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Friday 31 July 2009, 14:20 | By Paul Vig
Approved: Balance (CMU Friday Tips)
Club Tip CMU Approved
VIGSY’S CLUB TIP: Balance
The bi-monthly night, organised by the Wang guys, amongst others, takes over the newish Cable club near London Bridge. The last one did rather well by all accounts, and if the usual Wang nights are anything to go by, I expect this attracts the more discerning punter, those wanting to party to the best electro and techno tunes in town. They have some big names again – The Advent do a live set, and Drexciya’s DJ Stingray heads in, all the way from Detroit, he having previously recorded for Planet E, Clone, Rephlex and Mo Wax. Sandwell District, aka Regis & Function, bring it back to basics while Si Begg will be giving us some wonky techno and discotech, offering an inventive off kilter aspect to the night. Finally there’s Alexander Robotnick, an electro legend and Wang favourite, and he’ll be showing you what an Ableton DJ set is all about. Brilliant
Friday 31 Jul, Cable, 33A Bermondsey St, London SE1, 11pm-7am, £15 (£12 adv/concs), more at www.balance-club.co.uk
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ANDY’S CLUB TIP: ULTIMATE POWER
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Ultimate Power is the most fun club night in London. It’s also a bit of a guilty pleasure, though. So don’t tell anyone, right? Listening to power ballads in your normal life is generally frowned upon. Doing so will cause people to question your taste and coolness. Well, what could be more cool and more tasteful than standing on a packed dancefloor, sweating profusely, one fist in the air, singing along to ‘I Want To Know What Love Is’ at the top of your voice? Answer me that. Nothing, that’s what. Which is why if you’re to have any chance of getting in tonight, you will have to get down early.
Friday 31 Jul, The Monarch, Camden, 8pm-2am, £5, more info from www.ultimatepowerclub.com
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Friday 31 July 2009, 14:18 | By CMU Editorial
Fisher wins final Pale dispute appeal
Top Stories
So, the precedent set here is that there is no deadline for filing a copyright claim under English law.
Which is good news if you’ve always wished you’d claimed ownership of a line of lyrics or three in some big sixties pop hit. Though more so if there’s some validity to your claim, I suppose. I’m not sure there’ll be much of a case for my claim to having written the second verse of ‘Imagine’, even if it doesn’t matter that 38 years have passed since its release.
Anyway, this is a long winded way of telling you that the long running Procol Harum copyright dispute reached its conclusion in the House Of Lords yesterday, and the Lords reinforced a High Court ruling that said that the band’s organist, Matthew Fisher, should be recognised as a co-writer of the outfit’s biggest hit, ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’, overturning a Court Of Appeal judgement that said Fisher had left it too late to make his claim.
For those that fell asleep at some point during this long running legal dispute, here’s a quick summary. The Harum’s 1967 hit ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’ has always been credited to the band’s frontman Gary Brooker and lyricist Keith Reid. But in 2005 organist Fisher said that he had actually devised the song’s haunting, distinctive and now rather iconic organ melody while the band worked on the track in the studio; Brooker’s original musical score, he argued, did not include what is now the song’s most famous bit.
If I remember rightly, when asked why he’d never made a claim previously Fisher said that back in the day he’d been told that, while he hadn’t been given a songwriter credit on ‘Pale’, the band would make good the discrepancy by giving him a credit on future songs. I’m not sure whether they ever did so, though presumably Fisher’s resentment grew over the years as he realised he had given up a royalty share on what turned out to be one of the most successful pop songs of the twentieth century.
From the outset Brooker was keen to play down Fisher’s role in creating the organ melody in ‘Pale’, portraying his former bandmate as a jobbing musician who just played what he was told to play. But in 2006 the High Court said it believed that Fisher had devised the melody in the studio, and should therefore be given co-ownership of the track and 40% of all royalties. Though only 40% of royalties since the day he made his legal claim of ownership in 2005. Not quite what Fisher wanted, but not something to be sniffed at either given ‘Pale’s continued popularity.
Brooker appealed, his legal team arguing that Fisher’s copyright claim came just too long after the song had been created, meaning that it was impossible for the court to ascertain what had actually happened back in 1967, not least because some key potential witnesses were no longer alive. The appeals court bought that argument and overturned the original ruling, the judges not saying they didn’t believe Fisher had penned the organ melody, but that he had simply left it too late to make a claim.
A ruling which meant that the 38 years it took Fisher to make a claim was the key issue when the case finally worked its way to the ultimate court of appeal, the House Of Lords. And they, yesterday, rejected the Court Of Appeal’s suggestion that there was a deadline after which copyright claims could no longer be made.
Though in his judgment, one of the five Lords who unanimously found in Fisher’s favour, Lord Neuberger, did note that Fisher had made informal claims to the song on various previous occasions but was “rebuffed or ignored” by Brooker and Reid, adding: “He explained that he had not wanted to push his claim as he feared that, if he did so, he would be asked to say goodbye to a career in a number one pop group”. That might mean that the precedent really is that there is no deadline for a copyright claim, providing there’s a good reason for the delay.
Welcoming the ruling, which reinstated the 2006 judgement that gives Fisher a 40% share of post-2005 royalties, the organ man said the case “was never about money”, adding “there will not be a lot of that anyway. But this was about making sure everyone knew about my part in the authorship”. His legal man, Hugh Cuddigan, told reporters that the ruling should “reassure composers that their rights will be acknowledged and upheld by our courts”.
Brooker’s lawyer Lawrence Abramson, needless to say, criticised the ruling, saying it would now open the gates for countless claims by musicians who feel their contributions on songs recorded decades ago were overlooked, even though there may well have been agreements in place regarding such contributions, agreements which may have been unwritten and which are now hard to prove.
