Friday 27 May 2011, 12:20 | By CMU Editorial

Musicians call for reversal on Grammy revamp plans

Awards

A coalition of American musicians has called for plans to cut 31 categories from next year’s Grammy Awards to be axed, at a protest outside a board meeting of award organisers the Recording Academy in Beverly Hills.

As previously reported, plans to cut some of the Grammy’s 109 categories were announced last month. Gender specific awards will be abolished, some instrumental categories are being phased out, and Hawaiian, Native American, Zydeco/Cajun and polka gongs are being merged into a ‘regional roots’ award.

The protestors say the reductions unfairly target ethnic music, and that the changes were made without consulting thousands of Academy members. Their campaign is supported by some high profile musicians, including Paul Simon and Carlos Santana.

But the boss of the US awards show, Neil Portnow, told reporters it was untrue to say non-mainstream categories were only affected by the changes, noting that the number of mainstream awards would be cut from 34 to 20 as part of the revamp. He added that the category changes would go ahead next year whatever, but that he hoped the protestors would work with the Academy to assess how the alternations work out on the night, and help review things for 2013.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the protestors were not especially appeased by that. Calling for Portnow’s resignation, four times Grammy nominee Bobby Sanabria, told reporters: “[Portnow is] being arrogant in saying that it’s written in stone [for 2012] when we have a chance to get these categories reinstated”.

Billboard won’t change US chart rules over one dollar Gaga

Business News Labels & Publishers

Billboard’s Editorial Director Bill Werde has responded to chatter on the net-o-sphere in the US this week as to whether all the Lady Gaga albums sold for a mere 99 cents by Amazon should be counted in this week’s American music charts. Some have argued no.

As previously reported, Amazon put the Gaga album on sale for a mere dollar at the start of the week – meaning they’d be making a sizable loss on every sale – seemingly in a bid to create mega-traffic (it certainly did that, even Amazon’s huge servers couldn’t cope) so that it could make the mainstream music audience aware of its new and slightly controversial (in record industry circles) digital locker service.

Existing Billboard chart rules don’t take into account the price a customer pays, so that if retailers take a hit and sell a record as a loss leader, all sales count as standard units. Thus the one dollar Gaga sales will help take the popstress to number one this week. And Werde says that, despite some opposition online, that rule will stand, for this week at least, partly because he doesn’t like the idea of changing the rules at the last minute, and partly because he’s not entirely sure chart bosses should be considering price point in their counting.

Writing on his own magazine’s website, Werde days: “I’m pretty far from certain it makes sense to consider pricing (although I encourage your comments). For starters, market dynamics are shifting so quickly. Who’s to say that in three years or three months or even three weeks that the accepted value of an album won’t be .99 cents? I realise that’s an alarming (and unlikely, at least in weeks or months) thought for many of you, dear readers. But the decline in the perceived value of recorded music is not exactly a secret in 2011”.

He continues: “Further, just looking at current market conditions, should an album that sells for $9.99 count twice as much as an album that sells for $4.99? How about on iTunes: Should a $1.29 track count twice as much as a $.69 track? I’m inclined to say no. As I said, my mind isn’t made up about this as it relates to considering this policy in future weeks. I’m certain I’ll have many conversations with Silvio Pietroluongo, our Director of Charts, about this topic. But I generally regard Billboard’s role as being a market archivist and not a market activist. If we set an arbitrary pricing threshold, we are affecting business and not simply reporting it”.

You can read Werde’s full comment piece here.

New Avalanches album is nearly done

Artist News

The founder of Modular Recordings has told Aussie music business magazine The Music Network that the long awaited second Avalanches album is finally in the can, more or less. All that’s left to be done, says Steven Pavlovic, is “some tweaking to the production elements”.

The Modular man added that he hoped a single would be out this year, with the album following in early 2012. He concluded: “They’re finished, and they’re celebrating. And they’re going to have a little party to celebrate finishing it. The next stage will see the album go to someone to mix”.

