Monday 30 January 2012, 12:10 | By CMU Editorial

Happy Mondays confirm reunion

Artist News

The Happy Mondays reunion is official, and a string of May dates have been announced.

Backing singer Rowetta Satchell was first to officially confirm that the original line up of the Happy Mondays – including both the Ryder brothers – will reunite this summer, telling the BBC this weekend: “We want to put on a really good show. We decided it would only be special, and work, if it was the total original line-up. We’re all really excited. They are my family these boys, I’ve really missed them and I’m sure they’ve missed each other”.

The most recent reunion of the Mondays, in 2004, was missing some of the original line up, with Paul Ryder having declared a few years earlier that he’d never perform with his brother Shaun again. But it seems Shaun Ryder and his manager have now successfully persuaded the rest of the original line up – plus Bez and Satchell (who weren’t actually there right from the start) – to join in with the latest reformation.

In an official statement this morning Shaun Ryder said: “We all met up last week and some of the lads haven’t seen each other in over ten, fifteen years. It’s as if we’ve never been apart – so good to all be in the same room again. We can’t wait now to get on tour and play the songs that made us famous”.

Rumours of a Mondays reunion circulated late last year, with them being heavily tipped as possible support for this year’s Stone Roses reunion shows, though as yet only the stand alone gigs have been confirmed, as follows:

3 May: Newcastle Academy
4 May: Glasgow Academy
5 May: Manchester Arena
6 May: Sheffield Academy
9 May: Bournemouth Academy
10 May: Brixton Academy
11 May: Brixton Academy
12 May: Birmingham Academy
15 May: Dublin Olympia
17 May: Leeds Academy
18 May: Nottingham Rock City

Lana Del Rey “proud” to reissue Lizzy Grant LP

Releases

Contentious US starlet Lana Del Rey has said she intends to reissue an album initially released in 2010 under her real name, Lizzy Grant, in “late summer”.

Recorded on a modest $10,000 budget (modest, when compared to the probable funds allocated to ‘Born To Die’, her debut as Del Rey) with producer David Kahne, the LP was only available on iTunes for two months upon its original release in 2010.

Speaking on the subject with the BBC, Del Rey says: “I had signed to an independent label but they couldn’t fund the release of it. People act like it’s so shrouded in mystery, the ‘forgotten terrible album’. But if you look on YouTube, all thirteen tracks are available with millions of views, so it’s not like no one’s heard them. We were all proud of it. It’s pretty good”.

X-Factor’s Marcus previews White Stripes cover

Releases

Currently confounding purist White Stripes fans is a ska-inspired cover of the duo’s 2003 track ‘Seven Nation Army’, as performed by whoop-prone ‘X-Factor’ graduate Marcus Collins.

The 23 year old former hairdresser, who signed to Sony’s RCA Records after finishing second to Little Mix in last year’s ‘X’ contest, is to release the redo as his debut solo single on 4 Mar.

The track will precede Collins’ eponymous album, due out the following week (12 Mar), which has been executive-produced by his one-time ‘X-Factor’ mentor Gary Barlow. The LP will also feature renditions of Janelle Monae’s ‘Tightrope’ and Jackie Wilson’s ‘Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher’.

Says Marcus: “I’ve always been a fan of the original version of ‘Seven Nation Army’ and hope people like my take on it. I’m so happy to be releasing my debut album. I’ve worked on my music every minute possible since I came out of the show and can’t wait for everyone to be able to hear it”.

You can preview the track – which, as ‘X-Factor’ exports go, sounds fairly inoffensive (unless you’re offended by inordinate whooping, or music deliberately tailored to suit an Olly Murs/Bruno Mars-type audience, that is) – here:

Slow Club announce tour

Gigs & Festivals

Charles Watson and Rebecca Taylor of indie-folk outfit Slow Club are no slouches, you know, despite what their moniker might connote. The London-based pair have just announced a fairly comprehensive live run to support their second album ‘Paradise’, which came out last year.

Due to headline an NME Awards Show date at London’s Heaven on 9 Feb, the duo’s live activity will begin in earnest in April, with said springtime tour running as later listed.

I should also mention that Slow Club will release a brand new version of their LP track ‘The Dog’ as a single on 26 Mar, and also that Charles once compiled a select CMU Playlist for us that you can listen to here.

Admin over, we at last reach those tour dates:

4 Apr: Glasgow, King Tut’s
5 Apr: Aberdeen, Lemon Tree
6 Apr: Stockton, Georgian Theatre
7 Apr: Wakefield, Hop
9 Apr: Manchester, Ruby Lounge
11 Apr: Hull, Fruit
13 Apr: Sheffield, Queens Social Club
14 Apr: Darlington, Inside Out
29 Apr: Portsmouth, Wedgewood Rooms
30 Apr: Southampton, Joiners
1 May: Exeter, Cavern
2 May: Brighton, Haunt
5 May: Cambridge, St Paul’s Church
6 May: Winchester, Railway Tavern
7 May: Reading, Sub89
8 May: Bristol, Fleece
9 May: Bath, Moles
10 May: Birmingham, Hare And Hounds

Festival line-up update – 30 Jan 2012

Artist News Festival Line-Up Update Gigs & Festivals

CAMP BESTIVAL, Lulworth Castle, Dorset, 26-29 Jul: First on the bill are Friday night headliners Hot Chip, who are freshly booked to play this familial fest alongside Rizzle Kicks, Little Dragon, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Spector and Stooshe. Frankie Rose, Dub Pistols, Scroobius Pip and Bellowhead are also amongst those taking up space on the sprawling line-up as it stands so far. www.campbestival.net

EXIT FESTIVAL, Petrovaradin Fortress, Serbia: Featuring highly amongst the first names summoned to perform at this Serbian stronghold are Luciano, Reboot and Detroit DJ Kenny Larkin. New Order are booked to top the bill, while Kuduro troupe Buraka Som Sistema are set to make a long overdue return, having first played Exit in 2007. www.exitfest.org

HEINKEN OPEN’ER, Gydnia, Poland, 4-7 Jul: Franz Ferdinand lead the latest acts confirmed to appear at this three-day Polish bash, with SBTRKT and native songstress Julia Marcell also added to an existing bill that features Björk, Justice and The xx. www.opener.pl/en

HEVY, Port Lympne Wild Animal Park, Kent, 3-6 Aug: Even with main stage headliners still pending announcement, a first confirmed raft of acts including Converge, Will Haven, Dead Havana, Set Your Goals, Protest The Hero and a reunited Verse provide more than enough to look forward to at this year’s Hevy. www.hevy.co.uk

OSFEST, Oswestry Showground, Shropshire, 1-4 Jun: Organisers have the honour of naming Razorlight as the first and only act so far announced to appear at Shropshire’s premier live happening, which for the first time this year will span a four-day programme. www.osfest.co.uk

