We're going to experiment with a few more newsletters than usual this week, partly to break things up a bit. Let us know if it's too much or a good idea or whatevs.. To kick things off, here's a little round up of some news stories we thought might be of interest from Eurovision boycotts to a must-see video message by Phoebe Lunny from Lambrini Girls.
It's squeaky bum time for Live Nation
There's been another twist in the Live Nation court saga after a federal jury in New York City found on Wednesday that Live Nation has been illegally operating as a monopoly and overcharging fans.
The US Department of Justice's legal counsel said the firm's practices had squeezed out competition and pushed up ticket prices, while also making customer service worse. Previously, the DoJ lawyer David E. Dahlquist suggested in his argument that Ticketmaster’s technology is “held together by duct tape” because the lack of competition meant that Live Nation was unconcerned with making the site efficient enough to work smoothly.
This likely increases the chances of Live Nation and Ticketmaster, which merged in 2010, being forcibly split up. In addition, they could also potentially be compelled to divest parts of the business.
"The jury's verdict is not the last word on this matter," Live Nation said in response and emphasised that other pending motions that could alter the outcome of the case, it said. Throughout the trial, they have argued that it was not a monopoly and that competition in the ticketing market was fiercer than ever.
Emma Wilkes
The fight to save Battery Studios is on
Once again, more cultural infrastructure has been placed at risk by corporate greed. The Willesden, London-based Battery Studios is facing the threat of demolition and redevelopment into flats, prompting the creation of a petition to save it.
The owners have pointed out that recording studios and creative spaces are “being lost at an alarming rate” across the country and that demolishing and rebuilding spaces “carries a far greater carbon cost than preserving and modernising existing structures”.
The statement says:
“Importantly, there is strong precedent for protecting studios and creative spaces like this. Allowing this demolition would go against that progress and send the wrong message about how we value our cultural assets. We urge the council to reject this proposal and instead support the preservation and continued use of Battery Studios as a world-class creative facility.”
A wealth of hugely significant albums have been recorded there, such as Iron Maiden‘s Killers (1981) and The Number of the Beast (1982), Talk Talk‘s The Colour Of Spring (1986), The Cars‘ Heartbeat City’(1984) and Skunk Anansie's Paranoid & Sunburnt (1995).
No Music For Genocide turns its hand to a Eurovision boycott campaign
Israel's continued inclusion in Eurovision in the last few years has cast a huge shadow over the last few editions of the annual singing competition, and this year's event is already on track to become the most politically-charged yet - ironic for a competition that constantly tries to wash its hands of politics but never truly does so.
Five countries - Spain, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Slovenia - are refusing to participate and Spain has now declared it won't broadcast the contest at all. Given Spain is one of 'The Big Five', this is hugely significant.
While previous boycott campaigns have taken place in the last couple of years, 2026 is the year it gets even bigger. No Music For Genocide, who organised the campaign for artists to geo-block their music in Israel, is leading a huge campaign backed by the BDS movement encouraging fans not to get involved with Eurovision this year.
They have issued an open letter calling for Israel to be banned from the contest, questioning why it hasn't faced the treatment as Russia, who was banned for invading Ukraine in 2022.
The letter has been signed by artists including Brian Eno, Massive Attack, Paloma Faith, Paul Weller, Hot Chip, Of Monsters and Men, IDLES, Primal Scream, Sigur Rós, Young Fathers, Mogwai, Black Country New Road, Erika de Casier, Nadine Shah, Dry Cleaning, Ólafur Arnalds, David Holmes, Nemahsis, Macklemore, Roger Waters, Peter Gabriel, Salute, Vacations, Smerz, Mechatok and Olof Dreijer from The Knife, as well as a number of former Eurovision finalists.
"While many of us in the industry make light of Eurovision or doubt our own power as cultural producers, genocidal Israel’s leaders speak openly about the contest’s geopolitical value.
"NMFG stands with and amplifies the incredible grassroots organizing efforts across Europe to boycott Eurovision until Israel is banned. From PACBI to direct actionists, from Film Workers For Palestine in Hollywood to striking dockworkers in Italy and Morocco, people of conscience around the globe are fighting complicity in every industry for a free Palestine and a freer world”.
Shambala Festival begins an innovative employee-owned model
Is Shambala technically the John Lewis of music festivals now? Not through poshness, of course, but through a change in its business structure meaning it will now be the UK's first employee-owned music festival.
“All of us at Shambala have an emotional stake in what we have built over 25 years; now everyone has an ownership stake too,” said co-founder and MD, Chris Johnson. “We would be nothing without our people, and they deserve to carry on the Shambala legacy as beneficiaries.
“Shambala stands for independence and, in an increasingly commercialised festival scene, we simply could not sell to venture capitalists or the big promotion companies,” Johnson adds. “While exploring alternative paths, we fell in love with the Employee Ownership model.”
Shambala returns to Kelmarsh Hall and Gardens, Northampton, from 27th-30th August.
Sean weighs in on the fan-led review of live music
The Fan-Led Review Of Music was released on Friday, which gathers the thoughts of over 4,000 fans and a series of roundtable discussions about live and electronic music.
It includes The Fans' Charter, which contains about 50 recommendations that the government, the industry, and and local authorities should implement. These include measures such as ending ticket touting, improving late night transport and being more transparent about stage times (the debate over which I wrote about last year).
You can expect plenty more content digging into the recommendations soon, particularly on the podcast, over the coming weeks.
Sean Adams
As a companion to the latest Drowned in Sound podcast introducing our new podcast series Sounds Like Change, we shared a taste of the pilot episode with DiS founder Sean Adams. So for this week's playlist he's shared some of the music that shaped him.
Explore new music in rich Hi-Res lossless quality with Qobuz, and click this link to access a 30-day free trial.
The most important video you might see all week?
Sometimes it feels like I talk about Lambrini Girls every five seconds in conversations about music that matters right now (Sean can verify this). And now, I'm doing it again.
Vocalist and guitarist Phoebe Lunny has just taken part in the Instagram video series A View From A Bridge, where participants share a story on a bridge while holding a red corded phone to their ear. She tells the story of the time she was unexpectedly arrested for attempting to spread the word about an abusive musician in her local scene and the consequences of essentially being punished for trying to do the right thing.
“What I think it’s a really good example of is how even laws which are there in place to protect women can be exploited and used for a man’s benefit,” Lunny said. “And I think this is also part of the hugely misogynistic rhetoric which is used by the manosphere, and how they are constantly whining and victimising themselves about the system being stacked up against them, and it’s women’s fault.”
“Which is bulls**t, because the system is there to aid and to protect dangerous men, and what I think you see a lot, especially after that Louis Theroux documentary came out, is guys online actively condemning this misogynistic viewpoint, which is amazing and we need that, but if they could put the same amount of passion into actually advocating for women, instead of being like, ‘I’m not like him!’ – what if you actually did something about it? Instead of just letting women be the ones who have to f**king deal with it.”
Nina Cresswell