New Eminem EP upcoming

Releases

Eminem will release a new EP on 13 Jun, a collaboration with rapper Royce Da 5’9 under the moniker Bad Meets Evil. The two rappers worked together in the late nineties, but subsequently fell out. It seems they reconciled after the 2006 death of their mutual friend, D-12 rapper Proof. The EP is currently without a name, though the first track on it is called ‘Fast Lane’. That was on YouTube for a time, but seems to have been taken down by the powers that be.

Festival line-up update – 27 May 2011

Artist News Festival Line-Up Update Gigs & Festivals

BESTIVAL, Robin Hill Country Park, Isle Of Wight, 8-11 Sept: Featuring highly amongst the array of recent Bestival bookings are acts including conspicuous rap rascals Odd Future, Tom Vek, Crystal Fighters, Professor Green, Ghostpoet and Dog Is Dead. PJ Harvey and Pendulum share headlining duties, flanked by the likes of Fatboy Slim, The Maccabees, Kelis, Cut Copy and Mogwai. www.bestival.net/

THE BIG FEASTIVAL, Clapham Common, London, 1-3 Jul: Hercules & Love Affair and DJ Tom Middleton are the latest musical additions to the tasty array of acts set to perform at The Big Feastival, joining a line-up that includes Soul II Soul, The Charlatans, Mystery Jets and New Young Pony Club. Organised by Jamie Oliver to benefit charities including The Prince’s Trust, other on-site attractions include restaurant showcases and free samples galore. www.thebigfeastival.co.uk

V FESTIVAL, Hylands Park, Essex/Weston Park, Staffordshire, 20-21 Aug: Adding some variety and soul to the otherwise pop-dominated V bill are Aloe Blacc and Ziggy Marley, who are joined by the likes of Kassidy, Twenty Twenty, Big Country and rap posse D12. The most famous D12er, Eminem, shares headline duties with Rihanna, who take centre stage on an existing roster that also boasts Arctic Monkeys, Dizzee Rascal and Primal Scream. www.vfestival.com

Burn launches music making platform and producer competition

Brands & Merch

Energy drink Burn has officially launched a new electronic music platform called the Burn Studios Audiotool, which will “enable music creation, discovery and sharing” in that good old cloud in the digital sky. The aim is to build a community of grass roots dance music makers.

Burn soft launched is Burn Studios programme at the International Music Summit in Ibiza this time last year, and has been developing and beta testing the Audiotool platform ever since. It went properly live at this year’s IMS yesterday, with Richie Hawtin confirmed as the new venture’s Creative Director. He told CMU: “The use of cloud technologies will revolutionise the way we think and do things, especially how we approach music making in the future… well the future is now”.

To coincide with the launch, Burn also announced a big competition for aspiring dance producers, fourteen of whom will be flown over to the Burn Studios physical base on Ibiza in July for a production bootcamp. One overall winner will then go to New York to work with Sasha no less. To enter bedroom producers must remix a track created by Sasha and upload it to the audiotools platform. Full info will be posted at burn.com I’m sure.

Commenting on all this shenanigans, Burn’s Dan White told reporters: “Burn Studios is the epitome of Burn’s personality, it captures the essence of the brand and blasts it into a real life dimension of energy filled passion and fearless creativity. I’m proud that we are able to ignite creative passion and bring the community together with this pioneering studio concept”.

Universal to launch fashion line with Tommy Hilfiger

Brands & Merch

Universal Music in the US has signed a deal with Tommy Hilfiger – the designer direct, rather than the company that bears his name – to launch a line of music-related clothing to be sold in high-end boutiques and department stores. It’s not clear which artists Universal hopes to involve in its new fashion venture, though it is thought they will be recruited from across the major’s various labels.

Sony revenues down, but profits up

Business News Labels & Publishers

Sony Music

Revenues at Sony Corp’s music division, which includes Sony Music, Sony Music Japan and the Sony/ATV music publishing company, were down 9.9% in the financial year that ended on 31 Mar, or 5% if currency fluctuations are taken into account.

The decline was, in the main, Michael Jackson’s fault, in that the previous financial year’s revenues were higher than normal because of all those people rushing out to re-buy the late king of pop’s back catalogue just as soon as he was dead. Although the Jackson legacy remains valuable, the value of his catalogue definitely peaked in the months following his passing.

