Friday 29 July 2011, 20:42 | By Andy Malt

CMU Weekly – Friday 29 Jul 2011

CMU Weekly Editor's Letter

Last Saturday, I received a shock. I guess we all did. The news that Amy Winehouse had died was so sudden and surprising.

Obviously, writing about music and the people involved in it means that I often write about death. On my birthday last year I started the day with the less than brilliant task of writing an obituary about Frank Sidebottom, and I’ve written countless other such retrospectives and news stories about the passing of musicians and music industry figures over the years.

But writing about death is one thing, it’s the initial discovery that is usually the most affecting moment. In the case of Amy Winehouse (and this is something I’m slightly reticent to admit, being someone who is supposed to be on top of the news at all times), I learned of her passing via a text from my mum.

I was at ATP’s Portishead-curated I’ll Be Your Mirror festival in London. I’d stopped my incessant checking of Twitter and RSS feeds for an hour, in which time the news had broken. It reached me in four words: “Amy Winehouse is dead”. That was pretty much all the news there was, but it seemed like a lot to take in all at once. Usually there’s at least some time spent trying to confirm if it’s true or not, which eases you into it. This seemed so very definite.

Actually, I was surprised how hard it hit me. I found it more upsetting than the average death of a celebrity I’d never met. I still find it quite upsetting. I think it was partly because I’d always thought she would one day overcome her addictions and make a big comeback. But also, I think it was just because I always kinda liked her. She was funny. And that was the real tragedy; she was both talented and likeable, but became as well, or perhaps more, known for her drink and drug use.

That said, unlike many casualties of rock n roll, her music did prevail. She never got to the stage, I don’t think, where people were going to her gigs just to see a car crash. Audiences weren’t, unlike many who went to see Babyshambles at their ‘peak’, just being voyeuristic. People wanted her to perform, and perform well.

But, of course, there was plenty of voyeurism going on outside her shows. When I first joined CMU in 2008, she was pretty much a daily fixture in the tabloids. She was never that far from CMU, either. It would be wrong of me to suggest we’d been holier than thou when it came to covering her troubled personal life, and particularly her marriage to Blake Fielder-Civil.

With that in mind, you might find the rest of this a bit hypocritical, but I’ve written before about how uncomfortable a lot of the media’s coverage of death makes me feel. Especially when there are unanswered questions. The rush to find answers to such questions in these days of 24 hour rolling news often overtakes the reality of the situation.

Like many last Friday afternoon, I was glued to BBC News coverage of the terrorist attack in Norway. At that point, the horrific massacre of 69 young people was still unknown and the focus was the bomb that had gone off in the government building in Oslo. The explosion had happened less than two hours previously and yet BBC reporters continually asked people caught up in it if they were still in shock. Unsurprisingly, they all were.

Then a government spokesman was interviewed, and quizzed on who he thought was responsible and what sort of bomb it was. Questions he was clearly not going to be able to answer, and thankfully he didn’t attempt to, merely pointing out that the dust hadn’t yet settled and they were still trying to help survivors. Sometimes I wish 24 news channels would switch off when it was clear there’s not actually anything to say.

I’m not trying to draw any comparison between the attack itself and Amy Winehouse’s death, but there was a similarity in the way we grabbed for answers where there were none. To some extent, this is understandable. We’re a curious bunch. But as soon as it was announced that Amy had died, the quest to find out how was on. Speculation was rife, and many media outlets seemed happy to report on any rumour going. But the fact is, we don’t know what happened, and won’t know for sure for at least another month, as a postmortem was inconclusive. Until the results of toxicology and histology tests there will be no answers.

At least, I suppose, that speculation sticks to the topic in hand. It has perhaps been more shocking to see how many websites were comfortable using Amy Winehouse’s death as a means of drawing in Google-searchers to boost web statistics. Websites whose remit does not stretch to the death of a pop star – technology websites revealing that people are talking about her on Twitter, the blog of a men’s magazine publishing a critique of Blake Fielder-Civil’s fashion sense, and (most amazingly) a look at what small business owners can learn from Winehouse’s death.

Reporting on speculation and drifting out of remit is something we’re all prone to do, of course. CMU does it a lot. But we have become a society that craves content and information in greater and greater quantities. We want to own more music than we can listen to in our lifetime, we want news to be constant. I’m as guilty of this as anybody. Shit, I’ve made it my living. But sometimes, I think, a little restraint goes a long way.

Remember, sometimes less is more, and with that in mind I think the NME should be commended for its excellent cover this week.

Before I go, I should mention that our sister publication, ThreeWeeks, will be in action covering the Edinburgh Festival from next week. They will be pumping out news, reviews, podcasts, plus a weekly print newspaper, for four weeks. In that time, they’ll review around 2000 shows. Catch it all at www.ThreeWeeks.co.uk.

And there I think I shall leave you.

Andy Malt
Editor, CMU

THE BULLETIN: Click here to read this week’s CMU Weekly bulletin

Playlist: Mirrors

CMU Playlists

Mirrors claim to take inspiration from a wide range of people, from American physicist Richard Feynman to footballer Lionel Messi. This results in ambient synth-filled pop, which has drawn comparisons to the likes of Depeche Mode, OMD and Tears For Fears.

The band create their music using, amongst other equipment, a large collection of vintage synths, lending a warmth and unpredictability to the songs. Says frontman James New: “We like that whole idea that your art is your life, you are what you make. We love old synths – they only play one note at a time. They go out of tune. They’re a nightmare to program. But that’s why we like them. We don’t want everything completely polished and produced”.

