Thursday 19 December 2013, 12:34 | By Aly Barchi

CMU Artists Of The Year 2013: Kanye West

Artists Of The Year CMU Approved

Each weekday in the run up to the Christmas break, we will reveal another of our ten favourite artists of the year. To see each artist as they’re revealed, sign up to receive the CMU Daily or check this page. Our penultimate artist is Kanye West…

When I think of Kanye West in 2013, I think ‘I Am A God’. I think “damn croissants”. I think leather jogging pants, Kim Kardashian, baby North, and hideous candle-wax/Michelin Man heels. I think a big, livid ball of contradiction; the quiet, respectable man chatting affectionately with Kris Jenner vs the tyrannical rap star railing, raging, naming and shaming in Zane Lowe’s face, barely taking a breath. I think of all the sense he speaks, and the rest.

Hitting at the height of June, West’s sixth LP ‘Yeezus’ is by light years his most angrily anti-radio work to date. ‘Yeezus’ is built on a kind of crazed minimalism, all “reduced” (by Rick Rubin) and harsh-lit trap beats, glaring sampling (see the ‘Strange Fruit’ borrow) and acid lyrical ire, swerving hit ‘singles’ in lieu of a “sit off” (the opposite of ‘sit in’, as West terms it in his Zane interview) policy that flies like a red flag in the Billboard Top 100’s bewildered face.

“Me as Kanye West”, he told Lowe post-‘Yeezus’, “I gotta fuck shit up”. That ‘gotta’, I think, suggests West not only feels obliged by his own desire to stir the pot, shake it, then tip it on its head and stamp on the pieces, but also takes pleasure in doing so. He says it with a smile, “I want to vex you”. So, there’s that Kanye.

Then there’s the Kanye who’ll ‘explain’ his art at length, that he’s the one driving this dialogue over what he does, and what he is. And there’s the Kanye sat on a hammy chat show telling his girlfriend’s ‘mom’ that he’s madly in love with her daughter. Though, sedate as he is at those other moments, I guess in a way that Kanye wants to vex you too.

But then there’s his transparent desire to have his art appreciated and admired, a desire that’s especially clear in the case of his fashion designs. And we’ve all seen them. As a high-minded (in the sense he thinks high, sky-high) artist and designer, he isn’t interested in making things his fans and creative peers don’t think are significant. He means to impress, even if that entails getting in their space and showing them things they might not necessarily wish to see. When Kanye rants, what isn’t clear is what he’s striving for – to illuminate, to agitate, or simply to blare.

West at his wayward best (or worst, depending on how you view it) can confound, infuriate, flip perspective and leave expectation bleeding in the dust like no one else. Just compare his Zane Lowe interview to the one Eminem did with the Radio 1 DJ, which comes off pallid by comparison.

West does have his tasteless side of course – the cheap “Asian pussy/All I need is sweet n sour sauce” side – which throughout ‘Yeezus’ rubs up uncomfortably against his love for beauty, art and sophistication. You wonder – when you hear ‘Blood On The Leaves’, essentially the civil rights movement’s most haunting torch song, ‘Strange Fruit’, reduced to a petty bitch-fest – how anyone as smart as West clearly can be so dumb.

But then, that’s probably the point. And its brashness and many nasty ‘isms’ aside, ‘Yeezus’ is an immense feat of engineering, a claim one only has to look at its tracklisting and credit details to believe is real.

Featuring Daft Punk, Hudson Mohawke, Evian Christ, Gesaffelstein, Arca and West making the beats, and Justin Vernon, Kid Cudi, Jill Scott and Chris Martin (and West again) contributing on the writing, it’s not only the sound of a self-styled ‘big deal’ throwing his considerable weight around, and trying his ego for size, but also links in a vast cast of benefactors, both well known and not, ‘safe’ and otherwise.

Ultimately, what fascinates West-wise is the debate on Kanye as a man, as An Artist, as a celebrity, as a cartoon character, all things that are virtually inextricable, probably because he wants it that way. No doubt West is a genius of a kind – many-sided, endlessly daring, always experimental, with a well-deep thirst to learn, to do and be different. He wants parity in America, wants to change the landscapes of art and fashion, he wants his damn croissants.

And fortunately for him, going on our limitless fascination for all-things Yeezy, the world wants an agitator. Or, to phrase it an alternative way, it wants a ‘Black Skinhead’:

The Pirate Bay searching for a domain name “that sticks”, following latest move

Business News Digital Legal Top Stories

A spokesperson for The Pirate Bay has said that the file-sharing service will continue to switch its top level domain name until it finds one “that sticks”, after moving its main web address to a new domain registry for the third time this month.

Yesterday, TPB announced that it had now moved to a new domain in Guyana, having already switched to domains registered in the Ascension Islands and Peru in the last week. Legal action by rights owners has led to various domain registries suspending Pirate Bay domains, with the Peru one going offline a few hours after TPB announced its latest shift. Prior to this month’s moves, already this year the controversial file-sharing site has used and given up on web addresses in Sweden, Greenland, Iceland and Sint Maarten.

The latest shift came after Peru’s National Institute For The Defense Of Competition And The Protection Of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI) ordered the country’s biggest ISP, Red Cientifica Peruana, to suspend the domain or face a fine of up to 666,000 soles (£145,000). Although the company has apparently complied, El Comercio reports that RCP may yet appeal against the order on the grounds that any action should be taken against the owners of the domain, rather than the company it is registered with.

Whether or not that appeal goes ahead, The Pirate Bay has already moved on regardless, and will continue to do so. Speaking to TorrentFreak after the latest change, a TPB spokesperson said: “We have some 70 domain names left, so eventually we will find one that sticks. A few domains have been prepared so we can switch over whenever’s needed”.

This is something of a shift from comments made last week, when The Pirate Bay said it was preparing an update to its PirateBrowser software which would return everything to the days of decentralised file-sharing, and thus have no need for domain names.

Of course, for those accessing the Bay via ‘proxies’ set up to circumvent ISP-level blocks against the file-sharing site in the UK and other countries, the domain name changes will already be going unnoticed, because the proxies remain and quickly update. Though, while the UK music industry has secured numerous web-blocks this year, web-blocking is still only occurring in a handful of countries, and TPB told TorrentFreak that currently only 10% of its users access the site in this way.

How many more of those 70 domain names in reserve will be used, and how many more before the end of the year, remains to be seen.

Italian comms regulator gets web-blocking powers

Business News Digital Legal

Italian regulator AGCOM, which loosely translates as the Electronic Communications Authority, has announced that it will assume the power to instigate web-blocks against copyright infringing websites from next April, meaning that rights owners won’t have to pursue civil litigation to gain online blockades.

