Kickass founder might voluntarily face copyright charges in US
The alleged owner of defunct file-sharing site KickassTorrents has implied that he might consider voluntarily travelling to the US to face the copyright charges made against him and his former business.

Artem Vaulin was arrested in Poland nearly a year ago as American authorities moved to take the popular file-sharing hub offline. Efforts to extradite Vaulin to the US are ongoing, though an initial court hearing on the matter in Poland ruled that the Kickass chief could be extradited to America.

Meanwhile in the States, legal representatives - led by Ira Rothken, better known for representing MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom - have been trying to have the case against Vaulin dismissed, on the basis that Kickass was, if anything, liable for contributory rather than direct copyright infringement, which is, they argue, not a criminal matter under US law.

Vaulin was kept in custody until he finally secured bail last month. Now out of jail and living in Warsaw, Vaulin has been able to speak more freely and more regularly to his US counsel, and as a result they are in turn talking to the American authorities.

We know this because last week the defence in the US filed a court document, since published by Torrentfreak, requesting a 'status conference' in order to update the judge on various matters, including the ongoing extradition process, ongoing efforts to have the case dismissed Stateside, and the talks that have taken place between prosecution and defence.

On the latter point, the court document says: "Mr Vaulin and his counsel in the United States recently have engaged in discussions with the government to determine if the parties can resolve this matter, or at least certain significant issues like, for example, issues relating to the proper calculation of the sentencing guidelines and/or the possibility of an agreement for bond should Mr Vaulin decide to voluntarily surrender to the United States authorities and appear before this court to resolve the pending charges".

Although that statement clearly makes no commitments, it hints at the kinds of conversations currently going on between the American authorities and Vaulin's defence team. Though that doesn't mean the Kickass man is currently in any rush to cancel his efforts to block extradition and have the criminal case against him dismissed. But more clarity on the state of play may be possible if and when the status conference takes place.

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Universal to see Warner's Prince deal
Universal Music will get to see the deal done between Prince and Warner Music in 2014, so to work out for itself if the agreement it reached with the Prince Estate in February to represent the late musician's recordings conflicts with its rival's existing arrangement.

As previously reported, Universal Music did three deals with the Prince estate to represent the musician's song rights, merch rights and recording rights. But with the latter agreement, the mega-major has since said that it's rights to distribute many of Prince's hits are more restricted by the star's earlier contract with Warner Music than they were led to believe before agreeing to a $30 million+ deal.

To that end, Universal wants out of that deal, and the bank now administrating the Prince estate, Comercia - which was not involved in any of the negotiations with the major - has recommended to the court overseeing the late musician's affairs that the agreement be rescinded. Though some of Prince's heirs disagree. They being the heirs advised by L Londell McMillan, who negotiated the Universal deals on behalf of the estate.

On Friday, the judge overseeing the case said that Universal must now be able to see the contract that Prince signed with Warner in 2014. It has not previously had access to that paperwork, relying on McMillan and his associates to communicate what rights Warner has over Prince's recordings.

The 2014 deal is believed to be a somewhat complicated arrangement in which Prince got some of the copyrights in his early releases back, but mainly for the US only, and via which he then immediately licensed those recordings back to Warner, with the terms of that licensing deal varying according to release and format. It remains to be seen what Universal concludes once it has sight of the Warner arrangement.

Meanwhile, some of the Prince heirs not represented by L Londell McMillan are backing Comercia's call for the Universal recordings deal to be rescinded, while also demanding an investigation into the conduct of the bank that was handling the Prince estate's affairs when the big deals were done, The Bremer Trust. It, of course, like McMillan, insists that all the deal negotiations with Universal were fair and done in the best interests of the estate.

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Spelling mistake caused Rock Am Ring evacuation
German police have admitted that a spelling mistake was behind the decision to evacuate the Rock Am Ring festival earlier this month.

As festival-goers were asked to leave the Rock Am Ring site during its first night proceedings, organisers said that "due to a terrorist threat the police have advised us to interrupt the festival". The incident meant the cancellation of a number of performances, including that night's headliners Rammstein, though the event got back underway as planned the next day.

At the time, a local police chief said that a man of "non-German origin" with possible links to terrorist groups had been discovered backstage, along with two other men. Upon questioning, it had been discovered that their real names were not those displayed on their passes, so all three were arrested. The arrests caused security fears resulting in the festival being evacuated, though all three men were later released without charge.

