exits when they were told that their buses were leaving. Anotrher report said that the stampede began when a fire alarm went off. The number of people in the club is unknown and is under investigation although it appears Police were called to the club earlier in the night and Superintendent Andy Cox, of Northamptonshire Police, said they were aware of large numbers of people at the 1,600-capacity event which had been widely promoted in London and the Midlands. The two critically injured people are in intensive care.

Pukklepop to go ahead in 2012

Belgian music festival Pukkelpop will go ahead next year, despite the tragedy which struck this year's event when four people were killed after a stage collapse when a freak storm hit the festival site on the opening day of Pukkelpop 2011. 70 other peiole were injured by as lighting rigs and large screens also fell. Following an investigation by the Hasselt Public Prosecutor, a 'force majeure' ruling was put in place, stating that the festival's organisers could not be held liable for what happened. The festival will take place between the 16th and 18th August 2012 and customers who had bought a ticket for the cancelled 2011 event will receive free food and drink vouchers, valued at 75 euros and 150 euros respectively which can be used at any of the next three Pukklepops.

Stone Roses resurrected

The Stone Roses have reformed and the iconic British band will play two shows at Manchester's 75,000 capacity Heaton Park on 29th and 30th Jun in 2012, which will form part of a World tour. At a press conference in London's Soho Hotel yesterday, original members Ian Brown, John Squires, Gary ‘Mani’ Mountfield and Alan ‘Reni’ Wren also announced that they would be playing new material at the shows.

Music stars in Facebook poll

The list of the most popular Facebook pages has been updated and the top page remains Facebook’s own, becoming the first to attain 50 million “likes” ( 54.03 million) with Zynga’s Texas Hold’em Poker in second place with 51.15 million likes and YouTube in at No 4 (46.06M). Music dominates the rest of the top 25 with a host of music stars including Eminem at No 3 with 47.88 million likes, Rihanna at No 5 (45.91M), Lady Gaga at no. 6 (44.29 M). Michael Jackson at 7 (41.56M), Shakira at 8 (41.06M), TV series Family Guy at 9 (38.54M), Justin Bieber at 10 (36.69M), Harry Potter at 11 (35.67M), Katy Perry at 12 (35.63M) and Linkin Park at 13 (35.39M). Apart from Jackson, a second deceased entertainer makes the list with Bob Marley further down at 19 with 31.74 million.

Digital Cull Due says Deezer Dude

According to Deezer UK's Managing Director, Mark Foster, there is only "room for three or four" digital music services on the internet, and we'll see a lot close in the next twelve months. Asked which digital services currently out there would most likely survive, Foster told Music Week: "We'll be one of [the ones that survives], no question. Whether we'll be bigger than Spotify, I don't know. There'll inevitably be a shake-out - as with any market where you get a lot of people coming in with great ideas - over the next twelve months, you'll get four or five big players coming out of the pack. Some will fall away. That's market dynamics". Since arriving in the UK in September, Deezer claims to have signed up 1.4 million premium subscribers. Most of those have come through an exclusive deal with Orange to bundle the service in with pay monthly mobile phone contracts though, which means it's not clear how many active users the service actually has.

STAR gets new mark

The UK's Society Of Ticket Agencies and Retailers (STAR) has launched a new 'kitemark' to reassure consumers about the safety of its member's websites. The new STAR mark comes as the ticketing body launches research that shows that 10% of people have been affected by ticket fraud in the UK. The study also found that 10% of those interviewed would buy tickets from any website that "looked genuine" and that the same percentage said they'd never think to check a service's authenticity before buying tickets. The new STAR mark will be given to "reputable ticket outlets" that adhere to the trade body's code of conduct. The new kitemark is backed by other key bodies including the Concert Promoters Association (CPA), the National Arenas Association (NAA) and The Society of London Theatres.

Euro-Border breakers and UK live music awards out

The winners of the European Border Breaker Awards 2012 have been announced for the Awards which will be handed out at next year's Eurosonic convention in January in Gronigen, and the winners are:

Elektro Guzzi (Austria)
Selah Sue (Belgium)
Agnes Obel (Denmark)
Ben l'Oncle Soul (France)
Boy (Germany)
James Vincent McMorrow (Ireland)
Afrojack (Netherlands)
Alexandra Stan (Romania)
Swedish House Mafia (Sweden)
Anna Calvi (UK)

All ten will perform at next year's awards, where the winner of a peoples choice vote will also be announced. More at www.europeanborderbreakersawards.eu.

The Live UK Music Business Awards haver also been announced and the winners are ...

