Artist and Manager Awards - the winners

The fifth edition of the Artist and Manager Awards, jointly presented by the Music Managers Forum (MMF) and Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), saw South London rapper Loyle Carner named best emerging live act at the ceremony held at the Troxy in East London. Carner took home the Dice live award, which recognises the best up-and-coming live act in the UK and Republic of Ireland, chosen by a panel of 100 promoters, venues, journalists and broadcasters. Previous winners include Wolf Alice and Little Simz. Other winners included Peter Rudge (The Who, The Rolling Stones, Duran Duran), who was presented with the Peter Grant award by agent and Isle of Wight Festival promoter John Giddings in recognition of his more than four decades in management; Adele manager Jonathan Dickins, who won the artist award; Zita McHugh, who collected the writer/producer manager of the year gong; Years and Years were named best breakthrough artist, Stormzy’s manager, Tobe Unwuka, was recognised as breakthrough manager and the 1975 won artist of the year. IE Music’s David Enthoven (Tyrannosaurus Rex, King Crimson, Roxy Music and, latterly and most recently Robbie Williams) was posthumously awarded the industry champion prize, while Young Turks founder Caius Pawson was given the entrepreneur award.

UK Festival Awards - the winners

On a glittering night at the UK Festival Awards 2016 at the London Roundhouse, Creamfields picked up best major festival, Kendal Calling picked up best medium sized festival (pictured right) and Wildfire Adventure Camp the worthy winners of best small festival. Cambridge Folk Festival won the Greener Festival Award at the 2016 UK Festival Awards and Eddie Barcan, who was the Festival's programmer and manager for 23 consecutive sold out events (pictured right), picked up the Award,  The team from Coda got agency of the year, AEG Live were promoters of the year, Bearded Theory the best family friendly festival, Latitude got best toilets, Dick Tee got the outstanding contribution to festivals award and Liverpool Music Week the best metropolitan festival (you can see all of the winners here http://www.festivalawards.com/2016-winners/) all hosted by BBC Radio One /. 6 Music DJ Mary Anne Hobbs .

Germany invests in music

The German government has approved €8.2 million in new funding for pop, rock and jazz music. The figure – part of the €660m recently earmarked for cultural projects from 2017 – will be divided among Initiative Musik, the Live Musik Kommission (LiveKomm), the German Rock Music Association (Deutsche Rockmusik Stiftung), Musicboard Berlin and showcase festivals Reeperbahn, Pop-Kultur, c/o pop and jazzahead!, all of which will see an increase in funding, with export office Initiative Musik’s budget nearly doubled.

http://www.iq-mag.net/2016/11/8-2m-music-germany/#.WDl5OrKLSM9

Culture Committee calls for a ban on ticketing 'bots'

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee has written to the UK's Secretary of State for Culture, media & Sport Culture, Karen Bradley MP, asking her to ban the use of 'bots' - software programmes used by touts to harvest tickets for resale in the secondary market. The letter also raises concerns about the operation of the event ticketing market following last week’s evidence session on ticket abuse for the Committee, citing “inappropriately close relationships” between those selling tickets on the primary market and the resellers on the secondary market which was recently exposed in Italy, where the boss of Live Nation had to admit that the promoter did directly provide tickets to the resale website Viagogo.

Committee chairman Damian Collins MPsaid "The answers we got from witnesses representing the ticket sellers and resellers went from complacent to evasive” adding “Their failure to provide the most basic assurances about what they’re doing to tackle known large scale touts and fraudsters operating on their own sites - we had an example on screen in front of a Member in the session - have led us to believe there may be much bigger problems in this market than we originally thought.” Witesses included Paul Peak, who is head of legal, Europe StubHub, and Ticketmaster UK chairman Chris Edmonds 

The Committee is tabling an amendment to the Digital Economy Bill to ban the use of ‘bots’ which take tickets out of the Market before real fans can buy them, and said that the Competition And Markets Authority will report on whether ticket companies are complying with consumer law, and has called for an HMRC investigation, as Collins said the submissions to the evidence session indicated there was a significant level of under-reporting of income by known touts trading on secondary sites. Digital culture minister Matt Hancock MP had previously said that in his view the use of bots is prohibited by the Computer Misuse Act 1990, but Collins concludes that Act “does not seem to allow sufficient provision or clarity in this area, and as such there is a strong case for new legislation here to prevent individuals manipulating online ticketing systems”.

