Monday 28 June 2010, 11:15 | By

Will ITV pick up Jonathan Ross chat show?

Media

Music pluggers sad to see the demise of the Jonathan Ross chat show on BBC1, with its much sought after music spot at the end, will like this. Word has it a similar chat show format is about to be picked up by ITV. Although the third channel passed on a multi-million pound exclusivity deal with the Ross man, reports suggest they might be about to buy his chat show, which could air on ITV1 on a Friday night or during Saturday peak time, probably after ‘X-Factor’. ITV have not commented on the reports.

READ MORE ABOUT: |

 

Monday 28 June 2010, 11:13 | By

Chart update – w/c 28 Jun 2010

Artist News

I’m guessing England football fans did a lot of shouting yesterday afternoon, though that was too late to stop the Dizzee Rascal/James Cordon football song ‘Shout’ from slipping from number one to three in this week’s singles chart.

K’Naan’s ‘Wavin Flag’ stayed at two though. Perhaps it was bought by the cunts who still took massive flags with them to Glastonbury this weekend, despite every rational human being agreeing last Autumn that flags at music festivals are as irritating as they are pointless, and are only ever taken to such events by totally selfish wankers. And K’Naan fans possibly. Who knows? Anyway, well done him for staying at number two.

The singles chart number one, though, was claimed this week by Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg with their song ‘California Gurls’, which went straight into the top spot. Other new entries in the still urban heavy singles Top 40 came from Eminem and Rihanna with ‘Love The Way You Lie’ at 7, Scissor Sisters with ‘Fire With Fire’ at 11, Diddy and Dirty Money with ‘Hello Good Morning’ at 22 and Big Boi with ‘Shutterbugg’ at 31.

There was more Eminem in the albums chart, where he went straight in at number one with ‘Recovery’, knocking that Oasis retrospective album into position number two. Meanwhile the Black Eyed Peas album ‘The End’ shot back up to number three for a really obvious reason I can’t quite put my finger on just at the moment

Other new entries come from Example with ‘Won’t Go Quietly’ at 4, Miley Cyrus with ‘Can’t Be Tamed’ at 8, Ozzy Osbourne with ‘Scream’ at 12, that Kele chap with ‘The Boxer’ at 20, Lissie with ‘Catching A Tiger’ at 22 and Usher with ‘Let Em Ave It’ at 35.

The charts are compiled by the team at the Official Charts Company, who are all lovely and would never dream of taking a silly big flag to a music festival.

READ MORE ABOUT: | | |

 

Monday 28 June 2010, 11:12 | By

Macca on biopic inaccuracies

And Finally

I think we all knew there were wild inaccuracies in Sam Taylor-Wood’s retelling of the early life of John Lennon and the formation of the pre-Hamburg Beatles, but ‘Nowhere Boy’ was a great film and I don’t really want to be reminded that that’s not exactly how things happened. So thanks Paul McCartney, for bringing it all up again.

Commenting on the two recent Lennon biopics, Taylor-Wood’s early-era cinema release and the BBC’s recent Yoko-era ‘Lennon Naked’, Macca said last week:  “It’s a great tribute that whatever we did [back then] is so lasting that people can still make films about The Beatles which can be successful. For me, though, they’re not true, and that’s the unfortunate thing about them. For example, John never punched me out like he does in ‘Nowhere Boy'”.

Though, he conceded that “my character is kind of cool in the film, so I don’t mind being punched out”, while adding that when he spoke to Taylor-Wood about the inaccuracies she said: “Yeah; but Paul, it’s just a film”.

READ MORE ABOUT: | |

 

Monday 28 June 2010, 11:11 | By

Kylie on sacking her mum

And Finally

Kylie Minogue has sacked her long-term manager, aka her mum. But she insists she did it not because of any acrimony in the Minogue clan, but because she wanted her mother to have some time off. Though she admits it was hard explaining this to her mum.

Speaking to Jonathan Ross, Minogue said last week: “My mum has been on every tour I’ve ever done. But she did just get the sack… I just wanted her to relax more. I think it’s quite evident the Minogues like to work, we like to get stuck in. So it wasn’t easy [telling her], she had a forlorn little face. But I said, ‘Mum… I’m just not sure I think you should be in the quick change anymore’. I was thinking of her…”

But she added that her parents do still have a role of sorts in her professional career. She explained: “I had to give them titles. So I said, ‘Mum… you are in charge of social things’. For example when we were in Wales, there’s a million Welsh relatives… so mum kind of wrangles them, just to take care of it. And I said my Dad had the very important duty of making sure the red wine was corked at the right time ready for us to come off stage”.

READ MORE ABOUT:

 

Monday 28 June 2010, 11:09 | By

Mrs Bieber offered Playboy deal

And Finally

Talking of pop star mums who double up as managers, I wonder what Justin Bieber would think of his mother/manager posing naked for Playboy? Well, according to RadarOnline, the legendary top shelf magazine has offered the tedious popster’s increasingly high profile mother fifty grand to reveal all (well, to go topless, reports say the deal wouldn’t require total nudity). And, online reports suggest, the offer hasn’t, as yet, been knocked back.

Though that’s very possibly because the Bieber camp aren’t taking the proposal very seriously. Still, it might be worth filing the offer somewhere for future use. Many young pop acts have to start shedding clothes to stay in the public eye as they progress into adulthood and lose their initial teen-pop appeal. Perhaps Justin can get his mum to do that bit for him.

