| CMU Daily - on the inside Wednesday 22nd February |
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In today's CMU Daily:
- Still not clear if Wembley gigs will go ahead
- Glitter to maintain innocent plea
- SXSW confirm BitTorrent partnership
- Starbucks step up music operations
- Loudeye raise $8.25 million in share sale
- Sanctuary confirm share sale plans
- Live Nation: revenues up but profits down
- Supermarkets sell quarter of UK CDs
- Album review: Four Day Hombre - Experiments In Living
- Killa Kela is NOISE ambassador
- New Bic Runga album
- Single review: Fire Engines - Discord
- Raconteurs dates
- Hard-Fi announce new dates
- Zutons add extra London date
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs tour
- Extra Jose Gonzales date
- Richard Ashcroft plays Old Trafford
- Foo Fighters announce another big gig
- Mudhoney announce London show
- Bono donates guitar to good cause
- C4 broadcaster partner for Wireless
- Warner boss chatter
- Doherty influences Hilton
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TOP BIT: A SOUND FUTURE>>
The music industry needs to find a new business model or, more likely, business models if it is to survive. I suspect there is nothing controversial in that statement anymore, with everyone in the business seemingly in agreement that it would be unwise to bank-roll our collective future on the sale of plastic disks, or even on the sale of WMA and AAC files via iTunes and its competitors. But what are those new models? Which ones will succeed and when? Who should be taking the risk in trying them out? Who already is? And should artists welcome or fear these changes? These are some of questions due to be tackled at a joint Think Tank event being held by New Media Knowledge and MusicTank tomorrow. "When EMI announced its new deal with Robbie Williams a few years back, a deal which saw EMI take an interest in more than just Robbie's recordings, a lot of people thought we had entered a new era in the music business with major labels branching into new territories," says NMK's Nick Watt. "But actually very little has changed with most of the major record companies still focusing most of their efforts on making and selling recordings. But it seems obvious relying on those recording sales long term isn't going to work." But what is going to work? For a few ideas, check out CMU's introduction to this debate, plus an interview with one of the people taking part in the Think Tank event, Heaven 17's Martyn Ware, right now on the CMU website, then check out the event tomorrow at 1 Aldwych in London.
Check the interview and feature: http://www.cmumusicnetwork.co.uk/interviews
Booking info for the Think Tank event: http://www.musictank.co.uk
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PRESS ROOM>>
BREAKING GROUND - THE OFFICIAL BREAKSPOLL AFTERSHOW
To continue the excitement of this Thursday's Breakspoll Awards celebrations, Leyline presents Breaking Ground, The Official Breakspoll Aftershow @ seOne club this Friday, 24th February 2006. The After-Show will be presenting a whole host of fantastic breaks DJs including Freq Nasty, Rennie Pilgrem with MC Chickaboo, JDS, Will Saul, Precision Cuts, The Teamplayers featuring Aquasky, UK Apache, Spyda, The Ragga Twins & Ban Jyang, Spiltloop, Pendulum (breaks set), Breakfastaz, Deekline & Wizard with MC Ivory, and Deep Impact with Screwface. All takes place this Friday from 10 pm - 6am, tickets are £10 in advance from http://www.ticketweb.co.uk or £12 on the door.
Press info from Leyline, full press release at:
http://www.cmumusicnetwork.co.uk/pressroom/breakingground
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STILL NOT CLEAR IF WEMBLEY GIGS WILL GO AHEAD
So, let's get this clear, the gigs due to take place at Wembley Stadium this summer will go ahead. Maybe. Or, perhaps, maybe not. So, that's that cleared up.
Yes, management at Wembley Stadium wouldn't commit one way or the other yesterday as to whether the new stadium will be finished in time for the Bon Jovi gigs due to take place there on 10 and 11 Jun, or the Take That gigs on 24 and 25 Jun. Speculation that the concerts would have to be postponed came as the Football Association confirmed it was moving its FA Cup Final to Cardiff due to fears that the new venue wouldn't be ready for cup final day, 13 May. Whether building firm Multiplex will now have the venue ready to go for June remains to be seen - though given the costs associated with all these delays its not completely certain they'll still be in business come June.
