| CMU Daily - on the inside Tuesday 11th March |
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In today's CMU Daily:
- Apple Inc say no major development on Beatles catalogue
- Abba men reach settlement over musical credit dispute
- British chaps want to buy Neverland
- Love says Cobain's identity stolen, LAPD not convinced
- The Game not released early, it seems
- Remy Ma case continues
- Aerosmith's Perry schedules surgery
- Hall Of Fame inductions
- Gnarls Barkley promo re-shot
- Reznor on things
- Rondor re-sign Avril
- Fiction sign White Lies
- Radiohead to play free BBC gig
- Van Halen postpones more dates
- One Love festival announced
- Big Chill additions
- Evolution news
- Underworld headline Escape
- MGMT tour
- Beatles used in psychology study
- Album review: Counting Crows - Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings
- Underage Festival founder wins Guardian innovation award
- CPA back RRS
- Ticketmaster / Cablevision / AEG alliance stalls
- EMI stay in IFPI
- Qtrax sign up Beggars
- eMusic add more labels
- SonyBMG sign up to We7
- GCap put Xfm sale on hold
- ITV sign up to Bebo
- Equity types considering bid for Virgin Media
- Bob Geldof kicked someone's face in
- Tunstall criticises hypocritical stars
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TOP BIT RECOMMENDED
There is even more secondary ticketing news in today's Daily - this really is a hot topic - so I think another mention is probably due for the next edition of the CMU Recommended MusicTank Think Tank series which will be tackling it all.
The story so far - the growth of online ticket touting, resentment among the artist management and tour promotion community that punters are making money by reselling their artists/gigs tickets, concern among political types that consumers are losing out, outrage in all sorts of circles when punters profit from reselling tickets to charity gigs and resistance among the companies that are making money by providing the auction facilities to pass a cut of the profits back to the artist community.
There'll be lots to talk about, and among those doing the talking will be Marc Marot of the Resale Rights Society, that artist management founded body that is proposing giving auction websites legitimacy in return for them paying a levy back to music types.
Said auction sites aren't so keen on those proposals, so it will be interesting to hear from the boss of one of them - Viagogo's Eric Baker - who will also be talking. The tour promoters are now officially supportive of RSS (more on that in a bit), so it will also be interesting to hear from promoter Carl Leighton-Pope. And as for the political types, well, I'm sure John Whittingdale MP, chair of the cultural select committee, can tell us what they think. All in all, a very interesting line up.
This all takes place at the PRS-MCPS offices in London on Tuesday 18 Mar - info at http://www.musictank.co.uk/
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JOBS N STUFF
!K7 LABEL GROUP SEEKS UK LABEL & EVENT MANAGER
!K7 Label Group is an international music company based in Berlin comprising 5 record labels, publishing company, booking agency and fledgling events business.
!K7 is looking for a UK Label Manager to oversee all aspects of the record label and events business within the UK. The successful candidate will have experience running imaginative press, radio and marketing campaigns for releases across a variety of musical genres and a sound knowledge of the UK digital and physical marketplace. They will also have the contacts and expertise to set up a number of profit-making !K7 events. Based in the english-speaking Berlin office with frequent travel to London. Salary negotiable.
Please send all applications in writing to Nicola Agunwa by no later than March 31st: [email protected] or Nicola Agunwa, !K7 Records GmbH, Heidestrasse 52, 10557 Berlin, Germany
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GO ONLINE WITH CMU...
Antoine from Poney Poney on how he got into making music: "Playing "Apache" by The Shadows to impress my Swedish penfriend. It didn't work but my father only taught me that song".
Antoine answers CMU's Same Six Questions online this week - www.cmumusicnetwork.co.uk
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CMU RECOMMENDED
REMIX ALL-NIGHTER - PLUS SPECIAL OFFER FOR STUDENTS
The next CMU recommended Remix All-Nighter takes over the seOne Club at London Bridge next month for a brilliant pre-Easter party.