The more general and continued decline in record sales also played its part, I suppose. On the up side, Sony’s musical profits rose 6.6% to $469 million, mainly because, like all the majors, Sony Music has been quietly downsizing its workforce and other overheads over recent years.

Mark Mulligan to leave Forrester

Business News Industry People

Music business analyst Mark Mulligan, who is particularly known for his insights on the digital music domain, has announced he is leaving Forrester Research. Mulligan has been analysing the music industry for eleven years, originally for Jupiter Research, who were acquired by Forrester in 2008. He’s also know for his blog posts about the music sector.

Confirming his departure from Forrester, Mulligan said this week: “I’m taking a little bit of time out before making my next move. In the meantime I’ll still be blogging on music industry stuff over at my MusicIndustryBlog and basically making a nuisance of myself as an independent voice”.

Most of the average digital music collection goes unplayed

Digital

Tech firm Music WithMe, who provide tools to help users transfer their iTunes collections to non-Apple devices – especially Android phones – say they have been monitoring the play counts of music collections transferred via their system, and have found that on average 81% of a user’s MP3 collection never gets played – ie 81% of tracks would have a zero play count.

Writing on their blog, Music WithMe, revealed “The average iTunes library has 5,409 songs of which 4,195 have never been played. Put another way: we listen to about 19% of the music we own”.

Of course such a claim might not account for the circumstances in which a user’s iTunes play stats would reset, but as a general stat it’s possibly not that surprising, especially for the P2P generation, many of whom downloaded huge quantities of unlicensed music via P2P networks more the prestige of having the biggest MP3 collection rather than with any intent of listening to all the tunes.

Quite what the industry can do with a stat like that though, I’m not sure. Though, if all those unplayed tracks were sold rather than nabbed from P2P, I suppose it does suggest some artists might benefit more from a la carte download systems rather than pay-per-play streaming services.

CMU editor guests on net influenced 6music show

Media

CMU editor Andy Malt will tonight guest on ‘NowPlaying’, the newish Tom Robinson hosted 6music show which takes its musical leads from what’s being talked about, recommended and played on the internet, whether that be YouTube plays, blogger comments or listeners interacting via Facebook, Spotify or the BBC website.

Explaining the concept of the show, Robinson says: “For the last 50 years music radio has basically been a shop window for the music industry to advertise and promote its products – and for me ‘NowPlaying’ reperesents a small but important step away from that model. All the tunes we’re playing are sourced from public conversations with our listeners – and what’s happening out there in the big wide world of the blogosphere. Not from the promotional activities of record companies”.

He continues: “For the first time ever, I’ve actually had to ask pluggers to take me off their mailing lists because we can no longer ‘just slip in’ some latest release or other as a favour to them or anybody else: the audience really is in the driving seat. Instead of us choosing the music that gets broadcast, our job is simply to ‘reflect the online conversation about music, on air'”.

Andy will appear at some point on tonight’s show, which airs from 7-9pm on 6music, recommending three artists and tracks himself. More info here.

Cole may turn down X-UK return over treatment on X-USA

Media

So Cheryl Cole was almost certainly pushed from her role as a judge on ‘X-Factor USA’ it seems, even though neither the ‘X’ machine nor the Girl Aloud star have commented on her sudden departure from the new American version of the pop talent show.

Insiders are saying US TV bosses wanted a number of changes to the ‘X’ format after early auditions, and losing the least famous (in the US) judge was among them. The tabs reckon Cole only found out on Tuesday that she’d been axed, and has now fled back to the UK where she is getting over the high profile rejection.

It is widely assumed ITV would gladly welcome her back to the British version of the programme, but some are speculating that she is so angry with Simon Cowell and his Syco team for failing to fight her corner in America that she’ll likely turn them down.

4music to launch Pop Up Pop Quiz

Media

Everyone loves a pop quiz, right? Well, Box TV has announced details of a new show planned for this summer on 4Music called the ‘Pop Up Pop Quiz’. Each edition will be filmed in a different location. And although they’re employing that rather fashionable term for ‘temporary venue’, this programme will literally ‘pop up’ in that the set is inflatable. Audience members will be recruited from anyone who happens to be in the vicinity once the set has inflated.

