Wednesday 22 December 2010, 16:24 | By CMU Editorial

CMU Artists Of The Year 2010

Artist News Artists Of The Year Top Stories

Throughout December in the CMU Daily, we’ve been revealing our top ten favourite artists of the year. These are all artists we felt had contributed something a bit special in 2010. Not just people who had delivered a great album (or even an album at all), but musicians who made a real mark on those twelve months just gone.

The resulting list takes us through rock, metal, pop, rap, reggae and more, with ten artists that we reckon are just that little bit extra special, whether that be because they deliver great music on record, or put that bit more into their live shows, or because they go above and beyond the call of duty in some other way. In many cases, it’s all of the above.

Says CMU Editor Andy Malt: “I’m really pleased with how this list has turned out. 2010 has been a really good year for music, as I think the ten artists we’ve selected show – not to mention all the amazing acts who didn’t make it into the top ten. There were a lot of them, and it was an agonising process getting it to this stage!”

Here are the final ten in full, click the names to read more on their 2010s:

1: Tinie Tempah
2: Janelle Monáe
3: Steve Mason
4: Chilly Gonzales
5: Warpaint
6: The National
7: Wrongtom
8: Deftones
9: Marnie Stern
10: Sleigh Bells

And you can enjoy a track from each of our artists of the year in this Powers Of Ten Spotify playlist – hurrah!

CMU Review Of The Year 2010: The artists and the music

CMU Review Of The Year 2010: The music business

Business News Labels & Publishers Legal Live Business Retail Top Stories

CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke looks back at the key trends and developments in the music industry in 2010.

1. EMI
However well you’re doing on a day-to-day basis, and EMI is doing quite well on a day-to-day basis, a very public multi-billion pound loan with an unfriendly bank that comes with severe covenants you’ve no way of sticking to is gonna get you down. Which is possibly why EMI keeps losing key executives. And certainly why the London major has been in the news so much this year.

In March, Elio Leoni-Sceti, the CEO of the EMI recordings business, abruptly quit just weeks after telling Management Today how much he liked the job. Former ITV boss Charlie Allen took over with lots of grand plans, only to be replaced himself in June by EMI’s publishing chief Roger Faxon.

Those loan covenants required owners Terra Firma to inject over £100 million into EMI in June, and for a time it seemed likely the equity group’s financial backers wouldn’t let them. In the end they did. But a similar cash injection will be needed in 2011 and it seems even more likely Terra Firma’s backers will block it.

This has all meant constant and continuing speculation that Terra Firma will have to give EMI up to its bank, which will almost certainly sell the music firm on, possibly splitting it up first. It was thought Warner would buy the record labels and BMG the publishing company, though the latter has now said it’s more interested in EMI’s recordings business. Whatever, there will be more dramas at EMI in 2011; whether it will still be here this time next year is another matter.

2. TERRA FIRMA V CITIGROUP
Probably the most amusing chapter of the EMI saga this year was when the major’s owners Terra Firma took the bank to which the music firm owes three billion, Citigroup, to court in New York. The equity group had begun legal proceedings in late 2009 after the US bank refused to restructure the mega-loan Terra Firma had saddled EMI with when it bought the music company in 2007. Terra Firma boss Guy Hands claimed Citigroup man David Wormsley had given him dud advice that made him bid too high and too soon for EMI back in 2007.

Wormsley had lied, Hands said, because he and Citigroup had a vested interest (ie money to make) in seeing Terra Firma’s takeover of EMI happen. Hands had a very clear recollection of receiving three phone calls from Wormsley in the days before buying EMI. But, alas, the calls had not been documented, and Hands’ memory of everything else ahead of the big EMI purchase – with the exception of the biscuits he ate – was rather hazy. Hands came over as a bit of a bumbling, bitter fool, and the jury didn’t buy his story. A court defeat which many reckon will make it even harder for Hands to persuade his backers to pump more money into EMI in 2011.

3. DEA AND THREE-STRIKES
The last UK government’s Digital Britain report had recommended against forcing internet service providers to instigate a three-strikes, or “graduated response”, system for combating online piracy, but when the legislation that stemmed from it – the Digital Economy Bill – reached parliament this year, three-strikes dominated the copyright section. It subsequently dominated much of the comment and coverage of the Bill too, even though inside parliament three-strikes generally had cross-party support.

The challenge was to get the Bill through parliament before the General Election. Fortunately there’s the wash-up, where a government can basically get legislation not opposed by the main opposition party voted in ‘on the nod’ in the closing hours before parliament is dissolved for the election. But the rush with which the Digital Economy Act became law has provided ammunition for those who oppose three-strikes, especially the ISPs, two of which have taken the new anti-piracy rules to judicial review. This will slow down the already slow process by which three-strikes will actually go live in the UK, much to the annoyance of the system’s supporters, like the BPI.

4. LIVE IN THE USA
The record industry is in terminal decline, but the live industry is booming, right? Well, parts of the live industry have been booming over the last decade, but not all parts, and not in all markets. And in 2010, in the most important market, the live music industry peaked. For years, with ever rising ticket prices, and more and more additional fees added by promoters, venues and ticket agents, pessimists had been predicting the bubble would burst. And in the US in 2010 it did.

For the media, that the live industry had peaked was best illustrated through the share price of Live Nation, the biggest live music company of them all, whose merger with Ticketmaster was only fully approved in the UK in May. In July, their top execs Michael Rapino and Irving Azoff admitted ticket sales were down and looked likely to decline further. They insisted it was a temporary wobble, but their share price promptly fell 16%, leading to a frustrated Azoff railing against his shareholders, accusing them of being “short-sighted”. Ticket prices have been cut and all those add-on fees curtailed. Now it remains to be seen whether the US live market will recover in 2011, and whether any of that gloom will cross the Atlantic to impact on the still pretty healthy UK live sector.

5. HMV AND MAMA
A company which could do with the UK live industry staying in relatively good health is HMV, whose only good news this year came from the gigs and venues side of its business. HMV has such a thing because, just before Christmas last year, it announced its intent to buy the MAMA Group, the London-based venue owning, festival and gig promoting, artist managing, brand partnering company, and one of the UK music industry’s success stories of recent years. The deal went through in February. Some streamlining followed, but MAMA – as a stand alone business within the HMV Group – still seems to be doing rather well.

It’s a shame for HMV that the same can’t be said about its retail business, which is what most investment types in the City focus on. After enjoying a little boost in recent years thanks to the demise of pretty much every major competitor in entertainment retail, the HMV shops had a difficult year amid rising supermarket and online competition, not to mention the wider recession. Attempts to diversify the HMV retail business were not as well received as the company’s diversification into live, and the firm’s share price has slumped. Though optimists point out that, while the shops may be ultimately doomed, with its MAMA acquisition HMV still has long term potential. That might mean, with that slumping share price, HMV is now a takeover target.

6. RISE OF BMG
Of course it’s not all doom and gloom in the world of music rights, with some of the opinion there is still much money to be made from exploiting the various music-based copyrights, though probably by applying a different business model than that of the traditional record company. Probably most interesting in this domain is the all new BMG. Having sold off itsr old music publishing company to Universal and its record company to Sony, German media giant Bertelsmann launched BMG Rights Management in 2008, a new company that would manage and monetise all kinds of music rights, straddling the record and publishing industries.

Bertelsmann later sold half the company to equity types KKR, securing itself a big pot of cash for buying up recording and (mainly so far) publishing catalogues, and the acquisition spree continued in 2010, with BMG absorbing the likes of Evergreen, Stage Three, Adage, PRK Music, Cherry Lane and, perhaps most notably, Chrysalis in the last twelve months. Meanwhile, a number of new offices were opened and single artists deals announced. In terms of growth through acquisition it’s been a big year for BMG, making it a very interesting company to watch in 2011, as Bertelsmann makes moves to reclaim its seat around the ‘major music company’ table.

7. LOVE PARADE
2010 saw the end of the seminal German dance music event that was The Love Parade, and in very sad circumstances. This year taking place on wasteland in the German city of Duisberg, tragedy struck as a crowd surge around a small tunnel that was being used as both an entrance and exit to the festival site led to 21 dead and over 500 injured. A much higher than anticipated attendance was partly to blame, though many subsequently wondered why such a narrow tunnel was being used as the festival’s sole access point in the first place.

