Manchester City Council officials criticised as Night & Day noise dispute continues in court
The lawyer representing Manchester's Night & Day venue, in its ongoing appeal against a noise abatement notice issued by the city's council, was yesterday critical of the council officers who dealt with the noise complaint that led to the notice.

Night & Day says that if the notice remains in force it will have to close, because complying with the order will require a change to its operations that will make the whole business unviable. It's also claimed that Manchester City Council failed to enforce its own planning requirements when the residential property next to the venue was redeveloped 20 years ago, which resulted in said residential property having insufficient sound proofing.

Yesterday the court heard from the two council employees who responded to the crucial noise complaint last year that had been made by residents living next to Night & Day, who bought the property in question during the COVID lockdowns. The council officials attended the property at around 2am on 13 Nov last year.

The two officials, Lorraine Banbrick and Jonathon Mathers, said they did not measure the noise levels in the venue or adjacent property, but that they felt the noise was "excessive", and that it was at a level that would prevent sleep in the residential property.

According to the Manchester Evening News, Banbrick told the court that "nuisance" is a "subjective assessment", and they were confident in their conclusion that the noise levels on that night were indeed excessive and therefore a nuisance.

She added that she spoke to a member of staff at Night & Day on that night because "a solution in my eyes at that time would have been to reduce the volume of music". However, she was "going round in circles" when speaking to that staff member, she claimed.

Mathers then insisted that the council had "exhausted all possible" options before subsequently issuing the abatement notice, but admitted he had not considered whether the venue would even be able to comply with it.

Night & Day's lawyer Sarah Clover told the court that CCTV from the venue on that night showed the staff member who had spoken to the council officials turning down the volume after the conversation. She also criticised the processes employed by the council officials.

Neither Banbrick and Mathers still have the notes they recorded on 13 Nov, with Mathers not writing his formal statement on the matter until April this year. "That's sloppy at best, suspicious at worst", the lawyer stated. "It's particularly unacceptable when the council's case is founded on things that people have supposedly said and done on that night".

Clover also noted that both officers had previously been called out to the same property regarding noise issues and on those occasions had not considered the complaint amounted to nuisance. The council officers were also unaware of a planning condition from before the flat was built that allowed noise of up to 35db in the venue, which is actually slightly higher than actual noise levels that have been recorded there.

A big part of the problem here, Clover added, is that the different departments of Manchester City Council work "in silos".

Later in the day, the court also heard from the complainant, Rex Chesney, who admitted that he and his partner moved to Manchester's Northern Quarter because of its "character" and "vibrancy". Supporters of Night & Day argue that that part of Manchester is only vibrant because of businesses like Night & Day, which helped transform a run down and undesirable part of the city into the cultural hub it is today.

However, Chesney said, while he was aware he was moving into a part of Manchester with an active nightlife, he did not expect noise levels from the neighbouring venue that would "make water ripple in a cup by the bed" in the early hours of the morning, making the property's bedrooms "uninhabitable".

Chesney added that he and his partner spent £21,000 on sound insulation in the apartment, but still couldn't sleep when club nights were taking place at Night & Day. He also talked about how the backlash to the noise complaint had made him "very uncomfortable" living in Manchester. With the ongoing noise issues and the stress of the backlash, he and his partner actually moved out of the property in May this year.

The hearing about the noise abatement notice will now resume on 17 Jan.

Of course, the real problem here is that Manchester City Council failed to ensure that the noise issues were dealt with when the residential property next to Night & Day was first developed, despite anticipating said issues. With that in mind, some campaigners feel that the council now needs to make proactive moves to address the problems which that failure has created.

Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd proposed once possible solution in a Facebook post earlier today. "The building of this residence was a mistake", he writes.

"It should not exist. Irrespective of subsequent errors made by the council in assessing the noise, no matter how tempting the urge to criticise the resident for buying a flat in this area expecting peace and quiet, ignoring all the arguments about who should do what and when, that's the actual answer. The creation of a flat directly behind a partition wall adjoining a live music venue should not have passed the planning process".