Web-blocking has, of course, become a key part of the entertainment industry’s anti-piracy work in a handful of countries including the UK, where the music and movie sectors have secured numerous injunctions forcing internet service providers to block the domains of copyright infringing websites, mainly file-sharing communities or BitTorrent search engines.

So called proxy sites, which are usually easy to find on Google, help users to circumvent the blockades, but rights owners say that anything that hinders the online search for unlicensed content is a step in the right direction, plus it’s hoped the web-block notices users see educate the public on which sites are illegal. And some blocked sites have subsequently gone offline, though The Pirate Bay claims that coverage of blocks against its domains usually results in a boost in traffic.

But to date securing web-blocks has required the trade bodies of the content industries to go to court. But from next year in Italy rights owners will be able to submit complaints about copyright infringing sites directly to AGCOM, which will then investigate offending sites and, the regulator says, give the accused operations an opportunity to remove all infringing content, or links to the same. If they fail to do so, ACGOM will then be able to issue web-block notices to ISPs without having to go to court.

The plans were first revealed in October, and were sent to the European Commission for feedback. Although many have previously expressed concern about any anti-piracy system that allows sanctions (web blocking or net disconnection) without the involvement of a judge, European officials have seemingly given their approval to the Italian plans. It’s hoped that the new measures will speed up and simplify the web-block process, making targeting unlicensed file-sharing operations easier in Italy than almost any other country.

The record industry’s global trade body IFPI welcomed the new initiative, with boss Frances Moore telling CMU: “I thank the President of AGCOM, Angelo Cardani, and the authority’s staff for all their hard work in securing the new regulation. The blocking of websites that are dedicated to violating copyright has been demonstrably effective in reducing online infringement in many countries. The new rules make the internet safer for creative content and will help in the development of the legitimate digital music sector in Italy”.

In the UK, when parliament was considering new anti-piracy measures in 2010, a more efficient web-blocking system was basically rejected in favour of a three-strikes programme targeting individual file-sharers, though that programme has famously never actually been activated.

Ruling on BMI licence could pose problems for Pandora

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Legal

A court ruling in the US yesterday will potentially cause problems for leading American streaming service Pandora, after it was ruled that some key music publishers can withdraw their catalogues from the licence provided to the digital firm by collecting society BMI.

As previously reported, Pandora is wholly licensed in the US via the collective licensing system. On the recordings side, in America the record companies are obliged by law to license Pandora-style set-ups collectively, and do so via SoundExchange.

The publishers initially voluntarily opted to license Pandora et al via their collecting societies ASCAP and BMI. But in the last year or so some of the big publishers have started to look to licence more digital services directly, believing they can negotiate more favourable terms that way, and remove the restrictions that come with collective licensing deals.

Even though Pandora has been busy trying to negotiate down the royalties it pays via the various American collecting societies, for the time being at least it is still set on doing its licensing deals this way, rather than cutting direct arrangements with the labels and publishers. Which means the digital firm has been trying to stop the publishers from withdrawing from the collective licensing system.

And on the ASCAP side it was successful, for the time being at least, with a court ruling in September that publishers couldn’t take away from Pandora the rights to stream songs currently represented by the society, because the company’s current licence from the organisation clearly guaranteed them access to the full catalogue available at the time the deal was done for the duration of the agreement, which runs until 2015.

But in a similar squabble with BMI the court has ruled in favour of the society, mainly because of the timing and wording of the most recent agreement between Pandora and the rights group, which – a judge confirmed this week – allowed for alterations in catalogue, foreseeing that the big publishers were moving toward direct licensing in the digital domain.

In theory this means that Pandora could lose the rights to stream songs owned by Universal Music Publishing Group, BMG and Kobalt in the new year, which would require the digital company to do direct deals with those publishers or suffer some substantial holes in its catalogue.

Though, that said, additional comments by the judge, and a Department Of Justice rep who testified in the case, regards whether publishers can or cannot withdraw catalogue under the ‘consent decrees’ that enable the collective licensing process might make the big publishers less keen to make a sudden withdrawal from the Pandora licence in early 2014. Especially as lobbying is underway to alter consent decree rules in the US, and it might be better to make the big bold withdrawal from digital collective licensing if and when those changes have been achieved.

Santa song to stay with EMI

Business News Labels & Publishers Legal

The timings of this case seem too perfect. Almost exactly two years ago it emerged that the estate of late songwriter J Fred Coots was suing EMI Music Publishing over the rights in one of his songs, the seasonal ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town’. And now, just as festive tunes are all over the radio and in-store sound systems once again, a judgement has been made in the case.

As previously reported, the lawsuit related to the so called ‘termination right’ that exists in US copyright law and which allows songwriters who assign ownership of songs they write to a publisher for the full life of the copyright to have one go at getting it back, or more commonly to negotiate more favourable terms with their existing publisher. The bit of 1970s legislation that introduced the right is only really kicking in now because of the time that must pass before termination becomes an option.

‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town’ was written in 1934 and the rights in it assigned to a publisher call Leo Feist Inc, which was subsequently acquired by EMI in the 1980s. In his lifetime Coots renegotiated his deal with Feist twice, in 1951 and 1981.

More recently the Coots family has tried to issue a new termination notice, reportedly so that they could cut a deal with Warner/Chappell over the festive hit, claiming that while their father may have technically used up his one-time chance at terminating his publishing deal in 1981, the paperwork associated with that arrangement was not filed with the US Copyright Office as the termination law requires. Therefore, the Coots children and grandchildren said, they should be able to terminate their EMI deal once again.

However, according to Variety, although the judge hearing the case conceded this week that the lack of paperwork in 1981 created problems for EMI, she seemingly then concluded that the 1951 arrangement – although predating the introduction of the termination rule – used up Coots’ one-time statutory right to terminate. Therefore the rights in the Santa ditty will remain with EMI until they expire in 2029.

The EMI publishing company’s legal rep Donald Zakarin told Variety that the ruling “provides statutory guidance to both those resisting termination and those seeking to effect termination”.

N-Dubz’ Fazer unfazed by finances

Artist News Legal

So an ex-N-Dubber is in financial straits. But no, contrary to what the ‘haters’ are saying, it isn’t Dappy, who wasn’t lying when he said last week that: “I got doe now and always will have”. Nor is it Tulisa, though in court to face those drugs charges as we speak, she isn’t exactly having herself a happy Xmas either.

