Friday 28 November 2014, 17:09 | By CMU Editorial

Playlist: CMU Approved in November 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 November 2014.

Tracklist:

• Adrian Knight – Pictures Of Lindsay
• でんぱ組.inc – Sabotage (Beastie Boys cover)
• Panes – Bones Without You
• LoneLady – Groove It Out
• Loyle Carner – Baby Grey
• Shamir – On The Regular
• Oscar – Never Told You
• OOFJ – You’re Always Good
• Alex Calder – Strange Dreams
• Nils Bech – Jealousy
• Fake Laugh – Freely
• Nite Fields – You I Never Knew
• FaltyDL – Do Me (Bruk Mix)
• Man Without Country – Laws Of Motion (feat White Sea)
• Laura Moody – Call Time On This Love
• Efterklang – The Last Concert

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Approved: Movember Closing Parties

Club Tip CMU Approved

This weekend sees the end of November, and therefore the end of Movember and the hardship of having to grow a moustache for charity (confession: it’s not actually that bad). I’m doing it for the second year to remember my dad who sadly died in January 2013 from advanced prostate cancer, to support charities that support mens’ health, and to have a bit of laugh in the process – mainly at myself! If you haven’t donated to anyone yet, I’ll gladly take your money.

For those who’ve got involved this year, there are a couple of official parties taking place this weekend – the first at York Hall in Bethnal Green tonight, the second on Sunday at Horatio Todds in Belfast. Tickets are a fiver, or free to anyone who’s raised over £50 with their facial hair. There’ll be fun, games, live music and “some great interactive experiences”, whatever that means.

If you’re looking for something more in the traditional Club Tip vein, Mantra in Windsor will be holding a Movember ‘house’ party tonight. DJs on hand (and hopefully moustachioed) will be Jay ‘We Love Ya’ Evans, Paul Linney and Marcin ‘Frequency’ Sadowski. There’ll be a raffle too. And who doesn’t like a good raffle?

Friday 28 Nov, York Hall, 5 Old Ford Rd, London, E2, 7pm, £5. More info here.

Friday 28 Nov, Mantra, 19-21 The Arches, Goswell Hill, Windsor, SL4 1RD, 9pm – 2.30am, Free before 11pm or £10 after. More info here.

Sunday 30 Nov, Horatio Todds, 406 Upper Newtownards Rd, Belfast, Antrim, 7pm, £5. More info here.

More web-blocks instigated

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Legal Top Stories

Good news for fans of the line “Sorry, the web page you have requested is not available, we received an order from the Courts requiring us to prevent access to this site” (you’ve all got that on a t-shirt, right?).

The highest of all courts (apart from the higher ones) the High Court has issued another injunction ordering UK internet service providers (except, seemingly, the one we use, which blocks nothing) to stop their customers from accessing pesky copyright infringing file-sharing piracy sites, like BitSoup and Torrentfunk.

As much previously reported, in the UK – and some other jurisdictions – so called web-blocking has become a preferred tactic for the music and movie industries to try and stop people from accessing unlicensed sources of content. ISPs are forced to block sites deemed by the court to exist primarily to enable and encourage copyright infringement.

The problem, of course, is that there are plenty of sneaky tricks to be employed to circumvent all and any web-blocks, and a simple Google search for a blocked site usually guides people to their illegal content buckets of choice.

But rights owners hope that some users will stop accessing such services just by being alerted to their illegal status. Though everyone agrees that Google needs to be kicked into participating in this party for web-blocking of file-sharing sites to truly work. Record labels and movie studios are yet to find shoes big enough to kick the Google monolith, but they’re asking for a pair for Christmas.

The latest web-block injunction lists no less than 53 services, the biggest batch to be blocked in one sitting. 32 of the sites were named by the Motion Picture Association and the other 21 by record label trade group the BPI. According to the BBC, the latest court ruling brings the total number of blocked sites in the UK to 93.

The MPA’s Chris Marcich says: “Securing court orders requiring ISPs to block access to illegal websites is an accepted and legitimate measure to tackle online copyright infringement. It carefully targets sites whose sole purpose is to make money off the back of other people’s content while paying nothing back into the legitimate economy”.

Kim Dotcom bail hearing continues

Business News Digital Legal MegaUpload Timeline

Kim Dotcom is a flight risk according to prosecutors in New Zealand, who today continued in their bid to have the often controversial founder of defunct file-transfer business MegaUpload put back behind bars.

As previously reported, Dotcom, who was bailed shortly after the US authorities swooped in to shut down the MegaUpload platform and company in 2012, is still fighting extradition to the US where he would face criminal charges of money laundering and copyright infringement, all relating to his former business.

While America’s extradition attempts continue to rumble on nearly three years later, it emerged earlier this month that prosecutors in Dotcom’s adopted home country of New Zealand were seeking to have the MegaUpload man put back into prison over allegations he had broken the conditions of his bail. Further restrictions were put in place on Dotcom’s movements around the country as a result of the complaint, pending this week’s hearing.

According to The Age, earlier today prosecutors said that Dotcom had associated with his former MegaUpload colleagues in 2012 in direct breach of his bail terms. New Zealand prosecutors also questioned – as have the US authorities, movie studios and record labels – how Dotcom has been able to invest in new businesses, set up a political party, live a seemingly lavish lifestyle and hire the services of expensive legal experts given all his assets relating to MegaUpload were meant to have been seized in 2012.

Dotcom’s opponents think he has access to hidden funds that stemmed from the MegaUpload empire. Or in the prosecutor’s words earlier today: “The court cannot take Mr Dotcom at his word regarding finances”. The prosecution think that Dotcom seemingly having access to funds of unknown origin mean he probably has the means to flee if and when it looks like America’s extradition application will be successful.

Dotcom’s reps argue that monies their client has spent since 2012 stem from his income post-MegaUpload. As for the bail breach, his legal man in court said that the term regarding contacting other MegaUpload execs was only in place for a few months after his client’s original arrest and besides, there was no evidence he had, in fact, breached that condition.

The case will now continue on Monday when it is thought the judge will make a decision regarding extending or withdrawing Dotcom’s bail.

As also previously reported, Dotcom himself says that the US authorities have left him penniless because of the costs of fighting legal battles on various fronts, and prosecutors have deliberately chosen now – just as his core legal team in New Zealand stand down due to Dotcom’s depleted funds – to try and have his bail revoked.

Sigma sign publishing deal with BMG

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

Oh what, another BMG deal to report on? Couldn’t they just save them all up and give us a summary at the end of each month, or something? This one sees British drum n bass duo Sigma – aka Cameron Edwards and Joe Lenzie – doing a worldwide publishing deal with BMG Chrysalis UK and BMG’s joint venture in the US with Primary Wave Music.

BMG Chrysalis Senior A&R Steve Sasse said this: “We are looking forward to helping Cameron and Joe maintain their impressive chart run and to fully realise their songwriting potential. We are delighted to be working with them, Primary Wave, [management company] Insanity and [record label] 3 Beat”.

Sigma’s manager, Josh Brandon added: “[We] are hugely excited to be working with everyone at BMG, as well the team at Primary Wave. Both companies are achieving great things and it’s a pleasure to become part of the family”.

Currently working on their debut album, which is expected to be released next year, Sigma have already scored two number one hits in 2014 with ‘Nobody To Love’, a reworking of Kanye West’s ‘Bound 2’, and ‘Changing’, which features guest vocals from Paloma Faith. Look, here she is guest vocaling all over the video for the track:

Decca GM Rebecca Allen promoted to MD

Business News Industry People Labels & Publishers

Universal Music UK yesterday announced the promotion of Rebecca Allen to the role of Managing Director at its classical label Decca Records.

