Tuesday 30 July 2013, 10:49 | By Aly Barchi

Danny Elfman adds arena dates

Gigs & Festivals

Having sold out a show at London’s Royal Albert Hall on 7 Oct, composer-to-movies Danny Elfman has confirmed another score of live dates in Leeds, Glasgow and Birmingham.

Each will feature the BBC Concert Orchestra playing Elfman’s OSTs to various Tim Burton films (‘Beetlejuice’, ‘Batman’, ‘Edward Scissorhands’, ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ et al), large-scale visuals of Burton’s original storyboards and drawings, and a ‘special guest performance’ by Elfman himself.

Bigging up the shows, Burton told reporters: “I’ve always heard Danny’s scores performed live during our recording sessions for the films we’ve collaborated on. For others to finally be able to hear his music live is something special”.

Special indeed. And the new dates are:

8 Oct: Leeds, First Direct Arena
9 Oct: Glasgow, The Hydro
10 Oct: Birmingham, NIA

GuilFest hoping to make 2014 return

Business News Live Business

The organisers of GuilFest are hoping to bring the festival back next year. As previously reported, the 21 year old event went into administration last September after poor ticket sales left it with debts of over £300,000.

This year, Live Nation put on a new event, called Magic Summer Live, on GuilFest’s site and traditional dates, which seems to have gone well. Live Nation is apparently keen to do all that again next year, but GuilFest founder Tony Scott has told eFestivals that he hopes Guildford Council will allow him and his team to return instead.

To that end, the festival has posted a plea to its website, asking fans to show public support for GuilFest, in order to convince the council that there is a desire to see it return.

Imagem launches new venture to represent music rights for TV and filmmakers

Business News Labels & Publishers

Independent music publisher Imagem has teamed up with former EMI Music Publishing exec Jonathan Channon to launch a new London-based business called Imagem FTV, which will look to manage music rights owned by television, film and other media companies.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the new venture’s first client will be the TV distribution business of comedy industry giants Avalon, which represents Avalon’s own TV company and others. Imagem FTV will administrate and exploit the rights in all and any music owned by the Avalon-affiliated programme makers.

Pivotal PR exec becomes partner in Viaduct agency

Business News Marketing & PR

The founder of radio promotions agency Viaduct, James Pegrum, has announced a new partnership with Russell Churcher, who previously worked for Pivotal PR. The two plugging execs will now co-run the Viaduct company, offering national and regional radio promotion services to artists and labels.

Confirming the new alliance, Churcher told CMU: “I am very pleased and excited that this opportunity to join forces with Peggers has come about. After eight happy years at Pivotal, the timing of this new chapter feels pretty impeccable”.

While Pegrum added: “I’m really happy to be able to welcome Russell into the Viaduct fold. I have known him for a number of years now and I’m very much looking forward to working with someone with so much experience and enthusiasm for radio”.

As the new partnership begins, Viaduct’s roster includes Tricky, When Saints Go Machine, Public Service Broadcasting, Filthy Boy, Sykur, Ultraista, Satellites, Black Onassis, Rozi Plain and This Is The Kit.

MTV to air Miley Cyrus special

Media

MTV is to air a scary, blare-y new Miley Cyrus special in autumn. The one-hour show, which doesn’t have a title yet (my idea is ‘I Won’t Stop: The Molly Cyrus Story’), will chart the ‘making of’ Miley’s new LP, which has neither a release date nor a title.

Said still-secret title, by the way, will be ‘unveiled’ when Miley gets thirteen million Twitter followers. Help/decline to help her achieve that via twitter.com/mileycyrus

Jack White donates $200,000 to sound recording charity

And Finally

Having donated $142,000 to a Masonic temple earlier this year, Jack White has now dished out a bit more of his hard earned cash to the National Recording Preservation Foundation. $200,000, in this case.

The charity, which was established in 2010 by US Congress as part of the National Recording Preservation Act, supports institutions in preserving sound recordings. This donation, the organisation’s Executive Director Gerald Seligman said in a statement, is a “game changer”.

He added: “With this contribution we can now put up our basic structure, begin enacting the preservation plan – and give out our first grants. We’re committed to doing that right away, and certainly within the coming months”.

Psy talks vice

And Finally

‘Gangnam Style’ star Psy has admitted to liking a drink. In fact, to drinking – he claims – practically all the time, rain or shine. In a frank interview with the Sunday Times last week, the K-Pop hitmaker said he looks on vodka as his “best friend” and “vice partner”, adding: “If I’m happy, I’m drinking, if I’m sad, I’m drinking. If it’s raining, I’m drinking, if it’s sunny I’m drinking. If it’s hot, I’m drinking, if it’s cold, I’m drinking”.

All of which leaves little to no time for not drinking. In the same Q&A, Psy also talked about his difficult childhood and ‘abusive father’, addiction to cigarettes, and the time he spent in a South Korean jail for marijuana possession, saying of the latter: “As an artist, the more experience, the better the creation. I’m a very positive person. So if shit happens, I think maybe this happens because a huge amount of happiness is coming to me”.

