Friday 28 June 2013, 11:10 | By Chris Cooke

CMU Digest – 28 Jun 2013

Business News Week In Five

The five biggest stories in the music business this week…

01: iTunes Radio’s indie deals were revealed. Following much speculation as to what terms Apple would offer the independent labels for its long awaited streaming service, which is due to launch later this year, Billboard got its hands on a copy of the agreement the tech giant has been sending out.

It is thought the deal is similar, though slightly less favourable, to that offered to the majors, with a $0.0013 per play royalty and 15% share of ad revenue. The agreement also revealed that Apple won’t have to pay anything while the service is in beta, and when tracks are immediately skipped by a user.

Earlier in the week digital rights body Merlin confirmed it wasn’t actively involved in iTunes Radio negotiations, because its members already have deals with Apple – that predate Merlin – so are negotiating individually. Agreement story | Merlin story

02: Joel Tenenbaum’s damages bill was upheld. One of the long-running file-sharing lawsuits hanging over from the days when the Recording Industry Association Of America pursued litigation directly against file-sharers, Tenenbaum is still appealing the $675,000 in damages he was ordered to pay the record industry by the courts. Although the original judge in the case expressed concern about the size of those damages, an appeals court upheld the jury’s ruling, and this week the First Circuit Court Of Appeals did likewise, knocking back the arguments of Team Tenenbaum that the figure was excessive. CMU report | Business Insider report

03: Pandora v everyone rumbled on. It’s interesting, is it not, that after a decade during which the US music industry’s enemy number one switched from file-sharing platform to file-sharing platform (Napster to Grokster to Kazaa to LimeWire to The Pirate Bay to MegaUpload), it now seems like the big bad foe is a fully licensed streaming set up.

Late last week the surviving members of Pink Floyd hit out in a USA Today op-ed piece at letters the streaming service has been sending to artists, trying to enlist their support for a change in the rules governing internet-radio sound-recording royalties, which are set by statute in the US. The Floyd said the letter was misleading, and failed to tell artists how much they’d lose in any royalties cut. But Pandora hit back, saying the band were wrong, because they had been misled by the Recording Industry Association Of America.

Meanwhile on the publishing royalties side, Pandora is trying to stop the big publishers from withdrawing from the collective licensing system when licensing their songs to the streaming set-up, even though it is yet to agree terms with collecting society ASCAP. Fun times. Pink Floyd op-ed | Pandora response | ASCAP dispute

04: SFX announced an IPO. The latest business venture from Robert Sillerman, who built the original SFX live music business that contributed a big chunk to what is now Live Nation, is seeking to raise $175 million through a share sale. The money will enable the company to buy outright some of the businesses it has previously acquired stakes in, and provide working capital. The new SFX is focused on the EDM genre that has boomed so much in the US of late, with interests in live and online ventures. The firm’s IPO paperwork admits that being so focused on EDM means the company’s long-term fortunes rely very much on the genre’s current popularity being maintained. Opinion is very much divided on whether that’s going to happen. CMU report | Billboard report

05: BMG announced Mute and Sanctuary partners, and signed the Stones. The music rights firm, which acquired the Mute and Sanctuary sound recording catalogues off Universal Music earlier this year, confirmed that [PIAS] will handle much of the marketing and distribution of those recordings, though INgrooves will do the business in North America, and the Depeche Mode and Black Sabbath catalogues will be represented by Sony and Universal respectively (because those artists are currently working with those majors on their new output). Elsewhere, BMG confirmed it had signed up Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to a publishing deal, the first time since 1983 that the Stones songwriting duo have had external representation for their song rights. Mute/Sanctuary report | Stones report

In CMU this week we chatted to Austra’s Katie Stelmanis, enjoyed a playlist by Kisses, and guest columnist Dan Le Sac considered the cons of crowdfunding. Approved were Robyn, Nothankyou, Run The Jewels and the latest Tasty Morsels compilation.

CMU Beef Of The Week #163: Rihanna v Liz Jones

And Finally Artist News Beef Of The Week Media

The Daily Mail’s resident character comedian Liz Jones has found herself in a spot of bother with her latest column parodying the very newspaper she’s writing for, in which she refers to Rihanna as “toxic” and a “poisonous pop princess [who] should come with a government health warning”.

In the article, Jones describes the two occasions when she has ‘hung’ with ‘Riri”, saying: “The first time I met Rihanna, the pop princess was seated next to Vogue editor Anna Wintour wearing a demure dress, with her hair in ringlets, for all the world as though she was Shirley Temple. She sipped at her flute of champagne throughout dinner and clearly had one thing in mind: appearing on the cover of American Vogue (she got it, too, in November last year) and possibly a high-end fashion advertising campaign of the kind Ms Wintour can facilitate”.

She continued: “The second encounter I had with her was during London Fashion Week last February. Rihanna came down the catwalk at the end of the presentation of her first collection for teen label River Island, for which she was reportedly paid £800,000. She looked pretty. She wasn’t exposing any under-boob. She certainly wasn’t pretending to ram a jewelled microphone into her nether regions, as she has been doing on stage of late. Her teenage female fans queued around the block that night to catch a glimpse of their idol, who has sold more than 100 million records around the world”.