Dave Young, Box TV Programming Director, told CMU: “We’re really excited about ‘Pop Up Pop Quiz’ – it’s bright, brash and funny, and the outdoor locations and inflatable set will bring a breath of fresh air to the classic quiz show format. At Box TV we’re totally committed to being the UK’s no 1 innovator in music TV, and this is another fresh format”.

He continued: “We’re also delighted to be supporting new talent again with [our choice of presenters] Rickie and Melvin, [who will be] building on the success they’ve had at Kiss radio – their chemistry is going to be dynamite on ‘Pop Up Pop Quiz’ – it’s perfect for them”.

GMG Radio appointments

Media

The Guardian’s radio company GMG Radio has announced the appointment of its first ever Deputy Group Programme Director, James Rea.

The new role will support the radio firm’s Group PD John Simons with regards the “strategic development of on-air content”, whatever that means. Rea previously oversaw the news teams on GMG Radio’s three networks, Smooth, Rock and Real Radio.

Elsewhere at GMG Radio, Mark Matthews has become Brand Programme Director for the Real Radio network of stations, which presumably isn’t as tedious a job as it sounds.

The aforementioned Simons told Radio Today: “James and Mark have played a key role in the development and direction of our on-air brands in recent years and their new roles enhance senior programming support across the business and enable us to look at new opportunities to extend our content beyond our on-air services, at a time when our content is nominated for, and winning, more awards than ever before”.

Love: Drugs made me celibate

And Finally

Presumably the government will put this up on posters at every school in the land – listen to Courtney kids, she knows what she’s talking about: rampant drug use destroys your sex life.

In the same interview in which she dissed people who still refer to her as a ‘drug freak’, the now seemingly clean living Hole frontwoman told Thefix.com that too many drugs “neutered” her.

Love: “When I was on drugs, I felt like this nunnish, non-sexual person. After I stopped doing drugs I started to fuck like a bunny! Before that I suffered from years of celibacy. I was on this whole Morrissey kick, no masturbation, no romance, no nothing!”

Q&A: Barbara Panther

Artist Interviews

Having fled Rwanda as a refugee, electro-pop experimentalist Barbara Panther grew up in Brussels and now lives in Berlin. Drawing inspiration from all facets of her heritage, her eponymous debut LP occupies the little-trod musical ground that lies somewhere around Bjork’s totem of innovation, whilst still sounding entirely original.

Produced by Matthew Herbert, who in the past has collaborated with the aforementioned Bjork, Roisen Murphy and REM, the album was released earlier this month by way of City Slang. With but a sole live date booked at Festival De La Cite in Lausanne, we asked Barbara our quick fire Same Six Questions.

Q1 How did you start out making music?
I’ve always liked to sing, I started singing in a choir when I was four and did so for quite some time. I took classical guitar lessons at the Academy. When I was twelve I was given percussion lessons from a Hungarian street musician. I’ve been doing a lot of travelling and lived in many different places and I always carry a diary with me, so I’ve been writing all those impressions down and later turned them into songs and music.

Q2 What inspired your latest album?
It’s a reflection of discoveries I made over the years about human nature, the universe, the past and the future which resounds in my lyrics. It is a collection of songs written over a period of time, so musically it isn’t a conceptual record. Each song has its own character. My idea was to work with both electronic and natural sounds.

Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
A track mostly finds its way to reach me but it depends on the moment. It can start with a melody or a rhythm or a lyric, each track has its own way to take shape.

Q4 Which artists influence your work?
I really try to rely on my own imagination and visions, but I do deeply respect people that are original, edgy, fearless and honest whether it’s Diamanda Galas, Pina Bausch, Philip Glass, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Banksy or Harmony Korine.

Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
When you think differently about music, you grow!

Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
I can’t wait to tour this album as soon as possible and for the future, I can’t wait to write the next album!

MORE>> www.myspace.com/barbarapanther

Approved: The National – About Today

CMU Approved

To celebrate their set at Primavera yesterday, The National were giving away ‘About Today’, a historic fan favourite from their 2004 ‘Cherry Tree’ EP, via their Bandcamp site, and it reminded us how much we like that song.