CMU Planner – w/c 29 Jul 2013

CMU Planner

Hey everyone, the Edinburgh Festival starts this week, which is exciting. It’s the biggest cultural festival in the entire world, don’t you know? As ever, CMU’s sister magazine ThreeWeeks will be there covering it all in print and online, more on which below. As for CMU, this week we’ll have an interview with Raffertie and a playlist from Alela Diane to coincide with their new album releases.

Now, here’s a look through events, news stories, new releases and gigs takeing place this week…

ThreeWeeks at the Edinburgh Festival. The Edinburgh Festival begins this week. Wednesday, in fact. As ever, CMU’s sister title ThreeWeeks will be there – in print and online – to observe, digest and review it all (well, most of it – 1600 shows in all were covered last year). The preview edition is online for you to read now. Edinburgh-residents could be getting a copy through their letterbox this week, or can pick up copies from most festival venues from Wednesday. Hurrah!

Andy Malt on ‘It’s Amazing’. CMU Editor Andy Malt will appear on Amazing Radio’s ‘It’s Amazing!’ this weekend with presenter Jon Hillcock, to mercilessly critique a selection of new music. Tune in at midday on Saturday.

Camp Bestival. Are you ready to get family-friendly? Well, you’d better be if you’re planning to head down to Camp Bestival this weekend. There’ll be the usual mix of music, comedy, theatre and other attractions for adults and kids alike. I don’t have kids, but apparently Mr Tumble is always a big draw, so you’ll be pleased to know he’s back again this year.

The Sun launches paywall. The Sun is due to add a paywall to its website on Thursday, just at the crack of August. Access to the tabloid’s site will be £2 per week. Incentives that, publisher News UK hopes, will persuade subscribers to pay up will include “exclusive offers and promotions” and, perhaps more importantly, Premier League football highlights, which the tabloid secured exclusive online rights to in a deal back in January.

David Jacobs leaves Radio 2. Veteran radio DJ David Jacobs will step down from his weekly Radio 2 show this week. The presenter, who has hosted ‘The David Jacobs Collection’ for the BBC station since 1998, is departing for health reasons, though says he will return for occasional special programmes. His final show will air on 4 Aug.

New releases. It’s a bit of a quiet release week, but it’s quality not quantity that counts, right? Well good, because AlunaGeorge‘s incredibly long-awaited debut album is finally out, and it is very good. ‘Nouveau grunge’ types Swim Deep also have their debut out, Luke Haines is back with a new record featuring narration from comedian Julia Davies, and The Crimea are back with an album to mark their imminent demise. If you like looking at moving pictures, Robbie Williams is releasing a tenth anniversary edition of his live at Knebworth DVD. Or if you struggle with your attention span, Sampha has an EP out (people with longer attention spans may also like to check this out).

Gigs and tours. Ludovico Einaudi will be playing two nights at The Barbican in London and Shit And Shine will play a trio of shows around the country. Meanwhile, back in London, Mutya Keisha Siobhan will play their first ever live show (as Mutya Keisha Siobhan), and The Crimea will play their last ever show before splitting up (told you it was imminent).

Approved: Tirzah

CMU Approved

First played by Mica Levi, aka Micachu, via her approved DJ mix at the Boiler Room back in early 2012, Tirza – which, aptly, means ‘she is my delight’ in Hebrew – is to release a slight variation on her hit ‘I’m Not Dancing’ in a few weeks.

A co-mix with Micachu, Tirza’s main aide since 2005’s ‘Go’ (which the pair wrote whilst still at school), ‘Dancing’ is an advance on that same grade of clingy garage minimalism, with bin-lid beats and a wavy bassline to sweeten the deal.

‘I’m Not Dancing’ will be available as part of an EP, featuring extra tracks ‘Inside Out’, ‘Ooo Never’ and ‘Slow Jam’, on 5 Aug.

Hear it here:

Cameron’s porn filters could also target copyright infringement

Digital Top Stories

After last week’s announcement by David Cameron that UK internet service providers will be forced to install web-filters that are activated by default to help parents stop their children from accessing adult content on the net, speculation has begun that the same auto-filters will block copyright infringing websites too.

Although the specifics of how Cameron’s anti-porn programme will work are currently sketchy, and may well vary somewhat between ISP and ISP, it is thought that the filtering system will cover various bases, and that customers will have some flexibility to turn on and off different elements (though under the government’s proposals, by default all will be on).

Torrentfreak notes that TalkTalk’s existing filtering system – commended by Cameron – has ‘file-sharing’ sites as one of its options, while net sector sources have indicated to the Open Rights Group that proxies designed to help web-users circumvent court-ordered web-blocks might be included on the filtering list.

