Monday 30 April 2012, 11:51 | By Andy Malt

Five Day Forecast – w/c 30 Apr 2012

CMU Planner

So, as I wrote in my Editor’s Letter on Friday, I went to see a documentary called ‘Anyone Can Play Guitar’ last week (which was tipped right here in the Five Day Forecast). As well as being a great film, it also made me think about local music scenes and how things have changed for them over the last decade. Thinking’s quite good fun, it turns out. Here are some more potential thought instigators coming up this week…

01: Camden Crawl. The Camden Crawl takes place in London this weekend, kicking off the first of two concurrent weekend outings for the city-based festival this year. The second will take place in the area around Dublin’s Camden Street next week. As ever, the London event provides access to a huge number of up-and-coming and more established bands in venues around Camden in North London.

02: SPOT. One of my favourite city-based festivals, SPOT, takes place in Aarhus in Denmark this weekend. Showcasing music from all around the Nordic region, including the usual array of innovatively staged gigs and mash-up shows between artists, it’s all set in one of the friendliest cities in Europe. I’m quite sad not to be there this year, but here’s my write-up of 2011’s edition.

03: Asian Dub Foundation soundtrack ‘La Haine’. ADF will soundtrack London and Paris-based screenings of Mathieu Kassovitz’s cult 1995 film, ‘La Haine’, as a pertinent means of marking the two capitals’ respective forthcoming mayoral and presidential elections. In fact, the movie will initially play on the very eve of said London vote with a free locals-only screening on 2 May at the Broadwater Farm Centre in Tottenham. Londoners at large will have a second viewing opportunity after the mayoral vote at The Troxy in Limehouse on 4 May.

04: New releases. We’re heading into a busy period for new releases now, but keep up because there are some great singles and albums coming your way. Marina And The Diamonds and Marilyn Manson are amongst the big releasers of the week, while I highly recommend ex-Books frontman Nick Zammuto‘s debut solo offering and The Leg‘s third album. As well as that, there are long players from Cate Le Bon, Mystery Jets, Justin Broadrick as JK Flesh, and a 60 track cassette collection from Ariel Pink and R Stevie Moore, plus singles and EPs from Paul Thomas Saunders, Stay+ and Fanzine.

05: Gigs. Grimes is everywhere right now, which is no bad thing. And tonight she’ll play a special show upstairs at The Garage in London (ie, the sort of venue it’s unlikely you’ll see her in again) to celebrate being The Fly’s cover star this month. Also this week, that Marina And The Diamonds is off on tour, The Rapture are over for two shows, José González and Tiniarwen will share the bill for a one-off London gig, and you’ll find Team Me, Spector, Here We Go Magic and The Men all playing around the UK.

But enough with all this reading, it’s so outdated. All the cool kids are getting their music news and discussion pumped directly into their heads via the CMU Weekly Podcast, the latest edition of which you can listen to here.

Andy Malt
Editor, CMU

Approved: Swim Deep (TGE Gig Previews 2012)

CMU Approved

Even if the 1990s grunge-pop revival isn’t quite your thing, don’t let the sight of acid-wash denim, distressed Nike hi-tops and amateurish skateboarding in West Midlands quartet Swim Deep’s video debut ‘King City’ detract from the band – part of Birmingham’s blossoming ‘B-Town’ co-operative – or the track itself.

Pitched with no slight sense of shy ambition, its main refrain (“With the sun on my back it’s a nice day/I would never ch-choose any other way” – ironic given the video’s grey scenery) is nothing if not relatable, though its ‘Beach House on a carousel’-style synths touch on the palatial. Almost.

And ‘King City’ isn’t a one-off, there’s also its reverse side, ‘Beach Justice’, to consider. Furnished with its own self-contained chorus line (“She gets up and I’m still awake/Please go easy on me, Sunday”), this chaste guitar shuffle is just as listenable as its A-side other half. The single is set for release via Chess Club on 14 May, and you can preview both tracks below.

But before that, Swim Deep will play two shows at The Great Escape, both on 11 May. First they’ll be down at the Psychosocial Basement at 7.15pm, then less than two hours later they’ll have dragged all their gear up to The Loft at 9pm.

To read more Great Escape gig previews from the CMU team, head over here.

MegaUpload chief gets back some of his assets

Digital Legal MegaUpload Timeline Top Stories

MegaUpload founder Kim ‘Dotcom’ Schmitz has won back in the region of $750,000 worth of his fortune after a court hearing in New Zealand.

The boss of the controversial file-transfer business is currently facing extradition from New Zealand to the US, of course, where he faces charges of money laundering, racketeering and copyright infringement in relation to the Mega enterprise. His multi-million dollar fortune was seized by the New Zealand authorities at the request of the Americans when he and several other Mega execs were arrested back in January.

It subsequently emerged that the New Zealand police had secured the wrong kind of warrant before raiding Schmitz’s home which, the tech man’s lawyers argued, made the whole operation illegal, and meant their client should get all his stuff back.

In a court hearing about Schmitz’s belongings last week, the New Zealand High Court said that a bank account containing just over $300,000 should be unfrozen, and a $250,000 Mercedes should be returned. The defendant’s wife will also get money to fund her living expenses out of Schmitz’s fortune, and the use of a Toyota Vellfire.

However, the majority of Schmitz’s assets will remain out of bounds while the criminal case against the Mega chief goes through the motions. And a bulk of the money made available to Schmitz last week will likely go on legal fees, with criminal proceedings to prepare for in both New Zealand and the US, not to mention the prospect of various civil claims by copyright owners, mainly in the States.

Though, as also previously reported, legal reps for Schmitz and the other Mega execs, none of whom are currently in the US, are confident that they can successfully fight off America’s extradition attempts, mainly because the core copyright charges against their clients do not command a high enough jail term in America to justify extradition. Criminal charges linked to the Mega company itself are hard to formally press, because the firm didn’t have a corporate base within the USA.

It was thought the extradition hearing for Schmitz et al would take place in August, though some local media in New Zealand are now pointing towards a September court date.

Is ReDigi running out of money as it awaits EMI court battle?

Digital Legal ReDigi Timeline

Speculation that controversial MP3 resale service ReDigi wouldn’t be able to afford to fight its legal battle with EMI is starting to ring true, after lawyers working for the digital start-up filed a motion to withdraw from the case last week.

