U.K. Music Targets Summer Return for $1.7 Billion Live Music Industry – Global Bulletin

In today’s global bulletin, the U.K. live music industry aims for summer return; Studio Lambert bolsters unscripted department; Channel 4 commissions luxury hotel series; and About Premium Content boards Pierre Cardin documentary.

U.K. Music, the umbrella body representing the collective interests of the country’s music industry, has published a report setting out the economic, social and cultural value of live music, along with a blueprint for reviving live music after COVID-19 forced the effective closure of the sector last March.

U.K. Music estimates that live music contributed £1.3 billion ($1.7 billion) directly to the economy in 2019. The report details a number of practical safety protocols to be implemented that can lead to restarting live music, including rapid testing, improving ventilation and effective risk management. It also asks the U.K. government for a definitive date for a full capacity restart; a government-backed reinsurance scheme; targeted financial support for the sector; extension to the VAT rate reduction on tickets; rollover of the paid 2020 Local Authority licence fees for festivals to 2021; and extension to business rates relief.

Encouraged by the U.K. vaccine rollout, the report hopes for a return to live music by the summer but states: “If the right support and reassurance is not put in place for event organizers, artists and venues now, then there is a serious risk that much of the summer live music season will be canceled.”

APPOINTMENTS

Studio Lambert has strengthened its unscripted creative team with the appointment of two staff executive producers, Toni Ireland and Stephen Yemoh, who both have producing credits on Channel 4 reality hit “The Circle.” Ireland and Yemoh will report to Studio Lambert creative director Tim Harcourt.

Jenny Spearing joins as the company’s new head of legal and business affairs, unscripted. She joins Studio Lambert from Abbas Media Law, where she worked as head of TV business affairs, and had previous stints at the BBC and Tiger Aspect. She will report to the company’s commercial director, Zoe Chatten.

COMMISSION

U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 has commissioned three-part series “Britain’s Most Luxurious Hotels” (working title) from Spun Gold TV providing insight into luxury hotels Corinthia, The Langham and Chewton Glen, following the staff as they cater to their guests’ every whim during an extraordinary period of turmoil for the hospitality industry.

Corinthia is a haunt of the Obamas, the Clintons and Beyoncé; The Langham, Europe’s first ‘Grand Hotel’ originated the tradition of the British afternoon tea and is home to London’s biggest suite; and Chewton Glen, voted Britain’s top hotel, is opening its doors to television cameras for the first time.

The series is produced and directed by John Joe Bardsley (“The Island with Bear Grylls”) and is being distributed by All3Media International.

ACQUISITION

HBO has picked up North American television and streaming rights to six-part Scandi drama “The Investigation.” Distributed globally by Fremantle, “The Investigation” is created by Tobias Lindholm, the Oscar-nominated writer and director of “A War” and acclaimed director of “Mindhunter.”

The show explores the real-life investigation around the 2017 murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall, who disappeared after visiting a submarine in Copenhagen to interview its owner, the entrepreneur Peter Madsen. Her body was later found dismembered in different locations around the area. The investigation became one of the most notorious criminal cases in Danish media history. The series debuts on HBO on Feb. 1.

RIGHTS

Boutique co-producer and distributor About Premium Content has secured global rights to “Pierre Cardin, A Figure of Modernity,” a documentary on the legendary fashion designer who died last week, aged 98.

Produced by O2B Films for Arte, the English-language 52-minute film tells the story of the couturier, from his humble beginnings as an Italian refugee, to his exceptional artistic and financial successes.