Friday 18 December 2009, 12:31 | By CMU Editorial

An Experiment announce tour dates

Gigs & Festivals

Punk rock awesomeness An Experiment On A Bird In The Air Pump, who have just released their new EP, ‘Buy A Life’, have announced tour dates for next year, plus a New Year’s Eve show. Go to at least one of these dates or forever be wrong about everything.

Tour dates:

31 Dec: London, Decasia Club John Waters New Years Eve Party at The George Tavern
23 Jan: London, Queen of Hoxton
30 Jan: Leeds, Nation of Shopkeepers
31 Jan: Sheffield, Harley
1 Feb: Glasgow, Captain’s Rest
2 Feb: Edinburgh, Sneaky Pete’s

MUSExpo moves to Liverpool

Business News Education & Events

So this is exciting. The European version of the always rather good MUSExpo music business conference will this year take place in Liverpool rather than London, as part of the Liverpool Sound City convention and festival in May.

MUSExpo chief Sat Bisla helped programme the conference components of both Liverpool SoundCity and spin-off event Dubai SoundCity this year, but this time MUSExpo Europe itself – which launched in London last year – will form the main industry component of the Liverpool event.

The Liverpool Daily Post quote Bisla as saying: “This event will help enhance the global profile of Liverpool as being a true international music destination and a place to do business. It will raise the profile of Liverpool not just as a music hotspot, but an industry hotspot”.

LSC chief Dave Pichilingi added: “By bringing Liverpool SoundCity and MUSExpo together, we have the opportunity to attract people who had never considered coming to Liverpool or the North of England before. It’s a huge step up in terms of industry presence. It’s a true coup for us to attract MUSExpo.”

Liverpool SoundCity 2010 takes place from 19-22 May. We’ve got some other exciting news about the event to tell you in January. So, stay tuned people.

Chrysalis doing well – praise be to Jacko

Business News Labels & Publishers

Another company who are better off with Michael Jackson being dead is music publisher Chrysalis, who saw their revenues rise £6.4 million in the financial year to the end of September, thanks partly to their ownership of ‘Thriller’ and ‘Off The Wall’ via songwriter Rod Temperton, both of which, of course, enjoyed huge download sales and radio play once the late king of pop shuffled off the mortal earth. Overall Chrysalis profits for the year were a more modest £500,000, though City types said that was better than expected.

Chrysalis chiefs said this current year is looking pretty good also, though revenues are unlikely to rise quite so steeply as they did last year. Interest in Jacko continues to aid the publisher, as does the recently re-released Beatles catalogue, which they benefit from via their partnership with producer George Martin, who has some rights in the master recordings. Other Chrysalis-signed song-writing artists, including Estelle, Robbie Williams, Black Eyed Peas, Jay-Z and Cheryl Cole, will also help boost revenues.

Pandora doing well

Digital

US streaming music service Pandora says it has doubled its user base in the last year, and now has 40 million people signed up. New subscribers, it says, have been coming in at 600,000 a week. It seems the Pandora mobile app has played a big part in the new boost in users, with 10 million Pandora users accessing the service via their iPhones.

Whether they are making any money I don’t know. Like Spotify the service has two models – a free to use ad-funded system, and a subscription service. Like all other streaming music services, they have struggled to negotiate workable royalty rates with the record companies and collecting societies, a fact that led them to have to block the service to anyone outside the US.

If Spotify ever does get round to launching in the US it will be interesting to see what impact it has on services like Pandora. The latter does not offer anything like the on-demand flexibility of Spotify, though arguably has the “set me up and I’ll play you music you like without you having to bother doing anything” thing better cracked than anyone else.

DMN publish digital hold outs list

Digital

Just in case you’re keeping count, Digital Music News has published a list of the bands still not making their music available via legit download stores. We all know The Beatles and AC/DC are the big hold outs on the digital age, but who else is refusing to sell their music via iTunes et al? Well, according to DMN it’s a short list consisting of Garth Brooks, Bob Seger, King Crimson, Kid Rock (mostly), Def Leppard (mostly) and Tool. And, aptly, for failing to embrace the digital revolution, they’re all tools.

