Brian May ha dovuto rinunciare a undici date del suo tour a causa di problemi di salute: il chitarrista dei Queen ha parlato di una "malattia persistente" che sta distruggendo la sua "energia e voglia di fare".

May ha specificato che "odia dover deludere i fan" ma i medici lo hanno avvertito che esibirsi potrebbe peggiorare il suo problema attuale. "Devo evitare di andare in tour e prendermi del tempo per guarire piuttosto che rischiare di cedere sul palco".

Parte degli show avrebbe dovuto tenersi con la cantante Kerry Ellis, che ha rilasciato una dichiarazione secondo cui il tour sarà ripreso l'anno prossimo.

Michele Maisano, popolare popolare artista nato a Vigevano celebre negli anni ’60 ma ancora in auge nel mondo della musica liscio, ha fondato da alcuni anni il . Sos, Sindacato operatori spettacolo. E proprio lui nel settembre 2012 aveva pronosticato un futuro buio per la musica dal vivo: «Fra cinque anni - aveva dichiarato - non ci saranno più musicisti, si sta disperdendo un patrimonio culturale spaventoso e dire che all’inizio degli anni Sessanta eravamo il primo paese del mondo nella musica». Lo abbiamo ricontattato per chiedergli se davvero il panorama sia così sconsolante come sembra o se, invece, la realtà è diversa. 

Maisano, cinque anni fa aveva detto che non ci sarebbero più stati musicisti. Il tempo stringe, com’è la situazione?

«Da allora siamo andati sempre peggio. L’unica maniera per rilanciare il settore è defiscalizzare la musica e gli spettacoli dal vivo. Bisogna fare come in Germania e portare l’IVA per chi fa musica dal vivo al 4%. I gestori dei locali e gli organizzatori così risparmierebbero il 18% e potrebbero investire su eventi, serate, concerti; tutti live». 

Cambierebbero le cose?

«Come no! Da così a così! Intanto si rimetterebbe in moto un mestiere che ormai sta scomparendo e in più, si darebbe una risposta concreta al problema della disoccupazione e dell’evasione fiscale». 

Come?

«Abbassando l’Iva non ci sarebbe più motivo di evadere e si pagherebbero i contributi; tutti si svolgerebbe secondo le regole. Il governo avrebbe un grande vantaggio perché emergerebbe tutto il nero. Anche noi musicisti abbiamo una dignità e abbiamo diritto a un futuro pensionistico. Sono sicuro che ci sarebbe un incremento di 80 se non 100mila posti di lavoro».

Quindi la risposta sono le agevolazioni fiscali.

«Sì ma solo a chi davvero suona dal vivo, perché ci sono anche tanti che vanno in giro a fare playback. Gli aiuti fiscali ci devono essere perché quella che si sostiene è una spesa culturale».

Ma quindi è un problema prettamente economico?

«No, assolutamente. Anche culturale. Bisogna rieducare le persone alla musica, alla musica dal vivo e bisogna farlo dal basso perché è da lì che partono le rivoluzioni. Siamo diventati importatori di musica anglosassone e latina, dobbiamo ricominciare a produrre, a essere noi i protagonisti».

The Italian association of live music promoters released its statement a few hours after the ones made by the managing director and founder of TicketBis, who intervened in the debate about the secondary ticketing which was triggered by the instant sold out of tickets for the two dates for Coldplay in Milan, on the3rd and 4^th of July 2017, and by the launch of inquiry by the Italian antitrust Authority, announced on the 18^th of October. Assomusica wanted to emphasize «its opposition to any unauthorized activity of resale of concert tickets».

The association led by Vincenzo Spera «urges, therefore, the Supervising Authority to take action to prevent any form of speculation to the detriment of consumers and of the authors. Measures should include, but not limit to, accurate controls, so that the show tickets are sold only by people entitled and authorized to do so: the organizers; ticket companies authorized by the organizers; third parties duly authorized, whose name and / or VAT number must appear on the same ticket.

Assomusica also invites the public to buy tickets through the official channels only, distrusting who willfully defrauds State, spectators and music itself.

It is urgent, therefore, to find measures to block those Web sites that do not respect the laws.

It is the firm belief of our Association that urgent legislative measures are necessary, to govern the specific peculiarities of evolving sectors that are of great socio-economic impact.

For this reason, the action of Assomusica will continue with greater commitment, not only directed to Italian institutions but also to the other partners, at the international level. The problem is felt, in fact, in all European countries (France and Germany, in particular) and cannot disregard Community rules. Only cooperation and the appropriate synergies with other subjects, institutional or otherwise, can give us the desired results».

In Chicago pop music and DJs performances have been recognized as an art form. This allows a reduction in taxes which amounts to more than $ 200,000. Judge Anita Richardson had established that these musical forms could no longer be exempt from the tax on entertainment.

Now, however, the decision was overturned. " By bringing together public officials and music industry representatives, we were able to arrive at language that all parties agree recognises the diverse and robust nature of live music while providing the county with the ability to collect those taxes that are legitimately owed to it», explained John Fritchey, representative of one of the districts of Cook County, where Chicago is located.

A similar decision was made in Berlin regarding techno music venue Berghain.

The problem of small venues at risk of closure, in London, was also addressed during Venues Day 2016. The Music Venue Trust announced several new initiatives to protect them, including a project to refurbish a hundred of them over the next five years.