As previously reported, ReDigi is a website that enables music fans to sell unwanted MP3s on to third parties. The founders of the company say reselling MP3s is no different than reselling CDs, a practice protected under American copyright law by the so called ‘first sale doctrine’. The tech firm adds that its technology verifies the source of the digital file being sold and ensures the original is deleted from the seller’s computer after sale.

But even if you buy the idea that the ReDigi system is really capable of ensuring an MP3 put up for sale came from a legitimate source, and that the seller deletes their copy after sale (which seems unlikely, but whatever), the American record industry argues that the ‘first sale doctrine’ does not apply, because when a CD is exchanged no actual copying takes place, whereas a digital exchange requires new mechanical copies to be made without a licence.

While both sides think their arguments are strong, when EMI – the record company actually suing over this – pushed for a summary judgement in February, the judge hearing the case ruled that the debate was too complicated for a judgement to be made without a full trial. He added that the dispute at the heart of this case was a “fascinating issue” that “raises a lot of technological and statutory” points.

So, well done ReDigi for proving the law wasn’t as clear on this issue as EMI originally claimed, though, as we noted in February, a court hearing that will cover “lots of issues”, as Judge Richard Sullivan predicts it will, sounds expensive for a start-up that has only raised, to our knowledge, half a million in capital, and which will struggle to find new investment while this lawsuit hangs over it.

According to Digital Music News, last week ReDigi attorney Ray Beckerman filed a motion to exit the case and hand things over to another firm. There are, of course, various reasons why the lawyer might choose to do that, but most commentators noted that Beckerman’s filings stated that the lawyer had a ‘retaining lien’ with his former client, which basically means he is owed money and can exercise the right to keep hold of paperwork relating to the case until bills are settled.

That, in turn, has led to speculation that ReDigi is running out of money, which is no fun at all when you have a big complicated court case upcoming, and a fledgling business to develop at the same time. Although neither Beckerman nor ReDigi have commented, some now wonder if this case will ever go to court.

If it doesn’t, that will piss off some in the tech community – partly because no one likes it when big companies put start-ups out of business simply by landing them with a bit of litigation they can’t afford to defend, and partly because, while the MP3 resale thing may be a non-starter, it’s thought the ReDigi case, if it gets to court, might also test some copyright principles relating to the wider cloud-storage and file-transfer marketplace.

Gomez sued over chorus

Business News Legal

You see, we knew that Selena Gomez would eventually appear in the CMU Daily in her own right, and not just as the other half of the always innovating Justin Bieber (by my maths he’s had five different hair cuts in the last twelve months alone), and as it turned out, she just needed to get sued to make that happen (actually, come to think of it, it’s possible she achieved this feat once before, that time by painting some horses pink, which is probably less costly).

Anyway, Gomez has been sued over the chorus in the title track to her 2010 album ‘A Year Without Rain’, which a little known Californian band called Luce reckon was stolen from their 2005 single ‘Buy A Dog’. The rock outfit’s million dollar lawsuit claims that Gomez’s chorus was “virtually identical” to theirs.

Of course Gomez didn’t actually write ‘A Year Without Rain’, so the lawsuit is really targeting songwriters Lindy Robbins and Toby Gad, though the teen star has been named as a co-defendant too because, well, why not? I mean, had they not, Gomez would probably have had to paint a giraffe blue to ensure another appearance in CMU sans her slightly tedious boyfriend, and that sounds like a whole load of hassle to me.

Robin Gibb could return home this week

Artist News

Robin Gibb could be discharged from hospital as soon as this week, the Mirror has reported, after his “miraculous recovery” from a nine day coma.

As previously reported, friends, family and doctors feared the worst when Gibb slipped into a coma earlier this month after suffering from pneumonia following surgery, but he regained consciousness and is now reportedly feeling much better. Gibb’s most recent illness followed his fight against cancer, in which doctors were also reportedly surprised by the speed with which the Bee Gee responded to treatment.

The tabloid quotes a friend as saying: “Robin is still weak but getting better by the day. His recovery is nothing short of a miracle. Weeks ago [his wife] Dwina and the family were prepared for the worst, now they are hoping he will be home very soon. They will not rush him but there is a very good possibility of him being discharged at the end of the week and arrangements are being made for him to have medical help at home”.

The source added: “The doctors will not take the decision lightly. Dwina will make sure his every medical need is catered for. Robin is aware how close to death he was. But he is determined to go home”.

Vampire Weekend talk new album

Artist News

Vampire Weekend have said that, much as they’d like to release a successor to 2010’s ‘Contra’ by the end of the year, they don’t feel especially pressed to do so.

Lead singer Ezra Koenig tells Rolling Stone: “It would be cool if it was [released] this year. I always want to release music as soon as possible, but more and more I’m realising it’s something you almost have no control over”.

Despite the band having done “a ton of stuff” towards a tbc third studio album, he adds: “We just never want to be in a position [where] when we put out something, we feel we could’ve benefited from more time”.

So, while prizing songwriting quality over deadlines is great and all… such an attitude might mean a new VW LP is a while away yet.

SCUM to headline London show

Gigs & Festivals

Shoegaze youths SCUM are to take up a one-night residency at The Bishopsgate Institute in East London, playing live and curating a range of music, poetry and film by their artistic associates.

With the band’s debut album ‘Again Into Eyes’ set for a reissue later in the year, the event – which is titled ‘The Reading Of The Truth’ – will take place on 26 May.

Azealia Banks cancels summer festival bookings

Artist News Gigs & Festivals Live Business

So, Azealia Banks has withdrawn from a number of planned UK festival appearances, including slots at Rough Beats, Bestival, RockNess, Lovebox and Wakestock, plus various Euro dates at Rock AM Ring, Rock Werchter and Way Out West. Though Banks’ bookings at the Reading and Leeds festivals and Radio 1’s Hackney Weekend remain intact.

An official statement from the Polydor-signed MC’s management reads: “Azealia Banks has unfortunately had to cancel her remaining UK festival appearances due to recording commitments. Her October UK headline tour will still go ahead as scheduled”.

Said recording commitments, of course, relate to Banks’ forthcoming debut album, ‘Broke With Expensive Taste’, which is set for release in September.

Mike McSherry, organiser of Yorkshire independent Rough Beats (which was to host the ‘212’ rapper’s first ever headline billing), speculates that the retreat might in part be due to a lack of live repertoire, as became apparent during Banks’ content-light Coachella set earlier this month.