Having confronted their instruments head on, the band released their debut album, ‘Lights And Offerings’, through Skint in February, along with the excellent single, ‘Into The Heart’. More recently, they released the double A-side ‘Look At Me/Perfectly Still’, and created an official remix of Lady Gaga’s ‘Judas’.

Always well turned out, the band this week launched their own line of ties with Brighton-based tailor Gresham Blake. And this weekend they are due to perform at designer Wayne Hemmingway’s equally style conscious Vintage Festival.

Ahead of that, James New put together a Powers Of Ten playlist for us, and and synth man James Arguile popped in to add a track, too.

MIRRORS’ TEN
Click here to listen to James and James’ playlist in Spotify, and then read on to find out more about their selections.

01 The Horrors – Still Life
James New: For me they are one of the few British bands who consistently deliver exciting songs. They have a knack of mixing genres and sounds that really shouldn’t work together, putting them together and making something magnificent. They can sound huge, dense and exhilarating when turned up nice and loud.

02 Charles Mingus – Track A-Solo Dancer
James Arguile: The surging, lurching intro to this piece of music makes me feel sea sick, in a good way. The music swells and seethes, restless, warped. It feels like the sound of a black mood, an uncomfortable, oppressive mental state. When the drums kick in proper, the sax comes out like the sun with the most sublime line, and the music flops into a bizarre space between the languorous and the tensely fraught. It’s a mind-bender.

03 Ryuichi Sakamoto – Riot In Lagos
JN: What you have to remember when you hear this track is just exactly how old it is (31 years old, to be precise). It anticipated the sound of electro in one move. Its stylish swagger is mischievously infectious and you cannot help but imagine yourself walking the busy streets of Tokyo when under its spell. Its sound also had a direct and obvious impact on the developing hip hop scene, with Afrika Bambaata and Kurtis Mantronik both citing it as a major influence. It is, simply, timeless.

04 Prince – Sign O The Times
JN: It would be wrong and unfair to make a top ten mixtape without including Prince. The man can put anyone and everyone in their place in one fell swoop. This is just about as funky as he gets.

05 Neu! – Hallogallo
JN: A perfect track with which to awake from a deep sleep and begin the day. It’s long, so you should have time to make a brew, check the news and get your clothes on before it finishes. The perfect relentless groove.

06 The Velvet Underground – I’m Waiting For The Man
JN: It might just be that my girlfriend has woken me up to this song for the last three years but it never leaves my brain. I’m always singing the bloody thing.

07 Television – Carried Away
JN: If I were going to make a film, this song would start it.

08 Gang Of Four – Natural’s Not In It
JN: Angry, aggressive, yet streamlined and full of utter purpose. They don’t make bands like this any more.

09 The Slits – Newtown
JN: Ari Up was just fifteen when she sang these vocals. And what a great rhythm, too. Oh, the production… everything about this is just right, but as if it just happened to happen that way.

10 Teardrop Explodes – Ha Ha I’m Drowning
JN: I love the exuberant brass in this. How Julian Cope managed to make this band sound so good is beyond me. I feel as if they could very easily have been awful. But they’re not. They’re great, and Cope is a legend.

CMU Beef Of The Week #73: 50 Cent v Interscope

And Finally Beef Of The Week

Last year, rappers Nas and Shyne wrote letters to their label Def Jam to express grievances with the company’s direction in recent years. Both singled out LA Reid as the main problem (so will presumably have been pleased by his recent departure), while Nas accused the Universal-owned record company of being “a rap label that doesn’t understand rap”.

This week 50 Cent has been complaining about another Universal label, this time Interscope, to whom he is signed. Although he didn’t go for the classy long-form letter (OK, email) option, he went with the whiney, complain about it on Twitter alternative.

The rapper told his fans that he’s basically on strike following disagreements with his label. The exact nature of his squabble with Interscope chiefs isn’t clear, though it possibly stems from a run in back in May when Fiddy accused the major imprint of “moving in slow motion”.

Having said his fifth studio album was 80% complete at the start of the year, he’s now taken to Twitter to tell fans not to expect that record any time soon. He tweeted yesterday: “Man I’m not releasing an album… I can’t believe Interscope is this fucked up right now. I apologize to all my fans. I will work with other artists on their projects but I will not put out another album. They dropped the ball with me one time too many… they can’t seem to get it right when it comes to me”.

So there you go. One of the ‘other artists’ Fiddy has been working with recently is Dr Dre, and the rapper subsequently indicated via the Tweet machine that he might post his latest collaboration with his mentor on the net this week, possibly in violation of Interscope’s wishes, though it’s not entirely clear if the posting of that track would actually constitute a leak, and anyway, it hasn’t happened as yet.

The music business week in five – 22 Jul 2011

Business News Week In Five

So tonight, just before midnight, I shall put a rucksack containing a month’s worth of clothes on my back (believe me, there is no time for doing laundry in August) and board a train at Euston Station heading north for that place called Scotland. Yes, August is upon us, which means it is time for another Edinburgh Festival, the biggest god damn cultural party on the planet, where well over 2500 shows, concerts, performances, talks and debates will take place, most of them during the three weeks between 5 and 29 Aug. As you probably know by now, in my secret other life I co-edit the biggest review media at this festival, ThreeWeeks, making August the busiest month of my year. For much of the next four weeks you will be able to find me over at www.ThreeWeeks.co.uk.

Not that that means I’ll be taking my eye off the music business, so don’t think you can get away with doing anything drastic while I’m not looking, like introducing an affordable blanket licence for digital start ups, getting rid of rip off booking fees on gig tickets, or accepting the introduction of a private copy right without compensation. August is no time for doing things that are sensible. There will be no Week In Five for the next few weeks, but we’ll still be keeping you up to date with all the developments in the music business as and when they happen. You just watch them go and sell EMI just as I’m on one of my crucial Edinburgh deadlines. I can see myself now, proof reading from that little BBC studio next to the Scottish parliament while trying to sound intelligent about the demise/continuation/rosy future (delete as applicable) of the last remaining British major record company.

