The Week in Light & Sound
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City Limits - Five British cities competing to be the European Capital of Culture in 2023 have been left reeling after it emerged the European Commission is to exclude them from the competition. The news comes less than a month after final submissions were made by Dundee, Leeds, Milton Keynes, Nottingham and a joint bid by Belfast, Derry and Strabane.
A letter sent by the commission to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said the UK’s decision to withdraw from the EU meant “the participation of the UK in the European Capital of Culture will not be possible”. Expectations had been high that a British city would be selected for the first time since Liverpool in 2008. A judging panel had been due to convene next week to assess the British bids.
Responding to the decision, a DCMS spokesman said it: “disagrees with the European Commission’s stance and is deeply disappointed that it waited until after UK cities had submitted their final bids before communicating this new position”.
Certified Resellers - Google has announced that event ticket resellers will need to be certified before they can advertise through its advertising service AdWords. The new policy will take effect next year from January 2018 and will apply globally.
In a recent YouGov poll, 48% of respondents said they wanted ticket reselling sites to be banned, due to inflated prices and a lack of legally required information, such as seat numbers. Google, through this change in strategy, aims to assist consumers in purchasing “face value” tickets from authorised sellers.
Google’s updated policy will result in resellers disclosing the fact that they are not the original providers for the event and that prices may be higher due to this. It will also ensure that resellers provide a breakdown of the prices before checkout, including fees and taxes. From March 2018, Google will also require resellers to post the original price of tickets alongside theirs.
Talent Show - The next generation of potential pop stars have been highlighted by the BBC Music Sound of 2018 longlist. Sixteen emerging artists have made it onto the list, now in its 16th year, which has previously included names like Adele, Frank Ocean and Dua Lipa. This year's crop includes the youngest ever nominee, 15-year-old US pop singer Billie Eilish. She's joined on the list by two other teenagers, rising R&B star Khalid and singer-songwriter Rex Orange County. Their names were selected by a panel of 173 “music experts”, including critics, broadcasters and DJs.
Santa, Seal & Sinatra - The late Frank Sinatra could be Christmas number one with a new release, as he duets with soul singer Seal. The vocals of the jazz singer will be harmonised with Seal's, as they sing Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. The track will be released on 12 December, the week of Sinatra's birthday, and comes nearly two decades after his death in 1998.
(Jim Evans)
28 November 2017
