Wednesday 29 June 2011, 12:07 | By CMU Editorial

Universal does Real deal with Diane Warren

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

Veteran pop songwriter Diane Warren has entered into a new deal with Universal Music, which will see the major’s publishing division administer the songwriter’s Realsongs catalogue outside of the US, while she provides A&R consultancy to some of the artists signed to Universal’s record labels.

Confirming the new deal, Universal top man Lucian Grainge told reporters: “This is a milestone event for UMG as Diane is one of the finest songwriters of her generation, and certainly one of the most commercially successful. On the recorded music side, she will now become UMG’s ‘go-to-creative’ person – available to our labels and artists around the globe to write songs that will help to fully realise their potential. It’s a win-win for everyone”.

Warren herself added: “I’m excited to be joining Lucian and the entire UMG team. This is an incredible opportunity to have my songs handled by the world’s leading publishing company, with an aggressive and proven team that will ensure our creative efforts are maximised. And at the same time, being given a unique platform that will provide special access to working with UMG’s recording artists on a global basis”.

The Drums tease second album

Releases

The Drums have posted a new video online to tease their new album. The trailer shows grainy footage of the band in the studio, as well as water, a city, a crucifix, and fire. The word ‘portamento’ is also flashed up on screen twice and soundtracking the whole thing is some instrumental synth-based music.

From this video, I think we can safely assume that the album will be composed of electro-gospel reworkings of Earth, Wind & Fire songs. OK, that means I’m taking water to represent wind. Though the fire does look like it might be blowing in the wind, so maybe water denotes that the album was recorded under water, possibly in Atlantis. Well, if at least 90% of what I just said isn’t spot on, I will be very surprised indeed.

See the video for yourself here:

Throwing Muses to release 25th anniversary compilation

Releases

To mark the 25th anniversary of the release of their debut album, ‘Untitled’, Throwing Muses have announced that they will release their first ever compilation. Entitled ‘Anthology’ and compiled by the band’s current line-up – frontwoman Kristin Hersh, drummer David Narcizo, and bassist Bernard Georges – the 43 track collection will be released by 4AD on 5 Sep. Spread across two discs, the first pulls together most of their singles, while the second features b-sides and rarities.

Announcing the release, Hersh said: “[‘Anthology’ is] beautiful and substantial, thanks to awesome [design by] David Narcizo – a chunky, 28 page hardcover booklet and two CDs – one CD consisting of a hand-selected retrospective track-list by Kristin, David and Bernard, and on the other the collected b-sides, including the original [1987 compilation of 4AD artists] ‘Lonely Is An Eyesore’ version of ‘Fish’, the long-lost ‘Hillbilly’ and the original version of ‘Back Road (Matter Of Degrees)’. And yes, the release will be supported by Throwing Muses live dates”.

Here’s the full tracklisting for you:

Disc One:
Garoux Des Larmes
Finished
A Feeling
Marriage Tree
Fish
Hate My Way
No Way In Hell
Colder
Tar Kissers
Mr Bones
Limbo
Summer St
Furious
Bright Yellow Gun
Pretty Or Not
Flying
You Cage
Two Step
Vicky’s Box
Mania
Cry Baby Cry

Disc Two:
Hillbilly
Same Sun
Amazing Grace
Cottonmouth
Cry Baby Cry
Manic Depression
Snailhead
City Of The Dead
Jak
Ride Into The Sun
Handsome Woman
Like A Dog
Crayon Sun
Red Eyes
Tar Moochers
Serene Swing
Limbobo
If
Heel Toe
Take (Live)
Finished (Live)
Back Road (Matter Of Degrees)

Alex Metric announces remix compilation

Releases

Alex Metric has announced that he will release a compilation of some of his very fine remixes, plus a few of his other productions, in August. Entitled ‘Open Your Eyes, the release will also feature a new track with Charli XCX on vocals, ‘End Of The World’. It’ll be available from 1 Aug.

‘End Of The World’, Metric explains, was originally intended for Charli XCX’s own album, but after it was completed he “wrestled it back off her”. He says: “It’s quite a sad song, not a club record at all. It’s like nothing I’ve done before”. Stream it below.