At a discussion about the incident at the Reeperbahn festival in Hamburg in September some felt the tragedy could have been avoided had crowd safety knowledge from elsewhere in Europe, and especially the UK, been applied by the people who organised the Parade this year, and the authorities who licensed it. Some called for a better system for sharing this knowledge among both the live industry and the authorities which oversee it. Back at the Love Parade, the event’s owners announced they were putting the festival to rest after this year’s traumatic event.

8. SIMON COWELL
Love him or loathe him, you can’t deny that Simon Cowell went from strength to strength in 2010, as the ‘X-Factor’ machine, for reasons best known to no one, only grew in popularity in the UK, while global expansion of the X franchise saw its founder quit his job as judge on ‘American Idol’ so he could launch an American version of the show.

But Cowell’s biggest achievement of the year was probably his new deal with Sony Music regarding the Syco business, which was previously a division of the major. With Syco reportedly responsible for at least half its UK’s revenue, Sony Music was clearly going to be generous in its bid to ensure Cowell stayed with them once his contract came up for renewal this year. The deal that was done made Syco a stand alone company in which both Sony and Cowell (and his business partners) would have a stake. Cowell enters 2011 even more powerful in the world of pop-based music and telly.

9. MUTE
The indie community had some good news in 2010, the Mute label was rejoining them after eight years as a division of EMI. In September, Mute chief Daniel Miller announced a deal with EMI UK which would make his record company a stand alone business once more, albeit with the major as a distribution partner. Miller would also continue to consult for EMI which was keeping some of Mute’s more bankable artists on its rosters.

The deal means the Mute label will be able to work more closely with the Mute publishing company that remained independent throughout. Meanwhile, Miller announced the launch of a Mute artist management agency. With recordings, publishing and management now all under one roof, Mute will be a indie to watch in 2011.

10. SO, WHAT ABOUT DIY?
But why all this talk of record companies and such like, surely the DIY approach was due to come of age in 2010; artists would be able to cut out the corporate middle man, raise funding from alternative sources and sell direct to fans, no? Well, it would be wrong to say 2010 was the year of DIY, most music that filled the charts came from artists who had signed conventional record deals with traditional record companies. And normally those artists who did successfully employ a DIY approach were either established bands out of record contract who had a sizeable fanbase already, or new bands using DIY to make themselves attractive enough to secure a traditional label deal.

But, that said, the methods of DIY and direct-to-fan selling did quietly mature in 2010, and while some at the more corporate end of the industry continued to bang on about file-sharing and declining record sales, an ever increasing number of clever mangers, artists and entrepreneurs in the grass roots were developing new ways of engaging fans and monetising music. No one made millions this way – certainly not with new talent – but viable new approaches are starting to emerge. And while it may still be a bit ‘cottage industry’, bands utilising Topspin, Bandcamp, Reverbnation, MusicGlue or Pledge are still worth watching.

CMU Review Of The Year 2010: The media and the internet

Digital Media Top Stories

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke look back at a year of digital music innovations and developments, and at the big stories and trends in the media industry.

1. 6MUSIC
In February, The Times claimed that the BBC was planning to shut down one of its digital radio stations, BBC 6music. Many scoffed initially, but it turned out to be true. In fact, the closure was part of a package of cuts, which would include the Asian Network station, teen services Switch and Blast and 25% of the Beeb’s online operations, too.

A huge campaign to save 6 was launched, with protests held outside Broadcasting House. Thousands contributed to a public consultation on the cuts, and the BBC Trust eventually decided to block the proposals to shut down the station. However, many of the other cuts proposed by the BBC strategy review, including of non-core online services, were approved and the Trust said it “would consider a formal proposal for the closure of the Asian Network”.

2. CHRIS MOYLES
On 22 Sep, Chris Moyles turned up to work in a bad mood and had a good old moan to his workmates. Unfortunately, his workmates share the studio from which he broadcasts the Radio 1 Breakfast Show, which meant several million listeners were forced to listen to his 30 minute rant as well. It turned out Moyles hadn’t been paid for two months, due to an administrative error, and the presenter felt it wasn’t being sorted quickly enough. On one level his rant worked, the problem was resolved the next day.

But he was widely criticised for airing his payment issues in this way, especially when many in the UK – and elsewhere in the BBC – were facing much bigger issues than having to wait two months for sizeable payments from a lucrative freelance contract. Radio 1 insists it is still on good terms with Moyles, but others in the Beeb say the outburst will only add to the general feeling the presenter is increasingly out of touch with Radio 1’s target audience of young music fans, and should be replaced when his contract comes up for renewal in 2011.

There has been much speculation that Moyles, realising this, is already in talks with other broadcasters, in particular Capital FM and US satellite network Sirius XM, though all these rumours have been denied by all parties.

3. IS LESS MORE IN RADIO LAND?
While most coverage and commentary of the Digital Economy Act focused on copyright and three-strikes, it was actually an eclectic and wide-reaching bit of legislation that impacted on many areas of the digital, media and creative industries.

Another section of the DEA of interest to the music business was that dealing with radio, and in particular the relaxation of the rules that existed regarding just how local a local radio station should be. Not so local, the DEA concluded. The results are already plain to see as the big radio firms turn their networks of local stations into single quasi-national services, most likely coming out of London.

Global Radio, which had already rebranded many of its local stations as Heart, was able to reduce the amount of local programming broadcast by stations in that network. With its Gold brand, it went for just one national service in all localities and in the new year, it will rebrand a bunch of other local FMs as Capital, basically taking the London station national. And it’s not just Global doing it – The Guardian’s Smooth network became one station in England, while Bauer’s Kiss will do the same in 2011.

4. NEW LOOK NME
In April, Krissi Murison stamped her mark on the NME, having taken over from Conor McNicholas as editor in 2009.

As well as a new cover format, the new look brought with it a host of new features too. The changes were very popular amongst the music industry, but possibly less so with NME’s target demographic. Circulation figures had been falling for a number of years, and in August it was announced they had slumped even further, 17.3% in 2010, selling just 33,000 copies a week.

Elsewhere in the NME empire, and right in the middle of the Save 6music campaign, NME Radio was closed down, it having proven not to be commercially viable for the company behind it, DX Media. It became a presenter-free continuous music stream for a while, until NME publishers IPC persuaded another radio firm, Town & Country, to take it over in September.

5. PAYWALLS AND IPADS
The real challenge for the NME et al, of course, is that while print circulations fall, and online readerships boom, the former still brings in more revenue. So how to monetise online content? With Google et al taking a huge chunk of the internet advertising spend, newspaper and magazine publishers started to seriously consider going the subscription route online in 2010.

Rupert Murdoch is leading the way, of course, with a paywall going up around his Times website in July. Some in the publishing industry predict or wish Murdoch’s grand plan will fail, though many others secretly hope it won’t, simply so they can steal his approach and rescue their own flagging businesses. The Mirror and Telegraph are sure to start charging for some of their online content in 2011, and the magazine sector is sure to follow closely behind. In the music domain, in the US, Rolling Stone is already charging for access to its online archive.

One big innovation (of sorts) which gave some publishers hope this year was the arrival of Apple’s iPad in April. Might consumers unwilling to pay for content on traditional websites be persuaded to pay to read snazzy interactive magazines on the iPad? Murdoch and many of his competitors hope so.

6. VIACOM V YOUTUBE
The big media squabble in the courts this year was between the old media and the new, as a judge ruled on MTV owner Viacom’s long running litigation against YouTube. It was a copyright case. Viacom said that, in its early days, YouTube turned a blind eye to people uploading infringing content to their servers because it knew illegal videos brought in the most traffic.

YouTube said it had always operated a takedown system so that when it was made aware of copyright infringing content it was removed, a system that got the site protection under US copyright law, it noted. But Viacom said that in the early days YouTube paid only lip service to takedown notices and that the firm’s original (now replaced) takedown system put too much responsibility and cost on the rights owner, while YouTube earned between content upload and takedown.

But the judge sided with YouTube, saying he was happy the company had complied with the requirements of US copyright law. Viacom confirmed this month it would appeal.

