CMU Digest

CMU Digest 01.12.17: Rainbow Venues, CMA, web-blocks, London Plan, SMG

By | Published on Friday 1 December 2017

Rainbow Venues

The key stories from the last seven days in the music business…

Rainbow Venues in Birmingham vowed to appeal the local council’s decision to revoke its licence. The council’s licensing committee made that decision following a drug-related death at the venue complex. Local police said they were obliged to request the venue’s licence be revoked because it was the second drug-related death there in two years. Echoing the debate that occurred when Fabric in London temporarily lost its licence, critics argue that decisions of this kind are short-sighted and that the best way to ensure the safety of clubbers is to work with best practice venues like Rainbow. [READ MORE]

The UK’s Competition & Markets Authority announced it planned to take action against secondary ticketing websites suspected of breaking consumer rights laws. This follows the regulator’s investigation of the secondary ticketing market and the key platforms used to resell tickets for profit. That action by the CMA could ensure ticket resale rules inserted in the 2015 Consumer Rights Act are actually enforced. [READ MORE]

ISPs in New Zealand hit out at efforts by Sky TV to secure a web-block injunction in the country. It would be the first injunction there that orders internet service providers to block access to piracy sites. Although web-blocking is already employed as an anti-piracy tactic in about 40 countries, one ISP active in New Zealand said Sky TV’s action was “dinosaur behaviour” and “something you would expect in North Korea”. [READ MORE]

London mayor Sadiq Khan included the so called ‘agent of change’ principle in his new London Plan. The principle says that were developers build new residential properties next to existing venues, they must design the new building in such a way to avoid future noise complaints. It’s a way to stop the residents of new buildings causing licensing issues for existing venues. [READ MORE]

Live Nation reportedly bid to buy venue owner SMG. The US-based SMG owns and/or operates a plethora of venues across the global, including in the UK. Venue management is the one area of live entertainment where AEG has an edge over Live Nation. An SMG acquisition – if approved by competition regulators – would give Live Nation dominance in venues as well as in tour promotion, ticketing and artist management. [READ MORE]

The big deals from the last seven days in the music business…
• Because Music allied with Universal’s Caroline [INFO]
• Meredith Corporation agreed a deal to buy NME owner Time Inc [INFO]
• Sony Music took a stake in K-pop label KQ Entertainment [INFO]
• Blue Raincoat acquired Spar-ks [INFO]
• Eventbrite partnered with Twickets [INFO]
• Downtown signed Goldie [INFO]



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