Here’s the tracklist:

Phoenix – Lisztomania (Alex Metric Remix)
Gorillaz feat Mos Def & Bobby Womack – Stylo (Alex Metric Remix)
Alex Metric & Steve Angello feat Ian Brown – Open Your Eyes (Style Of Eye Remix)
N.E.R.D. – Hypnotize U (Alex Metric Remix)
Fenech-Soler – Lies (Alex Metric Remix)
Bloc Party – One More Chance (Alex Metric Remix)
Ellie Goulding – Salt Skin (Alex Metric Remix)
La Roux – Quicksand (Alex Metric Remix)
Alex Metric & Steve Angello – Open Your Eyes
Beastie Boys – Sabotage (Alex Metric Re-Edit)
Niki & The Dove – Mother Protect (Alex Metric Remix)
Infadels – Black Sky (Produced by Alex Metric)
Depeche Mode – Personal Jesus (Alex Metric Remix)
Alex Metric feat Charli XCX – End Of The World

Festival line-up update – 29 Jun 2011

Artist News Festival Line-Up Update Gigs & Festivals

FESTIBELLY, Lymington, The New Forest, Hampshire, 27 Aug: Coming back stronger than ever for its third edition, this Hampshire-bashed grassroots bash will see performances from acts including Man Like Me, Ghostpoet, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, She Keeps Bees, TEED, Lulu And The Lampshades and Drums Of Death. www.festibelly.com

READING FESTIVAL, Richfield Avenue, Reading, Berkshire, 26-28 Aug: Amongst those acts newly added to the Reading Festival bill (and the Leeds-based leg, too) are Dry The River, Johnny Flynn and Pete & The Pirates, all of whom will appear on the Alternative Stage. Recent confirmations for the Festival Republic stage include Tom Vek, Anna Calvi, Ed Sheeran and Rival Schools. The existing roster for the twin festivals features the likes of The Strokes, The National, My Chemical Romance, Interpol and Elbow. www.readingfestival.co.uk

SOUNDWAVES, Various Venues, Brighton, 14-17 Jul: Fusing together a multi-faceted programme of events, exhibitions and experiences, this Brighton-based culture fest will play host to David Thomas, frontman of alt-rock outfit Pere Ubu, Chicks On Speed’s Anat Ben-Davis, audio-visual innovator Scanner and improvisatory electronic act Gazelle Twin. arts.brighton.ac.uk/soundwaves

Live Review: Yo La Tengo at Royal Festival Hall in London on 12 Jun

Live Reviews

I won’t lie, it’s a little frustrating to watch one of your favourite bands on stage in front of you playing an entire set of songs that just don’t know. But for the first part of tonight, Yo La Tengo aren’t Yo La Tengo, they’re the Condo Fucks – a garage-rock band playing covers from The Kinks, The Troggs, Slade and The Small Faces, among others. A few nights ago, in Oxford, they were Dump – bassist James McNew’s lo-fi solo project. Tomorrow, the band might just play songs beginning with the letter S.

The culprit is a wheel-of-fortune that the band has been using on their most recent tour, which they’ve dubbed ‘Reinventing The Wheel’. Instead of a support act, a wheel gets spun at the start of each show to determine exactly what kind of set the band will initially perform. You might get the Condo Fucks, you might get a Q&A session interspersed with songs. If you’re particularly lucky, the band and crew might dispense with music entirely and re-enact an episode of a late 90s US sitcom. But tonight it’s the Condo Fucks, and – once you’re three songs in and the joke has worn off – it’s dull. And frustrating.

Thankfully, for the band’s second set they return to safer territory. There’s acres of material in Yo La Tengo’s 27 year history, and we get a smattering of all of it in the main set, from the beautiful, lighter-than-a-feather, opening of ‘Night Falls On Hoboken’ to the ten-minute feedback-infused ‘Pass The Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind’. It’s clear that Ira Kaplan loves indulging his noisier side, but cramming two extended guitar freakouts into a ten song set does try the audience’s patience a little. Normally seen as a crowd-pleaser, ‘Autumn Sweater’, as the first song in the encore, falls surprisingly flat, too.

But thankfully, over 27 years a band learns enough about stagecraft to win an audience over if they begin to drift, so there’s plenty of charm sprinkled about the set. ‘Big Day Coming’ is note-perfect, and ‘Cherry Chapstick’ punches in all the right places. You never quite know what you’re going to get from a set from Yo La Tengo, and tonight was no exception. But despite a few dips, I still left happy. DG

Vince Power company arrives on AIM

Business News Live Business

Vince Power’s music festivals company officially arrived on London’s Alternative Investment Market this week.

