Bieber cancels final fourteen dates on World Tour

Justin Bieber has cancelled the final 14 dates of his 16 month long 'Purpose' tour which saw the star perform more than 150 shows in 40 countries across six continents. The fnal dates, which were spread across four months and included shows in East Rutherford, N.J., Hong Kong and Singapore, citing only “unforeseen circumstances.” A spkespersn said “Justin loves his fans and hates to disappoint them ..... however, after careful consideration he has decided he will not be performing any further dates. Tickets will be refunded at point of purchase.” Last week, Mr. Bieber had been barred from performing in mainland China because of past “bad behavior.

Bieber then hit the news after he bumped into a photographer as he left a church service. The singer was leaving the Saban Theatre in Los Angeles in his pick-up truck when he hit a 57-year-old photographer. Bieber got out of his truck to help the injured man, and paparazzi scrambled around the vehicle to get pictures of the accident. Maurice Lamond later said ""Hour before my birthday hits, I get ran over by Justin Bieber. Isn't that something? He's a good kid, though. I think the truck was a little bit too big for him, though, because there's no way he could see over the front — it was the slope it was on. But like I said, he got out, he was compassionate, he's a good kid, accidents happen." Police say no one was cited or arrested at the scene and there appeared to be no criminal activity involved.

Final day of Y-Not washed out

The final day of the UK's Y-Not festival in Derbyshire has been cancelled after heavy rainfall turned the site into a mud bath. Some sets on previous days were also cancelled. Promoters said "Unfortunately we've had to take the difficult decision to cancel Sunday due to the adverse weather conditions across the weekend, after consulting all the relevant authorities. The safety of our guests, performers and crew is our primary concern and the potential risk was too severe for Sunday to go ahead". The statement added: "We are very sorry for the disappointment and disruption caused to everyone who was looking forward to the final day of the festival. We understand that people will have questions about refunds. We will be giving all our guests further information about this over the coming days". The festival having was acquired by Global's Broadwick Live venture last year and this year featured headliners Two Door Cinema Club, Happy Mondays, Jake Bugg, Stereophonics, Feeder and Clean Bandit amongst others.

There were complaints that the organisers were not prepared for expected heavy rain and fans took to social media to demand refunds and complain about the organisation of the event. Y-Not Festival said it would be meeting insurers to discuss refunds.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-40773130  Image BBC

https://www.facebook.com/ynotfestival/

HOPE & GLORY CANCELLATION HERE http://www.musicweek.com/live/read/hope-glory-organisers-devastated-after-festival-chaos/069368

Y-NOT REFUNDS HERE http://www.musicweek.com/live/read/y-not-festival-releases-refund-information/069382

22,000 evacuated after Tomorrowland stage firein Spain

22,000 attendees were evacuated from Tomorrowland Barcelona after a fire broke out on stage. Reports say all attendees were quickly evacuated from the city’s Parc de Can Zam and that no serious injuries had been reported. Writing on their Facebook page, UNITE With Tomorrowland said: “Tonight, July 29th 2017, the UNITE Barcelona stage caught fire due to a technical malfunction. “Thanks to the professional intervention of the authorities all 22.000 visitors were evacuated safely and without reports of injuries. Authorities will follow up and continue the investigation with the local Spanish organizer of UNITE.” The show involved live DJs and a live stream from the 'mother' Tomorrowland in Belgium onto video walls. 

Tomorrowland's UNITE festival in Taiwan was also cancelled ebcause of typhoon warnings, with the local authority cancelling all outdoor shows. UNITE shows in Dubai, Israel, Germany and South Korea went ahead.

PPL and PRS for Music launch Music Recognition Technology pilot

PPL and PRS for Music have launched a pilot designed to evaluate the use of Music Recognition Technology (MRT) in identifying music publicly performed by DJs in clubs, bars, pubs and hotels licensed by PPL and PRS. It is hoped that the pilot, carried out by MRT provider DJ Monitor, will result in the accurate identification of music performance information, which when collected from a wide variety of licensed premises can be incorporated into a ‘best practice’ policy for distributing royalties to PPL and PRS members.  Participating venues will monitor music played by DJs using an MRT device and send the data to a secure database to be matched, analysed and reported back to PPL and PRS for Music. The pilot, which started in late 2016, has since been rolled out to venues across the UK including iconic nightclubs such as Ministry of Sound and Fabric and major club chain, The Deltic Group. It will run throughout 2017 with potential to be extended further.