Anyway, enough of the future, let’s look back at the week just gone.

01: The industry paid tribute to Amy Winehouse. While not strictly business news, the sudden and untimely death of one of British music’s greatest 21st century vocalists last weekend was probably the one story that occupied the minds of most people in the music industry this week. Aside from the general mourning by those close to the singer, and Twitter-tributing from everyone else, some questioned whether the music business could and should do more to help those young artists who battle with addiction, given elements of how the music world operates – the fact many artist’s lives lack formal structures, coupled with the sudden easy access to both money and drugs that pop stars get as they become successful – arguably contribute to the problem. Others speculated on whether there were any unreleased Winehouse gems that could make up a third posthumous album, while the singer’s existing catalogue worked its way back up the charts, a sad reminder that death remains a great marketing tool for selling music. CMU reports | AP article on Forbes

02: BT was ordered to block access to the Newzbin2 website. Although the court order was the result of legal action taken by the movie industry, and Newzbin2 mainly provides access to unlicensed movie content, it was a significant ruling for all content industries, because it possibly opens the door for any kind of copyright owner to go to court to ask for an injunction to force net firms to block access to any website that exists primarily to enable or simplify copyright infringement. Although not unprecedented elsewhere in the world, this was the first such web-blocking injunction issued on the grounds of copyright infringement in the UK. Content owners will welcome this development, but many in the net community see it as the first step towards widespread censorship of the web. CMU report | ZDNet blog post

03: It was confirmed that vinyl sales were up 55%. Although overall old fashioned records are very much a niche product, and while one record release in particular (Radiohead’s ‘King Of Limbs’) accounted for a big chunk of the uplift, ERA and the Official Charts Company confirmed this week that sales of vinyl for the first half of 2011 were up 55% on 2010, to 168,296 units. Perhaps more interesting is that music fans seem willing to pay over double the price for vinyl compared to CD or digital, meaning the classic record format is now definitely a premium product. CMU report

04: Placido Domingo became IFPI chair. The global record industry trade body hasn’t had a celebrity Chairman before, and presumably the opera star has been handed the top job in a bid to open political doors, and to give a more friendly face to the often anonymous looking major record company system, as they lobby for tighter laws for protecting copyright online. CMU report | Bloomberg report

05: EMI bids started to come in. Current owner Citigroup distributed company information to serious bidders earlier this month, and asked for offers to be in by the start of August. According to the New York Post, BMG has already submitted its bid, while Warner Music is expected to have an offer in before the week was out. Pretty much all the parties who previously bid against Access Industries to buy the Warner music company earlier this year are expected to bid again, so a combination of existing music firms and equity groups. CMU report | Billboard report

And that’s your lot! For a month. I look forward to returning to the top slot here in your CMU Daily once September is upon us. See you then.

Chris Cooke
Business Editor, CMU

Approved: Brazil Rocks at Guanabara

Club Tip CMU Approved

I haven’t tipped this slightly fancy Brazilian bar, off London’s Drury Lane, for a good while now. Saturday night at Guanabara is Brazil Rocks, with the venue’s own All-Star Band leading the proceedings. So expect infectious braziliance – bossa infused beats and rhythms with samba shows and percussion showdowns. All this is backed up by DJ Limao, playing the best in Latin grooves. Happy Hour is 5-7.30pm if you fancy an early start with a few Brazilian bevvies. Put a bit of sunshine back into your summer!

Saturday 30 Jul, Guanabara, Parker Street, London, WC2B, 5pm-2.30am, free before 8pm, £10 after, info here.

Unreleased Winehouse material not ready for release

Artist News Releases Top Stories

The question of if and when Amy Winehouse’s unreleased recordings, made for her planned third album, will be released has been raised many times since her death on Saturday. But now her producer, Salaam Remi, has said that the tracks are not as close to completion as has been suggested by some.

Winehouse, of course, had not released an album since 2006’s ‘Back To Black’. She had been working on the follow-up for some time, but a number of mooted release dates passed with no sign of the record. As far back as November 2008, Universal chief Lucian Grainge told BBC 6music at the Music Industry Trusts Award lunch: “I’ve heard some demos and I’ve heard some simple acoustic songs that she’s played me in my office on acoustic guitar, and what I’ve heard has been sensational”.

But Remi told New York radio station Power 105.1 FM earlier this week: “We were working on it; it’s not a complete album. We had a lot of things going, there are recordings, but first things first, I think. We’re trying to focus on what’s at hand and what her family wants to do. So those reports [that a release is imminent] are false”.

He continued: “To put it all in a nutshell, Amy loved to sing, to write… that ability never left her. She was very good at channelling her emotions into lyrics, and then being able to sing them. She was in a place to go forward and make it happen… The way that Amy and I always created was she would write and we would toss ideas around”.

He added that she had “strong opinions” on any recordings they worked on, and was very particular about what she liked and didn’t like. Shortly after Winehouse’s death, Remi posted an unreleased version of ‘Some Unholy War’ from ‘Back To Black’ on his website, as an example of her perfectionism, saying he had been “broken hearted” when she’d said she didn’t like it and refused to allow him to put it on the finished album.

Also confirming that no tracks for Winehouse’s third album were complete, a source at Universal told The Guardian yesterday: “She had put down the bare bones of tracks and some were further along than others. People were getting very excited, quite frankly they were really good. We heard rough cuts and they sounded like vintage Amy”.

