He is joking of course, without Eurosonic there would be no EPIC, but new coordinator Marcel Albers does have a point. His conference is becoming more impressive by the year. This third edition will be spread out over three days, situated at a stone's throw from De Oosterpoort conference. Cross the street, then the bridge and three minutes later you'll be in front of the Hampshire Hotel, where EPIC provides you with an abundance of panel discussions, pitches and new applications for concerts,...
Posted on: 08/12/2015Categories: Industry Event News
Having gone from rumoured IPO to confirmed IPO to scheduled IPO in super-speedy time, streaming service Deezer suddenly put the brakes on last night, and withdrew its initial public offering from the Euronext Paris stock exchange.
Deezer was due to float on Friday, looking to raise over €300 million with a €1 billion valuation. The money would have financed new marketing and expansion initiatives in an increasingly competitive marketplace, where the French firm competes head-on...
Posted on: 28/10/2015Categories: News from CMU Online
While Aurous could prove to be the shortest chapter in the weighty tome documenting the record industry's fight against online piracy, it will still be a pretty eventful section of the story.
As previously reported, the Recording Industry Association Of America forced the maker of Aurous – a streaming app that pulls in and plays music content from various sources online, though mainly unlicensed sources to date – to stop distributing his player almost as soon as the alpha version...
Posted on: 28/10/2015Categories: News from CMU Online
One time hip hop mogul Suge Knight and comedian Katt Williams have both pleaded not guilty to those robbery charges. The two men, as previously reported, are accused of stealing a photographer's camera last year.
Knight and Williams appeared in an LA court yesterday in order to enter their pleas, which they were having to do for a second time after a judge recently decided that they should stand trial over the incident.
Posted on: 28/10/2015Categories: News from CMU Online
Bkstg, the vowel-lite direct-to-fan online-channel-aggregation fan-relationship-management audience-analytic platform – or D2FOCAFRMAA platform, as we in the know call these things – has appointed former Three Six Zero business affairs man James Sealey to the job of VP Business Development.
Posted on: 28/10/2015Categories: News from CMU Online
Appoint former BBC exec as your new boss. Appoint another former BBC exec as your content chief. Grab yourself a bucket load of BBC content. Well, it's not quite that easy, but Vevo has certainly become quite 'beebified' in recent months. It should watch out, Johnny Whittingdale might try to shut it down.
Anyway, Vevo has done itself a deal with the BBC's commercial division Worldwide, which will give the Sony/Universal-owned video platform over 200 performances from Radio 1's 'Live Lounge'...
Posted on: 28/10/2015Categories: News from CMU Online
IRISH ENTREPRENEUR Denis Desmond – the most influential investor in live music across the UK and Ireland – has exclusively confirmed to LIVE UK his appointment as non-executive chairman of Live Nation Entertainment (LNE) in the UK, tasked with getting LNE's promoting division in better shape.
The move follows speculation for some months that Festival Republic MD Melvin Benn has also been parachuted in to LNE's head office to take control of the festivals business. Festival...
Posted on: 28/10/2015Categories: News from Live UK
THE GOVERNMENT has rejected suggestions that delays to its review of the secondary ticketing sector are due to pressure from US-based corporations behind websites such as StubHub, GET ME IN! and Seatwave, who could be most affected by reforms.
Labour MP Sharon Hodgson, who chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Ticket Abuse, says the Government should not "bow to pressure from vested interests" over its legal duty to hold the review, as promised as part of the amendment to...
Posted on: 28/10/2015Categories: News from Live UK
SCOTTISH CULTURE secretary Fiona Hyslop has defended Government hand-outs to T in the Park (cap. 85,000) by suggesting the event could have moved out of Scotland without additional support.
Hyslop approved payment of £150,000 to organiser DF Concerts (see LIVE UK, issue 187), paid after the event which took place on 10-12 July. Weekend tickets cost £205, meaning the funding was the equivalent to around 870 sales.
On 29 September, Hyslop was forced to explain to a Scottish...
Posted on: 28/10/2015Categories: News from Live UK
PROMOTER AND venue operator DHP Family put so much work into its ultimately-failed bid to acquire MAMA & Company venues via AEG Live's intended acquisition of the company (see LIVE UK issue 187), that it missed out on other deals, claims DHP MD George Akins.
Speaking to LIVE UK, Akins explained how he thought his company had clinched a deal which would see AEG Live take over MAMA's festivals, with its venue portfolio, which include London's The Forum (cap. 2,350) and Jazz Café...
Posted on: 28/10/2015Categories: News from Live UK