There'll be three rooms of fun. In the Remix room you'll get live sets from The Whip and Vitalic, plus Remix chief Eddy TM on the decks and VJ Fay Buzzard doing visual stuff. Next up will be a room hosted by Orbital co-founder and general dance music pioneer Phil Hartnoll, named for and showcasing his new venture Long Range. And then, to top off all that, there will be a whole room of all things Ninja Tune, featuring no less than DJ Food & DK, Coldcut (Jon Moore DJ Set), Bonobo, Daedelus, The Qemists and VJ Mox. Oh, and they've just added Busy P (Ed Banger) to the bill too. This night is going to be storming.
It all takes place on 20 Mar. Full info from: http://www.myspace.com/theremix
SPREAD THE WORD! SPECIAL STUDENT DISCOUNT FROM CMU
CMU and Remix All-nighter promoters have teamed up to offer students a special price for the night of just £7. To get the discount you need a special code for when you order your tickets, and you can get the code by emailing your name and university name to [email protected] But do it quick - there are a limited number of discounted tickets available.
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SNAP OF THE DAY: MON
Heading to Paris for today's SNAP, we're furrowing the upper echelons of the French post-rock scene with Mon, a self-styled 'rock orchestra' that undoubtedly take cues from all the usual instrumental suspects including Godspeed, Mogwai, Explosions In The Sky and 65 Days Of Static. If you happen to enjoy these bands you'll probably want to head to the link below, where you'll find four delicately constructed, heart tugging numbers with titles like 'DAAK TYLE RHAK' and 'FINN'; if you don't then you'd be wise to stay away, because although there's beauty to be found in these mini-symphonies, Mon are by no means pushing any boundaries, remaining hinged to the quiet/loud formula propagated by this genre. However, not wanting to end on a sour note, this 7-plus piece outfit is certainly worth your attention if all the above comments are yet to deter you. Their MySpace page should be your first port of call.
http://www.myspace.com/montheband
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APPLE INC SAY NO MAJOR DEVELOPMENT ON BEATLES CATALOGUE
Still no word from either Beatles company Apple Corps or EMI regarding those stories doing the rounds last week implying that the Fab Four's catalogue was somehow closer to appearing on iTunes because Paul McCartney had given the go ahead in a bid to raise some cash to pay off bitter ex Heather Mills, but Apple Inc - ie the iPod makers - have called the reports "unsubstantiated speculation", which probably means they were definitely true. No, not really. In a very short statement on the reports iTunes would soon be stocking Beatles tracks, and that McCartney, Ringo Starr and the estates of George Harrison and John Lennon would get multi-million pound advances, the IT firm told reporters: "This is not news nor is it a scoop". So there you have it. I refer you all to my overly long polemic on the matter in yesterday's CMU Daily.
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ABBA MEN REACH SETTLEMENT OVER MUSICAL CREDIT DISPUTE
Abba stars Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson have reached an out of court settlement with another writer who had sued them in a dispute over the credits for a musical.
Carl-Johan Seth sued former Abba types Ulvaeus and Andersson over a musical they wrote called 'Kristina From Duvemala'. Seth wrote the first draft of the show, which tells the story of Swedish immigrants to the US in the 19th Century, and claimed he should, as a result, be credited as the main writer of the show. But Ulvaeus and Andersson argued that Seth was not credited as such because, in reality, the script he had created was unusable, and an alternative written by the show's director Lars Rudolfsson and dramatist Jan Mark had been used instead.
The dispute went to court in Sweden last year, and the judge found in the Abba duo's favour. But Seth more or less immediately announced his intention to appeal. However, that appeal is now off after the three men announced an out of court settlement had been reached yesterday. Specifics of the settlement have not been revealed, but in a joint statement the three men said: "We are glad that we have agreed and that we can continue to be friends".
Although the musical was first staged back in 1995, the dispute over who wrote it gained momentum more recently amid reports a Broadway production was in the pipeline.