"The fault lies not with the music venue, who not only were there already but also objected to it being built, or the resident, who just wants to be able to sleep at night, or even, no really, the developer, who just wanted to make as much money as possible - that's their job. The fault lies with Manchester City Council. They are the planning authority who permitted it to be built. The council are responsible and they can and should resolve it".

Referencing Chesney's comments in court yesterday, Davyd adds: "It is plain ... that the resident wishes to sell and be done with it. The council should take that opportunity. Buy the flat. Hand the lease to the venue in recompense for their errors. The flat would make suitable accommodation for touring artists; it certainly cannot be lived in. This can be achieved for less than £500,000. It is the Occam's Razor solution".

"For anyone who feels £500,000 is too much", he goes on, "the loss of the Night & Day would cost the city that much in economic activity every five months. Forever".

He also then alludes to the new Manchester City Council backed venue complex Factory International - which was recently revealed to be £100 million over budget - and muses: "If you feel £500,000 is too much for the city to spend on protecting a cultural asset, this is the same city that is spending over £100 million of local ratepayers money to create a new cultural asset"

"Manchester City Council made a mistake in permitting this flat to be created", he concludes. "They can undo that mistake for £500,000. It's the cheapest way to do it, it actually solves the problem permanently, and it's the only solution which gives both the resident and the venue a way out. Will the council do that? No idea".

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Lawyers for Astroworld victims defend delays in fulfilling discovery demands
Lawyers working for attendees of last year's Astroworld festival in Houston, Texas have hit back at complaints made by attorneys representing the event's promoter Live Nation and founder Travis Scott, who last week said that nearly 1000 of those attendees had failed to hand over "critical evidence" on deadline.

Ten people died and hundreds more were injured when a crowd surge occurred during Scott's headline set at the 2021 edition of the festival he founded.

Hundreds of lawsuits were filed in the wake of the tragedy, including by the families of all of those who died. At one point more than 4900 attendees were involved in those lawsuits - some suing over physical injuries and others for emotional distress - although, according to Billboard, the number has since dropped to about 2500.

All that litigation was consolidated in January and has been going through the motions ever since, with the whole thing moving into the discovery phase. That's where lawyers working on the litigation request information and documents from the other side.

Lawyers for Live Nation, Scott and the other defendants requested that those suing provide information on what injuries or other harm they suffered as a result of the crowd surge, and also any evidence documenting their attendance and experience at Astroworld 2021.

Last week the defence team complained to the judge overseeing the cases that 956 of those involved in the lawsuits had yet to respond to those discovery requests. In a filing with the court they declared: "There is no excuse for the non-responsive plaintiffs' complete disregard of their discovery obligations - they should be compelled to comply immediately".

The delays could have a tangible impact on any future court cases, they added, because key evidence could be lost. "The longer the non-responsive plaintiffs delay, the higher the risk that critical evidence or information in their possession will be lost, destroyed, or forgotten", they stated. "Cell phones get lost or destroyed, and the photographs and videos on them get deleted".

However, on Monday lawyers repping the claimants pushed back at that criticism. Some of the attendees accused of not responding to discovery requests in fact had, they argued, while others have dropped out of the litigation altogether.

Meanwhile, some of those suing had "experienced serious trauma" as a result of their experiences at Astroworld which had impacted on their ability to respond, but their lawyers are still "working diligently with them to complete their discovery response".

We await to see how the court now responds. Two of the families of those who died have actually already settled their litigation, although the terms of those settlement deals are not known.

Elsewhere in Astroworld related news, safety guidelines for the complex that hosted Astroworld 2021, Houston's NRG Park, have been formally amended in the wake of last year's tragedy. The amendments have been put together by a task force formed earlier this year, and aim to streamline and therefore make more effective safety protocols, permitting requirements and communication for large-scale events held on the site.

