Wednesday 24 September 2014, 10:53 | By Andy Malt

Oui Love to promote new French talent on UK tour

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

The joint venture between Bureau Export and Institut Français to promote French music in the UK, Oui Love, has announced details of its annual tour. New acts looking for recognition on this side of the English channel are Andrea Balency and NLF3.

Project Manager David McKenna tells CMU: “The key thing with Oui Love is that, as well as playing London, groups get to play in other regions of the UK – we’ve had groups like Anoraak and The Shoes in front of audiences they might not otherwise have the opportunity of playing to, and over the dates we’ve done that’s been about 5000 people. It also allows the Bureau Export to forge links with local promoters who might work with more French acts, so it has a wider impact”.

And here are those dates:

29 Sep: Birmingham, Hare & Hounds
30 Sep: Brighton, The Hope
1 Oct: London, The Shacklewell Arms
2 Oct: Edinburgh, Sneaky Pete’s
3 Oct: Middlesbrough, Westgarth Social Club

Sam Smith and grime dominate 2014 MOBO nominations

Artist News Awards

This year’s MOBO nominations shortlist has been released, and, holy god, what a shortlist it is.

With the awards confirmed to take place in London for the first time since 2007, all the prizes will be presented on 22 Oct at the Wembley Arena. And hey, it’ll be the first time the grime genre will stand in a ‘Best Grime’ class of its own, instead of sharing an award with ‘Best Hip-Hop’, as it has in past years. We live in modern times.

Leading a noticeably man-dominated pack are London hip-hop pairing Krept & Konan and singing man-doll Sam Smith, who each have four noms; whilst FKA Twigs [a girl] and Tinie Tempah, Ghetts, Meridian Dan and Fuse ODG [not girls] have three chances to win apiece.

See/vote on the nominees here, and get tickets to the live ceremony, which will be shown on ITV 2 on 22 Oct, here.

CMU’s One Liners: The Voice, Azealia Banks, Kendrick Lamar and more

Artist News Awards Business News Gigs & Festivals Media One Liners Releases

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• The PRS For Music Foundation has teamed up with the Gilles Peterson-founded Steve Reid Foundation to launch the Steve Reid InNOVAtion Awards, which will offer support – cash and mentorship – for unsigned artists “pushing musical boundaries”. Info here.

• What does ‘The Voice’ need? No, not that. Or that. No. No. Oh, come on, there’s no need for language like that. OK, I’ll tell you. It needs Rita Ora. Well, I assume so, cos that’s what it’s got. She will replace Kylie Minogue on the next series.

• Azealia Banks is back! Was she gone? I’m not sure. But for the purposes of narrative let’s just say she’s back. And she’s brought with her… a new track, called ‘Chasing Time’. Still no sign of that album though.

• That Kendrick Lamar’s new single, ‘i’, is now ‘out there’ for people to listen to. A quick poll of three people I just did gave it the thumbs down, but a lot of other people seem quite excited by it. How do you feel, huh?

• Approved Canadian beat-creator Ryan Hemsworth has released a new single ‘feat’ singing by Dawn Golden. Its title is ‘Snow In Newark’, and it’s the first sign of Hemsworth’s TBA new record. Hear the track here.

• Matt Hales, aka Aqualung, who’s written tracks with Lianne La Havas, Paloma Faith and Mikky Ekko since his 2010 solo LP ‘Magnetic North’, has this week detailed his next solo set, ’10 Futures’. Released 19 Jan, it features La Havas, SOHN, Prides and Joel Compass, who features on lead single ‘Tape 2 Tape. Stream that here.

• Alt-pop ladio Rosie Lowe, has shared a solo track titled ‘Water Came Down’, taken off her forthcoming first LP, which is set to arrive in the new year. Watch its video now.

• I’ve never quite seen the appeal of album listening parties myself. But Flying Lotus is good, isn’t he? And you’d all like to hear his new album? Well get yourselves down to Plastic People in Shoreditch at 7pm today to have a listen to it in the company of others like you. Or just listen to ‘Never Catch Me’, featuring Kendrick Lamar, all on your lonesome right now.

• Ex-MCR poster boy Gerard Way is to headline his first solo British shows later this year. The first is on 5 Nov at The Ritz in Manchester, and the final date is at London’s Koko on 10 Nov. All back Way’s ‘Hesitant Alien’ LP, which hits shops next week.

I see dead people (singing with Barry Manilow)

And Finally Artist News Releases

Who would be your ideal dinner party guests, alive or dead? Actually, forget alive, just name the dead ones. And why does this game always have to be a dinner party? Dead people don’t eat. Sure, dead people don’t sing either, but no one told Barry Manilow that.

Apparently unable to find any living singers to collaborate with, Manilow has announced that his latest album will be a collection of duets from beyond the grave. I mean, haven’t you always felt that Andy Williams’ version of ‘Moon River’ was missing something (ie Barry Manilow)?

Titled ‘My Dream Duets’, the album features vocal tracks of eleven deceased singers, including Whitney Houston, Judy Garland, Dusty Springfield, Marilyn Monroe and Louis Armstrong. All having either failed or refused* to work with Manilow while they were alive, they have now had their vocals extracted from old recordings and plonked onto these new recordings alongside the man himself.

Says Manilow: “The songs have all new arrangements and sound as if they were recorded yesterday. The album is a miracle. It’s been a huge undertaking, musically and technically”.

There’s a question of taste too, but he was too excited to stop and think about that: “Having the opportunity to record these legendary standards with artists whom I admire so much was really a dream come true”.

The album is due out on 27 Oct through Universal/Verve Music, the label to which Manilow recently signed. Insisting that this whole project is totally fine, Verve chairman David Foster says: “The way he has taken the classic solo performances of the many iconic artists on ‘My Dream Duets’, transforming them into songs arranged for two voices, is an incredible artistic accomplishment. This album is really a crowning achievement in an unprecedented career spanning many decades”.

Here’s the full tracklist:

1. The Song’s Gotta Come From The Heart with Jimmy Durante
2. Goody Goody with Frankie Lymon
3. Dream A Little Dream Of Me with Mama Cass
4. I Believe In You And Me with Whitney Houston
5. Sunshine On My Shoulders with John Denver
6. Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart with Judy Garland
7. Moon River with Andy Williams
8. The Look Of Love with Dusty Springfield
9. The Candyman with Sammy Davis Jr
10. I Wanna Be Loved By You with Marilyn Monroe
11. What A Wonderful World/What A Wonderful Life with Louis Armstrong

*I should state, I have no evidence that any of these people ever refused to work with Barry Manilow. But, for future reference, any singers who aren’t feeling at their best right now might want to state their Manilow-duetting preferences in their last will and testament, just to be sure.

