DEAG rapped for financial irregularities

Deutsche Entertainment AG (DEAG) has been criticised by Germany’s Financial Reporting Enforcement Panel (FREP) for allegedly misrepresenting its financial strength in its 2014 full-year and 2015 half-year fiscal reports. According to German business weekly WirtschaftsWoche, FREP took issue with DEAG’s 2014 financial report describing “very good presales” for its three new festivals, Rock im Revier, Rockavaria and Rock in Vienna – when, in fact, less than a month before the festivals were due to kick off, “not even half of their costs were covered by ticket sales”. The launch of the new festivals led to a €17.8m million loss in 2015, which on Friday was revised retroactively to -€26.2m as a result of FREP’s investigation. Only Rock in Vienna remains following the cancellations of Rock im Revier and Rockavaria.

More on IQ here https://www.iq-mag.net/2017/05/deag-substantially-overstated-financial-success-frep/#.WQmx69ryuM9

BMI post record figures

US-based collection society BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.) has announced record-breaking revenue and royalty distributions for its latest fiscal year. Total revenues in the 12 months to end of June 2015 reached $1.013bn.  BMI distributed $877m in its fiscal year – or 86.6% of its total collections – a 4.5% increase on 2014.

http://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/bmi-revenues-top-1bn-but-payouts-to-members-lag-behind-ascap/

Slight decrease in CD and download album sales in the US and UK

The BPI says that album sales in the UK fel by 5.25% in in the first half of 2015 (38.1m down to 36.1m). Sales of downloaded LPs actually declined faster than their physical rivals: In the first half of 2015, CD album sales in the UK fell 5.7% from 22.68m to 21.38m. In the same period, sales of digital albums dropped 6.6% to 13.86m. 

Anbd overall album sales in the US – real album sales, not counting ‘track/streaming equivalents’ – were down 4% year-on-year in the first six months of 2015… as streaming continued to soar. According to new data from Nielsen/Billboard, 116.1 million album unit sales were clocked up versus 120.9 million units in H1 2014. The growth of vinyl album sales continued: the format grew 38.4% to 5.6 million in H1 2015, taking a 5% share of CD/digital/vinyl formats in the US. In the UK, vinyl album sales shot up once again in the Jan-June period, up 56.3% to 833,137 sales in H1 2015.

European Festival Awards .... and the winners are .....

The 6th Festival Awards Europe are done and dusted and at a star studded gala celebration at De Oosterport on January 14th at the start of this year's EuroSonic festival and conference in Groningen, host Ben Challis welcomed guests and winners and live performances from MØ (Denmark), Jack Garratt (UK) and Aurora Asknes (Sweden) - as well as a special surprise opening act, The Illegal Terms, made up of Ben on vocals, Michal Kaščák, organiser of the Pohoda Festival on drums, Open Air St Gallen's organiser Christof Huber on guitar alongside Virtual Festivals' Steve Jenner, and Das Fest booker and boss of Green Events Europe, Holger Jan Schmidt,  on bass. The Illegal Terms gave  barnstorming renditions of 'Blittzkrieg Bop' and 'I Fought The Law'. Sponsoring partners for the Awards included hosts Yourope, the European festivals association, EuroSonic and Eventbrite, Intelligent Venue Solutions, Plug Go and Snack Media. With over 1.2 milllion votes cast in the public categories this year, the Arctic Monkey's won two awards for Headliner of the Year and Festival Anthem of the Year, collected on the night by the bands long time manager Geoff Barradale. Hungary's Sziget won Best Major Festival, Glastonbury picked up the Best Lineup Award for their Metallica and Dolly Parton inspired summer bash, and Stromae picked up best newcomer.

Best Small European Festival - Festival Tuaron Nowa Muzyka (Poland) 

Best Indoor Festival - I love Techno (Belgium)

The Green Operations Award - Roskilde Festival (Denmark)

Newcomer Of The Year - Stromae

Artist’s Favourite European Festival  - Primavera Sound in Barcelona (Spain)

Best New European Festival - Down the Rabbit Hole (The Nederlands)

Festival Anthem of the Year - Arctic Monkeys – R U Mine

YES Group H&S Innovation Award  - Mojo Concerts

Best Medium-Sized European Festival - Sea Dance Festival (Montenegro)

Promoter Of The Year -  Live Nation (Belgium)

Best European Festival Line-Up - Glastonbury Festival (UK)

Best Headliner - Arctic Monkeys

Best Major European Festival - Sziget (Hungary)

Lifetime Achievement Award - Melvin Benn 

Award For Excellence And Passion - Rikke Oxner

The European Border Breakers Awards (EBBAs), which give recognition to new European acts who have achieved cross-border chart success were also confirmed at a ceremony hosted by Jools Holland earlier in the day at EuroSonic. The ten winners were announced in October, with three - Melanie De Biasio, MØ and Indila - performing live  (as did previous winners, The Ting Tings), The other seven nominated acts were Klangkarussell, Milky Chance, Hozier, The Common Linnets, Todd Terje, Tove Lo and John Newman. Last year's Dutch Eurovision entrants The Common Linnets were handed the Public Choice Award after an online vote, and Jungle were awarded the EBBA Best Festival Act prize.