A spokeswoman for Wembley yesterday resisted making too committal a statement, telling reporters: "We're very hopeful the concerts will go ahead. We are talking with the music promoters but we have not made our decision", while Wembley's chief executive Michael Cunnah was even less committal saying: "It's still too early to say when the stadium will be open".
So, it's wait and see. Still, the uncertainty enabled pretty much every news agency to run with the line - "it's not just Bon Jovi who are living on a prayer" - which is very funny. No really. It is.
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GLITTER TO MAINTAIN INNOCENT PLEA
Following yesterday's report that Gary Glitter, aka Paul Gadd, is to be tried by a Vietnamese court on 2 Mar, the former glam-rocker's lawyer has revealed that his client will plead not guilty to the child abuse charges being brought against him and will stick by his previous claim that he was helping the girls to learn English. Le Thanh Kinh said yesterday: "Up until now my client still rejects all the accusations by the provincial Prosecution Institute".
As previously reported, cameramen and photographers, as well as members of the public will be barred from the trial because there are minors involved, but the verdict, expected on 3 Mar, will be open to the public. A court official explained: "The reason we have the verdict announcement open to the public is that it will serve as an example to warn others never to commit the same crime." Which is a loaded statement if ever I read one.
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SXSW CONFIRM BITTORRENT PARTNERSHIP
Organisers of next month's South By Southwest festival have confirmed a partnership with BitTorrent, the high speed file-sharing technology. Music and video from artists playing SXSW will be available to download via a BitTorrent service, enabling delegates to quickly access content. SXSW CTO Scott Wilcox explained: "With the amount of bandwidth it takes to make such massive digital files available over the internet to SXSW fans worldwide, we would simply not be able to do it effectively without BitTorrent".
SXSW have entered into a partnership with BitTorrent, despite dislike for the technology among many in the music and film industry - who see it as enabling the easy downloading of ever bigger content files. That said, the creator of the open-source platform, Bram Cohen, has been looking at ways to work with the entertainment industry to make the technology work for them rather than against them. But enthusiasm for such collaboration in the 'BitTorrent community' of file-sharers who use the technology is frequently less forthcoming.
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STARBUCKS STEP UP MUSIC OPERATIONS
Starbucks has seemingly stepped up its efforts to compete in the entertainments space by opening new offices in LA. The company's music man Ken Lombard told the Hollywood Reporter that the new office would "bring a portion of the Starbucks Entertainment content team closer to the music labels and movie studios with whom they are in constant communication".
Starbucks also seem ready to expand the number of HearMusic Coffeehouse stores, which enable coffee drinkers to sample music while they drink, and to then buy the tracks and have them burned to CD before they leave. Starbucks have opened a HearMusic store in Santa Monica, conveniently close to several major label West Coast HQs, while additional stores will follow in Miami and San Antonio.
Elsewhere in Starbucks news, and the coffee seller has announced details of some of its upcoming artist partnerships. In particular, it will be offering two Tony Bennett CDs later this year, timed to celebrate the legendary crooner's eightieth birthday. One is a duets album due out in Sep featuring collaborations with a stack of music stars - said to include Paul McCartney, Elton John, Bono, George Michael, Sting, Mary J Blige, Barbra Streisand and John Legend. It's not clear if these albums will be sold exclusively through Starbucks for a time, or whether they will be available from more conventional music stores too. Either way, it seems pretty likely we can expect a conventional release via SonyBMG over here.
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LOUDEYE RAISE $8.25 MILLION IN SHARE SALE
OK, so we've got a load of city type news this morning which frankly I don't really understand - but hopefully you'll know less about these things than we do and you won't notice our ignorance.
First up, digitial music company Loudeye, who provide the back-end bit of various download platforms, have raised $8.25 million in an equity offering by selling 16.5 million 'shares of common stock' (whatever that is) to thirteen unidentified institutional investors (that means investment institutions like banks or insurance firms, and not mad rich people, although they possibly represent some mad rich people). The company says the cash will go on 'working capital' and 'general corporate purposes' - so, the drinks are on Loudeye.
