John Lydon says he doesn't remember signing "terrifying" Sex Pistols band agreement as sync deal dispute continues
John Lydon told the High Court in London yesterday that legal documents "terrify" him, that he didn't understand what a Sex Pistols band agreement he signed in 1988 was all about, and that - despite said agreement allowing for majority decisions to stand - "unanimity is what has made this band as a business tick over". He also explained the historical inaccuracies that resulted in him blocking the use of his band's music in an episode of 'The Crown'.

Lydon was the latest Sex Pistol to give testimony in a big old dispute over a sync licensing deal and that 1988 band agreement. He's fighting a lawsuit filed by former bandmates Steve Jones and Paul Cook over his decision to block the use of the band's music in 'Pistol', a new Danny Boyle-directed TV series based on Jones' memoir 'Lonely Boy: Tales Of A Sex Pistol'. Jones and Cook argue that under the 1988 agreement a sync licence can be issued if a majority of the band's members agree, and that Lydon therefore has no veto.

Earlier in the proceedings Jones told the court that he and Cook previously considered enforcing the 1988 agreement when Lydon blocked the use of the band's track 'God Save The Queen' in the Netflix show 'The Crown'. Jones added: "I was a big fan of the show and excited that our music was going to feature in it, so I was very upset when I found out that John's manager had blocked it".

Discussing that decision, Lydon told the court yesterday that the original script of the episode of 'The Crown' in which 'God Save The Queen' would have appeared contained historical inaccuracies that he found "perverse". Somewhat ironically, the alleged inaccuracies would have likely annoyed the Queen as much as Lydon.

The episode in question took place during the Queen's silver jubilee celebrations in 1977, which is when the then controversial Sex Pistols track was released.

Lydon says that - had producers used the alleged original script - 'The Crown' would have intercut official jubilee events happening in London on 7 Jun 1977 with scenes of the Sex Pistols performing their anti-monarchy hit on a boat on the Thames, alongside other scenes depicting members of the public protesting and rioting, in contrast to all the crowds celebrating the Queen.

However, he added, while the gig on the Thames did happen, the idea that there were other anti-monarchy protests in central London that day is "a lie".

According to Telegraph, Lydon told the court: "The story that they presented was with the Queen in despair in her carriage, and all those ugly scenes on the streets of crowds fighting and chucking bottles, whilst others were celebrating the Queen. [But] nobody was rioting - and here is my real, serious problem with it - this never happened, this is a lie about history".

"There were no bricks and bottles thrown at the Queen", he continued. "It's a lie. The only people making any demonstration at all about the royal family that day were the Sex Pistols on a boat trip down the Thames - lovely songs of protest in front of the Houses Of Parliament, and that's it. They can mish-mash history all they want, but they can't do it using my name".

Of course, few rely on 'The Crown' to be a particularly accurate telling of the Windsor family story, but can Jones and Cook rely on that 1988 agreement as a framework for how the Sex Pistols business is run?

That agreement "has never been applied in anything we have ever done since 1998", Lydon argued in court yesterday, according to the Evening Standard. And if it is applied in the dispute over the 'Pistol' sync deal, he added, then he is basically being forced "to sign over the rights to a drama documentary that I am not allowed any access to. To me that smacks of some kind of slave labour".

"I don't understand how Steve and Paul think they have the right to insist that I do something that I so morally, heart and soul, disagree with without any involvement", he went on. "It is infuriating to me. It has always been that with regard to all decisions about the Sex Pistols music and imagery, that they are unanimous".

In his earlier testimony, Cook said that he and his other bandmates had never previously enforced the 1988 agreement because they anticipated that it would anger Lydon who "can be a difficult character and always likes to feel that he has control".

Given that the band have reunited at various points, they were nervous of acting in a way that would make their working relationship with Lydon "worse", but - with hindsight - "maybe Steve and I have been too nice to John over the years in trying to maintain good relations and … we should have been tougher", Cook added.

