Monkees Davy Jones dies

The Monkees' frontman Davy Jones has died at the age of 66. TMZ reports that the Daydream Believer singer passed away at Martin Memorial Hospital in Florida on Wednesday after suffering a heart attack.

Festival funds boost charities worldwide

We all know that the Glastonbury Festival annually donates six figure sums to Oxfam, WaterAid and Greenpeace, but they are not alone! The organisers of the eco-friendly 80,000 capacity Bonnaroo Festival in the US is celebrating reaching $5 million in donations, with recipients including the American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, Music Cares, Head Count and Rock The Earth. And the charitable organisation behind the 75,000 Roskilde festival in Denmark has donated $45,000 to farming projects in Sudan this year, part of total donations of $23 million dating back to 1972 when the festival began. Other recipients have included the Danish Red Cross and humanitarian aid projects through Danish Church Aid.

Spotify gets decks appeal

Spotify has announced that users will be able to stream music seamlessly, cross-fading tracks giving gapless streaming. The update will be available for the 3 million users who subscribe to the service and not users who rely on the more limited free advertising funded service.

Channel 4 blasts open secondary ticketing market practices

The UK's Channel 4 has been able to broadcast an expose of Viagogo and Seatwave's business practices, despite a legal challenge by Viagogo which was thrown out by the High Court. When it comes to where the tickets came from for the secondary market, SJM, Phil McIntyre, MCD, Metropolis, Live Nation and 3A were all named as alleged providers of 'allocations' to Viagogo - providing tickets for events including the V Festival, Strictly Come Dancing. Coldplay, X-factor and in particular Take That - whose tickets had an average 100% mark up. Even Channel's own charity Comedy Gala was apparently on sale on secondary market places! But in particular the programme alleged that "Power sellers" (errrmmmm, touts) and "professional sellers" (ditto) provide allocations, and tickets were also acquired by as Viagogo's own staff using their own (multiple) credit cards registered to different addresses to secure (or 'harvest') tickets

The programme, titled 'The Great Ticket Scandal' involved secret filming, and busted wide open the idea that the sites are 'fan to fan' facilities, alleging that it was the professional 'brokers' who list over two thirds of the tickets on Seatwave - in a billion pound market that includes sport, classical music and even the National Gallery's Leonardo da Vinci exhibition and the Last Night of the Proms.

MP Sharon Hodgson was interviewed and suggested that legislation was needed to regulate the market.

In the USA, Ticketnews.com reports that Live Nation Entertainment may face steep fines after a possible violation of Ontario's anti-scalping law. On Feb. 13, tickets for Madonna's concert in Ottawa's Scotiabank Park were sold out within 21 minutes of being placed on-sale. However on resale websites such as Kijiji.ca, however, tickets remained available. On Live Nation Entertainment's subsidiary site, VIPNation.com, Madonna fans could purchase a concert ticket for $1500 despite its $350 face value.

BRITS 2012 WINNERS

the BRITS are done an dusted with a rather predictable set of results and a slightly drab and disorganised show, but here the winners are anyway:

British Male Solo Artist - Ed Sheeran
British Female Solo Artist - Adele
British Breakthrough Act - Ed Sheeran
British Group - Coldplay
British Single One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful
Mastercard British Album of the Year Adele - 21
International Male Solo Artist - Bruno Mars
International Female Solo Artist - Rihanna
International Group - Foo Fighters
International Breakthrough Act - Lana Del Rey
Outstanding Contribution Award - Blur
Critics Choice Award - Emeli Sande

The Brit Awards 2012 had the highest TV ratings the show has had since 2005. Traffic to its website was more impressive, doubling that of the 2011 awards, enhanced by the events first-ever app.

