MP hopes to ban ticket touting bots through Digital Economy Bill
Nigel Adams, the Conservative MP who heads up the All Party Parliamentary Group For Music, has proposed an amendment to the in-the-works Digital Economy Bill that would criminalise the use of the kind of software currently employed by some touts to buy up large quantities of tickets from the primary sites to resell on the secondary market.

Somehow restricting use of the so called 'bots' is the one bit of regulation that even some of the secondary ticketing sites - which generally advocate minimal regulation of the resale market - have in the past said they'd support. Adams has cited anti-bot measures taken in New York as informing his decision to try and introduce an extra bit of secondary ticketing regulation through this new generic batch of digital economy legislation.

With his proposed amendment to be discussed in Parliament later this month, Adams raised the issue at Prime Minister's Question Time yesterday, urging ministers to consider his proposals. He told the PM: "A few weeks ago I thought that I had successfully bought four tickets online for one of my favourite bands, Green Day, only to be told that the tickets were unavailable and the gig was sold out, but within minutes I could buy the tickets on another site, for twice the price. It turns out that the ticket site had been the victim of a computerised attack by organised touts who then resell tickets at inflated prices".

He continued: "Will the Prime Minister ask her ministers to give close consideration to my amendment to the Digital Economy Bill that would make the computerised harvesting of tickets for resale an offence? Similar legislation exists elsewhere, and it would go a long way towards protecting consumers and genuine music fans".

The Minister most Prime, your good mate Tezza May, then responded: "I thank my honourable friend for raising that issue. I am sure that he is not the only member of the house who has had that experience, and he is certainly not the only person who has been affected, as members will know from their constituency mailbags".

Noting the recent government review of secondary ticketing, May continued: "The Consumer Rights Act 2015 introduced a review of online ticket sales. Professor Mike Waterson's independent report on online secondary ticketing makes a number of recommendations, including some whereby the industry itself could better protect itself from the problem. The government will look very carefully at those recommendations to see what can be done to address the issue".

Which is all lovely. Though May's honing in on the Waterson recommendations that involve the industry itself doing more, rather than government ramping up statutory regulations or doing more to enforce existing rules, might suggest that her government will ultimately carefully decide to remain hands-off in this domain, beyond angrily agreeing that "something must be done". Adams should tell the PM that he wants to protect the touts' human right to use bots, then she'd have it banned within the week.

Fabric makes redundancies, as club remains closed
Fabric has been forced to make the bulk of its staff redundant, as the venue continues to await a court date to try and overturn Islington Council's decision to revoke the London club's licence.

In his latest update on how donations to the venue's legal fund are being used, Managing Director Gary Kilby wrote: "It has been a very sad two weeks where we have unfortunately had to allow most of our staff to take redundancy and revert to a small manageable team".

As previously reported, Fabric was closed at the beginning of August pending a licence review, in the wake of two recent drug-related deaths at or near the venue. Despite strong arguments in the club's favour, Islington Council decided to revoke Fabric's licence a month later.

Vowing to fight that ruling, Fabric launched a fund to collect donations towards what are likely to be hefty legal fees - raising over £250,000 in two weeks. An appeal hearing is now scheduled at Highbury Magistrates Court on 28 Nov.

The total amount donated to the campaign has now reached almost £300,000, with Kilby explaining that "our outgoings in the past two weeks have been confined to achieving Quality Management System accreditation and that forms a crucial part of our goal to re-open".

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Paul McCartney offers support to Music Venue Trust
Hey, remember when Music Venue Trust chief Mark Davyd wrote an open letter to Paul McCartney asking for his support and you thought that was a daft idea that would get nowhere? Well, prepare to feel very silly indeed. Because Sir Macca has got right behind the grassroots live music organisation.

OK, he didn't come and play that #Fightback gig at the Roundhouse that MVT organised, closing this year's Venues Day conference, which was one of the suggestions in Davyd's letter. He doesn't seem to have officially become a patron either. But he has sent a message of support, which is still pretty good. Though let's not forget that the open letter was actually addressed to McCartney and Ringo Starr. What has Ringo said? Nothing. Not even "fuck off".

