| CMU Daily - on the inside Friday 2nd June |
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In today's CMU Daily:
- Top execs at Sony Music Label Group quit
- Doherty searched after plane toilet incident
- IFPI welcome Pirate Bay shutdown, Pirate Bay do not
- Snow Patrol cancel US dates
- Busta Rhymes dates
- Light Surgeons show
- Swap in Manchester
- DJ Shadow cancellations
- Editors on second album delays
- U2 plans
- Green Day plans
- Jurassic 5 set release date
- Deicide downloads
- Dixie Chicks break US chart record
- Oasis top best album ever poll
- Prince gets web award
- Jurado dies
- More on EMI digital man's new venture
- FCC stand by Nipplegate fine
- Liz defends Jacko
- Gilmour says Stones should "get a life"
- E17 boy on influencing the Streets
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TOP BIT>>
So, as I may have mentioned before, the 'C' in 'CMU' stands for college, and it is in our guise as champions of the college music community that we present the CMU Internships Guide. This is for students considering a career in the old music business looking for internships this summer - ie the opportunity to hang and help out at music companies, offering a hand in return for learning the trade and making some useful contacts along the way. You can access the CMU Internships Guide right now under the CMU Resources heading on the home page of the CMU website - http://www.cmumusicnetwork.co.uk. We will keep adding to the page over the next couple of months, so if you're a music company willing to offer internships just email your company name, an outline of what you do, an outline of what an intern would do and a contact email to [email protected] Easy.
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EVENTS N STUFF>>
*** BRANDS, BANDS & AUDIENCES 7th June 2006, The Waldorf, London
Do you want to secure global brand partnerships? Are you looking at new media as an extra revenue driver? Do you want to meet leading brands, music labels, new media giants, and those with the knowledge to help drive the profile of your music? Emap's one day event - Brands, Bands & Audiences - in association with Kerrang, Audience, Smash Hits, Media & Marketing Europe, In the City, Record Of The Day, Kiss, Magic, Q, and Mojo IS THE ONE PLACE to gain expert advice from all sectors of the industry. Can you afford to miss out? Full info at http://www.mandmeurope.com/brandsandbands
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PRESS ROOM>>
KILL ALL HIPPIES JUNE...
Once again, London's best rock night returns to 333 in Shoreditch. In the basement you will find live action from Amusement Parks On Fire and Rebus, while KAH resident Jeff Automatic will be joined by Mikey Four on the decks. On the ground floor the Fully Comprehensive team will be in control again, with Gavin Nugent on the decks alongside Mark Beaumont (NME) and Syrinx. Plus, just confirmed, Hugh Harris from The Kooks will be in the house as special guest DJ! It all takes place 2 Jun from 10pm to 5am. Tickets are £10 on the door, or £5 if you guest list in advance at http://www.leylinepromotions.com.
More info:
http://www.cmumusicnetwork.co.uk/pressroom/killallhippies
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ON AIR>>
TODAY ON TOTALROCK
Catbird talks to Monsterworks ('Phantasmagoria', 9am to noon). On Saturday, June 3, May gets to grips with Yellowcard ('May & Mates', noon to 3pm). Listen live at http://www.totalrock.com.
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RIGHT NOW IN THE CMU BEATS BAR>>
Same Six Questions: Rebus
Ahead of playing the support slot at Kill All Hippes tonight, Reading boys Rebus answer the Same Six Questions. They might even tell us what being an 'indie-disco-electro-sex-punk' band involves. Or they might not.
