| CMU Daily - on the inside Friday 24th November |
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In today's CMU Daily:
- EMI chief makes one last plea for copyright extension
- Defence deadline approaches in Busted case
- New Order on hiatus?
- Anita O'Day dies
- Online radio station take over Peel's Festive Fifty
- It's going to be a Killer Christmas
- Slade Christmas re-release
- Interpol begin third album
- Cream release anthems compo
- !K7 release Funkstorung mixes collection
- Album review: Yppah - You Are Beautiful At All Times
- Cold War Kids
- Ben Folds tour
- Nirvana man on tour with Flipper
- Illegal Dutch bittorrent site forced offline by BREIN
- EMI UK sign up to PSP Playlist
- EMI sign up to Jamster mobile
- OfCom to allow iPod mini-transmitters
- Press Gazette future looking bleak
- Local Radio Company raises cash through new share arrangement
- Single review: Subtle - The Mercury Craze
- BBC plan TOTP Christmas Day edition as normal
- Another baby Seal
- Lily Allen not a huge fan of NME
- Elton on Noel
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VOTE FOR YOUR FAVOURITE TRACK OF THE YEAR
Email in song title, artist and a sentence on why it's your favourite to [email protected]
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TOP BIT: INSOMNIACS BALL THIS WEEKEND>>
Ladies and gentlemen, the Insomniacs Ball 2 is upon us. It all takes place at the seOne Club in London tomorrow from 7.30pm.
Don't forget the band line up: The Young Knives, Art Brut, The Rumble Strips, Pink Grease, Friendly Fires, Blood Red Shoes, The Sunshine Underground, Digitalism, Foals, Goose and Lo Fi Fink.
Don't forget the DJ line up: Silverlink, Matthew WoWoW, Jagz Kooner, The Cooper Temple Clause, Gavin Nugent, Eddy Temple-Morris, The Freelance Hellraiser and Jeff Automatic.
All that, plus a chill out area hosted by the Fish Seeks Bicycle people.
It all takes place this weekend, kicking off on Saturday, 25 Nov, at 7.30pm, and running all the way through to 6am the next day. This is going to be the big pre-Christmas event, so you really ought to be there.
You'll find info at http://www.insomniacsball.co.uk and you can buy your tickets at http://www.ticketweb.co.uk. Press info from Scruffy Bird.
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CLASSIFIEDS>>
TICKETWEB OFFERS A WIDE RANGE OF MUSIC EVENTS, with a regional search function to make finding what's on in your area easier. Tours on sale at the moment include disco punk funkers LCD Soundsystem playing near your house, Colin Meloy's indie-folk mariners The Decemberists hitting our shores, original ska-punks Bad Manners bustin' blood vessels all over the country, Britpop heroes The Bluetones making a slight return and much much more. All found here: http://www.ticketweb.co.uk
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ADVERTISE YOUR SERVICES & PRODUCTS here for just £50 a week, or £150 for two weeks in the Daily and four weeks on the web. Email [email protected] for details.
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CMU RECOMMENDS>>
INSOMNIACS BALL - IT'S NEXT WEEKEND, OK?
The second Insomniacs Ball is this coming weekend - 25 Nov. And just look at the line up - The Young Knives, Art Brut, The Rumble Strips, Pink Grease, Friendly Fires, Blood Red Shoes, The Sunshine Underground, Digitalism, Foals, Goose and Lo Fi Fink. They'll all be taking to one of the stages underneath London Bridge station in the seOne complex. Between the bands, on the decks you'll find Silverlink, Matthew WoWoW, Jagz Kooner, The Cooper Temple Clause, Gavin Nugent, Eddy Temple-Morris, The Freelance Hellraiser and Jeff Automatic. Plus the Fish Seeks Bicycle people will be hosting a brilliant chill out area. It all takes place on 25 Nov from 7.30pm all the way through to 6am the next day. This is going to be the big pre-Christmas event, so if you want to go you really ought to be booking your tickets now. You'll find info at http://www.insomniacsball.co.uk and you can buy your tickets at http://www.ticketweb.co.uk. Press info from Scruffy Bird.