Insisting that the band agreement - having never been relied upon before - should not apply now, Lydon added that he doesn't understand legal documents, that such paperwork terrifies him, and "it's obvious that I didn't understand what the [band agreement] was [when I signed it]".

He later added: "I care very much about this band and I want to maintain its integrity. I don't want anything I'm involved in to victimise any one of us. It would destroy the whole point and purpose of the band, and so I don't understand the [band agreement] ... I don't remember signing it".

And so the case continues.

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ADA Asia partners with Vietnam's Yin Yang Media
Warner Music's ADA label services company - along with Warner Music Vietnam - have entered into a new partnership with Vietnamese entertainment firm Yin Yang Media to distribute its roster of artists.

"The explosive growth of the market in Vietnam over the past few years is just the beginning and we're all agog with the potential it has to offer", says Managing Director of ADA Asia, Chee Meng Tan.

"This partnership with Yin Yang Media is a game-changer", he goes on. "It allows us to put foundational pieces in place for long-term growth, and more importantly, connects the incredible artists from Vietnam, as well as some of the country's most loved songs, with audiences all around the world. The value and ecosystem that we create together for the artists underpins our commitment to the region, and sets ADA Asia apart as the go-to distributor, putting us in an incredibly strong position".

Yin Yang Media CEO Huong Nguyen adds: "Vietnamese artists are very talented, passionate and dedicated, especially in this fast-changing music scene here and around the world. They aspire to find a trusted companion who can accompany them on their professional career path. With that in mind, Yin Yang Media partnering with ADA Asia and Warner Music Vietnam offers our artists the best commercial and media services and great opportunities, by working with the strongest team, that can help them develop not only in our homeland, but also in Asia and beyond".

ADA will distribute Ying Yang's 60,000 strong catalogue of tracks, by artists including Đan Trường, Hồng Ngọc, Bích Phương, Dalab and Phan Mạnh Quỳnh.

The deal follows the launch of ADA Asia in September last year, a new division with a focus on China, Korea and South East Asia.

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CTS Eventim launches Eventim Live Asia
Ever expanding German live music firm CTS Eventim has announced the launch of a new Asian division. Headquartered in Singapore, Eventim Live Asia will be headed up by Jason Miller, who previously led all touring activity for Live Nation’s Asia and Middle East offices.

"Following on from our joint venture with Michael Cohl in the US market, the launch of Eventim Live Asia marks another key milestone in achieving our strategic objective of offering tours and ticketing around the world", says CTS Eventim CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg. "This is a further sign that, as announced, CTS Eventim will emerge from the coronavirus crisis with renewed strength".

Miller himself adds: "The pandemic has created unprecedented global demand for live music and shared experience. With Asia representing over half of the world's population and its fastest-growing middle class, there is no better time or place to be launching an event promotion company. Eventim Live's tremendous resources, vision, experience, and respect across the live event industry make it the perfect joint venture partner".

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Craig Charles to replace Shaun Keaveny on 6 Music
Craig Charles has been announced as the replacement for Shaun Keaveny on the BBC Radio 6 Music afternoon show.

"I'm made up to be able to present a brand new show on 6 Music later this year", says Charles. "So, join me each weekday afternoon for a cup of tea, a chat and where I'll be playing some cracking tunes from across the musical spectrum. I can't wait to get started - bring it on!"

But let's say you're a big fan of 'The Craig Charles Funk And Soul Show' on 6 Music. Or even the 'The Craig Charles House Party' on Radio 2. Bet you're not feeling quite as "made up" as Craig there, now that he's shifting into a daytime BBC slot. Except you have no reason to be disappointed, because he's still going to present those too. They're on Saturday evenings. Why would they affect this weekday business? You like Craig Charles? Well now there's going to be more Craig Charles.

"Craig Charles has been part of the 6 Music family since we first arrived on the airwaves in 2002", says Head Of 6 Music, Samantha Moy. "Over the years, his 'Funk And Soul Show' has become must-listen radio on Saturday nights - bags of brilliant records and loads of laughter. We can look forward to more of the same on weekday afternoons - with an even bigger record bag full of music from across the genres and eras, right up to the present day - here on 6 Music".