Gately’s partner complains to PCC

Media

Stephen Gately’s civil partner, Andrew Cowles has issued a formal complaint to the Press Complaints Commission, through his solicitors, about that article written by Jan Moir and published in The Daily Mail following the Boyzone star’s death in October, and the day before his funeral.

As previously reported, the article noted that there were some unanswered questions about Gately’s sudden demise, before basically suggested that aspects of the Boyzoner’s lifestyle led to his death, and that that lifestyle was basically a result of his homosexuality. This despite her previously listing a number of heterosexual celebrities who, she claimed, also lived “dangerous lifestyles” in the spotlight – some of whom have, or have had, drug dependencies on a whole different level to the dope smoking it was revealed Gately was partial to.

Many concluded Moir was really participating in some casual homophobia, a theory strengthened by the Mail hack’s conclusion that Gately’s death “strikes another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships”. As if civil partnerships had somehow been positioned to the Mail-reading faithful as being fairy tale unions in a society where most straight marriages ultimately fail. The conclusion seemed to be that because a man in a civil partnership had died, the whole concept should be abolished.

On the Friday the piece appeared on the Mail’s website, the PCC received 1000 complaints, thanks largely to people expressing outrage on Twitter, and by the following Monday afternoon the complaint count had reached 22,000, meaning the article generated more complaints in one weekend than the whole body had received in the previous five years.

Moir responded to all the outrage about her piece, saying that the article – or at least its homophobic undertones – were simply misunderstood, and accused pressure groups of orchestrating a campaign against her which, she said, explains the sheer scale of the formal complaints made about the piece. She failed to point out the reason she had been misunderstood was that she is an atrocious writer.

Boyzone’s record label, Universal/Polydor, were among the complainants, but the PCC only usually steps in when an individual personally connected to an offending article complains. Although it did previously ask the Mail to respond regarding the piece, that key complaint was not submitted until now.

Cowles cited inaccuracy, intrusion into grief and discrimination as reasons for the complaint, meaning the Press Complaints Commission will now formally investigate whether or not Moir’s column breached its code of practice.

Jonathan Ross may take 50% pay cut

Media

Johnny Ross has reportedly agreed to a pay cut of 50% as he renegotiates his contract with the BBC.

Given all the pressure on the Beeb to cut the pay packages of its big stars and senior execs, as the commercial media are forced to do the same (well, in some cases) as a result of the economic down-turn, it was always likely that the chat show host – whose record breaking (reportedly) £6 million a year previous contract has become the standard complaint for BBC haters – would have to accept a much lesser pay deal this time round, oblivious of how well his shows are doing. Though Sachsgate presumably also reduced his power at the negotiating table.

And, with that in mind, while a £3 million a year deal will be quite a cut back, most BBC haters will probably rightly argue that’s still far too much for any presenter, and certainly one who – while still good at what he does – is hardly the hottest talent on the block.

Ben Folds is the new Simon Cowell

Media

If the TV producers of Britain want to make a telly talent show I’ll watch (and I read somewhere that’s the main aim of the TV industry next year) then they could do worse than following the lead of NBC and recruiting Ben Folds as a judge. Hey, how about that, a telly talent show judge who can actually provide proper musical feedback to contenders, rather than slurring “you’re loverly you are” or snapping “that was shit”.

Folds is judging on NBC’s four night Idol competitor ‘The Sing Off’. And the competitors on this show really can sing. I mean, it’s all a bit jazz hands, but I’m a sucker for some quality close harmony a cappella singing. This is how the first edition of the show kicked off.

Moloko Murphy gives birth

And Finally

Former Moloko frontwoman Roisin Murphy has given birth to her first child, a baby girl to be called Clodagh, apparently. So that’s nice. Happy holidays everybody.

Fiddy says getting shot helped him succeed

And Finally

CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke often give talks to aspiring artists and music entrepreneurs about launching themselves into the industry, and now he has a great new piece of advice from 50 Cent for anyone wanting to make it big in music, as a performer or business man. Get shot. Preferably nine times.

Fiddy says being shot helped him succeed in music, giving him a better perspective on the world, and a stronger nerve in business dealings. Recalling how, in 2000, a drug dealer shot him no less than nine times, he told Angry Ape recently: “[After the shooting] I put in more effort to be a success. [Now] I will be the person with the least amount of fear in the room when we’re negotiating business. Because I’ll weigh it up against situations far more dramatic than a deal going bad – like the confusion after being shot”.