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BRITISH CHAPS WANT TO BUY NEVERLAND
As you all know, Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch is set to go up for auction next week because of the singer's failure to keep on top of his finances. But word has it some rather obsessive British fans could buy it back for him. So that's alright then.
According to The Sun, two young British businessmen, Liam Collins and David Bone, say they want to buy the 2,800 acre property. The idea being that they would then let Jacko have it back under some kind of rental agreement. Of course, this plan rather assumes that he genuinely wants to keep the place, which I'm starting to doubt, given that he hasn't set foot there since 2005.
Collins and Bone founders of property firm CBS, say they want to bid for the ranch because of their love of Michael Jackson and their belief that he helped them get where they are today.
Bone told the tab: "we really want to see Jacko back on his feet. He's had a hard time of it", whilst Collins explained the history: "We've idolised Jacko since we were kids. Both of us used to sing along and dance to his tunes in the 80s and David even had a cardboard cut out of him in his room. I decided to hook up with David and go into property development. To earn enough cash to build a portfolio we used to go down to London where we did a 'Jacko show' in Trafalgar Square. We must have done 15 Billy Jeans a day, earning anything from £500 to £1,000".
So that's all lovely.
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LOVE SAYS COBAIN'S IDENTITY STOLEN, LAPD NOT CONVINCED
Yeah, I'm not really sure what's going on here. I mean, if you're going to steal someone's identity you'd think you'd think twice before taking that of one of recent history's most famous but very dead rock icons.
But Courtney Love has told reporters that thieves have stolen the identity of her late husband Kurt Cobain, that they have set up 188 credit cards in his name, and that they have acquired the former Nirvana star's social security number and are using it to buy property, run up debts and to even embezzle funds from the late Cobain's bank accounts, including a trust fund set up for the couple's daughter Frances Bean. What's more Love has suspected the fraud has been taking place for five years, but the authorities won't believe her.
It seems at least some of the authorities still aren't convinced. After Love's fraud claims surfaced over the weekend, TMZ.com reported that the LAPD were dismissing her as "delusional" and quoted one source as saying all the fraud allegations "never happened". The implication seems to be that Love is having her loopy turns again or, to put it in more medical terms, that she has a bi-polar disorder and is prone to making wild allegations during periods of mania.
But Love is very aware of those claims, denies them vehemently, and stands by her fraud allegations. Writing on her MySpace, she said (dodgy grammar and all): "God, people are batshit. i hear now i am "Bi Polar" uhhhh ... thats more nuts than i will ever be. i may be Eccentric, i certainly speak my mind and am slow to put out a record i need to mean the world to ME, and im sure i am quite Nuerotic but "Bi Polar". Thats just slander.I shoot straight from the hip and spellcheck has NOTHING to do with REALITY. I find this whole thing so offensive because until Kurts social security number was checked noone took it seriously, but hey here is the Experian with 188 visas on it, thats not Bi Polar, that is reality". So, that's that cleared up.
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THE GAME NOT RELEASED EARLY, IT SEEMS
Reports yesterday that rapper The Game had been released from jail just eight days into his sixty day sentence relating to that run in after a basketball game in LA last year have been denied - it's possible there was some confusion after the hip hopper was moved from one jail to another.
Some reports of the rapper's early release cited prison officials as a source while others quoted The Game's lawyer Shawn Champan Holley. But AllHipHop.com last night reported that a spokesman for the rapper confirmed he was still in jail, while another source told them he had been moved to another unnamed prison because of his gang related background.
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REMY MA CASE CONTINUES
The trail of Remy Ma began in New York yesterday, with the rapper's lawyer claiming the shooting in July last year was "a tragic accident". Ma, real name Remy Smith, is accused of shooting another woman, Makeda Barnes Joseph, twice in a dispute over money. She's been charged with first-degree assault.
The prosecution say Smith shot Joseph twice, and then sped off into the night. Their case is very much based on the testimony of Joseph, but defence lawyer Ivan Fisher says her version of events is wrong, arguing that she has changed her story since she originally testified to a grand jury earlier in the case. He said that in fact there had been a struggle between Joseph and Smith over the gun, and that it had gone off by accident during that struggle.
