Thursday 31 May 2012, 12:06 | By CMU Editorial

Playlist: Crocodiles

CMU Playlists

Noise pop outfit Crocodiles formed as a duo, Brandon Welchez and Charles Rowell, in 2008 and over the course of two albums and four years have swelled to a five-piece. Their latest album, ‘Endless Flowers’, the follow-up to 2010’s ‘Sleep Forever’, is due for release via Souterrain Transmissions on 4 Jun.

Having recently completed a UK tour supporting The Cribs, the San Diegans will hang around a little longer to perform at this weekend’s Field Day festival in London, as well as headlining London’s Hotel Street on 6 Jun and promoter Sexbeat’s fifth birthday boat party on The River Thames on 7 Jun.

While still on dry land, we asked frontman Brandon Welchez to put together a playlist for us. He did so, though it comes with strict instructions for you, which he explains below:

“Here’s our playlist. We consider it the hardest, hairiest, veiniest, girthiest, most bluish playlist in all the land.

Please USE this playlist for activities such as:
– Putting lipstick on a German Shepherd
– Smoking marijuana with taxi drivers
– Entertaining a gang of Transylvanian sluts
– Eating ice cream in the dark
– Nude arm-wrestling competitions
– Etc.

Please DO NOT USE this playlist for activities such as:
– Shaving a patch out of your hair and claiming it’s alopecia
– Falling into a lake in Milwaukee
– Sleeping on a bunk bed at age 38
– Moussing your neck-cape into a curl
– Prostituting oneself to horologists
– Etc.

Thank you”.

BRANDON WELCHEZ’S TEN
Click here to listen to Brandon’s playlist in Spotify, and then read on to find out more about his choices.

01 Bad Brains – Banned In DC
Back at the Che Cafe again with a funny haircut and a bright yellow t-shirt on.

02 Gary Glitter – Rock And Roll (Part 2)
Some people get stoned and listen to trip hop while eating take-away sushi, we listen to Gary Glitter and play suck and blow.

03 Stiv Bators – Make Up Your Mind
Immortal stuff here. I can leap across New York City buildings on this shit.

04 Basement 5 – Last White Christmas
Hamburg Germany has nothing to do with this song but it’s where I first heard this and where I first made love with a moustached male escort.

05 Chuck Berry – Rock & Roll Music
The best song ever written. When I listen to Chuck Berry I instantly feel like running into the first strip club I see, grabbing a girl by the waist and asking her to marry me.

06 Lou Reed – Gimme Some Good Times
I style my hair with generous amounts of spit, put on my vampire jacket and roam the streets, blasting this from a boom box on my shoulder.

07 Patti Smith – Ask The Angels
It’s wild! Wild! Wild! Wild! Wild! Wild! WILD!

08 Sixto Rodriguez – Only Good For Conversation
I wasn’t able to grow facial hair until I heard this song.

09 The Monorchid – The Warmers
This was originally written for a musical loosely based on the hit novel ‘Coaxial Flutter’ by Johnson K Beauregarde. Lemmy Kilmeister was set to star opposite Mark E Smith, but the play was cancelled last minute when Beauregarde’s lawyers issued a cease and desist to the producers.

10 The Association – Never My Love
Romance used to be very pure and sweet. Now it’s all about fingerjobs in the bathroom at Pumps.

Approved: Future Of The Left podcast

CMU Approved

Future Of The Left’s Andy Falkous is known to pen a good line in quotable lyrics, as well as being an amusing writer away from the music. For evidence of this, you only need check his tweets and his recently blogged response to Pitchfork’s not entirely complimentary review of his band’s new album, ‘The Plot Against Common Sense’.

To promote said album, the band have coupled those two things (audio and writing, I guess, I may not have thought this link through properly) to create a podcast, which they have entitled ‘The Pilot Against Common Sense’. See what they did there?

Inspired, so they say, by The Enemy, Falkous and guitarist Jimmy Watkins, listeners are treated clips of songs from the new album, plus exclusive tracks from Gruff Rhys and The Smashing Pumpkins, as well as a feature on Northumberland by Glenn Danzig. Though now I think about it, it might not actually have been them. They had Danzig’s North East twang down perfectly though, I’m sure you’ll be taken in too.

It’s a surreal, often confusing, but funny ride through the world of Future Of The Left, which you can listen to below. Stick around to the end to hear ‘Home Taping Is Killing Susan’, a song they “recorded for the album and then decided wasn’t good enough”, in full.

Digital outperforms physical for first time in UK record industry

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Retail

Digital revenue surpassed physical product revenue for the first time in the UK record industry in the last quarter, with download, streaming and other digital services accounting for 55.5% of recorded music income. A continued decline in CD sales contributed to the milestone, though the continued growth of digital was also important, including an almost doubling in subscription revenues from streaming platforms.

