CREATIVE industries support agency Vision + Media has announced that it is to lose 40% of its staff through compulsory redundancies.
The announcement follows a two-month consultation period with staff at the Salford-based body, which supports the North West creative sector.

THE FOUNDER of podcast company Audioboo and the drummer with rockers The Bloodhound Gang will be discussing mobile apps at this year's Liverpool Sound City.
Sound City is this year offering an expanded conference for digital firms to focus on the way technology is transforming the music industry.

MARKETING agency ICE has helped launch a national music competition that aims both to uncover talent and raise awareness of artists' rights.

I WROTE a feature for today's Liverpool Echo on the state of the Mersey creative sector in 2011 - and thought I'd post a copy here for you to have a look at.

WHEN it comes to Merseyside's creative sector, Kevin McManus is a veritable fountain of case studies.
Kevin runs Merseyside ACME, the agency that works to promote and support the region's creative and digital firms.
He says small firms in the sector are seeing an upturn in business after an uncertain three years of downturn and recession.

CREATIVE and digital firms that want to attract new investment have until Monday to sign up to a support scheme.
Fast Company 2, which was launched at Liverpool Software City in November, aims to help firms in the sector forge links with potential investors, including venture capital companies.

CREATIVE industries support agency Vision + Media is moving to a four -day working week and staff are taking a 20% pay cut as it battles to cope with public sector funding cuts.
The abolition of its main funders, the North West Development Agency (NWDA) and the UK Film Council, mean the organisation is now looking for new sources of fun ding to continue its work.
Now, as part of a cost-saving initiative, the 40 staff at Vision + Media will reduce their working hours to a four day week from November 1 and accept a pay cut.

CREATIVE industries support body Northwest Vision and Media (NWVM) has won £1m in funding to help people win business at the £500m MediaCity complex.
NWVM secured the funding from the Northwest Development Agency to continue its Digital Media Skills Programme for the next two years.

THE MAN who signed Madonna has shared some of the secrets of his success at Liverpool Sound City's music conference.
Seymour Stein, co-founder of Sire Records, was keynote speaker on the second day of the conference, which has attracted delegates from all over the world to discuss the music industry's past, present and future.
Stein, who also signed Echo and the Bunnymen, was joined onstage by that band's singer Ian McCulloch, who also told stories from his life in music.

THE music industry could learn lessons from the world of adult entertainment when it comes to online marketing, the audience at the Liverpool Sound City music conference heard today.
Seminars at the conference today debated subjects from the future of radio to the health of the international touring circuit.
The closing seminar saw a panel discuss "Navigating the new frontier of Internet marketing."
In response to a light-hearted question from moderator Sat Bisla, the five-strong panel debated whether the music industry could learn from the way the adult entertainment industry uses the web.

THE keynote speaker at today's Liverpool Sound City music conference says the music industry needs new blood and new ideas so it can find new musical talent.
Doug D'Arcy, vice-chairman of the Association of Independent Music (AIM), said he wanted to see a more diverse range of people entering the industry to give it a new lease of life as it battles to cope with the changes caused by the internet and the digital distribution of music.