Mark Thompson, director general of the BBC, has revealed plans to close 6 Music radio station by the end of 2011, after a review of the BBC’s digital services.

The review was officially unveiled by Thompson at a press conference at BBC Television Centre yesterday (March 2). However, there was a leak...

Live Nation and Ticketmaster have been formally christened Live Nation Entertainment (LNE), after the US Department of Justice (DoJ) approved the merger on 25 January, although the combined company may want to wait a little longer to uncork the champagne...     

French concert promoters have called upon the country’s highest authority to deliver a series of measures that they believe would benefit the whole business. In an open letter to the French president, promoters‘ association Prodiss, which represents some €450million of revenues, asked Nicolas Sarkozy for an urgent implementation of measures to support the live music sector...                   

One of the UK’s leading crowd management specialists has warned that London’s 2012 Olympics could lead to standards being lowered and the security industry devalued. Many of the 6,000 stewards required to staff the games will be recruited via local colleges, and Mark Harding at Showsec International is concerned that pressures of finance and time will lead to concessions in training...                        

Germany’s open-air dance event, Love Parade, is struggling to find a home as scheduled stops in its five-year Ruhr District plan refuse to accommodate it. This year’s event, due to take place in Duisberg, is in jeopardy due to the €860,000 cost of preparing the site at a former freight yard...                                                 

Two high profile family shows have gone bust in Germany, leaving tens of thousands of ticket buyers out of pocket and taking down the companies that staged them. Art Concerts has filed for insolvency after cancelling four rescheduled Ben Hur dates in February and April, and Prime Time Entertainment AG (PTE), wound up earlier this month after its production, India, suffered from slow ticket sales...              

The ‘City of Light’ is in great danger of becoming “boring Paris” according to a group of entertainment businesses owners, who claim that draconian noise and safety regulations, and harassment from local residents is ruining the French capital’s nightlife.

The coalition – which includes live music organisations, discotheque...

Germany’s Reeperbahn Festival and Campus is expanding on all fronts this year by growing the number of professional delegates by 50% and adding more venues around Hamburg’s infamous red light district.

Now in its second year, organisers hope to increase the number of delegates from 1,000 to 1,500, targeting an international delegation from Scandinavia...

As Michael Gudinski’s Frontier Touring Company celebrates its 30th year in business, the Australian entrepreneur is eyeing a return to Australia’s festivals market.

“Australia still doesn’t have many sleepover festivals. That’s the gap in the market,” says Gudinski, who is tentatively planning to establish a multi...

Temporary wedding chapels are a common sight at festivals these days, but now the events themselves have started to get hitched as the UK’s Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) has launched a new initiative to twin its members with likeminded events abroad.

Based on the twin-towns concept, participating festivals will help promote...