Approved: Cibo Matto

CMU Approved

Having reformed in 2011, Cibo Matto released their first album for fifteen years, ‘Hotel Valentine’, in February this year. Long time CMU readers might note that, therefore, ‘approving’ this duo flies in the face of our general editorial policy that all reunions are bad. But fuck you, it’s hard pretending to be that principled all the time. Also, ‘Hotel Valentine’ is one of the best albums released this year.

To promote their upcoming US tour dates, Cibo Matto have released a new video for album track ‘Déjà Vu’. Through its sleepy hip hop style, the track sets up the story of a haunted hotel that then runs through the album. Yes, that’s right, a reunion and a concept album. Just think how brilliant a record it must be to get my approval despite those two hurdles.

Check out the track below (because the video is really cool) and then listen to the album in full. Full, I say.

Apple not closing Beats Music, though a rebrand under iTunes could be on the cards

Business News Digital Top Stories

There has been some debate as to what it was that most persuaded Apple to part with $3 billion earlier this year to acquire big bad Beats. Did it really want to acquire the firm’s shitty headphone technology? Or was it more interested in a brand that is well popular with the kids? Or was it the fledgling Beats streaming service that really got the Apple dudes excited?

Well, rumours running rife online last night suggested, just for a moment, that the latter definitely wasn’t a factor, as TechCrunch announced that Apple was getting ready to shut the Beats Music service down. Which might explain, conspiracy theorists deduced, why there was no big Beats Music announcement at Apple’s recent iPhone 6-launching press junket. Someone probably ought to prepare Beats’ Gurner-In-Chief Ellen DeGeneres for the bad news.

Except, didn’t Apple boss Tim Cook recently say in an interview with journalist Charlie Rose that he was a big fan of Beats Music, and that it had had an impact on his company’s decision to acquire the wider Beats company?

As The Music Network noted last week, Cook remarked: “One night, I’m sitting playing with [the Beats streaming service] versus some others and all of a sudden it dawns on me that when I listen to theirs for a while, I feel completely different. And the reason is: they recognised that human curation was important in the subscription service. The sequence of songs that you listen to affects how you feel … I couldn’t sleep that night, so I was thinking ‘we need to do this'”.

So, all you Beats Music doom-sayers out there (what do you mean you were all asleep when this was being debated online last night), don’t be getting ahead of yourselves. For starters, Apple’s spokesperson is pretty adamantly denying the TechCrunch story. Meanwhile, insiders say that the Beats Music closure rumours likely stem from the fact discussions are being had about whether or not to reposition the streaming service under the iTunes brand. So technically Beats Music would cease, but the service itself would continue.

Apple, of course, already has a Pandora-style service operating in the US called iTunes Radio, and word has it that set-up now also sits under Beats Music CEO Ian Rogers. So behind the scenes the two services are becoming more closely aligned, and bringing the Beats Music catalogue and curation framework into the iTunes ecosystem would certainly expose it to a massive audience of music consumers, in the US and worldwide.

Some reckon that eventuality is now a given, and could kick in sometime next year. So if you prefer beats to tunes, I’d get streaming now while you can.

The Edge’s Californian mega-estate given green light (kind of)

Artist News Legal

So-o. Staff at the California Coastal Commission have recommended that a flashy five-home development proposed by David ‘The Evans’ Edge – guitarist in STD-like rock pests U2 – go ahead, this following a five year debate over the fact that his initial plans weren’t very environmentally-friendly.

Evans has had to adapt his blueprints for the multi-mansion compound after they were rejected by the CCC back in 2011, over fears the properties would destroy a large swathe of wild coastline, and ruin the seaside vistas from/of the area. Nor did the organisation take kindly to the fact that Evans had tried to bypass environmental legislation and maximise the development by handing in five separate applications using five separate corporate names. It all looked a bit shady, basically.

Meanwhile, having initially opposed the plans, a State body called the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, which is meant to promote the use of Californian land for nature reserves and public spaces, changed its position on the property development, after Evans had, to quote the LA Times, “agreed to pay the conservancy $750,000 in cash so that it could purchase land, including an easement across the properties to extend the Coastal Slope Trail”. Just a coincidence, no doubt.

Skipping aaaaaallllllll the way ahead to now, and following extensive negotiations between the CCC and ‘Team The Edge’, a settlement has been reached, though only on the condition that the development be downsized, plus the houses be simplified and, in the words of Evans’ rep Fiona Hutton, “built to fit the natural contours of the hillside”. Having given the whole thing its informal approval, the Commission’s full panel will now take an official vote in October. I guess The Edge is hoping that they all have iTunes, and are massive fans of U2, and uninvited gifts. And Bono’s. Big. Annoying. Face.

The CCC’s Senior Deputy Director Jack Ainsworth says: “From day one, I had told these guys that the one way to get to approval [was to make these changes]. And here we are back at that same place many years later”.

Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso sign to Universal

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

$Axwell /\ Ingrosso$

Two-thirds of Swedish House Mafia’s former membership, Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso, have announced that they have signed to Universal for the release of their debut album as Axwell /\ Ingrosso. The deal has been done with Universal’s Def Jam label in the US, though the record will be released through Virgin EMI in the UK.

Says Def Jam CEO Steve Bartels: “We are proud at Def Jam to have Axwell /\ Ingrosso choose us to be their label home. Their music is forward, innovative, invigorating and boundless. Def Jam has the artistry and energy of DJ culture within its pedigree, right there in our logo. This is a significant moment for all of us as at Def Jam”.

The news comes shortly after the announcement that Irving Azoff’s Azoff MSG Entertainment company has bought a 50% stake in Axwell and Ingrosso’s management reps ATM Artists.

WhoSampled launches Android app

Business News Digital

Bad news for iPhone owners everywhere, no longer will you be able to gloat about having access to the WhoSampled app, with its top sample, cover and remix tapping approach to music discovery (and, often, rediscovery). No, those Android using twonks are getting it too. And to think, Steve Jobs gave his life to stop shit like this from occurring.

So yes, the WhoSampled app is now available for Android-powered phones from the Google Play store, enabling Android phone users to track what music from the past has influenced and informed the pop tunes of today.