BUT THERE IS A DARK SIDE TO ALL THIS, Jones quickly pointed out. A DARK, DARK, DARK SIDE. I’m paraphrasing. Slightly. Rihanna might be all nice and properly dressed when she’s at fancy dinners with fashion magazine editors or showing off a new clothing range at a plush fashion industry shingdig, but other times – Jones warns the world – she’s up there on the Twitter waggling her boobs and holding “two giant, phallic spliffs in her red-lipsticked mouth”.

I’m not sure they’d be quite as phallic if Jones hadn’t bookended her description with the language of a porn mag letters page, but whatever, Rihanna did do that, posting an image of herself with a couple of joints while in Amsterdam and sharing it for all of her 30 million Twitter followers to enjoy. And it’s this that has pushed Jones over the edge. Because most of the singer’s Twitter followers, according to Jones, are eight and nine year old girls. And as we all know, “young women are far more impressionable than young men”, so Rihanna should really be more careful about these things.

Though all this rage isn’t just based on a one-off incident mind. Jones has other concerns about the impact Rihanna is having on impressionable female children. Not least that the pop lady is going to convince all these girls to plug themselves into IV vitamin drips. Now, I’m an old, old man, so I have no idea what it’s like out there, but my guess is that if an eight year old girl goes out looking for an IV vitamin drip, it’s not that especially easy to come by. But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe you’re all at it since Rihanna interneted a picture of herself hooked up to one just over a year ago.

Anyway, clearly not getting that Liz Jones’ column is obviously a satirical joke designed to a) show that the Daily Mail has a sense of humour about itself and b) justify publishing a load of pictures of Rihanna in her pants, the singer reacted angrily to the opinion piece.

Using Instagram to deliver her response, Rihanna wrote: “LOL! My money got a bad habit of pissing people off! If you sincerely wanna help little girls more than their own parents do, here’s a toxic tip: don’t be amateur with your articles, you sound bitter! What’s all this about hair and nails and costumes and tattoos? That shit ain’t clever! That shit ain’t journalism! That’s a sad sloppy menopausal mess!”

She continued: “Nobody over here acts like they’re perfect! I don’t pretend that I’m like you, I just live… my life! And I don’t know why y’all still act so surprised by any of it! ‘Role Model’ is not a position or title that I have ever campaigned for, so chill wit dat! I got my own fucked up shit to work on, I’ll never portray that as perfect, but for right now it’s ME! Call it what ya want! ‘Toxic’ was cute, ‘poisonous pop princess’ had a nice ring to it, just a lil wordy!”

So take that Ms Jones. Oh, and Rihanna says you got your facts wrong. “My first American Vogue cover was in 2011… APRIL!” she shouts. Meaning that the lunch with Anna Wintour was probably to discuss active work, not schmooze her way onto the Vogue cover for the first time. How could Jones have got the wrong end of the stick? Or when she says ‘met Rihanna’, perhaps she means she saw the singer across the room with Wintour. Or maybe she was staring through the restaurant window. But it matters not, character comedians are allowed some artistic licence surely?

Anyway, I’ve just been totting up the score to work out who won this one and it turns out it’s… um… nobody. Better luck next time.

Approved: Soundcrash at The Forum

CMU Approved

Soundcrash take over the Kentish Town Forum this Saturday to bring together live bands and DJs all dedicated to the beats and bass. Tru Thoughts signings Hidden Orchestra (pictured) play live, bringing bring organic soundscapes that build with a cinematic beat-laden feel. Red Snapper play live too, and their shuffling bass ballistics surely don’t need much of an introduction. Meanwhile old skool D&B stalwart LTJ Bukem joins the line up for an exclusive and rare Logical Progressions set, joined by SP:MC. Support comes from Tom Central who dedicates his set to legendary labels Hospital Records and Full Cycle. True, on paper it’s a slightly disjointed line up, but diversity is the spice of life.

Saturday 29 Jun, 8pm-2am, The Forum, 9-17 Highgate Road, London NW5, £17.50 in advance, £19.50 late buyers, £22 last buyers, more info via this link.

MegaUpload considering legal action against Dutch server firm after data wipe

Business News Digital Legal MegaUpload Timeline Top Stories

MegaUpload founder Kim ‘Dotcom’ Schmitz has confirmed he is considering legal action against the European server firm that wiped 630 machines containing content uploaded by customers of the now defunct file-transfer service.

As previously reported, it emerged earlier this month that Dutch company Leaseweb had wiped the servers that hosted much of MegaUpload’s European operations earlier this year. The wiped machines contained, according to Dotcom, “petabytes of pictures, backups, personal and business property”.

Former MegaUpload users lost access to any files they had uploaded to the file-storage platform when the US government shut the company down, disconnecting its American servers directly and seizing its dotcom domain in January 2012.

Ever since, various parties have been trying to reconnect those users with their data, with Dotcom’s lawyers asking for frozen Mega funds to be released to fund some sort of data return programme. But the US authorities have, in the main, not been especially sympathetic to any former Mega users who lost their files, pointing out that the defunct service’s small-print advised customers to keep local back-ups of data.