Charles will start presenting his new show in October, after Keaveny - who announced his plan to depart the station after almost fifteen years last month - broadcasts his final show. But that's not the only change coming to the 6 Music schedule. No siree. There's a whole load of change a-comin.

Iggy Pop's Friday night show will become a Sunday afternoon show. Amy Lamé is moving from Sunday afternoons to weekend early breakfast. And Radcliffe and Maconie will still present the weekend breakfast show, but it will start an hour later.

"Iggy Pop", says Moy. "A true icon - and one that we are honoured to say is also a beloved 6 Music presenter. He will be bringing his 'Iggy Confidential' show to Sunday afternoons - the perfect way to shake off those weekend blues".

"I'm very happy to give Mark and Stuart the lie-in they deserve", she adds, "so we can all expect an even livelier 'Radcliffe & Maconie' show from 8am on Saturday and Sunday mornings. And I'm very pleased to say that Amy Lamé will now present two shows on 6 Music, with her 'Early Weekend Breakfast' show on Saturday and Sundays from 6am".

What's going to replace Iggy Pop on Friday nights? I don't know, they haven't announced it yet. I'll tell you this though: it "will contribute to the BBC's 'across the UK' plans". So that's nice. Probably.

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Gorillaz announce second free O2 show for NHS staff
Remember when loads of artists announced that they were going to play free shows for NHS staff in autumn 2020 to thank them for all their hard work during the COVID pandemic of spring 2020? Well, that didn't happen, did it? Instead, there were just yet more shows to postpone. But live music is back now, so I've heard. And so those shows can finally go ahead. In fact, Gorillaz have just announced that they'll be doing two, instead of the previously planned one.

As well as the sold out (if a free event can 'sell out') show at the O2 Arena on 11 Aug, the band will now also play the venue on 10 Aug. It'll be the first show for the band in two years, and for more than sixteen months at the venue.

"Reap what you sow, y’know what I'm saying?" says Gorillaz drummer Russel Hobbs. "We don't just want to say thank you, we want to do thank you too, because we care about the people who care for us".

General Manager of The O2, Steve Sayer, adds: "This is such a big moment for us. Our first live show in over 500 days, with one of the UK's best bands playing to an audience made up of NHS staff and their families. We have missed the fans and live performances so much, we couldn't be more proud to reopen with this event and to welcome such a great audience".

Tickets will be released for the new show tomorrow and can be claimed here.

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The Mercury Prize shortlist has only gone and been announced
When I was just a little girl, I asked my mother, who's up for the Mercury? Will there be metal? Will there be jazz? Here's what she said to me. Que sera, sera. Whatever will be, will be. The future's not ours to see. Que sera, sera. What will be, will be.

And I said, "Mother, what the hell are you talking about? The Mercury Prize shortlist was just announced by Huw Stephens on BBC Radio 6 Music only minutes ago. What will be... is... it's happened. Why do you always do this, mother? Oh my god. And stop singing all the time, would you. Why can't you just give me a straight answer? You always do this!"

Thank the sweet Lord she was never appointed to the Mercury Prize judging panel or they'd never make any decisions. I'll tell you who is on the judging panel this year, though. Anna Calvi. That's who. Not just her, either. Danielle Perry too. And Gemma Cairney. What about Hazel Wilde from Lanterns On The Lake? Yep, she's in there. Judging away. As is everyone's favourite, Michael Kiwanuka.

Are we done yet? No. Top music consultant Mike Walsh is there. Phil Alexander off of Kerrang. Tshepo Mokoena from Vice. Want another? Well, here comes Will Hodgkinson from The Times. Nice guy. And then it's all topped off by the judging panel's Chair, Mr Jeff Smith, aka the Head Of Music at 6 Music and Radio 2.