Although he has made no comment on the subject of unreleased material, Winehouse’s other producer, Mark Ronson, did pay tribute to her during his performance at the Greenwich Summer Sessions on Wednesday.

Ronson played a number of Winehouse’s songs in his set, saying from the stage: “It’s really lovely getting to play some music here for you tonight. That’s what makes everything better. I went to her service yesterday and there was a rabbi that spoke and he said that somebody’s life is measured in deeds and not years and that’s the best thing I heard yesterday. The genius in that woman and what she shared with us is pretty special. I’m not going to get all morbid on you. It’s just nice to be playing music to people who like good music. She is my sister, wherever she is”.

In other Winehouse news, The Sun quoted a “family source” yesterday who said they feared that the singer had died due to withdrawal symptoms after giving up drinking too quickly. As previously reported, results of a postmortem earlier this week proved inconclusive. An inquest was opened on Monday but adjourned until 26 Oct, and it may be four weeks until a cause of death can be established, while the outcome of toxicology and histology tests are awaited.

Music and net industries respond to Newzbin ruling

Digital Legal Top Stories

Needless to say, the music industry has welcomed yesterday’s ruling in the Newzbin2 case.

As previously reported, the Motion Picture Association successfully got themselves an injunction forcing BT to block access to the Newzbin website, which provides links to unlicensed movie content. An earlier court ruling had ordered Newzbin directly to remove all links to unlicensed films, but the site’s operators just shut down their UK operations and relaunched in Sweden.

The MPA argued that when copyright infringing operations like Newzbin choose to jurisdiction-hop to avoid the implications of legal action, the only option for rights owners is to demand ISPs block access to those infringing sites. They would possibly also add that while more savvy web users may be able to circumvent any blocks, most casual web surfers will not.

The ruling is significant because it’s the first time a website-blocking injunction has been issued in the UK on the grounds of copyright infringement. It possibly opens the door for any kind of copyright owner to go to court to ask for an injunction to force net firms to block access to any website that exists primarily to enable or simplify copyright infringement.

Welcoming the ruling, the boss of record label trade body BPI, Geoff Taylor, told reporters: “This judgment sends a clear signal that ISPs have a role to play in protecting their customers from rogue websites that exploit and profit from creative work without permission, ignore takedown notices and locate themselves beyond the reach of law enforcement”.

Of course, not everyone thought that Judge Richard Arnold had got it right. The Open Rights Group, which advocates copyright reform, said: “Website blocking is pointless and dangerous. These judgements won’t work to stop infringement or boost creative industries. And there are serious risks of legitimate content being blocked and service slowdown. If the goal is boosting creators’ ability to make money from their work then we need to abandon these technologically naive measures, focus on genuine market reforms, and satisfy unmet consumer demand”.

Meanwhile, The Pirate Party, which wants radical changes to the copyright system, said: “This is a terrible day for ordinary British internet users. The judgement sets a worrying precedent for internet censorship. This is the thin end of a very large wedge. It also leaves the coalition [government]’s internet policy in disarray. It appears that our digital rights are to be determined by Hollywood, not parliament”.

The response from the internet service provider community was mixed. BT opposed the injunction in court, and the net firms in general do not support moves that increase their role as the police of the internet. However, for the ISPs, injunctions of this kind, that require a considered judicial process before being issued, are the lesser of various evils with regards efforts by the content industries to clamp down on piracy. For the ISPs, injunctions through the High Court are preferable to either the three-strikes system that targets individual net users or a high-speed web-blocking system, especially one administered by a government body rather than a court. Though they are still worried rulings like that in the Newzbin case are the thin end of the wedge.

BT’s Director Of Group Policy Simon Milner told reporters: “This is a helpful judgement, which provides clarity on this complex issue. It clearly shows that rights holders need to prove their claims and convince a judge to make a court order. BT has consistently said that rights holders need to take this route. We will return to court after the summer to explain what kind of order we believe is appropriate”.

Meanwhile, the Internet Service Providers Association said in a statement: “ISPA has long maintained that this is an issue rights holders should seek to address in court, rather than through voluntary means, and today’s ruling should go some way to offering clarity on what is a complex issue. However, concerns about over-blocking, ease of circumvention and increased encryption are widely recognised which means blocking is not a silver bullet to stop online copyright infringement. Rather, as the government-commissioned Hargreaves Review recently found, there should be more focus on offering innovative, fully-licensed content services to give consumers what they are clearly demanding”.

Spotify sued over streaming patent

Legal

Well, if you will launch in the US, I guess you have to expect to be sued, it sort of goes with the territory. Spotify has been sued by San Diego-based PacketVideo, which claims that the popular streaming music service is infringing two of its patents covering streaming technology.

PacketVideo was one of the early stars in the streaming technology domain, though it has not been so high profile of late. The patents the company claims Spotify infringes on exist in both Europe and the US, and were actually registered in the mid-1990s by a Swiss company that PacketVideo acquired four years ago. The firm says it has tried to enter into negotiations with Spotify about licensing its patented methods of streaming, but that talks failed. It is now suing in both the Netherlands and San Diego.

A legal rep for the company said in a statement: “PacketVideo has a strong intellectual property portfolio, and will take any necessary action needed to protect its intellectual property and prevent the misuse of its patents”. The digital firm wants an injunction against Spotify and damages.

A spokesman for Spotify said the streaming music company would fight the legal action, telling reporters: “PacketVideo is claiming that by distributing music over the internet, Spotify (and by inference any other similar digital music service) has infringed one of the patents that has previously been acquired by PacketVideo. Spotify is strongly contesting PacketVideo’s claim”.

