Songkick files new legal papers in Live Nation battle, as Ticketmaster partners with Bandsintown
Songkick has filed new legal papers in relation to its ongoing litigation against Live Nation, accusing the live giant of interfering even more in its growing pre-sales business in retaliation for going legal late last year.

As previously reported, Songkick sued Live Nation last December, alleging that the live entertainment firm - which is a significant player in tour and festival promotion, venues, ticketing and artist management - was holding the artists it works with to ransom, especially in the US, if they decided to collaborate with the gig recommendations service on fan club pre-sales.

Although best known as a concert data firm and gig recommendations service - which traditionally encouraged users to click through to Ticketmaster-type platforms if they wanted to attend recommended gigs, taking an affiliate commission for its trouble - Songkick has been increasingly moving into ticketing itself.

This began with the launch of a proprietary in-app ticket selling service, then expanded with the start-up's merger with direct-to-fan platform Crowdsurge, and more recently Songkick has been working with artists on selling tickets to fans before they go on general release, getting widespread media attention for its efforts to ensure that pre-sale tickets for Adele's current tour didn't go to the touts.

In its original lawsuit last year, Songkick said that Live Nation had specifically urged artists it works with to not allow the rival ticketing firm to get involved with pre-sales, and that it had also applied fees to pre-sale tickets sold by Songkick that made the start-up's business unviable. This, Songkick alleged, was Live Nation exploiting its market dominance in tour promotion to hinder any competitors to its Ticketmaster business.

In its response to the litigation, Live Nation has reportedly said that while it is customary to give artists an allocation of tickets to sell direct to signed-up fans - the exact allocation varying according to deal, and often country - as the promoter it still ultimately controls those tickets and therefore is within its rights to dictate terms about how they are sold.

According to the Wall Street Journal, in a new legal filing submitted earlier this week Songkick now alleges that Live Nation has recently "retaliated" over its decision to sue the live giant last year by putting even more barriers in place for its pre-sale business. Says the Journal: "According to the filing, Live Nation has been demanding that Songkick pay the company what it would have earned if Ticketmaster, rather than Songkick, had conducted the concert pre-sales for Songkick's artist clients".

The new filing also alleges that a senior Ticketmaster exec has admitted that the new demands Live Nation is now making are a direct result of Songkick's December lawsuit. It then concludes that "this retaliation, if not enjoined, will drive Songkick out of the artist pre-sale ticketing business in the US". An initial court hearing on the dispute is expected next month.

Meanwhile, Ticketmaster has just announced a new partnership with Songkick competitor Bandsintown, which will mean that when that gig recommendations app tips a show for which Ticketmaster is the primary seller, users will be able to buy off the Live Nation ticketing firm within the Bandsintown app. Usually Bandsintown has to force another app or web page to open whenever a user opts to buy a ticket, but the new integration will make the ticket buying experience more seamless.

Announcing the new alliance, Bandsintown CEO Fabrice Sergent said: "Our main goal at Bandsintown is getting more music fans to concerts. Today, the app drives seven million leads a month to primary ticketing sites. By building on Ticketmaster's new capabilities, we have dramatically improved the user experience, strengthening artists' and promoters' ability to sell out shows".

Rapper sues TMZ for naming him in penis attack story
Please note that it cannot be stressed enough that one time Wu-Tang affiliate Marques Johnson, aka Andre Roxx, has never even once cut off his own penis. So please do make sure that you check he doesn't appear on your list of 'rappers who attacked their own genitalia'.

Roxx is suing TMZ and other media over a story that was widely reported in 2014 about another rapper who did cut off his own penis before jumping off a second storey balcony. That rapper's name was Andre Johnson, aka Christ Bearer, but - in a confusion caused by their similar names - it was initially reported that it was Andre Roxx that had been involved in that incident. And even when it was clarified that the penis story involved Andre Johnson, many media continued to say that Andre Roxx was one of his on-stage monikers.

Roxx alleges that it was TMZ which first incorrectly associated him with the Christ Bearer story, and while the gossip site did later correct its report, by that time it had been picked up by numerous other media which continued to say 'Andre Roxx' and 'Christ Bearer' were both stage names used by the rapper involved in this incident.

In a legal complaint that accuses TMZ and various other media of defamation, Roxx's reps write: "Other than their affiliation with ... the Wu Tang Clan, and the fact that they are both African American male musicians, there are and were key differences between the plaintiff and Christ Bearer. Their names, though containing the overlapping (and common) names 'Andre' and 'Johnson,' are not the same. Christ Bearer's given name is Andre Johnson; Plaintiff's is Marques Johnson".

They go on: "The two did not bear a physical resemblance at the time of the incident: Christ Bearer is at least ten years older than the plaintiff, and the plaintiff's appearance is distinct due to his green eye colour, which is unusual in African American men".