Allen was already General Manager of the division and her promotion comes as previous Decca overseer Dickon Stainer takes on the expanded role of CEO Of Global Classics for the major. Though he retains the title President of the Decca Records Group, and Allen will report into both him and Universal UK big cheese David Joseph.

Confirming all this, Stainer told reporters: “Becky is an exceptionally skilled and versatile executive. Her outstanding drive and personality have taken Decca into new areas of repertoire globally, and this well-deserved promotion heralds a new and ground-breaking era for the label”.

Universal’s production music unit launches BBC Orchestral Toolkit

Business News Labels & Publishers Media

BBC Production Music, which operates as an imprint of Universal Music Publishing’s production music division, has announced the launch of the ‘BBC Orchestral Toolkit’, which, and I quote, is “a revolutionary new concept offering media professionals the ability to easily re-create the legendary BBC custom music score sound from their own editing suites”. Because who wants to work with real life musicians anymore?

The various whizzbangs and widgets within the toolkit work on Mac and PC within editing software packages including Final Cut and Avid, and “gives editors the ability to build a dynamic score that follows pictures – either by restructuring existing musical passages, constructing new ones, or by creating a free-time orchestral sound collage”.

Here’s a quote from Gary Gross, Worldwide President of Universal’s production music business: “We are always looking for creative ways to help our clients make their jobs easier, without sacrificing quality, and with the BBC Orchestral Toolkit we really believe we’ve accomplished this again. While there is no substitute for a custom score in your production, the BBC Orchestral Toolkit comes as close as possible to having an orchestra at your fingertips”.

Meanwhile, giving the thumbs up from the BBC’s side, Dominic Walker, Director at BBC Radio & Music added: “The BBC Production Music label features prestigious orchestras, composers and soundtracks from programmes such as ‘Human Planet’, ‘Desperate Romantics’, ‘Rome’, ‘Living Planet’ and many others, allowing users to create productions with big and amazing filmic sound. We are really proud to launch the BBC Orchestral Toolkit and further enhance our service”.

ERA boss outlines case for Monday to be Global Release Day

Business News Industry People Retail

Entertainment Retailers Association boss Kim Bayley has written a blog post further detailing why the organisation and its counterparts Stateside are now pushing for Monday to be the Global Release Day, rather than Friday, as proposed by the major labels.

Currently new releases hit stores – physical and digital – on different days around the world. In the UK, of course, we take Monday. Meanwhile, the US goes for Tuesday and Australia Friday. Both retailers and labels are in agreement that all countries moving to one single release day is a good idea, but which day that should be has been debated since the move was proposed earlier this year.

As previously reported, earlier this week ERA and a number of US retail groups announced that they were now all in agreement that Monday was the day that would work best for everyone.

“Gut reaction and an unswerving conviction that you are right may be an admirable trait in an A&R man, but it fails to cut the mustard in the more pragmatic commercial business of music retailing”, wrote Bayley yesterday. “That’s the key to ERA’s objections to the major record company-sponsored plan to enforce a worldwide Friday release date from next summer. Our view is that the numbers simply don’t add up”.

Amongst the arguments she put forward are that, contrary to some claims, there would be considerable risks and costs involved in the UK and US moving from early-in-the-week release days to Friday. In part, this would be due to losing release-day sales boosts in an otherwise quiet part of the week, as well as the increased costs of having to have extra stock delivered at weekends.

“On costs, our research was clear”, she said. “Taking additional staff and delivery costs into account, a switch to Friday would need to generate a minimum of £8 million in additional retail sales a year just for retailers to break even, ie in a market which is clearly falling we would need an increase of £8 million just to stand still (and that’s without the additional costs to the record companies themselves which would inevitably be passed on to retail)”.

Questioning the IFPI’s predictions of the sales boost a Friday release day would deliver, Bayley notes that the label trade group itself concedes that 95% of the perceived benefits of a Friday release could also be achieved on a Monday.

And so, even if the ERA is not confident in the IFPI’s numbers in general, she concluded: “For us it’s a no brainer: if we can capture 95% of the benefit with none of the costs, why would anyone even consider a Friday? Adding risk and cost for a minimal benefit just doesn’t make sense”.

Read Bayley’s blog post in full here.

Ex Sankeys Brooklyn site to reOpen

Business News Retail

The former site of the short-lived Sankeys Brooklyn club venue – which, it was confirmed last week, was closed down after only a month in business – has been re-branded as a new ‘space’ named Open. And it will erm… ‘open’ this weekend, confirms the MD of its operator Ibiza United.

This follows Sankeys’ previously reported break-up with Ibiza United, which was originally working with the Manchester clubbing brand on the launch of a New York outpost. Last week Sankeys boss David Vincent, on confirming that Sankeys Brooklyn, like Sankeys Manhattan before it, was being shut down, pointed the finger at his US business partner for “failing to deliver on any of the agreed terms”, leaving him and his team “unsupported financially and operationally”.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ibiza United’s Managing Director Antonio Piacquadio didn’t take kindly to those accusations and says that, because of Vincent’s “false and misleading statements … Ibiza United has decided to sever its ties with the Sankeys organisation in the United States”. Which in itself disagrees with claims made by Vincent that it was Sankeys that “terminated [its] relationship with the franchisee”.

Piacquadio adds that the “unsuccessful launch of Sankeys Brooklyn [took place] without our operational or musical input”, which, again, goes against Vincent’s allegations that he and Team Sankeys “never had any control”.

So that’s a whole lot of wild contradictions, isn’t it? I don’t know, this is worse than the plot of a Michael Bay film. Anyway, to cut a long story short, Sankeys Brooklyn is shut, Open is open, various people ain’t happy.

Non-stop Christmas carols radio station launches

Business News Media

Following the news that veteran radio DJ Robin Banks is in conflict with his current employer, Jack FM in Reading, over his refusal to play any Christmas songs whatsoever on his breakfast show until at least 23 Dec (he could face disciplinary action apparently, though this “conflict” has the smell of publicity stunt about it), a former producer at Capital and Heart is launching a radio station that will only play festive music.

But don’t be expecting any Pogues or Slade or Jona Lewie on this new radio channel, because Christmas Carols Radio will be playing only proper Christmas carols. You know, songs with Jesus and kings and mangers and lots of “Hallelujahs”. 24 hours a day.

According to Radio Today, former Global Radio man Ben Vane, who is now training to become an Anglican vicar, says of his new radio venture: “We play nothing but Christmas carols – no novelty Christmas music, just choirs singing traditional carols. As far as we know we’re the only internet radio station in the world playing nothing but Christmas carols. And we’re proud of it!”

In amongst all the carols there will be some reflections on the Christmas story penned by Vane himself, possibly discussing how pretty much everything you think you know about the nativity isn’t actually mentioned in the bible.

But hey, stop your cynical meanderings there Mr Grinch, we’ll have no Robin Banks-esque Scrooginess here. Non-stop carols on the radio, what more could you want? 24 hours a day. Seven days a week. Erm, twelve months a year?!?!?!

Vane: “We know you’re most likely to listen in December, but we’ve decided to broadcast Christmas Carols Radio all year round to make sure we’re listed in the places you’ll be looking for us”. Hallelujah indeed.

Wonder if they’ll play anything from the Neighbours Christmas album circa 1989.