As previously reported, the Mean Fiddler founder, who returned to the UK live music industry after non-compete obligations to his former company were fulfilled, announced earlier this year that he would be floating his new music business, which, among other things, promotes the Benicassim and Hop Farm festivals.

The flotation raised £6.5 million, which Power intends to use to buy the rights to more music events. According to The Independent, shares in Music Festivals plc slipped slightly on first day of trading to 66.5p.

Power said Music Festivals plc is the first publicly quoted pure music festivals business, and that its flotation would “give everyone the chance to own a part of the thriving live music industry”.

80 Hertz Studios launches in new home today

Business News Labels & Publishers

As previously reported, George Atkins’ 80 Hertz Studios in Manchester has been preparing to move to a new state-of-the-art home, within a new creative industries complex in the city called the Sharp Project, since last year. The official opening of that new studio will take place today.

Designed by producer Atkins and esteemed dubbing mixer John ‘Fingers’ Wood, the new ambitious two storey facility will include a six meter high live room which will be used for recording, mixing, mastering, music composition and post-production work.

Artists who have worked with Atkins at his studio in its original location, which opened in 2005, include Lily Allen, on her debut album, ‘Alright, Still’, Wiley, The Twang, plus the CMU Approved Stealing Sheep and Paul Thomas Saunders.

New European management agency opens

Business News Management & Funding

Projekta, a new management agency with bases in three European countries, has been officially launched this week.

The company is founded by John Rogers, owner of London-based record label Brainlove, Vasilis Panagiotopoulos, a Brussels-based manager and publicist, and Reykjavik-based Hildur Maral, who sits on the Iceland Airwaves advisory board and works at the Bedroom Community record label.

The agency will represent artists who already work with the individual founders, such as Rökkurró and Napoleon IIIrd as well as new signings. Their first new signing under the Projekta name is Apparat Organ Quartet, which features acclaimed composer Jóhann Jóhannsson.

More information here.

David Gray releases live album via Groupon

Digital

David Gray has made his new live album available via discounts website Groupon in the US, offering a digital download of ‘Lost & Found: Live In Dublin” for $6, compared to what the artist and his label claim would be the retail price of $13. The digital release is exclusive to Groupon, though a physical release is planned by Downtown Records later this year.

Commenting on the Groupon release, Gray told reporters: “These shows have been so precious to me, it only seemed like a shame that more people wouldn’t get to see them. But now, thanks to the magic of technology, exactly that is possible, and at just the click of a digital switch”.

It’s not Groupon’s first dabbling with music releases, they made the digital version of Rihanna’s album ‘Loud’ available for $5 in the US. The partnership with Rihanna included the discounts website giving a big push to the new record, though some have questioned just how successful the partnership really was for the songstress.

Some reports suggested the Gray album was only available via Groupon for 24 hours, ie yesterday, though the site currently says there are two and half more days to take advantage, while the small print of the offer says it is valid until 2 Nov. As I write, 1140 people have bought the record.

MySpace could be sold this week

Digital

Word has it two big things will happen at MySpace this week. First, the digital company will lay off another 150 employees on Wednesday, about a third of their remaining work force. Then on Thursday owner News Corp will sell the flagging web firm, which it has been trying to offload for some time.

According to AllThingsD, two potential buyers have been involved in the final stages of talks – Specific Media and Golden Gate Capital – both of whom are reportedly interested primarily in the MySpace Music side of things.

Gossipers say News Corp will get between $20 million and $30 million for the one time king of social networking, somewhat less than the $100 million they hoped for, and the $580 million they paid for it in 2005.

In sort of related news, Google has unveiled its latest attempt to enter the social media space, a new platform in beta testing stage called Google+. It sounds overly complicated, though some commentators have responded positively to demos.

We7 expands GMG partnership

Digital Media

The Guardian’s radio company GMG Radio has put playlists onto digital music platform We7 for each of its radio station brands – Real, Smooth and Rock Radio – which it hopes will give a ‘flavour’ of the music each radio franchise plays. The move extends an existing relationship between We7 and GMG Radio – the digital music platform already carrying news content from Real.

Announcing the new playlists, GMG Radio’s Jonathan Gillespie told reporters: “This deal provides another great way for consumers to sample our brands. Around 5.2 million people listen to radio online each week and this deal makes our three brands available on a key platform where users are engaging with a wide variety of music genres”.