“Today you were far away/ And I didn’t ask you why/ What could I say/ I was far away”, growls a pensive Matt Berninger, conveying such subtle desolation over spare strings and pattering drum beats, “You just walked away/ And I just watched you/ What could I say”.

Ah, it almost brings a tear to the eye. If you feel like a good weep, or if you just like The National, you can still stream ‘About Today’ here.

Spotify to get presence on Facebook, though is this really the launch of Facebook Music?

Digital Top Stories

There was a bit of a flutter of chatter yesterday after Forbes reported that Facebook were about to announce a partnership with Spotify that would see the streaming music service added as a function to the social networking platform, offering, for the first time, an official music listening service via the social media giant, albeit only in territories where Spot already operates.

Forbes noted that Facebook has dabbled with the idea of formally bringing a music service within its walled garden for years, and has reportedly got close to deals with other music services or back-end content providers over the years, generally shying away from the idea of going the MySpace route and entering directly into costly deals with the music majors.

Forbes say a Spotify icon will soon appear on the left hand side of the Facebook screen, through which users will be able to access the streaming platform’s freemium service (ten hours listening a month, up to five plays of any one track), presumably through the browser rather than Spotify proprietary player. Spotify won’t be paid or offered a cut of Facebook’s ad revenues, Forbes say, but it sees the partnership as a great platform to upsell its five or ten pounds a month premium service.

However, before you all get too excited about Facebook and Spotify collaborating to take over the digital music world, some in both the music and tech industries have played down the reports. Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg told a conference in Paris this week that striking up partnerships with various content companies, especially music and movie providers, was at the top of his agenda at the moment, and many reckon the deal with Spotify is one of several, and therefore not as an strong an alliance as perhaps Forbes has suggested.

Billboard adds that various music services – including some already operational in the US – have been in similar talks with Facebook in recent months, and Spotify, therefore, could be one of a number of new musical icons to be added to the social networking site over the summer.

Music Week award winners

Awards

Hey guys, it was the bloody Music Week Awards on Tuesday night in fashionable London town, and as usual the great and the good (none of the bad, they were cleverly misdirected to an alternative venue down the road) of the British music business gathered in a very round house to well and truly slap on the back the greatest and the goodest of them all.

And who were most great and most good, I hear you ask? Well, couldn’t you go and check the winners list on the Music Week website? I mean, this is the one story you could be pretty certain they’d be reporting on, and I’m pretty sure the policy is that self-promoting reportage still sits outside the recently constructed paywall. But for you lazy dudes, I’m going to publish the list here too, even though that requires me to do a lot of formatting. Right, colons at the ready. And no laughing at HMV being declared Music Retail Brand of the year.

Independent Music Retailer: Resident Music Ltd
Music Retail Brand: HMV

Live Music Venue Of The Year: Concorde 2 (Brighton)
Live Promotion Team Of The Year: SJM Concerts
Festival Of The Year: T in the Park

Record Company Of The Year: Atlantic
Independent Record Company Of The Year: XL
The A&R Award: Parlophone
Publisher Of The Year: Universal
Independent Publisher Of The Year: Kobalt

National Station Of The Year: 6 Music
Regional Station Of The Year: Wave 105

Sales Team Of The Year: Sony Music
Distributor Of The Year: Arvato UK
Studio Of The Year: Abbey Road

Consumer-Facing Digital Music Service of the Year: Songkick
Business to Business Digital Service for the Year: Mobile Roadie

Artist Marketing Campaign of the Year: Alex Eden-Smith and Jude Stone from Parlophone for Tinie Tempah
Independent Artist Marketing Campaign Of The Year: Nicola Spokes from Ministry Of Sound Recordings for Example Won’t Go Quietly
Catalogue Marketing Campaign Of The Year: Jo Brooks & Nigel Reeve from EMI for David Bowie Station to Station
PR Campaign Of The Year: Richard Dawes from DawBell for Take That – Progress
Promotion Team of the Year: Atlantic Records

Music and Brand Partnership of the Year: Sarah Desmond from Universal Music and Steve Robertson from SEAT UK for On Track with SEAT UK
Music Sync of the Year: Nick Oakes from EMI Music Publishing for Kronenbourg 1664 – Slow Campaign

Producer Of The Year: Stuart Price
Manager Of The Year: Adam Tudhope

Julies Bicycle Green Business Award: The Premises Studios Ltd
International Achievement: Island Records
The Strat (Lifetime Achievement): Fran Nevrkla

Simon Fuller given Hollywood Walk Of Fame star

Awards

Simon Fuller has been given a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, recognising his work in the music industry form managing the Spice Girls to creating ‘American Idol’. They’ll give them to anyone, these days.