Looking back, he says the mental aspects of the shooting were harder than the physical, concluding: “Not knowing what I was going to do with my life after being shot hurt more than being physically shot”. So, that’s something to think about this Christmas. Happy holidays everyone.

But what are the Stereophonics thinking about?

And Finally

Adam Buxton knows: www.youtube.com/watch?v=22tGAKMIn4o. Happy holidays Kelly Jones.

Q&A: Jonjo Feather

Artist Interviews

Describing his sound as “other other pop”, Jonjo Feather has managed to create timeless pop songs infused with a sense of the unusual. While drawing inspiration from the likes of My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Beck and The Beatles and the atmospheric spookiness of David Lynch films, Jonjo also names pop artists like Lady Gaga and Girls Aloud as preferences to most indie bands. With his latest single ‘Little Spark’ out now on Dead Young Records, we caught up with Jonjo to find out more.

Q1 How did you start out making music?
My parents gave me a head start by giving me ‘Nevermind’ for my fifth birthday. I started playing drums but then changed to guitar, and I started writing my own stuff when I was about ten. It felt pretty natural, so I just carried on.

Q2 What inspired your latest single?
I was mowing my Nana’s lawn when I came up with the verse and bridge, and when I got to my guitar the chorus just came. You can come up with some good stuff when you hum to the drone of a machine. It works with motorboats too.

Q3 How do you got about creating a track?
In the writing sense, I couldn’t tell you exactly how it works, it just seems to come. You can tell if it’s a keeper instantly. In the studio, I usually have a rough idea of how I want the song to sound. I start with the rhythm guitar and then move on to tambourines and the rest.

Q4 Which artists influence your work?
Lately I’ve been listening to DJ Shadow and Screaming Trees.

Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
I’m not sure if this is the final mix.

Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest single, and for the future?
A few like-minded people getting off on it is cool with me. I want to make records forever, and try to make a difference.

MORE>> www.myspace.com/jonjofeather

Live Review: The Mars Volta at The Forum in London on 14 Dec

Live Reviews

Rules play a vital role to humanity. But as this year’s Christmas number one (hopefully) tells us, rules sometimes need to be broken. Breaking those rules tonight: The Mars Volta.

Upon stepping into the venue, my attention is immediately drawn to the giant backdrop stretching across the main stage wall. On first appearance, it boasts a patchwork of decorative Aztec designs that are elegantly blended together. The opulent banner is a visual hallmark for the band’s experimental approach towards sound, and when they arrive on stage, they dispense with formal introductions and break straight into ‘Halo Of Nembutals’.

Rather than sticking to a setlist of more recent recordings, the band deliver a wealth of tunes across the ‘Bedlam In Goliath’ and ‘Deloused In The Comatorium’ LPs; their cardinal bodies of work. The cumbersome headlamps flanking each side of the stage are suddenly taken up to full glare, and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez begins to assume a series of pseudo tribal bodily postures as he churns out the almost overbearing opening chord of ‘Goliath’. The crowd fluidly sways to the meandering notes echoing from Rodriguez-Lopez’ fret board. The banner above burns brightly, and I am captivated by the fragmented patches of phosphorescent pink bleeding into brightly swirling traces of nuclear green.

This lavish light display unites with the energy emanating from the frantic bodies in the mosh pit, as the band tie off the evening with the mighty ‘The Haunt Of Roulette Dares’. Overcoming the need for staple rules with fervent shakes from their flamboyant maracas, a sonic eruption explodes as Cedric Bixler-Zavala screams the words “trademark amoeba lands-craft!” With a lively glint in their eyes the audience trips the psychedelic fantastic. SG

Buy from iTunes
Buy from Amazon

CMU Albums Of The Year 2009: 80kidz – This Is My Shit

Artists Of The Year

As we head towards the end of the year, we’ll be revealing, in no particular order, our ten favourite albums of 2009. Today, 80kidz – ‘This Is My Shit’.

