Saturday 31 July 2010, 01:30 | By

Playlist: Adam Freeland

CMU Playlists

Adam Freeland, producer, DJ and record label owner (he heads up the brilliant Marine Parade Records) has long been an innovator in the dance genre, often instigating new musical domains where others quickly follow, only to see Freeland innovating anew and taking us all on the next stage of an exciting musical journey. His DJ sets, mix albums and remixes (his ‘Fever’ and ‘Hello, I Love You’ reworks are masterpieces of the remix discipline) are legendary, but it’s his artist albums that we find most exciting.

Last year Freeland released his first album with his band, also called freeland, ‘COPE(tm)’, his first LP since 2003 solo effort ‘Now & Then’. ‘COPE(tm)’ saw Adam collaborating with the likes of The Pixies’ Joey Santiago, Spinnerette’s Tony Bevilacqua, DEVO’s Jerry Casale and the legend that is Tommy Lee, as well as newcomer Kurt Baumann, the main vocalist on the album.

Earlier this month, Adam was back solo again, returning with a storming new single, ‘How To Fake Your Own Life’, constructed with layered sounds, live drums and massive vocoder vocal riff. With the track still ringing in our ears, we asked Adam to put together a Powers Of Ten playlist for us, and my did he come up with the goods.

ADAM FREELAND’S TEN
Click here to listen to Adam’s playlist in Spotify, and then read on to find out more about his selections.

01 Nine Inch Nails – Beside You In Time
It always seemed odd to me that the electronic music community largely missed out on what NIN were doing, despite the fact that half the time Trent Reznor was beating them at their own game. I’m kind of obsessed by drones and this song is based on one constant drone that builds to fever pitch. I often open DJ sets with it.

02 The Units – High Pressure Days

No one I play this to believes me when I tell them it was released in 1979. It’s pretty much the birth of synthpunk, dubbed as “the first San Francisco band to play with no guitars”. If it wasn’t for the drum production slightly dating it, you’d think it was the Guardian Guide’s latest new band crush.

03 School Of Seven Bells – Sempiternal/Amaranth

They have just released a new album, but this is from their first. The whole psychedelic atmosphere of the song, the content of the lyrics and a two minute drone wig out ending tick all the boxes I need in order to get excited about a song.

04 The Stooges – Down On The Street

This it the first track on the ‘Funhouse’ album. It’s actually been my ringtone for a couple of years, so I hear this more than almost anything else, and it never tires. Pure distilled punk rock to its finest rawness. I never quite ‘got’ Iggy and The Stooges until I heard them live in LA a couple of years ago. They blew me away, and that gig is now in my top three live shows ever.

05 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Take My Time/Rifles

I can’t say this track is any better than the others on this their debut album ‘BRMC’, the whole record is just the perfect shoegaze stoner rock. There’s something about the way they play that also has a very loopy electronic feel, although there are definitely no electronics going on. The blueprint for my recent album ‘COPE’ was ‘BRMC meets the dance floor’.

06 Friendly Fires – Paris (Aeroplane Mix)

The magic combo – a great band with a great song who choose a great remixer who does something better than the original. Aeroplane are getting the hype right now, but this mix from last year is my favourite thing they have done.

07 Subway – Persuasion

Another electronic act that slipped under the radar – check the album ‘Subway II’. Very listenable, beautiful, bouncy, melodic analogue synth anthems.

08 Cinnamon Chasers – Luv Deluxe

A beautiful instrumental pop classic. It’s all the good stuff I like about a good pop song without the crap song underneath!

09 Caribou – Sun

It’s the production quality/technique that is often a big part of the writing for me. This whole album, ‘Swim’, is put together so well and is so original from a sonics point of view that its atmosphere dominates the songwriting. Also, ‘Niobe’ from the last album is a must.

10 Dapayk & Padberg feat Caro – Island (Noze Remix)

When I close a set with this, there’s usually a line of spotters queued up to find out what it is afterwards. Another sure-to-be-an-anthem that slipped under the radar.

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Saturday 31 July 2010, 01:00 | By

CMU Beef Of The Week #29: Kings Of Leon v Critical pigeons

And Finally Beef Of The Week

Kings Of Leon frontman Caleb Followill recently told Q: “A lot of people talked bad about my songwriting at the start [of our career]”. It’s probably safe to say that no one dropped their pants and instigated some kind of ‘dirty protest’ against their music though.

It’s not clear if the band’s most recent critics did so out of a dislike of their music or the singer’s terrible grasp of the English language (“Talked bad”?). Maybe they were just doing what came naturally. Whatever, last weekend the Kings Of Leon were intimidated by the dirty pigeons*.

In the unlikely event that you’ve missed this story this week, you will most likely now be very confused, so let me summarise for you: Kings Of Leon played a gig, pigeons pooed all over them.

The band cut their headline set at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in St Louis, Missouri short as pigeons in the rafters spread liberal amounts of shit over the stage below, hitting the band as they went. It seems the final straw came when bassist Jared Followill got some in his mouth as they performed ‘Taper Jean Girl’ from their second album, ‘Aha Shake Heartbreak’, the third song in the set, though they initially said they were cancelling the rest of the show due to “security reasons”.

The band were not unaware of the problem before taking to the stage, support acts The Postelles and The Stills had already suffered the same fate, but struggled through their entire sets. Speaking to Toronto newspaper Eye Weekly, Stills bassist Olivier Corbeil said: “During our second song, ‘Lola [Stars & Stripes]’, I felt something like an air conditioner drop, or like little droplets of water spray on my face. The carpet onstage was black, and I noticed ten to thirteen brown spots on it and I started worrying – but I figured, if a bird had shit, it won’t happen again, so I’m fine”.