He says: “Obviously we’re gutted. It would have been her first major headlining show in the UK and we were pretty chuffed about getting in there early and backing her to be a great act even before her debut releases. However, I think her management have made the right decision. As great as her Coachella performance was, the UK audience is going to need more than half hour of material from a headliner”.

Festival line-up update – 30 Apr 2012

Artist News Festival Line-Up Update Gigs & Festivals

BESTIVAL, Robin Hill Country Park, Isle Of Wight, 6-9 Sep: Bestival undergoes significant line-up expansion as Hot Chip, Gary Numan, Alabama Shakes, John Foxx & The Maths, Killaflaw, Willis Earl Beal, Jessie Ware and Skepta seal the wildlife-themed weekender’s now finalised roster. Stevie Wonder, The xx, Friendly Fires, Justice, New Order and Sigur Rós represent a select few of those acts already announced. www.bestival.net

JERSEY FOLKLORE FESTIVAL, Peoples Park, Jersey, 30 Jun – 1 Jul: Ray Davies, Nouvelle Vague, Lee Scratch Perry, Rodriguez and John Cooper Clark form the latest additions to this fabled Jersey fest, which will also host Joan Armatrading and headliner Van Morrison. www.folklorejersey.org.uk

T IN THE PARK, Balado, Scotland, 6-8 Jul: Radio-rock favourites Keane prove the icing on the T In The Park cake, adding extra decoration to an existing bill that includes Snow Patrol, The Stone Roses and Kasabian alongside the pop-tacular likes of Nicki Minaj, Tinie Tempah, Calvin Harris and David Guetta. www.tinthepark.com

WAKESTOCK, Abersoch, North Wales, 6-8 Jul: Chiddy Bang, Hadouken!, Swiss Lips, Bastille and All The Young are amongst Wakestock’s latest wave of artist additions, and thus join the previously announced likes of Ed Sheeran, Calvin Harris, Annie Mac, Katy B and Funeral For A Friend. www.wakestock.co.uk

Live Nation will pay over a million to put up Olympic stages

Business News Live Business

Live Nation will pay London’s Royal Parks over a million pounds in rental fees to stage various live entertainments during the Olympics, according to Event magazine. The exact figure isn’t known, that much information having been gained via a freedom of information request

As previously reported, the live music giant will stage various events in Hyde Park, Victoria Park and Trafalgar Square during the London games, including high profile ticketed concerts at the opening and closing of the proceedings and a bunch of free more low key events, as well as providing screens via which tourists and locals will be able to watch coverage of some of those sporty things due to take place alongside the big Olympics Festival Of Brands And Sponsorship.

According to Event, Live Nation will cover its costs via merchandising, the sale of food and drink concessions, hospitality packages and, presumably, ticket revenues from the bigger events. The live music firm has an existing relationship with the Royal Parks, of course, via the stage it operates in Hyde Park each summer, which hosts the Wireless and Hard Rock Calling concerts amongst other things.

Is Spotify considering additional Pandora-style service?

Digital

Spotify will later this year launch a new service in the US along the lines of Pandora, according to Bloomberg, though it’s not clear if that would operate within the Spotify player – as a main function or optional app – or whether the interactive radio set up would be a standalone platform. Spotify hasn’t yet commented on the rumours at all, but Bloomberg is citing two sources as saying the streaming music firm is already talking to its content partners about the plans.

Pandora, of course, plays a personalised playlist based on any one individual user’s chosen artist, and enables users to rate, skip and block tracks. But it doesn’t provide the full on-demand functionality of Spotify, which enables users to access tracks, albums and playlists created by themselves or others on demand at anytime (subject to some limitations for free users in some territories).

Some reckon that Pandora-style services, with less interactivity, actually have more mainstream potential, with more casual music fans (which is most people) being put off by too much functionality. And British streaming service We7 said just that when it removed total-interactivity from its free-to-use option last year.

Pandora-style set ups are also cheaper to run, because generally rights owners charge less when a user has less control. Plus in many territories the operators of such platforms can licence both recording and publishing rights via collecting societies. Spotify-style platforms can only licence publishing rights (the money due to songwriters and publishers) via the collective licensing system, while sound recording rights must be licensed directly from the record companies, who will generally make more demands in terms of equity, up-front payments and ongoing royalty fees.

That means that a Pandora-style service would be more cost effective for Spotify in the freemium space. These days the ad-funded Spotify free service is run primarily as a sales tool to persuade music fans to upgrade to a proper subscription, with both the digital firm and its content partners taking a hit.

Original plans to make the freemium version a viable business in its own right seem to have been dropped, though restrictions put on the free option in Europe (to reduce costs and make paid-for options more attractive) have been reduced in some countries, and are still to be applied in the US. Going the Pandora-style route for Spotify Free might look attractive for both the streaming service and its content partners, though Pandora itself has always resisted launching outside the States, claiming royalty rates demanded by non-US collecting societies are too high to make their platform viable.

Opinion is divided on how Pandora, which floated on the stock market last year, is doing, though with a self-declared registered user-base of 150 million, of which 50 million were active in the last month, the twelve year old digital firm has much, much bigger reach than Spotify and, indeed, the current biggest player in the fully on-demand streaming music space in the US, Rhapsody.

TuneCore confirms new agreement with Amazon

Digital

TuneCore has reached an agreement with Amazon, and artists represented by the US-based digital distributor will now return to the online retailer’s MP3 store in Europe.

As previously reported, music distributed by TuneCore disappeared off Amazon MP3 in Europe in late January after the retail firm failed to renew its licensing deal with the distributor. TuneCore claimed that there had been problems with getting payments from Amazon under its previous agreement with the retailer, and that it was insisting those issues be addressed before signing a new deal. Despite accusing the web giant of “heavy handed tactics”, TuneCore bosses always said they were confident issues could be addressed.

And seemingly they have been, though details of the new agreement between the distributor and Amazon MP3 store, and how they addressed past problems, are not clear. Archive content represented by TuneCore will reappear on Amazon over the next month, while new releases will go live on schedule.

Chirpify raises funding, launches MP3 sale functionality

Digital

A tech company called Chirpify has announced it has secured $1.3 million in funding, as it launches a new platform that will enable rights owners to sell digital content via Twitter.

The new platform makes it possible to do SMS-style transactions over the micro-blogging platform. A seller simply tweets info about their product with a Chirpify link, interested buyers then just tweet back BUY, their account is charged (via PayPal), and they get a DM with a link to whatever they have bought.