CMU’s One Liners: Ed Sheeran, MIDEM, Camp Bestival and really quite a lot more

Artist News Business News Education & Events Gigs & Festivals One Liners Releases

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• Martin Varsavsky, CEO of WiFi network Fon, is to give a ‘Living Room Of The 21st Century’-themed keynote speech at next year’s MIDEM convention, which takes place in Cannes on 5-8 Jun. Varsavsky says he aims to “outline how new devices like the Gramofon and Sonos will transform the music experience, making music social and enjoyed by all involved”. A likely story.

• Japan-based pop punks Scandal are to release a special edition of their sixth LP ‘Hello World’ on 19 Jan, featuring two extra tracks (on physical formats only). And NB: the band play London’s Islington Academy on 26 Apr. Tickets for that here, and check out the video for album opener ‘Image’ here.

• Approved pop soloist Laura Welsh has detailed a new single titled ‘Ghosts’ that she’ll release on 11 Jan, a week pre her first LP ‘Soft Control’. And what do you know, it’s produced by fancy hit producer Greg Kurstin. So don’t delay, stream ‘Ghosts’ today.

• Also approved Brighton beats-and-vocals pairing Anushka have shared a remix of ‘Kisses’, a track off their winning ‘Broken Circuit’ LP, featuring added verses by grime MC Trim. There’s really nothing in ‘Kisses’ (which is released as a single on 19 Jan) not to like, so play it here.

• Lars Von Trier’s fave approved dark disco act OOFJ have released a new video for their song ‘You’re Always Good’ and, boy, does it make my skin crawl. That is to say, it’s quite ‘atmospheric’, and things.

• The also also approved Alex G, who despite making slackerish pop is no slacker himself, has split off (from sessions for his newest LP ‘DSU’) a track that doesn’t feature on that record. Anyway its name is ‘Soaker’, and you can listen to it at this link.

• Hip-hop-leaning jazz pack BadBadNotGood have taken Future Islands’ big hit ‘Seasons (Waiting On You)’, and flipped it via a new remix. It’s slightly less unbearable than the original, so why not try it for size here.

• You know gnarly Brighton band Gnarwolves? Well, they’ve gone and fashioned an official clip for their track ‘Bottle To Bottle’. It’s part skate video, part diary of the band’s life and (mainly drunk) times over the past year. Watch now.

• That Ed Sheeran has confirmed ANOTHER show at London’s Wembley Stadium, and this one’s on 12 Jul 2015, which is a Sunday. The third show is Ed’s way of catering to a phenomenal thirst for tickets to his other two Wembley shows on 10 and 11 Jul, which only go on general release today. The end (I think).

• Woman’s Hour! No, not the BBC Radio 4 show, silly, the solemn-looking band from London! They’ve signed on to play a Best Fit Five Day Forecast show at London’s The Lexington on 16 Jan, this following the release of their first and only LP ‘Conversations’ earlier this year. Get tickets here.

• Finally, Rob Da Bank’s kid-friendly festival Camp Bestival has confirmed that its theme for 2015 will be… ‘Camp Bestival Goes Wild’. Which means visitors can anticipate a back-to-basics type feel, lots of families dressed like animals and games like mud-slinging and cannibalism. Okay, not cannibalism. Anyway tickets to next year’s event, which takes place in Dorset on 30 Jul-2 Aug, are available here. Click this link to listen to THE David Bellamy snuffling his way through an introductory trailer.

CMU Beef Of The Week #234: Liam Payne v Selfies

And Finally Artist News Beef Of The Week

“I haven’t been asked for an autograph since the invention of the iPhone with a front-facing camera”, wrote Taylor Swift in the Wall Street Journal earlier this year. “The only memento ‘kids these days’ want is a selfie”.

Sure, that’s a nice little soundbite, but what does that change actually look like in the real world? Well, it looks a bit like this:

You’ve probably seen that video of One Direction’s Liam Payne stuck in a ‘selfie line’ at this week’s ARIA Awards in Australia already. You’ve probably tweeted it seven times in the last two days. But if you didn’t just sit and let it play at least another ten times, I’m not sure we can be friends. It’s by far my favourite Vine since this one forced the phrase “on internet” into my vocabulary.

Look at Liam’s face. It’s almost eerie how the smile drops between each photo. If that was part of a movie about a popstar who falls out of love with fame, you’d tell people that the acting in it was too unsubtle to be believable.

Still, you do have to sympathise with him a bit. At least in the old autograph days, you could get by without having to smile. And if anyone asked why you looked so miserable, you could just say your hand was hurting from signing all these fucking autographs. True, you’d run the risk of the autograph hunter telling a few friends that you were a bit of a dick. Though if you faked a laugh in the right way, they’d probably just tell everyone about how you shared a bit of a joke together and what a nice bloke you were. Good times.

Now, if the conceit that you actually enjoy engaging with endless processions of fans slips even for a moment, it’s captured in a six second video and shared far and wide on internet. There’s no escape. And you can’t even say something like, “my face was hurting from pretending to smile 500 times”, because that would suggest to everyone smiling was a special effort, and therefore your life wasn’t a constant flow of utter joy.

So, when responding to the viral vid on Twitter yesterday, while Payne admitted that he was “a little tired” while stuck in that particular selfie line, he insisted that he “wasn’t faking it” when he smiled for the smartphone. Brushing it off, he added: “I usually find when you’re taking a photo you don’t smile until somebody’s about to take the photo. Sorry to disappoint but I don’t walk around [grinning] all day… that would hurt!”

Actually, now I think about it, that does kinda read like he’s saying smiling is an effort and that the life of a popstar isn’t endless pleasure. Sort of. Though when we do turn this whole episode into a movie, it’s going to be more like this. In fact, someone see if Nic Cage is free to play Liam now. Let’s get this thing moving.

In other One Direction news, this week they broke US chart history when they became the first group ever to have their first four albums all debut at number one in the Billboard 200 chart. Here’s a picture of them all celebrating after they were told the news.

Approved: Laura Moody

CMU Approved

Best known as one quarter of the Elysian Quartet, cellist Laura Moody released her debut solo album, ‘Acrobats’, earlier this month.

Her stated aim when first setting out on her own was to see how far she can stretch songs performed with only a cello and her voice. It’s an approach the extremes of which are perhaps best demonstrated with this now nearly four year old but still brilliant shed-based live performance of her song ‘Oh Mother’:

Of course, the trick with pushing boundaries is to know when not to, and so it’s a more restrained Moody we find on ‘Acrobats’. Not that she doesn’t push herself and the listener, but the album’s opening track, ‘We Are Waiting’ (seen performed at London’s Wilton’s Music Hall here), is a beautifully stripped back, folk song. This sets the mood for the following songs, which slowly slip more of the quirks of her performance in around you. The result is an album that’s both welcoming and challenging.

Check out the video for album track ‘Call Time On This Love’ here:

“Broke” Kim Dotcom to find out about bail status tomorrow

Business News Digital Legal MegaUpload Timeline Top Stories

MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom should find out tomorrow whether he is heading back to prison after a long hearing earlier today on allegations that the often controversial digital entrepreneur broke bail conditions.

As much previously reported, Dotcom is accused by the US government of money laundering and copyright crimes in relation to his time running his file-transfer company, and the States have been trying for three years now to get him extradited to America to face the charges against him. Hollywood and the major labels, meanwhile, have launched civil copyright infringement proceedings.

When the US authorities swooped in January 2012, shutting down MegaUpload and seizing its assets, they also had the New Zealand police arrest Dotcom and some of his also NZ-based colleagues, though all the men were subsequently released on bail. But earlier this month it emerged that Dotcom was accused of breaching the conditions of his bail, resulting in new restrictions being put into place.