He continued: “About two to three songs later, I bent over to do, like, a shoegazer move, and I felt something very substantial on the back of my head and down my back and, for the rest of the show I was extremely paranoid and constantly looking up. I couldn’t stand in front of my monitors or in front of my bass cab. It was also 100 degrees, so I couldn’t take advantage of the stage fans. The choice was either ‘fan plus extreme amounts of bird shit’, or ‘no fan and no bird shit'”.

In a statement, issued through a mouthful of pigeon poo (possibly), Jared Followill explained: “We couldn’t believe what The Postelles and The Stills looked like after their sets. We didn’t want to cancel the show, so we went for it. We tried to play [but] it was ridiculous”.

The band’s manager Andy Mendelsohn added: “Jared was hit several times during the first two songs. On the third song, when he was hit in the cheek and some of it landed near his mouth, they couldn’t deal any longer. It’s not only disgusting, it’s a toxic health hazard. They really tried to hang in there. We want to apologise to our fans in St Louis and will come back as soon as we can”.

Perhaps the Leon boys should be sent to the Cyndi Lauper School Of Pop. Bird shit once landed on her lower lip during a gig in Boston in 2004. She just wiped it off and carried on. Though she has since denied reports that circulated at the time that she actually swallowed some of the stuff.

If you want to know what Kings Of Leon being pooed on actually looks like, someone has handily uploaded a video to YouTube (though I’m not sure that the reactions they claim are as a result of the pigeon attack are actually that): youtu.be/siIQmp4KUoE

*Oh, you may groan, but when am I going to get an opportunity like that again?

This Beef Of The Week comes from this edition of the CMU Weekly. Subscribe to the CMU Weekly here.

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Friday 30 July 2010, 12:36 | By

Single Review: Kyte – Designed For Damage (KIDS)

Single Reviews

Kyte

Effectively nu-gaze with stadium ambitions, Kyte purvey a dreamy, melancholic yet anthemic brand of indie redolent of Coldplay mixed by Ulrich Schnauss.

Hardly original then, but the Leicestershire four-piece meld their soundscapes to impeccable songwriting and intelligent lyrics that have helped the group garner praise from a wide range of sources and even seen them soundtrack an ad for The Sopranos in the US. There are faint vapour trails of M83 here, or even Maps, and an overall feeling of Doves flying above the (Northern) gloom towards the sun, which can only be a good thing.

Accompanied by three proper b-sides (all good ones too – when was the last time you could say that?), ‘Designed For Damage’ soars with ambition yet remains a powerfully poignant, intimate listen. MS

Buy from iTunes
Buy from Amazon

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Friday 30 July 2010, 12:28 | By

The music business week in five – Friday 30 Jul 2010

Business News Week In Five

So, I catch a train from Kings Cross station at 6am tomorrow morning and head northwards for the world’s biggest cultural freak out, aka the Edinburgh Festival.

As you may already know, CMU’s sister media ThreeWeeks is the biggest reviewer at the world’s biggest festival, and for the next four weeks we will be reviewing hundreds of comedy, theatre, musical, dance, opera, cabaret and music shows, plus interviewing hundreds of performers and reporting on all the key developments. You will be able to access all this at www.ThreeWeeks.co.uk, or if you’re in Edinburgh via our weekly newspaper and daily reviews sheet, both available to pick up across the Scottish capital.

I’ll still be sending my music business updates in to CMU HQ back in London on a daily basis, though this here week-in-view thing will take a short summer break and re-appear at the top of the Daily on Friday 3 Sep. But, before all the madness begins, let’s do one last end-of-week review of all things music biz, shall we?

01: A US judge commented on the Terra Firma v Citigroup litigation. The equity group are suing the bank in the US over advice it gave them just before they bought EMI in 2007. The music major still owes Citigroup three billion as a result of that deal. In stage one of the legal battle, Citigroup claimed the lawsuit should be fought in the London courts because of a pre-deal agreement. But judge Jed Rakoff this week said that agreement only obligated Citigroup to sue in the UK, not Terra Firma. The equity firm don’t want to fight the case here because boss man Guy Hands has to stay out of the country for tax reasons. We already knew Rakoff had blocked Citi in their efforts to move the lawsuit to London, but this week found out why. CMU reportBloomberg report

02: Univision was fined $1 million for payola. Execs at the record company bit of the US-based Latin American entertainment firm were accused of bribing programmers in the radio station bit of the same company to play their music, contravening American broadcasting rules. Media regulator the FCC conceded Univision management did not know about the payola practices, which were uncovered in 2006, but fined the company a million anyway for not having systems in place to stop them. Univision has actually sold its record company since the scandal broke. CMU report | WSJ report

03: HMV Digital launched. The high street retailer took the ‘beta’ label off its all new digital music service, which has been created by 7Digital, in which HMV have a 50% stake. It’s not HMV’s first attempt at a download service, though does look more user friendly than previous efforts and there’ll also be some price cutting at launch. However, the new service is separate from HMV’s existing mail order website, which does seem like a weakness. Speculation also continued this week regarding Google’s plans to launch a download store; the New York Post reported the web firm was now talking to US digital rights society the Harry Fox Agency. CMU report | Telegraph report

04: Hacking iPhones was deemed to not be copyright infringement, in the US at least. The ruling came from the US Copyright Office, who said that ‘jail-breaking’ your iPhone so that you could use non-Apple approved apps or move to a non-Apple approved phone network did not infringe the IT firm’s copyrights. Though Apple said hacking their smart phones still might stop them working, so you shouldn’t do it, OK? CMU report | Wired report on UK dimension

05: Culture Select Committee to review arts funding. The parliamentary committee will review everything to do with arts and heritage funding as those parts of the cultural industries which receive subsidy brace themselves for expected cuts. All creative sectors will be invited to participate in the review, including the music business. CMU report

And there you have it. Look out for your artist week in view CMU Weekly in your inbox later today. Hurrah.