MySpace Of The Day: 747s
These guys have answered our Same Six Questions too, mainly as a sneaky way of plugging the fact that their new single 'Night & Day' is out this week. You'll be able to read their answers on Monday. We first came across the 747s by a planned accident. That is to say, every week on the CMU radio show we have at least one 'gamble track' - where we grab a CD at random from the in box and play it straight on air without giving it a listen first. The 747s track we took the gamble on is 'Equilibrium', a funky little number that we fell in love with straight away. So much so we've played the track on a couple of other occasions too, and have been keeping our eyes closely on their output ever since. 'Night & Day' is slightly less funky, but is nevertheless an accomplished catchy track demonstrating genuine musical skill. Both 'Equilibrium' and 'Night & Day' are available to preview here, plus there's the video for the latter as well. And a load of upcoming gig dates too. Go see.
http://www.myspace.com/747s
All this and more at http://www.thebeatsbar.co.uk
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CMU FRIDAY TIPS
VIGSY'S CLUB TIP: Southport Weekender presents Niche at Sin
Five 'intimate' rooms now make up this venue, tomorrow hosting the reunion of the Southport Weekender, and hell have they got some names... The Powerhouse showcases house with stalwarts Tony Humphries (five hour set!!) and Paul 'Trouble' Anderson. The Bacardi B-Bar Arena goes all eclectic and generally plays cool shit all night, with a great line up including DJ Spinna, Dego (of 4Hero) and Kev Beadle, with Shovel banging his bongos live too. The Funkbase does urban style music, with Ronnie Herel, Steve Wren and Fitzroy Da Buzzboy, while The Connoissers' Corner does it proper Southport soul session stylee: Jazz Funk, Rare Groove, Nu Soul and proper classics from Terry Jones and Andy Davies. Then to cap it all off, in VIP Room we have me old mate Sarah Foote who'll
probably take it house-wards. Sorted.
Saturday 3 Jun, 10pm- 6am, Sin, 144 Charing Cross Road, London, WC2H, £15 in advance, info from http://www.southportweekender.co.uk, press info from [email protected]
CHRIS' CLUB TIP: Kill All Hippies at 333
The problem with these months that start on a Thursday is that, bam, before you know it it's the first Friday of the month and you've forgotten to plug London's bestest rock night Kill All Hippies. But surely by now you all know that on the first Friday of every month the 333 club in Shoreditch offers up the best live bands and rock DJs in a Kill All Hippes fashion? If you don't, well get your diary out now and get it marked for every month through to the end of the year. Tonight in the old basement resident DJ Jeff Automatic will be joined on the decks by Mikey Four, while on the stage you'll get live music from Amusement Parks On Fire and Rebus, the latter of whom have rather kindly answered our Same Six Questions over on the CMU Beats website. Upstairs it's all Fully Comprehensive with Gavin Nugent being joined by Mark Beaumont (NME), Syrinx and - this just in - Hugh Harris from The Kooks. All for a tenner or, if you guest list right now at http://www.leylinepromotions.com, a mere five pounds.
Friday 2 Jun, 10pm-5am, 333, Old Street, London, £10 (£5 if you guest list yourself), info at http://www.leylinepromotions.com, press info from Leyline.
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TOP EXECS AT SONY MUSIC LABEL GROUP QUIT
Is there some conspiracy I'm not part of for everyone in the music business to quit their jobs this week? What the hell, I quit as co-Editor of CMU. Only joking. The latest of this week's music industry resignations are probably the most high profile.
SonyBMG CEO Rolf Schmidt-Holtz yesterday announced that the two most senior executives in the major's US Sony Music Label Group division were quitting their posts with immediate effect.
Don Ienner had led the Sony Music Label Group since 2003, initially as President, then CEO, and for the last two months in the role of chairman. He played a crucial role in the restructure of the Group, which includes Columbia Records, Epic Records, Sony Music Nashville and Sony Urban Music, after the Sony/BMG merger. His second in command, Michele Anthony, became COO of the Sony Music Label Group in 2004, taking on Ienner's President title last year.
With Ienner and Anthony departed, the top job within the group will be taken on by Rob Stringer, currently the Chairman of SonyBMG UK. He will take over as President of Sony Music Label Group in September, with SonyBMG COO Tim Bowen coordinating the division's activities in the meantime.