And earlier today, according to Torrentfreak, a slightly delayed hearing took place to consider in more detail the bail break accusations that have been made by the New Zealand authorities – some of which seemingly date back to 2012 – amidst reports prosecutors have requested Dotcom be put back behind bars. Reporting of the hearing has been restricted so the specifics of the discussions are not known, though no decision was made regarding Dotcom’s bail moving forward and all parties are now due to regroup tomorrow.

Earlier this week, at the unBound Digital conference in London, Dotcom, speaking via video link, revealed that the reason he recently lost his legal reps in New Zealand was because of his finances, he simply can’t afford to pay his attorneys’ legal fees anymore having, he said, run up legal costs of $10 million already.

“I’m officially broke right now”, Dotcom said, a message perhaps partly aimed at the movie studios and record companies who have questioned the sources of the Mega founder’s perceived wealth, given all his MegaUpload assets were meant to have been frozen in 2012. Dotcom also claimed that it’s no coincidence that the bail break claims were being made by prosecutors now that he was without legal representation in New Zealand, even though some of the allegations date back over two years.

Said Dotcom, according to The Register, “My legal team has recently resigned because I ran out of money after spending $10 million to try and defend myself. [The US government] have certainly managed to drain my resources… and without lawyers I’m defenceless so they use that opportunity to try to get my bail revoked”.

PRS “strongly denies” Power’s comments on Hop Farm licence dispute

Business News Labels & Publishers Legal Live Business

The music publishing sector’s collecting society PRS says it “strongly denies” some of the allegations made by Vince Power this week in relation to their ongoing legal dispute over the alleged lack of song licensing at the Hop Farm Festival in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

As previously reported, PRS alleges that the then Power-led event operated without a licence from the collecting society, meaning it failed to pay royalties for the songs performed controlled by publishers and songwriters allied with the organisation. When Power failed to respond to PRS’s lawsuit the courts found against him by default, issuing an injunction ordering the veteran promoter to pay the rights body’s legal fees and to settle the claim against him before staging any more music events.

But Power said that he had never been made aware of PRS’s legal claim which was why he failed to respond to the court action. Then earlier this week he issued a statement saying that the injunction had now been set aside, on the grounds he’d not been alerted to the legal action in the first place. He also claimed that PRS’s original description of the injunction, specifically that he was banned from staging any future festivals in the UK until the dispute was resolved, was misleading.

PRS, however, has hit back itself, confirming that their legal action against Power is ongoing, and disputing some of the things the promoter said this week (though without going into specifics regarding what). A spokesperson for the society told CMU: “While the legal action continues, we are unable to comment in detail however we strongly deny the allegations made recently by Vince Power relating to the High Court action against him in respect of Hop Farm Festival in 2009, 2010 and 2011”.

As previously noted, if the case got properly to court with both sides represented, it could test the PRS’s argument that Power should be held personally liable for the Hop Farm event’s failure to secure a song rights licence even though the corporate entity that operated the festival at that time no longer exists.

AC/DC’s Phil Rudd makes hectic court appearance

Artist News Legal

AC/DC’s some-time (or as the case may be, one-time) drummer Phil Rudd has appeared in court on charges of threatening to kill and possession of drugs.

The ‘rocker’ didn’t exactly maintain a low profile at yesterday’s hearing at the High Court in Tauranga, New Zealand, arriving so late that a warrant with a half-hour time limit was issued for his arrest, though this was quickly withdrawn when Rudd showed up minutes later.

With the hearing underway, the presiding judge informed him that his case was being transferred back to the District Court, a more serious charge against Rudd of attempting to hire a ‘hitman’ having been dropped shortly after it was brought against him earlier this month. Rudd, who is still to enter a plea, was bailed until 2 Dec.

On leaving the court, the musician was pictured giving the middle finger to photographers, and also jumping on his security guard’s back. He is also said to have backed his Porsche into the path of an oncoming lorry, which was forced to brake so as not to collide with Rudd’s car.

Liam Gallagher spotted in London pub, after claiming to be too ill to give child support deposition in New York

Artist News Legal

The child support dispute between Liam Gallagher and Liza Ghorbani continues, with both sides attempting to reach a settlement. Or at least they will be when Gallagher is well enough to travel to New York to give a deposition.

As previously reported, Ghorbani sued Gallagher for $3 million last year. The pair met after Ghorbani interviewed the singer for The New York Times in 2012, beginning an affair which resulted in the birth of the child and, more recently, Gallagher’s divorce from Nicole Appleton. Court proceedings were then adjourned in May this year to allow for settlement negotiations to continue.

Gallagher was due to appear in New York to give a deposition to Ghorbani’s lawyer Ira Garr last week, but called off the visit claiming that he was too ill to fly. Though the New York Post has since pulled a photograph off Facebook seemingly showing the former Oasis frontman sitting in a pub “watching what appeared to be a football match” on Saturday. “The following day he was seen scowling under a hat as he went to pick up groceries”, the paper notes.

Whether or not this proves that Gallagher was, in fact, well enough to fly to New York is debatable, not least because we don’t know when he was meant to be flying (it could have been earlier in the week when he may well have been under the weather). Either way, the singer’s lawyer has confirmed that the deposition will now take place on Monday. Though regardless, it’s a PR win for Ghorbani.

Garr told the New York Post: “Gallagher was supposed to be deposed last Friday, but his attorney filed an emergency application to the court because he was too ill to travel. It appears he has no great desire to be deposed”.

Further putting the boot in, he added: “The fact that he hasn’t even seen the child is a great source of disappointment to the mother”.

Gallagher’s lawyer Raoul Felder said that despite the delay, all was moving ahead in the proper manner, saying: “We have exchanged financial information with Liza’s attorneys. It was vetted by accountants and was perfectly appropriate”.

Last month Gallagher announced that his post-Oasis band Beady Eye is “no more”, making way for him to focus on this case, and for guitarist Andy Bell to reform Ride.

Cooking Vinyl Group launches new royalty management business

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

The Cooking Vinyl Group is backing a new music royalties company called, well, the Music Royalty Co. So that’s nice and simple. Which music royalties rarely are, something the company aims to help with.

A joint venture with Ray Bush, who has been Head Of Finance for the CV Group’s Essential Music & Marketing business for the last four years, the new company says it will help “labels and publishers cope with the exponential growth in data associated with music streaming” adding that its team’s “accountancy nous enables MRC to look beyond just auditing to understand whether the data received in the first place is correct – a valuable insight given the number of accounting errors originating earlier in the supply chain.

Run by Bush with a team including former CVers Tegan Sims and Sam Difford, plus Gerri Geraghty, Cooking Vinyl MD Martin Goldschmidt and Essential MD Mike Chadwick will also serve as directors of the new firm. The company will provide royalty and related services to the various businesses in the CV Group, and to third parties including R&S Records at launch.

Confirming all this, Bush told reporters: “The explosion in data analysis caused by streaming means there’s never been a more important time for companies to get their royalty processes straight. We believe that there’s a real gap in the market for a company like MRC, which truly understands how those work, and we’re excited to show people what we can do”.

UK vinyl sales top a million this year

Business News Retail

You know how back in October everyone was predicting that vinyl sales this year would top a million? Well, the big news today is that vinyl sales this year have topped a million. The record industry should learn from the politicians, make a pessimistic prediction one month so the good news sounds even better the next.

So yes, over a million vinyl records have been sold in the UK this year, with the format’s sales figures now up at 1996 levels. And with Oasis, David Bowie (pictured), Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin amongst the best selling vinyl releases, I think people are buying pretty much the same records now as they did back then too. Though Royal Blood have been shifting some proper records as well. Good old Royal Blood.