Smiths to release Johnny Marr-remastered back catalogue

Releases

Warner Music’s Rhino division is to re-release The Smiths’ entire back catalogue, remastered by engineer Frank Arkwright and Johnny Marr himself. This follows the very limited re-release of ‘The Queen Is Dead’ on ten-inch vinyl for this year’s Record Store Day.

Marr wrote on his official website: “I’m very happy that the remastered versions of The Smiths albums are finally coming out. I wanted to get them sounding right and remove any processing so that they now sound as they did when they were originally made. I’m pleased with the results”.

All albums will be released in standard CD and vinyl form. There will also be a special edition boxset, limited to 3000 copies, which will feature all eight albums on CD and vinyl, with 25 Smiths seven-inches, a DVD of the band’s music videos and some other bits and pieces thrown in for good measure.

You’ll be able to get your hands on the newly spruced up records from 26 Sep.

Active Child announces debut album

Releases

CMU favourite Active Child has announced details of his long-awaited debut album, ‘You Are All I See’, which will be released by Vagrant on 24 Oct.

Speaking about the album, the man behind it, Pat Grossi, said: “The songs focus primarily on the joy and heartbreak of relationships, love lost and rediscovered, battles with monogamy, battles with identity. It came out much darker than I had intended, but sometimes you only have so much control”.

You can hear a track from the record, the previously CMU approved collaboration with How To Dress Well ‘Playing House’, below.

The album’s tracklist is as follows:

You Are All I See
Hanging On
Playing House (feat How To Dress Well)
See Thru Eyes
High Priestess
Call Me Tonight
Way Too Fast
Ancient Eye
Shield & Sword
Johnny Belinda

Active Child – Playing House (Feat. How To Dress Well) by daftdreamy

Scroobius Pip announces solo album

Releases

Scroobius Pip has announced his first album without producer partner Dan Le Sac, entitled ‘Distraction Pieces’, which will be released through Speech Development on 19 Sep. While recording, the rapper worked with different producers and musicians, including former Nine Inch Nails guitarist Danny Lohner, XL boss Richard Russell, Zane Lowe, Sage Francis and Steve Mason.

Pip will unveil the new tracks with a gig at Hoxton Bar & Kitchen in London on 18 Aug. Here’s the album’s full tracklist:

Introdiction (produced by Renholder – aka Danny Lohner)
Let Em Come (feat Sage Francis)
Domestic Silence
Try Dying (produced by Richard Russel)
Death Of The Journalist (produced by Zane Lowe)
Soldier Boy (Kill Them) (feat B Dolan)
The Struggle (produced by Steve Mason)
Broken Promise
Feel It (feat Natasha Fox)

Metallica to play $6 shows for 30th anniversary

Gigs & Festivals

To celebrate their 30th year as a band, Metallica have announced that they will play four fanclub-only shows at the Fillmore in San Francisco. Tickets will be knocked down to 1981 prices – meaning fans can attend one show for just $6, or all four for $19.81 (see what they did there?).

Announcing the gigs on 5, 7, 9 and 10 Dec, the band said via their website: “These unique shows will include special guests and events, rare songs, varied set lists, odds and ends, and all the nutty stuff you expect from Metallica… fun for the entire family! Come to the Bay Area and spend the week with us to not only close out 2011 with a bang, but to celebrate over three decades worth of craziness”.

The band actually played their first show in Anaheim in 1982. If you were wondering.

Austra announce UK shows

Gigs & Festivals

The brilliant Austra, who released a new remix EP this week, will be back in the UK in September for two headline UK shows following their appearance at the Electric Picnic festival in Ireland.

Tour dates:

5 Sep: Manchester, Deaf Institute
6 Sep: London, Scala

Skrillex anounces UK tour

Gigs & Festivals

US dubstep producer Skrillex has announced his first headline tour of the UK, which will take place in November and December. Prior to that, he’ll release a new single, ‘Ruffneck (Full Flex)’, on 5 Sep.

Tour dates:

16 Nov: London, Koko
26 Nov: Glasgow, ABC
28 Nov: Sheffield, Leadmill
29 Nov: Bristol, Academy
30 Nov: Nottingham, Rock City
1 Dec: Manchester, Warehouse Project
2 Dec: Dublin Academy
3 Dec: Belfast, Mandela Hall

Festival line-up update – 29 Jul 2011

Artist News Festival Line-Up Update Gigs & Festivals

THE BIG CHILL, Castle Deer Park, Herefordshire, 4-7 Aug: Yet another slew of new additions to this year’s thriving Big Chill bill include Zola Jesus, Alex Metric, She Keeps Bees and Tom Middleton, who will present a Sound Of The Cosmos showcase. Line-up leaders The Chemical Brothers, Kanye West and Rodrigo Y Gabriela feature alongside the likes of Neneh Cherry, 2manydjs, Warpaint, Janelle Monae, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Chipmunk and Calvin Harris on the festival’s overall roster. www.bigchill.net/festival

NO MEAN CITY, various venues, Glasgow, 5-18 Sep: Celebrating close Glaswegian ties with Americana roots music and heritage across some of the city’s best-loved venues, bookings so far include singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith, Nashville songbird Caitlin Rose, alt-country Canadian Doug Paisley, and bluesman Skip ‘Little Axe’ McDonald. www.nomeancity.co.uk

UKF BASS CULTURE, Alexandra Palace, London, 25 Nov: Circus Soundsystem (feat Flux Pavilion), Doctor P, FuntCase and Roksonix are fresh on the bill at this bass-heavy midwinter bash, which will also host a headlining slot from dextrous DJ duo Chase & Status, and sets from Zane Lowe, Mistajam and DJ Fresh. www.ukfbassculture.com

Sony Music profits up, but Sony Corp makes big losses

Business News Labels & Publishers

Sony Corp

So, a good recent financial quarter for Sony Music, then. News that contrasts with its parent company Sony Corp, which had a horrible three months.

