FULL-TIME INTERNSHIPS AVAILABLE WITH CMU Yes, come spend some time with Team CMU. Go on, you know you want to. We have 2-6 week full time internships available at our Shoreditch HQ. We are looking for students or recent grads who want to gain skills, make contacts and showcase their work in the worlds of media and music, and who are interested in helping out at the ever expanding CMU during the Summer. You'll be involved in all our various projects, and we'll tell you everything we know about this old music business. If you want to be considered for one of our internships, send your CV and a short summary of what you'd want to get our of an internship to [email protected]. JOIN THE CMU STUDENT REVIEW TEAM Open to students and aspring journalists anywhere in the UK, CMU student reviewers get to receive and review upcoming CDs, with their work published in this here CMU Daily. To apply to join this team simply click here and send your CV plus three recent music reviews you have written.
Advertise your jobs in CMU Daily for just £100 a week (five editions) - more info at www.cmumusicnetwork.co.uk/advertising, or email [email protected] to book.

COPYRIGHT TERM EXTENSION PROPOSALS EXPECTED - WHO WILL THEY HELP?
The Musicians' Union has issued another statement in support of an extension of the recorded music copyright term, timed, of course, to immediately precede the publication of proposals from European Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy which are expected to propose just that.

As much previously reported, the record industry has been lobbying hard in recent years to extend the copyright term on recordings in Europe from the current 50 years to something nearer the 95 years awarded to recordings in the US (or the life plus seventy years term awarded to songwriters). That lobbying was dealt a blow by the UK government's Gowers Review of copyright laws, which said the recording copyright term should stay at fifty years. But since then McCreevy has announced he plans to push for an extension to 95 years at a European level, and his proposals are due out tomorrow.

Record companies, artists and session musicians all stand to win from an extension in the recording copyright, of course, because as it currently stands after 50 years recordings fall into the pubic domain meaning anyone can release them without paying royalties to the labels or artists involved in their original release. It's good for the corporate record companies that individual musicians could also benefit from a copyright term extension, because the public at large are generally more supportive of extending royalty payments to jobbing or retired musicians than they are to multinational corporations.

Which is why the Musicians' Union has an important part to play in this whole debate. Pre-empting McCreevy's proposal document, the Union's General Secretary said yesterday: "There are a huge number of artists who are 100% in favour of Commissioner McCreevy's proposals, as they would provide a new and much-needed source of income for retired musicians. A letter was sent to [European Commission] President [Jose Manuel] Barroso last week on behalf of performers' trade unions and collective right management organisations from all 27 member states urging the Commission to move forward with these proposals. By adopting McCreevy's proposals, the Commission would at last begin to acknowledge the contribution made by performers to European creativity, and go a considerable way to affording them a long overdue official recognition of their talent".

However, not all artists may be so keen on McCreevy's proposals when they are published tomorrow. According to Music Week, previously discussed proposals that would favour artists over record companies as part of any copyright term extension may be shelved.

There had been talk of any copyright extension being accompanied by something called the "clean slate" provision, in which parts of existing agreements between labels and artists would be automatically wiped clean at the fifty year point, basically meaning that artists who had not recouped on their original record deal (and who are therefore not due any royalties from their record sales) and those who had waved royalty payments on discounted record releases would no longer be subject to those obligations.

The point of all that is to ensure individual artists benefit from the copyright extension oblivious of their outstanding contractual commitments to their record label. But according to Music Week said "clean slate" provision may not now appear as part of McCreevy's proposals meaning that while the extension will still be of value to labels and those session musicians paid a straight royalty, they may be pretty worthless to signed artists who haven't recouped, which is seven eighths of them if Music Week is to be believed.

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GABRIEL RECKONS LABELS SHOULD BE SERVICE PROVIDERS NOT MUSIC OWNERS
The record companies should reinvent themselves as service providers rather than "owners of music", or so says Peter Gabriel. Actually, behind all the firings and Lemsip style appointments, I think that's the sort of thing EMI chief Guy Hands has been saying. Which is interesting.