According to The Next Web, in pilots the return tweet usually contained a voucher redeemable for a physical product, though Chirpify has just added an extra function so that artists and labels can provide a link to a bit of digital content in the return DM. Simple – assuming security issues have been covered by the start-up.

Amongst those who reckon the Twitter payment platform has potential are Voyager Capital and individual investors Ryan Holmes (HootSuite CEO), Andy Liu (BuddyTV CEO) and Rudy Gadre (former Facebook exec), who have all reportedly contributed to the $1.3 million funding round.

The Wanted call Christina a bitch

And Finally

Despite the best efforts of us journos back in the UK, the Wanted/One Direction feud that had so much potential has never really taken off (and despite Wanted associate Capital FM banning 1D from its airwaves), but not to worry, the Wanted boys have started a new feud. With Christina Aguilera.

Aguilera is a judge on the US version of ‘The Voice’, on which The Wanted recently guested. Apparently she was pretty sullen throughout their performance of ‘Chasing The Sun’, and her reaction didn’t go down well. Especially given that Jennifer Lopez gave at least one of the boy band a sneaky kiss when they performed on ‘American Idol’.

Says Tom Wanted, speaking to New York radio station Now FM: “She [Christina] is a total bitch. She might not be a bitch in real life, but to us, she was a total bitch. She just sat there and didn’t speak to us. She wouldn’t even look at us”. Meanwhile, referencing their meeting with Lopez at the ‘Idol’ recording, George Wanted added: “J.Lo’s hot, Christina’s nothing special!”

You know, I have a new found respect for Christina Aguilera this morning. Though her records are probably being banned from the Capital airwaves as we speak, and J.Lo Monday could be a regular feature by next week.

Geldof not impressed with grandson’s name

And Finally

Despite calling his children Peaches, Fifi Trixibelle and Pixie, Bob Geldof is not impressed with the former’s decision to give her new son an unusual name. Peaches Geldof has called her son by fiancé Tom Cohen, born earlier this month, Astala.

Geldof Senior seemingly told The Sun when asked about his daughter’s choice of name for his grandson: “Yuck! I’ve actually been begging them to change it. What’s he going to be called in school? Ass? Stella? It’s a girl’s name, let’s face it”.

But, despite the naming, Geldof is, obviously, delighted to have a grandchild, and even more so to have a boy in his family, having lived with four daughters for so long (his three own children by Paula Yates, and her other daughter Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily, who he adopted). He continued: “I’ve swam in oestrogen my entire life, and now finally a little chap comes along. It’s great”.

Grimes designs rude ring range

And Finally

Canada’s own Grimes, aka Claire ‘Third Eye’ Boucher, has designed a jewellery line in collaboration with Montreal-based artist Morgan Black. Her first creation? Why, what else but ‘Grimes Pussy Rings’. Obviously.

The collection isn’t available to buy online yet because, says Boucher, Black “refuses to have a website so I don’t have any link”. Boucher herself doesn’t do any such thing though, so you can still view an image of said rings, which have nothing to do with cats of any kind, here.

Not that I’m a fashion authority or anything, but I think they look like ‘adult’ wine gums.

Editor’s Letter: Headliner plus local support

CMU Weekly Editor's Letter

On Tuesday night I went to a screening of ‘Anyone Can Play Guitar’, a documentary looking at the Oxford music scene from the 80s up to the mid-2000s. Crammed into the sold out downstairs room at The Social off Regent Street with an often obscured view of the screen, I nonetheless found watching the film for the first time an enjoyable and enlightening experience.

The story of Oxford’s music scene is a very interesting one. While Manchester and Glasgow are (rightly) lauded as cities that have given us great artists and musical movements, Oxford has never quite achieved the same status. This is partly because it’s never been entirely successful in capitalising, as a city, on the talent on offer (not even during Radiohead’s heyday), but there are other factors too, which are explored through interviews with many familiar and perhaps not so familiar figures from the city.

But on a personal level, what really struck me about the film (and I apologise for being a bit self-indulgent here) is how much it tied in with my own experiences with music and the music industry. It’s possibly a sign that I’m getting older, but most music documentaries I’ve seen tell me about a time in the past that I didn’t personally experience – and even if I was listening to the music a documentary is about, I never usually feel any direct connection to the artists or scene being discussed.

But on this occasion I found myself recalling various personal memories: from playing bad covers of Radiohead songs with bands while I was still at school, through to labels, artists and other people (many of whom appeared in the film) who I’ve met and/or worked with in various capacities throughout my fifteen year dalliance with the music industry.

Now, I was never a part of the ‘Oxford music scene’ (unless you count once playing drums in a rehearsal room there, while my guitarist friend waited for the rest of his band to turn up – you don’t? OK, fine), but I was surprised how closely tied the story being told in the film seemed to be to certain points in my life. Until Tuesday I’d never really considered this before, but actually, I’d say that the artists and music that have come out of Oxford in the last two decades have had far more effect on me than the output of other more prominent ‘music cities’.

Obviously I’m just one man, though. And in the grand scheme of things there are numerous other bands that have come out of other more famous musical cities that have the edge on Radiohead in terms of general and global cultural significance. But Radiohead aren’t insignificant, and nor are they the only great band to come out of Oxford. And in the late 1990s and early 2000s, bands from Oxford had a strong network of businesses and flag-wavers to support them. So why has Oxford never really become one of the names that trips off people’s tongues when talking about Britain’s cultural heritage?

This is one of the things ‘Anyone Can Play Guitar’ explores – concluding in part that Oxford was a victim of itself at times. Some bands became so successful within the boundaries of the city that it was difficult for them to escape. Sometimes popularity failed to translate to the wider world. And, in the case of The Candyskins, poor timing dogged them at every stage.

Directed by Jon Spira, who benefits from having been on the inside of the Oxford scene but at enough of a distance to remain objective, the film tells the city’s story with charm, humour and the occasional helping of controversy. It makes particularly good use of awkward silences in a number of places, which are worth watching it for on their own.

Latterly, it explores how the scene became less insular and less of an incubator for bands, particularly with the sale of The Zodiac venue to the Academy Music Group. Having originally been set up with investment from various Oxford figures, including Radiohead, and having been a key venue for bands in the city, many complained that it no longer has that local focus – once local bands could rely on it for support slots with bigger out of towners, now line-ups for the venue are generally booked and brought in from outside the city too.