Roxx says that he was in prison at the time the Christ Bearer story broke, and that he to go into protective custody because other inmates began harassing him over the penis chopping tale. Meanwhile, since the end of his prison sentence, Roxx has been trying to resurrect his music career, but is struggling because of his continued association with the penis story.

Back in 2014, when the penis snip incident first took place, Team Wu-Tang distanced themselves from the rapper involved, though it's possible they too were initially confused about who was actually the subject of the story. Christ Bearer had been involved in Wu-Tang affiliated acts, though Roxx's main affiliation to the Clan is seemingly that he was championed by another Wu-Tang affiliate, Killah Priest, early in his career.

Christ Bearer has subsequently been quite candid about what occurred that day in 2014, blaming a concoction of drugs, a lack of sleep and stress over restraining orders filed by three women with whom he had children as all combining to motivate the self-harm.

Regarding his damaged genitals, he was quoted by the New York Daily News as saying: "I believe sex is for mortals, and I am god, so this is a blessing, not a curse", while on the balcony jump he added: "How I jumped was just so heroic ... I super-manned out that motherfucker".

Having definitely grabbed everyone's attention with those quotes, if only he could have added "oh, and I've never performed as motherfucking Andre Roxx", all of this could have been avoided.

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Jackson Estate sued over unpaid legal bill
With the Michael Jackson Estate due to be flush with cash later this year once the sale of its half of the Sony/ATV music publishing company to Sony Corp goes through, now seems like as good a time as any to sue for a cut of the loot.

I mean, you probably need some kind of existing grievance with the former king of pop, but as half the people Jackson worked with seemed to end up in a legal dispute with the singer, that's a lot of people. So think carefully, perhaps you had an unsuccessful alliance with MJ in 2003 and completely forgot about it.

Very much remembering their former alliance with Jackson is London law firm Atkins Thomson Solicitors, which says that it provided legal services to the singer for about two years leading up to his death in 2009. Jackson's UK operations were expanding at the time, you might remember, with that ill-fated 50 night residency at London's The O2 set to reboot the singer's career and repair his flagging financial position.

The legal dudes say that they worked for the popstar from 2007 to his passing in 2009, and in doing so "provided hundreds of hours of services to Jackson across nearly a dozen matters". They filed a creditor's claim for $204,204.36 in November 2009, but the Estate is yet to pay, and late last year it formally rejected the lawyers' invoice.

The law firm went legal earlier this week, suing the Estate and its overseers John Branca and John McClain in the Californian courts. According to The Hollywood Reporter the lawsuit claims: "Defendants have failed to honour Jackson's obligations under, and has materially breached, the agreement with Atkins, and any implied covenants therein, by failing to make the payments as required". The solicitors want their fees paid, plus interest and legal costs.

But the Estate's legal rep Howard Weitzman told THR: "The Estate doesn't believe the attorney's claim for work allegedly done for Michael Jackson is valid and we intend to contest this lawsuit". So at least one lawyer - ie Weitzman - will presumably get a bit of that Sony/ATV dosh out of all this.

UK competition authority proposes freeing PRS of its 1997 'undertakings'
Collecting society PRS has welcomed a provisional ruling from the Competition And Markets Authority over the undertakings it made to the UK competition authority, then called the Monopolies And Mergers Commission, way back in 1997.

As previously reported, the CMA has been reviewing formal commitments made by various organisations and sectors over the years to counter competition law concerns, to assess whether those undertakings are still necessary in 2016.

Collective licensing by copyright owners always raises some competition law issues, because collecting societies often enjoy a monopoly in certain domains, which is why PRS had to make its undertakings to the MMC back in the 1990s.

But in a statement yesterday, the CMA said that it thought those undertakings were no longer required, mainly because of the EU Collective Rights Management Directive, which is just kicking in, and which - CMA panel members believe - overcomes the concerns the 1997 undertakings were designed to counter.

The CMA's statement announced that: "The group of independent CMA panel members carrying out the review considers that the forthcoming implementation of the EU Collective Rights Management Directive will effectively address the areas and concerns covered by the undertakings. The group has therefore provisionally decided that the undertakings are no longer required".

That viewpoint will now be subject to a public consultation before a final decision is made next month. But PRS boss Robert Ashcroft, for one, is pleased with the development.

He told reporters yesterday: "We are pleased that the CMA has recognised the change of circumstance and shares our view that these undertakings are now no longer required and should be released. We are operating in a much more competitive and complex environment than in the late 1990s largely due to the technological changes in the last 20 years particularly in the online world. This means that we have to work even more effectively to deliver our services and royalties to members as well as compete against new and emerging players".

It remains to be seen if any key stakeholders object to the CMA's provisional ruling.

Social media dominates in night-time event discovery, research finds
Social media is the most important channel for marketing night-time events, research by Eventbrite has found.

