| CMU Daily - on the inside Tuesday 18th March |
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In today's CMU Daily:
- More P2P news - Japan, Italy, Sweden
- Judge rules on McCartney Mills divorce - she gets £24.3 million
- Combs and Rosemond deny new Tupac allegations
- Abba drummer found dead
- East London Lil Wayne gig cut short by violence
- McKagan on Velvet Revolver tour
- Monkey project covers Bowie
- Sheryl Crow to collaborate with Fleetwood Mac
- NIN ask fans to make videos
- Subways attack celebrities
- Music stars warn Irish against BNP
- Vince Power announces new festival
- All The Rage launch
- Bjork headlines Wild In The Country
- Be Your Own Pet cause food fight
- No venue shift for Brits
- CD single take out of stat man's average shopping basket
- EMI confirm staff consultation process under way
- Warner chief renews contract for five years
- GCap buy into social networking firm
- LiveWire buy Groove Mobile
- Jazz FM relaunch irrelevant to smooth FM rejig proposals
- Craig David wants Bond gig
- Kate Moss banned from Kills appearances
- Madonna denies more failing marriage reports
- Abdul has subconscious crush on Cowell, or something
- Kate Nash threw beer over industry crowd
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TOP BIT
Another reminder of our ThreeWeeks programme this morning, because I'm off to Scotland shortly so all things Edinburgh Festival are in my mind, and because I'm off to Scotland very very shortly and have a plane to catch and need to make this quick.
ThreeWeeks, of course, is CMU's sister publication, and the chief media at the Brighton and Edinburgh Festivals. Built on the back of a unique student education programme, ThreeWeeks provides the most comprehensive coverage of two of the UK's biggest and bestest cultural festivals, the Brighton Festival in May and Edinburgh Festival in August.
It's the student education programme I should plug. Each year we recruit and train 120 students from all over the UK who then form our review teams at these two festivals. These are voluntary positions, but provide an excellent skills-enhancing experience for anyone looking to work in the media, as well as the opportunity to see your work published in a well respected media and to experience these brilliant festivals in a totally unique way.
If you are, or know, a student or young person with media ambitions, then make sure you check this out. Full details and applications forms are available at the URLs below. The closing date for Brighton applicants is 28 Mar, for Edinburgh it is 16 May.
http://www.collegemedianetwork.co.uk/3weeksedinburgh
http://www.collegemedianetwork.co.uk/3weeksbrighton
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JOBS N STUFF
CHERRY RED RECORDS
Cherry Red Records - a West London based independent record label - have a vacancy for a role which includes running the publishing division, helping with business affairs, and putting together new catalogue release projects. Previous publishing experience is essential as is a good knowledge of the 80s, 90s, and contemporary music scene. Candidates should also have a good initiative and be able to come up with projects ideas. Please send CV and covering letter to [email protected]
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CMU RECOMMENDED
REMIX ALL-NIGHTER - PLUS SPECIAL OFFER FOR STUDENTS
The next CMU recommended Remix All-Nighter takes over the seOne Club at London Bridge later this week for a brilliant pre-Easter party.
There'll be three rooms of fun. In the Remix room you'll get live sets from The Whip and Vitalic, plus Remix chief Eddy TM and Busy P (Ed Banger) on the decks and VJ Fay Buzzard doing visual stuff. Next up will be a room hosted by Orbital co-founder and general dance music pioneer Phil Hartnoll, named for and showcasing his new venture Long Range. And then, to top off all that, there will be a whole room of all things Ninja Tune, featuring no less than DJ Food & DK, Coldcut (Jon Moore DJ Set), Bonobo, Daedelus, The Qemists and VJ Mox. And on top of all that CMU is hosting the VIP room, with the all new CMU:DJs on the decks.
It all takes place this Thursday, 20 Mar, book your tickets here:
http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_london&
query=detail&event=252490&interface=
SPREAD THE WORD! SPECIAL STUDENT DISCOUNT FROM CMU
CMU and Remix All-nighter promoters have teamed up to offer students a special price for the night of just £7. To get the discount you need a special code for when you order your tickets, and you can get the code by emailing your name and university name to [email protected] But do it quick - there are a limited number of discounted tickets available.