Formed in Tokyo in 2007, 80kidz’s Jun, Ali& and Mayu originally came together as DJs, but really started turning heads, including ours, when they began tweaking records for a series of increasingly impressive remixes. Original music soon followed, and their debut album, ‘This Is My Shit’, arrived this year. In the UK, it was only soft released on iTunes through the band’s own Kidz Rec label, meaning the album largely went unnoticed, though has received a boost after their track, ‘Miss Mars’, was featured on a Kitsuné Maison compilation earlier this year.

From the moment the synth riff on the opening track, ‘Go Mynci’, kicks in, it’s apparent that ‘This Is My Shit’ is not going to be just another run-of-the-mill electronic album. The riff is too good to be a fluke, and the band follow it up with plenty more across sixteen tracks, making it one of the few albums of such length released this year that isn’t bulked out with unnecessary filler tracks.

Although the trio themselves are an instrumental outfit, they do draft in vocals from autoKratz, Ghostape, Hey Champ and The Shoes, drawing them more towards a pure pop sound. On ‘She’, in particular, autoKratz frontman David Cox offers a soft vocal that works wonderfully at odds with 80kidz’s upbeat, synth-heavy sound, and makes the sudden burst of the previously mentioned ‘Miss Mars’, which follows it, all the more effective.

With music that is endlessly energetic and exciting, I really hope that 2010 will bring 80kidz, now a duo following the recent departure of Mayu, to a much wider attention. They truly deserve it.

Buy from iTunes

Anti-LiveMaster campaigners launch TicketDisaster website

Business News Live Business Top Stories

I’m sure these guys felt very satisfied with themselves the moment they came up with their campaign’s name and realised the web domain was available. A US ticketing industry trade body, basically the trade association for more business-like ticket touts, and the US National Consumers League have teamed up to launch a new website specifically designed to persuade American authorities to block Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s much previously reported attempts to merge. The website is called TicketDisaster.org.

With support from other consumer rights groups and some political types, the site’s home page lists five reasons why allowing the LiveMaster merger would be a very bad idea indeed. The reasons are as follows…

1. Ticketmaster and Live Nation dominate the live entertainment industry and any further integration will allow the new company unprecedented control over pricing and access, thereby relinquishing consumer purchasing power.

2. Ticketmaster uses multiple means to take advantage of consumers and increase the price of tickets and services, a practice that will grow with increased control over the market.

3. A Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger will guarantee the new company full and exclusive access to competitively sensitive live entertainment information.

4. Ticketmaster has a track record of initiating anti-competitive practices to block competitors from accessing their events.

5. Blocking the merger outright is preferable to approving it with conditions.

While for many in the music industry it’s Live Nation who are the dangerously dominant big player, it’s clear this campaign is motivated more by a long held hatred of Ticketmaster. Presumably the ticketing giant would deny any allegations of past anti-competitive practices, while the other claims regarding the negative impact of the merger have already been countered by submissions by the two live entertainment giants.

Point five is perhaps most interesting, given approval with conditions seems the most likely conclusion of both the US and UK authorities’ investigations into the merger proposals. Competition authorities hope measures, such as forcing the merged entity to sell off some divisions, or to commit to use the services of third parties, will placate those who oppose the merger. This campaign wants to make it clear from the start that it wants the proposed deal completely blocked.

Helping launch the site at a press conference in Washington, congressman Bill Pascrell told reporters: “All of us agreed that it was time to take this fight to the seats. That’s where the fans are, and they are the people who have had virtually no opportunity to represent their interests in the pending merger of these two companies – until now. This website will give the fans, the ticket buyers, the information they need to understand how they will be affected by the proposed merger, as well as giving them the chance to voice their opposition to the pending deal to the US Department Of Justice’s antitrust authorities”.

All four of the key US congress members supporting the website are Democrats, which is possibly important, given this merger has been positioned by some as a test as to how willing the still newish Democrat regime at the White House are to stand up to big business. Presumably the Congressman have some useful contacts in this regard.

Neither Ticketmaster nor Live Nation have responded to the new website as yet.

Borders could be gone by next week

HMV Timeline Media Top Stories

Oh, I better go do my traditional “try to buy everyone’s Christmas presents in one trip to Borders” escapade sooner rather than later – there might be less choice than usual, but hopefully there’ll be some bargains.