He also argued that Joseph had changed her testimony against his client when she had been told she could pursue a civil lawsuit against Smith in relation to the incident seeking up to $20 million in damages. That civil case, however, has since been dropped.
Smith faces up to 25 years in prison if found guilty of the charges. The case continues.
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AEROSMITH'S PERRY SCHEDULES SURGERY
Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry has released a statement saying that he has scheduled knee surgery on 18 Mar, and that a New York solo gig will be cancelled as a result. The musician has needed the operation for two years but has kept putting it off so that he wouldn't miss any tour dates, but the need for surgery is now pressing. Spokeswoman Marcee Rondan confirmed the cancellation of a 5 Apr solo gig in Niagara Falls, New York State, as it would fall into his period of recovery.
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HALL OF FAME INDUCTIONS
Well, last night saw the induction to the US Rock and Roll Hall of fame of Madonna, John Mellencamp, Leonard Cohen, The Ventures and the Dave Clarke Five.
Madonna was the big story on the night though. She had declined to perform herself at the event, and had Iggy And The Stooges cover two of her classic tracks, 'Burning Up' and 'Ray Of Light', instead. She was inducted by Justin Timberlake, who has recently collaborated with the singer on her upcoming new album 'Hard Candy', and apparently went on to give one of the longest Hall Of Fame speeches ever. Thanking the people who spurred her on to greater things with their disbelief, she spoke of: "The ones that said I was talentless, that I was chubby, that I couldn't sing, that I was a one-hit wonder. They pushed me to be better, and I am grateful for their resistance.".
Meanwhile, Billy Joel inducted John Mellencamp, who performed a number of his own tracks, whilst Leonard Cohen was introduced by Lou Reed.
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GNARLS BARKLEY PROMO RE-SHOT
The promo for new Gnarls Barkley single 'Run' has been re-shot after the original video, as previously reported, was judged to be in danger of inducing epileptic fits in viewers due to strobe lighting effects. The duo's Cee-Lo Green has told Billboard that the problem has now been resolved, explaining: "It seemed justifiable to hesitate a bit to make sure it didn't result in something severe. We just focused on any compromise we could come to. We didn't get too agitated - we just concentrated our focus on how we could resolve the problem".
The new album, 'The Odd Couple', is out this month.
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REZNOR ON THINGS
Trent Reznor was a bit vague yesterday about how many people have been paying to download his latest album rather than opting for the free to download version, though his vagueness was seemingly because he has been too busy to check the stats rather than any attempt to be secretive about his digital venture.
As previously reported, NIN man Reznor has made his latest album available via his own website in various formats, including a free download, a pay for download and various mail order physical packages. Reznor is generally very upfront about these kinds of things - he recently admitted to being disappointed by the free to paid-for ratio of a recent Saul Williams download promotion he was involved in - so those who care about these things are eager to know how the download venture is going, given that Radiohead were a bit tightlipped about the success or otherwise of their 'pay what you like' download promotion.
Speaking to Aussie radio network Triple J about the whole thing, he said he couldn't tell them how his latest download venture was going because he had been travelling in recent days and had not had chance to check download data. Also asked about the Radiohead promotion, he said he thought their download venture hadn't been as innovative as many had been saying, mainly because the free download was followed up by a traditional physical CD record release. According to Digital Music News, he told Triple J's Michael Atkin: "It was very much a bait-and-switch ... as a way to promote a very traditional record sale. I don't see that as the big revolution they are getting credit for".
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RONDOR RE-SIGN AVRIL
Music publishers Rondor Music have confirmed they have re-signed Avril Lavigne to an exclusive, long term worldwide publishing deal, which is nice. For them. And Lavigne, presumably.