At a ceremony on the street in LA, Fuller told reporters: “Whenever I see that star, I won’t see my name, I’ll see all the names of the people I’ve worked with and all those amazing artists and people that have helped me achieve this stuff”. Someone really ought to get Simon a new pair of glasses.

Silverchair go into “indefinite hibernation”

Artist News

If you didn’t realise Silverchair were still together, well they were. But now they’re not. Yesterday the band announced that they are going into “indefinite hibernation”, taking time off from each other “until it feels right again”.

In a lengthy statement posted on the band’s website, they said: “We formed Silverchair nearly 20 years ago when we were just twelve years old. Today we stand by the same rules now as we did back then … if the band stops being fun and if it’s no longer fulfilling creatively, then we need to stop. Therefore after much soul searching we wanted to let you know that we’re putting Silverchair into ‘indefinite hibernation’ and we’ve decided to each do our own thing for the foreseeable future”.

They went on to explain that they had begun work on a new album in 2009, but while sessions initially went well, by 2010 “it became clear to us that we were moving in different directions”. They added: “Despite our best efforts over the last year or so, it’s become increasingly clear that the spark simply isn’t there between the three of us at the moment”.

Read the statement in full here.

The Horrors announce third album

Releases

The Horrors have announced details of their third album, which will be released through XL on 11 Jul. The first single from the album, ‘Still Life’, will be released on the same day. The video for the track is available on YouTube now, so give it a listen below.

Tracklist:

Changing The Rain
You Said
I Can See Through You
Endless Blue
Dive In
Still Life
Wild Eyed
Moving Further Away
Monica Gems
Oceans Burning

Gallagher wants Depp for Beatles film

Artist News

Liam Gallagher has said that he would like Johnny Depp to appear in the previously reported Beatles biopic being produced by his In 1 Productions film company.

Documenting the last two years of The Beatles’ career before they split in 1970, the movie, a co-production with Revolution Films, is to be based on Richard DiLello’s book, ‘The Longest Cocktail Party’. Gallagher says he has Depp in mind to play the part of Derek Taylor, the band’s first publicist, for whom DiLello worked as an assistant.

Gallagher told Q: “Derek Taylor… He’s up there with Lennon. The film script is done. It’s gonna blow people’s minds, man. I’m just waiting to find out when we choose the actors. I want Johnny Depp to play Derek Taylor. It’s got Johnny Depp written all over it, man”.

Spider-Man stage show soundtrack out next month

Artist News Releases

The official soundtrack for that universally well-received and much loved Broadway farce ‘Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark’, you know the one with songs by Bono and The Edge from that U2, will be released in the US on 14 Jun to celebrate the long awaited official launch of the show (or pre-empt it, if there’s yet another bloody delay).

The soundtrack recording has been produced by Steve Lillywhite and will be released by Universal’s Interscope. Remains to be seen if the CD tries to fly around the room and then gets stuck above its owner’s head, while their stereo short circuits, also whether Bono welcomes poor reviews from the New York Times as “yeah, that’s what I thought too”.

Friendly Fires announce UK tour

Gigs & Festivals

Having just released their second album, ‘Pala’, and headlined The Great Escape festival earlier this month, Friendly Fires have now announced their biggest UK tour to date. Tickets are on sale to members of the band’s mailing list – which you can sign up for here – or otherwise they go on general sale on Friday at 9am.