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Merck Mercuriadis criticises CMA for "passing the buck" on streaming market issues
Hipgnosis chief Merck Mercuriadis has criticised the UK's Competition & Markets Authority for, as he sees it, confirming the issues faced by artists and songwriters in the music streaming economy, but then choosing to do nothing about them.

The CMA undertook a study of the digital music market following the inquiry into the economics of music streaming undertaken by the Digital, Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee in the UK Parliament. MPs on that committee identified a number of issues with the way music streaming currently works and made a series of recommendations for reform.

For the CMA, the focus of its study was whether a lack of competition in the marketplace is negatively impacting on either music consumers or music-makers. Its conclusion - set out in detail in a 165 page report this week - is a big fat "no".

The regulator doesn't necessarily deny that there are issues with the current business models, mainly for artists and songwriters, but it reckons they are not the result of anti-competitive practices and therefore can't be solved with an intervention by the competition regulator.

However, some in the songwriter community argue that one key issue they face is a direct result of anti-competitive conduct. Currently a much bigger share of streaming income is allocated to the recording rights rather than the separate song rights, so that 50-55% of income goes to the former and 10-15% to the latter.

One argument goes that this split is the result of the three majors being so dominant in both recordings and songs. And, because with most record deals labels get to keep the majority of the money, but with publishing deals the writer gets most of the money, the majors have an interested in the status quo.

In his submission to the select committee's inquiry, Mercuriadis wrote: "The conflict of interest created by the three major record companies owning the three largest publishers is critically important to understand".

"These three publishers are being prevented from advocating for songwriters' interests", he added, "as a result of being controlled by their parent companies who wish to push economic improvement towards recorded music where they make an 80% gross margin and a 40% net margin".

The majors strongly deny that their recording divisions have influence over licensing negotiations undertaken by their publishing companies. And in its report the CMA said: "[The] evidence is inconsistent with the argument that the majors have tacitly colluded to suppress the publishing share".

Nevertheless, there are plenty of people in the music-maker community who believe that the dominance of the majors in the music rights business is responsible for at least some of the issues with the economics of streaming that have been raised by the select committee and the CMA itself.

Responding to this week's CMA report, Mercuriadis said yesterday: "The CMA's final report has agreed with the DCMS Select Committee about the problems in the industry which result in songwriters not being fairly paid for their work. The CMA have spelt out that most songwriters and artists do not have access to clear payment statements, the damage done by NDAs, and acknowledge the conflict of interests between labels and publishers which results in revenues that go to publishers and songwriters being held down - even though without songwriters there would be no music industry".

"The CMA have spelt out that most songwriters and artists do not have access to clear payment statements, the damage done by NDAs, and acknowledge the conflict of interests between labels and publishers which results in revenues that go to publishers and songwriters being held down - even though without songwriters there would be no music industry".

"Yet rather than using the powers they have to fix the problems they identify", he added, "they have simply looked to pass the buck - a double whammy for songwriters and artists who are losing out on significant streaming income and now find the CMA unwilling to act".

Although the CMA said that it didn't believe any intervention in the streaming market on competition grounds was justified, it did say that other measures to address the various issues that have been raised may be warranted. To that end it pointed to other work that was instigated following the select committee inquiry being led by the Intellectual Property Office.

Mercuriadis's statement noted that other work, stressing it is all the more important now given the CMA's conclusions. He also reckons that the Digital Markets Bill currently being evolved by the UK government, which will change the way digital markets are regulated, is another opportunity to address the ongoing issues in music streaming.

"The original work and recommendations of the DCMS Select Committee were excellent", the Hipgnosis chief concluded. "We must now look to them, the IPO and the government who must now pick up the baton dropped by the CMA. The Digital Markets Bill provides the perfect vehicle to solve these problems once and for all, ensure everyone is fairly paid for their contribution and ensure that UK is a centre for great music creation long into the future".