Leaseweb has claimed that it deleted the former Mega files on its servers because no one had been in touch about them for a year, and a letter it sent warning of plans to wipe the data had gone unanswered. And of course, storing 630 full-and-unusable servers is expensive.

But Dotcom disputes those claims, saying that in March 2012 his lawyers wrote to the company requesting the firm hold onto the Mega data for the foreseeable future. In an email to the server firm, now made public by Dotcom, Mega’s lawyer Ira Rothken writes: “MegaUpload continues to request that Leaseweb preserve any and all information, documentation and data related to MegaUpload – as destruction by Leaseweb would appear to be in violation of amongst other things the applicable civil litigation data preservation rules and would interfere with evidence in a criminal matter”.

The letter added that “MegaUpload is negotiating with the United States to discern feasibility of consumer data access and the conditions for the same”.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is representing individuals who lost data as a result of the Mega shutdown, also sent a letter, in which it said: “We now write to formally request that you preserve that material both for purposes of contemplated future litigation and as a matter of obligation and courtesy to the innocent individuals whose materials have unfortunately been swept up into this case”.

While Dotcom and Team Mega really blame the US government for the loss of data caused by the Leaseweb wipe, they have confirmed to TorrentFreak that they are contemplating legal action against the server firm.

Rothken told the website: “Leaseweb was put on written notice repeatedly to preserve data relevant to both pending criminal and civil litigation, including potential civil litigation involving Leaseweb. Whether one couches it in terms of e-discovery litigation holds or just being a good corporate citizen we believe that Leaseweb acted inappropriately under the circumstances when they destroyed data”.

But the server company, in a statement on Wednesday, says it is confident that its actions did not violate any laws, because the contract between it and MegaUpload was governed by Dutch law. The firm told reporters: “This means the termination, and subsequent data retention needs to be valid under Dutch law. As there was no claim from the Dutch authorities on the data, the data was not subject to evidence rules. Also Dutch and European privacy legislation prohibit giving third parties (ie MegaUpload customers) direct access to their data”.

As I Lay Dying frontman back in court over wife murder plot

Legal

The frontman of metalcore outfit As I Lay Dying, Tim Lambesis, was back in court this week for another hearing in his wife-death-plot case.

As previously reported, Lambesis is accused of attempting to hire a hitman to murder his estranged wife, Meggan. The person the metaller is accused of attempting to get to carry out the killing was actually an undercover police officer.

Lambesis reconfirmed he was pleading not-guilty to the charges against him at this week’s short hearing, with the next court date to consider the case now set for 16 Sep.

Will.i.am says he’s not suing Pharrell

Business News Legal

Will.i.am has said that he is not suing Pharrell Williams over the right to use the phrase ‘I Am’, despite a report in Rolling Stone quoting both legal documents and Pharrell himself on the matter earlier this week.

As previously reported, Rolling Stone said that Will.i.am had taken exception to the name of Williams’ I Am Other company, worried that it might cause confusion and “dilute” his own exploitation of the highly distinctive and seldom otherwise used ‘I Am’ phrase.

But taking to Twitter to address the report, Will.i.am said: “i.am not suing @Pharrell and I never was… what i.am doing is #iamangel TRANS4Ming inner cities with #STEAM tools”.

He’s referring there to the ‘TRANS4M’ and ‘Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math’ initiatives run by his i.am.angel Foundation, if you were wondering. I know I was.

So anyway, that’s all fine and lovely, though it still doesn’t explain why Pharrell seems pretty sure that he is being sued.

‘Sick’ Earl Sweatshirt contracts pneumonia, cancels July PAs

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Earl Sweatshirt’s European live dates have gone the way of an appearance at this year’s Bonaroo, aka into the bin.

Having failed to make an appearance at the American festival earlier this month, the rapper has revealed that a case of pneumonia has meant he’s had to cancel his part in several live PAs with OFWGTA and Tyler, The Creator, not least at Glastonbury, T In The Park, and an Odd Future show at London’s Forum on 1 Jul.

Being ensemble dates, all the shows are still in tact and will go ahead as planned sans Sweatshirt. And, say his representatives, the rapper’s own live activities will restart with a show in Buffalo, New York on 21 Jul.

Making amends Earl-style, the MC said via Twitter: “IM STILL SICK AND THIS SUCKS ASS THAT I CANT MAKE IT TO THESE JULY SHOWS I AM REALLY FUCKING SORRY TO EVERYONE WHO WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO IT”.

This, meanwhile, is ‘Doris’ (aka the namesake to Earl’s first LP, set to be released later this year) and this is Earl’s Tyler-feat single ‘WHOA’:

There might be a Yeezus sequel in the pipeline, says Rick Rubin

Artist News

Producer Rick Rubin has said that there might be a sequel to Kayne West’s ‘Yeezus’ album in the pipeline. That is literally what he said. Well, the Daily Beast asked, “So there might be another Yeezus in the pipeline?” and Rick Rubin replied: “Might be”.