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FICTION SIGN WHITE LIES
Universal's Fiction Records have signed buzzy London band White Lies after what was reportedly a "fierce" A&R battle. Lots of A&Rs growling, presumably. Fiction Records' Jim Chancellor, who has recently become MD of the imprint, told Music Week: "I am over the fucking moon. I just think they are absolutely brilliant. The songs just jumped out at us the first time we heard them; great lyrics using lots of Eighties chops but in a brilliant new way. I can't really explain it. I'm still slightly in shock that we managed to get them".
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RADIOHEAD TO PLAY FREE BBC GIG
Radiohead have agreed to play a special free gig for Radio 2, set to take place on 1 Apr at the BBC's Radio Theatre in London. Just seventy-five pairs of tickets for the low-key event will be allocated randomly to people who call 08700 100 200 by Thursday. A small number of tickets will also be given away on air, however. Radio 2 Head Of Music Jeff Smith said: "You'd be a 'fool' to miss the concert", ha ha.
The band will also record a number of interviews to be broadcast during the run-up to the gig, which will be broadcast on Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie's Radio 2 show.
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VAN HALEN POSTPONES MORE DATES
Eddie Van Halen, who recently postponed a number of live sets in order to undergo medical tests, has now suspended all tour activity until 19 Apr, affecting seventeen US dates over the course of the coming weeks. Van Halen, who has suffered from cancer and drug addiction in the past is, according to promoters "currently under doctors' care and will continue medical tests to define a course of treatment."
Fans have been told to hang on to their tickets, which will be valid for new dates once they are organised.
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ONE LOVE FESTIVAL ANNOUNCED
Organisers have announced that the One Love festival, a thirtieth anniversary celebration of Bob Marley's legendary 1978 One Love gig, is set to take place from 15-17 Aug at Herstmonceux Castle, East Sussex. According to this here press release, over a hundred artists will play reggae, blues, chill-out, funk, jazz and electronic music alongside a variety of other activities and entertainment including something called a "treetop boulevard market", which sounds kooky.
Organisers also say that they've planned the event to coincide with a full moon solar eclipse and Perseid meteor shower. Herstmonceux Castle, as it happens, is former home to the Royal Greenwich Observatory and the Isaac Newton Telescope and "one of the very best sites in the country for star gazing". The festival's Dan Wiltshire says: "One Love is set to be one of the most diverse and unique festivals in the country, full of drama and intrigue. We've chosen an incredible site and have a plethora of entertainment and special features to unveil, so there really is a host of fascination and charm for all of our guests. The addition of the lunar activity over the weekend makes it a truly cosmic festival - there are some really special acts to be announced soon and I have no doubt that One Love should truly not be missed".
Tickets for the event will go on sale in April, once the festival's website's gone live. See http://www.onelovefestival.co.uk.
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BIG CHILL ADDITIONS
Bomb The Bass - remember them - 'Beat Dis' and all that - well, they've just been confirmed as additions to the line up for this year's Big Chill festival which, as previously reported, takes place at Eastnor park from 1-3 Aug. There have been line up additions in the non-music cultural bit of the Chill as well, with the British Film Institute announcing that they will bring the music movie cross-over extravaganza The Noise Of Art with them, and on the comedy side the news that both John Shuttleworth and the marvellous Robin Ince will be on the bill. Brilliant.
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EVOLUTION NEWS
The likes of Seth Lakeman and Tiga are the latest acts to be confirmed for this year's Evolution Festival, which, as previously reported, takes place from 23- 26 May in Newcastle. Both will feature in a programme of indoor events taking place as part of the Evolution proceedings, with Lakeman playing at the Sage venue, whilst Tiga appears at Digital.
In the week running up to the event, Evolution have also programmed a number of events and workshops under the banner of 'The Know How', in which industry types are to share their experience with local musicians and music businesses. Former EMI chairman Tony Wadsworth and IFPI chairman John Kenned head these proceedings with a seminar at the Sage entitled 'What's happened to the record industry'. Those events are free but ticketed, available from Generator on 0191 245 0099, or e-mail [email protected]
Commenting on the wide Evolution programme, Festival Director Jim Mawdsley told CMU: "This year we are setting out to bring a true party atmosphere to Newcastle and Gateshead with special events that aren't being produced any where else. This shows the massive strength of the live music and club sector in Newcastle/Gateshead and the unity we are proud of. We also need to put something back in and by producing the series of seminars with Generator anyone working in the business of music can benefit from some real industry experience first hand and use this to strengthen their own activity".