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SANCTUARY CONFIRM SHARE SALE PLANS
Now if you thought that was heavy going, try this for size. You know that Sanctuary Music have been having financial problems of late, and that bosses there have been planning an equity sale in order to raise cash, right? Well, Sharecast UK reports that Sanctuary have issued more details about that share sale, and that the music company is proposing to "raise about £110.0m (£100.9m net of expenses) by way of a Placing And Open Offer of 219m new shares at 50p per new share. The issue price, on a pre-consolidated basis, is 0.25p which values the existing ordinary shares at about £927,747". So, consider your self fully informed.
Elsewhere in Sanctuary news, Billboard reports that the music company are planning on announcing a new board structure modelled on that used by EMI, which will include co-founder and chief exec Andy Taylor, a new as-yet-unconfirmed non-exec chairman (possibly former BA boss Bob Ayling), recently-appointed group finance director Paul Wallace, and various non-executive directors.
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LIVE NATION: REVENUES UP BUT PROFITS DOWN
Last bit of city news, promise, Live Nation, formerly the live entertainments division of Clear Channel of course, yesterday issued a financial report for its fourth quarter and last financial year, revealing that, while revenues were up, the company made an overall loss.
Revenues were up 4.7% year on year to nearly $3 billion, but the company had a combined operating loss of $13.2 million, compared to a profit of $59 million in 2004. Rises in revenues were attributed to growth in the company's music operations, especially in the last quarter, while the fall in profits was attributed to losses in the theatre sector and costs related to the restructure that followed the company's split from the Clear Channel group.
Commenting on the financial report, Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino told reporters: "The fourth quarter of 2005 represented a new beginning for our company. We entered the public markets on December 22nd as an independent company under new leadership, with a new strategy, identity and a strong balance sheet. Our primary focus during the fourth quarter was on rightsizing our cost structure and tightening our strategic and operational focuses."
He continued: "Our new strategy is to provide value to artists and fans before, during and after the live event. By expanding our relationships with our customers beyond the two hour experience of the show, we believe we can further unlock value in our key assets. In addition, we believe the establishment of the Live Nation brand will open up new marketing opportunities for both our artist and advertising partners. Going forward, we will focus our resources on maximizing the high margin opportunities within all of our businesses."
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SUPERMARKETS SELL QUARTER OF UK CDS
Supermarkets sell more than a quarter of all the CDs and DVDs bought in the UK. That statistic was revealed in a new survey on consumers' spending habits, which found that the major supermarket chains have doubled their sales of non-food goods in the last five years. Other products being increasingly bought in supermarkets include clothing, books and computer games.
Lucy Burton of TNS World Panel, who conducted the survey, said: "Supermarkets are rapidly becoming a shopping destination in their own right for products such as DVDs and CDs, rather than them simply being added to the trolley."
As previously reported, when reporting disappointing financial figures early this year, HMV partly blamed its struggling performance on tough competition on mainstream releases by the supermarkets, coupled with increasing price-cutting competition on back catalogue music from online retailers like Amazon and Play.com.