Blur confirmed for Olympics close

Hot on the heels of their Brits performance and Award, Blur have now been announced as headliners for the Hype Park Olympic ‘closing’ concert on August 12th along with New Order and the Specials as part of the BT London Live series of events. And Blur guitarist Graham Coxon said he would refuse to play the gig if sound limits were reduced, as a protest at ‘people being boring’. The concerts are on, although with some reduced capacities and noise monitoring, but still much to fan’s and Live Nations’s delight, But what’s this, an article by Simon Jenkins in the Evening Standard saying “Parks are meant to be for pleasure and not for business” attacking the events in Hyde Park and the fact St James park will be closed is favour of a few ‘bikini clad Olympic family” plutocrats (for the beach Volleyball by the way). He goes on, saying that when Westminster Council suggested noise limits and reduced capacities the entertainment industry responded with “whinging and blackmail”, quoting a certain “John Diggings” from “Solo Productions” who called the sound restriction “ludicrous” ??? Errrm John WHO???? And surely this is not the same Simon Jenkins who championed that monument of all bores – the Millennium Dome – which wasted nearly £800 million of public money at the end of the last century - now thankfully replaced by the far more exciting (and loved) albeit rather expensive O2 Arena. Entertainment industry whinging? Misinformed journalist whinging more like! Hyde Park will be provide great live music in a one-off Olympic year - Surely something to cheer?

Hyde Park concerts get green light

Westminster Council has agreed that Live Nation’s series of nine Hyde Park concerts scheduled for July 2012 including shows from Brice Springsteen and Madonna to go ahead, but with only four allowed to have capacities of 65,000 after numerous complaints from local residents. The other five concerts will be limited to 50,000 people. The decision also means that the planned 18 free events around the London Olympic,s in Hyde Park, Victoria park and Trafalgar Square will also be able to go ahead – Live Nation had said that free events depended on the Hyde Park concerts. But Westminster have set strict noise limits of 75 dB measured in the adjoining Park Lane and breaches would result in a review of events in 2013. Live Nation’s John Probyn who had previously said that "if the Hyde Park licence has any new conditions like reducing the noise level, capacity or number of events, not pnly do we lose our regular concerts but Olympic events to" said the decision was a ‘fantastic result”

Lambert joins Queen for Knebworth

Queen have announced a headline slot at Sonisphere 2012 in the UK. with Adam Lambert filling in for the much missed Freddie Mercury. The festival takes place 6th-8th July at Knebworth. Kiss and Faith No More are also confirmed.

SESAC for sale?

It seems US collection music society SESAC is for sale if. The owners of the smallest of the USA’s three publishing rights body hired bankers at Allen & Co and Goldman Sachs to actively pursue a sale. The asking price is reportedly $500 million, somewhat lower than prices previously suggested by the current owners. Unlike BMI and ASCAP, SESAC is a profit-making company. It represents a smaller roster of artists but this includes a number of important American songwriters, including Bob Dylan.

Festival crime conference next week

Reading, Leeds and Latitude promoter Festival Republic will host the fourth annual conference focusing on combating crime at British music festivals next week. It will be the fourth year that promoters of many of the UK's music festivals have come together with law enforcement agencies to share intelligence, discuss best practice and "communicate a strong and cohesive message to criminals that their actions will not be tolerated". Festival Republic boss Melvin Benn will chair the event alongside Chief Superintendent Andy Battle of West Yorkshire Police on Wednesday 22nd February and the conference will include reps from the Glastonbury Festival, Electric Picnic, Bestival, Rockness, Download, Isle of Wight, T In The Park, Womad, Creamfields, Secret Garden Party, Hackney Big Weekend, Great Escape, Sonisphere and Wireless festivals.

GREEN EVENTS & INNOVATIONS CONFERENCE

The second Green Events & Innovations Conference will take place at London's Southbank Centre on Friday March 16th, hosted by A Greener Festival and Bucks New University, supported by the Association of Independent Festivals. Confirmed panels include minimising water use at festivals, sustainable food & catering at events and the economics of sustainable events - as well as updates on waste, recycling, energy use and new innovations from the festival and event business, from other cultural industries notably TV and film, and updates on the Greener Festival Award scheme for 2012.