Many of the copyright industries’ lobbyists will probably welcome such a move – and, indeed, may have been pushing for it behind the scenes. Though in PR terms, the copyright sector might be better off divorcing itself from an initiative that is pretty controversial. While most would agree that protecting young web-users from being exposed to violent or explicit material is an admirable ambition, Team Cameron’s faith in filter technology seems at best naïve.

Manually managing a filtering system – so to block offending websites one-by-one – would be hugely labour intensive, making automatic filtering based on key terms or content types attractive, though even the most sophisticated technology of that type is flawed. Many noted that such filtering systems – operated voluntarily on some networks already – were last week filtering out news coverage of Cameron’s porn proposals because of some of the words used in such reports.

Although, of course, users will be able to turn off all filters operated by the ISPs, people are still talking about Cameron’s proposals as a form of censorship – because people may, through ignorance or social pressure (ie people might not want to be seen to be ‘opting in’ to porn), lose access to a plethora of sites. Which would mean that, if copyright was involved, the whole thing would further the usually flawed but nevertheless attractive ‘copyright as censorship’ argument.

It will be interesting to see how these filters turn out, and what manoeuvres the copyright industries will make as Cameron’s plans are being honed.

JJ Cale dies

Artist News Top Stories

Grammy-winning singer songwriter JJ Cale has died, aged 74, in a hospital in the La Jolla neighbourhood of San Diego. According to the musician’s website, he died on Friday night after suffering a heart attack.

One of the architects of the so called Tulsa Sound, Cale’s influence arguably went someway behind his own fame as a performer, with the likes of Neil Young, Mark Knopfler and Bryan Ferry all citing his influence on their work.

He will probably be best remembered for his collaborations with Eric Clapton. Cale wrote both ‘After Midnight’ and ‘Cocaine’, and in 2006 released an album with Clapton, ‘The Road To Escondido’, which won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album the following year.

Gallagher reps seek confidentiality agreement before continuing with child support case

Legal

A legal rep for Liam Gallagher last week reportedly attended the Manhattan Family Court seeking a confidentiality agreement from the woman who allegedly gave birth to the Beady Eye man’s third child seven months ago.

As previously reported, the New York Post claimed earlier this month that a child support case in the Manhattan courts related to the daughter of Gallagher and US celebrity writer Liza Ghorbani, who the married musician seemingly had a fling with last year.

Gallagher’s people have yet to comment on the allegations, also picked up by the British tabloids, but said that the singer’s lawyers were considering legal action against the New York newspaper over its reports.

Nevertheless, the Post continues to report on the story, and claims that last week Gallagher sent high profile legal man Raoul Felder to seek Ghorbani’s signature on a confidentiality agreement, insisting the rocker would not discuss his financial affairs until said agreement had been signed.

Ghorbani’s lawyers apparently told the judge hearing the case that their client would have willingly signed such an agreement before the case got to court had she been asked to do so.

Frank Ocean damages vocal cord, cancels Australian dates

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Frank Ocean has torn one of his vocal cords, forcing him to call off the last part of his Australian tour.

Validating that last week, promoter Live Nation said: “Frank Ocean’s remaining Australian dates will not go ahead due to illness. After last night’s concert in Melbourne at Festival Hall, it was necessary to seek medical advice due to vocal issues Frank Ocean experienced during the show.

“It has subsequently been confirmed that Frank has suffered a small tear to one of his vocal cords and has received medical advice that he must rest his voice. This makes the completion of his remaining Australian dates impossible”.

Apparently, Ocean hasn’t the time to reset the cancelled dates, so that’s a pity.

Latest NOW! record shifts 317,000 units in one week

Business News Labels & Publishers

So, if you’ve been busy writing off the compilations market – which has certainly slumped in recent years – you might need have to reclassify the NOW! franchise.

Neatly helping Sony to justify splashing out on buying EMI’s half of the NOW That’s What I Call Music! business back in February, the latest edition of the pop compo – now a joint venture between Sony and Universal – has sold 317,000 units in its first week.

Although large first-week NOW! sales – certainly when compared to the average featured artist album – are not that unusual, this is the first summer edition of the compilation series to surpass 300,000 copies sold in one week since 2008. And it was speculated last week that NOW! would outsell the artist album Top 100 in its entirety.

Commenting on the big sales of the latest NOW! record, Steve Pritchard, Joint MD of the franchise, told CMU: “This is the most fantastic start to the next new era of NOW, with both Universal Music and Sony Music delighted with this result. The NOW brand continues to power forward and continues to resonate massively with consumers”.

He added: “There are many exciting things happening around the brand, such as the recent success of our NOW Running App, and we’re looking forward to the next few months, with many interesting new tech developments to come and a great autumn schedule”.

Needless to say, the latest NOW! topped the compilations chart yesterday. Meanwhile in the singles chart One Direction’s ‘Best Song Ever’ failed to knock Avicii off the number one spot. Which surely obligates them to change the track’s title to ‘Second Best Song Ever’?