Chris Cooke,
Business Editor, CMU Daily

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Friday 30 July 2010, 12:26 | By

Kerrang! Awards take place in London

Artist News Awards Top Stories

The seventeenth annual Kerrang! Awards took place at The Old Truman Brewery in east London last night, handing out awards to stars of rock, punk and metal, old and new. Hosted for the second year running by Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor and Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian, the big winners of the night were Bullet For My Valentine, who took two awards for Best Live Band and, for the third year running, Best British Band.

Best British Newcomer went to Rise To Remain, who are fronted by Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson’s son Austin, while Best International Newcomer went to Trash Talk, who released their third album, ‘Eyes & Nines’, earlier this year. Lostprophets got the Classic Songwriter award. That’s ‘classic songwriter’, yes. And Mötley Crüe were inducted into the Kerrang! Hall Of Fame.

Two awards were given posthumously; the Icon Award to Ronnie James Dio, and the Services To Metal Award to Slipknot bassist Paul Gray, both of whom died in May.

Kerrang! Magazine editor Nichola Browne said afterwards: “Despite the very tough competition, once again, Kerrang! readers have proved themselves to have the finest taste when it comes to honouring the bands that are shaking up the rock world, and it’s brilliant to see that our British rock and metal scene is so highly regarded and supported. As well as celebrating the very best of British and international talent, we are really pleased that we could pay our respects to Ronnie James Dio and Paul Gray tonight with two very special awards”.

Here’s the full run-down of all the winners:

Best British Newcomer – Rise To Remain

Best International Newcomer – Trash Talk

Best Single – You Me At Six – Liquid Conference

Best Video – Biffy Clyro – The Captain

Best Album – Paramore – Brand New Eyes

Best Live Band – Bullet For My Valentine

Best International Band – 30 Seconds To Mars

Best British Band – Bullet For My Valentine

The No Half Measures Award – Frank Turner

The Kerrang! Icon – Ronnie James Dio

Classic Songwriter – Lostprophets

The Kerrang! Inspiration Award – Rammstein

The Kerrang! Services To Metal Award – Paul Gray

The Kerrang! Hall Of Fame Award – Mötley Crüe

Now let’s all spend the rest of the day listening to this playlist put together for CMU Weekly by Bullet For My Valentine guitarist Padge.

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Friday 30 July 2010, 12:23 | By

Dickinson says live sector suffering from over pricing

Artist News Business News Labels & Publishers Top Stories

Iron Maiden man Bruce Dickinson has said he believes years of ticket price hikes are to blame for the spate of major gig cancellations that have taken place this year, especially in the US live music market.

The metal man said his band had resisted pressure from promoters and venue owners to push up the prices charged for admission to their live shows, and that those artists who had failed to act likewise had only themselves to blame if they were now struggling to sell tickets.

There has been speculation for years that ever increasing ticket prices for big name artists would eventually backfire on the live sector, though for years those predictions failed to come true. However, it seems like the US live industry is suddenly struggling this year as a result of ever increasing ticket prices combining with the continued impact of the recession.

Speaking to Sky, Dickinson said: “It’s a massive commitment to come to see a band. They [the fans] deserve not just a great show but they deserve a reasonable ticket price. Other people have inflated ticket prices to obscene levels and it’s just not right. It’s a rock n roll show, it’s not a cash cow”.

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Friday 30 July 2010, 12:20 | By

Nuns threatened over Decca deal

Artist News Top Stories

There were reports in the French media yesterday that the nuns who signed a deal with Universal Music’s Decca Records earlier this week had received “death threats” as a result of them going into business with the music giant, though on closer inspection the threats did come via comments left on a YouTube page, so possibly aren’t too serious.

Nevertheless, according to Le Provence the convent where the Benedictine nuns live has reported the threats to local police. A short video of the nuns singing Gregorian chants had been posted on YouTube and it was there that the threats, written in English, were posted.

As previously reported, because the nuns must shun all contact with the outside world, Decca’s record contract had to be handed to them through a wooden grille. Meanwhile record producers will never be in the same room as the nuns while the album is recorded.

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Friday 30 July 2010, 12:19 | By

Seven Jackson doctors escape charges

Jacksons v AEG Timeline Legal

Seven doctors have escaped charges of negligence in relation to drugs made available to Michael Jackson in the years leading up to his death.

The medics were being investigated by the Bureau Of Narcotic Enforcement, their spokeswoman Christine Gasparac confirmed yesterday. Although the case has been closed, one of the doctors has been referred to the California Medical Board for further scrutiny after he was found to have prescribed drugs under an alias. An investigation of the doctors’ actions by the Drug Enforcement Agency has also been dropped, a spokeswoman for that government agency, Sarah Pullen, said.

