Tuesday 29 September 2009, 12:20 | By CMU Editorial

Cuban musicians allowed back into the US

Business News Live Business

Cuban musicians are to be allowed to perform in the USA for the first time in six years. Singer Omara Portundo, singer-songwriter Pablo Milanés and composer Zenaida Romeu have all been supplied with visas by the US State Department to travel to and play in North America later this year.

Blocked since 2003, the possibility that Cuban performers would be permitted entry into the US arose in April when President Obama announced that he was seeking to improve relations between the two countries. Upon the news, promoters in the states immediately began working on booking shows and securing visas for numerous Cuban musicians, with these three being the first to be approved.

Former BARD chair dies

Business News Obituaries

Former independent record retailer and chair of the British Association Of Record Dealers, Richard Wootton, died at the weekend, seemingly rather suddenly. Wooton ran independent store Ainley’s in Leicester with his wife Liz, whose father had founded the shop.

He was chair of BARD between 1995 and 1998, during which time he helped re-negotiate the way the music charts worked with the BPI, leading to the creation of the Official Charts Company.

Paying tribute, a spokesman for the Entertainment Retailer’s Association, the current incarnation of BARD, told Music Week: “Richard was a great inspiration for and supporter of BARD – the former name of ERA – for many years. We would like to express the sincere condolences of everyone at ERA to Liz and the rest of Richard’s family”.

Teen band kicked out of X Factor

Awards

All-girl trio Tru Colourz have been booted out of this year’s X Factor after it was discovered that one member of the group had lied about her age and was actually too young to enter. The news came after they had been selected to go through to compete as one of the final 24 acts. They will be replaced by the equally badly named quartet Harmony Hood, but have apparently been encouraged to enter again next year when they will all be over the minimum age of sixteen.

Robbie recording with Take That, reports claim

Artist News

After reports last week that Robbie Williams might be performing with Take That at a charity event later this year, the latest news is that he’s been recording in secret with his former bandmates. As far as I can tell, the sessions at Electric Lady Studios in New York began as part of Mark Owen’s stag do, so they were probably all drunk. But it seems things have gone well, as Robbie was filmed outside the studio again yesterday. Speaking to GMTV he claimed to be training as part of a five-man bob-sleigh team.

Anyway, here’s what a source told The Daily Mirror: “[Robbie] is back with Take That in the studio and they’re all writing together again. Robbie wouldn’t be happy performing old Take That songs that he has had no part in. But if they can pen new tracks that they’re all happy with, they’ll record them and he will be back with them on stage”.

A slightly out of the loop spokesman for Take That said: “I still have not heard word back from management about confirmation that he has been in the studio to write new material with them. I cannot confirm the story. At this point, all I know is that they are over there mixing this live album so there is every possibility that he popped in to just hear the new recording”.

La Roux consider second album sound

Artist News

La Roux’s Elly Jackson has said that the duo’s next album might be a development from the first. Whoopy-do. She says that having had a crack at recreating what the 80s might have sounded like, they might try out a different sound next time. May I suggest an instrumental album?

She said: “Maybe I’ll go acoustic. Or dancehall. I really like dubstep too. But I’m also into songs that are long and epic. I’d like it to be a worldwide thing. It would be great to sit there at 40 and go, ‘Fuck, I sold ten million records. But it’s not just about money, it’s about creating something that loads of people want to buy. I’m not interested in making money for a niche”.

Stream the new Deadmau5 album

Releases

Deadmau5 has made his new album, ‘For Lack Of A Better Name’, available to stream via We7 ahead of its release on 5 Oct. The producer and DJ told our sister publication, The Remix Update: “It’s really where my sound is now and how it has developed from the last album, ‘Random Album Title'”.

Listen here.

Thom Yorke announces new band

Gigs & Festivals

Thom Yorke has announced the members of his new live band, with whom he’ll tour to perform some of his solo work, including tracks from his debut solo album ‘The Eraser’, as well as new material.

The group is made up of drummer Joey Waronker (who has previously worked with Beck, REM, The Smashing Pumpkins and Elliott Smith), Forro In The Dark percussionist Mauro Refosco, Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, and Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea.

The band’s first shows together will be two nights at the Orpheum Theatre in LA on 4-5 Oct. Here’s a picture of them together to prove we’re not lying (or, at least, that they have all been in the same place at the same time before).