The major’s revenue was up by 7% to $1.35 billion (though that increase is lost to the system once transferred from dollars to yen), while profits were up 61%, partly due to some strong releases, partly due to Sony’s cut of the LimeWire settlement struck in May.

Sony Corp, however, posted a $199 million loss for the quarter. The data-spill that forced the closure, for a time, of the PlayStation Network played its part in the company’s misfortune, though so did the general economic impact of the earthquake and tsunami that hit home country Japan earlier this year.

AOL to shut UK music site

Media

AOL is shutting down its UK music site, as part of a general rationalisation of its British operations.

According to paidContent, AOL confirmed it was shutting both its music and sports channels in the UK, explaining that “this is about a rationalisation of sites in order to enable us to focus on our biggest brands, which are core to our strategy and take in women’s lifestyle (for example MyDaily, Parentdish, Lifestyle…), men’s sites such as Autos and Asylum, Finance and, of course, the recently-launched HuffPost UK”.

AOL Music survived a similar rationalisation in the US recently, though various other music-based services under the AOL banner did not, all of them being absorbed by the more general AOL Music.

GMG Radio to sell Rock Radio

Media

The Guardian’s radio company is selling its Rock Radio Scotland franchise. The Glasgow-based station will become its own company via a management buy-out being led by Billy Anderson, who is currently Brand MD at GMG Radio for both the Rock Radio and Real Radio networks. The Manchester version of Rock Radio will be rebranded Real Radio XS as a result of the deal.

Confirming his company was in negotiations with a consortium led by Anderson re selling its Rock Radio Scotland franchise, and that the Manchester version of it would be rebranded as a result, GMG Radio boss Stuart Taylor told reporters: “There is a clear appetite for the music we play and these plans will give both stations the best possible chance of growth and success, provide an attractive commercial proposition for advertisers and mean that this genre of music continues to thrive in these two regions. Billy has been a key figure in GMG Radio’s growth and a great support at both station and board level and with his passion for rock music and keen eye for business we wish him every success for the future”.

Assuming the deal goes ahead, GMG Radio will then operate just two radio networks, Real Radio and Smooth Radio.

Sky Arts recruits Ronnie and Jo

Media

Who knew Sky would become the home of interesting music programmes? Sky Arts has signed up both Ronnie Wood and c to host new music-based shows later this year. The new programmes come as the Sky channel screens footage from thirteen festivals this summer.

Wood will present a TV version of his Absolute radio show, while Whiley will front a music-focused debate programme and a second show called ‘Jo Whiley Live’. Both are likely to provide a new platform for bands busy promoting new releases to perform.

Confirming the new appointments, Sky Arts boss James Hunt said, simply: “Jo and Ronnie are wonderful assets. We’re delighted”.

No bridge for Kurt Cobain, but two streets for Pete Best

And Finally

City Council officials in Kurt Cobain’s hometown of Aberdeen, Washington have ruled 10-1 against renaming the city’s Young Street Bridge in his honour. Cobain immortalised the bridge in the song ‘Something In The Way’, and legend has it (reportedly falsely) that he slept rough under it in his teens.

According to local radio station KXRO, although the move was popular with many in the audience at Wednesday’s council meeting, some raised concerns about creating a memorial to Cobain, due to his drug use, suicide and negative comments about the town. They did, however, agree to rename a small piece of land on the Wishkah River the Cobain Landing.

Former Beatles drummer Pete Best faired better this week, after Liverpool City Council moved to name a street after him and another after The Casbah Club, which was the centre of the Merseybeat scene, and run by his mother Mona. The streets will be named Pete Best Drive and Casbah Close.

Speaking to the BBC, Pete Best said: “I feel very humbled, very flattered and very honoured that the city of Liverpool, council members and the people of Liverpool have thought to honour me in such a fantastic way”.

Morrissey claims fast food is worse than Norway massacre

And Finally

Having once sung that the Queen was dead, Morrissey now seems to be trying to usurp the Duke Of Edinburgh as Great Britain’s foremost gaff-maker. He’s even got his own racist slur on the Chinese to his name, having referred to them as “a sub-species” last year.

This week, Morrissey has sparked controversy after he suggested that the actions of fast food companies were worse than last week’s massacre of teenagers in Norway. At a gig in Poland on Sunday, before playing Smiths song ‘Meat Is Murder’, the singer said: “We all live in a murderous world, as the events in Norway have shown, with 97 dead. Though that is nothing compared to what happens in McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Shit every day”.

A spokesman for Morrissey told The Daily Mirror: “Morrissey has decided not to comment any further as he believes his statement speaks for itself”.

Q&A: Flash Fiktion

Artist Interviews

South London-based electro fusionists Flash Fiktion first formed a couple of years ago, settling on their present line-up when founder members Matt and Ollie recruited Croatian-born drummer Dan to add some percussive expertise to their existing act.

The band worked with studio engineer and mixer Alex ‘Lexxx’ Dromgoole (Wild Beasts, Crystal Castles) on their debut double A-side single ‘Leni/Science Of Sleep’, also posting parts from the songs on their SoundCloud page for fans to tamper with. Still brimming with a glut of angular, Afrobeat-infused dream-pop music, the trio then took to the studio to begin recording their eponymous first album.

As latest single ‘Me And Mr E’ receives airplay from the likes of Zane Lowe, Annie Mac and John Kennedy, the band are to release their now-finished LP on 15 Aug via Split Records. They will celebrate with a same-day release party upstairs at The Garage in London, later playing an in-store gig at Rough Trade East on 17 Aug.