Overall digital made £86.5 million for the British record industry in the first quarter of 2012, with physical sales taking overall recorded music revenues to £155.8 million, which is 2.7% up on the same quarter last year. None of this, of course, includes any newer revenue streams that some labels enjoy, if they have become involved in their artists’ other activity, such as publishing, live or merchandise.

Commenting on these figures, BPI boss Geoff Taylor told CMU: “This is a significant milestone in the evolution of the music business. UK record labels have embraced digital to their core, supporting innovation and licensing more new online and mobile services than any other country. As a result, the industry’s prospects for growth look brighter than for several years”.

He added: “We will need to see this trend repeated for several quarters to say we have turned the corner – demand for physical CDs remains strong in the UK, especially in Q4. However, the creativity, investment and digital expertise of the British music industry point the way forward for growth in the UK economy”.

Sky blocks The Pirate Bay

Digital Legal Top Stories

BSkyB has begun blocking access to The Pirate Bay in response to the previously reported court order secured by record label trade body the BPI against the always controversial file-sharing site. As much previously reported, the UK courts first issued a web-block order on copyright grounds last year against the file-sharing community Newzbin, which BT was forced to block.

Moves to include a web-block injunctions system in the Digital Economy Act in 2010 were essentially rejected in parliament, but lawyers for the movie industry successfully argued that such injunctions were possible under existing copyright law. They are used to stop UK consumers from accessing copyright infringing websites that are based outside the jurisdiction of the British courts, where direct action against the accused site itself is impossible.

Using the Newzbin case as precedent, the BPI successfully secured five web-block orders against The Pirate Bay at the end of April, ordering Virgin Media, Sky, Everything Everywhere, TalkTalk and O2 to block access to TPB for their respective customers. Virgin was first to comply, and Sky followed suit yesterday. Everything Everywhere has reportedly also already instigated the block, while TalkTalk and O2 are still working on it. The deadlines for having the block in place varied – for some ISPs it was tomorrow – though O2 has an extra couple of weeks for some reason. A separate application from the BPI for a court order to force BT to also block the Bay is pending.

Confirming it had now blocked the Bay, Sky said in a statement yesterday: “We have invested billions of pounds in high-quality entertainment for our customers because we know how much our customers value it. It’s therefore important that companies like ours do what they can, alongside the government and the rest of the media and technology industries, to help protect their copyright”.

Of course, and as also previously reported, all web-blocks are circumventable if you know what you are doing, and various websites and blogs now provide information on how to access The Pirate Bay via an ISP that has in theory blocked it. And, with ISPs in Belgium also being forced by the courts to block the file-sharing site, the Bay has just set up a new IP address for its service to make it easier for users accessing the net via a web-blocking ISP to reach the site.

These will also be blocked by the ISPs in due course (either automatically or in response to new instructions from the courts), though the Bay says it is sitting on hundreds of IP addresses, and will switch every time access to an existing one is prevented.

Some argue that the fact web-blocks are circumventable means this method for tackling file-sharing is pointless, though many rights owners would argue that – while blocks may always be passable – the blockades make the file-sharing experience less user-friendly, and if at the same time licensed music services can become more user-friendly, then for the mainstream audience that will strike a blow against file-sharing.

Dutch parliament opposes ACTA

Legal Top Stories

The Dutch parliament earlier this week told the country’s government not to sign the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, the global treaty that aims to harmonise some intellectual property laws in countries around the world.

As previously reported, the long-in-development treaty was criticised in some quarters while it was being negotiated, though widespread opposition has only come since the first countries signed up to the agreement late last year. The European Union and 22 EU countries, including the UK, then signed the treaty at the start of this year, although some of those countries (though not the UK) have subsequently said they are reviewing their support of the agreement, and the European Parliament and European Courts Of Justice are both still to consider it too.

The Netherlands were one of the EU countries not to sign ACTA in January, though the government there did intend to give the agreement its backing eventually. However, following public protests about the agreement, politicians there have now come out against the IP treaty. The Dutch government says it is holding off making a decision one way or another until the ECJ has ruled on whether any provisions in the agreement violate any fundamental EU rights.

As previously reported, supporters of ACTA insist it is essential for ensuring the survival of copyright and trademark based industries, and that in Europe all the provisions in the agreement are already part of European law, so it won’t actually result in any new intellectual property rules. But opponents criticise the way much of the agreement was negotiated in secrecy, and say that some of the treaty is worded ambiguously, and might enable nations signed up toit to introduce, via the back door, draconian new IP laws that hinder people’s internet freedom rights.

The Dutch Pirate Party welcomed their parliaments new found opposition to ACTA, though noted that most political parties in the country previously supported the agreement, and accused politicians of changing their stance now because of upcoming elections, aware of public opposition to the treaty.

ASA declines to rule on Live And Unsigned advertising

Awards

The Advertising Standards Authority has declined to rule on whether or not a new bands competition broke advertising rules in 2010 when it outlined the prizes that winning bands would receive.

