Friday 29 May 2009, 11:41 | By Paul Vig

Approved: Balance Launch Party (CMU Friday Tips)

Club Tip CMU Approved

VIGSY’S CLUB TIP: Balance Launch Party
Three party promoters from the underground scene – WANG, Base and Split – have joined forces to launch a new bi-monthly night called Balance, to be hosted at a brand new club near London Bridge called Cable. They’ve pulled out all the stops for their first event with a killer line-up that includes Detroit electro pioneers Aux 88, who are jetting in for an exclusive live show; Surgeon, who performs the UK debut of his audio/visual live show; Luke Slater, who plays a rare Planetary Assault Systems DJ set; and junglist A Guy Called Gerald, who will be dropping some primordial live acid mayhem (he rocked the Corsica Studios when I was down at WANG last year). DJ support is being provided by top gun Billy Nasty alongside Electro Elvis, Lula, Ben Sims, Alex Downey and househead Jim Masters. I reckon the night is guaranteed to be firing on all cylinders, and if you are even remotely into your techno or electro, it’s not to be missed. A good chance to get in on the debut of what looks to be a hot new night.

Friday 29 May, 11pm-7am, Cable, 33A Bermonsey St, London SE1, £14 (£12 adv/conc), more at
www.balance-club.co.uk, info from info@balance-club.co.uk

Pirate Bay lawyer discusses appeal

Legal Top Stories

The lawyer who represented The Pirate Bay Four in their recent trial, Per Samuelsson, has discussed the appeal he has submitted, which is currently being considered by the Swedish courts, and in particular the claim that a mistrial should be called because of the judge’s possible bias.

As previously reported, it was revealed last month, just a few days after The Pirate Bay Four were given a year in jail and slapped with a £2.4m fine for their role in enabling mass copyright infringement via their BitTorrent-focused search engine service, that the judge who ruled on the case, Tomas Norstrom was a member of The Swedish Association For Copyright and the Swedish Association For The Protection Of Industrial Property. Some argue his membership of those groups means he would be biased towards the copyright owners in the case – ie the music companies and film studios – plus one of the bodies also counts various lawyers associated with the prosecution as members.

Talking about the allegations of bias on Norstrom’s part, Samuelsson told Swedish news agency Tidningarnas Telegrambyra: “The younger generation’s confidence in the justice system is at stake. I would not say that the process of choosing the judge was rigged – the case was assigned to Norström mainly because he is perceived as an expert in copyright. But it raises questions, especially as this was basically a criminal case. I am in no doubt when I say that he was biased”.

He continued: “As I understand it, a very large majority of the younger generation think what is taking place here is an utter farce. It’s inconceivable that the Court Of Appeal can accept [Norstrom’s] ruling”.

One of the prosecution’s lawyers, Henrik Ponten, was also asked for comment, but would only say: “This will now be examined in the Court Of Appeal and we await the trial”.

Nude painting of Madonna and Guy Ritchie up for auction

Courtney Love sued by American Express

Legal

Courtney Love is being sued by American Express over an outstanding credit card bill of over $350,000. The company claim that the star has refused to pay them, presumably because she doesn’t believe it was her who spent it.

Love has variously accused people of stealing from her in recent years, and last year claimed that singer-songwriter Ryan Adams ran up a huge bill on one of her credit cards in order to pay for the recording of one of his albums. That may indeed be this bill.

American Express is seeking the unpaid amount of $352,059.67, plus damages, lawyers fees and late payment charges.

Rihanna due in court over Brown beating next month

Legal

Rihanna’s lawyer has confirmed that the singer has been subpoenaed to appear at a prelim court hearing, in relation to her altercation with Chris Brown earlier this year, on 22 Jun. The hearing will ascertain whether or not there is enough evidence against Brown to proceed with the case against him. As previously reported, Brown faces charges of assault and making criminal threats in relation to a fight he had with then girlfriend Rihanna after a pre-Grammy party, a fight which left the R&B songstress bruised and unconscious. Although Rihanna herself is not pushing for he now ex-boyfriend to be charged, her lawyer has said she will testify without objection if asked to do so.