The internet is also often blamed for the breaking down of local scenes – something I’ve touched on before – ie these scenes often propser during times when a particular spurt of creative genius is a secret amongst a select community of locals, who get fired up by having unique access to something brilliant, and that sets something in motion that has time to develop into something really special before the world at large cottons on. Some reckon that in the internet age, such moments go global far too soon via bloggers and tweets and sneakily recorded YouTube clips, and burn out before they really get going.

But is it actually true that these exciting but low key local scenes no longer exist? Back in Oxford today much is often made of the Blessing Force collective, a network of bands including Jonquil, Fixers and Trophy Wife, and up in Liverpool tonight the first GIT Award will be handed out – a Mercury-style prize recognising the cream of Liverpudlian talent. Both cities still seem to have vibrant scenes that occasionally spiral into something very exciting indeed.

The topic of local music communities, how they work, how they can be developed, and whether they help or hinder artists looking for global success, is something we’ll be investigating at The Great Escape next month, coincidentally. Damian Harris, founder of Brighton-based label Skint, Robin Bennett, the founder of Oxford’s Truck festival among other things, Christophe Cassan from Barcelona festival Cruïlla de Cultures, and Matt Johnson from Manchester’s MDM Music will debate the importance of local music communities, how artists can harness their local scenes (if they exist at all) and what happens when you want to break away from your home town.

This is just one of the many exciting panels we’ve got lined up for you this year. The full programme for the CMU-programmed Great Escape convention will be available online next week – look out for more information in the CMU Daily. Though if you haven’t yet got your delegate pass, head over to www.escapegreat.com immediately and address that situation, it’s going to be brilliant.

PODCAST
This week’s podcast sees Chris and I sitting down to discuss German collecting society GEMA’s legal win against YouTube, the streamlining of Roadrunner Records by Warner Music, the appearance of Martin Mills and Daniel Ek on the Sunday Times Rich List, and Courtney Love’s latest confusing court battle. You’ll find the podcast online later this weekend here.

ALSO IN THE NEWS
Yesterday rumours began circulating that Roadrunner Records was to have its operations outside the US axed – something seemingly confirmed by members of staff on social networks. However, sources close to owners Warner Music have now told us that the metal label’s original office in The Netherlands is the only one that will be fully closed, though the company’s staff will be cut back worldwide as other Warner units take over back office activities. Cees Wessel, who founded the metal label as an independent in 1980, is one of the people departing the company.

Speaking about labels being bought and then downsized, as is likely if Universal manages to purchase EMI’s recordings division, that’s all still being investigated by competition regulators. Having approved Sony’s purchase of EMI Music Publishing last week, this week the European Commision sent out a new questionnaire to people with an interest in the sale of the record labels. Meanwhile, two pressure groups in America want US Congress (a Senate sub-committee to be precise) to consider the sale, in addition to the existing Federal Trade Commission investigation into the deal.

File-sharing news now! And the implementation of the UK’s three-strikes system, as given the go ahead when the Digital Economy Act was passed in April 2010, has been delayed yet again. No warning letter will now go out to file-sharers before 2014, if ever. Elsewhere, the Australian movie industry lost its final appeal to try to force Aussie ISP iiNet to tackle file-sharers, and the judge in the MegaUpload case suggested that there’s a strong possibility that the whole thing might collapse before it ever gets to trial. So not a great week for people trying to quell illegal file-sharing through litigation or legislation.

Meanwhile, there was a new development in the long running dispute between GEMA and YouTube, which saw a court rule that the video site has an obligation to ensure that songs owned by members of the German collecting society do not appear on its platform. It’s generally thought that this is a negotiating tactic on GEMA’s part, attempting to force YouTube to agree to pay the higher royalty rates it is pushing for, rather than having to block all GEMA-represented music.

Elsewhere in the courts, Courtney Love found herself in a tricky situation which means she might be sued by the lawyers she hired to represent her against her former lawyer who sued her for defamation. And speaking of unusual situations, Britney Spears’ fiancé is now also her legal guardian. Meanwhile, not a court ruling, but a ruling nonetheless, OfCom decided that Jazz FM breached broadcasting rules when it inadvertently played five minutes of hardcore pornography over the airwaves.

In good news, Robin Gibb is out of his coma, something which has apparently “confounded” doctors.Record Store Day last weekend was also a resounding success, with vinyl sales up 50% on last year, and, according to The Sunday Times Rich List, Beggars Groups founder Martin Mills and Spotify founder Daniel Ek are both very wealthy (even if their wealth is based on company valuations, rather than bank balances).

And finally, there was good news this week as Dr Dre said that there were no plans to take Tupac’s ‘hologram’ on tour. He didn’t rule it out though, and the Jackson Five and TLC were both also rumoured to be considering using the technology in order to reunite their original line-ups.

FEATURES AND NEW MUSIC
This week’s interview was with The Rapture‘s frontman Luke Jenner, ahead of the band’s upcoming shows in the UK, while playlist curating duties were handled by Jack Goldstein of Fixers. This week’s Beef Of The Week saw Aerosmith bassist complaining that he’d been tricked into saying some silly things by a journalist who had the audacity to bring her breasts into the room with her for an interview. Plus, of course, we had all the latest festival line-up announcements.

In the Approved column this week we very much approved of Purity Ring, Peaking Light’s remix of Nite Jewel, Last Days Of 1984, and The Leg. As well as that, we had new music from The Beach Boys (featuring Brian Wilson and everything), DJ Shadow, Gaz Coombes, Maximo Park, Flux Pavilion,The Bug, Oberhofer, AlunaGeorge, and White Manna.

Plus, going head to head this week, ‘X-Factor’ alumni Aiden Grimshaw and Paije Richardson unveiled their debut singles. Both are actually quite good. Who’d have thought?

CMU Weekly Podcast – Friday 27 Apr 2012

Setlist

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review the week in music and the music business, including GEMA’s legal dispute with YouTube,the axe falling on chunks of Roadrunner Records, music entrants on the Sunday Times Rich List and Courtney’s attorney issues. Get the CMU Weekly Podcast every Friday by signing up via iTunes or RSS.

The music business week in five – 27 Apr 2012

Business News Week In Five

So, I spent a big chunk of this week putting The Great Escape convention programme to press, and yesterday as I signed off the pages I had the first chance to go through the entire line-up in one sitting. And it is, though I say so myself, a pretty awesome programme this year, with our content partners presenting incredibly strong sessions, plus many other great speakers, interviewees, topics and parties. Next week we’ll be putting the full programme live online, so do watch this space closely. Meanwhile, let’s look back at the week just gone.