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ALBUM REVIEW: Four Day Hombre - Experiments In Living (Alamo Music)
Sorry it's taken me so long to get around to reviewing this album. Not sure exactly who I'm apologising to, I just know that I've mentioned in the Daily at least twice that I was shortly about to post this, and then didn't. The reason it's taken me so long is that firstly, I'm an extremely busy person, and secondly, I've been finding it really really hard to make up my mind as to exactly what I think of this album. The first time I came into contact with Four Day Hombre, it was a live set at Islington Bar Academy, and they compared extremely favourably with the headline act Brakes. Perhaps because I think Brakes are a little bit sucky (no offence, just not my cup of tea), but more, I think, because of their impassioned rendition of, if my memory serves me correctly, recent single release 'The First Word Is The Hardest', which I thought quite extraordinary. I wondered if the enthusiasm that infuses their live set would translate to the recorded work, and yes, it does, to an extent. This album proves that Four Day Hombre specialise in rather well realised, intensely emotional power pop, graceful washes of sound that you can really lose yourself in. The band appear to have drawn comparisons to the rather yawnsome Coldplay on account of these slow paced indie rock ballads, but it's possibly an unfair parallel to bring, given that Four Day Hombre have a far more ambitious and intricate sound, but fair enough in the sense that they write songs that don't quite seem to go anywhere. Don't get me wrong, I really do like this album, and it's great stuff for people who love this type of music, but my worry is that Four Day Hombre will never rise above the medium-time if they don't stick a catchy hook or some crunchily unmistakable opening bars in there somewhere. These songs are melodic, passionate, and well performed, 'The First Word Is The Hardest' and '1000 Bulbs' in particular, but I suspect they're unlikely to make any major playlist; specialist shows yes, the CMU radio show, yes, Radio 1, probably not. Perhaps that doesn't bother them; perhaps a band like Four Day Hombre, who, it seems, have garnered a fairly large and passionate fanbase without an enormous marketing budget, neither expect nor want the kind of fame and ubiquity enjoyed by bands like the aforementioned Coldplay et al. If they do want it, though, I can't help feeling they need to stick a couple of slightly more radio-friendly tracks on their next album to encourage the play-listers and lure wider audiences in to have a listen to their back catalogue. All in all though, it's a good debut, very much of the times, and one which is definitely worth having a listen to. I've found it to be great still-up-working-at-1am music. And believe me, I have quite a lot of experience in that area. CM
Release date: 27 Feb
Press contact: James Grant [all]
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KILLA KELA IS NOISE AMBASSADOR
Beat box master Killa Kella, currently supporting Goldie Lookin Chain on tour, has just been confirmed as an ambassador for the NOISE festival and will appear live at the event's launch this Thursday at Tate Liverpool. As previously reported, NOISE is a new online youth arts festival encompassing film, fashion, art, design, photography and music, which will offer young creatives a variety of projects to get involved in via the festival's website, the ultimate aim being to then promote the participants and their work through a range of partnerships with the likes of the BBC, MSN, Tate Galleries and Metro Newspapers.
Killa Kella's fellow cultural ambassadors include Anthony Wilson for Music and Art and designer Wayne Hemingway. NOISE chief executive Denise Proctor says: "We have chosen our curators because they have consistently demonstrated originality, passion and innovation in their chosen art form. They are regarded as industry figureheads not only because of their successes within their chosen field but because they serve as an inspiration for the next generation of young creatives. The NOISE team and our curators look forward to discovering some really exciting new talent. Because of its online nature NOISE can be far more inclusive. Noise targets every young person regardless of background or postcode. It gives them some fantastic opportunities to showcase their talent."
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NEW BIC RUNGA ALBUM
New Zealand singer songwriter Bic Runga is set to release her third album later this year. Runga, who achieved critical acclaim for debut 'Drive', and subsequent UK breakthrough album 'Beautiful Collision', will release her latest 'Birds', on 15 May. The album featured guest vocals and instrumentals from another successful Kiwi, Neil Finn.
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SINGLE REVIEW: Fire Engines - Discord (Domino)
The Fire Engines were one of the seminal post-punk 80's bands and part of a flowering of Scottish indie pop which included Josef K, Orange Juice and the Associates. The Edinburgh band's gritty, angular sound has been highly influential and indeed Franz Ferdinand have acknowledged their debt to the band by covering the Fire Engines' 'Get Up and Use Me' and inviting them to reform for a support slot. Although receiving a great deal of critical approval at the time, the Fire Engines never enjoyed the mainstream success of some of their post-punk peers, and the band only had a brief career, though frontman Davey Henderson did go on to form Nectarine No.9. The rhythmic, punchy 'Discord' with its scratchy guitars and hysterical vocals could have as easily been recorded in 2005 as 1980. Meanwhile, the jaunty, jangling 'Candyskin' which 'Discord' is backed with, was originally a single itself and was almost a hit, and it still sounds like a classic tune now. JW
Release date: 20 Feb
Press contact: Domino IH [all]
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RACONTEURS DATES
The Raconteurs - that's Jack White and Brendan Benson's new band, of course - have announced details of their first UK tour, which will take place in March. It should provide a positively superb chance to hear music from the band's debut album 'Broken Boy Soldiers' ahead of its release in May. Dates as follows, tickets go on sale on Friday.