RHYTHM FESTIVALS, Mansion House, Old Warden Park, Bedforshire, 24-26 Aug: Encompassing the triple musical threat of the Rhythm Festival, Rhythm Folk and Rhythm & Blues, latest line-up supplements include Scott Matthews, The Strawbs, World Of Arthur Brown and Eddie & The Hot Rods. www.rhythmfestival.com

SONISPHERE, Kalasatama, Helsinki, Finland, 4 Jun: Just confirmed as headliners, rock titans Metallica’s set will see the band play the ‘Black Album’ in full, while Machine Head, Amorphis, Gojira and Ghost make up the remainder of the existing bill. sonispherefestivals.com

SPLENDOUR, Wollaton Park, Nottingham, 21 Jul: Splendour begins celebrations for its fifth anniversary with news that Dizzee Rascal is due to headline the child-friendly music fete, with this year’s live programme also comprising the very well-behaved likes of Razorlight, Levellers and Katy B. www.splendourfestival.com

TOMORROWLAND, De Schorre National Park, Belgium, 27-29 Jul: Leona Lewis’s inspirational pal, Swedish superstar DJ Avicii, joins such previously announced dance maestros as David Guetta, Calvin Harris, Fatboy Slim, John Digweed, Alesso, Solomun and Carl Cox on the billing for this 180,000 capacity mega-fest. tomorrowland.be

WIRELESS FESTIVAL, Hyde Park, London, 6-8 Jul: Recent additions to a high-powered Wireless roster consist of Rizzle Kicks, US rapper J Cole, house producer Kaskade and Brit dubstep type Flux Pavilion. This varied lot join Rihanna, Calvin Harris, Jessie J and Labrinth. www.wirelessfestival.co.uk

MIDEM announcements: Essential, DigSin, Henley Biz School, Getty

Business News Deals Digital Education & Events Labels & Publishers

As is customary, many a music company announced new ventures and partnerships this weekend at the industry’s annual shindig in Cannes, MIDEM. Here’s a very quick summary of some them…

First up, London-based Essential Music & Marketing, the distribution and label services sister company of indie label Cooking Vinyl, announced a string of new deals. Artists-wise, Essential confirmed it would be providing label services in Europe to The Blue Nile’s Paul Buchanan, Grammy-nominated Betty Wright and power metal types DragonForce.

On the labels side, Essential announced new deals to distribute No Sleep Records and Lojinx releases in Europe, and Fierce Panda releases in the UK and Ireland. Essential will also handle physical distribution in Europe for some of the artist distributed in the US by The Orchard, who, although better known as digital music aggregators, do also provide more conventional distribution services in America.

Second, US digital music and media executive Jay Frank was in Cannes to put his previously reported new music venture DigSin live. This new company is basically a free digital singles club, which hopes to build up a membership of new music fans who will receive regular free tracks from new artists. Said artists will sign one track deals with DigSin, which will also make the track available via traditional download and streaming platforms, and look for brand partnership deals, which is presumably how it will make money. The main benefit to participating artists is the promotional benefits DigSin can offer.

With the first signing, NNXT, about to put its DigSin single out this week, the company said at MIDEM: “DigSin represents a departure from the usual record label model and will focus on single song releases from new artists all with an eye towards maximising the listening audience. DigSin is aggressively partnering with advertisers and other outlets to expose the music to as wide an audience as possible. A recently signed, multi-year deal with digital distributor INgrooves signals the label’s intent in this regard”.

Next, the Henley Business School threw a party this weekend to promote the new MBA for the Music Industry which it is launching with the backing of all sorts of music business luminaries, including Robin Gibb, David Arnold, Live Nation’s new European Concerts chief (and Warner’s former Europe boss) John Reid, Mission Control’s Richard Smith and BMI’s Fred Cannon.

Describing their new music business focused MBA course, the Henley Business School, a department of the University Of Reading, told reporters: “The business climate in the music industry has changed significantly in the global market place. New technologies and innovation have lead to strategic alliances with partners from other industries. The way in which the industry manages and monetises IP is important to the whole value-chain and will continue to be impacted by policy and regulation. As a result, industry professionals will benefit from an MBA by gaining the capabilities to develop more creative strategies to deal with these new challenges”.

And finally, Getty Images stepped up its music offering to media and ad industry clients by announcing Guestlist, which will offer music from higher profile artists for use in sync projects. Getty’s music library service already provides stock music, but the new service will mean recordings from featured artists will now also be available, albeit initially from a relatively small roster of acts in control of their own catalogues. Joss Stone, now a DIY artist since parting company with EMI, was the celebrity in tow for Getty’s MIDEM appearance.

And that’s enough MIDEM announcements for now, but some digitally focused news from Cannes is still to come. You lucky people you.

UK Music confirms Dipple as permanent CEO

Business News Industry People

Cross-industry trade body UK Music confirmed on Friday that Jo Dipple has been made the organisation’s Chief Executive on a permanent basis. Dipple has been acting CEO since the association’s founding chief Feargal Sharkey somewhat suddenly stood down back in November.

Dipple told CMU: “I am delighted to take on this role. The British music industry is an extraordinary cultural and economic force and I look forward to working with government and our members to ensure its continued dominance”.

UK Music Chairman Andy Heath added: “UK Music is now established as the representative voice of the UK’s commercial music industry. That voice is now at its most important as government looks to change the copyright framework that underpins our sector. The board is confident that Jo will excel in the months and years ahead”.

Kobalt appoints new president

Business News Industry People Labels & Publishers

Following the announcement last week that it was launching two new divisions – one offering label services and distribution, the other the administration of so called neighbouring rights – music publishing firm Kobalt announced the appointment of a new President on Friday, Richard Sanders, who will oversee the firm’s global operations.

Coming to Kobalt from Sony Music, and prior to that BMG, Sanders will also bring record industry expertise to a company that is busy expanding from its music publishing roots into the world of sound recording rights.

In the new role, Sanders will report to Kobalt CEO Willard Ahdritz, who told reporters: “As Kobalt enters this new phase of global expansion and rolls out next generation client services for our artists, labels and content owners, Richard will provide a recording rights DNA to Kobalt’s publishing service model. Richard has vast international experience and a uniquely successful track record of delivering both operational and creative results as well as managing both creative and executive talent”.

Sanders added: “I’m thrilled to be joining the entire Kobalt team and supporting Willard’s vision for the continued expansion of the company and the development of artist and label services. Throughout my career supporting the needs of the artist has always been my passion and focus, thus I am particularly excited to join Kobalt which continues to set new standards in transparency and carries a solid reputation as a client-friendly company designed to serve that same objective”.