As previously reported, it was a band called Underline The Sky that made a complaint to the ASA. They claimed that they had never seen any of the prizes that had been promised in the contest’s original advertising after winning Live And Unsigned in 2010. Organisers of the competition admitted that, for various reasons, prizes had changed that year, but said that the changes had been communicated, and that Underline The Sky had refused to accept the alternative prizes.

Either way, the ASA says it cannot rule on Live And Unsigned’s 2010 adverts because they were issued too long ago – the advertising industry regulator only considers ads that have been in circulation within the last three months. The Authority added that it would monitor Live And Unsigned’s 2012 advertising instead.

Organisers of Live And Unsigned welcomed the ruling, adding: “We can now continue with giving artists opportunities that are very difficult to come by in the music industry”.

Meanwhile, Underline The Sky drummer James Hicks said the band were “disappointed with the [ASA] investigation”, but added: “We hope that we’ve rattled a few bones. If we can make people a bit more wary of [the competition], it’s a minor win”.

As also previously reported, when investigating the original complaint the BBC discovered other former competitors in Live And Unsigned who were unhappy with the contest, though also past participants who spoke positively of the enterprise. What is probably true is that a band’s experience of any unsigned band competition will depend to an extent on their exceptions. Even winners of ‘X-Factor’ aren’t assured long term fame and fortune after victory, and the same is true of all new talent competitions, though usually more so.

Odd Future sign Trash Talk

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

Rap posse OFWGKTA have signed Sacramento hardcore act Trash Talk to their label, Odd Future Records, which was set up last year in partnership with Sony’s RED Distribution. The band will release a new LP entitled ‘119’ later this year under the OF imprint and their own label, Trash Talk Collective.

And if you’d like to see that same announcement as delivered by Odd Future’s very own L-Boy, look no further than this little tirade: “So them muthafuckin ova at Odd Future records done signed a fuckin group of crackas and niggas in a hardcore punk band called Trash Talk. I mean it makes sense since Odd Future fans is them white niggas anyway. Trash Talk is supposed to be releasing they album called ‘119’ or some shit thru they Trash Talk Collective label in the fall. Don’t ask me what the fuck that means cuz I don’t fuckin kno”.

Oh, but he’s not done… “I asked Tyler’s trick ass what he thought about that shit and I really didn’t give a fuck so I’m not gone put that shit on here. Them Trash Talk niggas is currently over in Europe with them musty muthafuckas. If you give a fuck about they shit then listen to them niggas’ EP on iTunes called ‘Awake’ or watch the fuckin video nigga”.

The ‘Awake’ EP was released by True Panther back in October last year. Assuming you give more of a shit than L-Boy, here’s the video for a track from it, ‘Slander’:

Slipknot preparing greatest hits release and… something else

Releases

Slipknot posted a video on their website earlier this week featuring various clips of the band’s DJ Sid Wilson getting up to various antics. Soundtracked by remixes of Slipknot songs ‘Surfacing’ and ‘People = Shit’, the only actual information provided by the video is the name ‘Antennas To Hell’ and the date 17 Jul 2012.

So, nice and mysterious. Except the band’s frontman Corey Taylor later tweeted: “I believe 17 Jul is when the Slipknot greatest hits album drops”. He may not be entirely sure, but that’s good enough for us. He also revealed that the band are working on new demos, though stressed that this was not in preparation for a new album as yet.

More pressing for Taylor, in fact, is the matter of something called HoGaB, which he keeps referring to via the social network. By my calculations he’s due to announce what that is on 9 Jun. So that’s fun.

In other Slipknot news, percussionist Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan is publishing a book of photographs called ‘The Apocalyptic Nightmare Journey’ featuring a foreword by Metallica’s Lars Ulrich in which he announces that “this book is everything that art should be”. High praise from Mr Ulrich there. Pre-order it here.

And watch that ‘Antennas To Hell’ video here:

Matthew Dear releasing new LP shortly

Releases

Having made his studio debut in 2010 with the acclaimed ‘Black City’, alt-pop architect Matthew Dear is now to release a sequel in the form of new LP ‘Beams’. Out via Ghostly International on 27 Aug, it finds the NYC instrumentalist embracing a little more levity than he did whilst making its predecessor, though that isn’t to say it’s any less odd.

Just ask Dear, who says: “I try to write straight forward pop music. But it always comes out askew and off-kilter. I will say that ‘Beams’ is a turn toward the proverbial light. The songs on this album are the most honest I’ve written yet. Most of them are still entwined in a cryptic lyrical mesh that I won’t figure out for another few years or so, but trust me, the mesh is honest”.

And here’s a proverbial hors d’oeuvres in the form of LP featurette ‘Her Fantasy’:

Teengirl Fantasy prep second record

Releases

Alt-dance duo Teengirl Fantasy are to release a new LP titled ‘Tracer’ via R&S Records on 20 Aug, or so they’ve said.

