| CMU Daily - on the inside Tuesday 24th January |
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In today's CMU Daily:
- Campbell distances self from Fiddy suit
- 1.1 million dollars awarded to Wallace family
- Nas signs to Def Jam
- Cam'ron clarifies his Jay-Z beef
- Mystikal refused parole, unsurprisingly
- Kaiser Chiefs top NME nominations
- A very exciting ringtone terminology story
- Starbucks announce in-store digital music plans
- Bon Jovi skid off runway
- Massive Attack best of this spring
- New Scott Walker album
- Jack J and Gorillaz to play at Brits
- Peas, Geldof, Williams, etc, win at NRJ
- Stereophonics cancel Oasis dates
- Mylo still deaf, cancels American tour
- Nizlopi team to share their secrets
- Warner boss bonus exceeds six million
- Jam album gets expanded re-release
- Franz Ferdinand announce live web chat
- Cullum announces forest concerts
- Jones tops chat show poll
- Doherty fights fan at Babyshambles gig
- Josh Homme becomes a daddy
- Kaiser Chiefs not pissed off with Forward Russia, Leeds, anyone
- NME awards nominations in full
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TOP BIT>>
So, well done Kaiser Chiefs for dominating another awards shortlist - this time the short list for the reader voted NME Awards where their nomination count is even higher than at the Brits, they're up for six awards. That said, one of those awards is Best Website, which arguably belongs to whoever created the website - unless you're telling me Ricky Wilson spends his time on the tour bus busily php programming on his laptop. Though, that said, having checked out the Kaiser Chiefs website for the first time this morning I have to say that, unless I'm missing something, it's really nothing special, which presumably means the people who voted for it did so out of a love for the band rather than the site. Which presents a recurrent problem with reader voted awards. When some people vote for best gig, video, single, album, website - are they not just re-voting for their favourite artist, picking at random something in that artist's repertoire that will make them eligible for any given category? And how many NME readers properly listened to James Blunt's 'Back To Bedlam' and McFly's 'Wonderland' before voting them Worst Album Of The Year, and how many just picked the obvious pop-acts-indie-kids-love-to-hate without a second thought? But then the alternative, of course, is pundit voted awards when self-appointed experts could, arguably, rely on personal grievances and loyalties to pick out the winners. Which means performers are left with two outcomes - awards selected by uninformed members of the public, or awards selected by biased pundits. Don't get me wrong - I'm not dissing the NME Awards - and I'm not saying the music world isn't a more fun place with these regular back slapping parties. I'm just pointing out the flaws in the system. And more importantly, I'm preparing the ground for when NME readers vote McFly Worst Band In The World.
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CAMPBELL DISTANCES SELF FROM FIDDY SUIT
Rapper Luther Campbell has distanced himself from that previously reported lawsuit against 50 Cent, which alleges the latter stole a lyric from the former. Early reports suggested that the lawsuit was being brought by Lil Joe Records on behalf of the rapper, but Campbell has told allhiphop.com that the label and its owner, Joseph Weinburger, are acting solely in their own interest in pursuing the case.
As reported yesterday, the copyright infringement lawsuit claims 50 Cent stole a lyric from Campbell's 1994 track 'It's Your Birthday' - which appears on the 2 Live Crew frontman's solo album 'Still A Freak For Life'. Fiddy's track 'In Da Club' carries the line "go Shorty, it's your birthday", while Campbell rapped "go Sheila, it's your birthday".
But Campbell has told the hip hop website that the rights to his tracks and to those of 2 Live Crew are completely owned by Weinberger, and that he is not involved in anyway in the current lawsuit. Campbell: "Let the record reflect that Joe Weinberger and [Weinberger's attorney] Richard Wolfe are the individuals who are suing 50. They are not suing on behalf of me or any member of the 2 Live Crew. These guys - that's all they do is go around suing people and use our names. When they do sue people and make money on that catalogue, neither me nor any of the 2 Live Crew members receive any money from that."
There is seemingly no love lost between Campbell and Weinberger. Allhiphop.com explain that the latter once represented the former, but took overall ownership of the rapper's copyrights when he filed for bankruptcy. Campbell continues: "They stole that catalogue from the members and me and we don't make money from it. When you read my book, 'My Life And Freaky Times,' you'll get the full entire story surrounding these two crooks and that catalogue."