Peermusic launches new 360 degree music firm in China

Business News Labels & Publishers

Another music publisher expanding into new domains now, this time both geographically and in terms of different strands of the music industry. Peermusic last week announced the launch of Shake Music, a new Beijing-based joint venture between Steven Frock – who has formerly worked for both Warner and Universal’s publishing companies in the Asian market – and Peermusic’s Hong Kong office.

Shake Music is described by its owners as “a 360 degree entertainment company with a broad business scope including artist development, music production and music publishing activities”, adding that the name ‘Shake’ “speaks to the company’s vision of exploring new ways to penetrate the ‘Wide Wild East’ through serving both the domestic and international music community”.

Commenting on the new venture, Peermusic CEO Ralph Peer told CMU: “China is a dynamic music market with considerable growth potential but local knowledge as well as flexibility are essential requirements to tap that potential. Thus we are excited to be working with Steven who has had many years of on the spot experience working in this challenging environment. Shake Music allows us to have a local foundation to work with Chinese composers as well as to serve our worldwide composers in this extraordinary and demanding market”.

Frock added: “This joint venture will allow us to leverage Peermusic’s extensive repertoire and talents to provide high quality music content and services for the music customers in China. I am excited about structuring the integration in the most effective and efficient way not only to meet the challenges of the current environment, but also to take full advantage of future opportunities in this emerging market through our capacity to market and administer overseas and domestic music copyright in China, as well as artist development, music production and event organisation”.

MIDEM digital announcements: OpenEMI, Webdoc, Coke

Digital

More from Cannes, and now some of the announcements made this weekend at MIDEM on the more digital side of the equation…

First up, a delegation of EMI execs were in town for their final trip to the industry’s winter junket before they all get fired by Lucian Grainge in September – sorry, I mean before they take on exciting new roles within the prestigious Universal Music Group. And Team EMI had an update on their rather enlightened OpenEMI initiative, something that we very much hope will survive Universal acquisition of the London-based major, should that takeover go ahead this summer.

As previously reported, OpenEMI – a partnership between the major and digital agency The Echo Nest – gives app developers access to big chunks of the music firm’s catalogue for testing purposes, and also offers licensing and marketing support to said app makers. Among the OpenEMI news to be revealed at MIDEM was the addition of more content to the venture’s library, including the entire Robbie Williams back catalogue. The major also revealed the winner of their previously reported five grand best app competition, which is a tappable remix thingimy featuring music that lovable hip hop duo Chiddy Bang.

Second up, Swiss web start-up Webdoc, which positions itself as being half way between social media and a blogging platform, and which has sharing and discussing video, audio and photo content at its heart (making it sort of like Tumblr, but a bit different), were in town to announce various new widgets, meaning users can add music content into their personal webdocs with the approval of said content’s owner, who get free promotion. Songkick, SoundCloud and Topspin widgets were among those being officially launched this weekend.

Thirdly and finally, and this is less of an announcement and more something that was implied (or possibly just inferred by delegates in the room), but Coke‘s Head Of Global Entertainment And Sports Marketing, Emmanuel Seuge, did indicate that some sort of Spotify partnership might be on the horizon. In a panel in which Seuge bigged up the role of both his own company and consumer brands in general in the music business of the future, the Coke exec said: “We’re very intrigued by the business model of Spotify – and very interested in a strategic partnership with them”. That was as far as he went, though everyone now seems to think talks of some kind between the drinks firm and the streaming platform are already underway.

Ting Tings would soil shoes before writing hits

And Finally

The Ting Tings are uncompromising. They won’t dilute their art for anyone, and won’t play the music industry game. This is typified by their decision to delete an album’s worth of work because their label liked it, and to put a video up on YouTube before they were supposed to. And they won’t write any songs that could possibly be played after another by David Guetta on the radio.

“[We’d] rather write songs that nobody’s gonna hear than write dance tracks that would fit on the radio after David Guetta. [I] would rather puke on my feet”, singer Katie White told the Guardian Guide this weekend. She continued: “It would have been so easy to quickly bash out any old shit off the back of the first album. Get it on the radio, have a cheap nasty hit. And we didn’t want to do that”.

Despite this, the new album is apparently a mix of chart pop and dance, which does sounds like the sort of thing Radio 1 might play alongside Guetta.

Read the full interview for more tales of how terribly uncompromising The Ting Tings are here.

Editor’s Letter: The Great Escape is coming. Who’s excited?

CMU Weekly Editor's Letter

Hello. How has your week been? I hope it’s been as good as mine, because mine’s been brilliant. Even after I factor in suffering with a cold for much of it. Firstly, there was lots of news to write about (which is the benchmark for any good week), and then last night I saw Giana Factory and Philco Fiction perform at monthly Nordic music showcase Ja Ja Ja.

And this morning I learned of the existence of a place in Warwickshire called Bishop’s Itchington. And it would have been a great week with just that one on its own.

Also, I was finally allowed to tell people about something I’ve been excited about for weeks. Because this week we made our first announcement about this year’s Great Escape music business convention in Brighton, which I’m sure you know by now is programmed by the team here at CMU.

This year, Xfm is celebrating its 20th year on air, having first launched with a series of month-long RSL broadcasts in 1992, before launching fully in 1997. As part of this, the station’s longest serving DJ, John Kennedy, will be interviewed on stage at TGE by fellow radio presenter Jon Hillcock about his 22 years supporting new bands on the radio, and his thirteen years fronting Xfm’s ‘X-posure’ show.

Anyone with an interest in new music knows who John Kennedy is, and most likely feels inadequate next to him. He listens to an enormous amount of music every week, programming twelve hours of radio on ‘X-posure’ each week, and regularly unearths artists who go on to find fame – Adele, The xx and Kate Nash are just a few artists whose demos he’s played before anyone else. His enthusiasm for music is both infectious and inspiring, and he’s a thoroughly lovely person as well.

Also thoroughly lovely and completely dedicated to promoting new music is Jon Hillcock, who started his career in radio when he did work experience on ‘X-posure’. He’s gone on to present his own shows on Xfm and NME Radio, and these days regularly appears on BBC 6music, as well as producing his weekly ‘New Noise’ podcast, which is essential listening.

I hope this doesn’t come across too much as cynical plugging of something I’m involved in. Obviously I’m mentioning it partly because of CMU’s involvement in The Great Escape, but I am completely genuine when I say that I think John Kennedy and Jon Hillcock are two of the best presenters on radio today, and to have them sat on stage talking to each other is a very exciting prospect. And, as I said, being barred from telling everyone I see about all this prior to the official announcement this week has been killing me.

You can find more information on this and the rest of our announcement earlier this week here, or you could just head over to www.escapegreat.com and buy your tickets (which also gets you access to shows by more 300 bands over the course of three days, as well as the entire conference).