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Friday 31 July 2009, 14:16 | By CMU Editorial
“This is me, I uploaded and downloaded music”: Tenenbaum case update
Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Legal Top Stories
When your defendant takes to the stand and basically says “yeah, I did all of that guvnor”, you can’t help wondering why everyone bothered showing up in court in the first place. Though Joel Tenenbaum’s testimony in the last big RIAA v the file sharers legal battle yesterday confirmed what we already expected, that victory in this case will be measured not on whether or not a not-guilty verdict is given, but on what damages the guilty defendant is ordered to pay. And that depends on your definition of “wilful infringement”, and given the judge’s remarks on that topic yesterday, Team Tenenbaum could well be the losers in that domain too.
So yes, Boston-based student Joel Tenenbaum, who had already admitted sharing unlicensed music on the internet in a pre-trial deposition, yesterday confirmed in court that he had shared via Kazaa the thirty songs listed by the RIAA’s legal men. He also admitted that he originally lied about this naughty file-sharing when first approached by the record industry. You wonder why the plaintiffs had previously gone to such lengths to prove Tenenbaum’s file-sharing through technical means, given the admission, though, as we’ll see, the RIAA’s evidence that Joel continued to file-share as recently as last summer could prove to be key when it gets to damages.
According to Ars Technica, Tenenbaum told the court room: “This is me. I’m here to answer. I used the computer. I uploaded and downloaded music. This is how it is. I did it”. The labels’ legal man Tom Reynolds looked for clarification: “Are you admitting liability for all 30 sound recordings”. “Yes”, replied the defendant. Asked why he had initially lied when challenged about his file-sharing he said “it’s what seemed the best response to give”, admitting his mother, a family law attorney, had been advising him at the time.
Under cross-examination by his own defence team Tenenbaum expressed his love for music, and insisted he never meant to do any harm to labels or artists by accessing and sharing music for free on the net. Remembering when he first discovered the original Napster, he recalled: “It was great… It was like this giant library in front of you with all sorts of songs… It’s all up there… It’s like the Google of music… You have this list of songs, and you can get them really easily”. Asked if he considered whether this huge free library of music was legal, he added: “I guess it wasn’t foremost in my mind… Now I’m thinking a lot more about whether it’s illegal”.
Given Tenenbaum’s admissions, the plaintiffs requested the judge rule in their favour on ownership, liability and wilfulness without passing any of the issues to the jury. Judge Nancy Gertner did just that on ownership – ie that the labels represented by the RIAA own the thirty songs in question – mainly because the defence have never objected to that claim. On the issues of liability – did Tenenbaum commit copyright infringement? – and wilfulness – did Tenenbaum infringe wilfully? – Nancy is still having a think. She admitted that, given Tenenbaum’s admission, she may well rule on liability in the labels’ favour, and leave the issue of wilfulness to the jury. She will confirm her decisions in that domain before the final day of court presentations begin later today.
As previously reported, whether or not Tenenbaum infringed ‘wilfully’ is important because it can have a big impact on damages, increasing them five-fold. The labels seem keen to get as big a damages figure as possible out of this case, even though Tenenbaum will presumably never be able to pay multi-million dollar damages, and such a conclusion to the case will probably see the victorious record companies again portrayed outside the court room as a bunch of money grabbing bastards who don’t deserve the protection of the law.
The definition of ‘wilful’ infringement is a bit sketchy. Team Tenenbaum want the judge to define wilfulness as the file-sharer intending to profit from their infringement. But Gertner says she considers wilful infringement to mean infringement “with knowledge of or ‘reckless disregard’ for the plaintiffs’ copyrights”. While Tenenbaum said he didn’t really consider the legality of Napster when he first discovered it, given he continued to file-share even once the RIAA’s litigation against him had begun, under that definition the defendant probably is guilty of wilful infringement. Which could prove expensive damages wise, taking the labels’ claim from $900,000 to a potentially staggering $4.5million.
After Tenenbaum’s own testimony, the RIAA’s team wheeled out two Warner Music execs, one to confirm Warner’s ownership of some of the songs of the list of thirty shared tracks, another to discuss the efforts by the record industry to launch licensed digital music services – a bid to counter claims by Tenenbaum’s main lawyer Charles Nesson that file-sharing could be justified because of the music industry’s poor efforts in getting user-friendly licensed digital music services quickly to market.
I’d talk you through what Warner’s Ron Wilcox said, but it included talk about the record labels’ original efforts in launching their own digital music platforms – the fated MusicNet and Pressplay – and I’m not sure anyone who worked for a major label back in the early days of digital wants to think about them again.
The defence will present their case today, but are expected to be done and dusted by early afternoon.
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Friday 31 July 2009, 14:15 | By CMU Editorial
Jackson’s mother gets custody of Jacko’s kids
Top Stories
A lawyer for Katherine Jackson has told CBS News that she will get custody of her late son’s three children, Prince Michael, Paris and Blanket.
As previously reported, Michael Jackson awarded custody of his kids to his mother in his will, but out of court discussions have been going on between the Jackson clan and the singer’s ex-wife Debbie Rowe, the mother, in one way or another, of the eldest two children. It was never clear if Rowe really wanted to apply for custody of Prince Michael and Paris – there were conflicting reports – but it did look at one point like she might make certain demands at a planned court hearing on the issue.
But that court hearing was twice postponed to allow more discussions between Mrs Jackson and Rowe, and according to legal man Londell McMillan when the custody hearing finally takes place next week both sides will tell the judge they have agreed to honour Jacko’s wishes.
Asked if cash would change hands as part of the arrangement, McMillan told the TV network: “It’s an agreement, an agreement for the best interests of the children. This is not a money deal – this is not about money. All of the parties are resolved – there is no situation better for these children than for them to be raised and reared in the loving care of Mrs Katherine Jackson”.