01: Warner Music scaled back its Roadrunner operations. It’s still not entirely clear how far the cutbacks will go, though the metal label’s founder Cees Wessels has departed, and in the region of 36 other staffers have also been made redundant. Most back office operations will now be handled by parent company Warner, though Roadrunner specific A&R, marketing and promotions teams seem likely to remain, despite rumours the label would be totally wound down everywhere but the US. CMU report | Billboard report

02: Sony Music announced new chiefs for Columbia Records, after the somewhat sudden departure of the UK division’s MD Mike Smith. He will be replaced by two new Co-Presidents, existing Columbia A&R Director Alison Donald and Mark Terry, formerly at Warner’s Atlantic Records and before that EMI. Both will report into Sony Music UK chief Nick Gatfield, Terry having previously worked alongside his new boss at EMI. CMU report | Billboard report

03: The European Commission sent out a new questionnaire over Universal’s EMI bid, as its competition regulators work their way through a full three-month investigation into the proposed deal. Most of the questions asked were predictable, though some were possibly more revealing. A few showed that a big concern is the dominance a combined Universal EMI will have in the classical and jazz genres. Others are trying to work out what influence the majors have over how music is presented within digital platforms. All interested parties now have a chance to respond. Meanwhile, Reuters reckons we now won’t get a resolution on this in Europe until September (originally we thought August). CMU report | Reuters report

04: GEMA won in court against YouTube in its long running legal battle over licensing. This actually happened last Friday, in Hamburg, where a court ruled that the video site does have an obligation to ensure any songs owned by members of German publishing rights collecting society GEMA do not appear on its site if the necessary licences are not in place. YouTube generally operates under the American copyright system, whereby providing it removes unlicensed songs if and when rights owners complain, the digital operator isn’t liable for infringement, even if the site hosts unlicensed content for a time. The ruling possibly means that YouTube in Germany would have to automatically block all GEMA represented songs, unless specific publisher/songwriter permission has been obtained. Of course it would be easier for the Google-owned video site to finally agree licensing terms with GEMA, which is what the collecting society probably wants. It has been asking for higher rates thant YouTube is willing to pay. CMU report | New York Times report

05: The Three-strikes launch was pushed back to 2014. Well, a rep from the government’s Department Of Culture Media & Sport said that that was now the target date at a conference in London. The so called graduated response system for combating file-sharing in the UK was set out in the Digital Economy Act in 2010, but is yet to go live, due to various technical issues and legal challenges. According to The Register, the DCMS’s Paul Kirkman said strike one – the enforced sending out of letters by ISPs to suspected file-sharers – is now unlikely to begin before 2014. It’s not clear whether strike two will then take another four years to organise. CMU report | The Register report

And that’s your lot, until the podcast goes live this weekend. Providing we remember to record it at some point today.

Chris Cooke
Business Editor, CMU

Approved: Videocrash at Village Underground

Club Tip CMU Approved

The Soundcrash crew have always put on interesting events, and tomorrow they join forces with the mighty Hexstatic for a night of AV excellence. Hexstatic are apparently utilising some rather new technology, and have promised to take you into a “tri-dimensional world” tomorrow night.

On arrival you’ll be presented with a pair of 3D specs for a groundbreaking show from the AV pioneers (a glimpse of which you can see in the video below). The boys have kept a lot of the info about their new machinery closely guarded, but apparently stereoscopic visuals will be projected onto a custom-made silver mesh screen for a full holographic effect. Analogue synthesizers with real time MIDI triggered visuals will then combine all that with the beats and bleeps of Hexstatic’s music.

They’re joined by DJ Cheeba and his turntablist skills, who mixes and mashes AV in with a proper party DJ set. This man is known for his quick fire mixing and inspired tune selection, and was a resident on Ninja Tune’s legendary Solid Steel radio show in 2010. If that wasn’t enough, Public Service Broadcasting will be bashing out their indie leaning electro with visuals too. Big up your ears and eyes for this one!

Saturday 28 Apr, Village Underground, 54 Holywell Lane, London, EC2A 3PQ, 9pm – 4 am, £14 adv, more info here.

Roadrunner Records founder departs, offices streamlined and staffers let go

Business News Industry People Labels & Publishers Top Stories

Warner Music owned metal label Roadrunner Records is being streamlined big time this week as the company’s founder, Cees Wessels, departs the company he founded in the Netherlands in 1980.

Warner took complete ownership of Roadrunner nearly eighteen months ago, but the company continued to run pretty autonomously. Under the latest revamp, most of the division’s back office operations will be taken over by the Warner group’s central teams, while – although Roadrunner’s A&R, marketing and promotions team will remain separate – there seems to be some downsizing going on there too.

Yesterday afternoon, as various Roadrunner staffers confirmed via Twitter or personal email lists that they’d been made redundant, there were rumours that only the Roadrunner US office would remain, with releases elsewhere being handled by Warner Music teams. However, sources close to the major have denied the cutbacks will be that extreme, with only original home The Netherlands losing its domestic Roadrunner office completely.

But, said sources added, 36 Roadrunner employees worldwide have been axed alongside Wessels’ departure this week, though no official statement has been made to that effect as yet.

Pressure groups want US senate to consider Universal’s EMI bid

Business News EMI Sale Timeline Labels & Publishers Top Stories

Two pressure groups in the US have urged the Senate judiciary subcommittee that focuses on competition issues to review Universal Music’s bid to buy the EMI record companies.

As previously reported, web lobbying group Public Knowledge has already published its submission to the American Federal Trade Commission’s review of Universal’s EMI bid, airing very similar concerns about the proposal to those expressed by indie labels organisation IMPALA in Europe. But yesterday the group joined with the Consumer Federation Of America in calling for the merger of the Universal and EMI labels to be discussed on Capitol Hill too.

In a letter to Senators Herb Kohl and Michael S Lee, who sit on the relevant subcommittee within the US Congress’s Senate, the two groups re-set out most of the criticism about Universal’s deal that has been aired in other quarters, in particular that a combined Universal/EMI will command over 40% of the Anglo-American catalogue, and that that will give what is already the largest major music company too much power in digital negotiations, as well as over competitors and independents. Universal has already issued statements countering those claims.

But the letter also raises a new argument, citing the US Justice Department’s recent lawsuit against Apple and five major book publishers, who were are accused of colluding to fix prices in the e-book market. The letter asks, if five publishers which together have less than a 50% market share can pose a threat to competition in one market, what could one company with over a 40% market share do in the music space?