Administrators overseeing the collapse of the UK version of the books and CDs company say that the Borders chain is likely to close next Tuesday unless a serious buyer emerges. Administrators MCR say they are in ongoing negotiations with people interested in acquiring certain stores or assets from the chain, but it seems no one has come forward to takeover the company as a going concern. Unless that happens, most of the firm’s 1150 employees will be out of work as of Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas, everybody.

Court blocks Love from contacting daughter

Legal

As we reported earlier this week, custody of Courtney Love’s daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, was temporarily transferred to her late husband Kurt Cobain’s mother Wendy O’Conner and sister Kimberly Dawn Cobain by the LA Superior Court last Friday. Now, according to TMZ, the court has issued a restraining order, barring Love from contacting her daughter.

The news comes shortly after Perez Hilton published a diatribe, purportedly taken from Love’s Facebook page, in which she says that her daughter is “not always honest” and “deluded”. Love has, however, denied that she ever posted the comments.

A court hearing to make the restraining order permanent is reportedly set for 5 Jan.

Lady Gaga tops Last.fm listens

Artist News

Lady Gaga is the most popular artist of 2009, according to Last.fm, who saw the singer wrack up just under 18.5 million track plays by just over 755,000 of its users since the start of the year. In terms of track plays, she easily saw off her main rivals, The Killers, who came in at number two with just under 12.5 million plays, although those came from over 1.2 million listeners, which is either good for them because more people wanted to listen to them, or bad because fewer people wanted to listen to them repeatedly.

Here’s the top ten in full:

Artist (track plays/listeners)
1. Lady Gaga (18.5m/755k)
2. The Killers (12.5m/1.2m)
3. Lily Allen (10.5m/645k)
4. The Prodigy (8.9m/550k)
5. Franz Ferdinand (8.8m/930k)
6. Beyonce (8.6m/574k)
7. Animal Collective (7.6m/365k)
8. Green Day (7.6m/796k)
9. Yeah Yeah Yeahs (6.9m/683k)
10. Kanye West (6.6m/691k)

See the full rundown here: www.last.fm/bestof/2009

More RATM v X-Factor chatter

Artist News

Hey, guess what, since yesterday there’s been yet more yabbering about this whole Rage Against The Machine v ‘X-Factor’ winner Joe McElderry Christmas number one thing.

First up, RATM guitarist Tom Morello has again come out in support of his band. Which is big of him. He’s also said that he’ll donate some of the money he receives from the boost in sales ‘Killing In The Name’ has received this week to charity.

Speaking to BBC 6music about the campaign, Morello said: “This shouldn’t be misinterpreted. This is a grass roots effort. It’s nothing against the candidates or the guy that runs the show [‘X-Factor]. A little dose of anarchy for the Christmas holidays is good for the soul. I love the independent spirit of the British rock fans. Your country has a great rich history of cutting-edge, exciting rebel music. Whether it’s the early Stones and The Who, or The Clash and The Sex Pistols, or Prodigy and Muse, I think that people are just fed up with being represented every Christmas holiday, being spoon fed some overblown, sugary ballad that sits at the top of the charts. That top spot doesn’t belong to anybody – any TV show or any 90s political rock band. Let the people decide”.

He added: “The one thing about the ‘X-Factor’ show, much like ‘American Idol’, if you’re a viewer of the show, you get to vote for one candidate or the other but you don’t really get to vote against the show itself… Until now!”

Well, apart from all the other times. But, yeah, this is for charity, so we’ll let him off. Morello revealed that he will be making a donation to a UK-based children’s music organisation in the near future in the hope that some of the kids it supports will follow in his footsteps. He explained: “Me personally, I am going to donate part of my proceeds from the sales to an organisation in the UK called Youth Music, which is the UK’s largest children’s music charity. My hope is that one of the results of this whole thing is that there will be a new generation of rockers who will take on the establishment with the music they write”.

In addition to that, the official Facebook-based campaign group to get RATM to the top of the chart has raised nearly £40,000 for Shelter, and now online retailer Recordstore.co.uk has also announced that all proceeds from the sale of ‘Killing In The Name’ on its site will go to the same charity.