The UK record indusrty in 2014 - streams and vinyl up, downloads and CDs down

Top year for Ed

The end of year sales figures from the UK record industry have few surpises, showing that streaming boomed, downloads peaked, CD sales continued to decline and vinyl sales were up, if comparatively tiny. Figures from the UK's Entertainment Retailer's Association show that the UK download sector brought in 14.9% less in 2014 than 2013 at £338.1 million, while streaming revenues shot up 65.1% bringing in £106 million for the record industry. Streams accounted for 12.6% of consumption overall, digital albums accounted for 25.3% of total units, single track accounted for 13.3%. Physical sales slipped 6.9% and now making up 48.8% of consumption overall it means that overall the UK record industry saw its sales dip 1.6%.

Overall the end of year charts compiled by the Official Charts Company show:

Top Ten Albums of 2014 
1. Ed Sheeran - x (Warner/Atlantic)
2. Sam Smith - In The Lonely Hour (Universal/Capitol)
3. George Ezra - Wanted On Voyage (Sony/Columbia)
4. Paolo Nutini - Caustic Love (Warner/Atlantic)
5. Coldplay - Ghost Stories (Warner/Parlophone)
6. Paloma Faith - A Perfect Contradiction (Sony/RCA)
7. One Direction - Four (Sony/Syco)
8. Olly Murs - Never Been Better (Sony/Epic)
9. Pink Floyd - The Endless River (Warner/Rhino)
10. Take That - III (Universal/Polydor)

Top Ten Vinyl Albums of 2014 
1. Pink Floyd - The Endless River (Warner/Rhino)
2. Arctic Monkeys - AM (Domino Recordings)
3. Royal Blood - Royal Blood (Warner/Warner Bros)
4. Oasis - Definitely Maybe (Sony/Big Brother)
5. Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon (Warner/Rhino)
6. Jack White - Lazaretto (Beggars/XL)
7. The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses (Sony/Silvertone)
8. Foo Fighters - Sonic Highways (Sony/RCA)
9. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin (Warner/Rhino)
10. Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory? (Sony/Big Brother)

Top Ten Singles of 2014 
1. Pharrell Williams - Happy (Sony Music/Columbia)
2. Clean Bandit feat Jess Glynne - Rather Be (Warner/Atlantic)
3. John Legend - All Of Me (Sony/Columbia)
4. Mr Probz - Waves (Sony/Left Lane Recordings)
5. Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud (Warner/Atlantic)
6. Ella Henderson - Ghost (Sony/Syco)
7. Sam Smith - Stay With Me (Universal/Capitol)
8. Meghan Trainor - All About That Bass (Sony/Epic)
9. Pitbull feat Kesha - Timber (Sony/J-Mr 305-Polo Grounds)
10. George Ezra - Budapest (Sony/Columbia)

Top Ten Most Streamed Tracks in 2014 (compiled by Official Charts Company based on chart-returning audio streaming services)

1. Clean Bandit feat Jess Glynne - Rather Be (Warner/Atlantic)
2. Pharrell Williams - Happy (Sony Music/Columbia)
3. John Legend - All of Me (Sony Music/Columbia)
4. Mr Probz - Waves (Sony/Left Lane Recordings)
5. Sam Smith - Stay With Me (Universal/Capitol)
6. Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud (Warner/Atlantic)
7. George Ezra - Budapest (Sony/Columbia)
8. Ed Sheeran - Sing (Warner/Atlantic)
9. Pitbull feat Kesha - Timber (Sony/J-Mr 305-Polo Grounds)
10. Magic - Rude (Sony/RCA)

Pharrell tops BBC Music Awards

The BBC Music Awards are out - and in a star studded show featuring Coldplay, One Direction, Gregory Porter, Clean Bandit, Paloma Faith, Ed Sheeran, Take That and George Ezra amongst others. International artist of the year was Pharrell Williams and the US producer-songwriter won song of the year for his exuberant, gospel-inspired single Happy, the only award that was voted for by members of the public,  Ed Sheeran was named British act of the year, and played a rousing version of his Pharrell-produced single, Sing, using just a guitar and loop pedal. Newcomers Catfish and the Bottlemen also played to their biggest-ever audience, after winning the BBC Introducing award for best new act, in a music rather than awards focussed show at Earls Court in London. Radio 1 DJ Greg James dismissed the worries that the BBC were out to compete with the BRITS, hosted by rival channel ITV, saying the BBC ceremony was "not really just about the awards" and the BBC also made use of its Concert Orchestra to embellish some of the year's biggest hits and the BBC said the main message from the night was how the BBC supports and promotes new music.

