Metropolis and CT Touring join Live Nation

Live Nation has formed a new promotions company in the UK, to trade as Metropolis Music. The new venture will be a reconfiguration of the established UK promoters Metropolis, integrating into the Live Nation team. The team will include Bob Angus as Chairman; Raye Cosbert as Managing Director; Andy Robbins, Kiarn Eslami and Tony Dobson on Artist Bookings; Sophie Pitchforth as Executive Booking Coordinator; and Ronnie Lee as Production Coordinator. And in its second deal with an independent British promoter in the space of three days, Live Nation has announced the acquisition of a controlling stake in Preston-based Cuffe & Taylor. Founded in 2009 by Daniel Cuffe and Peter Taylor, Cuffe & Taylor’s portfolio include Greenwich Music Time, in south-east London, and the local Lytham Festival. It also has exclusive booking rights to the Scarborough Open Air Theatre (6,500-cap.).

And Creston Thornton has sold CT Touring, the company he started five years ago in Boise, Idaho, to Live Nation and becomes president of its new Mountain Region booking Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and eastern Washington.  With the sale, exclusive contracts and agreements with venues including Eagle River Amphitheatre and CenturyLink Arena are inherited by Live Nation. Thornton retains ownership of the 2,200-capacity Revolution Concert House & Event Center in Garden City, Idaho.

In other news, LNE rival Eventim has launched a subsidiary live music promotions business, Vaddi Concerts GmbH, in Germany’s Freiburg area. Vaddi Concerts becomes part of Eventim’s Medusa Music Group arm, and will be run by Managing Director Marc Oßwald.

THE REVOLVING DOOR

Nigel Elderton, Managing Director and European President of peermusic, has been appointed as chairman of PRS For Music, replacing former chair Guy Fletcher OBE who steps down after six years in the role. With over 40 years’ experience in the music industry, Elderton has served at companies including Chappell Music and EMI Publishing during his career and is currently a publisher director on the PRS board and MCPS board.

Ticketing and event technology platform Eventbrite has hired artist manager Paul Everett as Head of Music Partnerships. In the newly-created role, Everett will develop and implement the company’s music strategy.

Former Warner Music executive, Lawrence Peryer, has joined Amazon as Director, Tickets. Peryer spent over four years at Warner Music after joining as CEO, Artist Arena, in 2012 and went on to become  Head of Direct-to-Consumer, WEA Global Consumer Sales & Marketing Group, before being promoted to EVP of the division.

Deputy CEO of Motorpoint Arena Nottingham and National Ice Centre, Martin Ingham, has been appointed chief executive of the venue and its indoor ice rink. Ingham takes over from Geoff Huckstep who retired in May after 15 years. Since then, Ingham, who is also chairman of the National Arenas Association, has been the interim replacement. He joined Motorpoint Arena in 2002.

Aoife Niblock, formerly the manager of the Liverpool Arts Club, has joined multi venue operator and promoter MVS Live as venues and operations co-ordinator.

AM Only and The Windish Agency have rebranded as Paradigm Talent Agency after a successful joint venture and partnership since 2012 and 2015, respectively. The news reduces the number of brands under the agency conglomerate to just two as Paradigm continues to work with its European partner, the London-based CODA Agency, to offer worldwide representation for its artists. AM Only CEO Paul Morris and Tom Windish, founder/president of The Windish Agency, will continue their leadership roles within Paradigm’s Music Executive Group along with Dan Weiner, Marty Diamond and CODA’s Tom Schroeder.

Atif Malik is leaving London's Troxy venue where he has been since 2007. Troxy has appointed Simon Eaton as business development manager and Liz Large as operations manager.

Wembley Stadium’s head of business development, Jim Frayling, will leave after 13 years at the end of this month as the London venue plans to limit the amount of dates available for music programming. It’s understood that Frayling has exited during a restructure as a result of an increased focus on football at the stadium, with a Tottenham Hotspurs residency currently taking place. Events director Lindsey Jackson left in December.

Philip Kolvin QC, a licensing lawyer who represented Fabric in its successful bid to have its licence reinstated, has been appointed chairman of London’s Night Time Commission.  he will work alongside newly appointed night czar Amy Lamé to “develop and implement a vision of London as a 24-hour city”.

Sonny Takhar is leaving the Syco to start a new entertainment venture based in Los Angeles. Takhar was named President of Syco Music by Simon Cowell in 2010, following six years as MD of the firm’s TV and music businesses – the latter being a partnership with Sony Music worldwide.

Sony Music Nashville SVP/Marketing Paul Barnabee will leave the company at the end of 2016, ending 22 years with the organization. 