Universal was quick to respond to that point as well though, saying that price fixing rules and competition rules are two very different things, and that the ability for companies to collude on pricing has nothing to do with market share. The major told reporters: “CFA’s effort to compare this case to the government’s e-books case completely misunderstands the law. The e-books case is about an alleged illegal price-fixing conspiracy. Market shares don’t matter in a case like that it’s just as illegal for two tiny local bookstores to fix prices as it is for giant publishing companies”.

It added: “The law governing mergers is totally different, and most mergers, like this one, are ultimately found to be beneficial to competition and consumers”.

According to reports, relevant senators are now considering whether they should give time to discussing Universal’s grand EMI plan, though, even if they do, the FTC investigation will still seemingly be the important thing, even if any congressional debate on the matter makes for interesting viewing.

Google sued over rock artwork

Digital Legal

Google is facing a copyright infringement lawsuit over a photo backdrop it used at the launch of its lacklustre Google Music service last year.

The estate of the late and legendary rock photographer Jim Marshall (not to be confused with the amp maker of the same name) is suing pop artist Thierry ‘Mr Brainwash’ Guetta over his use of photographs taken and owned by Marshall in one of his artworks. Guetta often utilises other people’s photography in his art, usually without permission, and this isn’t the first time he’s been sued for copyright infringement as a result.

But this case is particularly interesting because Google seemingly used the Mr Brainwash artwork, featuring Marshall photos of John Coltrane and Jimi Hendrix, at its big music launch last year, presumably making a copy of a piece which made a copy of the late photographer’s pictures. As a result the web firm is also being sued.

Google is yet to comment on the litigation.

Britney’s fiancé now also her legal guardian

Legal

A US judge has granted Britney Spears’ fiancé Jason Trawick the right to become her legal guardian. He will share the handling of her personal affairs with her father Jamie Spears.

Spears senior have been his daughter’s ‘conservator’ since 2008, after a much publicised period of mental distress for the singer which resulted in a stay in a psychiatric hospital. She got engaged to Trawick, her former agent, last December, but they are unable to marry without court approval. It’s thought that his application to become her joint guardian was part of plans to set a wedding date.

Following the ruling at the LA Superior Court a spokesman for Jamie Spears said that he was “thrilled” to have joint conservatorship of his daughter with Trawick.

Music Week Awards handed out

Awards Business News

The Music Week Awards ceremony took place at The Brewery venue in London yesterday, with XL the biggest winner taking away four awards, if you include the lifetime achievement trophy (or The Strat, as they insist on calling it), which was handed to the company’s founder Richard Russell.

The winners in full are as follows:

High Street Retail Brand: HMV
Online Retail Brand: iTunes
Independent Retailer: Sound It Out Records
Non-Retail Digital Music Service: Spotify

Live Music Venue: Shepherd’s Bush Empire

Radio Station: 6music
Radio Show: Steve Lamacq, 6music
TV Show Featuring Music: Later… with Jools Holland

Promotions Team: Atlantic
Sales Team: PIAS
Distribution Team: Proper Distribution

Catalogue Marketing Campaign: Rhino for The Smiths Complete
Artist Marketing Campaign: XL Recordings for 21 by Adele
PR Campaign: Purple PR for 21 by Adele
Music & Brand Partnership: Converse & Cornerstone for Converse Gigs @ The 100 Club

Publisher Of The Year – Singles: EMI Music Publishing
Publisher Of The Year – Albums: Universal Music Publishing
Independent Publisher: Kobalt
Manager Of The Year: Jonathan Dickins, September Management
A&R Award: XL Recordings

Independent Record Company: Bella Union
Record Company: XL Recordings
The Strat: Richard Russell, XL Recordings

Spotify and Beggars founders jump onto Sunday Times Rich List

Business News Digital Industry People Labels & Publishers

The annual Sunday Times Rich List will be published this Sunday, and will show that, for the most part, the wealthiest people in music are pretty much as wealthy as they were this time last year. Paul McCartney jumps up two places to number three, but this is down to his new wife Nancy Shevell’s £150 million fortune being added to his own, which I reckon is cheating.

Most interesting are the two new entries in the top 50 richest music industry people. Beggars Group founder Martin Mills finds himself at joint 46th with Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason with an estimated fortune of £55 million. And nearly 40 years after he opened the original Beggars Banquet record shop in Earls Court, kickstarting a career spent discovering and promoting great music, that seems fair enough. His jump up the charts is aided by Adele, whose endlessly popular ’21’ album was released by the Beggars-owned XL Recordings.

A fresher face on the scene, and one much higher up, is Spotify founder Daniel Ek. He enters the chart at joint tenth, alongside Mick Jagger and the Beckhams, having accumulated an estimated wealth of £190 million. Who said streaming music doesn’t pay? Of course, that isn’t actually the money he has in the bank, it’s the value of his stake in Spotify, the company being valued at £1.2 billion in total, so basically it’s made up money. For all we know Ek doesn’t have two CDs to rub together.

Here, for you enjoyment/resentment (delete as applicable) are the top ten music millionaires in Britain and Ireland:

1 Clive Calder (£1,350m)
2 Cameron Mackintosh (£725m)
3 Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell (£665m)
4 Andrew Lloyd-Webber (£590m)
5 U2 (£514m)
6 Simon Fuller (£375m)
7 Simon Cowell (£225m)
8 Elton John (£220m)
9 Michael Flatley (£192m)
10= David and Victoria Beckham (£190m)
10= Daniel Ek (£190m)
10= Mick Jagger (£190m)

Blur and Gorillaz not over, says Albarn

Artist News

Okay, now listen here The Various Members Of Blur, will you all please be quiet until you’ve made a decision about what you’re doing? And you, Damon Albarn, I’m talking to you in particular now, just shut up about all you projects, would you?

As previously reported, Albarn recently told The Guardian that he “hoped” Blur’s upcoming show for the Olympics would be “how we end it”, adding that, due to visuals man Jamie Hewlett thinking he’s been sidelined in the project, Gorillaz also seemed to be done with, at least “until a time comes when that knot has been untied”.

To be fair, I suppose that latter statement does sound a bit like Albarn thinks Gorillaz will make another album again one day, and this week he confirmed that to Metro, saying: “When Jamie and I have worked out our differences, I’m sure we’ll make another record. We’ve been through too much together for it to be that big of a mountain to climb. We’ve just fallen out like mates do sometimes. I’m not the only person to fall out with mates and then make up again – everyone does it”.

