Fields Of Rock cancelled as big names dry up

The over-demand for headline names has led to the axing of this year's Fields Of Rock festival in the Netherlands. Organisers had begun selling tickets in the hope that someone might want to take the top slots, but have now decided to just refund everyone's cash and spend the weekend digging the vegetable patch instead:

"Because of the lack of headliners leading to disappointing ticket sales, we are very sorry to inform you that Fields of Rock 2008 is cancelled. This very difficult decision was made because it wouldn't have been wise to continue with this edition of the Fields of Rock festival both financially and creatively. We offer our sincere apologies to Fields of Rock visitors who had already bought their tickets for this edition. Tickets for Fields of Rock 2008 can be returned until 1 July.

"About 35 bands were [secheduled] to perform at Fields of Rock 2008. This year, the organisation also made an extra investment to enhance the festival's atmosphere and fringe programme. This meant Fields of Rock was heading for a new direction. Unfortunately, the major headliners, the artists who attract large numbers of visitors, weren't available for the weekend of 20, 21, and 22 of June. Although the organisation had been working on a great programme since the fall of 2007, it appears Fields of Rock doesn't fit the touring schedules of the big bands. Therefore, the decision to cancel the festival was made out of necessity rather than by choice."

This isn't the first festival to be scuppered by the soaring number of slots chasing a diminishing number of acts - surely there needs to be a government intervention to prop up the festival market? Aren't they keeping REO Speedwagon and Lulu in reserve for just such a crisis?

Dutch TMF counts filesharers, shapes programming

Viacom's TMF channel in the Netherlands has started to blend filesharing trends into making playlist decisions, although original plans to build the figures into the weekly chart were dumped when the local RIAA client organisation started to protest:

Wouter Rutten, the spokesman for the Dutch IFPI said he doesn’t see the use of P2P data as problematic as long as they don’t explicitly use it for their music charts or advertise it in any other way.

So, it's alright for TMF to listen to the audience and choose what to play based on the peer-to-peer networks, but not to directly report what filesharers are sharing. It's almost as if the music industry aren't that worried about filesharing providing its only used as a background promotional tool - it's okay for it to exist on the strict understanding that nobody talks about it. Curious.

Dutch decide to let hanging Madonna go hang

Despite calls from young people in the Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij, prosecutors aren't going to bring blasphemy charges against Madonna. The SGP wants to see a fundamentalist religious state in the Netherlands - it is so hardcore its website is closed on Sunday - and were upset by the sight of Madonna descending to a stage in Amsterdam strapped to a giant cross. Sure, everyone was upset, but the SGP weren't worried about their eyes, only their mortal souls.

The prosecutor sounded weary as he announced there was no case to answer:

"The prosecutor's office believes that through her show, the singer on all the evidence tried to express her frustrations about certain situations in the world .. it is not a question of contempt for God.

"Furthermore, Madonna did not discredit Christians as a group."

The SGP are allowed to appeal, should they so wish. We somehow think they will.