Confirming the changes Schmidt-Holtz told reporters yesterday: "Donnie and Michele have been the bedrock upon which Sony Music's success has been built over the last 18 years and we are very appreciative of their important contributions during this period. I am delighted that Rob Stringer has agreed to join us as head of the Sony Music Label Group in New York. Rob has been with Sony Music throughout his 20-year career and now is the perfect time for him to take on this senior role".
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DOHERTY SEARCHED AFTER PLANE TOILET INCIDENT
Why doesn't Interpol just assign Pete Doherty with his own drugs officer (or sniffer dog, may be)? I'm sure it would be a better use of resources. Anyway, Spanish police searched an aeroplane carrying Mr Doherty yesterday after crew members found a blood covered syringe in the bin of one of the toilets. Spanish Guardia Civil met Doherty and four friends when the Easyjet flight they were on arrived at Barcelona Airport, though they found no suspicious substances on the passengers or in the toilets, so they let them go on their way.
A spokesman for Easyjet said that their crew became suspicious after Doherty spent "an unusual amount of time in the toilet". After discovering the syringe Doherty was questioned by the crew and became "agitated and aggressive" - and that's when they contacted Spanish police. Despite being let go without charge by the authorities, Easyjet say that they have banned Doherty from using their services in the future.
Elsewhere in 'haven't got round to reporting yet' Doherty news, the Sun has claimed the singer dumped his drugged up cousin on a pavement because he didn't want to be found with someone who had seemingly OD-ed. The tabloid says that after finding his cousin, Mark Peter, unconscious and overdosing, Doherty told a friend to move him out onto the street before calling for help. Which was nice.
And finally in Doherty related shenanigans, we heard a rumour that at a recent Dirty Pretty Things gig in London security guards at the venue were told by Carl Barat et al to not allow Doherty in should he show (which he didn't). To help, they even provided pictures of what Pete looked like, just in case any of the bouncers hadn't read a newspaper in the last two years.
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IFPI WELCOME PIRATE BAY SHUTDOWN, PIRATE BAY DO NOT
The International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry have, perhaps needless to say, welcomed the previously reported moves by Swedish authorities this week to shut down BitTorrent search engine The Pirate Bay. IFPI's Sweden Director General, Lars Gustafsson, told CMU yesterday: "The Pirate Bay has been facilitating illegal file-swapping of copyrighted material on very large scale and with blatant disregard for both music creators and copyright laws. This is a very good development for the Swedish music industry and for the real innovators and entrepreneurs who are trying to build a legal online digital business"
IFPI CEO John Kennedy added: "This is a very important development for Sweden, a country with a fantastically rich music culture yet which has more recently acquired a reputation as a haven for copyright infringement. The Pirate Bay has damaged the legitimate music industry on an international scale and I am very pleased that the Swedish authorities have today taken such decisive action against it."
That said, the guys behind The Pirate Bay seem to think the shut down, caused when Swedish authorities seized their servers, will only be temporary. Hitting out at the raids, and vowing to be back, a post on The Pirate Bay website this morning reads thus: "In the morning of 2006-05-31 the Swedish National Criminal Police showed a search warrant to Rix/Port80 personnel. The warrant was valid for all datacentres of Rix/Port80 and was directed at The Pirate Bay. The allegation was breach of copy-right law, alternatively assisting breach of copy-right law. The police officers were allowed access to the racks where the TPB servers and other servers are hosted. All servers in the racks were clearly marked as to which sites run on each. The police took down all servers in the racks, including the non-commercial site Piratbyran, the mission of which is to defend the rights of TPB via public debate. According to police officers simultaneously questioning the president of Rix/Port80, the purpose of the search warrant is to take down TPB in order to secure evidence of the allegations mentioned above. The necessity for securing technical evidence for the existence of a web-service which is fully official, the legality of which has been under public debate for years and whose principals are public persons giving regular press interviews, could not be explained. Asked for other reasoning behind the choice to take down a site, without knowing whether it is illegal or not, the officers explained that this is normal. The TPB can receive compensation from the Swedish state in case that the upcoming legal processes show that TPB is indeed legal".
