Friday 31 October 2014, 17:06 | By CMU Editorial

Playlist: CMU Approved in October 2014

CMU Approved CMU Playlists

Each weekday, the CMU Approved column highlights a new artist, track, article or other online activity that we think our readers should be aware of. Below is a playlist featuring artists and tracks showcased in the column in October 2014.

Tracklist:

• Denai Moore – I Swore
• Shiny Darkly – Soft Skin
• Jonnie Common – Shark
• Trash Kit – Medicine
• Alex Burey – Unspoken
• Marina And The Diamonds – Froot
• Yelle – Complètement Fou
• Porches – Prism
• Mr Oizo – Bear Biscuit
• The Hics – All We’ll Know
• Ghostface Killah & BadBadNotGood – Six Degrees (feat Danny Drown)
• iamamiwhoami – Chasing Kites
• Virginia Wing – World Contact
• Sakanaction – Eureka
• Passepied – Matatatabistep
• Molice – Sensitive City
• Josy – To The Light

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Approved: Familia Second Birthday at Egg

Club Tip CMU Approved

Familia’s Day Of The Dead-themed second birthday also doubles up as the second edition of the night’s Back To Back Series, with two big names – DJ Pierre and Francois K – going head to head up on the Egg terrace. Meanwhile, down on the ground floor you’ll find Spain’s Cristian Varela, who makes his first appearance at the club for two years after kicking off the very first Familia bash.

One of the original producers of the 80s Chicago scene, DJ Pierre is a master of acid grooves and beats, producing some of the true classic house tracks, including the 1987 killer cut, Phuture’s ‘Acid Trax’. He’s joined by Francois K, former A&R manager for the Prelude label, who has DJed at seminal clubs like Studio 54, The Loft, and the Paradise Garage, where his disco edits made him hugely in demand. Still a big player on the New York house scene, check his 1995 track ‘Hypnodelic’.

As well as all that, up in the Egg’s Loft room, Abigail Bailey leads the charge with a DJ set featuring her own live vocals, alongside Headspace from Paravana & Swankys fame. Misfit are on the Garden Decks, and Familia residents Fabio Ferro, Ben Grunnell and Nick Tcherniakhold will get things moving on the ground floor.

Saturday 1 Nov, Egg, 200 York Way, Kings Cross, London N7 9AX, 10pm-11am, £13-£22. More info here.

Blurred Lines plagiarism case to proceed to court

Business News Legal Top Stories

The big fat Blurred Lines plagiarism case is set to proceed to court, after a judge ruled that the family of Marvin Gaye had sufficiently demonstrated that elements of the controversial pop hit may be “substantially similar to protected, original elements of” Gaye track ‘Got To Give It Up’.

As previously reported, it was legal reps for Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams who initially filed papers over allegations that ‘Blurred Lines’ borrowed heavily from the 1977 Gaye record. They wanted judicial confirmation there was no case for song theft.

But the Gaye family quickly responded with their own copyright infringement litigation, citing previous Thicke remarks which possibly admitted to being heavily dependent on ‘Got To Give It Up’, and one of those crazy musicologist reports that claimed considerable overlap.

Comedy depositions from both Thicke and Williams followed, while legal reps for both parties called for summary judgements in their favour. Lawyers for the Blurred Lines terrible twosome argued that the Gaye family had jumped on comments made by (a probably prescription drug addled) Thicke about him being influenced by Gaye, and that “the defendants smelled money and rushed to make their infringement demand”.

But judge John Kronstadt yesterday ruled that, while there was still much about the Gaye’s legal claims to be assessed – including just how similar the two tracks are, and what elements of ‘Got To Give It Up’ are actually protected – there was a sufficient case for the ‘Blurred Lines’ makers to answer to let this case proceed to court.

Plagiarism cases of this kind rarely actually reach the courtroom, though both sides in this dispute have issued angry statements about the other side, so perhaps such back room negotiations won’t be possible. Though the Gayes’ team may be relying on the fact neither Thicke, Williams nor any of their business partners really want this dragged through the courts (“you know you don’t want it” they might be mumbling).

But for now, next February is pencilled in for a first court hearing. Good times.

Gregg Allman and others dropped from civil case over biopic death

Business News Legal

The family of Sarah Jones, the camera assistant who died during the filming of Gregg Allman biopic ‘Midnight Rider’ earlier this year, have taken Allman, producer Michael Lehman and distributor Open Road Films off their civil lawsuit against the film’s makers.

As previously reported, Jones was killed while she and colleagues were setting up for the filming of a dream sequence on railway tracks when a train unexpectedly appeared, striking a bed placed on the rails. A police investigation found that the producers did not have proper permission to film on the railway.

Following the incident, Allman launched legal action attempting to withdraw the film rights to his autobiography, ‘My Cross To Bear’, having previously appealed unsuccessfully to director Randall Miller to abandon the project entirely. Allman later dropped his lawsuit after reaching a settlement with production company, Unclaimed Freight Productions.

Miller, producer Jody Savin and executive producer Jay Sedrish, were later charged with involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespass, while Jones’ family launched their own civil action.

Following a hearing earlier this week, Allman, Lehman and Open Road Films were taken off the list of defendants on that civil action. Miller, Savin and Sedrish all remain named on the civil suit, along with first assistant director Hillary Schwartz, location manager Charles T Baxter and director of photography Mike Ozier; Meddin Studios, which provided equipment and personnel to the ill-fated shoot; the aforementioned Unclaimed Freight, which was set up by Miller and his wife to make the film; the company that owns the land on which the tracks lay Rayonier Performance Fibers; and the operator of the tracks, CSX Transportation.

Representing the Jones family, lawyer Jeff Harris said in a statement published by The Hollywood Reporter: “After reviewing the many thousands of pages of documents, and other information we have obtained through the legal discovery process, it is clear that Mr Allman and Mr Lehman had no involvement in any of the decisions that resulted in Sarah’s death. Our investigation has also shown that, in this case, Open Road Films was not directly involved in the poor decisions that led to this horrific event and the tragic loss of Sarah’s life. As a result, we are dismissing all claims against the three parties”.

Jones’ father Richard added: “The legal process is working and questions are being answered. During a very difficult and trying time for our family, Gregg Allman and Michael Lehman demonstrated their genuine sorrow over the loss of our daughter and their willingness to work with us in the future to ensure safe film sets for all. For that, we are grateful”.

The next hearing in the civil case is due to take place on 13 Nov. The criminal proceedings are yet to come to court.

Sony/ATV re-signs Calvin Harris

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

Concluding a deeply enthralling week for Sony/ATV news, the publishing co has now confirmed an extension of its est-in-2006 international deal with auld Calvin Harris. Happy Halloween!

Covering all of Harris’s hits old and new (and, obviously, his forthcoming LP ‘Motion’, which is out on Monday), the contract also incorporates an alliance with the Scottish DJ’s vanity label, Fly Eye.

Paying homage to Sony/ATV’s top creative ‘Guy’ (Moot) in UK/Europe, and his team, Calvin says: “They have given me great support and opportunities over many years, and I’m excited to extend my deal and continue our success together”.

And Guy Moot accordingly adds: “Calvin Harris is one of the greatest songwriters in the world today and stands out among those in the electronic music world as truly appreciating the value of songwriting and building up a legacy of hits. He really understands the importance of writing songs”.

Extending the love-in, Sony/ATV’s worldwide boss Marty Bandier says: “We are thrilled to be extending our long-running relationship with Calvin Harris who stands as a true musical phenomenon of our age. He is an international chart-topping recording artist, a hugely talented songwriter with a gift for coming up with global hit after global hit, often by himself, and he remains one of the world’s most successful DJs”.

“If he could also learn to strike the ball like Lionel Messi, I’d want to come back as him in my next life”, quips Marty. Oh how we laughed.