Andy Malt
Editor, CMU

PODCAST
On this week’s podcast, we discuss the MegaUpload shutdown and arrests, the passing of the Live Music Bill through the House Of Commons, a little bit of silver lining for HMV, Simon Cowell’s DJ search, and Disney’s Joy Division inspired t-shirt. You should listen to it, for sure. You will be able to do just that this weekend here.

IN THE NEWS
It has been a fantastically busy week in the world of MegaUpload. After the site was shut down last week and several of its execs arrested, the drama has continued. The company quickly hired a top lawyer – who has previously represented the likes of Bill Clinton and Enron – but just as quickly he pulled out citing a conflict of interests. Whether he would have been able to get Mega founder Kim ‘Dotcom’ Schmitz out of prison on bail we’ll never know, but Dotcom is still locked up, amid fears he would escape New Zealand back to his home country Germany where extradition would be more difficult.

Perhaps more interesting was the reaction from other file-transfer sites, some of whom limited their services and deleted unlicensed content. Whether the Mega shutdown was pushing users to legitimate sites or over to other illegal services that carried on as normal is in dispute (it’s probably a bit of both), meanwhile an unlikely conspiracy theory that plans by MegaUpload to launch a direct-to-fan service for artists had prompted the entertainment industries to push for last week’s shutdown was put about too. For more on the goings on with the MegaUpload team this week, look here.

With SOPA and PIPA seemingly put on the back burner, another important anti-piracy document, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, was signed by most European Union countries with little opposition this week. However, while the EU itself helped negotiate the agreement and signed it, the European Parliament is still to approve it, and there are growing attempts to rally larger protests against it.

Elsewhere in digital news, the Digital Music News blog responded to Grooveshark‘s attempt to force it to hand over information about an alleged whistleblower, failed digital music service Beyond Oblivion applied for bankruptcy protection admitting to debts of anything up to $500 million, Rhapsody formally took over Napster in Europe, Perfume Genius had an advert rejected by YouTube because it found two men standing still to be a bit too racy, and the IFPI said digital music revenues are growing but piracy is still an issue.

The Live Music Bill was passed by the House Of Commons last Friday, with some final amendments approved by the House Of Lords earlier today, which is good news for people who like small gigs, because the hope is there will now be more of them. The Local Government Association welcomed the passing of the Bill, which they had originally opposed, but then backed following some tweaks made last Autumn, though they said they still have one concern about gigs where audience members can bring their own alchohol.

As well as that, HMV announced new deals with its suppliers and the bank, Mick Jagger got angry about being drawn into politics, Tulisa Contostavlos’ arm was allowed to continue waving, Radio 1 announced new multi-media aspects to its chart show, Truck Festival announced it will return this year after financial problems in 2011, Simon Cowell revealed he’s on the look out for DJs, and Disney stopped selling a Joy Division-inspired t-shirt.

FEATURES AND NEW MUSIC
I interviewed Busdriver this week, which was very exciting as his album ‘Fear Of A Black Tangent’ is one of my favourites. I managed to play it cool and not ask “WHY ARE YOU SO AWESOME?” though. As well as that, Eddy Temple-Morris wrote about last week’s interviewees Enter Shikari and how he came to love them. Plus, Pulled Apart By Horses put together a great playlist for us.

In the Approved column this week we had a new track by Miike Snow featuring Lykke Li, a song from Frankie Rose‘s utterly brilliant new album, two tracks from Jesse Ruins‘ new EP, and some cinematic loveliness from A Whisper In The Noise.

Elsewhere on theCMUwebsite.com, we posted a whole load more new music, including tracks by Cypress Hill and Rusko, Saint Etienne, Ladyhawke, Blood Red Shoes, Fair Ohs, The Icarus Line, Sea Of Bees, Poliça, The Doors and Skrillex (you don’t have to click on that one), plus a sampler from Portishead man Geoff Barrow’s label.

CMU Weekly Podcast – Friday 27 Jan 2012

Setlist

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review the week in music and the music business, including the MegaUpload dramas, IFPI’s Digital Music Report, the Live Music Bill, HMV’s new supplier deals, Simon Cowell’s DJ search venture and Disney’s Joyful t-shirt. Get the CMU Weekly Podcast every Friday by signing up via iTunes or RSS.

The music business week in five – 27 Jan 2012

Business News Week In Five

Right, another busy, busy week in music then. But before we get to that, forgive me for doing two quick plugs.

First up, don’t forget we made our first convention announcement for this year’s Great Escape this week, which you can catch up on here. We’ve got loads more to tell you about this year’s TGE in the coming weeks, so why not get your tickets now?

Second plug, we have a few places left on our next CMU Training course, which is a real cracker – throwing a spotlight on the whole business of monetising music, with a look at how the industry, artist deals and record companies are changing. Book your tickets here.

But now, this week’s five big music business stories.

01: The aftershocks of the Mega attack were felt. After the US authorities shut down MegaUpload and related sites last week, this week four of the firm’s execs, arrested in New Zealand, applied for bail while they wait to be extradited to America. Larger than life founder Kim Schmitz was denied bail, the judge ruling there was a genuine risk the accused could flee back to his home country of Germany, where extradition would be harder. That despite the US authorities freezing his bank accounts and seizing his passport.

In the US, Mega’s legal reps dropped their lawsuit against Universal Music over the major’s request to Google that they remove the file-transfer’s company’s ‘Mega Song’ from YouTube last year. Perhaps they thought they’d better focus on the criminal proceedings. Online some of Mega’s US competitors cut back their services to avoid being likewise accused of enabling copyright infringement.

The RIAA speculated the Mega shut down could lead to a tangible increase in the usage of legitimate digital music services, though Torrentfreak said Mega competitors that hadn’t cut back their services in response to last week’s arrests were enjoying the biggest flurry of new customers. CMU reports

02: HMV announced new supplier deals. While the terms of the new deals with the big music companies and movie studios are not known, they likely put more risk onto the CD and DVD producing companies – certainly the new deals persuaded the struggling retailer’s banks to lighten up the covenant terms associated with their £180 million debts, assuring short term survival. The big music and movie companies desperately want to see HMV succeed, it being the last big CD and DVD seller on the high street. The suppliers were also allocated 2.5% of HMV’s equity as part of the new arrangements. CMU report | Telegraph report

03: The Live Music Bill was passed by the Commons. This happened last week, but after Friday’s CMU Daily went out. With minutes to spare, the House Of Commons approved Lord Tim Clement-Jones’ private member’s bill to relax the bureaucracy involved in staging small scale gigs. Many in grass roots music community say new rules introduced by the 2003 Licensing Act resulted in many pubs and such like ending their live music nights. It’s hoped the Live Music Bill will remove the blocks to such gigs, meaning more opportunities for grass roots artists to play. The Lords will now quickly consider some final amendments before the Bill becomes law. Hurrah. CMU report | NME report