In related news, two bits of bad news relating to photographs for Brown yesterday. First, his lawyer’s attempt to find out who leaked photos of a bruised Rihanna to the press shortly after the aforementioned altercation has been blocked by an LA Superior Court judge. Brown’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, is trying to use criticism of the behaviour of the LAPD in their handling of the Rihanna assault allegations as one way of fighting the charges against his client. The leaking of the photos was one of the key criticisms Geragos referenced, but his attempts to force the police to reveal who and how the photos reached the media have failed – presumably because the judge believes the photo issue to be a distraction and, after all, it was Rihanna and not Brown’s privacy that was invaded by the publication of the police photos.

Elsewhere, an LA photographer is suing Brown over allegations he was beaten by the R&B star’s bodyguards after attempting to take pictures of him at a gym. Robert Rosen is seeking unspecified damages for multiple claims, including assault, battery, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The aforementioned Geragos has dismissed the lawsuit, pointing out that the same photographer unsuccessfully sued actor Pierce Brosnan over similar claims back in 2007. The legal man told reporters: “This is a specious and frivolous lawsuit by one of the paparazzi seeking publicity and a payday. He’s done this before and lost. We will vigorously defend against this”.

Spector to be sentenced today

Legal

Phil Spector is due in court in LA later today to be sentenced for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson at his home in 2003. Technically speaking he should face fifteen years to life in prison for the crime.

As previously reported, the prosecution are pushing for at least nineteen years, I think because they reckon he should also get four years for a related gun crime, in addition to the fifteen years for causing Clarkson’s death.

However, Spector’s lawyer Doron Weinberg has requested the sentence be reduced to just three years. The legal man also again argued Spector’s conviction had been based on “conjecture, not facts” and confirmed his client’s intention to appeal the ruling.

Dave Gahan has tumour removed, gets back to touring

Artist News

Depeche Mode frontman Dave Gahan has undergone surgery to remove a tumour after he fell ill in Athens earlier this month, shortly after the start of the band’s latest tour. Although, as previously reported, it was a bout of severe gastroenteritis which hospitalised the singer, further medical tests uncovered a lowgrade malignant tumour in his bladder.

After a quick recovery, the band will resume the tour in Leipzig in Germany on 8 Jun. However, this does mean that the band’s planned date at the O2 Dome tomorrow night has been postponed. A new date will be announced shortly and all tickets will remain valid to the rescheduled show.

Artist bodies investigate whether they can stop BNP selling music CDs

Business News Labels & Publishers

A number of artists, including Billy Bragg, Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason and Blur drummer Dave Rowntree, are backing a campaign by the Musicians’ Union and Featured Artists Coalition to try to stop the British National Party from selling compilation CDs of British songs and music by British artists via its own online shop, which goes by the name of Excalibur.

The BNP store sells a range of compilations, most filled with the sorts of patriotic songs that might be sung at the Last Night Of The Proms, or some kind of nostalgic World War Two evening, but some feature newer songs, like the ‘Best Of British Folk’. They’re the sort of compilations you’d normally find in service stations or pound shops, it’s just here they are being sold by, and in aid of, the BNP.

Bragg et al object to music being used to help support the BNP without the people behind the music’s permission. The problem is, of course, once an album exists, artists and songwriters have no control over who sells them, and most wholesalers will provide anyone who writes a cheque with stock, especially if they’re sitting on a warehouse full of CDs as shit as most of the ones the BNP are selling.

However, the MU and FAC are investigating whether the so called ‘moral rights’ of a songwriter could be said to be infringed when their songs are sold by a political party, especially one as controversial as the BNP.