Announcing the new band, Yorke said: “We don’t really have a name and the set will not be very long because, well, we haven’t got that much material yet!”. However, it’s pretty safe to assume he’s got some ideas on a moniker – click here.

Dizzee and Lily to co-headline

Gigs & Festivals

Dizzee Rascal and Lily Allen will co-headline a show at London’s O2 Arena next year, it has been announced. Tickets for the show, which will take place on 7 Mar, will go on sale on Friday at 9am

The Ghost Of A Thousand tour dates and single

Gigs & Festivals

UK hardcore boys The Ghost Of A Thousand will head out around the UK next week as one of the bands on the Eastpak Antidote Tour (the others being Alexisonfire, Anti-Flag and Four Years Strong), and will release the second single from their latest album, ‘New Hopes, New Demonstrations’, on 2 Nov.

Frontman Tom Lacey said of the song, ‘Knees, Toes, Teeth’: “It’s just a shit storming rock n roll song. It’s a full on little number, big sweary chorus, big riffs, big solo, big old drums… it’s the tune that AC/DC would write if they grew up listening to Converge rather than Zeppelin!”

Tour dates:

7 Oct: Cambridge, Junction
8 Oct: Norwich, UEA
9 Oct: Oxford, Academy
10 Oct: Nottingham, Rock City
11 Oct: Bristol, Anson Rooms
13 Oct: Brighton, Concorde 2
14 Oct: London, The Forum
16 Oct: Glasgow, ABC
17 Oct: Leeds, University
18 Oct: Manchester, Academy
20 Oct: Birmingham, Academy
21 Oct: Portsmouth, Pyramid Centre

Absolute and EMI provide advertiser music service

Brands & Merch

Absolute Radio and EMI Music Publishing have formed a new partnership that will sell the talents of EMI’s composers and song-writers to advertisers. The deal will see Absolute market a service to its advertising clients to enable them to create a “stronger audio identity” through the use of original music. Although said music will feature on Absolute radio ads, clients who use the service will be able to use the music across all their TV and radio advertising, should they so wish.

EMI Music Publishing UK Head Of Sales Melanie Johnson, says this: “This deal poses a great opportunity for our songwriters and composers, who will be able to use their ability to connect with listeners in order to create significant income generating opportunities for themselves.”

Vince Lynch, Absolute Radio Creative Director, says this: “It’s about creating a sonic identity with our clients that defines their uniqueness, which in turn helps our business sound better. We all know that listeners don’t hate adverts, they hate bad adverts. With the musical know-how of EMI Music Publishing and the creative minds at Absolute Radio, we can create ads and programming that people actually want to experience in order to make for a stronger listening experience”.

Frenchkiss teams up with !K7

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

New York’s Frenchkiss Records has signed a new deal with German label !K7, which will see the latter release the former’s priority releases outside North America. The first release under the deal with be the debut album by The Antlers, ‘Hospice’, in October.

!K7’s CEO, Horst Weidenmueller told CMU: “We are very proud and excited to have [Frenchkiss founder] Syd Butler and his team work with us. It is our mission to make Frenchkiss and the artists on the label as popular throughout the rest of the world as they are in the States”.

Butler added: “It’s great for Frenchkiss to have access to such a strong international structure that !K7 can provide. With the !K7 team we feel our artists will receive the attention and push they need outside the US”.

HP computers to come with 1000 downloads

Business News Digital

From October, Hewlett-Packard computers will also ComeWithMusic, though this has nothing to do with Nokia’s terrible all-you-can-eat download service. No, HP has its very own download offer. Not sure if it’s terrible or not.

Basically, consumers buying Hewlett-Packard notebook PCs from October will receive a scratch card and PIN number which enables them to register on a dedicated website where they can download up to a 1000 tracks from Universal Music’s catalogue. Presumably those tracks come with digital rights management technology embedded, cos you get to listen to them for a year, and to then choose 120 to keep.

Before you get too excited (anyone?), I think this will be restricted to HP’s Asian markets. Sandy Monteiro, Universal Music Group’s Asian VP of Digital, said: “We are keen to explore such deals to get consumers familiar with the new environment and using devices like computers and mobile phones to listen to music. It incentivises them to learn to enjoy music via devices other than traditional hardware”.