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Warner Chappell signs Leftfield
Warner Chappell has signed one of those lovely worldwide publishing deals with the current iteration of Leftfield, that being founder member Neil Barnes alongside Adam Wren.

The deal has been confirmed just ahead of the release tomorrow of the fourth Leftfield album, 'This Is What We Do'. It covers Barnes' share of the outfit's catalogue - including the two albums made in the 1990s with Paul Daley, 'Leftism' and 'Rhythm And Stealth' - plus future output.

Says Barnes: "I'm so excited about the release of 'This Is What We Do'. It's great to be back with new music and to be in partnership with Warner Chappell Music - I know the team there will help us take our music to even more fans around the world".

Meanwhile, Warner Chappell Music UK MD Shani Gonzales reckons that the publisher's new signing "wrote the book when it comes to electronic music, and Neil is still innovating and collaborating more than 30 years after he first co-founded Leftfield. I've heard the new album and it's amazing, Leftfield fans are in for an early Christmas present".

The publisher also notes that Leftfield's music has always been in much demand for sync. So much so, Warner Chappell's VP Of Sync for Europe, Ayla Owen, has also popped up with a quote. "Leftfield's riotous blend of eclectic sounds, spoken word vocals and relentless beats created a ground-breaking and inimitable brand of electronic music in the 90s", she says.

"Their music has played centre stage in some of the world's most iconic syncs", she adds, "such as the use of 'Phat Planet' in the award-winning Guinness 'Surfer' campaign. The band's new album has an uncompromising immediacy to it that took my breath away when I first heard it - an instant classic. On a personal note, this is a hugely important signing to me because I'm a massive fan!"

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Festicket administrators need to urgently hear from promoters who believed their ticket monies were being held in trust
Promoters owed money by collapsed ticketing firm Festicket have been urged to contact the company's administrators by tomorrow. Especially if they were under the impression that monies generated by the sale of their tickets via Festicket were being held in trust.

Festicket - which also owned Event Genius and Ticket Arena - formally fell into administration in September, blaming its collapse on the COVID shutdowns of live music, and the huge strain that put on the wider live and ticketing sectors.

A report from the firm's administrators confirmed that the ticketing business has debts of £22,560,175, of which £18,481.517 is owed to promoters who had sold tickets via a Festicket owned platform. A total of 115 promoters are owed money, with a number of those owed in excess of a £1 million, including AEG Presents, Event Horizon, Festco, Lost Paradise Glenworth Valley, Mad Cool and Slammin Events.

Prior to the publication of that administrator report, a number of promoters that used Festicket's services had said they were under the impression that monies collected from the sale of their tickets was being kept apart from the ticketing firm's core finances. Which would mean that money would be protected from any issues the Festicket business found itself in.

The administrators noted this in their report, but added: "Our understanding is that the company did not segregate or ring-fence any assets for the benefit of specific parties". With that in mind, the administrators need to understand the basis on which some promoters assumed their ticket income was being held in trust.

According to IQ, at the request of the administrators, the Insolvency And Companies Court previously ordered that any promoter asserting that its monies should have been held in trust by Festicket must notify the administrators of this "trust claim" by no later than 4pm tomorrow, 2 Dec.

A letter has been circulating around the live industry urging all and any affected promoters to meet that deadline. Another court hearing to discuss the ongoing Festicket administration is then scheduled for 9 Dec.

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Christine McVie dies
Fleetwood Mac's Christine McVie has died, aged 79.

A statement on her official Facebook page reads: "On behalf of Christine McVie's family, it is with a heavy heart we are informing you of Christine's death. She passed away peacefully at hospital this morning, Wednesday, 30 Nov 2022, following a short illness".

"She was in the company of her family", it added. "We kindly ask that you respect the family's privacy at this extremely painful time, and we would like everyone to keep Christine in their hearts and remember the life of an incredible human being, and revered musician who was loved universally".