Nigel Adams MP, a Conservative, has tabled an amendment Bill that would address part of the problem by criminalising the use of “bots” to buy tickets for resale. The offence, based on legislation introduced in New York, would carry a maximum prison sentence of 51 weeks, a fine of up to £5,000, or both

The much-anticipated independent review of the UK’s secondary ticketing market, commissioned by the British government in October 2015, divided the live sectori with its call for greater enforcement of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 but no recommendation for any new legislation. Some provisions of the Act remain largely ignored, despite the Government introducing amendments to create greater transparency around secondary sales in 2015. The Act stipulates that consumers must be made aware of the original face value of tickets for secondary sale, any restrictions on the ticket and, where appropriate, standing or seating information. However, consumer group Which? had previously uncovered numerous examples where consumers were not provided with this information on al four of the main secondary ticketing sites, Viagogo, StubHub, Seatwave and Get Me In!

The CMS Committee says an investigation is needed into "far-ranging and disturbing factors in the market", including alleged collusion between primary ticketers and touts.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/oct/19/touts-using-bots-buy-tickets-face-jail

http://www.iq-mag.net/2016/11/cms-committee-ban-bots-now/#.WDgwA7KLSM8

Rider's off after India's money change

Riders Music Festival, a new music and food festival for India’s biker community, has become the first victim of the chaos surrounding prime minister Narendra Modi’s decision to demonetise all R500 and R1,000 banknotes. The festival has been postponed due to “the current economic environment in the country due to demonetisation”, a statement says.

T off for 2017

“Continued restrictions” on the T in the Park festival site at Strathallan Castle mean the event will be not go ahead in 2017 – its first cancellation in 23 years. In a statement to press, the two parties behind the festival – promoter DF Concerts and commercial partner Tennnt’s Lager – blamed T in the Park’s enforced move from its previous site, in a disused airfield in Balado, Kinross-shire, for the 2017 event’s postponement, as well as problems at the new site - not least the protected Osprey's nest that had huge cost for the organisers and local objections , saying they “need to take stock and take a year out to try to resolve the issues, so that we can once again deliver the kind of camping festival you are used to and deserve.”

Live Nation embroiled in secondary ticketing scandal in Italy

Live Nation has become embroiled in a ticketing scandal in Italy, after the promoter admitted directly providing tickets to the resale website Viagogo. An undercover report on the TV show Le Iene, which featured an anonymous employee who explained how tickets made their way onto such sites, prompted MD of Live Nation Italy, Roberto De Luca, to make the admission that the company carried on the practice, with De Luca saying ""I want to be clear that, to your question if Live Nation issued tickets on secondary sites and I answered no… in fact we issue some tickets. A very limited number of tickets on other sites, in this case [on] Viagogo" 

Italy’s culture minister, Dario Franceschini, has now tabled an amendment to the 2017 Budget legislation which, if passed, would provide for fines of €30,000–€180,000 for the sale of tickets by anyone but the event’s promoter or authorised resellers. Franceschini called touting an “intolerable phenomenon”, and said “recent events show that self-regulation” – such as that advocated by Prof Waterson in the UK – “is not enough: we need legislative action.” The Italian promoters’ association Assomusica supported the move saying “Our association has always been at the forefront of [putting an end to] touts making money from spoiling cultural events, which promote art and socialisation.” Live Nation have withdrawn from membership of Assomusica.

http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/digital-and-mobile/7573662/live-nation-embroiled-in-italian-secondary-ticketing

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-37985565

http://www.iq-mag.net/2016/11/italian-ticket-touts-fines-180-000-euros/#.WCr8FvmLSM9

Kanye cancels US dates

Kanye West has cancelled the remaining 21 shows on his current US concert tour: “The remaining dates on the Saint Pablo Tour have been cancelled,” said a spokesperson for concert promoter Live Nation. “Tickets will be fully refunded at point of purchase.” The cancellation comes in the wake of a series of recent rants in which West declared himself a Donald Trump supporter and criticised a long list of celebrities including Jay Z, Beyoncé, Hillary Clinton and Mark Zuckerberg. West reportedly abandoned a Sacramento performance at the weekend after he had performed just three songs. Press reports say he is suffering from exhaustion but the BBC reported that West has been taken to hospital following an emergency services call. A police spokesperson told the BBC they had received a "disturbance call" on Monday afternoon, but did not name the singer. NBC News said officers had been responding to a "medical welfare call" and the decision to hospitalise West was for his own health and safety, citing "multiple authorities familiar with the case".

THE REVOLVING DOOR

WME-IMG has named Mark Shapiro and Ioris Francini as co-presidents. As co-presidents of WME-IMG Shapiro and Francini will “oversee the company’s media, events, fashion, licensing, global partnerships, original content, IMG College, IMG Academy, Miss Universe Organization, Professional Bull Riders and Frieze businesses, in addition to the company’s new China subsidiary“.