The lawyer of Michael’s father Joe Jackson, Brian Oxamna said that he was “very disappointed” that the investigations had been closed without any charges brought, telling reporters: “The misuse of medications by Michael Jackson in the last years of his life was excessive and to fail to bring that to the public eye is ignoring reality”.

Jackson’s personal physician, Conrad Murray (not one of the seven who had been under investigation) still faces charges of involuntary manslaughter after allegedly providing the singer with a lethal dose of the anaesthetic propofol as a cure for insomnia, which caused his death. Joe Jackson is also pursuing a civil lawsuit for wrongful death against Murray.

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Friday 30 July 2010, 12:18 | By

Kanye West drops Good Ass album title

Releases

Kanye West joined Twitter on Wednesday and was already growing quite tedious on the micro-blogging platform by Thursday. However, one of his early revelations on the site was that he has decided not to call his new album ‘Good Ass Job’ after all.

He tweeted: “The album is no longer called ‘Good Ass Job’. I’m bouncing a couple of [other] titles around now”.
 
He’d better hurry up, the album is expected to be released next month.

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Friday 30 July 2010, 12:18 | By

Aeroplane announce album details

Releases

Cosmic disco duo (or solo act, whatever) Aeroplane have announced that their debut album, ‘We Can’t Fly’, will be released through Wall Of Sound on 27 Sep (pushed back from 6 Sep).

As previously reported, although the album was recorded as a duo, Vito De Luca last month announced the departure of his production partner Stephen Fasano, telling fans: “Stephen and I have been working together for more than seven years now … Today, we are more excited and passionate than ever about creating new music. Except that, [in] the last [few] months, Stephen’s vision and mine [have been] going different ways. That is the reason why we decided that one of us should leave Aeroplane. Not to destroy it, but to make it last”.

The tracklist for the album is this:
 
Mountains of Moscow
We Can’t Fly
Superstar
London Bridge
I Don’t Feel
Without Lies
The Point Of No Return
Good Riddance
Caramellas
Fish In The Sky
My Enemy
We Fall Over

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Friday 30 July 2010, 12:17 | By

The Hundred In The Hands announce debut album

Releases

New York duo The Hundred In The Hands have announced that they will release their eponymous debut album on 20 Sep via Warp. A week before the album, they will also release a new single, ‘Pigeons’, the video for which can be watched right here: youtu.be/zAfEvvnzlwQ
 
We like The Hundred In The Hands, they are good. We recently asked one half of the band, Justin Friedman, to put together a playlist for CMU Weekly. As we’ve already agreed you’ll spend the whole of today listening to the Bullet For My Valentine playlist, you can enjoy this one tomorrow.

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Friday 30 July 2010, 12:16 | By

Mark Ronson announces UK tour

Gigs & Festivals

Mark Ronson and his band The Business Intl have announced a six date UK tour to take place in September and October to promote new album ‘Record Collection’, which is due out on 27 Sep.

Tour dates:

27 Sep: Bristol, Academy
28 Sep: Birmingham, Academy
29 Sep: London, Hackney Empire
1 Oct: Glasgow, ABC
2 Oct: Manchester, Academy
3 Oct: Leeds, Academy

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Friday 30 July 2010, 12:15 | By

Mogwai announce February tour

Gigs & Festivals

Ahead of the release of their new live album, ‘Special Moves’, which comes accompanied with live film ‘Burning’, out via their own Rock Action label on 23 Aug, Mogwai have announced a UK tour for February.

Tickets go on general sale tomorrow, with pre-sale available now at http://mogwaitickets.sandbag.uk.com

Tour dates:

17 Feb: Bournemouth, Academy
18 Feb: Cardiff, University
19 Feb: Bristol, Academy
20 Feb: Leeds, Academy
21 Feb: Edinburgh, Picture House
23 Feb: Oxford, Regal
24 Feb: Birmingham, Institute
25 Feb: London, Brixton Academy
26 Feb: Manchester, Academy
27 Feb: Gateshead, The Sage

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Friday 30 July 2010, 12:13 | By

Mount Kimbie confirm October tour

Gigs & Festivals

With their debut album, ‘Crooks & Lovers’, out now, Mount Kimbie have announced UK and Ireland tour dates for October. You can also catch them at this weekend’s Field Day, which is good because there are no London dates on this new itinerary.

Tour dates:
 
5 Oct: Brighton, Jam
6 Oct: Birmingham, Hare & Hounds
7 Oct: Leeds, Cockpit
8 Oct: Sheffield, Bungalows & Bears
9 Oct: Nottingham, Stealth
12 Oct: Galway, Róisín Dubh
13 Oct: Dublin, Academy 2
14 Oct: Manchester, Blood On The Wall (In The City)
28 Oct: Liverpool, The Shipping Forecast
29 Oct: Newcastle, Heavyweight
30 Oct: Bristol, Arnolfini Gallery

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Friday 30 July 2010, 12:12 | By

Festival line-up update – 30 Jul 2010

Artist News Festival Line-Up Update Gigs & Festivals

READING AND LEEDS FESTIVALS, Little Johns Farm, Richfield Avenue, Reading and Branham Park, Leeds, 27-29 Aug: Stagecoach, Motion Picture Soundtrack and Gallops are amongst the acts confirmed to play the BBC Introducing Stage at this summer’s Reading and Leeds festivals, along with the likes of Mr Fogg, The Shockparade, LeFaro and Our Fold. www.readingfestival.com, www.leedsfestival.com

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Friday 30 July 2010, 12:11 | By

Sony profits up

Business News Labels & Publishers

Sony Music’s revenues were up 1.3% year on year for the quarter ending 30 Jun to a rather lovely 110.3 billion yen, or $1.24 billion if you prefer (or £815 million in “proper money”). The ‘Glee’ franchise plus big releases from AC/DC, Usher and Kana Nishino all helped bring in the loot. Profits were up 39%, thanks in part to cuts in marketing and overhead costs, to 7.5 billion yen, or $84 million if you like (or £55.5 million in “real money”). So that’s all lovely.