Glastonbury, Shambala and Calvin Harris amongst winners of the UK Festival Awards 2014

The 11th annual UK Festival Awards presented indie icons The Libertines with the title of ‘Best Headline Performance’ for their British Summer Time, Hyde Park set at a ceremony at The Roundhouse in London on Monday 1st December hosted by Fun Lovin Criminals frontman Huey Morgan. Also picking up awards were events including the mothership-like Glastonbury, crowned ‘Best Major Festival’, Creamfields for ‘Best Dance Event’ and Festival Number 6, a relative newcomer whose success saw them collect the ‘Line-up Of The Year’ prize.  Elsewhere in the artist categories global dance megastar Calvin Harris’ appropriately titled ‘Summer’ was chosen as the ‘Anthem of The Summer’ whilst up-and-coming Rock four-piece Wolf Alice were awarded ‘Best Breakthrough Artist’.  The popular Dorset bash Camp Bestival collected the trophy for ‘Best Family Festival’ meaning that Rob da Bank made two trips to the stage, his other being to collect the evening’s biggest honour, the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Festivals’ award, presented to him by none other than Michael Eavis. Dance music further dominated the winners list this year, in addition to awards for Creamfields and Calvin Harris with both We Are FSTVL and The Zoo Project Festival collecting prizes for ‘Best Medium-Sized Festival’ and ‘Best Small Festival’ respectively, and Shambala picked up the Greener Festival Award for their outstanding  contribution to sustainability in 2014.

Shambala's Chris Johnson with their award

The Awards followed on from a full day conference which also had a green theme and Alison Tickell from Julie's Bicycle moderated a knowledgeable panel which featured Rob Scully (Croissant Neuf Summer Party & Glastonbury), Penny Mellor (A Greener Festival), Chris Johnson (Shambala), Melvin Benn (Festival Republic) and Katie Madison in a Powerful Thinking sponsored panel titled 'The Show Must Go On'.  Other panels covered drug use at festivals, new technologies, secondary revenues and in the wake of a number of event bankrupcies in 2014, the problems inexperienced entrants to the festival scene can cause to fans and suppliers alike.

Vinyl sales surge in UK

Endless River

More than one million vinyl records have been sold in the UK so far this year - the first time the milestone has been achieved since 1996. Earlier this month, Pink Floyd's The Endless River became the fastest-selling vinyl release since 1997 (see image).

The Official Chart Company told the BBC it will soon launch a weekly vinyl chart and  Martin Talbot, managing director said "Only five years ago this business was worth around £3m a year. This year it's going to be worth £20m."

AIF festival survey - win tickets!

AIF AUDIENCE SURVEY: WIN 2x TICKETS TO THE AIF FESTIVAL OF YOUR CHOICE!

Fill out the annual AIF Audience Survey for a chance to win 2x tickets to an AIF festival! Thats it - so you can get filling in by using this link

And if you win you can choose from 

2000Trees / ArcTanGent / Beat-Herder Festival / Barn On The Farm / Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival / Bestival / Blissfields / Bournemouth 7s / Brecon Jazz / Brownstock Festival / Camp Bestival / Cornbury / Deer-Shed Festival / Eden Sessions / Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru / End Of The Road Festival / Evolution Festival / Festibelly / The Fling Festival / Fire in the Mountain / Glastonbudget / Greenbelt Festival / Hebridean Celtic Festival / In The Woods Festival / Isle of Wight Festival / Kendal Calling / Larmer Tree Festival / LeeFest / London Remixed / Loud Sound / Meltdown No Tomorrow / Nozstock the Hidden Valley Festival / Pangaea / Rhythm & Vines / The Secret Garden Party / Shambala Festival / Sonisphere / Starry Skies /Stockton Weekender / SWN Festival / Tramlines / Truck / Village Green Festival / Wakestock / We Are FSTVL /  Y-Not Festival /

European Festival Awards final shortlists announced!

The votes have been counted and we can now reveal the finalists in this year’s European Festival Awards, as decided by Europe’s festival-goers. This year – the 6th edition - saw a new record set with over 1.2 million votes cast by fans for their favourite festivals and artists, an astonishing 100% increase on last year’s figures. Some of the more specialists categories are decided by panels of industry professionals, including Artists’ Favourite Festival, Green Operations Award and Promoter Of The year, and this panel also exercises a 25% say in the final outcome of the public-voted selection. The winners will be announced on-stage at the European Festival Awards gala ceremony which returns to crown the opening night of Eurosonic Noorderslag in Groningen, The Netherlands on Wednesday 14th January 2015 hosted by Ben Challis.