The former Genesis man and more recent digital music entrepreneur (he set up one of the early business-to-business digital music providers OD2 and more recently launched the public facing We7), has been talking to the BBC about the ever changing music business, the impact of the net on artists, and the role of the record company in the digital age.

He told them: "I love all these experiments - there's a lot of ways for musicians to communicate and sell their records to their fans. There's still room for record companies but they should reinvent themselves as a service industry and not as owners". Labels needed to be more flexible, he added, so that artists can take advantage of the full potential of digital distribution. He continued: "The structure of the old album and waiting for that to be finished still has some merit but you can do a lot of other things and I think it should be a lot looser and mixed up".

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HANDS RALLIES TROOPS IN MEMO - PROFITS UP DON'T YOU KNOW
Talking of Guy Hands and EMI, following the recent spate of senior executive departures and the many cuts lower down the hierarchy, the major's top man has sent a memo to those remaining at the major seemingly in a bid to boost morale.

According to Billboard, who have seen the memo, Hands tells his employees that, thanks to the radical restructuring that has been going on, the major's recorded music division went back into profit during the first quarter this year, scoring a gross profit of £59.2 million compared to a £45.1 million loss in the same quarter the previous year. And that's without all the revenues generated from Coldplay's global chart topping album or the savings of many of the lower echelon job cuts, both of which have come in the last few weeks.

Hands says in the memo: "We now have in place a reshaped organisational structure, with clearer accountability for profit and loss. We have introduced and now mainly implemented the previously announced changes and improvements to the way we run our business, and are on target to achieve significant cost savings. And there has been a massive reduction in waste".

But, he added, there was still work to be done. He cautioned: "We have come a long way this year, but of course, there is still much to do. The problems facing the music industry cannot be solved in a few months". But this was a morale boosting memo, don't forget, so he concluded: "It is already clear to me that what is emerging at EMI is not only a far leaner organisation, but a more focused and effective one as well, and better aligned with the interests of our artists. An organisation that is becoming much better placed to serve artists and customers alike, and to give our talented people the opportunity and the tools to produce their best work".

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FAT! CHIEF ANNOUNCES LEUKAEMIA IS IN REMISSION
Some good news, people. Paul 'Trouble' Arnold, the boss of top breaks outfit Fat! Records, has announced that his leukaemia is in remission.

As previously reported, Arnold was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukaemia last November. Needless to say, as soon as the surprise diagnosis had been made Paul was quickly admitted to his local hospital for some serious treatment. Well, the good news is that treatment has worked and Paul's leukemia is in remission. He will continue to receive treatment and have to take things a little easy, but he is over the worst of it and will be able to return to some of his Fat! style DJing and label duties.

In his first posting for some time on his MySpace, www.myspace.com/paultroublearnold, he wrote: "Six months has passed and almost to the day and I have reached remission as predicted. This means I am clear of any leukemic cells in my body. A huge relief! It's early days and am still undergoing maintenance treatment but I am now in the progress of completely regaining my health and general well being. For this I really can't thank [his doctor] Professor Mufti and his team at Kings College Hospital enough for the treatment I received to get me into remission and where I am this very day. [I also] want to say that I have been completely overwhelmed by the very nature of people's response to my illness. Thanks isn't a big enough word to describe how much I have appreciated everyone's kindness and generosity toward me and my partner in what has been a very difficult time over the last 6 months".

Arnold says he hopes to stage some fundraising events in aid of the hospital that treated him, details of which we'll relay to you when they are confirmed.

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MORE ON T IN THE PARK INCIDENTS
More good news now, in that that festival-goer viciously stabbed at T In The Park this weekend is making "good progress" in hospital. More details about the knifing incident have come to light and it seems the 22 year old man was attacked after going to the aid of a female friend who had been accosted by the two knife wielding thugs.

Speaking to BBC radio, Detective Chief Inspector Bruce Kerr said yesterday: "He was an innocent victim. He went to intervene with the two males who were accosting one of his female friends and they just set about him and he was stabbed 11 times, eight to the body and three to the head". Police say they have now gathered some good forensic evidence and are increasingly confident they will trace the stabbers. They have issued descriptions of two suspects, and added that one or both of them would have had a lot of blood on their clothes after the attack.