BREAKING GROUND
Another storming night for your diaries - the second edition of breaks fest Breaking Ground. All the big names are going to be on the bill - Pendulum (Live), Stanton Warriors, Rennie Pilgrem with MC Chickaboo, Splitloop (Live), Precision Cuts, Janette Slack, Breakfastaz, Deekline & Wizard with MC Ivory, Cltr-Z, Freshold, Si Begg, General Midi, Soto, Merka, Symmetrik, Dirtpop, Mr Sushi and Fyoog. Phew. It will all take place at London's seOne Club on Saturday 2 Dec, from 9.30pm to 6am. Tickets are £18.50 in advance - from http://www.ticketweb.co.uk - press info from Leyline.
Full info>> http://www.leylinepromotions.com/breakingground
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CMU FRIDAY TIPS
VIGSY'S CLUB TIP: Underwater at The End
This quality tech house night sees one of my faves, Darren Emerson, with no other than Detroit legend Carl Craig, which would be reason enough for putting in an appearance, but you'll also get Don Mac in the main room and in the Lounge - Pedro Winter (Ed Bangers) and Arveene. And then in the nice AKA Bar you get Nocturnal feat The Shapeshifters, Adam Ramsden (Trophy Twins) and Simon Hawes. I'd love to see the larger than life Paperclip/Innerzone don Craig putting The End's wikked soundsystem to the test with some cool as ice cuts. Should be a goodun, and can you believe it - the club is 11 next week?
Saturday 25 Nov, 10pm - 7am, The End, West Central Street, London WC1A 1JJ, £17 (£15, £12 NUS)
info at http://www.endclub.com/whatson/weekends/weekends25-11.php
CARO'S LIVE TIP: LUCKY SOUL
I have live-tipped Lucky Soul before. In case any of you neglected to take my advice first time around, here's another chance to see this lovely band play live. There's not really much more for me to say, except that you owe it to yourself to check out their lovely, clean, pure pop sound. Unless you really only like death metal, in which case, this might not be your bag. The rest of you, put it in your diary.
Tuesday 28 Nov, The Fly, New Oxford Street, London, 8pm
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EMI CHIEF MAKES ONE LAST PLEA FOR COPYRIGHT EXTENSION
EMI chief Eric Nicoli made one last attempt to persuade those political types that they should extend the recorded music copyright earlier this week as the government's review into intellectual property, led by that Andrew Gowers bloke, prepares to formally report back next week.
As previously reported, oh so many times, lobbying by the UK record industry to have the recorded music copyright period, currently fifty years in Europe, extended to 95 years, to bring it in line with the US, has been a key issue in the debate that has accompanied Gowers' review of intellectual property laws.
Speaking at a private seminar at 11 Downing Street, Nicoli reportedly said that he felt that government officials seemed to be more sympathetic towards those that opposed such an extension, despite the fact that, in Nicoli's opinions, some of the responses to the music industry's proposals have ranged "from the irrelevant to the hysterical". All he and the UK music industry was doing, he said, was "simply asking that British performers be brought into line with other artists".
The Times says that it is thought Gowers has not been persuaded of the need for a copyright extension, adding that other key players in the record industry have not been as vocal as EMI in stressing the need for it (which I'm not sure is entirely true, but whatever). But, according to the Times, Nicoli says that without the extension there is an "anomaly that will put the UK at a disadvantage and will jeopardise future investment".
Concluding, with reference to the fact that the copyright on written works, including songs, lasts for 70 years after an author's death, he said: "Why shouldn't Paul McCartney singing 'Yesterday' be able to own his work for as long as Wayne Rooney or Jordan own their autobiographies?"
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DEFENCE DEADLINE APPROACHES IN BUSTED CASE
More on the ongoing legal dispute between the former Busted boys and the even-more-former Busted boys. As previously reported, Ki Fitzgerald and Owen Doyle, both members of the then four-man Busted in the band's pre-Charlie, pre-fame days, are both suing James Bourne, Matt Willis and the Busted management team over allegations they co-wrote some of the boy band's hits, but were cut out of a songwriting credit and royalty share when they were kicked out of the band. They also claim they were the original creators of the band and therefore should have some ownership of the Busted name.