With all this in mind, it seemed there was nothing left to do but pose our Same Six Questions to the Flash Fiktion lads.

Q1 How did you start out making music?
We started making music at a very young age, before the days when kids (like our drummer Dan) became too gripped by PlayStations and Xboxes. Our time was split between endless Amiga games and recording mysterious childlike demos on Tascam four-tracks with our schoolfriends. Luckily, we grew out of the former activity.

Q2 What inspired your latest album?
The album was recorded in a small room in rather uninspiring circumstances. Inspiration came from within our increasingly twisted imaginations, fuelled by severe cabin fever and lots of strange, old David Cronenberg films. We were longing for a technicoloured surreal universe to open up from our windowless room in grey urban London.

Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
We seldom follow a set routine in writing. Sometimes rigid and strong ideas are formulated in our heads, sometime’s Matt’s demo’s will provide a blueprint, and sometimes we’ll all congregate in our studio and thrash through riffs, chord progressions and themes until we come up with something we like. Which is how we came up with ‘Mo Ping Pong’.

Q4 Which artists influence your work?
We tend to listen to and absorb as much music as possible, old or new, to trigger ideas. We actually get a lot of inspiration from the production of records we love. We’re particularly in awe of Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, MGMT). It’s amazing the way he takes the music and splashes his sonic paint all over it.

Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Put your headphones on, pour a drink, and lose yourself…

Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future
Ultimately, the songs on this album are the foundations which we plan to build and expand on in the future. We’re not after overnight success – which is just as well these days! We would love as many people as possible to get the opportunity to listen to this album, immerse themselves in it, and love to listen to it as much as we did creating it. Perhaps one day we’ll get the chance to tour the world, so we can gather new experiences and meet different people from all walks of life. Amen.

MORE>> www.facebook.com/flashfiktion

Approved: Vivian Girls

CMU Approved

Firm favourites amongst Team CMU, Vivian Girls released their third album, ‘Share The Joy’, in April through Polyvinyl. Continuing a development that has run throughout their album releases, it saw them combining garage rock with 60s girl group-style songs. Their unusual blend of influences was shown off by frontwoman Cassie Ramone in one of our most favourite Powers Of Ten playlists to date, which spans everything from Cilla Black to Black Sabbath.

Following a free download of album track ‘I Heard You Say’ earlier this year, the band have now released a new video for ‘Take It As It Comes’. Their most Shangri-Las-esque song, it features lovelorn spoken word sections and advice-giving choruses, all of which is amplified visually in the brightly coloured video. It’s a perfectly carried off and endearing pastiche.

BT ordered to block access to Newzbin2

Digital Legal Top Stories

The High Court has ordered BT to block access to Newzbin2, a website that provides links to huge amounts of movie content available via the Usenet network, most of it unlicensed.

As previously reported, the original Newzbin site was last year ordered by the British courts to remove any links to unlicensed movies. Instead it shut down and relaunched from a base in Sweden, putting the service out of the jurisdiction of UK judges. So instead the Motion Picture Association went back to court and asked the judge to order BT to stop its customers from accessing the site. It’s a test case under English law, because web-blocking injunctions have not been previously issued on copyright infringement grounds in this country, though they have been issued in other jurisdictions against sites like The Pirate Bay.

The music business has been watching the case carefully because in theory it opens the door for music companies to apply for injunctions that force all ISPs to block access to all sorts of websites which primarily exist to aid copyright infringement. An on-hold section of the Digital Economy Act actually included a process for issuing such injunctions, though the Newzbin ruling arguably means new laws are not required for the courts to start issuing web-block orders. Needless to say, the ISPs don’t like the idea of judges having those powers, and have expressed concern that the ruling reached today re Newzbin could open the flood-gates, with content owners calling for injunctions against sites which inadvertently aid copyright infringement, but which in the main exist for legitimate purposes.

Justifying his ruling ordering BT to block access to Newzbin2, judge Richard Arnold stated: “In my judgment it follows that BT has actual knowledge of other persons using its service to infringe copyright: it knows that the users and operators of Newzbin2 infringe copyright on a large scale, and in particular infringe the copyrights of the studios in large numbers of their films and television programmes. It knows that the users of Newzbin2 include BT subscribers, and it knows those users use its service to receive infringing copies of copyright works made available to them by Newzbin2”.

Needless to say, the MPA welcomed the decision. The organisation’s MD Chris Marcich told the BBC: “This ruling from Justice Arnold is a victory for millions of people working in the UK creative industries and demonstrates that the law of the land must apply online. This court action was never an attack on ISPs but we do need their co-operation to deal with the Newzbin site which continually tries to evade the law and judicial sanction. Newzbin is a notorious pirate website which makes hundreds of thousands of copyrighted products available without permission and with no regard for the law”.

ISPs and the operators of sites like Newzbin will no doubt object to the ruling, and it remains to be seen if BT appeals. Of course, more savvy users of the Newzbin service will be able to circumvent any block, though if it stops more casual users from accessing illegal content presumably the content industries will be happy.

Fiddy on strike over label feud

Business News Labels & Publishers Top Stories

50 Cent has told his fans he’s basically on strike following disagreements with his label, Universal’s Interscope. The exact nature of his squabble with Interscope chiefs isn’t clear, though it possibly stems from a run in back in May when Fiddy accused the major imprint of “moving in slow motion”.

IRS chasing R Kelly for unpaid taxes

Legal

Following the recent news that R Kelly is facing the possibility of losing his Chicago home after failing to make mortgage payments for a year, it seems the R&B star is now facing further financial troubles. WENN has reported that the IRS has been chasing Kelly for $837,000 in unpaid taxes since January, and has just dropped a new bill for $1 million.

