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UK - With preliminary visitor figures of over 12,000, showing a marginal increase over 2010 and strong international engagement from across the world, organisers PLASA Events are "delighted" with the positive feedback to this year's PLASA 2011, which last week closed its doors at Earls Court after a vibrant four days.

This year's event sets the scene for a strong return to Earls Court in 2012. Events manager Sophie Atkinson commented: "Exhibitors have been enthusing about the high quality of visitors and the rate of sales enquiries, and with hundreds of new products being launched, there has been a great return on investment for them. We expect to see many back here at Earls Court next year."

Visitors also relished being first to get their hands on some of the industry's hottest new products. Over 500 products were launched at the show, including major new

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Poll Toppers - Coldplay have been voted the best festival headliner of 2011, in an online poll conducted by BBC 6 Music. The band - who headlined Glastonbury and T In The Park - topped the survey with 22.7% of votes cast, breakfast show host Shaun Keaveny announced. US rock band The National came in second with 14.2%, while Muse were third with 13.9%.

Coldplay's drummer Will Champion told 6 Music playing festivals gave the band "a chance to win people over". He added, "There's also a strong possibility that people have already made their mind up about you - and no matter how well you play they're not going to be happy about it." Glastonbury, which also saw U2 and Beyonce play headline slots in June, is taking a fallow year in 2012.

In The Saleroom - The Beatles showed their support for the US civil rights movement by refusing to play in front of segr

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UK - When ETC introduced its iRFR (Radio Focus Remote for iPhone and iPod Touch) two years ago, Luke Delwiche from ETC Tech Services in London suggested that the profits be shared between Light Relief and its US equivalent, Behind the Scenes. Little did his bosses realise just how much this would amount to.

At PLASA 2011, Delwiche presented Light Relief trustee Rick Fisher with a cheque for £12,458, collected over the previous 12 months. A similar amount of money will be presented to Behind the Scenes at the LDI show in October this year. These two cheques bring the total raised by the sale of the iRFR application to a staggering $86,000.

Delwiche was obviously delighted that his idea has paid off so handsomely, while CEO Fred Foster said,"One of the nicest aspects is that each individual who has found our iRFR to be a useful tool has helped raise this money. Chris

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UK - PLASA Media has learned the sad news of the death of veteran live sound engineer Moray McMillin. Moray, a concert touring veteran and most recently EAW's Application Support Group Representative for the EMEA region, passed away after a long battle with cancer. He was 58.

Moray worked with many of rock's greatest acts over the past three decades, including Black Sabbath, Saxon, Ozzy Osbourne's solo outings, Motorhead, Dio, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Whitesnake - culminating in a 10-year spell as Deep Purple's front-of-house engineer.

An advocate of line array technology, Moray became one of the first certified V-DOSC engineers in the UK, and later, through the company's links with Deep Purple, he assisted German manufacturer HK Audio in the development of its COHEDRA system. Moray took the decision to leave his life on the road in 2004 and took a sales role with the HK

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UK - Leading international agents and promoters John Giddings of Solo/Isle of Wight Festival, Stuart Galbraith of Kilimanjaro Live and Rob Hallett of AEG Live will be among the speakers at the LIVE UK Summit, set for 5-6 October in London.

Other speakers will include Free Trade Agency boss Paul Boswell, HMV/MAMA Group's Daryl Robinson and Academy Music Group's Carl Bathgate.

One particularly lively part of the conference programme will undoubtedly be the ticketing session, Selling The Show, following eBay-owned US resale giant StubHub's announcement that it's about to enter the UK, and the surprise takeover of See Tickets by French media conglomerate Vivendi.

"StubHub's arrival will significantly increase activity in the resale sector, especially in the battle for hearts and minds, and general endorsement of the concept," says Summit producer and Audience managing

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Festival Funding - Edinburgh festival-goers could be asked to volunteer to pay extra for tickets in a bid to help raise money for the city to host major events. Jenny Dawe, Edinburgh City Council's leader, said a box to tick to add a "small percentage" could be added to online booking forms. She said she there was "generally no objection" if people knew the money was going to improve venues. Sales of tickets at this year's Edinburgh Fringe were up by 3% on 2010. According to figures released by the Fringe Society, 1,877,119 tickets were sold by its box office over the festival.