READ MORE ABOUT: | |

 

Monday 28 June 2010, 11:07 | By

Approved: Ned’s Atomic Dustbin God Fodder Gig

CMU Approved

So, here’s a blast from the past. “Did you miss the one-off live full back-to-back rendition of our classic album ‘God Fodder’ last year?”, the Neds Atomic Dustbin MySpace asks. “Then you fucked up!” it concludes.

But that’s not actually true. The now reformed seminal early 1990s indie outfit will be playing their classic long player in full once again as part of the reopening of the HMV Institute in Birmingham in September (25 Sep to be precise). Says singer Jonn Penney: “Back when we first toured ‘God Fodder’, we didn’t play in Birmingham and that’s something we’ll be very happy to address all these years later. We can’t wait to christen the new venue and set a new bar-takings record!”

If you want to remind yourself what these guys were all about (or introduce yourself to it all, you young types), then most of the songs off the album are on their MySpace player and, if you know what you’re doing, the full album is somewhere within MySpace Music. Or follow the bit.ly link below to find out about how you can get a VIP ticket for the gig which includes a limited edition poster and an after show party or some such.

www.myspace.com/nedsatomicdustbin
bit.ly/aduudo

READ MORE ABOUT:

 

Saturday 26 June 2010, 13:00 | By

Playlist: Duncan Geere from Wired

CMU Playlists

Duncan Geere is a music and technology journalist, who, fittingly for this feature, was one of the first in the UK to cover Spotify back when it first launched. Currently he’s working as News Editor on Wired Magazine’s website, which means he’s still very much the go-to guy if you want to know about new developments in digital music.

As well as that, he does a bit of DJing and could once upon a time be found playing records at our CMU Social events. We’ve missed his song choices since then, so we thought we’d get him to put together a playlist for us.

Says Duncan: “I put together this playlist with a very specific goal in mind. One that’s shared by almost every mixtaper you’ve ever met. To try to make some kind of connection with the listener. But the problem with making a playlist for CMU readers, rather than some girl I want to impress, is that I don’t know you very well. In fact, I don’t know you at all. So instead I’ve gone for distraction tactics that I’m hoping will snare a few of you while you’re doing other things”.

“Play it while you work, and Electric Six’s wailing sirens might grab your attention when you’re alt-tabbing between spreadsheets and briefly dump you on a plane falling out of the sky into a cold sea in the middle of the night. Sync it to your iPhone and play it on the Tube home, and Karolina Komstedt’s vocals on the Club 8 track might distract you just enough from a stranger’s armpits that you find yourself walking down a beach near Stockholm in the snow. With any luck, you might get lucky with the timing on your morning drive to work, so that you crest a hill just as you hit the incredible moment in ‘There Goes The Fear’ where the song, which has been bumping along the runway, suddenly waves goodbye to the ground and jets up into the sky”.

“If there’s a theme between the songs, it’s perhaps memories of a better time. In some places that manifests as homesickness. In several, it’s missing a former lover, or a lover that you can’t reach. In at least one case, it’s your life flashing before your eyes. Everyone’s got those memories and there’s nothing wrong with them. So spare three quarters of an hour or so to wallow in it. Then get back to whatever you were doing beforehand”.

Well, we have nothing more to add to that.

DUNCAN GEERE’S TEN
Click here to listen to Duncan’s playlist in Spotify, and then read on to find out more about his selections.

01 Jason Lytle – Yours Truly, The Commuter
The Grandaddy frontman’s solo work has received relatively little attention, but it’s the opening track on the album that’s a highlight for me. There’s something fantastic about listening to this first thing it the morning. It makes you feel like you’ve achieved something.

02 Glen Campbell – Wichita Lineman
I can’t hear this song without melting a little inside. It’s set in Oklahoma, where I spent a year studying, and relates the story of a lonely railway worker who hears the wind blowing over his telegraph wires and mistakes it for his lover’s voice.

03 Interpol – PDA
This was the song the convinced me, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that there was more to Interpol than just being a Joy Division covers band. While singer Paul Banks’ lyrics are frequently nonsensical, if you tune them out and treat them as just another instrument then there are few bands you could consider more atmospheric.

04 Electric Six – Transatlantic Flight
Since their monster hit, ‘Gay Bar’, in 2003, Electric Six have recorded six albums, and are in the process of making a seventh. All of them are featuring songs better than ‘Gay Bar’. If you like your rock dirty, sexy, and frequently hilarious, then treat yourself to listening to some of them. Start with ‘I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master’.

05 Club 8 – Whatever You Want
During 2009’s very disappointing clutch of releases, I sought solace in Swedish indie-pop. I’ve utterly fallen for Club 8’s ‘The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Dreaming’, thanks to this track’s soaring, faultless vocal.

06 Broken Social Scene – Sentimental X’s
I’ve never followed Broken Social Scene very closely, but on listening to the band’s latest album, this was the track that blew my head off. Keep your ears open around 4:05 for a crescendo that’ll blow yours off too.

07 The Great Depression – The Sargasso Sea
With its horn riff, orchestration and gently melancholy slant, you’d be forgiven for mistaking ‘The Sargasso Sea’ for an album track on a Divine Comedy record. But it’s not. It’s the sound of a post-rock act trying to write a pop song, and succeeding brilliantly.