It’s the ‘right of integrity’ that the trade bodies’ lawyers would be trying to assert, which only exists in the songs themselves if I remember rightly (ie not the recording). It’s an interesting approach to the problem, though ‘moral rights’ are a bit of a vague concept. Plus the BNP aren’t altering the songs they sell, nor stating, or even implying really, that the writers of any of the songs featured on the records they sell would in anyway sympathise with their political views, so I’m not sure how strong a moral rights case the musicians have. But it will be interesting to see if they decide there is a case worth pursuing and, if so, whether they have any success.

The BNP, however, say they have no intention of taking the CDs off their online store. A spokesman said: “They [the artists] have already made their money, haven’t they? Once that music’s gone through a distributor. They’re politicising themselves to a high degree by doing this and we wouldn’t really be concerned by that. It’s up to us what we sell – we’re not changing. There’s no suggestion through this that artists support the BNP or otherwise. They’re barking up the wrong tree, to be honest”.

Even if the MU and FAC were successful, Excalibur would still presumably be allowed to sell what is surely the most sought after CD in their collection – ‘West Wind’, “a collection of nationalist songs penned by Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party”. I never knew Griffin was so talented – surely we should get him to pen next year’s Eurovision entry?

New Sigur Rós album new completion

Artist News

Sigur Rós have reported that they are back in Iceland working on a new album, and that the follow up to 2008’s ‘Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust’ is already nearing completion.

A capital letter free posting on the band’s website reads thus: “sigur rós have been at work in their sundlaugin studio in álafoss the past few weeks recording a full length album, which is now nearing completion. orri told morgunbladid newspaper today that the recordings have been going very well and that the album is taking form as a slower and more ambient record than ‘med sud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust’ and ‘takk’…. he also describes the music as melodic but much less noisy and more ‘out there’ than previous albums. the album does not have a release date set but is expected to be released sometime next year”.

Eels stream new album

Releases

Eels are streaming their new album, ‘Hombre Lobo’, which according to Duncan CMU sees Mark ‘E’ Everett singing “from the perspective of an unloved child who’s now grown up, meaning that it deals almost wholly with desire”.

The album is set for release on Monday, but you can hear it right now at www.myspace.com/eels

We’ve already heard it. Duncan wrote a review. Find out what he thought in this week’s CMU Weekly, out this afternoon – www.cmuweekly.co.uk

Todd Rundgren to perform A Wizard, A True Star

Gigs & Festivals

A collection of psychedelic tracks merging into one another, Todd Rungren’s 1973 album ‘A Wizard, A True Star’ was generally considered commercial suicide when it was originally released. However, since then it has found its audience and is today cited by artists including Hot Chip and Daft Punk as a major influence on their own work.

I’m mentioning this now because Rundgren will play the album live in its entirety for the first time in the UK on 6 Feb 2010 in a one-off performance at the Hammersmith Apollo in London. Tickets went on sale this week.

Invisible Players return tonight

Brands & Merch Gigs & Festivals

The third year of Rizla’s Invisible Players Tour kicks off in Bristol tonight. This year’s players are Soul II Soul’s Jazzie B, Jon Carter, Micachu, Super Furry Animal Gruff Rhys and David Shrigley, and they’ll be playing an eclectic mix of music from the distinctive Rizla touring van at various club nights and festivals over the summer.

It all kicks off at Bristol’s Start The Bus venue tonight, with a date at The Deaf Institute in Manchester a week on Saturday, and then stop offs at Rockness, Lovebox, The Big Chill and Bestival. More at www.rizla.co.uk/invisible-players

Libellus launch

Gigs & Festivals

“A night of colourful festival magic, burlesque grandeur, mischievous mayhem, aerial performances, divine dancers, DJ’s, fancy dress, fantasy nymphs, beat poets, drink promos, and interactive games of mystery and intrigue” are all being promised at the launch of the debut album from London-based songstress Tallulah Rendall, which sounds like fun. Oh, and there’ll be free cocktails too. The launch of ‘Libellus’ takes place at London’s Café de Paris on Wednesday night, 3 Jun. Whether it’s the streaming songs and free download available at www.myspace.com/tallulahrendall or the promise of fantasy nymphs that tickle your fancy, get in touch with Blurb PR for more details about the party – tim@blurbpr.com