It is, in fact, Dappy’s one-time bro Fazer, real name Richard Rawson, who filed for bankruptcy earlier this month. “I had to laugh at what I’m hearing today!! #Really no really I had to laugh!!” tweeted Fazer yesterday, as news of the bankruptcy filing circulated, adding: “#FFS #GetTheFacts”.

Well, we have the facts, via the court records, so… erm. The end.

Pussy Riot members could be released today

Artist News Legal

Pussy Riot’s Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina may be released from prison as soon as today, after Russia’s amnesty bill was passed by the country’s parliament yesterday.

As previously reported, proposed by president Vladimir Putin to mark the 20th anniversary of Russia’s post-Soviet constitution, the amnesty bill looks to free prisoners who have been jailed for certain non-violent crimes, and could favour women with dependent children, such as Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina.

The two women’s lawyer Irina Khrunova told ITAR-TASS: “As a matter of fact, the situation entirely depends on whether the administrations of their penal colonies want their soonest release, but I think they would not like to procrastinate the release process for the two girls”.

It was also recently reported that Russia’s Supreme Court has ordered a review of the two women’s convictions (along with that of a third member of the group) for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” last year. The court said last week that the prosecution in their case had failed to demonstrate that the three artists were motivated by hatred towards one specific group, which is required in cases of this kind.

The court also criticised the judges in the case for not taking into account that both Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina had young children when sentencing.

Warner confirms how Parlophone roster will be handled in US

Business News Labels & Publishers

Warner Music has finalised how integration of the Parlophone roster will work in the US, with most of the acts signed to the former EMI label being represented by Warner Bros in America, which makes sense given that the main UK-based Parlophone division has been joined up with the British version of the Warner Bros label over here.

That means Warner Bros US will now get to work on releases by the likes of Kylie Minogue, Lily Allen, Bat For Lashes, Eliza Doolittle, Damon Albarn, Conor Maynard and Gabrielle Aplin, and will have access to most of the Parlophone catalogue that Warner acquired. Though a handful of artists will be handled Stateside by Warner’s other main division Atlantic, including Coldplay, Tinie Tempah and David Guetta.

Warner acquired the Parlophone Label Group, which consisted of the UK frontline Parlophone business, the Chrysalis recordings catalogue and various other European EMI units, earlier this year off Universal Music, which was forced to sell it by regulators in order to get a green light for its acquisition of the EMI record company. On how its new European assets would be handled in America, a spokesman for Warner told Billboard: “As you’d expect, we’ve been taking a very thoughtful approach to which US label is partnered with each act, working closely with the artists and their management”.

Elsewhere in Warner news, yesterday it was confirmed that Dion Singer had been appointed to the role of EVP Creative Marketing at Warner Bros US, while Beth Appleton, currently Marketing Director for Warner in Australia, will return to London to become SVP Marketing for Warner Music International.

Clash gives away free end of year digital edition

Business News Media

Clash Magazine is giving away a special end of year issue for free, through its iOS app. As well as various interactive year-in-review type features, Clash’s fourth digital edition also includes some content from the magazine’s December/January print version.

Head Of Digital Content at Clash, Matt Bennett, told CMU: “Having produced a beautiful print magazine for nearly ten years, the challenge to marry the aesthetic of physical with the dynamic possibilities of digital really fired our creative team into life. Launching our digital edition has been a scintillating learning curve and we’re thrilled that all our fanaticism in this field speaks so clearly to the future of publishing and music journalism”.

As well as a look through this year’s musical milestones and a rundown of Clash’s top 40 albums of 2013, features in the digital mag include an interview with MIA and a behind the scenes video from her photoshoot for the title.

Download the app here.

Cult Of Luna to go on hiatus after London show

Artist News

CMU approved prog metallers Cult Of Luna have announced that they will go on hiatus, following a London performance in May. Though it’s not the end. But a significant enough breaking point that former frontman Klas Rydberg will also perform with the band one final time at that show.

The Swedish band will curate and play at the Beyond The Redshift festival on 10 May, which will be spread across North London venues The Forum, The Dome and Boston Music Room. Other bands on the bill include Amplifier, God Seed and Amenra.

Writing on Facebook, the band said: “The Beyond The Redshift festival in London on May the tenth will be a very special show for Cult Of Luna. It will mark the end of an era and after that we will slowly disappear before we reappear again in some form in some indefinite future. Because of that Klas will join us on stage for the last time and we will play a whole lot of old songs which we haven’t played for years or ever”.

Later clarifying that this was not the end of the group, they said: “We are not quitting. 2013 has been a very active year for us and neither do we want or think it is good to continue in that pace. We will not be a band that puts out an album every 18-24 months anymore. We did that for almost ten years when we were younger and were able to focus more on the music”.

They continued: “After Beyond The Redshift we might do a festival or two but after that we have nothing planned. Maybe we’ll release another album next year or maybe in a decade, we honestly don’t know. Sooner or later we will return in one form or another. Cult of Luna will not die”.

Now, let’s all watch the video for ‘Passing Through’, from the band’s latest album, ‘Vertikal’:

Angel Haze leaks LP, displeases her label

Artist News Releases

Angel Haze’s first LP, ‘Dirty Gold’, hit the internet way (way) ahead of time yesterday, when the Brooklyn-based rap artiste began leaking it online a la Death Grips, Wiley (and nearly MIA).

She did it, she said at the time, because she was pissed that her label, Universal’s Island/Republic, had initially given her a summer 2013 deadline to finish making it, on the condition they’d release it this year. Which, given its release date was set at 3 Mar 2014 earlier this week, hasn’t happened.

“I have gone to bat for this music. I have gone to bat for myself. I have literally sat fucking sleepless and starved crying over this shit”, said Haze via Twitter, before posting the entire record on SoundCloud.

She added: “So sorry to Island/Republic Records, but fuck you. I got here doing this for my fans and if you guys don’t feel the same, it won’t stop me. I don’t care what happens after this. They will get the music they were promised. And you guys JUST MAY LEARN TO KEEP YOUR FUCKING WORD”.

What happened after that, it seems, was that the label agreed to bring forward the album release to 30 Dec this year, so all that stomping around did achieve what she wanted, rather than getting her dropped. So she fell slightly short of ‘doing a Death Grips’ in the end.

Arcade Fire, Cat Power sing Christmas songs

Artist News Releases

Arcade Fire and Cat Power want to wish the world a happy holiday, the non-American translation of which is ‘a nice Xmas break’.