Best Major European Festival

in association with PlugGo

• Colours of Ostrava (Czech Republic)

• Electric Picnic (Ireland)

• EXIT Festival (Serbia)

• Hurricane & Southside (Germany)

• NOS Alive (former Optimus Alive) (Portugal)

• Rock am Ring/ Rock Im Park (Germany)

• Rock Werchter (Belgium)

• Roskilde Festival (Denmark)

• Sziget Festival (Hungary)

• Tomorrowland (Belgium)

• Wacken Open Air (Germany)

• Woodstock Festival (Poland)

Best Medium-Sized European Festival

• Audioriver (Poland)

• Berlin Festival (Germany)

• Best Kept Secret (The Netherlands)

• Electric Castle Festival (Romania)

• Hideout Festival (Croatia)

• Lovefest (Serbia)

• MasterCard Balaton Sound (Hungary)

• OFF Festival Katowice (Poland)

• Pohoda Festival (Slovakia)

• Sea Dance Festival (Montenegro)

• Volt Festival (Hungary)

• Way Out West (Sweden)

Best Small European Festival

• B.my.Lake (Hungary)

• Feest in het Park (Belgium)

• Festival Tauron Nowa Muzyka (Poland)

• Grape Festival (Slovakia)

• Happiness Festival (Germany)

• Indiependence (Ireland)

• Into The Great Wide Open (The Netherlands)

• Jazz in the Park (Romania)

• PLAI (Romania)

• The Garden Festival (Croatia)

Best New European Festival

• Bergfestival (Austria)

• Down The Rabbit Hole (The Netherlands)

• Festival The Brave (Holland)

• Imaginarium Festival (France)

• MS Artville (Germany)

• Sea Dance Festival (Montenegro)

• Serbia Wonderland Festival (Serbia)

• Signal Festival (Czech republic)

• Sunscape Festival (Malta)

• Your'in (Belgium)

Best Indoor Festival

• Blues in Hell (Norway)

• I Love Techno (Belgium)

• I Love Techno (France)

• Metal Hammer Paradise (Germany)

• Reeperbahn Festival (Germany)

• Rolling Stone Weekender (Germany)

• Sensation (The Netherlands)

• Sonar (Spain)

• TiMAF (Romania)

• Waves (Austria & Slovakia)

Newcomer Of The Year

in association with Eurosonic Noorderslag

• Birth of Joy

• George Ezra

• Hozier

• Jungle

• London Grammar

• Mighty Oaks

• Milky Chance

• Mo

• Royal Blood

• Stromae

Best Headliner

• Arcade Fire

• Arctic Monkeys

• Imagine Dragons

• Jack White

• Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

• Outkast

• Pearl Jam

• QOTSA

• Stromae

• The Black Keys

Festival Anthem of the Year

• Arctic Monkeys - R U Mine

• Atomic Bomb! - The Atomic Bomb! Band and Special Guests 

• Black Keys - Lonely Boy

• Calvin Harris - Summer

• Ellie Goulding - Burn

• George Ezra - Budapest

• Outkast - Hey Ya

• Pharell Williams- Happy

• Royal Blood - Come on Over

• Stromae - Papaoutai

The following awards are decided purely by our jury of industry experts:

Best European Festival Line-Up

• Best Kept Secret (The Netherlands)

• Glastonbury (United Kingdom)

• Open'er Festival (Poland)

• Hurricane/Southside (Germany)

• Oya Festival (Norway)

• Pinkpop (The Netherlands)

• Primavera (Spain)

• Rock am Ring / Rock im Park (Germany)

• Rock Werchter (Belgium)

• Sziget (Hungary)

Artist’s Favourite European Festival 

• Glastonbury (United Kingdom)

• Hove (Norway)

• Oya Festivalen (Norway)

• Primavera Sound (Spain)

• Pukkelpop (Belgium)

• Rock en Seine (France)

• Rock Werchter (Belgium)

• Slottsfjell (Norway)

• Sziget (Hungary)

• Way Out West (Sweden)

Promoter Of The Year

• FKP Scorpio (Germany)

• Friendly Fire (The Netherlands)

• Live Nation (Belgium)

• Metropolis (United Kingdom)

• ID&T (Belgium)

The Green Operations Award

• Boom (Portugal)

• Cabaret Vert (France)

• Cambridge Folk Festival (United Kingdom)

• Fusion (Germany)

• Ilosaarirock (Finland)

• Isle Of Wight (United Kingdom)

• Maifeld Derby (Germany)

• Melt! (Germany)

• Mysteryland (The Netherlands)

• Northside (Denmark)

• Øya Festival (Norway)

• Rock Am Ring (Germany)

• Roskilde (Denmark)

• Shambala (United Kingdom)

• We Love Green (France)

• Welcome to the Future (The Netherlands)

The following categories do not have shortlists. The winners will be announced at the gala ceremony in Groningen on 14th January.