08 Yo La Tengo – Cherry Chapstick
It was tough to choose a song by American indie legends Yo La Tengo, but in the end I plumped for ‘Cherry Chapstick’ with its layers of rhythm, heartfelt lyrics, and screeching feedback. If I could only listen to one band for the rest of my existence, it’d be Yo La Tengo.

09 Doves – There Goes The Fear
This is my favourite song in the world. I can’t explain why. It’s just the way it feels when it climaxes at 4:48 and it soars far above the clouds. It’s a pity that the band’s never been able to match it since.

10 Bob Crosby & The Bobcats – Way Back Home
I play a lot of videogames, and this is from the soundtrack of ‘Fallout 3’. It’s impossible to listen to it and not feel simultaneously comforted and homesick.

READ MORE ABOUT: |

 

Saturday 26 June 2010, 12:00 | By

CMU Beef Of The Week #24: Leona Lewis v meat

And Finally Beef Of The Week

Morrissey is known for his fervent vegetarianism. He’s not afraid to call for meat to be banned at his gigs, or rant at meat eaters he sees (or smells) at festivals. Hell, he even wrote a song, nay an entire album, called ‘Meat Is Murder’. Morrissey gets away with this for a number of reasons:

1) He is Morrissey
2) He’s known for being a bit demanding
3) People like that he’s a bit of an arse
4) He co-wrote ‘How Soon Is Now?’

In the case of Leona Lewis, the closest she gets is that people suspect that she might be one of the above (clue: no one thinks she’s Morrissey). As a result, her tour crew are apparently quite angry that she has banned meat from all the backstage catering on her UK tour, which kicked off this week. What’s more, no one is allowed to bring meat into the venues.

A source told The Sun this week: “There are going to be murders. Leona has demanded that only veggie food be made available for everyone – and members of the crew are threatening to quit. She will not even allow food to be bought off-site then brought in. She is getting a reputation as a bit of a pain in the arse. She is such a diva. It’s getting out of control”.

Leona’s support act Gabriella Cilmi also told Digital Spy: “All I know so far is that the food’s going to be vegan, and I’m not sure how I’m going to cope with that”.

Rumours that a pack of drooling roadies have already eaten two members of Leona’s band remain unconfirmed.

This Beef Of The Week comes from this edition of the CMU Weekly. Subscribe to the CMU Weekly here.

READ MORE ABOUT:

 

Friday 25 June 2010, 11:37 | By

The music business week in five – Friday 25 Jun 2010

Business News Week In Five

So, is every single one of you heading to Worthy Farm right now? I’m on a train to Edinburgh as we speak for a working weekend among our Scottish brethren who, I suspect, will have suddenly become devout fans of the German football team this week. So I won’t be partaking in all the Glasto nonsense, 40th birthday or not. Team CMU will have their eyes on the proceedings though, and we’ll be keeping a good watch on the other big festival this weekend too, London’s Hard Rock Calling. Reports on all those things (especially my weekend in Edinburgh) on Monday perhaps. Meanwhile, the biggest stories of the last seven days music business wise…

01: YouTube defeated Viacom’s long running lawsuit, relating to allegations by the MTV owner that the video website deliberately ignored the copyright infringing content its users uploaded because they knew it generated most of their viewing traffic. Google-owned YouTube countered that it operated a rigorous enough take-down system, that removed infringing videos from its website, to get protection from America’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Viacom said YouTube only paid lip service to the take-down system in its early days. But the judge hearing the case disagreed, finding in Google and YouTube’s favour this week via a summary judgment. Viacom will appeal. CMU report | Google blog

02: There was more speculation about Google’s planned music service, which, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal this week, will launch in two stages later this year. First, a download option will be added to enhanced music searches which, in the US, already provide streaming previews when you search for artists or songs. Later a full-on Google streaming service will launch, though this may be primarily targeted at owners of phones that use Google’s Android operating system. Elsewhere, a take-down notice from the BPI requesting Google block links to a set of illegal music files was leaked, and the IFPI called on the search engine to stop linking to content files on The Pirate Bay. CMU report | WSJ report

03: Fabric confirmed they were out of administration. We reported last week that the troubled London club had reportedly come out of administration, with the clubbing company’s assets having been sold to a new business entity called Fabric Life, which was incorporated in May. The club’s administrators and management both confirmed this to be so yesterday, so it is business as usual at the popular venue. Still no word on the future of Matter, the sister club under the O2 dome whose financial problems caused the whole Fabric business to collapse in the first place. CMU report | City AM report

04: AEG were rumoured to be in talks with the big labels about equity partnerships. The New York Post claimed last weekend that the live entertainment giant had been in talks with Universal Music for up to a year about them taking a stake in AEG Live, the tour promotions bit of the AEG group. The Post also reckoned that similar talks had now begun with Sony and Warner, and that AEG might ultimately consider completely offloading its gigs and tour business to a major record company eager to get into the live music space. The allegedly talking music firms issued denials, vague non-committal confirmations or a nice neat “no comment”. CMU report | New York Post report

05: Trois strikes got approval from French data protection people. Data protection agency CNIL had to give the all clear for record companies to snoop on the IP addresses of suspected file-sharers. Now that’s been granted, the French three-strikes system for combating piracy is almost ready to go, pending a little bit of government paperwork. The body who will oversee trois strikes says it will be ready to send out the first warning letters to suspected online copyright infringers as soon as next month. CMU report | Techdirt report

And that’s your lot until the CMU Weekly lands in your inbox with a round up of artist news this afternoon – sign up at www.theCMUwebsite.com/subscribe if you haven’t already.

