Metropolis Music becomes part of the "Live Nation family"
Aware that there are nearly nine other people putting on gigs in the UK, and there was that one week last June when it was ten, live music giant Live Nation has further expanded its UK business by forming a joint venture with previously independent concert promoter Metropolis.

Confirmation of the deal follows speculation that Live Nation was in talks to buy Metropolis. However a spokesperson told IQ on Friday that this wasn't actually an acquisition and that everyone should shut up saying that it is. Well, they said the first bit. Rather the new alliance constitutes a "reconfiguration" of the Metropolis promotions business, which will now be "integrating into the Live Nation team" and become "part of the Live Nation family". Which I think means they all have to spend Christmas Day together.

Metropolis was already in business with Live Nation, both being shareholders in the Academy Music Group network of venues, and both having a stake in that V Festival thing that somehow still exists. However, the new deal will see Live Nation also involved in the Metropolis tours business, though the Metropolis artist management agency is not part of the arrangement, despite Live Nation also being active in that domain too.

Although now part of the Live Nation family and obliged to attend all Live Nation christenings and funerals from this point onwards, and the occasional birthday party for the live firm's favourite aging aunt, the existing Metropolis team will pretty much stay in place, with founder Bob Angus as Chairman and Raye Cosbert as MD.

Says Angus: "The team and I are excited for this new venture into Metropolis Music. We've been promoting events in the UK since 1985, and we look forward to providing the best for artists and fans across the UK, together as part of the Live Nation family".

Meanwhile Live Nation UK Chair Denis Desmond said the deal marks "another step in our commitment to promotions and world-class events in the UK. We're bringing Metropolis on board and bolstering their existing promotions expertise with Live Nation's established frameworks, relationships and a team of experts to grow the business together".

For readers who prefer their Live Nation expansion deals to be American in flavour, the US division of the company has bought Idaho-based CT Touring. That company's founder, Creston Thornton, joins Live Nation as President of a new division covering the so called Northwest Mountain States, aka Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, with a bit of Washington state thrown in for good measure.

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PIPCU sends out new 'stop it now' letters to the pirates
As well as dropping by the offices of a bunch of brands and advertising companies whose ads continue to appear on piracy websites, the City Of London's IP Crime Unit has also got busy since the start of the year sending out a bunch of new letters to the operators of several copyright infringing websites urging said site owners to shut down or go legit, otherwise they could face criminal action.

According to Torrentfreak, compared to previous warning letters sent out by the specialist IP policing unit, aka PIPCU, the new correspondence name-checks more UK laws that the copyright infringing sites may be breaching, and the more extreme sanctions that come with those laws.

After listing possible offences stemming from fraud, copyright and serious crime legislation, the letter says: "Should a conviction be brought for the above offences, UK courts may impose sentences of imprisonment and/or fines", adding that "PIPCU has criminal and civil powers in UK law to seize money, belongings and any property in connection with these offences".

However, the music-focused piracy site that passed its PIPCU letter over to Torrentfreak - DailyNewJams or DNJ.to - was rather blasé about the missive. Operators of that site told Torrentfreak: "They accuse us of breaking the UK law but we have no relation to the UK nor do any of us live there".

They then claimed: "We don't even try to actively drive UK traffic to the blog. In fact we completely don't care about the UK".

Though that's obviously a bluff, because I have it on good authority - from Theresa May herself, no less - that trading with Britain is everyone's top priority throughout the entire world, and once we untangle ourselves from all that EU nonsense the world's music pirates will be lining up to infringe copyright in our newly empowered United Kingdom.

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Pandora's Ticketfly announces tie up with ticket exchange Lyte
Pandora's ticketing business Ticketfly last week announced an alliance with US-based ticket exchange website Lyte, which says it enables fans to resell tickets to shows they can no longer attend, but without providing a home to all those terrible touts. Because we all know about those touts, right? Terrible people. I met one once. He was terrible.