Team AC did it via Zach Galifianakis’ ‘Between Two Ferns’ show on Funny Or Die, rendering ‘Little Drummer Boy’ even weirder than it was that time David Bowie did a load of cocaine and crashed an old man’s Christmas vigil. Watch Arcade Fire achieving that strange feat now:

Also, Cat Power has sold-out somewhat and softly laid a cover of ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’ atop an Apple TV promo. Close your eyes and enjoy it here:

Brand New set 2014 dates

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Brand New (of post-hardcore fame) have confirmed an, ahem, brand new set of 2014 live dates to stand in place of those they cancelled earlier this year.

The shows, ticketing for which will start from scratch on Friday, are as follows, and may or may not find the band playing – as they’ve done Stateside – pairs of past LPs from front to back.

11 Apr: Southampton, Guildhall
12 Apr: London, Troxy
16 Apr: Newcastle, Academy
18 Apr: Manchester, Academy

Lizzo lists first headline shows

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Odd-pop rap baller-from-Detroit Lizzo is slithering over to Britain in the New Year, to play her first headline shows post the release of her hot first solo LP, ‘LIZZOBANGERS’.

She navigates Brighton’s Bermuda Triangle on 22 Feb, playing Birthdays in London on 24 Feb. In the intervening time, hear one of Lizzo’s ‘BANGERS’, the Sophia Eris-featuring ‘Batches & Cookies’, here:

Bieber not retiring from music

And Finally Artist News

So is Justin Bieber planning on quitting this music lark, possibly to spend more time on his real passion: perfume salesmanship? Well, no, he’s not. Sorry people, but the perfume industry’s loss is the music industry’s loss.

So yes, earlier this week LA radio station Power 106 cheekily unveiled a clip of an interview the Biebster had done with the station in which he said, when being asked about his future plans: “[After] the new album… I’m actually retiring. I’m retiring man. I’m just gonna take some time. I think I’m probably going to quit music. I’m quitting. I’m going to go golf”.

Which, needless to say, was a promise that successfully got the internet talking, until last night when Power 106 posted the full interview in which Bieber immediately added: “No, I’m just messing around”. So there you have it, no need to stock up on Bieber tunes today, there’ll be a ready supply for the foreseeable.

Johnny Marr is anti-Spotify

And Finally Artist News Digital

Almost there now, we’ve almost asked all the musicians what they think of Spotify. And Johnny Marr is against it, on the grounds that it’s not “punk rock”.

Speaking to the NME, the former Smiths guitarist said: “It’s been a strange time for music in general [this year]. Especially with the debate about Spotify. I’m not a supporter: I think it entirely hampers new bands, and the situation that Thom Yorke and Beck have been criticising makes the old record companies of the 70s look like cottage industries. I can’t think of anything more opposite to punk rock than Spotify”.

As for an alternative solution, Marr continued: “I have no answer to the economic side of the modern music industry, but I do think we certainly shouldn’t stop valuing what bands do. I don’t like great things being throwaway. Pop culture isn’t just about ‘the music, man’. It’s a way of life, an aesthetic, and it’s not just about pressing a button and getting something entirely for convenience”.

Showing how much he supports new bands himself, Marr went on to diss Haim. Though, to be fair, he was calling them out on buddying up with David Cameron on BBC One’s ‘Andrew Marr Show’ earlier this year. “It’s really simple: they made themselves look like idiots”, said the guitarist, who famously ‘banned’ Cameron from liking The Smiths. “The Conservatives tried to do the same thing with the Smiths, to re-appropriate us in a false way, to be cool by association”.

Ian Watkins sentenced to 29 years in prison

Artist News Legal Top Stories

Former Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins has been sentenced to 29 years in prison for the sexual abuse of children, plus a six year licence after his release. Two female accomplices, who cannot be named in order to protect their children, who were victims in the case, received fourteen years and seventeen years.

As previously reported, last month Watkins admitted to various charges, including attempting to rape an eleven month old baby, as well as making and possessing images of the sexual abuse of children. Cardiff Crown Court was this morning told that these images included the worst levels of abuse possible.

When he changed his plea to guilty, Watkins’ lawyer Sally O’Neill said that the singer could not remember the incidents of child abuse he was accused of – and again reiterated today that he had “no recollection” of these events – though the attempted rape had been captured on video and was found by police in a cloud storage account operated by Watkins.

The court was told this morning that phonecalls made from prison in the days after his admission seemed to show that his claim to not be able to remember anything were fabricated. In one call, he said: “It was like either me go up there and say ‘Come on, it wasn’t that bad, nobody got hurt’. I do my charm or do I end up making things worse for myself or do I just say I was off my head and can’t remember?”

Discussing today’s sentencing, he added: “I’m going to put a statement on the eighteenth now just to say it was ‘megalolz’, I don’t know what everyone is getting so freaked out about”.

Asked if he would still issue this statement, Watkins told the court: “No, it’s just lols now”.

In another call he denied his guilt, saying: “It’s so hard. There’s a lot of fucking meaningless bullshit like chat that I did to show off when I was fucking off my head. There was no medical evidence, nobody was harmed at all. I’m not a paedophile, I’m not. You know I pled guilty just to avoid a trial, not realising ‘Hang on, that makes me look a bit guilty’ but I would never harm anybody”.

In a lengthy mitigation speech, O’Neill argued that Watkins should receive a reduced sentence on the grounds that his guilty plea avoided the need for a trial. She also argued that an “obsession” with sex and being “quite addicted to a variety of drugs”, coupled with being bombarded with offers of sex from fans over social media (often feature “extraordinary depravity”), had meant he’d become carried away.

She added: “I don’t for one moment pretend that Ian Watkins didn’t fully take part and reciprocate in these fantasies but it is marked that often the initiator was the fan, whether it is one of the co-defendants or not”.

O’Neill continued the line that Watkins could not remember his attempted rape of a baby, saying that he was “very shocked” when he saw the video of it, adding that he is “ashamed and appalled by what has happened” and is keen to seek help for his drug and alcohol problems.

The lawyers for the two women sentenced alongside him rebuked claims that they had manipulated a drug-addled Watkins into trying to have sex with their children, both saying that it was the singer who had initiated all of the incidents they were involved in.

Lawyer for ‘Woman A’ Jonathan Fuller said that she was “certainly not an obsessive fan seeking out this individual” but was “vulnerable and exploited and allowed herself to be so”. Meanwhile, Christine Laing, speaking for ‘Woman B’, acknowledged that her client was a “major” fan of Watkins and said that he had used this to manipulate her, referring to himself as “your master” in messages to her and telling her “you and your daughter now belong to me”.