Chris Cooke
Business Editor, CMU Daily

READ MORE ABOUT:

 

Friday 25 June 2010, 11:27 | By

Fabric sale confirmed

Business News Deals Live Business Top Stories

The sale of London nightclub Fabric has now been confirmed. As previously reported, the faltering club was recently sold to a newly incorporated company called Fabric Life.

We now know that company’s main investor is a guy called Gary Kilbey, though a number of other people have put money into the new entity as well. The club will continue to be run by the same team as it was before its former parent company, Fabric 591, was dragged into administration by the spiralling debts of its other nightclub, Matter.

Administrator David Chubb of PricewaterhouseCoopers said in a statement yesterday: “This ensures that Fabric, an iconic London club, will stay open and continue to entertain. Through the sale of the business, the jobs of over 100 people will be saved. We kept the club open during the administration and this would not have been possible without loyal employees, clientele and suppliers. We would like to thank them for their support over this period”.

In a statement of its own, Fabric said: “The Fabric family is delighted to announce that Fabric is no longer in administration. Fabric has been bought by a consortium who fully back founders Keith Reilly and Cameron Leslie’s vision; nothing within the scope of the Fabric ethos or team shall change. The consortium has formed a new company called Fabric Life Limited. After ten and a half brilliant years, we look forward to many more”.

As do we. There is still no official word on what fate will befall Matter, the website of which is still claiming that its closure will only last the summer.

READ MORE ABOUT: |

 

Friday 25 June 2010, 11:24 | By

Glastonbury 40th anniversary under way

Artist News Gigs & Festivals Top Stories

Despite the fact that over 120,000 people were already on site by Wednesday afternoon and bands started playing last night, Glastonbury’s 40th anniversary only officially kicks off today. Which would usually be a cue for the hot weather to break and a massive rain cloud to park itself above Somerset, but the forecast is looking pretty good, especially Sunday.

Perhaps the Queen had a special word with the weather gods, this being a special year and all. Or just so Prince Charles wouldn’t get wet. Because yes, the Prince Of Wales was at Worthy Farm yesterday as the pre-festival events got under way. Which possibly caused at least a few festival-goers to be disappointed after hearing the rumour “Prince was on site”.

Charlie lamented those who “only come here for the music, man” because they, like “completely miss the fact it’s an ‘experience’ right, a crazy mind fuck that will change your life”. Though the future king was reportedly spotted half naked at the Stone Circle at 6am this morning shouting something about the “flowers whispering the truth none of us will admit”, so I’m not sure we should listen to anything he says.

Before all that, Michael Eavis took the prince on a tour of the festival site, with Charles frequently stopping (or being stopped) to chat to festival goers. Eavis told reporters: “They’re a classless society. The prince seems to be really enjoying his visit”. So that’s nice.

Now the prince is out of the way, the serious music can begin, with day one heading towards Gorillaz’s headline set tonight, which they promise will be a bit special. According to reports, the cartoon band (last minute replacements for U2, of course) have managed to convince every single guest musician who contributed to their recent ‘Plastic Beach’ album to come along and recreate their parts live.

That means Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, Mos Def, Gruff Rhys, Bobby Womack, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Mark E Smith, which is pretty impressive. Although Damon Albarn doesn’t want anyone to get their hopes up too much. He told Xfm earlier this week: “At this moment, on Tuesday, everyone is coming, but that doesn’t mean by Friday we [won’t] have a few casualties on the way”.

Snoop Dogg, of course, is due to perform on the Pyramid Stage not long before Gorillaz. And he’s managed to secure a guest for himself. According to Sky New, Willie Nelson will make an appearance during the rapper’s set.

Going one better, Sister Sisters are apparently going to be joined on stage by Ian McKellen and Kylie Minogue. Kylie was, of course, set to headline the 2005 Glastonbury festival, but was forced to pull out after being diagnosed with breast cancer. A source told The Sun earlier this week: “The Scissors are pulling out all the stops to make this the performance of the festival. They’re commissioning outrageous costumes and they’ve lined up Kylie and Sir Ian. It’s going to be quite a party”.

Also performing today is Florence And The Machine, who is also promising a big surprise, though she’s keeping it under wraps, telling Bang Showbiz: “Obviously I’ve got a big surprise at Glastonbury but I don’t want to tell you any more because I want it to be a surprise”.

But enough surprises. This is the 40th birthday festival, so let’s finish things off with some retrospective nonsense. First, Eavis has been speaking to Reuters about the first ever festival back in 1970, saying: “I instantly fell in love with the idea after 20 years of hard work and milking cows twice a day seven days a week all year round. I had a sudden vision of our land being used in a different way and I fell hook, line and sinker for it”.

