Music Week’s round-up of essential music biz stories you might have missed...
Wheels And Fins Festival
Wheels And Fins Festival has gone into liquidation and the event will not be returning. The 2019 edition of the Joss Bay festival in Kent was cancelled a week before it was due to take place. Artists on the bill included Slaves, Mystery Jets and Friendly Fires. Ticket-holders have not been refunded.
A statement from the organisers said: “We have tried everything to avoid this outcome but have been unable to find a solution - to say we are devastated is an understatement. We have poured our hearts, souls and personal finances into the event as well as leaning heavily on private Investors and friends. The pressure of trying to deliver an independent festival which Kent could be proud of has been immense. However, there is no avoiding the reality of our situation - poor ticket sales mean that Wheels and Fins is no longer financially viable nor attractive to an investor.”
Dax break
Digital audio advertising company Dax has announced the appointment of Chris Blackburn to EVP for sales and business development for Dax US.
Blackburn joins the Global-owned company directly from SoundCloud, where he was responsible for overseeing and growing the streaming service’s worldwide ad-sales business, in the role of the head of global sales and partnerships. Blackburn’s work with partnerships spanned both media and business development.
Pod speed
Deezer has joined forces with five podcasting companies in response to the format’s growing popularity on the platform. Two of Deezer’s existing podcast partners, Audioboom and Voxnest’s Spreaker, have also improved their technical solution on Deezer. Podcasters will be able to submit their show with one click and make it available to Deezer subscribers globally.
Frédéric Antelme, VP of content and productions, said: “It's great to see a huge increase of music fans enjoying podcasts as part of their Deezer streaming experience. Our goal is to help podcasters easily provide fans with the freshest shows from all over the world. We’re really excited to work with our new and existing partners to help more people than ever before discover podcast content.”
Flohio, Fontaines DC up for EU prize
UK artist Flohio and Irish band Fontaines DC are nominated for the Music Moves Europe Talent Awards 2020. The annual EU prize for popular and contemporary music celebrates emerging artists. Eight winners will be unveiled in January and each receive €10,000 to be spent towards promoting their international careers.
The 16 artists nominated for the Music Moves Europe Talent Awards 2020 also include Au/Ra, Meduza and Anna Leone.
Go, Billie!
Billie Eilish has announced her 2020 arena Where Do We Go? World tour, produced by Live Nation. Starting on March 8 in Miami, the tour will reach Europe in summer next year.
Confirmed UK shows include Manchester Arena (July 21-22), Arena Birmingham (July 24) and London’s The O2 (July 26-27).