Described in unison by TF’s Nick Weiss and Logan Takahashi as “more focused, far-reaching and taking more risks” than their 2010 debut ‘7AM’, it will feature collaborations with Panda Bear and Laurel Halo. What it won’t include, though, is the band’s new single ‘Motif’, which is released on 25 Jun.

Listen to it after a glance at this ‘Tracer’ tracklisting:

Orbit
EFX (feat Kelela)
Eternal
Pyjama (feat Panda Bear)
Mist of Time (feat Laurel Halo)
End
Vector Spray
Inca
Do It (feat Romanthony)
Timeline

Dirty Projectors set London date

Gigs & Festivals

Dirty Projectors have announced a London date in live aid of their previously reported new long player, ‘Swing Lo Magellan’. They’ll appear at The Roundhouse on 17 Oct, whilst the LP itself is released on 9 Jul. And that’s that.

Foxes to tour

Gigs & Festivals

Pop progeny Foxes is off on a wander about Britain with a mind to promote her previously mentioned ‘Warrior’ EP, and she doesn’t care who knows it.

Look, she’s even shared the below live listings and the just debuted ‘In Her Arms’, which will be released as part of said EP on 9 Jul.

16 Jun: Bristol, Start The Bus
20 Jun: Leeds, Nation Of Shopkeepers
21 Jun: London, Queen Of Hoxton
26 Jun: Manchester, The Castle

Rolo Tomassi announce tour

Gigs & Festivals

As promised when they first rearranged their line-up earlier this year, prog-core poster children (NB: they’re not actual children, more young adults) Rolo Tomassi have listed a set of headline dates that’ll happen throughout late October. The band will most likely be releasing an LP to coincide with the tour, which makes it all the more of a thrill.

And the dates are:

21 Oct: Bristol, Fleece
22 Oct: Brighton, Haunt
23 Oct: Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
24 Oct: Birmingham, Rainbow
25 Oct: Leeds, Cockpit
26 Oct: Middlesborough, Sumo
27 Oct: Manchester, Deaf Institute
28 Oct: Glasgow, King Tut’s
30 Oct: Norwich, Arts Centre
31 Oct: London, XOYO

Barbican staging Transcender concert festival

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

The Barbican in London will herald the start of its autumn season with the Transcender festival, a series of contemporary concerts honing in on “transcendental, devotional, spiritual, hypnotic and psychedelic music”.

Amongst those artists set to enthral audiences across various East London venues between 17-30 Sep, this year’s edition will feature appearances by the Sun Ra Arkestra led by Marshall Allen, Oneohtrix Point Never, plus an exclusive collaboration between Persian maestro Hossein Alizadeh and Armenian musician Djivan Gasparyan.

Full listings here.

Festival line-up update – 31 May 2012

Artist News Festival Line-Up Update Gigs & Festivals

BEACONS FESTIVAL, Funkirk Estate, Skipton, Yorkshire, 17-19 Aug: Touted indie types Beak>, Veronica Falls, Visions Of Trees, Japandroids, Pale Seas and Pins have the honour of completing an already fulsome Beacons billing, as also features Wild Beasts, Toots & The Maytals, Roots Manuva, Patrick Wolf, Ghostpoet, Jessie Ware. www.greetingsfrombeacons.com

BERLIN FESTIVAL, Tempelhof Airport/Arena Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 7-8 Sep: Nicolas Jaar, Miike Snow, Crocodiles, When Saints Go Machine and more represent the latest artists destined to play at Berlin Festival 2012, and accompany the likes of Franz Ferdinand, Friendly Fires, Sigur Rós, Grimes, Friends and Junior Boys on the line-up at large. www.berlinfestival.de

BILBAO BBK, Spain, 12-14 Jul: Brand new additions Sum 41, Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed and The Big Pink join The Cure, Radiohead, Garbage, Keane, Mumford & Sons, Bloc Party, Snow Patrol, The Kooks, Glasvegas and James Murphy at the 2012 edition of Bilbao’s premiere music fiesta. www.bilbaobbklive.com

FRESH ISLAND FESTIVAL, Zrce Beach, Pag, Croatia, 5-8 Jul: In proud possession of a varied programme featuring “extreme sport, beaches, gastronomy… and (natural) beauty”, Fresh Island’s live line-up features US hip hop types Nas, Eve and Cypress Hill’s DJ Muggs, with Punchline, DJ Soul Clap and DJ Revolution also slated to appear. www.fresh-island.org

GUILFEST, Guildford, Surrey, 13-15 Jul: GuilFest’s latest intake includes Bjorn Again, Dodgy, Alvin Stardust, Bastille, Rolo Tomassi and plus-sized Take That tribute band Take Fat, all of whom align with the previously announced Olly Murs, Bryan Ferry, Jools Holland, Tulisa, Jimmy Cliff, Gary Numan, Candi Staton, Cher Lloyd and Tim Minchin. www.guilfest.co.uk