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1.1 MILLION DOLLARS AWARDED TO WALLACE FAMILY
And so one on the longest sagas in hip hop continues. The family of the late Notorious BIG, real name Christopher Wallace, was awarded more than a million dollars by a federal court judge last week over those allegations that LA authorities deliberately buggered up investigations into the late rapper's murder. US District judge Florence-Marie Cooper ordered on Friday that a compensation payment of $1.1m be made by the City Of Los Angeles for intentionally withholding evidence during the Wallace family's previously reported civil trial that unsuccessfully endeavoured to get to the bottom of Biggie's killing, and allegations of a police cover up.
As previously reported, last year Judge Cooper declared a mistrial in that civil lawsuit when it was discovered that detectives had hidden statements linking the killing to former LAPD officers David Mack and Rafael Perez. The Wallace family had been trying to show that Mack, a previously convicted bank robber, had organised the killing on behalf of Death Row Records chief Marion 'Suge' Knight. Lawyers for the city, of course, claim that the officer alleged to have concealed the evidence, Steven Katz, acted inadvertently in not revealing the information, which could have strengthened the Wallace family's claims. A retrial is planned for later in the year.
Cooper has also left open the possibility of an extra payment of $300k, and has ordered the city to pay Biggie's family's legal costs. Their attorney, Perry Sanders said: "It's pretty clear from the ruling that the judge understands this is a significant and difficult case."
A spokesman for City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo meanwhile said: "We were disappointed with the order. We believe the officer's conduct was inadvertent, and we will prevail at trial on the merits of the case."
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NAS SIGNS TO DEF JAM
Nas is all set to sign to Universal's Def Jam label in a complicated deal which will see the rapper signed to both Def Jam and current label Sony Music concurrently. Nas and Def Jam president Jay-Z, of course, had one of those hip hop 'beef' things going for sometime, but publicly overcame their differences at a concert staged by New York radio station Power 105.1 last October. That reconciliation was presumably a key component in getting the new record deal off the ground. According to the New York Times the new deal will see Def Jam cover the production and marketing costs of Nas' next two albums, but with both Def Jam and Sony Music getting a cut of the profits after the Universal imprint has recouped. The deal then allows for two further Nas albums for Def Jam, while allowing Sony the right to release a greatest hits compilation, should they wish to.
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CAM'RON CLARIFIES HIS JAY-Z BEEF
Talking of Jay-Z and his beefs, Cam'ron has been talking to New York radio station Hot 97 about those grievances he has with the Island Def Jam chief. As previously reported, Cam'ron has released a rap slagging off Jay, seemingly relating to a feud that followed the break down of Jay-Z's business partnership with Cam'ron's old mate Damon Dash.
These quotes are pretty hard work, but from what we can make out Cam'ron says his feud with Jay came to a head prior to that aforementioned Power 105.1 concert last October. While that event became known more for Jay-Z making up with past hip hop enemies, Nas in particular, Cam'ron reckons that wasn't the Def Jam boss' original intent. Rather, Jay planned to use the event to dis him and his hop hop crew the Diplomats. However, plans were changed when Jay's people failed to get together enough video footage of the Diplomats to accompany the dissing. Or something like that.
Cam'ron: "The last straw was that station down the dial [the Power 105 gig, when] he supposed to [declare war], where he is supposed to be dissing everybody he had a problem with. So you know leading up to the concert, I got Dame calling me like, 'He's trying to get old footage of you of when you and Jim got jumped and he's trying to find Jim's Catholic school pictures.' So leading up to this concert, we had to get on point, you dig? I don't know whatever he was looking for, you ain't gonna find it."
All clear now? The Jim he mentioned is fellow Diplomat Jim Jones, who was also being interviewed by the radio station. He explained how his crew quickly got away from Universal imprints Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam once Jay-Z had the top job there: "When [Jay-Z] became the President, that was our way out [of Def Jam]. We not with it at all, ya dig, and if you wanna go statistically, not even on just the fire part, just statistically, we sold more records than everybody up at Roc-A-Fella every time we came out with an album. Why would we be with somebody that sell no records statistically? The Roc is over. It's more like a cubic zirconium. The diamond is crumbled."