Debbie Harry might retire Blondie, says drummer

Artist News

Blondie drummer Clem Burke has told the Daily Mail that Debbie Harry is thinking about retiring from the band after four decades.

The Mail quote 57 year old Burke as follows: “Debbie is eleven years older than the rest of us, so it’s on her mind. We’ve tried to keep it going for as long as possible, but it’s not just up to me. Nothing is finalised yet, but obviously there’s no Blondie without Debbie Harry”.

A spokesman for Harry said that while the band are currently on a break, scheduled tour dates for later this year are on, and nothing has been confirmed one way or another beyond that.

The band have a new album in the bag that is expected to be released around the planned September and October US tour dates. Whether it is, indeed, the final album, remains to be seen.

Jedward separate

Artist News

Well, this is silly. Spiny-haired ‘X-Factor’ pests Jedward have decided to reinvent themselves, needlessly, as John And Edward. Apparently it’s all part of a “metamorphosis” planned by the boys’ management to have them taken as artistes in earnest.

John, it says in this article J&E retweeted last week, will even be seen “strumming a guitar”, as the pair ditch their ‘Ghostbusters’-style antics to instead play sedate Ed Sheeran and Westlife ballads.

See? Silly.

Beta Band to release six disc career compilation

Releases

Steve Mason et al’s The Beta Band are to release a six disc compilation of the three EPs, three LPs, many singles and various rarities they made pre their split in 2004.

‘The Regal Years (1997-2004)’, as it’s titled, will also feature live material dating back to BBC radio sessions, 2002’s Roskilde festival and the band’s final show at Shepherd’s Bush Empire; and written sidebars by bassist Richard Greentree.

It’s all set to be released on 7 Oct via Parlophone.

Chas & Dave detail new LP, Jools Holland and Hugh Laurie to guest

Releases

Chas & Dave are back (that 2009 ‘retirement‘ didn’t come to much) in time to celebrate their 50th year in the biz. Having camped for a week at Abbey Road Studios with Grammy-winning blues great Joe Henry in charge, the pair will now release a new record called ‘That’s What Happens’ via a brand new deal with Warner Music.

A combination of original tracks and C&D’s takes on early R&B, skiffle and rock n roll classics, it features Jools Holland and Hugh Laurie on ‘keys’, Buddy Holly’s one-time drummer J I Allison, and guitarists Albert Lee and Martin Taylor.

Chime Chas And Dave: “This is one of the most enjoyable albums we’ve ever done. It was a great week in Abbey Road with top class musicians and producer Joe Henry at the helm. An unregimented atmosphere where the ‘room’ worked well alongside the microphone resulting in an album that ran so smooth and joyful that we’ve almost forgotten we did it. But we’ve got proof! It will be available for you all to enjoy really soon”.

‘That’s What Happens’ is released 28 Oct.

Strangers launch free download series

Releases

Strangers have announced that they will be releasing a new track as a free download every month up to December. The latest, a track called ‘Sense Of Liberty’, is available via their website now.

Frontman David Maddox Jones told CMU: “We have been in the studio writing a lot, and thought why not give some of the tracks away for free, let people hear the music, and build our fanbase at the same time. Every time we release a new song we always reach new people. We have fans all over the world now which is really exciting”.

He continued: “‘Sense Of Liberty’ and is about how we go through life chasing the next thrill, the things that keep us feeling alive, whether it be chasing your dream or living for the weekend”.

The next free track, ‘No Longer Lost’, will go live on Thursday. The band will also headline Club NME at Koko in London on 16 Aug.

Stream ‘Sense Of Liberty’ here:

Vivendi sells most of its Activision stake

Business News Labels & Publishers

Despite saying of late that its focus is on the entertainment side of its business, with plans to sell or spin off its flagging telecoms companies, Universal Music parent Vivendi has sold most of its majority stake in gaming giant Activision Blizzard, raising $8.2 billion in the process.

Vivendi took a majority stake in Activision in 2008, merging its existing gaming interests, mainly Blizzard Entertainment, with the company. Although it sold a very small slice of its Activision stock in 2011, it still owned just over 60% of the shares. Following the new deal announced on Friday Vivendi will become a minority shareholder with a 12% stake.

The nearly 50% of the company Vivendi has sold has been bought by Activision itself, and a consortium of individuals led by the gaming company’s CEO Bobby Kotick and Co-chairman Brian Kelly. For Vivendi the deal will provide a substantial cash boost that will help overcome balance sheet issues.

The deal will likely lead to new speculation that Vivendi may also look to sell Universal Music, even though doing so would be in conflict with recent statements from the French firm’s top guard. As previously reported, Japanese telecoms group SoftBank recently reportedly offered $8.5 billion for the Universal music company.

Student marketing firm to put bands into uni coffee shops

Business News Live Business

Student marketing company Nice Curve has teamed up with Radio 1’s Huw Stephens to launch a new music venture in the university market this autumn called Coffee House Sessions. Basically a series of daytime acoustic gigs from up coming music acts will be staged in a network of forty on-campus coffee shops.