20 Mar: Liverpool Academy 2
21 Mar: Glasgow ABC
22 Mar: Newcastle Stage 2
23 Mar: London Astoria
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HARD-FI ANNOUNCE NEW DATES
Hard-Fi, who release new single 'Better Do Better' on 10 Apr, have announced that they are to play Leeds Millennium Square on 21 May, and the Brighton Centre on 26 May.
They are also set to headline two festivals in the same month. Firstly they will headline one day of the southern leg of that previously reported new festival Hi:Fi. The southern bit will take place at Matterly Bowl, Winchester. Hard-Fi will headline Saturday 27 May, while Ian Brown will headline on 28 May. The Subways, Audio Bullys and 2ManyDJs are also on the bill.
Back to Hard-Fi, and they will also close this year's Orange Evolution Festival on 29 May. Evolution, for those of you who don't know, is a free outdoor music event that takes place at Newcastle and Gateshead Quaysides over the course of ten days. The festival, now in its fifth year, will this year see more than twenty bands play to an estimated 35,000 spectators.
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ZUTONS ADD EXTRA LONDON DATE
The Zutons have added an extra London date to their recently announced series of tour dates, due to popular demand. As you'll already know, because we told you, the tour will follow the release of their second album, 'Tired Of Hangin' Around', which is due out on 17 Apr. The full tour dates are as follows:
26 Apr: London Shepherds Bush Empire
4 May: Sheffield Octagon
5 May: Carlisle Sands Centre
6 May: Preston Guildhall
7 May: Newcastle Carling Academy
9 May: Glasgow Barrowland
10 May: Perth Concert Hall
11 May: Aberdeen Music Hall
12 May: Greenock Town Hall
15 May: Edinburgh Queens Hall
16 May: Leeds University
18 May: Birmingham Carling Academy
19 May: Cambridge Corn Exchange
21 May: Cardiff University
22 May: Bristol Colston Hall
23 May: Southampton Guildhall
25 May: Folkestone Leas Cliff Hall
26 May: Stoke Victoria Hall
27 May: Manchester Academy
29 May: Truro Hall For Cornwall
30 May: Reading Hexagon
31 May: Nottingham Rock City
16 May: London Hammersmith Apollo
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YEAH YEAH YEAHS TOUR
Righty-o then, details of those previously promised Yeah Yeah Yeahs tour dates. The band are to play five UK dates this summer, following the release of second album 'Show Your Bones' on 27 Mar. Their rather good new single 'Gold Lion' is out on 20 Mar. Tickets for the gigs go on sale Thursday at 9am, dates are as follows:
16 May: London Forum
17 May: London Forum
19 May: Glasgow Barrowlands
20 May: Manchester Academy
21 May: Birmingham Academy
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EXTRA JOSE GONZALES DATE
Now, when we reported on Jose Gozalez' tour dates yesterday, there was apparently one missing. I doubt that it was my fault, as I'm pretty much perfect, as you all know. Anyway, he'll be playing a gig at Sheffield City Hall in 30 Apr, in addition to those we previously listed. And here's all of them, with the missing one in place, just to remind you.
21 Apr: Bristol Colston Hall
22 Apr: Manchester Apollo
23 Apr: Cambridge Corn Exchange
24 Apr: London Hammersmith Apollo
26 Apr: Birmingham Alexandra Theatre
29 Apr: Newcastle City Hall
30 Apr: Sheffield City Hall
1 May: Oxford New Theatre
8 May: Dublin Olympia Theatre
9 May: Belfast Spring and Airbrake
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RICHARD ASHCROFT PLAYS OLD TRAFFORD
Richard Ashcroft is to stage a concert at Manchester's Old Trafford cricket ground on 17 Jun. The gig will be his biggest solo show to date, support acts to be announced shortly. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 9am.
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FOO FIGHTERS ANNOUNCE ANOTHER BIG GIG
And talking of shows happening at Old Trafford, Foo Fighters have announced that they will play a gig at the Manchester cricket ground on 18 Jun, the day after that previously reported Hyde Park concert on 17 Jun. They'll be joined in Manchester by special guests The Strokes, with more support to be announced shortly.