The Ticketfly platform will now integrate with the Lyte marketplace. "By verifying transferred tickets and keeping them within the fan community, Ticketfly and Lyte are helping venues and promoters provide a consistent, secure, and on-brand experience to all fans", says the official announcement, "whether those fans bought tickets at the onsale or after the show sold out".

It adds: "Not only will venues and promoters spend less time managing fraudulent tickets and disappointed fans, they will also have fewer empty seats and enjoy increased revenue from the resulting spend on concessions and merchandise". All sounds marvellous, doesn't it?

The tie-up was confirmed by Ticketfly boss Andrew Dreskin, who, I should mention, is American, so prepare yourself for the use of the word 'scalper' when he obviously means 'tout'. "For many years I have mulled over how to best tackle the safe and secure resale of tickets for our clients and ticket buyers" he said, forgetting to say 'scalper'.

"[A system] that keeps the tickets in the hands of true fans" he continued, "keeps control of the experience in the hands of our clients" he went on, "ensures that the house is full for the artists" he further mused - don't worry, the 'scalper' mention is incoming - "and renders obsolete scalpers who leach off the primary ecosystem". Boom, there it is. "Lyte is that answer", he reckons. "We are delighted to be in business with these guys".

One of those guys, Lyte CEO Ant Taylor, added: "Lyte takes control of the fan experience away from anonymous third parties and puts it back in the hands of venues and promoters. Lyte provides the most transparent, secure, and seamless solution for exchanging tickets. That is what fans deserve and eventually, what they'll demand. In Ticketfly, we have a partner who catalyses our mission. We are proud to apply our technology in the service of their incredible client base".

So, there you go, mission catalysed. The recently announced job cuts at Pandora don't affect Ticketfly by the way. So that's nice. For them.

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Team Glastonbury are planning a Variety Bazaar, but not to replace Glastonbury
Every time Michael Eavis gives an interview these days he describes ever more bizarre plans for the future of the Glastonbury Festival. Fortunately he doesn't give many interviews, otherwise everyone would be under the impression that this year's Glastonbury was taking place on the moon with the inevitable Ed Sheeran headline set taking place in the International Space Station.

However, following recent chatter to the effect that Michael Eavis had said Glastonbury would leave its Worthy Farm home and rebrand as Variety Bazaar at some point in the relatively near future, the festival's organiser Emily Eavis has clarified things a little. There are no plans to relocate the Glastonbury Festival, though that previously mentioned ambition to launch a brand new event at a different location is still on the agenda, and that new event currently has a working title of Variety Bazaar.

In a Guardian Q&A with both Eavises, Emily said that the planned new event wasn't now likely to launch until 2021. Noting that next year would be one of the Glastonbury Festival's occasional years off, she said: "I think we're most likely going to come back [to Worthy Farm] in 2019 after the fallow year in 2018, when there will be no event. Then 2020 is our 50th anniversary. And 2021, we may then do a show somewhere else, which we're calling the Variety Bazaar. But none of this is set in stone".

If a success, the Variety Bazaar might then take place whenever Glastonbury itself is having a fallow year. But "just to be clear", she added, "there's no plan to move Glastonbury Festival away from Worthy Farm or to stop doing those here". Please everybody write that down and revisit that statement next time Michael Eavis gives an interview and everyone starts saying the Glastonbury Festival is moving to Chester Zoo or Whitby harbour.

Meanwhile, what about that name for the new event, hey? Explains Eavis Senior: "There was a shop in our local town, Shepton Mallet, years and years ago, run by three sisters, which sold all sorts of stuff - everything from knitting to books to cream cakes. And the name of the shop was the Variety Bazaar. I mentioned it to Emily and she loved it".