Raw Power label allies with Universal’s Spinefarm

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers Management & Funding

Artist management firm Raw Power Management has announced a new global alliance for its label operation Search & Destroy. Previously a partnership with Sony, the management group will now work with Universal’s metal imprint Spinefarm and the major’s Caroline label services business. The first release via the joint venture will be Turbowolf’s new material.

Raw Power founder Craig Jennings told reporters: “Search & Destroy is an important part of our growth plan so we are really pleased to have this new agreement in place with Spinefarm. Their enthusiasm for what we are trying to achieve with the label made them the obvious choice for a global partnership and their company philosophy is a great fit with our own. We already have a really exciting release schedule and look forward to working with Jonas Nachsin and his team around the world”.

While the there mentioned Jonas Nachsin, Worldwide GM of Spinefarm, added: “The principals and staff of Raw Power/Search & Destroy represent an exact fit for us in this new and exciting phase of Spinefarm’s evolution. They are music people, dedicated to working with and developing great rock bands, and have a great track record in doing so. That’s exactly what we are doing here, in a serious and determined way, and are thrilled to be locking arms with S&D in a common cause”.

Raw Power has also confirmed that Radio 1 rock man Daniel P Carter will be leading A&R efforts for Search & Destroy. On that, said Jennings, “We are delighted that Dan is joining our S and D team, he has been responsible for breaking several British rock and metal acts in his role at Radio 1 and we look forward to him bringing that expertise to the label”.

Azoff vows to increase performance royalties by 30% with his new PRO

Business News Labels & Publishers

Irving Azoff has said that he will secure royalties for songwriters signed up to his new performing rights organisation, Global Music Rights, that are 30% higher than those collected by US song right collecting societies ASCAP and BMI.

Discussing the decision to launch the PRO as part of his joint venture with the Madison Square Garden Compnay, Azoff MSG Entertainment, Azoff told the New York Times: “I vowed when I started this company that I was going to take care of artists. So I tried to identify places where I felt that artists were not getting a fair deal, and the performance rights area jumped out at me. It was a place where I felt I could help our writers”.

Azoff’s advantage, he believes, is not being subject to the same ‘consent decrees’ that govern how ASCAP and BMI work, meaning his company – just like third American PRO SESAC – isn’t subject to extra regulations and restrictions when negotiating public performance licenses, all things that weaken the big societies’ at the negotiating table.

For Azoff to be able to secure those higher rates, of course, he has to have some big names to negotiate with, to get to the negotiating table in the first place. Though with the likes of Pharrell Williams and Ryan Tedder already having signed up, as well as members of acts such as Fleetwood Mac and Journey, he already does.

That smaller US collecting societies have this advantage over ASCAP and BMI is one of the reasons the two organisations, which represent the vast majority of publishing rights in the US, are arguing for reform of the consent decrees. Rights holders too have argued that the current system needs to be updated, with some threatening to completely withdraw from the big collecting societies if the Department Of Justice – which oversees collective licensing Stateside – doesn’t act. Though the Music Managers Forum in the UK has questioned whether that would be legal.

Beatbox Booking makes redundancies, in continued Tinderbox festival fallout

Business News Live Business

In the continued fallout from the ongoing battle centring stemming from the launch of new festival Tinderbox, Danish booking agency Beatbox Booking recently confirmed that it had been forced to fire three of its staff.

As previously reported, the announcement of Tinderbox has proven controversial in the European festival market, in part due to public funding it is receiving – £2.5 million over five years. It’s placement in the calendar close to rival festival Roskilde has been described as “an act of war”, while Norwegian festival Hove cancelled its 2015 edition, its owner Festival Republic claiming that the addition of a new state-funded festival made it too difficult to compete in the Scandinavian market.

In retaliation, four festivals – Roskilde Festival, Smukfest, Nibe Festival and Jelling Musikfestival – all refused to work with Danish booking agencies Beatbox and Scandinavian, due to links with Tinderbox. As a result two staffers at Scandinavian who are involved with Tinderbox resigned from the company last month, while Beatbox Booking boss Peter Sorensen questioned why his company was being boycotted, when in fact it was now a totally separate entity to Beatbox Concerts which was involved with the new festival.

His protests seemingly fell on deaf ears though, with Sorensen last week announcing that the ongoing situation has resulted in him having to lay off staff.

In a letter to the four boycotting festivals, published by Gaffa, he wrote: “It was not a nice day in the office yesterday. In addition to firing three good and talented people, I have had to explain to my staff how everything what we have built over the past decade has now been smashed beyond recognition by four festivals’ clumsy, disrespectful and deeply unpleasant attack on our integrity and credibility”.

He went on to reiterate that he owns Beatbox Booking 100%, while having “no interest or influence” in former business partner Mads Sorensen’s new Beatbox Concerts company. He also refuted claims that the split had been a direct result of the boycott, saying that it had been put in motion in the spring of this year. The two companies have continued to share an office, he said, but added that Mads has now decided to relocate his operations elsewhere in the new year.

Still addressing the boycotting festivals, Peter continued: “It hurts to have to fire people who are now without work and income (all family people with children). And they are all asking one question, why is this necessary? Naturally, I have explained to them the background and everyone understands that you are nervous about what the future holds. But everyone is still completely baffled that your confidence in my and their work ethic is so low that they should have to be sacrificed in your war”.

In a statement issued to Gaffa, Roskilde spokesperson Christina Bilde said of Sorensen’s letter: “We can confirm that we have received the letter stating Peter’s decision that his booking agency and the entity which works on festivals will no longer share offices and employees. But we do not believe that it benefits the relationship between the parties or the Danish live environment to comment on it in public”.

The Agency Group buys Coalition

Business News Live Business

The Agency Group has announced the purchase of the Coalition Talent Agency.

The celebrity and DJ booking agency represents names including Nick Grimshaw, Edith Bowman, Jameela Jamil, Pixie Lotte, Huw Stevens, Jen Long, Steve Lamacq and Cassetteboy. It also own a number of live brands, including the previously reported Coffee House Sessions, and is particularly active in booking acts for university appearances. You remember when Chesney Hawkes played your summer ball? That was Coalition’s work.

Announcing the news, TAG CEO Gavin O’Reilly said: “We are very excited to be able to partner with Guy and his team. Coalition Talent not only has a great roster of artists, but has exhibited the sort of entrepreneurial spirit that we thrive on at The Agency Group. Coalition is hugely respected, particularly in the UK university and nightclub sector, and this relationship further solidifies our leading position in the live entertainment market. Building artists’ careers is at the heart of The Agency Group, and this important strategic development fully supports that core focus”.

Coalition founder Guy Robinson added: “My passion for live entertainment is as strong now as it ever has been, and my team and I are looking forward to working alongside The Agency Group London’s team of 22 agents. This alliance brings together two great cultures and it will allow us to further develop our existing and new entertainment brand initiatives. Most importantly, it will strengthen the range of services that we can offer our artists throughout their touring careers”.

We thought he’d finished, but he went on: “It’s no secret that there’s been a seismic change in the way people consume music, be it recorded or live. Developing Coffee House Sessions, a tour circuit in University coffee shops in the UK, is just one example of how we are evolving our business model to stay ahead of these developments. Working as part of a much bigger organisation will see this dynamic platform, amongst others, realise its full potential much faster”.

Coalition will continue to operate as a standalone company for the time being, though Robinson and his team will relocate to TAG’s Islington HQ.

Ibiza Rocks team extend to Croatia for a new festival

Business News Gigs & Festivals Live Business

Following their recent decision to end operations in Mallorca, the people behind Ibiza Rocks have announced the launch of a new festival under the ‘Rocks’ banner in 2015 in Croatia, a joint venture with the country’s existing Hideout Festival. The Croatia Rocks event will be more of a conventional festival, taking place from 20-23 Jul on Zrce Beach, with a mixture of DJs and live acts.

