Italian ticketing firm calls for anti-touting rules to be enforced, except perhaps the personalised tickets one
Eventim-owned primary ticketing company TicketOne has called on Italy's communications regulator to get busy enforcing the country's Secondary Ticketing Act. The company says that although rampant online ticket touting is now on the wane, there are still a number of operators facilitating the unofficial resale of tickets in breach of the new law.

Italy is one of a number of European countries where online ticket touting has been a big talking point in recent years, with various calls to regulate the resale of tickets for profit online. That all resulted in a Secondary Ticketing Act being passed last March. It came into force at the start of this year and gives powers to communications regulator AGCOM to intervene where tickets are being commercially sold at above face value.

TicketOne confirmed last week that it had now petitioned AGCOM to take sanctions against those touts still touting tickets in Italy and the websites that facilitate the resale. The company's Stefano Lionetti said: "Over the years, we have intensified all preventive measures against online touting available to us - but we must go further, because this phenomenon cannot be controlled solely through the primary market".

He added: "We have never taken action on the legal level before. The facts show that there was no legal basis to act upon [in the past], but now there is a good law in place - one of the clearest and most advanced in Europe - and the time has come to enforce it. Although the phenomenon of ticket touting has decreased markedly, there are still three clearly identifiable sites that continue to speculate on the resale of tickets. We expect that the measures provided, if consistently and promptly applied, can definitively defeat the phenomenon".

TicketOne has a specific reason as to why it wants AGCOM to start enforcing Italy's Secondary Ticketing Act with some haste. Politicians in the country considered various measures to limit online touting. As well as the restrictions on the touts and the secondary ticketing sites they use, lawmakers also passed a new rule that says promoters and primary ticketing agents must ensure that - for shows over a 5000 capacity - all tickets are personalised. Which means they must have the name of the buyer printed on them. This rule is set to come into force on 1 Jul.

Although some promoters have used this system for restricting ticket resale in the past, the live sector at large sees the obligation to personalise tickets across the board on all big shows as a major inconvenience.

Having noted that he believes the other new laws, if properly enforced, can have a tangible impact on touting, Lionetti then added last week: "This is why we request policymakers and institutions to reopen the discussion [on what is necessary to combat touting]. We hope this will lead to a reflection on the actual need to introduce personalised tickets this coming July".

It remains to be seen how the regulator now responds.

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France could implement article thirteen this summer via new anti-piracy law
Each member state of the European Union will have two years to implement the Copyright Directive that was passed by the European Parliament last week, including the still super controversial article thirteen (actually seventeen in the final draft). But France could get much of it up and running as soon as this summer via an audiovisual law already in development.

The directive is still to be rubber stamped by the EU Council, but the Parliament vote was seen as the last major hurdle for the copyright reforms to cross.

The music industry, of course, has welcomed article thirteen, which will increase the liabilities of user-upload websites of the YouTube kind, which in the past have always relied on the copyright safe harbour when their platforms have been used to facilitate copyright infringement. The tech sector, meanwhile, still argues that safe harbour reform will be damaging to the internet at large.

French culture minister Franck Riester welcomed the copyright reforms during a speech at the telly focused Series Mania festival in Lille last week. According to Digital TV Europe, he said that EU lawmakers had passed the directive despite a massive campaign of "disinformation" and that, in doing so, had "resisted" the power of big tech. He then insisted that "the directive will change nothing for internet users, but will change everything for content creators".

Riester also used his speech to confirm that the French government would get about implementing the new European copyright rules as quickly as possible, with much of it being enabled by the aforementioned anti-piracy focused audiovisual law. That proposed legislation also includes the creation of a blacklist of piracy websites - and proxies used to access said sites - which the government will seek to have blocked throughout France.

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Kobalt's AWAL signs Millie Turner
Kobalt's AWAL has signed a new worldwide record deal with pop artist Millie Turner.