As previously reported, Rowe gave up all custody rights to the couple’s two children when they divorced in 2000, but later sought to alter that arrangement. A second agreement was reached in secret in 2006. Although Rowe had given up custody rights in the past, that may not have stopped her from seeking custody through the courts now – though TMZ claimed Rowe wasn’t actually Prince Michael and Paris’ biological mother, and had just been a surrogate who took another woman’s eggs. It’s not clear whether that is true and if so what impact it would have on any custody claim. But as it turns out, we’re unlikely to now find out.
Elsewhere in Jackson offspring news, Joe Jackson has confirmed that Omer Bhatti is another of Michael’s children, even though Bhatti himself denied that fact earlier this week.
As previously reported, it has been speculated that 25 year old the Norwegian-born Bhatti was fathered by Jackson during a one night stand in 1984. The speculation stemmed mainly from Bhatti being given a front row seat at the late king of pop’s big memorial show in LA, though gossipers said that the fact Bhatti was Jackson’s son was no secret, and Bhatti had spent many Christmases with his father at Neverland.
Now Jackson Senior has seemingly confirmed those rumours, telling News One: “I knew he had another son, yes I did. He looks like a Jackson, he acts like a Jackson, he can dance like a Jackson”.
So there you have it. Though this is despite the Mirror quoting Bhatti himself earlier this week as saying: “Michael is not my father. He and I were just very, very close. He was my best friend. Michael always used to say I was like a son to him. But my true parents are here in Norway. The reason I was asked to sit with his family at the memorial service is because I was Michael’s closest friend – not because I am his son”.
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Friday 31 July 2009, 14:14 | By CMU Editorial
Dutch court orders Pirate Bay closedown
Legal
A court in the Netherlands has ordered the owners of The Pirate Bay to stop web surfers from the country from accessing their service within ten days, otherwise they’ll be fined $42,300 per day in penalties.
Though I’m not sure that’s going to work, given that when the Swedish courts ordered the three founders and main funder of the rogue BitTorrent tracker to each serve a year in jail and pay a total of $3.6 million in damages, the four men (well, the three founders for certain) shrugged their shoulders and insisted they couldn’t and wouldn’t pay, in cash or jail time. And as far as I can see so far the authorities have sort of let that lie, possibly while the Bay Four’s attorneys prepare their appeal.
The latest ruling was a result of that previously reported legal action taken against The Pirate Bay by Dutch anti-piracy organisation BREIN. None of the Bay Four – Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde Kolmsioppi and Fredrik Neij, and funder Carl Lundstrom – attended the Dutch hearing, and none of them have, as yet, responded to the latest ruling.
As previously reported, Swedish software company Global Gaming Factory is planning to buy The Pirate Bay and turn it into a legit digital content platform, though many reckon that deal will never go ahead because investors will not run the risk of taking on the old Bay’s liabilities in return for a share in what is at best a questionable business model.
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Friday 31 July 2009, 14:13 | By CMU Editorial
Men accused of stealing from girls
Legal
Men At Work have been accused of stealing the melody of their 1983 hit ‘Down Under’ from Girl Guide campfire favourite ‘Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree’. The claim has been made by publishing company Larrikin Music, who gained the right to fight the case in court yesterday when a judge ruled that they did own the copyright to song the band are accused of borrowing from – something that had been in question.
‘Kookaburra…’ was written by teacher Marion Sinclair in 1934, and remains a popular song with Girl Guides the world over (so I am told). Larrikin argue that Men At Work stole a flute riff from the song for ‘Down Under’.
However, lawyers for the band’s label and publishers, Sony Music and EMI Songs Australia, argued in court last month that the claim was irrelevant because Larrikin Music were not the owners of the rights in Sinclair’s song, going as far as to claim the Girl Guide movement had a better claim to ownership. The judge thought otherwise, though, and yesterday ruled that the company had legitimately purchased the rights from her estate when Sinclair died in 1988.
Larrikin Music will now move to sue Sony and EMI for breach of copyright and compensation from royalties earned from the song by Men At Work.
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Friday 31 July 2009, 14:12 | By CMU Editorial
Danananananaykroyd man breaks arm
Artist News
Dananananaykroyd have been forced to cancel the last two dates on their Australian tour after drummer John Baillie Jr broke his arm on stage in Sydney on Wednesday. While jumping off stage to greet the crowd, he managed to snap one of the bones in his forearm and break a piece of bone off his elbow and is now receiving treatment in hospital in the city.
The band’s Calum Gunn told CMU: “The details still aren’t really very clear. I think he just kind of came off the stage a bit funny and has done something pretty bad to his arm. The latest I’ve heard is that he’s taken a bit of his elbow bone off. We couldn’t really go on without John and so we stopped the show and got him medical attention as soon as possible. There was a doctor in the audience which was really cool. Kind of clichéd ‘is there a doctor here?’ thing actually worked. She looked after John for a while until the ambulance arrived”.
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Friday 31 July 2009, 14:11 | By CMU Editorial
Coxon wants more Blur
Artist News
It’s all over for Blur. Damon Albarn and Alex James have said they’re happy to go out on a high, rather than risking the possibility that they might, in Damon’s words, “ruin it”. Oh, but wait, what’s that you say Graham Coxon? “I’m up for it, doing another [album] – it would be a really interesting thing to do. I don’t want it to be like ‘Modern Life Is Rubbish’ or nostalgic bollocks. I want it to be a development. There’s nothing saying there’s a great big ‘No’. My gut feeling is, ‘Why not?'” Oh right.
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Friday 31 July 2009, 14:10 | By CMU Editorial
No new material on Blink 182 tour
Artist News
Blink 182 are back together again. All their fans are very excited about it, especially the new album they’re recording. And what better way to really work them up into a frenzy than by not previewing any new material on their upcoming tour?
