Ariana Grande leads One Love Manchester benefit concert
Just two weeks after a bomb attack killed 22 people as they left her show at the Manchester Arena on 22 May, Ariana Grande returned to the city last night for a headline-grabbing benefit show to raise money for those affected. Katy Perry, Little Mix, Imogen Heap, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Take That, Robbie Williams, Coldplay, Liam Gallagher and Grande herself were among those to perform.

Organised by Grande and her team, and promoted by Live Nation's Festival Republic in association with SJM Concerts, the show brought together 50,000 concert goers at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground, while millions more around the world tuned in to the live TV and radio broadcasts and online streams.

As previously reported, proceeds from ticket sales and special merchandise created for the event will be donated to the We Love Manchester emergency fund set up by Manchester City Council and the British Red Cross in the wake of last month's bombing. Live Nation's Ticketmaster also made available 14,000 free tickets for those who had been at the show where the attack took place.

As well as closing last night's concert, Grande performed at various points throughout the evening, including duets with the Black Eyed Peas, Miley Cyrus and Coldplay. With the latter she supported Chris Martin's rendition of Oasis's 'Don't Look Back In Anger', which has become associated with Manchester's resilient response to the attack.

Grande's manager Scooter Braun also appeared on stage to give a speech, thanking the police and others who had responded in the immediate aftermath of the attack, as well as the performers who had agreed to play for free at such short notice, and Live Nation for underwriting the show.

Referencing the incident the previous evening in London, in which three men attacked members of the public with a van and knives on and near London Bridge, he went on: "Last night, this nation was challenged, and you were all challenged. You had a decision to make whether to come out here tonight. And this is so beautiful. You guys made that decision. You looked fear right in the face and said, 'No. This is Manchester and the world is watching'".

"Evil will test us", he concluded. "It will show its face again. But because of you, we can now represent through this as a worldwide community that we will be ready, we will be fearless, we will be great and we will honour our children. The children of Manchester and all those children around the world. Because of our children, and those children who had their tomorrows ripped away from them, we owe it to them to be brave. They demand our bravery. And I want to thank you once again to come out and say that hatred will never win, fear will never divide us, because on this day we all stood with Manchester".

In her own speech, Grande thanked the audience for attending, saying: "I want to thank you so much for coming together and being so loving and strong and unified. I love you guys so much and I think that the kind of love and unity we're displaying is the medicine that the world really needs right now. So I want to thank you for being just that".

She also discussed how the benefit show had developed after she met the mother of one of those who died in the Manchester Arena attack, fifteen year old Olivia Campbell: "I had the pleasure of meeting Olivia's mommy a few days ago. And as soon as I met her I started crying and I gave her a big hug and she said that I should stop crying because Olivia wouldn't have wanted me to cry. And then she told me that Olivia would have wanted to hear the hits. So that means that we had a totally different show planned and we had a rehearsal yesterday where we changed everything and this evening has been so light and so filled with fun and love and bright energy and I want to thank you for that".

You can watch the show in full here.

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Concord Bicycle Music acquires Imagem Music Group
Music publishing company Imagem has been acquired by the US-based Concord Bicycle, it was announced on Friday. As well as the main Imagem Music company, with its catalogue of contemporary music, the purchase also includes the Rodgers & Hammerstein catalogue of theatrical songs and classical music publisher Boosey & Hawkes, both of which Imagem owns.

"These are precious copyrights - they represent some of the best music ever created and we are proud to have an opportunity to represent them to the world", says Concord Bicycle CEO Scott Pascucci. "Our team looks forward to working with everyone at Imagem Music, Rodgers & Hammerstein and Boosey & Hawkes, as we usher in the next phase of Concord Bicycle Music's development into an industry leading, full-service music company".

Imagem was set up in 2008 by Dutch pension fund ABP, initially to buy catalogues Universal Music Publishing had been forced to offload by European regulators. Imagem boss, André de Raaff, confirmed last week's deal for his side, adding: "I want to thank the ABP for believing and supporting us in creating such a successful and leading worldwide music publishing company in the shortest time ever in history".

He then thanked "all the composers and catalogue owners who committed to us and experienced the great people working for Imagem and 'making the difference'. I think that Concord Bicycle, being a true independent, is a wonderful new home for Imagem under the leadership of Scott, Steve [Smith] and Jake [Wisely]".

The combined Imagem catalogue totals 250,000, bumping the number of works now controlled by Concord Bicycle to 380,000.

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Warner/Chappell allies with SACEM on digital licensing
French collecting society SACEM last week announced that it had been appointed by Warner/Chappell to assist in the licensing of the Warner music publishing company's Anglo-American repertoire to some digital services.