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SNAP OF THE DAY: SOMEONE STILL LOVES YOU, BORIS YELTSIN
A fantastically named fantastic band, Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin release their second album, the not so fantastically named 'Pershing', on 19 May, a date that I've got firmly etched in my diary. Sonically similar to US indie contemporaries The Shins and Ben Kweller, they're burrowing into the realms of college radio with their fuzzily lovely pop songs, following in the footsteps of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah et al with their organic (ie: minus label promotion push) rise to popularity. Their songs about girls - 'Glue Girls' and 'Oregon Girl' - are the best offerings on their Myspace, simple, perky and heartfelt guitar-led ditties that would fit nicely onto a High School mix tape. Head to the link below for a listen.
http://www.myspace.com/boris
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MORE P2P NEWS - JAPAN, ITALY, SWEDEN
Hmm, this is interesting. Billboard is reporting unconfirmed media reports in Japan that suggest that four Japanese internet service providers have agreed to cut off net users who "habitually use" file-sharing applications to access illegal sources of unlicensed music.
It's not clear which ISPs are involved and who they have agreed such action with, and no net firm, nor the Recording Industry Association Of Japan, nor the country's songwriter body JASRAC have, as yet, commented. But if the reports are true it could have important ramifications in the music industry's wider bid to persuade ISPs to take a more proactive role in policing illegal content distribution online by setting a precedent that monitoring users' internet activity, and warning and ultimately cutting off customers who illegally file share, is both possible and desirable. If nothing else it would act as a good pilot as to the practicalities of such an initiative, which might provide the record industries with a stronger case for persuading the ISPs elsewhere in the world to act (or, if it's a complete disaster, the ISPs with a stronger case not to act).
The unconfirmed reports from Japan come as officials in Italy have limited the power of the record companies in the P2P domain. There the President of Italy's national body for "guaranteeing the protection of private data" overturned an earlier court ruling that forced ISPs to reveal the identities of customers who were believed to have been file sharing. An Italian magistrate had earlier granted German record label Peppermint the right to find out the real addresses of 300 suspected file sharers, about whom the label only knew the IP addresses. But data protection chief Francesco Pizzetti overturned the ruling.
Whereas the move in Japan, if true, would see the battle against P2P file sharing in that territory move into a whole new era, whilst the Italian ruling is a backwards step. As much previously reported, record labels need ISPs to reveal the identities of suspected file sharers because their own monitoring can only ever identify such people by their IP address, and you can't bring a copyright infringement action against an IP address. Courts in most territories have been willing to force ISPs to hand over such information, albeit on a case by case basis rather than as a matter of course.
However, it's not unknown for courts in some jurisdictions to not comply with the music companies' requests for information - most recently the Spanish courts ruled that ISP Telefonica did not have to reveal details of suspected file sharers there, that ruling coming after the European courts ruled that European law puts no obligation on the ISPs to comply, making the whole issue one for national and not European law. Which is why Italy (and Spain) can say ISPs do not have to reveal file sharers' identities, while courts in other European jurisdictions, here in the UK for example, and, as we shall see, in Sweden, have said they do.
Italian consumer rights groups who have been critical of the record companies' heavy handed approach to the P2P problem welcomed Pizzetti's ruling while, needless to say, the boss of Italy's record industry trade body FIMI was less happy, telling Billboard: "The whole issue of P2P needs to be addressed in Italy, but this particular decision is very strange. As far as we're concerned, it's as if a person is apprehended for shop-lifting and the authorities, instead of investigating the thief, investigate the police officers who made the arrest".
To Sweden, and clarification by political types there that the courts should force ISPs to reveal consumer identities when illegal file sharing is suspected, though again on a case by case basis. The country's Justice Minister Beatrice Ask and Culture Minister Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth both put their name to an article this week that said: "We need to... stand up for musicians, authors, filmmakers and all other copyright owners so that they have the right to their own material. Courts... shall be able to demand an internet provider to give the copyright owner information about who had a certain IP address when it was used for infringement on the Internet".