It was a good first quarter for the whole of Sony Corp, which has been suffering quite a bit of late. Income for the whole group was up 3.8% to $18.67 billion (an awful lot in British money), with a $296 million profit compared to a loss in the same quarter a year ago. Despite Sony Music actually doing rather well, it was the electronics giant’s telly, PC and PlayStation divisions that did especially well, sending Sony’s share price up and boosting City confidence in the conglom. So, that’s all swell.

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Friday 30 July 2010, 12:10 | By

Spotify reboot licensing talks to get US launch in 2010

Digital

According to Billboard, Spotify has gone back to the drawing board regards its plans for a US launch, in that they have started their major label negotiations from scratch employing a “well, what will you licence this year” approach.

As previously reported, there has been much speculation as to whether the US divisions of the majors would follow their European counterparts’ lead and licence both a free and subscription-based Spotify service. Some US label execs fear the free Spotify service is too good, and might damage those subscription-based streaming services already up and running in the States. Warner boss Edgar Bronfman Jr has specifically criticised Spotify’s Freemium option.

Spotify top man Daniel Ek remains confident that his service can launch in the US this year, and has indicated his business plan relies on it. But, according to Billboard, that was unlikely to happen under the licensing terms the streaming service was looking for, forcing a rethink. Ek, who is believed to be leading licensing negotiations himself, reportedly rebooted his company’s label talks recently in a bid to find a deal that all four majors will agree to.

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Friday 30 July 2010, 12:09 | By

Ditto cause debate on iTunes upload times for unsigned bands

Digital

So, when we recently reported that digital distribution people Ditto Music were now offering the independent and unsigned artists they represent 24 hour turnaround on iTunes uploading, and the option to take pre-orders via the Apple platform, at least three of the company’s competitors emailed in to say that they also offered such services to their artists and that Ditto were therefore wrong to imply that they were the only or first company to do so.

To be fair to Ditto, they didn’t specifically say that they had any exclusivity arrangement with Apple to offer independent artists high speed uploading or pre-order facilities, even if their spin did imply they were offering services that perhaps couldn’t be found elsewhere. And it is probably fair to say that, while Apple have been offering these services to all indie distributors for a while, Ditto are the first one to actively start making promises regarding upload times to their artists.

Anyway, the debate about Ditto’s claims went public over on Hybebot thanks to an interview with the boss of one of the distributor’s key competitors, TuneCore. Alluding to Ditto’s 24 hour promise to its artists, the often vocal TuneCore chief Jeff Price questioned how his competitors could do any such thing.

He told Hypebot that, whereas it used to take weeks for independent artists to get their content onto  iTunes, now TuneCore and most of its competitors could get music live on there within hours, and maybe minutes. However, doing so relied on Apple doing their end of the process speedily and that, Price reckons, isn’t something he or any of his competitors can guarantee will happen.

Price said: “The more established entities like TuneCore and CD Baby know better than to make claims like this to the market. Sure, we both run businesses, but misleading artists to take advantage of them is not how we operate. To make claims of guarantees you know you cannot keep preys on the hopes, dreams and aspirations of musicians. It’s not right. It needs to stop. Musicians work too hard”.

But Ditto Music founder Lee Parsons reacted angrily to the suggestion his company is somehow taking advantage of artists. In reply to Price’s interview, he wrote: “TuneCore were the first ones to shout about your new delivery times, the only difference is that you took full credit for it, without giving praise to iTunes like we did. When Ditto Music received massive press momentum by putting our necks on the line and giving a guarantee, you backtracked. I realise the press momentum Ditto Music received was frustrating for you. I did not expect so many TuneCore customers to contact us who were unhappy with your service. [But] artists are savvy”.

Adding that his company didn’t directly compete with TuneCore, because Ditto offer other services for unsigned artists, Parsons concluded: “My brother and I, who started Ditto, have been in bands our whole lives and know the constraints and difficulties artists face. Having their music on iTunes is just one part of a puzzle and not something we should be taking a pat on the back for. I will take a pat on the back when unsigned artists have the same infrastructure given to signed artists. And we at Ditto are working towards that until it is there”.

You can read the full exchange at:
www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2010/07/interview-jeff-price-ceo-of-tunecore.html

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Friday 30 July 2010, 12:08 | By

Dimensional complete Orchard buy out

Digital

Dimensional Associates have completed their acquisition of digital music company The Orchard. The investment firm – which owned The Orchard outright once before – already had a 42% stake in the company before they offered to buy out the other shareholders at the end of last year. That buy out – which is basically a merger of The Orchard with Dimensional – was finalised this week, according to a statement by the investment types.

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Friday 30 July 2010, 12:07 | By

Virtual Festivals announce new board

Media

Festivals website Virtual Festivals has expanded its board as part of a plan to, and I quote, “accelerate the global expansion of the business”.