Before that, to prompt TDB’s question, Rubin explained: “Initially, [Kanye] thought there were going to be sixteen songs on the album. But that first day, before he even asked me to work on it, I said, ‘Maybe you should make it more concise. Maybe this is two albums. Maybe this is just the first half’. That was one of the first breakthroughs. Kanye was like, ‘That’s what I came here today to hear! It could be ten songs!'”

So, there you go. There might be more ‘Yeezus’ in the offing. I hope he rhymes ‘spouse’ with ‘house’ a few more times. That’s something no one could ever tire of.

Yoko Ono Plastic Band to release LP feat Questlove, Tuneyards

Releases

The Yoko Ono Plastic Band are to release a charmingly-titled new LP, ‘Take Me To The Land Of Hell’, via Chimera Music on 16 Sep. Made at a particularly prolific time in Ono’s life – her eightieth year, in fact – in New York with her son Sean Lennon and Cibo Matto’s Yuka Honda, it features guests in tUnEyArDs, Questlove, Miike Snow’s Andrew Wyatt, and guitarist Nels Cline.

Talking post her stint as host to Patti Smith, Siouxsie, Marianne Faithfull, Patrick Wolf and Peaches at this year’s Meltdown festival, Ono says: “My new album comes at a very special time for me. I’m so happy that it’s being released after all the incredible shows that made up Meltdown. The energy I have right now, and the desire to continue to make as much great work as I can, is really moving me forwards all the time. This album is the culmination of a lot of ideas I’ve been having over the last few years and I feel proud to release it at such an exciting time of my life”.

Avenged Sevenfold add name, date to sixth LP

Releases

Avenged Sevenfold are all done making the LP they began late last year, as has gained the title ‘Hail To The King’.

The band’s first since the death of drummer Jimmy ‘The Rev’ Sullivan in 2010, it’ll be released on 26 Aug.

The band’s mini trip to Britain, consisting of shows in Manchester, London and Birmingham, starts 30 Nov.

Empire Of The Sun scoring Dumb And Dumber To

Artist News

Now, some of you who are more cruel than I might say this was apt, but I won’t, because I’m nice. Real nice. Also, my brain is too busy thinking that his can’t possibly be happening to come up with anything like a mildly witty insult.

Anyway, the soundtrack to the long-awaited (not really) sequel to Jim Carey film ‘Dumb And Dumber’ will be provided by Empire Of The Sun, according to co-director Peter Farrelly. He tweeted a review of the duo’s new album earlier this week, adding: “They’ll be scoring ‘Dumb And Dumber To!'”

The film is actually called ‘Dumb And Dumber To’, by the way. Because that is a funny joke about grammar and that. Hahahaha. Ha. Haa. Ha. Ha.

Arctic Monkeys release arena dates

Gigs & Festivals

With the Glasto hype machine in overdrive, it’s high time one of its Pyramid stars – Arctic Monkeys, say, since they have a new LP in ‘AM’ to advertise – capitalised on said hype via a promotional announcement. And with that in mind I give you Arctic Monkeys’ visionary new live initiative, tickets to partake in which will be available on Friday 5 Jul:

22 Oct: Newcastle, Metro Radio Arena
23 Oct: Manchester Arena
25 Oct: London, Earls Court
28 Oct: Liverpool, Echo Arena
29 Oct: Cardiff, Motorpoint Arena
31 Oct: Birmingham, LG Arena
1 Nov: Glasgow, Hydro
2 Nov: Sheffield, Motorpoint Arena

Low add November shows

Gigs & Festivals

Low will make visible/audible their new LP, ‘The Invisible Way’, via a set of new live dates that became a reality yesterday. So what I’m saying is, here are Low’s Great Britain-relevant live listings:

14 Nov: Cambridge, Junction
15 Nov: Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
16 Nov: Sheffield, Queen’s Social Club
18 Nov: Liverpool, Anglican Cathedral
19 Nov: Edinburgh, Queen’s Hall
20 Nov: Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
21 Nov: Norwich, Arts Centre

As a related extra, this is the new-ish video for the band’s ‘Just Make It Stop’:

Dean Blunt to play once at 100 Club

Gigs & Festivals

Hype Williams’ Dean Blunt is making a rare live arrival at London’s 100 Club on 11 Sep, this a means of ingratiating his new solo LP, ‘The Redeemer’, to fans following its release via World Music/Hippos In Tanks.

Click this link to get tickets, and see Deano’s ‘Felony/Stalker 7’ clip here:

HMV’s flagship store to become a Sports Direct

Business News HMV Timeline Retail

HMV’s flagship Oxford Street store, which has been open since 1984, is to become a new branch of discount sporting goods chain Sports Direct, according to The Telegraph. The paper says that Sports Direct has paid £5 million to take on the lease from HMV’s new owner, Hilco.

However, this does not mean the music brand is disappearing from London’s most famous shopping street – it is also reported that Hilco has now confirmed that previously mooted deal to move HMV back to its original smaller Oxford Street unit, currently occupied by Footlocker.