Best Venue Teamwork
Stadium: Wembley Stadium, London
Arena: The O2, London
Theatre/Concert: Royal Albert Hall, London
Campus: 53 Degrees, Preston
Major Club (800+): The Leadmill, Sheffield
Club (under 800): Robin 2, Wolverhampton

Artiste Manager Of The Year: Jonathan Dickins, September Management
Agent Of The Year: Solomon Parker, William Morris Endeavour Entertainment
Tour Manager Of The Year: Sarah Moir (The Wombats)
Best Record Label Partner: Hayley Absalom, Full Time Hobby

Best Festival (40,000 +): Glastonbury
Best Festival (15,000-40,000): Secret Garden Party
Best Festival (under 15,000): Kendal Calling

Best Festival Performance: Slipknot at Sonisphere
Spectacle Of The Year (Best Production): Take That's Progress tour
Breakthrough Artiste: Ed Sheeran

National Promoter Of The Year: SJM Concerts
Regional Promoter Of The Year: DF Concerts
Indie Promoter Of The Year: Gary Prosser & Ben James, All Night Long Promotions

Greatest Brand Impact: O2
Unsung Hero: Jane Montague, The Eden Project
Outstanding Contribution: Danny Betesh, Kennedy Street

Live Nation connects with new music

Live Nation has launched a online music venture called Live Connection (www.live-connection.co.uk) to work with new bands to create audio and audio visual recordings which will be promoted to the music industry and fans alike. The music created will be available via We7 and played into students unions using the Sub.TV network and fans signed up to the Live Nation, Ticketmaster and the Academy Music Group's mailing lists, and the bands will be free to use it for their own promotional purposes.

Mobo winners out

And the winners at the 16th MOBOs (Music of Black Origin) in Glasgow were:
Best UK Act: Jessie J
Best Newcomer: Jessie J
Best Hip Hop/Grime Act: Tinie Tempah
Best Video: Tinchy Stryder feat Dappy - Spaceship
Best International Act: Rihanna
Best Song: Jessie J - Do It Like A Dude
Best Album: Jessie J - Who You Are
Best Reggae: Alborosie
Best Jazz Act: Kairos 4Tet
Best African Act: Wizkid
Best Gospel Act: Triple O
Best R&B/Soul Act: Adele
Outstanding Contribution To Music: Boyz II Men
BeMOBO Award: Youth Music

Music sales down at HMV and Tesco

HMV has announced like for like sales dropped 15.1% in the 18 weeks to the 3rd September whilst the UK's major retailer, Tesco, announced a 0.5% drop in sales said that music CDs and DVDs had been hard hit. Teco blamed the high cost of fuel and the economic downturn as major factors in the drop in sales. HMV has said it will continue to focus on 'high growth' markets such as the live music side of the business.

Shakira turns down a presidential invitation

Shakira has turned down an invitation by the president of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, to play at birthday celebration in former soviet country. Other rumoured guests included Vanessa Mae and Kevin Costner's Modern World country rock band, who also said they had declined the offer.

Adele cancels US tour

Adele has said that heartbroken after being forced to cancel her US tour. Doctors have told the chart topping chanteuse that she needs a period of extended rest after a haemorrhage on her vocal cords. Adele said on her blog that "I have absolutely no choice but to recuperate properly and fully or risk damaging my voice for ever. Her two week US tour was due to kick off in Atlantic city this Friday.

Will the UK European Court decision on satellite football coverage impact on music?

The recent decision by the European Court of Justice that British pub landlady Karen Murphy was entitled to access live coverage from English Premiership football matches from Greek broadcaster Nova, rather than from the more expensive Sky domestic service (which as granted the exclusive licence for UK broadcasts) as EU competition law allows for this (and the free movement of goods, services, labour and capital in European common market) may well have an impact on the music industry - particularly on service such as Spotify and LastFM. In advance of the European Commissioner For The Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes, told The Guardian newspaper "If I can buy a music CD online from a company in the Netherlands and have it posted to me here in Belgium, why can't I buy a digital download from the same company? If I can watch my local team's football matches using online pay-per-view in one member state, why not in 27? This situation does not make much sense to the man on the street. To be honest, it is not a situation that makes much sense to me. And we need to fix it". The EU is also pushing for the reform of the collection society set up, still based on territorial monopolies.

Universal announces new Indian alliance

Universal has replicated its recent tie up with Live Nation that enables artists and rights owners to more easily bundle tickets, content, merchandise and CDs with a similar deal in India with ticketing firm KyaZoonga.com. The new alliance will utilise KyaZoonga's direct-to-fan relationships in India, offering consumers physical and digital products from Universal artists as well as tickets.