Multination mass media conglomerate NBC Universal has announced a major push into live entertainment with the hiring of former Disney Theatrical Group executive Carol Nygren.

Former Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group International (UMGI), Max Hole CBE, has been appointed as Non-Executive Chairman of Metropolis.

Leading booking agent Natasha Bent has joined Coda Music Agency. Bent had been with The Agency Group since 2006 and was promoted to vice-president in 2014. The firm was acquired by UTA last year.  

Amy Lamé has been unveiled as London’s first ever Night Czar. The American-born performer, writer and presenter’s appointment was confirmed  by Mayor Sadiq Khan at The 100 Club on Oxford Street.

SFX has confirmed Randy Philips as the group's new CEO and President. The former AEG Live chief executive will take charge of the re-organized SFX Entertainment and Phillips will also be part of a five-man executive board of directors, which will also include Andrew Axelrod, Douglas Forsyth and Nils Larsen, all representatives from the company's various debtors, as well as Charles Ciongoli, who will serve until Phillips appoints an independent director. Ciongoli will be appointed as executive vice president and chief financial officer; Alan Walter as senior vice president; and Jason Barr as senior vice president, general counsel and company secretary. Court documents did not reveal when the new management structure would take effect.

William Morris Endeavor (WME) has hired Michael Ma, formerly vice-president of the National Basketball Association (NBA), to head its new WME-IMG China subsidiary. WME-IMG China was formed with private-equity backing in June to facilitate the booking agency group’s “new forays into Chinese sports and entertainment”.

Simon Presswell has been let go as CEO of Eventim UK after ten months in the job. A spokesman for Eventim UK, the British arm of European ticketing giant CTS Eventim, confirmed to IQ the company had dispensed with Presswell’s services but declined to comment further. Presswell was previously managing director of rival Ticketmaster UK.

The Royal Albert Hall has appointed Craig Hassall as its new chief executive. Hassall, currently CEO of Opera Australia, succeeds Chris Cotton, who retires in March.

Southbank Centre CEO Alan Bishop has announced that he is to retire next year after eight years in the role  Bishop, who will remain in post until his successor has been appointed, has worked with artistic director Jude Kelly to bring thousands of world class performers across art, music, literature, dance and performance to the London venue during his tenure.

Muse tour director and Cato Music founder Glen Rowe has been appointed MD of Backstage Academy, the Yorkshire-based live industry centre of excellence for future generations of touring pros.

Lucy Wood, formerly a promoter at London-based Eat Your Own Ears, has joined Festival Republic as Latitude Festival’s music talent buyer. Wood  replaces Natasha Haddad, who is leaving the company after three years to “spend more time in the USA”, says the company.

Universal Music Group's former Global Head Of e-commerce, Russel Coultart, is joining direct-to-fan specialist Music Glue in London as Head of Business Development.

Hamish Dodds, President and CEO of Hard Rock Cafe International, Inc will leave the company in early 2017 to pursue new opportunities.


Sean Atkins is stepping down from his role as president at Viacom's MTV after just one year. He is said to be consulting on a transition through to January in an advisory role, with VH1 and Logo President Chris McCarthy expanding his role to MTV as well.

Ferdy Unger-Hamilton will take charge of Columbia Records UK after nearly eight years as President of UMG's Polydor. In addition, Unger-Hamilton will soon launch an as-yet-unnamed joint venture in partnership with Sony Music UK, endorsed by the major's London-based boss Jason Iley.

Natasha Mann, Olivia Nunn and Guillermo Ramos are all stepping up at Island Records UK to become Directors at the Universal label. Ramos is stepping up to Marketing Director after three years as Senior Marketing Manager. Mann and Nunn are also being promoted to Marketing Director from their existing positions as Heads of Marketing.

Clayton Jin has been appointed as Managing Director of Warner Music Korea. He will report to Calvin Wong, Warner Music Group’s President for South East Asia, Hong Kong and Korea.

London independent Cooking Vinyl has promoted Rob Collins to Managing Director. Collins, who has been with the company since January 1999, will report into company boss Martin Goldschmidt in his new role. Meanwhile, Chris Farrow, who was previously Marketing Manager, has been elevated to Head of UK Marketing and Product Management.

UK distributor and label services company Horus Music has promoted Trupti Kudalkar to a key position in its Mumbai, India office. Kudalkar moves up from her existing role as Business Development Manager for Horus Music India to become the Asian and Australasia Director for Horus Music.

