INTERN OPPORTUNITY AT LEYLINE
Leyline Promotions are currently looking for a web-savvy intern to join their team in west London. Main duties include managing online communities and liaising with agents, artists and press during the build up to events. Applicants must have an interest in indie and electro and be available to work some nights. Leyline's events include: The Remix, Twisted Licks, The Insomniacs Ball, The (wonderful) CMU Social and they also look after the PR for the Glade, 229 the venue and seOne.
More info: [email protected]

JUDGE MAY ISSUE ARREST WARRANT TO FORCE JOURNALIST TO TESTIFY: R KELLY TRIAL UPDATE
No further testimonies in the ongoing R Kelly trial yesterday – the defence kick off their case later today – but there was an interesting development anyway after reporter Jim DeRogatis failed to show up for pre-trial hearing regarding his testimony, leading to Judge Vincent Gaughan to threaten to put out an arrest warrant for the journalist.

As previously reported, it was DeRogatis who originally handed over a copy of the sex tape at the heart of this trial to the authorities, after a copy was left in his mail box. He claims he doesn't know who sent him the video. Kelly's defence have asked to question him as part of their case, but he has so far resisted, with the legal rep for his employer – the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper – arguing that DeRogatis' testimony would be irrelevant to the case, and that he is protected by Illinois law and First Amendment rights that mean he doesn't have to reveal the identities of any sources.

As also previously reported, Gaughan ruled last week that while DeRogatis is legally allowed to protect his sources, those laws don't mean he can avoid testifying altogether. When he failed to show up for that scheduled meeting at the court house yesterday, Gaughan again rejected the Sun-Times arguments regarding DeRogatis not having to testify, saying Kelly's lawyers wanted to know whether the journalist had tampered with the sex tape before handing it to police, and that that line of questioning would not involve the revealing of any sources.

Although at one point Gaughan seemed to be close to issuing that arrest warrant, he eventually decided to give the journalist the benefit of the doubt – possibly because DeRogatis reportedly claimed by phone that the subpoena ordering him to the courthouse had been issued incorrectly. However he has ordered the reporter to be in court today, and, unless the Chicago-Sun legal team can win a quick appeal on Gaughan's earlier ruling on DeRogatis' requirement to testify, the judge expects the media man to face questioning in court later this week.

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OINK USERS ARRESTED
Police in Cleveland have arrested five men and a woman in relation to the previously reported BitTorrent file sharing website OiNK, which was closed down by the same police force last year. As previously reported, OiNK provided registered members with links to wide catalogues of unlicensed content, including an awful lot of music, and was especially notorious as a place albums were made available sometime before their official release.

Although music industry trade bodies like the BPI assisted the authorities in the anti-piracy attack on OiNK, the fact it was a police-led initiative put the whole thing on a different level to much previous anti-file sharing action. The six people targeted this week – seemingly for using rather than running the file sharing network – were the first individual UK users to actually be arrested for illegally sharing content online. Another man was arrested last October when the site was closed down in relation to operating OiNK. All seven people are now on bail pending further investigations on allegations of high level copyright infringement.

Commenting on the police action in relation to OiNK, the BPI, who have often led previous anti-P2P action, told reporters: "The illegal online distribution of music, particularly pre-release, is hugely damaging, and as OiNK was the biggest source for pre-releases at the time we moved to shut it down. We provided the information to assist this investigation, but this is now a police matter and we are unable to comment further at this stage".

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RSS SAY ONLINE TICKETING JUST TOO DAMN CONFUSING
The Resale Rights Society, the new body launched last year by the artist management community to deal with the issue of growing online ticket touting, have said that sales of tickets to the upcoming Madonna UK dates illustrate why the online ticketing sector needs more regulation.

The RRS is referring to the previously reported fact that secondary ticketing website Viagogo is an "official premium and secondary ticketing partner" for Madonna's 'Sweet & Sticky' tour. Basically they are the primary sellers (direct from promoter to consumer) for premium ticket packages (eg those that come with hospitality) and an approved secondary seller (where they enable consumers to resell tickets to other consumers) for all other tickets.