YES Group H&S Innovation Award In association with the YES Group and ICM&SS

Award For Excellence And Passion

Lifetime Achievement Award in association with Yourope

MTV EMAs handed out

The MTV EMAs have been handed out in Glasgow and the winners are 

Best Song: Ariana Grande feat Iggy Azalea - Problem 
Best Song With a Message: Beyonce - Pretty Hurts
Best Video: Katy Perry feat Juicy J - Dark Horse

Best Female: Ariana Grande
Best Male: Justin Bieber
Best Live: One Direction
Best New: Five Seconds Of Summer
Worldwide Act: Bibi Zhou

Best Pop: One Direction
Best Rock: Linkin Park
Best Alternative: 30 Seconds To Mars
Best Hip Hop: Nicki Minaj

Best Look: Katy Perry
Best Push: Five Seconds Of Summer
Best World Stage: Enrique Iglesias
Biggest Fans: One Direction

Global Icon: Ozzy Osbourne

Live Nation looks at 'record year'

Live Nation has announced its third quarter results and that the live giant says it is on track for "another record year". The figures backed up claims made in July, when reporting that profits were down for the second quarter, that the live firm was set for a strong summer concert season. Live Nation, According to Billboard, revenues for the quarter were up 11% to $2.5 billion with "adjusted operating income" - so operating income without the effects of "one-time and extraordinary items" - was up 17% to $258.1 million.

UK FESTIVAL AWARDS 2014 - THE FINAL SHORTLISTS ANNOUNCED!

The votes have been counted and we can now reveal the finalists in this year’s UK Festival Awards, as decided by the British festival-going public. This year – the 11th edition – saw a new record set for votes with over 700,000 cast by fans for their favourite festivals and artists, a remarkable 25% increase on last year’s figures. The winners will be announced on-stage at the UK Festival Awards gala ceremony which returns to The Roundhouse in London on Monday 1st December, preceded by The UK Festival Conference during the daytime at the same event.

The public-voted accolades include awards for the Best Major, Medium, Small, New, Metropolitan, Dance, Family and Grass Roots events, as well as the fiercely contested Best Toilets.

The titles for artists include Headline Performance Of The Year, Best Breakthrough Artist and Anthem Of The Summer.

But it’s not just about the public vote. Some of the more specialists categories are decided by panels of industry professionals, including Best Use of New Technology, Promoter Of The Year, Agency Of The Year, Concession Of The Year, The Greener Festival Award, The Extra Festival Award and Line-Up Of The Year.

Steve Jenner, Founder & Director comments: “The response to this year’s awards, not only from fans, but also from more festivals applying to take part than ever before, has been exceptional this year – a positive sign that industry confidence, backed by public passion is surging in 2014. It sets the tone for an extra special celebration at The Roundhouse in a few weeks’ time.” A limited number of tickets to the event are still available at www.festivalawards.com/tickets

Best Major Festival - In association with: PlugGo
Bestival
British Summer Time Hyde Park
Creamfields
Download Festival
Glastonbury
GlobalGathering
Isle of Wight Festival
Reading & Leeds
Sonisphere Festival
T in the Park
V Festival
Wireless Festival
Last year’s winner: Download

Best Medium-Sized Festival - In association with: Eventbrite
Beautiful Days
Bloodstock Open Air
Boardmasters
Camp Bestival
Green Man
Kendal Calling
Latitude
Secret Garden Party
We Are FSTVL
Y Not Festival
Last year’s winner: Kendal Calling

Best Small Festival
2000trees
Barn on the Farm
Bearded Theory
Beat Herder
Brownstock Festival
Cambridge Folk Festival
Festival No.6
Jimmy’s Sausage & Beer Festival
Leopallooza
Zoo Project Festival, The
Last year’s winner: Bearded Theory

 

Best New Festival - In association with: ID&C
Mutiny in the Park
No Tomorrow
OnBlackheath
Red Rooster
Rewind North
Secret Festival, The
Somersault Festival
Summer Sizzler
Together Festival
UKG Fest

2012 winner: We Are FSTVL

 

Best Family Festival
British Summer Time Hyde Park
Beautiful Days
Camp Bestival
Eden Festival
Green Man
Jamie Oliver & Alex James present The Big Feastival
Kendal Calling
Latitude
Leopallooza
Victorious Festival
Last year’s winner: Camp Bestival

Best Metropolitan Festival
Blackpool Music Festival
Dot to Dot
Fusion Festival
Great Escape, The
Live at Leeds
Liverpool Sound City
MADE Birmingham
Slam Dunk Festival
Tramlines
Whitby Goth Weekend
Last year’s winner: Dot To Dot