The big five publishers usually license their Anglo-American repertoires to digital services directly in Europe, though in partnership with the collecting societies - both those which control the performing rights in the songs the publishers are licensing (the publisher only controls the mechanical rights) and those which have systems set up to deal with the digital services day-to-day and with the monthly task of working out what songs have been streamed where.

Warner/Chappell is working with SACEM in the latter capacity. Under the new arrangement, SACEM will support the major with its licensing arrangements with Deezer, Qobuz and YouTube on a multi-territory basis.

Confirming that new deal, SACEM boss Jean-Noël Tronc said: "We are very proud to announce that Warner/Chappell Music is the latest major publisher to entrust us with their repertoire in a multi-territory online licensing deal for several streaming platforms that represent a strategically important and growing market".

He went on: "This new partnership with Warner/Chappell Music is a vindication of our strategic investment in a future-proof global online copyright management system. We are passionate about using digital innovation to turn the challenge of digital fragmentation of rights into an opportunity to unlock more value for creators and rights-holders".

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Rock Am Ring festival evacuated over possible terrorist threat
Germany's Rock Am Ring festival in Nürburg was evacuated on Friday night after police discovered a man they believed to have possible links to terrorism backstage at the 80,000 capacity event. Following security checks overnight, the festival re-opened on Saturday and ran as planned over the rest of the weekend.

"Due to a terrorist threat the police have advised us to interrupt the festival", organisers told ticketholders on Friday night as they asked everyone to leave the site "in a calm and controlled manner". The incident meant the cancellation of a number of performances, including that night's headliners Rammstein.

Koblenz police chief Wolfgang Fromm later explained to reporters that a man of "non-German origin" with possible links to terrorist groups had been discovered backstage, along with two other men. Upon questioning, it had been discovered that their real names were not those displayed on their passes. All three were arrested but later released.

"Rock Am Ring 2017 will go on!" said festival organisers in a statement the following morning. "After intensive searches and sweeps of the complete festival site by the police the suspicion of a potential terrorist threat has not been confirmed. Set up for day two of Rock Am Ring has commenced and the programme is going to be resumed in the early afternoon. The incredibly disciplined fans deserve all our respect and gratitude".

The local police force said in a statement: "[Following] the latest attack on a concert in Manchester, the security concept for Rock Am Ring was modified in advance and the number of operational forces increased significantly to around 1200. We take all references and all suspicious moments very seriously and follow them intensively. After a threat could not be ruled out, all necessary measures were taken immediately".

The Broilers, whose set on Friday was halted during the evacuation managed to perform again on Saturday, though it was not possible to incorporate Rammstein back into the schedule.

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A Greener Festival widens remit to assess other events on environmental impact
Organisers of the Greener Festival Award have now launched the Greener Event Award, expanding the remit of the initiative that seeks to encourage the live entertainment industry to be more environmentally friendly.

The expansion means that the organisation will now be assessing and advising venues, conferences and other events on their environmental impact and practices. Since its launch in 2007, the Greener Festival initiative has similarly assessed over 400 festivals across the world, and has now trained 65 assessors since relaunching the awards last year.

A Greener Festival co-founder Claire O'Neill says: "There are very tangible opportunities for events and venues to save resources and money through actions that benefit the environment. There is an expressed interest and now overwhelming response that events want to find and act on these opportunities and share best practice. That is where we can help".

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CMU@TGE 2017: Making money from music media in the digital age
Our reports from all the key sessions at the CMU Insights conferences at last month's The Great Escape return this week, kicking off today with the first of a number of CMU Trends articles based on the CMU Insights presentations that took place during the proceedings. Today, making money from music media in the digital age.

While the challenges faced by the music industry - and especially the record industry - since the mainstream adoption of the internet in the early 2000s have been widely documented, the music media - and especially the music press - has faced many of the same challenges too. While the web means music media are now routinely talking to more people than ever before, it remains challenging to generate income around that audience.

As the CMU Trends article explains, as mainstream consumers started to go online fifteen years ago, most media owners adopted this logic. "If we put our content online for free we should be able to build a massive audience. At some point internet advertising has to take off. And if we have a massive audience when that happens, we'll be quids in. Plus, if we ultimately shift to an online-only business model, we'll no longer have the costs of printing and distributing physical publications".

The article goes on: "Most of the titles that did make decent quantities of content available for free online did start to see a good uptake for their output. And internet advertising did explode. However, what few media owners foresaw was just how much of the internet advertising dollar would go to search engines and social media, and especially the likes of Google and Facebook".

That means that banner advertising alone rarely generates enough money to fund a music media business. Which means media owners must explore other possible revenue streams, including subscriptions, sponsorship, branded content, donations, affiliate commissions, spin-off products and events, brand licensing and becoming a marketing agency. Most media will need to succeed at more than one of those to have a viable business.