Olympic Countdown - The London Philharmonic Orchestra has finished recording more than 200 national anthems for the Olympic and Paralympic Games next year. The epic challenge took 52 recording hours at Abbey Road Studios and finished with Zimbabwe on Sunday. The orchestra had on

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UK - Hawthorn Walling Systems has just celebrated its first birthday. Hawthorn Walling Systems designs and manufactures set, stand and display solutions for exhibitions, conferences and product launches.

The first year of trading has been "phenomenal", says the company. The bespoke in-house workshop has already been extended and the team has expandedsignificantly to meet ongoing demand for the Walling Systems product.

Hawthorn Walling Systems uses a patented tensioned fabric on an aluminium frame system to create seamless high resolution panels for the events and exhibition industry. The product is lightweight, modular, quick to build and easily re-brandable for road shows, multiple brands/languages and also helps clients to reduce their transport costs and enhance their eco credentials.

(Jim Evans)

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Lecture Notes - Pete Townshend is to deliver the inaugural John Peel Lecture, in which he will assess the state of music in the internet age. The lecture, part of the Radio Festival in Salford at the end of this month, will become an annual event given by a different music figure every year. Townshend will ask how musicians can survive in the age of free downloads. The lecture, named in honour of legendary DJ Peel, who died in 2004, will be broadcast live on BBC 6 Music.

Townshend said he was "honoured" to be asked to deliver the address, adding that the former BBC Radio 1 DJ had introduced him to bands like The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Undertones before they had signed record deals. "John didn't just listen to music, he played it on air and let his audience decide," the 66-year-old guitarist said. In his lecture, Townshend will pose the question: "C

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World - PLASA members worldwide have begun voting in the Association's yearly elections, which commenced this week.

The month-long ballot, in which over 1,000 members participate, will decide places on PLASA's European and North American Regional Boards, together with a single seat on its over-arching Governing Body.

The two Regional Boards are still a relatively new concept for PLASA, having been formally launched at the start of 2011. Their role is to represent the interests of members affiliated to those regions, ensuring that PLASA offers strong on the ground support to members.

Both the North American and European Regional Boards are looking to fill a number of places for 2012. Following the death of the European Chair Rob Lingfield earlier this year, Ed Pagett of Panalux, who served as Vice Chair, is standing for the position of Chair. A number of representative positi

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UK - CITC, located in the USA, has been in the forefront of manufacturing unique and exciting effects equipment for many years, and White Light is proud to announce their exclusive distributorship for the European community.

Their President, Gary Crawford, is well known for his work as a Special Effects Coordinator, and has worked on such movies as E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, 2010, Poltergeist, Halloween III, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and many more well known films, his first being Camelot. He is also the recipient of the 1997 LDI award for Best Atmospheric Effects for SnoBiz biodegradable snow. They offer a comprehensive selection of products including the popular Dream Teams which encompass larger areas for audience-participation.

Their most popular, the Little Blizzard Dream Team, was the original and first of its kind. It sends snow over a 24m X 15m area, and includ

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Tax Relief - Commercial producers and Arts Council England are lobbying the government to introduce US-style tax relief that would allow theatre investors to write off losses against income tax, reports The Stage. The Treasury has just finished consulting on proposals aimed at extending tax benefits on investment by business angels for small and start-up businesses across all sectors. However, in its response, ACE has called on the government to launch a separate review looking specifically at tax breaks for all the creative industries - including theatre - claiming there is a need for "a detailed review of the evidence base on the different forms, levels and instruments in this sector."

The arts council's director of theatre, Barbara Matthews, told The Stage, "We're sort of saying 'thank you for giving us the opportunity to respond to this, it might

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UK - The National Skills Academy is coming to the Birmingham Hippodrome on Friday 4 November for the Birmingham leg of this year's Offstage Choices programme, which introduces young people to the variety of career options available 'offstage', through workshops and tours backstage in industry venues.

Join them from 5.30pm in the StageSide bar for an evening of informal networking and the opportunity to discuss topics including:

- How the Skills Academy can benefit you

- How the NSA can support Birmingham's creative and cultural industry

- What opportunities are available with existing Skills Academy Members in the West Midlands

- The backstage training centre

- Future projects and potential opportunities

CCS Skills are particularly interested in talking to freelancers about the new freelance membership of the Skills Academy which will be rolled out in the next few mo

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Show Business - AES Convention chair Jim Anderson has announced another major coup in attracting artists to participate in the upcoming 131st Convention in NYC. On Friday 21 October Judy Collins will participate in a rare one-on-one interview with music journalist Jason King. The discussion will focus on Bohemian, Collins' upcoming CD release.