As previously reported, a foreclosure action filed by JP Morgan Chase last month says that Kelly star hasn’t paid any money since June 2010 on his $2.9 million mortgage. The bank now wants to seize the property.

Not that Kelly will want to be dealing with any of this just now. As you’ll remember, he was admitted to Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital last week to receive treatment for an abscess on one of his tonsils. He was discharged on Thursday last week and is now recuperating at home. His spokesman said it’s still not clear how long it will be before Kelly can perform again. I’d imagine his accountant is hoping it’s fairly soon.

Nicki Minaj fined for swearing in Jamaica

Legal

Nicki Minaj performed at Jamaica’s Reggae Sumfest festival last Saturday. Unfortunately, she was seemingly unaware that the country has a law prohibiting swear words in live performances and so turned the air blue throughout her set.

She was subsequently charged with flouting the rule, and her case was heard earlier this week. Minaj herself did not attend the court hearing, but local lawyer Hugh Thompson entered a guilty plea on her behalf. She was fined 1000 Jamaican dollars – which isn’t really that big a deal, given that’s the equivalent of eleven US dollars.

FAC and MMF launch new awards

Awards

The Featured Artists Coalition and Music Managers Forum yesterday announced details of a new awards event which will celebrate artists and their managers. The inaugural Artist & Manager Awards will take place at the Roundhouse on 13 Sep.

Having evolved out of the MMF’s long-standing awards event, the Roll Of Honour dinner, the new awards platform will celebrate both new and established talent in both the artist and management communities, with so called ‘first rung’ and ‘breakthrough’ categories accompanied by lifetime achievement type gongs, The Artist’s Artist Award and The Peter Grant Award.

Announcing the new awards, FAC Co-Chair Nick Mason told CMU: “Artists are at the centre of our industry now more than ever and the Artist & Manager Awards will be a night to remember and to celebrate that. There are obvious synergies between the MMF and the FAC and our coming together to jointly acknowledge both the achievements and hard work of our members seemed a natural fit”.

Meanwhile MMF chief Jon Webster added: “We look forward to welcoming people to an event that embraces and celebrates artists and managers at all stages of development in their careers”.

There’s more info about the new awards event here.

DJ Mag launches top 100 DJs poll

Artist News Awards

The website for DJ Mag’s annual Top 100 DJs Poll tells me that it’s “00 days 00 hours 00 mins 00 secs” until voting opens for this year’s DJ Mag Top 100 DJs Poll. Which means it must be time to vote in the 2011 DJ Mag Top 100 DJs Poll.

Voting in fact opened yesterday at midday and will continue until 23 Sep. Last year, Armin van Buuren topped the list for the fourth year running. Whether he’s managed to make it five will be announced in October. This year’s votes will be collected through Facebook. Find out how to enter your favourite record spinner here.

Coldplay fans ponder album release details

Releases

With a new Coldplay album on the way at some point this year, fans have been speculating wildly after a forum user on fansite Coldplaying.com checked the PRS database for new songs by Chris Martin and found one. Forum poster Spike – apparently someone involved with Glaswegian three piece Herculean – discovered that one Christopher Anthony John Martin registered a song called ‘Mylo Xyloto’ on 6 Jul, writers for which are listed as Coldplay and Brian Eno.

Because that news is only mildly interesting, the fan in question went on to suggest that ‘Mylo Xyloto’ could be the title of the band’s new album, or that the title could actually be a cryptic hint that that album will be released on 10 Oct – its initials being MX (or 1010 in Roman numerals).

Others then went on to guess that this may have something to do with an east London street artist called Xylo who has on at least one occasion been referred to as Mylo (possibly by mistake). Or it might have something to do with a xylophone. Or, hey, it might just be the name of one song. Who knows?

A spokesperson for EMI declined to comment. Stick that up your conspiracy theory.

Friday 29 July 2011, 20:42 | By Andy Malt

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Friday 29 July 2011, 20:34 | By CMU Editorial

Mirrors claim to take inspiration from a wide range of people, from American physicist Richard Feynman to footballer Lionel Messi. This results in ambient synth-filled pop, which has drawn comparisons to the likes of Depeche Mode, OMD and Tears For Fears.

READ MORE ABOUT: James Arguile | James New | Mirrors

Friday 29 July 2011, 20:28 | By Andy Malt

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Friday 29 July 2011, 11:14 | By CMU Editorial

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Friday 29 July 2011, 11:13 | By CMU Editorial

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Friday 29 July 2011, 11:12 | By CMU Editorial

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Friday 29 July 2011, 11:11 | By CMU Editorial

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Friday 29 July 2011, 11:10 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Kurt Cobain | Pete Best

Friday 29 July 2011, 11:08 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Morrissey

Thursday 28 July 2011, 11:24 | By CMU Editorial

South London-based electro fusionists Flash Fiktion first formed a couple of years ago, settling on their present line-up when founder members Matt and Ollie recruited Croatian-born drummer Dan to add some percussive expertise to their existing act.

READ MORE ABOUT: Flash Fiktion

Thursday 28 July 2011, 11:21 | By Andy Malt

READ MORE ABOUT: Vivian Girls

Thursday 28 July 2011, 11:18 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: BT | Newzbin

Thursday 28 July 2011, 11:17 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: 50 Cent | Interscope | Universal Music

Thursday 28 July 2011, 11:15 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: R Kelly

Thursday 28 July 2011, 11:14 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Nicki Minaj

Thursday 28 July 2011, 11:13 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Artist And Manager Awards | Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) | Music Managers Forum (MMF)

Thursday 28 July 2011, 11:10 | By CMU Editorial

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Thursday 28 July 2011, 11:09 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Coldplay