The RRS says this is confusing, because consumers see the words "official partner" attached to Viagogo, and may go there first for standard tickets, even though the current resale price for Madonna tickets via the website is £196 while the primary seller of those level of tickets – Ticketmaster – still has tix available for £75. Meanwhile, all of Viagogo's secondary ticketing competitors are also reselling Madonna tickets (just without the official partner status) including the premium packages Viagogo is the official seller of – a £550 package from them is going for £999 on rival Seatwave. If you find all this a bit confusing, well, I think that is the RRS's point.

RRS chairman-designate Marc Marot said yesterday: "This sorry mess shows that even an artist as powerful as Madonna is not able to control the chaos in the ticketing market. Viagogo cannot have it both ways. They are either an official legitimate partner of the artist or they are attempting to take fans for whatever they can get. If they are an official part of the Madonna tour they should not be selling tickets in the secondary market when primary tickets are available for less than half the price from Ticketmaster. The live music industry risks sleep-walking into disaster if this kind of abuse of fans' goodwill is not resolved. There is a very real danger that music fans will simply walk away if there is not some kind of regulation of the market".

He concluded: "RRS is the best solution on the table and we call upon all artists, especially superstars like Madonna, and promoters to stand together to support what is clearly the most fan- and artist-friendly solution".

As previously reported, the Resale Rights Society has proposed a voluntary (ie not government enforced) regulatory system where the music industry gives ticket auction sites like Viagogo and eBay official recognition in return for them signing up to a set code of conduct and committing to pass a cut of their profits back to the artist community. The live music sector has given those proposals its support, though the secondary ticket sellers – while admitting some kind of code of conduct to protect consumers is a good idea – haven't been too keen on allowing the RSS to set that code, and certainly aren't all that keen on paying the live sector a levy.

As also previously reported, the government has called on the live sector to protect consumers over the confusing and arguably unfair nature of secondary ticketing sales, but some in the live sector say that is impossible because the secondary ticketing sites won't play ball, and it may require new laws to make them do so. 

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KEVIN GREENING DIED OF DRUGS OVERDOSE
Former Radio 1 breakfast DJ Kevin Greening died from a drugs overdose, a hearing has found. Greening, one of CMU's favourite radio DJs, and most recently a presenter on Smooth FM, died at New Year aged just 44.

A hearing at Westminster Coroner's Court this week heard that Greening died from "mixed drugs toxicity" after taking various illegal drugs prior to partaking in what the coroner described as "unorthodox sexual behaviour" - a bondage session with boyfriend Sean Griffin that involved cling film, gaffer tape and a leather sling.

Griffin was cautioned on drugs charges at the time, but was quickly cleared of initial murder charges once the circumstances surrounding the DJ's death had been properly investigated. His death was put down to misadventure.

Commenting on the events immediately prior to Greening's death, Griffin told reporters yesterday: "Kevin and I had a very happy and very vigorous sex life. It was not conventional by heterosexual norms perhaps but it was a sex life which was vigorous and imaginative and we enjoyed each other".

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LEVERT WIDOW SUES OVER NEGLIGENCE CLAIMS
The widow of US r&b singer Sean Levert has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against county officials in relation to her late husband's previously reported death while in jail. As you'll remember, Levert, son of O'Jays singer Eddie Levert and member of 80s US R&B outfit LeVert, died in March, one week into a 22 month sentence for failing to make child support payments. A coroner ruled last week that Sean Levert died of natural causes but widow Angela Lowe claims that had prison officials had acted quickly when Levert became ill he would have survived. She filed her lawsuit at the Cleveland court (different Cleveland than the OiNK story) yesterday. The local authorities are yet to respond.