Or, in the words of the official blurb, “the app provides detailed information on songs, including what other songs have sampled them, what artists have covered music from other artists, and what remixes were then made for a track – WhoSampled allows users to explore the musical connections in their own music collection”.

Commenting on the new app, WhoSampled CEO Nadav Poraz told CMU: “It’s great to be going live on Android today, not only because of the breadth of the platform but because it’s something our users have been requesting for a while now. The WhoSampled experience on Android brings even more personalisation to our music discovery path, allowing users to break down the DNA of the music they have stored on their Android devices and discover exciting new music as a result”.

We Are Hunted co-founder launches new SoundCloud-powered discovery service

Business News Digital

A website that works out the 99 most played tracks on SoundCloud in the last month and then aggregates them into a lovely wall of images? What a wonder!

Or, rather, what a wonder.fm. It’s the new music discovery service from Stephen Phillips, co-founder of We Are Hunted, the briefly popular music data and recommendation set up that was acquired by Twitter in 2012, mainly so the social network could morph it into something less good in 2013, and shut it down completely in 2014.

Discussing life since Twitter, and his new venture, Phillips told Gigaom: “I am an entrepreneur to my bones, so ultimately, the call of the wild came for me again, and here I am. I just couldn’t help myself – I’m an obsessive music hacker!”

As for wonder.fm, he added: “My hope is that music fans seeking cool sounds outside the top 40 might find it a really fun app”.

Wonder.fm, which pulls in audio from SoundCloud in a pretty seamless way, enabling you to play the top 99 at the click of a button, also allows you to delve a little deeper into SoundCloud data, with more functionality being planned. Which is all kinda cool; though long term success may be reliant on SoundCloud sorting out its licensing issues with the labels and publishers.

YouTube adds realtime analytics

Business News Digital

Google has added realtime analytics to its YouTube video manager dashboard, giving content owners the option to see how well videos are performing at any one moment in time, so if you’ve just paid someone to artificially bump up your YouTube stats, you can see if they’re doing their job. No, I’ve no idea what I’m talking about either.

The new realtime reporting tab on the video dashboard enables content owners to see how well their vids have performed hour-by-hour in the last 48 hours and minute-by-minute in the last sixty minutes. The new functionality comes in response to calls from content owners for more up-to-date data, and Google promises to add future real-time functionality down the line.

So, YouTube channel managers, go enjoy your constantly refreshing analytic charts. Though don’t get too distracted and forget to create any new content.

Iggy to deliver John Peel Lecture

Artist News Education & Events Media

On 13 Oct, the pop world’s favourite Iggy – so, that’s Azalea, right? – is going to give the John Peel Lecture at this year’s Radio Festival, which takes place in Salford between 13-15 Oct. Choosing ‘Free Music In A Capitalist Society’ as a topic, Iggy follows in the footprints of past speakers Charlotte Church, Billy Bragg and Pete Townshend in taking the JPL stand.

Looking forward to the big day, Iggy says: “I’ve never given a lecture in my life, but on the day I’m going to attempt a discussion on the subject of free music in a capitalist society. This is a struggle which never ends”.

So that can’t got wrong. Paying respects to the late Peel, the official statement continues: “I get the feeling that John was the kind of guy who would have done his job for nothing, as long as he felt great about it. So we have that in common. He’s done a lot to give others a voice, and that’s the most important gift you can give. Here was a person with strong opinions and enthusiasms who wasn’t defined by any system, because of that his show became an exciting location, kind of like a shop that’s a good hang. So it was a social as well as a musical phenomenon”.

BBC Music Director Bob Shennan, meanwhile, is confident Iggy will “give a topical and thought-provoking speech which 6 Music listeners and BBC Four viewers will enjoy”.

He’s singling 6 Music and BBC Four out because the Lecture will be aired live on the former, and again on the latter on 19 Oct. And obviously, the Iggy we’re talking about here is Pop.

Rixton announce debut album details

Artist News Gigs & Festivals Releases

Manchester tykes Rixton have announced some details of their debut album, including its US release date. 6 Jan, if you must know. Oh, and its title, ‘Let The Road’.

Produced by Benny Blanco, it features one song written by Ed Sheeran, but most of the tracks on the record actually started life in the back of a caravan that contained no Sheeran whatsoever.

Says the group’s Jake Roche: “‘Let The Road’ is something we’re incredibly proud of. Songs have survived six years to make it on this album, back when me and Danny were writing in the caravan having no idea where they would end up. We feel incredibly humbled to be able to share this with our fans, and we hope you enjoy listening to it, just as much as we enjoyed making it”.

Following the album’s release, the band will spend various-sized chunks of February, March and April next year touring the States as Ariana Grande’s support act. On that, Roche added: “Being asked to be Ariana’s special guest is a huge honour. We’re massive fans of her and her incredible talent and we’re so excited to play these prestigious venues all over America. We’re also very excited to play some new songs that fans haven’t had the chance to hear live yet”.

Yes, it must have been particularly difficult to secure a support slot with one of their manager Scooter Braun’s other priority acts. Anyway, before all of that, there’s the little matter of Rixton’s next UK tour, which begins next month. Here are the dates:

22 Oct: Oxford, Academy 2
23 Oct: Birmingham, Academy 2
24 Oct: Leicester, Academy 2
26 Oct: Manchester, Academy 2
27 Oct: Leeds, The Wardrobe
28 Oct: Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
30 Oct: Newcastle, Academy 2
31 Oct: Glasgow, Oran Mor
2 Nov: Sheffield, Academy 2
3 Nov: London, Koko
4 Nov: Southampton, Brook
6 Nov: Brighton, Concorde 2
7 Nov: Cardiff, CF10

And now, to round things off, is the video for their next single, ‘Wait On Me’, which is out on 9 Nov:

Tanya Tagaq wins Polaris Music Prize

Artist News Awards

Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq has been announced as the winner of this year’s $30,000 Polaris Music Prize, with her album ‘Animism’.

This year’s runners up (let’s call them losers) were Arcade Fire, Basia Bulat, Drake, Mac DeMarco, Jessy Lanza, Owen Pallett, Shad, Timber Timbre and YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN. They all get $2000 each as a consolation for not being able to write music that is good enough. And they also had a slap up meal, which is important to remember. No one can take that away from them.