In sentencing, the judge Mr Justice Royce told the defendants that their actions plumbed “new depths of depravity”, adding: “Any decent person looking at or listening to material here would experience shock, revulsion, anger and incredulity”.

He also said that while judges are used to presiding over “horrific” cases, this one “breaks new ground”. In this summing up, he also revealed that Watkins had told a probation officer that he may have committed worse abuse had he not been arrested, but Royce found it “difficult to imagine anything much worse” than the acts he had already carried out.

Royce said that Watkins had shown “evident delight” in abusing children, and “an almost complete lack of remorse” since his arrest. He added that the singer poses a “significant risk” to young women and children.

The Pirate Bay shifts domain again, this time Guyana

Business News Digital Top Stories

The Pirate Bay has moved to its third new domain name of the month, now located at thepiratebay.gy, registered in Guyana, it announced in a blog post this morning.

As previously reported, the file-sharing service moved to a .sx – Ascension Islands – domain last week, before quickly shifting to Peru’s .pe suffix. This follows moves from Sweden to Greenland to Iceland to Sint Maarten, in the site’s continued attempts to stay online.

It remains to be seen how long the site will remain at its new domain name, but operators of The Pirate Bay recently told TorrentFreak that they were working on a new version of their PirateBrowser software, which would mean URLs would no longer be necessary to access its servers, saying that “by their actions [the entertainment industry] finally brought on the next generation of decentralised services”.

CMU Artists Of The Year 2013: Yasutaka Nakata

Artists Of The Year CMU Approved

Each weekday in the run up to the Christmas break, we will reveal another of our ten favourite artists of the year. To see each artist as they’re revealed, sign up to receive the CMU Daily or check this page. Next up, producer Yasutaka Nakata…

We’ve already mentioned Japanese songwriter and producer Yasutaka Nakata once in our Artists Of The Year rundown, for his contribution to the multi-layered world of J-pop group Perfume. But he more than deserves to be recognised in his own regard. His work as a songwriter and producer this year has been phenomenal.

Although probably best known for his work with the aforementioned Perfume and singer Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Nakata actually first broke into the music industry as one half of electro duo Capsule, with vocalist Toshiko Koshijima, releasing their debut album ‘High Collar Girl’ in 2001. He began working with Perfume the following year, producing a number of singles for the group but without huge chart success, while Capsule’s popularity was slowly rising.

But then in 2007 Perfume released their breakthrough single, ‘Polyrhythm’, which took them to number seven in the Japanese singles chart and wound up on the soundtrack of Pixar film ‘Cars’. The following year, their debut album ‘Game’ went to number one, bringing forth the distinct techno-pop sound Nakata had designed for them, and continues to develop.

In addition to writing and recording Perfume’s fourth consecutive number one album this year, Nakata also released his second album with Kyary Pamyu Pamyu in June, which also went to number one in Japan.

A distinctly different act to Perfume, Kyary was originally a model and fashion blogger in Tokyo’s Harajuku district, known for its outlandish style. Working with her, he’s created another very distinct sound to match her visual presentation – perhaps best displayed in the video for ‘Pon Pon Pon’, from her debut album ‘Pamyu Pamyu Revolution’. Though it’s on that second album ‘Nandacollection’ that he really nailed the songwriting for this new sound, better balancing cute and quality.

In a country where the actual music part of pop can seem like something of an afterthought, Nakata stands out as something of a maverick. And this seems partly down to a continued need to create, rather than sell (though he does both). For many, writing and producing two highly successful albums in one year would probably be enough, but in 2013 Nakata also managed to put together the fourteenth Capsule album, ‘CAPS LOCK’. In an interview with MTY Iggy he explained that these days Capsule mainly acts as a project to filter ideas he’s not able to use in his more mainstream work.

And whereas he usually gets the singers he works with to record their vocals onto unfinished backing tracks (a process Perfume discussed with CMU earlier this year), before building them up into their final versions, for ‘CAPS LOCK’ he got Koshijima to record an array of vocal phrases which he then edited into the tracks as he was writing them, using these vocal samples as he would any other sound.

With Nakata on something of a creative high at the moment, and with both Perfume and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu gaining more attention overseas, so too is he. So far his work with Western artists has been limited to remixing Kylie Minogue and Passion Pit, while director JJ Abrams sought him out to rework a track for the Japanese release of ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’. However, Grimes has previously said that she’d like to work with him, and I spotted another of our Artists Of The Year, Charli XCX, at a Kyary gig in London earlier this year, and they’d both be great matches for proper collaborations.

Though when asked about who he might work with in the future earlier this year, Nakata told MTV Iggy: “I’m not the sort of person to initiate these things. But if some overseas artist wanted a taste of Tokyo in their music then they’re very welcome to approach me”.

So, Western pop performers looking for a studio collaborator, please do. And here, to get you in the mood, is a selection of Yasutaka Nakata’s work from 2013…

Capsule – Control

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu – Invader Invader

Perfume – 1mm

R Kelly brushes off renewed reports of child abuse

Artist News Top Stories

R Kelly has brushed off renewed controversy about past accusations of him sexually abusing underage girls, following an interview with American journalist Jim DeRogatis in the Village Voice this week.

As Kelly promotes his latest album, ‘Black Panties’, journalist Jessica Hooper interviewed DeRogatis, who is based in Kelly’s home town of Chicago and first broke the story about allegations that the singer engaged in sexual activity with underage girls for the Chicago Sun-Times almost fifteen years ago.

The interview followed the publication of a number of new articles by DeRogatis about Kelly back in July, which included a detailed timeline of accusations and legal proceedings against the star, and questioned the appropriateness of Kelly headlining the Pitchfork Festival in Chicago.

In the new interview, DeRogatis details numerous lawsuits brought against Kelly alleging sexual abuse, all of which the singer settled out of court.

He adds that he spoke to many of Kelly’s victims for his various reports, saying: “I think in the end [I spoke to] two dozen women with various level of details. Obviously the women who were part of the hundreds of pages of lawsuits – [there is a] hell of a lot of detail. There were girls who just told one simple story, and there were a lot of girls who told stories that lasted hours, which still make me sick to my stomach. It never was one girl on one tape. Or one girl and Aaliyah [to whom Kelly was briefly married while she was underage]”.

DeRogatis concedes that the one time Kelly was tried in court on criminal charges relating to the sex abuse allegations – in particular the alleged creation of a sextape said to feature Kelly and an underage girl – the singer was found not guilty, without testimony from either him or the girl alleged to appear in the tape. But, while some use this acquittal as an indication that Kelly is innocent of all the accusations made against him, DeRogatis does not agree.