Actually, the band haven’t finished writing any songs for their new album yet, and they’re concerned that people might not like the one shit work-in-progress track they’re currently knocking about. Bassist Mark Hoppus explained to MTV: “We might possibly play it, but probably not, though. We haven’t finished recording it yet, and we really don’t want the first time that people hear our new song to be a YouTube version of us playing it live. We want it to be the actual song, and we haven’t gotten the chance to finish it yet, so we’ll probably leave it out of the set until we actually release it”.
Guitarist Tom DeLonge added: “It’s an awesome song. We just haven’t done a recording of it yet. But I don’t even know if we would have room for it, we have so many songs in this set”.
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Friday 31 July 2009, 14:09 | By CMU Editorial
Stones do merchandising deal with Universal
Brands & Merch Business News Deals Labels & Publishers
Universal’s merchandising business Bravado has done a deal with The Rolling Stones, meaning the band’s merchandising will be handled by the same major music firm as their recordings. As previously reported, Universal Music now controls all of the Stones’ post-1971 catalogue.
Confirming their new deal with Jagger et al, Bravado CEO Tom Bennett told reporters: “Throughout their storied career, The Rolling Stones have created one of the world’s most seminal and awe-inspiring bodies of work, and we are delighted to welcome them to the Bravado family. Moving forward, we are looking forward to integrating all of the resources we now have on hand – from their merchandising to all of their audio and video content – to create dynamic new opportunities that combine music and merchandise in unique exclusive formats, sold to not only existing retailers but to new exciting non-traditional outlets”.
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Friday 31 July 2009, 14:08 | By CMU Editorial
Geffen sign The Pope
Business News Deals Labels & Publishers
Talking of Universal, the major’s Geffen division has done a deal with, erm, The Pope. Yes, Pope Benedict XVI, now a label mate of Snoop Dogg, Guns N Roses, Ashlee Simpson and Nirvana, will release an album in which he sings and recites prayers to the Virgin Mary. The album is the result of a deal done by an Italian Catholic media group called Multimedia San Paolo and all profits will go to fund music education for underprivileged children around the world.
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Friday 31 July 2009, 14:07 | By CMU Editorial
Mountain Goats announce new album and download
Releases
Yay, we like The Mountain Goats. You should too. Oh, you do. Good. Anyway, they (or he, depending on how you want to look at it) have recorded a new album, called ‘The Life Of The World To Come’, due for release in October. String arrangements on the album were handled by Final Fantasy/Arcade Fire man Owen Pallett, because it is now the law that he does all string arrangements on everything.
A quick glance at the tracklisting below will tell you that all the songs on the album are based on passages from the Bible. Here’s what main goat John Darnielle has to say about all that: “I guess the obvious question is going to be: ‘John, have you had some sort of religious awakening?’ and while I guess lots of people might want to be coy about answering that, that’s never really been my style, so: no. It’s not like that. It’s not some heavy-narrative-distance deal either, though, and it’s not a screed. It’s twelve new songs: twelve hard lessons the Bible taught me, kind of. More than that I’d want to wait to say until some people have heard it, which won’t be long”.
No, in fact, it’ll be now. You can download ‘Genesis 3:23’ from here.
And here’s that tracklisting we mentioned:
1 Samuel 15:23
Psalms 40:2
Genesis 3:23
Philippians 3:20-21
Hebrews 11:40
Genesis 30:3
Romans 10:9
1 John 4:16
Matthew 25:21
Deuteronomy 2:10
Isaiah 45:23
Ezekiel 7 And The Permanent Efficacy Of Grace
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Friday 31 July 2009, 14:06 | By CMU Editorial
Terra Firma backers approve bond sale
Business News Labels & Publishers
Terra Firma’s financial backers have reportedly approved plans to sell new equity in the still struggling music major EMI in a bid to raise up to £300 million to reduce the music company’s debt obligations to Citigroup.
As previously reported, Terra Firma chief Guy Hands has been looking into various ways to restructure EMI’s debts in recent months, reportedly asking Citigroup if they’d restructure their loans, and even inject some new cash into the flagging company. The issuing of high-yield bonds to other financial institutions in the City is seen as an alternative way of creating the cash flow needed if Citigroup won’t play ball.
According to the FT, Terra Firma’s have backed the bond proposals, even though it will reduce the value of their stakes in the music major. However, any such sale of high-yield bonds will probably not actually take place until the latter part of the year.
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Friday 31 July 2009, 14:05 | By CMU Editorial
Grooveshark prepare iPhone app
Digital Grooveshark Timeline
Sophisticated music search service Grooveshark, that lets users playlist and stream music content from across the net (quite a lot of it unlicensed) through one player, has an iPhone app ready and waiting, and now pending Apple approval.
It will be interesting to see if Apple allow the app to be made available via its official store, not only because – like the Spotify app announced earlier this week – it provides serious competition for iTunes, but also because Grooveshark is currently subject to a copyright infringement lawsuit by EMI.
It will be interesting to see if Apple, who is, after all, a business partner with the major record companies (if a reluctant one) will give the go ahead for a service to launch on its mobile device which at least one major thinks is infringing their copyrights.
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Friday 31 July 2009, 14:04 | By CMU Editorial
Mirror to launch 3am gossip website
Media
The Daily Mirror is launching a new website built around its 3am gossip column, possibly in a bid to replicate the success of TMZ.com in the US, the celebrity gossip site which, of course, has enjoyed growing success this year, not least as a result of it breaking the ‘Jacko is dead’ story. The Mirror Group hope their site will have a different voice to some of the existing gossip sites, more inline with the 3am column in the paper itself.
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Friday 31 July 2009, 14:03 | By CMU Editorial
DAB network to be less Chilled
Media
Global Radio’s chill-out digital station Chill will disappear from the digital audio broadcasting network in a number of English regions, confining the service to London, the West Midlands, Scotland and online. The move is seemingly designed to allow Global to expand the digital output of its Galaxy network, though the reach of the service, originally launched in 2005, has been cut back previously for cost saving reasons.