Despite all the dissing, Cam'ron was keen to stress that he wished for his feud with Jay-Z to remain a war of words telling the station: "At the end of the day, I don't want any violence. I'm trying to avoid it. It don't even make sense to do violence, we just trying to do music".
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MYSTIKAL REFUSED PAROLE, UNSURPRISINGLY
Phew, there's a lot of hip hop news today. Rapper Mystikal has been denied parole from his six year sentence relating to those charges of sexual battery. This isn't particularly surprising, given that only last week he was handed a second concurrent sentence relating to charges that he failed to represent his earnings to the tax man.
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KAISER CHIEFS TOP NME NOMINATIONS
Well, the nominations are out for the annual awards bash that old people like me insist on still calling the Brats but which should really be referred to as ShockWaves NME Awards 2006.
And following on from their five nominations at the Brits, Kaiser Chiefs have again topped the shortlist proceedings, getting an unprecedented six nominations: Best British Band, Best Track, Best Video, Best Music DVD, Best Live Band and Best Website.
Elsewhere, Franz Ferdinand, who dominated at last year's NME awards, are up for five gongs, as are Oasis. Newcomers and current UK chart toppers Arctic Monkeys are up for four awards - a considerable achievement given that their debut album was only released yesterday. NME readers will now vote in each category before the final awards are presented on 23 Feb in London.
Commenting on their latest nominations achievement, Kaiser Chiefs drummer Nick Hodgson told reporters: "Obviously we're very pleased. It's great to be up for the best album and best live band awards. I hope people vote for us because we've never won anything we've been nominated for before."
Commenting on this year's shortlists, NME Associate Editor Dan Silver said: "This year's nominations reflect what has been an exceptional 12 months for rock music. When the Kaiser Chiefs and Bloc Party performed at last year's ceremony, they were relative unknowns. This year both will return as conquering heroes. And with the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Maximo Park and We Are Scientists all showing strongly, that cycle looks set to continue in 2006."
Should you make it as far as the bottom of today's CMU Daily, you'll find a full list of nominations. You can vote, obviously, at http://www.nme.com.
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A VERY EXCITING RINGTONE TERMINOLOGY STORY
As the old song goes, "you say realtone, I say truetone, let's call the whole thing off". Well, moves are afoot in the ring tone industry to better define what different terms mean, in order to avoid confusion.
Most of the confusion seems to surround the term 'realtone', which currently has two definitions. The first says a 'realtone' is a ringtone where you get a proper piece of music as your ringtone, rather than a monophonic or polyphonic recreation. The second definition goes further, and says that the 'realtone' is not just a proper piece of music, but an excerpt of an original recording from a named artist. The distinction is important for record labels, because if a phone company gets a session singer to re-record a track for the ringtone then they won't see any money (ie only the publisher of the track will have to be paid). Moreover, given that some 'realtones' are made from original recordings, and others aren't, it is arguably unfair on consumers who will often expect the former but get the latter. Are you keeping up with this?
Anyway, DX3 Technologies and the Mobile Entertainment Forum are lobbying for the word 'realtones' to only be used for the latter kind of ringtone. That is: "a ringtone that is licensed by the rights holder, produced from an original recording, with the performer clearly identified in its marketing material."
DX3 CEO Andy Baker explains: "The whole history of popular music has, of course, been littered with imitations, cover versions and tribute bands, but at least they have been marketed as such".
The record labels support the move, so now all Baker has to do is persuade all those dodgy ringtone companies to comply.
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STARBUCKS ANNOUNCE IN-STORE DIGITAL MUSIC PLANS
Well, we always assumed that Starbucks' dabblings in music would lead to some kind of digital music offering, and it seems we were right. Starbucks' Entertainment President Ken Lombard has confirmed he is currently in talks with technology firms regarding plans to put consoles in place in Starbucks cafes across the US and Canada which would enable customers to download tracks to portable music devices while in-store. While specifics and timelines of the plan are not known, the service is expected to be made available in most of the company's 5500 North American stores.