Confirming his involvement as music consultant, Stephens told CMU: “I believe Coffee House Sessions is a great idea that is going to excite a lot of music fans and artists alike. Playing to music fans, hungry to discover something new, on a dedicated touring route with professionalism and expertise in a musical environment is going to make sure the Coffee House Sessions will be a very exciting project”.

According to Nice Curve director Guy Robinson, who also leads the Coalition Talent agency, the new venture is designed to capitalise on the growing café culture found in some universities, which is complementing and competing with the more stereotypical boozy student union club and gig nights of old.

Says Robinson: “There’s been a huge lifestyle shift amongst students. Consuming food and coffee in the daytime has become more popular than frequenting students’ union bars in the evening. This has been a contributing factor to the continual decline of new live music in alcohol-lead venues”.

He added: “Each University we are doing this in not only has successful daytime trade in venues that suit acoustic performances, but also have active student media, from TV and radio to social media, who will proactively support the touring artists. Students are such a receptive demographic, consistently identified by brands as key tastemakers who can make or break products, and therefore this offers artists a new and exciting platform to help build their profile”.

Info about the initiative will be posted online at this page.

Westwood to leave BBC Radio 1 in schedule shake up

Media

The BBC has announced a shake up of the Saturday night simulcast schedule on Radio 1 and 1Xtra, which will see MistaJam, Charlie Sloth and DJ Target get new shows, and Tim Westwood get none, meaning his reign on Radio 1 will come to an end after 20 years.

From 21 Sep, Radio 1 and 1Xtra will jointly broadcast three new shows on Saturday nights, with MistaJam taking over the 7pm slot, Charlie Sloth taking on Westwood’s 9pm show, and DJ Target appearing from 11pm. New signing Clara Amfo will present 1Xtra’s Weekend Breakfast show.

Of his new show, Sloth said: “Words can’t describe how happy I am, it’s like a dream come true for me and something that I’ve worked towards my whole career, especially to be succeeding a legend like Tim Westwood who has done so much for the game. I know they are big shoes to fill, but luckily, man’s got fat feet”.

Speaking about Westwood, who joined Radio 1 in 1994, Radio 1 and 1Xtra Controller Ben Cooper said: “I’d like to thank Tim for the last 20 years on Radio 1 – his passion for hip hop is legendary – I wish him all the very best”.

OfCom says radio sector showing “enduring strength” despite new competitors

Business News Media

A report by media regulator OfCom reckons that radio is showing “enduring strength” in an ever more competitive world where online audio and music services, and rolling news TV stations, increasingly compete for the medium’s audience.

According to two surveys, OfCom reports that radio still rates highly amongst the population, who see it as an “accessible” and “dependable” medium that delivers “timely information and stimulating content”.

BBC radio was particularly noted for being a strong source of news and information, especially on the corporation’s local stations, whereas commercial outlets were more commonly noted for their music provision. Presenters with local knowledge were seen as a positive thing by respondents across the board, even though some commercial networks are offering less of this.

Despite the positives, the report notes that radio faces a number of new competitors, in both the music and news provision domain. And, of course, the internet is only just reaching the car, kitchen and bathroom, where a lot of radio listening takes place, so that new competition is likely to get stronger in the coming years.

The new reports are online here.

Perry reckons acting is hard

And Finally

Katy Perry says she reckons a career in acting is harder than a career in music, though mainly because of the early mornings. The songstress is now an expert on the acting profession, of course, having voiced a Smurf.

Perry was asked about popstars becoming actors by Radar magazine. She mused: “It’s definitely a lot of effort to be an actor, and it’s not something just anyone can roll into. I think you get a lot of people thinking ‘if I can act, I can sing, if I can sing, I can act’, and it’s just not true”.

As for whether her Smurfing role meant Perry now had plans to become an actor herself, she went on: “I think I would have to train hard for it if I was going to take a job that works sixteen hours a day, five days a week, and you have to love it. I have a lot of friends who are actors and I see how hard they work. I think that it’s actually harder and it takes more time than a music career. You wake up at 4am or 5am. That’s commitment”.

Concluding that music remains her real passion, Perry did add that if the film industry would just get rid of those early starts acting might seem more attractive: “If the movie would start filming at 11am then I would do it”.