In making the announcement, Jim Anderson remarked, "The AES has always drawn major artists including Peter Gabriel, Stevie Wonder, Jackson Browne and Mick Fleetwood. But they are generally focused on visiting the Exhibits or working with specific manufacturers. This year's show has attracted a trio of superstar participants, Tony Bennett, Ben Folds and now Judy Collins. We are extremely fortunate to provide their insights to our attendees."

Olympic Countdown - The National Youth Theatre is to welcome athletes to t

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Q Awards - Adele has won best female artist and best track at Q magazine's music awards in London. Other prizes went to rapper Tinie Tempah, who was named best male artist and Coldplay, who picked up best act in the world today. Readers voted U2 the best band of the publication's lifetime. Speaking on the red carpet, frontman Bono said Q had been crucial to his career. "It's a truly great thing," he said. "They're so important for anyone that wants to take all their music all the way."

Adele's Rolling in the Deep was picked out as the best track of 2011 ahead of her ubiquitous hit Someone Like You, which was also nominated. The singer's victory comes just a fortnight after she was forced to shelve a US tour due to problems with her throat. The ceremony also saw Queen entered into Q's Hall Of Fame and Siouxsie Sioux awarded for her outstanding contribution to

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Strong Words - The Who guitarist Pete Townshend has urged Apple's iTunes to use its power to help new bands instead of "bleeding" artists like a "digital vampire". Townshend made the comments in BBC 6 Music's inaugural John Peel Lecture, named in honour of the legendary DJ. He also argued against unauthorised file-sharing, saying the internet was "destroying copyright as we know it". "The word 'sharing' surely means giving away something you have earned, or made, or paid for?" he said.

The talk, held as part of the Radio Festival, will become an annual event given by a different music figure every year. Held at The Lowry theatre in Salford, it is intended to be the music industry's equivalent of the annual MacTaggart Lecture, which is given by a leading media executive at the Edinburgh International Television Festival every

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USA - A new International Green Theatre Alliance (IGTA) has been launched at this year's LDI show in Orlando, Florida. The IGTA formalises the growing partnership between Julie's Bicycle (UK), which works on environmental sustainability across the creative industries in the UK, and the Broadway Green Alliance (USA), which works with the US theatre community and its patrons to adopt environmentally preferable practices.

The Alliance's first project is a new website www.igtalliance.com which will go live in December 2011 and provide an entry point for international practitioners seeking information and resources on environmentally sustainable best practice in the arts. The website will introduce the extensive sustainability programmes of alliance members and direct users to international resources and support networks.

Alliance members will be working together on a range of proj

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UK - PLASA Focus: Leeds 2012 looks set to continue its success story with over 90% of exhibition space already contracted and new exhibitors joining the 130 that showed at this year's event.

Key brands that have signed up for the first time include Midas, d&b audiotechnik, on the back of their participation at PLASA 2011, ShowTex, Topdeck Stage Systems and Smoke Factory, whose team visited the event in 2011 and were keen to have a stand presence in 2012. More exhibitors will be announced in the coming weeks.

Packed aisles and major new product launches have now firmly established PLASA Focus as an unmissable industry event for the north of England, but organisers PLASA Events insist they are far from resting on their laurels.

Event manager Sophie Atkinson said, "The last show was a real success with exhibitors and visitors, and while it's great to see its popularity gro

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World - PLASA's month-long elections to determine positions on its European and North American Regional Boards, together with its central Governing Body, concluded at midnight on Monday 31 October.

Companies and individuals from across PLASA's worldwide membership voted in the elections which were conducted via a secure online poll.

Four positions were up for election on the European Regional Board. Ed Pagett of Panalux, who took the helm part-way through 2011, was overwhelmingly voted in to serve a further three-year term as Chair of the Board. Malcolm Burlow of Highlite was re-elected as the Dealer/Retailer Representative, while Ed Manwaring also secured re-election as the Individual Representative. Peter James of Shure Distribution UK becomes the new Distributor Representative.

Three positions were up for election on the North American Regional Board: having been asked to

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Upbeat in Belfast - Belfast staged the MTV Europe Music Awards at the weekend and the City Council believes the ceremony could generate £10m in tourism revenues, while a specially organised Belfast Music Festival in the run-up to the show saw several local bands sign management and record deals.