In their own statement on Twitter, Fleetwood Mac said: "There are no words to describe our sadness at the passing of Christine McVie. She was truly one of a kind, special and talented beyond measure".

"She was the best musician anyone could have in their band and the best friend anyone could have in their life", they continued. "We were so lucky to have a life with her. Individually and together, we cherished Christine deeply and are thankful for the amazing memories we have. She will be so very missed".

Born Christine Perfect in Lancashire in 1943, McVie's music career began as a member of blues band Chicken Shack, with whom she enjoyed some success.

Chicken Shack and Fleetwood Mac were both signed to the Blue Horizon record label and performed on the same bills a number of times. In 1968, she performed session piano on Fleetwood Mac's second album, 'Mr Wonderful', and the same year also married the band's bassist, John McVie.

She left Chicken Shack in 1969 and recorded her debut solo album, 'Christine Perfect', which came out the following year. But the album was a commercial failure, and McVie decided to retire from the music industry.

However, that retirement was short-lived and later that year she became a full-time member of Fleetwood Mac. Her first album with the band as part of the main line-up was 1971's 'Future Games', to which she contributed the songs 'Morning Rain' and 'Show Me A Smile', as well as co-writing 'What A Shame'.

Over the next two years, the band released three more albums, with tensions within the band leading to numerous line-up changes during that time. These tensions included the strained marriage of Christine and John McVie, due to the pressures of continually working together and John's alcoholism. When guitarist Bob Weston had an affair with drummer Mick Fleetwood's wife, Jenny Boyd Fleetwood, the band finally collapsed and they announced their split in 1973.

The split was only temporary though, and the band reunited without Weston in 1974 - after a legal battle over ownership of the name, which had seen their manager Clifford Davis put his own new version of the band on the road.

That year, the band also moved to the US, and soon added Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham to their line-up, completing the best known version of the band. They released their first album with this line-up, 'Fleetwood Mac', in 1975, which was successful and helped to revitalise the band's career. One single from it, the Christine McVie-penned 'Over My Head', was a top 20 hit in the US.

Tensions within the band continued however, and - following the release of 'Fleetwood Mac' - both couples in the band - The McVies and Buckingham and Nicks - split up. Meanwhile, Mick Fleetwood was going through his own divorce and the members of the band had become heavy drug users.

Ultimately deciding to keep the band together, they were under pressure to record a follow-up. That record was 1977's 'Rumours', which went on to become one of the biggest-selling albums of all time. Spawning several hit songs, the album's lyrics largely documented the failing relationships of the band's members.

McVie continued to record and perform with Fleetwood Mac, and in 1984 also released her second solo album 'Christine McVie', which featured contributions from Buckingham, Fleetwood, Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood and keyboard player Eddy Quintela, whom she married in 1986.

She left Fleetwood Mac in 1998, after developing a fear of flying, and became far less active. She did, however, release a third solo album, 'In The Meantime', in 2004, after divorcing from Quintela.

She subsequently joined Fleetwood Mac on stage for two performances in 2013 - the first time she had been on stage for fifteen years - and then rejoined the band the following year, remaining a member of the line-up until her death.

The band did not record any more albums during this time - McVie's last being 1995's 'Time' - though she and Buckingham released an LP together, 'Lindsey Buckingham Christine McVie', which also featured a number of their bandmates, in 2017.

Fleetwood Mac as a band and McVie personally worked with Warner Music from the 1960s onwards, and in a statement this morning the major's CEO for Recorded Music, Max Lousada, said: "The loss of Christine McVie is not only devastating to all of us in her Warner Music family across the globe, but to the entire music community and her countless millions of fans".

"From her early days with Chicken Shack to her phenomenal time with Fleetwood Mac to her brilliant solo work, Christine has been in our collective musical consciousness for nearly six decades", he went on. "Her voice was unmistakable and indelible, her songwriting beautiful and peerless, and her live performances powerful and entrancing. She was, and is, a musical icon for the ages, and she will be deeply missed. Our condolences go out to her family, friends and bandmates".