PITCHFORK FESTIVAL PARIS, Grande Halle de la Villette, Paris, France, 1-3 Nov: The initial line-up for Pitchfork’s Parisian bash houses M83, Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, Robyn and Sébastien Tellier, with further acts still to be confirmed. www.pitchforkmusicfestival.fr

ROCKIN THE PARK, Clumber Park, Worksop, 17 Aug: Brit Floyd, Hawkwind and Focus will usher in Rockin The Park’s first ever edition, representing classic rock’s golden age alongside the likes of Curved Air, The Strawbs and veteran drummer Carl Palmer. www.ukeventsandproduction.com/classicrock.html

Brands at festivals noticed and appreciated, survey says

Brands & Merch

Brand sponsorship of festivals is a wonderful thing, so that’s good, and we know this because of new research from Havas Sports & Entertainment, which organises brand sponsorship of festivals so is definitely 100% totally impartial on this issue.

According to Havas’s ‘why brands taking over festivals is marvellous’ survey, 65% of respondents felt brands improve the festival experience, while 85% reported that they “liked the brand activations they visited” (one assumes those aren’t the actual words respondents used, unless every single respondent worked in marketing, and was the sort of person who says “wow factor” in anything other than a sarcastic voice).

Not only did consumers respond positively to brand involvement in festivals, but they frequently noticed brand activity (60% of brands active on site at any one festival were recalled) and over a third said that a brand’s involvement in a festival would make them more likely to subsequently buy that company’s products or services.

Commenting on the survey, Havas’s Fredda Hurwitz told reporters: “Our research does much to dispel the view that music festivals are a dangerous arena for brand sponsors and suggests brands are a welcome part of the festival experience if they develop activations that add value”.

He continued: “This research, combined with our own experience building campaigns for a variety of brands in music, including Orange and Coca-Cola, leads us to recommend that the best strategy for brands looking to sponsor a festival is to create exciting, unexpected experiences for fans that have a ‘wow’ factor [there it is]. Festival goers are passionate about music but they go to festivals first and foremost to live an incredible moment with friends – so signage or sampling alone will not get their attention”.

Social media is also important as part of any festival sponsorship, Hurwitz added, noting: “We found music festival goers spend an average 220% more time online than the average global consumer which indicates a memorable on-site experience combined with social network interaction could help brands build long-term relationships with music lovers”.

Twitter and Pepsi partner on music programme

Brands & Merch

Twitter has announced a new partnership with Pepsi in the US based around music. Part of the drinks brand’s Live For Now global marketing campaign, the music initiative will see Pepsi produce a weekly short web-programme looking at the music and artists trending on the micro-blogging platform, as well as streaming a series of exclusive gigs via its enhanced Twitter profile page and giving away free Amazon downloads to users who follow Pepsi and tweet its hashtag.

Says PepsiCo’s Brad Jakeman: “The Pepsi partnership with Twitter is awesome on so many levels. Twitter is the quintessential ‘now-time’ media, which is a natural fit with our ‘Live For Now’ global campaign. Combine that with Pepsi’s long association with music and the result makes for a cool and innovative experience for music fans everywhere”.

Don’t forget you can follow CMU’s ‘now-moments’ on the quintessential ‘now-time’ media platform, where we too provide cool and innovative ‘now-read’ nuggets that have a lot of the ‘wow factor’ at twitter.com/cmu. See, I could work in marketing.

BMG deals: Francis Dreyfus Music, Pokémon

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

BMG has bought French music company Francis Dreyfus Music, which has both label and publishing divisions. According to the German music rights firm, the acquisition “adds remarkable iconic and contemporary songs as well as excellent jazz recordings to BMG’s master rights catalogue”.

BMG boss Hartwig Masuch told CMU: “We are very happy to be able to represent Dreyfus’s outstanding songwriters and artists. The Dreyfus jazz catalogue in particular is well-renowned and we see tremendous licensing potential in it”.

Meanwhile Hélène Dreyfus, widow of Francis, who founded his music company in 1970 and died in 2010, told reporters: “This was an important decision for my daughters and me. It was paramount for us to find a potential suitor who would continue the work of Francis with the same spirit of courage, fidelity and generosity that was always his way. After many months of conversation, we believe and trust that BMG will continue in this same manner. We are pleased to make this announcement. We also want to acknowledge our small but dedicated family of long time employees for their hard work and continued loyalty, especially during a difficult period”.

Elsewhere in BMG news, the music company announced yesterday it had renewed its exclusive worldwide administration deal with The Pokémon Company International, helping the Japanese firm manage, develop and exploit the music assets generated by the Pokémon franchise. Chrysalis, now part of BMG, has worked with the Pokémon firm since 1998.

BMG Chrysalis exec Laurent Hubert told CMU: “We have had the privilege of growing with Pokémon since its US debut in 1998. Pokémon was one of our first audio-visual based clients and has evolved into a cultural phenomenon, enjoying tremendous success throughout the world”.