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ONO PLANS TO APPEAL OVER IMAGINE RULING
Yoko Ono has said she will appeal that previously reported court ruling regarding the use of a 15 second snippet of John Lennon's song 'Imagine' in a film pro the creationist cause. Ono, Lennon's sons and EMI failed in their attempt to have the snippet removed from the film on the basis they hadn't given their permission for it to be used.

The makers of the film, called 'Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed', successfully claimed their use of the song was allowed under US copyright laws, which allow content to be used without the copyright owner's permission if done so in order to debate and criticise the work. We've been wondering on what grounds they were allowed that defence, but apparently it's because they use the line "nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too" as a way of criticising the viewpoint that the world is better off without religion.

Ono confirmed she was looking into appealing the ruling yesterday, adding: "It is a pity that this decision weakens the rights of all copyright owners. One of the most basic rights I control by reviewing and choosing licences is the right to say 'no'. The filmmakers simply looted me of the ability to do so".

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SINGLE REVIEW: The Duke Spirit – My Sunken Treasure (You Are Here) The Duke Spirit have gone all ballad-y on us and I regret to admit that I'm not sure I like it. Their debut album 'Cuts Across The Land' is one of my favourites, with punchy, ragged tracks that have a sense of urgency, and you could hear in Leila Moss' voice that she was actually sneering at you as she sang. Yet somehow 'My Sunken Treasure' leaves me a little cold. They have left behind the fuzzy garage rock, and created a pop song that bounces along fine, but there are no guts to it, nothing to get your teeth into. The song in itself is not bad, per se, but I would expect so much more from The Duke Spirit. Perhaps in amongst their current album 'Neptune' it will sit much more comfortably, but on its own, 'My Sunken Treasure' is like a small fish lost in a vast ocean, desperately trying to find its place.  DH Release Date: 9 Jun Press Contact: Darling Dept [all] back to top

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RADIOHEAD ARRIVE ON ITUNES
Radiohead's back catalogue has appeared on iTunes, at long last, making them one of the final high profile bands who had resisted doing a deal with the Apple download platform to finally make their content available there. As previously reported, Radiohead's problem with iTunes is the digital store's insistence that they can sell albums track by track – Thom Yorke et al didn't like the idea of fans picking and mixing from their albums, but have seemingly decided to back down and let people download their back catalogue as full albums or track by track via the iTunes Music Store.

Garth Brooks has also held out on iTunes for the same reason, and he is still against the track by track approach, telling the BBC: "We do albums, we have always done albums. [Brooks album] 'Friends In Low Places' is not 'Friends In Low Places' without 'Wolves Or Wild Horses'. And if people try to make it a money issue, I can get the full album to the consumer for much less than they can get it at 99 cents a song. There are a number of issues that need to be addressed in the digital downloading world before we introduce our music to it".

Other bands still to make it to iTunes include AC/DC, Def Leppard (except for their most recent album) and, of course, The Beatles.

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GUITAR HERO NEWS
Activision have announced that they will release a number of new editions of their massively successful Guitar Hero game, including one focusing on Metallica, in addition to that previously announced one with an Aerosmith theme.

The Metallica game will mainly feature tracks by the band, but music from other bands may be included too. On the upcoming new versions, the company said in a statement: "In fiscal 2009, we plan to publish Guitar Hero: On Tour for the NDS; and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Guitar Hero: Metallica, and Guitar Hero IV across multiple platforms".

A whole series of band specific versions are now expected. And there's been talk of a similar Beatles game, though it is just talk, to be fair.

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MAKE MODEL FOUNDER QUITS BAND
Make Model founder and frontman Lewis Gale, formerly of Fickle Public, has left the Glasgow-based EMI-signed indie band, who have announced their intention to continue as a five-piece. The group said in a statement that they had been through a "pretty hard, emotional week" and explained their plans.

"This has come as a huge shock to us all and has forced us very quickly to decide what to do about our current commitments" they wrote, "we have decided to cancel all our current live commitments and take some time to regroup. We really apologise for these  cancellations - it's not a decision we'd make lightly - but promise to be back out on the road soon".