Entertainment One (eOne) has appointed music industry executive Ted May to the newly-created role of Director, UK Music. May comes from Universal Music UK where he was Senior International Marketing Manager

Warner/Chappell Music (WCM) has promoted Monica Lee to President, Asia-Pacific. In the new position, Lee will oversee the publisher’s operations across the region. She will continue to be based in Hong Kong and report to Jon Platt, Chairman & CEO, WCM

German promoter Koko & DTK Entertainment, best known for the Rock am See festival, has announced plans to close its headquarters in the city of Constance (Konstanz) following the resignation of two of its managing directors, Dieter Bös and Armin Nissel. Their  departure leaves Marc Oßwald as the sole MD. The Constance HQ will be closed on 31 January 2017, although Koko’s offices in Freiburg and Tübingen will remain open.

Universal Music Group (UMG) has launched a joint venture with Todd Moscowitz's Cold Heat Records, based in New York. The latest move spells uncertainty for 300 Entertainment – the Google-backed label Moscowitz launched in 2013 with Lyor Cohen, who was recently named Global Head Of Music at YouTube.

MBW reports that Alex Branson, the respected British exec who built INgrooves Music Group’s international presence, has left the company.

RIP

Canadian singer, songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen has died aged 82. The news was announced on his official Facebook page, but no details about the cause of death were given. "It is with profound sorrow we report that legendary poet, songwriter and artist, Leonard Cohen has passed away," the statement said. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau led tributes to the singer, who was known for hits including Hallelujah and Dance Me to the End of Love. The Montreal-born singer's other hits included Suzanne, Bird on the Wire and I'm Your Man and he released his 14th album, You Want It Darker, just last month.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.

Bobby Vee

Dead or Alive singer Pete Burns has died aged 57 after suffering a cardiac arrest, his management has said. A statement on Twitter said it was with "greatest sadness" that Tthey had to break the news that Burns had died suddenly. Burns had a hit with 'You Spin Me Round' in 1985 and appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2006.

Bobby Vee, who had hits in the 60s with 'Rubber Ball', 'The Night Has A Thousand Eyes' and 'Take Good Care of My Baby' has died at the age of 73. In 2011 he retired from his long career in music after being diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease. He had released more than 25 albums.

Brazilian concert promoter Bianca Freitas, the founder of Sao Paulo-based Enjoy Experiences, has passed away aged just 34. Bianca, who was hospitalised four months ago after contracting Guillain-Barré syndrome, died from pneumonia in a Sao Paolo hospital. In addition to running Enjoy Experiences, Freitas, a veteran of the Latin American live scene, produced major shows for clients including Universal Music and Editora Abril and represented the NME brand in Brazil. She was also the co-founder of On Stage Lab, which runs music industry training courses.

Boiler Room weekender shut down

The inaugural Ray-Ban x Boiler Room Weekender stay-away music festival at the Split Rock Resort in Lake Harmony, was reportedly shut down by police early Sunday morning (Nov. 6). The US event, which began on the Friday, was put to a stop at around 2 a.m. Sunday after Pennsylvania police arrested an attendee, according to Thump. Boiler Room issued a statement which began:

As is now well documented, our inaugural Ray-Ban x Boiler Room Weekender event was terminated early after issues with the local security and law enforcement. Following an unnecessary display of force against attendees present, we had no option but to shut down the music halfway through the second night of the festival.

More on Billboard here

Live Nation and Vivendi post strong Q3 results

Live Nation’s Q3 results saw turnover grow to more than $3bn abd president and CEO, Michael Rapino,  hailed the company’s “concerts flywheel” as it celebrated another record-breaking quarter.

Rapino told investors: “Our concerts business is our flywheel” – the persistent, margin-generating heart of the business – “attracting 28 million fans to shows globally in the quarter, which drove record results in our ticketing, advertising and on-site businesses. Our performance demonstrates how Live Nation has created the most unparallelled live platform, leveraging concert scale to drive growth across the full live ecosystem.” adding “Looking at the concerts flywheel in the third quarter, we had 16% more fans attend over 6,000 shows, growing revenue by 27% and AOI [adjusted operating income] by 38% year-on-year at a constant currency. Year to date, we have grown our fan base by 16% to 56 million [and] expect to [see] a record-setting 70 million fans attending Live Nation concerts in 2016.” Operating income from the concerts sector – or earnings before interest and taxes – grew 94% to £86.5 million.