Meanwhile JC Smith, Director Of Consumer Marketing for The Pokémon Company International said: “BMG Chrysalis US has been a valued partner for over a decade and we look forward to our continued relationship with them”.

These two deals come as BMG announces it is now actively managing over a million publishing copyrights, which it reckons makes it the fourth biggest music publisher in the world behind the majors (assuming you now count Sony/ATV and EMI as one company). Which is pretty impressive since the new BMG only launched in 2008. Though it has had access to a lot of cash courtesy of equity group business partners KKR, which has helped somewhat with the firm’s prolific acquisition spree.

Parker says Apple may have tried to hinder Spotify’s US launch

Digital

Apple may have tried to stop or slow down Spotify’s arrival in the US market says Sean Parker, who’s always there with the killer voxpop when invited to speak at a conference.

Napster co-founder, Facebook investor and Spotify advisor Parker was sitting on a panel with the streaming service’s boss man Daniel Ek at an All Things Digital event in California yesterday. According to Reuters, it was interviewer Walt Mossberg who raised the issue, asking whether either man felt that the iTunes operator might have used its influence in the US record industry to slow down Spotify’s arrival Stateside.

Parker responded: “There was some indication that that might have been happening”, before adding “there is definitely a sense in which Apple was threatened by what we were doing”. Though he admitted that the idea Apple that may have actively hindered Spotify’s negotiations with the US record companies was only hearsay – “you hear things, people send you emails”.

Ever the reliably discreet chief executive (though not quite as good a conference booking as a result), Ek declined to comment on either Mossberg’s question or Parker’s response, though he did that Spotify is “not about competing with iTunes” but rather going head to head with piracy.

How big a threat Apple really thinks Spotify is to iTunes and its related businesses isn’t clear, though in Sweden – the one market where Spotify really is a serious competitor to the Apple download store – it’s thought the IT giant has given a lot of consideration to how to better compete with its newer rival.

Watch the highlights of Parker and Ek’s interview in this video:

DJ Fresh would consider Cowell’s DJ Factor show

And Finally

Remember that terrible sounding DJ-based talent show Simon Cowell’s Syco company is developing with the US firm owned by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith? Well, DJ Fresh is up for being involved if he gets the call. Though presumably on the basis that the full brief for the in development programme doesn’t sound as terrible as the top line concept.

Asked by Digital Spy if he’d be willing to judge on a show like that, the drum n bass and dubstep producer said: “Yeah, if it meant I could carry across the scepticism of where I’m from – which is something they probably need. If I didn’t really think about it my answer would probably be ‘no’, but the more I’ve thought about it I think I would have a different perspective than the other people on the panel”.

Admitting that many in the dance music community would be cynical about the ability of a ‘DJ Factor’ show to really discover the next big producer or superstar DJ, Fresh, real name Daniel Stein, added: “I think the one thing ‘X-Factor’ has really highlighted is the way music promotion is changing. It’s becoming more about people interacting with something they think they should want. Although you can be sceptical about ‘The X-Factor’ and the people that come out of it, ultimately it’s the public who determines who’s popular and who wins”.

Approved: Foxygen

CMU Approved

So yes, you may have creeping doubts over whether the er… uniquely-named Foxygen are really serious about this music lark, just by virtue of that rather ridiculous stage alias alone. Once accustomed to that (why, I’ve almost come to like it), the automatic prestige in 22 year olds Sam France and Jonathan Rado’s being signed to Lia Ices, Sharon Van Etten and Women’s label stable Jagjaguwar, at least, should allay any mistrust and render Foxygen at least worth a listen. Yes? Good.

Billed in their official Jagjaguwar blurb as “manic”, “freewheeling” and “total savants” with good reason; there’s a certain madcap eclecticism to the band’s debut EP ‘Take The Kids Of Broadway’ (released on 23 Jul) that sounds like a late night scan through various classic and contemporary radio stations. Take the much touted ‘Make It Known’, for instance, which alights upon a thousand points of rock reference and, miraculously, masters most.

Preview this and the rest of ‘Take The Kids Of Broadway’ – which is out on 23 Jul – via this here Bandcamp player:

[wp_bandcamp_player type=”album” id=”1006127493″ size=”grande” bg_color=”#FFFFFF” link_color=”#4285BB”]

Amanda Palmer passes $1 million in Kickstarter funding

Business News Digital Management & Funding Top Stories

Amanda Palmer passed the $1 million mark in her Kickstarter fundraising campaign yesterday afternoon, just over two days shy of the campaign’s deadline tomorrow. Last time I checked she’d actually topped $1,040,000.

As previously reported, the former Dresden Doll has been raising money from her fans – by taking pre-orders for future work and selling premium packages including backstage doughnut eating sessions and house parties – in order to fund a new album, art project and tour.