Student offer for Insomniacs Ball – get in for eight quid

Gigs & Festivals

We announced yesterday that CMU favourites Infadels have been added as headliners for the next edition of the Insomniacs Ball. Well, here’s an extra bit of good news from the Ball, especially for student readers. Organisers Leyline are offering special rates for students, who can now pre-order their tickets for eight quid. They just need to make sure they bring their student ID on the night. As previously reported, also on the bill for the event at Corsica Studios on 5 Jun are Everything Everything and Hook And The Twin, plus there’ll be DJ sets from Late Of The Pier, God Don’t Like It, Cocknbullkid and Ezra Bang. Students wanting to get the £4.50 per ticket discount should use this link to buy their tickets.

Dre track previewed on Pepper ad

Brands & Merch

The first glimpse of Dr Dre’s much anticipated and somewhat delayed new album ‘Detox’ can be heard in the new US advert for that fizzy syrup popular with any Americans not in the current Guns N Roses line up, Dr Pepper. Dre guests in the latest instalment of the drink’s ‘Trust Me, I’m A Doctor’ campaign, and in it he references the decade long wait for the new long player, saying to camera: “Scientific test prove when you drink Dr Pepper slow, the 23 flavours taste even better. For me, slow always produces a hit”. He then steps behind a DJ booth and plays a few beats, seemingly from his new album. ‘Detox’ is now scheduled for a late 2009 release after the project was delayed due to Dre’s commitments to the new Eminem and 50 Cent albums. Dr Pepper’s ‘Trust Me I’m A Doctor’ campaign has featured other made up doctors – retired American basketball player Dr J and Dr Frasier Crane – plus Kiss’ Gene Simmons, accompanied by his song ‘Doctor Love’.

You can see the Dre ad here.

Terra Firma have to help EMI meet bank payment

Business News Labels & Publishers

According to the Wall Street Journal equity firm Terra Firma have had to inject another £28 million into EMI to keep the music group afloat.

Well, more specifically to cover interest payments due to Citigroup, the bank who helped finance Terra Firma’s acquisition of the London-based major music firm. Given EMI’s debts to Citibank were created by Terra Firma bosses it seems only fair they should foot the bill for interest payments, but analysts say that the company’s chief Guy Hands and his top team at the equity outfit would have hoped for EMI to be paying its own bank bills by now.

As previously reported, the EMI purchase has put quite a strain on Terra Firma, because the board there, insiders say, expected to turn round the flagging major’s fortunes pretty quickly once in charge. Although the subsequent credit crunch hasn’t helped, some say their failure to do so was mainly caused by some quite substantial misunderstandings of how record companies operate.

Officially Terra Firma remain committed to their EMI ownership for the foreseeable future, but with long time EMI suitors Warner Music getting a better rating in the US investment community of late, some wonder whether the boss there, Edgar Bronfman Jr, hasn’t got “buy EMI” back on his agenda. If he did make any moves in that direction, and if Terra Firma were open to the suggestion they offload their big music asset, it would be interesting to see if Bronfman’s controversial deal with the European indie label community, which was designed to help him get European Commission approval for a combined EMI Warner, still stands.

Will PRS rates cut allow Pandora UK?

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers

So, will songwriter collecting society PRS For Music slashing their digital royalty rates enable US-based streaming music service Pandora re-enter the UK market?

As previously reported, Pandora bosses shelved plans to launch a UK version of their service because of PRS’s rates, and subsequently had to block access to their American website to UK IP addresses in order to comply with licensing rules. Following the news on-demand streaming royalties were being cut from 0.22p per stream to 0.085p, some speculated this might enable Pandora to reconsider its UK ambitions.