Anyway, here's what McCartney said: "Throughout my career I've been lucky enough to play in venues of all different shapes and sizes, from tiny clubs to massive stadiums all over the world. Without the grassroots clubs, pubs and music venues my career could have been very different. I support Music Venue Trust because artists need places to start out, develop and work on their craft and small venues have been the cornerstone for this. If we don't support live music at this level, then the future of music in general is in danger".

Badass. That aforementioned #Fightback gig, which was announced before any bands or crew had even been booked, ended up being headlined by Everything Everything. So that worked out pretty well.

In his own message of support, the band's Jeremy Pritchard said: "Everything Everything, and all the bands we cut our teeth in beforehand, had lengthy apprenticeships in the UK's smaller live music venues. For bands like ours, and countless others, there is no shortcut to The Roundhouse, Manchester Apollo, Brixton Academy or The O2".

"Smaller venues provide a crucial environment for incubation", he continued. "And if that is not protected from unscrupulous local authorities and avaricious property developers, than we cannot expect to have homegrown acts filling these bigger rooms in the near future".

Finally, he concluded: "We are facing a genuine cultural crisis, as well as a serious threat to the music industry in the UK - a huge British export. Already we hear the cry that there are too few festival headliners rising through the ranks. This is directly connected to the worrying trend of invaluable but highly vulnerable local gigs going for good".

Stephen Fry sent a message of support too, but like McCartney, failed to get up and sing any of his songs. He wrote: "Are you fed up with our music venues being closed down by greedy and short sighted developers and people with no sense of culture? Let's club together and #FIGHTBACK".

Nice hashtag use. Shame he doesn't actually seem to have tweeted this.

Streaming is too expensive for the mainstream, says YouGov research
The music industry needs to develop lower-priced streaming services to sign up a significant portion of the 90% of UK adults yet to pay to stream, according to new research from YouGov and subscription technology company Zuora.

The need for a better range of paid for streaming services - beyond the £10 a month standard and £20 a month hi-def option - has been much discussed within the music community, of course.

Although mobile bundling, family packages and student discounts have all reduced the cost of subscription streaming for many consumers, it is generally thought that, to go truly mainstream, the streaming market needs to offer packages below £5 a month or which bundle music with other digital content.

The YouGov survey of over 2000 consumers reckons that about 10% of the UK adult population are now paying to stream. Of those respondents who are already signed up to a service like Spotify or Apple Music, 52% said they don't expect to buy a CD ever again now that they have access to so much music on demand. Meanwhile 37% said that they "rarely" listen to the radio now that they can crank up music at anytime via their streaming service.

However, for those not currently paying to stream, price-point was a key issue, with 48% saying that the services currently available were too expensive. Of course, for core music fans, the £10 a month package is a very good deal indeed, given the quantity of music available, but for consumers who [a] use to buy about two CDs a year and [b] never asked for access to 40 million tracks, the current offer is less attractive.

Assuming it doesn't want to slash the prices of streaming across the board, the challenge for the music industry is working out what a £3/4 a month service looks like, given it can't be as good as the £10 service but needs to offer more than the free streaming services. Various attempts to launch mid-price streaming platforms in the past have, in the main, failed, though all eyes are now on Amazon, Pandora and iHeart who all have $4/5 options on the market or in the pipeline.

Commenting on the research, Zuora boss Tien Tzuo said: "Subscription-based music consumption is clearly gaining maturity, with well-established services such as Spotify and Apple Music, and new entrants like Amazon, offering endless access to content. However, with only 10% penetration in the UK music market, there is a lot more room to grow".

He continued: "Modern consumers are looking for outcomes, more personalised experiences to match the value they get from their ongoing streaming music investment. The winner in this race will succeed by delivering the most compelling experiences matched with tailored pricing models that meet consumer expectations".