As I remember it, there was some kind of "arrangement" made between the Busted management team and Fitzgerald and Doyle when they parted the band, but the duo now claim that their former managers contravened their previous contractual commitment to act in their clients' best interests by forcing them into a deal on departure that, they say, very much favoured the band's managers and remaining members and was very much not in their best interest. If that make sense.
Legal proceedings for a cut of the royalties began last year, but lawyers for Bourne, Willis and manager Richard Rashman are yet to formally respond, having asked for an extension to prepare their defence. As I understand it, that extension runs out today, which means a formal response is now expected (presumably Willis won't be handing it in at court in person - him still pacing around the I'm A Celeb camp in an increasingly angry fashion). And word has it Fitzgerald and Doyle are also considering separate legal action against a forthcoming biography on the band because, they claim, they will not even get a mention.
With things possibly about to kick off, a spokesman for Fitzgerald and Doyle said yesterday: "It will be
interesting to see how expelling Ki and Owen from their own band and taking their writing credits off Busted's biggest hits can be reconciled with their former manager's obligations to act in their best interests at all times. Both Ki and Owen are not bitter about the Busted's success, as it was built on the songs that they both wrote with James and Matt. However, the story that everyone has been told of how Busted was formed and how their big hits were written is a gross distortion of the truth and Ki and Owen just want acknowledgement for their work and to be entitled to what's rightfully theirs so they can put Busted behind them. They are both very confident about the strength of their legal argument and case".
Fitzgerald is now working on a debut album with his new band, Eyes Wide Open. Doyle is working on a solo album with producer Dan Frampton. Willis is about to release his really rather damn good debut solo album 'Don't Let It Go To Waste'. Bourne is... erm, actually I've no idea what Bourne's doing. Are Son Of Dork still going?
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NEW ORDER ON HIATUS?
New Order have strongly implied they're going to take a break, with Peter Hook reportedly telling Argentinean newspaper Pagina/12 that the band's most recent gig at Buenos Aires' Club Ciudad might be their last ever.
Though drummer Stephen Morris is less extreme on the issue, he seems to suggest the band aren't quite as happy doing the New Order thing as they were a couple of years back. He said: "We've got seven songs left from 'Waiting For The Sirens' Call' and we didn't want to make an album that was the rest of another one. Besides 'Waiting For The Sirens' Call' wasn't a successful enough record for our label to say 'Yes! Yes! Yes' but more like, 'Uhmmm, maybe'. This is strange time to be New Order. It was good a couple of years ago when everyone was saying we were 'Godlike Geniuses' [the band won that very title at the 2005 NME Awards] and the fans recognised the band. There are a lot of New Orders around and we're the old guys of the neighbourhood, so we should stop for a while and let them take our place."
He concluded: "I could say there won't be New Order for a couple of years, but as I said before we're bad at planning things so let's see what happens".
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ANITA O'DAY DIES
US jazz star Anita O'Day has died at the age of 87. The singer, who rose to prominence in the forties and fifties, passed away in her sleep from a cardiac arrest. She was at the time in a convalescent hospital, recovering from a bout of pneumonia. She was widely regarded to be the last surviving 'great' of what is considered the golden age of jazz, contemporaries including the likes of Billie Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn having predeceased her.
Born in Chicago in 1919, O'Day had no formal training, but began her singing career during her teens, first coming to national attention when she sang hit track 'Let Me Off Uptown' with the Gene Krupa band. She was well known for her versions of songs such as 'Honeysuckle Rose' and 'Sweet Georgia Brown', and was notorious for her refusal to wear evening gowns in the manner of fellow female singers, instead wearing a band jacket and skirt.
Later in her career, she succumbed to alcohol and drug addictions, and was dubbed the 'jezebel of jazz' because of her occasional related arrests.
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ONLINE RADIO STATION TAKE OVER PEEL'S FESTIVE FIFTY
The people behind an internet radio station established in the memory of John Peel have announced they will be continuing Peel's traditional Festive Fifty this year.
