DEALS
🦂
UK live music promoters FKP Scorpio UK and Communion Presents have merged to form Communion One. In a joint statement, Managing Directors Daniel Ealam, Mazin Tappuni and Scott O’Neill said, “Bringing our two brilliant teams together and combining our shared experience, resources and perspectives is the most natural thing in the world. In doing so, we believe that Communion One is creating an even more compelling proposition for our existing and future clients. We’ve all had amazing success so far, but in many ways, we’re only just getting started”.
🇦🇷
Inverted Music has partnered with Mañana Music to represent the songwriting catalogue of Argentinian composer Juan Carlos Cáceres. "We are honoured to partner with Mañana Music to bring the incomparable works of Juan Carlos Cáceres to a global stage”, says Inverted Music founder Ethav Mojgani. “Cáceres's music is a testament to the beauty and richness of Argentinean culture and, through this collaboration, we aim to celebrate his legacy and introduce his extraordinary compositions to audiences around the world”.
APPOINTMENTS
🇩🇪
Founder of German live firm DEAG, Peter Schwenkow, is to step down as the company’s CEO after 46 years. Announcing the news on his 70th birthday, he said, “Since 1978, we have continuously and successfully developed new products and markets with committed, loyal and creative partners and employees, without whom this growth would not have been possible”.
LEGAL
❓
Ninja Tune CEO Adrian Kemp has stepped back from his duties at the label pending an internal investigation into allegations that have been made against him. Specifics of the allegations are not known. Resident Advisor reported last week that a statement sent to the label's staff said that the investigation will be undertaken by an "independent third-party HR" specialist. Head Of Marketing Samantha Sissons and Head Of Marketing Operations Tess Kendall will fill in on an interim basis, with support from Kemp. Mixmag then reported that, in a legal letter, Kemp "vehemently denies" the allegations.
⚖️
Nicki Minaj and her husband Kenneth Petty have been ordered by a court in LA to pay $500,000 to a security guard who was assaulted backstage at a show in Frankfurt in 2019. The incident left Thomas Weidenmuller with a broken jaw, after he was accused of allowing a fan to get on stage during Minaj’s performance.
MEDIA
👋
Frank Skinner has announced that he is leaving Absolute Radio after fifteen years at the station. Announcing on air on Saturday that his contract had not been renewed, he said, “We had a good run but I realise that in recent times I am ever more becoming Grandad from ‘The Simpsons’. Even so … I didn’t take it well. I took it well in the way David Tennant took it well as the tenth Doctor when he started to regenerate and said, ‘I don’t want to go!’”
📻
Boom Radio will mark the 60th anniversary of the launch of Radio Caroline over the Easter weekend. Among the special programming, original Radio Caroline presenter Roger Day will broadcast his Thursday afternoon show from a ship near the port of Harwich.
ARTIST NEWS
🗯️
Yungblud has responded to criticism of the ticket price of his one day festival BludFest, which will take place at the Milton Keynes Bowl on 11 Aug. Tickets will cost £49.50, which I think seems quite reasonable, but some don’t agree - including one TikTok user who branded it “corporate bullshit”. In a new video over the week, the musician said, “Every now and then this narrative rears its head on the internet that … I’m this completely massive industry plant who had everything given to him. That is crazy to me because that is not the case”. Showing a picture of himself and a group of people in a room together, he went on, “Everything I do, every idea I have, is literally probably run from a kitchen table with these four people. We just figure out if we can make it happen”.
💜
Ryan Coogler, best known for his work on the ‘Black Panther’ movies, is set to produce a new Prince jukebox musical movie for Universal Pictures, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Featuring a script written by Bryan Edward Hill, film company Proximity Media has been working on the film since 2018.
GIGS & FESTIVALS
🐬
Dua Lipa has announced that she will perform at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 17 Oct. Tickets will go on general sale on 12 Apr.
🧟
Cannibal Corpse have announced UK tour dates in September, including a performance at the Roundhouse in London on 29 Sep. Tickets go on sale on Thursday.
RELEASES
🦌
Sega Bodega will release his third album ‘Dennis’ on 26 Apr. Out now is new single ‘Elk Skin’.
🔭
Karin Ann will release her debut album ‘Through The Telescope’ on 10 May. Out now is new single ‘False Gold’.