Best Dance Event - In association with: XL Video
Beat Herder
Bestival
Creamfields
GlobalGathering
Lovebox
Mutiny in the park
South West Four
The Parklife Weekender
Tramlines
We Are FSTVL
Last year’s winner: Creamfields

The Grass Roots Festival Award
2000trees
Barn on the Farm
Beautiful Days
Bloodstock Open Air
Eden Festival
Green Man
In The Woods Festival
Jimmy’s Sausage & Beer Festival
Leopallooza
Y Not Festival
Last year’s winner: 2000Trees

Best Overseas Festival - In association with: Yourope
Tomorrowland (Belgium)
Coachella (USA)
Benicassim (Spain)
Ibiza Rocks (Spain)
Outlook (Croatia)
Splendour In The Grass (Australia)
Rock am Ring/ Rock Im Park (Germany)
Wacken Open Air (Germany)
Pinkpop (The Netherlands)
Sonar (Spain)
Snowbombing (Austria)
NOS Alive – formerly Optimus Alive (Portugal)
Last year’s winner: Snowbombing (Austria)

Best Toilets
Creamfields
Download Festival
End Of The Road
Kendal Calling
Larmer Tree Festival
Latitude
Reading & Leeds
Truck Festival
V Festival
We Are FSTVL
Last year’s winner: ArcTanGent

Headline Performance of the Year - In association with: SnoozeBox (curated by Gigwise)
Arcade Fire at Glastonbury
Arctic Monkeys at Reading & Leeds
Biffy Clyro at T In The Park
Foals at Bestival
Kasabian at Glastonbury
The Killers at V Festival
The Libertines at British Summer Time
Linkin Park at Download
The Prodigy at Sonisphere
Metallica at Glastonbury
Red Hot Chili Peppers at the Isle Of Wight
Suede at Kendal Calling
Last year’s winner: Arctic Monkeys at Glastonbury

Best Breakthrough Artist
In association with: Last.fm (curated by Drowned In Sound)
The 1975
Augustines
Blood Red Shoes
Catfish & The Bottlemen
Goat
Jagwar Ma
Royal Blood
Sophie Ellis-Bextor
The War on Drugs
Wolf Alice
Last year’s winner: Rudimental

Anthem of the Summer - In association with: Clash Magazine
The 1975 – ‘Chocolate’
Arctic Monkeys – ‘R U Mine’
Calvin Harris – ‘Summer’
Dolly Parton – ‘Jolene’
Hozier – ‘Take Me To Church’
Metallica – ‘Whiskey In The Jar’
OutKast – ‘Ms Jackson’
Pharell Williams – ‘Happy’
Royal Blood – ‘Come On Over’
Sam Smith – ‘Stay With Me’
Last year’s winner: Daft Punk – ‘Get Lucky’

Line-Up Of The Year
Beacons Festival
Bestival
Creamfields
End Of The Road
Festival Number 6
Green Man
Latitude
Liverpool Music Week
Liverpool Sound City
Love Supreme Jazz Festival
Lovebox
OnBlackheath
Wireless
Last year’s winner: Latitude

Best Use of New Technology - In association with: White Light
Bestival – For their fan ambassador scheme using an online platform provided by The Physical Network
Creamfields – For its epic live Youtube stream covering every stage of the festival
Eden Sessions – For their live global broadcast on Youtube delivered in association with Asus
Liverpool Sound City – For their iOS-integrated itinerary scheduling system
Lovebox – For their mobile audience engagement platform delivered in association with HTC using technology provided by Airbeem
The Parklife Weekender – For their revolutionary substance-analysis system supplied by The Loop and working with Greater Manchester Polic
Salford Music Festival – For its smart, integrated ‘Event1’ event management system provided by 1SecureWeb
V Festival – For their ‘FanPic’ social engagement application, delivered in cooperation with Ticketmaster
Wireless Festival – For their smart visitor tracking system provided by Crowd Connected working with Eventbase
Y01 Festival – For its new queue-busting electronic access control system delivered by We Scan Tickets
Last year’s winner: Intelligent Venue Solutions on behalf of Barclaycard at Barclaycard British Summer Time (Hyde Park)

Agency of the Year - In association with: IQ Magazine
13 Artists
CAA
CODA
Echo Location Talent Agency
ITB
K2
Primary
The Agency Group
WME
X-Ray
Last year’s winner: CODA

Concession of the Year
Ghandis Flip Flop
Gizzi Erskine’s Chefs Club
Goodness Gracious Healthy Foods
Happy Maki Sushi
Hot Rocks Pizza
La Grande Bouffe
Lulu’s Café
Mocha Mania
Paelleria
Smoke Stack
Last year’s winner: Strumpets With Crumpets