7. MYSPACE
Well, there were many who thought MySpace wouldn’t still be here by December 2010, but no, the once king of social networking is still hanging in there. Just.

But there have been plenty of stresses along the way. MySpace started the year in the bad books of many music fans for buying and then shutting down, with no warning, the music service Imeem. Not good for a company which was saying music was now at the core of its business. On the corporate side, CEO Owen Van Natta departed rather suddenly in February, resulting in plenty of executive tensions at the top of the company. Meanwhile Facebook continued to boom while MySpace’s traffic, user base and revenues slumped.

But then COO Mike Jones announced a radical revamp – to both brand and website – was upcoming. Later in the year a new logo arrived, the website got a fresh new look, and a partnership deal with former rivals Facebook was announced. Some were positive about the revamped site – especially the analytics it offers bands – though it’s still very slow and unreliable, and many feel it’s simply too little too late.

With owners News Corp recently admitting that the future of its poorly performing web company was under constant review, MySpace may have survived 2010, but surviving 2011 is not assured.

8. EMUSIC
The year started well for eMusic, with the subscription-based download service announcing in January that it had signed a deal with Warner Music. This meant the previously indie-label-only service now had two major record companies on board, some Sony content already being in its catalogue. Then Universal followed suit, leaving only EMI as eMusic hold outs.

But there have been issues too. In November, three large indie labels, Beggars Group, Domino and Merge, pulled all of their content from the service. The indies were angry at eMusic’s agreement with Universal to introduce variable pricing (rather than a flat fee per track) in order to get the third major on board, accusing the download store of no longer being “the dedicated home for independent music”.

eMusic will be hoping that, with major label content now in the mix, it can reach new more mainstream consumers in 2011, as its muso-pleasing indie credentials disappear.

9. FILE-SHARING
On one level, the record industry had a good year in its long-term fight against file-sharing, and not just because of the aforementioned Digital Economy Act. Governments around the world – including in France, Spain, New Zealand, Italy and the US – made commitments of one kind or another to introduce new laws to make it easier to target online copyright infringers. Meanwhile in the US one of the longest running file-sharing lawsuits reached its conclusion, with long term enemy LimeWire being declared an infringer. The Lime Group subsequently stopped distributing its P2P software and then announced it was shutting its doors completely. Meanwhile in Sweden the founders and funder of The Pirate Bay lost their appeal against their 2009 copyright crime convictions.

So, a complete success then? Well, no. In the UK, attempts to convict the creator of the Oink file-sharing community for fraud failed. And while The Pirate Bay founders may have continued to lose lawsuits left, right and centre, the site also continued to operate with no major problems. Efforts by some rights holders (albeit mostly outside the music industry) to pursue good old fashion sue-the-fans litigation generated much bad press for said rights owners, and the wider content industries, not least because of the slapdash approach of one of the key law firms involved, ACS:Law. And, of course, file-sharing continued to rise, with the BPI reckoning that 75% of all tracks downloaded in the UK are obtained illegally. So the file-sharing war continues. Until everyone gets bored of it and finds new ways to make money from music, I suspect.

10. WHAT DIGITAL?
So, what was the big digital development of 2010 then? Hmm, good question. New services launched of course, mflow sticks most in my mind. And some old services disappeared, perhaps most notably Lala.com in May. And some revamped, We7 pushing its Pandora-style radio streams above its Spotify-style on-demand player for example. But Apple didn’t launch a streaming service, Google didn’t enter the digital music market and Spotify didn’t arrive Stateside, those being the big developments everyone wanted to see. Meaning The Beatles appearing on iTunes for the first time is probably the biggest development, and that was so boring.

Apple may well launch a streaming service in 2011, Google will almost certainly enter the digital music market, and Spotify will surely arrive in the US. But actually, of more interest as we move into the second decade of the digital music era are these questions: can anyone break Apple’s market dominance? Has the a la carte download business already peaked? Will streaming services ultimately replace a la carte stores? Can streaming services ever really add up once start-up capital runs out? And is blanket licensing via collecting societies needed before the digital domain can truly come of age? Questions we’ll consider, if not answer, here in your CMU Daily sometime between now and 2012.

Eddy Says: An alternative Christmas Carol (a good old fashioned, yuletide rant)

Eddy Says

Cage Against The Machine

So, the Christmas chart race is over, and I’m looking back on this past two weeks with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I can’t lie, I’m really disappointed with a chart position of 21. But I’m not surprised. In much the same way that I’m gutted that between four and five times as many men commit suicide following depression than women, but not surprised, because I know how awful we men are at communicating.

In many ways, a chart position of just 21 reflects the degree of apathy the public, as a whole, feels about the causes our campaign was supporting, in particular tackling the issues of tinnitus and depression. On the up side, we did, of course, raise a little money for all our chosen charities, but not enough really. To put it in context, my friend just raised four times the amount we’ll have generated for the British Tinnitus Association, or for the Campaign Against Living Miserably. And she did that on her own, just by sending an email round to all her mates. She’s now building a school in Pakistan.

But just as 21 is gutting, it shouldn’t overshadow what we achieved, which was significant. We did something amazing, something powerful and something important. Looking deeper, we won a great victory. For art. For music. And most of all, for awareness. We came in at number two in the independent singles chart and, truth be told, we came in at number two in terms of awareness. The press reported this as a two horse race – us and ‘The X-Factor’. And we were everywhere. Silence has never caused so much noise.

From New York to LA, Rome to Amsterdam, everyone was talking about our project. We were featured in every newspaper you would care to mention, from the Telegraph to The Sport, on blogs and websites, TV programmes, even ‘Have I Got News For You’! Rage Against The Machine tweeted about us and The Prodigy made a statement in support. Xfm got behind the whole thing in an amazing way, and radio stations all over the country were talking about it. Well, with one notable exception. It’s a shame that was the biggest one.

I’m not surprised that Radio 1 gave so much coverage to ‘The X-Factor’, while giving us none. We know that particular talent show is incredibly popular amongst Radio 1’s young listeners (well daytime listeners, anyway) and the station is right to reflect that. But the BBC does have a duty to be impartial, and while I appreciate this wasn’t a General Election or anything, as the home of the UK music charts, you’d have thought Radio 1 might have shown a little impartiality on this one too.

And, more importantly than that, the BBC has a duty to educate and inform. Surely it’s Radio 1’s young, music hungry listeners who are most at risk of screwing up their hearing and suffering from tinnitus for the rest of their lives. And, I’m very sad to say, it’s Radio 1’s young demographic who are statistically most at risk from the horrors of suicidal depression. Surely this was a great opportunity to give these issues – of direct concern to their audience – a little airtime? It seems not. And I mean not at all. Which just seems a little unprofessional, embarrassing, and really, really mean-spirited.

We were at number eighteen in the midweek chart rundown, which is now aired on Radio 1 on a Wednesday afternoon, but when DJ Greg James went through the top 20 he completely blanked us. No mention of what it was, no mention of the fact it was for charity, nothing about who the charities were, nothing.

Then Sunday came along. Surely the official voice of the Top 40 would make amends. Would be factual. Would be informative? Would be impartial – yes? Yes???? YES!!????

No.

Reggie Yates. You should be ashamed of yourself. One in ten of your listeners will get tinnitus, one in ten will already have it. You denied them a phone line that can be open 24 hours a day to help.

Reggie’s producer. You should also be ashamed of yourself. Everyday, three or four of your listeners who suffer from depression will kill themselves. Three of them will be boys. You could have helped, but you didn’t. Why is that?

There is no way on Earth that Reggie or his producer could have avoided Cage Against The Machine last week. We were the number one story on the BBC website. Pretty much every newspaper in the English speaking world reported it. We were on the news bulletins of every TV station and pretty much every radio station and music website in the western world last week. There are, as yet, undiscovered tribes in the Amazon rainforest who knew about this single via the BBC World Service.

But when the chart rolled out on Sunday, Reggie blanked us the same way as Greg James had so ungraciously on Wednesday.