Recordstore manager Steve Wheeler explained on the company’s blog: “This isn’t about money. It’s about the statement it makes: that millions of pounds in TV exposure may make a powerful tool but when dissenting voices join together they can make an equal impact. Some may scoff that this is hardly an important cause for people power to suddenly take effect but if the members of the public who have joined the Facebook group that began this quest take a minute to check out Rage Against The Machine and the views they hold then maybe we’ll see some real changes in the world”.

Which all sounds like battle lines have been firmly drawn. So, what message would Morello like to send to Simon Cowell? He said: “I bear him no ill will. He’s going to be fine either way”.

That’s all good, then. But what stage is this race at now? Well, as we reported yesterday, while Rage took an early (and substantial) lead, the band and their supporters were dealt a potential blow by the release of the CD single of the ‘X-Factor’ song yesterday. Hmm, it’s the physical CD single release that might make the difference, not words I have to type very often these days.

Official Charts Company boss Martin Talbot explained: “Joe McElderry’s single will do disproportionately well physically. The single’s market now is 98-plus per cent digital. The physical market doesn’t really exist for most releases, but for releases of this status and ones that are going to cross over to the gift purchase market as well, is going to sell significantly on CD”.

However, bookmakers Ladbrokes are backing the underdog, having slashed the odds on RATM making it to number one on Sunday to 8/11, making them the favourite. The move comes just days after they said that RATM had no chance and closed the book on Christmas number one bets. The company’s Nick Weinberg, said: “Joe’s loss of favouritism is a landmark moment in Christmas number one betting. It was inconceivable just a few days ago, but the gamble on Rage Against The Machine has taken us completely by surprise. For so long the battle for festive supremacy has been a procession for the ‘X-Factor’ – not any more”.

In other related news, stars of both ‘X-Factor’ and ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ have come out in favour of Rage Against The Machine, sort of (click here) and others are just wondering why they can’t all get along (click here too).

Ziggy Stardust named gayest album

Artist News

David Bowie’s 1972 album ‘The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars’ is the gayest of all time, according to a new poll conducted by Out. The magazine asked over 100 gay celebrities, including Boy George, Rufus Wainwright, Cyndi Lauper, Perez Hilton, Jake Shears, Junior Vasquez and Janis Ian, to name the album most important to their lives.

The full list is as follows:

1. David Bowie – The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
2. The Smiths – The Smiths
3. Tracy Chapman – Tracy Chapman
4. Indigo Girls – Indigo Girls
5. Judy Garland – Judy At Carnegie Hall
6. The Smiths – The Queen Is Dead
7. Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
8. Madonna – The Immaculate Collection
9. Cyndi Lauper – She’s So Unusual
10. Antony And The Johnsons – I Am A Bird Now

What, no hip hop or dancehall?

Florence to try before she buys on next album

Artist News

Florence Welch has said that she’d like to try out a number of producers before settling on one with whom to record her second album. She’d already got that ball rolling, having worked with Paul Epworth, Simian Mobile Disco’s James Ford and former Pulp bassist Steve Mackey on Florence And The Machine’s debut, ‘Lungs’.

Speaking to Steve Lamacq on 6music, Flo said: “I think I would like to go and work with quite a few people, do loads of demos and then probably record it with just one person. The first album was a real experiment. I’d like to have one that’s more of a whole. The ‘Lungs’ album was kind of a scrap book about all the different things I was getting excited about from moment to moment”.

She added that she’s already got a few ideas of how she’d like the next record to sound: “I’ve almost been doodling songs, having little phrases and ideas going around and they keep popping up in sound checks. I’ve got a lot of ideas floating around and I think I’ve got an idea of how I want to do it as well”.

James Blunt promises “fun” album

Artist News

James Blunt’s third album will be fun. That’s what he says, anyway. I’d probably concentrate harder on making it really, really good, if I were him, as last week he came sixth in Billboard’s Top Ten One Hit Wonders chart. He reckons he’s got that covered, too, though.

He told The Daily Star:”I have a few musicians I’ll be collaborating with, not famous but phenomenal. I’ve been playing some of the stuff live and it’s a fun album”.

4AD release free compilation

Releases

In celebration of what has been a rather good year for the label, 4AD have released a free download compilation featuring twelve of the best tracks added to their catalogue in 2009, including tracks from The Big Pink, Camera Obscura, Future Of The Left and Deerhunter.

