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LIL WAYNE SUED OVER STONES COPY
Lil Wayne is being sued for copying The Rolling Stones song 'Play With Fire'. Abkco Music Inc, who own the rights to the song, are accusing the rapper, his artistic collaborators and Universal Music Group of copyright infringement and unfair competition. The company says that the Lil Wayne track in question, 'Playing With Fire', is a clear derivative of the Rolling Stones track with the original music and lyrics altered in a recognisable way. They also said that Lil Wayne's version used "explicit, sexist and offensive language" which listeners may have believed The Rolling Stones approved of.
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DMX PLEADS NOT GUILTY
Have we ever reported on DMX's music? He can't have much time for actually writing and recording stuff, what with all the time he spends in court. He was there again yesterday to plead guilty to two felony theft charges. He then performed an impromptu rap for reporters. Ah, so that's how he manages it.
As previously reported, DMX, real name Earl Simmons, received treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, back in April and allegedly gave the name 'Troy Jones' in order to get out of paying his $7.5k bill.
He said, or rather rapped, outside the court: "If and when you ever fall down, get back up. Drop something, stop fretting, pick that shit back up. Stand for something or fall for everything, wait for the right pitch or miss with every swing".
DMX's next gig is set for 12 Aug. Well I assume it is, that's when he's next due in court.
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FORMER PUMPKINS SUE VIRGIN
Former Smashing Pumpkins members James Iha and D'Arcy Wretzky-Brown are suing EMI's Virgin Records America for allegedly failing to pay them for music downloads and other electronic transmissions of Pumpkins songs. They claim that the label has not paid them any of their share of profits from the deal done with the band's frontman Billy Corgan in 2005.
The lawsuit states: "To date, Virgin continues to engage in the exploitation of electronic transmissions of the band's recordings without plaintiffs' consent".
This is the second time The Smashing Pumpkins have sued Virgin over digital licensing. Earlier this year, the band as a whole launched a lawsuit after the label gave tracks to a Pepsi and Amazon digital co-promotion without consent. At the time, Corgan told Rolling Stone: "We've been treated very poorly by [Virgin] as a label for years now. Even when we were going to put the band back together, we went to them for the umpteenth time and said, look, it's a natural thing to want to put out a best of, and they keep telling us nobody cares. And then to turn around and use us like this against our will obviously shows you how full of shit they are".
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HYPER ARRESTED IN HONG KONG
DJ Hyper, real name Guy Hatfield, was arrested while DJing at an outdoor event in Hong Kong, after police discovered that he did not have a valid work permit. Actually, if his account is correct, it seems to have been a bit more dramatic than that.
He said: "I'd just started playing when 150 police showed up to shut down the party. I was asked to show my passport and because I didn't have an official work visa, was taken away with the promoters to the police station. I was locked up for the night, had all of my possessions confiscated and had to wait until midday the next day for a lawyer to turn up. I wasn't given water at one stage for nine hours. I was looking at three months inside on top of two months waiting for my case to come to court if they had followed through with the prosecution". Luckily he managed to get away with a day and a half before being released without charge.
Hatfield's band, Hyper (completed by producer John Ross and former Prodigy guitarist Jim Davies) release their new single, 'Centre Attraction', on 18 Aug.
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DOHERTY PLEADS GUILTY TO SMASHING CAMERA
Pete Doherty has finally made it to Yeovil to face those previously reported charges of smashing a photographer's camera, to which he pleaded guilty. The Babyshambles frontman told the court that he had been spending a day with family before returning to rehab and had lost his temper with South West News photographer Catherine Mead after she followed him around the Somerset town of Crewkerne last August. He apparently invited Mead and a colleague to come over and introduce themselves and then broke the lens of Mead's camera once she was within lunging distance, which I would say is probably fair enough. I'm not a judge, though. And the judge didn't seem to think Doherty's actions were fair enough, ordering him to pay £918.27 in compensation to Mead and a further £100 in costs.