04: IFPI published its Digital Music Report. A quick summary of the record label trade body’s review of the digital year: digital music is doing very well thank you very much, but only because governments and courts are cracking down on piracy, so much more of that please Mr Minister and Mr Judge. Single downloads, digital albums and subscription services all saw growth in 2011, with digital revenues for the global record industry up about 8%. It seems that the growth of Spotify style services is not having an overall negative impact on iTunes-style platforms as some have feared. Universals’ digital chief Rob Wells, present at the launch of the report, said people who claimed Spotify negatively impact iTunes sales were nutters anyway. Well, those weren’t his exact words, but it’s what he meant. CMU report | IFPI report as PDF

05: Beyond Oblivion filed for bankruptcy. We knew the ambitious plan for a global all-you-can-eat free download service, funded by charging a fee to hardware manufacturers for the software that enabled it all, was defunct, Team Boinc calling it a day over Christmas. But the formal application for bankruptcy protection came this week, revealing the company has over $100 million in debts, with Warner and Sony its biggest creditors. Quite how it ran up such big debts without ever going live isn’t clear. CMU report | Register report

And that is your lot people. Have a lovely Friday.

Chris Cooke
Business Editor, CMU

Approved: Double Trouble Vision at Corsica Studios

Club Tip CMU Approved

This rather decent club under the arches at Elephant & Castle has a very good vibe about it, and I think I’ve mentioned before how much I like the outdoor terrace bit. Plus the sound rig is definitely well crafted. But what about the talent? Well, this weekend should be extra good because Trouble Vision are taking over on both Friday and Saturday.

Tonight they present Dutch beatmeister Martyn, he riding high after his awesome album on Brainfeeder (check here or here for more from me on that). He’ll be playing alongside Kyle Hall, Dark Sky, The Nextmen, The Heatwave, Mr Solid Gold, Oli DAB & Robin, Arsequake and Hylu & Jago.

But as if that wasn’t enough, Saturday sees something even better, the techster duo of Kristian Beyer & Frank Wiedemann that are also known as Ame, who will appear alongside Deetron, Session Victim, Nicholas, Casino Times and Hesseltime. All in all, it should be a good weekend south of the river.

Friday 27 Sat 28 Jan, Corsica Studios, Elephant Road, London SE17 1LB, 11pm
– 5am, £12 advance, £15 door, info here.

European countries sign ACTA, but will widespread opposition come after the fact?

Digital Top Stories

So, now all the chatter about SOPA and PIPA in the US is starting to die down, how about we return to the good old Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, that global intellectual property treaty that has been in development for years, and which was signed by much of Europe yesterday.

As previously reported, the ACTA aims to introduce some harmony around the world on IP matters, helping content owners protect their intellectual property rights on a global level. The agreement obliges signed-up countries to ensure some basic intellectual property rights are protected by local copyright and other IP systems.

Negotiations have been ongoing for years, with the European Union representing its member states in the proceedings, though yesterday the individual European nations also signed the agreement in Tokyo in addition to the EU itself. Only five EU countries did not sign up yesterday – Germany, the Netherlands, Estonia, Cyprus and Slovakia – though they are expected to do so in due course. Despite the EU having added its signature to the treaty, its support is still conditional on a vote in the European Parliament scheduled for June.

As with all new anti-piracy legislation and agreements, ACTA has not been without controversy, though its coverage in the mainstream press has been much more low key than with new national laws, such as Hadopi in France, the Digital Economy Act in the UK, and, most recently, SOPA and PIPA in the United States. Initially those involved in negotiating ACTA were accused of shrouding their early discussions in secrecy, with rumours that severe anti-piracy measures were being discussed in private. Though after a number of leaks, and the insistence of some parties that a draft should be made public – most notably the EU – a version of the agreement was made available for all to see.

There were also concerns that ACTA could be used to force unpopular anti-piracy measures – in particular three-strikes – on participating countries, allowing the content industries to say national governments had a duty to introduce such systems, even if against the public will, in order to comply with the global agreement. Though, once published, claims by ACTA negotiators that a global obligation to introduce a three-strikes anti-piracy system was not part of their plans were proven to be true.

In reality the treaty does not commit signatories to any of the more severe anti-piracy measures some expected or predicted, and supporters in Europe insist the agreement will simply force other participating countries to ensure IP protections that already exist within the EU. But that’s not to say the agreement isn’t still controversial in some circles, and while a penultimate and then final draft were made public, some feel those involved in negotiating ACTA failed to properly engage in any public debate, possibly deliberately because they knew elements of the agreement would be unpopular.

And concerns can be found in the political community as well as among web and consumer rights organisations, with the French MEP charged with the task of compiling background information about the treaty for the European Parliament this week hitting out at the way ACTA has been handled.

Kader Arif wrote: “I want to denounce in the strongest possible manner the entire process that led to the signature of this agreement: no inclusion of civil society organisations, a lack of transparency from the start of the negotiations, repeated postponing of the signature of the text without an explanation being ever given, and the exclusion of the EU Parliament’s demands that were expressed on several occasions in our assembly”.

He continues: “As rapporteur of this text, I have faced never before seen manoeuvres from the right wing of this parliament to impose a rushed calendar before public opinion could be alerted, thus depriving the parliament of its right to expression and of the tools at its disposal to convey citizens’ legitimate demands. Everyone knows the ACTA agreement is problematic, whether it is its impact on civil liberties, the way it makes internet access providers liable, its consequences on generic drugs manufacturing, or how little protection it gives to our geographical indications”.

He concludes: “This agreement might have major consequences on citizens’ lives, and still, everything is being done to prevent the European Parliament from having its say in this matter. That is why today, as I release this report for which I was in charge, I want to send a strong signal and alert the public opinion about this unacceptable situation. I will not take part in this masquerade”.

But unlike with the DEA in the UK and SOPA/PIPA in the US earlier this month, opposition to ACTA has not become front page news, except in Poland, where thousands took part in demonstrations in various cities on Wednesday, ahead of the signing session in Tokyo yesterday, expressing the usual concerns associated with new intellectual property measures, in particular that it will hinder free speech, especially on the internet. Polish government websites were also hacked as part of the protests, though the country’s Prime Minister still signed the treaty.

Other opponents to ACTA, very possibly motivated by what the Wiki protest achieved in the US last week, when Congress was forced to backtrack on and pledge a total rethink of anti-piracy proposals, are now hoping to rally support as the global treaty is considered first by EU International Trade Committee and then the full European Parliament in June. Of course if each EU nation has signed the treaty in their own right by that point, even if the EU itself was forced to withdraw its approval it wouldn’t really make any difference, though it might force the sort of public debate on some of the criticisms of the treaty which opponents say has been sadly lacking.