And now a quote from Official Charts boss Martin Talbot: “In scoring the biggest opening week for a vinyl album this millennium, Pink Floyd’s ‘The Endless River’ illustrates the British public’s renewed love for this format, which is on course to become a £20 million business this year – an incredible turnaround from barely £3 million just five years ago. This resurgence also underlines music fans’ continuing fascination with the album”.

Of course overall the format accounts for about 2% of the recorded music market, so don’t be thinking everyone’s now a vinyl junkie. But still, it’s nice the product is still experiencing growth, and the fact vinyl records are now seen as a premium product means that, with the right fanbase, artists can generate some nice extra revenue this way.

Take That partner with Google for month long streaming exclusive on new album

Business News Digital

Take That’s first album as a trio, ‘III’, will be available for streaming (as opposed to downloading) exclusively on Google Play Music (and therefore also to those experimenting with the YouTube Music Key beta) for the first month after its release on 1 Dec, it has been announced. The Google version of the album that streams will also feature three bonus tracks unavailable elsewhere, and will also be sold through the Google Play download store.

Google Play Music will also host a launch party for the album in London on 1 Dec, where fans who win a place at the event will be able to listen to the new record along with the remaining members of Take That. Which I imagine will be an awkward experience for all involved.

Take That said of their partnership with Google: “We would like to thank Google Play for coming up with such a great, creative campaign around the release of an album we’re extremely proud of. We also wanted to do something different for this release and are looking forward to seeing it come to life, kicking off with a very special album launch party on Monday for a small number of some of our biggest supporters”.

VP of Google Play Music Zahavah Levine added: “We’re thrilled to partner with Take That, and to offer Google Play Music fans an exclusive opportunity to stream this incredible album. Both download sales and streaming are growing on our service, so we’re delighted to see Gary, Mark and Howard embracing Play Music to bring their fans a unique experience”.

Promotion for ‘III’ under the partnership will also extend to a Google Play Music TV ad, so that’s something for us all to look forward to.

‘Official’ Kurt Cobain doc Montage Of Heck to air on HBO

Artist News

The previously reported Brett Morgen-directed documentary on Kurt Cobain is to be aired on US TV next year, it has been announced. And although, Courtney Love declared herself ‘out’ of the project two years ago, it has emerged that the late Nirvana frontman’s daughter, visual artist Frances Bean Cobain, is acting as executive producer on the project, gaining it ‘authorised’ status.

The film, which shares its title with the ‘Montage Of Heck’ mixtape Cobain made back in 1988, will air first on HBO on a TBA date next year. It will feature, says its press release, “dozens of Nirvana songs and performances as well as previously unheard Cobain originals”, and will give “no-holds-barred access to Kurt Cobain’s archives, home to his never-before-seen home movies, recordings, artwork, photography, journals, demos, personal archives, family archives and songbooks”.

Morgen says of the project: “I started work on this project eight years ago. Like most people, when I started, I figured there would be limited amounts of fresh material to unearth. However, once I stepped into Kurt’s archive, I discovered over 200 hours of unreleased music and audio, a vast array of art projects (oil paintings, sculptures), countless hours of never-before-seen home movies, and over 4000 pages of writings that together help paint an intimate portrait of an artist who rarely revealed himself to the media”.

Frances Bean, meanwhile, tweeted earlier this week that she is “really excited for you guys to see ‘Montage Of Heck'”, adding: “Brett Morgen created an intense yet wonderful examination of Kurt’s life and art”.

The Vamps capitalise on Christmas with festive LP re-release

Artist News Releases

Australian pop-rock boyband The Vamps (not to be confused with Vamps) have gift-wrapped a ‘Christmas edition’ of their ‘Meet The Vamps’ LP, because apparently that’s a thing that goes on nowadays.

The special edition is a bit like a Christmas tree in form, in that the album’s original tracklisting is the tree bit, and then a set of eight ‘festive’ extra tracks are the tacky baubles and tinsel plonked on top. Plonk.

Of those eight tracks, six are covers and two are the band’s own original work – ‘Sleighing In The Snow’ and ‘Hoping For Snow’ – the latter of which the band might be doing for a while this Christmas, since they live in Australia and all. Hahahaha ahaha haha ha. Ha.

‘Meet The Vamps: Christmas Edition’ will be revealed (and released), like an advent calendar treat, on 1 Dec. This is a big fat shiny index of all the tracks on it:

Jingle Bell Rock
Sleighing In The Snow
Hoping For Snow
We Wish You A Merry Christmas
Well I Wish It Could Be Christmas
Hallelujah
Jingle Bells
Silent Night
Wild Heart
Last Night
Somebody To You (feat Demi Lovato)
Can We Dance
Girls On TV
Risk It All
Oh Cecilia (Breaking My Heart)
Another World
Move My Way
Shout About It
High Hopes
She Was The One
Dangerous
Lovestruck
Smile
Somebody To You

Elton John announces UK stadium tour

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Elton John has announced a tour of some of the UK’s stadiums next year, which will see him take in the sights of Gloucester, Walsall, Glasgow and Aberdeen. All the cities you’d first think of when stadiums are mentioned, basically.

I am contractually obliged to point out that the final date on the tour takes place a few days before Glastonbury weekend.

For stat fans, the EJ website notes: “These will be Elton’s first concerts in Gloucester and Walsall. His show in Glasgow will be his 25th concert there, and he returns to Aberdeen for the first time since 2004”.

Exciting stuff. Tickets went on sale this morning, and the dates are here:

7 Jun: Gloucester, Kingsholm Stadium
13 Jun: Walsall, Banks Stadium
19 Jun: Glasgow, SEE Hydro
20 Jun: Aberdeen, AECC

BRITs Critics’ Choice shortlist announced

Artist News Awards

Music critics hey, what are we to do with them all? Wildly choosing things as they do. Like which buzzy new artists are sufficiently buzzy and new and artist-like to justify being given a BRIT Award before they’ve even departed Buzzville.

Those crazy critics. They should get themselves proper jobs. And quickly. Every magazine and newspaper in the world is due to crash into oblivion next March. Apart from Vice. They’ve got all that venture capital money. They’ll be haemorrhaging their way through that mountain of cash for a good while yet.

Anyway, the music critics of Britain have rallied together in a Band Aid style fashion, though without any bid to save the world (or rile their colleagues on the op-ed pages), and have selected the three buzzy new artists that deserve the Brits Critics’ Choice Award 2015.

Though only one of the three can actually have the big prize. I’m not sure how they pick the final winner. Though it possibly involves a fist fight between the nominees in a basement car park. Refereed by Mike Williams and John Doran. With Alexis Petridis doing refreshments and Simon Price looking out for the cops.

But until the Mastercard Fist Fight decides the winner, all three nominees can enjoy the warm glow of being ‘chosen’ by the critics. Imagine the honour. Second guess the privilege. Would you ever believe it? Here are some quotes from the shortlisted artists…

James Bay: “I still can’t believe it. As much as I hoped, being nominated for the BRITs Critics’ Choice Award is not something I ever imagined would actually happen. What a huge honour”.

George The Poet: “I feel privileged to have been shortlisted for the BRITs Critics’ Choice Award. I always dreamed of reaching people and this nomination shows me that I’m on track”.

Years & Years: “Having grown up watching the BRITs we’re unbelievably honoured and to be honest quite overwhelmed to be included in the Critics’ Choice Award. We’re so grateful to be making music and having this sort of recognition is crazy and ridiculous and nuts in a really good way. Thanks BRITs!”