Although the moves in Sweden to ensure the courts aid the record industry in the whole P2P battle will be good news to the record industry compared to the current situation in Italy and Spain, ISPs there, like here, continue to resist calls for them to introduce day to day monitoring of internet use and to issue routine warnings for illegal file sharing, ie the measures reportedly being considered in Japan (measures which have, as also previously reported, had some support from political types here and in France). Asked to comment on Ask and Liljeroth's comments, a spokesman for Swedish ISP Com Hem said their proposals were good in that they kept the issue of policing P2P in the court room, rather than making ISPs "act as police", adding: "It's good in the way that we don't have to judge whether an Internet activity is legal or illegal".
As so the whole P2P thing continues to develop. Albeit in different ways in different countries.
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JUDGE RULES ON MCCARTNEY MILLS DIVORCE - SHE GETS £24.3 MILLION
So, it was revealed yesterday that that there Heather Mills will get a divorce pay off of £24.3 million from good old Paul McCartney, which isn't bad for four years work, though there's the whole everyone hating her thing, which I suppose should be put into the equation somewhere as to whether the whole marriage debacle was worth it.
The £24.3 million splits up into a £14 million lump sum, an additional £2.5 million to buy a London property and £7.8 million in assets. The pay out was decided upon by Mr Justice Bennett after the couple failed to reach a settlement during their divorce proceedings last month. The whole divorce case was held behind doors, of course, as is the norm with Family Court cases at first instance, but the judge issued a summary report outlining his ruling on the matter yesterday afternoon, seemingly with the blessing of both McCartney and Mills. The former said he'd like a full report of the divorce proceedings to be published, but Mills is opposing that on the basis it would infringe the couple's daughter's privacy. The judge is expected to decide whether or not to publish regardless later today.
McCartney made no other comment about the ruling, though Mills did. She said she was "very, very happy" with the judge's decision, even though the court statement revealed that it was nowhere near the sum she had originally demanded - which was in the region of £125 million. However, it was more than the £15 million Macca's people originally offered (a fact also included in the court's statement), so Mills saw the judges ruling as a victory, adding "I'm not appealing against the judgment because it's not worth it". Despite being "very, very happy", Mills still found time to rant about the British justice system and lawyers in general, adding that she was glad that, in the end, she represented herself in court, and encouraged others in divorce cases to consider doing so, telling reporters: "You can be a litigant in person. It's not easy, but just make sure you do all your research, save yourself a fortune".
Of course many lawyers would probably disagree, mainly because the £25 million Mills won, while £10 million more than Macca offered, is less than some experts had expected. And a lot less than some had predicted. Key to the relative lowness of the pay off were the judge's opinion that McCartney was actually worth about £400 million, and not the £800 million Mills claimed, or the £600 million often quoted. The shortness of the marriage and the fact the majority of that fortune predated it are also said to have been a consideration. Still, the consensus among lawyers last night was that McCartney had got off quite lightly. And from a PR point of view, Macca is also probably also the winner - especially if the full court papers do get published, the fact McCartney is pro-publication presumably means there's lots of comical Mills ranting in the documents that could further public disdain for the former Mrs McCartney.
Still, Mills did get £17,000 for every day of the couple's marriage, and possibly got the last laugh given the dampness of McCartney's lawyer's hair as she left the court house and Heather's comment that lawyer Fiona Shackleton had been "baptised in court". Many infer that Mills threw a glass of water over Macca's legal rep, and at the end of the day, say what you like about Heather, but I think we've all wanted to throw some water at a lawyer at some point in our lives.
Anyway, the matter is resolved, except for the possible publication of the full court papers and the Mills mocking that is sure to follow. Despite the money to buy a London home, many expected her to now up sticks and settle down in America.
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COMBS AND ROSEMOND DENY NEW TUPAC ALLEGATIONS
Sean 'Diddy' Combs has denied those new allegations that he knew an attack against rival hip hopper Tupac Shakur was planned before it happened. As reported yesterday, LA Times writer Chuck Phillips, in a new article on the mid-nineties US hip hop feuds, claims that Diddy was at the Quad Recording Studios in New York the night that Tupac was shot nearby, and that he had been told that his rival would be attacked before it actually happened.