Launching the event, Shane Murray, Brand Director at Ibiza Rocks Group told reporters: “We’ve been excited about Croatia and the potential for the Rocks brand for some time and working with Hideout was always our number one priority. They bring success, infrastructure and credibility to the table. It’s the next natural step for us to launch a festival and it’s the right time to move into Croatia. As Rocks reaches ten years its a significant new chapter in our story. We look forward to becoming part of what is already a rich and diverse festival scene”.

Meanwhile Steve Allison of the Hideout Festival added: “As Hideout reaches five years and Croatia moves into the next phase of music tourism we are delighted to partner with Ibiza Rocks and deliver their first festival. With our local knowledge and success in delivering major events in Croatia combined with Ibiza Rocks’ credentials, this partnership will further cement Croatia as a recognised and influential part of the European festival summer”.

Fleetwood Mac and Queen not playing Glasto, confirms Mike Eavis

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Dear anyone playing the ongoing game of ‘who’s not headlining Glastonbury in 2015’ (I know I am), please add Queen and Fleetwood Mac to your list. Because they’re practically definitely not. Headlining Glasto 2015, that is.

Or at least that’s what Michael Eavis has said. And really, if anyone in the world knows about things like this, it’s him.

Speaking via the latest edition of Music Week, Eavis said, when asked if Queen and one-time bookies faves Fleetwood Mac might, perchance, be taking the highest billing on the Pyramid Stage next year, this: “Queen? Not Queen, no. Fleetwood Mac don’t seem to be available at the moment. But we’ve got three excellent headliners for next year”.

One of whom, he added, has “been around for a long time”. My guess is: my dad.

Anyway this was fun, wasn’t it? Stay tuned for another round of ‘who’s not headlining Glastonbury in 2015’, coming soon…

CMU’s One Liners: Chvrches, Cheryl, Dizzee Rascal and more

Artist News Gigs & Festivals One Liners Releases

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• Having played a sold out show at Brixton Academy last night, Chvrches have slung their new single, ‘Get Away’, up on SoundCloud for all to hear. Really, you can hear it here. There’s also a new video for ‘Under The Tide’, which comes from their debut album. Watch that here.

• A non-fiction video on grime king and Rinse co-founder Slimzee, directed by Rollo Jackson of video-directing renown, is now available to watch online. All 21 minutes and 55 seconds of it. Watch now!

• Vegas-based “musician, comedian, singer, rapper, twerker, chef, writer, filmmaker” and “skinny fat ass” (says his Twitter biog) Shamir Bailey, who recently signed to XL Recordings, has released a new single in ‘On The Regular’. So why not view it here? And maybe view Shamir singing it live and in real life when he plays London’s Courtyard Theatre on 4 Dec.

• Cheryl ‘not Cole’ Fernandez-Versini will move her finger a bit to switch on the Oxford Street Christmas lights on 6 Nov. She’ll be joined by Rixton and Jess Glynne on site at ‘the big switch-on’, both of whom will sing songs. As will she, I think. Go Cheryl!

• It’s Halloween! You can’t failed to have noticed. You’re probably eating a pumpkin and writing a letter to the grim reaper as we speak. That’s what happens, right? Dizzee Rascal, gawd luv ‘im, has been slashing people up with knives. He videoed it and everything, and has made the evidence available via Noisey. Only until Sunday though, at which point the video will disappear like a ghost, or something spooky like that. Have a watch here.

CMU Beef Of The Week #230: Pan Fried Beef Fillet at the Mercury Prize

And Finally Artist News Awards Beef Of The Week

Now, obviously you all read our comprehensive coverage of the 2014 Mercury Prize yesterday, so you now know pretty much everything you need to know about this year’s big album of the year bash. But – big admission of omission here – there was one thing I forgot to mention. The beef.

Bit of a background for you here. I have what is widely accepted, by one and all, as a smartly refined diet. The words “faddy and fussy eater” have no role in this whatsoever. It’s just I know what I like and that’s what I eat. What I like is well cooked meat and any variety of potato. Any potato whatsoever. Pasta, rice, noodles, these are not needed when you have the potato. Sauces aren’t required either because God gave us gravy.

And as for veg. Well, I’m not some loony Telegraph journalist. I love veg. All three of them. Carrots, Broccoli and Cauliflower. Though only when served with some well cooked dead animal, obviously.

In a bid for balance, I should note that my co-Publisher Caro Moses is a strict vegetarian, and is prone to claim there are actually more than three vegetables. She’s very much with Morrissey when it comes to meat and murder, though is slightly less irritating about it.

And as for CMU Editor Andy Malt, well, he’s just back from a week in Tokyo, supposedly to research the state of the recorded music market there, but mainly to guzzle down on plate after plate of uncooked fish bits. He claims this constitutes fun times. He’s weird.

Because, here’s the thing, I don’t approve of eating anything that swims. It’s not a religious thing. Though if someone can recommend a religion that outlaws eating anything that swims, do let me know. It would be a handy excuse. Though a religion that bans the eating of swimming things while concurrently ignoring the fact cows can swim. Contradiction and denial of science is what religion’s all about, right?

Anyway, there’s a slight chance you might be wondering what the fish bits this has to do with the Mercury Prize. Well, it had been a whole three years since I last attended the big Mercury envelope opening festivities, back when the whole shebang happened in one of those West London hotels you can never quite remember the name of.

It was a nice night, busy chat chatting to bunch of broadsheet journalists who warmed to me greatly when I told them that if they thought the music industry was fucked they should take a look at the newspaper game. We gossiped, we nodded along to the song singing, we clapped at PJ Harvey’s victory, and I managed to drop all my bank cards, requiring me to crawl around under the table to rescue them.

But here actually is the thing. The meal that night was fish. FISH. As in a formerly swimming fish-like fish that had been fished and was now expecting to be eaten. Who serves fish at an awards ceremony? FISH! For a brief moment I considered asking for the veggie option, but that had a very non-carrot-cauliflower-broccoli look about it. So I opted to push the fish around my plate instead and just wait for pudding.

Bearing in mind that one of the gimmicks at the Mercurys is to kick things off at dinner time, but then make you sit through two hours of music and video clips with just one bread stick each, so that the loudest shortlisted act of the night (Royal Blood this year) has to go on last so as not to be drowned out by the music industry’s collective rumbling stomachs. Never had a fruit tart been so gratefully received than by me at the Mercury Prize 2011.

Now, I’m not saying that I moaned about this endlessly in the weeks following that particular Mercury night, but I wasn’t invited back for three years. Not, in fact, until this year.

I won’t tell you who kindly invited me along this time, because it was a big music company, and now that Music Week is treading on our territory of calling the music industry a bunch of cunts, we’ve got to try extra hard to retain our reputation as the rebels of music business journalism. Let’s just say Bombay Bicycle Club were robbed, the new Cheryl album is going to be awesome, and I’ve just decided that we’ll never link to footage of Justin Bieber walking into a door ever again.

But as kind as the invitation to the big Mercury bash was, deep down I had an immediate response. WILL IT BE FISH!!!!!! Though – after a long meeting with the entire CMU team and our financial advisors – it was decided it would be rude to refuse to accept the invite to the party without a no-fish conditional clause. And so I decided to take a risk, and a gamble, and tread into uncertain territory. I even resisted the temptation to respond to the “any special dietary requirements” email with “YES, NO FISH”.

Which is why, as I’m sure you can all understand, while Young Fathers wowed, and Royal Blood rocked, and Kate Tempest got my feet tapping, my highest moment of elation on Wednesday night came on spotting the menu. “Pan fried beef fillet, truffled boulanger potatoes, sautéed wild mushrooms, sautéed spring greens, glazed baby carrots, Greenwich porter jus”. I mean, I don’t know what half of that meant but three out of six ain’t bad. Carrots, yes! Potatoes, result! And BEEF! Praise be to the great god Mercury himself.