Tour dates:

10 Nov: Bristol, Academy
11 Nov: Birmingham, Academy
12 Nov: Southampton, Guildhall
14 Nov: Nottingham, Rock City
15 Nov: Newcastle, Academy
17 Nov: Manchester, Apollo
18 Nov: Glasgow, Barrowlands
19 Nov: Leeds, Academy
21 Nov: Cambridge, Corn Exchange
22 Nov: Lincoln, Engine Shed
25 Nov: London, Brixton Academy

Shonen Knife announce 30th anniversary tour

Gigs & Festivals Releases

Currently celebrating their 30th year in existence, Shonen Knife have announced a tour of the UK and Ireland, which will culminate in a birthday show at The Scala in London. The band will also release their fifteenth solo album, ‘Free Time’, in the UK on 11 Jul via Damnably.

The first single from the album will be the double A-side, ‘Perfect Freedom/PYO’. ‘Perfect Freedom’ sees the band “take on Bakunin & Kropotkin and question anarchism and the concept of true freedom in our internet obsessed times”, while ‘PYO’ was inspired by a ‘pick your own’ the band once visited in Sussex.

Tour dates:

11 Aug: London, CAMP
12 Aug: Summer Sundae Festival
13 Aug: Manchester, Deaf Institute
14 Aug: Newcastle, Cluny
15 Aug: Edinburgh, Sneaky Pete’s
16 Aug: Glasgow, Nice N Sleazy
17 Aug: Belfast, Blackbox
18 Aug: Galway, Róisín Dubh
19 Aug: Dublin, Whelans
20 Aug: Bristol, The Fleece
10 Sep: Nottingham, Bogeda Social
11 Sep: London, The Scala (30th Anniversary Party Show)

Stealing Sheep announce new single and tour

Gigs & Festivals Releases

Folk trio Stealing Sheep will release their latest single, ‘I Am The Rain’, via Red Deer Club/Idle Threat on 6 Jun. The band will also be heading out on tour following the single’s release.

You can stream to the song, plus a few others from their catalogue, below.

Tour dates:

7 Jun: Glasgow, The Captain’s Rest (supporting Wild Eyes)
8 Jun: Manchester, The Ruby Lounge (supporting Wild Eyes)
9 Jun: Bristol, Thekla (supporting Wild Eyes)
10 Jun: London, Bush Hall (supporting Wild Eyes)
11 Jun: Inevitable Festival (supporting The Wave Pictures)
16 Jun: Liverpool, Mojo Festival
18 Jun: London, The Scala (The People’s Music Awards)
8 Jul: Southport Rocks Festival
15 Jul: The Flaming Festival
24 Jul: Secret Garden Party
14 Aug: London, Hoxton Bar & Kitchen
31 Aug: Liverpool, Mojo (supporting Best Coast)

Stealing Sheep – I Am The Rain by Red Deer Club Recordings

Festival line-up update – 26 May 2011

Artist News Festival Line-Up Update Gigs & Festivals

HOP FARM MUSIC FESTIVAL, Hop Farm Country Park, Paddock Wood, Kent, 1-2 Jul: Tinie Tempah and Imelda May lead the acts freshly confirmed for what is officially known as ‘Prince day’ at this star-studded Kentish bash. Tinie’s mate Labrinth, Dutch Uncles, Tall Ships and makeup-touting girl band Parade comprise the remainder of the recent bookings. Across the weekend, The Eagles and Morrissey are to co-headline with the aforementioned Prince, while other performers thus far approved include Lou Reed, Death Cab For Cutie, The Human League and Gang Of Four. www.hopfarmfestival.com/home.aspx

INDIETRACKS, Midland Railway Centre, Ripley, Derbyshire, 29-31 Jul: Bringing something different to this picturesque Derbyshire fest are cult outfit Herman Dune and Brooklyn post-punks Crystal Stilts. Bands booked so far include Edwyn Collins, The Hidden Cameras, The History Of Apple Pie, Pocketbooks and Jeffrey Lewis. Sadly, Ringo Deathstarr will no longer be appearing. www.indietracks.co.uk

LATITUDE, Henham Park Estate, Suffolk, 14-17 Jul: Joining the lengthy list of bands already set to perform at this year’s Latitude are Oh Land, James Vincent McMorrow, Fool’s Gold and The Head And The Heart. Previously confirmed to top the bill are The National, Paolo Nutini and Suede, with secondary headliners being Bombay Bicycle Club, Foals and Eels. www.latitudefestival.co.uk