New volume restrictions for MP3 players being considered

Business News Digital Legal

European officials are bothering themselves once more about the hearing of us music fans. They are moving forward with plans to make digital music player manufacturers provide more advice to users on safe volume levels when using headphones.

According to EU Consumer Affairs Commissioner Meglena Kuneva, Euro-types may make it compulsory for player makers to set volume limiters at 80 decibels. Users would be able to increase this, of course, but would be advised against doing so through health warnings on packaging. Some health types say that increased use of head-phone based music players are damaging the hearing of young music consumers.

Obviously this isn’t really a new problem – walkmen and discmen users ran the same risks – though new technology does probably mean that players and headphones are capable of outputting ever increasing volumes of music.

Global hire new web guy

Business News Industry People Media

Global Radio has hired BSkyB’s strategic content editor Ben Perreau to become Director Of Digital Content.

He will have a group-wide role coordinating online editorial and content strategies on all of Global’s radio station’s websites, some of which are currently pretty awful, so he’ll have his work cut out.

Perreau previously worked at IPC on Uncut and NME’s websites, and later co-founded music content aggregator Gigulate. Confirming his new role, which kicks off in November, he said these words: “Global represents a rare opportunity to work with a world-class team on the nation’s most successful radio brands”.

Tory man’s twat remark not in breach of rules

Media

Media regulator OfCom has said that David Cameron was not in breach of any rules when he said “twat” on Absolute Radio’s Christian O’Connell breakfast show. Despite twenty listeners complaining about the Tory leader’s remark on the show that “too many Tweets make a twat”, OfCom said the matter was not sufficiently serious to warrant any kind of regulator sanction. Which is probably a sensible ruling. Just because Cameron is a twat, he probably shouldn’t be punished for saying the word.

Total Rock World Album Chart – w/c 28 Sep 2009

Artist News

It’s this week’s Total Rock World Album Chart, as counted down on Total Rock last weekend – www.totalrock.com. New entries and re-entries marked with a *.

1. Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown (Warner Bros)
2. The Used – Artwork (Warner Bros)
3. Nickelback – Dark Horse (Warner/Roadrunner)
4. Daughtry – Leave This Town (Sony/RCA)
5. Jet – Shaka Rock (EMI)
6. Black Crowes – Before The Frost…Until The Freeze (Silver Arrow)
7. Billy Talent – Billy Talent III (Warner/Atlantic)
8. Shinedown – The Sound Of Madness (Warner/Atlantic)
9. AC/DC – Black Ice (Sony Music)
10. Rise Against – Appeal To Reason (Universal/Geffen)
11. Killswitch Engage – Killswitch Engage (Warner/Roadrunner)
12. Theory Of A Deadman – Scars & Souvenirs (Warner/Roadrunner)
13. Guns N Roses – Greatest Hits (Universal/Geffen)
14. Alexisonfire – Old Crows/Young Cardinals (Warner/Roadrunner)
15. The Mars Volta – Octahedron (Universal)
16. Chickenfoot – Chickenfoot (Edel)
17. Led Zeppelin – Mothership (Warner/Atlantic)
18. Daughtry – Daughtry (Sony/RCA)
19. Behemoth – Evanglion (Nuclear Blast)
20. U.D.O. – Dominator (AMF)*

Robbie ditched ‘pretentious’ album title

And Finally

Robbie Williams has revealed that he originally planned to call his new album ‘Il Protagonisto’, but his management forced him to change it on the grounds that the name was “too pretentious”. In the end, of course, he went for ‘Reality Killed The Video Star’, a reference to the album’s producer Trevor Horn’s 1979 hit with The Buggles, ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’.

Williams told The Mirror: “As in spaghetti western – [il protagonisto is the] man who comes in and clears up the town for the bad guys but you’re not sure whether he’s the bad guy or not himself. People would quite rightly go, ‘that’s pretentious’, which is what my management did. They went ‘no that’s pretentious’ and I went ‘yeah, yeah’. So that was a mouthful. Got rid of that. ‘Reality Killed The Video Star’ is in”.

Oasis split left Furtado ‘inconsolable’

And Finally

Nelly Furtado has said that she was “inconsolable” when she learned that Oasis had split, which is just about one of the most stupid things I think I’ve ever heard.