CMU Digest – 26 Jul 2013

Business News Week In Five

The five biggest stories in the music business this week…

01: Warner UK revamped its top team, following its recent acquisition of the Parlophone Label Group. The incoming Parlophone label and existing Warner Bros UK label will be united under one management team led by long term EMI man Miles Leonard; though, while a number of execs will have combined Parlophone/Warner Bros responsibilities, the two units will seemingly retain some autonomy, with overall Warner UK chief Christian Tattersfield keeping a Co-Chair role atop Warner Bros. The mini-major’s Atlantic and Rhino UK divisions will be unaffected. CMU report | Hollywood Reporter report

02: It was confirmed that indie record stores in the UK had seen album sales grow 44% this year, compared to last. And while still only accounting for 3.2% of album sales overall, that’s still a considerable uplift for the indies in an entertainment retail sector that remains challenging. The Entertainment Retailers’ Association, which revealed the stat having crunched numbers from the Official Charts Company, said the success of Record Store Day and the renewed interest in vinyl amongst indie fans were both factors in the upturn. Though the closure of nearly 100 HMV stores earlier this year also presumably helped. CMU report | Telegraph report

03: Def Jam founder Russell Simmons announced a new joint venture with Universal. The hip hop industry veteran is teaming up with film producer Brian Robbins and experienced music exec Steve Rifkind to launch a YouTube-focused music company, looking to build communities and businesses for artists around their YouTube channels. Building on Simmons’ existing digital venture, the new company, to be called All Def Music, will have both content and talent management wings. It will operate under the Universal Music Group banner. CMU report | Forbes report

04: It emerged Google had added Grooveshark to its autocomplete blacklist. It means that the search engine won’t suggest Grooveshark pages to users typing in artist names and suchlike, though it will still link through to the often controversial streaming music service if people explicitly request it. It seems Google stopped auto-completing Grooveshark back in April, but it’s only just been noticed. The autocomplete blacklist is one of a number of ways in which Google is helping content owners in their bid to direct web-users to legit rather then unlicensed content. Though, of course, some content on Grooveshark is licensed, and the digital firm would argue it is operating totally within US copyright law. CMU report | Torrentfreak report

05: Tulisa’s manager hit out at the recent Sun ‘sting’. It emerged that Jonathan Shalit had written to the chair of parliament’s Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee, John Whittingdale, accusing the tabloid of entrapping his client in a piece that saw the paper buy a small amount of drugs from someone the former N-Dubber and ‘X-Factor’ judge put them in touch with. Tulisa had been under the impression the undercover journalists were drug-hungry film execs, the manager claimed. He chose to right to the parliamentary committee because he felt the sting was another example of an irresponsible press, and that it fitted into the wider and ongoing debate about media ethics and regulation. For it’s part The Sun argued the scoop was a legitimate bit of journalism. Though it’s possible the paper was still high on the drugs Tulisa’s mate sold them. CMU report | Guardian report

In CMU this week, Andy Malt looked through some recent developments in the strange world of brand partnerships, Aly Barchi spoke to the brilliant Daughn Gibson, and Grumbling Fur, aka Alexander Tucker and Daniel O’Sullivan, put together a playlist for us. In the Approved column we had Joy Division Reworked, Anna Meredith, Agnes Obel and Crystal Stilts.

CMU Beef Of The Week #167: Wiley v CockRock

And Finally Artist News Beef Of The Week

Wiley’s a man prone to falling out with people. There was that time he gave away all of his unreleased music for free because he fell out with his manager, for example. Or more recently when he claimed to be “walking out” of his deal with Warner Music, having “rinsed the majors for every penny”. It’s one of the things that makes him so entertaining (he makes some pretty good music too).

“Walking out” has been a bit of a theme for Wiley this year, in fact. Earlier this summer he pulled out of the Glastonbury Festival, after arriving there and realising that he didn’t like the countryside, farms or rain, of which Glastonbury had all three. During a lengthy Twitter rant (another thing he’s prone to), he began tweeting messages to the festival’s official account and Emily Eavis herself, asking for his set to be cancelled. “Fuck them and their farm”, he also told one fan during all this, just in case his feelings weren’t clear. Then he walked out.

So, the organisers of the Cockermouth Rock Festival, CockRock for short, must have been a little worried. Their festival being in the countryside, on a farm, and in an area known for its high rainfall. Losing an act from the Glastonbury line-up isn’t such a big deal. Losing one from a 5000 capacity event is a bit more of a problem. Especially when that person is one of the headliners.

But CockRock bosses were presumably pleased to hear that Wiley was indeed on his way to their event last weekend. Except that he was complaining all the way. And as he travelled to the festival he tweeted a plea to his agent to “please stop sending me to farms to perform. Just the name [of this event] makes me not wanna go. My agent knows that there are cool places to play and other places are just not worth the hassle”.

Following some angry tweets from CockRockers, he later added: “Do not throw piss at me cos I will throw it back”.

Despite him implying he’d be there to throw back all the piss, by this point it was looking like this could be another Glasto. Would he actually make it to the stage? Except, once at the festival itself Wiley seemed to warm to country life. “LOL farm traffic”, he tweeted gleefully. Then, later: “To be fair, yes, the farmers in Cumbria have made sure the burger is proper beef. Big up the farmers in Cumbria… this burger is proper”.

