Ticketmaster buys Seatwave

Ticketmaster has bought the 'operating assets' of secondary ticketing firm Seatwave which will enable the ticketing giant to extend its resale business into a number of new European markets, including Germany, Italy and Spain. Under the new deal, Seatwave will continue to operate separately but as "a Ticketmaster company". According the official statement, this move "builds on Ticketmaster's successful strategy of creating best-in-class, consumer-friendly resale platforms in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States".

Radio Academy restructures

The UK's Radio Academy has announced some radical changes that will see the axing of its two key events - the Radio Festival and Radio Academy Awards (for most of its history know as the Sony Awards) - and the axing of its London office and staff of four. It seems that the loss of Sony as a headline sponsor of the annual awards show triggered  a "strategic review" but BBC Radio 1's Ben Cooper, who is Chair of the Academy, said: "I'm confident and determined that as an industry we can create an exciting and modern event that retains the gravitas of over 30 years of Awards".

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

Did Plant reject Branson's Led Zeppelin plans?

Rumours swirl that Robert Plant has turned down an offer worth 'hundreds of millions of dollars' from Richard Branson. The Virgin entrepreneur has reportedly offered Plant, Page and bassist John Paul Jones £190 million each to reform the Led Zeppelin for 35 shows, but Plant refused. An unnamed source told the tbe Daily Mirror "Jimmy, John and Jason (Bonham) signed up immediately. It was a no-brainer for them but Robert asked for 48 hours to think about it. When he said no and ripped up the paperwork he had been given, there was an enormous sense of shock. There is no way they can go ahead without him".

Writing on the Virgin website, Branson said: "I've been left dazed and confused by a story doing the rounds this week about us apparently offering Led Zeppelin £500 million to reform and carry out a tour. As much as I love the band, there is absolutely no truth to the story".

FESTIVAL NEWS

Following their recent decision to end operations in Mallorca, the organisers of Ibiza Rocks have announced the launch of a new festival under the 'Rocks' banner in 2015 in Croatia, a joint venture with the country's existing Hideout Festival. The Croatia Rocks event will be more of a conventional festival, taking place from 20-23 Jul on Zrce Beach, with a mixture of DJs and live acts.

Michael Eavis has confirmed that neither Fleetwood Mac or Queen would be playing Glastonbury in 2015. Speaking to Music Week, Eavis said, when asked if Queen and one-time bookies faves Fleetwood Mac might be taking the highest billing on the Pyramid Stage next year, Eavis said: "Queen? Not Queen, no. Fleetwood Mac don't seem to be available at the moment. But we've got three excellent headliners for next year". Picking up the 2014 Music Industry Trust Award, Eavis also said he would love to see a reformed Oasis and Taylor Swift at Worthy Farm.  Portrait by Bea Gibsonl

Lollapalooza's organisers have confirmed the first ever German version of the event will take place at Tempelhof Airport on 12-13 Sep 2015, with US-based William Morris Endeavor and C3 Presents working in collaboration with Reading/Leeds/Melt! bookers Festival Republic. The Berlin festival will be Lollapalooza's first European event, sitting beside still-active sister events in Chile, Brazil, and Argentina. Lollapalooza creator and one-time Jane's Addiction man Perry Pharrell says: "Berlin's energy, vibrant art, fashion and music scenes are a mirror reflection of what Lollapalooza is all about and I can't wait to share in this cultural exchange".

And Virtual Festivals reports that international festival brand Rock in Rio will make its debut in the USA next May. The festival will take place for the first time in Las Vegas, Nevada over two weekends, May 8 - 9 and May 15 - 16. The first weekend, from May 8-9, will be a 'Rock Weekend' and the second, from May 15-16, will be a 'Pop Weekend'. Cirque du Soleil and MGM Resort are already helping organisers build a brand new event space being called “The City of Rock”, large enough to hold more than 80,000 festival-goer each day. Metallica, Linkin Park, Deftones and No Doubt are the first acts announced for the 'Rock Weekend' at the inaugural edition of Rock in Rio USA. Taylor Swift, John Legend, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, and Joss Stone are among the first acts announced for the 'Pop Weekend' of Rock in Rio USA.