The digital music offer would extend Starbucks' recent music ventures, which have included the selling of CDs via their cafes, including the sale of albums from the likes of Bob Dylan and Alanis Morrisette which are exclusively available via the chain. Those exclusivity deals have, of course, pissed off the traditional music retailers, though actually this latest initiative is possibly a much bigger threat, given that the future of music retail surely lies in finding a successful way to integrate the virtual and real world music buying experience, something Starbucks are in danger of taking a lead in.
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BON JOVI SKID OFF RUNWAY
A plane transporting the members of Bon Jovi and their touring staff skidded off a runway in Ontario at the weekend after landing in severe weather. The Boeing 707, carrying fourteen passengers, overshot the runway at Hamilton International Airport. The band are in Canada to play three dates in Toronto as part of their 'Have A Nice Day' album tour, immediately following a show in Buffalo, New York on Friday. A spokeswoman explained that the shows, scheduled for Saturday, Monday and Tuesday would go ahead as planned.
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MASSIVE ATTACK BEST OF THIS SPRING
Massive Attack have confirmed that that previously reported best of compilation will be called 'Collected', will be released on 27 Mar, and will be preceded by a new single 'Live With Me', on 13 Mar. A special edition of the hits LP will be accompanied by a dual-disc featuring rare and reworked material and new recordings on the CD side, and all the band's videos on the DVD flip side. Massive Attack are currently in the studio working on material for their fifth album, to be entitled 'Weather Underground', and will be performing a variety of gigs and festivals during 2006, details to be confirmed.
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NEW SCOTT WALKER ALBUM
The legend that is Scott Walker is back with a new album after a ten year silence. The long awaited new LP, the first since 1995's 'Tilt', and his first on the 4AD label, is entitled 'The Drift' and is to be released in May.
A documentary about Walker is currently being made, and is also expected to see a release this year. '30 Century Man' is named after a track from the 'Scott 3' album, and is in the hands of New York director Stephen Kijack.
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JACK J AND GORILLAZ TO PLAY AT BRITS
Gorillaz and Jack Johnson have been added to the list of acts scheduled to play at this year's Brit Awards, joining previously announced acts such as Coldplay, Kanye West, Kaiser Chiefs and James Blunt. As previously reported, Gorillaz are up for two awards at this year's ceremony while, of course, Kaiser Chiefs and James Blunt lead the field with five nominations each. The event takes place at Earl's Court on 15 Feb, hosted by Chris Evans, and will be televised on ITV1 the next day.
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PEAS, GELDOF, WILLIAMS, ETC, WIN AT NRJ
Black Eyed Peas won two awards at the NRJ music awards in Cannes at the weekend, taking the gongs for Best International Group as well as Best International Album. Also receiving recognition at the French ceremony were Robbie Williams, who was named Best International Male, and James Blunt, who got Best International Newcomer. Madonna was given Best International Female but didn't turn up to collect it, unlike Shakira, who picked up the Best International Song gong for 'La Tortura', and apparently shouted out "I love France!" in response.
Meanwhile, Bob Geldof was presented with a Humanitarian Award by Coldplay's Chris Martin, who said (in French, the clever thing) "I don't live nearby but I would have travelled miles and miles to have the honour to present this award to a real hero. This person deserves it more than anybody else. Bob is my friend."
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STEREOPHONICS CANCEL OASIS DATES
Stereophonics have been forced to cancel their upcoming support slots on Oasis' European tour due to family illness. A statement from the band said: "We would like to apologise to all our fans and thank you for your understanding. We were really looking forward to the tour, Oasis are a great band and we hope to be able to share the stage with them again sometime down the road."
The cancelled appearances are as follows:
25 Jan: Oslo Spektrum
26 Jan: Stockholm Hovet
28 Jan: Tilburg 013 Club
29 Jan: Lille Zenith
30 Jan: Grenoble Summum
1 Feb: Vienna Gasometer
2 Feb: Winterhauter Eulachhalle
4 Feb: Toulouse Zenith
6 Feb: Florence Mandela Forum
7 Feb: Rome Palalottomatica
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MYLO STILL DEAF, CANCELS AMERICAN TOUR
More cancellations, and Mylo has had to cancel his American tour, timed to coincide with the US release of his debut album 'Destroy Rock & Roll', because of that previously reported problem with his hearing. As you'll remember, the dance star, real name Myles McInnes, totally lost his hearing in one ear, and retained only partial hearing in the other, forcing him to cancel his appearance at Australasian touring festival Big Day Out. Doctors have now ordered McInnes to rest until the end of February, as his condition is not sufficiently improved.