Using her acceptable speech to raise awareness of Canada’s indigenous culture, as did accordionist Geoff in his introduction to Tagaq’s performance at the event, she called on Canadians to eat and wear seal, saying: “People should wear and eat seal as much as possible because if you can imagine an indigenous culture thriving and surviving on sustainable resource, wearing seal and eating it, it’s delicious and there’s lots of them. And fuck PETA”.

Later she added: “We’ve been doing it our own way without backing down artistically or conforming, so to be recognised in this way and have so many people latch on makes me feel the world is tolerable. There’s so much hurt in the world and within indigenous cultures with colonialism. Canada is in a desperate need for repair and I think a lot of people are tired of living this way and just to have people understand where we’re coming from makes me have hope that we can move forward and expose the true history of Canada”.

You can see Berner’s introduction and Tagaq’s incredible performance at last night’s ceremony here, and her acceptance speech here. Or you could just watch the whole four hour show here:

CMU’s One Liners: Katherine Jenkins, Charli XCX, OxfordOxford and more

Artist News Gigs & Festivals Media One Liners Releases

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• Popera star Katherine Jenkins is going to present a second, twelve-week series of her ‘Classic FM Collection’ show. It’ll begin airing on 5 Oct at 2pm. “I can’t wait to be back on air!”, she exclaims.

• The release date of Charli XCX’s gobby new LP ‘Sucker’ has got shoved back, or forward, from 21 Oct to 26 Jan, 2015. Apparently it’s because her label want to make all the cash they can off XCX’s hit single ‘Boom Clap’, as she explained yesterday via Twitter: “It’s all COOL nothing’s WRONG the album’s DONE but it’s just no one really knew ‘Boom Clap’ would do as well as it’s doing…”.

• The Quietus has announced that the next release through its record label will be a new single from The Charlatans. The track, ‘Talking In Tones’, is the band’s first release since the death of drummer Jon Brookes last year, and precedes a new album. Listen here.

• Andy Stott will release the follow-up to his acclaimed ‘Luxury Problems’ album in November. Titled ‘Faith In Strangers’, it will be released through Modern Love on 17 Nov. Listen to a track from it, called ‘Violence’, now.

• Popular metal types Marmozets are streaming a new track called ‘Hit The Wave’. It’ll appear on their debut album, ‘The Weird And Wonderful Marmozets’, which is out on 29 Sep. Listen here.

• Machinedrum will release his tenth album, ‘Vapor City Archives’, on 17 Nov through Ninja Tune. The album will conclude the producer’s year-long ‘Vapor City’ project with a collection of all new recordings. Listen to one such recording, ‘Only 1 Way 2 Know’, here.

• Influential death metal band At The Gates have released a new song, their first in nineteen years. They will release a new album, ‘At War With Reality’, through Century Media on 27 Oct. Listen to the single here.

• OxfordOxford, the new festival so Oxford-based its organisers named it twice, has been cancelled because of “poor local ticket sales”. It was meant to go ahead this weekend, featuring sets by Katy B, Klaxons and Gaz Coombes. Refunds are available via the OxfordOxford site.

• Pop weirdo Mr Ariel Pink has this week listed a new headline show at London’s Scala on 17 Nov. Tickets go on sale this coming Friday, via this link. Pink has also released the video for his CMU-approved track ‘Put Your Number In My Phone’, the lead single to his new LP ‘Pom Pom’, which is arriving on the night of the Scala date.

Paul McCartney’s Meat Free Monday pledges to be presented to the UN today

And Finally Artist News

Paul McCartney has called on the public to join him in supporting the Meat Free Mondays campaign, ahead of today’s UN Climate Summit in New York.

The campaign was launched earlier this month by Paul and Stella McCartney and David Cameron’s energy and climate advisor Greg Barker, and aims to highlight and do something about the fact that our reliance on meat for food globally has arguably become unsustainable.

And while McCartney himself would probably prefer it if we all just went vegetarian, his campaign points out that if everyone cut out meat on just one day of the week – a Monday, say – it would go some way to making a difference. Maybe this week we’ll not run the Beef Of The Week column in recognition (though that does go out on a Friday, so probably wouldn’t please Macca).

Anyway, ahead of today’s meeting of world leaders to discuss how they’re not going to bother saving the human race from certain extinction while there’s still oil money to be made, McCartney last week made a new plea for support. Some might say that the video in which the plea is made is slightly shoddy, but as well as raising awareness, it also shows off the wide array of accents Macca can do (if not control). He sort of does a rap too.

Watch it here:

Approved: Alex G

CMU Approved

With a pretty respectable five LPs to his name already, 21 year old Philadephia freshman Alex G(ianascoli) will on 10 Nov re-release his latest, ‘DSU’, via a new deal with Lucky Number and an upgrade to Domino Music Publishing.

A pensive thirteen track meander into Gianascoli’s all-American-kid-type psyche; the real appeal of ‘DSU’ lies in the fact that it comes over as easy, earnest and totally uncalculated; though not naive, since even lite-seeming tracks (like slanty hymn-to-a-girl ‘Black Hair’, for instance) are sharpened with a certain sadness, and occasionally, a kind of black-sky fatalism. Basically, it’s a real-life record written by a real kid with real, relatable things to say, and a real ‘way’ with expressing them.

‘DSU’ is still available to listen to on Bandcamp c/o the label that originally released it, Orchid Tapes. If you find you’re into it, you can catch Alex G playing live at London’s Rough Trade East (17 Nov), opening for Ought at Manchester Sound Control (18 Nov) and/or at the also London-based Sebright Arms on 19 Nov.

In the meantime, taken from the official ‘DSU’ repackage, this is ‘Hollow’ and ‘After Ur Gone’:

Mega hits out at inclusion in critical cyber locker report

Business News Digital Legal MegaUpload Timeline Top Stories

The boss of Mega, the file-storage service set up by MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom after his original business was shut down by the US authorities, has hit out at a new report which brands the New Zealand-based operation as a “shadowy cyber locker”.

Mega is included in a new report from the Washington-based Digital Citizens Alliance, which looks at numerous companies that offer file-storage and sharing facilities. Its particular focus is how such platforms are often used for illegal practices, most often copyright infringement, and how the owners of said services allegedly allow rampant piracy because it generates subscriptions and therefore income.

That, of course, was the primary allegation against Dotcom’s MegaUpload, which was shutdown by the Americans in 2012. Criminal proceedings against the firm’s management, including Dotcom, are ongoing, with the US still trying to get the accused extradited to face money laundering and copyright infringement charges in the American courts.