However, that is looking unlikely. Mainly because Pandora wouldn’t operate under the on-demand stream licence, because it is, of course, one of those services that sits between traditional online radio stations and Spotify-style on-demand jukeboxes – its has elements of personalisation and recommendation, but is not truly on-demand, you can’t just show up and ask to listen to the new Green Day single, or Eminem album, or BNP leader Nick Griffin’s ‘West Wind’ collection of nationalist songs. You set the player in motion by naming your favourite artist, and then it plays you a stream of music. There’s the facility to skip tracks, but not full on-demand functionality.

That kind of service sits under PRS’s cheaper ‘interactive webcaster’ licence, which, while also cut as part of the collecting society’s online licensing revamp, is only reduced by 23.5%, not the dramatic 61.4% cut that we saw in the on-demand streaming rate.

Pandora CEO Joe Kennedy doesn’t sound too optimistic about the new webcasting rates and the chances of them enabling Pandora to launch in the UK. He told Digital Music News: “PRS is apparently attempting to characterise the changes made to webcasting rates as similar to those made for on-demand, which I don’t believe is an accurate characterization”.

You might wonder why Pandora doesn’t just develop a Spotify type offer, which would presumably be more popular with users and advertisers that its current model, though, of course, while the difference between interactive webcasting and on-demand stream PRS royalty rates is now less, the latter is still more expensive. Plus that’s before you consider what the record companies would want to licence their music for a truly on-demand service. The labels have always been more sensitive about the impact of truly on-demand streaming music services on a la carte download sales, and many rumours abound about the premium rates Spotify have agreed to pay the majors in order to get their buy in for their especially user-friendly very on-demand streaming music service.

Spotify news

Business News Digital

Talking of Spotify, some quick stories from the streaming music service of the moment.

First, Spotify execs this week demoed a mobile version of their service, designed to work on the Google Android mobile phone platform, at the Google IO conference in San Francisco. They then posted a video of the demo on YouTube. It is very much a work in progress, but seemed to get the geeks excited for half an hour yesterday. You can go geek yourself at the URL below. It is one of three mobile versions of Spotify in development, one for the iPhone has been previously previewed, while a version for the Symbian OS is also reportedly being planned.

Spotify Android preview.

Elsewhere in Spotify news, the company has announced it has a licensing deal in place with Hollywood-based indie label Epitaph, who bring a considerable catalogue to the table, including recordings from The Offspring, Rancid, Pennywise and NOFX.

Warner and Universal help Imeem by agreeing to lower royalties

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers

Word has it that both Warner Music and Universal Music have agreed to lower their licensing rates for struggling music-based social network Imeem, in a bid to help the web company make their business work.

Warner have a vested interest, of course, given they are shareholders in the digital music firm, but if Universal have actually also dropped their royalty rates, then that’s interesting, because it’s a sign that the biggest major record company has actually recognised they have a vested interest in at least some of the many digital music services that have launched in recent years from actually becoming profitable going concerns, rather than all digital royalty income being funded by venture capital invested in start ups.

Digital Music News report that Napster may also have got more favourable licensing rates from the two majors, helping them launch a more competitive five dollar a month subscription offer in the US.

Time Warner to spin off AOL

Media

Media firm Time Warner which, remember, is nothing to do with Warner Music these days, has announced plans to spin off its AOL internet division into a separate company.

The split should happen later in the year, and brings to an end one of the earliest and most audacious internet takeovers, a merger which has long been criticised by investment types.

AOL is consistently one of Time Warner’s weakest divisions, and the move will strengthen the media giant’s financials somewhat. It’s also hoped AOL might perform better as an independent company.

UKRD makes loan to TLRC

Media

Local radio company UKRD has provided its rival, The Local Radio Company, with a £1.5 million cash boost. As previously reported, UKRD now own just over 50% of TLRC, and as such has made the loan to its now sister company on a very favourable basis.