In a statement, a spokesman for Chill said: “I am sorry that the DAB change couldn’t be avoided. Our parent company has been great to us for years. They are facing the same credit crunch as the rest of us, and their business choices mean jobs and food for a lot of people. So please don’t snow them under with letters!”
A Global Radio spokesperson, meanwhile, added: “Chill will continue to broadcast on digital radio in London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh and will also be available online. As a result of a recent review of our digital services we’re pleased to expand our popular Galaxy brand to many other areas via digital radio”.
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Friday 31 July 2009, 14:02 | By CMU Editorial
Reznor explains twexit
And Finally
Trent Reznor has been discussing his decision to delete his Twitter account. As previously reported, the Nine Inch Nails man recently decided to take a step back from the social networking site, but after a brief return to regularly updating fans on it, he completely deleted his account earlier this month.
Writing on the Nine Inch Nails website, he said: “Yes, I deleted my account and I’ll explain why since somehow someone apparently thinks this is newsworthy. Twitter seemed like an interesting way to quickly reach a large number of people, and people that seem to exist outside of the nin.com world of fans. Then… around the time news broke of my engagement, a faction of troublemakers showed up whose sole intent was to disrupt, harass, insult and incite…In a reasonably moderated community, these people can be made to vanish – on Twitter, it’s a free-for-all – hence they flock there. It depresses me to think my art and life’s work can attract this kind of scum… if that was your intention you trolling, cowardly pigs – you’ve succeeded”.
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Friday 31 July 2009, 14:01 | By CMU Editorial
Rihanna upset by Brown apology
And Finally
Rihanna is apparently not best pleased about Chris Brown’s video statement, released earlier this month, in which he publicly apologised for beating his ex-girlfriend unconscious in the street back in February.
A source told Now magazine: “She’s in total shock. It was like he gave her another blow, albeit one of a different kind. All she knows is that it’s in the news again and that’s the one thing she didn’t want. She’s been trying to put it behind her and move on as fast as possible. They spoke [prior to the video going online] and Chris made no mention of any public statement then. She wishes he’d given her at least a heads-up about it. But that’s Chris, always thinking of himself first and forgetting how this would impact on her”.
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Friday 31 July 2009, 14:00 | By CMU Editorial
Mitch faked heart attack
And Finally
Mitch Winehouse has revealed that he once faked serious illness and even a heart attack in an attempt to get his daughter (that Amy Winehouse, yeah?) to quit the drugs. Although that failed (she asked to see details of her father’s condition), he said that she has now not taken any drugs since Christmas.
He told The Mirror: “I just didn’t know which way to turn. I’d tried everything. I pretended I was seriously ill and even got our doctor to tell Amy that I was dying. Once I even started screaming and said I was having a heart attack, but it didn’t work. Amy’s not stupid”.
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Friday 31 July 2009, 11:00 | By CMU Editorial
Q&A: Trip
Artist Interviews
After leaving school with a set of A-Levels that spelt out DUDE, Alex Child, aka Trip, began making music and performing on pirate radio. Through a series of chance encounters, he found himself supporting The Scratch Perverts and Killa Kela around the world. His debut single, ‘Who’s That’, caused a bit of a buzz, but instead of running towards it with arms outstretched, and risking becoming the next flash in the pan, he hid away in the studio. The fruit of those labours, Trip’s debut album, ‘ShortCuts’, is released on 3 Aug. Meanwhile, new version of ‘Who’s That’, produced by Does It Offend You, Yeah’s James Rushent, is out now. We caught up with Trip to ask our Same Six Questions.
Q1 How did you start out making music?
Mostly plinky-plonking around on keyboards in the music room at school and making drum beats on the tables in the canteen. I’d write silly little hooks for songs and then phone myself to leave them on my answer machine – so as not to forget them. I still do that. I guess pirate radio, free-parties, spoken word and open mic nights, as well as watching my mates’ bands in sweaty little venues, were all catalysts in me making my own music.
Q2 What inspired your latest single?
Being broke, sofa surfing, signing on, my family, my friends, things I like, things I hate, writers block, impatience, love, hunger, boredom. Oh, and Bono.
Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
I work with different producers. We spend a while getting the backing track into a reasonable shape. Then I take it away and work on the vocals. I always try to get the chorus first. For me that’s the spine of the song. The rest should follow in terms of the content and tone. Then I shuffle the verses and bridges about before recording it. If it’s cool, I’ll play around with different mixes, play it to those around me with good ears and then move onto the next one.
Q4 Which artists influence your work?
Bright Eyes has recently. He’s a rapper trapped in the body of a folk singer. I love it. His voice is so vulnerable. I like Bobby Womack cos he’s a badass. The Wombats are very cool. Ghost Face Killah can rap, as can Eminem. I love Blur, Sinatra, Muse, The Stones, Busta Rhymes, Dylan, The Pistols, Al Green…
Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Please come again.
Q6 What are you ambitions for your latest single, and for the future?
I hope to keep writing music on a daily basis, keep touring, and put a quality album out every year.