There are five new directors joining the company, including Andy Wood and Neil Sullivan from Silver Bullet Entertainment, Julian Topham and Andrew Topham from Sports Vision, and Steve Wild from Unication. The site’s founder Steve Jenner will also sit on the new board.

Wild will become COO, and he told CMU: “The new team will build on what has been developed over ten years and escalate the growth of a unique scalable business. This is a great opportunity to lead Virtual Festivals to accentuate it’s expertise as the lead festival portal by generating more and better content and enabling the right context for commercial partners”.

Jenner added: “I’m delighted to have five new star players on board who have a real vision and passion for Virtual Festivals’ future, with the proven ability to deliver it. This is the optimum route for ensuring that this business not only achieves its objectives but does so with its brand integrity fully intact and that’s the most important thing”.

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Friday 30 July 2010, 12:06 | By

Ellen leaves Idol

Media

Ellen DeGeneres is quitting ‘American Idol’ after just one season as a judge on the US musical talent show.

DeGeneres, who replaced original lady judge Paula Abdul on the programme, wrote on her website yesterday: “A couple months ago, I let Fox and the ‘American Idol’ producers know that this didn’t feel like the right fit for me. I told them I wouldn’t leave them in a bind and that I would hold off on doing anything until they were able to figure out where they wanted to take the panel next. It was a difficult decision to make, but my work schedule became more than I bargained for. I also realised this season that while I love discovering, supporting and nurturing young talent, it was hard for me to judge people and sometimes hurt their feelings”.

Various execs linked to the show, including Exec Producer Simon Fuller, issued statements saying just how ruddy wonderful it had been having DeGeneres on the programme, though didn’t comment on who might replace her. ‘Idol’ bosses are already looking for a replacement for Simon Cowell, who will leave the franchise after its current season to concentrate on the US launch of ‘X-Factor’.

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Friday 30 July 2010, 12:05 | By

Gallagher working on world’s best album

And Finally

Okay, this is likely to get old fairly soon, but right now Liam Gallagher’s wide-eyed confidence in the music of his new band, Beady Eye, is still funny. Having up until now simply boasted that the band (basically Oasis without Noel) will be better than Oasis, he’s now stepped up a gear and started claiming that his new band’s debut album will be a classic passed down the generations.

Speaking to Sky, Gallagher said: “I’m doing the next record you’ll hear for the next 50 years. It’s not gonna be out until next year. We’ll probably get a single out October or November, and there’s no point in doing gigs if people haven’t heard the music”.

Yeah, fair point. Imagine if bands were to start playing gigs before they’d released any records. It would be chaos! But on the subject of gigs, Sky was keen to know when Liam would stop all this and just get his brother back in the band. Only, he said, if they were “fucking skint”, though with a classic album like Beady Eye’s on his hands, that is clearly not going to happen any time soon.

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Friday 30 July 2010, 12:04 | By

Ozzy predicted Diana’s death

And Finally

Ozzy Osbourne has claimed that he predicted Princess Diana’s death shortly before the car in which she was travelling crashed in a Paris tunnel in 1997.

Speaking to The Sunday Times Magazine, he said: “I remember when Princess Diana was still alive, I woke up one morning and said to my assistant, ‘You know what? Something very bad’s gonna happen to her’. And sure enough, days or weeks later, the tragedy in Paris happened”.
 
Although he added: “But the fact is, if someone’s living their life at 300mph, you don’t have to be a clairvoyant to see what’s coming”.

Blimey, I hadn’t realised they were going that fast.

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Friday 30 July 2010, 12:01 | By

Approved: Wang Weekender

Club Tip CMU Approved

This weekend WANG are racking up two events. First off, these top rate party promoters enter uncharted territory by taking over Room 2 at Fabric for the night. To help them they have legends of the techno scene Abe Duque and Blake Baxter playing live, which is bound to tear the roof off Fabric in a way that only a WANG party can. Alongside them will be Posthuman, also performing live to launch their new album ‘Syn Emergence’ on Balkan Vinyl, as well as DJ support from electro uber-producer The Bass Junkie and WANG founder Electro Elvis. Room 1 has Marco Carola and Hearthrob live, whilst Room 3 plays host to big player Terry Francis, with Gamel Kabar, The Pushmann and Vian.

WANG are back on familiar stomping ground on Sunday 1 Aug, hosting a party at the intimate and ever trendy Dalston Superstore. They have managed to convince Abe Duque and Blake Baxter to play an ultra rare back-to-back DJ set, and as if that wasn’t enough, long time WANG supporter Andrew Weatherall steps up for DJ duties alongside The Rocketeer, Simon Busby and Ben Lyford and, of course, WANG’s very own Electro Elvis. This event will get mobbed by those in the know….

Saturday 31 Jul, 11pm-8am, Fabric, 77a Charterhouse Street, London, EC1M 3HN, £18 on door, or £8 from 4am and £5 from 5am for the diehards amongst you…

Sunday 1 Aug, 8pm-2am, Dalston Superstore, 117 Kingsland Road, Dalston, London E8 2PB, £5 all night, more info on both nights from www.wanging.com

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Thursday 29 July 2010, 13:01 | By

Festival Review: High Voltage 2010

Festival Reviews

High Voltage

Prog-rock from the 1970s and 1980s will always have a solid fan base of older people whose dedication to the genre is admirable. This was very evident at the Classic Rock and Metal Hammer magazines’ High Voltage Festival. Although the programme ranged from blues to metal, and covered the majority of genres in between, headliners Emerson, Lake And Palmer ensured the prog fans were well in attendance.