In celebration of the million dollar moment, Palmer tweeted: “WE. FUCKING. DID IT. $1,000,000 OF PURE FUTURE ARTMUSIC ASSKICKING”. She also added a link to this picture, which I think you should assume is not suitable to look at in your place of work, due to additional swearing and a large degree of toplessness. She’s raised a lot of money though, so I don’t think Amanda really needs to consider the blushes of your office mates any more.

As previously reported, Palmer initially said she was seeking $100,000 in pre-orders and fan investment – a target she reached in just six hours – though last week she outlined how, if the million dollar mark was passed, the money would be spent, admitting that $100,000 wouldn’t have even covered the costs she has already incurred to get this ambitious project off the ground.

With the costs of fulfilling the products and premium packages fans have ordered, plus other costs related to releasing an album, publishing a book and staging a world tour, not to mention fees incurred by raising money via Kickstarter, it is unlikely there will be much more than $100,000 in profits for Palmer out of the million. And even that may be eaten up in unforeseen costs, meaning the singer could actually rely on subsequent sales via more traditional routes of the music and art the project generates in order to see any cash herself.

Some have also pointed out that the American tax man may take some of the money – though quite what kind of taxes will be due, and at what level, will depend on how Palmer has structured the project in terms of companies and personal income.

MegaUpload prosecution told to share evidence with defence

Digital Legal MegaUpload Timeline

A judge in New Zealand has ordered the prosecution in the MegaUpload case to disclose all its evidence against the former bosses of the now defunct file-transfer platform, who are facing charges in the US of copyright infringement, money laundering and racketeering.

The New Zealand officials, acting on behalf of the American authorities in their legal bid to extradite MegaUpload founder Kim ‘Dotcom’ Schmitz and three other men to the States, have so far only shared a selection of the files they have amassed in relation to the case, including some emails and key documents, but Judge David Harvey this week said they should let the defence see all of their evidence.

The lawyer leading the MegaUpload defence, Ira Rothken, welcomed the ruling, telling reporters: “This makes the playing field more even. I think this is a very significant ruling for New Zealand, because it demonstrates that New Zealand courts will intervene to protect the rights of its residents from foreign intrusion. We’re looking forward to this disclosure – once there is full transparency into the government’s claims, we believe Kim Dotcom, and the rest of those involved with MegaUpload, will prevail”.

Rothken is hoping to stop his clients from being extradited from New Zealand to the USA, most likely on the grounds that the crimes the MegaUpload execs are accused of do not carry a high enough sentence for the US/New Zealand extradition agreement to apply. A ruling on that matter should be made in August, though if and when he gets access to the prosecution’s box of evidence Rothken will presumably also start planning his clients’ defence for if and when the matter reaches the American courtroom, or in case criminal proceedings are pursued through the New Zealand courts if extradition fails.

At the same court hearing this week, Harvey said that Schmitz’s electronic monitory device could be removed, and that the former MegaUpload chief could return to the multi-million dollar house where he was living when police swooped on him and his company in January. Since being released from jail Schmitz has been living in a smaller property that adjoins what some have called ‘the Dotcom mansion’.

Bieber’s pap scuffle referred to LA prosecutors

Legal

LA County police will refer last weekend’s Bieber/paparazzo run in to prosecutors, TMZ has reported, which could result in the teen star being prosecuted for injuring a photographer during a scuffle in a car park.

As previously reported, according to eye witnesses who spoke to TMZ, the injured photographer initially stood in front of a large van Justin Bieber was driving, though the fracas occurred when the pop star got out the vehicle to ask the snapper to move, and the photo man refused.

Quite what happened next isn’t entirely clear, though once Bieber and girlfriend Selena Gomez had departed the photographer complained of pains in his torso, and an ambulance was called and police report filed. Though it has been alleged that the formal complaints were only made after a lawyer who witnessed the incident advised the photographer he should report his injuries because “he could make a lot of money out of this”.

Police now want to speak to both Bieber and Gomez about the altercation, though the former is currently in Norway.

Some have noted that, in theory, if Bieber were found guilty of criminal battery he could face up to six months in jail, though it seems unlikely it would get anywhere near that stage, and TMZ admits that it’s common for police to refer high profile cases like this to prosecutors even while still completing their own investigations, so the referral doesn’t necessarily indicate that officers think there is a particularly strong case against the Biebster.

Judge gives all clear for full court hearing in No Doubt v Activision

Legal

A judge in LA has rejected a motion by Activision to dismiss various elements of No Doubt’s previously reported lawsuit against the gaming firm over their appearance in the video game ‘Band Hero’.

As previously reported, while No Doubt agreed to appear in the sing-along game, they say they were misled about the way their likenesses would be integrated into the gaming franchise, in particular not realising that their avatars in the game could be made to sing other artists’ songs. They aren’t the only music stars to have appeared in a pretend-to-play or sing-along game to subsequently complain about this element, though Activision claims that games of this kind have always worked that way, and no artists were misled about that fact when negotiating their deals.