See full details at http://www.evolutionfestival.co.uk, press info from Profound Media.
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UNDERWORLD HEADLINE ESCAPE
Underworld are to headline dance festival Escape Into The Park when it returns to Swansea's Singleton Park on 14 Jun. The event, which tales place across four arenas and a main outdoor stage, will also feature appearances by Ferry Corsten, Fedde le Grand, Scratch Perverts, Eddie Halliwell, Lisa Lashes and CMU favourite Joey Negro. The VIP Arena is hosted by Hed Kandi. See http://www.escapefestival.com for more info.
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MGMT TOUR
Did we make MGMT CMU favourites yet? I can't remember. I think we did. Hell, if we didn't, let's do it now. Ladies and gentlemen, CMU favourites MGMT, whose debut album 'Oracular Spectacular' is just out, have announced a load of tour dates for May, as follows....
5 May: Cardiff Great Hall (MTV Spanking New Music show)
6 May: Glasgow ABC (MTV Spanking New Music show)
7 May: Dublin Academy (MTV Spanking New Music show)
9 May: Edinburgh Liquid Rooms
10 May: Newcastle Academy 2
12 May: Birmingham Academy 2
19 May: Brighton Digital
20 May: Manchester Academy 2
21 May: London Astoria
22 May: Leeds Cockpit
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BEATLES USED IN PSYCHOLOGY STUDY
Psychologists investigating how musical memories affect a person's identity are using The Beatles as a tool for study.
The Leeds University academics are asking people to think back to moments in their lives that some how connect with the Liverpool band, whether that be in reference to key Beatles events like the assassination of John Lennon, or to more personal thoughts or events connected to the Fab Four and their music. The idea, apparently, is to create a database of "autobiographical memories" triggered by certain cues, and to show that music in particular has a particularly powerful tendency to provoke the recollection of events. Or something like that.
Dr Catriona Morrison says this: "We are using an iconic cultural entity to get all those memories in one place and to try to assess the influence that the Beatles had on people's lives, whether you were there in the 1960s or if you grew up in the 1980s, virtually everybody has got some thoughts or memories about the Beatles".
Professor Martin Conway adds: "The reason why we're interested in this is we're interested in a thing called generation identity. So we're quite interested in how your memory of your own personal experiences is linked into public events. One of the things we hope to analyse are which Beatles cues trigger the most memories and why? Is it a song, album or news event? Does this memory depend upon the age you were when the memory event occurred or is it more closely related to how strongly you feel about the Beatles or the memory itself?"
If you understand any of this, you can participate here: http://www.magicalmemorytour.com/
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ALBUM REVIEW: Counting Crows - Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings (Universal/Geffen)
The Counting Crows have certainly made us wait long enough for their new album - fifth studio LP 'Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings' has been five years in the making - but I think the wait was worth it. As you may have heard, this long player has quite a cool concept to it - the album is split into two distinct themes. First we get the 'Saturday Nights', which is all about the rock songs, a collection of tracks with a dark party feel. Then we get the 'Sunday Mornings' part, which seems to be about the realisation of the next day, the hangover so to speak, and the music is much more acoustic driven than the first half, with a much calmer feel to it. Musically, this is a great album, and you can see a lot of work has gone into making it. Definitely make time to check out first single release 'You Can't Count On Me', and, if you can, the whole package. Especially if you're a Counting Crows fan, you're definitely gonna dig this one. JPR
Release Date: 24 Mar
Press Contact: Polydor IH [all]
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UNDERAGE FESTIVAL FOUNDER WINS GUARDIAN INNOVATION AWARD
The founder of the Underage Festival - the music festival aimed at teens that came out of the club night also aimed at the under 19s - has been given a Rising Star award at the first ever Media Guardian Innovation Awards, which were designed to recognise innovation in the media. Sam Kiloyne received the award for his 2007 Underage festival, which brought London teens a storming line up including the likes of Jack Penate, The Pigeon Detectives, Foals, Mystery Jets, Patrick Wolf, The Metros and Scouting For Girls. The festival will return this August.