Anyway, here’s what she said: “I was inconsolable when Oasis split up. That band meant the world to me. As a sixteen year old I would write letters to Liam with my photo attached and pray that he would ask me out on a date, but he never did. At college I learned to play guitar to ‘Wonderwall’. Oasis were everything I loved about pop music. They could express emotions with the most simple song structures. They had the kind of brash attitude I could completely relate to”.

Q&A: Pens

Artist Interviews

Shambolic, chaotic and noisy are three words you may like to use in order to describe Pens, even though two of them mean the same thing. Disorderly is another. But that would make three words that mean pretty much the same thing, and I reckon that’s probably too many. Anyway, Pens make short and sweet garage pop, a taste of which can be found on their new album, ‘Hey Friend, What Are You Doing?’, which is released by De Stijl Records this week. We spoke to keyboard player Helen to ask our Same Six Questions.

Q1 How did you start out making music?
I had piano lessons when I was seven and clarinet later, but was never on stage until now with my best friends. Amelia and Stef had formed the band, and I joined in on keyboards for our first practices in Stef’s bedroom.

Q2 What inspired your latest album?
Hard graft! A ton of different things – mostly the excitement of being in a new band, writing songs and seeing where they took us.

Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
We’ll generally write it at practice, then have a really hard bit when it all goes wrong, then it all comes together eventually. The lyrics usually come last.

Q4 Which artists influence your work?
We all have different tastes, which meet somewhere in the middle, but in general we really admire people with the guts to do things that they really believe in.

Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Nothing, I think. They can make up their own minds. I think you should be able to listen to music with an open mind and not be swayed by prior opinions.

Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
I really hope that the people who would like the album will get to hear it. For the future, I’d love to visit as many places as possible to play, and write more songs that people enjoy.

MORE>> www.myspace.com/penspenspenis

Eddy Says: Every (under)dog has its day

Eddy Says

Now I’ve had a week to recover and think about it (I needed a week as there was no actual recovery time after the Remix All-nighter cos I was playing with Kissy on his ‘Youth’ tour in Sheffield the very next night), there were two things that really delighted me about that amazing Matter birthday party. Actually, there were a lot more than two, but I’m picking my top two for the sake of brevity, you know me, I can go on a bit in these, given half a chance.

First off, and Andy touched on this in his intro to last week’s Remix Update… Mixhell. The fact this humble husband and wife team from Brazil stole the show was incredible. And what a show to steal! There was a stellar cast including the biblical ElHornet and Ben Verse of Pendulum, not to mention Hervé, either of whom you’d expect to walk away with set-of-the-night in most people’s eyes…

But despite their brilliance, and that of the marvellous Whip, the supercharged Crystal Fighters, the brilliant Streetlife DJs and all the rest, it was the underdogs who climbed to the summit of that night and planted their flag at the top, for all us losers.

OK, half of Mixhell has sold more records than Oasis, but this was an electro DJ set, with live drums over the top, and his mrs is the DJ! They were truly awesome on every level, and worked the crowd like DJs with ten times the experience. And the music was spot on, in much the same way as The Japanese Popstars are able to whip crowds into a frenzy because they make you feel like what they are playing is THE PERFECT MUSIC for that time and place.

Now, amongst such DJ deity as the aforementioned bill-toppers, Tommy and Chris, better known as Stereo:Type (pictured), could have come and gone while everyone in the club was waiting for the big guns. But no, they basically performed a jaw-droppingly brilliant LIVE version of their never-beaten-for-quality-even-if-it-was-for-quantity All Time Top Ten.

Rage, cut up there and then, Candi’s a capella laced over the top, Chemical Brothers underpinning the groove, all live, with five CD decks, one Technics 1210 and two mixers.

I was standing right next to Tom for the best part of 20 minutes, smiling, nodding, waving, trying to get him to see my thumbs-ups or that sign you make in SCUBA diving that means AOK. He never caught my eye. Not even once. He was so focussed on this incredible journey he and Chris (Screwface) were taking Matter on that nothing else could register on his radar.

At one point he paused to take a few big lugs of water, not five centimetres from my face, but he never noticed I was right there. That is a measure of the intensity of that set. The only DJs I’ve ever seen do what they did are Steph and Dave Dewaele, and even the mighty Belgians were technically humbled by Stereo:Type.

How wonderful then, that it was a night for losers, ironically on the night Losers (the band) had to pull out because there were just too many acts on the bill. You know by now that ‘Losers’ are unsung heroes, underdogs, people for whom the taking part is more important than the outcome. Every dog has its day, and this day, or rather this night, was a night when, against all the odds, the losers turned out to be the winners. It restored my faith in the order of the universe and made me smile even more broadly than usual.