Needless to say, the knifing was by far the most serious crime committed on the site of the Scottish music festival this weekend. In total 67 people were arrested at the event, 30 were in court yesterday facing drugs or theft charges, while three people were charged with assault.

The man who was found dead in his tent at the festival has been named as Derek Boyle. He had told friends he was feeling ill before going back to his tent.

Commenting on the dramas which have slightly overshadowed an otherwise successful year for the T festival franchise, the festival's chief Geoff Ellis told reporters: "In T In The Park's 15-year history this is the first time we have had a death on-site and we are shocked and saddened to hear the news. Our thoughts are with the family at this time". Asked again about the stabbing, he added: "It was isolated, but serious. Fortunately we have a great medical team and a medical hospital on site and we were able to treat him very quickly and he's in a stable condition. Hopefully the police will catch the people responsible".

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COURT SAYS JAMES BROWN AUCTION CAN GO AHEAD
A judge in South Carolina has said a planned auction of items that belonged to the late James Brown can go ahead this week. As much previously reported, the tricky business of dealing with and distributing the former Godfather Of Soul's estate has not been easy, with various alleged children and family members making claims in addition to those named in his will. And then there is the matter of the courts removing the trustees of his estate after one of them admitted financial mismanagement. It was the removed trustees, Buddy Dallas and Alfred Bradley, who had tried to hold up the proposed asset auction this week in their continuing bid to regain control of the late singer's affairs. But Judge Jasper Cureton yesterday lifted an earlier court ruling delaying the auction meaning the sale of items like one of the singer's jumpsuits and a lock of his hair can take place at Christies in New York as planned. Brown, of course, died on Christmas Day 2006.

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GLOBAL PAID $24 MILLION FOR DEATH ROW
US company Global Music has revealed it paid $24 million to acquire the assets of legendary hip hop label Death Row Records.

As previously reported, Global acquired the Death Row catalogue and other assets at the end of June in a multi-million dollar deal done via the bankruptcy courts. The label went up for sale after its founder, controversial hip hop mogul Suge Knight, declared himself bankrupt in 2006, following legal disputes with the label's co-founders, who argued they were owed their cut of the company's profits.

Independent label Global will look to recoup on their investment by re-releasing classic hip hop albums in the Death Row catalogue, including early works by Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur, as well as searching the hip hop outfit's archives for previously unreleased recordings, of which there are thought to be plenty, especially from the late Shakur. That said, some reckon Knight's management of the label was so slack the actual ownership of some of those recordings will be disputed, making releasing the archives time consuming and tricky.

Confirming for the first time what he paid for the label, Global Music CEO Anthony Davi Jr said he planned to get "the best economic results of the catalogue and provide long term stewardship of the artists' work".

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BLOC PARTY BASSIST TAKES TIME OFF
Bloc Party bassist Gordon Moakes has announced via the band's official website that he will not be joining the rest of the band for their upcoming US tour, as his wife is due to give birth to their first child very soon. For the dates he will be replaced by Daniel Lindegren (who also performs as Tommy Sparks).

He wrote: "Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to join the boys during the next month or so of touring. The reason for this is that my wife is expecting our first baby in a few weeks and after some long hard thinking we all decided, band included, that it was a bit silly for me to be flying round the world at such a critical time in the pregnancy. No one wants me to wind up in the wrong continent should there be any complications or should the little one decide to put in an early appearance. So while the other chaps are jetting around the Pacific Rim I will be buying the groceries, attending ante-natal classes and generally preparing myself for the cloud of unknown that is becoming a Dad".

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RADIOHEAD FILM VIDEO WITHOUT CAMERAS
The video for Radiohead's next single, 'House Of Cards', has been made without the use of cameras. And before you say "computer animation", just stop yourself. Director James Frost has actually used two types of 3D capture technology, Geometric Informatics and Velodyne Lidar, to capture a lead character, partygoers and some exterior scenes. I have absolutely no idea what any of this means but the video will debut next week.