And perhaps it would add fuel to an emerging campaign in the US against ACTA. America, along with Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea, quietly signed the treaty last October, but following all the SOPA/PIPA ranting of last week, some Americans are now calling into question the country’s participation, with some disputing whether a US trade representative had the authority to sign the agreement without the matter being taken to Congress.

It seems unlikely after-the-fact campaigning will deliver tangible changes, though global interest in ACTA coupled with the continued fall out of SOPA/PIPA may ensure that the intellectual property debate becomes increasingly mainstream in 2012, which is a challenge for the big content companies, who have always been very good at persuading key political decision makers of the economic importance of strong copyright laws, though pretty woeful when it comes to engaging with the wider public on the issue.

Who is benefiting from the Mega shutdown? And were Mega’s D2F plans behind the major labels’ attack?

Business News Digital Legal MegaUpload Timeline Top Stories

While the Recording Industry Association Of America expressed optimism earlier this week that last week’s shut down of MegaUpload might lead to a surge in public interest in licenced digital music platforms, especially those in the rapidly expanding streaming music space, Torrentfreak says that the biggest beneficiaries of the Mega attack have been the firm’s direct competitors, ie other file-transfer services which offer access to large quantities of unlicensed content.

Filefactory, Depositfiles, Uploaded.to, Hotfile and Rapidshare – the latter of which has been regularly accused by European rights owners of enabling copyright infringement, more so than the Mega sites in fact – have all reportedly welcomed large numbers of new users this week, in some cases hundreds of thousands.

A portion of those will be people who used MegaUpload for the legitimate distribution of their own content, though the music and movie industries will no doubt suspect that a larger portion are on the look out for more free but illegal downloads of songs, films and TV shows.

As previously reported, many of those Mega competitors with key operations in the US have altered their services so to reduce the possibility of them enabling copyright infringement, presumably amidst fears they too could be targeted with criminal copyright actions.

Though many of those file-transfer sites based outside the US have simply blocked American IP addresses, in a bid to ensure they are operating beyond the jurisdiction of the American courts. Others are just watching the situation closely, but haven’t actually changed anything about the way they operate, and are instead enjoying all the new traffic the closure of the Mega sites has delivered them.

To be fair to the RIAA’s data man Joshua P Friedlander, he conceded that a portion of Mega’s customer base would seek out other free and illegal content sources but, citing the impact the closure of LimeWire had on legit digital music sales, he said he was also optimistic the dramatic swoop against MegaUpload and MegaVideo would benefit legit services too, especially those which offer a freemium option. Whether said services have seen anywhere near the spike Torrentfreak claims the other file-transfer platforms have enjoyed, though, remains to be seen.

Elsewhere in Mega news, some supporters of the now shuttered file-sharing company are accusing the big record companies of making MegaUpload and its boss Kim Schmitz enemy number one because the Mega firm was planning on launching a direct-to-fan platform for artists to be called Megabox.

The conspiracy theory goes that the big record companies especially feared Schmitz’s next business venture because it would enable artists to sell their own music and earn a 90% share of any sales. There were even plans to enable artists to earn from music giveaways, presumably via some sort of ad-funded platform. The labels knew this would empower artists and cut them out of the equation – the conspiracy theory goes – hence why they worked so hard to run the entire Mega company out of business.

Of course it is true that big content firms, once they have labelled an outfit as being an ‘uber-pirate’, generally aim to force that company out of business entirely, even if said company is concurrently developing legitimate content platforms alongside any service which enables piracy. Even though it’s not totally unprecedented for rights owners to sometimes forgive past piracy when licensing those digital start-ups that have somehow avoided the uber-pirate tag. But I don’t think America’s big content owners – who have been quietly fuming about the Mega business for sometime – needed the threat of Schmitz launching a legit direct-to-fan platform before putting active pressure on the authorities to act.

And, of course, that’s to assume a Mega D2F platform would be a huge threat to the labels. After all, numerous direct-to-fan platforms already exist, and some are gaining real traction amongst new artists and veteran acts out of record contracts, so Schmitz moving into this space wouldn’t really change anything. True, Mega could promote its D2F offering to its large existing user-base, but then that’s what Google Music is planning to do with its recently launched D2F system in the US, and that project is backed by most of the majors and big indie labels.

Record companies and movie studios just don’t like seeing individuals get rich on piracy-based businesses, and while it may be childish to let copyright enforcement get personal, when said individuals flaunt their piracy-enabled riches, that’s always going to rally label and studio chiefs to pursue whatever route is available to put that person out of business. Those individuals talking loudly about plans to launch label or artist friendly legit services may be part of that flaunting, but any threat those supposed plans pose is unlikely, in itself, to greatly impact on the fighting spirit in copyright land one way or the other.

Ben Folds Five confirm new album

Artist News

Ben Folds Five were a little coy about the prospect of a reunion last year. Folds told Spinner in September that after sessions to record three new songs for the singer-songwriter’s forthcoming career retrospective compilation went well, they would “probably” regroup for a full album. And earlier this week Folds confirmed it, announcing via Twitter that recording sessions had begun.

He tweeted: “It’s happening fo sho – day one in studio with Robert [Sledge, bass] and Darren [Jesse, drums] through March #NewBenFoldsFiveRecord”.

The album will be the band’s first since 1999’s ‘The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner’.

Cooking Vinyl announces three new artist deals

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

Independent label Cooking Vinyl yesterday announced not one but three new deals, with Reverend & The Makers and The Proclaimers signing label service deals with the company, and Counting Crows a royalty-based licensing deal. All three artists have new albums due out this year.

Here’s some quotes from key people, just in case you don’t believe me…

The Proclaimers: “We are very excited to be joining with such a progressive and successful label and we look forward to the promotion and touring of the new album immensely”.

Reverend & The Makers’ Jon McClure: “I’m made up to be on a label that is growing seemingly by the minute and that contains on its roster at least three of my favourite bands”.

Cooking Vinyl Director Rob Collins: “We are proud to add more quality artists to the label. 2012 is already shaping up to be great year”.

Emeli Sandé working with original Sugababes

Artist News

While an official announcement on the Babes v.1 reunion is still not forthcoming, Emeli Sandé has confirmed that she has written new material for the original Sugababes line-up. As previously reported, Popjustice revealed the original Babes had reunited in the studio earlier this month.

Asked about rumours that she has been working with the group, Sandé told MTV: “Yes, that is true. I’ve written for the original line-up of the Sugababes, which I’m very happy about because I just loved them when they first came out. I loved their sound, it was so cool. It was very different, so I’m happy to kind of be involved in what started the whole Sugababes journey. It sounds amazing”.

Meanwhile, an unnamed source claimed in The Mirror recently: “The girls are very much back to their soulful roots, but this time around it’s far more innovative. They’ve recorded more tracks too – and they’re working hard to get a body of new work. Siobhan has left her job in the City and they are concentrating on getting material together for an album. They are very dedicated and it’s working well”.