Eddy Says from this edition of the CMU Remix Update.

Approved: Throw Me The Statue (SNAP Of The Day)

CMU Approved

Signed to Secretly Canadian, Seattle’s Throw Me The Statue make relentlessly upbeat college indie music that recalls the sunny pop of Apples In Stereo and, at times, Beck. ‘About To Walk’ is the highlight of their MySpace offerings, verging on anthemic with the initial buzzing synth and acoustic guitar overcome by crashing cymbals and an increasingly yearning vocal around the two minute mark. Visit them at the link below.
www.myspace.com/throwmethestatue

Orange to sell iPhone in the UK

Business News Digital Top Stories

Orange has announced that it will start selling Apple’s iPhone later this year, in a move that brings to an end O2’s exclusivity deal with the IT firm. It’s not clear when Orange customers will be able to buy an iPhone linked to the mobile’s network, though Mobile Entertainment magazine reports that O2’s exclusivity period ends on 6 Oct.

As you all surely remember, Apple did exclusivity deals with different phone networks in each territory when it first launched its popular iPod/mobile hybrid. The deals meant that consumers could only buy an iPhone if they switched to Apple’s chosen network partner, unless they were willing to acquire a phone off the approved tel co and then ‘unlock’ it.

It’s not known what O2 paid for the exclusivity rights in the UK, nor whether they have secured sufficient new business to justify such an investment. Though, despite a slightly lacklustre start, the iPhone has become the must-have handset of the moment, and its association with the most high profile music phone certainly aided O2’s efforts to position itself as the mobile network for music fans.

Presumably if Orange’s planned merger of its UK operations with those of T-Mobile goes ahead, that will make the iPhone available to a rather large portion of the mobile using population. No word on whether Vodafone is also looking for an Apple deal in the UK also.

Warner may be close to renewing deal with YouTube

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Top Stories

Word has it that the Warner Music Group has settled its long running dispute with YouTube, meaning videos of music released by the major should be returning to the Google-owned video site.

As much previously reported, Warner ordered that all of its content be removed from YouTube at the end of last year after the company – despite having been the first music major to do a deal with the video platform back in the day – failed to renew is licensing arrangement, seemingly because of a dispute on rates. The squabble led to a serious cut in the amount of music videos available via YouTube, and hindered the video site’s claim to be the internet’s one-stop video jukebox.

As everyone commented at the time when contract talks between YouTube and Warner failed, a long term impasse was in neither company’s interest. YouTube lost that one-stop video jukebox claim, while Warner lost a revenue stream that, while maybe not as big as they would like, is nevertheless important to increasingly digital dependent record companies.

That a Warner/YouTube deal has finally been done is, I think, as yet, speculation, though AdAge cite two unnamed executives as claiming an announcement is imminent. The mag also says Warner is getting close to signing up to Universal’s new music video service Vevo.

AEG boss talks Jacko movie

Jacksons v AEG Timeline Top Stories

The president of AEG has been talking about the ‘This Is It’ movie, the tour promoter’s consolation prize after losing its biggest booking – Michael Jackson – to the big syringe in the sky. As previously reported, the movie uses backstage footage shot by AEG during rehearsals for the big residency that never happened. Some of Jackon’s famously loony fans queued up in LA on Thursday just to be the first to get tickets to cinema screenings of the doc.

As tickets went on sale, AEG prez Tim Leiweke attended a press conference with some of those who had been involved in the planned Jacko show and who, of course, appear in the doc. According to Billboard, he said of the film: “You see the music, the studios, the rehearsals, the dancers, the auditions, the costumes. You see all of the behind-the-scenes, and then you finally see the last few days of the dress rehearsals, and you begin to see the genius of Michael: the dancing, the singing, the choreography, and his concept of creating a one-time performance that no one would ever forget”.

Despite denying those recent claims that the doc was being deliberately edited to show AEG in a good light – amid allegations they were excessively pushing a frail Jackson – Leiweke admitted his company is portrayed positively in the film, and that it might address some of the allegations made against the firm since Jacko’s demise.