The ticketing platform surveyed 2500 people in the UK and Ireland and found that 60% generally heard about events they went on to attend via social media. 32% said they discovered events via people they follow on social platforms, while 28% cited social media advertising.

The closest contender for event discovery was mailing lists, with 25% of people saying that this was where they found out about nights out. 13% from venue lists, 9% from ticketing companies, and 3% from other unspecified lists. After that, print media and newspapers account for 23% of discovery, while billboards and posters make up 15%. Which, you're right, does add up to 125%, but I think people could choose more than one option.

Says Eventbrite Marketing Director Marino Fresch: "While we've long known about the importance of social media in event creation and marketing, we're impressed by its sheer dominance over other media when it comes to people discovering nightlife events - vastly beating mailing lists, venue and listings websites, and traditional print media".

He continued: "As bars, clubs, restaurants, cinemas and theatres explore more and more creative and inventive ways to increase their night-time trade, it's clear that combining social assets with word of mouth is the most powerful approach. Email marketing remains a key tool, but it has to be used as part of an integrated approach".

Other things the study found out include that, across the UK, under 30s go out more than anyone else. Which is perhaps unsurprising. However, in London its 30-44 year olds who get out and about most at night.

Another trend London bucks is the reason for going out. People in the UK generally go out to "spend time with friends", while Londoners go out "to experience something new". But, as everyone knows, no one in London has any friends. The new experience they're all looking for is enjoying the company of another human. One day, guys. One day.

A Tribe Called Quest issue statement following Phife Dawg's death
A Tribe Called Quest's Phife Dawg, real name Malik Taylor, has died aged 45, it was confirmed by Rolling Stone yesterday.

The cause of death was not immediately announced, but it is thought to be related to diabetes, complications from which led him to undergo a kidney transplant in 2008. That procedure was unsuccessful, and saw him on the waiting list for surgery again in 2012.

The rapper appeared on all five of A Tribe Called Quest's albums, contributing to four tracks on their debut 'People's Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm' and becoming a full time member on second album 'The Low End Theory'.

In a statement last night, the surviving members of the group said: "Our hearts are heavy. We are devastated. This is something we weren't prepared for although we all know that life is fleeting. It was no secret about his health and his fight. But the fight for his joy and happiness gave him everything he needed. The fight to keep his family happy, his soul happy and those around him happy, gave him complete and unadulterated joy... until he heeded his father's call".

"His family is overwhelmed by the support, well wishes and are thankful", they continued. "His music and what he's contributed is seismic and hard to measure. He's affected us as much as he's affected all of you. We're inspired by his daily joy and courage. He wasn't in pain. He was happy. We take comfort in knowing he will be beside his grandmother".

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Cornish teenagers set Dave Grohl on local council
Dave Grohl has written to Cornwall Council requesting that noise restrictions placed on teenage band Black Leaves Of Envy be lifted. The band previously appealed to the Foo Fighters frontman for help due to his past comments encouraging young people to play music.

The band, who practice in the garage of two band members' family home, have been ordered to keep the volume of their practices lower than 40 decibels. Basically impossible. And, according to the Plymouth Herald, the matter is all the more frustrating because the only neighbour in earshot has apparently not complained about the noise.

"We only have one immediate neighbour and they have not complained", said the father of two of the band's members and owner of the offending garage, Andrew Plenty. "The other houses are a farmer's field away. They used to practise no more than one or two hours a week and it was always in the afternoons, not at anti-social hours. For the last three months, they've not been able to practise at all".

Plenty added that the band and their families had been looking into finding an alternative rehearsal space, saying: "We're looking into youth funding and there are a number of musicians who have come forward to help with our campaign. I am trying to form a committee at the moment. It's just now getting everyone round the table and looking for some suitable premises. There's a quote from Dave Grohl saying kids should get into their garages and start practising if they would like to be the new Nirvana. We've sent off a letter to Mr Grohl asking for his endorsement with our campaign".

I'd imagine 90% of the people who read that quote when it was first published scoffed and said, "Yeah, good luck with that". But yesterday Grohl's response was posted on the Foo Fighters website, so now they look silly.

"My name is Dave Grohl and I'm writing on behalf of local group Black Leaves Of Envy", wrote the musician. "It has been brought to my attention that the band is having difficulty functioning within the current noise restrictions placed upon them by Cornwall Council, a maximum of 30 to 40 decibels (approximately the level of a dishwasher at fifteen meters distance)".

"Like many musicians, I started out in a garage in my neighborhood", he continued, before pointing out that to date he's sold over 100 million records. "Together with friends, my adolescent years were made better by playing music ... I believe it is crucial that children have a place to explore their creativity and establish a sense of self through song. The preservation of such is paramount to the future of art and music".