"Millie was one of the first artists discovered by Zoe Warshaw in our A&R team when she joined AWAL in 2017", says the company's VP A&R Matt Riley. "We fell in love with Millie's music, creativity and originality right away and began to develop her career through the AWAL platform. We are incredibly proud that Millie has chosen to take the next step in her career as an AWAL Recordings artist and we are extremely excited about her future".

Turner's manager Michael Dixon adds: "Since age sixteen, Millie has been worked with Kobalt writer/producer David Turley. As managers of Millie Turner, Titus Winterstein and I are thoroughly impressed with the expertise and determination of AWAL to bring Millie's music to the world".

Having supported Becky Hill and MØ this year, Turner is set to play The Great Escape in May.

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Warner creates new MD role for audiovisual projects
Warner Music UK has appointed Kate Shepherd - who has worked for various film, telly and branded content firms in the past - to take on the newly created role of MD Of Entertainment Programming.

In that role she will work on various audiovisual projects, with both the mini-major's artists and an assortment of other content and brand partners. She will also oversee the operations of The Firepit, Warner's in-house creative and production studio, which was set up in 2016 and has, since 2017, been run by Chris Bovill and John Allison. Having hired Shepherd into the new role, they will now depart to focus on writing some lovely scripted entertainment.

With the new role and the new hire, Warner has created plenty of damn fine opportunities to employ all sorts of your very favourite nonsense jargon, allowing lots of talk about celebrating creative missions that embrace visual culture to create immersive experiences that shift formats and platforms in impactful business-savvy ways. Let's see how they do, shall we?

Confirming the new hire, Warner Music UK COO Peter Breeden said: "Artists and songs have amazing stories to tell and to inspire, and we're bringing those stories to life through compelling, immersive visual experiences. We're living in a visual culture and Kate's boundless enthusiasm, musical sensibility, and business savvy make her the perfect person to take our creative mission to the next level".

Shepherd herself added: "I'm impressed by Warner's commitment to putting content at the centre of their artist development philosophy. To connect artists with their fans in the most complete and impactful way, we need to engage eyeballs as well as ears. I'm looking forward to working across every possible format and platform to open up new opportunities for Warner's incredible talent and its culture-shifting music".

I feel fully immersed with my eyeballs almost painfully engaged. Well done one and all.

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Kilimanjaro Live announces new theatre business
Live music firm Kilimanjaro Live has announced a new partnership that will allow it to move further into all things theatrical. The alliance is with theatre producer Joshua Andrews and the new venture is called, simply, Kilimanjaro Theatricals.

The new London-based unit will produce its own theatre shows and also partner with other producers on theatrical projects. It launches with three productions in progress, the West End run of '9 To 5: The Musical', a Melbourne outing of 'Muriel's Wedding: The Musical' and Broadway project 'Hadestown'.

Confirming the new venture, Kilimanjaro Live CEO Stuart Galbraith: "Kilimanjaro Group has wanted to land into the world of theatre and musical theatre for several years. We are hugely excited to combine our ambitions with Josh's excellent skills and experience in this new venture".

Kilimanjaro already has some links with the theatrical world since its parent company DEAG bought musical theatre maker the Flying Music Group in 2017.

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Will.i.am says listening to Michael Jackson's music is fine, employing Holocaust comparison as justification
Whether or not it's OK to listen to Michael Jackson's music in the wake of the 'Leaving Neverland' documentary is something some people have agonised over for weeks now. But Will.i.am says that playing Jackson tracks is no worse than using products made by a company with connections to the Holocaust, so you should just get on with it.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of the new series of 'The Voice', the Black Eyed Peas frontman said: "We live in a very, very, very, very hypocritical, double-standard, fake society. I can name a thousand other products that we still buy, still use, that are owned by folks that have done the most horrendous things to people, millions of them, and we don't take their products from the market. You're not talking about banning Bayer that made the chemicals to kill all the Jews. You're not talking about real shit and yet you want to flex on a song?"