The 1994 shooting of Tupac is seen by many as a catalyst in the at times violent hip hop feuding which led to another shooting of Shakur two years later - that time fatal - and the subsequent murder of Diddy collaborator the Notorious BIG. Allegations have been made in the past about other hip hop types being involved in the 1994 attack on Shakur, or at least about them being aware of it before the event, though Phillips says his latest investigations into the affair have given those rumours new credibility, though he admits that Diddy possibly only knew of plans to "rough Shakur up", and possibly did not know the plan was to shoot him in what seemed very much like attempted murder.
But Combs denied everything Phillips claimed yesterday, quickly issuing a statement denying the allegations against him and criticising the LA Times for publishing them. The statement read: "The story is beyond ridiculous and is completely false. I am shocked that the Los Angeles Times would be so irresponsible as to publish such a baseless and completely untrue story".
The boss of hip hop firm Czar Entertainment, Jimmy Rosemond, who is also accused by Phillips of having prior knowledge of the attack on Shakur (and of having a more proactive role in organising it), also issued a denial yesterday. He told AllHipHop.com: "In the past 14 years, I have not even been questioned by law enforcement with regard to the assault of Tupac Shakur, let alone brought up on charges. Chuck Phillips, the writer who in the past has falsely claimed that the Notorious Biggie Smalls was in Las Vegas when Tupac was murdered and that Biggie supplied the gun that killed Tupac - only to be proven wrong as Biggie was in New Jersey recuperating from a car accident - has reached a new low by employing fourth-hand information from desperate jailhouse informants along with ancient FBI reports to create this fabrication".
The Czar chief concluded: "I simply ask for all rap fans and fans of Tupac to analyse this fiction for what it is along with Phillips' motives behind it. I am baffled as to why the LA Times would print this on its website when a simple and fair investigation would reveal that the allegations are false. I am currently consulting with my attorneys about my legal rights regarding this libellous piece of garbage".
It remains to be seen whether any libel action follows - it probably won't, though a libel case on this whole issue might answer some of those eternally unanswered questions about hip hop's lowest hour.
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ABBA DRUMMER FOUND DEAD
A former Abba session drummer has been found dead at his home in Majorca. Police say that the body of Ola Brunkert, 62, was discovered in his garden with cuts to the throat, and that the death appears to have been the result of a tragic accident in which the musician hit his head against and broke a glass partition, and his throat was cut by shards of the resulting shattered glass. Found by a neighbour late on Sunday night, Brunkert had managed to wrap a towel around his neck, and it's thought he left the house to get help before collapsing outside.
Brunkert played with Abba on their first single 'People Need Love', and appeared on each of their subsequent albums. He also toured with the group in 1977, 1979 and 1980.
The band's Benny Andersson called the news of Brunkert's death "tragic" whilst former band mate Bjorn Ulvaeus told Swedish paper Expressen: "I remember him as a good friend. He was a very creative musician who contributed a lot when we toured together and worked in the studio".
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EAST LONDON LIL WAYNE GIG CUT SHORT BY VIOLENCE
A Lil Wayne concert in Stratford on Sunday night was cut short after no less than six fights kicked off at the Stratford Rex venue. Actually, it sounds a bit like it was one big fight with six component parts. Word has it the gig was pretty raucous from the off due to the Rex being packed to roof. Eye witnesses say that there were scuffles from the start because of the overcrowding, while some gig goers tried to get on the stage to avoid the crowds, much to the annoyance of security. But things reportedly really kicked off after an audience member threw a bottle at Wayne, to which the rapper allegedly responded: "Whoever just done that, this whole motherfucking crowd need to beat his ass cause they just messed up the whole show". Said crowd responded thus, so much so that said bottle thrower had to be ushered out of the building for his own safety. Wayne reportedly managed two more songs after the bottle incident, but by that stage the audience had become far too restless and the show was called to an abrupt end.