Thom Yorke said of the video: "I liked the idea of making a video of human beings and real life and time without using any cameras, just lasers, so there are just mathematical points - and how strangely emotional it ended up being".

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GUNS N' ROSES TO RELEASE SINGLE
Releasing an album has proved too much of an effort for them in the last fifteen years. So, Guns N' Roses have lowered their sights and are apparently planning to release a single track via the next version of popular video game 'Rock Band', out in September. The track, 'Shackler's Revenge', is also rumoured to be a different version to the one that was leaked earlier this year.

According to a tracklisting for the game leaked last week, other bands also included on the soundtrack of 'Rock Band 2' will be The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Nirvana, No Doubt, The Clash, The Ramones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, The Rolling Stones, Johnny Cash, Nine Inch Nails, Iron Maiden and many more.

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DEERHUNTER SIGN TO 4AD
Very buzzy garage rockers Deerhunter have signed to 4AD outside North America. The label will release the band's third album 'Microcastle' on 27 Oct. It will be preceded by a limited edition 7" single, 'Nothing Ever Happened', the release date for which is TBC.

Check out the tracklist:

Cover Me (Slowly)
Agoraphobia
Never Stops
Little Kids
Microcastle
Calvary Scars
Green Jacket
Activa
Nothing Ever Happened
Saved By Old Times
Neither Of Us, Uncertainly
Twilight at Carbon Lake

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PRODIGY REISSUE EARLY ALBUMS
The Prodigy will reissue their first two albums, 'Experience' and 'Music For The Jilted Generation', on 4 Aug. Both albums will come with bonus disks featuring b-sides and remixes. The group are also due to release a new album later this year.

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JOHNNY CASH REMIXED
A Johnny Cash remix album is in the pipeline, featuring new versions of a number of Cash classics, including a rework of 'I Walk The Line' featuring Snopp Dogg. Curated by Cash's son John Carter Cash, the tracklisting for the album, due for release in October, is as follows...

I Walk The Line (featuring Snoop Dogg) (QDT remix)
Country Boy (Sonny J remix)
Get Rhythm (Philip Steir remix)
Leave that Junk Alone (Alabama 3 remix)
Folsom Prison Blues (Pete Rock remix)
Hey Porter (Mocean Worker remix)
Sugartime (Kennedy remix)
Trail to Mexico (Mexican Industry of Sound remix)
Doin` My Time (The Heavy remix)
Wide Open Road (Count de Money remix)

More details at www.johnnycashremixed.com

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ALICIA KEYS OR GRACE JONES FOR BOND THEME JOB?
Yes, even more Bond theme speculation. And the latest singer linked to the theme for in-development Bond movie 'Quantum Of Solace' is Alicia Keys. Despite previous rumours that Duffy, Jack White, Leona Lewis and Beyonce were all in the running, and comments by Mark Ronson that he had started work on a theme with Amy Winehouse, and remarks by Duran Duran to the effect they fancied doing a second Bond song, reports suggest Keys is now favourite to sing over the opening credits of the film. Though one other rumour to begin last week was that Grace Jones - who is planning a music comeback having signed to Wall Of Sound - might also be on the short list. Jones, of course, has previous Bond credentials having appeared in 1985's 'A View To A Kill'.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Sparkadia - Postcards (Ark Recordings)
Upon hearing Sparkadia you might wonder if we really need another post-Coldplay epic rock band. The answer, surprisingly, is a resounding yes, because where some plod, Sparkadia soar. They have been bigged up in their native Australia as the possible "alternative pop heavy weights of the century". Influenced by songwriters like Elvis Costello their songs are about heartbreak whilst also evoking the Sydney sunshine. Their album was produced by Ben Hillier, who's worked with everyone from Doves to Depeche Mode, and recorded in freezing, wet London, which perhaps provides the melancholic undertone. The lead single 'Too Much To Do' is a breezy, summery tune with much Police-style guitar. Other stand out tracks include the sad and tender 'Connected' and the haunting 'Our Own Way' with languid Buckley-esque vocals from Alex Burnett. But perhaps most impressive is the atmospheric 'Animals', with its strange howling sounds. Time will tell whether Sparkadia will emerge as a "heavyweight" but 'Postcards' is certainly a convincing calling card. JW
Release Date: 14 Jul
Press contact: Scruffy Bird [all]

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DOMINO RECORDS CELEBRATE ANNIVERSARY WITH GIGS
Domino Records will celebrate their crystal anniversary (that's fifteen years, apparently) with three live shows at the Barbican in London this October.