MTV reveals Brand New 2015 nominations

Artist News Awards

More hotly tipped new artists you say? Well, do you know what? MTV has only gone and released the shortlist of ten acts vying to win its BBC Sound Of/BRITs Critics Choice-style Brand New poll in 2015.

Singer Becky Hill off of ‘The Voice’ is on it, as are hip hop wordsmith George The Poet, alt-pop band Years & Years, rap pairing Krept & Konan, and six others. This is a photo of all the artists posing casually, some on chairs covered in sacks, in some kind of crumbling old basement. Voting starts on 1 Dec via mtv.co.uk/brandnew, and the name of victor will be revealed on 30 Jan.

Taking time to consider the significance of the poll, MTV Brand New 2014 winners The Vamps say: “This year has been crazy – we have had the chance to travel to so many places and play to the best fans in the world. Releasing our album was something that we never thought we’d be able to do, and, as songwriters, it was a big moment for us. We hope this year has helped us pave a way into having an even better 2015. We would like to thank MTV for all their support and the love they have shown us!”

Okay, so that mostly wasn’t about the poll at all, my bad. Anyway here’s the list of the ten Vamps-in-waiting:

Becky Hill
George The Poet
James Bay
Krept & Konan
Melissa Steel
Nothing But Thieves
Saint Raymond
Sinead Harnett
Sunset Sons
Years & Years

Hey, so three of those also feature on the BRITs Critics Choice shortlist. Exciting times.

Oh, and one other thing. Having confirmed earlier this year that, for the first time in all of time, Brand New were also accepting entries from acts sans record deals, via Instagram, the winner of 2015’s MTV Brand New Unsigned has been chosen already, and it is/they are…. Of Empires!

“The four-piece rock n roll band evoke vintage tones and attitudes of the late 1960s but with their own modern twist”, state the folks from MTV, and I believe them.

CMU’s One Liners: Essential, PPL, Rihanna, Coldplay and some other shizzle

Artist News Awards Gigs & Festivals Marketing & PR One Liners Releases

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• Essential Music & Marketing has signed up some new clients, Full Time Hobby, Peacefrog and that there Paul Hartnoll, the latter of which will work with the company on his new ‘8:58’ project.

• Double bass player Gerald Newson, best known for his time performing with the London Symphony Orchestra, was re-elected to the performer and main boards of record industry collecting society PPL yesterday at the organisation’s Annual Performer Meeting. The longest serving elected performer director must stand down at each APM, though is eligible to stand for re-election, which Newson did.

• Rihanna aka @badgalriri has applied her irritating ‘ph instead of f’ thing (why not go ahead and say fuck already?) to the caption of a clip of an unidentified new track, likely off her TBC eighth (EIGHTH.) solo LP. It sounds like a Drake cast-off.

• Coldplay have released an interactive new video for their new single ‘Ink’. The animated clip has myriad potential storylines – over 300 in fact – that viewers can switch between by making ‘real-time choices’ as they watch. Have a go now via www.coldplay.com/ink

• Tres bon French DJ Etienne De Crécy has detailed a new ten track LP, the third in his ‘Super Discount’ series, that he’ll release on 19 Jan. It features vocalists Madeline Follin, Kilo Kish, Baxter Dury, Alex Gopher and De La Soul’s Pos & Dave, and a track titled ‘Hashtag My Ass’. Hear Cults lady Follin singing on top single ‘You’ via this link.

• James Blake-oid is to release a new EP-type thing via his label, 1-800-Dinosaur, at some point. “Made using synthesisers and a computer”, it will carry three tracks and one poem, all written by Blake. Hear a short edit of one track, ‘200 Press’, here.

• Conceptual pop artist EMA has released a video to virtual reality-inspired track ‘3Jane’, which she deems the ‘lyrical centrepiece’ to her latest LP ‘The Future’s Void’. EMA and director Y2K describe the clip as a “dream-like narrative scenario that touches on the inevitable union of humanity and technology”. And here it is.

• US girl group Fifth Harmony have unveiled the video for the debut UK single, ‘Sledgehammer’, which is due out on 7 Dec. No, it’s not a Peter Gabriel cover, the song is actually written by Meghan Trainor, of being-all-about-that-bass fame. Further to their British chart domination plans, the group will perform the song on the semi final of ‘X-Factor’. Anyway, here’s that video.

• Rick Ross has gifted to the world the video for ‘If They Knew’, a track from his newly released album, ‘Hood Billionaire’. It features the vocal talents of singer K Michelle. You can hear and see the both of them in the video here.

• Kiesza, whose debut album is out on 1 Dec, will be touring the UK next March. You might like to click here and make a note of the dates. I wouldn’t bother though. Unless you enjoy hearing her songs, which I still find it hard to believe anybody does.

• Gorgon City are going to be playing their songs up and down the UK in February. Tickets will be available. Dates are here. Oh, and here’s the video for their new single, ‘Go All Night’, which features Jennifer Hudson and is out on 14 Dec.

• Wolf Alice will be on tour in March and April next year – dates which may or may not coincide with the release of their still being recorded debut album. The shows will include one at the Shepherds Bush Empire. So there. Tickets on sale this Friday, here.

• The judging panel for this year’s GIT Award – aka the annual search for Liverpool’s best act – has been announced. Amongst the sixteen-strong team are reps from 4AD, Bella Union, Heavenly Recordings, UK Music, Clash Magazine and Xfm. See the full list here.

McFly and Busted release ‘Air Guitar’ separately

And Finally Artist News

So wait, McFly and Busted have only gone and put out separate versions of ‘Air Guitar’, the all new single from that ultimate supergroup (for McFly and Busted fans) McBusted. Surely the holy union of pop rock isn’t over already?

No, of course not. It’s one of those gimmicks that are so popular with the kids these days. Including the 27 year old kids who are into McBusted. And who probably have £2.97 to spare downloading all three versions of the track. Good times.

Though if McBusted do burn out at some point during their sixteen date arena trek next year, don’t worry, I’m already working on getting together the next supergroup sensation – Alt Union J. See you all soon for the future good times.

Approved: Man Without Country

CMU Approved

As the ice cold shards of synthesiser at start of new Man Without Country track ‘Laws Of Motion’ preface an electro feast of moody cold wave and euphoric Italo-disco, you could be mistaken for assuming this is the latest, inevitably remarkable, Scandinavian synth-pop group.

But you’d be wrong. Perhaps the incredible confidence and anthemic stadium rock ambitions were a clue, but Man Without Country are actually from Cardiff (and joined, on this track, by White Sea, aka American singer Morgan Kibby).

This monumentally huge song sounds, variously, like The Knife on ecstasy, Hurts on downers, ‘Disco’-era Pet Shop Boys or even the best song Trevor Horn never produced for Dollar. It also perfects that unlikely hybrid between synth-pop and shoegaze that the likes of Maps and M83 have explored to some success.

At five minutes long it couldn’t be more epic if it tried, but there’s no empty bluster here and, in fact, ‘Laws Of Motion’ is imbued with a tender intimacy at its (aching) heart. The lead single from the duo’s forthcoming second album ‘Maximum Entropy’ (released on 19 Jan 2015 on Lost Balloon), you can listen to ‘Laws Of Motion’ here.

Industry seeks judicial review on private copy right

Business News Legal Top Stories

As expected, the UK music industry is set to fight the private copy exemption added to British copyright law earlier this year through the courts.

As much previously reported, a number of new exemptions were added to the UK copyright system earlier this year stemming from the 2011 Hargreaves Review. This means there are now more scenarios where people can make use of copyright material without the express permission of (and therefore without paying) the copyright owner.