MORE>>www.myspace.com/tripskingdom
READ MORE ABOUT: Trip
Thursday 30 July 2009, 12:30 | By CMU Editorial
Approved: H-Boogie (SNAP Of The Day)
CMU Approved
Despite the awful name and pretty awful title of her MySpace’s first song, ‘Love Rocket’, which features the somewhat cringe-worthy lyrics “Love rocket, you’re making me feel so electric baby”, there’s still much to be appreciated in H-Boogie’s retro synth pop, recalling Norwegian chanteuse Annie’s irreverence and Alison Goldfrapp’s ice-cool delivery. Being the sibling of chart bothering pop star Estelle will help in some circles, though she seems to be doing just fine on her own, having already worked with rising grime artist Bashy and scored a club hit by providing the vocals for Dave Armstrong and Redroche’s Ministry Of Sound released ‘Love Has Gone’. Head to her MySpace below to sample the solo material, while we’ve also helpfully provided a link to the ‘Love Has Gone’ video, which has racked up a healthy number of plays on YouTube.
www.myspace.com/hboogiemusic
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLcpXkPKBy0
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Thursday 30 July 2009, 12:28 | By CMU Editorial
Come as you are: Tenenbaum case update
Business News Labels & Publishers Legal Top Stories
So the most interesting development during day two of the Tenenbaum court case yesterday came in a meeting away from the jury, to discuss whether details of past out-of-court settlement discussions could now be presented in court. During the meeting, one of the file-sharing student’s own attorneys told the judge “we’re admitting liability, your honour”.
As previously reported, Tenenbaum was one of the thousands of music fans sued by the Recording Industry Association Of America. The trade body accused him of infringing its members’ copyrights by making music available to others via P2P file sharing networks. Tenenbaum is unusual in deciding to fight the lawsuit.
The defence lawyers’ admission of liability is not really a surprise. Tenenbaum admitted in a deposition to sharing music files via Kazaa. Of course, his lawyers could, technically speaking, have argued that his sharing of the files was covered by the so called ‘fair use’ exemptions that exist in US copyright law. And they probably would have done, but, as previously reported, Judge Nancy Gertner ruled before the trial began that that would not be allowed – Tenebaum’s file-sharing was too rampant to be covered by fair use, not least because he continued to file-share even once the music industry was providing legitimate digital music services like iTunes and the second generation of Napster.
But, nevertheless, it was interesting to hear one of the defendant’s own lawyers, Matthew Feinberg, admit his client was, under current laws, liable for copyright infringement. The student’s chief legal man, Prof Nesson, is, of course, arguing that it is unfair to hold the student liable for simply doing what millions of other people do every day, while perhaps also implying that the Recording Industry Association Of America, in pursuing infringement lawsuits against a few to try to scare the many, was abusing the legal system. But given Feinberg’s comments you have to assume that Team Tenenbaum have accepted that Neeson’s arguments are more likely to reduce the damages the RIAA is awarded, than actually get the student off completely.
Back in front of the jury, the record industry wheeled out an Iowa State University IT expert to talk the court through all the evidence the RIAA has amassed of Tenenbaum’s file-sharing activity, including the original file-sharing via Kazaa and more recent P2P shenanigans utilising LimeWire.
As previously observed, the lengths with which the RIAA’s team are going to in order to prove Tenenbaum did file-share are interesting, given the student has already admitted his guilt. Though Dr Douglas Jacobson seemed to there to particularly demonstrate that Tenenbaum continued to file-share after receiving correspondence and even litigation from the record industry – maybe as recently as last summer. Presumably they want the jury to think the defendant was, by that stage, just taking the piss.
Legal experts add that the RIAA is also trying to prove that Tenenbaum’s infringement through file-sharing was “wilful” rather than “regular”. It’s an important if not particularly well defined distinction, because damages can shoot up from $30,000 per track to $150,000 per track if infringement is deemed “wilful”, and if the RIAA wants a headline grabbing damages figure to result from this trial, well that makes quite a different. (Though given the recent coverage of the $1.92 million damages ruling against another file-sharing American, Jammie Thomas, which generally focused on the record industry being a bunch of money grabbing bastards, I’m not sure record damages is necessarily something to aim for, especially given Tenenbaum won’t be actually able to afford anything more than a few grand).
Cross examined by Charlie Nesson, Jacobson was asked first about his work for the RIAA and the fees he charged. The IT expert has been used by the record industry trade body a lot in its anti-P2P litigation campaign, and obviously Nesson wanted the jury to think he is therefore not an entirely reliable witness, being on the payroll of the content owners. Nesson also questioned whether the labels could say for sure that the thirty music files Tenenbaum is accused of sharing were all genuine and full tracks. The agency used by the RIAA to monitor file sharing admitted it had only downloaded a small portion of 25 of those tracks, having fully downloaded the first five.
Presumably that’s because MediaSentry were monitoring thousands of file-sharers and had no way of knowing this particular file-sharing case would ever get to court – though given, according to the labels, Tenenbaum continued to file-share until as recently as last year presumably MediaSentry could have gone back and rectified this slight flaw in the labels’ evidence.
What, Nesson argued, if some of the thirty tracks were fakes, like those the record labels flooded P2P networks with back in the day to try to discourage the use of file-sharing networks? A fair point, though, according to Ars Technica, Jacobson pointed out that Tenenbaum was unlikely to make fake tracks available himself, and noted the student had admitted to listening to and enjoying all thirty tracks before making them available for download.
Next up was Stanley Liebowitz, the University Of Texas economics prof, on hand to discuss the financial impact of file-sharing on the record industry. He pointed to the fact the sector had seen its revenues grow steadily from the early seventies to 1999, but that then things started to slide, dramatically, and had continued to ever since. What happened in 1999? “Napster”, said the prof. The expert conceded there were other explanations – price shifts, economic conditions and, most importantly, the rise of the DVD and video gaming markets that take custom away from the music business, but, he argued, none of that explained the severity of the revenue collapse the record industry had suffered. Only the huge supply of free music online could explain that.
Next another major label rep, Universal Music attorney JoAn Cho, whose testimony included a short musical interlude with Nirvana’s ‘Come As You Are’ played out in the court. Cho confirmed that the track, as downloaded from Tenenbaum’s Kazaa account, was one of the thirteen sound recordings owned by Universal among the thirty the student is accused of illegally distributing.