“He was tried on very narrow grounds. He’s never had his day in court as a rapist”, said the reporter. “It’s fifteen years in the past now, but this record exists. You have to make a choice, as a listener, if music matters to you as more than mere entertainment. And you and I have spent our entire lives with that conviction. This is not just entertainment, this is our lifeblood. This matters”.

As the DeRogatis interview went viral on social media, Kelly was asked to comment during an interview with US radio station V-103. The singer went with a vague response, saying: “Well I feel like I got the football man, I’m running towards the touchdown and stopping and looking back, mess around, I’ll get tackled”.

Not finished with the metaphors, he added: “When you get on top of anything, it’s very windy. It’s about holding your balance once you get up there… You have to spiritually be a climber”.

Read the full interview with DeRogatis here.

Grimes signs to Roc Nation for management

Business News Deals Management & Funding

Grimes has signed with Jay Z’s Live Nation joint venture Roc Nation, the management unit of which will now represent the multi-talented Canadian singer, songwriter, producer and video director.

Briefly alluding to the new deal, Roc Nation tweeted “Excited to welcome @grimezsz to the Roc Nation family!”, while Grimes herself, aka Claire Boucher, posted to Tumblr a picture of her making Z’s diamond shape hand gesture and announcing “I’ve joined the X men”.

Pharrell signs to Sony

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

Pharrell Williams has signed a new deal with Sony Music to release his second solo album next year, which will feature recent single ‘Happy’. The musician will release the new long player through Columbia in the US and RCA in the UK.

Announcing the deal, Columbia US’s CEO Rob Stringer said: “When we excitedly partnered with Pharrell in January of this year, we felt it was his time again. Since then, [Williams’ collaborations] ‘Blurred Lines’ and ‘Get Lucky’ have defined pop music in 2013, and now we are preparing to launch Pharrell as a global solo superstar in 2014. ‘Happy’ is just the beginning”.

Pharrell’s last solo album, 2006’s ‘In My Mind’, was release through Universal/Interscope’s Star Trak imprint, the same label that released Robin Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines’. This deal aligns him with Daft Punk’s label, which is probably better.

GOOD Music finds Evian Christ

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

UK producer Joshua Leary, aka Evian Christ, has signed a publishing deal with Kanye West’s GOOD Music. Leary – who made the beat on West’s ‘Yeezus’ track ‘I’m In It’ – is set to release his new EP, ‘Waterfall’, via Tri Angle (who he’s signed to as a recording artist) in 2014.

Leary was studying at Edgehill University to be a primary school teacher when his music career took off, and now he’s set to move to New York. He admits to Dazed Digital that “it’s actually taken me all year to adjust to the fact that making music full-time is what I do now. Uprooting yourself and launching into something completely different isn’t comfortable. I’ve enjoyed it, but it’s been weird”.

On the subject of ‘Yeezus’, he says: “Being involved in ‘Yeezus’ was my first experience of working with super high-level engineers and in-house producers. It was amazing to see the process of upscaling the track I’d initially made to get it ready for a major label record. I want to learn how to do that for myself”.

And on plans to make his LP debut in 2014, he adds: “While I was working on ‘Yeezus’ I was making so much music. I’ve probably got a hundred beats from this year and I’ve been giving them out to people. Next year I want to put my album out, but also get in the studio with rappers and singers as much as possible”.

So, the boy done good. Now give ‘Waterfalls’ crux ‘Salt Carousel’ a spin, if you so choose:

Legal execs shift around the majors

Business News Industry People Labels & Publishers

Incoming Warner Music UK chief Max Lousada has made his first key hire it seems, as he prepares to take over at the mini-major’s UK division, having been sharing the CEO role with the departing Christian Tattersfield since September.

And the first hire is seemingly legal man James Radice, previously SVP of Business & Commercial Affairs for the Polydor wing of Universal Music, who insiders say will now become top business affairs man for Warner UK.

Although all this is yet to be confirmed, it’s thought Radice will likely take over from Jonathan Cross, who stayed on as VP Business Affairs after the rejig that occurred at Warner UK earlier this year following the integration of its Parlophone acquisition.

The hole at Polydor will be filled by Julian French, who only joined BMG back in September, but who has now been poached by the mega-major, where he will be reunited with some of his former colleagues from EMI, he having spent seventeen years at the British record company before its absorption by Universal.

So, that’s a nice little game of musical chairs to get you in the festive party mood.

Arvato says backlog of CDs destined for retailers now cleared

Business News Retail

Arvato, the logistics business of BMG owners Bertelsmann, says it has now cleared the previously reported backlog that occurred in its system, which was delaying the delivery of CDs to music retailers around the UK. All three major labels and indie distributor [PIAS] all make use of the Arvato network for getting their physical products around the UK.

The delays meant that retailers were running out of key stock in the all-important run up to Christmas, a situation the Entertainment Retailers Association called a “disaster for labels, artists and fans”. But the logistics firm has told Music Week that the backlog has been cleared after the company brought in extra staff over the weekend.

Ticket commissions back in the spotlight on back of Which? report

Business News Live Business

Which? magazine has thrown the spotlight onto the whole “why the fuck am I paying six pounds to print out my own tickets” thing, claiming that consumers sometimes see the cost of their tickets to theatre and music shows increase by over a third when they get the final stage of the booking process and ticketing agencies add those customary booking, delivery, credit card and ‘right to consume air while at the gig’ fees.

The consumer rights magazine added that in 78 bookings it made for fifteen shows from 20 ticketing firms, only two did not incur extra fees in addition to the advertised ticket price. Of course it’s no secret that consumers dislike the ‘final screen fees’ that are routine in the live sector, though widespread annoyance at the practice will rarely result in fans not buying tickets to see the artists they love, so there isn’t really any commercial incentive to sort it out, even though some artists who are selling more of their tickets direct-to-fan have been trying to simplify or remove the unpopular commissions.

But Which?’s Executive Director Richard Lloyd told The Telegraph yesterday that the live industry should nevertheless respond to consumer frustration. He told the paper: “Consumers tell us they are feeling ripped off by the level of ticketing charges and the lack of transparency means it is almost impossible for people to compare prices when booking online. We want to see the ticketing industry play fair on ticket fees, so that all charges are displayed upfront and with a clear explanation of what they’re for”.

But the most prominent ticketing provider in the UK (and very possibly the most hated brand in music, yep, even more so than the evil major labels and tax-dodging Amazon), told Music Week that “to suggest that ticket fees are hidden is utterly misleading and factually incorrect”, because, of course, those extra fees are clearly outlined before a customer actually presses the payment button, even if that information comes several screens into the online booking process.