The gaming giant had wanted the judge to dismiss various claims made in No Doubt’s lawsuit, including allegations of fraud, violation of publicity rights and breach of contract, but Judge Ramona See ruled this week that there were genuine disputes about evidence in these areas that would be best argued in front of a jury. Though the judge did reject the band’s request for an injunction ordered an immediate ban on No Doubt avatars performing other artists’ work in the ‘Band Hero’ game.

A legal rep for No Doubt told reporters that this was just the latest judicial backing his clients had received as Activision tried various ways to get the case dismissed, though the gaming giant said it was now looking forward to presenting its arguments at a full court hearing.

Hang The Bastard replace vocalist

Artist News

London metal band Hang The Bastard have announced that they have parted ways with vocalist Chris Barlow “for reasons of different interests”. He will be replaced by former Deal With It frontman Michael Carver.

In a statement the band said: “Chris has always been a driving force of this band and a solid frontman and without him we wouldn’t be where we are at this point today. We’d like to thank him for all his effort and passion that he has put in over the last five years and wish him all the best in his future endeavours”.

The band’s first show with Carver will be at this Saturday’s Crash Doubt Fest 2 in Lincoln. You can also catch them in London supporting Fear Factory at The Underworld on 7 Jun.

Watch the video for ‘River’s Edge’, the closing track from the band’s eponymous final EP with Chris Barlow, which was released back in March:

Mumford & Sons assign release date to new album

Releases

Mumford & Sons have announced that the new Mumford LP will, in fact, be released on 24 Sep. Speaking backstage at Belgium’s Pinkpop festival, the band’s Ben Lovett said: “We finished the record this week. So we’re going to be able to get it out in September. We just figured that out”.

Asked about points of difference between the untitled new suite and the band’s age-old debut, ‘Sigh No More’, Lovett replied: “There’s similarities, yeah. Nothing’s really changed in our dynamic as a band. We write songs together and they’re very much based on our experiences. The instrumentsare pretty much the same, except for a few we’ve picked up along the way. For the most part, it’s a progression. We don’t want to reinvent ourselves”.

He added: “Right now we’re in a period between the two records, but we’re very much focusing on moving forward. We’re going to play some of the songs from ‘Sigh No More’ in the next few months and I guess every band has to go through it, but it’s new to us”.

The Mumford lot may or may not preview said progressive new LP during their roving caravan of ‘Gentlemen Of The Road’ events (surely, the worst name ever given to a festival), which take place in Huddersfield and Galway on 2 and 9 Jun respectively.

The Vaccines confirm new LP

Releases

Having forestalled the demise of contemporary guitar music as we know and cherish it, The Vaccines are at last poised to come of age with their just-announced sophomore LP, ‘The Vaccines Come Of Age’.

It’s being released via Sony’s Columbia Records on 3 Sep, and will be preceded by a single, the very Strokes-like ‘No Hope’, which is backed by B-side ‘Blow Your Mind’, on 8 Jul.

And here’s ‘No Hope’ now:

Swans name extra LP collaborators

Releases

Swans have shared further details about their new album, ‘The Seer’, which is set for release on 27 Aug. With Karen O, Low’s Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker, and Akron/Family amongst its known guest collaborators, it appears the LP will also feature favours from Ben Frost, Mercury Rev’s Grasshopper and one-time Swans keyboardist Jarboe on backing vocals. All of which might just about justify its two-hour playing time.

The group’s Michael Gira soliloquises thus on the LP: “It took 30 years to make. It’s the culmination of every previous Swans album as well as any other music I’ve ever made, been involved in or imagined. But it’s unfinished, like the songs themselves. It’s one frame in a reel. The frames blur, blend and will eventually fade. The songs began on an acoustic guitar, then were fleshed out with (invaluable) help from my friends, then were further tortured and seduced in the studio, and now they await further cannibalism and force-feeding as we prepare to perform some of them live, at which point they’ll mutate further, endlessly, or perhaps be discarded for a while”.

The successor to Swans’ much praised 2010 record ‘My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky’, ‘The Seer’ will be released in its various forms on 27 Aug.

Tim Burgess label releasing ‘best of’ R Stevie Moore

Releases

Last seen convening with Ariel Pink on dubiously-titled cassette collection ‘Klu Klux Glam’, lo-fi shaman R Stevie Moore is now to release a greatest hits LP in the forthcoming form of ‘Lo Fi Hi Fives: A Kind Of Best Of’.

Culled from a catalogue spanning back to circa 1959, the compilation will be released via Charlatans man Tim Burgess’ vanity label, O Genesis, in early June.

Meanwhile, you can track R Stevie’s busy touring itinerary, as includes cameos at London’s Field Day and live promoter Sex Is Disgusting’s Brighton-based farewell fest, via his Tumblr.

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