The festival arena was jam-packed with all the classic fairground rides, ice-cream vans and food trailers. On top of these were few out-of-the-ordinary gems, including an on-site cinema showing ‘rockumentaries’ throughout both days and a small stage devoted entirely to air-guitar contests.

Saturday
The first band to grab my attention was The Black Spiders, a hard rock outfit from South Yorkshire whose mixture of high-pitched vocals, crunchy riffs and a very entertaining rhythm section went down very well. London stoner metal stalwarts Orange Goblin followed, pummelling the audience until no head was left un-banged. Then came slots on the Classic Rock stage from Irish rockers The Answer, rock n roll heroes Foreigner and Irish bluesman Gary Moore, each of which was a huge success.

Strong sets followed on the Prog Stage from the symphonic Hammond-organ playing band Bigelf from California, as well as Frank Zappa’s son Dweezil, fronting Zappa Plays Zappa, and industry legends Asia. Headlining the Prog Stage today was Transatlantic, the neo-progressive supergroup who wowed the large crowd with a whirlwind of impressive musicianship and finely crafted epic songs.

Heaven And Hell’s set was decidedly poignant, being a tribute to their late vocalist Ronnie James Dio, and their last show ever. The two frontmen they’d brought in to take Dio’s place were good, but there was a general feeling that nobody could really fill the pint-sized rock god’s boots.

In keeping with the heavier side of the day, Metal Hammer Stage headliners Black Label Society launched a barrage of intense drums and whisky-fuelled riffs that punished the crowd, shortly before ZZ Top took to the stage, giving everyone a chance to relax slightly. This was Southern rock at its finest, with wailing bluesy solos and husky vocals that made classic tracks such as ‘Gimme All Your Lovin’ and ‘Sharp-Dressed Man’ all the more memorable.

Sunday
The Quireboys kicked off the day with a foolproof mixture of old-school GNR and Aerosmith, followed by UFO’s timeless blend of classic rock and virtuoso guitar solos. Lethargy, Audrey Horne and High On Fire were the first acts on the Metal Hammer stage, mixing-up a cocktail of catchy groove metal, dirty Vegas-style rock and thundering stoner metal. Steve Hackett proved popular with his very progressive set on the Prog Stage before Magnum, Uriah Heep and Argent, who all played brilliantly. The main act, Marillion, was delightfully cheesy – a serious blast from the past.

The highlights for me on Sunday were the three final bands on the Metal Hammer stage – Clutch, Opeth and Down. Each of these bands has their own very unique and heavy style that never fails to get a crowd moving or to inspire awe in those who watch them. It was with some effort that I had to tear myself away from the final few songs of Down’s set so that I could catch the headliners.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer were an interesting choice for the Sunday headline slot. Having been away for twelve years, nobody was quite sure if they could pull it off or not. In the end they played competently, if underwhelmingly, to a diminished end-of-the-weekend crowd who were not terribly keen to take part in the invitations to “make some noise”. Being probably the most progressive band of the weekend, they might have been better assigned to the Prog Stage. Despite the prog crowd being present, the more metal and hard rock-oriented fans who seemed to dominate didn’t’ really care.

All in all it was a great weekend, fuelled by the more eccentric and imaginative minds of the rock world. The title High Voltage may have implied a slightly faster strain of rock n roll, but it was far from disappointing, in fact it was quite the opposite. My tastes have been given a serious history lesson, and as a result have been greatly enriched. TC

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Thursday 29 July 2010, 12:59 | By

Barbara Ross says Jacko paternity claimant not her daughter

Top Stories

So, it seems that Diana Ross’s niece Mocienne Petit Jackson is very probably not Michael Jackson’s daughter. Nor, indeed, is she Diana Ross’s niece either.

As previously reported, Mocienne filed court papers in LA earlier this week claiming that she was the result of a one night stand that occurred between Diana Ross’s sister Barbara and a then seventeen year old Michael Jackson in 1975. The legal action aims to force the Jackson family to allow a DNA test to take place so to prove (or not) Mocienne’s claims. If her claims were proven true, then she would subsequently sue for a cut of the Jacko estate.

However, Jackson Junior’s paternity claims have been hindered somewhat by Barbara Ross disputing the maternity claims that seem to be taken as a given in the legal papers. That is to say Diana Ross’s older sister says she is not the mother of the claimant.

What’s more Dr Barbara Ross-Lee, who says she never even met Michael Jackson, claims that Mocienne has been harassing her for some time, that she has made it clear to her that she is not the woman’s mother, and that the latest story about her father being Jacko is “bizarre” and totally made up. 

As previously reported, certain aspects of Mocienne’s lawsuit seemed somewhat outlandish even before Barbara Ross denied having any connection with the claimant. In particular, the legal papers claim that Michael Jackson’s mother Katherine conspired to keep her son’s alleged love child a secret by attempting to abduct Mocienne, and then bumping off the people involved in the failed kidnap.

The Jackson family are yet to comment on the lawsuit, while Mocienne is yet to comment on Barbara Ross’s statement.

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Thursday 29 July 2010, 12:58 | By

Love Parade death toll rises again

Business News Gigs & Festivals Live Business Top Stories

The death toll from the crowd surge disaster at last weekend’s Love Parade dance music festival has risen to 21 after another festival-goer seriously injured in the incident died from her injuries. The 25 year old woman died on Tuesday night.