And so, with a proper burger in his tummy, Wiley was ready and raring to go. And luckily he’d made peace with all the Cumbrian farmers now. Surely the show would go ahead without a hitch. Unless the farmers hadn’t seen his later tweets. Or the majority of the people in the audience weren’t actually farmers.

Sadly, it seemed that quite a few farmers and non-farmers alike were still upset. And while the rapper came out and played his first three tracks to the pleasure of many, there were some who were still unimpressed. Having already asked for people to stop throwing beer cans at him once, Wiley stopped the show just under fifteen minutes in.

Amidst much booing, he said: “You know what I said, yeah? If one more can comes flying, I’m coming off the stage. I said that. You know why? Because you cannot throw cans at me because of a situation that I’ve had with my agent, because he didn’t made it quicker for me to get to Cocker[mouth]. So you can’t be angry with me. If you wanna throw things, I’ve given you enough music … so I’m gonna say bye. Goodbye Cocker[mouth]!”

Of course, upon leaving the stage Wiley updated his 350,000 Twitter followers on what had happened, assuring them that he’d “faced up to a few pagans and got paid”, despite the cut-short set. Some of those pagans (no, I don’t know either – he also went with “inbreds”, “reptilians” and “witches’ children”, amongst other insults), responded by suggesting that he should give that money to the two charities the non-profit festival supports, at the very least. This was not a solution Wiley was impressed with though, telling them that he planned to “piss this 15k up the wall”.

Some people might have then decided to lay low for a while and let this all pass. But some people aren’t Wiley, are they? He continued to goad the festival, its attendees and the entire county of Cumbria for days afterwards, at one point tweeting a photo from within his bank, as well as accusing the festival of being organised by the English Defence League.

While that is definitely not the case, the amount of racist abuse Wiley has received online in the wake of his walk off can’t have helped any possibility of making amends with Cumbria – the comments on this video of the incident (and the chant of “you black bastard” from one audience member in it) aren’t exactly endearing.

Anyway, Wiley’s management issued a statement on the matter, claiming that the rapper had been warned that a portion of the crowd were likely to be hostile towards him. It said: “Wiley was advised by the event organisers if the situation with the crowd became dangerous or out of hand that he could leave the stage early. Wiley continued his performance and then a sea of coins and glass bottles were thrown one closely missing his face so they called time on the set. It is one thing for crowds to heckle or boo but quite another for peoples safety to be at risk by coins or bottles”.

But organiser Marie Whitehead, Event Director at CN Events, responded to this by telling local radio station CFM: “It wasn’t agreed at all, he said, ‘If this goes bad I’m coming off’. He said there was bottles thrown at him, there was no bottles on site, we’re a totally glass free festival, but nothing hit him and we had fifteen security guards all monitoring the stage”.

And despite having said that the festival’s organisers were “not angry” immediately following Wiley’s departure from the stage, as his ranting on Twitter continued, Whitehead did contact CN Events’ lawyers. Ahead of that meeting on Wednesday she told local newspaper The Times & Star: “It is fairly clear that there was a breach of contract and we had Wiley criticising the festival. There’s an awful lot of things that can go wrong at festival and this was one of them but we have to do what we have to do”.

It has now been widely reported that this means Wiley is getting sued, though he insisted yesterday that “nobody ain’t suing shit”. So, we’ll see.

Wiley is due to play GlobalGathering this weekend. Hey, at least it’s not on a farm.

Approved: Fabriclive at Fabric

Club Tip CMU Approved

Fabriclive is still going strong, and tonight is a drum n bass masterclass. DJ Hype and crew will headline Room One, with Drumsound & Bassline Smith also on the packed line-up. Plus, over in Room Two there’s LTJ Bukem with Grooverider and Dynamic, and in Room Three there are the Total Science boys.

Friday 26 Jul, Fabric, 77a Charterhouse Street, London, EC1M 6HJ, 11pm – 7am, £8 – £22, more info here.

Warner UK revamps top team post PLG acquisition

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Warner Music yesterday announced a revamp of its top team following the mini-major’s recent acquisition of the Parlophone Label Group, aka most of the European EMI assets Universal Music was forced to sell by the regulator when it bought the wider EMI record company last year.

The main development is that the Parlophone label – the main strand of the PLG in the UK – will be united with the Warner Bros UK label, and will be led by long-term EMI and Parlophone man Miles Leonard. As Chairman of Parlophone and Warner Bros, he will lead a team who will oversee both units, though the two labels will still seemingly retain some autonomy, with overall Warner UK boss Christian Tattersfield retaining a Co-Chairman role on the Warner Bros side.

Leonard’s team will include Mandy Plumb, who will become SVP Marketing for the Parlophone/Warner Bros division, while Kevin McCabe will be SVP Media for the combined label unit. Both come to Warner via its PLG acquisition.

Elsewhere in the Warner UK mini-empire, Max Lousada will continue to be Chairman of Atlantic Records UK, while Dan Chalmers will continue to oversee the company’s catalogue, distribution and artist services operations. Jeremy Marsh, until now Vice Chairman of Warner Bros Records UK, will take on the new role of EVP International Marketing for the whole of Warner Music UK, taking over from the departing Mike Allen.