Organisers of Dandelion Radio explain: "John Peel started the Festive Fifty in 1976 as a listeners' poll of the best tracks of the year. It wasn't held the next year, resumed by popular demand in 1978, and has been held every year since, with an extra 'All Time Festive 50' in 1999. Radio One has decided not to continue with it this year, but some of John Peel's old programme team, feeling that the tradition should be kept alive, have asked internet station Dandelion Radio to take over the sleigh reins and keep it going. So this year, the Festive 50 continues on www.dandelionradio.com".
Anyone can vote in the poll by visiting the below page on the station's website - press info on the poll and station from [email protected]
http://www.dandelionradio.com/pages/festive50_poll_form.html
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IT'S GOING TO BE A KILLER CHRISTMAS
The Killers are set to release a new track for Christmas, to be released via iTunes only from 5 Dec. The band recorded the song, 'A Great Big Sleigh', last week with producer Alan Moulder.
Brandon Flowers explains why: "There are some great Christmas tunes that have been recorded over the years from the likes of George Michael and John Lennon. Sometimes you forget. You get so caught up in business and being an adult that you forget to have fun and enjoy things and be nice to people".
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SLADE CHRISTMAS RE-RELEASE
More seasonal singles. Slade's 'Merry Christmas Everybody' is to be released again in time for Christmas. The single was first released back in 1973, of course, but now it'll be a contender for Christmas number one 2006. Ladbrokes are giving it quite good odds. Which isn't surprising, really. It has become synonymous with Christmas here in the UK, and actually, it's a great track.
Nick Weinberg of Ladbrokes says: "They're second in the betting behind X-Factor but it looks as though Simon Cowell won't have things his own way this Christmas. The song's a classic and our customers are backing it to have a massive impact."
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INTERPOL BEGIN THIRD ALBUM
Interpol have started work on recording their third album. The band have been writing material during 2006, but have now gone into the studio. The group write on their official website: "We are now recording album 3. The studio is in NYC, and we're enjoying being local. The atmosphere and the environs of a recording facility affect the sound and feel of an album in the subtlest ways. And we are affected. And it is subtle. Sounds great so far. But we'll be here for a while yet. Upward and outward. Begin, begin. Big kisses all around."
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CREAM RELEASE ANTHEMS COMPO
The Cream people (the superclub, not Eric Clapton and co) will release their Anthems 2007 triple CD compilation album on Monday featuring a stack of the year's biggest and bestest producers and dance tracks. Among the tracks featured are all of the following:
Fedde Le Grande - Put Your Hands Up For Detroit
Mason - Exceeder
Fish Go Deep - The Cure & The Cause
Bootyluv - Boogie Tonight
Outwork - Electro
Bob Sinclar - Rock This Party
Plump DJS - Electric Disco (D Ramirez Mix)
Dirty Ann - Turn Me On
Roger Sanchez - Lost (D Ramirez Mix)
BodyRox - Yeah Yeah (D Ramirez Mix)
Fireflies - I Can't Get Enough
Oakenfold feat Pharell - Sex & Money
Basement Jaxx - Hush Boy
David Guetta vs The Egg - Love Don't Let Me Go
Moby - New York
Sharam - Party All The Time
Steve Angello & Laidback Luke - Otherwise Then
ENUR - Calabria
Press info is available from [email protected]
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!K7 RELEASE FUNKSTORUNG MIXES COLLECTION
German dance production duo Funkstorung announced they were splitting up back in August after twelve years working together. With that in mind, !K7 are releasing a collection of the duo's finest remixes on an album called 'Appendix', which will be released on 22 Jan. The tracks featured are as follows...