Leiweke: “Some of the things that people have said about us, which are so untrue, this movie’s going to restore his legacy, and prove that we, in fact, gave Michael a second chance here. And an opportunity to make the kind of comeback he was dreaming of. And that we created an environment for him that was probably the best environment that the guy had had in the last ten or fifteen years of his life. And I’m very proud of the way we treated Michael, and very proud of the partnership that we had with him. And this movie is an opportunity to celebrate that, and get past all of the gossip and all of the innuendo”.

As the world awaits the official footage of Jackson’s final days, most media are concentrating on various other tapes of the late king of pop that have been surfacing in recent weeks, recordings of various media interviews he gave over the years, the more controversial bits of which never made it through to final edits, presumably because editors feared falling out with the singer’s people.

Disparaging comments about family members, detailed and intense allegations about the violent discipline he received at father Joe’s hand, and some wacky remarks about Hitler made the tabloids last week, though in yesterday’s News Of The World the unearthed interview of the day contained some interesting insights into the recording of his most acclaimed album, ‘Thriller’.

In an interview from the eighties he said the initial mixes of the album “sucked” to such an extent he nearly canned the whole venture, but that watching some kids play inspired him to see it through to the end. Or something. Jackson: “‘Thriller’ sounded so crap. The mixes sucked. When we listened to the whole album, there were tears… I just cried like a baby. I stormed out of the room and said, ‘We’re not releasing this’. [But] one of the maintenance crew in the studio had a bicycle, and so I took it and rode up to the schoolyard. I just watched the children play. When I came back I was ready to rule the world. I went into the studio and I turned them songs out”.

Diddy to end Warner partnership

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers Top Stories

As speculated last week, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has confirmed he is to end his recording and business relationship with Warner Music.

Gossipers last week said delays in the release of Diddy’s own new album ‘Last Train To Paris’ had been caused by the hip hop mogul’s plans to enter into a new business deal with another major – most likely Universal’s Interscope – as his relationship with Warner reaches its completion.

The rapper told Billboard this weekend: “Now that the term of the Warner deal has ended, I have elected to accept an opportunity to move my recording career and future label ventures to another company”.

Warner’s relationship with Diddy covered his Bad Boy Records business as well as his own recordings. It’s thought, somewhat confusingly, existing Bad Boy artists and the label’s catalogue will stay within the Warner group, while any new Diddy signings will be part of whatever his next business venture is.

Reverend talks file-sharing

Business News Legal Top Stories

Well, it was only a matter of time. Jon McClure of Reverend And The Makers has laid into the file-sharing debate, and he’s not impressed with Lily.

As previously reported, the Featured Artists’ Coalition, originally against the government’s latest proposals to suspend the net connections of persistent file-sharers, last week altered its official line so that it is now in support of a “graduated response” to file-sharing, though with ‘restricted’ rather than ‘suspended’ net access as the ultimate sanction.

The change in heart came after Lily Allen spoke out against the FAC’s original statement on the matter, and encouraged other artists to go public with their opinion on the file-sharing issue. That all led to a meeting of FAC members in London last week which resulted in the new statement.

But McClure reckons – echoing some of the FAC’s original viewpoint – that the fight against file-sharing is unwinnable, and that artists and record companies should get over it and find new ways to make the record business pay. He also wants artists to channel their lobbying efforts into other political issues than one that is so closely linked to their own pay cheques.

Look, here’s what the Reverend said, according to the Mirror: “It’s complete and utter bullshit because I don’t see how millionaire rock stars are in any position to be lecturing kids on stealing their music. I think downloading music is a fact of life, and I think the people that are supporting this [some sort of three-strike programme], like Take That and Lily Allen, that take the money from the kids when they’re playing in stadiums, it’s just an insult really”.

He continued: “If they really want to save the world, or whatever, there are issues that are far more important. It’s a crying shame that it’s only kids stealing music on the internet that kind of brings these people out. The bankers are taking the Michael, the MPs are taking the mick, Afghanistan, Iraq, melting of the Earth, you know what I’m saying. It’s a sad state of affairs if that’s the only thing that gets them excited, if you ask me”.

He concluded: “Rock and roll is about rebellion, so how can you start acting like people that sit at home and say: ‘Don’t do that kids’?”

Razor & Tie settle with Limewire

Legal

New York based independent record company Razor & Tie has settled its lawsuit with file-sharing company LimeWire.