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NIZLOPI TEAM TO SHARE THEIR SECRETS
So, how the flip did they do that? Well, funny you should ask. The BPI is staging a little event next month when the people behind that Nizlopi JCB Song release will be revealing how they achieved their considerable chart success with a quirky song from an unknown band. It takes place at the BPI's London offices at 5pm on 23 Feb. Info from http://www.bpi.co.uk
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WARNER BOSS BONUS EXCEEDS SIX MILLION
Though personally I'd rather know the secret behind landing yourself a job where your annual bonus is in excess of $6 million. According to the New York Times that's what Warner boss Edgar Bronfman Jnr earned last year. The paper reports that Bronfman received a $5 million bonus in addition to his $1 million salary, plus a second bonus of $1.25 million for his "restructuring plan" achievements. Good work if you can get it.
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JAM ALBUM GETS EXPANDED RE-RELEASE
The Jam's final album, greatest hits collection 'Snap', is to get a re-release. When the compilation was originally released on vinyl back in 1983, it was 29 tracks long, but when it was transferred to CD, it contained just 21 songs. Now it will be released as a double edition, containing all of the songs originally intended and will also initially feature a live EP recorded at the band's last gig in 1982 at Wembley. It's out on 13 Feb.
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FRANZ FERDINAND ANNOUNCE LIVE WEB CHAT
Franz Ferdinand have announced that they will take part in a live web chat on Wednesday. All four members of the band, who are currently in Sydney, will take questions from fans registered on their official website, http://www.franzferdinand.co.uk , from 11 - 12pm GMT.
Franz Ferdinand are, of course, currently taking part in the aforementioned (see Mylo above) Big Day Out touring festival, but are also apparently playing some smaller club shows while their in Oz. The band are set to continue their global jaunt, calling in at Japan, the far east and South America before returning to the UK, where, it's suspected, they will play a club tour in the spring.
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CULLUM ANNOUNCES FOREST CONCERTS
Jamie Cullum has announced that he's to play two of those lovely open air forest gigs (well, lovely depending on who you see, I guess), firstly at Delamere in Cheshire on 21 Jul, then at Thetford in Suffolk on 22 Jul. Cullum said: "This will be the Blair Witch Project of Jazz/Pop Forest Shows - all the excitement minus the violent mysterious death!" Gosh, what a wacky funster he is, eh?
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JONES TOPS CHAT SHOW POLL
The moment when Grace Jones slapped TV presenter Russell Harty live on air in 1981 has been voted the most shocking TV chat show incident ever, in a poll commissioned to celebrate the launch of new UKTV Gold chat show 'Wogan: Now And Then'. The 2000 viewers surveyed surprisingly only put that 1976 Sex-Pistols-swearing at Bill Grundy moment at number six, because they were apparently more shocked by David Icke calling himself the son of God on Wogan in 1991. That incident is at number 2, Meg Ryan's tight lipped treatment of Parky back in 2003 at 3, Tara Palmer Tomkinson being pissed/drugged on Frank Skinner in 1999 at 4, and the Bee Gees walking off Clive Anderson's 'All Talk' in 1997 at 5.
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DOHERTY FIGHTS FAN AT BABYSHAMBLES GIG
Talking of people slapping people, that Pete Doherty was, shockingly, involved in a physical altercation with a 'fan' at a Babyshambles concert last week, it has emerged.
The band were playing a gig at London's Rhythm Factory on Thursday night when a member of the crowd apparently threw water at Doherty, and then Doherty threw a punch or two at the member of the crowd. Remaining Babyshambles members Drew McConnell and Adam Ficek are believed to have then got involved in the altercation, before bouncers waded in and dragged the band away, not, however, before Doherty threw his mic stand into the crowd. The show later continued.
