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Red Bull Records lands in the UK - and ups its ambitions


BIG INTERVIEW 10


BitTorrent explains why it’s ready to make the music industry some money


14


10.08.12 £5.15 FEATURE


The Vaccines are back – and feeling upbeat about their second studio album


READING AND LEEDS BOSS BENN TO LAUNCH BRAND NEW FESTIVAL – NO THANKS TO NO.10


‘Where is Government’s festival support?’ T


LIVE n BY RHIAN JONES


he man behind Reading and Leeds Festival has accused the UK


Government of offering a damaging lack of support to his pressurised live music sector. Festival Republic boss Melvin


Benn has told Music Week that he has not seen “one iota” of support from successive Governments on issues including ticket legislation, entertainment licenses and the topical matter of curfews. His comments come in the


week that Vince Power’s Music Festivals PLC admits that its flagship UK event Hop Farm will make a loss in 2012. The festivals sector has been riddled with bad news this year, from the early closure of London’s Bloc 2012 – which then fell into administration – to the surprise cancellation of Sonisphere, Big Chill and GoGo festivals. Speaking to Music Week at


UK Music’s launch of its festival map, Benn – whose Latitude Festival was one of the summer’s notable successes - said: “There is not one iota of Government


support for festivals. They can’t be bothered. The [festival] industry is worth almost a billion pounds a year but we’re completely unrecognised in Government.” UK Music figures suggest the


festival industry adds £864million a year to the British economy, with more than 500 commercial music festivals taking place countrywide. Benn added: “Government


‘IT WILL BE VERY SMALL’ Speaking exclusively to Music Week, Melvin Benn says he’s planning on launching a new festival in 2013. The unannounced event will be smaller


than Reading and Leeds – both of which Benn runs as MD of Festival Republic. “It’s going to be a very small festival, very


independent, very tiny,” he said. Details will be released around late


September or early October and Benn is working with partners to create the new event. “I am very positive about it” he enthused. “Festivals is a busy, probably saturated


market but there will be new additions next year and there will be people that stop doing it next year - that’s the nature of it. Overall, I still feel very confident about it”. 2013 will see the return of Glastonbury.


For the first time in 11 years, Benn’s Festival Republic will not be involved in Michael Eavis’s summer event.


Harris is UK’s top songwriter of Q2


Scottish DJ and producer Calvin Harris was the UK’s most successful hit songwriter of the three months to the end of June, new Music Week research shows. Harris, real name Adam


Wiles, penned hits in the period including Call My Name by Cheryl Cole and Rihanna single We Found Love – as well as his


own track Let’s Go, co-written by and featuring Ne-Yo. Harris’ success, based on


Official Charts Company Data, follows his position as Music Week’s No.1 UK hit songwriter for the whole of 2011. In terms of global Q2


songwriting success in the UK, Harris was pipped to the No.1


spot by Warner-Chappell-signed US group Fun, whilst Ed Sheeran emerged as the quarter’s top albums songwriter. The results are based on


analysis using the songwriting shares of the UK’s Top 100


selling downloads of the period. nTurn to page 12 and 13 for PaulWilliams’ full analysis


done to regulate the industry- wide problem: “The [Government] think it’s our problem not theirs – but it requires legislation. “Until that happens, the


problem will continue. They should support the music industry in respect of ticketing in the way they have in respect of the 2012 Olympic Games. “It’s an example of them not


wanting to make the effort for us, not wanting to make the effort for the music industry as well as the festival industry.”


involvement is absolutely required in order to make things easier for the festivals, certainly in terms of curfews. We saw the problems in Hyde Park: Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney get stopped. It’s nonsense and do you know what? It’s the Government that allows that nonsense to happen.” As it stands, there is no UK


legislation surrounding the secondary ticketing market. Over the last six years there have been six attempts to change the law to restrict the resale of event tickets in the UK - all have failed. Benn says more should be


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