It’s still not clear what the group plan to do about a name, given that the current Sugababes line-up is using theirs.

Spiritualized trick reviewers with unfinished mixes

Artist News

Hey you, album reviewer. That copy of the new Spiritualized album you’ve been listening to isn’t even the new Spiritualized album. Well, it is. But it’s not the finished version. Bet you feel silly now. No? Oh, right.

Anyway, new Spiritualized album ‘Sweet Heart Sweet Light’ was supposed to be released in March, but has just been pushed back because, it turns out, mainman Jason Pierce hasn’t finished mixing it yet. Even though review copies have already been sent out. And, says Pierce, this was his plan all along. He told SPIN: “I had the rather foolish idea last November that I could deliver the record that’s been sent out and keep working on the real version. I’d meet the delivery date they need for reviews and things like that and nobody would be any the wiser that I’d be carrying on with the mixing”.

As for how different the final version will be, Pierce said: “I think it’s quite different. People say that all the little mixing moves I’m doing now are just for myself, but to me they’re no different than the mixing moves I did at the start of the process. Balancing things is what mixing is. Some bits are more realized and closer to what I wanted them to sound like, but I’m in the unenviable position now where the [album] that’s out there isn’t finished”.

He added: “[But] with the reviews, sometimes it’s like they’ve got a different album anyway”.

New Fiona Apple album not quite so imminent

Releases

So, Fiona Apple doesn’t have a new album coming out in the next few weeks. Sorry. Her label boss LA Reid got ahead of himself when he tweeted earlier this week: “Lots of good music coming from Epic Records in the next few weeks… Welcome back Fiona! YES Fiona Apple!”

It’s not all bad news though, the follow-up to 2005’s ‘Extraordinary Machine’ is on the way, and will be out at some point this year. A spokesperson for Sony/Epic told Time: “[Reid’s tweets were] taken a little bit out of context. It’ll absolutely be this year, but timing wise, I don’t know exactly when”.

Portishead man delivers label sampler

Releases

Portishead’s Geoff Barrow has made available a 2012 sampler featuring artists signed to his label, Invada Records. The compilation includes a couple of tracks from Barrow’s Beak> project (pictured), whose second album is set for imminent release, and an early preview of the forthcoming LP from DROKK, which is Barrow’s collaboration with composer Ben Salisbury.

Additional content is credited to shoegaze set The Fauns, Bristol troupe Scarlet Rascal & The Trainwreck, and some-time Beak> vocalist Anika, who presents an arctic disco spin on Chromatics’ ‘In The City’.

With all that free to download below, you can find details of all future Invada releases here.

Odd Future announce tour

Gigs & Festivals

Odd Future have confirmed a very special group outing to accompany the release of their new ensemble mixtape ‘OF Vol 2’, which is due out in March via the collective’s own Odd Future Records imprint.

Tour dates:

28 Mar: Birmingham, Academy
29 Mar: London, Brixton Academy
31 Mar: Manchester, Academy
1 Apr: Glasgow, ABC
2 Apr: Dublin, Olympia

Glasvegas plot live return

Gigs & Festivals

Scottish rockers Glasvegas have announced several UK tour dates, each of which will find the band previewing material from the in-progress successor to their second studio album, ‘EUPHORIC /// HEARTBREAK \\\’.

Though they remain unsigned, Glasvegas have denied any plans to split after being dropped from Sony/Columbia last year.

Guitarist Rab Allen of the band has published this Facebook note to accompany the tour announcement: “These are just wee shows to try out some of the new material we’ve been doing along with the older stuff. Hope you can make it down. I think they will be special little gigs. Hopefully more gigs in more cities not long after if all goes well”.

Live dates as follows:

3 Apr: London, Garage
4 Apr: Liverpool, Academy 2
5 Apr: Glasgow, Classic Grand

Festival line-up update – 27 Jan 2012

Artist News Festival Line-Up Update Gigs & Festivals

BANG FACE WEEKENDER, Trevelgue Holiday Park, Newquay, 14-16 Sep: Aphex Twin is first on the guestlist for this re-located rave happening, which will this year offer camping facilities for the first time ever. www.bangface.com

BENICASSIM, FIB Heineken, Valencia, Spain, 12-15 Jul: New Order further their reformation trail with news that they (minus one Peter Hook) will play a set at this popular Spanish fiesta, as will other fresh additions Crystal Castles, Katy B, Example, The Horrors and Spector. These acts join existing headliners The Stone Roses, plus Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Miles Kane, Bombay Bicycle Club and The Vaccines. www.fiberfib.com

GUILFEST, Stoke Park, Guilford, Surrey, 13-15 Jul: As per GuilFest’s first line-up revelation, pop persona Olly Murs is billed as Saturday evening headliner, while reggae icon Jimmy Cliff is also down to play the festival’s Main Stage. www.guilfest.co.uk

HIDEOUT FESTIVAL, Zrce Beach, Pag, Coratia, 29 Jun – 1 Jul: Back for a second edition, Hideout is confirmed to this year house the likes of Benga, Chase & Status, Simian Mobile Disco, Seth Troxler and SBTRKT, with more acts of an equally beat-heavy ilk yet to be revealed. www.hideoutfestival.com

ROCKNESS, Dores, Inverness, Scotland, 8-10 Jun: Festival organisers score a major coup in booking Mumford & Sons, Deadmau5 and Biffy Clyro as triple headliners at RockNess 2012, also confirming performers including Ed Sheeran, Justice, Metronomy, Wretch 32, Noah And The Whale and much-hyped rapper Azealia Banks. www.rockness.co.uk

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy sells signature coffee

Brands & Merch

Several Brit bands (and Hanson) may have launched their own signature beers, but Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, the main moniker of US troubadour Will Oldham, has found a more nutritious means of merchandising his personal brand and latest LP, ‘Wolfroy Goes To Town’.

The singer-songwriter is stocking Kona Rose Coffee Bonny Billy Blend, an organic coffee he had a hand in creating, on his label Drag City’s official site. In the grand tradition of there always seeming to be a silly description to match these artist-affiliated products, I should mention that the coffee is described as having “a clean body and fresh finish”. Drag City, meanwhile, claim to detect “overtones of chocolate, leather and non-wacky tobaccy” in the brew.

So, that all sounds very nice. The coffee is being sold by the half-pound at a price of $20. Which seems a lot, but let’s face facts, it’s organic and was blended by a Prince. Will it be as nice as Mr Scruff’s tea though? That’s the big question.

IMPALA restates EMI sale opposition

Business News EMI Sale Timeline Labels & Publishers

Pan-European indie labels trade body IMPALA yesterday issued a new statement opposing the sale of EMI to Universal Music and Sony’s publishing business Sony/ATV.