There was no mention of the fact it was for charity. That so many great artists had given their time for free to make it happen. Nothing. It may as well have been Kunt And The Gang at 21 with their Christmas number one contender ‘Use My Arsehole As A Cunt’ (which is actually at 66). In fact, I’d be so bold as to say that if Wayne (that is his real name, his parents didn’t really christen him Kunt) had got his single into the Top 40, Reggie would have given it more attention that he did ‘4’33″‘. He just gave the title, said it was by John Cage, made a joke about the fact that it was written in 1952, and then spoke about the British Legion’s ‘Two Minute Silence’ single – that was really newsworthy a whole month ago and has already been and gone in the charts – and played a few seconds of our recording and then moved on.

So, either Reggie is so astonishingly out of touch, so painfully slow, and so buttock clenchingly stupid that he didn’t know anything about Cage Against The Machine, or he did know and chose to blank us. Now why would that happen? Surely Radio 1 would not be so petty as to blank a charity single because someone at a rival radio station was one of the many people involved? I really can’t believe that Reggie’s producer would be petty enough, or mean enough, to do that. But I’m just struggling to come to terms with WHY else he blanked us?

Reggie talked enthusiastically about the Help For Heroes charity campaign on the same show. Why on Earth would you plug one charity, and snub another five? ‘4’33″‘ was a record that had the soul aim of raising money and awareness for five music-related charities, including the two catastrophically neglected organisations I’ve mentioned above and here before. So why did every Radio 1 DJ who was faced with it, treat it like a fresh turd sullying their new Nikes?

I’ve worked at Radio 1. I know how it works. These people have producers who tell them what to play and tell them what to say, and when to say it. So, why were Reggie, Greg and others seemingly told to blank this record? To be honest, given the huge awareness of our project, I can only currently think of two explanations. Either Reggie’s producer said: “It’s about depression, and that ringing in your ears thing, it’s really depressing, don’t mention it”, or it was: “There’s an Xfm presenter involved in this, don’t mention it”.

This Xfm presenter mentions the BBC on Xfm frequently. I mention their amazing website. I talk about and recommend their specialist shows, Annie N, Annie M, Alex, Kissy, Toddla, Mistajam, Fab n Groove almost weekly, I do this because we are ALL ON THE SAME SIDE. I gave huge support to BBC 6music in their hour of need. I wrote an open love letter to the BBC and asked all my fans and colleagues to fill in that BBC public consultation form and stop them from axing such an important station. That’s why I’m sick to my stomach about this.

It’s all so petty, so short sighted and so incredibly mean. Goddamit, it’s so un-Christmas-like. They haven’t even given the option to ‘listen again’ to our track on their Top 40 website. It’s the only track that’s ignored. The Mr Scruff remix would have been perfect.

I feel dismay.

All I can say to Radio 1 is this: Your warmth and generosity at this time of year is the stuff of legend. Charles Dickens’ legend, that is. I’m imagining you with a Victorian sleep hat, yelling at the nice, rosy cheeked kids playing in the snow outside your door. I hear your old, bilious voice, rasping down at them from behind your musty net curtains, the corners of your mouth white with angry spittle as you as you shake your boney fist and yell: “BAAAH… HUMBUG!”

Given Radio 1’s inability to do the right thing, allow me to show them how it’s done. The BBC, elsewhere, supported this project with open arms and big hearts. BBC Entertainment News, 6music, local radio (especially BBC Hereford & Worcester, BBC Radio Manchester and BBC Scotland) and bbc.co.uk covered us, and wrote and talked about the project and our charities. I’ll even go as far as to say that the most intelligent and thoughtful coverage of all (aside from CMU, which all the CATM organisers said was by far the best researched and reported coverage of all) was this great piece of multimedia work by someone in the BBC’s web team which captures the spirit of what we did beautifully: www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12021661

But enough. Because despite a little disappointment and a lot of dismay (but only in Radio 1’s direction!), as I said, we achieved a lot in a short time and a lot of people should be thanked for their support. All the media mentioned above who did cover our work and big up our causes, all the artists and crew who gave so much time and effort to make this happen, to the guys at Wall Of Sound and Dean Street Studios, and the original Cage Against The Machine team who let us join their party, and, most importantly, everyone who bought the record.

And don’t forget, it’s not over yet. Hopefully you’ve already bought our main ‘4’33″‘ recording, but don’t forget the remixes. Artistically speaking, these are particularly pleasing and great to experience, in addition to them further contributing to the BTA, CALM and the other CATM causes. As I’ve mentioned before, these are pocket call type recordings documenting the sounds that surround some of our favourite producers, like Mr Scruff, Fake Blood, Aeroplane and Alex Metric. Track them down on iTunes or wherever, donate, download and enjoy!

It’s been a manic month for me, and I can’t wait for the Christmas break. But I wouldn’t dare do that without first hosting one last party. And that’s the Club Remix ‘Christmash’ Party at the Proud Gallery in Camden on Thursday night (23 Dec). Krafty Kuts is doing a special party set for us, and it’s his only show in London for months. So join us for that, then have a peaceful but communicative Christmas before joining me for a special eight hour Remix on Xfm on New Years Day. Eddy Says will return in mid-January.

X eddy

CMU Artists Of The Year 2010 – #1: Tinie Tempah

Artists Of The Year

And so, we reach the end of our list of CMU’s ten artists of the 2010, with our number one artist of the year: Tinie Tempah.

Having only officially signed to EMI’s Parlophone label in October last year, Tinie Tempah has gone on to be one of 2010’s most successful artists. Most of us were focusing on the likes of Ellie Goulding and Delphic this time last year, so the south London rapper featured in only a small number of ‘tips for 2010’ lists, but by January he was already quietly laying the ground for his explosive arrival into the mainstream consciousness.

In December 2009, Parlophone uploaded the video for his debut single, ‘Pass Out’, to YouTube with little fanfare. But his already considerable underground following – built up through various singles, mixtapes, collaborations and a lot of touring – helped to slowly push that video to prominence, so that he quickly picked up new devotees amongst both mainstream pop fans and those of a more underground persuasion. And as the video’s views increased, more and more of the press and radio picked up on it, ensuring that the Labrinth-produced track went straight to number one upon its release in March.

It was at this point his rising fame tripped over the point of no return. P Diddy was on the phone and, along with Tynchy Stryder, Tinie added vocals to a remix of ‘Hello Good Morning’ by Diddy’s Dirty Money project, released in June.

The same month his own new single went to number two in the charts, held back only by Dizzee Rascal and James Corden’s World Cup single ‘Shout’. Again produced by Labrinth (who himself celebrated the success of the single by becoming the first artist to be signed by Simon Cowell from outside his TV ventures in six years), the single stuck to pretty much the same formula as ‘Pass Out’, but Tinie was already working on a far more varied album, as exemplified by the follow-up singles: ‘Written In The Stars’, which features vocals from Street Fighting Man frontman Eric Turner, ‘Miami 2 Ibiza’ with Swedish House Mafia, and new single, ‘Invincible’, with Kelly Rowland.

Having been written either side of Tinie Tempah’s sudden arrival into the public consciousness, the autobiographical lyrics of the album – ‘Disc-Overy’ – document his rapid change in lifestyle, from over-confident newcomer to international jetsetter. Working with a variety of producers and guest vocalists, Tinie has created an album that I believe will be assured a prominent position in pop history.

I can think of no album that has so successfully combined underground electronic music with mainstream pop. Of course, grime was ready to merge with the pop genre by the end of 2009, and Tinie wasn’t the only person trying to do it. But only he seemed to properly pull it off, creating great pop tracks but which maintained the edgier elements of the grime sound, where previously the likes of Tinchy Stryder had more happily stepped straight over into pop. More will now surely follow, though whether they will match ‘Disc-Overy’ is another matter. It’s a brilliant album, well constructed, and not simply a handful of singles with some hastily knocked off filler tracks.

But what about the live show? With such a rapid rise to fame, was he really ready to take his music to bigger stages. You better believe it. Tinie Tempah’s live show had the audience in a frenzy long before he reached the stage, thanks to his DJ, Charlesy, playing records between the long line-up of support acts, to keep things running along, never leaving the crowd to stand bored watching roadies move equipment around.

Though Charlsey’s work meant that Tinie Tempah had to be brilliant from the second he walked on stage, because the crowd were more than ready to go. Thankfully, he’s a natural performer and is backed by an excellent band. He did bring out a lot of guest vocalists at the London show I saw, which at time felt a little unnecessary (Kelly Rowland’s video message especially), but Tinie was still very much the focus, even holding his own alongside Tinchy Stryder, who joined him on stage for a live version of their Diddy Dirty Money remix.