Spacek - 1st Stroke
Phon.o - Trick Or Treat
Barry Adamson - Whispering Streets
Björk - All Is Full Of Love
Lamb - Heaven
Lusine ICL - Sustain
Towa Tei - Latte & Macaron
Raveonettes - Love In A Trashcan
Nils Petter Molvaer - Axis Of Ignorance
Beanfield - Close To You
Enik - No Fire
Press info from [email protected]
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ALBUM REVIEW: Yppah - You Are Beautiful At All Times (Ninja Tunes)
If post-rock is using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes, to use guitars to create rolling waves and crashing rocks rather than repetitive riffs and soulless strumming, then Yppah could almost be post-hip-hop in the same respect. Mixing taped and live drums with synthesisers, massively reverbed guitars, turntables and samples, 'You Are Beautiful At All Times' is exactly that - it might be clumsy and at odds with itself at points, but the mood of these instrumentals is entirely comparable to their post-rock counterparts - perfectly suited to epic videos featuring sped-up geological shifts. What really sets Yppah apart from all these other similar instrumentalists, and this is where the hip-hop comes into play, are the drums: polyrhythmic metamorphing beats beautifully undulate underneath everything, never so complex as to take over, but never so simple as to allow the tunes to become monotonous. This is especially true on 'I'll hit the Breaks' where Yppah sculpts some astounding rhythms. There is a worrying moment as 'Again With The Subtitles' opens with a keyboard sound that threatens to break into Daft Punk-isms, but turns out to be just aiming for, and deserving of, radio airplay. It is easy to have become at times jaded with Ninja Tune's instrumental trip-hop output, but 'You Are Beautiful At All Times' warrants repeated spins. AM
Release Date: 20 Nov
Press Contact: Ninja Tune IH [all]
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COLD WAR KIDS
Cold War Kids are going to be busy in January because they'll be flying back and forth from LA to New York for a series of gigs. They play two UK dates, next week, incidentally, at the Jug Of Ale in Brum on 29 Nov, and at Borderline in London on 30 Nov.
Here's their January schedule:
5 Jan: Los Angeles Open Bookstore
10 Jan: New York Pianos
12 Jan: Los Angeles Silverlake Lounge, LA
17 Jan: Brooklyn Union Hall
19 Jan: Los Angeles Silverlake Lounge
24 Jan: New York Mercury Lounge
26 Jan: Los Angeles Spaceland
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BEN FOLDS TOUR
Oh, yes. Ben Folds, who I won't describe as a 'CMU favourite', because that doesn't even half convey the reverence this man commands at CMU towers, has announced a series of tour dates for January. It's very thoughtful of him to tour so close to my birthday, which, as you surely all know, is on 31 Jan. Anyway, here are the dates:
23 Jan: London, Hammersmith Apollo
25 Jan: Sheffield, City Hall
26 Jan: Glasgow, Academy
27 Jan: Manchester, Apollo
28 Jan: Wolverhampton, Civic
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NIRVANA MAN ON TOUR WITH FLIPPER
Former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic is to join San Francisco's post-punkers Flipper on a UK and Ireland tour, including the band's appearance at ATP's Nightmare Before Christmas on 9 Dec. Tour dates as follows:
11 Dec: London, Scala
13 Dec: Manchester, Academy 3
14 Dec: Glasgow, Garage
15 Dec: Belfast, Lavery's
16 Dec: Dublin, The Village
17 Dec: Galway, Roisin Dubh
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ILLEGAL DUTCH BITTORRENT SITE FORCED OFFLINE BY BREIN
One for fans of illegal music sites. Or, rather, the closing down of illegal music sites. A Dutch website that provided torrentlinks to illegal sources of music, films and games has gone offline after officials from the country's anti-piracy group, BREIN, got heavy with the company who hosted it.
Extremepowertorrents.nl was established in response to BREIN action taken against another illegal Bittorrent service, NLExperience. It offered some 20,000 registered users access to 1500 free verified torrentlinks to copyrighted content.
The anti-piracy group had previously summoned the owners of the website and the company that hosted it, on the grounds they were violating copyrights, but had received no response. To that end they sent officials to meet with the site's hosts, and following that meeting, the hosting company issued their clients at Extremepowertorrents.nl with a cease and desist letter, an action which led to the site going offline.
Nevertheless, BREIN is now demanding compensation from the hosting company. They say that as a result of BREIN's attempts to identify the owners of the bittorrent service, the hosting firm discovered that the contact details they had for the site's owners were false. BREIN say they should have pulled the site on learning that fact, but instead did not share this information with the anti-piracy organisation for a further six weeks. BREIN wants compensation for the six week period the hosting firm allowed the illegal website to continue trading, with a figure of 280,000 euros reported.