And it was good beef too. I mean, the “Fleur de sel caramel chocolate fondant” stole the show overall, and the “micro celery” was the biggest talking point of the night (what the fuck?), but the beef. The beef was good. And a worthy winner of CMU’s Beef Of The Week.

PS: If you’d like to see the beef in question, Jenny Stevens off of The Guardian can help you, here. I was too excited about eating it to be taking photos.

Approved: Josy

CMU Approved

It’s almost a year to the day that I last wrote about Josy in this column, but I think their name bears repeating. The kind of stage presence each member of this band displays with apparent effortlessness is rarely seen in anyone at all. And this is just some self-releasing band from Tokyo who you’ve probably never heard of. Despite my best efforts.

Formed in 2010, the band have carved out a sound that spans decades – citing The Doors, Grand Funk Railroad and MGMT as their key influences. They released their first full-length album, ‘No Way Back Home’, a year ago, none of which is seemingly available in easily embeddable form, but it is up on Spotify so go and check it out there. And there is a reasonably well stocked SoundCloud profile featuring older material.

But while listening to Josy recorded is great and all, it still doesn’t capture the amazing energy and musical dexterity of their live performances – like the great, stage-owning set they turned in at last week’s Tokyo International Music Market. So, if someone reading this could please bring them over to the UK, that would be a massive help. Book them. Book them now.

Here’s a couple of tracks to whet your appetite, ‘To The Light’ and ‘Let Me Dream’.

Q&A: Vamps

Artist Interviews

Vamps (not to be confused with The Vamps) are a Japanese rock duo, formed in 2008 by L’Arc-En-Ciel frontman Hyde and Oblivion Dust guitarist KAZ.

While perhaps not household names in the UK, L’Arc-En-Ciel have sold over fifteen million albums in their 20+ year career, and headlined Madison Square Garden. It was on Hyde’s second solo album, ‘666’, in 2003 that he and KAZ began working together. Two more solo albums later, they decided to make the partnership more of an equal split with Vamps.

The pair walked into the room where we conducted our interview radiating rockstar auras, both dressed in black and hiding behind sunglasses, though Hyde did remove his while we spoke. It was a fairly unusual conversation, in that it was conducted through an interpreter, though after a slightly shaky start, both men showed themselves to be warm and funny.

The next night they took to the stage at the Japan Night showcase, which was staged as part of this year’s Tokyo International Music Market. Their show – “pure rock entertainment” as they described it – was exactly that. Hyde stalked around the stage, trailing a Jolly Roger from his mic stand, as KAZ thundered out riff after riff.

With their second album, ‘Bloodsuckers’, out this week, the day before that show CMU’s Andy Malt spoke to Hyde and KAZ about Vamps’ formation, their experiences of playing overseas and their hopes for building and maintaining and international audience.

AM: You guys worked together prior to starting Vamps, what prompted you to start this project?
H: I’ve always liked the music that KAZ writes, so I wanted to record an album that we both wrote together half and half. During that process, I thought it would be better to have a different name from my solo work.

AM: Did you have any specific influences in mind when you started working on those songs? It has a more aggressive sound than your other projects.
H: Vamps is more like the band I wanted to be in as a teenager.

AM: The music you make as Vamps does have quite a youthful feel to it, and it’s a bit more aggressive than your other projects. How do you maintain that energy after so long in the music industry?
H: Because I’m a vampire.
K: We keep young with lots of new blood.

AM: And when you’re not drinking blood, how does the split in the songwriting work?
H: We both write songs, and then arrange each other’s music, so it’s a dual effort. When you’re working on your own, it’s really hard to know how far to take something – what’s good for the song and what’s not really working. Having KAZ to help and make the music better than it was already makes everything easier. Basically, we both write 90% of a song individually and then talk about how we’re going to brush up the last 10%.

AM: With events like Japan Night and TIMM, there seems to be increasing support for Japanese artists who want to play abroad. What do you think about that, and what are the challenges of playing overseas as a Japanese artist?
H: Not many Japanese artists are famous abroad at the moment. A big part of that is that there’s no real predecessor to pave the way. No Japanese artists that have been really famous internationally yet, so it’s really hard to get the support and the budget to get out there. It is really difficult, but little by little things are changing. Hopefully, as more people gamble and take a chance on pushing Japanese music abroad, there will be further opportunities for more artists to secure the kind of sponsorship and budgets required to do it.

AM: You’ve actually played internationally quite a lot already, including Download festival this year. Was that your first UK festival experience?
H: Yes.

AM: And how does that compare to playing a Japanese festival?
H: There’s nobody smoking weed backstage in Japan!

AM: What was the response from the audience at Download?
K: After the band before us played everybody cleared out, so we were a bit scared. But right before we came on, lots of people turned up to see us, so we were really happy and relieved. At first the audience were kind of just looking on, trying to assess what kind of band we were, but as we performed the crowd got wilder and wilder, and it looked like they had a lot of fun, which we were really pleased about Afterwards, a lot of people came up to say that we were awesome.

AM: Do you think you’re at an advantage by writing your lyrics in English, and was that a consideration what you started writing songs for the band?
H: I like English songs more than Japanese, so for me it’s very natural for me to write in English. It might be difficult for other bands in Japan, but I think it’s important if you want to play in places like America or the UK.

AM: Growing up were you more inclined to listen to British and American bands?
H: In my teens, yes. Maybe 85% were foreign bands. I was particularly into British New Wave and gothic punk. Bands like Depeche Mode, The Mission and The Cure. I was also listening to American hard rock, heavy metal, and hardcore too. I liked GBH a lot.

AM: You’ve already had some success in the States with L’Arc-En-Ciel. Is it refreshing to go back to the beginning and build something up from scratch?
H: L’Arc-En-Ciel have a long history, so of course that’s different. The length of time we’ve been playing together means that there are a lot of people who’ll come and see us play now. But with Vamps we have a totally different fanbase, so for me Vamps is more equipped to find success abroad.

AM: You’re very active online, with social media and blogging. How has that changed your interacting with your fans, and do you think that’s a positive thing?
H: I feel it’s very important. Whether it’s the newest and hottest information about the band, or just my daily life, I like to upload and let the fans know what’s going on.
K: It closes the distance between you and the fans.

AM: Your music is available on services like iTunes, Spotify and YouTube internationally. How do you feel about that, and do you think that’s important as well?
K: It’s easier for a lot of people to have access to our music, but at the same time there’s too much information out there now, so it’s really hard to find or be found via the internet. Spreading the name and letting people know who we are is quite difficult as a result, so for us it’s more about going to places and playing concerts. Letting people know and hear how we do our music is really important for us.

AM: Subscription streaming services like Spotify are largely unavailable in Japan. Do you think it would be a positive thing for Japan to have those services as well?
K: Streaming is mainstream abroad. And I think those platforms could be a good tool to help us jump from Japan to other foreign countries, and to give people a chance to find out more about Japanese music in general. So I think they are important in that regard. And as this new era evolves, perhaps music should evolve with it.

AM: So when people see that you’re coming to their country, what should people expect from your live show?
H: We have a slightly tongue-in-cheek horror sense to our style. Each song is very unique and very individual, and for us to perform, for ourselves, it’s kind of wonderful to see that you can make people dance and have people move their bodies with such a range of music. That’s one of the things that you’ll experience with our concerts: Pure rock entertainment.

AM: And finally, what are your plans for getting your latest album to people around the world?
H: Since we took a long time to make this album, we’d love to go on a world tour to promote it. But before that we want to release the album in each country and promote it properly, before playing the concerts.