Tony Blackburn to return to BBC Radio
Tony Blackburn will return to BBC Radio 2 in January with an hour-long show at 7pm on Fridays.

As previously reported, Blackburn was sacked by the Corporation in February in relation to the evidence the presenter gave to the organisation's Jimmy Savile review. Judge Janet Smith was hired to review the extent to which Savile committed sexual assaults and abuse on BBC premises during his long career with the broadcaster, and to assess how that was allowed to happen.

Blackburn claimed that he had been axed simply because he disagreed with the Beeb's official line on two incidents from the 1970s, in particular how it dealt with allegations that he had abused a teenage girl who subsequently took her own life. The DJ said that, although the allegations against him were seemingly retracted, Corporation records say he was nevertheless questioned about them at the time by then BBC exec Bill Cotton Jr. But Blackburn denies any such meeting took place.

In a statement yesterday, Beeb bosses said: "The BBC stands by the findings of Dame Janet Smith and the decision it made to take Tony Blackburn off air at the start of this year based on Dame Janet's Smith's preference for the documentary evidence relating to meetings that took place over Tony Blackburn's statements. Tony Blackburn for his part stands by his statements to Dame Janet Smith but recognises that the BBC considered a period off air was appropriate".

Blackburn added: "I do not seek to criticise the BBC for decisions it has made in the past. I have had a difficult year personally, but I'm pleased to be returning to the BBC and can't wait to get behind the mic again".

After his sacking, Blackburn was replaced on 'Pick Of The Pops' by Paul Gambaccini. Meanwhile Blackburn himself, who has generally worked for multiple stations in recent years, got a new show on digital station Thames Radio.

Phil Chess 1921-2016
Chess Records founder Phil Chess has died at his home in Tuscon, Arizona. He was 95.

Born Fiszel Czyż in Poland in 1921, Chess and his younger brother Leonard founded Chess Records in 1950 - essentially relaunching Aristocrat Records, in which Leonard had bought a stake three years earlier. Specialising in blues and R&B, the company released what is often considered to be the first rock n roll single, 'Rocket 88' by Jackie Brenston And His Delta Cats (the Delta Cats actually being Ike Turner's Kings Of Rhythm).

Chess became a pioneer in what was then still termed 'race music', going on to release gospel, soul, doo-wop and jazz through various imprints, as well as moving into music publishing. The label is particularly known for its association with artists such as Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Bo Diddley and Etta James. Members of the label's in-house session band also went on to form Earth, Wind & Fire.

Confirming Chess's death to the Chicago Sun-Tribune, his daughter Pam said that her father remained in contact with many of the artists he had worked with. "He talked to BB King all the time on the phone", she said. "He ran into Ramsey Lewis six or so years ago in San Diego. He talked to Chuck Berry".

He is survived by Pam, his son Kevin, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Chess's wife of 70 years, Sheva Jonesi, died in April.

Clean Bandit's Neil Milan quits
Clean Bandit violinist Neil Milan has announced his departure from the band, saying that the decision took "a very long time to reach" but is "the right one".

In a statement posted on Twitter, Milan said: "I have decided to leave Clean Bandit. It was a decision that took me a very long time to reach, but it is the right one. So many people have made these last four years unbelievable and I am so thankful for it all".

In their own statement, the remaining members of the band said: "It is with great sadness that we must announce that our performances of 'Tears' over the summer were Neil's last shows with Clean Bandit. He told us recently that he has decided to leave".

They went on: "We have had a wonderful ride together and we are extremely excited to see what he does next. We are also very much looking forward to our upcoming shows and to sharing our new music with you. Thank you all for your support during this time, and thank you Neil for being part of this amazing journey. We will miss you a lot on this next chapter and we wish you the best of luck for the future".

Clean Bandit release new single 'Rockabye', featuring Sean Paul and Anne-Marie, this Friday.

Martin Garrix tops the DJ Mag Poll
The results of this year's clubber-voted DJ Mag Top 100 DJs Poll were announced as the Amsterdam Dance Event got underway yesterday, and there is a brand new deejay at the top of the tree, and it's the youngest ever poll topper in the form of Martin Garrix.