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MCKAGAN ON VELVET REVOLVER TOUR
Velvet Revolver's Duff McKagan has said that his band can't be sure that their current tour will progress as planned, due to singer Scott Weiland's battle with drug addiction. But he hopes everything will go okay.
McKagan is quoted by JournalLive as saying: "Scott is OK as far as I know but I can't say he'll be fine when the tour kicks off or when it finishes. You just never know. Addiction is crazy and I should know. I can't be cagey and say, 'Oh no, we're going to be fine and everything's going to go without a hitch.' The truth is I just don't know what will happen. I don't want to read this interview where I've said there'll be no problems and then for us not to finish the tour. I don't want to have to eat my words. All I can say is that right now I'm confident it will happen and we've never sounded better as a band."
He continued: "Velvet Revolver is something that's going to be around for a long while yet. Because of the individuals involved, there are always going to be things going on around the band that will confuse fans once in a while but we're here to stay. Slash and I have been doing this job for 20 years and nothing is going to get in the way of what we're doing now."
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MONKEY PROJECT COVERS BOWIE
The Last Of The Shadow Puppets, Arctic Monkey Alex Turner and The Rascals' Miles Kane's new band, are to release their debut single next month, and it will feature a David Bowie cover as a B side. As previously reported, 'The Age Of Understatement' is out on 14 Apr, and it's now been announced that the track will be backed by a recording of Bowie's 'In The Heart Of The Morning' as well as a cover of Billy Fury's 'Wondrous Place'. As also previously reported, the band's debut album, also called 'The Age Of Understatement', is set for release on 21 Apr.
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SHERYL CROW TO COLLABORATE WITH FLEETWOOD MAC
Sheryl Crow has revealed that she's hoping to collaborate with Fleetwood Mac at some point, a partnership that's thought to have come about because of her close friendship with the band's singer Stevie Nicks. Crow, who released a new album, 'Detours' last month, explained that the two acts are likely to tour together in the next year or so but added: "I don't want to make any official announcements, but I will say that we definitely have plans for collaborating in the future, and we'll see what happens. I'd love to do 'The Chain', I'd love to do 'Second Hand News'".
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NIN ASK FANS TO MAKE VIDEOS
Trent Reznor has invited fans to create videos for the tracks on new NIN instrumental album 'Ghost I-IV', and has teamed up with YouTube to hold an online 'film festival' for the LP. Participants are asked to create films for the songs they like, and then a judging panel will decide which ones get aired as part of the project.
Trent Reznor wrote on NIN.com: "The concept is for you to take whatever tracks you feel inspired by from Ghosts... and create what you feel should accompany them visually. This isn't a contest and you don't win elaborate prizes - it's meant to be an experiment in collaboration and a chance for us to interact beyond the typical one-way artist-to-fan relationship."
More info available on the NIN YouTube page, here: http://www.youtube.com/user/ninofficial.
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SUBWAYS ATTACK CELEBRITIES
Not literally. The Subways' Billy Lunn has said that one of the tracks on his band's new album 'All Or Nothing' is a criticism of all things celebrity. The singer says of the track, 'California', written shortly after the band returned from their first trip to the US: "That's really just a kick at the celebrity culture. We find it completely despicable. If you look back about a hundred years ago all the people who were famous were politicians, scientists, people who were contributing sometime positive. Science was a popular culture, whereas now Jordan's more famous than the fact that these people are trying to create black holes."
Lunn also said that he and his band are looking forward to making a number of festival appearances this summer, saying "Charlotte and Josh will tell you that we sort of live for festivals, we can't wait for them. Stepping off a bus, seeing the grass and just seeing the music. It's totally gonna kick off this year with the festivals."
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MUSIC STARS WARN IRISH AGAINST BNP
Billy Bragg, Carl Barat and Pete Doherty are amongst those who have signed an open letter to London's Irish community urging them not to vote for the BNP in the upcoming Mayoral election. You might wonder why they should aim it at the Irish in particular - well, apparently the BNP have been targeting the Irish community in London with a leaflet which claims that the BNP "is the only party who care about the Irish. Our jobs are under threat from economic migrants and only the BNP will stop this. The BNP value [sic] the Irish community and will defend their interests."