Premium CMU subscribers can access the full CMU Trends article here, which reviews those various revenue streams in more detail. It is the first of three CMU Trends articles based on the CMU Insights Media Conference at The Great Escape last month. Parts two and three will summarise the recent survey of UK music journalists under-taken by CMU Insights. To become a premium subscriber for just £5 a month click here.

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CMU to lead conversations at M.I.A.'s Meltdown this weekend
M.I.A.'s Meltdown festival kicks off at London's Southbank Centre this Friday, and over ten days she will present an eclectic programme of very fine concerts, shows and events.

That includes on Saturday, 10 Jun, an afternoon of conversations presented in association with CMU under the banner 'Where Next For Music?' CMU MD and Business Editor Chris Cooke will explore three topics selected by M.I.A, looking at the science of music, the impact of technology on music consumption and music making, and how musicians can contribute to the political debate.

Says Cooke: "These are going to be three fascinating conversations looking at what it means to be an artist and a music maker in 2017. Technology and politics will run throughout the discussions. How do the latest technologies and recent political upheavals impact on the way artists approach their songwriting, their recordings and the business side of their music. It's exciting to have this new platform via which we can delve into the business of music in a totally different way - by taking M.I.A.'s lead and running with it".

The three conversations are The Power Of Sound at 1pm, The Political Artist In The Social Media Age at 2.30pm and Music & The Machines at 4pm. Admission is free. Look out for details of who is taking part in the CMU Daily this week and check out full information about M.I.A.'s Meltdown here.

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Prince musical to tour the UK in 2018
A new jukebox musical using the songs of Prince will tour around the UK next year, it has been announced.

Titled 'Purple Rain', the show will open at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley on 1 Feb 2018, before touring around various cities in the UK. The show will be directed by Gary Lloyd, who previously helmed Michael Jackson musical 'Thriller Live', which has now been running in London's West End for six years.

"Prince's music and constant reinvention is legendary, so to get the opportunity to bring that and all his colourful characters to the theatrical stage is a dream", says Lloyd. "There is also a real appetite for live music shows that showcase the musicians as part of the performance. Prince was all about this. Prince was a consummate, theatrical artist, but in our show his music is the star".

Cast and tour dates are still to be announced. The show's makers hope that, like 'Thriller Live', the production will eventually transfer to the West End.

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Oram Awards recognise female innovators in electronic music
The first outing of the Oram Awards took place at the Turner Contemporary art gallery in Margate on Saturday, within the Oscillate Festival Of Experimental Music And Sound. Presented by the PRS Foundation and The New BBC Radiophonic Workshop, and named after one of the founding members of the original BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Daphne Oram - the event aimed to recognise undersung female innovators in electronic music.

The event was initiated by Creative Director of The New BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Matthew Herbert, as a means to identify and support female electronic musicians in the UK. "I was only previously aware of around 10% of the applicants", said Herbert, adding that there are now plans to build some sort of formal community off the back of the awards to better support these musicians.

The event began with a panel discussion featuring Herbert, PRS Foundation chief Vanessa Reed, Frances Morgan of The Daphne Oram Trust and musician Mira Calix. There was also a brilliant performance from Mary Stark, creating electronic music using a sewing machine and loops of 16mm film, and a demonstration from Ewa Justka of her self-built synths.

Stark and Justka were among the eight Oram Awards winners, along with Claire M Singer, Elvin Brandhi, Kathy Hinde, Klein, Sally Golding and Shelly Knotts. Justka and Klein were also given special commendations, receiving a £1000 bursary each from the PRS Foundation.

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Anti-Theresa May song reaches top five in the UK singles chart
Captain Ska's song 'Liar Liar', criticising Prime Minister Theresa May, entered the singles chart at number four on Friday, making it the week's highest new entry.

As previously reported, the song was originally released in 2010 criticising the coalition government of the time. It was re-released with new lyrics focussing on May last month. The song combines clips of speeches by the current Prime Minister with a critique of what she says and the chorus of, "She's a liar liar, you can't trust her, no, no, no, no".

According to the Official Charts Company, the song sold 42,000 downloads and was streamed via chart-eligible services over 300,000 times. The video for the song on YouTube, which doesn't count towards the chart, also has over two million views.

In a statement, the band said: "The success of this song shows people are fed up with this government of the rich, for the rich. We're overwhelmed with the support and our message is that people do have the power to change society if we act together".

All proceeds from the song between its release on 26 May and the General Election this Thursday on 8 Jun will be divided between UK food banks and The People's Assembly Against Austerity.

Here's the video for the song - though if you want to keep it in the chart this Friday as a victory/commiseration (delete as applicable after the election) song, you'll need to buy or stream it elsewhere. Also remember to vote on Thursday. That's probably more important.

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