According to IQ, the local police force has now admitted that it was a case of mistaken identify caused by a spelling mistake. The names of two Syrian nationals working at the festival had been misspelt on a list of staff provided to police by the festival's promoter. Police were being extra vigilant amidst fears that music festivals could be possible targets for terrorist attacks, following past incidents at music events in Paris and Manchester.

In a bid to avert similar errors in the future, Roger Lewentz, Interior Minister of the local state government, has said festivals should provide local authorities with photos of all staff in addition to names, "so a clear identification is possible".

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Having reunited former Capital DJs, Thames Radio axes all DJs
The London digital radio station which launched a year ago and reunited some former Capital FM DJs - including Neil Fox, Pat Sharp and Tony Blackburn - has announced it is switching to a brand new format with, well, no DJs at all. So, no more reunions then.

Thames Radio - which is pulling in about 4000 listeners a week according to radio ratings body RAJAR - is becoming a non-stop music service. This, in case you wondered, is a "refresh" for the summer. Or, in the words of the boss of station owner Nation Broadcasting, Martin Mumford, who is quoted by Radio Today as saying: "From Monday we are refreshing the programme line-up and launching Thames Radio's summer of non-stop hits".

Good times. Blackburn confirmed his last show for the station had now aired this weekend, tweeting: "I'm afraid this is the last 'Soul Party' as Thames Radio will have no presenters anymore, just non-stop music from now on, day and night".

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Simon Cowell organises charity single recording for Grenfell Tower survivors
Robbie Williams, Rita Ora and Stormzy were among the popstars who recorded a cover of Simon & Garfunkel's 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' this weekend. The single is being released to raise money for former residents of the Grenfell Tower in West London, which was destroyed by fire last week.

Recorded at Sarm Studios, half a mile from the building, the recording was organised by Simon Cowell, who also lives nearby. Others who contributed vocals included One Direction's Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne, Emeli Sande, John Newman, Leona Lewis, Roger Daltrey, Ella Eyre, Pixie Lott, The Libertines' Carl Barat, Westlife's Shane Filan, Stereophonics' Kelly Jones, Paloma Faith and Jorja Smith.

They were joined by a 300 strong choir of local people - some of them survivors of the Grenfell tragedy - conducted by Gareth Malone.

Proceeds from the single will be distributed by the London Community Foundation. The government has reportedly waived VAT on the release too.

The song is expected to be released on Wednesday.

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Jay-Z announces Tidal exclusive new album
Streaming exclusives don't work. They alienate consumers and provide only modest long-term boosts in subscriber numbers for the streaming platforms which secure them. But, fuck it, Jay-Z doesn't have any other ideas for what to do with Tidal, so he's putting out a new album on there - and there only - next week.

Titled '4:44', the album will be available only to those paying for a Tidal subscription, or who sign up for a free trial in order to check it out. Assuming the new album will subsequently be available for a download purchase elsewhere, it will presumably join Beyonce's 'Lemonade' on the list of records people have to begrudgingly buy from iTunes.

Speaking of Beyonce and Jay-Z, according to her father Matthew Knowles, their twins have now been born.

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Dizzee Rascal announces first new album for four years
Dizzee Rascal will release his first album since 2013 next month. Titled 'Raskit', his sixth LP will be released on 21 Jul.

Pairing up with producers including Valentino Khan, Cardo and Paul Salva, the rapper says he has tried to avoid capitalising on the current boom in grime, despite being one of the pioneers of the genre fifteen years ago.

"The idea of trying to be my seventeen year old self again just because everyone thinks grime's landed in their lap this week didn't satisfy me", he says. "I wanted to use what I've learned to make the best rap album I could, with no hands in the air moments, just using as much English slang as I could over the best beats I could find".

Watch the video for first single 'Space' here.

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Chlöe Howl returns after two year hiatus
Chlöe Howl is back after two years away with a new single, 'Magnetic'. The track is taken from her forthcoming debut album, produced by Chris Zane.

"I wrote 'Magnetic' about those relationships that are endlessly toxic, but you can't help being pulled back into time and again", she says of the song. "'Magnetic' is about me trying to convince myself that it was down to fate not my own foolish actions".

Watch the video for the single here.