UKRD has let it be known it still aspires to buy out TLRC completely, something which would allow a full merger of the two radio groups, and as such its share offer remains. The company’s other major shareholder, though, Hallwood, who previously tried to block UKRD from getting control of the TLRC, remain unwilling to sell.

Between them, UKRD and TLRC own 26 local radio stations, though TLRC owns the majority.

Geri Halliwell: “Cheryl Cole is my fault”

And Finally

Geri Halliwell reckons that Cheryl Cole’s booming career, as a TV star as well as a Girl Aloud, is all down to her. This is because Geri reckons – and she might be right, I never watched it – that it was her who first spotted Cole’s potential on the talent show that created the girl group, ‘Popstars: The Rivals’. She was a judge on that show, of course.

The former Spice Girl told the Daily Mail: “I’m so proud of Cheryl Cole. I really fought hard to put her through. I love that I opened that little window of opportunity for her and now she’s run with it”.

Cole has previously complained about her group being dubbed the “new Spice Girls”, observing: “We’ve been around for six years – they were around for 18 months. We recognise what the Spice Girls did, but it really annoys me when you meet girls who go, ‘We wannabe the next Spice Girls'”.

My Chemical baby

And Finally

My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way’s wife Lindsey Ballato gave birth to the couple’s first child on Wednesday, which they’ve decided to call Bandit Lee. A spokesperson told People.com: “Bandit Lee Way was born in Los Angeles at 2.57pm and weighs 6 pounds, 5.6 ounces. Everyone is healthy and happy”.

Perry won’t sell out

And Finally

There are those who say that brand partnerships is the way forward for musicians. Not Katy Perry though, who has hit out at fellow pop stars who flog stuff to make a fast buck instead of trying to make better music.

She told The Daily Star: “I work every day and nothing is for free. I’m not some fucking idiot wasted pop starlet lost on an island somewhere. I have a job, I know my responsibility and I’m always trying to take it to the next level. People had a bet on my head that I’d have to dip out because I wouldn’t be able to handle all of it. I went and played every show, then I sold out a 50-city, around-the-world tour, which is awesome – and most of these bitches just hawk breath mints or shoes. No offence to them, but maybe I’ll hawk shoes later in life”.

Approved: Socialist Leisure Party (SNAP Of The Day)

CMU Approved

It’s not the best of names, but Socialist Leisure Party is probably a fitting title for this Brighton-meets-Berlin-meets-London-meets-Nancy group. They take obvious influence from Orange Juice and the Glasgow indie pop set, though with a more ramshackle approach to production that sees them hitting home closer to ‘I Should Coco’ era Supergrass, particularly on standout track ‘Head In The Hay’, which they don’t have streaming at their Myspace. It’s a stellar example of the indie pop formula: going from quiet to loud, then bringing in some vaguely staccato guitars, quickly touch an emotional moment before heading straight back into a big nonsensical chorus of “ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-da…”. In fact, the last group I had this much fun listening to was the 1990s, a band that perfected the art of euphoric, irreverent, audience participation-at-maximum choruses. SLP should take note.

hypem.com/search/socialist%20leisure%20party/1/
www.myspace.com/socialistleisureparty

MUZU sign up fourth major

C-Murder pleads no contest to attempted murder charges

Legal

As rapper C-Murder prepares to defend himself in his murder retrial later this year, yesterday he, erm, pleaded no contest to a totally separate set of attempted murder charges. Which means that even if he does successfully defeat the second degree murder charges he will fight for a second time this August, he could still be facing a decade in jail.

As much previously reported, C-Murder, who has sensibly adopted the moniker C-Miller since getting tangled up with all these murder allegations, his real name being Corey Miller, was convicted in 2003 for the 2002 murder of teenager Jefferson Parrish. However, the verdict in that trial was overruled after it was revealed the jury hadn’t been told about a deal that had been done with a rather shady witness for the prosecution, whose testimony was arguably crucial to the final ruling. Since then Miller has been living under house arrest, and will face a retrial for the Parrish murder in August.