According to Ars Technica, the aforementioned Feinberg did the cross-examination of Cho and it got pretty heated, with the defence lawyer seemingly trying to get Cho to admit the major labels had an overly excessive litigious streak and were in essence abusing the legal system to scare kids. Cho, like a Sony rep the previous day, admitted major label litigation against individual file-sharers was designed to act as a deterrent to the masses but added that she was not part of team who planned that legal campaign. Feinberg continued to question abrasively, leading to numerous objections being raised by plaintiff attorney Matthew Oppenheim, most sustained by the judge. As with the previous day when Nesson had questioned Sony rep Wade Leak, at one point Judge Gertner declared “sustained” before Oppenheim even had time to object.
The case continues today with two Warner Music execs expected to take the stand, and then Tenenbaum himself, which could prove to be the most interesting part of this trial, and indeed the whole of the RIAA’s P2P litigation campaign to date.
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Thursday 30 July 2009, 12:26 | By CMU Editorial
Dodgy prescriptions at heart of Jacko investigation
Jacksons v AEG Timeline Top Stories
Perhaps keen to keep Jacko here in the upper echelons of the CMU Daily for a couple more weeks, the LA coroner’s office yesterday announced that the much previously reported toxicology report which should throw some light on what caused Michael Jackson’s death won’t now be released this week.
I never thought it would be, but the coroner had previously indicated it might. But yesterday he said no results would now be released until next week at the earliest. Toxicology tests always takes week to complete, though previously it had been indicated that the Jackson tests would be rushed through. As previously reported, it’s expected that the toxicology report will show the singer died as a result of receiving a shot of a powerful anaesthetic, probably propofol, twelve hours before the cardiac arrest that killed him. It seems Jackson took the drug on a routine basis to try to overcome insomnia.
According to TMZ, police investigations are centring on how Jackson may have got the prescription drug that may have killed him. They say that the recent and previously reported raids of the offices and home of Dr Conrad Murray, Jackson’s private physician, were attempts to find dodgy prescriptions sanctioned by the medic in order to get the prescription medication, most using fake names. While there may be no case for saying Murray behaved incompetently or recklessly in administering the propofol shot to Jackson, there may be a case for saying he helped the singer acquire the drug fraudulently.
That said, TMZ reckon it won’t just be Murray implicated in any dodgy prescriptions scandal, adding that the investigation into Jacko’s death may lead to the unveiling of a Hollywood-wide network of medics who prescribe dangerous and unnecessary medications to rich celebrities, who ask for such drugs on a whim.
Meanwhile, as media attention focuses more and more on Dr Conrad Murray, there were reports yesterday that Jacko’s doc is over $100,000 behind on his mortgage and could face foreclosure. While media reports suggest Murray’s finances have been in a state for a while, his legal rep Edward Chernoff indicated that the Jackson investigation, and the fact he hasn’t been paid for his two months working for the singer – by either the Jackson clan or ‘This Is It’ promoters AEG – are behind his current mortgage problems. Chernoff added: “His hope is he can forestall foreclosure until he can once again begin working as a doctor”.
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Thursday 30 July 2009, 12:25 | By CMU Editorial
Spector publicist reveals prison isn’t nice
Top Stories
Phil Spector’s publicist has revealed that the noted producer and murderer isn’t having much fun in prison because there’s not a lot to do. Turns out it’s not like a holiday camp, after all.
Hal Lifson told the BBC 6 Music: “He’s doing fair, at best, if not worse than fair. He’s not doing great. He’s in a horrible situation with virtually nothing to do all day. Phil Spector was always a highly productive, creative person and now he’s in a five by nine foot cell with no windows and maybe a half hour outside to walk around. It’s essentially solitary confinement. He doesn’t have computer access, he only recently got a little TV. It’s a terrible existence for a millionaire record producer who lived in mansions and most recently in a castle, a 35-room home. It’s a huge, huge change of life for Phil Spector and a devastating turn in his life”.
Yeah, he’s got a point. Celebrities should probably be allowed to go to a special, more fun celebrity prison, or just serve their sentences at home.
Lifson also said that Spector was worried about reports in the press that he had been contacted by that other murdering chap Charles Manson about a possible musical collaboration. Quite rightly, he thinks that an association with Manson might not cast him in the best light when he comes to appeal his sentence next year. The publicist said: “Phil Spector has been very, very alarmed and scared at the notion of Charles Manson contacting him for any reason. He is very worried that any association be made between himself and Charles Manson. He mentioned that he used to get phone calls from John Lennon and Tina Turner and now it’s Charles Manson calling, so he said, ‘Go figure’. It was kind of a dark humour comment”.
Speaking about the producer’s appeal, he said that he will take his case to state court next year. If that appeal fails, he will go to the federal court of appeal in Washington.
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Thursday 30 July 2009, 12:23 | By CMU Editorial
Halo/Already Gone songwriter hits out at Clarkson claims
Top Stories
American songwriter and producer Ryan Tedder, who co-wrote Beyonce’s recent hit ‘Halo’ and the new Kelly Clarkson track ‘Already Gone’, has hit out at claims by the former American Idol that he basically sold both singers the same song.
Clarkson was responding to criticism that her song, which is getting a single release, is a rip off of Beyonce’s single from the start of the year. She reckons Tedder provided both her and Beyonce with basically the same music for their respective tracks, and that has led to the similarities. Speaking to a Canadian radio station she said: “No one’s gonna be sitting at home, thinking, ‘Man, Ryan Tedder gave Beyonce and Kelly the same track to write to’. No, they’re just gonna be saying I ripped someone off. I called Ryan and said ‘I don’t understand. Why would you do that?'”
But Tedder has hit back, saying Clarkson’s remarks are “hurtful and absurd”. He continued: “‘Already Gone’ is one of the best songs I’ve written or produced since [Leona Lewis hit] ‘Bleeding Love’ and stands tall on its own merits apart from ‘Halo’. They are two entirely different songs conceptually, melodically and lyrically and I would never try to dupe an artist such as Kelly Clarkson or Beyonce into recording over the same musical track”.