They conclude that their site: "will be up and fully functional within a day or two".
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SNOW PATROL CANCEL US DATES
Snow Patrol have had to cancel their upcoming US tour dates because frontman Gary Lightbody has lost his voice after suffering from laryngitis for several months.
Writing on the band's website, Lightbody says: "My voice is in pieces. When we began the 'Eyes Open' tour in Feb of this year I was told by my doctor a few days beforehand that I had laryngitis and it would be best if I took a week off to recover. I told him I didn't have a week as we had shows pretty much every day. All the gigs so far have been a struggle for me. Unfortunately now I can barely hit any notes. My entire upper range has disappeared into a whisper. I'm terribly sorry about all this. It is completely my fault for not taking better care of my voice. I, of course, appreciate all your kind words over the last few days but I also know that is must be frustrating for all you guys with tickets."
The band hope to reschedule any cancelled dates for their next jaunt Stateside in August.
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BUSTA RHYMES DATES
Busta Rhymes, whose new album 'Big Bang' is out on Monday, has announced the following tour dates for later this month:
15 Jun: London Hammersmith Apollo
17 Jun: Manchester Apollo
21 Jun: Nottingham Arena
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LIGHT SURGEONS SHOW
The Light Surgeons, the cult VJ and experimental production company who have provided live graphics and music videos for all sorts of people, including U2, Sneaker Pimps, Basement Jaxx, The Herbalizer, Ninja Tune and Mo Wax, will be staging a free show in Bradford later this month. The show, at Bradford's St Georges Hall on 16 Jun, will be a performance of Z-Axis, a live remix of cult film The Fountainhead. Tickets are free and can be obtained by calling 01274 432 000.
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SWAP IN MANCHESTER
What's this, another festival to add to your calendar, surely not? This one, in case you wondered, is a "celebration of Manchester's unique global position in the world of rock and pop", so there you go. It's called the Swap Festival and on the bill will be George Clinton (Funkadelic/Parliament), I Am Kloot, Stephen Fretwell, Gretchen Peters, King Creosote, Thea Gilmore, Liam Frost & The Slowdown Family, Sandi Thom, Cara Dillon, Cherry Ghost and some others. It all takes place between 14 and 16 Jul at various venues around the city, so I suggest you go to http://www.swapfestival.co.uk for more info. Unless you're a journalist, in which case I suggest you email [email protected] and ask him very nicely for more information.
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DJ SHADOW CANCELLATIONS
Due to pesky paperwork problems, those previously reported DJ Shadow dates due to take place between 8 and 11 Jun won't be going ahead. Shadow's manager, Jamal Chalabi, told CMU: "The shows between June 8 and June 11 can't happen. Shadow, David [Levy, agent] and I have worked hard to try and bring something new and fresh to you, but unfortunately, due to last minute trouble with passports and visas for the rappers, there is no way they will receive the paperwork in time to travel. Shadow's website will post something about this. We will try and re-schedule in some way." Refunds will be available from venues or ticket sellers who sold you a ticket.
Though if you had a ticket for the Fabric date, 9 Jun, you might want to go along anyway, because they have announced a rather fine looking rescheduled Fabric Live gig for that night featuring DJ Format (DJ Set), DJ Craze (Hip Hop Set), Scratch Perverts, Foreign Beggars (live), Joe Ransom and all the guys from Breakbeat Kaos (Adam F and DJ Fresh included). Tickets for that are £12, so if you show up with a DJ Shadow ticket (which were £15) you'll get £3 back.
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EDITORS ON SECOND ALBUM DELAYS
Editors have told the NME that the belated success of debut album 'The Back Room' means that plans to start work on a follow up have been delayed. Despite it being nearly a year since the album was released the band are still busy promoting it - the long player having enjoyed most success since the release of 'Munich' at the start of this year. With festival dates galore coming up, it might be a while until they get back into the studio proper.
Guitarist Chris Urbanowicz told NME: "We're getting there, we've got the two new songs, we're playing live at the moment and other bits and bobs. [But] we had to pretty much start again on this album when 'Munich' went crazy."