A new national platform, as reported by IQ-mag.net, was also created to sell tickets, Grassrootsvenues.tickets, which will be helpful, according to MVT’s Mark Davyd, to sell tickets more effectively, and who stated that it will aid to make sure that artists and authors who perform at these locations are actually paid.

With the aid program Sound + Vision, which will be used to refurbish sound and light systems in a hundred venues, the annual busget is also expected to go down from 2.2 million pounds to just 970,000.

Legal problems are also considered in the new plan: the local Emergency Response scheme will help in matters concerning licenses, among others.

The pre-sale of concert tickets ended up under watch by the Antitrust Authority, which opened an investigation against Ticketone SpA and four operators in the secondary market. Behind the initiative, the phenomenon - marked among others things by the National Union of Consumers and Altroconsumo - on the literary impossibility of buying, on the sales opening day, of tickets for top events such as happened recently for the Coldplay concert in Italy, and in the past for One Direction and Bruce Springsteen.

The Authority, in fact, is investigating the phenomenon related to the substantial impossibility of buying, at the opening of sales, tickets for the most important events on the Ticketone Spa website, which holds exclusive rights to main events for the online, and sells tickets at prices fixed by the organizers with the artists. Tickets, emphasizes the Antitrust Authority, become available only a few minutes after the opening of the sales, on other Internet sites (secondary market), at prices often far greater than the primary market. That occurred, even recently, during the sale of tickets for the Coldplay concerts in Italy and, in the past, on the occasion of the One Direction concert, the Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bruce Springsteen , Renato Zero, Adele and David Gilmour. The Authority has therefore initiated preliminary proceedings against Ticketone SpA and the four main players in the secondary market in Italy, in order to verify possible violations of the Consumer Code.

The case against Ticketone is directed, first, to ascertain whether the trader has established appropriate IT measures, contractual provisions and terms of sale, and has exercised proper control, to ensure the effective availability of tickets to consumers and to avoid the possibility that some individuals, through the use of specific software, proceed to the massive purchase and almost instantaneous reselling of tickets on the online channel. The proceedings initiated against traders in the secondary market are directed to inquire about the misleading nature of the information relating to the conditions of sale on the sites, which could not make clear the nature and characteristics of the place of brokerage service, the type and the price of sale of tickets offered, and the rights and guarantees for consumers, in the chance of cancellation of events. The Authority, in collaboration with the Special Antitrust Unit of the Guardia di Finanza, carried out inspections at the Ticketone Spa locations and of a society that, while not part of the Authority's proceedings, could hold useful elements for the purpose of the investigation.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said the report by professor Michael Waterson on the secondary ticketing market will be considered very carefully.

Waterson had asked the government, more than a month ago, why his report had remained a dead letter. Now came the response, stimulated by the questioning by MP Nigel Adams: «A few weeks ago I thought that I had successfully bought four tickets online for one of my favourite bands, Green Day, only to be told that the tickets were unavailable and the gig was sold out, but within minutes I could buy the tickets on another site, for twice the price. It turns out that the ticket site had been the victim of a computerised attack by organised touts», said Adams.

If the law under discussion will pass, it will become illegal to use digital software to purchase tickets, exceeding the legal number. The proposal also has the support of reseller StubHub.

After the urgent appeal filed in court by SIAE and the inquiry opened by the Antitrust Authority against Ticketmaster and four sites in the so-called «secondary ticketing market», Assomusica, the association that brings together key Italian concert promoters, released a statement on the case.

In a note just launched by the Governing Council chaired by Vincenzo Spera, the organization adds that a law should be presented to block sites that use bots, thus immediately creating sold out dates of the most important live events, and then sell fans tickets at higher prices. The latest sensational case was that of Coldplay at San Siro on 3rd and 4^th July 2017. The category association took a strong position, considering that in this field there have always been many different views on this topic, from the most intransigent (no to the online secondary market) to the most "liberal" (yes to resale if the law allows it).

Sono 40 i top player scelti da Billboard fra gli under 40, che sono destinati secondo il sito a rivoluzionare il mondo della musica. Ha solo 27 anni, per esempio, Sophie Ash, project manager che si è occupata per Beyonce sia del lancio di Lemonade, che ha venduto 1.7 milioni di copie, sia del tour Formation, da 256 milioni di dollari in biglietti.

Will Bloomfield, 37 anni, è invece comanager sia degli One Direction che di 5 Seconds of Summer, e il 30enne JP Evangelista ha contribuito al lancio di Dangerous Woman di Ariana Grande.

Sono loro, fra i tanti colleghi, commenta Billboard, ad aiutare le star di oggi a scalare le classifiche, riempire i palazzetti e, in generale, a diventare superstar.

Il Premio Tenco è arrivato alla quarantesima edizione. In corso fino al 22 ottobre all’Ariston di Sanremo, la rassegna della canzone d’autore ha quest’anno assegnato una targa a Niccolò Fabi per il miglior disco 2016, Una somma di piccole cose.

A vincere il premio alla carriera sono invece stati Otello Profazio e Sergio Staino, insieme al californiano Stan Ridgway.

È stata assegnata la Targa Tenco anche alla canzone Bomba intelligente, scritta e incisa da Francesco Di Giacomo, insieme al coautore Paolo Sentinelli, interpretata durante la serata da Andrea Satta.