The Greener Festival Award - In association with: Bucks New University
BBC Hyde Park Proms
Cambridge Folk Festival
End of the Road
Glasgow 2014
Glastonbury Festival
Greenbelt
Nozstock: The Hidden Valley
Shambala Festival
T in the Park
Wood Festival
Last year’s winner: Shambala Festival

The Extra-Festival Activity Award
3 Wishes Faery Fest
Beat Herder
Deerstock
Festival No.6
Secret Garden Party
Somersault
The Secret Festival
Victorious
Wilderness
Y Not/Truck/Brownstock
Last year’s winner: Wilderness

Promoter of the Year - In association with: Peppermint Bars
AMust4Music (Bloodstock)
Count Of Ten Group (Y Not, Truck, Brownstock, Hevy, Tramlines)
DF Concerts (T In The Park)
John Giddings and Solo (Isle Of Wight Festival)
Red Jelly Productions (Xstatic Summer Festival)
Rich Bryan (Bearded Theory)
Rob Star (Eastern Electrics)
Scott Barton (Creamfields)
The Zoo Project Festival Team
Vision Nine (Boardmasters, NASS)
Last year’s winner: Paddy Glasgow (Glasgowbury)

The Outstanding Contribution to Festivals Award - In association with: Intelligent Venue Solutions
Winner to be announced in due course.

Q Awards, MOBOS and Festival Supplier Awards all out!

Having only just got through the AIF Festival Congress Awards, The Greener Festival Awards and The Live Music Business Awards, its now time for the Q Awards, MOBOS and Festival Supplier Awards, with the Qs giving a nod to the now cancer free Wilko Johnson

Q Awards

Best Album: Elbow - The Take Off And Landing Of Everything
Best Track: Paolo Nutini - Iron Sky
Best Video: Jamie xx - Sleep Sound
Best Act In The World Today: Kasabian
Best New Act: Sam Smith
Best Solo Artist: Ed Sheeran
Best Live Act: Kasabian
Classic Album: Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon
Classic Songwriter: Andy Partridge
Gibson Les Paul Award: Johnny Marr
Inspiration: Simple Minds
Hero: The Charlatans
Innovation In Sound: Jean Michel Jarre
Icon: Wilko Johnson
Hero: The Charlatans
Outstanding Contribution To Music: Richard Russell

MOBOs

Best Male: Sam Smith
Best Female: Jessie J
Best International: Beyoncé
Best Newcomer: Ella Eyre
Best Song: Sam Smith 'Stay With Me'
Best Album: Sam Smith
Best Video: Skepta ft J.M.E 'That's Not Me'
Best Reggae Act: Stylo G
Best HipHop Act: Krept and Konan
Best RnB/Soul Act: Sam Smith
Best Gospel Act: Living Faith Connection Choir
Best Jazz Act: Zara McFarlane
Best Grime Act: Stormzy
Best African Act: Fuse ODG
Inspiration Award: Idris Elba

Festival Supplier Awards. 

The Winners were announced at an awards ceremony and gala dinner held at Newbury Showground, rounding off the first day of the Showman’s Show

Best Staging -NoNonsense (Group) Ltd
Best Admission Control - Intelligent Venue Solutions
Best Temporary Roadway / Walkway -LION Trackhire
Best Fencing / Hoarding -Eve
Best Crowd / Pit Barrier - Eve
Best Temporary Structure - Losberger UK Ltd
Best Crew / Artist Catering - Eat to the Beat
Best Crewing Company - Diamond Event Services
Best Concession / Bar - Creative
Best Event Branding - Newsubstance
Best Toilets - Qdos Event Hire
Best Temporary Water Supply - Watermills Events Ltd
Best Crowd Management - Showsec International Ltd
Best Festival Production Team - EnTEEtainment Ltd
Best Lighting -Hawthorn
Best Sound - SSE Audio Group
Best Power - Power Logistics
Best Festival Support Service - Event LED Signs
Rising Star - Frankie Tee
Green Festival Supplier Award - Midas UK

RECORD BREAKING YEAR FOR GREENER FESTIVAL AWARD SCHEME

36 festivals from around the World have been awarded the Greener Festival Award by the environmental campaign and advice group A Greener Festival. The Award scheme, supported by Robertson Taylor WP Longreach Insurance Brokers, acknowledges that festivals do have an impact simply by taking place, but aims to encourage festival organisers to make the best decisions to minimise their event’s environmental impact, to monitor, identify and correct negative effects, and to share the message of caring for the environment with their audiences so that festivals can have a positive impact beyond the event itself. The Awards asks festival organisers to respond to the challenges that staging temporary events can have on the environment and local inhabitants including humans. This year A Greener Festival say they have witnessed incredible initiatives, designs, developments and commitment to reducing the impact of live events - demonstrating that festivals can be sustainable, save money, be responsible, and still have fun by becoming a ‘Greener Festival'

