For the international contemporary live music industry
AS THE worldwide death toll for Coronavirus continues to rise, governments have attempted to control the spread with quarantines, travel bans and restrictions on public gatherings. Consequently, the live entertainment industry has ground to a halt. Tours, concerts and festivals between March and June have been wiped-out, leaving all involved…
Read moreTWO NEW York-based members of a counterfeiting ring have been jailed in prison for trading in fake concert tickets and Super Bowl tickets. Damon Daniels was sentenced to 24 months imprisonment and three years supervision and Rahiem Watts was got 41 months in prison and three years supervised. The pair…
Read moreTHE LAST of America’s Big 4 booking agencies has established a major presence in the UK, with the acquisition of Primary Talent International (PTI). Founded 30 years ago by the merger of Martin Hopewell’s World Service and Steve Hedges’ Station Agency, PTI operates worldwide excluding North America and has a…
Read morePROMOTERS AND agents organisation BDKV (the Federal Association of Concert and Event Management) is celebrating a landmark victory against the secondary ticketing sector, after a court ruled that primary ticketing terms and conditions (T&Cs) had a legal foundation. BDKV had created a clause, which was adopted by the majority of…
Read moreOLSO-BASED Live Nation Norway (LNN) has acquired a 51 per cent stake in west coast concert and festival promoter Bergen Live. The companies have been working together in the country’s second city since 2005, staging shows with artistes including Rihanna, the Eagles, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Bob Dylan,…
Read moreTICKETING, ANALYTICS, and promoting company TEG has acquired Van Egmond Group, which has over 45 years’ of experience in touring, special events, event merchandising, marketing, ticketing and promotion. The newly named TEG Van Egmond, has previously promoted record ground-breaking tours such as Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms and AC/DC’s Black…
Read moreLIVE NATION Entertainment (LNE) reported a strong fourth quarter (Q4) and 2019 year-end earnings, although long- and short-term debt rose by around $500 million overall. Revenue in Q4 increased by 11 per cent to $2.9 billion, AOI was up 18 per cent at $81m, driven by increased sponsorship, improved income…
Read moreANTI-TICKET touting campaign group FanFair Alliance (FFA) has won a ruling with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) against secondary ticketing site StubHub UK. FFA raised a complaint with the ASA last November regarding a StubHub UK advert which used the claim “guaranteed genuine tickets”. It argued that the term was…
Read moreOAK VIEW Group (OVG), the company founded by former AEG CEO Tim Leiweke and former Live Nation Entertainment chairman and artiste manager Irving Azoff, is close to submitting a planning application to Manchester City Council for build a second arena in the city. The company is hoping to build a…
Read moreTHE COMMERCE Commission (CC), New Zealand’s competition and consumer regulator, is no longer seeking an interim injunction against secondary ticketing website Viagogo, after the resale platform made changes to its website. The watchdog had sought an interim injunction against Viagogo, pending a hearing of the Commission’s full case against the…
Read moreA GREENER Festival (AGF) presented awards to events from seven countries across three continents at its second International AGF Awards. The ceremony took place at the Royal Garden Hotel in London, as part of the Green Events & Innovations Conference and on the opening night of the International Live Music…
Read moreAS THE coronavirus Corvid 19 continues to spread, particularly in Europe, governments worldwide are taking unilateral measures to limit the impact on their populations. Hardly anyone has insurance to cover Corvid 19-related cancellations, which is resulting in very many events considering what to do. Today’s US ban on flights from…
Read moreHAILED AS the world’s biggest arena for outdoor live events, the 100,000-capacity RCF Arena Campovolo will open in the city of Reggio Emilia in September. Under construction since 2018, the venue is located in an urban park in a non-operational area of Reggio Emilia Airport. The arena will celebrate its…
Read moreTICKETING COMPANY TEG and promoter subsidiary TEG Dainty have so far raised AS$9.5 million (US$6.3m) from a concert for bushfire relief. The 10-hour, sold-out concert took place at Sydney’s 70,000-capacity ANZ Stadium on 16 February and saw performances from artistes including Queen + Adam Lambert, k.d. Lang and Alice Cooper….
Read moreCONTROVERSIAL RESALE website Viagogo has completed its acquisition of StubHub from eBay, but is still forbidden from merging the two companies by authorities in the UK. Protests to the country’s competition watchdog the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) after the $4.05 billion takeover was announced in December, prompted it to…
Read moreSTOCKHOLM-BASED concert promoter and festival organiser Luger is expanding into market with the opening of a new office in Oslo, to be headed by veteran promoter Torgeir Gullaksen. With a career that started at Gunnar Eide Concerts, now Live Nation Norway, Gullaksen went on to launch promotions company Goldstar, which…
Read moreNEW ADDITIONS to the conference programme at the International Live Music Conference (ILMC), set for 3-6 March at London’s Royal Garden Hotel, include legendary artiste manager Peter Rudge being interviewed by former Dire Straits manager Ed Bicknell. In a new format for the event, Team Mumford & Sons – comprising…
Read moreCANADIAN MUSIC Week has opened nominations for its Live Music Industry Awards, which will be held on 22 May at El Mocambo (cap. 458) in Toronto. Categories include Major Festival of the Year (cap. 15,0001+), Venue Executive of the Year, Agent of the Year and Canadian Music City of the…
Read moreGOVERNMENT WATCHDOG Competition Bureau Canada has fined StubHub Canada and its San Francisco-based parent company StubHub Inc and combined C$1.3 million (US$983,000) for misleading ticket prices. The regulator found that StubHub “advertised tickets at unattainable prices on its websites, mobile apps and in promo emails to Canadians”. The breach of…
Read moreLIVE NATION Entertainment (LNE) has fully acquired Knoxville, Tennessee-based AC Entertainment, having bought a majority share in of the company in 2016. No financial terms have been revealed. AC founder and president Ashley Capps remains with the company and running its 80,000-capacity Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. AC vice-president Ted…
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