Watch the video for ‘Bloodsuckers’ lead single ‘Get Away’ here:

Kim Dotcom’s battle for his MegaUpload assets moves to Hong Kong

Business News Digital Legal MegaUpload Timeline Top Stories

Kim Dotcom’s hit back on all things MegaUpload shifted over to Hong Kong earlier this week, where legal reps for the founder of the always controversial former file-transfer service are busy trying to recover frozen assets.

When the US authorities shut down MegaUpload back in 2012, accusing the firm of money laundering and rampant copyright infringement, there was actually concurrent activity on four continents. Servers were targeted in the US and Europe, key execs were arrested in New Zealand, and the firm’s offices in Hong Kong were raided.

Some $42 million of MegaUpload’s assets were frozen during the raid. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, Dotcom wants them back. And with America’s criminal action against him and his former company moving along like an iceberg in a particularly frosty winter (mainly due to extradition issues), he reckons he shouldn’t have to wait for that case against him to go through the motions before getting his HK loot back.

The Mega man’s lawyers filed legal papers on the matter back in April, and the case reached court this week. As with a lot of Dotcom’s arguments in the New Zealand courts, the case centres on the legal processes the local authorities went through when seizing his assets at the request of the Americans.

In Hong Kong, the argument is that the Chinese region’s Secretary For Justice did not provide a “full and frank disclosure” of the facts to the court when seeking the warrant to seize MegaUpload assets back in 2012. And because the warrant was issued without MegaUpload in attendance – the element of surprise being required – the Secretary For Justice had a duty to be extra vigilant in providing the judge with all the facts, Dotcom’s lawyers say.

And yet – said Dotcom’s legal man about the 2012 hearing, according to Torrentfreak: “In about six or seven minutes, the applicant dealt with the position of nine defendants and managed to freeze a massive amount of money. There was not one word about Megaupload, not a jot, not a tittle”.

A key fact missing from the 2012 court hearing was that MegaUpload the company had no US base, meaning criminal proceedings could not be formally filed against the business under American law. The US authorities have previously said that’s an irrelevant technicality, but Team Dotcom insist it’s a crucial point.

It remains to be seen how the Hong Kong court responds to the Mega team’s arguments. In New Zealand, the US music and movie industries have moved – with some success – to stop Dotcom reclaiming his frozen assets, on the grounds that if the content owners are victorious in their civil copyright action against the defunct file-transfer business, they’ll be claiming that dosh in damages.

Though if it can be shown Hong Kong authorities didn’t follow due procedure in seizing MegaUpload assets in the first place, that claim might be deemed irrelevant.

And if Dotcom got his Hong Kong fortune back, that would go a long way to paying his mounting legal fees. Even more so if he then successfully sued the Hong Kong authorities for breaking protocol and damaging his business in the process.

So, more fun times ahead.

Former U2 bassist PA loses appeal against theft conviction

Artist News Legal

The former PA to U2 bassist Adam Clayton has lost her appeal against a conviction of stealing money from the musician.

As previously reported, Carol Hawkins was convicted in 2012 of embezzling 2.8 million euros from Clayton’s bank accounts. At the sentencing, Judge Patrick McCartan said of the 181 thefts over a four year period: “Nothing, frankly, could explain away the scale of this dishonesty other than the greed in pursuit of a lavish lifestyle that was no responsibility of Mr Clayton’s”.

She was sentenced to seven years in prison, but later appealed both the conviction and the length of the sentence. Eventually reaching court this month, three judges yesterday rejected all arguments against her conviction. They are due to rule on the length of her sentence later this week.

Music Venue Trust announces London conference

Business News Education & Events Live Business

The Music Venue Trust has announced Venues Day, an event due to take place at the Southbank Centre in London on 9 Dec.

Aiming to give a stronger voice to the UK’s smaller gig venues, the day will see discussions between representatives of those venues and the wider music industry. There will be three main panels, dealing with: best practice, noise vs nuisance, and the question ‘what happens next?’

Amongst the speakers on the day will be Horace Trubridge from the Musicians’ Union, Attitude Is Everything’s Suzanne Bull, Mike Weatherley MP, Lisa Lavia from the Noise Abatement Society and Dom Frazer from Guildford venue The Boilerroom.

Commenting on the new conference event, Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd told CMU: “Venues Day is the first event of its kind in the UK, specifically created for the needs of the small and medium music venues. We want to change perceptions, about what these venues do, how they do it, what’s good practice, and clarify the message so that the cultural sector, music industry and politicians can recognise, support and develop that work. We hope all the venues around the country will see this as an important opportunity to get their voices heard”.

Venue managers, owners and promoters can apply for free delegate passes now by emailing musicvenuetrust@gmail.com. Registration will open fully on 10 Nov. More info here.

Universal chief comments on SoundCloud talks (a bit)

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers

Ah, SoundCloud. What are we to do about SoundCloud? Well, actually, it’s nothing to do with me. Unless the thing to be done about SoundCloud is for you all to tune in to my ThisWeek London Podcast, which is streaming up there on the audio platform right now.

But what about SoundCloud becoming a revenue generating content platform and fan community for labels and publishers and artists and songwriters everywhere?

Well, as previously reported, the digital firm – having failed to find a buyer so that the “how the hell do we make money out of all this?” challenge could be someone else’s problem – is busy trying to get a new ad-system off the ground, and is trying to get the labels to come on board as content partners in order to get a share of that ad cash.

But the labels are holding out for a better deal than SoundCloud has so far been able to offer, stalling things somewhat. And the most recent word on the label talks was that negotiations with the biggest record company of them all, Universal, had now stopped completely.

But good news! Universal top man Lucian Grainge hasn’t yet confined his fluffy SoundCloud to the no-deal-let’s-just-drive-em-out-of-business shelf (currently occupied by an inflatable Grooveshark) which definitely exists in his swish office.

Not at all. He told a Wall Street Journal conference on Tuesday there’s an “opportunity for SoundCloud to create incredible revenue”. It’s just that no one’s worked out quite how yet. But it’s all still to play for in the streaming domain don’t you know. According to Billboard, the Universal big cheese added: “We’re in the experimental phase at the moment. The last two or three years has been about stopping the decline and creating as many platforms and as many services and opportunities to capture money”.

So good news for the SoundClouders. Though it sounds a bit like the firm’s founder Alexander Ljung has already accepted that Universal may not be on board at the start of the next bold chapter of his business venture. “We won’t have everybody in from day one”, he said at the same conference, albeit after declining to specifically comment on UMG talks. “Our intention is to create something that’s valuable for everybody and so valuable that everybody wants to be in. We’re not there yet”.

Nope, we’re not ‘there’ yet. And I’m not sure we’re even on the outskirts of ‘there’, with its industrial estates of hope and low rent housing of joy. But hey, let’s all pass the time on this slow-going autobahn to ‘there’ by listening to this week’s edition of the ThisWeek London Podcast. Now on SoundCloud!

Tim Ingham resigning as Music Week editor, plus new hires

Business News Industry People Media

Tim Ingham is to leave his three year old post as Editor of Music Week at the close of 2014, it’s been confirmed, in order to establish his own media enterprise in the new year.

MW’s now-dep ed Tom Pakinkis will take over as editor from Ingham, who will stay on as an occasional consultant on various Music Week events.

Appraising the changes in editorship, Music Week Publisher Dave Roberts says: “It’s obviously very sad that Tim’s leaving us. He’s played an important role in the renaissance of Music Week. But, Tom’s been beside him every step of the way and is the perfect candidate to take over and keep pushing us on. Plus we’ll be working with Tim on our bigger events anyway, so he’s not gone completely”.

Meanwhile joining the Music Week fam as of 1 Jan 2015 are veteran journalists Mark Sutherland – who comes in as Contributing Editor – and one-time global editor at Billboard Emmanuel Legrande, who’ll act as Music Week’s US editor from his base in Washington.