BBC Radio 2's annual search for new folk talent, which has been a launch pad for acts including Bella Hardy, Jackie Oates and Jim Moray, returns for 2015.Emerging Folk artist or bands Nominee for the BBC's Young Folk Awards. Nominees are picked from 10 successful entrants in January 2015 at the Young Folk Award Weekend, and the final 4 acts chosen by a team of judges will go on to perform at the awards held in April.As well as the accolade, the winner will also get slots at Towersey Festival, Cambridge Folk Festival and Fairport's Croperdy Convention. More here.

And Kendal Calling are calling out for emerging talent to join the award winning Cumbrian festival 'in the fields' for their special 10th Birthday celebration. So whether you are a band, DJ, comedian or poet, Kendal Calling would like to hear from you! More here.

And any bands, DJs, circus, cabaret, aerial performers, kids entertainers, artists, decoration peeps,  traders, volunteers, healers or anyone with something they would like to bring to Eden Festival 2015, please send a message ASAP through the website http://www.edenfestival.co.uk/MAIN/?page_id=39

Taylor Swift has been confirmed as the first headliner for Barclaycard presents British Summer Time in Hyde Park in June 2015.

Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon have been working on a brand new event for 2015, a five-day festival in Mexico with not only music but golf tournaments and dinner parties on the offering. Ozzfiesta will be hosted by the five-star Hard Rock Hotel in Riviera Maya next year, and appears to be a one-off Latin extension of the Osbournes’ annual Ozzfest tour. The festival will take place from Wednesday 27 - Sunday 31 May in the coastal region of Riviera Maya, Mexico and is being produced by Cool Breeze Concerts and Sharon Osbourne herself. Her husband Ozzy will headline a beachside stage on the final night the festival, which will also see performances from Black Label Society and several standup comics.

Stones cancel after Jagger throat infection

The Rolling Stones have cancelled a November 8th Australian concert after lead singer Mick Jagger was diagnosed with a throat infection, promoters said. Tour promoter Frontier issued a statement on their website saying the 71-year-old Jagger was under a doctor's strict order to rest his vocal chords for the next few days to recuperate for the remainder of the tour with the band saying they were 'disappointed'.

Warners on board with SoundCloud

SoundCloud, the user-created audio streaming platform currently used by 175 million unique listeners each month, confirmed today that it has inked its first licensing deal with one of the major record labels: the Warner Music Group — whose roster includes David Guetta, The Flaming Lips and Sheryl Crow — who will now partner with the streaming company around its ad-supported, creator partner program, “On SoundCloud” that was launched in August, as well as a paid subscription streaming service that will launch in the first half of 2015. Alexander Ljung, SoundCloud’s founder & CEO, said in a statement: “We’re thrilled that Warner Music Group will be the first major label to join our new creator partner program,” adding  “We expect to generate significant revenue for Warner and its artists in the months and years ahead as we roll out an ad-supported offering and subscription service that delivers real value to the industry.”

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.

Swift streams away

Taylor Swift has refused to allow any material from her new album, '1989' on streaming services -  the album sold 1.287 million copies in the US in its first week debuting at No 1 in the Billboard 200 albums chart - and Swift is now pulling her entire catalogue down from Spotify and others streaming platforms. Swift and her label Big Machine have always been particularly vocal about their fear that a presence on the big streaming platforms will damage first week download sales. Her last album, 'Red', was kept away  for seven months. Spotify had already noted the absence of the new record from its catalogue, with its official Twitter account retweeting a message to the musician pleading with her not to hold out too long. Deezer have also now removed Swift's catalogue from it's service.

More here http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2014/nov/08/taylor-swift-decision-pull-music-spotify-shot-arm-feminism

Grooveshark books in live offer

Controversial music streaming service Grooveshark has now turned its attention to the live events sector , with a new programme called Grooveshark Presents. Announced last week, the company says its streaming service can help reduce the risk for smaller acts looking to tour, by employing Grooveshark's data to ensure they only play where there is an audience for their shows. In a statement, Grooveshark CEO Sam Tarantino said: "With Grooveshark Presents we are removing the significant risks promoters take in booking talent, simply by combining the intelligence gathered from our streaming platform with our unique ability to communicate with our listeners. Live events are in our DNA, as our heavily millennial listener base consumes music online, but spends on music offline. This is a significant step in how Grooveshark organically bridges artists and fans with technology".

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.