Keen to stress that it should not be regarded as a break-up, the band continue: "We are NOT splitting up - Make Model lives on. We'll emerge when the time is right and Make Model can begin a new chapter. We feel strongly that it is time to become more of a collective, to stand as equals and move forward with confidence. It has been a roller coaster of emotions over the past 18 months, during which we have recorded a debut album of which we are very proud... We are confident of a bright future with a fresh ambition to make exciting music. We believe that when you are knocked down you emerge stronger - that's exactly what we plan to do".

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MINT ROYALE REMIX COULD TOP CHART AFTER TALENT SHOW EXPOSURE
That rather fine Mint Royale remix of 'Singin In The Rain', which re-entered the single charts on Sunday thanks for 'Britain's Got Talent' winner George Sampson dancing to it on the ITV show, is reportedly set to top the chart this weekend, despite being released in 2005. It got to number 20 back then, that time helped by some TV exposure too – a car ad if I remember rightly. Asked about his break dancing routine helping the single shoot back up the charts, Sampson told the BBC: "It's unbelievable - it's great to help out. The guys that made the mix messaged me on MySpace saying 'hi' so it's just incredible". So listen up pluggers of the world, you know the future of music PR – get down to TV talent show auditions and persuade acts there to use your music in their series winning performances.

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SPICE GIRLS ARE BAND OF THE YEAR
Well, at the Glamour Women of The Year event they were, which is almost understandable. The fact that they're not really a band, just a pop group that got back together for a brief period to make some more cash, doesn't seem to have affected their chances of winning.

Anyway, enough cynicism from me. The Spice Girls have been named Band Of The Year at the magazine's award bash celebrating the wonderful world of women.

Other music related winners included Lily Allen, who won the editor's Special Award, Kelly Osbourne, who got Theatre Actress Of The Year for her role in the West End production of 'Chicago', Jo Whiley was named Radio Personality Of The Year, Dannii Minogue was judged TV Personality Of The year, Annie Lennox was given an Inspiration Award, Leona Lewis got UK Solo Artist, and Beth Ditto won Best International Musician.

The token male of the evening was Mark Ronson, who won Man Of The Year.

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KISS ROCKERS DISAGREE ON REALITY SHOW PLANS
Kiss star Gene Simmons has told a reporter in Norway that that he and bandmate Paul Stanley are signed up to take part in a reality show designed to hire their own replacements so that the band can continue after they retire. Journalist Roy Hilmar Svendson quotes him as saying "we have already signed the contract, and it is going to go through in a couple of months".

Stanley meanwhile says that Simmons is exaggerating a bit, and that nothing is as yet confirmed, though he does imply that the idea is in fact on the table. He is quoted by on Blabbermouth.net as saying, "These things are typical. Gene says something as if it was a fact, but there is no signed deal. The future has many possibilities. Will it happen next week? No! Am I opposed to the idea? Of course not".

As previously reported, Stanley recently implied that he felt he would retire at some point, saying "I really, firmly believe there will come a time when the band will continue without me".

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FAMILY RECORDINGS MOVE ON TO THE NINETIES
Family Recordings, who released the rather-popular-with-CMU series of 12"80s compilations, are set to release a 3 CD new package, Connected, featuring 90s remixes. A provisional tracklisting for two out of the three CDs has been released, and it's as follows:

Disc 1
Stereo Mc's – Connected (12")
Electronic – Getting Away With It (Extended Version)
Massive Attack – Hymn Of The Big Wheel (Nellee Hooper Mix)
Stone Roses – Fools Gold (Bottom Won Mix)
Happy Mondays – Step On (Stuff It In Mix)
Sharpe & Brown – The Masterplan (12")
Arrested Development – People Everyday (Metamorphosis Mix)
Young Disciples – Apparently Nothin' (Soul River)
Marxman – All About Eve (Sax n Flut Mix)
Galliano – Jus Reach (Easy Nuh Star 12")
Ronny Jordan – So What? (Vs DJ Krush)
Dream Warriors – My Definition Of A Boombastic Jazz Style (The Next Definition)