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CPA BACK RRS
The trade body for UK concert promoters, the Concert Promoters Association, has given its backing to the Music Manager Forum's proposals to regulate the secondary ticketing market through a Resale Rights Society, which is interesting because the live music sector had been quite non-committal to the proposals prior to that.
As much previously reported, various tour promoters have expressed increasing concern about the growth in online ticket touting via auction websites like eBay, with some advocating the introduction of new laws to restrict touts and web firms who host the auctions from profiting from the resale of tickets to their shows. The MMF, however, has proposed a self-regulation system where secondary ticketing websites are given legitimacy by the music industry in return for certain commitments being made to protect customer interests and, more importantly, for a commitment to pass a cut of any resale profits back to the artist and promoter community.
The CPA discussed the Resale Rights Society proposal at their AGM last week and decided to give it its backing. Welcoming the CPA support, Music Week quote Resale Rights Society chairman-elect Marc Marot thus: "The CPA's decision is fantastic news for the Resale Rights Society, the fans and the industry. It means we can begin to implement our strategy to protect fans and return some of the profit generated by ticket resellers to the event owners who enable their very existence".
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TICKETMASTER / CABLEVISION / AEG ALLIANCE STALLS
Billboard are quoting sources as saying the previously reported business deal being negotiated by Ticketmaster, Cablevision and AEG Live is not going 100% smoothly.
As previously reported, Ticketmaster and media/venue firm Cablevision have been discussing forming a JV that would then buy a 49% stake in live music conglom AEG. The three way alliance would create a big player in the live music industry, bringing together ticketing, venue, tour promotion and music media operations.
But the wheeling and dealing behind the alliance is said to be rather complicated and, with numerous decision makers having to be placated, talks are said to be going slower than had been hoped, with some now wondering if the JV proposal will ever be agreed.
However, insiders say that while the proposals have stalled while certain issues are addressed, none of the concerned parties have written the venture off. And it may be that certain parts of the proposed alliance come into being while others are still being negotiated.
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EMI STAY IN IFPI
EMI has said it will remain a member of the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry.
As previously reported, the major had threatened to quit the global trade body after newly appointed EMI top man Guy Hands criticised the high costs of record industry trade organisations. It called on the IFPI to review its costs and operations, and tendered its resignation so that it could quit the body as soon as that review was done if it wasn't happy with what the association's management's recommendations.
There have been a number of meetings between EMI and the IFPI and the other major labels since the resignation tender, and seemingly those discussions have satisfied Hands that his concerns on costs have been addressed, because EMI Music International chief Jean-Francois Cecillon confirmed yesterday that his company's resignation had been withdrawn and that they'd continue to work with the trade body as a paid up member.
The trade body will reportedly implement a number of cost saving measures that will cut the investment EMI and the other majors have to make moving forward, though details of those cuts are yet to be disclosed.
IFPI chief John Kennedy welcomed EMI's decision yesterday, telling reporters: "I am delighted that EMI has decided to continue working with IFPI. It is extremely valuable for us to have their support in trying to address the many different challenges the recording industry is facing and addressing".
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QTRAX SIGN UP BEGGARS
Qtrax, the company with ambitions to launch a legit P2P file sharing service, which claimed to have the major record companies on board, but which hadn't, has signed up another record company, though not a major. Following deals with struggling US indie TVT and various music publishers, Qtrax said yesterday that it had reached a licensing agreement with the London based Beggars Group which, of course, incorporates a number of indie labels including XL, 4AD, Matador and Rough Trade. The P2P firm told reporters yesterday: "Beggars has consistently shown themselves to be true visionaries in the world of independent music, and we are thrilled to have their support".
