Big Chill goes hyper-corporate

The Guardian calls the takeover of the Big Chill by Reading-Leeds promoter Festival Republic "quiet" - which is true; it happened in September after the owners went bust.

Still, I don't see what everyone's worried about - it's not like Glastonbury got noticeably more corporate and lost touch with itself after FR got involved there, right?

[Co-founder Katrina] Larkin said Festival Republic would provide much-needed financial security and logistical knowhow, leaving her to focus on the creative side of the festival. "I needed to protect the Big Chill, I needed to take it into a family that would look after it. There is an umbilical cord between me and that festival. I have given up too much to see it fail."

Hmm. Wasn't this pretty much the deal when Melvin Benn got involved down at Worthy Farm, too?

One of the big creditors of the Big Chill parent company was PRS - you do wonder if they were really acting in their members' best interests by not trying to work out a deal. Is it really better for musicians that Reading, Leeds, Latitude, Big Chill and Glastonbury are all in the same hands?

Mama takes the fiddle while the Fiddler becomes festive

Some horse trading in the live music market in the UK: Mama has bought the Mean Fiddler, rights to the trading name and its venue portfolio to add to the Barfly business. It plans to reopen The Mean Fiddler, and also bring the Garage out of mothballs.

Meanwhile, since the Mean Fiddler promotions company has flogged off its name, it's having to rebrand itself. Henceforward, then, the LiveNation promotional arm will be called Festival Republic. But since it was probably thought up by the same branding experts who came up with LiveNation, what do you expect?

Festival Republic will also continue to opereate the Astoria venues - although since the Astoria is due to be demolished to make way for Crossrail, that might just be until the Compulsory Purchase Order drops through the letterbox.