AIF celebrates five years, publishes some stats

Business News Live Business

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given 2012 was a rocky year for the UK festival sector, new research by the Association Of Independent Festivals says that – according to a survey of people who visited one of the independent festivals allied to the trade body last year – the average spend per event by a UK festival-goer in 2012 was down on 2011, from £461.58 to £382.49.

Though, perversely perhaps, surveyed festival fans said they felt the recession affected their spending on entertainment less in 2012 than it did in 2011, with 72% saying economic uncertainty affected their entertainment consumption in 2011 versus 69% in 2012. On festival spending specifically, 56% said the recession had an impact in 2011, and 53% in 2012.

Either way, and despite the slip in average spend, AIF reckons that patrons of independent music festivals still contributed over £213 million to the British economy. And the trade body adds that half of those surveyed said they chose to attend a festival instead of taking a trip abroad, meaning the festival helped keep that spending within the UK. Though the majority of independent festival-goers prefer to travel a little when taking in a festival, rather than just going to whichever event they live nearest to.

The new survey comes as AIF celebrates its fifth anniversary. The trade body now represents 44 events, with a collected capacity in 2012 of 557,000. Commenting on the group’s first five years, the organisation’s General Manager Claire O’Neill told CMU: “It is a pleasure to see AIF grow and evolve since its launch, not least for the inspiration gained from the individuals who are putting their heart and soul in to delivering great experiences year after year. It is by no means easy and is getting no easier to organise festivals and survive, AIF strives to help organisers on that journey, and with such a creative industry I look forward to seeing what the next five years will bring!”

Meanwhile AIF co-founder and Bestival chief Rob da Bank added: “Time flies when you’re having fun, and the last five years of running AIF have gone by in the blink of an eye. Growing from our first tiny meeting with a handful of festivals, we’re now very proud to have over 40 festivals under our banner as well as numerous friends of AIF and festival suppliers hanging out with us. Our monthly meetings are a hotbed of technical advice, heated debate and the odd bit of festi-gossip. Of course there’s no doubt we’re all learning how to run better, greener and more efficient festivals all the time. Here’s to the next five!”

AIF published its research as one of the issues on which it has been particularly vocal was discussed in parliament this week – that of secondary ticketing. According to Music Week, the All-Party Parliamentary Group On Music has agreed to put pressure on relevant select committees in parliament to reconsider the rules (or lack of) around ticket touting, in part as a result of continued pressure from Sharon Hodgson MP, who has been lobbying on the secondary ticketing topic for sometime.

Sharemyplaylists becomes playlists.net

Digital

Spotify playlist sharing site ShareMyPlaylists has rebranded as Playlists.net, at the same time launching a new Spotify app.

Founder and Chief Exec Kieron Donoghue told CMU: “We decided to change the name to something shorter and more memorable and also to reflect the fact that playlists are now very much part of music culture and a universally recognised format”.

Bieber monkey heading to the zoo

And Finally

Justin Bieber’s former pet monkey Mally is doing just fine in Germany, and is now preparing to settle into the Serengeti Park zoo in Hodenhagen, having left quarantine earlier this week.

As previously reported, Bieber was given the capuchin monkey as a gift for his nineteenth birthday, because that’s the sort of thing someone thought was a good idea. He received the pet while on tour and when he arrived in Munich, Mally was confiscated because no one in Bieber’s entourage had thought to get whatever papers they needed in order to travel with a monkey.

As Bieber and his team showed little interest in getting the monkey back, it was eventually confiscated permanently by German authorities and promised a better life (not better than living free from captivity, but better than being the play thing of a spoilt pop brat).

Zoo manager Fabrizio Sepe told BBC Newsbeat: “Mally is a clever little guy and we’re confident that he will settle in quickly”.

Playlist: Kisses

CMU Playlists

Disco-pop duo Kisses – Jesse Kivel and Zinzi Edmundson – released their second album, ‘Kids In LA’, last month through Splendour. The follow-up to their 2010 debut ‘The Heart Of The Nightlife’, the record was produced by Pete Wiggs of Saint Etienne and Tim Larcombe (who is more commonly found writing songs for the likes of Lana Del Ray and Girls Aloud).

With tour dates upcoming, and a first release (by Chris Thomas) on their own label New Feelings to manage, we added to their workload by asking Kivel to put together a playlist.

He said of his selections: “This playlist is an attempt to gather ten tracks that were root inspirations for me as a songwriter. Each song I stumbled across at different times in my life and helped me either stylistically or structurally as a songwriter. There is no order of importance, as they are all important songs written by brilliant songwriters”.

JESSE KIVEL’S TEN
Subscribe to this playlist on Spotify, and then read on to find out more about his choices.

01 Arthur Russell – Wild Combination
This Arthur Russell song I first heard coming from my brother’s bedroom in 2007 and I had to know who wrote it. The song is probably at the core of what inspired Kisses to become an actual project.

02 Neil Young – Unknown Legend
I first heard ‘Unknown Legend’ while watching ‘Rachel Getting Married’ (this is embarrassing). Despite my lack of street cred, this is a wonderful song and it impressed me that Neil Young had been making albums for over 20 years when he came up with ‘Harvest Moon’ and this track.