THE REVOLVING DOOR

Dick Tee, The Glastonbury Festival's Pyramid & Other Stage Area Organiser and Head of Production has left the Festival team.  The veteran production manager has cited "irreconcilable issues" and has announced that he and his staff will cease their association with the Festival with immediate effect. Tee's company EnTEEtainment have handled a number of other productions in 2014 including the Radio 1 Big Weekend in Glasgow, Rochester Castle Concerts, Reading Festival, BBC Proms in the Park and Jeff Lynne's ELO Concert as part of the Radio 2 Live Festival in Hyde Park. Up-coming projects include a range of corporate events, both in the UK and overseas, as well as the Radio 1 Teen Awards in Wembley Arena and the London Chinese New Year celebrations London's West End.

The MN2S booking agency has  added two new agents - Joanna Miles, who comes to the firm from This Agency, and Lindsay Maclaren, who makes the move from IMD. 

Laura Davidson has becomes a VP for Goldenvoice/AEG Live, while Oscar Tuttiet joins the Coachella organiser as a promoter. Davidson will report into AEG Live COO Colin Chapple, and with Tuttiet will be charged with the task of developing the Goldenvoice brand in the UK.

PRS For Music Foundation has appointed a new chair for its board of trustees, Royce Bell.

Deezer has announced Christian Harris as its new Managing Director for the UK & Ireland. He replaces Mark Foster, who announced his departure in May following the resignation of CEO Alex Dauchez, both of whom left the company last month.

Accountancy firm NWN Blue Squared has announced the appointment of Jackie Da Costa who will become Business Support Manager, Music.

Merlin, the global digital rights agency for independent labels has announced the launch next month of a new New York office to be manned by Jim Mahoney, formerly of the American Association Of Independent Music, who becomes General Manager US.

Dean James, the former boss of MAMA, is launching a new music business to be called Sixth Plc, which is seeking "key acquisitions" in the "live, data analytics and artist partnerships" domain in the UK, India and Asia Pacific.

Vice's music platform Noisey has announced the appointment of two new members to its editorial team. Joe Zadeh, formerly at Clash magazine, becomes Associate Editor, and Emma Garland, who has previously written for The Guardian and The 405, joins as Staff Writer.

Music publisher Sony/ATV has promoted Rich Christina to the position of SVP, Head Of East Coast A&R. Christina will be based at the company's New York office, reporting to Sony/ATV's American co-president Danny Strick. Christina's team has itself a new Director of A&R, Clip Massey, who joins Sony/ATV from Universal Music Publishing.

Ron Fair is stepping down from his top role at the US branch of Virgin Records. He joined in early 2013. 

Liam Gallagher has said via Twitter that his post-Oasis band Beady Eye is "no longer".

Young Fathers have won the Mercury Prize 2014.

Warner Music Group yesterday announced that Simon Robson, currently COO and CFO for Warner Music UK, will take over leadership of the major's Asia Pacific division from 1 Jan next year, reporting into Stu Bergen, President, International at Warner Recorded Music. He takes over from Lachie Rutherford who will retire and step down in December this year. 

Warner Music Group has also announced two changes to its senior management team. Brian Roberts is moving into the newly created role of Executive Vice President Of Corporate Strategy & Operations, and is then replaced as CFO by Eric Levin.

Orbital has "stopped working" for its co-creators Phil and Paul Hartnoll, who've decided to move on to solo projects new. The band had previously split in 2004 but reformed  in 2012 in time to appear at the Paralympics Opening Ceremony, and to release an LP in 'Wonky'.

•Chris Phillips has been announced as Pandora's new Chief Product Officer. He was previously Amazon Digital Music's Director of Product Management and User Experience.

And finally Tim Ingham is to leave his three year old post as Editor of Music Week at the close of 2014 in order to establish his own media enterprise in the new year.

RIP

Patrick Stansfield, the legendary tour and stage manager who helped create the modern arena rock concert, has died early. he passed on in his sleep at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, Calif. He was 70 and died of kidney failure. Stansfield was involved over the years with artists including Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, the Grateful Dead, Santana, Tina Turner, and countless others. He produced Diamond’s film vehicle “The Jazz Singer” and Streisand’s “Barbra: The Concert.”

Felix Hines of Phoenix Music International has died whilst attending the Amsterdam Dance Event. Felix joined Phoenix in 2012 after a 7 year stint as MD of London publisher Westbury Music where he was responsible for the signings of Riva Starr, Theo Parrish and Ragga 
Twins, amongst others.