Meanwhile We7 boss Steve Purdham added: “The power of great radio stations such as Smooth is its music ‘DNA’ and its personalities. Digital solutions have a long way to go to deliver that heritage. But digital radio is much more than just broadcasting what is being played now, with personalisation and portability becoming important. This is why we feel giving access to the We7 digital radio platform means digital audiences get the best of all worlds, the convenience of cloud based music access and the passion of music from people who understand what audiences like”.

In related news, We7 begins its expansion into mainland Europe today, starting in Belgium. Well, why not? The digital music company recently announced a new round of investment to fund European roll out.

Japanese girl group star doesn’t really exist

And Finally

A recent addition to a Japanese pop franchise called AKB48 was all binary code, it turns out.

AKB48 is a mega girl group enterprise whose members release records, star in TV and stage shows, and even have their own theatre in Tokyo. There are 58 girls involved in total, with different line-ups appearing for different activities.

Eguchi Aimi is the latest recruit to the group, but it was revealed this week she is actually a digital creation taking features from the faces of six other AKB48 members. The group has released a video showing how the digital bandmate was created, as well as releasing an app that lets fans create their own fake pop stars.

See the vid, if you’re interested:

Q&A: London Elektricity

Artist Interviews

Drum n bass tastemaker and acid jazz aficionado London Elektricity, also known as Hospital Records CEO Tony Colman, made his studio debut with ‘Pull The Plug’ in 1999, at the time partnering under the LE banner with fellow DJ and Hospital co-founder Chris Goss. When Goss departed to concentrate on his label duties prior to the release of 2003 LP ‘Billion Dollar Gravy’, Colman went on to tour with a band comprising the likes of soul legend Diane Carroll, vocalist MC Wrec and drummer Landslide, all of whom had featured as session singers and musicians on the first two records.

Though the group ceased to tour and record together after two subsequent long players and a live album, Tony continued to carry the London Elektricity mantle as a solo act, previewing tracks from 2008’s ‘Syncopated’ on his award-winning and ever-popular Hospital podcast. Now poised to unveil latest disc ‘Yikes!’ as part of a sold-out release show at Brixton’s O2 Academy on 22 Apr, which will also serve to celebrate Hospital Records’ fifteenth anniversary, we approached Tony to pose our Same Six Questions.

Q1 How did you start out making music?
When I was five I used to play with my mum’s real to real tape recorder, recording Top Of The Pops and then singing over the top. I soon learned how to put the tape on backwards and do edits using the pause button. This was another world to me, and it led directly to a lifelong obsession with building new musical worlds on tape, or these days, of course, on hard drives. Music is alchemy – you start with almost nothing and sometimes you end up with precious metal. Unless of course you make music using other people’s music, in which case it’s less like being an alchemist and more like being a furniture restorer.

Q2 What inspired your latest album?
For some reason ‘Yikes!’ is all about guitar and piano in a (loosely) drum and bass framework. I really let myself go with these instruments. It’s taken me thirteen albums to feel fully confident as a producer I suppose – guitar and piano were my first instruments as a child, but I’ve always held back from using them much in my electronic music production. The other main inspiration was Elsa Esmarelda’s voice, which is sublime, and songwriting with her, which was a joyful process.

Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
Each tune has a different starting point. Sometimes it could be a completed song around which I build the sonic structure, but sometimes a tune will start from a drum break I’ve made that really excites me, and the whole track builds from there. I make it a rule to never take the same path twice, and every album I make is preceded by a year of building block construction; I make new drum, bass, atmospheric and loop libraries before I even start on the album. This ensures I have a totally fresh sonic arsenal to draw from. I am paranoid to the point of obsession about not repeating myself.

Q4 Which artists influence your work?
Arvo Part, Kraftwerk, Todd Rundgren, Quincy Jones, Gil Evans, Ennio Moriccone, Led Zep, Steroelab… an endless list, really.

Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Go for a long drive!

Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
Selling billions with no file sharing?! Haha. I’m realistic and as long as my wife and kids like it I’m happy – they had to live with me making the thing for eighteen months in the top bedroom! For the future, well my label Hospital Records is fifteen years old, as is London Elektricity, so I would love for there to be another brilliant fifteen years for both my artist project and my label!

MORE>> www.londonelektricity.com

Approved: Plans & Apologies

CMU Approved

Brilliant indie-pop craftsmen Plans & Apologies played their final show in October 2008, and with the release of their second album, ‘The Bassett Hound And The Icy Ground’, bowed out of the music game after seven years together. The following January, a message was posted on their website by frontman David Williams saying that they would record a third album, “because a) we’d half learned it already and b) it’s my favourite thing we’ve done since we started”. But nothing ever materialised.

