Music Ally

Simon Gavin is the head of A&M Records (part of Universal Music Group), whose current roster includes The Police, The Horrors, The Courteeners and Duffy. We spoke to him about his involvement in the series, and what makes it an interesting platform for artists and labels. (more…)

Last year UK broadcaster Channel4 launched Mobile Act Unsigned with Orange and Sony Ericsson: an interactive talent show bringing together broadcast TV, online and mobile. The show’s format works as an A&R platform where acts must test their mettle in the live arena in front of an audience and panel of judges, comprising Blur bassist Alex James, Radio 1 DJ Jo Whiley and head of A&M records Simon Gavin. The winning act Envy and Other Sins walked away with an album deal with A&M UK (part of Universal Music Group), marketing support, management, a booking agent and merchandising deal. It returns this year, with the (slightly less catchy) title Orange Unsigned Act with Sony Ericsson. The premise is largely the same, but the competition is opening up to include singer/songwriters and urban acts. A transmission date is yet to be announced, but it is expected to launch in autumn.

Music Ally spoke to Simon Gavin and Sony Ericsson’s European head of music marketing about their involvement with the show, what they hope to get out of it, and what we can expect from the new series. (more…)

Michael Bornhausser, Julie Meyer and Charles Grimsdale form the jury for this year’s Popkomm IMEA (Innovations in Music and Entertainment)

The jury for this year’s Popkomm-IMEA comprises three outstanding entrepreneurs and investors. The finalists for the Innovation in Music and Entertainment Award, now taking place for the fifth time, will be selected by Michael Bornhausser, Julie Meyer and Charles Grimsdale. “Together with our partner Music Ally, which is acting as hosts for the first time this year, a more distinguished or technically qualified line-up would be hard to find” commented Dr. Ralf Kleinheinz, MD of Popkomm GmbH.

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On Monday we told you about Better Than The Van, a site allowing touring bands to find places to sleep while on tour. Well, now we’ve received news of Concerts In Your Home an online service for artists to find fans willing to host their gigs. It’s not entirely guerilla -style  though, there is a comprehensive list of do’s and don’ts on the site.

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Bands sleeping with fans? Perish the thought! Oh, you mean on their sofas. That’s the idea of Better Than The Van - a website that hooks up touring artists with free places to crash for the night. “Any abuse or weirdness will result in the user’’s account being terminated,” say the Terms of Service, which helpfully also suggests carpet is a more suitable sleeping surface than hard wooden floors. Anyway, the site could be genuinely useful for smaller bands looking to tour the US on a budget-the likes of Jeffery Lewis have been known to crash on fans’ floors while on tour and appeal to them via My Space Blogs. This looks like the next step for  lo-fi touring musicians. (although it would be quite fun if J-Lo’s record label uses the site for her next tour too). Probably beats sleeping between a spare tyre and bass drum at least …possibly!
Link: http://betterthanthevan.com/

We love a drink and a debate. So we’ve decided to hold another one of our Music Ally Debates, offering topical discussion, booze and nibbles, courtesy of hosts Deloitte. ”What Next for Music Retail?” takes place on Monday 14th July at the new state of the art central London Deloitte venue. It features a great line up of speakers including Omnifone CEO Rob Lewis, EMI’s Keith Jopling and HMV’s director of e-commerce Gideon Lask. And we”ll be presenting the results of a fascinating survey of industry executives on what they really think about music retail.

See here for more: www.musically.com/events
NOTE: Contact us for Music Ally subscriber / Trade Association discounts.

Music Ally has partnered with Popkomm to organise this year’’s Popkomm Innovation in Music and Entertainment Awards. The awards recognise innovation in the music and entertainment industries. This year the event will be hosted by Music Ally as part of Popkomm on 8-10 October in Berlin Germany. The (more…)

As punters resist Glastonbury’s cocktail of mud and Shakin Stevens, Apple is looking to capitalise with its second iTunes Festival in London, which takes place in July. It’ll comprise 60 gigs over the course of the month, with artists signed up so far including James Blunt, N.E.R.D., the Ting Tings, Chaka Khan, CSS and Pendulum. This time round, the gigs will be held at the 1,000-capacity Koko venue, rather than the 350-capacity ICA. All the gigs will  be recorded and sold on iTunes

Madonna’s upcoming Sticky & Sweet tour will stop in at stadia and arenas around the world, but for once, many tickets sold through the secondary market will be generating even more revenues for the star. Promoter Live Nation is signing up official secondary resellers in each country, including eBay subsidiary (more…)