03 John Phillips – Malibu People
‘Malibu People’ was a song I came across while watching an Edie Sedgwick film I had rented from Netflix in my senior year of college. It’s subtle beauty appealed to me and I immediately bought the ‘Wolf King Of LA’ record and never looked back.

04 Paul Simon – Graceland
‘Graceland’ is a classic song on a timeless record. Paul Simon’s lyrics are ultimately what keep me coming back to his songs despite also loving a lot of the production.

05 John Cale – Andalucia
‘Andalucia’ reminds me of my time spent in London with my brother and friend Ben while studying abroad. My brother listened to the album ‘Paris 1919’ constantly and this was the song that jumped out at me because of its sweetness and beautiful melody.

06 Lou Reed – Street Hassle
‘Street Hassle’ is another song I found due to a more contemporary indie film, ‘The Squid And The Whale’. Director Noah Baumbach used the song so perfectly in the movie and I was impressed that Lou Reed had written such an epic song. ‘Street Hassle’ the album is a brilliant record as well, plus Bruce Springsteen throws some guitar on there!

07 David Bowie – Sound And Vision
‘Sound And Vision’ is my favourite Bowie track mainly because I always fall for melodies and that guitar line through the track is always running through my mind whenever I write a song.

08 Joy Division – Atmosphere
Again, ‘Atmosphere’ is my favourite Joy Division song because of its melodic turn and spaciousness. This, along with ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’, explain to me why Joy Division was such an important band and why the loss of Ian Curtis was so tragic in terms of where they were going musically as a group.

09 Will Powers – Adventures In Success
Will Powers is the tongue and cheek side of me and Zinzi which always presents itself in Kisses. Just do yourself a favour and listen to this unsung 80s masterpiece.

10 Elvis Presley – Fools Rush In
‘Fools Rush In’ reminds me of Zinzi and her love of Elvis. It is a particularly striking track and one that gets overplayed but always stays relevant.

Approved: Run The Jewels

CMU Approved

Killer Mike’s ‘RAP Music’ album was one of last year’s finest releases, thanks both to Mike’s southern toned vocals and sharp production from El-P. A week after its release in May 2012, more music from the pair turned up in the form of Mike’s contribution to El-P’s ‘Cancer 4 Cure’ album. Clearly it was a pairing that was working, and this year they’ve cemented it by consolidating their solo efforts into new duo Run The Jewels.

Slowly teasing out tracks over the course of the last few months, the duo have built anticipation for their debut album to internet warping levels. Yesterday, they made the record available as a free download, promoting limited edition physical versions and other merch along with it.

And was it worth the wait? Oh yes. Lighter in tone than their solo albums last year – particularly in comparison to Killer Mike’s politically charged ‘Reagan’ – it’s a more fun record, but maintains the high quality of those previous recordings.

Download the album here, and check out the first track released back in April, ‘Get It’, below.

iTunes Radio indie label agreement provides insight on functionality and terms

Digital Top Stories

A copy of the basic licensing agreement being provided by Apple to the indie labels for its in-development iTunes Radio service has fallen into the hands of Billboard, and it reveals various bits of information about how the service will work, and how labels will be paid for the use of their content.

According to the trade mag, in terms of functionality users will be able to skip up to six songs per hour, and pause and play music, though they won’t be able to rewind or restart tracks. Obviously these limitations – which make the new iTunes service a Pandora-style ‘interactive radio’ platform rather than a Spotify-style on-demand service – are key, in that they allow Apple to secure more favourable terms from the rights owners.

In terms of those terms, Billboard says that – according to the agreement the publication has seen – Apple will pay indie labels $0.0013 per play plus 15% of net advertising revenue, with that due to rise to $0.0014 per song and 19% of net advertising revenue in year two. Although no royalties will be paid during a beta period of up to 120 days, and no royalties will be due on skipped tracks, which must be skipped in the first 20 seconds of play.

It’s thought that the deal being offered to the indies is pretty much in line with that secured by the majors, though per-play royalties are very, very slightly less – though $0.000025 more per play still gives the big labels an advantage if and when the streaming platform is servicing millions of streams a day.

Read more about the contract on the Billboard site.

Stage designer Fisher dies

Business News Industry People Top Stories

Stage designer Mark Fisher, known for his groundbreaking work designing stage set-ups for the likes of The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, U2 and many others, has died aged 66, following a “long and difficult illness”.

In a long career Fisher and his company Stufish were responsible for many stand out stage designs in the music and musical theatre worlds, and he was also Senior Designer on the opening and closing ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics, and advised as an Executive Producer for the big London 2012 events.

Amongst those paying tribute yesterday were the Rolling Stones, who said in a statement: “We are all extremely saddened to hear of the death of our dear friend Mark Fisher. The remarkable sets he designed for us over the last two decades played a major part in the success of all those tours”.

They added: “His passion, dedication and professionalism was infectious. We all loved his dry sense of humour and unflappable demeanour, a quietly soft spoken genius. Mark will be sorely missed – not only by us – but by every single member of ours and any crew he worked with. Our sincere condolences go to his wife and family”.