Meanwhile, Miller faced a totally separate set of charges relating to a separate earlier incident in 2001 when the rapper apparently pulled a gun on the owner of a Baton Rouge club after an altercation with a bouncer when he refused to be searched before entering the establishment. Miller can apparently be seen on a video recording pulling a gun on both club owner Norman Sparrow and the bouncer. The gun jams, however, and the prosecution argued that that was the only reason the two men weren’t shot.

With a trial due to begin any time in relation to that set of attempted murder charges, Miller’s legal people this week reached a plea deal with prosecutors in which the rapper agreed to plead no contest. It is thought the prosecution will agree to a ten year prison sentence as part of the deal. That said, some reports suggest time already service in prison and under house arrest, even though much of that relates to the other murder case, may be taken into account when sentencing, meaning any actual prison time might be significantly cut.

Meanwhile, the second Parrish murder trial is due to take place in August. It remains to be seen if the jury this time also finds Miller guilty, even without the dodgy witness who helped secure the guilty verdict first time round. If so, the sentence for the attempted murder charge will be almost irrelevant.

German courts ban Depeche Mode ticket resales

Legal

So, here’s an interesting development in the good old secondary ticketing story coming from Germany, where a court has banned a secondary ticketing website from selling tickets to the upcoming Depeche Mode tour in the country.

The promoter of said tour, one Marek Lieberberg, took ticketing portal Ventic, owned by Dutch company Smartfox Media, to court after they began reselling tickets for Depeche Mode gigs which they had bought off the promoter’s company, or third parties. The lawsuit was based on the fact the terms and conditions attached to the tickets ban their resale, which, therefore, technically speaking puts Ventic, and any third parties they represent, in breach of contract. More than that, Leiberberg’s legal people argued that because Ventic knew they planned to resell the tickets despite it being forbidden by the t+cs, and because they hid that intent from the official ticket sellers, they were also guilty of “fraudulent purchase”.

A Munich court backed Lieberberg’s claims this week, and served an injunction ordering Ventic to stop the resale of tickets to the German leg of the Depeche Mode tour, which kicks off on 2 Jun (and will be going ahead, the band have just confirmed, even though their London show this Saturday is the latest to be cancelled as a result of frontman Dave Gahan’s severe bout of gastroenteritis).

Welcoming the ruling, Frankfurt-based Lieberberg told Billboard: “This decision is the first small step toward the long overdue regulation of ticket sales and the restriction of black market trading. Our aim must be to prevent professional ticket auctions and unacceptable commissions that often come to a multiple of the actual price of admission. At stake here is not so much giving the artists a further share, but the protection of ticket buyers against dubious sources and excessive premiums”.

Explaining the law behind the court’s ruling, the legal man at VDKD, a German live music trade body which backed Leiberberg’s lawsuit, Professor Johannes Kreile, is quoted by Billboard thus: “The courts deemed it proven that Smartfox had purchased or arranged for the purchase of tickets for the Depeche Mode tour from official ticket agencies whilst concealing its intention to resell them itself or through third parties. In doing so Smartfox had deliberately obstructed the MLK sales concept in contravention of competition law”.

As much previously reported, the growth of online ticket touting, where individuals and agencies resell tickets for profit via auction websites or bespoke online ticket resale services, has pissed off many in the live music and artist management sectors. They argue resellers profit without making any investment in the artists or events the tickets are for, while music fans have to pay over the odds to get into gigs. Promoters also say that because people are sometimes forced to pay two or three times the face value of tickets for in demand events, they will subsequently go to fewer live music events each month or year, which is bad news for the wider and especially grass roots live music industry.