As to that, Roberts adds: “The addition of Mark and Emmanuel to the team is also a real coup and ensures that we’ll continue to deliver original and informative content for all sectors of the business”.

Japanese rock band Vamps discuss the challenges of making it abroad

Artist News

At last week’s Tokyo International Music Market, the Japan Night organisation held a previously reported press conference announcing plans for a series of concerts around the world showcasing Japanese music. Then rock bands Vamps, [Alexandros] and Sakanaction played a showcase in Tokyo to mark the occasion.

The previous day, CMU Editor Andy Malt caught up with Vamps, asking frontman Hyde what the challenges are for Japanese artists trying to make it overseas.

“Not many Japanese artists are famous abroad at the moment”, he said. “A big part of that is that there’s no real predecessor to pave the way. No Japanese artists that have been really famous internationally yet, so it’s really hard to get the support and the budget to get out there. It is really difficult, but little by little things are changing”.

As for how Japanese artists can use streaming and other digital services (which are largely unavailable in Japan) to build their profile, guitarist KAZ added: “Streaming is mainstream abroad. And I think those platforms could be a good tool to help us jump from Japan to other foreign countries, and to give people a chance to find out more about Japanese music in general. So I think they are important in that regard. And as this new era evolves, perhaps music should evolve with it”.

Read our full interview with Vamps here, and for more on Japan’s digital music market and where it is heading, sign up to receive the next edition of the CMU Digest Report.

Sharon Van Etten confirms 2015 shows, screens new video

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

American folk lady Sharon ‘Shaz’ Van Etten has confirmed a good lot of shows in 2015, in so doing adding to the ongoing winner’s lap for her heart-stoppingly heart-stopping latest LP ‘Are We There’.

Van Etten, who’s on this side of the Atlantic next month as it is for a European and UK/Irish tour, will be back again in April next year to play the following British/Irish dates:

21 Apr: Bristol, Trinity
23 Apr: Dublin, Whelans
25 Apr: Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
27 Apr: Gateshead, Sage
29 Apr: London, Shepherds Bush Empire

Details of and tickets to all the dates, near and far, are here. And finally this is the new video to the apex of ‘Are We There’, ‘Your Love Is Killing Me’:

Young Fathers win the Mercury Prize

Artist News Awards

So, the ever masterful CMU Editor Andy Malt let me leave early yesterday to attend that Mercury Prize show in Camden and eat all the free food that came with it (“what a dessert!”) on the strict condition I file a very comprehensive report of the entire Mercury Prize operation. So here goes.

In 1979, Margaret Thatcher came to power in the UK with an agenda to privatise a string of state-owned businesses, many of which had been brought into national ownership under previous Labour governments. High up on that agenda was telecommunications. At that point domestic telecoms were run out of a division of the Post Office, while the also state-owned Cable & Wireless had operations abroad, mainly in Hong Kong.

An act of parliament was passed in 1981 setting the privatisation of C&W into motion, while concurrently spinning off domestic telecoms into a stand-alone entity called British Telecommunications, which was quickly pencilled for flotation on the London Stock Exchange in 1984. With a key aim of the Tories’ privatisation plan being the creation of competition in sectors previously dominated by state monopolies, ministers encouraged other parties to enter the market, going head to head with what would become BT plc.

And so the aforementioned C&W teamed up with British Petroleum, which was finding petrol a bit dull, and Barclays Bank, which had good money to burn, and formed Mercury Communications Ltd. Mercury was the Roman god of communications, see? The new company set about establishing various telecom-style ventures, plonking odd-looking phone boxes on the high street, giving Phil Collins a cash boost by syncing his music to invigorating footage of dirty cables being pushed into the ground, and getting into the phone card business big time.

Though the whole venture was hindered somewhat by every single person in the country (outside of Hull, obviously) having BT-connected phones. And for some reason a ‘type ten digits into your BT phone every time you call to access the Mercury network’ plan never really took off. But Mercury buttons started to be added to handsets, and those phone boxes always stood out, which meant, for a telecoms network nobody used, Mercury nevertheless enjoyed a pretty high profile. And even more so once mobile telecoms gained momentum in the mid-1990s, Mercury having won the rights to run one of the new ‘personal communication networks’.

And then… hmm, actually, I’ve just done a word count and I’m thinking perhaps this report is a little too comprehensive. I’d blame Malt for that. Maybe I should speed things up a bit. OK, here goes…

Mercury Communications had a huge disadvantage because of the totally dominant BT. So they recruited an ambitious marketing team. And they did some quirky art and music stuff. Which led to them sponsoring a new music awards initiated by the then boss of Virgin Records, Jon ‘Webbo’ Webster. It took their name. But then Mercury got sold. And the brand was dumped. But the awards lived on. 22 years and counting. Last night Scottish hip hoppers Young Fathers won it. See, I can do concise, you just have to ask.

See you in February for my comprehensive coverage of the BRITs. In 1877, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph…

Ant & Dec to host the BRITs (yes, in 2015)

Artist News Awards

Hey, hey, what? No? Yes! Ant & Dec are only bloody well hosting the 2015 BRIT Awards, which is very exciting news indeed.

Well, it would have been fourteen years ago when they were still funny. Which is presumably why they were booked to host the music industry’s big bash that year too. But BRITs 2015, Ant & Dec, that could work. Couldn’t it?

And remember, while for you the BRITs is a big free party paid for by some credit industry twonks, for ITV it’s a television programme. And the ratings have been slipping. And when ITV has a ratings slippage, it employs Ant & Dec. It’s called stratagem four-point-five. It was either that or Norris from Corrie. Which actually, I think I’d have preferred.

But anyway, Ant & Dec to host the BRITs. Woooooooooooooo! And that’s me quoting BRITs chief Max Lousada there. Well, almost.

Says Lousada: “Ant & Dec are two of the most popular TV broadcasters this country has ever produced and it’s a real honour to have them take centre stage once again to host the BRITs. It’s great that these two pillars of British TV will be part of a night about celebrating icons in British music”.

Look at it this way, if the new BRITs show strategy is wheeling out pop telly show hosts of old in chronological order, that’ll mean ‘Popworld’ co-host Simon Amstell in 2017. And I think deep down that’s what we’re all sitting around here waiting for.

CMU’s One Liners: Taylor Swift, The Death Weather, Tulisa and more

Artist News One Liners Releases

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• Taylor Swift, aka the only artist OF ALL TIME that’s loved by all living Americans right now (says one study), is to give the proceeds from her new ‘1989’ single ‘Welcome To New York’ to NY public schools. She said it on the latest episode of ‘The View’, so it must be true. Long live Taylor Swift!

• The first track in a while by Jack White and Alison Mosshart’s shared band The Dead Weather has blown in like… erm, a cold front. And that’s my first and last go at making a weather joke, I hope you all liked it. ‘Buzzkill(er)’ and B-side ‘It’s Just Too Bad’ will be available to buy on 4 Nov. Hear the former now.

• Lil Wayne’s ‘Tha Carter V’ LP has a new release date… or at least, the first part of it does. Apparently there’ll be several instalments. Aaaanyway, look for part one on 9 Dec, if that date even sticks. Here’s a video of Lil Wayne explaining (not really) what’s going on.

• Tulisa’s back! With a new single! Featuring Fazer! And a video! In which she wears barely anything! View ‘Living Without You’ here.

• David Gilmour of soon-to-expire Pink Floyd fame has confirmed in a fireside chat with Rolling Stone that he is working on a new solo LP. “It’s coming along very well”, he tells RS, adding: “There’s a few months’ work in it yet. I’m hoping to get it out this following year. Then I’m hoping to do an old man’s tour, not a 200-date sort of thing”. Good to know.