I am the one and only, Will.i.am tells Pharrell Williams

Business News Legal

Will.i.am is suing Pharrell Williams for using the phrase ‘I am’ in the name of his media company I Am Other. According to Rolling Stone, Will’s grievance is that Williams might put the name of his company on t-shirts and then people might get confused about whether it has something to do with his I Am clothing brand. Well, I’m confused.

In legal papers, Will.i.am’s lawyers said: “The registration of the [new] mark … is likely to dilute the I Am mark and the Will.i.am mark”.

Williams told Rolling Stone: “I am disappointed that Will, a fellow artist, would file a case against me. I am someone who likes to talk things out and, in fact, I attempted to do just that on many occasions. I am surprised in how this is being handled and I am confident that [the courts will ultimately think that] Will’s trademark claims are as meritless and ridiculous as I do”.

Bieber sued over pap attack

Legal

So another day, and more pap-related legal frivolities for Master Justin Bieber. The popstar is being sued by a photographer called Jose Duran, who claims Bieber attacked him in a Californian parking lot last summer. This is seemingly the civil stage of a snapper scuffle that was subject to a police investigation when it first occurred.

As previously reported, Bieber got into an altercation with the photographer as he was leaving a shopping mall with then girlfriend Selena Gomez in May 2012. Seemingly annoyed that the snapper was blocking his route out of the parking lot, Bieber allegedly got out of his car and pushed the man. Or kicked him according to Duran’s lawsuit.

Indeed, according to TMZ, Duran claims Bieber “delivered a martial arts-type kick” to his rib cage, before pushing and punching him. The photographer adds that Gomez returned soon after looking for a lost mobile phone, but did take the time to apologise to the paparazzo for her then boyfriend’s actions.

Duran reported the incident to the police, though they decided not to pursue charges against the singer last November. But the photographer is now suing for damages. In the lawsuit the claimant reportedly lists Bieber’s other alleged misbehaviour in recent months, presumably in a bid to tarnish the defendant’s reputation. Whether that would mean getting the monkey to testify against the singer in court remains to be seen.

Ludacris accused of stealing Sex Room

Business News Legal

‘Sex Room’ is arguably the worst single Ludacris has ever released, so it seems strange that someone is now trying to claim that he stole it from them. Or, rather, the track’s producer Kajun did.

According to TMZ, a rapper called Marvo is now suing for a cut of royalties on ‘Sex Room’, released in 2010, saying that he had been working with Kajun on the track before the producer gave it to Ludacris without permission. Although parts of it were changed, says Marvo, lines like “Welcome to my sex room”, sung so earnestly by Trey Songz on Ludacris’ record, are all his.

Honestly, this is what Marvo wants people to know he is responsible for:

Knowles Senior sues The Sun

Business News Legal Media

Mathew Knowles, father and former manager of Beyonce of course, is suing The Sun over an interview it published with him back in March which he claims was “personally damaging” and full of “repeated falsehoods”.

Knowles hit out at the article shortly after it was published, saying the tabloid piece, based on an interview he gave the paper, included “fictitious statements” and “blatant lies”, mainly about his relationship with his superstar daughter. In the piece Knowles discussed the difficulties that surrounded the break down of his professional relationship with Beyonce in 2011, with the paper also implying that Knowles Senior was yet to meet his granddaughter Blue Ivy, suggesting continued tensions between father and child.

Knowles demanded a retraction at the time, and has now gone legal, accusing The Sun of defamation and breach of contract, and seeking unspecified damages. In a statement to E! News confirmed the legal action, Knowles said: “My daughters and my family mean the world to me. The barrage of repeated falsehoods spawned by the British Sun’s defamatory article has been exhausting and personally damaging to me”.

He added: “No matter how many papers it sells or web hits it generates, The Sun, like any newspaper, needs to maintain a basic level of journalistic integrity. The Sun crossed the line when it went after my family. The Sun needs to be held responsible for its lies in a court of law. This happens too often to too many people, and it is simply unfair”.

Neither The Sun nor its publisher – which has just changed its name from News International to News UK – have as yet commented on the litigation.

Motörhead cancel dates, Lemmy fitted with defibrillator

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Motörhead have cancelled several live dates, not least a show in Milan last night, whilst the band’s leader Lemmy is treated for a severe haematoma. It’s said the frontman has been fitted with a defibrillator to steady an irregular heartbeat.

It’s still TBA whether Lemmy et al will cancel any further dates, or if his ill health has had any affect on Motörhead’s new LP, which has gained the title ‘Aftershock’ since it was hinted at back in March.

Lady Gaga tops Forbes music celebs list

Artist News

Forbes has published its latest Celeb 100 list, which aims to identify the most powerful celebrities based on earning power, media profile and social media reach. And while Oprah Winfrey tops the poll, Lady Gaga comes in second, leading a top ten dominated by music stars and the ladies.

And the top ten list of most powerful music celebs, according to Forbes, is also dominated by female talent, proving again that on stage the women of music are leading the way, even if behind the scenes the industry remains dominated at the top by aging white men.

The top ten music types from Celeb 100 are as follows – or click here to read why Forbes has rated them so highly.