THE REVOLVING DOOR

RFID specialist Intellitix has hired Carlo Chiarello as its new CEO. Chiarello has a background in developing high-growth global tech companies and  joins the firm from the Lazaridis Institute (LI) at Wilfred Laurier University, which offers support and advice to Canadian tech start-ups. He previously spent over a decade at Blackberry, launching 50 smartphones globally and scaling many aspects of the business. Chiarello steps into the shoes of former CEO and founder Serge Grimaux, who remains with the company as chairman of the board and will continue with international business development.

The General Manager of the Sheffield Arena, Rob O'Shea, has announced that he is leaving the venue to focus on his event promotions company, Manifesto Events. Former deputy general manager Joe Waldron steps up to replace O'Shea.

Jason Carter, the former BBC Introducing boss recently appointed to head up Amazon’s Prime Live Events, has stepped down. Carter who joined Amazon in May as director of Prime Live Events for Amazon Tickets, is taking a career break for personal reasons, an Amazon spokesperson told IQ. 

Really Useful Theatres Group has appointed Vanessa Andreis to the newly created role of commercial partnerships director.

Warner Music Group has appointed Jeff Bronikowski as SVP, Global Business Development/Head Of New Technology & Innovation, and promoted racy Gardner to SVP Global Business Development & Strategy.

The UK's Music Managers Fourm has five new members for its borad who will each serve for three years: These first five appointments are Claire Southwick from Primitive Management, Ellie Giles from Various Artists, Paul Crockford from Paul Crockford Management, Steven Braines from The Weird & Wonderful and Tom Burris from ie:music. The new set up is in part designed to enable a more diverse board to better represent the organisation's membership with the rotating board desged to reflect a growing membership which has grown considerably in recent years. MMF CEO Annabella Coldrick commented: "The constant challenge for all trade bodies is to balance continuity with relevancy - to ensure you can deliver the services and lobbying demanded by your existing membership, while providing the pathways and encouragement for a new generation to get involved". The AGM also approved a new group called the MMF Custodians, which will consist of industry veterans who will be available to advise the organisation. Those board members who stood down under the new rotation system are among the first members of this new committee, which includes Carol Crabtree (Solar Management), Gary McClarnan (Sparklestreet), Ian McAndrew (Wildlife Entertainment), Scott Rodger (Quest Management) and Tim Clarke (ie:music). Elsewhere, Diane Wagg of Deluxxe Management was re-elected as Chair of the MMF, while Paul Craig from Nostromo Management was elected to the new role of Vice Chair. Meanwhile Stephen Budd stood down as co-Chair, but will remain on the board.

Reed Smith LLP has hired Ingrid Silver as a partner in the firm's growing global Entertainment & Media Industry Group. Based in London, Silver joins after nearly 12 years at the UKMEA Media and Entertainment division of global law firm Dentons. (MBW)

Pandora's Tim Westergren is set to step down as the company's CEO. That's according to Recode, which reports the exec will likely stay in the position until a replacement is found. Westergren, Pandora's co-founder, succeeded Brian McAndrews as the firm's CEO in March last year.

Universal Music Group has appointed experienced digital music entrepreneur Tuhin Roy to a newly-created position - VP of New Digital Business. Roy will operate out of Santa Monica and will work closely with digital music startups in the early stage of growth. Universal's Capitol Music Group has appointed renowned hip-hop and R&B producer Dion 'No I.D' Wilson as Executive Vice President. His remit will include A&R and production, and he will report into CMG President Ashley Newton. He was previously at Def Jam. 

Soundtrack & Score, the Universal Music division set up a year ago to "maximise the artistic and commercial impact of music in film and TV", has a brand new Managing Director, Ross Sellwood.

And Universal Music Publishing has promoted Kevin Cady to Head of Finance for the Americas and Senior Vice President of Global Business Strategy, where he will be tasked with driving strategic growth. Cady joined UMPG in 2005. 

Interscope Geffen A&M has promoted Gary Kelly to EVP and Chief Revenue Officer. He will lead functions including revenue and digital marketing. His team will also oversee playlisting activities including a newly-created position for a Director of Playlisting. 

Warner Music is giving a new lease of life to Sire Records in its 50th year. The company has hired ex-Island, Arista and RCA A&R star Rani Hancock as President of the label, where co-founder Seymour Stein is Chairman. 

MBW reports that SoundCloud's outgoing Chief Content Officer, Stephen Bryan, is joining Lyor Cohen at YouTube. Bryan closed licensing deals with all three major labels during his three years at SoundCloud.  The Berlin-based SoundCloud has laid off 173 staff, while announcing that it was shuttering both its London and San Francisco offices. This, said co-founder Alexander Ljung, was in a bid to gain "control of SoundCloud's independent future" while steering the firm back on a "path to profitability".