• Experimental electronic pop artist and CMU approved alumnus Jonnie Common has shared a new single, ‘Crumbs’, ahead of the spookily-timed 31 Oct release of his latest LP, ‘Trapped In Amber’. Listen to the song here, and click here to get tickets to one or more of the three shows JC is doing next month as an intro to his new record.

• ‘One Night In Hell’, a short animated film inspired by, and somehow involving, Brian May and a pack of ‘Diablery’ cards he owns, is airing on Sky Arts tomorrow night, aka Halloween. No idea. Anyway here’s a trailer, and here’s an interview May did with Classic Rock explaining his diabolical new artistic distraction.

Ice Cube went on Sesame Street. The end.

And Finally Artist News

Times have changed, big time, for one-time gangsta rap man Ice Cube since he first ‘came on the scene’ back in 1984. Yes, indeed.

Still, everything changes, like Keane said, and so now, today, I’m linking to a clip of ex-NWA MC Ice Cube chilling (and doing highly literal magic tricks) with Elmo on ‘Sesame Street’.

All whilst sticking to the show’s strict ‘no sexiness or boobs on show’ policy… barely. Ah-stounding.

Approved: Molice

CMU Approved

Molice are not a band who keep their inspirations a secret. Not that they sound derivative, but their name is an amalgamation of the ‘olice’ from The Police, and the collective ‘mo’ of Jim Morrison, Moe Tucker and Morrissey.

Actually, none of the music of those names are especially prominent in the trio’s own, with late 70s punk, early 80s new wave and Pixies really shaping the sound they’ve carved into their own over four albums. The latest, ‘Resonance Love’, was released this year after the band raised money for the recording through Japanese crowdfunding site Fanbo, and it contains some of their strongest songs to date.

Their early set at last week’s Tokyo International Music Market also gave an opportunity to witness frontwoman Rinko’s infectious energy, an enthusiasm for the music she’s playing, and just being in front of an audience, clearly buzzing through her limbs as she strikes the chords out of her guitar.

She also explained in some detail, during an on stage interview after the set, why Molice are like the giant Gundam robot standing outside the shopping centre that housed the venue. But that’s another story. Right now, check out ‘Thinkers’ and ‘Sensitive City’ from ‘Resonance Love’:

RIAA updates list of rogue piracy sites

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Top Stories

The Recording Industry Association Of America has submitted its updated list of ‘rogue’ websites to the American government, something which has become an annual event. Both the music and movie industries Stateside provide the Office Of The US Trade Representative with lists of websites they believe are guilty of enabling rampant copyright infringement, the hope being that the Trade Representative can put pressure on countries where said sites are available and/or based.

Most of the sites on the latest list are usual suspects, though it’s interesting that Russian social network vKontakte is still on there. But perhaps more noteworthy are the statements accompanying the list, in which the RIAA’s Neil Turkewitz hits out at piracy operations which claim that copyright enforcement is a form of censorship, while accusing others of paying lip service to the takedown system as set out in the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, but only so they can appear legit while exploiting weaknesses in said system.

On the former, according to Torrentfreak, Turkewitz writes: “[Some say copyright enforcement is a] form of censorship or restriction on fundamental freedoms, and some pirate sites cloak themselves in the language of freedom to justify themselves – sites like The Pirate Bay”.

But the RIAA man argues that copyright in fact protects, and is therefore part of, the freedom of expression. He goes on: “If the protection of expression is itself a restriction on freedom of expression, then we have entered a metaphysical Wonderland that stands logic on its head, and undermines core, shared global values about personhood”.

On the DMCA takedown provisions, which provide protection to digital platforms which host or link to copyright infringing content as a result of user-upload or automated activities, providing they give copyright owners a way to have offending content or links removed, Turkewitz says that piracy sites exploit these protections. Some of the sites on the RIAA’s lists of offenders may operate a takedown system, but they do so knowing that infringing content will be reloaded onto their platforms as soon as it is removed.

“As a result, copyright owners are forced into an endless ‘cat and mouse’ game”, writes Turkewitz, “which requires considerable resources to be devoted to chasing infringing content, only for that same infringing content to continually reappear. It is imperative that [such] site operators take reasonable measures to prevent the distribution of infringing torrents or links and to implement measures that would prevent the indexing of infringing torrents”.

So make of all that what you will. And now a list of the bad guys in piracy-ville (according to the RIAA): vKontakte, EX.UA, The Pirate Bay, KickAss.to, Torrentz.eu, Bitsnoop.com, ExtraTorrent.cc, Isohunt.to, Zamunda, Arena.bg, Torrenthound.com, Fenopy.se, Monova.org, Torrentreactor.net, Sumotorrent.sx, Seedpeer.me, Torrentdownloads.me, 4shared.com, Uploaded.net, Oboom.com, Zippyshare.com, Rapidgator.net, Turbobit.net, Ulozto.cz, Sdílej.cz, Hell Spy, HellShare, Warez-dk.org, Freakshare.com, Bitshare.com, Letitbit.net, 1fichier.com, Filestube.to, Music.so.com, Verycd.com, Gudanglagu.com, Thedigitalpinoy.org, Todaybit.com, Chacha.vn, Zing.vn, Songs.to, Boerse.to, Mygully.com, Wawa-mania.ec, Bajui.com, Goear.com, Pordescargadirecta.com, Exvagos.com, Degraçaémaisgostoso.org, Baixeturbo.org, Hitsmp3.net, Musicasparabaixar.org, Sapodownloads.net, Sonicomusica.com, Jarochos.net, Rnbexclusive.se, Newalbumreleases.net.

Sony/ATV signs Tegan & Sara

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

Sister-sister pop types Tegan and Sara Quin, aka Tegan & Sara, have signed to Sony/ATV in a co-publishing deal that’ll reach all over the globe. And beyond!

It’ll cover every single one of the seven LPs T&S have released to date, and also apply to their next, which whilst it’s still a glint in the pair’s near-genetically-identical eyes, is anticipated to start taking shape in Q4 of next year.

Reading each other’s minds in that weird way twins do, Tegan and Sara say this in unison: “We’re very excited to be joining the Sony/ATV family, and we’re pleased to have our seven-album catalogue united under one global roof. As we continue to deliver Tegan & Sara albums, we also intend to expand our unique songwriting brand with co-writes and toplines for other artists”.

And dropping in his two dollars’ worth on the deal, Sony/ATV’s Senior Creative Director, Tyler Childs adds: “Tegan and Sara are two of the premiere songwriters and iconic artists of the past decade. We’re so excited to dive into their extensive catalogue and collaborate on future co-writing opportunities. I look forward to working side-by-side with the girls for many years to come”.

And ending this newsflash, Piers Henwood, MD of Tegan & Sara’s management firm Amelia Artists, chimes in: “Having self-administrated Tegan & Sara’s publishing company from our management office over the past few album cycles, we had a clear set of expectations for what we wanted in a global partner. Sony/ATV was able to check all these boxes, and we’re excited to have a passionate staff there to help steward and grow Tegan & Sara’s songwriting legacy”.

Madison Square Garden Company may split

Business News Live Business

The Madison Square Garden Company has announced that it may spin off its music and live entertainment business. This would mean two publicly traded companies would operate, the other housing the firm’s media and sport divisions.

Speaking to Billboard, MSG CEO Tad Smith said: “The [entertainment] company would capitalise on significant opportunities to grow rapidly within the changing entertainment landscape. The [other unit] would enjoy steady growth and high cash flow that we expect will result in capital returns to shareholders”.

I know, too sexy right? There’s apparently no plan in place for any of this actually happen at the moment, but it’s been under consideration since July, Billboard reports.

Friday 31 October 2014, 17:06 | By CMU Editorial

Each weekday, the CMU Approved column highlights a new artist, track, article or other online activity that we think our readers should be aware of. Below is a playlist featuring artists and tracks showcased in the column in October 2014.

