Club News - The head of Britain's biggest nightclub operator predicted that half the UK's estimated 2,700 nightclubs could fail over the next 18 months. Stephen Thomas, the chief executive of Luminar, told The Times that there would be "a lot of closures", forced by the effects of the recession, but he expected many to re-open under so-called pre-pack administrations. The Luminar founder said that one of the reasons there had not been more closures was a lack of enforcement by local authorities over the sale of alcohol, health and safety and control of noise at work regulations. "Proper compliance and enforcement would mean the bad operators couldn't continue," he said. "We're spending the capital to do things the right way, but others are not."
Funding Threat (1) - A government scheme that helped launch the careers of James Morrison and the Zutons is under threat. The New Deal for Musicians gave the unemployed access to instruments, and was supported by Sir Paul McCartney. The new scheme, which launches in October, will only be open to those who have been out of work for over a year. Alan McGee, who founded Creation Records and signed Oasis, said he was disappointed to see government funding for music under threat. Speaking to 6 Music, McGee said he'd been given his start in music by the Enterprise Allowance Scheme, which was started by the Conservatives, but is pessimistic about the prospects for young people hoping to forge a career in music. "I think it's a terrible time to be a new band, because record companies are falling to bits. I don't think there is a business model right now. I know a lot of kids who are great entrepreneurs and they would have done well in the eighties and nineties. "
Funding Threat (2) - The BBC must cut its budget by £400m over the next three years or face breaching its statutory borrowing limit, its director general has said. Mark Thompson said the "painful cuts" needed would include freezing senior management pay and reducing the amount paid to the corporation's top talent. Speaking at the Media Guardian Changing Media Summit, Thompson denied the BBC was "swimming with cash". The BBC had cut 7,200 jobs in the past four-and-a-half years, he said.
(Jim Evans)