It is, of course, yet another incident in the Doherty soap opera, which seems to be gathering criminal momentum at the moment. The Daily Mirror quotes a friend as saying: "Pete's convinced he's going to be locked up. He's very agitated all the time now and the least little thing gets to him. It's not like him to attack a fan so things must be bad."
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JOSH HOMME BECOMES A DADDY
Queens Of The Stone Age's Josh Homme and partner, Brody Dalle of The Distillers, have had their first child. The baby girl, named Camille, was born in Los Angeles on 17 Jan. A spokesperson for Homme apparently told NME.com: "Camille's interests include boobs, sleeping, and pooping. Camille's dislikes include smoking, men who are afraid to cry and dirty diapers." Wacca, wacca.
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KAISER CHIEFS NOT PISSED OFF WITH FORWARD RUSSIA, LEEDS, ANYONE
More Kaiser Chiefs. According to Gigwise, Chief Kaiser Ricky Wilson's slightly pissed off sounding comments over the fact that Forward Russia beat Kaiser Chiefs to the Best Rock gong at the Leeds Music Awards were just a joke. As previously reported, Wilson was quoted as saying: "I don't hold grudges and have nothing against the people of Leeds but we did really well last year and a pat on the back would have been nice."
Now David Martin, frontman of fellow Leeds band iLiKETRAiNS has said he's sure it was a joke: "We were at the event there. I think that the Kaiser Chiefs comments were very tongue in cheek, it was all a bit of fun really. There were some bands that were taking it a bit too seriously though, wondering why they weren't nominated. It wasn't the be all and end all."
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NME AWARDS NOMINATIONS IN FULL
Best British Band: Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand, Oasis.
Best International Band: Arcade Fire, Green Day, The Killers, The Strokes, Foo Fighters.
Best Solo Artist: Antony And The Johnsons, Richard Ashcroft, Ian Brown, Graham Coxon, Kanye West.
Best New Band: Arctic Monkeys, Editors, Magic Numbers, Maximo Park, We Are Scientists.
Best Live Band: Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, Green Day, Kaiser Chiefs, Oasis.
Best Album: Babyshambles - Down In Albion, Bloc Party - Silent Alarm, Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better, Kaiser Chiefs - Employment, Oasis - Don't Believe The Truth.
Best Track: Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, Babyshambles - Fuck Forever, Franz Ferdinand - Do You Want To, Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict A Riot, Oasis - The Importance Of Being Idle.
Best Video: Franz Ferdinand - Do You Want To, Gorillaz - Dare, Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict A Riot, Oasis - The Importance Of Being Idle, The Strokes - Juicebox.
Best Event: Carling Weekend: Reading And Leeds Festivals, Glastonbury, Live8,
T In The Park, V Festival.
Best TV Show: Gonzo, Little Britain, Lost, The Mighty Boosh, Peep Show.
Best Radio Show: Colin And Edith, Steve Lamacq, Zane Lowe, Chris Moyles, Lauren Laverne.
Best Film: Batman Begins, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, King Kong, Sin City.
Best Music DVD: Dig!, Green Day: Bullet In A Bible, Kaiser Chiefs: Enjoyment, Live8, Morrissey: Who Put The M In Manchester.
Best Website: nme.com, kaiserchiefs.co.uk, myspace.com, oasisinet.com, wearescientists.com.
Best Venue: London Brixton Carling Academy, Glasgow Barrowlands, London Astoria, London Koko, Manchester Apollo.
Hero Of The Year: Carl Barat, Pete Doherty, Liam Gallagher, Bob Geldof, Alex Turner.
Villain Of The Year: Tony Blair, James Blunt, George Bush, Pete Doherty, Justin Hawkins.
Best Dressed: Pete Doherty, Brandon Flowers, Liam Gallagher, Alex Kapranos, Ricky Wilson.
Worst Dressed: Pete Doherty, Justin Hawkins, Chris Martin, Jack White, Robbie Williams.
Worst Album: Babyshambles - Down In Albion, James Blunt - Back To Bedlam, The Bravery - The Bravery, The Darkness - One Way Ticket To Hell... And Back, McFly - Wonderland.
Worst Band: Babyshambles, Coldplay, The Darkness, McFly, Son Of Dork.