For Tinie Tempah, 2010 seems to have gone perfectly. And with various tours and a second album already lined up the next twelve months, he looks set to continue on this course in 2011.

Website | iTunes | Amazon | Spotify

BMG boss says it’s EMI’s recordings he wants

Business News Labels & Publishers Top Stories

Isn’t it the Bible that foretells how the Terra Firma dynasty will one day fall, leaving a group of Citi elders to distribute the songs of the god EMI to the German King Bertie, while handing over the EMI church’s many phonographs to a strange mysterious man called Edgar? I’m pretty sure that’s all predicting somewhere in the middle of Revelation.

Anyway, it seems the bible might be wrong on this one too. Because, in an end-of-year Music Week interview with the man atop what has probably been the most acquisitive music company in 2010, it’s revealed BMG has its eyes on EMI’s recordings catalogue, not its publishing business.

As much previously reported, it has been widely assumed that if – and possibly when – equity group Terra Firma hands over the keys to EMI to Citigroup, unable or unwilling to inject any more money into the flagging music major to keep it within the terms of its multi-billion pound Citi loan, the US bank would likely split the firm into two, selling the EMI record company and music publishing business separately. Warner Music has long been seen as a buyer for the record labels, while it’s been thought BMG would buy EMI Publishing.

But, says BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch in his enlightening interview with Music Week: “Integrating EMI’s publishing [with the rest of BMG] would be tough, but if you look at the recorded side, it is a different story. We are increasingly moving into representing master catalogues and EMI is the iconic catalogue. We are more confident these days; it is no secret we are more interested in rights to masters than publishing”.

Of course, it has always been the plan that the all new BMG – launched after German media giant Bertelsmann sold its old publishing business to Universal and record labels to Sony – would be a truly integrated music rights operation, managing and monetising both publishing and sound recording rights side by side. But, with a few notable exceptions, most of BMG’s catalogue acquisitions to date have been concerned with the lyric and melody copyrights of a conventional music publisher, not sound recording copyrights of a record label.

Buying EMI’s recordings catalogue would redress the balance and make BMG as important a player in the recordings side of the music industry as it has become in music publishing. Meanwhile, the thought of BMG acquiring EMI Music rather than EMI Publishing opens up whole new avenues of speculation.

BMG has previously indicated that it isn’t especially interested in the costly and risky side of running a traditional record company, which might be bad news for the EMI labels as they currently stand. Would a BMG acquisition of the EMI record company turn it into primarily a catalogue operation? God knows EMI, like all the majors, is vastly under using its catalogue.

But, that said, a lot of EMI Music’s current successes are in its new artist operations, and its music services division, which also primarily works with new talent. Perhaps Masuch recognises this and would keep much of the existing EMI Music structure in place. The inner workings of the EMI labels are, after all, now much more efficient than those of their major label rivals following all the Terra Firma instigated cut backs of recent years.

On the other hand, if Warner were to buy EMI Music, presumably they’d merge the EMI labels with their existing recordings business. So, perhaps, for the EMI record companies, a BMG purchase would be much more palatable than being absorbed by Warner Music. And would Warner then bid for EMI Publishing instead? Or would that leave the way for Imagem or another equity group to buy EMI’s indisputably valuable publishing catalogue?

Of course, all this speculation is based on the assumption Terra Firma will hand over EMI to Citigroup sooner rather than later, and that the bank will decide there is more money to be made by splitting the London music firm up rather than selling it as a whole.

EMI chief Roger Faxon has argued that, with his business plan which, like BMG, seeks to integrate publishing and sound recording operations, it will become increasingly hard to split up the two EMI businesses. And in the long term he is probably right. But talk of integration at EMI has, so far, been mainly just that – talk – and as everyone seems to think the big sale will happen in the first half of 2011, splitting up EMI Music from EMI Publishing won’t be all that difficult.

If, when and how this will all happen remains to be seen. Meantime, I’m going to return to the scriptures to see if there are any other metaphorical clues.

Portnoy booted out of Avenged Sevenfold, turned away from Dream Theater

Artist News

Poor old Mike Portnoy, it’s not been going so well for the drummer lately. He announced in September that he was leaving Dream Theater, the band he founded and was the main creative force of for 25 years, but said he would continue performing with metallers Avenged Sevenfold.

He joined the latter earlier this year after their drummer, James ‘The Rev’ Sullivan, died. In one of various statements about his departure from Dream Theater, Portnoy wrote: “I am proud to always be part of the Avenged Sevenfold family and history”.

But this, it seems, was news to the rest of Avenged Sevenfold, who seemingly thought of Portnoy as the fill-in guy while they got themselves back together following Sullivan’s sudden death. And, according to their frontman M Shadows, Portnoy dragging them into his ongoing dispute with Dream Theater was not something they were comfortable with. So, they have apparently sent him packing, too.

Shadows told The Pulse Of Radio last week: “We were actually a little more shocked. We felt that maybe both parties [Portnoy and his former Dream Theater bandmates] could have handled it a little more internally without being so press release-happy about what had happened between them. Because we’re a band that, really, when it comes to news all over websites or this or that about bands, you know, we don’t tweet much, we don’t try to put ourselves out that much, and all the drama and controversy wasn’t something that we wanted at all”.

Having seemingly learned no lesson from this whatsoever, Portnoy this week issued a new statement, revealing that he’d recently attempted to rejoin Dream Theater, but to no avail.

Portnoy wrote on his website’s forum: “Fairly recently, I reached out to the guys to try and make amends and offered to reconcile for the sake of having peace back in our lives (plus I know how much it meant to a lot of the fans). I figured it was still possible to try and save us because they hadn’t made any announcements yet or begun any public activity with another drummer. But sadly, they declined my offer (well, actually their lawyer did, they didn’t even tell me themselves)”.

He continued: “Sorry gang, I honestly gave it my all… So now the fans on my Twitter and Facebook can please stop asking me to go back to DT. I tried, and the door is now shut, the ball is now in their court, not mine…”

Pre-empting this statement’s likely backlash, he wrote: “I’m not crying or looking for mercy by posting this. I am merely trying to set the record straight as that is always the most important thing about my relationship with you guys. No BS, no spins, nothing to hide… and for better or for worse, I tell it like it is”.

He added: “I’ve also recently seen some people accuse my online activity of ‘looking for attention or media coverage’, or ‘looking for sympathy’, but it’s honestly none of the above. I merely value having an open and active communication with my fans, always have, always will. It is the cornerstone of everything I’ve done since day one with DT”.

Beecher reform for tenth anniversary

Artist News

Influential British hardcore band Beecher have announced that they will reform for a tour in 2011 to mark the tenth anniversary of their formation. In a statement, the band said: “Summer 2011 sees the ten year anniversary of the start of Beecher. We disbanded suddenly [in early 2006], during our most active period, playing just one ‘goodbye’ gig, at which more than 100 fans of the band were rejected at the doors of the already over-capacity venue”.

They continued: “Having had five years of reflection time, and considering the aforementioned fact that our tenth birthday is fast approaching, we have decided to reform, playing a handful of shows over the course of 2011 – the first of which will take place on 29 Apr at the Star & Garter, in our hometown of Manchester. The rest are as-of-yet unconfirmed”.

Tour dates will be announced on the band’s MySpace page as they are confirmed: www.myspace.com/beecherband

Simply Red split

Artist News

At last, Mick Hucknall has carried out his long offered promise to bring Simply Red to an end. The band played their final show at the O2 Arena on Sunday night.

At the close of the show, Hucknall announced to the audience: “Good night, adios, Simply Red are no more”.

The singer first announced his intention to stop performing as Simply Red after one more final round of touring two years ago.

Tinie Tempah not ready to sign US deal

Artist News

Tinie Tempah has denied rumours that he is preparing to sign to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label in the US, as he’s not ready to make the move to the States just yet.

The rapper told M Is For Music: “I’ve just been here in America doing quite a few things actually, and none of them has been that. You know what – at this moment in time I’m just concentrating on what I’m doing. What Jay-Z has achieved for himself is incredible and if I could achieve something like that I’d be happy. But not at this minute. Only time will tell”.