This included the introduction of the so called private copy right. Previously anyone ripping tracks from CD to their PC and moving said ripped tracks onto their portable device of choice was, technically, liable for copyright infringement, even though the ripped tracks were for their personal use, and even though no rights owner would ever sue them. This put the UK out of kilter with the rest of Europe, where private copying is allowed.

Nobody in the music industry particularly opposes the private copy right, but in the rest of Europe a levy is charged – traditionally on blank cassettes and CDs, more recently on MP3 players and such like – which is paid back to the music community as compensation for the private copy right. But the UK private copy exemption has no such accompanying levy.

The music industry has opposed private copying without compensation from the outset, but failed to alter the new copyright exemption at the parliamentary stage. Mike Weatherley MP, usually a supporter of the music business in parliament, argued at The Great Escape earlier this year that the UK private copy exemption is much narrower than in most other European countries, so he didn’t believe the levy was necessary.

But the music rights community does not concur, and cross-industry trade body UK Music, working with the Musicians’ Union and British Academy Of Songwriters, Composers And Authors, is now launching a final bid to have the exemption amended by taking the new law to judicial review, at which judges will be asked to send the measures back to parliament on the basis they contravene European law.

In a statement this morning, the three trade groups said: “The MU, BASCA and UK Music welcome the purpose of the new measures, namely to enable consumers to make a copy of their legally acquired music. However, this is a bad piece of legislation as it incorrectly implements the law by failing to include fair compensation for musicians, composers and rightsholders”.

“The private copying exception will damage the musician and composer community. It contravenes Article 5 (2) (b) of the [European] Copyright Directive which includes a requirement that where a member state provides for such a copyright exception – as the UK now has – it must also provide fair compensation for rights holders”.

“It is the compensatory element of a private copying exception that lies at the heart of EU law and underpins common respect for the songwriters, composers and musicians whose work is copied. The decision of the UK government not to provide fair compensation to songwriters, composers and musicians is in stark contrast to the vast majority of countries in Europe who have introduced private copying exceptions. The absence of a compensatory mechanism has led to the judicial review being applied for”.

It is worth noting that the private copy levy has been somewhat controversial elsewhere in Europe since most people started copying songs to hard disks rather than cassettes or CDs. Because the question is, what do you apply the levy to as blank cassettes and CDRs, and standalone MP3 players for that matter, become a thing of the past?

Plenty of consumers oppose levies being added to PCs and smartphones on the basis they never personally transfer music to those devices. Or, if they do, the music they transfer originates with iTunes, the licence for which allows copies to be made onto multiple devices without relying on the private copy exemption. And, of course, as streaming rather than downloading becomes more mainstream, the concept of the private copy becomes redundant.

Which means that even if the music community secures a private copy levy through the courts, the kickback will be modest and short-term. But by fighting for the levy – even if the fight is led by artist and songwriter groups rather than the big bad labels and publishers – the music community risks, once again, being portrayed as the money-grabbing bad guys.

Not least because the vast majority of people gladly ripped every CD they bought without realising it was, technically, against the law. Therefore they will view the levy – however modest and hidden – as a new fee from the copyright owners to do what they have always done, rather than compensation for a new right they have been kindly gifted.

So, while there is seemingly a case under European law for the levy, the merits of chasing it are highly debatable. The easiest way to enforce copyright is to convince the majority that it’s worth voluntarily respecting. Being seen to screw ever more money out of consumers (which is how the tech lobby will spin this) damages the credibility of copyright and therefore makes it harder to enforce. Copyright at large, therefore, is damaged for relatively modest return.

But hey, I’ve been saying this ever since the private copy right without levy was first proposed in the 2006 Gowers Review and no one ever listens. So I’ll shut up and give the levy chasers their customary moment of quotage glory…

BASCA CEO Vick Bain: “We have sought judicial review because of the way the government made its decision not to protect the UK’s creative industries – in stark contrast to other countries that have introduced copyright exceptions. We fully support the right of the consumer to copy legally bought music for their own personal and private use, but there must be fair compensation for the creators of the music”.

UK Music CEO Jo Dipple: “Licensing is the business model for the UK music industry’s success in the digital age. However, where the right to licence is removed rights holders should be compensated. Copyright enables people to earn a living out of their creativity and sustains jobs. The government has made a serious error with regards to private copying. The legislative framework must guarantee musicians and composers are fairly compensated”.

MU General Secretary John Smith: “It is right that musicians should adapt to changing times – and they have. Most musicians now accept that their income will increasingly be made up of micro payments from collective licensing agreements and royalties from PPL or PRS. In order to survive on these multiple smaller amounts, however, performers need to be getting the money that they are owed from every possible revenue stream. Private copying should be one of these streams, as it is in most of Europe. The government has not adequately justified why they are bringing forward an exception without compensation. We believe there is strong evidence to suggest musicians will suffer harm under the proposal. This is why we are seeking a judicial review of their decision”.

Vince Power says PRS injunction against him set aside

Business News Industry People Legal Live Business

Vince Power has said that the injunction issued against him as a result of legal action by the music publishing sector’s collecting society PRS has been set aside in court.

As previously reported, PRS claims that Power’s Hop Farm festival operated without a licence from the society between 2009 and 2012, meaning that public performance royalties weren’t paid on songs performed at the event that are owned by songwriters and publishers allied with the rights organisation.

The company that actually operated the Hop Farm event during that time, Music Festivals plc, no longer exists, having gone under in 2012. But PRS argued that Power should be held personally liable for the unpaid royalties as the person in control of the company at the time.

It was an interesting argument to put to the court, but it wasn’t tested because Power didn’t respond to PRS’s lawsuit. The courts, therefore, ruled against the veteran promoter by default, ordering him to pay the society’s legal costs and to settle the case against him. The court order also seemed to ban Power from promoting music events in the UK until the matter was resolved.

But Power immediately hit back once the court order had been issued, arguing that he had not been aware of the PRS’s litigation against him, and had never been formally served papers. It is seemingly on those grounds that the promoter sought to have the injunction set aside and, according to Power’s spokesperson, that was achieved last week.

Said spokesperson told reporters: “Vince complained to PRS that its lawyers had made no proper attempt to serve him and required the injunction and the order for costs to be set aside. The order was made in his absence because he knew nothing about the hearing. PRS agreed to have the injunction and costs award set aside by High Court order”.

The spokesperson also accused PRS of issuing misleading statements back in August about the nature of the injunction against Power, saying: “When PRS broke the news [it] also wrongly claimed that it had obtained an injunction banning Vince from staging musical events. It had not – the order simply required him to pay licence fees in order to stage events and that is the law anyway”.

We assume PRS could now re-file its original lawsuit anew, because it seems that last week’s court decision only dealt with the society’s failure to alert Power to the case against him, rather than any of the rights group’s actual arguments as to whether the Hop Farm festival went ahead without a public performance licence, and if so whether Power could be help personally liable for that. But PRS is yet to respond to Power’s statement.

Friday 28 November 2014, 17:09 | 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 November 2014.

READ MORE ABOUT: Adrian Knight | Alex Calder | Dempagumi.inc | Efterklang | Fake Laugh | FaltyDL | Laura Moody | LoneLady | Loyle Carner | Man Without Country | Nils Bech | Nite Fields | OOFJ | Oscar | Panes | Shamir | White Sea

Friday 28 November 2014, 11:24 | By Paul Vig

READ MORE ABOUT: Movember

Friday 28 November 2014, 11:23 | By Chris Cooke

Good news for fans of the line “Sorry, the web page you have requested is not available, we received an order from the Courts requiring us to prevent access to this site” (you’ve all got that on a t-shirt, right?).