Details:

4 Oct: Liquid Liquid & Junior Boys
5 Oct: Juana Molina & Max Tundra
6 Oct: Tricky, Wild Beast & Skream

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JOHNNY TRUANT CANCEL TOUR
Brighton-based metalcore types Johnny Truant have been forced to cancel all their remaining tour dates this month, as frontman Olly Mitchell has dislocated his knee and has been ordered by doctors not to do anything for three weeks. Cancelled dates will be rescheduled for December, following the band's Canadian tour. All dates in August will go ahead as planned.

In a statement Mitchell said: "Never in eight years have we had to cancel shows under these circumstances. But unfortunately in Luton two days ago I dislocated and fractured my knee. It's with a heavy heart that we have to cancel the next three weeks of show as I'm on doctor's orders to stay in bed and off my foot so that I'm able to continue with our touring schedule when I'm well again. I want to thank everyone that has come out so far and supported us, we were having a fantastic time and you guys have all made it very special. We will be rescheduling the shows for December time and so get ready for a big come back, send my knee good vibes!"

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SLIPKNOT DJ BREAKS HEELS
Speaking of metal bands and injuries, Slipknot's DJ Sid Wilson has managed to break both his heels on the first night of the band's US tour, which sounds painful. He will now have to spend several months with both legs in plaster, but has vowed to continue the tour in a wheelchair. The band's new album, 'All Hope Is Gone', will be released on 25 Aug via Roadrunner Records.

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DOHERTY SHOW SPARKS ALBERT HALL RIOT
Pete Doherty's solo show at the Royal Albert Hall ended in chaos last week, after fans invaded the stage during the encore. The gig was rescheduled from April, of course, when Doherty was unable to play, you surely remember, on account of him being in prison. He closed the show, where he performed a number of Libertines and Babyshambles songs, with 'I Wish', after which he helped around a hundred fans up onto the stage with him. Security staff, not used to such anarchy in such a grand venue, seem to have been unsure how to handle the situation and some scuffles broke out, which apparently caused one girl to fall from the stage. Police were called but no arrests were made. One attendee told The Mirror: "It turned into a big riot".

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CANADIAN COURT ORDERS P2P SERVICE TO CLOSE DOWN
The Quebec Superior Court has issued an injunction ordering Canadian company Quebectorrent.com Inc to close down its P2P file sharing operation which, the record industry argues, is used for the illegal distribution of unlicensed music.

The court ordered the company's Sebastien Brulotte to "cease operating the Quebectorrent website and any other website of a similar nature regarding the sharing of files and the release, upload, download, communication to the public by telecommunications or distribution of copies of any sound recording".

As previously reported, the Canadian courts have not been overly generous to the record companies when it comes to fighting P2P file sharing, with judges often saying Canadian copyright law is too ambiguous on the topic for clear judgements to be made one way or the other.

A previous attempt by Quebec record label trade body, the Association Québécoise De L'industrie Du Disque, Du Spectacle Et De La Video, to close down Quebectorrent.com through the courts was unsuccessful. As lobbying of political types to make copyright laws clearer on P2P continue, they will take heart at the latest ruling.

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TIXDAQ AND AUDIOTUBE TIE UP
Online ticketing price comparison tool Tixdaq have announced a deal with music video community Audiotube which will see the video service offer information on concert and festival ticketing to their users.