The indie, perhaps best known in the US for its ‘Kidz Bop’ compilations for children, launched litigation against the file-sharing company last October, presumably accusing the firm of contributory copyright infringement for enabling others to illegally share music owned by the label. Their lawsuit echoed that launched by the Recording Industry Association Of America in 2006, one of the last big American P2P lawsuits that is still working its way through the courts.

According to reports, Razor & Wire have now asked that their lawsuit be dismissed after reaching some sort of deal with the P2P firm. Specifics of that deal are not known, but R&W confirmed it was planning some sort of partnership with LimeWire.

As previously reported, despite fighting the RIAA’s lawsuit with many of the old school arguments used by the likes of Napster and Grokster back in the day, the P2P firm has been trying to build up a legit side to its business while the pending litigation hangs in the air. They have an a la carte download store to which some indies now licence their tunes, while they recently hired a former employee of Universal’s TotalMusic venture, Jason Herskowitz, in a bid to boost their credentials as a legitimate digital music operator.

Razor & Tie’s deal with LimeWire is unlikely to have any impact on the RIAA’s ongoing litigation – and the future of the P2P company, even as a potential legit digital player, really hangs in the balance until that case goes to court.

More Sugababes fall out

Artist News

I said there’d be more of this, didn’t I? And there is, because Sugababe Amelle Berrabah has finally come out and given her version of events following the group’s line up rejig last week. And she’s confirmed that a breakdown in her relationship with Keisha Buchanan, which left her feeling depressed, was one of the key reasons behind the rejig.

She told The Mirror last week: “I was depressed. You shouldn’t have to go to work treading on eggshells. Before going to LA, I disappeared for three days and I got to the point where I just couldn’t take any more. I needed to be on my own. Even my own family couldn’t get hold of me. I hit that wall. Keisha didn’t leave off her own back – me and Heidi couldn’t carry on. Heidi completely supported me and knew what was going on within the band. But we all couldn’t work together anymore. We weren’t happy, me and Heidi, and it was a struggle to come into work. We didn’t enjoy it”.

However, she added that it was actually the group’s management who suggested that Keisha be replaced, explaining: “We didn’t think [our management would] want to carry on when we said we’d had enough. We met Jade for the first time on Sunday and we all got on well, it seemed natural. It’s totally different – we have started enjoying ourselves again and I do feel a bit relieved”.

So, everything might be hunky dory now, but that hasn’t stopped bookmakers Paddy Power naming Berrabah as most likely to quit or be sacked from the group next, with odds of 5/4. Newbie Jade Ewen is seen as the second most likely to go, at 11/8, while Heidi Range will apparently stick it out to the bitter end, with her odds standing at 3/1. We’re still waiting to hear back what odds we’d get on Vera Lynn joining the group next.

Portishead on new material – not just an album

Artist News

Oh look, Portishead’s Geoff Barrow has been talking to the NME. He has told the music mag that the band are getting ready to work on new material but, without any record deal commitments in place, may not produce a conventional album.

Barrow says the band have “big plans” and will approach their next music project “from a different angle”. Confirming the band are out of contract with any music companies, he continued: “We are publishing-free and label-free at the moment, so we’re kind of… well, we’re free!”

Erasure announce album re-release

Releases

Erasure have announced plans to release a 21st anniversary re-release of their 1988 album, ‘The Innocents’. Their first to reach number one, it features one of the best bloody pop songs ever written, ‘A Little Respect’. The two-disc re-issue will also feature b-sides, remixes and rarities, plus a DVD of live footage and music videos.

That’ll be released on 26 Oct, and will be preceded by a remix EP, entitled ‘The Phantom Bride EP’, featuring brand new reworkings of some of the album’s songs by the likes of Frankmusik and Erasure’s own Vince Clark. Here’s the tracklist for that:

Phantom Bride (2009 Remaster)
Hallowed Ground (Vincent Clarke’s Big-Mix)
Chains Of Love (Almighty 12″ Essential Mix)
Phantom Bride (Ghostly Groom Dub by FrankMusik)
A Little Respect (Wayne G & Alan Allder Hurdy Gurdy Club Mix)
Heart Of Stone (Joebot’s Ounce Of Bounce Remix)
Phantom Bride’ (Dogmatix’s 12″ Tearless Mix)
Chains Of Love (Plastic Operator Remix)

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Monday 28 September 2009, 17:14 | By Eddy Temple-Morris

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