READ MORE ABOUT: British Phonographic Industry (BPI) | Music Publishers Association (MPA)

Friday 28 November 2014, 11:22 | By Chris Cooke

Kim Dotcom is a flight risk according to prosecutors in New Zealand, who today continued in their bid to have the often controversial founder of defunct file-transfer business MegaUpload put back behind bars.

READ MORE ABOUT: Kim Dotcom | MegaUpload

Friday 28 November 2014, 11:21 | By Andy Malt

READ MORE ABOUT: BMG | Sigma

Friday 28 November 2014, 11:20 | By Chris Cooke

Universal Music UK yesterday announced the promotion of Rebecca Allen to the role of Managing Director at its classical label Decca Records.

READ MORE ABOUT: Decca | Rebecca Allen

Friday 28 November 2014, 11:19 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: BBC | BBC Orchestral Toolkit | BBC Production Music

Friday 28 November 2014, 11:18 | By Andy Malt

Entertainment Retailers Association boss Kim Bayley has written a blog post further detailing why the organisation and its counterparts Stateside are now pushing for Monday to be the Global Release Day, rather than Friday, as proposed by the major labels.

READ MORE ABOUT: Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) | Kim Bayley

Friday 28 November 2014, 11:17 | By Aly Barchi

The former site of the short-lived Sankeys Brooklyn club venue – which, it was confirmed last week, was closed down after only a month in business – has been re-branded as a new ‘space’ named Open. And it will erm… ‘open’ this weekend, confirms the MD of its operator Ibiza United.

READ MORE ABOUT: Ibiza United | Open | Sankeys

Friday 28 November 2014, 11:16 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Christmas Carols Radio | Jack FM | Robin Banks

Friday 28 November 2014, 11:15 | By Aly Barchi

Other notable announcements and developments today…

READ MORE ABOUT: Alex G | Anushka | BadBadNotGood | Camp Bestival | Ed Sheeran | Future Islands | Gnarwolves | Laura Welsh | Martin Varsavsky | MIDEM | OOFJ | Scandal | Woman's Hour

Friday 28 November 2014, 11:14 | By Andy Malt

“I haven’t been asked for an autograph since the invention of the iPhone with a front-facing camera”, wrote Taylor Swift in the Wall Street Journal earlier this year. “The only memento ‘kids these days’ want is a selfie”.

READ MORE ABOUT: Liam Payne | One Direction

Thursday 27 November 2014, 11:36 | By Andy Malt

Best known as one quarter of the Elysian Quartet, cellist Laura Moody released her debut solo album, ‘Acrobats’, earlier this month.

READ MORE ABOUT: Laura Moody

Thursday 27 November 2014, 11:35 | By Chris Cooke

MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom should find out tomorrow whether he is heading back to prison after a long hearing earlier today on allegations that the often controversial digital entrepreneur broke bail conditions.

READ MORE ABOUT: Kim Dotcom | MegaUpload

Thursday 27 November 2014, 11:34 | By Chris Cooke

The music publishing sector’s collecting society PRS says it “strongly denies” some of the allegations made by Vince Power this week in relation to their ongoing legal dispute over the alleged lack of song licensing at the Hop Farm Festival in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

READ MORE ABOUT: Hop Farm Music Festival | PRS For Music | Vince Power

Thursday 27 November 2014, 11:33 | By Aly Barchi

AC/DC’s some-time (or as the case may be, one-time) drummer Phil Rudd has appeared in court on charges of threatening to kill and possession of drugs.

READ MORE ABOUT: AC/DC | Phil Rudd

Thursday 27 November 2014, 11:32 | By Andy Malt

The child support dispute between Liam Gallagher and Liza Ghorbani continues, with both sides attempting to reach a settlement. Or at least they will be when Gallagher is well enough to travel to New York to give a deposition.

READ MORE ABOUT: Liam Gallagher | Liza Ghorbani

Thursday 27 November 2014, 11:31 | By Chris Cooke

The Cooking Vinyl Group is backing a new music royalties company called, well, the Music Royalty Co. So that’s nice and simple. Which music royalties rarely are, something the company aims to help with.

READ MORE ABOUT: Cooking Vinyl | Music Royalty Co | Ray Bush

Thursday 27 November 2014, 11:30 | By Chris Cooke

READ MORE ABOUT: Martin Talbot | Official Charts Company

Thursday 27 November 2014, 11:29 | By Andy Malt

READ MORE ABOUT: Google | Google Play Music | Take That

Thursday 27 November 2014, 11:28 | By Aly Barchi

READ MORE ABOUT: Brett Morgen | Frances Bean Cobain | Kurt Cobain

Thursday 27 November 2014, 11:27 | By Aly Barchi

Australian pop-rock boyband The Vamps (not to be confused with Vamps) have gift-wrapped a ‘Christmas edition’ of their ‘Meet The Vamps’ LP, because apparently that’s a thing that goes on nowadays.

READ MORE ABOUT: The Vamps

Thursday 27 November 2014, 11:26 | By Andy Malt

Elton John has announced a tour of some of the UK’s stadiums next year, which will see him take in the sights of Gloucester, Walsall, Glasgow and Aberdeen. All the cities you’d first think of when stadiums are mentioned, basically.

READ MORE ABOUT: Elton John

Thursday 27 November 2014, 11:25 | By Chris Cooke

Music critics hey, what are we to do with them all? Wildly choosing things as they do. Like which buzzy new artists are sufficiently buzzy and new and artist-like to justify being given a BRIT Award before they’ve even departed Buzzville.

READ MORE ABOUT: BRIT Awards | BRITs Rising Star Award | George The Poet | James Bay | Years & Years

Thursday 27 November 2014, 11:24 | By Aly Barchi

More hotly tipped new artists you say? Well, do you know what? MTV has only gone and released the shortlist of ten acts vying to win its BBC Sound Of/BRITs Critics Choice-style Brand New poll in 2015.

READ MORE ABOUT: MTV | MTV Brand New

Thursday 27 November 2014, 11:23 | By Aly Barchi

Other notable announcements and developments today…

READ MORE ABOUT: Coldplay | EMA | Essential Music & Marketing | Etienne De Crécy | Fifth Harmony | Full Time Hobby | Gerald Newson | GIT Award | Gorgon City | James Blake | Kiesza | Paul Hartnoll | Peacefrog | PPL | Rick Ross | Rihanna | Wolf Alice

Thursday 27 November 2014, 11:22 | By Chris Cooke

So wait, McFly and Busted have only gone and put out separate versions of ‘Air Guitar’, the all new single from that ultimate supergroup (for McFly and Busted fans) McBusted. Surely the holy union of pop rock isn’t over already?

READ MORE ABOUT: Busted | McBusted | McFly

Wednesday 26 November 2014, 11:39 | By Marc Samuels

As the ice cold shards of synthesiser at start of new Man Without Country track ‘Laws Of Motion’ preface an electro feast of moody cold wave and euphoric Italo-disco, you could be mistaken for assuming this is the latest, inevitably remarkable, Scandinavian synth-pop group.

READ MORE ABOUT: Man Without Country

Wednesday 26 November 2014, 11:38 | By Chris Cooke

As expected, the UK music industry is set to fight the private copy exemption added to British copyright law earlier this year through the courts.

READ MORE ABOUT: British Academy of Songwriters Composers & Authors (BASCA) | Musicians Union (MU) | UK Music