Meanwhile, 6music listeners have been looking back at festivals of the (mainly recent) past and have voted for their favourite Glastonbury headline sets of all time. Last year’s Blur set tops the list, which looks rather like this:

1. Blur (2009)
2. Radiohead (1997)
3. Radiohead (2003)
4. Pulp (1995)
5. David Bowie (2000)
6. Orbital (2004)
7. Coldplay (2000)
8. The Cure (1990)
9. REM (2003)
10. Elbow (2004)

READ MORE ABOUT:

 

Friday 25 June 2010, 11:21 | By

Jackson estate concerned about Mrs Jackson book

Artist News Legal

So, on the anniversary of the death of Michael Jackson, a legal squabble and TMZ exclusive. That’s apt, right? A legal rep of the Michael Jackson estate has hit out at the previously reported Howard Mann, who has gone into business with the late king of pop’s mother, accusing the Canadian businessman of potentially misleading the Jackson family matriarch, and potentially infringing copyrights or trademarks owned by the estate. Or something like that.

As previously reported, Mann has collaborated with Katherine Jackson on a new photo book called ‘Never Can Say Goodbye’, featuring words and pictures for Jacko’s mother. Mann claims Mrs Jackson has received a record breaking advance from the publisher of the book, which is useful for her, he says, because she is yet to see any serious income from the Jacko estate, despite their various multi-million dollar deals they’ve done, because so many creditors and legal claimants have had to be dealt with first.

Mann also claims to be sitting on 273 previously unreleased Jacko recordings that he acquired when he bought the contents of a Jackson family lock up, sold by a storage company after Joe Jackson failed to keep up to date with payments. TMZ say he has suggested he and Katherine Jackson might release some of those recordings, without involving the estate. Most date from between Jacko’s Motown and Epic record deals, so neither label would have a claim to them.

Commenting on Mann’s projects with the Jackson matriarch, Jacko estate lawyer Howard Weitzman said this week that the Canadian “may be using his relationship with Mrs Jackson to infringe upon Michael Jackson’s copyrights … to the detriment of, among others, Michael’s three kids. He has no right to exploit any estate assets and we will take whatever action is necessary to prevent him from unlawfully profiting”.

But Mann is not impressed with Weitzman’s implied threats. He told TMZ yesterday: “The comments by the lawyers for the estate of Michael Jackson are designed to create fear and ambiguity and may impede our ability to maximize the profits that Vintage Pop [the publisher] and the beneficiaries of the estate are entitled to enjoy.  These actions are torturous interference and will NOT be accepted and will result [in] litigation to recover the damages against our company”.

So, one year on from his untimely death, Michael Jackson is still able to contribute to more than his fair share of lawsuits. Away from the legal squabbles, thousands of Jacko fans are expected to pay tribute to the late singer later today on the first anniversary of his passing.

READ MORE ABOUT: | |

 

Friday 25 June 2010, 11:13 | By

Illinois DA to investigate Lollapalooza radius clauses

Business News Legal Live Business

Festival promoters around the world are known for pressuring artists to steer clear of their direct competitors, or playing in a locality near the festival for a set time period before and after the event, when they are negotiating bookings. Said demands are often contractual with bigger bands and events. Which makes this investigation in the US especially interesting.

According to a Chicago-based blogger called Jim Derogatis, US promoters C3 Presents are being investigated by the Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan with regards limitations put on artists when they are booked to play the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, with regards said artists playing other gigs and festivals; so called ‘radius clauses’. It’s thought Madigan thinks those clauses could breach American competition rules.

Derogatis claims that a VP of the William Morris Endeavor Entertainment booking agency has been subpoenaed to provide information to the investigation, while Billboard says C3 themselves have also received a subpoena. Derogatis adds that promoters in the Chicago area have long complained about the radius clauses C3 put into Lollapalooza artist contracts, though Billboard says that many artists break those clauses anyway and that the festival promoter has never been known to enforce them.

Either way, given such clauses are pretty common across the industry it will be interesting to see what the conclusions of Madigan’s investigation are. Although her rulings will only affect the state of Illinois, any moves there to ban such limitation clauses in artist contracts could lead to pressure being put on promoters elsewhere.

READ MORE ABOUT:

 

Friday 25 June 2010, 11:11 | By

Nas agrees to pay Kelis’ mortgage

Legal

In the latest instalment of Nas and Kelis’ long running divorce battle, the rapper has now agreed to pay $52,989.22 in mortgage payments on the home where his ex-wife and their child live.

As previously reported, the couple’s marriage was officially dissolved last month. The mortgage payment, which will come in an upfront payment of $17,500 followed by monthly instalments of $7800, is one of a number of outstanding payments owed to Kelis. The main one is over $200,000 in overdue child support. In relation to this, Nas handed over $90,000 back in April.

Kelis began divorce proceedings against Nas in April last year, just three months before the birth of their son. After Kelis won a custody battle over the (then still unborn) child, Nas was later ordered to pay Kelis $44,000 per month in child support, but she has continually pushed for more.

In August, her lawyer filed a motion demanding $72,728 per month in spousal support, plus back payments on both child and spousal support that would exceed $300,000. Team Kelis claim that the demands are reasonable given the $240,000 they reckon the rapper earns each month.

Last year, Nas was also pursued by the IRS for $2.5 million in unpaid taxes.

READ MORE ABOUT: |

 

Friday 25 June 2010, 11:09 | By

Aguilera takes biggest chart nosedive ever

Artist News

Christina Aguilera has broken a new chart record, though I don’t imagine it will be making its way onto any of her press releases any time soon.