Look at that top team! If I wanted a list of super fine albums drawn up, those are the people I'd pick. And yet I didn't have to, which is lucky because I don't have time to be picking judges. Who did have the time? I don't know who. Jeff? Someone must have picked him though. Who created God? Not that I'm saying Jeff Smith is God. Or am I? No, I'm not. But he is the Chair of the Mercury Prize judging panel. And that's what's important here.

Anyway, I'd imagine the person who picked Jeff - at the very least - was David Wilkinson, overall Mercury Prize Chair, who says this of the whole event: "It's been another difficult and challenging year - and we're grateful to all the artists and labels that have supported the 2021 Hyundai Mercury Prize by entering their albums".

"Many thanks also to the hardworking and dedicated judging team who have spent the last few months listening to the entries", he goes on. "Creatively this is shaping up to be an exceptional year for British music - with so many outstanding albums released over the past year".

But which were the most outstanding? My mother doesn't know. But do you know who does know? That's right, me. Do you think I was going to write all this nonsense about the Mercury Prize and then fob you off with an entirely made up list of Mercury nominees? Or maybe no list at all? Who would do that? Well, I suppose I have done both of those things in the past. More than once.

Not this year though. Because this year probably isn't the year for such larking about. This year I'm just going to tell you who the twelve nominees are.

And so, the twelve nominees are...

Arlo Parks - Collapsed In Sunbeams

Berwyn - Demotape/Vega

Black Country New Road - For The First Time

Celeste - Not Your Muse

Floating Points, Pharaoh Saunders and the London Symphony Orchestra - Promises

Ghetts - Conflict Of Interest

Hannah Peel - Fir Wave

Laura Mvula - Pink Noise

Mogwai - As The Love Continues

Nubya Garcia - Source

Sault - Untitled (Rise)

Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend

You really thought I was going to give you a fake list then, didn't you? Is that how our relationship is now? No, that is the genuine list. Those are twelve actual albums that really exist in the real world. Who will be the overall winner, though? Who will receive their prize at the Hammersmith Apollo in London on 9 Sep, lockdown four permitting? Que sera sera.

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APPOINTMENTS

Sony Music Publishing has announced the promotion of Carol NG to President, Asia. "I have been very blessed throughout these years working with my team", she says. "We fight hard and support each other; we share tears and laughter; we share visions and make it happen".

Name PR has hired Lee Wakefield to head up its consumer PR department, which works with artists, festivals and other events, alongside the agency's business-to-business team. "I'm delighted to have joined the team at Name PR", he says. "With some exciting consumer clients already under our belts, I'm eager to help expand on these good foundations and leave a lasting positive impact on the music industry. I'm looking forward to seeing what we can achieve together".

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RELEASES

Lorde has released new single 'Stoned At The Nail Salon'. "It's something I keep going on and on about, I know, but it's just so insane, the contrast between home and [touring]", she says. "I've been trading the tour bus for the grocery store line over and over since I was sixteen - I'll probably do it forever - and a couple of years ago I realised it was time to write about those two sides to my life".

Khalid has released new single 'New Normal'. No idea what it's about. His third album, 'Everything Is Changing', will be out later this year.

Belly has released new single 'Better Believe', featuring The Weeknd and Young Thug.

Slowthai joins Idles on a new version of their track 'Model Village'. It will be released on seven-inch vinyl on 22 Oct.

Luke Hemmings has released new single 'Motion'. "This song is about having a sense of distrust with the way you perceive your own thoughts and the way the world moves around you", he says. "It was written about a time when I felt like the voices in my head weren’t my own and my sense of reality felt blurred".

Buju Banton has released new single 'Summer Body'.

Coheed And Cambria have released their first new single for almost three years, 'Shoulders'. "In art, in your career, in relationships, no matter how much you give of yourself or try, you have to accept that not everything in life can be a perfect fit", says the band's Claudio Sanchez of the track.

Joy Orbison has announced that he will release his first ever longform record, a mixtape titled 'Still Slipping Vol 1', next month. "I'd never really wanted to make an album", he says. "But the way I've been making and listening to music has changed a lot over the last few years and it doesn't always make sense on a single or EP. I also had this realisation that I wish my records were better suited to soundtracking people's bus journeys".