The Digital Citizens Alliance report basically notes that there are plenty of other companies operating file-transfer platforms that are also possibly just a cover for copyright infringement, charging monthly subscriptions that technically give customers cloud storage space for their own files, but also provide access to infringing music, movie and TV content sitting in other users’ digital lockers, which, copyright owners say, is the real reason consumers pay the subscription charges in the first place.

One of the aims of the Alliance’s report seems to be to put pressure on the credit card companies and firms like PayPal to stop taking monies for such services, to cut off their revenues. Of course many of the targeted companies, like MegaUpload, would likely argue that they offer legitimate services, and that they respond to takedown requests from copyright owners when infringing content is spotted, meaning they operate in line with US copyright law. Though the report argues that the distribution of infringing content accounts for a very large portion of these firm’s operations.

But Mega, the file-transfer company Dotcom set up after the forced shutdown of MegaUpload, argues that that is simply not to case with its operations. And Torrentfreak supports that claim, reckoning that the Alliance’s report is skewed because, while it may be true that the majority of the publicly shared files stored on the Mega platform infringe copyright, as the report claims, that ignores the fact that the vast majority of files uploaded to the Mega servers are not shared at all.

Certainly Mega CEO Graham Gaylard has reacted angrily to his firm’s inclusion in the report, telling Torrentfreak that he has demanded the Alliance amend its document and issue an apology about Mega’s inclusion in it. Said Gaylard: “Mega is a privacy company that provides end-to-end encrypted cloud storage controlled by the customer. Mega totally refutes that it is a cyber locker business as that term is defined and discussed in this report”.

He goes on: “We are vigorous in complying with best practice legal takedown policies and do so very quickly. The reality, though, is that we receive a very low number of takedown requests because our aim is to have people use our services for privacy and security, not for sharing infringing content. Mega is not a haven for piracy, does not distribute malware, and definitely does not engage in illegal activities. Mega is running a legitimate business alongside other cloud storage providers in a highly competitive market”.

Gaylard also hit out at the insinuation that Mega incentivises users to upload infringing content, which is one of the accusations previously made against MegaUpload. But, the Mega CEO says, his company’s incentives programme is entirely based on users referring or helping attract new customers, not on the amount of content they upload. “It is designed to reward genuine referrers and the developers of apps who make our cloud storage platform more attractive”.

Elsewhere in Dotcom news, the Mega founder’s political endeavours in his adopted country did not come to much in the New Zealand elections this weekend. The Internet Mana party, a partnership between Dotcom’s political group and supporters of Māori activist Hone Harawira, scored just over 1.2% of the vote, which is someway of the 5% required for representation in the New Zealand parliament.

After the results came in, with Dotcom’s arch-rival in the political domain, incumbent NZ PM John Key, winning an easy victory overall, the Mega chief conceded that his public persona likely damaged the chances of the Internet Mana movement.

Grants available to fund music business internships

Business News Education & Events Management & Funding Top Stories

UK music companies are being encouraged to offer paid internships to young people considering a career in the industry. The call is being led by the Lottery-funded Big Music Project, which is now making grants available to music firms who provide three to twelve month internships, which could cover up to 50% of an intern’s wages.

The initiative follows a recent Inland Revenue-led crackdown on unpaid internships in the music sector, with many music firms now more closely adhering to the rules about unpaid work experience to avoid falling foul of minimum wage legislation.

Companies can apply for grants to help them offer paid internships, with details of the scheme and an application form available here. Applications need to be made by 6 Oct.

Announcing the project, Geoff Taylor from Big Music Project co-organisers the BPI, said,
“Talented interns provide an injection of new blood, bright ideas and fresh thinking into growing businesses. Through The Big Music Project, we are giving a helping hand to music companies across the UK to fulfil their potential and to invest in the future of our industry”.

The Big Music Project is also staging a series of music careers events around the country, the first one taking place in Glasgow yesterday. The events include a session from CMU:DIY, more information on which can be found at www.cmudiy.com.

YouTube star Michelle Phan counter-sues Ultra Records

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Legal

YouTube star Michelle Phan has counter-sued Ultra Records, following a lawsuit launched by the label accusing her of using its music in her videos without permission.

As previously reported, Ultra is suing for allegedly uncleared use of a number of tracks it released and/or published, seeking $150,000 for each infringement. One of the tracks included in the lawsuit was ‘4am’ by Kaskade. However, the producer criticised the label after news of the litigation broke in July, and tweeted a message of support to Phan, saying: “You’re awesome. You’ve turned millions of people on to my music. Which, ironically, I cannot say for my label”.

According to Variety, Phan launched her own retaliatory legal action last week, claiming that she received permission to use music released by Ultra in 2009 in exchange for promoting iTunes links for the tracks on her videos – something arguably worth having, as she has accumulated more than 150 million plays on her account and has more than seven million subscribers.

Her claim states that a senior member of staff at Ultra said that they were “more than happy to let you use this content”. She adds that by suing her and issuing takedown notices against twelve of her videos, the company has acted “with fraud, oppression and malice”.

Phan is seeking a court ruling that she received a non-revocable licence from Ultra and is within her rights to use the label’s music in her videos.

Cher hit by racial discrimination claims

Artist News Legal

Cher is facing legal action from her one-time choreographer Kevin Wilson and two ex-backing dancers, who claim they were racially-discriminated-against and unfairly fired from the singer’s tour.

Wilson alleges that Cher had banned him from casting “dark skinned” dancers as she felt there was “too much colour” already in the show. He and backing dancer Suzanna Easter, who are both black, claim they were then dismissed from the tour for racial reasons, whilst another dancer, 42 year old Jacquely Dowsett, says she was fired because of her age.

In the suit, obtained by CNN, the three add that the fact that they had acted as ‘whistleblowers’ on a sexual assault by one of Cher’s male dancers on a female fan may have also contributed to their being struck off. The official reason given by Team Cher for the three firings was “budget cuts”.

Cher’s publicist was quick to deny the allegations last week, releasing a statement that read: “The accusations are ridiculous. They couldn’t be further from the truth”.

The trio are seeking $10 million (£6.1 million) in damages.

Jamie Foxx sued for plagiarism on new single

Business News Labels & Publishers Legal

Entertainer Jamie Foxx has found himself in legal trouble over his first new single for four years, released last week, ‘Party Ain’t A Party’. Record label Nontra Records claims that the track is a rework of a recording it owns that was made by singer J Rand last year.