Kevin Gore, President of Global Catalogue, Recorded Music, added: "The Warner family has lost a dear friend of many decades with the passing of Christine McVie. An exceptionally gifted musician, her signature vocals and impeccable songwriting are front and centre on many of Fleetwood Mac's most beloved hits as well as her string of beautiful solo albums".

"I had the honour of spending time with Christine a few years ago to discuss how to best present her solo work, and I'm so pleased with the collection she produced, which recently earned a Grammy nomination", he continued.

"Our deepest condolences go out to Christine's family, bandmates, and friends, along with her legions of fans around the world. Warner Music will continue to honour and preserve Christine's unparalleled legacy and, though she may no longer be with us, we will all, like the songbird, keep singing her songs".

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RELEASES

The Go! Team have released new single 'Whammy O'. Their new album, 'Get Up Sequences Part Two', is out on 3 Feb.

James Yorkston, Nina Persson and The Second Hand Orchestra have teamed up for new album 'The Great White Sea Eagle', which is set for release on 13 Jan. Here's new single 'An Upturned Crab'.

Maja Lena has released new single 'The Stone'. The song, she says, "is about my relationship to my creativity and work. I tend to set unachievable goals and standards for myself, and this can ultimately lead to feelings of defeat and failure".

Hundred Reasons have shared new single 'New Glasses'. Their first album in fifteen years, 'Glorious Sunset', is out on 24 Feb.

Piglet has released new single 'Discreet', ahead of new EP 'Seven Songs', which is out tomorrow.

Divorce have released new single 'That Hill'. "'That Hill' was written as something of a commitment to pursuing our dreams", says the band's Felix Mackenzie-Barrow. "The first lines came out of early morning shifts in a dead end minimum wage job and the general chaos of trying to make a career of the thing you love most in the world. We've done a lot of driving around to gigs on no sleep and getting honked at by old men. Some of that absurdity found its way into the track".

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GIGS & TOURS

Kalush Orchestra will play Electric Brixton in London on 15 Dec. Tickets are on sale now.

Sevdaliza has announced that she will play a one-off London show at Outernet on 21 Mar. Tickets go on sale tomorrow.

Check out our weekly Spotify playlist of new music featured in the CMU Daily - updated every Friday.

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Royal Mint launches Rolling Stones £5 coin
UK money manufacturer The Royal Mint is hard at work at the moment, frantically trying to make up a load of new coins with different royalty on them. That's right, they're releasing a new limited edition coin featuring The Rolling Stones to mark their "60 years of rock royalty".

The £5 coin is the fifth in the Royal Mint's Music Legends series, which has previously featured Queen, Elton John, David Bowie and The Who. Designed by Hannah Phizacklea, the coin features the band in silhouette performing live. And if you're thinking to yourself now, 'Wow, this will be the first coin to feature the new king on it', well stop thinking that. On the front is the old queen.

"We are delighted to be honoured by way of an official UK coin", say the band. "Even more significant that the release coincides with our 60th anniversary".

Rebecca Morgan, Director Of Collector Services at The Royal Mint, adds: "Our Music Legends series is creating a new generation of coin collectors, and we are delighted to honour The Rolling Stones' musical achievements with this new collectable coin".

"We hope this provides a fitting tribute to the band's 60 years of rock and roll music for their millions of fans across the globe", she goes on. "With a list of hits that includes eight UK number one singles, thirteen UK number one albums, and countless hits internationally, The Rolling Stones are UK rock legends, and we anticipate this coin being incredibly sought-after by coin collectors and music lovers alike".

The coin comes in various forms, with prices ranging from £14.50 to £11,430. Though whatever you pay for it, it will remain a £5 coin. Have a look here.

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