But then last month, the band announced that they would reform for one night only to headline Pennyfest, a gig to raise money for Systemic Sclerosis charity Penny’s Fund. That gig duly happened on Sunday and seems to have been a resounding success. Then, on Monday, that third album, entitled ‘Soz’, appeared on Bandcamp. It may have taken two and a half years, but it is indeed worth the wait, with ‘Nick Drake Part II’, ‘Single Life’ and ‘Pissbook’ particular standout tracks. All proceeds from sales of the album will be donated to Penny’s Fund.

Movie industry to ask court to force BT to block infringing index

Digital Legal Top Stories

The UK movie industry will today go to the High Court in London in a bid to try and force BT to stop its internet customers from accessing Newzbin2, a Usenet indexer which the film industry says helps web users access vast amounts of unlicensed movie content. It’s something of a test case, and if the film companies are successful could open the doors for more claims by content owners for injunctions forcing ISPs to block access to websites that enable copyright infringement.

This is not the UK movie industry’s first legal assault on Newzbin. Last year a judge ruled that the Usenet index service was liable for copyright infringement for providing access to large quantities of unlicensed movies stored elsewhere on the internet. In their defence, the operators of Newzbin used the standard excuses: that their service had legitimate uses, that they didn’t host any unlicensed content on their own servers, that they didn’t promote that their service be used for illegal content distribution, and that they weren’t aware that there were vast amounts of unlicensed films linked to via their index.

The judge hearing the case didn’t buy those arguments, and ordered Newzbin to remove any links to movies represented by the plaintiffs from their site. The judge did not, however, instigate a wider ban of the Newzbin service. Nevertheless, the company that ran the index went into administration and the service went temporarily offline, but then resurfaced a few months later as Newzbin2, seemingly run out of Sweden.

The Newzbin case was interesting in that it tested, under English law, the liability for copyright infringement of websites and internet services that simply provide links to other servers where infringing content is stored – ie they don’t host unlicensed content themselves. Of course, that issue has been at the heart of all the big lawsuits against the providers of P2P software or BitTorrent search services, and in most jurisdictions liability has been found, though the British music industry has never pursued any such case in the English courts.

When they go to court today, the Motion Picture Association will presumably claim that Newzbin continues to provide links to unlicensed movies, despite last year’s court ruling, and that given the service is now operating from outside the UK it is difficult to target the index directly, so the next best thing the law can do is to force internet service providers to block access to the Newzbin URL.

Such domain blocking already happens in criminal scenarios, and in some jurisdictions injunctions have been given by the courts ordering net firms to block access to copyright infringing websites like The Pirate Bay, but not in the UK. An entire section of the Digital Economy Act proposed a fast track injunctions system whereby content owners could target websites that infringe copyrights, or provide links to unlicensed content, but a last minute clause inserted in the DEA put that proposal on indefinite hold pending the launch of the three-strikes system against individual file-sharers, and further parliamentary debate.

Culture minister Ed Vaizey is currently looking into a possibly voluntary web blocking system, where ISPs would voluntarily block access to copyright infringing sites. The problem, of course, is who decides what constitutes a copyright infringing website, when legitimate search engines like Google routinely provide links to unlicensed content.

It remains to be seen whether the MPA succeeds in getting its injunction against BT and Newzbin under existing UK copyright law. If they do, the music companies might be tempted to try similar action against any file-sharing sites that still get them all hot and bothered.

HMV sells Canadian stores

Business News Deals HMV Timeline Retail Top Stories

HMV has sold its Canadian business to a division of restructuring specialists Hilco for £2 million. The money will be used to reduce debt levels.

The entertainment retailer began accepting offers for both its Waterstones and Canadian businesses earlier this year as it looked to raise some quick cash to help in its negotiations with its banks to restructure debts. Of course, Waterstones was sold to Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut in May, while a debt restructuring deal was confirmed earlier this month.

HMV CEO Simon Fox confirmed the sale yesterday, telling reporters: “The board has fully explored the options available to it for HMV Canada, and believes that a sale to Hilco is the correct decision for the business at this time, whilst reducing the operating leverage in the continuing Group. Having received shareholder approval for the disposal of Waterstones, and with a refinancing in place, the Group is focusing on clear and tightly defined plans for transforming HMV into a broad-based entertainment business”.