The company’s slightly complicated lawsuit, obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, says that producer DJ Mustard originally gave the track’s instrumental to Rand’s then label Poe Boy Records. The singer recorded vocals for the track, after which Nontra bought out his recording contract and paid to mix and master the final recording. The label says it then began initial radio promotions for the song in October last year, but at that point DJ Mustard “went radio silent”.

More recently Foxx’s new single emerged, which, says Nontra, not only uses the same instrumental as Rand’s song, but also lifts lyrics directly from it too. In fact, Nontra claims, “the only discernible difference found between the [two songs] is the choice of featured guest artist” – 2 Chainz appearing on Foxx’s single, and IAMSU! on Rand’s.

Nontra says that Poe Boy Records was the sole owner of the copyright in the original track – the combined DJ Mustard and J Rand collaboration – and that it then acquired ownership when it purchased Rand’s contract.

The company is seeking $150,000 jointly from Foxx, DJ Mustard and 2 Chainz for copyright infringement, as well as additional individual payments of $150,000 from both Foxx and DJ Mustard for contributory copyright infringement.

You can read the full lawsuit via The Hollywood Reporter, and listen to the two tracks below.

Jamie Foxx – Party Ain’t A Party (feat 2 Chainz)

J Rand – Party Ain’t A Party (feat IAMSU!)

Azoff MSG buys into ATM Artists

Business News Deals Management & Funding

Azoff MSG Entertainment has purchased a 50% stake in management and marketing firm ATM Artists, best known for its involvement with Swedish House Mafia and other big name ‘EDM’ artists.

As previously reported, Irving Azoff launched his new joint venture with the Madison Square Garden Company last year, after leaving Live Nation. The company has subsequently made a number of acquisitions, as well as setting up its own collecting society. This latest acquisition sees it push into the EDM industry currently dominated by Robert Sillerman’s SFX Entertainment – though Azoff says that is not his motivation.

“I’m not doing this to be in the EDM business”, Azoff told Billboard. “I’m looking to be in business with [ATM boss] Amy [Thompson]. She could sell ice to an eskimo. Whatever she wants to do, we’ll do”.

Thompson added: “I’ve seen what happens when big money smells opportunity – it’s awful. But I welcome certain clever investors who bring more than just money to the table. I don’t even think Irving knows what EDM is. He’s interested in legends”.

Universal Music owner sells off remaining tel co asset

Business News Labels & Publishers

Universal Music owner Vivendi is selling its Brazilian broadband business GVT to tel co giant Telefonica in a seven billion euro deal, it’s been announced. Vivendi will receive 4.66 billion euros in cash, and will get shares in Telefonica Brazil and Telecom Italia as part of the arrangement.

It’s part of Vivendi’s long drawn out withdrawal from the telecoms industry, it having sold off its struggling French phone firm SFR earlier this year. It means the conglom is now pretty much exclusively focused on the entertainment industry, with its two main assets being Universal Music and the Canal+ television business.

The deal was generally well received by analysts, though one told Bloomberg: “Good news for Vivendi [but] we expect the next step to be a more concrete outlining of their strategy”.

It is thought that strategy will focus on expanding Vivendi’s TV interests beyond the French market.

Pandora CFO reckons he is finally placating the music community

Business News Digital

The CFO of Pandora has spoken to the Wall Street Journal about his attempts to mend relationships between his company and the American music community, the undeniably successful streaming service having come under fire from multiple corners of the music industry in recent years (think about the criticism Spotify was facing from some of the artist community last year, and then add in similarly angry outbursts from the labels and publishers).

Criticism of Pandora grew after its big bucks IPO in 2011, partly because the finances of the business were now easier to scrutinise, and partly because, with Wall Street to placate, the digital music firm had to be seen to be trying to bring down royalty costs that many investors reckoned were too high. But with Pandora licensing both recordings and songs via the collective licensing system, where rates are ultimately set by a court, the labels and publishers already reckoned the streaming set-up was getting their content too cheap.

Cue much public dissing of Pandora, much of which continues; moves by the major publishers to pull digital rights out of their collecting societies are in no small part motivated by a bid to increase Pandora royalties. Though recent direct deals between the digital company and indie labels group Merlin and nearly-major BMG suggest that it is starting to win some friends within the music community.

And CFO Mike Herring, who joined Pandora in February 2013, reckons that is because of a change of approach he instigated at the company. He told the WSJ: “[Musicians and record labels] are people we pay a lot of money to in royalties. [But] that doesn’t make us partners…just writing cheques didn’t make us partners. As a CFO it was central to my responsibility to change that dynamic. Without the music experience we wouldn’t have anything to play. We really needed to have a better relationship”.

Reckoning Pandora had, in the main, become a “scapegoat” for a music industry coming to terms with the rise of the streaming market, he explains: “We took the discussion about licensing and moved it from our legal department to my department, so the music copyright holders feel compensated and their businesses are gaining value over time”. The company tried to have more of a presence at music industry events, and to talk more to rights owners, artists and managers. “[And they begin to think] maybe Pandora isn’t all bad”.

That Herring has been courting managers is interesting, you sense that it was Pandora-dissing within the artist community that caused the most headaches for a firm wary of share-price-hitting bad press. And, as Spotify concluded when tackling its own high profile pop star critics, some of that criticism is based on all round confusion in the artist community as to how streaming royalties are calculated and paid, and ignorance of what other benefits the streaming business can offer the music industry.

Says Herring: “[Artists] get a cheque every quarter and they don’t know where the money comes from. Almost every artist conversation starts with ‘you don’t really pay for the music’. Once they understand the dynamic, their attitude changes very dramatically”.

I think many in the music community – rights owners and artists/managers – would argue that Pandora still has a long way to go in this domain, with its placating efforts not on the same level as the Spotify Artists initiative, though those recent deals might suggest Herring’s claims of turning a corner are not entirely unfounded.

Read the full WSJ Q&A here.

Cat Stevens to return to the UK for twin London shows

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Yusuf Islam – who now seems to have conceded that his (not especially) new name has never caught on and is instead billing himself (or at least is being billed) as Yusuf/Cat Stevens – has announced a pair of London shows for November. His first UK concerts for five years, they will follow the release of his new album, ‘Tell Em I Gone’, though Legacy recordings on 27 Oct.