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Calvin Harris, DJ Khaled, Gorillaz, more

Other notable announcements and developments today...

• Ed Sheeran is now on the list of people you can be disappointed with for accepting nonsense honours from the Queen. He's gone and picked himself up an MBE. Warner Music owner Len Blavatnik now has an OBE too, which is more the sort of thing you'd expect.

• Undeterred by Deadmau5, Calvin Harris has released new single 'Feels', featuring Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry and Big Sean.

• DJ Khaled has released new single, 'Wild Thoughts', featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller.

• Gorillaz have released a brand new track, 'Sleeping Powder', first aired at the band's Demon Dayz festival earlier this month.

• The Cribs have released another new track, 'Year Of Hate'.

• Sälen have released a new single that is so rude. No, wait, it is 'So Rude'.

• Cold Specks is back with new single, 'Wild Card'. She'll be touring the UK in October, finishing up at Omeara in London on 10 Oct.

• Jeremy Corbyn will introduce Run The Jewels on stage at Glastonbury this Saturday. "We're Corbyn fans, that's the thing", Michael Eavis told The Guardian. "He's got something new and precious, and people are excited about it. He really is the hero of the hour".

• Jazz musician Wayne Shorter has received this year's Polar Music Prize. Oh, and Sting too.

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Morrissey accuses HMV of attempting to supress sales of Smiths reissues
Morrissey has accused HMV of attempting to suppress sales of vinyl reissues of The Smiths' 'The Queen Is Dead' single. His theory, it appears, is that The Smiths are considered "too radical" for today's youth, and therefore the powers that be are attempting to stop them from hearing the song.

The limited edition seven-inch and twelve-inch reissues are only available to purchase in record stores. In HMV, both releases have been slapped with a sticker limiting purchases of each disc to one per customer. This, reckons Morrissey, is part of that big, bad conspiracy against his former band. Apparently, as yet, no one has shown him a Venn diagram illustrating the intersection between limited edition vinyl releases and eBay.

In a post on Facebook, Moz says that the sticker on the record is "not unlike a Smoking Will Seriously Damage Your Health warning", adding that it "was not requested by ​T​he Smiths, and cannot be found on any other HMV stock, and therefore exists for 'The Queen Is Dead' only".

HMV was actually selling various limited run vinyl releases this weekend, as part of its Vinyl Week promotion, so Morrissey would have been able to do a thorough test of his hypothesis. Though had he done so, he'd have discovered that all of the various limited edition vinyl releases being sold had the 'one per customer' sticker on them.

Perhaps Morrissey went in on Friday, when the Smiths singles were put on sale and didn't see any of that. Why he then would then wait until Saturday evening to post about this is a mystery. Anyway, by then he had decided that this was all "an attempt to freeze sales, of course".

It is, Morrissey continues, "an overwhelming insult to The Smiths. As if artistic freedom must struggle in our current culture of banality. As if only counterfeit emotions ​may ​apply".

This conspiracy doesn't just stretch to HMV though. You may have noticed that none of today's mainstream pop radio stations are playing a 31 year old single to promote its limited repressing on vinyl. But their evil plan has been foiled by those clever Smiths fans!

"'The Queen Is Dead' is also the only song currently in the UK top ten that has not been played on radio, and yet still sits at number four on today's sales chart", Morrissey goes on. "Over 30 years since their death, and The Smiths are still thought too radical for the slow reader! It is evident, to me at least, that music audiences must only feel and think the very same thing at all times".

Given that the single only landed on Friday, he's presumably looking at sales data for the chart week so far. Because 'The Queen Is Dead' isn't in the current UK top ten.

It's alright though, Morrissey has developed a fail safe plan in order to ensure that all Smiths fans can own multiple copies of the release and just keep them in their houses to enjoy for themselves. It is thus: "If you are in possession of seven variable wigs, a box containing false noses, multiple-sized plastic clip-on ears, a nurse outfit, a set of stilts, a Superman cape, and a variety of oddly shaped spectacles, then we urge you to use them now and buy as many copies ​of 'The Queen Is Dead' ​a​t HMV as​ you ​desire".

Perfect! Take that, The Man! You tried to knock Morrissey down, but you will fail every time, because he knows about wigs. Meanwhile, the current price for the two records on eBay is around £45 - a mark up of £22.02.

HMV has not yet responded to a request for comment.

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