SUMMER SUNDAE WEEKENDER, De Montfort Hall, Leicester, 12-14 Aug: Newly announced special guests Warpaint will join the likes of The Maccabees, Graham Coxon, Young Knives and Toots & The Maytals on the existing bill. Other recent additions include Fenech Soler, Polarsets and Citizen Smith. www.summersundae.com/

TRUCK, Hill Farm, Steventon, Oxfordshire, 22-24 Aug: Amongst those acts further swelling the fulsome Truck roster are Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Heidi Talbot, Kris Drever and Katy Rose & the Cavalry Parade. Returning festival favourites NonClassical, recorder quintet Consortium 5, and Juice Vocal Ensemble will grace the Wood Stage, providing company for such previous announcees as Gruff Rhys, Bellowhead, Graham Coxon, Saint Etienne and Johnny Flynn. www.thisistruck.com

Live Review: Queens Of The Stone Age at the Roundhouse in London on 17 May

Live Reviews

To hear the recently resurfaced Queens Of The Stone Age debut album performed in its entirety live was a treat in itself, but we all knew from the beginning that there would be more. As soon as ‘Regular John’ kicked off, there was a definite sense of anticipation and hope. After all, ‘Queens Of The Stone Age’ clocks in at just over forty-five minutes, and QOTSA are scheduled in for a two hour set. Surely Josh and his bandmates couldn’t fill an hour and a quarter with banter?

Banter is had, of course, between the bass-heavy riff-ripping album that produced such stellars as ‘Mexicola’ and ‘I Was A Teenage Hand Model’. It’s Josh’s 38th birthday tonight. Cards are passed up to the stage and Josh reads them off between songs, and, just as predicted, requests begin to be played towards the end.

I don’t normally like to moan about venues, but if you’re a short fry like me, you really aren’t going to see anything at the Roundhouse unless you’re right at the front or upstairs. This would normally spoil my evening, and I almost let it – for about two minutes. After the initial discomfort, everyone seemed to loosen up and there was a genuine sense of camaraderie amongst the fans, reflected by the attitude onstage. Another personal note of squee-age: Troy Van Leeuwen is pretty much on top form tonight; he and Josh really do work beautifully side by side.

Note perfect and heavy as hell, ‘Queens Of The Stone Age’ is run to the end, bonuses played and requests filled, such as the more recent ‘Little Sister’ (I’m a sucker for that cowbell), ‘Monsters In The Parasol’ and ‘Make It Wit Chu’. Everything here is for the fans, and that’s what makes this gig so bloody special. We’re all part of the Queens family.

So guys, my only question is, when are we getting together again to get to hear ‘Rated R’? TW

Sean Parker optimistic about the music business’s future

Business News Industry People Labels & Publishers

It’s alright everybody, Sean Parker, you know, Sean, co-founder of Napster, Spotify millionaire, involved in one of the unsuccessful bids to buy Warner Music (you’re not going to make me say “played by Justin Timberlake in ‘The Social Network'” are you?) reckons the record industry is “on the verge of being fixed”. Hurrah! OK, what shall we worry about now?

Interestingly Parker’s optimism isn’t really based on the direct-to-fan phenomenon, and its potential to allow even niche artists to build and directly control viable businesses by selling basic content, premium packages and other services to a pre-identified fanbase; rather Parker reckons we are about to see a resurgence in the value of back catalogue as licensed probably subscription-based (directly or via ISP and mobile fees) digital services – Spotify style – come of age.

According to the FT, Parker told the e-G8 conference in Paris: “I think that there is a pretty dramatic change in the way music is monetised that is on the cusp of happening. Back catalogues of record labels are going to become extremely valuable. If you believe this transformation is occurring, if you believe the broken distribution systems are on the verge of being fixed, those recordings are dramatically undervalued”.

He continued: “In the last ten years we have presided over the greatest destruction in value in the history of the music industry. Assuming we can stabilise things and restore growth, it shouldn’t be that difficult to preside over the greatest increase in value in the history of the recorded music industry”.

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