Commenting on their action against Extremepowertorrents.nl, BREIN chief Tim Kuik told reporters yesterday: "Many pirate websites are hosted at shady hosting providers who are not very precise about complying with the law - they run a heavy risk".
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EMI UK SIGN UP TO PSP PLAYLIST
EMI Music UK yesterday announced it was the first British major record company to sign up to the PSP Playlist, a platform operated by HiFi Entertainment. The deal means that PlayStation Portable users will be able to download music videos from EMI's catalogue to play on the Sony made devices.
Confirming the deal, EMI's Commercial Manager Of Digital Media told CMU: "PSP owners are substantial in number and content hungry. This deal will give consumers of the PSP format access to videos from EMI Music UK's rich back catalogue, generating incremental sales for our artists. We are looking forward to working with psp-playlist.com to give our artists maximum exposure via the untapped PSP platform".
Bela Molnar, MD of HiFi Entertainment, added: "EMI Music UK's digital department is the most innovative amongst the major labels, hence their quick response to the ever changing digital market. The quick downturn of the UMD market has left many of the big believers of the format disappointed, including us. We knew that the PSP market is huge, but it needed a different platform to provide content to the users. We believe that psp-playlist.com will provide the new way of communication with the PSP users".
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EMI SIGN UP TO JAMSTER MOBILE
More EMI agreements of a digital kind, and the major has reached a Euro-wide agreement with Crazy Frog people Jamster which will see the mobile music firm make realtones and videos from EMI artists available to phone users across the EMEA region. EMI's digital catalogue of 250,000 full tracks will also be available via Jamster's a-la-carte and subscription based download services.
Confirming the deal, Jean-Francois Cecillon, boss of EMI Music Continental Europe, told reporters: "More and more consumers are using their phones to listen to music, or... using music to personalise their mobile phones. Music is now central to the mobile experience and we're pleased to be able to expand our relationship with one of the largest digital entertainment distributors in Europe. This deal is a cornerstone in our European mobile strategy, and demonstrates our commitment to this fast moving sector".
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OFCOM TO ALLOW IPOD MINI-TRANSMITTERS
OfCom has announced it will legalise those previously reported devices that allow MP3 player owners to transmit the output of their digital music players to their car stereos.
The iTrip plugs into an MP3 player and converts its output into a low FM signal, which can be picked up by a car stereo sitting beneath it, providing an easy way for iPod owners to play their digital music collection through their car's sound system. Which is all well and good, except that UK radio licensing rules forbid anyone without a licence from transmitting FM signals - even if said signal is so low it only goes a couple of metres. As a result iTrips have not, so far, been available legitimately here in the UK (ie you'll find them on dodgy market stalls but not in Currys). But, following lobbying from various quarters who pointed out that the rules forbidding the use of iTrips were decades out of date (they stemmed from 1949 legislation), OfCom has said it will allow the use of certain iTrip style devices.
That said, use of some devices currently on the market will remain illegal because they do not meet OfCom's technical specifications. Plus, many iTrip users, especially in London, say the problem with the devices isn't the fact they are illegal, but that is more or less impossible to find a bit of the FM spectrum to use the devices on, with every gap between official radio stations filled with pirate services.
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PRESS GAZETTE FUTURE LOOKING BLEAK
Media industry magazine Press Gazette faces closure after those previously reported attempts to put together a consortium of newspaper owners who would form a trust that would fund the title failed. Associated Newspapers and Telegraph Media Group were leading the efforts to form such a trust, an idea devised, if I remember rightly, by the magazine's editor after current owners Matthew Freud and Piers Morgan put the title into administration.
But two major players in the newspaper sector, News International and Guardian News & Media (the latter of which, of course, already owns its own popular media news magazine and website), yesterday said they weren't interested in participating, despite a report by former industry exec Roger Eastoe suggesting the Gazette could become a going concern under a Trust ownership.