Also with roles at a Warner Music UK level are Bob Workman, who becomes VP Brand Partnerships; Rich Robinson, who will become VP Sync for UK and Europe; and Derek Allen, who will be SVP Sales.

Confirming Leonard’s appointment, Warner UK CEO Tattersfield told CMU: “I am delighted to confirm Miles’ appointment. His influence on the UK music scene has been enormous and the success of the acts he has championed, both at home and abroad, makes him a tremendous addition to our team. As well as building on Parlophone’s many achievements, I am confident his new role within Warner Bros Records opens up great potential for us to further sharpen our focus on local A&R, as well as continuing to provide best-in-class support to the many global superstars on the roster”.

Meanwhile Leonard himself added: “I am very excited to finally be bringing Parlophone over to Warner Music and working with both Christian and Max, who I have huge respect for. Clearly Warner Music and Parlophone share a vision and culture that puts artists first and together we have the most forward thinking and exciting music company in the business”.

And on the other developments, Tattersfield continued: “The Warner Music UK and Parlophone teams consist of some of the industry’s most gifted, visionary and driven executives. The new line-up we have created blends the best of both organisations, preserving our existing knowledge and expertise while introducing complementary new skills. The combination of the Warner Bros and Parlophone labels with Max Lousada’s Atlantic UK further strengthens our position as the UK’s first-choice home for new talent”.

Ticket fraud does happen on secondary sites, says Radio 4

Business News Live Business Top Stories

Ticket fraud is on the rise and the secondary ticketing sites are being utilised by the fraudsters, or so says a report by Radio 4 consumer affairs programme ‘You And Yours’.

With both live music players and the Metropolitan Police expressing concerns about the rise of ticket fraud in recent years, as rogue sellers utilise the internet to appear legit while taking money for tickets that don’t exist, the BBC programme investigated claims that some fraudsters use ticket resale sits like Viagogo, Seatwave, Ticketmaster’s Getmein and eBay’s Stubhub to sell their non-tickets.

In theory the ticket touting websites, while still controversial within the music business for allowing individuals and companies to resell tickets at a considerable mark up, provide protection against fraudulent ticket sales, because sellers generally don’t get their money until after a gig has occurred, and the resale company provides a guarantee to the end consumer if there is a problem with the ticket they buy.

Indeed, Viagogo published a report on ticket fraud earlier this year, proposing its platform as a solution rather than catalyst to the problem.

However, ‘You And Yours’ says that sellers on the secondary sites can get their money before an event happens if they gain ‘trusted status’ by regularly selling genuine tickets. Some fraudsters know this, the programme said, and exploit the system, touting legit tickets for a period and then utilising their trusted status to commit a flurry of fraudulent sales.

The report alleged that one such seller had sold thousands of fraudulent tickets after gaining trusted status before complaints caused him to be cut off. And while the secondary sites will provide a refund to anyone who is sold a non-ticket via their platform, that doesn’t stop the buyer from having the disappointment of showing up to a gig venue and being turned away.

Confirming ticket fraud was on the rise, Reg Walker of The Iridium Consultancy told the Radio 4 programme: “In the last four months alone we’ve seen over 2000 [fake tickets]. We’ve seen more counterfeits in one venue than we’ve seen in the preceding six years. In the majority of cases the barcode is for another event, or it’s the same barcode from one ticket resold over and over again”.

It’s not entirely clear how frequently fraud actually occurs via the secondary sites, given the fraudster has to be pretty committed to the operation (conducting all the legit sales first to get trusted status), and will then only be able to sell fraudulent tickets for a short time before being found out. Though if said fraudster sells thousands of non-tickets in that time, that could still be a lot of disappointed music fans even if the actual number of people doing this via the resale sites is very small.

Pink Floyd ally with Imagem

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

Following the recent decision by the Rolling Stones to ally with BMG on publishing matters, having self-published their songs catalogue for three decades, now Pink Floyd – who have handled their own publishing for over forty years – have announced a partnership with independent publisher Imagem Music UK. Under the new deal, Imagem will administer the music publishing rights in the Floyd’s full catalogue (though Roger Waters’ solo works are outside the deal).

Confirming the new arrangement, the managers of the various members of Pink Floyd told Billboard: “This is a big change for us. Together with Peter Barnes [who has overseen Pink Floyd Publishing to date] we did a detailed review that made us really think about what we needed from a publisher partner. That’s not easy when the band had effectively done their own publishing via Peter Barnes for PFMP since the days of ‘Atom Heart Mother'”.

They went on: “We wanted all the flexibility we have now, combined with creativity, enthusiasm and the ability to punch its weight for us in the digital world. We met and liked the [Imagem] team and we all feel that we are going to get the sort of personal service we need. We are very much looking forward to it”.

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