Tony Harlow has been named President of WEA Corp., the global artist and label services arm of Warner Music Group (WMG), effective from March 1, 2017. Harlow will relocate to New York City from Sydney, Australia, where he has served as Managing Director of Warner Music Australasia since 2010. And veteran media and music executives Ralph Munsen and Vinnie Freda have been named Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Data Officer (CDO), respectively, of Warner Music Group.

BMG has appointed Dominique Kulling as Managing Director of its operations in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, responsible for driving local repertoire across both music publishing and recordings. Her promotion spells the end of a five-year tenure at the company for outgoing BMG GAS boss Maik Pallasch.

Paris-based streaming service Deezer has hired ex-Spotify exec Pascal de Mul to head up brand partnerships, while recruiting Facebook's Daud Aditirto in Asia

Pandora Media, Chief Operating Officer Sara Clemens, is leaving the company. She will remain employed for a short transition period.

Former Glassnote and BMI publishing exec Ed Poston has joined Imagem Music in London as Senior A&R, reporting into Kim Frankiewicz.

Trade body UK Music’s chief executive, Jo Dipple, will stand down in June 2017 after five years as CEO. Dipple joined UK Music in October 2008 as director of government relations, becoming acting CEO in November 2011, then CEO in January 2012. UK Music will now begin the process of searching for Dipple’s successor.

The executive ultimately in charge of Sony Music and Sony/ATV, Michael Lynton, is leaving Sony Corp to join the business formerly known as Snapchat. Lynton, CEO of Sony Entertainment - in charge of its Pictures and Music businesses - will step down effective February 2, 2017 to become the Chairman of the Board at Snap Inc.

Entertainment industry veteran and former Sony attorney Ralph De Palma III has re-joined Pryor Cashman LLP as Counsel in the Media & Entertainment Group. Based in New York, De Palma joins Pryor Cashman from Rayner Rowe LLP.

Distribution and services company INgrooves has appointed SK Sharma as its first EVP of Insights & Analytics. Ex-Ticketmaster boss Sean Moriarty now sits on its board.

And Ollie Buckwell has joined INgrooves’ global team as Senior Vice President of Business Development. Based in Miami, he will be responsible for generating new business deals and expanding partnerships with labels and artists around the world, including the Latin American market. 

PledgeMusic has named former INgrooves exec Bryan Mead Senior Vice President of Artist and Label Relations in the US.

Simon Lewis, formerly president of Live Nation in Europe, is to head up a newly created sponsorship division at CTS Eventim.

Ministry Of Sound has appointed Andrew Akuffo as its new director of events and brand. The newly created role will see partnership and marketing expert Akuffo take responsibility for driving brand equity and communicating the company’s focus on events, experiences and content.

Jay Sietsema has joined Venuepoint, a pan-Scandinavian ticketing operation backed by CTS Eventim, as country manager for Sweden. Sietsema most recently served as senior business development manager at AEG Facilities’ Stockholm Globe Arenas,

Vincent Clery-Melin has been named the new Managing Director of Domino Recording Co in London, working under the label’s founder Laurence Bell. His appointment comes four months after Domino Director John Dyer left the business to join Chrysalis Records. MBW
reports that Clery-Melin left Kobalt Label Services towards the end of last year, and that his fellow senior colleague at KLS, VP Pete Dodge, also exited the company.


Gregg Nadel has been named President of Elektra Records following 20 years working at parent label Atlantic. Nadel has been General Manager of Elektra for the past two years, prior to which he was Atlantic’s Senior Vice President, A&R and Marketing.

Two prominent agencies which specialize in entertainment, Rogers & Cowan and FRUKT, are becoming close comrades. The two companies are being aligned under the the vertical leadership of Mark Owens (CEO) and Rich Davis (COO) at joint parent Octagon Sports and Entertainment Network. 

Five dead after mexican nightclyb shootings

A gunman has killed five people at a club hosting an electronic music festival in the Mexican resort of Playa del Carmen, in Quintana Roo state. Among those killed are two Canadians, an Italian and a Colombian citizen, Quintana Roo Attorney-General Miguel Angel Pech said. The fifth victim was a woman who died in the stampede which followed the shooting, he said. The shooting happened at the Blue Parrot club hosting the BPM festival.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-38635881

Sziget sale to launch global expansion

Sziget Festival is to roll out globally following the sale of a 70% stake in Sziget Cultural Management to Providence Equity Partners. The global asset management firm plans to launch between 8 and 10 new festivals over the next few years. James Barton, former president of Electronic Music for Live Nation and Creamfields Festival founder, and Paul Bedford, former financial director of Cream Group, have joined the firm to lead the international expansion of the Hungarian festival brand. Sziget’s current management retain a 30% equity stake in the company and will continue to lead management and operations of all festivals in the portfolio, which also include Balaton Sound, Telekom VOLT Festival, Gourmet Festival and Gyerek Sziget (Children’s Sziget). Alongside Barton, Bedford and Sziget’s founder Karoly Gerendai, the management team includes international operations head Gábor Takács, and Zoltán Fülöp and Norbert Lobenwein who helm Telekom VOLT Festival and Balaton Sound. 