The UK's Association of Independent Music (AIM) has elected Transgressive Records co-founder Tim Dellow to the position of Chairperson. A Management Group has also been formed, featuring reps from Beggars, Because, Secretly Group and Ninja Tune.

SVP of A&R and Marketing at UK indie Because Music, Jane Third, is stepping down after ten years to join [PIAS] as Global Chief Creative Officer. As part of her new role, which begins in October, Third will run her own label through [PIAS]'s Co-op division (MBW). 

The acting headd of Epic Records, Sylvia Rhone, has promoted Sandra Afloarei to SVP of Top 40 radio promotions. The news comes after Todd Glassman, Epic's EVP of Promotions, left the company last week after four years at the Sony venture.

Bråvalla cancelled after sexual assault reports

The 2018 edition of Sweden's Bråvalla festival has been cancelled, following numerous allegations and reports of rape and sexual assault at the 2016 and 2017 editions. In the aftermath of the cancellation, Swedish comedian Emma Knyckare announced plans to hold a women-only music festival next year tweeting  "What do you think about putting together a really cool festival where only non-men are welcome until ALL men have learned how to behave?"

Green day cancellation poses questions for safety

The July 4th Green Day show in Scotland, which was cancelled 40 minutes before doors opened, with promoters blaming adverse weather conditions, has raised some interesting questions, not least as Glasgow City Council, which owns the venue, have now distanced itself from the decision.

Shortly before doors were due to open at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow, promoter PCL Presents issued a statement, saying: "After many months of hard work and preparation, and after seven days of production and site crew working tirelessly around the clock on site, adverse weather conditions overnight and throughout the morning, during the band's scheduled load-in, led to issues on stage. A meeting between the on-site health and safety, event management, the artists' representatives and promoters concluded that it would be unsafe in the timescale to proceed with the event".

Later, in their own statement, the band said: "The local safety council, production crew, and concert organisers have deemed the stage unsafe for the fans and everyone involved. We are very distraught about this as we are in Glasgow now and were very much looking forward to this show as one of the highlights of our tour" adding  "We have been playing in extreme weather conditions throughout this European tour, and the last thing we want to do is see a show cancelled. We love our Scottish fans and we don't care if it's raining fucking sideways, although the safety of our fans and our crew is always our top priority".

Glasgow City Council, said in a short statement that it had nothing to do with the show being cancelled: "The decision to cancel the Green Day event was taken by the promoters and management of the band, not Glasgow City Council".

As the dust settled on the last minute cancellation, questions began to be asked about why the weather had been such a factor in the cancellation, as on the day of the show the weather had improved. Admidst accusations that PCL Presents had been ill prepared for for the show, director Paul Cardow was forced to issue a statement saying “What can I say but sorry for all inconvenience”, but he denied that the company had misled fans over the cause of the cancellation, adding “The torrential rain at the band’s load in made the situation impossible.”

What the 'issues on stage' were remains to be seen - the tweet (pictured) is one person's take on this. Another tweeter posted "If @PCLPresents can't run a gig in Glasgow when it rains, should they really be running gigs at all? #greenday". 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jul/04/heavy-rain-forces-green-day-to-cancel-outdoor-concert-in-glasgow-park

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/green-day-gig-promoter-forced-10745653

Adele cancels final two Wembley shows after voice fails

Adele at Glastonbury  2016 by Sarah Neve

Adele has cancelled the last two sell-out shows of her world tour due to take place at London's Wembley Stadium this weekend past after damaging her vocal cords. The 29-year-old singer said doctors dvised her not to perform. She had already performed two nights to crowds at Wembley, but said that she had been struggling vocally. "To say I'm heartbroken would be an understatement," Adele, said on her Twitter page. In her post, the 29-year-old said her first two Wembley shows this week had been "the biggest and best shows of my life", but that she had struggled vocally.

Fyre promoter arrested

Reports say that the promoter behind a failed Fyre Festival was arrested Friday in New York on a wire fraud charge. Billy McFarland was charged with scheming to defraud investors in his company, Fyre Media, and Fyre Festival that was supposed to take place on the island of Exuma in the Bahamas over two weekends in April and May.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2017/07/01/founder-of-disastrous-fyre-festival-arrested-and-charged-with-fraud/?utm_term=.4aeee4914b1b