Actually, Bayer used slave labour from concentration camps during the Holocaust, rather than supplying deadly chemicals for gas chambers. Still, having made this connection, asked if he therefore believes that Jackson is guilty of the child abuse he is accused of in the 'Leaving Neverland' documentary, Will.i.am said he remains unsure. He is, he said, pulled between wanting to support victims of abuse and the memory of someone he worked with and considered a friend.

"I'm torn, because that's not the Michael Jackson I loved and will always love", he said. "It is a smear campaign, there's been a number of smear campaigns in the past. If [Jackson] did it, it's sad and inhumane. If he didn't, what's happening is sad and inhumane. And for somebody that knows him, you're torn. You have the doc. Your heart wants to believe them but they're on record lying so how am I supposed to trust that?"

That latter point relates to the Michael Jackson estate's frequent reminders that the two men who feature in 'Leaving Neverland' previously spoke out in support of the pop star when he was still alive. Though that is something that is dealt with in the documentary itself.

Nevertheless, Will.i.am goes on to suggest that he is leaning towards believing in Jackson's innocence, noting: "I don't know what to trust or believe, when I don't know who's behind it". Except, whoever is behind it is probably motivated by the money, he then reckons, adding: "Obviously it's money, when The Beatles's catalogue, Sly And The Family Stone's catalogue is still with the estate".

Presumably in that latter statement Will.i.am is observing how the estate also has commercial interests beyond the pop star's own now tarnished legacy.

Except, of course, it has a lot less interests beyond Jackson than it used to, since it sold its half of Beatles publisher Sony/ATV back in 2016. Although it does still have a stake in songs other than Jackson's own work via the Mijac Music business, which includes the Sly And The Family Stone oeuvre.

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Moddi announces new album, releases single for Norwegian pensioner accused of spying by Russia
Moddi has announced that he will release his fifth album, 'Like In 1968', in September. Out now, new single 'Kriegspiel' is written in support of Frode Berg, a Norwegian pensioner who has been held in Russia on espionage charges since January last year.

The more political leaning to his new music, Moddi says, is influenced by his last album 'Unsongs', on which he covered records that had been banned for a variety of reasons.

"Through the work on 'Unsongs', I learned that when someone wants you to shut up about something, it is usually something important that they're trying to hide", Moddi says. "Therefore, I wrote this song not only to Frode Berg, but to all who become victims of the politics shadowplay".

The song has been released to coincide with the start of Berg's long-awaited trial, which is set to get underway this week.

'Like In 1968' is set for release on 13 Sep. Listen to 'Kriegspiel' here.

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Drake turns the O2 into the O3, dog
The O2 Arena in London has changed its name to 'The O3' in a very literal reference to a line in Drake's 'God's Plan'. The rapper starts a seven night residency at the venue tonight.

On the 2018 track, Drake raps, "You know me, turn the O2 into the O3, dog". There are various theories as to what exactly he means by this, mostly laboured and stupid. Anyway, spotting an opportunity, The O2 is now actually The O3. For the coming week at least. They've changed the sign above the front door and everything. I don't know if Drake got up a ladder personally, but I'd hope so.

As well as being the name of the venue's sponsor, O2 is also the molecular formula for oxygen, of course, which is required to put on a great rap show (and also just to breath in general). Now the venue is named after ozone (ie O3), the atmospheric protective layer around the earth best known for having a big hole in it.

So maybe this is all a sneaky reference to that time Travis Scott fell into a big hole at a Drake show at The O2 in 2017. Is it an omen? I don't know, but I did tell you these theories were laboured and stupid, didn't I?

Actually, most people seem to think Drake just means the line in a kind of 'Spinal Tap' "it's one louder" kind of way, which is the theory I favour because it's simple. And stupid.

Obviously, it being 1 Apr, you'd be right for suspecting this whole gimmick is just some kind of weak April Fools gag. But it was announced yesterday and they've actually changed the sign, so it's a pretty unsuccessful one if it is. I wouldn't put it past that pesky Drake to book a run of shows starting on 1 Apr for this very purpose, though. They don't call him the Toronto Scamp for nothing, you know.

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