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U2 PLANS
Also due back in the studio this summer are U2, and Bono has told the Guardian that he has been writing some songs while learning to play piano. Bono: "I've got a lot of songs, oddly enough, from taking piano lessons. My kid's piano teacher, Dawn, has been teaching me the piano. And every time she gives me a lesson, I write a new song. So next week, when we [the band] meet up, I have all these songs to play for them. So I'd like to thin out my schedule in terms of the politics and activism and just get lost in the music again - that's what I'm really looking forward to for the summer."
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GREEN DAY PLANS
Following that recent web post saying his band were working on a number of "cool projects", Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong has been commenting on his upcoming plans. Speaking at the ASCAP Awards, he told MTV: "Everything that we do is contributing to something that we're going to put out. We don't have a solid idea yet, it's just the beginning, but the beginning ideas that we have are really exciting. So however we're going to come out with our next album, just be certain it's going to be an event, not just putting a record out."
He also added: "Every single week there's more ideas about doing a film for 'American Idiot' and it's definitely going to happen".
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JURASSIC 5 SET RELEASE DATE
But enough of the vague promises of future delivery, Jurassic 5 have confirmed they will be back with a brand new album on 24 Jul. Called 'Feedback', collaborators on this one include Mos Def and Dave Matthews.
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DEICIDE DOWNLOADS
Trepan Records aren't the only people to have noticed next Tuesday's date (as previously reported they'll be marking 6/6/6 with a 'Devils Night' showcase at the Camden Underworld). God-killing metalheads Deicide are releasing a special EP via iTunes that day featuring two tracks - 'Homage For Satan (666 mix)' and 'Crucified For The Innocence (666 mix)'. The two download tracks will be something of a preview of the band's next album 'The Stench Of Redemption', which is due out on Earache on 21 Aug. Press info from Earache.
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DIXIE CHICKS BREAK US CHART RECORD
The Dixie Chicks have made US chart history by topping the US Album Chart with their new album 'Taking The Long Way', proving their controversial Bush-bashing a couple of years back (and the recent withdrawal of the withdrawal of those comments) hasn't hit their record sales too much - see, not every American is an Idiot (admittedly quite a few are, but not all of them, I mean all the ones who read the CMU Daily are especially renowned for their non-idiotness). The chart history bit is because the country stars are the first female group to have three studio albums debut at the top of the US chart. The album is released here on 12 Jun, and the girls will play the Shepherd's Bush Empire on 15 Jun.
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OASIS TOP BEST ALBUM EVER POLL
Oasis' 1994 debut 'Definitely Maybe' has been named the Greatest Album Of All Time in a poll organised by the Book Of British Hit Singles & Albums and NME.com. Oasis beat the Beatles in the survey, in which 40,000 music fans voted, with the Fab Four's albums 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' and 'Revolver' in second and third place respectively.
Radiohead's 'OK Computer' was in fourth place, while another Oasis album, '(What's the Story) Morning Glory?', was fifth. The rest of the top ten then goes: Nirvana's 'Nevermind' at 6, The Stone Roses' eponymous album at 7, Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side Of The Moon' at 8, The Smiths' 'The Queen Is Dead' at 9 and Radiohead's 'The Bends' at 10. Nirvana, and The Strokes' 'Is This It' (at 20), were the only US artists in the top twenty, while The Libertines' 2002 album 'Up The Bracket' (at 15) was the most recent release in the survey.
Votes were cast by music fans from as far a field as New Zealand, Croatia and Colombia in the survey, designed to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the UK albums chart.
Oh, and this just in, the President of the Never Trust A Public Vote Society has confirmed that Oasis' 'Definitely Maybe' is not the greatest album of all time.
