The secondary ticketing market in the UK is thought to be worth more than £1bn a year. But the music industry is concerned that fans are being excluded from concerts by "professional" resellers, who scoop up tickets as soon as they go on sale, then advertise them at vastly inflated prices. Earlier this year, tickets to see Radiohead and Adele were listed at more than 100 times their face value this year; while tickets to see Justin Bieber's Purpose tour in November are currently being advertised at £1,200, against a face value of £74.50. Fans are being urged to register their support for the initiative; while a petition set up by the same group of artists and managers in May has already attracted 44,000 signatures.
Picture This - The private art collection of David Bowie is to be revealed to the public for the first time. The musician's life as a collector was something he kept almost entirely hidden from public view. But now, nearly 300 works by artists including Damien Hirst, Henry Moore and Marcel Duchamp will go on display at Sotheby's in London, before being sold at auction in November. The paintings are collectively expected to fetch more than £10m. "David Bowie's collection offers a unique insight into the personal world of one of the 20th Century's greatest creative spirits," said Oliver Barker, chairman of Sotheby's Europe.
Cultural Affairs - Karen Bradley has taken over from John Whittingdale as culture secretary. Bradley has been the MP for Staffordshire Moorlands since May 2010, and a home office minister since 2014. Prior to working in politics, Bradley spent 20 years working in business, with roles as an accountant and tax manager for KPMG and Deloitte & Touche. In February 2014, she replaced James Brokenshire as the minister for security, a post based in the Home Office - where Theresa May was the secretary of state.
Rights & Opportunities - The Music Producers Guild is supporting the International Artist Organisation (IAO) in its campaign to ensure that artists' rights and opportunities are protected in today's digital world. The IAO, which represents over 15,000 artists in 10 European countries, recently warned the European Commission that fixing the 'Value Gap' or 'YouTube Question' solely in favour of the major record labels would not in isolation fix the problems in the digital music economy.
"Neither platforms nor labels should be able to use contractual gymnastics to remove value from the table and deny stakeholders further down the value chain their fair and legitimate share from the use of their works," says IAO President and CEO of the UK's Featured Artists Coalition, Paul Pacifico. "Yes, we must pull together to 'increase the size' of the so-called 'cake', but to ignore how that cake is being cut would be to ultimately take the artists' slice off the table."
(Jim Evans)