Meanwhile both Ticketmaster and Vivendi-owned See Tickets, speaking to Music Week and the Telegraph respectively, stressed that the commissions were often their sole income stream on the tickets they sold, and that sometimes the extra fees were also shared with a show’s promoter (and, very possibly, the artist too).

Which is all true, the commissions aren’t so much an effort by the live sector to screw over the customer, but more the result of the way concert finances are organised behind the scenes. But that excuse misses the point really, ie people don’t get annoyed that they have to pay, say, £50 instead of £35 to access a show, it annoys them that that fact is rarely declared up front.

After all, if a loaf of bread is priced one pound on the shelf where you first pick it up, Tesco don’t add a 20p processing fee at the till, it covering its own costs in the advertised price. Of course separately itemising commissions in ticketing could make sense if the fees relate to optional extras (eg registered post delivery), or if tickets are available from numerous ticketing agencies who compete on commission prices. But often tickets for events are only available from one primary agent, and the extra commissions are compulsory.

But whatever, it seems unlikely that occasional Which? reports and moanings in political circles will result in any change to the commissions practice in the live space because, as we say, while such fees may be widely unpopular, they rarely result in a lost sale. Though some have argued that overly complicated and unpopular primary ticketing services play into the hands of the often controversial secondary ticketing sites, because consumers expect buying tickets online to be a pain in the arse, and therefore find it hard to distinguish approved from unofficial sellers.

Motorola partners with Live Nation for US EDM activity

Brands & Merch Business News Deals Live Business

Live Nation in the US has announced an alliance with the now Google-owned Motorola that will see the phone maker flog its Moto X device at the live giant’s various EDM events in North America.

As part of the partnership, EDM-heads at Live Nation dance festivals will be able to bask in the glory of a six storey high LED Moto X tower and then design their own kandi bracelets at the on-site Moto X Kandi Shop. And I know what you’re all thinking, what a meaningful and memorable way for drugged-up bleeped-out David Guetta fans to connect with a retro phone brand.

And you’d be right. Says Motorola marketing man Barry Smyth in the Wall Street Journal: “Moto X and our music accessories are all about expressing yourself, a belief that we believe really aligns and resonates with EDM fans. Partnering with Live Nation gives us the opportunity to connect with these fans in a whole new way that is both meaningful and memorable”.

TeamRock to air final Tommy Vance rock show from Radio 1 archives

Business News Media

Newish digital rock station TeamRock Radio has announced that it will re-broadcast the final ever edition of Radio 1’s ‘Friday Rock Show’ as hosted by the late, great Tommy Vance in 1993 as part of its Christmas programming. And it’s thought TeamRock’s deal with the BBC to enable the broadcast might result in other classic shows from the Corporation’s radio archives being available to commercial rivals.

The Vance show, which features Claire Sturgess as co-host, will air at 10pm on 27 Dec, over twenty years after it was first broadcast. The programme will be slightly re-edited for the repeat airing by Tony Wilson, who produced Vance’s Radio 1 show and who provided the rare recording of the final edition.

Confirming all this, TeamRock boss John Myers told CMU: “We are delighted to have come to an agreement with the BBC to transmit this programme. It was a complicated deal to achieve but I hope it will be the start of a longer working relationship with the Corporation. We expect to announce further collaborations with the BBC in the near future”.

Meanwhile John Moran, BBC Radio’s Head Of Business Affairs added: “We are pleased to be working with TeamRock to begin to unlock the BBC radio archive for further broadcast through new partnerships with commercial radio. The digital rebroadcast of this programme shows how gems from the archive can still reach new audiences”.

Dev Hynes recordings, scores lost in fire

Artist News

I doubt our Artist Of The Year nod will provide any solace, because Dev Hynes’ house in Manhattan, New York, burnt down on Monday night, in the process destroying a lot of his scores and recordings… and his dog, Cupid. The cause of the fire is still unconfirmed, but Hynes at least is fine. Small mercies.

Hynes wrote on Twitter the morning after the blaze: “Last night, the unthinkable happened. My entire apt burnt down while I was out. I’ve lost everything I own, including scores, hard drives, clothes, sentimental items. Everything from my life is gone”.

Since news of the fire broke, Robin Urbani, the mother of Hynes’ girlfriend, Friends’ Samantha Urbani, has launched an online collection for donations to help the musician get back on his feet, which has since brought in over $17,000.

Pixies’ Black Francis says bassist swap-ins “ain’t that big of a deal”

Artist News

Black Francis has talked all casually about Pixies’ one-in-one-out policy on bass players, which saw founding Pixie Kim Deal quit earlier this year, having her spot filled by The Muffs’ Kim Shattuck, only for Shattuck to herself be gazumped by Paz Lenchantin last week. Shattuck was in the band for less than a year, and recently said that while she didn’t bear Pixies any ill will, she felt “shocked” to find – via the band’s manager – that she’d been fired.

So, that’s the sorry story so far. But what’s Black Francis’s take on it? Well, sounding much like a man scared to commit, he says to Yahoo!: “What I would say is, just because some shows went well or a recording session went well with somebody, that doesn’t mean that now you guys are married and this is forever. It’s not really how it works when you’re a band. And it’s hard to explain to people, especially if they get emotionally attached to one person”.

Ouch, that hurts. But hold up with your intrusive questioning, because, adds Black F: “Frankly you don’t want to explain it to anybody – a lot of it’s personal, private shit. It’s like politics and sports and people’s personal lives have all been smeared together in this modern world. It’s a very presumptuous attitude about a lot of things. ‘Oh you’re shifting something in your world – we demand a statement as to why’. I’m not the mayor, this isn’t the bus service for a town. This is a rock band”.

And finally – the Kims will love this: “There’s been a shift in the line-up, big woop-dee-doo… as far as we’re concerned it ain’t that big of a deal”.

Thursday 19 December 2013, 12:34 | By Aly Barchi

Each weekday in the run up to the Christmas break, we will reveal another of our ten favourite artists of the year. To see each artist as they’re revealed, sign up to receive the CMU Daily or check this page. Our penultimate artist is Kanye West…

READ MORE ABOUT: CMU Artists Of The Year 2013 | Kanye West

Thursday 19 December 2013, 12:33 | By Andy Malt

A spokesperson for The Pirate Bay has said that the file-sharing service will continue to switch its top level domain name until it finds one “that sticks”, after moving its main web address to a new domain registry for the third time this month.