Says Islam/Stevens of the new album, which features guests including Richard Thompson, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and Tinariwen: “Although I was to venture through many lyrical terrains, melodious valleys and cadences during my 50 year musical and spiritual exploration, and though many would agree that I have covered a lot of ground, there was always one path I meant to take. Hidden in the background behind my renowned troubadour persona lurked an R&B alter-self waiting to be let free”.

He adds: “What’s powerful and profound, to me, is the overall message which emerged, lyrically [here]. It suddenly stared me in the face: the innate struggle for freedom! Isn’t that what most human beings dream of? Music and the blues particularly was a means of escape for many chained to the destiny of the rich and powerful”.

The two live shows will take place at the Hammersmith Apollo on 4-5 Nov. Tickets are on sale now, and you can hear a track from the new album, titled ‘Dying To Live’, here.

CMU’s One Liners: The Grateful Dead, Queen, Aaliyah and more

Artist News Awards Business News Deals Labels & Publishers Media One Liners Releases

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• Partially-dead rock band The Grateful Dead (pictured) have signed a revitalising 50th anniversary deal with Universal Music Publishing Group, Billboard has confirmed, so fancy that.

• That slightly iffy Aaliyah TV biopic ‘Princess Of R&B’ is finally going to air, via American channel Lifetime, on 15 Nov. Alexandra Shipp will play Aaliyah in the movie, its original star Zendaya Coleman having quit the film back in July.

• Guided By Voices have fallen silent again, which is to say they’ve split up. Again. Having split the first time in 2004, and then got back on the horse in 2010. “It was a hell of a comeback run”, state the band in a statement.

• GWAR have replaced late frontman and founder Dave Brockie, aka Oderus Urungus, who died earlier this year. Kim Dylla, who has taken the stage name Vulvatron, made her live debut with the band at Chicago’s Riot Fest last week.

• Queen will release a new compilation, ‘Queen Forever’, on 10 Nov as a means of making ultimate dollar from three previously unreleased and unfinished tracks. One of the new/old recordings is the long discussed duet between Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson, aptly titled ‘There Must Be More To Life Than This’.

• Laminated pop man Adam Lambert (and temping Queen singer) has given away the game re his new solo LP, his first since his 2013 split with Sony’s RCA Records and signing to a new mystery label. The TBA album is, says A-Lamb, “really good”, and has him working with “an amazing executive producer”.

• “NICK JONAS HAS ARRIVED”, screams a press release. It also informs us that he will release a solo album called ‘Nick Jonas’ on 11 Nov. Here’s the video for lead single ‘Chains’.

• The nominations are out for the first ever Music Ally Digital Music Awards, which take place on 16 Oct. Check on the list here.

Nadine Coyle still in Girls Aloud, even if no one else is

And Finally Artist News

In a strange twist of fate/paperwork, Nadine Coyle has said that Girls Aloud haven’t technically split yet, since at the time of their final separation back in spring 2013, she very politely declined to sign any contracts formalising the break up.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror last week, Coyle revealed that, while Cheryl, Nicola, thingy and whatnot had initialled the ‘Girls Aloud are officially over for now and always’-type contract: “I never signed it, so technically I’m still in Girls Aloud; I’m a one man band! I need holograms made up of them so I can go back out on stage in 30 years time!”

Gah! The world really isn’t ready for a Sarah Harding hologram. Not. Ready.

Still speaking, Coyle added: “I didn’t want to put my name to anything to do with it so I said [to management], ‘If you want to write this thing from these four, then write it from these four – but I am taking no part in it'”.

So, that’s all quite odd. Please all stand by for a single from a solo Nadine ‘the one man band’ Coyle, which may or may not be available in all good shops. Or only certain shops, good and bad. Or only in Tesco. Or Asda. Or as a free gift stapled on to bottles of windscreen-cleaner at your local garage. Whatever.

Approved: Circus Birthday at Egg

Club Tip CMU Approved

Yousef tops off a second year of his Circus nights at Egg London with Catz & Dogz making their debut at the venue alongside Kölsch and Kydus.

Polish duo Catz & Dogz provide tunes that vary from the tough to the more blissful and melodic, and Kölsch’s versatility is also notable. Meanwhile, emerging Ibiza name Kydus finishes off the line-up, appearing just ahead of the release of his forthcoming EP ‘Free Spirit’ via the Circus label. Do check out the lead track from it here.

Yousef’s evergreen selection of house and techno names will certainly be packing them in for these birthday celebrations.

Saturday 20 Sep, Egg, 200 York Way, London N7 9AX, 11pm-10am, £13-22, more info here.

U2 and Apple developing ‘unpirate-able’ format the fans will LOVE to pay for

Business News Digital Top Stories

Hey, so while you were moaning about U2 devaluing music in your seventeenth opinion piece about their new album and the way they released it, Bono and the boys were hard at work proving you wrong. Because the band’s relationship with Apple apparently doesn’t stop at banking a fat cheque in return for a half-baked collection of songs. No, they’re developing a new music download format so compelling that people will want to pay for it.

In a preview of an interview that appears in its new issue, Time magazine writes: “[Bono] hopes that a new digital music format in the works will prove so irresistibly exciting to music fans that it will tempt them again into buying music – whole albums as well as individual tracks. The point isn’t just to help U2 but less well known artists and others in the industry who can’t make money, as U2 does, from live performance”.

“Songwriters aren’t touring people”, says Bonzo. “Cole Porter wouldn’t have sold T-shirts. Cole Porter wasn’t coming to a stadium near you”.

According to Billboard, the singer adds that the format is “about eighteen months away”, explaining: “I think it’s going to get very exciting for the music business. [It will be] an audiovisual interactive format for music that can’t be pirated and will bring back album artwork in the most powerful way, where you can play with the lyrics and get behind the songs when you’re sitting on the subway with your iPad or on these big flat screens. You can see photography like you’ve never seen it before”.

Oh, so it’s like every other format that’s going to ‘save the music industry’ then. Carry on, Bonbon.

Wednesday 24 September 2014, 10:53 | By Andy Malt

The joint venture between Bureau Export and Institut Français to promote French music in the UK, Oui Love, has announced details of its annual tour. New acts looking for recognition on this side of the English channel are Andrea Balency and NLF3.

READ MORE ABOUT: Bureau Export | Institut Francais | Oui Love

Wednesday 24 September 2014, 10:52 | By Aly Barchi

This year’s MOBO nominations shortlist has been released, and, holy god, what a shortlist it is.