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Tidal user figures questioned
There was some chitter chatter on Friday about exactly how many people are actually streaming tunes via Tidal, after a Norwegian business newspaper said the firm's official user figures were dubious. Personally, I'm not sure Tidal even exists. I have a theory that it was the name of a fictional streaming service in some Michael Crichton novel set in the future. Jay-Z then joked about how he owned that service, the rumour machine got out of control, and now everyone's convinced it's real. This is the age we live in.

Norwegian paper Dagens Næringsliv - which remains interested in the streaming firm that originated in Scandinavia - says that while Tidal's last official stat on subscriber numbers was three million, one London-based label exec said that they had been told the Jay-Z led streaming set up had something closer to 850,000 paying users.

The Dagens Næringsliv report makes a number of allegations about the inner workings and financials of the Tidal business, though some have suggested that at least some of the newspaper's sources may have axes to grind, having left the firm following Jay-Z's high profile acquisition in 2015.

That said, Dagens Næringsliv's sources aren't the first in the music industry to suggest that Tidal's previously released official figures included a lot of users still enjoying free trials in the wake of one of the company's high profile artist exclusives, and that the number of actual paying users is considerably less than three million. A recent post by Mark Mulligan's MIDiA Research suggested that the actual figure was more like a million.

Of course, in terms of assessing the long-term viability of Tidal, the nature of the streaming music business means that you need at least tens of millions of paying users to have any hope of going into profit, unless the record companies and music publishers radically alter the nature of their licensing deals at some point in the future. Which means a business with three million subscribers isn't really any more viable than a business with one million.

Though the good news for Tidal is that we're now officially in the age of 'alternative facts'. Jay-Z should get Kanye West to have a word with his mate Donald Trump who could have his spokespeople confirm that Tidal - which is a great streaming service by the way, really great, the best - actually has a billion users, and if they all stood in a line they'd definitely reach the Washington Monument.

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PledgeMusic hires Bryan Mead
PledgeMusic has hired Bryan Mead as its new Senior Vice President Artist And Label Relations in the US. Mead previously held a similar role at music distribution firm INgrooves.

"Bryan Mead brings 25+ years of industry expertise to his new position at PledgeMusic, including extensive experience in the evolving new music business", says PledgeMusic CEO Dominic Pandiscia. "Bryan has a deep understanding of the value of developing new fans around an artist and optimising that relationship. He adds a unique perspective to PledgeMusic's executive team and will be key in reinforcing the value our platform brings to artists, labels, managers and fans".

Mead adds: "PledgeMusic has developed into the premiere marketplace for 'superfans'. It's a platform where artists and labels can leverage a wealth of marketing opportunities and maximise existing and new revenue streams, and where fans can purchase the most unique experiences and products. I am busting with enthusiasm for what PledgeMusic has up its sleeve in 2017".

Please can we make BUSTING the new THRILLED?

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Celador to acquire Anglian Radio
Celador Radio is adding five new stations to its roster through the acquisition of Anglian Radio, reports Radio Today.

Launched in 2008, the Celador radio business currently owns 20 local stations around the UK, the bulk of which operate under the Breeze brand. The deal to buy Anglian Radio will add The Beach, Dream 100, North Norfolk Radio, Radio Norwich and Town 102 to that total.

It's not yet clear if there are plans to rebrand any or all of them - though Celador Radio's other acquisitions to date have resulted in a name change to either The Breeze of Sam FM, with the exception of the Southampton-based Fire Radio.

Anglian Radio was founded in 2013 through a management buyout, acquiring its five stations from Tindle Radio. A number of Celador's existing stations were also formerly owned by Tindle.

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Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit dies
Former Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit, a founder member of the influential German group, has died, aged 78, from pneumonia.

A statement on the band's Facebook page reads: "It is with great sadness we have to announce that Jaki passed away this morning from sudden pneumonia. He fell asleep peacefully, surrounded by his loved ones. We will miss him hugely".

Originally a jazz drummer, Liebezeit co-founded Can in 1968, helping to develop what became known as the 'krautrock' sound. He had been due to perform with former bandmates Irmin Schmidt and Malcolm Mooney at the Barbican in London on 8 Apr, as part of the previously reported 'Can Project'.