Last year's hugely successful conference was attended by delegates and panellists from festivals including Leeds & Reading Festivals, Truck and Wood, NozStock, Sunrise Celebration, Glastonbury, Waveform, Isle of Wight, Sonisphere, Lounge on the Farm, Hadra Trance Festival, Kendal Calling, Splendour, End of the Road and Roskilde; delegates and panellists from universities including De Montfort, Leeds Metropolitan, Sheffield Hallam, Bucks New University, Manchester Metropolitan, Dundee, London Metropolitan, Gloucestershire, and Glamorgan University: suppliers included delegates and panellists from WaterMills, Frank Water, Robertson Taylor Insurance brokers, Firefly Solar, Network Recycling, Big Green Coach, Liftshare, Buffalo Power, Innovation Power, Eco-Action Partnership and Eco-charge Technology; and representatives from Julies Bicycle and the Association of Independent Festivals.

The day runs from 10.00am to 18.00 and costs £75 per delegate. Students and AIF members have a discount rate of £50.00. Please note to reduce cost this does NOT include lunch but there are plenty of cafes, bars and restaurants at the SouthBank Centre.

Registration at Bucks New Uni open now

SOCA takes music blog offline

RnBXclusive.com, the British music blog that posted, amongst other things, alleged links to unlicensed music files, has been shut down by the Serious Organised Crime Agency. The website currently hosts a SOCA statement that says the UK government agency has taken control of the domain, and that the individuals behind the website have been "arrested for fraud".

Private funeral for Whitney, red faces for Sony

A private funeral for Whitney Houston will take place this Saturday in the singer's hometown of Newark at the modest Baptist church where she first sang in public. It will be an invite-only occasion

Elsewhere, sales of the late singer's work have boomed since her death. According to the Official Charts Company, 20 Houston songs should be in the UK Top 200 this weekend, seven in the Top 40, with her cover of Dolly Parton's 'I Will Always Love You' charting the highest. More embarrassingly, Sony Music in the UK have put down two price hikes in the wake of the death to ‘employee error’: the price for Whitney's 'Ultimate Collection' rose on iTunes UK from £4.99 to £7.99 and 'Whitney: The Greatest Hits', also went up in price temporarily, from £7.99 to £9.99.

Myspace bounces back

Myspace has announced receiving more than 1 million new sign-ups in the last month, which it said is as a result of the company’s recently launched Myspace Music Player. This brings the service’s monthly users to 25 million. Myspace has an “underappreciated” portfolio of 42 million songs – considerably more than competitors like Spotify (15 million tracks globally), Rdio (12 million) and Pandora (nearly 1 million). Myspace didn’t disclose the churn rate on those registrations, but comScore backs up the positive implications with a report that Myspace traffic rose in January. The revamped Myspace player has free unlimited on-demand listening, personalized radio modes, a recommendation engine and integration with Facebook.

Adele triumphs at Grammys

Adele triumphed at the Grammys, picking up six awards, including the Big Three: song and record of the year for “Rolling in the Deep,” and album of the year for “21.” Earlier in the night, she thanked “the doctors who brought my voice back” at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Against the backdrop of Whitney Houston’s shock death on Saturday, numerous tributes were paid to the star: We’ve had a death in our family,” host LL Cool J said. He offered “a prayer for a woman we loved, for a fallen sister.” And Jennifer Hudson performed a stark version of “I Will Always Love You” . The ceremony, opened by a song from Bruce Springsteen that brought a clapping Paul McCartney out of his seat , had other big winners including The Foo Fighters’ who picked up five Grammys and Kanye West had a great night with four victories, but didn’t show up to claim any trophies. US dance DJ Skrillex won three prizes, while double winners included folk duo The Civil Wars, country star Taylor Swift and gospel singer Kirk Franklin. More here http://www.grammy.com/

Whitney Houston dies

Whitney Houston has died, aged just 48. The singer, who had been troubled by drug abuse for many years, was found in her room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel by her bodyguard, and despite attempts to resuscitate her, she was pronounced dead at 3:55pm local time on Saturday afternoon. She was due to perform at a pre-Grammy award party in Los Angeles on Saturday night. Whilst police said they were investigating the death, the Hotel was not considered a crime scene. Among Houston's hits were How Will I Know, Saving All My Love for You and I Will Always Love You. She won multiple Grammys including album and record of the year and her success carried her beyond music to movies like The Bodyguard.