The letter, issued by Rock Against Racism and signed by MPs, union types and sportsmen as well as musicians, was published yesterday - St Patrick's Day - and says "We believe that the BNP remains an inherently racist organisation; their past and present is based not on nationalism or patriotism, but fascism. The Irish community in Britain and especially in London has a long history of involvement in anti-fascist and anti-racist activities. Everyone who rejects the BNP's politics of hate has the duty to do everything they can to stop them. We urge the Irish community and all communities in London to reject the politics of division and hate in May."
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VINCE POWER ANNOUNCES NEW FESTIVAL
Mean Fiddler founder Vince Power is returning to the UK live music industry with a new "back to basics" festival called A Day At The Hop Farm.
The festival will be Power's first project in the UK festival market since selling his stake in Mean Fiddler - part of that sale limited his activity in the UK market for a time. Based at the Hop Farm at the Kentish Oast Village in Paddock Wood, Tonbridge, the new festival is set to be headlined by Neil Young, and promises a totally un-corporate experience, with the press release boasting that "the event will be totally unbranded, free of registration and without any VIP areas - with the aim of being a festival for festival goers, returning live music to its roots, where you turn up with your ticket and enjoy the same experience as every other ticket holder!"
Commenting on it, Power told CMU: "This is my first festival in the UK in the last three years, and since then I have been enjoying great success with Benicassim in Spain. I am happy to be returning to create a new independent festival in a far more competitive marketplace, which counteracts the current brand saturated music scene - making the festival goers themselves the most important element of the event. My plan is to own and run more festivals across the UK and Europe in the future!"
The new festival takes place on 6 Jul, and tickets go on sale this morning. Press info from Zest PR.
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ALL THE RAGE LAUNCH
Music promoters All The Rage are launching a new online community for older music fans (I think they mean sensible adults rather than, erm, unsensible teens and early twenty-somethings, that is to say, not senior citizens) which will give members information about and access to a whole programme of 'gigs for grown ups' organised by the live music firm, as well as access to downloads, interviews, news, and a free The Rage annual compilation CD. Members will also be invited to a new monthly showcase event, which kicks off tonight at the Big Chill Bar in Kings Cross, London with Little Lost David and Christopher D Ashley playing. You'll find more info on all this at http://www.therage.tv/ while press types should speak to Zest for more information.
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BJORK HEADLINES WILD IN THE COUNTRY
Bjork has confirmed that she is to headline Wild In The Country, and that it will be her only UK festival appearance this summer. Also appearing on the bill for the event, taking place at Knebworth Park in Stevenage on 5 Jul, are the likes of Pendulum, Foals, Late of the Pier, Killa Kela, Annie Mac and Plump DJs. Early bird tickets for the event are currently on sale.
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BE YOUR OWN PET CAUSE FOOD FIGHT
Be Your Own Pet's free gig at London's Vision Videobar last night ended in a food fight involving a lot of whipped cream and some wrestling. The surprise event, announced via the band's MySpace page, was held to promote the release of second album 'Get Awkward' and ended up with the band pelting the audience with the aforementioned cream during the last two songs. The audience responded by throwing back cream of their own and band members Jonas Stein and Nathan Vasquez ended up wrestling each other in the middle of the audience. Wacky.
Singer Jemina Pearl Abegg told NME.com: "We've done the food fight two times already, and it's been pretty brutal. Tonight was the most tame though. It's not a shame, do you want your clothes permanently stained? Do you want to have to throw away your underwear because it's stained with peas and ketchup? Do you want to wash spaghetti o's out of your hair for a week? No, you don't. Be thankful this was tame. I thought it'd be a cool idea. It was fun the first time!"
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NO VENUE SHIFT FOR BRITS
Will those of you at the back saying that next year's Brit Awards will take place at The O2 just stop it? Organisers of the record industry's big bash yesterday denied reports the event would move venues next year, confirming the awards will take place at Earls Court again in 2009. So, there you have it.