He also commented on the current state of hip hop and rap in the UK, saying: “I think rap is doing just like it did in America, slowly becoming part of popular culture. It’s gonna get to a point where rap music, I believe, will have a few prominent figures in the same way that America has the iconic Jay-Z, Kanye West and now Drake. I definitely think there will be a few iconic figures in British music who will have that sort of iconic status and will be able to headline festivals and tours”.

Blur to record new album, maybe

Artist News

Damon Albarn recently announced that Blur were planning to do something together again next year. And that thing might be an album. It might not, of course. But it might be. And The Sun has quotes from unnamed sources saying they are at the very least going to record some stuff, so it must be true. Or not true. One of those things.

The anonymous jabberer told the tabloid: “The lads will be getting in the studio next year. There’s no concrete plans regarding what they will do with the material, but if they’re all agreed it could become the first full Blur album to feature all four members in over a decade”.

They added: “When they went into the studio earlier this year [to record one-off single ‘Fool’s Day’] everyone was really pleased to discover that the old magic was still there. They would have liked to have done more, but Damon could not take part due to his commitments with Gorillaz. Now that he’s finished touring with the band he has more time on his hands”.

Albarn also recently announced that he would be putting Gorillaz on hiatus for 2011 while he worked on other projects.

New Scissor Sisters video

Releases

The Scissor Sisters have posted a message online thanking their UK fans for turning out into the snow for their recent gigs over here, while suggesting us Brits might want to invest in a new snow plough or two. They’ve also posted a video for their next single on YouTube which is how this counts as release news, in case you wondered.

Say the Sisters: “It is with triumph and joy that we Scissor Sisters bid ta-ta to our British fans and friends. To say that we enjoyed our UK tour is a massive understatement: we have played our best, looked our best, and were blessed with the best audiences of our career. A huge THANK YOU to all who braved the elements (especially our Glaswegian sisters) and told the snow to sod off – and [we pass on] encouragement to all citizens of the UK to call your local council and MPs and have them invest some money in a snow plough or two. Take it from us New Yorkers: a little snow is nothing to be afraid of, just an opportunity to show off your shovelling skills!”

The video for next single ‘Invisible Light’, which is due for release in the new year, is a bit crazy and can be enjoyed at: youtu.be/SG4cec5cR78

New Kode9 album promised

Releases

Early dupstepper Kode9 has announced that he will release a new album with occasional collaborator The Spaceape next April, some five years on from last long player ‘Memories Of The Future’. It will be called ‘Black Sun’ and will come out on Kode9’s own Hyperdub label. So, that’s something to look forward to.

Winehouse a bit pissed at comeback gig

Gigs & Festivals

Amy Winehouse reportedly slurred and stumbled her way through a recent gig in Russia, which isn’t much of a way to start a new chapter in your career.

Some hoped Winehouse’s first proper gigs for quite some time, in Russia and Brazil, might see the singer return to form, but that’s not how it turned out if the Russian media reports The Sun has been reading are true. The tabloid cites Russian reports that Winehouse arrived in good health for her gig but downed a bottle of whisky backstage and so began her set rather worse for wear.

I’m not sure Winehouse is really earning the $450,000 The Sun reckons she will receive for the current string of gigs.

Seefeel tour

Gigs & Festivals

Electro-alt-rock types Seefeel have announced live dates for March that will follow the release of a new eponymous album via Warp on 31 Jan, a track from which you can preview online at this here URL: snd.sc/hZHR0V. There’ll also be a London gig on the day of the album release at Kings Place.

The March dates are as follows:

18 Mar: Manchester, Islington Mill
19 Mar: Dublin, Button Factory
21 Mar: Glasgow, The Arts School
22 Mar: Birmingham, Hare & Hounds

New all-you-can-eat mobile music service to launch in US

Digital

A US mobile operator called Cricket Wireless yesterday confirmed plans to launch an all-you-can-eat music service in January, offering pay-as-you-go customers access to unlimited downloads and a load of other mobile services for $55 a month, which seems quite expensive, but possibly not in the context of the average mobile fee in the States.

It’s not clear how much of that monthly fee is actually allocated to the music part of the service, but the idea is that to the customer the extra download subscription fee is hidden.

Although sounding a little like Nokia’s Comes With Music, the Cricket Wireless service, to be called Muve, operates more like the original (v2) Napster. Downloads come with DRM which means they can only be played while a Muve subscription is active, once a subscription lapses the tracks become unplayable. Also, unlike Comes With Music, the tracks are only downloaded to the mobile, there is no option to also listen to a tune on a PC.

Cricket Wireless bosses say the latter point isn’t a weakness because many of their customers don’t own a PC or have a broadband connection at home, and therefore use their mobile phone as their primary device for accessing the net. They hope that added benefits like in built Shazam, curated playlists, the facility to share music with other subscribers and super fast downloading will all make the service more attractive.

All four majors and a bunch of indies are on board for the launch next month.

Mastercard and US ad industry make commitments to anti-piracy efforts

Digital

Both Mastercard and America’s Interactive Advertising Bureau have indicated to US content industry trade bodies that they are happy to play ball in efforts to shut down websites that exist exclusively or primarily to aid copyright infringement, by refusing to take payments from or sell advertising on behalf of such operations.

According to CNET, the two organisations have made the commitments amid lobbying efforts in Washington by music and movie companies to introduce that previously reported proposed legislation that would empower the US Department Of Justice to shut down websites that commit extensive intellectual property infringements.

As previously reported, the proposed new laws on the table in America are similar to the second part of the copyright section of the UK’s Digital Economy Act, and are designed to speed up the process through which content owners can target online operations that undertake or enable copyright infringement. Of course, said content owners can already pursue civil lawsuits against such websites – and have, in the main, been successful when they have done so – but such litigation is expensive and drawn out. The new system would make it much quicker and much cheaper.

It should be noted that this element of the DEA was basically cut at the last minute to ensure three-strikes got through parliament (in that the framework for such a system is still in the Act, but with a ‘maybe we’ll do this one day, maybe we won’t’ clause thrown in). In the US this fast-track infringement action system is being considered in isolation, three-strikes is not currently part of the plan in America.

It has long pissed off content owners when they see legitimate credit card companies or advertising agencies helping copyright infringing websites generate revenue. The former have played ball before, it was the credit card firms refusing to work with AllofMP3.com that basically brought the rogue Russian download service crashing down. And in the latter domain, Google recently said it would better vet users of its AdWords system to ensure advertising money wasn’t being passed to infringers.

Of course, anti-piracy commitments from credit and ad companies only help to an extent, as many copyright infringing services are non-commercial and don’t need to take credit card payments or sell advertising. Though some of those services might want to take donations to cover costs, or may have secret commercial ambitions, or might be seeking investment, and such measures by Mastercard and the IAB may scupper any such plans.

New anti-piracy system close to being passed in Spain

Digital

As previously reported, Spain has also been developing new laws to make it easier for content owners to shut down websites that enable copyright infringement, and it is thought said laws could get the green light this week.

Ahead of that vote a number of websites likely to be affected by the new laws, including Seriespepito, Seriesyonkis, Divxtotal, Mydescarga, Cinetube, took their services offline on Sunday in protest. They refer to the proposed new system as the Sinde Law, and posted a message on their home pages at the weekend that said if the new laws are passed: “This page will disappear. Internet will be one more television, serving the powers that be. For freedom of expression in the web. No to censorship. No to the Sinde Law. And no to the closure of websites”.

Political types have been trying to placate the web and consumer lobbies by proposing a mediation service which could negotiate between accused websites and the country’s Committee For Intellectual Property, which will charged with the task of taking action against infringers.

But given many of the sites opposing the new legislation are out and out copyright infringers it’s not clear what would be mediated exactly. True, Spanish copyright law is notorious for providing online piracy operations with loopholes to exploit, though the whole point of the so called Sinde Law is to demonstrate to the content industries at home and abroad that Spain is getting to grips with the rampant copyright infringement that takes place there.