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PRINCE GETS WEB AWARD
Prince will win a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Webbys next week - the Webbys being the "Oscars of the internet" of course. The Webbys are honouring Prince for being on it with all things internet way before the rest of the music business. Awards founder Tiffany Shlain explains: "Long before MySpace and iTunes, Prince used the web as a new way to distribute music, premiere videos and build his relationship with his fans". Prince was, I'm pretty sure, the first artist to release a complete album exclusively online with 1997's 'Crystal Ball'.
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JURADO DIES
One of Spain's most famous singers, Rocio Jurado, has died after a long battle with cancer of the pancreas. Jurado, who enjoyed a hugely successful career over four decades, releasing over 30 albums in Spain and Latin America, died at her home in Madrid, aged 61.
Paying tribute to Jurado, Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said the country was mourning the loss of "a person who was so valuable, so beloved, so respected and so important for the popular culture of our country".
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MORE ON EMI DIGITAL MAN'S NEW VENTURE
More on the departure of Ted Cohen from his senior digital role at EMI US. The third player in Cohen's new consultancy business, TAG, is Adrian Sexton, formerly VP of Digital Media at Lions Gate (so I was wrong, TAG stands for Ted, Adrian, Gary, and not Ted & Gary). They were expected to launch their company proper at a party in LA last night. Unfortunately I was too damn busy to go. Oh, and I was on the wrong side of the world. And I wasn't invited.
EMI, meanwhile, have confirmed Cohen will continue to work with them in a consultancy role, including representing them within the Mobile Entertainment Forum.
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FCC STAND BY NIPPLEGATE FINE
US media regulators have rejected a second appeal by CBS regarding the fine charged after the TV network screened Janet Jackson's Nipplegate performance at the Superbowl back in 2004. The FCC charged CBS the maximum penalty of $550,000 for allowing the infamous "wardrobe malfunction" to occur and to be screened. CBS have appealed the fine twice on the grounds that they never "intended to shock", but having already rejected an appeal once, on the second appeal hearing the FCC ruled that the fine should stand because "it was CBS and not the commission that was out of touch with the standards of the American people". That statement was based on the fact more than 500,000 viewers complained after glimpsing Ms Jackson's right breast on live TV. I take it back, most Americans are idiots.
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LIZ DEFENDS JACKO
Elsewhere in stories involving the Jackson family, Elizabeth Taylor has launch an impromptu defence of her old friend Michael Jackson while giving an interview to Larry King this week. She insisted that Jacko was not "abnormal", adding that both of them had often got into bed with children "completely innocently".
She said: "I've been there when his young nephews were there and we were all in the bed watching television - there was nothing abnormal about it. There was no touchy-feely going on. We laughed like children and we watched a lot of Walt Disney. There was nothing odd about it."
On her close affinity with Jacko, Taylor continued: "We both had horrible childhoods. Working at the age of nine was not a childhood for me - and he started at three. That certainly isn't a childhood".
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GILMOUR SAYS STONES SHOULD "GET A LIFE"
Former Pink Floyd man David Gilmour, who's been playing sell out shows at the Royal Albert Hall this week, of course, has said that the Rolling Stones should "get a life" and quit their rock n roll lifestyles. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Gilmour said: "I think it's ridiculous, actually. Mick and Keith should get a life. It's like a strange, sexual compulsion. How much do they need? I think a lot of it is the applause. It's a powerful drug, 50,000 people appearing to adore you".
In related news, a new Pink Floyd collectors package DVD thing will be released on 10 Jul. Called 'Pulse' it will include a recording of one of the band's 1994 sell out shows at Earls Court where 'Dark Side Of The Moon' was performed in full. The original screen films used during the band's seventies shows will also be included on the disk.
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E17 BOY ON INFLUENCING THE STREETS
East 17's Tony Mortimer says that his band's music lives on through, erm, The Streets. Following on from that recent one-off comeback show, Mortimer said: "The Streets are definitely the closest thing to us in the charts these days. I like them a lot. Of course, if you ask them they'll probably say they were influenced by American hip-hop or something".
He's right you know, what I've always admired about Mike Skinner is how he took the music, lyrics, image and ethos of East 17, put them in a box, and started from scratch.