READ MORE ABOUT: The Pirate Bay

Thursday 19 December 2013, 12:32 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: AGCOM | International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry (IFPI)

Thursday 19 December 2013, 12:31 | By Chris Cooke

A court ruling in the US yesterday will potentially cause problems for leading American streaming service Pandora, after it was ruled that some key music publishers can withdraw their catalogues from the licence provided to the digital firm by collecting society BMI.

READ MORE ABOUT: ASCAP | BMI | Pandora

Thursday 19 December 2013, 12:30 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: EMI | EMI Music Publishing | J Fred Coots

Thursday 19 December 2013, 12:29 | By Aly Barchi

READ MORE ABOUT: Fazer | N-Dubz

Thursday 19 December 2013, 12:28 | By Andy Malt

Pussy Riot’s Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina may be released from prison as soon as today, after Russia’s amnesty bill was passed by the country’s parliament yesterday.

READ MORE ABOUT: Maria Alyokhina | Nadezhda Tolokonnikova | Pussy Riot

Thursday 19 December 2013, 12:27 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Parlphone | Warner Bros Records | Warner Music

Thursday 19 December 2013, 12:26 | By Andy Malt

Clash Magazine is giving away a special end of year issue for free, through its iOS app. As well as various interactive year-in-review type features, Clash’s fourth digital edition also includes some content from the magazine’s December/January print version.

READ MORE ABOUT: Clash | Clash Magazine

Thursday 19 December 2013, 12:25 | By Andy Malt

CMU approved prog metallers Cult Of Luna have announced that they will go on hiatus, following a London performance in May. Though it’s not the end. But a significant enough breaking point that former frontman Klas Rydberg will also perform with the band one final time at that show.

READ MORE ABOUT: Cult Of Luna

Thursday 19 December 2013, 12:24 | By Aly Barchi

Angel Haze’s first LP, ‘Dirty Gold’, hit the internet way (way) ahead of time yesterday, when the Brooklyn-based rap artiste began leaking it online a la Death Grips, Wiley (and nearly MIA).

READ MORE ABOUT: Angel Haze

Thursday 19 December 2013, 12:23 | By Aly Barchi

Arcade Fire and Cat Power want to wish the world a happy holiday, the non-American translation of which is ‘a nice Xmas break’.

READ MORE ABOUT: Arcade Fire | Cat Power

Thursday 19 December 2013, 12:22 | By Aly Barchi

Brand New (of post-hardcore fame) have confirmed an, ahem, brand new set of 2014 live dates to stand in place of those they cancelled earlier this year.

READ MORE ABOUT: Brand New

Thursday 19 December 2013, 12:21 | By Aly Barchi

Odd-pop rap baller-from-Detroit Lizzo is slithering over to Britain in the New Year, to play her first headline shows post the release of her hot first solo LP, ‘LIZZOBANGERS’.

READ MORE ABOUT: Lizzo

Thursday 19 December 2013, 12:20 | By Chris Cooke

So is Justin Bieber planning on quitting this music lark, possibly to spend more time on his real passion: perfume salesmanship? Well, no, he’s not. Sorry people, but the perfume industry’s loss is the music industry’s loss.

READ MORE ABOUT: Justin Bieber

Thursday 19 December 2013, 12:19 | By Andy Malt

Almost there now, we’ve almost asked all the musicians what they think of Spotify. And Johnny Marr is against it, on the grounds that it’s not “punk rock”.

READ MORE ABOUT: Haim | Johnny Marr | Spotify

Wednesday 18 December 2013, 15:50 | By Andy Malt

READ MORE ABOUT: Ian Watkins | Lostprophets

Wednesday 18 December 2013, 15:19 | By Andy Malt

The Pirate Bay has moved to its third new domain name of the month, now located at thepiratebay.gy, registered in Guyana, it announced in a blog post this morning.

READ MORE ABOUT: The Pirate Bay

Wednesday 18 December 2013, 12:55 | By Andy Malt

Each weekday in the run up to the Christmas break, we will reveal another of our ten favourite artists of the year. To see each artist as they’re revealed, sign up to receive the CMU Daily or check this page. Next up, producer Yasutaka Nakata…

READ MORE ABOUT: Capsule | CMU Artists Of The Year 2013 | Kyary Pamyu Pamyu | Perfume | Yasutaka Nakata

Wednesday 18 December 2013, 12:54 | By Andy Malt

R Kelly has brushed off renewed controversy about past accusations of him sexually abusing underage girls, following an interview with American journalist Jim DeRogatis in the Village Voice this week.

READ MORE ABOUT: Jim DeRogatis | R Kelly

Wednesday 18 December 2013, 12:53 | By Chris Cooke

Grimes has signed with Jay Z’s Live Nation joint venture Roc Nation, the management unit of which will now represent the multi-talented Canadian singer, songwriter, producer and video director.

READ MORE ABOUT: Grimes | Jay-Z | Live Nation | Roc Nation

Wednesday 18 December 2013, 12:52 | By Andy Malt

Pharrell Williams has signed a new deal with Sony Music to release his second solo album next year, which will feature recent single ‘Happy’. The musician will release the new long player through Columbia in the US and RCA in the UK.

READ MORE ABOUT: Pharrell Williams

Wednesday 18 December 2013, 12:51 | By Aly Barchi

READ MORE ABOUT: Evian Christ | GOOD Music | Kanye West

Wednesday 18 December 2013, 12:50 | By Chris Cooke

Incoming Warner Music UK chief Max Lousada has made his first key hire it seems, as he prepares to take over at the mini-major’s UK division, having been sharing the CEO role with the departing Christian Tattersfield since September.

READ MORE ABOUT: James Radice | Julian French | Max Lousada | Warner Music

Wednesday 18 December 2013, 12:49 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Arvato | Bertelsmann

Wednesday 18 December 2013, 12:48 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Richard Lloyd | See Tickets | Ticketmaster | Which?

Wednesday 18 December 2013, 12:47 | By Chris Cooke

Live Nation in the US has announced an alliance with the now Google-owned Motorola that will see the phone maker flog its Moto X device at the live giant’s various EDM events in North America.

READ MORE ABOUT: Live Nation | Moto X | Motorola

Wednesday 18 December 2013, 12:46 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: BBC Radio 1 | TeamRock | Tommy Vance

Wednesday 18 December 2013, 12:45 | By Aly Barchi

READ MORE ABOUT: Blood Orange | Dev Hynes

Wednesday 18 December 2013, 12:44 | By Aly Barchi

READ MORE ABOUT: Black Francis | Kim Gordon | Kim Shattuck | Paz Lenchantin | Pixies