As for his comments about bringing Blur to a close with one more single and one last show this summer, he said: “Some days I feel one way and other days I feel the other. If you don’t see something as a career but as an important part of your life, you don’t know how you’re going to feel about it. We want to put on a great performance, but nothing’s been said between us about the beginning or the end”.

Balls. Just make up your mind and stick with it, Albarn. Or at least stop talking about it. OK, I know people are going to ask you about it constantly, but for the time being please just say you don’t know. If it helps, I think you should all knock Blur on the head and stop embarrassing yourselves, but that’s just me.

The Smiths in not reforming shocker

Artist News

The Smiths aren’t reforming. This should come as no surprise to you because The Smiths will never reform and everyone should shut up about it. The Smiths, to their credit, are one of the seemingly small number of bands who recognise that reforming a band is nothing more than a commercial exercise that should be sneered at.

Still, yesterday music-news.com ran a story claiming that the band had decided to perform together for the first time since 1987 this autumn, and were currently bashing out the details with “a well-known promoter”. The news quickly spread around social networks, with even Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr getting in on the action on Twitter, writing: “Hey Everybody!! Amazing news! My amp is fixed!”

Over on Facebook he published a slightly longer statement, saying: “Thanks to those with hearts and smarts. I don’t know where this stuff starts. Not from me. I got things to do. The rumour of the Smiths reunion is untrue. It’s not happening”.

Drummer Mike Joyce also commented on the rumours, saying via his radio show on Beatwolf Radio, according to the Daily Mirror: “When I first heard about it I was… to say [I was] surprised and rather shocked was a bit of an understatement. Obviously I had to keep my emotions in check because there’s a lot of people in the office. It’s not happening folks, [or] as far as I know. Now, if it was going to happen without me then, yeah – I don’t know. Avec me [though], then I would have known about it, wouldn’t I?”

As for the possibility of a reunion one day, he continued: “Who knows, in the future [it might happen]. We don’t know, do we, really – cos we can never know. I mean, there’s quite a few bands who have got back together again who people said it would never happen, and they did. Only time will tell”.

Time will tell indeed. Though, now I come to think about it, Johnny Marr did say earlier this year that if the current coalition government stepped down then The Smiths would reform. And the way things are going, the Cameron/Clegg party may well have fallen apart by the Autumn. Oh my God, this is actually happening. The Smiths are definitely getting back together. Definitely. Why else would Johnny Marr be getting his amp fixed?

The Weeknd in studio with Wiz Khalifa and AraabMuzik

Artist News

Perhaps to detract from the lacklustre reaction to his much-hyped Coachella set, R&B soloist The Weeknd has taken to collaborating with as many artists as possible. Well, rappers AraabMuzik and Wiz Khalifa at least.

The latter broke the news in an interview with HipHopWired, telling the site that his forthcoming LP, ‘ONIFC’, will feature The Weeknd, aka Abel Tesfaye, in a “trippy” guest capacity. Said weed fiend Wiz: “He’s a trippy dude. It’s really away from the character people know him for, so with me and him, we work really well together”.

Meanwhile Abraham Orellana, aka AraabMuzik, who is soon to release a joint mixtape with ‘Peso’ MC A$AP Rocky, has also shared studio time with Tesfaye, tweeting last week that he was “currently working with my homie The Weeknd”.

So, those duets are happening. I vote that The Weeknd should now release something with A$AP Rocky, and close this incestuous rap circle once and for all.

Monday 30 April 2012, 11:51 | By Andy Malt

READ MORE ABOUT:

Monday 30 April 2012, 11:49 | By Aly Barchi

READ MORE ABOUT: Swim Deep | The Great Escape

Monday 30 April 2012, 11:49 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Kim Dotcom | MegaUpload | New Zealand

Monday 30 April 2012, 11:47 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: EMI | ReDigi

Monday 30 April 2012, 11:45 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Luce | Selena Gomez

Monday 30 April 2012, 11:42 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Robin Gibb

Monday 30 April 2012, 11:40 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Vampire Weekend

Monday 30 April 2012, 11:39 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: SCUM

Monday 30 April 2012, 11:38 | By CMU Editorial

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Monday 30 April 2012, 11:35 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Bestival | Jersey Folklore Festival | T In The Park | Wakestock

Monday 30 April 2012, 11:33 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Live Nation | London Olympics 2012

Monday 30 April 2012, 11:31 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Pandora | Spotify

Monday 30 April 2012, 11:30 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Amazon | Amazon MP3 | TuneCore

Monday 30 April 2012, 11:29 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Chirpify | Twitter

Monday 30 April 2012, 11:26 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Christina Aguilera | The Wanted

Monday 30 April 2012, 11:25 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Bob Geldof | Peaches Geldof

Monday 30 April 2012, 11:24 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Grimes

Friday 27 April 2012, 18:35 | By Andy Malt

READ MORE ABOUT: Anyone Can Play Guitar | Jon Spira | The Great Escape

Friday 27 April 2012, 16:15 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Beggars Group | Courtney Love | Daniel Ek | GEMA | Google | Martin Mills | Roadrunner Records | Spotify | Sunday Times Rich List | Warner Music | YouTube

Friday 27 April 2012, 13:09 | By Chris Cooke

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Friday 27 April 2012, 13:08 | By Paul Vig

READ MORE ABOUT: Soundcrash | Videocrash

Friday 27 April 2012, 13:08 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Cees Wessels | Roadrunner Records | Warner Music

Friday 27 April 2012, 13:03 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: AFTC | CFA | EMI | Herb Kohl | Michael S Lee | Public Knowledge | The Independent Music Companies Association (IMPALA) | Universal Music

Friday 27 April 2012, 13:01 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Copyright | Google | Google Music | Jim Marshall | Mr Brainwash

Friday 27 April 2012, 12:59 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Britney Spears | Jamie Spears | Jason Trawick

Friday 27 April 2012, 12:58 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Music Week | Music Week Awards

Friday 27 April 2012, 12:56 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Daniel Ek | Martin Mills | Sunday Times Rich List

Friday 27 April 2012, 12:54 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Blur | Damon Albarn | Gorillaz

Friday 27 April 2012, 12:53 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Johnny Marr | Mike Joyce | Morrissey | The Smiths

Friday 27 April 2012, 12:50 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: AraabMuzik | The Weeknd | Wiz Khalifa