Disc 2
Alison Limerick – Where Love Lives ( Morales Classic Mix)
U2 – Lemon (Perfecto Remix)
Freakpower – Turn On. Tune In (Pizzaman Mix)
Snap – Rhythm Is A Dancer (Extended Mix)
Deee Lite – Groove Is In The Heart (Remix Version)
Prince – get Off (Housestyle)
House Of Pain – Jump Around (Pete Rock Remix)
Soup Dragons – I'm Free (12")
Chemical Brothers – Leave Home (Full Mix)
Paul Weller – Wild Wood (Portishead Sheared Mix)
Kula Shaker – Tattva (Lucky 13 Mix)
Primal Scream – Funky Jam (Club Mix)

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DEERHOOF ALBUM NEWS
San Francisco band Deerhoof have announced that they'll release their new album 'Offend Maggie' in October. Divided into two 'acts', the new LP is due out in the US on 7 Oct, and presumably will be out here too around the same time. But I don't know, really.

The album tracklisting is as follows:

Act 1
Offend Maggie
Fresh Born
Chandelier Searchlight
The Tears And Music of Love
Buck and Judy
Don't Get Born
My Purple Past

Act 2
Basket Ball Get Your Groove Back
Numina
This Is God Speaking
Eaguru Guru
Snoopy Waves
Jagged Fruit
Family Of Others

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COCKER PLAYS BOOSH
Jarvis Cocker is to appear at the all new Mighty Boosh festival this summer and play an exclusive DJ set, which is nice. As previously reported, the duo of Julian Barrett and Noel Fielding are expected to headline the event, topping a bill which will also include sets from Gary Numan, The Charlatans and The Kills. All takes place at the Hop Farm in Kent on 5 Jul.

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NEWSOM, CORAL ADDED TO LATITUDE LINE UP
US harpist Joanna Newsom and The Coral are amongst the latest music acts to be confirmed for this year's Latitude festival. Also added to the line up for the event, which takes place in Henham Park, Southwold, from 17 – 20 Jul, are the likes of Clinic, Lykke Li and Johnny Flynn. They join previously confirmed music acts such as Franz Ferdinand, Sigur Ros, Interpol, Julian Cope, Foals and Seasick Steve, as well as the non-music contingent of comedians, and suchlike. See www.latitudefestival.co.uk for more info.

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BETA BAND MAN ANNOUNCES LIVE DATES
Black Affair, also known as former Beta Band frontman Steve Mason, has announced four live dates ahead of the release of his first album using the moniker, 'Pleasure, Pressure, Point', which is out 14 Jul. The dates are as follows:

21 Jun: Dalwhinnie Lochstock
12 Jul: Edinburgh The Green Room
26 Jul: London Proud Galleries
30 Jul: Liverpool The Bluecoat

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JORDAN FESTIVAL BOOSTS MIDDLE EAST LIVE MUSIC AGENDA
Jordan, the Kingdom, not Mrs Peter Andre, will host a month-long music and arts festival in July which will include gigs from the likes of Mika, Diana Krall and Placido Domingo, and it's being seen by many as another sign that the country is setting itself up as a stop off on the global live music circuit. The festival, being held in Jerash, is being organised by the Jordan Tourism Board, and follows moves by both live music congloms Live Nation and AEG to boost their presence in the region.

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MARKETING BOSS TO TEMPORARILY TAKEOVER SONYBMG EUROPEAN PRESIDENT ROLE
SonyBMG's Head Of Global Marketing Richard Sanders is expected to take over part of the President role at SonyBMG Continental Europe following the previously reported departure of Maarten Steinkamp from the major. Billboard reports that he will oversee Germany, France, Italy and Spain, in the short term at least, now that Steinkamp has gone. Another senior exec is expected to take responsibility for other European countries. The major is yet to officially comment on Steinkamp's departure – he himself confirmed he was going – nor on whether it will spark a restructure in SonyBMG's European operations.