Audiotube is a music based video-sharing social networking thing backed by Island Records founder Chris Blackwell. Its CEO, Scott de Mercado, has confirmed the Tixdaq tie up, telling reporters, "We explored partnerships with a number of different primary and secondary ticketing platforms and decided that the Tixdaq.com service offered our community the best way to share information and buy tickets at the best prices. There's a lot of confusion out there in the live music world and fans shouldn't overpay to see their bands - even when their concerts are sold out. Tixdaq.com sheds light on this murky world and we want our users to be able to benefit from that data too".

Tixdaq.com Founder Will Muirhead added: "The online ticketing world is the wild west and tickets often trade at many multiples of face value. Tixdaq.com is bringing clarity to that market to help fans get hold of the right tickets at the right price. Audiotube has done an incredible job in building its community and we're proud to provide their users with access to tickets for UK concerts, sold out or not. The future of ticket prices lies in the hands of the fans. By providing the best available data on ticket prices and availability to Audiotube's community, we think that we've taken a step towards this goal".

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MILLION 2ND GEN IPHONES ALREADY SOLD
So, did you get a second gen iPhone then? Well did you? Over a million people did as those daft early adopters rushed to their Apple Stores and the like worldwide to buy one.

As previously reported, the new version of the iPod/mobile combo works on the faster 3G networks allowing more net capabilities, but not over-the-air iTunes downloads, cos Apple are too stingy to pay the higher rates demanded by record companies for mobile downloads. Or the labels are too belligerent to end the pointless online/mobile download price point distinction, depending on how you look at it I suppose.

A million sales in three days surpassed industry expectations considerably, and is nearly four times what was sold when the first iPhone was released last year, though that wasn't a global release so the comparison is perhaps not relevant.

All of which is lovely though, as you've probably seen, Apple was a bit of a victim of its own success after the servers of it and some of its mobile firm partners were not able to cope with high numbers of consumers wanting to connect their new toys to the mobile airwaves all at the same time, meaning systems went down and some are still unconnected.

Some unconnected UK customers quickly set up a website to rant about the situation - at www.autumnskies.co.uk/iphone - though it seems a large portion of those customers are now connected.

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B&H ENTER INTO PACT WITH EMI CLASSICS
Classical music publisher Boosey & Hawkes has entered into an agreement with EMI Classics which will enable the publisher to offer one-stop music licences (ie publishing and recording rights) for classical works that the two companies have in common - ie where B&H own the publishing and EMI the recordings.

Natasha Baldwin, Head of Consultancy at Boosey & Hawkes, told CMU: "Representing the master recordings of such a venerable label as EMI Classics is extremely exciting. These are some of greatest recordings ever made and together with our huge range of publishing copyrights this agreement will allow us to present high quality sync packages to our clients".

Costa Pilavachi, President at EMI Classics, added: "All of us at EMI Classics look forward to the pleasure of working more closely with our friends at Boosey and Hawkes and to maximizing the natural synergies between our two companies".

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FEN RADIO BOSSES DO BLAME OFCOM
The owners of Cambridgeshire radio station Fen Radio - which we reported yesterday will be closed down - have indeed blamed the station's demise on media regulator OfCom. Radio firm UKRD have said for a while that OfCom rules make it difficult for smaller local radio stations to compete. In 2006 they handed back their FM licence for Stroud in protest - an unprecedented move - and now they will do the same with the Fen Radio licence. Talking about the situation, UKRD boss William Rodgers told the Guardian yesterday: "Fen Radio is one of what I believe will be a large number of small radio stations that will prove to be uneconomic and unsustainable. I believe the consequences of the changing market place and the restrictions that the regulatory regime imposes on commercial radio at that level will lead to the demise of many, many more".

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CANWEST LOOK TO SELL ORIGINAL STATIONS
It seems more and more likely Canwest, the Canadian company that once hoped to win a chunk of the UK radio industry, will completely back out of the sector and sell the three stations it does own. It's been thought for a while that Canwest will sell its three Original FM stations in Southampton, Bristol and Aberdeen, and some offers are thought to have been already made for the FM licences. The firm told its staff on Friday that it was now actively "considering the sale of its radio operations". All three of the big UK radio players - GMG, Bauer and Global - may well bid.