READ MORE ABOUT: Alex Burey | BadBadNotGood | Denai Moore | Ghostface Killah | Jonnie Common | Josy | Marina | Molice | Mr Oizo | Passepied | Porches | Sakanaction | Shiny Darkly | The Hics | Trash Kit | Virginia Wing | Yelle

Friday 31 October 2014, 13:31 | By Paul Vig

READ MORE ABOUT: Cristian Varela | DJ Pierre | Francois K

Friday 31 October 2014, 13:06 | By Chris Cooke

The big fat Blurred Lines plagiarism case is set to proceed to court, after a judge ruled that the family of Marvin Gaye had sufficiently demonstrated that elements of the controversial pop hit may be “substantially similar to protected, original elements of” Gaye track ‘Got To Give It Up’.

READ MORE ABOUT: Marvin Gaye | Pharrell Williams | Robin Thicke

Friday 31 October 2014, 13:05 | By Andy Malt

The family of Sarah Jones, the camera assistant who died during the filming of Gregg Allman biopic ‘Midnight Rider’ earlier this year, have taken Allman, producer Michael Lehman and distributor Open Road Films off their civil lawsuit against the film’s makers.

READ MORE ABOUT: Gregg Allman | Michael Lehman | Open Road Films

Friday 31 October 2014, 13:04 | By Aly Barchi

Concluding a deeply enthralling week for Sony/ATV news, the publishing co has now confirmed an extension of its est-in-2006 international deal with auld Calvin Harris. Happy Halloween!

READ MORE ABOUT: Calvin Harris | Sony Music Publishing

Friday 31 October 2014, 13:03 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Raw Power Management | Search & Destroy | Spinefarm Records

Friday 31 October 2014, 13:02 | By Andy Malt

Irving Azoff has said that he will secure royalties for songwriters signed up to his new performing rights organisation, Global Music Rights, that are 30% higher than those collected by US song right collecting societies ASCAP and BMI.

READ MORE ABOUT: Global Music Rights (GMR) | Irving Azoff

Friday 31 October 2014, 13:01 | By Andy Malt

In the continued fallout from the ongoing battle centring stemming from the launch of new festival Tinderbox, Danish booking agency Beatbox Booking recently confirmed that it had been forced to fire three of its staff.

READ MORE ABOUT: Beatbox Booking | Jelling Musikfestival | Nibe festival | Peter Sorensen | Roskilde | Scandinavian | Smukfest | Tinderbox

Friday 31 October 2014, 13:00 | By Andy Malt

The Agency Group has announced the purchase of the Coalition Talent Agency.

READ MORE ABOUT: Coalition Talent Agency | The Agency Group

Friday 31 October 2014, 13:00 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Croatia Rocks | Hideout Festival | Ibiza Rocks

Friday 31 October 2014, 12:59 | By Aly Barchi

Dear anyone playing the ongoing game of ‘who’s not headlining Glastonbury in 2015’ (I know I am), please add Queen and Fleetwood Mac to your list. Because they’re practically definitely not. Headlining Glasto 2015, that is.

READ MORE ABOUT: Fleetwood Mac | Glastonbury Festival | Michael Eavis | Queen

Friday 31 October 2014, 12:58 | By Aly Barchi

Other notable announcements and developments today…

READ MORE ABOUT: Cheryl | Chvrches | Dizzee Rascal | Shamir | Slimzee

Friday 31 October 2014, 12:56 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Mercury Prize

Thursday 30 October 2014, 13:05 | By Andy Malt

READ MORE ABOUT: Josy | Tokyo International Music Market

Thursday 30 October 2014, 13:01 | By Andy Malt

Vamps (not to be confused with The Vamps) are a Japanese rock duo, formed in 2008 by L’Arc-En-Ciel frontman Hyde and Oblivion Dust guitarist KAZ.

READ MORE ABOUT: Vamps

Thursday 30 October 2014, 12:49 | By Chris Cooke

Kim Dotcom’s hit back on all things MegaUpload shifted over to Hong Kong earlier this week, where legal reps for the founder of the always controversial former file-transfer service are busy trying to recover frozen assets.

READ MORE ABOUT: Kim Dotcom | MegaUpload

Thursday 30 October 2014, 12:48 | By Andy Malt

The former PA to U2 bassist Adam Clayton has lost her appeal against a conviction of stealing money from the musician.

READ MORE ABOUT: Adam Clayton | Carol Hawkins | U2

Thursday 30 October 2014, 12:47 | By Andy Malt

The Music Venue Trust has announced Venues Day, an event due to take place at the Southbank Centre in London on 9 Dec.

READ MORE ABOUT: Music Venue Trust | Venues Day

Thursday 30 October 2014, 12:46 | By Chris Cooke

Ah, SoundCloud. What are we to do about SoundCloud? Well, actually, it’s nothing to do with me. Unless the thing to be done about SoundCloud is for you all to tune in to my ThisWeek London Podcast, which is streaming up there on the audio platform right now.

READ MORE ABOUT: Lucian Grainge | SoundCloud

Thursday 30 October 2014, 12:45 | By Aly Barchi

Tim Ingham is to leave his three year old post as Editor of Music Week at the close of 2014, it’s been confirmed, in order to establish his own media enterprise in the new year.

READ MORE ABOUT: Emmanuel Legrande | Mark Sutherland | Music Week | Tim Ingham | Tom Pankinkis

Thursday 30 October 2014, 12:44 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Vamps

Thursday 30 October 2014, 12:42 | By Aly Barchi

American folk lady Sharon ‘Shaz’ Van Etten has confirmed a good lot of shows in 2015, in so doing adding to the ongoing winner’s lap for her heart-stoppingly heart-stopping latest LP ‘Are We There’.

READ MORE ABOUT: Sharon Van Etten

Thursday 30 October 2014, 12:41 | By Chris Cooke

So, the ever masterful CMU Editor Andy Malt let me leave early yesterday to attend that Mercury Prize show in Camden and eat all the free food that came with it (“what a dessert!”) on the strict condition I file a very comprehensive report of the entire Mercury Prize operation. So here goes.

READ MORE ABOUT: Mercury Prize | Young Fathers

Thursday 30 October 2014, 12:40 | By Chris Cooke

Hey, hey, what? No? Yes! Ant & Dec are only bloody well hosting the 2015 BRIT Awards, which is very exciting news indeed.

READ MORE ABOUT: Ant & Dec | BRIT Awards

Thursday 30 October 2014, 12:39 | By Aly Barchi

Other notable announcements and developments today…

READ MORE ABOUT: Brian May | David Gilmour | Jonnie Common | Lil Wayne | Taylor Swift | The Dead Weather | Tulisa Contostavlos

Thursday 30 October 2014, 12:37 | By Aly Barchi

Times have changed, big time, for one-time gangsta rap man Ice Cube since he first ‘came on the scene’ back in 1984. Yes, indeed.

READ MORE ABOUT: Ice Cube | Sesame Street

Wednesday 29 October 2014, 12:47 | By Andy Malt

Molice are not a band who keep their inspirations a secret. Not that they sound derivative, but their name is an amalgamation of the ‘olice’ from The Police, and the collective ‘mo’ of Jim Morrison, Moe Tucker and Morrissey.

READ MORE ABOUT: Molice | Tokyo International Music Market

Wednesday 29 October 2014, 12:30 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: DMCA | Neil Turkewitz | Recordings Industry Association Of America (RIAA)

Wednesday 29 October 2014, 12:29 | By Aly Barchi

Sister-sister pop types Tegan and Sara Quin, aka Tegan & Sara, have signed to Sony/ATV in a co-publishing deal that’ll reach all over the globe. And beyond!

READ MORE ABOUT: Sony Music Publishing | Tegan & Sara