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EMUSIC ADD MORE LABELS
Independent download store eMusic says that it has added the music of 43 more independent labels to its catalogue, taking the total number of tracks available via its download platform to over 3.5 million.
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SONYBMG SIGN UP TO WE7
SonyBMG has signed up to ad supported digital music service We7, you know, the one co-founded by Peter Gabriel. The deal, We7's first with a major record company, will enable them to offer SonyBMG tracks via their ad funded on-demand streaming service.
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GCAP PUT XFM SALE ON HOLD
GCap have put their plans to sell the Xfm regional stations and their stake in national digital audio broadcast operator Digital One on hold pending their possible takeover by Global Radio.
As previously reported, recently appointed GCap CEO Fru Hazlitt recommended withdrawing from DAB and selling the Xfm stations in Wales, Scotland and Manchester as part a plan to turn round the radio firm's fortunes. Plans had already been made re the digital radio sale, and offers were being accepted for the Xfm sale.
However, rival radio firm Global Radio has been busy trying to take over GCap, and their third and latest offer has been viewed favourably by some key GCap shareholders, so much so the company's board have agreed to discuss takeover proposals with Global bosses. It is unclear what Global think about GCap's digital and Xfm assets, but those sales have been put on hold while the takeover offer is considered.
A decision on a Global takeover has to be made by 26 Mar, a deadline set by the City's Takeover Panel, but some city insiders reckon a decision could be made much sooner than that. If a Global takeover does take place presumably there will be regulatory issues - Magic owners Bauer Radio are sure to have issues with a merger that puts their two main competitors in the London mainstream radio market - Capital and Heart - into the same hands.
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ITV SIGN UP TO BEBO
ITV will make some of its TV shows available for on demand streaming via Bebo in a deal which the commercial broadcaster hopes will enable it to connect with the youth audience who are increasingly shunning traditional telly services. It seems to hope that promoting some of its shows via the social networking site will help drive the kids to itv.com.
ITV's MD Of Broadband, Annelies Van den Belt, told reporters: "This is a targeted move to promote specific ITV2 shows to the Bebo audience whilst ultimately driving traffic to itv.com to watch more and proves true 360 commissioning".
The BBC, Channel 4 and Sky already have programming deals in place with Bebo.
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EQUITY TYPES CONSIDERING BID FOR VIRGIN MEDIA
Four private equity firms are reportedly planning to mount a bid to acquire Virgin Media, the cable TV, broadband and mobile firm that came out of the merger of NTL, Telewest and Virgin Mobile. According to The Observer, equity outfits Blackstone, Cinven, KKR and Providence Equity are getting together an offer that could go as high $7.5 billion. Presumably that would mean buying out the Virgin group's share also - though whether the bidders would want to keep the Virgin name, or are, in fact, more interested in the firm's increasingly valuable (in this 'give me the speed' internet era) optical fibre cable network, remains to be seen.
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BOB GELDOF KICKED SOMEONE'S FACE IN
A recently published book by a former Boomtown Rats backing singer Zara H Phillips details an incident in which Geldof defended her against an abusive admirer by attacking the fan halfway through a gig and leaving him with a broken nose. She says, "He kicked him once or twice, and blood came spurting out of the man's nose. He collapsed and other members of the crowd started attacking him, and a big fight started".
I don't think she's being accusatory about it. There's a nice quote about the book from Geldof on the top of her website.
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TUNSTALL CRITICISES HYPOCRITICAL STARS
KT Tunstall has criticised stars who act all bothered when they're chased by the paparazzi, despite the fact that they've tipped off photographers to their presence. She says: "You have pictures of people with their hands up going 'Don't take my photo' and it's like, 'Why tell us you were here?'" Why indeed? Well, I know the answer to that, actually. They're fame-hungry, and if they want to carry on being paid to do nothing and just be a celebrity, their livelihood might just depend on it..."