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SONYBMG LAUNCH COLUMBIA INDIA
Talking of SonyBMG, the major's Indian division has launched a version of Columbia Records in India, the first Columbia division in Asia outside Sony's home country of Japan. It will be run by Indian composer/musician Sandeep Chowta, who will look to sign new artists from various genres.

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COALITION OF MUSIC FIRMS CALL FOR ACTION AGAINST BAIDU
A coalition of music companies is calling on businesses in other sectors to boycott Chinese search engine Baidu over its continued provision of 'deep links' to illegal sources of music.

As previously reported, the major record companies unsuccessfully sued Baidu over its MP3 search facilities – the net firm successfully argued they were not liable for copyright infringement because they did not host the illegal music files themselves. But a subsequent change in Chinese copyright laws meant the record companies won in a similar case against Yahoo! China, and they are now pursuing a new lawsuit against Baidu.

In the meantime the coalition, which includes the Music Copyright Society Of China, the China Audio-Video Copyright Association and the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry, and which is supported by a load of major and independent labels and music publishers, is calling on other sectors to not financially support Baidu – through advertising presumably – while they are, the in the music business' eyes, copyright infringers.

Explaining the coalition, MCSC Director General Jing Ming told reporters: "Resolutely countering Baidu, which is the largest and most incorrigible purveyor of pirated music in China, has become a common goal".

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HMV LAUNCH BLOGGING SITE
HMV has launched a new blogging site, which is seen as a forerunner of the retailer's own social networking site GetCloser.com. Music Week quote HMV's Head Of Online Justin Moodie thus: "The aim of this initiative is to allow the content team to write their own blogs based around their own specific specialised area of entertainment, as well as to provide open forums between customers to discuss the latest releases and catalogue recordings, including lost classics. HMVblogs is a way we can engage with our customers and provide a more enriched shopping experience, offering real answers and honest opinions from a known and trusted team".

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IPC APPOINT NEW SPONSORSHIP MANAGER
NME and Uncut publisher IPC Ignite has appointed Bandi Manzini as Sponsorship & Brand Solutions Manager. She previously worked for EMAP's Women's Entertainment division, and will now develop sponsorship packages across the publisher's music and blokey titles, including NME, Uncut, Nuts, Loaded and new broadcast services like Nuts TV and NME Radio.

IPC Ignite Sponsorship & Brand Solutions Director Peter Edwards says this: "Bandi is an excellent addition to an experienced team. Her previous career experience extends across a number of different media, which makes her ideally suited to tailor solutions across our portfolio of brands".

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TING TINGS SAY THEY USED TO BE CRAP
The Ting Tings have revealed that at one time they were so crap that singer Katie White didn't know how to make her electric guitar work. The chart topping band's drummer Jules De Martino admitted: "We did our first proper gig at the Birmingham Barfly. It was where Katie picked up a guitar for the first time - but she couldn't get a sound out. She had to ask the audience what to do and they shouted back: 'Turn the amp on.'"

Talking to the Daily Star, he went on to say that, having produced their album 'We Started Nothing' himself, the results aren't quite as professional as they might have been, had they got a man in to do the job. "What it takes some bands to do in six months we can do in a week. I'm not technically trained so I was doing everything wrong. I was sticking cheap microphones on the floor to record my drums".

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DOHERTY BUYS MOSS
According to a report in the Metro, Pete Doherty bought a $5,000 painting of his ex-girlfriend Kate Moss at the Jazz After Dark venue in Soho on Monday, where he also played an impromptu gig. I think the news has slightly different connotations if you read on, however, to discover that he also, apparently, bought one of Amy Winehouse, and one of himself together with Paul McCartney. Where does he get the money from? I thought he blew it all on, well, other stuff...?

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