Go and get it here: 4ad.com/features/2009/

SSS release Christmas song

Releases

Thrash metallers SSS have gone to the trouble of recording a Christmas song, which they’re giving away for free as a little festive gift.

Explaining the decision to write the song, frontman Foxy said: “We are following in the footsteps of some of the greatest Christmas songs ever written from yesteryear – Slade, Wizzard, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Shakin Stevens, FEAR and Band Aid – that have all placed themselves firmly in our hearts and on cheap Christmas compilation CDs at this time of year. Now here’s our meagre festive rattler that will be played for years to come at family discos and shake the false teeth from all our nans’ heads”.

Download the track here.

And, just in case you missed the lyrics, here they are too.

Gallows cancel gigs

Gigs & Festivals

Gallows have been forced to cancel a number of gigs over the next few days, as guitarist Steph Carter has fallen ill. This includes tonight’s show in Watford, although that particular gig has already been rescheduled for 8 Feb.

In a statement, the band said: “Steph is still unwell and has been told that he will not be able to play any more shows this year and so this has forced us to pull out of these shows. We’re really sorry to disappoint all our fans who were looking forward to seeing us in 2009 but we promise we’ll come back better and stronger than ever in 2010 and we hope you’ll join us next year”.

The affected shows are as follows:

17 Dec: Watford, Coliseum
18 Dec: London, Village Underground
22 Dec: Newcastle, Legends

Beach House announce UK tour dates

Gigs & Festivals

Beach House release their third album on 25 Jan, via Bella Union, and will be over in the UK and Ireland for a headline tour in February. They will also support Grizzly Bear on their upcoming UK tour in March.

Here are the headline dates:

10 Feb: Glasgow, King Tut’s
11 Feb: Manchester, Islington Mill
12 Feb: Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
13 Feb: Dublin, Whelans
14 Feb: Belfast, Speakeasy
16 Feb: Cardiff, Arts Centre
17 Feb: London, Bush Hall

EMI buy LoudClothing

Brands & Merch Business News Labels & Publishers

EMI, like Universal, are very interested in expanding their merchandising operations, and they have done so by buying Loudclothing.com, Europe’s largest independent music merchandise distributor. So that’s nice. Terms of the acquisition have not been revealed, though given EMI’s current financial performance, they presumably promised the firm’s previous owners, Leicester-based Completely Independent Distribution, a few buttons and some fluff they found down the back of Guy Hand’s sofa.

EMI began boosting its interests in the music merchandising sector earlier this year by striking up deals with the merchandise divisions of live music congloms Live Nation and AEG Live, deals which mean they now distribute the two live company’s merchandise products to non-venue based retailers and etailers. Most of the majors have shown an interest in the increasingly lucrative merchandise (and especially t-shirt) market in recent years, Universal buying the mess that was the Sanctuary Music Group mainly to secure ownership of its primary success story, the Bravado merchandising company.

Confirming the Loudclothing.com deal, EMI Music Services boss Ronn Werre told CMU: “Expanding our merchandise capability is a key part of EMI Music’s strategy of providing artists and labels with a range of services that deliver real value. Combining the great team and assets of Loudclothing.com with rights from Live Nation and AEG Live gives EMI a stellar product range and a world class, full-service retail merchandise business that delivers first rate services to consumers, retailers and our artist and business partners”.

As part of the deal, Loudclothing.com and CID founder Nic Wastell will run EMI’s European merchandising operations. He said this: “We’re very excited to be joining [the merchandising] team at EMI. They have successfully built a strong merchandise operation within a major music company, a textbook case of how to develop and scale up this capability alongside other music services. With this new partnership we have created a competitive new player in this important market and have the finance and resources to grow and develop our business”.

I’m a bit confused about what the acquisition of Loudclothing.com and the appointment of Wastell to a role within EMI means for the future of Completely Independent Distribution. Seemingly Wastell will continue to head up that company too, which will continue to operate independently from EMI, though it will provide services to the major as well as, presumably, continuing to run its second main business Bandstores.co.uk. Either way, given the alliance with major music firm EMI, I’m not sure CID can really claim to be ‘completely’ independent any more.