As Fox just said there, the aforementioned Waterstones deal was approved by HMV shareholders last week and is due to be finalised later today.

Lady Gaga sued over Japan relief wristbands

Legal

Earlier this year Lady Gaga had some wristbands made up, which she sold to fans to raise money for the ongoing post-tsunami relief effort in Japan. Which was nice of her. Except, according to claims made in a new lawsuit, she was overcharging for postage and keeping profits from the overcharge for herself. Which, if true, just proves what we’ve always suspected: that Lady Gaga is a seasoned eBay user.

The legal documents filed on Friday by the totally legitimate-sounding law firm 1-800-LAW-FIRM names Gaga and one of her affiliate companies as defendants, and calls for $5 million in damages and compensation for people who bought wristbands. The firm intends to then donate all the money to the Japan relief fund, which is very noble and makes me feel a bit guilty for mocking their name. It’s not the most serious-sounding name for a law firm though, you have to admit.

Anyway, Alyson Oliver, a partner at 1-800-LAW-FIRM, said in a statement: “While we commend Lady Gaga for her philanthropic efforts, we want to ensure that claims that ‘all proceeds will be donated to Japan’s earthquake relief efforts’ are in fact true. Our intention with this lawsuit is to uncover any improprieties committed by Lady Gaga and appropriate the full donations assumed to the victims in Japan”.

EMI lawyers still confident over MP3tunes case

Legal

MP3tunes.com

Lawyers for EMI are confident the major record company will win their long running lawsuit against Michael Robertson with regards his digital locker service MP3tunes.com, according to Grokster founder Wayne Rosso, writing on The Music Void.

As much previously reported, MP3tunes.com was one of the first music-based digital lockers to reach market, and legal action from EMI quickly followed. Robertson, who, as founder of the original MP3.com is used to fighting record companies, insists his service does not require a licence from the record companies and music publishers, whereas EMI says that without such a licence MP3tunes.com is committing copyright infringement by storing copies of its customer’s music on their servers.

Of course, that’s an increasingly familiar debate, since Amazon and Google likewise launched music-focused digital lockers without any licenses from the music companies earlier this year. Rosso’s sources say a resolution on EMI v MP3tunes could come within the next few months, which could have a bearing on the roll out of the Amazon and Google lockers.

Rosso points out that if EMI loses this legal action it will give the two web giants’ services a definite boost, though if EMI wins it doesn’t necessarily mean legal papers will immediately be filed against Amazon and Google, rather the record companies will have a stronger case for forcing the web firms to agree to licensing deals and sizable upfront advances.

That said, some legal experts reckon there is enough difference between the MP3tunes.com service and the very simplistic music lockers currently offered by Amazon and Google for the big web players to dismiss any ruling against MP3tunes.com as not being relevant to them.

Either way, all parties will continue to watch EMI v MP3tunes.com very carefully. If Rosso’s sources are right and we get a late summer resolution on it, the timing will be very apt, given Amazon, Google and Apple – the latter operating a licensed (by the majors in the US at least) locker – will all presumably be planning big pushes of their respective music storage services in the autumn and the run up to Christmas.

Ten million digital albums sold so far this year

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers

Ten million digital albums have been sold in the UK already this year, at the same point in 2010 only 7.1 million had been legitimately downloaded, demonstrating that the album format is truly taking off in the digital domain, which was initially very much a singles market. That said, nearly 80% of British album sales are still on CD, showing that that format is far from dead when it comes to long players.

Now, you might be thinking, how the hell do we know this? Well, little do you know, we have a direct line to the very heart of the music industry’s big fat counting machine, aka The Official Charts Company. Well, they send us press releases. Although only 22% of album sales so far this year have been digital, the digital-to-physical ratio is moving towards the former year on year, last year 17.5% of albums sold were digital, while in 2008 only 7.7% were.

Commenting on this tiny little package of sales stats, Official Charts Company counter-in-chief Martin Talbot told CMU: “These figures amount to 59,000 digital albums a day on average this year, compared to 42,000 in the first six months of 2010. By the end of last year, 16.7 million digital albums had been sold in the UK; at that rate, the market total should soar beyond 20 million sales by the end of this year. It is also true, however, that we should prepare for digital albums to co-exist with physical albums for some time to come. With digital accounting for just 22% of all albums sold, CD continues to be the mass market favourite. At this stage in the life-cycle of the digital single, physical sales had declined to less than 10%. In comparison, the CD album will be around for plenty of time to come”.