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Thursday 30 July 2009, 12:22 | By CMU Editorial
Megadeth man to have surgery today
Artist News
Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine has confirmed he will undergo surgery today to fix his injured back and neck. This treatment is seemingly designed to ensure Mustaine is fit enough to do a tour in September, with more full on surgery planned for later in the year to properly address the problem.
Mustaine blogged, not entirely literately, earlier this week: “I have been working with a very badly damaged neck, and the few lower vertebrae, right beneath my neck in between my shoulders, is damaged too. What I have currently injured, and am requiring the start of what could be a very quick and painless procedure. I would work my ass off to heal again, like I did with my arm injury, and should be back in the saddle in no time”.
He continued: “I will have to get a much more complicated procedure done, between my shoulders, after I get back from this year’s touring which will end sometime short of the Christmas holidays. I am asking for you to please send some prayers, and good thoughts my way on Thursday morning at 10.30am PST, 30 Jul”.
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Thursday 30 July 2009, 12:21 | By CMU Editorial
Ronson denies Boyzone collaboration
Artist News
Now, if I was working with Boyzone, I’d want to keep quiet, but it seems that Mark Ronson actually isn’t doing anything with the embarrassing pop group. Regardless of what Ronan Keating says.
And here, in case you missed it in Monday’s CMU Daily, is what Ronan Keating said: “I’m a big fan of Mark’s. We wanted to do something really different for this album. We’ve all grown up and we want to show that with a new sound. It will be colourful, bright and uplifting”.
Ronson responded to the claims via Twitter, telling fans: “I read I was working with the group Boyzone. Um, categorically untrue”.
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Thursday 30 July 2009, 12:20 | By CMU Editorial
Ian Brown reveals Kanye and Rihanna songs
Releases
Ian Brown has revealed that he penned lyrics for two songs for Kanye West and Rihanna. The music for the tracks was composed by songwriter Dave McCracken, who co-wrote Brown’s 2001 single ‘FEAR’. And where can we hear these songs? Er, Ian Brown’s new album.
Brown told Citylife: “We wrote this song called ‘Vanity Kills’ [for Kanye West] but we were a bit late sending it in, so I’ve kept it for the album. ‘Stellify’, we wrote for Rihanna, but as we got to the end of writing it I thought, ‘You know what? I’m gonna keep this for myself, we’ll give her another one’. She’d have probably sung it better, but it is too good for me not to do it”.
‘Stellify’ will be released as the first single from Brown’s new album, ‘My Way’, on 12 Sep, followed a week later by the album itself.
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Thursday 30 July 2009, 12:18 | By CMU Editorial
The Fiery Furnaces to cover The Fiery Furnaces
Releases
Brother and sister Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger, aka The Fiery Furnaces, have revealed they will release a new version of their recently released album, ‘I’m Going Away’, later this year. The pair will split the album’s twelve songs between them and record six solo tracks each.
Does that even make any sense? Maybe it’ll help if you get it straight from the horse’s mouth. Here’s the band’s own statement on the matter: “Matthew and Eleanor are taking time out from watching season two of ‘Mad Men’ to record separate, complete, cover, tribute, albums, of, to, ‘I’m Going Away’. Only the words will remain the same. Though in Eleanor’s case, the singer remains the same. The song, never. Or mostly never. In other words: complete cover-album versions of The Fiery Furnaces by The Fiery Furnaces. Or The Fiery Furnaces. By the two of them, separately. To be released in two parts, together. Six songs by one with six by the other. And then another six by six. The first batch comes out sometime in New York City – meaning September”.
No, that didn’t help at all. Let’s just say it a third time very quickly: The Fiery Furnaces will release a new version of their recently released album, ‘I’m Going Away’, in September.
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Thursday 30 July 2009, 12:16 | By CMU Editorial
Early Tupac demos to be released
Releases
You know, I was just saying the other day that there really haven’t been enough posthumous Tupac Shakur albums. Luckily, someone has dredged up some early demos recorded on cassette in 1988 and added new music to them.
The new album, entitled ‘Shakurspeare’ (named, apparently, in relation to Shakur’s desire to be a Shakespearean actor), has been put together by childhood friend, Darrin Keith Bastfield. He and Shakur formed a duo called Born Busy while still at school, aged 16. Tupac made the recordings a year later, under the name MC New York. This is Bastfield’s second Tupac-related project, having previously published a book remembering his time spent with the rapper.
Bastfield told AllHipHop: “I was there when Tupac heard himself for the first time rapping on a recording. As he sat in the cafeteria of the Baltimore School For The Arts it was as if he couldn’t believe that he was listening to himself. Just as Tupac was quietly amazed by hearing himself, I want people to hear Tupac as a young artist in his very first recordings ever having fun, rapping about issues that concerned us, and most importantly giving a cautionary and timely ‘Message Of Peace’ in his own voice as if he was already a big rap star with a reputation to uphold”.
He added that this project is a labour of love and definitely not a cash-in, saying: “This project was a very spiritual undertaking for me, but most importantly it is about creating art and being educational. The vocals to the songs we wrote were all recorded a cappella in 1988 on a cassette tape. Through technology the vocals were able be extracted, digitally mastered, and put to contemporary music that was produced in 2008. I wanted to keep the recordings as close to the vein of our ideas from back in the day. As far as new material to assist with the concept of the album as being like an audio documentary, I chose to work with producers and artists in my own backyard which are native of Baltimore, Maryland which includes International Jazz recording artist Maysa. My life and times with Tupac Shakur all happened in Baltimore, so I wanted the spirit of the ‘Shakurspeare’ album, just as the book, to stay consistent”.
‘Shakurspeare’ is set for release via digital stores on 13 Sep through Bastfield’s own Born Busy Records label.
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