Artist News Business News Industry People Labels & Publishers Media One Liners Releases

CMU’s One Liners: Universal Music, NME.com, PRS For Music Foundation, and some cover versions

By | Published on Friday 21 August 2015

NME

Other notable announcements and developments today…

• Universal Music has announced it will be getting lots of “commercial, strategic, operational and analytical insight” from it’s new COO for Asia, Franck Villet, who previously held similar roles in the gaming industry. Operational insight is my personal favourite. Though I’ll accept analytical if needs must.

• NME.com Editor Greg Cochrane is leaving the buzzy new free music mag after two and half years to become Digital Director of rival title Loud And Quiet. He also plans to do more freelance stuff. And why the devil not, say I. It’s thought all NME staffers will now work across the online and print channels as the latter goes all freebie.

• The PRS For Music Foundation has promoted current staffers Joe Frankland and Flora Ward, to Senior Grants & Programmes Manager and Grants Co-ordinator respectively. Meanwhile Naomi Belshaw moves from PRS itself over to the Foundation to be Grants & Programme Manager, and Leyla Atamturk joins the charity as Administrator. Foundation boss Vanessa Reed is both “delighted” and “excited”. And who wouldn’t be? Me, that’s who. No, not really. I’m super-delighted and uber-excited. All the fucking time.

• As part of its 25th anniversary celebrations, Jazz FM will air an interview it did with the late great Nina Simone back in 1998, ahead of what ended up being her last but one London performance. The archive recording will air on the up coming Bank Holiday Monday.

• Talking of Nina Simone, Lana Del Ray covers one of her tracks, ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’, on her upcoming new album ‘Honeymoon’, which will be released on 18 Sep and is now available for pre-order. It has other tracks too. Want to know the name of one of them? ”Burnt Norton’ (Interlude)’. You’re welcome.

• Talking of cover versions, you all presumably know Ryan Adams is covering Taylor Swift’s ‘1989’ album in its entirety, right? He’s been posting snippets of said covers. Swift said she was excited about that project from the off, and has now told Entertainment Weekly: “Ryan Adams is one of the artists who shaped my songwriting. My favourite part of his style of creating music is his ability to bleed aching vulnerability into it, and that’s what he’s done with his cover project of my album ‘1989’”.



READ MORE ABOUT: | | | | |