| CMU Daily - on the inside 3 Sep 2002 |
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Which three Britpop frontmen has Elastica’s Justine Frischmann been romantically linked to over the years?
Answer tomorrow
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YEP – MORE AWARDS
Ms Dynamite dominates the nominations list for next month’s MOBO Awards appearing on the short list for Best Album, Best Newcomer, Best Single and Best R'n'B Act. Ashanti, an unpopular choice for the ‘Entertainer of the Year’ at US Soul Train Lady Of Soul Awards for black female musians last month, gets three awards here too, while the So Solid Crew, who dominated last year, have two more nominations. The awards take place on 1 Oct - www.mobo.net for more info.
Full list of nominations:
Best R'n'B Act: Tweet, Usher, Ashanti, Ms Dynamite, Alicia Keys
Best Video: Eminem - 'Without Me', Busta Rhymes ft P Diddy - 'Pass The Courvoisier', Ja Rule ft Ashanti - 'Always On Time', Aaliyah - 'More Than A Woman' , Ms Dynamite - 'It Takes More'
Best Hip Hop Act: Ja Rule ft Ashanti, Busta Rhymes ft P Diddy, Nelly, Ludacris, Blak Twang
UK Act Of The Year: Mis-Teeq, Ms Dynamite, Daniel Bedingfield, Beverley Knight, So Solid Crew, Sugababes
Best Album: Ashanti – Ashanti, The Streets - Original Pirate Material, Ja Rule - Pain Is Love, Ms Dynamite - A Little Deeper, Alicia Keys - Songs In A Minor
Best Single: Ja Rule ft. Ashanti - 'Always On Time', Nelly - 'Hot In Herre', Ms Dynamite - 'It Takes More', Alicia Keys - 'Fallin’’, Fat Joe ft Ashanti - 'What's Luv?'
Best Newcomer: Ms Dynamite, Ashanti, The Streets, Alicia Keys, Daniel Bedingfield
Best Producer: Neptunes, Irv Gotti, Dr Dre, Missy Elliott, Timbaland
Best Garage Act: Mis-Teeq, Daniel Bedingfield, Heartless Crew, More Fire Crew, So Solid Crew
Best Reggae Act: Elephant Man, Sean Paul, T.O.K, Beres Hammond, Capleton
Best UK DJ : Steve Sutherland, DJ 279, Tim Westwood, Dreem Teem, Trevor Nelson, Matt White, Shortee Blitz, EZ, Simon 'Schoolboy' Phillips, Semtex
Best Jazz Act: Norah Jones, Joe Sample, Hugh Masakela, Peter White
Best Gospel Act: Mary Mary, Michelle Williams, Trin-I-Tee 5-7, Yolanda Adams
Best World Music Act: Femi Kuti, Gilberto Gil, Angelique Kidjo, Noel Papa Oviedo P
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GO TO ZOMBA DEAL, NO TO WEB BUSINESS
BMG’s planned takeover of Zomba – the biggest and most mainstream independent label in the world – has been approved by the EU. The major will pay about $3 billion for the label which counts Britney, N Sync and Backstreet Boys among its artists. The decision follows a number of blockages by the EU to the major label mergers, with officials saying this acquisition does not affect the major players too much - Universal and EMI will still dominate the European music markets even after the Zomba deal – and anyway BMG already had a 25% stake in the independent. "Over the years I have admired Zomba's impressive results,”
Bertelsmann chairman Thomas Middelhoff told reporters when he announced his takeover intentions in June. “Their achievements are perhaps the most spectacular in the industry."
While BMG’s expansion in the real world continues, it is pulling back on its projects in the virtual world. The group is hoping to sell its e-commerce company Bol.com and it looks likely it will pull the plug on Napster, which it was funding while the file-swapping service tried to find a viable legal way to supply music downloads. Bol.com is likely to be closed down if its rival Amazon isn’t interested in taking it over, while insiders reckon Napster will go if continuing legal wranglings with other majors in the US look like turning expensive.
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MANICS OPEN PLAYLIST
The Manics are set to let fans pick the tracks they play on their forthcoming greatest hits tour via their website. During an interview on Radio 1, Mark and Lard asked Nicky Wire if the Manics were going to play the same set each night, or whether they’d be interested in following Elvis Costello’s idea where a 'wheel of misfortune' decided what songs he played. Nicky replied: "That's what it's going to be a bit like, expect with modern day technology all the fans can do it on the website and we'll be doing fantasy set lists every night." The band will tour in December after the release of 'Forever Delayed: The Manic Street Preachers Greatest Hits' on 28 Oct.
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A RADICAL NEW DIRECTION FOR RIAA?
For a brief moment last week the official website of the Recording Industry Association of America's declared: "RIAA against music sharing? Not anymore!" But it wasn’t a sudden change of heart by the trade organisation, more the work of music pirates who hacked into their site. Alongside the pro-piracy headline on the site's home page, hackers posted lengthy attacks on the group's anti-piracy stance, satirical messages and numerous links to online music-sharing sites such as KaZaA. The industry trade group didn’t comment on the hacking, beyond acknowledging to the Hollywood Reporter a "problem" with the site that was being fixed.
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BJORK BURGLED
Bjork lost some of her recording equipment during a burglary at her London home in Maida Vale. The incident took place while the pregnant performer slept in her flat on Friday night. No word on what else was taken.
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COLDPLAY BENEFIT FROM RECOUNT
The Australian chart body - ARIA – released two album charts this weekend. The first chart was recalled within a few hours and a new chart published, the latter moving Coldplay from the number two position up to number one. ARIA’s Marcella McAdam told Aus music site Undercover "the chart is calculated Sunday night but there was a problem with the Big W file [Big W is a chain of discount department stores in Australia]. We couldn't access the file. We discovered the fault, and recalculated the chart on Monday morning with the Big W data and Coldplay has come in at number 1". The error saw Enrique’s album – previously at number one – dropped to number two. But as Undercover point out – “Enrique shouldn't feel to put out. His album Escape has spent 42 weeks on the Australian chart and most of that time as a top 5. Escape has already been certified 3 times platinum”.
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WILL HE – WON’T HE – DO WE CARE?
The latest on N Sync singer Lance Bass and his mission to go into space. Despite NASA clearing him for the mission the Russian Space Agency have now said the trip is definitely off because he still hasn't handed over the $20m (£12.8m) he needs to pay to undertake the expedition. The Russian Space Agency told the BBC Bass had been asked to leave the cosmonaut training programme, citing "crude violations" of his contract. But Jeff Manbar, president of Mir-Corp, which had been working on behalf of Bass, insisted it was not the end of the singer's dream and that negotiations were still ongoing.
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Answer to Monday’s pop quiz:
Tattoos of the rich and famous. Which pop stars have each of the following tattoos?
- ‘Year of the Tiger’ written on the waist: Nicole Appleton
- Superman logo on the left shoulder: Jon Bon Jovi
- ‘Respect’ written on the left shoulder: LL Cool J
- A black panther on the lower back: Geri Halliwell
- ‘Mayhem’ written on his stomach: Tommy Lee