Eventbrite has confirmed its acquisition of US ticketing firm Ticketfly for $200 million. The deal "brings together Eventbrite's momentum in music, global scale, and expertise in event technology with Ticketfly's marketing excellence and strong track record of success in music" and "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts" said Eventbrite CEO Julia Hartz announcing the deal, "and we see immense alignment and opportunity with this union".
Germany's Rock am Ring, has been evacuated over a "terrorist threat", the organisers have announced. Fans waiting for German rock giants Rammstein streamed out of the Nuerburg arena after organisers asked them to leave in a "calm and controlled" way. "Due to a terrorist threat the police have advised us to interrupt the festival," they said. The organisers said in a Facebook post they hoped the festival would resume on Saturday.
"Because of the last attack on a concert in Manchester, the security concept for Rock am Ring was modified in advance and the number of security officers was significantly increased to around 1,200. ... Since a threat could not be ruled out, all necessary measures were taken immediately," Koblenz police said in a statement.
Concord Bicycle Music's has completed a buyout of Imagem Music at a price thought to exceed €450m (or just over US$500m). The Imagem deal brings Concord an additional 250,000-plus copyrights, meaning Concord's publishing division will control in excess of 380,000 works (now including songs by Phil Collins, Mark Ronson and Daft Punk) - along with substantial catalogue of recorded music copyrights that Concord has snapped up in recent years. After merging with The Bicycle Music Company and raising $100m in 2015, Concord acquired Fearless Records and Wind-Up Records while signing a worldwide JV with US indie Razor & Tie. In addition, it's bought the likes of Americana/folk/blues specialist HighTone Records and the recorded music assets of Bandit Records - while securing major artist licensing deals with R.E.M and others.