Deerhoof have announced that they will release their eighteenth album, 'Actually, You Can', on 22 Oct. "Think of all the beauty, positivity and love that gets deemed ugly, negative and hateful by the self-proclaimed guardians of 'common sense'", say the band of the album's central theme. "We'd hardly be destroying society by dismantling their colonial economics and prisons and gender roles and aesthetics. We'd be creating it!" Here's new single 'Department Of Corrections'.

She Drew The Gun is back with new single 'Class War (How Much)'. "It's about how much we let corruption go in plain sight and accept a politician's answer when these people are at the front of a ruthless class war being waged against those of us who live on the wrong side of Capital", she says.

La Luz have released new single 'Watching Cartoons'. It's the second to be taken from their new eponymous album, which will be out on 22 Oct.

Anaiis has released new single 'Chuu', featuring Topaz Jones.

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AWARDS

Pete Tong has been announced as the winner of this year's Music Industry Trusts Award, presented by the BRIT Trust and Nordoff Robbins. "It is a huge honour to be given the MITS Award", he says. "The past year has seen the music industry suffer like never before - especially the live music and clubbing sectors, but we are strong and optimistic for the future. I proudly look forward to accepting the award at the event this November and continue to represent my industry". Like he says, there'll be a ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on 1 Nov.

Having presented a short awards film in place of its 2020 edition, the Artist & Manager Awards - from the Music Managers Forum and Featured Artists Coalition - will be back as a live event on 19 Nov at the Bloomsbury Big Top. "After such a tumultuous period, it feels really good to start planning a return to the Bloomsbury Big Top and a proper awards ceremony", says MMF's Annabella Coldrick. "We really hope the entire industry can celebrate with us, and step forward to support the artists and managers who, in so many cases, have been at the brunt of the pandemic".

Check out our weekly Spotify playlist of new music featured in the CMU Daily - updated every Friday.

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Super Furry Animals release Paul McCartney's 'maccapella' vegetable percussion
It's always interesting when a singer's isolated vocals are released, isn't it? The opportunity to hear exactly how they sang a song, their vocal ticks having been previously lost in the mix. If that person is a real superstar, it's even more exciting.

So, you'll be THRILLED to hear that Paul McCartney's isolated vocals from Super Furry Animals' 2001 single - 'Respectable For The Respectable' - have now been made available.

For those not familiar with the song, McCartney's contribution was actually percussion. Vocal percussion. To be precise, he chewed some celery and carrots in time with the music. And now you can hear that without rest of the track!

The collaboration came about after SFA keyboard player Cian Ciarán approached McCartney at the 2000 NME Awards, where SFA won Best Live Act and The Beatles won the almost sarcastic sounding Best Band Ever award.

Initially Ciarán drunkenly proposed that McCartney let his band remix The Beatles - a request that amazingly proved successful, as the band ended up working on two tracks on McCartney's 'Liverpool Sound Collage' album, reworking old Beatles recordings.

As, I don't know, some sort of reward, I guess, the band offered McCartney the opportunity to work on some of their music. Specifically, they asked if he wanted to reprise his vegetable percussion career, which began when he was credited as playing celery on 1967 Beach Boys track 'Vegetables'.

Anyway, that's the back story. This is already like an episode of 'Classic Albums', isn't it?

Now, here's Ciarán to explain how the final mouth percussion track came about: "He was going to come to the studio and then decided not to for some reason. So, we sent him stereo backing tracks so he could keep time, then he sent the tape back with a message that started with a really dodgy Welsh accent. Then he goes 'I hope you like it' – the next thing you know you just hear this chewing sound!"

Before we get on and listen to this thing, I should tell you that the album on which the original track appears - 'Rings Around The World' - will be getting a 20th anniversary reissue with all sorts of added curios on 3 Sep.

Now, here's Paul McCartney with a mouthful of celery and carrots.

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