Lady Gaga dominated the proceedings, collecting four gongs. The singer gained awards for best song, best video, best female and biggest fans at the ceremony, in the Odyssey Arena. Teen star Justin Bieber and R&B singer Bruno Mars were the other big winners, receiving two prizes each. Other winners were Katy Perry, who received the best live act accolade, Eminem, who won best hip-hop and Linkin Park, who beat Coldplay to take home best rock. Queen received the global icon award, with band members Brian May and Roger Taylor picking up their honour on the night.

At the same time as

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UK - BASCA (British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors) has announced a partnership with JAMES (Joint Audio Media Education Support), the organisation which accredits higher and further education music and audio-related courses. BASCA will be joining the Association of Professional Recording Services, The Music Producers Guild and the UK Screen Association, who are already represented by JAMES.

JAMES will be expanding its scheme to music performance courses throughout late 2011/12 and BASCA will assist this process by providing professional songwriters to help with the assessment of song writing modules.

It has been confirmed that professional songwriters/composers Tim Fraser, Megg Nicol and David Stoll - all of whom sit on BASCA executive boards - will take part in the scheme.

BASCA COO Vick Bain says, "Working with JAMES on accreditation is just the sort of

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USA - PLASA Focus: Austin welcomes a raft of new exhibitors as the two-day event expands its floor plan yet again. The new style of regional event, to be held 22-23 February 22-23, 2012 at the Renaissance Austin, Texas, has doubled its footprint in the past week, with over 25 companies committed to taking part and as many applications being processed.

Joining confirmed exhibitors ETC, Barbizon, Philips Color Kinetics, Doug Fleenor Design, Strong Entertainment Lighting, Chauvet, A.C.T Lighting, Global Design Solutions, CommuniLux Productions, GLP German Light Products, Daktronics Rigging, Total Structures, Arri, Rosco, Rose Brand, Robe, High End Systems, Secoa and Clay Paky, amongst others, are new exhibitors; Elation, White Light, LSC, James Thomas Engineering, Creative Stage Lighting, Inlight Gobos, Mainstage Theatrical Supply, Martin Professional and TMB.

PLASA Focus' much t

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More Metal - A re-formed Black Sabbath, including lead singer Ozzy Osbourne, have been announced as the second headliners for next year's Download Festival. The band, who last played together at Donington Park in 2005 as part of the Ozzfest touring festival, will then embark on a world tour. Metallica were announced as the first headliners of Download, which takes place at Donington between 8-10 June.

Ahead of their Download performance on Sunday 10 June, Black Sabbath are to record their first album with their original line-up for 33 years. The 1968 incarnation of the band, which also includes guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward, will record new material with producer Rick Rubin. Black Sabbath have released 18 albums since 1969, when they formed in Birmingham.

Music Business - EMI has said it will sell its recorded music unit for £1.

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USA - At the LDI Show in Orlando, LumenRadio honoured TMB, their North American and UK distributor, with their CRMX distributor of the quarter award for Q2/2011. During the quarter TMB significantly increased sales and also produced excellent training videos and sales presentations for the entire CRMX product range, says the company. Feedback from customers and end-users also rated pre- and post-sales support from TMB's Los Angeles, New York, Toronto and London offices as "excellent".

TMB, together with specifiers, lighting designers, and other lighting professionals, has completed or initiated many exciting wireless CRMX projects during the quarter. The festival season was particularly busy with such noteworthy examples as Coachella in California, the Main Stage at Big Chill and the Live & 4Music stages at the Virgin Festival, both in the UK.

The Gold Trophy for CRM

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USA - This year's LDI Show proved a massive success for coolux and its multifaceted Pandoras Box product family. The positive feedback that coolux received for their new Pandoras Box Version 5 release was crowned with additional honours in the form of two prestigious awards.

The coolux Widget Designer PRO 3.0 was awarded the Parnelli Indispensable Technology of the Year Award and the PLASA Rock Our World Award.

The Rock Our World Awards were created to honour innovative achievement by PLASA members and to acknowledge the genius of both the creator of the technology and the designer or integrator who applies it in a real world environment.

The Parnelli Award "recognizes pioneering, influential professionals and their contributions, honouring both individuals and companies."

The ongoing award success highlights the flexibility and reliability offered by the coolux

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