The Dutch superstar DJ is just 20. And if that makes you feel old then, you know what, you probably are old. But at least you're not dead. The second best thing about being old is that, well, at least it's better than being dead. The first best thing is that you don't have to hang out with all those idiotic young whippersnappers who do idiotic things like voting Martin Garrix to the top of the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs Poll. Idiots!

Only joking. I love Martin Garrix. He's the business. And not only can he press play, he's also been known to employ words in order to communicate both emotions and views. Look, here he is now. "It feels unreal to have won", says he. "I 100% did not expect it at all. I've had an amazing year, with awesome shows and amazing fans - I'm so thankful for their support. I didn't even do a campaign, and it just shows how dope the fanbase is".

Yeah, what a dope fanbase. Well done dopes, you did it!

Universal Music, Isle Of Wight Festival, Garth Brooks, more

Other notable announcements and developments today...

• Universal Music has announced the official opening of a new studio complex in Sydney to be called Forbes Street Studios, because no one ever built an Abbey on a road in Australia. Apparently it's "state of the art". Though I don't know which art, or what state that art is actually in. But we do know Universal Music Asia Pacific boss George Ash is "excited".

• Hey artists, will you stop doing these fucking stupid exclusivity deals with the streaming services? It's totally counter-productive for the wider streaming sector. And yes Troyal Garth Brooks, I am looking at you. Fucking Amazon exclusive. You know Amazon is evil, right?

• Former digital music exec and recent Really Useful Group CEO Barney Wragg has launched a new band name registry that uses that new-fangled Blockchain thingimy to do stuff. It's called Bandnamevault.com.

• MIDEM has announced a new advisory board of ten high-ranking music business types to advise on the evolution of the music industry conference that has seen attendance slip somewhat in recent years. Fewer male-dominated panels might be one idea for the nine men on the advisory board to consider.

• Lady Gaga has released another new song from her 'Joanne' album, which is out this week. Here's 'A-Yo'.

• Rejjie Snow has released a new track, 'Pink Beetle'.

• The Isle Of Wight Festival has announced its 2017 dates - 8-11 Jun. So I guess that's all happening then. The future of the festival had been called into question recently over a need to cut costs. It's not yet clear whether that was achieved or if ticket prices have had to be raised. We'll find out when they go on sale on 7 Nov.

• Max and Iggor Cavalera will bring their 'Return To Roots' show to London's Forum on 30 Nov, performing Sepultura's 'Roots' album to mark the 20th anniversary of its release. Both are now ex members of the metal band, of course. This year also marks the 20th anniversary of Max's departure in December 1996.

• Loyle Carner will play a show at the Shepherd's Bush Empire on 17 Feb. Here's a tour diary video for you to enjoy.

• Tycho has announced that he will play a UK show at Electric Brixton on 28 Feb next year. His new album, 'Epoch', will receive its physical release on 20 Jan.

Oasis turned down Trainspotting soundtrack because they don't like trains
Noel Gallagher turned down the opportunity for Oasis to have a song on the soundtrack of Danny Boyle's 1996 film 'Trainspotting', missing out on being a part of one of the biggest British films and soundtrack albums of the 90s. And all because he misunderstood and feared the band being associated with railway enthusiasts.

Appearing at a Q&A session for a 20th anniversary screening of the film, producer Andrew Macdonald and costume designer Rachel Fleming were asked why Oasis had not appeared on the soundtrack, reports the Telegraph.

"Danny is from near Manchester and he was very keen to have Noel Gallagher do something but there was a reason why he didn't do it", pondered Macdonald. "He came to the launch party in Cannes, but I don't know why he didn't do a piece of music".

Fleming chipped in: "I met Noel at a thing the other week and he said to me: 'I would have done something, but honestly I thought it was about trainspotters. I didn't know'. That's what he actually said".

This is presumably why Oasis also didn't appear on the soundtrack of 'Heat' or 'Twelve Monkeys' either.