The UK government has expressed concern about consumers being ripped off by online ticket touts, either by simply being vastly overcharged, or especially when music fans pay for access to major events but then don’t receive any tickets, often because some touts reduce their own financial risk by only buying tickets themselves once they have a guaranteed sale, which can backfire if the tout can’t then buy any tickets either. However, while repeatedly calling on the live sector to protect consumers against more unscrupulous touts, government ministers have been less willing to introduce new laws to regulate the so called secondary ticketing market. Promoters argue that, other than introducing complicated and expensive new ticketing systems, often involving photo ID, there is little they can actually do to combat the rise of ticket touting.

Some promoters have decided to turn a blind eye to secondary ticketing, or to work with one or another secondary ticketing website on an exclusive basis, presumably in return for a cut of any resale commissions, and also in return for certain commitments to safeguard consumers. As previously reported, the UK Concert Promoters Association has also adopted an “if you can’t beat em join em” approach by launching their own resale website, which they say protects the interests of promoters and fans more than any of the commercial ticketing auction services.

Nevertheless, some promoters continue to lobby for government regulation to restrict touting, and those people will be interested in the German court ruling which suggests there might be a way to use contract and competition law to at least restrict the operations of the biggest ticket resellers – though whether UK laws would prove so helpful is debatable. And even if they did, if action had to be taken against ever reseller for every tour, that wouldn’t be an especially practical solution.

Wire less Manic because of back spasm

Artist News

Manic Street Preacher Nicky Wire has told fans that if they think he’s looking a little sedate on stage during his band’s current tour, that’s because he’s trying to perform while nursing a prolapsed disc. He reported on the Manics website that at a gig in Llandudno this week he suffered a back spasm half way through the show and couldn’t move as a result.

Wire: “Last night [my back] went into spasm on stage. This made it virtually impossible for me to move, let alone jump. I desperately want to carry on the tour but it will mean a combination of standing still, sitting down on stage, back braces and painkillers. As you know, standing still is utterly alien to me on stage. I don’t want any sympathy but hopefully this will explain my lack of movement and general mood. Thank you for your understanding”.

Cadence Weapon named Poet Laureate

Awards

I know, you’ve only just got over the news that Duffy has been named Poet Laureate here in the UK. And now rapper Cadence Weapon has been awarded the title too; albeit for his home town of Edmonton in Canada (and yes, we do realise it wasn’t that Duffy who got the title over here).

Cadence Weapon, real name Roland Pemberton, was sworn in as the Alberta capital’s chief poet at Edmonton City Hall on Tuesday and will officially become the third person to take on the post on 1 Jul, taking over from poet and academic ED Blodgett.

Pemberton told The Edmonton Journal: “By appointing me they’re taking a chance. To me it represents an opportunity to change the view of Edmonton. If people see me as representing Edmonton maybe it will give them an overall different perception. I think that’s a positive thing. And it’s getting people talking. I’m excited. At first I thought, ‘well, I don’t know’. Poet laureate – whoa. Getting heavy. Do I need a staff, and a big grey beard? But then I actually starting thinking about what I do already, and most of my content is about Edmonton. Most of the music I’ve put together comes from a very specific regional source. And I feel like I can just expand that into the poetry as well. It’s basically another outlet for the writing I’m already doing, and I can focus it even more now”.

He added that he’s ready for anyone who thinks he shouldn’t be in the role: “If anybody has any problems, we’ll have a poem battle. A poem-off”.

Unfortunately, the first person to have a problem with Pemberton’s appointment seems to be his predecessor, who told The Globe And Mail that he “didn’t think that this was how a poet laureate was to be defined”. Although the city’s first Poet Laureate, Alice Major, said that she thought it was a “really interesting and wonderful appointment”.

At his inauguration, Pemberton read a poem entitled ‘Valley Girls’, which is apparently a tribute to the river valley and the transience of youth. As Edmonton’s Poet Laureate, a post he will hold for two years, Pemberton will be expected to reflect life in the city through a series of at least six poems and will receive an annual sum of $5000.

Friday 29 May 2009, 11:41 | By Paul Vig

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