READ MORE ABOUT: MOBO Awards

Wednesday 24 September 2014, 10:51 | By Aly Barchi

Other notable announcements and developments today…

READ MORE ABOUT: Aqualung | Azealia Banks | Flying Lotus | Gerard Way | Kendrick Lamar | PRS Foundation | Rita Ora | Rosie Lowe | Ryan Hemsworth | Steve Reid Foundation | Steve Reid InNOVAtion Awards | The Voice

Wednesday 24 September 2014, 10:50 | By Andy Malt

Who would be your ideal dinner party guests, alive or dead? Actually, forget alive, just name the dead ones. And why does this game always have to be a dinner party? Dead people don’t eat. Sure, dead people don’t sing either, but no one told Barry Manilow that.

READ MORE ABOUT: Barry Manilow

Tuesday 23 September 2014, 13:10 | By Andy Malt

READ MORE ABOUT: Cibo Matto

Tuesday 23 September 2014, 11:47 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Apple | Beats | Beats Music | Tim Cook

Tuesday 23 September 2014, 11:46 | By Aly Barchi

READ MORE ABOUT: The Edge | U2

Tuesday 23 September 2014, 11:45 | By Aly Barchi

READ MORE ABOUT: Axwel | Axwell /\ Ingrosso | Def Jam | Sebastian Ingrosso | Swedish House Mafia | Universal Music | Virgin EMI

Tuesday 23 September 2014, 11:44 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: WhoSampled

Tuesday 23 September 2014, 11:43 | By Chris Cooke

A website that works out the 99 most played tracks on SoundCloud in the last month and then aggregates them into a lovely wall of images? What a wonder!

READ MORE ABOUT: Stephen Phillips | Wonder.fm

Tuesday 23 September 2014, 11:42 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: YouTube

Tuesday 23 September 2014, 11:41 | By Aly Barchi

READ MORE ABOUT: Iggy Pop | John Peel Lecture | Radio Festival

Tuesday 23 September 2014, 11:40 | By Andy Malt

Manchester tykes Rixton have announced some details of their debut album, including its US release date. 6 Jan, if you must know. Oh, and its title, ‘Let The Road’.

READ MORE ABOUT: Rixton

Tuesday 23 September 2014, 11:39 | By Andy Malt

Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq has been announced as the winner of this year’s $30,000 Polaris Music Prize, with her album ‘Animism’.

READ MORE ABOUT: Polaris Music Prize | Tanya Tagaq

Tuesday 23 September 2014, 11:38 | By Aly Barchi

Other notable announcements and developments today…

READ MORE ABOUT: Andy Stott | Ariel Pink | At The Gates | Charli XCX | Katherine Jenkins | Machinedrum | Marmozets | OxfordOxford | The Charlatans

Tuesday 23 September 2014, 11:37 | By Andy Malt

Paul McCartney has called on the public to join him in supporting the Meat Free Mondays campaign, ahead of today’s UN Climate Summit in New York.

READ MORE ABOUT: Meat Free Mondays | Paul McCartney

Monday 22 September 2014, 11:32 | By Aly Barchi

With a pretty respectable five LPs to his name already, 21 year old Philadephia freshman Alex G(ianascoli) will on 10 Nov re-release his latest, ‘DSU’, via a new deal with Lucky Number and an upgrade to Domino Music Publishing.

READ MORE ABOUT: Alex G

Monday 22 September 2014, 11:14 | By Chris Cooke

The boss of Mega, the file-storage service set up by MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom after his original business was shut down by the US authorities, has hit out at a new report which brands the New Zealand-based operation as a “shadowy cyber locker”.

READ MORE ABOUT: Digital Citizens Alliance | Graham Gaylard | Kim Dotcom | Mega | MegaUpload

Monday 22 September 2014, 11:13 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Big Music Project

Monday 22 September 2014, 11:12 | By Andy Malt

YouTube star Michelle Phan has counter-sued Ultra Records, following a lawsuit launched by the label accusing her of using its music in her videos without permission.

READ MORE ABOUT: Michelle Phan | Ultra Records

Monday 22 September 2014, 11:11 | By Aly Barchi

Cher is facing legal action from her one-time choreographer Kevin Wilson and two ex-backing dancers, who claim they were racially-discriminated-against and unfairly fired from the singer’s tour.

READ MORE ABOUT: Cher

Monday 22 September 2014, 11:10 | By Andy Malt

Entertainer Jamie Foxx has found himself in legal trouble over his first new single for four years, released last week, ‘Party Ain’t A Party’. Record label Nontra Records claims that the track is a rework of a recording it owns that was made by singer J Rand last year.

READ MORE ABOUT: J Rand | Jamie Foxx | Nontra Records

Monday 22 September 2014, 11:09 | By Andy Malt

Azoff MSG Entertainment has purchased a 50% stake in management and marketing firm ATM Artists, best known for its involvement with Swedish House Mafia and other big name ‘EDM’ artists.

READ MORE ABOUT: ATM Artists | Azoff MSG Entertainment | Irving Azoff

Monday 22 September 2014, 11:08 | By Chris Cooke

Universal Music owner Vivendi is selling its Brazilian broadband business GVT to tel co giant Telefonica in a seven billion euro deal, it’s been announced. Vivendi will receive 4.66 billion euros in cash, and will get shares in Telefonica Brazil and Telecom Italia as part of the arrangement.

READ MORE ABOUT: Telefonica | Vivendi

Monday 22 September 2014, 11:07 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Mike Herring | Pandora

Monday 22 September 2014, 11:06 | By Andy Malt

READ MORE ABOUT: Cat Stevens

Monday 22 September 2014, 11:05 | By Aly Barchi

Other notable announcements and developments today…

READ MORE ABOUT: Aaliyah | Adam Lambert | Guided By Voices | GWAR | Music Ally Digital Music Awards | Nick Jonas | Queen | The Grateful Dead

Monday 22 September 2014, 11:04 | By Aly Barchi

In a strange twist of fate/paperwork, Nadine Coyle has said that Girls Aloud haven’t technically split yet, since at the time of their final separation back in spring 2013, she very politely declined to sign any contracts formalising the break up.

READ MORE ABOUT:

Friday 19 September 2014, 12:02 | By Paul Vig

Yousef tops off a second year of his Circus nights at Egg London with Catz & Dogz making their debut at the venue alongside Kölsch and Kydus.

READ MORE ABOUT: Circus LDN | Yousef

Friday 19 September 2014, 11:22 | By Andy Malt

READ MORE ABOUT: Apple | U2