1. Lady Gaga
2. Beyonce
3. Madonna
4. Taylor Swift
5. Bon Jovi
6. Justin Bieber
7. Jennifer Lopez
8. Rihanna
9. Coldplay
10. Katy Perry

Matador signs Kim Gordon’s Body/Head

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

Matador has added Body/Head – Kim Gordon and Bill Nace’s shared alias – to its books. The label will release the pair’s first LP ‘Coming Apart’ – a mix of abstract noise and occasional vox c/o Gordon (at least, that’s what I’ve gleaned via this clip filmed at Yoko Ono’s Meltdown festival) – on 16 Sep. And that’s that… fin.

The Bug releasing EP feat Danny Brown

Releases

Famed velociraptor (says Wikipedia) Kevin Martin, nickname The Bug, will release a ‘Filthy’ EP on 12 Aug via Ninja Tune.

It features, says the press release, “gap tooth grin-sporting rapper/Adderall admiral” (amazing) Danny Brown, King Midas Sound’s Kiki Hitomi, Daddy Freddy and Flowdan, twice.

An LP carrying collaborations with Death Grips, Grouper, Warrior Queen and Hype Williams’ Inga Copeland will follow in time, but now the EP tracklist.

Freakshow
Dirty
Kill Them
Louder

Hear the Danny Brown/Kiki Hitomi co-starring ‘Freakshow’ via Pitchfork.

Friday 28 June 2013, 11:10 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Apple | ASCAP | BMG | iTunes Radio | Joel Tenenbaum | Merlin | Mute | Pandora | Pink Floyd | Recordings Industry Association Of America (RIAA) | Robert Sillerman | Sanctuary | SFX Entertainment | The Rolling Stones

Friday 28 June 2013, 11:09 | By Andy Malt

READ MORE ABOUT: Daily Mail | Liz Jones | Rihanna

Friday 28 June 2013, 11:08 | By Paul Vig

READ MORE ABOUT: Hidden Orchestra | Soundcrash | The Forum

Friday 28 June 2013, 11:07 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) | Ira Rothken | Kim Dotcom | LeaseWeb | MegaUpload

Friday 28 June 2013, 11:06 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: As I Lay Dying | Tim Lambesis

Friday 28 June 2013, 11:05 | By Andy Malt

READ MORE ABOUT: I Am | I Am Other | Pharrell Williams | Will.i.am

Friday 28 June 2013, 11:04 | By Aly Barchi

READ MORE ABOUT: Early Sweatshirt | Odd Future

Friday 28 June 2013, 11:03 | By Andy Malt

READ MORE ABOUT: Kanye West | Rick Rubin

Friday 28 June 2013, 11:02 | By Aly Barchi

READ MORE ABOUT: Yoko Ono | Yoko Ono Plastic Band

Friday 28 June 2013, 11:01 | By Aly Barchi

READ MORE ABOUT: Avenged Sevenfold

Friday 28 June 2013, 11:00 | By Andy Malt

READ MORE ABOUT: Empire Of The Sun

Friday 28 June 2013, 10:59 | By Aly Barchi

READ MORE ABOUT: Arctic Monkeys

Friday 28 June 2013, 10:58 | By Aly Barchi

READ MORE ABOUT: Low

Friday 28 June 2013, 10:57 | By Aly Barchi

READ MORE ABOUT: Dean Blunt

Friday 28 June 2013, 10:56 | By Andy Malt

READ MORE ABOUT: HMV

Friday 28 June 2013, 10:55 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: All-Party Parliamentary Group On Music | Association Of Independent Festivals (AIF) | Rob Da Bank | Sharon Hodgson

Friday 28 June 2013, 10:54 | By Andy Malt

READ MORE ABOUT: Playlists.net | ShareMyPlaylists | Spotify

Friday 28 June 2013, 10:53 | By Andy Malt

READ MORE ABOUT: Justin Bieber | Mally

Thursday 27 June 2013, 11:00 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Kisses

Thursday 27 June 2013, 10:59 | By Andy Malt

READ MORE ABOUT: El-P | Killer Mike | Run The Jewels

Thursday 27 June 2013, 10:58 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Apple | iTunes Radio

Thursday 27 June 2013, 10:57 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Mark Fisher

Thursday 27 June 2013, 10:56 | By Andy Malt

READ MORE ABOUT: I Am | I Am Other | Pharrell Williams | Will.i.am

Thursday 27 June 2013, 10:55 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Jose Duran | Justin Bieber

Thursday 27 June 2013, 10:54 | By Andy Malt

READ MORE ABOUT: Kajun | Ludacris | Marvo

Thursday 27 June 2013, 10:53 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Beyonce | Mathew Knowles | The Sun

Thursday 27 June 2013, 10:52 | By Aly Barchi

READ MORE ABOUT: Motorhead

Thursday 27 June 2013, 10:51 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Forbes | Lady Gaga

Thursday 27 June 2013, 10:49 | By Aly Barchi

READ MORE ABOUT: Body/Head | Kim Gordon | Matador Records

Thursday 27 June 2013, 10:48 | By Aly Barchi

READ MORE ABOUT: Danny Brown | The Bug