Talking of which, there is a Wikileaks element to this story which possibly gives the anti-copyright lobby in Spain more political weight, in that one set of the Wiki-leaked diplomatic cables from the US shows the pressure America has been putting on Spain to sort out its copyright laws. Those who oppose the Sinde Law in Spain are likely to say that those who support it are just kowtowing to the Americans. Though it seems unlikely that will actually stop the new anti-piracy system from becoming law.

OfCom to investigate Christina and Rihanna’s X performances

Business News Media

Media regulator OfCom has said it will investigate the raunchy dance routines involving those pesky American pop chicks Christina Aguilera and Rihanna that appeared pre-watershed on the ‘X-Factor’ earlier this month, and which have generated over 4000 complaints, 2750 to the regulator itself and a further 1500 to ITV.

It’s not currently clear quite how many of the 4250 complainers were actually outraged while watching the aforementioned popstresses gyrate on live TV for the millions of families watching at home, or whether their outrage came about after reading about the whole thing in the Daily Mail, which published pictures of Rihanna and Christina’s more sexual moves, because, of course “our readers have to see these pictures to understand the fury they’ve stirred”.

The Mail’s one time terrible food critic turned terrible columnist Jan Moir then took a moment away from guzzling down some cream cakes (probably) to declare “all these sex-crazed nymphs on my telly before the watershed, I bet the gays were behind this” (possibly… well, she said at least some of that).

OfCom held off from launching an immediate investigation into the Rihanna and Christina routines, but has now confirmed it will review the situation to see if any of its rules were broken when ITV aired the pop performances in an early evening slot.

ITV is already believed to have told ‘X-Factor’ makers Fremantle and Syco to air more caution when booking such performances in the future, while it’s believed Fox TV, which will air ‘X’ in the US from next year, has warned the show’s producers that such routines must not appear on its network.

New product placement rules for UK TV and radio – full-blown payola still not allowed on radio

Media

As media regulator OfCom yesterday confirmed product placement would become legal in films, dramas, soaps, entertainment and sport shows on commercial TV networks in the UK from next February, new relaxed rules were also published regards commercial messages on non-BBC radio stations.

The legislative framework was put in place to allow TV and radio companies to charge brands for their products to appear in programmes earlier this year, though OfCom has been working out exactly how it will work until yesterday. Having now published some of its regulations governing product placement on TV, the main surprise in OfCom’s rule book is that shows in which products are commercially placed will have to display a logo that says so at the start and after any commercial breaks.

In radio land commercial networks will, for the first time, be able to charge brands for on-air coverage in programmes, though “appropriate signalling of commercial arrangements” will be required, whatever that means. Commercial messages will not be allowed during news or children’s programming.

Perhaps of most interest to the music industry is that the new rules do not allow the commercialisation of playlists, meaning payola – where labels pay radio stations to play their music – is still not allowed. The rules specifically prohibit commercial arrangements regards the “selection and rotation of music”.

Though presumably labels will be able to pay for DJs to more aggressively plug music during the links, providing they “signal appropriately”. And some worry that might result in commercial concerns influencing what music is played to an extent at least, even if the sales department is kept away from general playlisting. Time will tell, I guess.

Cowell in line for a knighthood, reports claim

And Finally

The Mail On Sunday has been wandering around telling everyone that Simon Cowell is going to get a knighthood next year. Quite how the Mail knows this, I don’t know. Well, it says ‘sources’ told them. In which case, it must be true.

According to the Mail, Cowell will get the knighthood because of all his humanitarian work. You know, he released that awful and rather inappropriate few-star cover of REM’s ‘Everybody Hurts’ to raise money for the victims of the Haitian earthquake. Bosh – knighthood.

We’ll find out whether the Mail is right or not on 31 Dec when the Queen publishes her New Year’s Honours list.

Muse in trouble for smoking in Australia

And Finally

Oh dear, Muse are bad boys. Or at least bassist Chris Wolstenholme is. When the band recently played the Ron Laver Arena in Melbourne, he was caught flouting a smoking ban by, well, smoking.

According to MTV, he initially tried to hide the fact he was breaking the rules by only smoking when dry ice was being pumped onto the stage, but eventually gave up this plan because it was stupid. Either that, or he’s so bloody anti-establishment he just wanted to be caught. That’s probably it. Muse are, after all, well known for their “anti-establishment” ways. I said that just the other day. “Aren’t Muse just, like, so anti-establishment”, I said.

Anyway, venue rep Jo Juler said: “Officials spoke to the band before and after the show and we were extremely disappointed when they decided to flaunt our strict no-smoking policy. They are known as an anti-establishment style of performance group, but it was still sad that they decided to go ahead regardless”.

See, she said it too. Fight the power, Muse, you crazy anarchists, you.

Jedward critique Florence’s long term career possibilities

And Finally

I think it’s fair to say that we’re all pretty impressed that Jedward are still as famous as ever. We may not like it, but you have to admire, just a little bit, the fact that a duo whose main selling point is that they have silly hair and can’t sing are nevertheless carving out a lucrative career for themselves. Good management you say? Possibly, but well done Team Jedward.

Anyway, the Guardian yesterday published one of those tedious let’s-interview-someone-who-clearly-has-no-interest-in-non-mainstream-music-and-then-mock-them-when-we-find-that-to-be-true features that have been so popular of late. Actually, I think the dynamic duo were meant to be reviewing the ‘biggest songs of the year’ for the broadsheet, but Salem were in there, who Jedward had, quite reasonably, not heard of.

But the best bit of the interview was their blunt critique of Florence Welch’s future career while reviewing her single ‘Dog Days Are Over’ (which I’d say was a 2008/2009 song, but whatever). They, apparently in unison, mused thus: “Yeah, she’s good. We’ve got two signed albums at home. And yes, it’s a really, really good song. Universal’s really pushing her to be really big. To be this big global artist. Will she meet their expectations? No”.

So, there you have it, Jedward have spoken. Now, who’s going to book these guys to write a weekly A&R column?

Approved: Active Child (Best Of Approved 2010)

CMU Approved

Having first come to our attention in late 2009 through his brilliant remix of NewIsland’s ‘Out Of Time’, and then an original track, ‘I’m In Your Church At Night’, Active Child, aka LA-based musician Pat Grossi, continued to build a buzz around himself this year with two extremely limited cassette and vinyl releases, followed by his first full release, the ‘Curtis Lane’ EP, via Merok in June.

Grossi’s sound encompasses ghostly analogue electronica, vocals influenced by a childhood spent singing in classical choirs, and a slow-plucked harp. It’s a distinct style amongst the current crop of indie electronica. And he’s also continued to provide excellent remixes for the likes of Marina & The Diamonds, Steve Mason and School Of Seven Bells this year, as he works on his debut album, due for release next year.

www.myspace.com/activechild

Live Review: Jenny and Johnny at 93 Feet East in London on 7 Dec

Live Reviews

“If you’ve got any questions, you can ask them now”, Johnathan Rice tells the crowd.

“Thanks for coming to Brick Lane on a Tuesday night”, one punter shouts from the back.

“That is not a question, sir.” Johnathan replies flippantly, cocking his guitar and flicking his slightly sweaty dirty-blond hair away from his face. “But you’re very fucking welcome”.

And so the attitude of Jenny and Johnny’s first of five London gigs is set in place – cool and collected, but tarred with a hint of (nevertheless endearing) loftiness.

It’s a long gig – but it’s in no way slugged out as the duo – both amazing solo artists in their own right – play every song from their debut ‘I’m Having Fun Now’, plus a few surprises and old favourites most of us (rabid fans) in the audience know very well. Jenny Lewis is a tiny redhead with a voice that could tear down walls, Johnathan Rice is her rough and world-weary partner in crime. I’d say she’s the June Carter to his Johnny Cash – but let’s not compare, because she’s definitely not sweet enough for that, and that’s a good thing.