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MUDHONEY ANNOUNCE LONDON SHOW
Mudhoney have announced that they will play a date at Shepherd's Bush Empire on 11 May. This will follow their appearance at Nottingham's Rescue Rooms on 10 May, and their curating duties at All Tomorrow's Parties at Camber Sands on 12 May. The band are set to release a new album 'Under A Billion Suns' on 6 Mar.
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BONO DONATES GUITAR TO GOOD CAUSE
Further to that previously reported meeting with Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Bono has donated a guitar to help raise funds for the leader's Zero Hunger campaign, which aims to see all Brazilians getting three meals a day by the end of his term of office on 31 Dec. The president also hopes to expand his country's use of bio-diesel fuel made from seeds and beans.
When the singer played in Sao Paolo on Monday, he told fans: "To beat poverty, we all have to work together. Martin Luther King didn't just have an American dream, but an Irish dream, a Latin American dream - sing for Peru, for Chile, for Argentina, for Brazil." There were, however, some boos when he mentioned Argentina. Oops.
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C4 BROADCASTER PARTNER FOR WIRELESS
Channel 4 have been confirmed as the main broadcasting partner of Live Nation's Wireless Festival which, as we possibly mentioned yesterday, will take place in London's Hyde Park on 21, 22, 23 and 25 Jun, and Harewood House in Leeds on 24 and 25 Jun. As part of the new deal Channel 4 will broadcast five hours of footage from the festival, plus an evening highlights show and a special programme in the T4 slot on 24 Jun featuring acoustic performances from various participating artists.
Confirming the partnership, Live Nation MD Stuart Galbraith told CMU: "We are very pleased to continue our partnership with Channel 4, who have pledged their commitment to our brand new and unknown 02 Wireless Festival in 2005 and ensured transmission of concert footage to an even wider audience. Their continued commitment is a valuable asset to building our 02 Wireless Festivals into an annual event in the heart of London, as well as Leeds. We look forward to working with them."
Catherine Lovesey, editor of youth and music type gubbins for C4 added: "Once again it's great to be working with Live Nation on the 02 Wireless Festival after last years fantastic success. It was great to be involved with a brand new event and this year we look forward to building on that success by extending our coverage on the main channel, as well as looking at how we get T4 onboard backstage and supporting the event across the week."
Talking of Wireless - more line up news is available for the London dates. The Strokes will headline on 21 Jun, Massive Attack on 23 Jun, James Blunt on 24 Jun and Depeche Mode on 25 Jun - which basically means don't expect anyone to be answering the phone at the CMU office that week.
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WARNER BOSS CHATTER
Roger Friedman from the Fox News site in the US has been having a good bitch about Lyor Cohen, the US boss of the Warner Music Group. As previously reported, there is much rumour of stresses between Cohen and a number of other senior Warner people - with some saying that it was a falling out with Cohen that led to Paul-Rene Albertini's departure from the top job at Warner Music International earlier this month.
Anyway, here's what Friedman has been saying about Cohen: "Lyor Cohen may be in trouble, at long last, at the new Warner Music Group. I'm told that someone there has finally figured out that you have to have hits, or at least releases, to run a record company. Warner has nothing on the charts or on the airwaves except for James Blunt, and even he was signed by people who are now gone. In two years, Warner's hasn't broken one new artist. Faith Hill, Green Day and Michael Buble all came from the pre-Cohen/Edgar Bronfman era. A long awaited Diddy album has yet to materialize. By now, even investor Thomas H. Lee must have figured out that he could give away free CDs to his friends if his company had music people wanted."
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DOHERTY INFLUENCES HILTON
Pete Doherty, it would seem, is an influence on needless celebrity heiress Paris Hilton. A musical influence that is. Whether it's a bad influence or not, we'll have to wait and see when Hilton releases her upcoming album via Warner. She says that she would love to meet the troubled star, but has thus far been unsuccessful. "My main influences are Babyshambles, Keane and Madonna," she said, "I wanted to meet Pete Doherty when I was in the UK for the Brits, but he wasn't at any of the parties."