John Holt has died aged 69. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Holt joined ska band The Paragons in 1964, writing his first big hit in the now-iconic 'The Tide Is High', which rose to fame again when Blondie covered it in 1980.

The jazz clarinettst Acker Bilk has died aged 85.  Bilk began performing in the early 1950s, and was best known for his 1962 single 'Strangers On The Shore', which was the UK's highest selling single of that year. He last performed live in August last year at the Brecon Jazz Festival.

Saxophonist Raphael Ravenscroft, who famously plays the sax solo on Gerry Rafferty's 'Baker Street', has died aged 60 of a suspected heart attack. Ravenscroft later worked as a session musician with Pink Floyd, ABBA, Marvin Gaye and, more recently Daft Punk. A one-time music teacher at York College, he also published an instruction book, 'The Complete Saxophone Player' in 1990.

Singer Alvin Stardust has died aged 72 after a short illness. Alvin, who had earlier in his career performed as Shane Fenton,  had recently been diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer and died at home with his wife and family around him, his manager said. Born Bernard Jewry in the East End of London in 1942, his hits included My Coo Ca Choo, Jealous Mind and I Feel Like Buddy Holly. The former glam rock star had been due to release his first studio album in 30 years this autumn.

Jack Bruce, the bassist and vocalist in the 1960s supergroup Cream, has died of liver disease, aged 71. Having played with Alexis Korner’s Blues Inc, the Graham Bond Organisation, John Mayall’s Blues Breakers and Manfred Mann, Bruce formed Cream with Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker. Cream sold 35 million albums in just over two years and were awarded the world's first ever platinum disc for their LP Wheels of Fire. Bruce co-wrote and sang most of the songs, including "I Feel Free", "White Room" and "Sunshine Of Your Love".

The photographer David Readfern has died aged 78. David amassed a collection of over 200,000 images in his extraordinary career, and his subjects included legends such as the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, David Bowie and Frank Sinatra. Three of his images were chosen for the US Post Office's celebration of the history of American jazz included his iconic shot of Louis Armstrong.


Tim Hauser, the founder of Manhatten Transfer who had a global hit with Chanson D'Amour has died aged 72. 

Wayne Static, the singer and guitarist of Los Angeles industrial metal band Static X, has died at the age of 48. The news was confirmed by Wayne’s publicists at FiXT Publicity. 

All sadly mised.


                                                             *********************

And finally, http://wundergroundmusic.com/ebeneezer-goode-found-dead-after-ecstasy-overdose/ have confirmed that nineties cult hero Ebeneezer Goode has been found dead in his home after suffering a suspected ecstasy overdose. Close friends of Mr. Goode’s, Mr. Raider and Mr. Vain, have confirmed that Ebeneezer will be cremated with his ashes to be spread over the site of a disused warehouse in Essex, where Mr. Goode is believed to have taken his first pill. There will also be a plaque erected in his honour at the site which will be inscribed with “Naughty, naughty, very naughty.Ha ha ha ha ha” (which as we all know was once written by a great philosopher).  Respect, and relive the moment here. 

The Agency Group has announced the purchase of the Coalition Talent Agency

The Agency Group has announced that it has purchased the Coalition Talent Agency. The celebrity and DJ booking agency represents a number of presenters and other talent including BBC Radio 1 breakfasst show DJ Nick Grimshaw as well as Edith Bowman, Jameela Jamil, Pixie Lotte, Huw Stevens, Jen Long, Steve Lamacq and Cassetteboy. It also own a number of live brands, including the Coffee House Sessions, and is particularly active in booking acts for university appearances. 

Tinderbox fallout continues

The new part publicly funded Tinderbox festival in Denmark has claimed three more victimes as Danish booking agency Beatbox Booking confirmed that it had been forced to fire three of its staff. Tinderbox will receive public funding  of £2.5 million over five years but it's placement in the calendar close to rival festival Roskilde has been described as "an act of war", while Norwegian festival Hove cancelled its 2015 edition with owner Festival Republic claiming that the addition of a new state-funded festival made it too difficult to compete in the Scandinavian market. Four festivals - Roskilde Festival, Smukfest, Nibe Festival and Jelling Musikfestival - all refused to work with Danish booking agencies, Beatbox and Scandinavian, due to their links with Tinderbox. As a result two staffers at Scandinavian who are involved with Tinderbox resigned from the company last month, while Beatbox Booking boss Peter Sorensen questioned why his company was being boycotted, when in fact it was now a totally separate entity to Beatbox Concerts which was involved with the new festival. In a letter to the four boycotting festivals, published by Gaffa, Sorensen wrote: "It was not a nice day in the office yesterday. In addition to firing three good and talented people, I have had to explain to my staff how everything what we have built over the past decade has now been smashed beyond recognition by four festivals' clumsy, disrespectful and deeply unpleasant attack on our integrity and credibility".

