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Government opposes adding "cultural benefit" to gig licensing criteria As previously reported, Liberal Democrat Lord Tim Clement-Jones last week proposed an amendment to the Policing And Crime Bill that would add "cultural benefit" as an additional criteria in the licensing process. Current gig licensing rules put the focus on the potential negative impact of an event, including crime and disorder, public safety and public nuisance. None of that would change under Clement-Jones' proposal, but licensing officials would be obliged to consider the positive cultural impact of staging an event as well. The idea was backed by Live Nation's Paul Latham, Alex Mann of the Musicians' Union and Mark Davyd of the Music Venue Trust, who all gave evidence in Parliament last week. Speaking for grassroots venues, the latter said that: "We believe a further push to support the intent of the Licensing Act 2003 - and the subsequent Live Music Act 2012 - is required so these culturally and socially important spaces achieve parity in the manner in which the licensing framework handles and supports them". However, according to IQ, Chisholm insisted that current live music licensing rules were fine, because there was a "presumption that licensing authorities will grant a licence in respect to an application, with appropriate conditions, unless there are strong concerns in terms of the licensing objectives". She added: "Requiring licensing authorities to consider the provision of social or cultural activities would run in contradiction to the other licensing objectives, all of which are aimed at harm reduction". Acknowledging that the government would oppose his proposals despite some other members of the Lords expressing support, Clement-Jones subsequently withdrew his amendment. But not before telling Chisholm: "I believe the Home Office also has responsibility in this area to help to preserve our venues, rather than simply stonewalling and saying, 'We've got a very fine Licensing Act as it is and we don't need any further objectives'". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fat White Family sign to Domino "Anyone with a nose for genuine rock n roll already knows that Fat White Family are plainly the most exciting, influential and talked about band to come out of this country in the last few years", says Domino boss Laurence Bell. "We are delighted, if slightly nervous, at the prospect of taking them to the next level". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Koko founder back in control of the Camden venue Loton Group, which owns live music streaming platform LiveXLive, seemed most interested in the potential of Koko as a location to record content for the media side of its operation. Channel 4 had made programmes at the venue after Bengough reinvented the former Camden Palace as Koko in 2004. The US firm initially implied it would take complete ownership of Koko, but subsequently announced it had bought a 50% stake and that Bengough would become CEO of its new joint venture. Though last year it then said that it intended to sell its half of the business but keep streaming rights for the venue. Earlier this year, Loton seemingly fell out with Bengough and his Mint Group company. The latter actually ran the venue day-to-day but resigned its management services contract, with Loton saying at the time that it would "take over full financial control of Koko". The parent company added at the time: "We are confident that Loton's world class management team with experience in music, media and mobile can quickly stabilise the company's operations and build substantial value for our shareholders". However, behind the scenes negotiations were seemingly ongoing to return complete control of the venue to Bengough. Confirming that he had now bought his former business partners out, he told reporters: "This marks a great day for the company and for the future of Koko. The well-being and continued success of this iconic live venue is now secured". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Elton John partners with YouTube to make videos for old songs Budding filmmakers are being invited to pitch ideas for music videos for three of John's songs, 'Rocket Man', 'Tiny Dancer' and 'Bennie And The Jets'. The pitches will be judged by a bunch of YouTubers and industry execs, plus John and Taupin (who also signed the aforementioned safe harbour letters) with winning entries getting a budget and access to YouTube resources and the expertise of Pulse Films to bring their videos to life. Pitches for the three videos must be, respectively, animation, live action and choreography based, though John himself won't appear in any of them. The winning vids will be unveiled next summer. Say the competition's organisers: "As these songs were released before the rise of the music video, this competition gives aspiring creators the once in a lifetime opportunity to showcase these best loved hits like never before". I've got a pitch. Picture this everybody. An aging scruffy creative type is aboard a small boat parked alongside a slick bright red yacht parked in, I don't know, a very safe looking harbour. He's among a small group of other scruffy creative types, all holding up angry banners and chanting angry chants. Then, as the music soars, our scruffy creative type removes his scruffy coat to reveal the smartest tuxedo you've ever seen. At that very point the yacht's owner invites our no longer scruffy creative type on board his vessel where they share a big fat birthday cake. The piece ends with our hero tossing the crumbs left on the plate that held the cake he just ate in the general direction of his former colleagues on the protest boat. As they lurch forward to catch some of those crumbs, their boat topples over and they all drown. The end. Anyway, here's Elton John with a quote: "We're excited to partner with YouTube to bring together generations of artists and music lovers around a shared passion for storytelling. YouTube is a rich tapestry of creativity, and I can't wait to see how the breadth of talent from the dance, live-action and animation communities apply their vision to these cherished songs". And here's YouTube's Vivien Lewit, who is BEYOND THRILLED. "This is a dream project that puts iconic music from a legendary artist in the hands of new creative talent, to reinvent these classic hits. We're BEYOND THRILLED to partner with Elton John and Universal to enable this program and bring to life a new way for the passionate fan community on YouTube to experience these songs that have inspired generations". Good times. Full info at www.eltonjohn.com/thecut. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