At the highly commended Bonnaroo (US), A Greener Festival’s independent environmental assessor commented that the festival’s “investment in long term energy from their solar panels is second to none”. At the commended DGTL festival in Amsterdam, organisers used significant efforts to raise environmental awareness and brought in a design-focussed environmental coordinator, undertaking a pre-festival study to understand their own, and their neighbours' priorities. This led to a key design feature of an on-site "recycling factory" which turned waste plastic bottles and containers into recycled plastic bins during the festival in front of the audience's eyes. At another commended festival, Planeta Madrid in Spain, the City Council has instigated a plan called Madrid Compensa which allows trees to be planted to offset the CO2 emissions from the festival - and PlanetaMadrid also has a free bicycle workshop not just to learn about cycling – festival goers can take their bikes to be fixed as well!  At the Shambala Festival in the UK, rated ‘outstanding by A Greener Festival,  organisers achieved 100% renewable power and a ‘zero to landfill’ unrecycled waste target - as waste streams were diverted from landfill to a MBT (mechanical biological treatment) plant whilst a plastic water bottle ban was a continued success – as were the  ever popular Thunderbox compost toilets.

At the commended Body and Soul Festival in Ireland, the environmental assessors were very impressed by imaginative use of the spaces, including woodland groves, saying that the site and stages were beautifully decorated with recycled materials. The highly commended Northside Festival in Denmark encourages people to travel to the event using low carbon methods of transport – Northside offers bike stands for more than 10 000 bikes and organises festival buses – as well as the “Camino” - a decorative pathway through a park from the town of Aarhus to the festival site, encouraging visitors to walk or cycle from the town centre to the festival. The highly commended Malmo Festivalen in Sweden was praised for its efforts to demonstrate social inclusion, well being, environmental consideration and wider sustainability, whilst the commended Calgary Folk Music festival has emerged as a leader and model for public events in Calgary in terms of its waste management and recycling, with a water bottle ban and the encouragement of reusable/recyclable materials in vending.

So far 15 festivals have received the ‘commended’ award, 12 have received ‘highly commended’ and 9 have been rated ‘outstanding’ by A Greener Festival. More winners of the awards will be announced in November with a total of nearly 50 awards expected, a new record for the Awards scheme, with the first ever recipients in Denmark, Austria and New Zealand.  Winners of the Awards can pick up their certificates  at the Green Events Europe conference in Bonn, Germany (3^rd November), at the UK FestivalAwards in London (1^st December 1), at the International Music Festival Conference in Austin, Texas (6-7 December) and at the European Festival Awards in Groningen (14^th January 14).

COMMENDED

Beloved (US)

Body and Soul (Ireland)

Bluesfest  (Australia)

Calgary Folk Music Festival (Canada)

Canmore Folk Festival (Canada)

DGTL Festival (Netherlands)

Extrema Outdoor (Netherlands)

Maifeld Derby (Germany)

Northern Nights Music Festival (USA)

Nozstock The Hidden Valley (UK)

Planeta Madrid  (Spain) 

Plissken (Greece)

Sled Island   (Canada)

SOS 4:8  (Spain) 

T in the Park  (SCO)

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Bonnaroo (USA)

Bona Nit  (Spain)

DAS FEST  (Germany)

The Falls Music and Arts Festival, Lorne (Australia)

Freifeld Festivalt(Germany)

Global 2000 Tomorrow Festival (Austria)

Malmo Festivalen (Sweden)

Mysteryland (Netherlands)

Northside  (Denmark)

Splendour in the Grass (Australia)

Splore  (New Zealand)

Wood (UK)

OUTSTANDING

Cambridge Folk  Festival (UK)

The Falls Music and Arts Festival, Marion Bay (Australia)

Ilosaarirock Festival  (Finland) 

Island Vibe 2013  (Australia)

Lightning In A Bottle (USA)

Oyafestivalen (Norway)

Shambala Festival (UK)

We Love Green (France)

Welcome to the Future (Netherlands)

Wood, Shambala and Nozstock collected their awards at the AIF Festival Congress in Cardiff and DGTL, Welcome to the Future,  Extrema Outdoors and Mysteryland collected their awards in Amsterdam at ADE Dance.

A Greener Festival co-founder Ben Challis said: “This year has been an encouraging year for environmentally aware events and a record year for our Awards scheme, with more festivals than ever before taking part. Rising fuel costs prove the good sense in reducing power use, and the ever increasing costs in disposing of waste prove the importance of managing waste and having sensible recycling policies. Problems remain of course – from England to Australia, one of the biggest problems is the appalling sight of acres of left behind tents and camping gear at festivals, and we will be prioritising this again in 2015. On a positive front, many of our participating events have raised the bar yet again –  and we are seeing some amazing initiatives, incredible commitment and  festivals reaching out to spread the green message in a friendly, practical and effective way”