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Secretly Canadian launches Our First 100 Days anti-Trump compilation
US independent music firm Secretly Group has teamed up with the organisers of the previously reported '30 Days, 30 Songs' project to launch a new compilation called 'Our First 100 Days'.

Sold via subscriptions, the project will release a new song for each of Donald Trump's first 100 days as US president, with proceeds donated to causes deemed under threat from the new administration - including climate change, women's rights, LGBT rights and immigration.

"I looked at what tools we had at hand and was sitting at lunch and thought, 'Oh, we could do a 100 songs, he's got his first 100 days, we have ours, let's do some good work", explains Secretly Canadian Publishing's John Coombs to Billboard. "[Then] I realised it wasn't my idea", says Coombs. "The guys at '30 Days, 30 Songs', [Zeitgeist Management's] Jordan Kurland and Pulitzer-prize winning author Dave Eggers, did a similar project leading up to the election".

Coombs then got in touch with Kurland and Eggers and they came up with a plan to partner on this new project.

"It's not a prerequisite to have politically-motivated songs and some of the charities are not political by design", adds Coombs. "[The question is] how do we get more work out of our dollars? And to me that's to donate to causes that support people who probably didn't vote the same way as I. It's small, I'm well aware of that, but it's a step in the right direction to try and bridge the gap".

So, for a minimum subscription of $30, you will receive a new song per day for 100 days (or 97 now, as Trump was inaugurated on Friday, of course). The project is already offering previously unreleased tracks form Angel Olsen, PWR BTTM and Avey Tare. Find out more and sign up here.

As previously reported, '30 Days, 30 Songs' was launched in October last year, leading up to the election - providing an anti-Trump song each day via a Spotify playlist. It quickly expanded beyond just 30 songs, as more and more artists rushed to contribute. It has now morphed into '1000 Days, 1000 Songs', with the aim to provide a song for every day of Trump's four year term. For the first 100 days, it will provide selections from the 'Our First 100 Days' compilation.

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Jarvis Cocker and Richard Hawley to judge Sheffield tree competition
Jarvis Cocker, Richard Hawley and former Pulp drummer Nick Barnes are among the judges in a new competition to find Sheffield's greatest tree, as part of a campaign to save the city's roadside trees from being cut down.

Launched by Sheffield Hallam MP Nick Clegg last week, the Great Trees Of Sheffield 2017 competition aims to raise awareness of local authority plans to remove trees from Sheffield's roadsides. The plan to fell many of the city's trees follows a 2012 road maintenance deal between the local council and private company Amey, which includes overseeing the city's 36,000 roadside trees. The council has repeatedly refused to release an unredacted copy of the contract, and it recently emerged that council leader Julie Dore has not seen it either, despite defending its contents.

A council spokesperson last week said that the full contract, which has a 25 year term, runs to more than 7000 pages, and that council leaders had been fully briefed on its contents. Details redacted from the publicly available document are of a commercially sensitive nature.

The row came to wider attention in November, after eight trees were cut down early one morning, with residents of the street called out of bed to move their cars and protesters detained by police. Writing in local paper The Star, Clegg described it as "scenes you'd expect to see in Putin's Russia, rather than a Sheffield suburb".

Commenting on the battle to save the trees, Hawley said that Sheffield taxpayers are being "hauled over a barrel" with regard to the deal, reports The Guardian. "It's like something is beyond the 'Wizard Of Oz' curtain that only a few people know about", he said. "Not even the elected councillors know about it. The man on the street, or the man in the pub doesn't know about it. It seems as bent and wonky as a tree to me".

Nominations for Sheffield's Greatest Tree are open until 1 May. Jarvis Cocker has nominated a weeping birch in Endcliffe Park that "looks like bad hair". Find out more about the campaign here.

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