2 MusicWeek 08.06.12 NEWS EDITORIAL


HMV delivers Hammer blow to short-term woes


It was only five months ago that HMV head honcho Simon Fox was telling Music Week that he hoped that the sale of HMV Live would recoup at least the £60 million invested in MAMA Group. Yet with underlying net debt in excess of £160 million, even if


Fox’s conservative hope was fulfilled, it would still leave an ugly, scary figure more than capable of taking HMV under. Since then, the music industry’s biggest players have helped


HMV negotiate more time with the banks – taking equity alongside movie firms to buy some breathing space. Recorded music companies’ reliance on HMV’s existence to


keep physical goods feasible was neatly summed up by Universal UK boss David Joseph at the time, who admitted that the firm was “a vital part of the UK music industry”. However, for HMV to secure a future for itself, it needed to strike a good price for it (and Mama Group’s) Live business – something it has clearly made a very promising start on this week. The £32 million paid for Hammersmith Apollo by AEG And CTS


Eventim represents more than half of Simon Fox’s target figure for the sale of the whole of HMV Live; not a bad bit of business when you consider that HMV still has assets including Lovebox festival, Kentish Town Forum, Manchester Ritz, Jazz Café, Global Gathering and the Camden Barfly to shed.


“With or without MAMA Group, don’t don’t be surprised to see live music play some role in the future of HMV”


What is now clear is that Fox believes a piece-by-piece sale of


HMV Live will accrue a more worthwhile fee than a one-off sale of the entire HMV Live business – rumours had pointed to Oakley Capital buying the lot for £40 million, or AEG snaffling the whole package for £65m.


Presuming the Hammersmith Apollo deal goes through – only


competition wrangles related to AEG’s ownership of The O2 Arena may scupper it – Fox will have good reason to be more confident of returning HMV to profit in 2012/2013, as the firm has previously forecast.


More pressing will be the fact that HMV’s banks will extend the


firm’s £220m credit facility into September 2014, finally bringing the business some medium-term stability. Should HMV receive a fair price for the rest of its live music assets, its balance sheet will look healthier than it has for years – but it will all mean nothing unless the company gets its future business model right. Shaking the scary minus numbers will mean nothing if the group evolves into a unsustainable setup – which may involve an over-reliance on the High Street’s role in the music industry value chain; not least following last week’s BPI figures showing a consumer shift to digital in Q1. With or without MAMA Group, don’t be surprised to see live


music play some role in the future of HMV: the firm’s recent tie-up with Ticketmaster for HMVtickets.com shows the belief Fox clearly has in the future potential of that revenue stream. Time will tell if he has enough other bright ideas to keep HMV


relevant as mobile and digital rises – in a period of transformation for consumer entertainment consumption.


Tim Ingham Editor


Do you have views on this column? Feel free to comment by emailing tim.ingham@intentmedia.co.uk TOUTING ON RISE, BUT NO DEDICATED UNIT PLANNED


Ticketing fraud exploding, warns Met


LIVE  BY RHIAN JONES


W


ithout businesses and individuals speaking out over ticketing fraud


and touting, criminals will continue to make millions from the practice. That’s the warning from Nick


Downing, detective superintendent at Operation Podium - the Met’s department fighting crime that affects the economy of the London Olympics in 2012. Speaking at the Europe Talks


Tickets conference in Madrid he said: “This isn’t just a small problem. This is a multi-million, billion-pound problem hitting the industry. “People have always said


[ticket crime] is just low-level opportunism; it’s not, it’s all organised - whether that’s from a tout or on ticketing scams. These are organised business models, solely there to defraud the public. It damages the whole of the ticketing industry.” Downing clarified that touts “on the ground” outside venues


www.musicweek.com


Just the ticket: Downing believes much ticketing fraud goes unreported


were not likely to be part of “one massive organised criminal group” – but that widespread ticketing fraud elsewhere continued to go unreported. Despite the scale of the


problem, Downing said there wasn’t enough evidence for a dedicated police resource to focus on ticketing after the Games. By March 2013, Podium’s job


will be finished. A report of its prevention strategies will be sent to the Home Office with recommendations for the future. “I think after the Olympics the debates could be opened up


because there’s a lot more information than there was before,” he said. Downing said his operation had found people making millions from fraudulent ticketing operations - yet one of the main issues is surrounding the reporting of such crimes. “When people are aware that


they are victims or their business is being attacked they need to report it,” he said. “Until it’s reported we don’t know what the true picture is… and we can’t allocate resources to something that we don’t know about.”


Classical Brits return in October


The Classic BRIT Awards 2012 with MasterCard will take place on October 2, 2012 at the Royal Albert Hall, hosted for the fifth year in a row by Myleene Klass. MasterCard has expanded its


partnership with the BPI to become headline sponsor of the Classic Brits for the first time. Last year’s televised show


featured performances by the cast of Les Misérables and Dame Shirley Bassey in tribute to John Barry. It doubled its viewing figures year-on-year. The 2012 event will include


an award for Classic Single of the Year for the first time in the history of the show, voted for by the public. Eight awards will be presented at the two-hour gala


night, which will be broadcast on ITV1.


Co-chairmen of the Classic


BRIT Awards committee, Dickon Stainer, president of Decca Records and Barry


continue to honour and reward excellence in both popular and niche areas of classical music alongside music written for theatre and film. The evolution has only just begun”. Tickets are available now


McCann, Avie Records director said in a joint statement: “We are delighted to be taking the Classic BRIT Awards show into its 13th year in partnership with our new sponsor MasterCard and ITV. This year’s show will


from the Royal Albert Hall box office on 020 7589 8212. Shaun Springer, head of brand and sponsorship marketing at MasterCard UK & Ireland, said: “For the last 14 years, we’ve been enabling fans to get closer to the music and their musical idols through our sponsorship of the BRIT Awards. We’re delighted to expand our partnership with the BPI to include the Classic BRIT Awards 2012.”


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