Having gone straight in at number one last week, her new album ‘Bionic’ dropped down to number 29 this week, the biggest single-week fall in the album charts ever. Not only that, but having shifted just 24,000 copies to get to the top spot in the first place, it’s also the lowest selling number one album for eight years.

Meanwhile, it has been announced that the next single from the album will be ‘You Lost Me’, which was written in collaboration with Sia, in September.

READ MORE ABOUT:

 

Friday 25 June 2010, 11:01 | By

Online group hope to Storm The Charts

Business News Labels & Publishers

An online campaign is hoping to have a big impact on next week’s singles chart, by encouraging people to download tracks from forty unsigned or independently signed artists in the same week, with the aim of getting as many of the selected songs into the chart as possible.

Inspired by last Christmas’s ‘Get RATM to number one’ Facebook campaign, but with the focus this time on brand new music, organisers of the Storm The Charts venture have selected forty songs from new artists who have never charted before from hundreds of submissions and suggestions.

A Storm The Chart panel, music fans signed up to the venture’s Facebook page and guest judges like Huw Stephens and Emily Eavis have all helped pick the final forty tracks, which have now been listed at the URL below.

Storm The Charts followers are now urged to download as many of those tracks as they can after midnight on Saturday, from chart-returning download stores, with the aim of influencing the singles chart published on 4 Jul.

Check the forty tracks and get more info from: stormthecharts.wordpress.com/the-bands-in-our-final-40/

READ MORE ABOUT:

 

Friday 25 June 2010, 10:59 | By

Will Keith Richards gate crash Faces reunion?

Artist News

According to the Express, Keith Richards might appear at the previously reported Faces reunion show, due to take place at the Vintage At Goodwood festival on 13 Aug.

As previously reported, original Faces members Ronnie Wood, Kenney Jones and Ian McLagan will play together at the August festival this summer, with Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock filling in for the late Ronnie Lane and Mick Hucknall for the too-busy-to-take-part-apparently Rod Stewart. A 2011 tour with that line up is also being mooted.

But according to the Express, Wood’s Rolling Stones bandmate Keith Richards might also appear on stage, though it does all seem rather speculative at the moment. They quote a source as saying that Richards is getting bored waiting for Mick Jagger to commit to more Stones activity, and is looking for other projects.

Said source says: “Ronnie and Keith have talked about Keith coming on board for a guest appearance with the Faces. At the end of the day Keith just wants to play and he enjoys playing with Ronnie more than most people”.

READ MORE ABOUT: |

 

Friday 25 June 2010, 10:57 | By

Laurie Anderson talks recording with husband and pets

Artist News

Laurie Anderson has given a little insight into the recording process for her recently released new album, ‘Homeland’. Built out of material developed during various live shows around the world, she says that piecing it all together when she got back home only really got under way when her husband, Lou Reed, stepped in.

Anderson told Spinner: “I really would sit there all day, tinkering with a violin line, like two bars of it. I’m easily entertained. I’d still be doing that this afternoon unless he said, ‘I’m sick of your complaining'”.

She continued: “He would say, ‘Be there until you’re finished,’ and I was like, ‘Um, OK, I guess that’s good’. But it was fantastic, because really good producers can move you along. He’d listen to something and say, ‘That’s done. Let’s go on’. I’d say, ‘But this is not done’, and he’d say, ‘It’s done. Let’s move on’. It was really, really great working with him”.

As well as her husband, Anderson also spoke about contributions to the album made by their dog. She explained: “She’s a rat terrier and when she got very advanced cancer, we got someone to take care of her and she said, ‘I taught my dogs to play piano’, so I said, ‘Teach our dog!’ Our dog has been playing piano for a year, and she’s a fantastic player, actually. She does notes and chords. She kind of walks up and down the keyboard once in a while, which a lot of keyboard players don’t do”.

READ MORE ABOUT:

 

Friday 25 June 2010, 10:34 | By

Arcade Fire album to have eight covers

Releases

Choosing artwork can be so tricky, can’t it? Who’s to say if one thing is better than anything else? Not Arcade Fire, that’s for sure. It has been revealed that the CD version of their new album, ‘The Suburbs’, will be made available with eight different covers. That leaves you to choose a favourite, or buy them all. Or just eat some biscuits and have a cup of tea. It really is up to you.

The album will be released on 2 Aug via Mercury.

READ MORE ABOUT:

 

Friday 25 June 2010, 10:32 | By

Röyksopp to release instrumental album

Releases

Röyksopp have announced that they will release an album of instrumental tracks later this year. The tracks were recorded at the same time as last year’s ‘Junior’, though its musical focus is different.

The duo explain: “The two albums have a kinship, in that they represent Röyksopp’s two very different artistic expressions. ‘Junior’ [has its] emphasis on vocals, accessible melodies and harmonies, has the energy, the inquisitive temper and confident ‘hey-ho, let’s go!’ attitude of youth, whereas ‘Senior’ is the introverted, dwelling and sometimes graceful counterpart – brim full with dark secrets and distorted memories, insisting ‘I’m old, I’ve got experience…’ ‘Senior’ is furthermore an album about age, horses and being subdued – with devils breathing down your neck”.