Blurred lines plagiarism case set to continue

The Blurred Lines plagiarism case is set to proceed to court, after US Judge John Kronstadt ruled that the family of Marvin Gaye had sufficiently demonstrated that elements of the controversial pop hit may be "substantially similar to protected, original elements of" the Marvin Gaye track 'Got To Give It Up'. The action was initiated by Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams who initially filed papers over allegations that 'Blurred Lines' borrowed heavily from the 1977 Gaye record. They wanted judicial confirmation there was no case of copying - a move which now may have backfired

Morrissey gets venue meat free (again)

The Times reports that having slagged off Italian venues as 'abysmal', the 'moany Mancunian minstrel'  Morrissey arrived at a show in Utrecht on Tuesday (Octiber 28th) and demanded that meat and fish be banned throughout the five venue cultural complex in Holland. In 2011 Morrissey's tour rider contained provisions demanding festivals and venues went meat free and one, Lokerse Feesten in Belgium, went meat free fr one of their ten days whe Morrissey appeared with organisers saying "one meatless day" out of 10 was "a healthy break for all". In 2009, the singer left the stage at California's Coachella festival saying he could "smell burning flesh". According to Coachella festival-goers, the singer then added: "And I hope to God it's human."

DJ reporting tool launched

PRS for Music are progressing talks with Pioneer to enable the collection society to receive the reporting of music played in clubs captured by their KUVO system. The new technology will capture club play data and potentially enhance the accuracy in the distribution of royalties for music played in clubs. KUVO is a mobile app that provides clubbers with details of the music played by DJs using Pioneer CD players (CDJs) in clubs where the KUVO hardware is installed. PRS say they have progressed talks with Pioneer with a view to evaluating and ultimately utilising the KUVO data to improve the accuracy of PRS distributions. Pioneer launched KUVO at Amsterdam Dance Event on 15 October 2014. PRS also say that a number of monitoring solutions to help improve reporting for DJ performances in clubs and at festivals are also being considered as part of the Amplify project.

Venues day in London announced

The Music Venues Trust has announced Venues Day, an event due to take place at the Southbank Centre in London on the 9th December. Aiming to give a stronger voice to the UK's smaller gig venues, the day will see discussions between representatives of those venues and the wider music industry. There will be three main panels, dealing with: best practice, noise vs nuisance, and the question 'what happens next?' Amongst the speakers on the day will be Horace Trubridge from the Musicians' Union, Attitude Is Everything's Suzanne Bull, Mike Weatherley MP, Lisa Lavia from the Noise Abatement Society and Dom Frazer from Guildford venue The Boilerroom. Venue managers, owners and promoters can apply for free delegate passes now by emailing musicvenuetrust@gmail.com. 

Registration will open fully on 10 Nov. More info here.

Live fast .... die young

Professor Diana Kenny from the University of Sydney has proved what most of suspected .... and The Who yearned for .... rock stars tend to die younger than the rest of us. Its not all bad news, Mick Jagger is 71 and Keith Richards 70, Tony Bennett has made it to 88 and Petula Clark is 81, with Dame Vera Lynn now 97. Even Ozzy has made it to 65 and a free bus pass. But Kenny's research shows that rock stars live anything up to 25 years less than their peers. There is of course the 'curse of 27' which has snapped up such talent as Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix - although death at the age of 27 has no statistical basis - but the study of nearly 13,000 rock and pop stars from the 1950s onwards in all genres shows that popsters and rockers are twice as likely as the general public to die in an accident, six times more likely to be murdered, and twice as likely to commit suicide. The average age of death for male rock stars is in the mid fifties -  and the Beatles are a good example - one (John Lennon) murdered aged just 40, another (George Harrison) dead of lung cancer at 58 - but Sir Paul and Ringo are still rocking on aged 72 and 74 years old respectively.