US VP holds IP protection conference – though some key stakeholders not invited

Business News Labels & Publishers Legal

US Vice President Joe Biden yesterday convened a meeting in the White House involving the leaders of various American government agencies and top music, movie, TV and publishing industry bods to discuss intellectual property issues.

According to Billboard the content business types were told the US Justice Department has a “reinvigorated” task force charged with the job of tackling IP crime, while the Feds will be given more money to crack down on major level counterfeiting. Biden also committed the US government to harder lobbying on international copyright and IP agreements.

I don’t think many specifics were discussed, except for one specific operation to stop people taping films at the cinema on a camcorder, which is apparently more of a problem than I realised. The content industry men also had a chance to air their IP concerns. It’s not clear whether online piracy was discussed in any major way, though assuming it was some of those interested parties outside the content industries expressed their disappointment at not being invited to the table.

The boss of US Consumer Electronics Association, Gary Shapiro told reporters yesterday: “We urge that other stakeholders be consulted and brought to the White House to continue this important dialogue and to ensure that American consumers are not treated like criminals. Too often the Recording Industry Association Of America and other groups advocate an overly aggressive vision of intellectual property that discourages innovation and limits lawful consumer conduct. The resulting environment of excess litigation and disproportionately high statutory damages and other penalties discourages entrepreneurism and burdens America’s innovation future”.

Meanwhile, Ars Technica quote Gigi Sohn of consumer rights group Public Knowledge thus: “Although the meeting with Vice President Biden purports to bring together ‘all of the stakeholders to discuss ways to combat piracy in this rapidly changing technological age,’ some stakeholders are noticeably missing. Many representatives of media companies will be there. No consumer or public-interest groups, technology companies, technology associations or internet service providers are on the guest list. No one who questions the need for draconian governmental policies on behalf of the privileged special interest group for whom this meeting is being held is on the guest list”.

YouTube might enter the subscription domain

Digital

Google may consider a subscription model for YouTube. The once mainly user-generated (or user-stolen) content website has, of course, been busy signing deals with various content owners over the last few years so to become the home of official video content online, as well as the hub for all videos involving people falling down stairs or dancing in an amusing way. In the UK deals have been done with both Channel 4 and Five in this regard.

The specifics of the deals between YouTube and the broadcasters are not known, though to date Google has planned to cover any content licensing costs with advertising revenue. But, as YouTube’s dabblings in the music space has demonstrated, ad revenues rarely get close to covering the sorts of licensing fees the content owners want to charge, even those content owners willing to slash the prices they were demanding eighteen months ago.

Which is presumably why Google are now considering charging a subscription fee for users who want to access full-length properly-licensed TV programmes on demand. Such an arrangement would put YouTube into more direct competition with US web-TV platform Hulu, which has global expansion plans.

Google exec David Eun admitted subscriptions were being considered in an interview with Reuters, in which he said: “We’re making some interesting bets on long-form content; not all content is accessible to us with the advertising model”.

C4 and TalkTalk join Canvas

Media

Channel 4 and internet firm TalkTalk have joined Project Canvas, the previously reported collaboration of TV and net firms aiming to standardise the way TV-over-the-internet set top box type contraptions work. That means that the BBC, BT, ITV, C4, Five and TalkTalk are now all on board. Just watch Sky come along with something totally different and completely takeover the market.

Canvas bosses reckon the project will cost £115 million over four years, so obviously the more companies there are to share the cost the better. The project aims to facilitate the introduction of video-on-demand and internet-based services to Freeview-style set top boxes, providing something similar to what BT Vision are already doing.

Confirming C4 and TalkTalk’s involvement, Canvas boss Richard Halton told reporters: “The potential for innovation [here actually] goes far beyond bringing video on-demand to the TV set and there’s a huge opportunity for a wide range of new commercial models to thrive. We always wanted all the UK’s public service broadcasters and at least two ISPs to be involved in the venture at launch, so we’re delighted that Channel 4 and TalkTalk have joined the project”.

As previously reported, the BBC’s involvement is still reliant on the venture getting BBC Trust approval. Some – well Sky mainly – feel that the BBC throwing its weight behind one standard is a misuse of its privileged position. Presumably they’d think differently if they threw their weight behind a standard that Sky endorsed.

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