‘Senior’ is due for release through Wall Of Sound on 13 Sep. Here’s the tracklist:

…And The Forest Began To Sing
Tricky Two
The Alcoholic
Senior Living
The Drug
Forsaken Cowboy
The Fear
Coming Home
A Long, Long Way

READ MORE ABOUT:

 

Friday 25 June 2010, 10:28 | By

Blonde Redhead announce new album

Releases

Blonde Redhead have announced that they will return later this year with their eighth studio album. Entitled ‘Penny Sparkle’, the album was recorded in Stockholm and New York with production duo Van Rivers and The Subliminal Kid, who also worked on Fever Ray’s album. It’s due for release on 13 Sep via 4AD.

You can download the album’s opening track, ‘Here Sometimes’, for free right now at www.blonde-redhead.com. The band will also play a one-off UK show at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire on 29 Sep.

READ MORE ABOUT:

 

Friday 25 June 2010, 10:22 | By

Cast announce tour dates

Gigs & Festivals

Following the announcement that they are to reform for a tour later this year, Cast have announced those very tour dates. Tickets go on sale on 2 Jul.

Tour dates:

26 Nov: Manchester, Academy 2
27 Nov: Glasgow, ABC
29 Nov: Liverpool, Academy
3 Dec: London, Shepherds Bush Empire

READ MORE ABOUT:

 

Friday 25 June 2010, 10:20 | By

Murcof to tour with Francesco Tristano

Gigs & Festivals

Experimental electronic musician Murcof has announced a collaborative tour with Luxembourg-based virtuoso pianist Francesco Tristano. It will be amazing.

Tour dates:

14 Oct: Leeds, Howard Assembly Rooms
15 Oct: Stirling, Le Weekend
15 Nov: Manchester, Band On The Wall
16 Nov: London, Queen Elizabeth Hall

READ MORE ABOUT: |

 

Friday 25 June 2010, 10:13 | By

Festival line-up update – 25 Jun 2010

Artist News Festival Line-Up Update Gigs & Festivals

T4 ON THE BEACH, Weston-Super-Mare, 4 Jul: Kelis and Faithless are amongst the final acts confirmed to play at this summer’s T4 On The Beach, with Gabriella Cilmi and Tinchy Stryder also added to the line-up. They join the previously announced Dizzee Rascal, Alexandra Burke, JLS and Ellie Goulding. www.channel4.com/entertainment/t4/t4otb/2010/lineup.html

READ MORE ABOUT:

 

Friday 25 June 2010, 10:05 | By

American industry group lobbies for three-strikes style anti-piracy system in US

Business News Labels & Publishers Legal

US VP Joe Biden may have been talking tough about intellectual property protection earlier this week, but some key players within the US record label community reckon more lobbying is needed to ensure political types step up their game when it comes to helping copyright owners fight online piracy.

Universal Music exec Jim Urie is leading a campaign encouraging US record industry types to start more proactively lobbying the American parliament and government regards the file-sharing issue. Ultimately the Music Rights Now group want US politicians to start investigating the measures being instigated by their counterparts in the UK, France and New Zealand regarding tackling piracy, ie three-strikes style systems that force internet service providers to get more actively involved in trying to stop file-sharing.

Although Urie says he still supports efforts to get a voluntary agreement between the record industry and the net firms regarding anti-file-sharing measures, government needs to put the pressure on to make that happen, presumably, ultimately, by threatening to force three-strikes through legislation if no voluntary set up can be agreed. Urie wants record industry types to start writing to their reps in Congress about the issue.

The campaign follows a speech made by Urie a convention for US music retailers last month. He told CMU yesterday: “I’ve received hundreds of emails enthusiastically reacting to my ‘call to action’ at the National Association Of Recording Merchandisers Convention last month. The music business is facing huge challenges from piracy and theft. Never before in American history has an entire industry been so decimated by illegal behaviour. Yet the government has not responded in a meaningful way to help us address this crisis”.

He continues: “My call to action is for all of us to become more aggressive in lobbying our government, more outspoken in drawing attention to the problems caused by piracy and more actively engaged. We cannot win this fight alone. Governments outside the US are legislating, regulating and playing a prominent role in discussions with ISPs. Sales have dramatically improved in these countries. How is it that the US – with the most successful music community in the world – is not keeping up with places like South Korea, France, the UK and New Zealand?”

Confirming that he hopes “the industry can negotiate a voluntary deal with the ISPs” he adds: “[But] we need our government representatives to encourage this”.

Any US-based record label types wanting to take part in Urie’s lobbying efforts should go to www.musicrightsnow.org, where all is explained. Those American’s who would oppose any efforts to put a three-strikes style system into effect in the US can start rehearsing being very angry, just in case the Music Rights Now campaign works and gets enough congressmen supporting new anti-piracy measures.

READ MORE ABOUT: |

 

Friday 25 June 2010, 10:02 | By

IFPI chief steps down

Business News Industry People Labels & Publishers

I suppose there are only so many times you can ramble on about how illegal file-sharing is preventing labels from investing cash into new musical talent before you send yourself to sleep. Whether that’s behind John Kennedy’s decision to step down as CEO of the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry I don’t know, but he is leaving the global trade body, that much is certain. Frances Moore, currently IFPI’s Exec VP and Europe Director, will takeover.