Now, as a special treat for reading that very long quote in its entirety, here’s a list of the five best selling digital albums so far this year.

1. Adele – 21 (Beggars/XL)
2. Rihanna – Loud (Universal/Mercury)
3. Bruno Mars – Doo-Wops & Hooligans (Warner/Atlantic)
4. Jessie J – Who You Are (Universal Island)
5. Chase & Status – No More Idols (Universal/Mercury)

Elbow lead Glasto sales boost list

Business News Labels & Publishers Live Business

More sales stats? You bet. And while these ‘increase in record sales as a result of some big event’ stats are generally a little flawed – yes Elbow saw a massive 1751% increase in the sales of their ‘Build A Rocket Boys’ album during Glastonbury weekend, but that’s probably because they only sold two copies the previous week – but hey, they’re fun anyway.

And, indeed, at least according to HMV’s stats, Elbow were the band on the Glasto line up who saw the biggest increase in album sales over the weekend during which the uber-fest dominated our BBC screens and mainstream news media. Next were Mumford and Sons (775%), Plan B (525%), Coldplay (411%) and Biffy Clyro (396%). It’s too soon to see the impact Zane Lowe’s enthusiastic endorsement of Beyonce will have on her record sales – coming, as it did, right at the end of the weekend – but I am sure it will be huge.

Anyway, here’s HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo saying words: “With its near-saturation coverage, Glastonbury is now at the very heart of our popular culture and hard to miss, which is also reflected in pronounced increases in album sales of the featured artists, who increasingly plan their own campaigns around the festival. Coldplay are now nicely set up for their forthcoming album after their memorable show, while Beyonce’s new release this week is bound to fly following her spectacular festival-closing performance”.

Amazon has also published similar stats, putting Janelle Monáe top with an increase in sales of 4928%. As noted above, this doesn’t really give a clear picture of how many copies were actually sold, but an increased interest in her brilliant debut album, ‘The ArchAndroid’ has to be a good thing. Was her Glastonbury set really that impressive? Oh yes it was:

Grohl reveals secret Nirvana reunion

Artist News

Former Nirvana members Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear (a Nirvana member for the band’s final tour and now a Foo Fighter with Grohl) recently played a Nirvana song together for the first time in nearly two decades, with only one other person there to see it, Grohl has revealed.

Novoselic had joined Grohl and Smear to rehearse for a planned guest appearance to perform a couple of Foo Fighters songs at a show in California earlier this year. Grohl told The Guardian: “Krist is on bass. Pat’s on guitar. I’m on drums. Krist says: ‘You wanna run through some oldies?’ Me and Pat look at each other. I mean, that’s something I’ve never considered before. I was, like [queasily]: ‘OK’. Krist says, ‘Fuck it, let’s do ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit”. And Pat starts playing, and we kick into it. I haven’t played that drum beat in seventeen years. It was crazy. It was like… a ghost. It was heavy. Our studio manager was the only guy there”.

Asked who provided the vocals, Grohl said: “Nobody sang”.

Grohl also revealed in the interview that he had considered leaving the music industry after Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins suffered a heroin overdose in 2001, having sat at his bedside for two weeks while he was in a coma. He said: “When Taylor wound up in hospital I was ready to quit music. Because, to me, it felt like music equalled death. I started praying. I’ve never been to church in my life, and I’m walking back from Taylor’s hospital to our hotel every night, praying out loud in the streets of London. I don’t even know if I believe in God. But I felt like, y’know, this is just not right, y’know, what kind of God would let this…”

Read the full interview here.

Kanye West’s GOOD Music joins Island Def Jam

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

Island Def Jam has signed a new deal with Kanye West which will make the rapper’s label GOOD Music an imprint of the Universal subsidiary. GOOD releases have previously had different distribution partners for each record. The first release under the new deal is Big Sean’s debut album, ‘Finally Famous’, which is out today in the US.

Announcing the deal, Barry Weiss, the Universal exec who oversees IDJ, told reporters: “GOOD Music is an exciting new chapter in the long and successful association of Kanye West and Island Def Jam. As a recording artist and a producer over the past eight years, there is no one who has made a greater impression on the game than Kanye. We look forward to working closely with the new and established artists that he will be bringing to GOOD Music, which is already off to an impressive start with Big Sean”.

West has been signed to IDJ for his own music since his debut album, ‘The College Dropout’.

