There's been a bit of a Facebook explosion in the UK and sadly I've become hooked. If you're on Facebook and you like NYUB, add me in!

It's pretty tough to get tickets to popular artists in London and I sense that people are becoming very frustrated by touting - the practice of buying standard price tickets and then selling them for a profit. Touting is endemic in London. If you go to a popular indie gag, you often see the same rabble peddling tickets. Channel 4 needs to do an exposure episode on these guys. It would make fascinating viewing but i digress. Essentially there are two ways to tout:

1. Buy tickets when they go on sale and sell on eBay.

2. Buy tickets from people who no longer want them and sell them for a profit outside the venue.

I don't have a problem with 2. but I do have a problem with 1. Within 30 minutes of a gig selling out, you will find at least 20+ tickets on eBay charging a %100 premium. So what to do? On May 14, the UK government announced that they have set up a committee to investigate touting and whether it should be made illegal. Even it was made illegal, it would be hard to enforce.

There is another option. Scarlet Mist is an ethical ticket exchange which has been set up in the UK to address the touting problem. Sellers and buyers are linked up so that unwanted tickets can be sold at face value. You search for the tickets you want, if there is a seller, then you will be placed in contact with them. If not, a notification will be sent when a ticket becomes available. Obviously there's a big degree of trust involved; Scarlet Mist are unable to verify whether a ticket is genuine or not so the principle is very similar to eBay. Still, it seems to have a dedicated community and I hope it continues to prosper.

Scarlet Mist - http://www.scarletmist.com

Scarlet Mist Blog - http://www.myspace.com/scarletmist 

SEE YOU IN THE MUD!!!!

UK based association of independent music (AIM) this week announced the availability of a podcast licence! It appears that if you get the licence, you are able to play full length music from artists on the AIM roster which include Bjork, Pixies and Basement Jaxx. A very exciting development indeed but I'm surprised it took so long. Judged from the emails I receive on a regular basis, NYUB does it's bit for the album sales of artists that I've played. I'm going to look into this licence but I'm going to keep searching for those legally available gems that constitute NYUB.

 

"Don't hate the media. Be the media"' - Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys)

1. Youth Group - Forever Young
2. The High Wire - Saint Bees
3. Good Shoes - Never Meant to Hurt You
4. The Earlies - No Love in Your Heart
5. Laura Veirs - Saltbreakers
6. Wolf & Cub - Seeds of Doubt
7. Land of Talk - Speak to me Bones
8. The Besnard Lakes - On Bedford and Grand
9. Billie the Vision and the Dancers - A Beautiful Night in Oslo
10. Lucky Soul - The Great Unwanted
11. The Electric Soft Parade - Life in the Backseat
12. Blonde Redhead - Silently
13. Apparat - Holdon
14. Interpol - Untitled (Datassette Remix)
15. Twisted Charm - Happy Alone
16. Motocade - Bomb Squad
17. Notorious B.I.G - Party and Bullshit (Ratatat Remix)
18. Datashat - Stop the Message
19. Patti Smith - Gimmie Shelter (Rolling Stones Cover)

   

 

What's all this podcasting business about anyway?

1. The Podcasting concept
2. Instructions on how to listen to NYUB in iTunes

Check out the Take Your Medicine Podcast if you want to hear the latest up and coming UK acts.

I love Eurovision. It's a feast of unbridled musical kitsch which never ceases to amaze. This year, the Ukraine should have won but didn't. Verka Serduchka with 'Danzing' is sheer genius. Still, it bodes well for the protest vote. Lordi won it last year with a kitsch death metal entry, and now the Ukraine comes second with a glam gay polka number. It was looking very grim for the UK initially but we managed to crawl up 2 spaces from dead last (congratulations to Ireland for getting that!)

Coming to a stadium near you.....