As previously reported, 21 died and hundreds more were injured when a crowd of people stampeded at the entrance to the free music event in the West German city of Duisburg. Local police have launched a criminal investigation into the circumstances that led to the tragedy, while organisers of the festival have said they will not stage the event again.

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Thursday 29 July 2010, 12:56 | By

Plastic Bertrand admits he didn’t sing hit

Legal

Belgian performer Plastic Bertrand, real name Roger Jouret, admitted yesterday that he was not the singer on his 1977 hit ‘Ça Plane Pour Moi’. French composer and producer Lou Deprijck has long claimed that his was actually the voice on the track, going so far as to record and release a new version in 2006 in an attempt to prove his claim. And it seems to have worked, albeit thanks to some expert evidence presented to a Belgian court this week.

The court was hearing the latest in a string of legal cases in relation to Deprijck’s claims, this time one brought against the producer by record label AMC (which released the original version) after the release of the aforementioned 2006 new version of the song was marketing as being by the “original singer”. A linguist commissioned by the judge to examine the two versions of the song reported that the person who sang them did so in a specific regional accent of northern France (where Deprijck comes from), an accent that could not, the expert reckoned, be accurately mimicked by the Belgian-born Jouret.

The judgement read: “The way the phrases end on each record show that the song could only have been sung by a Ch’ti – otherwise known as someone from the Picard region of France. It could therefore not have been Plastic Bertrand – who was born in Brussels – and was surely Mr Deprijck”.

Clearly relieved, Deprijck , who claims that he was replaced by Jouret to promote the song because the record company wanted someone with a more ‘punky’ image, told Le Parisien newspaper: “My Ch’ti patois has proved me right. I am relieved. I hope I will finally get my rights”.

It may not be as easy as all that, though. In 2006, the Brussels Court Of Appeal ruled that, although Deprijck may indeed have been the person who sang the vocals, Jouret was the “legal performer” of the song because his face had appeared on the single’s artwork and he signed the original record contract with AMC. It was this ruling which prompted Deprijck to record his 2006 version of the track.

When initially commenting on the new linguistic evaluation, Jouret vowed to sue his rival for defamation, saying: “This expertise carries no weight. It has been set up because ‘Ça Plane Pour Moi’ has been taken up by advertising campaigns and Deprijck wants to get all the rights. He’s making me out to be a crook, but I am an artist, not a crook”.

But, in a new turn of events, Jouret yesterday admitted that it was not his voice on the song (or any of the songs on his four albums) after all. Though he somehow blamed Deprijck for his denials up to this point, while implying that the producer was already pocketing most of the royalties from the song anyway.

Speaking to Belgian newspaper Le Soir, he said: “I don’t mind saying it was not my voice. I’m the victim. I wanted to sing, but he [Deprijck] would not let me access the studio. He asked me to keep my mouth shut in exchange for 0.5% of the rights, and promised he would make a new version with my voice, which of course he never did”.

Asked to comment, Deprijck’s lawyer simply said: “It was time he stopped pretending otherwise”.

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Thursday 29 July 2010, 12:55 | By

John hits out at Sound Strike

Artist News

Elton John won’t be signing up to the Sound Strike campaign. As previously reported, a whole stack of artists have signed up to a boycott of the US state of Arizona because of new immigration laws being introduced there which, it has been argued, will result in a new era of racial profiling and in non-whites being harassed by law enforcement officials.

Rage Against The Machine have been particularly proactive in setting up the campaign, but a diverse range of artists have vowed to not perform in the state in protest at the new laws, including Cypress Hill, Conor Oberst, Kanye West, Maroon 5, Gogol Bordello, My Morning Jacket, Ben Harper, Pitbull, Steve Earle, Billy Bragg and Throwing Muses.

But Elton John will not be adding his name to that list. He played in the state this week and, according to the Arizona Daily Star, the singer told his audience: “We are all very pleased to be playing in Arizona. I have read that some of the artists won’t come here. They are fuckwits! Let’s face it, I still play in California, and as a gay man I have no legal rights whatsoever. So what the fucks with these people?”

It’s not the only pop protest John has shunned this year. Last month he played in Israel despite opposition from some quarters who were lobbying artists to cancel gigs there in protest at the recent Gaza flotilla raid.

In related news (related to the Sound Strike that is), a US federal judge yesterday issued a temporary injunction against key parts of Arizona’s new immigration laws, though State officials say they plan to appeal the decision.

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Thursday 29 July 2010, 12:52 | By

Al Goodman dies

Obituaries

Al Goodman, one third of R&B trio Ray, Goodman & Brown, has died aged 67.

Goodman originally rose to fame as one third of Moments, a trio which also included Billy Brown and Johnny Moore and scored a hit in 1969 with ‘Love On A Two-Way Street’. Moore was soon replaced in the trio by Harry Ray, and they went on to enjoy a number of other hits throughout the seventies in both the pop and R&B charts. Moments had been created by R&B mogul Sylvia Robinson, who is perhaps better known now as the woman behind one of the earliest commercial hip hop ventures in the form of Sugar Hill Records and the Sugar Hill Gang.

When, in the late seventies, the three members of Moments started to fall out with Robinson and her team at the Stang record label they decided to go their own way but, with Robinson owning the rights in the Moments name, they needed a new moniker. Onwards they were known as Ray, Goodman & Brown and they enjoyed further hits under that name, in particular ‘Special Lady’, their first single release after signing to Polydor in 1979.

Goodman is survived by his son James and second wife Henrietta.

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