Bieber hoping to work with himself on new album

Artist News

For someone so young, Justin Bieber has collaborated with an impressive range of artists. But for his next album, he’s hoping to work with himself. I think he meant in an emotional sense, but it’s funnier if we all pretend he meant he wants a solo collaboration. Bieber told MTV: “I want to work a lot with myself. And [I want to] write a lot myself. I will be working with a lot of other producers and stuff like that, but I’m just writing a lot, writing on tour”.

He added that he’s already got some ideas recorded, saying: “[I’m] writing about how I feel. I’ve been producing on my laptop and on my computer. I’ve been really into it and, hopefully, this next album will be huge. I’ve done a lot on my acoustic guitar, so it’s gonna have that vibe. I’m not gonna really limit myself. I think music is music, and genre – I mean, I know there’s country music, there’s rock music, but my music is different. My voice is not meant for any style. I just want to make music”.

We’d try to find the energy to mock that quote a bit, but look, Justin’s been mocking himself with a spoof of his recent vomit-inducing perfume ad (see that below). I do hope he hasn’t been advised to go the Justin Timberlake ‘mock yourself until people get bored of mocking you’ route, that’ll be no fun.

Matt Cardle preparing “anthemic” album

Artist News

Back in March, it was revealed that Cardle had signed a joint deal with Syco and Sony Music’s more rock-friendly label, Columbia, with a view to turning him into a credible rock act. And it sounds like he’s making a jolly good go of it.

Cardle told BBC Newsbeat: “My inspiration is everything I’ve ever listened to; Michael Jackson, Pearl Jam, Rage Against The Machine, Dave Matthews Band. There’s some anthemic stuff in there, there’s some very upbeat stuff, there’s some stripped back soulful stuff in there. It’s real”.

Did you hear that? It’s a real album. Not like those ones you buy and then find out are just a blank CD. I hate it when that happens. Said album is apparently due in September.

Mick Jagger unveils supergroup, SuperHeavy

Releases

Meet SuperHeavy, the very viable new supergroup comprised of grizzled rocker Mick Jagger, soul starlet Joss Stone, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ composer AR Rahman, Eurythmics man Dave Stewart and reggae singer Damien Marley.

The big-name band have announced plans to release an as-yet untitled debut album, with their first single ‘Miracle Worker’ due some time in September. Recorded in a number of studios around the world, the cross-cultural LP was produced by Jagger and Stewart, and will feature, amongst other eclectic things, The Rolling Stones helmsman singing in Urdu on an A R Rahman-devised track called ‘Satyameva Jayate’.

Get a brief introduction to the group via this clip, which comes complete with studio footage and snippets of all-new SuperHeavy songs including ‘Miracle Worker’.

Biffy Clyro release free live EP

Releases

To mark the release of their first live album, ‘Revolutions: Live At Wembley’, which was recorded live at Wembley Arena last December, Biffy Clyro are giving away two tracks from it as free downloads.

You can download ‘Mountains’ and ‘Bubbles’ here.

The band are also due to play live live (rather than recorded live) supporting Foo Fighters at both of their Milton Keynes Bowl shows this weekend.

Slow Club announce new album

Releases

Slow Club have announced that they will release their second album, ‘Paradise’, via Moshi Moshi on 12 Sep. The first single, ‘Two Cousins’, will be released on 25 Jul.

Handily, the duo’s rescheduled UK tour dates also begin on 12 Sep. The two and a half week jaunt was originally planned for May, but had to be postponed after singer Rebecca Taylor fell ill.

Reznor hires Fight Club writer for mini-series

Artist News

Trent Reznor’s previously reported mini-series based on Nine Inch Nails’ 2007 concept album ‘Year Zero’ is slowly getting closer to becoming a reality. The Hollywood Reporter reports that writer of the screenplay for the film version of ‘Fight Club’ – Kim Uhls – has been hired to write the show. The mini-series, and the album that spawned it, is set in a dystopian 2022 and is being funded as a co-production between HBO and BBC Worldwide.

The Roots announce London show

Gigs & Festivals

The Roots will perform at London’s Hammersmith Apollo on 19 Aug, it has been announced.

The band, who are currently working on their latest album, said in a statement: “London holds a very special places in our hearts. It was our home base from the summer of 1994 until the summer of 1995 and has proven to be a consistent source of inspiration both musically and socially across the years. We’ve missed the town profoundly and we’re really looking forward to what we think of as a homecoming”.

Tickets are on sale now.

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