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CD SINGLE TAKE OUT OF STAT MAN'S AVERAGE SHOPPING BASKET
Not sure what this means, but the CD single has been removed from the "typical basket" used by the Office For National Statistics to monitor inflation. The mythical basket of goods people commonly buy is occasionally updated to represent public spending habits. The CD single has been taken out of the basket because ONS say people are increasingly buying single track releases via download stores. But the CD is not dead - the CD album has been added to the basket in the singles place. Other new additions to the average shopper's basket include USB sticks, fruit smoothies and muffins.
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EMI CONFIRM STAFF CONSULTATION PROCESS UNDER WAY
The previously reported "staff consultation process" is officially up and running at EMI. The consulting will decide which third of the major record company's workforce will be axed as part of new owner Terra Firma's big downsize. Terra Firma/EMI Group boss Guy Hands has reportedly written to every member of staff at the major to tell them that their job is now "officially under scrutiny". According to the Times, the biggest cuts will be in sales, marketing and distribution, with A&R types seemingly less affected by the cull.
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WARNER CHIEF RENEWS CONTRACT FOR FIVE YEARS
One major label type with a certain degree of job security is Warner Music chief Edgar Bronfman Jr, though he does own a big chunk of the company which presumably helped. The Warner boss has renewed his contract as CEO of the company for another five years, according to a filing with the US Securities And Exchange Commission. According to Billboard, Bronfman Jr will stay on a million dollar a year contract with a bonus potentially six times that amount based on various performance targets. The new agreement also includes additional stock options. The new contract replaces that signed in March 2004 just after the Bronfman led purchase of Warner Music off Time Warner was completed.
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GCAP BUY INTO SOCIAL NETWORKING FIRM
Radio firm GCap has bought a majority stake in a social networking website called welovelocal.com which allows users to recommend local businesses to other members based in the same area.
The £450,000 purchase is part of GCap CEO Fru Hazlitt's grand new media plan, and on it she told reporters: "welovelocal.com is a business in its infancy but is already showing excellent audience growth. We will be able to accelerate this growth in a way that reinforces our connection to our local communities. We will integrate its listings and reviews into our Capital 95.8 and One Network sites, enhance and support the on-air experience across these stations and develop welovelocal.com into the leading user generated reviews site in the UK. This will allow us to build commercially attractive online communities of interest, to exploit our local presence and access new classified revenue streams".
welovelocal.com co-founder Duncan Jennings told reporters: "This is the first deal of its kind to really leverage an established media company's audience in order to grow a market leading user-generated community website. welovelocal.com has grown enormously in the few short months since our nationwide launch. We now have the opportunity to build on this early success and hit a critical mass of local business reviews through collaborating with GCap's millions of listeners. This will set us apart from our competitors and significantly increase our advertisers' exposure".
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LIVEWIRE BUY GROOVE MOBILE
More takeovers, and LiveWire Mobile has acquired mobile music service provider Groove Mobile for $14.5 million. Groove Mobile provides the back end to a number of mobile download platforms around the world, including 3's music service here in the UK. LiveWire provide "mobile personalisation and content services" to various mobile networks, and the Groove purchase will enable them to add full track downloads to their other B2B service packages.
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JAZZ FM RELAUNCH IRRELEVANT TO SMOOTH FM REJIG PROPOSALS
Media regulator OfCom has said that the Guardian Media Group's Smooth Radio franchise cannot automatically drop its commitment to jazz music just because its parent company is planning on launching a new jazz only digital service.
GMG Radio recently announced plans to relaunch Jazz FM as a digital station after rivals GCap announced they were closing down their jazz service theJazz as part of their withdrawal from digital audio broadcasting.
Jazz FM used to be an analogue radio station, of course, but was relaunched as Smooth Radio by GMG with a more mainstream-friendly easy listening music policy in daytime. In order to get OfCom permission to change jazz station Jazz FM into easy station Smooth, GMG had to commit to including some jazz programming late night on Smooth in addition to some online jazz music services.
When they announced plans to relaunch Jazz FM on digital, GMG hoped that that might be used to persuade OfCom to let them drop Smooth FM's commitment to late night jazz, allowing them to output more of that mainstream-friendly easy listening. But OfCom have refused, saying the relaunch of Jazz FM on digital is irrelevant to Smooth FM's programming commitments, and that any move to remove jazz programmes from Smooth must be considered in isolation from GMG's other business ventures.