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2016 EUROPEAN FESTIVAL AWARDS - the winners

The 2016 EUROPEAN FESTIVAL AWARDS are done and dusted, with live performances from James TW, Roosevelt and The Children of the Revolution, and those winners are:

Best Small European Festival: SNOWBOMBING (Austria)

Best Line Up: PRIMAVERSA SOUND (Spain)

Brand Activation Award: PUKKLEPOP - Smart Energy Grid (Belgium)

Agent of the Year: NATASHA BENT (Coda Agency, UK)

Best Indoor Festival: REEPERBAHN Festival (Germany)

Best New Festival: MAD COOL (Spain)

Artist’s Favourite Festival: SZIGET (Hungary)

Headliner of the Year: MUSE

Health & Safety Award: SOUTHSIDE Festival (Germany)

Best Medium Sized Festival: PALEO FESTIVAL Nyon (Switzerland)

Green Operation award: SHAMBALA Festival (UK)

Newcomer of the Year: DUA LIPA

Promoter of the Year: AFTER ART (Poland)

Best Major Festival: ROCK WERCHTER (Belgium)

Award for Excellent and Passion: CHRISTOF HUBER

Lifetime Achievement Award: DAN PANAITESCU

A Greener Festival Award Winners Announced at EuroSonic

The European and US  festivals who have won of the prestigious Greener Festival Award 2016 have been announced at the Eurosonic Noorderslag festival and conference in Groningen, the Netherlands.  The winners are a select elite of sustainable events who have entered the Greener Festival Awards scheme,  and submitted their environmental good practice to an external independent assessment. AGF's Teresa Moore made three awards in person, to Body & Soul, Das Fest and the Glastonbury Festival. The Awards ceremony also announced a new initiative from the municipality of Utrecht, A Greener Festival and Green Events Nederland. Utrecht's Hedwih Leijten and Green Events Paul Schurink were on hand to explain that Utrecht would now support festivals to enter the Greener Festival Awards scheme, and that the scheme is likely to spread to other Dutch municipalities.

The Greener Festival Award 2016 winners:

IMPROVING
Arla Food Fest
Body & Soul
La Sema
Metal Days
Nozstock - the Hidden Valley
Paradise City

COMMENDED
Bona Nit BCN
Das Fest
Extrema Outdoors
Greenbelt Festival
Kew the Music
Liberation Festival
Malmofestivalen
Northside Festival
Primavera Sound
Wood Festival

HIGHLY COMMENDED
Cambridge Folk Festival
DGTL
Glastonbury Festival
Green Music Festival
Heart of Glass Heart of Gold
Oya Festival
Welcome to the Future

OUTSTANDING
Boom Festival
We Love Green

Team Rock back!

Thirty-year-old Metal Hammer magazine and stablemates Classic Rock and Prog have been given a new lease of life after being saved from closure by Future Publishing, owner of titles including Guitarist, Total Film and T3. The titles, along with the Golden Gods Awards and the Classic Rock Awards, suspended publication and faced closure after owner TeamRock, the self-styled “home of rock and metal”, went into administration in December. A Just Giving campaign launched by Orange Goblin frontman Ben Ward before Christmas, to help the 73 Team Rock staff laid off by administrators, exceeded its £20,000 target by 317% within three days of launch. Future Publishing, the publicly listed digital, events and magazine company, has struck deal to buy the magazines, events and licence for the Team Rock digital radio service for £800,000.

Springsteen tops annual worldwide tour table

Pollstar has just released its exclusive chart of the Top 10 Worldwide Concert Tours for 2016.  Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band top the chart, edging out Beyoncé. with Coldplay third - although Coldplay sold the most tickets (2.676 million). In a good year for the Brits, Adele comes in fifth after fourth placed Guns n Roses, And Paul McCartney is seventh behind sixth placed Justin Bieber. Garth Brooks is eighth, the Rolling Stones ninth and Celine Dion tenth.

the Top 10 Tours alone grossed a combined $1.67 billion.  That is significantly better than the $1.5 billion estimated for 2015. Pollstar will release its complete research package of the Top 200 Tours along with venues and promoters rankings on Jan. 6.

http://www.pollstarpro.com/NewsContent.aspx?at=17&com=1&hotstar=0&ArticleID=828714