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RADIOHEAD MAN APPEARS IN GUARDIAN MEDIA POWER LIST
Quite why Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke is number 63 in the Guardian's list of the 100 most important people in British media I'm not sure, except that the broadsheets fall over themselves to declare him a genius whenever he opens his mouth, even if it's to yawn. Presumably the innovative 'pay what you like' release of Radiohead's last album 'In Rainbows' was one factor in declaring him a key media player. Presumably Yorke will love being listed among all those suits and evil media moguls. Still, he beat EMI chief Guy Hands - who Radiohead are known to dislike - so that should please him.

Hands came in at 80 in the Guardian's annual Media Top 100, which was topped by Google founders and top execs Sergey Brin and Larry Page. The rest of the Top 5 features more conventional media moguls - News International top man James Murdoch at 2, BBC DG Mark Thompson at 3, Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre at 4 and that Rupert Murdoch fella at 5. Apple chief Steve Jobs is at 6, presumably because of the continued dominance of iTunes as a source of digital content - albeit still primarily music.

Other music types in the survey include Simon Cowell at 14, Universal Music International boss Lucian Grainge at 64 and Andrew Lloyd Webber at 96. C'lebs name-checked in the list include 'Gavin & Stacey' creators James Corden and Ruth Jones, outgoing Doctor Who chief Russell T Davies, top bloke Stephen Fry, room divider Jeremy Clarkson, Jordan (no really) and Ant & Dec.

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SINGLE REVIEW: The Thirst - My Everything (Wooden Records)
Is Ronnie Wood down with the kidz in the hood? Old Mr Wood has signed the hot underground Brixton based four piece The Thirst to his hobby label Wooden Records, and his choice proves that not every member of the Stones is going senile. Produced by Libertines/Babyshambles collaborator Jack Fior, 'My Everything' is more 'Can't Stand Me Now' than 'Can't Get No (Satisfaction)' with its choppy indie guitar riffs which do their job well, even if they could benefit from some of the latter tune's distinctive bite. The up-tempo manic drumming of Marcus Harris saves the clichéd rock & roll chorus from descending into an uninspired 'look at me I'm a rockstar' crooning. The chorus's shortcoming is disappointing considering the lyrical aptitude displayed in the verses. 'My Everything' shows the potential of a promising new band, with the indie scene more cramped than a weight watchers meeting in a mini cab, The Thirst may need to push themselves a bit more to get mainstream appreciation. RL
Release Date: 14 Jul
Press Contacts: EMMS Publicity [all]

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LILY DROPS SONG COS IT'S A TAKE THAT RIP OFF
Lily Allen has dropped a track called 'Who'd Of Known' off her upcoming album because it sounds too similar to Take That's 'Shine'. Writing on her MySpace, she said she wouldn't release the song, which she has streamed on her website, because "I ripped off the chorus from Take That and I can't be bothered with the paperwork". So there you go.

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DID RONSON TURN DOWN STONE?
Mark Ronson has started gossipers gossiping by telling a journalist in Holland that he once turned down advances from a "boring English soul chick". Everyone seems to think he means Joss Stone.

Ronson said this: "I'm not the sort of producer that shags every artist he works with. I've had enough offers, but I'm very picky. I've said no to a very famous, white, bland and very boring English soul chick, whom shall remain unnamed".

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DEBBIE HARRY ANGRY AT MADONNA
Blondie's Debbie Harry says she is angry at Madonna for being so bloody successful. If it wasn't for Madge, Harry reckons she would have been a lot more successful, both as a solo artist and with Blondie in recent years.

That said, she recognises other things - mainly business deal problems - have also hindered her career, and admits Madonna has been extra good at that stuff. She said: "I had been performing all along, with one or two solo albums. But we could not get back with Blondie because of legal problems. We had publishing issue, messy record company deals, management problems. But I think that is one of the things that Madonna was very smart about. That is something she can be commended for. She says that she listens to me for inspiration and I have to take that as a compliment. But we are vastly different".

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