With two major players resisting, the Trust proposals cannot proceed, meaning the future of the title now lies with the company's administrator - Robert Allen of Vantage Corporate Restructuring. Which possibly means those media types are going to have to find a new source of media news. If only there was a free daily music business e-newsletter which including all the key media stories of the day.
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LOCAL RADIO COMPANY RAISES CASH THROUGH NEW SHARE ARRANGEMENT
The Local Radio Company, which owns 28 regional stations across the UK, yesterday raised £3 million by making new shares available. The money will be used to slash its debt and to fund further expansion through acquisition.
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SINGLE REVIEW: Subtle - The Mercury Craze (EMI/Lex)
Taken from Subtle's sublime 'For Hero: For Fool', a perfect primer for all the crazy ideas, arrangements and words that occupy main man doseone's consciousness. Asking "what if your blood weren't you?", 'The Mercury Craze' is one of those perfect songs that satisfies the long standing fan's yearning for head-spinning weirdness but all rapped up in a bounce that would prick up the ears of anyone who has ever enjoyed the Gorillaz. Past singles have showcased some amazing remixes, allowing altered-visionaries such as Mike Patton or Boards of Canada free re-shuffle access to dose's thoughts, so it's a shame that this doesn't offer anything of this sort. But it does nothing to diminish the sneaking suspicion that doseone may very well emerge as one of the most important artist of this generation of noise makers. AM
Release Date: 20 Nov
Press Contact: EMI IH [all]
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BBC PLAN TOTP CHRISTMAS DAY EDITION AS NORMAL
The BBC is planning a Top Of The Pops Christmas special, despite axing the show earlier this year. The traditional one hour Christmas day version of the show will go ahead, with The Killers, Scissor Sisters, Razorlight and Gnarls Barkley all set to appear. Though don't get too excited - Fearne Cotton will still present. Probably best to watch it on SkyPlus, then you can skip the links.
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ANOTHER BABY SEAL
Just can't resist it, can I? Seal has confirmed via his website that his wife Heidi Klum has given birth to his second child. The baby boy, born Wednesday, has been named Johan Riley Fyodor Taiwo Samuel, which is a bit of a mouthful. The singer wrote on Seal.com: "To our children, a brother. To our parents, a grandson. To my wife and I, a son. To our family, a blessing. He is healthy, beautiful and looks just like his mother."
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LILY ALLEN NOT A HUGE FAN OF NME
Lily Allen's been having another rant on her MySpace blog, this time about NME and the recent cool list thingy. She complains that "they sold me down the river when I last talked to them" - when they reported that previously reported cocaine gag. Well, she says it was a joke. Look: "They glorified my joke and used it out of context then their public relations dept contacted the tabloids in a shameful attempt to sell more copies."
She goes on to say that because of the previously reported success of women in the magazine's 2006 'Cool List', she'd been involved in a cover photoshoot with the four other women who made it into the top ten, but then the publication put Muse on the cover instead, which one assumes was a commercial decision (rumours were circulating to that effect earlier in the week).
She wrote: "I went to get a copy yesterday, and this is what we got. Another fuckin' MUSE cover. I don't really think the NME are in any position to tell us who is cool and who isn't. Personally I don't think a bunch of people sitting in an office drinking tea inventing musical genres and watching Nathan Barley DVD's are leading any kind of cool brigade, do you?"
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ELTON ON NOEL
Commenting on this week's big battle for the album chart top spot (with Westlife, Oasis, U2 and the Beatles all releasing albums this week), Elton John has offered his opinion, possibly because it provided an opportunity to diss Noel Gallagher, seemingly a bit bitter about previous comments the Oasis man made about him.
Here's what Elton has to say: "I'm so glad Westlife are ahead of Oasis. After what fucking Noel Gallagher said about me I couldn't give a shit about Oasis ... he's just such a tosser. He's an absolute tosser and he looks like Parker from 'Thunderbirds'. They don't deserve to be Number One. It's not a greatest hits album because they've left three of their biggest hits off it".
Current expectations are that Westlife will be number on Sunday, with The Beatles' 'The LOVE Album' currently slightly ahead of the Oasis best of.