After a good (bloody good) forty minutes of material from the aforementioned album plus a new song, J and J part ways for some solo treats, including Lewis’s excellent ‘Carpetbaggers’ which sends the crowd into a frenzy. They lift us up, and up again, and it is with this feeling so inexplicably high that I leave the building, safe in the knowledge that I ended the year with the best gig I’ve seen in 2010. TW

Five Day Forecast – w/c 20 Dec 2010

CMU Planner

Hello, I’ve got something a bit different for you today. Rather than rounding up what’s coming up in the music world over the next five days, I’m going to tell you what’s happening at CMU over the next five months. So that’ll be fun, won’t it? No, really, it will. We’ve got loads of brilliant and exciting stuff coming up. Look, here it is…

01: Artist Of The Year. So, tomorrow the waiting comes to an end and we finally reveal our top artist of the year. Actually, anyone who read last week’s CMU Weekly will already know who it is, but that’s beside the point. Tomorrow we publish a lengthy feature explaining exactly why that person is top of the pile in 2010, which I expect you all to read. There will be a test (there won’t).

02: Review Of The Year. On Wednesday it’s the return of our ever popular CMU Review Of The Year, which rounds up all the big stuff that happened in the world of music in the last twelve months and shrinks it all down to easily digestible nuggets. Like those mini burgers they sell in M&S but with words. We’ve slavishly gone back through our archives and pulled out all the most interesting and exciting stuff, so stay tuned.

03: The Great Escape. As we announced earlier this month, CMU will be programming the conference section of next year’s Great Escape festival in Brighton. We’re very excited about this and have already lined up some very cool stuff, though it’s currently all top secret, and telling you now would require subsequently killing you, which would be no way to start the Christmas holidays. But rest assured, you’ll find out more about what is in store at the ultimate music business gathering next May here in the CMU Daily from January. Though if you’re willing to take my word for it that it will be brilliant, and you fancy picking up a pre-Christmas bargain, you can get early bird tickets at a special price at www.escapegreat.com.

04: CMU-Tube and podcast. Two new additions to the CMU media empire will be coming your way in the new year. Firstly, there’s the relaunch of our CMU-Tube video service, which will bring you great interviews, live performances and more every week. And we’ve also got the new CMU podcast, which will round up the week in music every Friday from 21 Jan. Hosted by Chris Cooke and myself, it will feature the usual waffling in the CMU style you’ve come to know and love, but in glorious audio. Bonus.

05: CMU Training. The next series of our acclaimed one-day CMU training seminars begins on 12 Jan. As before, we’ll be covering music copyright, music PR and developing business models for the music industry. They’re filled with up-to-the-minute information and ideas at an affordable price. Hey, but don’t take my word for it, here’s what one delegate said earlier this year: “The best music business training event I have attended; relevant and up to date, your knowledge of and enthusiasm for the industry is simply exceptional”.

And there ends my final Five Day Forecast of 2010. There will be more in 2011, so please stop your crying. The last CMU Daily of the year will be with you tomorrow, and it will then return on 6 Jan, followed lazily by CMU Weekly on 21 Jan, along with our first podcast.

So, now all that remains to do is wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year. I hope it’s all extra festive, restful and fun.

Andy Malt
Editor, CMU

Captain Beefheart dies

Obituaries

American musician and painter Don Van Vliet, better known to the music world as Captain Beefheart, died last week aged 69, after succumbing to complications caused by the multiple sclerosis he had suffered from for many years.

Van Vliet began making his distinctive, eclectic and experimental brand of music using the Captain Beefheart moniker in 1964, joining with The Magic Band the following year. He garnered much critical acclaim with his debut album ‘Safe As Milk’ in 1967, though label issues followed and he was dropped by two record companies in as many years, and it was thanks to his school friend Frank Zappa, who signed Van Vliet to his Straight Records label, that one of the most acclaimed and most influential Captain Beefheart albums – ‘Trout Mask Replica’ – was released in 1969.

A falling out with his Magic Band and a brief flirtation with more conventional rock music saw Van Vliet’s music career take a wobble in the mid-seventies, but the recruitment of a new supporting band resulted in a return to form for the final three Captain Beefheart albums between 1978 and 1982. Then Van Vliet decided to quit music and concentrate on his other passion, painting. It’s said that art gallery owner Michael Werner told Van Vliet he’d never be taken seriously as an artist while he continued to make music.

Despite having been known for his distinct public persona at the height of his music career, Van Vliet kept a low profile after 1982, though there were regular exhibitions of his artwork. By the 1990s it was known the now full time visual artist was suffering from health problems, though there were differing reports as to the extent to which his MS affected Van Vliet’s day-to-day life.

Confirming his death, a spokesman for Werner’s New York gallery, an organisation with which Van Vliet enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship, told reporters this weekend: “Don Van Vliet was a complex and influential figure in the visual and performing arts. He is perhaps best known as the incomparable Captain Beefheart who, together with his Magic Band, rose to prominence in the 1960s with a totally unique style of blues-inspired, experimental rock n roll. This would ultimately secure Van Vliet’s place in music history as one of the most original recording artists of his time”.

He continued: “After two decades in the spotlight as an avant-garde composer and performer, Van Vliet retired from performing to devote himself wholeheartedly to painting and drawing. Like his music, Van Vliet’s lush paintings are the product of a truly rare and unique vision”.

Van Vliet is survived by his wife of more than 40 years, Jan.

Could Neverland become a music school?

Doherty may be requestioned about 2006 party death

Legal

Pete Doherty may be re-interviewed by police over the death of Mark Blanco, the actor who died after being thrown out of a party attended by the Babyshambler in 2006.

As previously reported, Blanco fell to his death from a balcony in the building where Doherty was attending a party. Some eyewitnesses said Blanco had previously had a run in with Doherty and/or one of his associates that night, though the host of the party, Paul Roundhill, denied this. What is pretty certain, though, is that Roundhill twice forcefully evicted Blanco from his flat, the first time punching him several times in the process. It was shortly after Blanco’s second eviction that he fell to his death.

At the time, police investigations focused on the theory Blanco’s death was either suicide or an accident, perhaps as Blanco attempted to make his exit by jumping to a lamppost. But the coroner rejected the suicide theory, and, on declaring an open verdict, encouraged police to reopen their investigations.

Blanco’s mother has also been calling for further investigations and, according to the Daily Mail, the Met police have now confirmed they are revisiting the case, with a source telling the tabloid: “[It will be] a meticulous search for the truth… A number of individuals who were at the party will have to be interviewed”. It is widely assumed that will include Doherty.

Wednesday 22 December 2010, 16:24 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: CMU Artists Of 2010 | CMU Review Of 2010 | CMU Review Of The Year

Wednesday 22 December 2010, 14:10 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: CMU Review Of 2010 | CMU Review Of The Year

Wednesday 22 December 2010, 14:05 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: CMU Review Of 2010 | CMU Review Of The Year

Wednesday 22 December 2010, 14:00 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: CMU Review Of 2010 | CMU Review Of The Year

Tuesday 21 December 2010, 16:57 | By Eddy Temple-Morris

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Tuesday 21 December 2010, 13:00 | By CMU Editorial

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Tuesday 21 December 2010, 12:55 | By CMU Editorial

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Tuesday 21 December 2010, 12:52 | By CMU Editorial

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Tuesday 21 December 2010, 12:50 | By CMU Editorial

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Tuesday 21 December 2010, 12:48 | By CMU Editorial

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Tuesday 21 December 2010, 12:46 | By CMU Editorial

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Tuesday 21 December 2010, 12:40 | By CMU Editorial

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Tuesday 21 December 2010, 12:37 | By CMU Editorial

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Tuesday 21 December 2010, 12:36 | By CMU Editorial

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Tuesday 21 December 2010, 12:35 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Christina Aguilera | Daily Mail | ITV | OfCom | Rihanna | X-Factor

Tuesday 21 December 2010, 12:34 | By CMU Editorial

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Tuesday 21 December 2010, 12:33 | By CMU Editorial

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Tuesday 21 December 2010, 12:31 | By CMU Editorial

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Tuesday 21 December 2010, 12:30 | By CMU Editorial

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Tuesday 21 December 2010, 12:17 | By Andy Malt

READ MORE ABOUT: Active Child | Best Of CMU Approved

Monday 20 December 2010, 16:00 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Jenny And Johnny | TW

Monday 20 December 2010, 13:05 | By Andy Malt

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Monday 20 December 2010, 13:01 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Captain Beefheart | Don Van Vliet

Monday 20 December 2010, 13:00 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Colony Capital | Michael Jackson | Neverland

Monday 20 December 2010, 12:59 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Mark Blanco | Pete Doherty