Stones in frame for London Olympics close

The Rolling Stones are a rumoured headliner for a closing concert to celebrate the 2012 London Olympic games, but in Hyde Park rather than the Olympic Stadium as it seems Mick Jagger is reluctant to cede artistic control to Danny Boyle who is in charge of the stadium ceremonies. The concert, promoted by Live Nation, is also rumoured to have Blur and Adele as possible performers. Sir Mick is keen to be involved in the Olympics in the band's 50th year, his father Joe was an Olympic rowing official in 1948, but was swayed by a negative memory from Bryan Adams who played the Vancouver Winter Olympics. 14 days of free events in Hyde Park will be 'book ended' by two 80,000 paid for concerts. The announcements come on the back of BT being confirmed as £2.5 million sponsor of the Olympics.

Live Nation told reporters "The line-up for the London Live 2012 Celebration Concerts as reported in the Evening Standard is not what we at Live Nation will be announcing soon and is based on unsubstantiated speculation".

Pollstar Awards out too!

The 23rd annual Pollstar Awards have honoured some of the US and international concert industry’s major players, and the winners at the Club Nokia in LA were announced as:

Major Tour of the Year – Lady Gaga
Most Creative Stage Production – Roger Waters
Best New Touring Artist – Adele
Red Rocks Award for Small Outdoor Venue (non-touring) – Greek Theatre (Los Angeles, CA)
Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue – Hollywood Bowl (Los Angeles, CA)
Arena of the Year – Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
Theatre of the Year – Ryman Auditorium (Nashville, TN)
Nightclub of the Year – Bowery Ballroom (New York, NY)
Best New Major Concert Venue – Austin City Limits Live At The Moody Theater (Austin, TX)
Facility Executive of the Year – John Bolton (BOK Center, Tulsa, OK)
Major Music Festival of the Year (non-touring) – Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival (Indio, CA)
Music Festival of the Year (non-touring) – The Hangout Music and Beach Festival (Gulf Shores, AL)
Bobby Brooks Award for Agent of the Year – Jonathan Levine (Paradigm)
Third Coast Booking Agent of the Year – Scott Clayton (Creative Artists Agency)
Independent Booking Agency of the Year – The Windish Agency
Booking Agency of the Year – Creative Artists Agency
Personal Manager of the Year – John Silva (Foo Fighters, Beck, Ryan Adams)
Road Warrior of the Year – Gus Brandt (Foo Fighters, Blink 182)
Bill Graham Award for Promoter of the Year – Louis Messina (The Messina Group)
Talent Buyer of the Year – Don Strasburg (AEG Live)
Nightclub Talent Buyer of the Year – Lesley Olenik (Club Nokia, Los Angeles, CA, Fox Theater, Pomona, CA)
Lighting Company of the Year –Upstaging
Sound Company of the Year – Clair
Staging or Equipment Company of the Year – All Access Staging & Productions
Transportation Company of the Year – Rock-It Cargo
Video Company of the Year – Moo TV
UK Booking Agent of the Year – Neil Warnock (The Agency Group)
International Promoter of the Year – Barrie Marshall (Marshall Arts)
International Music Festival of the Year – Glastonbury Festival (UK)
International Venue of the Year – The O2 (London, UK)

BBC Folk Awards out

Don Mclean and The Dubliners both picked up lifetime achievement awards last night at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards at the Lowery Centre in Salford, but it was June Tabor and Oysterband who dominated the show, picking up four awards between them:

Folk Singer Of The Year: June Tabor
Best Duo: Tim Edey & Brendan Power
Best Group: June Tabor & Oysterband
Best Album: June Tabor & Oysterband - Ragged Kingdom
Best Original Song (Joint Winners): Bella Hardy - The Herring Girl, Steve Tilston - The Reckoning
Best Traditional Track: June Tabor & Oysterband - Bonny Bunch Of Roses
Horizon Award: Lucy Ward
Musician Of The Year: Tim Edey
Best Live Act: The Home Service
BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award: Ioscaid
Lifetime Achievement Awards: The Dubliners, Don Mclean
Good Tradition Awards: Ian Campbell, Bill Leader
Roots Award: Malcolm Taylor

Ticket resale laws and anti-fraud legislation in the U.S. and United Kingdom

a USEFUL UPDATE on this whole area can be found on www.ticketnews.com giving readers an reminder on both UK and US law.