Various record industry chiefs lined up yesterday with quotes saying what a wonderful job Kennedy had done in his five years in the top job at the trade body, but I won’t bore you with them. Instead, here’s some words from the man himself: “I leave behind a fabulous team at IFPI well qualified to deal with the many and complex issues the recording industry has to deal with. Frances Moore will be the perfect successor to me at IFPI, and she is uniquely qualified to make a success of her new role. I wish IFPI continued success in assisting the recording industry with the ongoing challenges”.

Outlining his future plans, Kennedy added: “I am now going to pursue a plan I had before I was asked to take on this role – I am going to start a business management/agency business representing talent in the world of music, film, sport, TV and theatre. Artistic talent is, of course, at the heart of the music industry and I am looking forward to enjoying the commercial environment that this new venture will be operating in”.

His official statement concluded: “I promise not to mention piracy for a while!” We’ll be holding you to that John.

READ MORE ABOUT: |

 

Friday 25 June 2010, 09:52 | By

New charitable download service launches

Digital

A new download store launched earlier this week aiming to raise money for charidee, which is nice. Currently in beta, Fair Share Music operates like pretty much every other download store, with over 8.5 million MP3s to choose from, except that half the profit on every track sold will go to charity.

It’s not the first time a charitable initiative has used downloads to raise money, though said ventures don’t usually offer quite such a big catalogue of music. This site will also support a multitude of charities, including Amnesty, Oxfam, Sue Ryder Care, British Heart Foundation, the Red Cross, Friends Of The Earth and the NSPCC.

The service’s co-founders Jonny Woolf and Lee Cannon hope that, as well as raising money for the various charities who will benefit, the charitable element of their service might encourage people who currently access music illegally to go the legit route, which will benefit artists, songwriters and the music industry too.

Cannon told CMU: “While there has been a great deal of excitement around music streaming services, it is clear to us that they provide neither a commercially viable business model nor an experience that will replace music ownership. It is also clear to us that the music industry needs to motivate people into purchasing music rather than prosecuting people that don’t.  Our unique music platform is a step forward in the download-to-own market – not only doing good for recording artists and song writers, but is also doing good for a wide range of extremely worthy causes”.

Go see at www.fairsharemusic.com

READ MORE ABOUT:

 

Friday 25 June 2010, 09:38 | By

GarageBand to shut

Digital

MySpace-owned GarageBand, an online community for unsigned and independent artists, is to shut next month after ten years online. The GarageBand website, not to be confused with the sound editing software of the same name, went online in 1999 and was one of the first websites that helped independent musicians network with each other and their fans.

It was created by the people who subsequently launched iLike, and eventually became a secondary service to its newer sister platform. iLike was acquired by MySpace last year, making the future of GarageBand uncertain; while it never directly competed with MySpace Music, there are a lot of similarities between what the two platforms offer unsigned bands. That said, GarageBand users are being encouraged to switch their allegiances to iLike rather than to MySpace Music.

In a statement on their home page confirming GarageBand will be turned off on 15 Jul, the team behind the service say: “The landscape of how music is discovered and delivered has changed drastically over the last decade. We are proud to have been a part of that change — first with GarageBand.com and then with iLike.com, and today with MySpace. As part of the effort to deliver the best user experience, we’re focusing our resources on MySpace and iLike, and retiring GarageBand”.

READ MORE ABOUT:

 

Friday 25 June 2010, 09:35 | By

Radio 1 were too potty for Potter

Media

The BBC Trust has criticised Radio 1 bosses for giving far too much exposure to the film ‘Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince’ via the station’s Harry Potter Day.

It’s the third time in a year that Radio 1 has been criticised by the BBC regulator for giving undue exposure to commercial entities through its programmes. At the start of the year a Radio 1 Coldplay promotion and the wider BBC’s U2 love-in around the release of Bono et al’s last record were likewise criticised.

BBC radio stations are not meant to get involved in commercial promotions, of course. When they do, commercial radio trade body RadioCentre will be quick to shop them to the Trust. That body’s boss Andrew Harrison told reporters yesterday: “This decision is the latest example of the BBC falling under the spell of celebrity and being hijacked for the promotion of an already successful commercial product”.

He continued: “For the BBC to break its own rules repeatedly is bad enough, but more importantly it is selling listeners short if its radio stations are allowed to move yet further away from their public service remit. As the Trust prepares its report on the BBC Strategy Review, we are urging it to be more ambitious and to put a stop to this kind of excessively commercial behaviour once and for all”.

READ MORE ABOUT: | |

 

Friday 25 June 2010, 09:33 | By

TI looking to get out of hip hop with his youth

And Finally

TI has said that he doesn’t want to grow old as a rapper, hinting that he may instead move into acting.

The 29 year old told CNN: “I’m not going to be the 40 year old rapper. That’s Jay. He’s doing it very well. Hats off, but I just don’t see that for me. If I had the option to be Jay-Z or Will Smith, I think I’d go with Will”.

He added: “I’m a Jay-Z fan. I have a lot of admiration and respect for Jay and his legacy. But I feel like Will, he gets to spend more time with his family. He gets to be home more and actually raise his kids. I feel like he has more of a home life and the money don’t hurt. Twenty million dollars a flick ain’t bad”.

READ MORE ABOUT:

 

CLICK FOR OLDER STORIES

CLICK FOR NEWER STORIES