Overall, Live Nation’s turnover grew to a record US$3.2 billion in Q3 2016 – up 21% year on year – outstripping quarters one (10% growth) and two (14%). The company also saw strong growth in ticketing (Ticketmaster) and sponsorship/advertising, which were up 14% and 11%, respectively. Within Ticketmaster, the gross transaction value (GTV) of its secondary-market platforms – such as Ticketmaster Resale, TicketsNow, Seatwave and Get Me In! – grew 33%, to more than $1bn for the three months ending 30 September.


And strong growth from its live and ticketing operations helped Vivendi increase turnover by 5.9% in the three months ending 30 September, its third-quarter (Q3) results reveal. Revenues from Vivendi Village – the subsidiary that includes the French multinational’s ticketing operations (See Tickets and Digitick), live event producer Vivendi Talents&Live and the 1,772-cap. Olympia venue in Paris – grew from €22 million in Q3 2015 to €24m; an increase of 5.8%, or 12.1% on a constant-currency basis (eliminating the effects of exchange-rate fluctuations). Vivendi’s Q3 financial report also reveals its €159m acquisition in April of a 15% stake in French retail group Fnac will serve as the basis for “increased co-operation in live events […] and in ticketing in certain countries by teaming up with Vivendi Ticketing”.  Universal Music Group (UMG) posted impressive 10.8% growth to €1.308 billion.

2016 MOBO AWARDS

Best male act 
Craig David

Best female act
Lady Leshurr

Best newcomer
WSTRN

Best album
Kano ‘Made In The Manor’ 

Best hip-hop act
Section Boyz

Best song
Abra Cadabra ft Krept & Konan ‘Robbery (remix)

Best video
Nadia Rose ‘Skwod’ (Directed by Reece Proctol)

Best R&B/soul
Shakka

Best grime act (in association with BBC Radio 1Xtra)
Chip

Best international act
Drake

Best jazz act
Esperanza Spalding

Best gospel act
Guvna B

Best reggae act
Popcaan

Best African act
Wiz Kid 

Paving the way
Nicola Adams and Ms. Dynamite

US hikes up visa costs

US visa fees for foreign musicians are set to increase 42% on 23rd December. The new US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) fee schedule reveals the fee for submitting form I-129 for “non immigrant workers” – which includes artists and entertainers – is set to increase from $325 to $460.  USCIS director León Rodríguez says: “This is our first fee increase since November 2010 […] We are mindful of the effect fee increases have on many of the customers we serve. That’s why we decided against raising fees as recommended after the fiscal year 2012 and 2014 fee reviews.


The fee is per act as a whole, no matter how many people that comprises. A separate fee, which will increase the same amount, also applies to the crew, again regardless of the number of people.

The Canadian Federation of Musicians (CFM) has responded to the increase, as Billboard reports: “A fee surge of this kind adds an additional and unacceptable financial burden on our members,” said executive director Liana White.

http://www.iq-mag.net/2016/11/us-visa-fees-hiked-42-percent-touring-artist/#.WBzPY_mLSM9

Queen cancel remaining 2016 tour dates

Brian May, the lead guitarist and founding member of the rock band Queen, announced that the group was axing the remainder of their scheduled shows for 2016 while May grapples with an persistent medical condition.

"We’re very sad today to announce the indefinite postponement of our ‘candlelight’ concert dates this coming December. This is a decision I’ve agonised over, but in the end it has become inevitable. I managed to complete the recent Queen and Adam Lambert dates in Asia but I have been increasingly battling with a persistent illness which is destroying my energy and my will," May said in a statement posted on his official website. 

And Mariah Carey is cancelling concerts in Brazil, Argentina and Chile on her Latin America tour.  According to E! News, the singer is citing promoter negligence as the reason. 

Festival Congress Awards 2016

Well the 2016 Festival Congress Awards are done and dusted ...... and those amazing and talented winners are:

Mind-blowing Spectacle
Brian Eno's light Installation at Bluedot, Jodrell Bank.

Unique Festival Arena
Deer Shed Festival¹s Film Production Big Top

Live Act Of The Year
Spring King

Festival Caterer Most Likely To End Up On Instagram 
The Cheese Truck

Festival Journalist Of The Year
David Hillier (Freelancer for The Guardian, Vice etc..)

Best Smart Marketing Campaign Of The Year
End Of The Road's line-up announcement video


The Backstage Award
Artist Liaison at Blissfields

New Festival On The Block 
Bluedot

Act Of Independence 
MAST drugs testing piloted at Kendal Calling and Secret Garden Party

Unsung Hero
Penny Mellor- our favourite health, safety and welfare expert at festivals

The ceremony was at the Depot in Cardiff hosted by Ben Challis