As previously reported, the trade organisation confirmed its plans to lobby against the EMI sale, which is subject to regulator approval in both Europe and the US, as soon as current owner Citigroup announced its intent last November to sell the EMI record labels to Universal and the EMI publishing catalogues to a consortium led by Sony/ATV. The deals will make the world’s two biggest music companies even bigger.

IMPALA’s latest statement doesn’t really add anything new to its campaign against the EMI sale, rather aggregating a number of existing statements and documents, possibly ahead of next week’s MIDEM shindig in Cannes, which will bring together music industry reps from across Europe.

Noting moves by the Association Of Independent Music in the UK to encourage indie label owners here to write to their MPs about the deals, IMPALA also referenced a recent report by music business writer Emmanuel Legrand for the Eurosonic convention and an organisation called the European Music Office, which “promotes musical diversity and represents the interests of European music professionals at a European and worldwide level”.

That report looks at the European airplay and download charts, and claims that – while indie-signed artists apparently account for 80% of releases – they make up only 6% of the reviewed Top 100 chart, and 10% of the Top 1000. Universal, EMI and Sony, meanwhile, account for 76% of the Top 200 chart, with the majors’ American artists dominating.

While reps for both Universal and Sony will likely question the relevance of a report focused specifically on one set of chart data to the wider regulatory investigation into their takeover proposals, IMPALA presumably believe Legrand’s analysis will be useful when combined with the other research and argument that they will present to competition regulators.

And that 76% stat is most likely to be of use to IMPALA, whose central message here is increasingly that, while in theory there will be three major labels once EMI is split up and sold, in reality Universal and Sony will be so much bigger than Warner, the music industry will arguably go straight from having four big players to just two. That’s two majors with a 76% control of the charts Legrande considered.

To put this in the words of IMPALA Executive Chair Helen Smith: “Neither the USA nor Europe wants to see the music sector become a two-horse race, devoid of competition from any other companies”.

Mute and Sonic Router launch new labels, plus Stones Throw subs club

Business News Labels & Publishers Releases

For a sector that (some would tell you) has no future, there’s sure been a lot of new labels launching lately. We’ve already announced three this week, and here now are some more.

Mute announced this week that it is to launch a new imprint called Liberation Technologies, which is named after Mute’s early internet presence, and which will focus on electronic music. Mute head Daniel Miller said in a statement: “Electronic music is part of Mute’s DNA and history, and this label is the latest expression of that”.

The first release via the label will be a new EP by King Felix next month. Resident Advisor published an interview with the man in charge of the new label, Patrick O’Neill, which you can read here.

Staying with electronic music, the Sonic Router blog has announced it is launching a spin-off label. The first release will be an EP by instrumental hip hop type Torus, a preview of which you can listen to here:

As well as all that, US indie label Stones Throw has announced a new digital subscription service, which gives users access to downloads of every new release on the label for $10 per month. More info on that here.

Name PR expands

Business News Marketing & PR

Music PR and marketing company Name PR – best known for its work promoting music business service providers – has announced a new recruit and a promotion.

First up, Lisa Devaney joins Name as an Account Manager to head up the company’s work with tech clients, having most recently run her own consultancy working in this space, and prior to that having worked with tech companies at PR agency Hill & Knowlton. Secondly Hugo Mintz, who has been with Name PR for eighteen months, has been promoted to the role of Press Officer, and will lead the company’s live music division, working with the likes of WeGotTickets and the Association Of Independent Festivals, as well as MusicTank.

Name PR MD Sam Shemtob told CMU: “We are thrilled that Lisa joins us, and with her experience we see great opportunity to grow the technology side of our business. She’s got a valuable combination of tech PR experience and general agency insight that will help drive the company considerably forward in 2012”.

Monday 30 January 2012, 12:10 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Happy Mondays

Monday 30 January 2012, 12:07 | By CMU Editorial

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Monday 30 January 2012, 12:06 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Marcus Collins | The White Stripes | X-Factor

Monday 30 January 2012, 12:00 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Slow Club

Monday 30 January 2012, 11:58 | By CMU Editorial

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Monday 30 January 2012, 11:52 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Cooking Vinyl | DigSin | Essential Music & Marketing | Getty Images | Henley Business School | Jay Frank | MIDEM

Monday 30 January 2012, 11:50 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Jo Dipple | UK Music

Monday 30 January 2012, 11:49 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Kobalt | Richard Sanders

Monday 30 January 2012, 11:46 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Peermusic | Shake Music | Steven Frock

Monday 30 January 2012, 11:45 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Coca-Cola | EMI | MIDEM | OpenEMI | Spotify | The Echo Nest | Universal Music | Webdoc

Monday 30 January 2012, 11:41 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: The Ting Tings

Friday 27 January 2012, 17:55 | By Andy Malt

READ MORE ABOUT: John Kennedy | Jon Hillcock | The Great Escape

Friday 27 January 2012, 16:00 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Disney | HMV | International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry (IFPI) | Jada Pinkett-Smith | Joy Division | Kim Dotcom | Live Music Bill | MegaUpload | Overbrook Entertainment | Simon Cowell | Syco | Will Smith

Friday 27 January 2012, 12:27 | By Chris Cooke

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Friday 27 January 2012, 12:26 | By Paul Vig

READ MORE ABOUT: Corsica Studios | Doubel Trouble Vision | Martyn

Friday 27 January 2012, 12:25 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: ACTA | DEA | European Union | Kader Arif | PIPA | SOPA

Friday 27 January 2012, 12:22 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: MegaUpload | Recordings Industry Association Of America (RIAA)

Friday 27 January 2012, 12:20 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Ben Folds | Ben Folds Five

Friday 27 January 2012, 12:18 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Cooking Vinyl | Counting Crows | Reverend & The Makers | The Proclaimers

Friday 27 January 2012, 12:16 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Emeli Sandé | Sugababes

Friday 27 January 2012, 12:15 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Jason Pierce | Spiritualized

Friday 27 January 2012, 12:11 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Epic Records | Fiona Apple | LA Reid

Friday 27 January 2012, 12:10 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Geoff Barrow | Invada Records | Portishead

Friday 27 January 2012, 12:06 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Odd Future

Friday 27 January 2012, 12:05 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Glasvegas

Friday 27 January 2012, 12:03 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Bang Face Weekender | Benicassim | Guilfest | Hideout Festival | RockNess

Friday 27 January 2012, 12:01 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy

Friday 27 January 2012, 11:59 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Association of Independent Music (AIM) | EMI | Sony Music | Sony Music Publishing | The Independent Music Companies Association (IMPALA) | Universal Music

Friday 27 January 2012, 11:57 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Liberation Technologies | Mute | Sonic Router

Friday 27 January 2012, 11:53 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Hugo Mintz | Lisa Devaney | Name PR | Sam Shemtob