The regulator said in a statement: "It is important to note that the legislation requires Ofcom to consider the proposed changes... on a stand-alone basis and so this consultation relates solely to those two stations [the former Jazz FM now Smooth franchises in London and Manchester]. Consideration of these changes cannot be linked to any possible future request from GMG to launch a jazz station on DAB".
OfCom will now review the proposal to drop jazz from Smooth.
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CRAIG DAVID WANTS BOND GIG
Craig David has said that he would love to do a theme for new James Bond film Quantum Of Solace. Well, he says he'd like to do a theme tune, anyway. Here's what he actually said to ITV.com: "I think trying to do a themed song for a film is great, a song that encapsulates what the whole film is about. Bond would be a great one. To be honest I know Amy Winehouse is being hotly-tipped for it, which would be great if she gets to do that, but the Bond films are an institution in themselves and you'd love to, as an artist, get involved with something like that. It would be great to be involved".
He added: "I think Amy Winehouse would do a really good job with the Bond theme. My advice to her would be not to try and rhyme 'Solace' with anything - that's too hard."
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KATE MOSS BANNED FROM KILLS APPEARANCES
As you probably know, Kate Moss is dating Jamie Hince out of The Kills, and you'll also remember that when she was previously with Pete Doherty, he let her appear onstage at his Babyshambles gigs, a move reportedly not too popular with the rest of the band. Well, now the gossips are saying that since she joined Hince on his world tour, the supermodel has asked her boyfriend if she can join him on stage.
The other half of the Kills duo Alison Mosshart has seemingly put her foot down over this issue, however, if the Mirror is to be believed. A source told the tabloid: "Alison has told Kate to keep her boundaries and keep away from the microphone. Alison and Jamie have worked for years to make a name for themselves and have only recently had the success she thinks they deserve. She sees Kate as a spanner in the works and, until she came along, Alison always came first with Jamie."
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MADONNA DENIES MORE FAILING MARRIAGE REPORTS
I seem to remember that there were loads of rumours a year or two ago to the effect that Madonna's marriage to husband Guy Ritchie was on the rocks. I think they surrounded that whole David Banda adoption debacle. Anyway, the latest ones have come about because the pair have not been seen together for weeks and the gossips are saying that they are leading separate lives.
US spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg has issued a fulsome denial, however, as follows: "I am delighted to confirm that Mr and Mrs Guy Ritchie remain happily married. Though they were in different countries recently - Madonna in the US doing promotion for her upcoming album Hard Candy and Guy finishing up post-production on his new film RocknRolla as well as completing a Nike commercial and working on several scripts in England - the family are joyfully back together at home in London. All is well and wonderful in the Ritchie household."
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ABDUL HAS SUBCONSCIOUS CRUSH ON COWELL, OR SOMETHING
American Idol's Paula Abdul has said that she might have a subconscious crush on her fellow judge Simon Cowell. She says: "Just when you think we're all getting on, Simon turns and we get back into our little quarrels. I suppose it's quite funny to watch, but he's so infuriating. Maybe [I fancy him]. Subconsciously. In a really weird, Freudian way. We have a good work balance. We've all had moments where we've walked off because of Simon, but he's even walked off because of himself."
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KATE NASH THREW BEER OVER INDUSTRY CROWD
Kate Nash has admitted that she threw beer over the crowd at The Cribs' recent gig at SxSW. The singer, who is seeing the band's Ryan Jarman, says: "I threw some beer over some of the crowd at The Cribs gig over here the other day. I thought [the gig] was going to be amazing - but I got there and the band were amazing but the crowd were shit. It was just industry wankers with their clipboards. I threw a beer and it went over all of these industry people and they got upset. I was like, 'Have you never had beer thrown over you at a gig before? It's a Cribs gig.' Some of my friends have broken bones at gigs."
Well, some people would say that throwing beer and breaking bones is never good etiquette, no matter how young and crazy you are. But I'm not going to labour the point.