DJ Mag signs Chinese licensing deal "We are really excited to be working with East21 Music Group, with Rachel [Yang] and Fu [Jiang] and look forward to building DJ Mag in China together over the next five years and beyond", says the magazine's MD Martin Carvell. "We are proud as a British-born magazine to be expanding with DJ Mag and the Top 100 DJs in Asia and particularly China and are looking forward to seeing more Chinese DJs and clubs breaking into the Top 100s". DJ Mag currently publishes in the UK, US and Canada, with seasonal editions in Ibiza and Croatia as well as a global presence online. It also has a number of existing licensing deals around its brand and content in other European, Asian and Latin American markets. Back in the UK, DJ Mag has announced DJ EZ will headline its Best Of British Awards this week. The event will take place at Egg London on 15 Dec. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nelly Furtado announces new album The Ride "What happens when you have a successful album and/or career, is you go, go, go, more is more, yes yes yes and no time for no", says Furtado of her decision to take a break between these two records. "That took its toll on me and didn't flow with my natural rhythm of who I am". In an effort to break that cycle, she focussed on other things: "I was having a crazy day and I drove to my friend's record store and I said to him, 'This is going to sound crazy but can I work at your store?' I started doing a lot of things I always wanted to do - like sewing, ceramic and playwriting classes". She goes on: "I guess I was trying to distil my life a little bit. I was living in fast forward since I was nineteen. Through unstrapping and layering down and simplifying my life, I found joy again in art. It's okay to maybe get off the ride once in a while to reflect on everything you've experienced". Listen to the first single from the album, 'Pipe Dreams', here. -------------------------------------------------- Rina Sawayama releases new single reflecting on the year just gone Sawayama has been working on her debut album for the bulk of this year, collaborating with the likes of AK Paul, Clarence Clarity, Tourist and Salute. Her two 2016 singles sit either side of that work, but they also sit either side of much of this year's global political upheaval. "'This Time Last Year' was originally written about how widely things can change in love, but now seems so apt in a year that took everything we knew, and turned it upside down", she says of the new song. "Outside of our newsfeed, an ugly truth became evident", she adds. "And the truth bloody well hurt. After this year, we need to be ready to ask questions, to confront and even empathise, and try to make sense of it all. We thought we knew everything, but we didn't". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Something entirely pointless happened But no, the wall pissing was metaphorical, though the handing out of yet more awards to Adele and Coldplay - this time at the licence fee payer's expense - was very real. Coldplay were handed the Entirely Pointless Award for something entirely pointless, while other winners included The 1975, who took home the I Mean What's The Fucking Point Of This? Award, and Izzy Bizu, who was presented with the Think What Could Be Achieved If All This Budget Was Actually Spent On BBC Introducing Itself Award. Adele, meanwhile, was a double winner for the second year running. She won both the How Is This Still A Thing? Award and the I Mean, Who Do We Need To Fire To Put This Shit Out Of Its Misery? Award. Well done one and all. Neither Adele nor Coldplay were able to attend. Though I bet if the night had actually consisted of licence fee payer money being artistically and/or politically pissed up against a wall, they'd have been there like a shot. See, I should run the BBC. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Warner Music, Little Simz, Jax Jones, more Other notable announcements and developments today... Â Warner Bros in the US yesterday announced the promotion of Peter Gray, Larry Mattera and Hildi Snodgrass to the respective roles of GM/EVP of Promotion & Media, GM/EVP of Commerce & Marketing and CFO/EVP Operations. Boss Cameron Strang was "proud". Â Little Simz has released the first track from her new album, 'Stillness In Wonderland'. Here's 'Poison Ivy'. The album is out this Friday. Â Raye features on new Jax Jones track 'You Don't Know Me'. Â Ibibio Sound Machine have released a new track, 'The Pot Is On Fire'. Their new album, 'Uyai', is out on 2 Mar. Â When not facilitating the facial disfigurement of Ed Sheeran, James Blunt is still pretty funny on the tweets. This morning he announced: "If you thought 2016 was bad - I'm releasing an album in 2017". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Red Hot Chili Peppers' Chad Smith opens new music department in Bedfordshire school Arriving by helicopter, Smith officially opened Sandy Upper School's new Lane & Browns Music Suite, named after its local estate agent sponsor. "I'm so happy to be able to come down here and be part of this", he said in a speech. "Music education is very close to my heart. I started playing the drums when I was seven and I learned how to play all through school in a little town outside Detroit, Michigan, not much bigger than this town". "There's something really great about being part of a small community. I had the same upbringing, so I understand how important it is to have music and art in school", he continued. "Now you have a really beautiful new music department with lots of instruments, and people are going to help you learn them if you're interested. I think it's really important for kids to be exposed to music. I'm not saying that everyone should play in a rock band, but art and music is a really, really important part of education". He added: "Some of my favourite musicians and bands have come out of the UK. When I was growing up it was bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix, Queen, David Bowie and, of course The Beatles and The Stones. These were all magical artists to little old Chad growing up in Michigan and it all came from right around here - so maybe the next one is sitting right in here". Closing his speech, before performing a drum solo and officially opening the music department, he thanked his "longtime friends, the Banks family", including RHCP agent Emma Banks of CAA, and her father Richard, who is Chair of the school governors. So now you can stop wondering how all this happened. Still, knowing that doesn't make Chad Smith addressing a school assembly in a small British town seem any less weird. Here's a video. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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