He concluded by calling on the council to lift the noise restrictions in order to send "a message that Cornwall is not only a home to music and the arts, but a place that encourages children to follow their dreams in a world where anything is possible".

No pressure. So that's a thing that happened. Cue Dave Grohl being called into every noise dispute ever for the rest of time. Read his full, and likely final, letter on the subject here.

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Laura Jane Grace to publish memoir
Against Me! frontwoman Laura Jane Grace is set to publish her autobiography, 'Tranny: Confessions Of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout', later this year.

The book has been co-written with Noisey's Dan Ozzi, who recently told Entertainment Weekly: "The book mixes narrative about Laura's life - growing up with dysphoria and playing in our generation's most influential punk band - with amazing journal entries she's been keeping since she was a kid".

Published by Hachette, it will be on sale in the US on 15 Nov.

Infinity Ink, Manners McDade, Izzy Bizu, more

Other notable announcements and developments today...

• Production duo Infinity Ink, aka Ali Love and Luca Cazal, who were last seen releasing records in 2012, have signed to [PIAS]'s Different Recordings for the release of their new single 'Too Strong', which is out tomorrow, 25 Mar, with a debut album due later this year.

• Indie publisher Manners McDade and indie record company One Little Indian and have joined up to launch a new contemporary classical label called Cognitive Shift Recordings. The first release will be the debut album from composer Roger Goula, which "encapsulates the ethos of the new label, bridging the gap between modern classical and electronic music".

• Izzy Bizu, who you may know from such 2016 ones to watch lists as basically all of them, will release her debut album, 'A Moment Of Madness', on 22 Jul. And she's headlining Koko on 16 Jun. Here's her new single, 'Mad Behaviour'.

• Steve 'Steve Mason' Mason has released a video for another track from his latest album. Here's 'Alive'.

• Formed by Max Kakacek (ex-Smith Westerns) and Julien Ehrlich (ex-Unknown Mortal Orchestra), Whitney will release their debut album, 'Light Upon The Lake', though Secretly Canadian on 3 Jun. Here's new single 'Golden Days'.

• Hello. Here's a new Shonen Knife track.

• Chelsea Wolfe is releasing a new double A-side seven-inch 'Hypnos/Flame' on 1 Apr. Here's the video for 'Hypnos'.

• Field Music have released a new video, 'Disappointed'. That's the name of the track, not a review.

• Yung Life are set to release their third album 'Soft/Divide' on 20 Apr. Here's a little promo video thing.

• Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas are going to headline the Honda Civic Tour in the US this summer. I'm only telling you because I find the idea of a Honda Civic Tour inherently funny.

• Julia Holter is going to play the Shepherds Bush Empire on 14 Nov. I'm sure you're all aware what good news this is.

• False Advertising will launch their new EP 'Brainless' at Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen on 22 Apr. From said EP, this is 'Piece Of My Mind'.

Justin Bieber can't meet fans because their spiritual energy makes him unhappy
Justin Bieber has announced that he's not doing any more meet and greet sessions. The problem, you see, is that now he's such a nice guy, he's too nice to be exposed to so many people. Because, it seems, people make him unhappy with their spiritual energy. And yes, that is what he actually said.

"Love u guys", he began in an Instagram post, attempting to soften the blow. "I'm going to be cancelling my meet and greets. I enjoy meeting such incredible people but I end up feeling so drained and filled with so much of other people's spiritual energy that I end up so drained and unhappy".

See, I told you that's what he said. He continued: "Want to make people smile and happy but not at my expense and I always leave feeling mentally and emotionally exhausted to the point of depression. The pressure of meeting people's expectations of what I'm supposed to be is so much for me to handle and a lot on my shoulders".

Not sure what he's talking about? Well, I expect him to be a kind of messianic figure who glows with positivity and brings peace to all who come into contact with him. Is that so much to ask? I suppose I would be quite disappointed if it turned out he was just quite nice.

"Never want to disappoint but I feel I would rather give you guys the show and my albums as promised", he finished. "Can't tell you how sorry I am, and wish it wasn't so hard on me. And I want to stay in the healthy mindset I'm in to give you the best show you have ever seen".

It has been suggested that security concerns were to blame for Bieber giving up the fan meeting and greeting sessions, which are charged at up to $2000 per person. The company behind the events, Bkstg, reportedly stated on its mobile app earlier this week: "During a recent show, there was a security incident that caused our team to have to meet and rethink how meet and greets were handled".

According to TMZ, this incident was a "potentially dangerous fan" who is already on the singer's security team's "watch list" arriving for a meet and greet at a recent show.

Which may all be true. But it seems far more likely that Bieber is just on such a higher plane than the rest of us that he can't handle the imbalance of spiritual energy. He's so nice. I'm glad he's our lord and saviour. And now I have more money to spend on meeting Avril Lavigne.