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CLUB NIGHT BECOMES RELIGION
Bournemouth hard dance night Frenzy has become a religion in order to continue distributing flyers. New rules laid down by Bournemouth Council state: "The distribution of free printed matter is permitted only with the prior consent of the Council ... The legislation does not apply to the distribution of free literature where the distribution is for the purposes of a religion".
The club's website says: "Whilst Frenzy deems that this ruling is in fact un-enforcable by law due to the Human Rights Act of 1998, the clubnight does not wish to aggravate the council or set a precedent for other clubbing events to follow. Instead, Frenzy is taking the necessary steps to ensure that any flyering activities are kept within the boundaries of Bournemouth Borough Council's recent legislation. We are the 21st century's first rave cult".
Under the commandments of the religion, members must pay their council tax, not drop litter, respect their neighbours and rave safely.
The Church Of Frenzy invites anyone with an interest in this new faith to attend their first service at the Dusk Till Dawn nightclub in Bournemouth on 1 Aug. The sermon will be a lengthy one, beginning at 11pm and ending at 5am.
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BBC PREVIEWS ALBARN/HEWLETT OLYMPICS IDENT
That previously reported animation created by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett to promote the BBC's Olympic coverage was broadcast for the first time last night. If you missed it, it's available to view on the station's website. The sequence is based on the classic Chinese novel 'Journey To The West', the same source for the duo's opera, 'Monkey: Journey To The West' and popular 70s Japanese TV show, 'Monkey'.
'Monkey: A Journey To The West' is currently playing at the Royal Opera House in London until Saturday, before heading to the US.
Watch the video and download something or other at www.bbc.co.uk/monkeyolympics
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DR DRE ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM
Dr Dre has revealed that he will finally release his new album 'Detox' before the end of the year. This will be his first album for nearly ten years, the last being 1999's 'Dr Dre 2001'. Speaking to USA Today, he said that it would include guest spots from rappers including Jay-Z, Lil Wayne and Nas and that "everybody is going to love it".
He said: "I'm just now, over the last couple months, starting to feel that it's going to be right and it's something I can be proud of, and everybody is going to love it. In a perfect world, I'm shooting for a November or December release".
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STROKES MAN ANNOUNCES SOLO PROJECT
Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture has announced details of his new solo project, Nickel Eye. The debut album, 'The Time Of The Assassins', due for release later this year, was recorded with British band South and also features guest appearances from Regina Spektor and Yeah Yeah Yeahs' guitarist Nick Zinner, amongst others. No music has been officially made available as yet, but Mark Ronson did play a couple of tracks on his East Village Radio show recently.
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ALBUM REVIEW: Das Pop - Das Pop
Pop by name and pop by nature, these Belgians start off their debut album with the belter of a single 'Underground', which in any sensible society will be troubling the upper echelons of the charts (despite my single reviewing colleague saying otherwise!). This isn't the only track that has that potential, though. The album is chock full of three minute songs with jangling guitars, melodic hooks and what should be the sound of summer. If we had a summer, that is. This album was actually finished in the home studio of their Belgian buddies Soulwax, who produced the record for free because they were impressed with the energy of their live show. 'Never Get Enough' has a skip-a-long rhythm which breaks into an immense chorus while 'The Last Thing' has Nick Drake strings drenched over the top of a simple guitar and plaintive vocal. 'Fool For Love' has a real edge to it with distorted vocals, cow bells and a driving guitar riff bowling us through while on 'Try Again' the handclaps and Neanderthal beat break down into the stomping chorus to great effect. There are a couple of slightly mawkish numbers towards the end of the set, both of which break the four minute barrier, but let's gloss over them because pop was never about ballads - it's about big choruses, catchy riffs and a sound that makes the sun come out and that blue sky seem like its been there for ever. IM
Release Date: 18 Aug
Press Contact: Ugly Truth IH
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VESSELS ANNOUNCE UK TOUR
Former CMU Social headliners Vessels have announced tour dates to promote the release of their debut album, 'White Fields And Open Devices', out on 18 Aug via Cuckundoo Records. We strongly advise you to attend.
Here are the dates:
3 Sep: London, Buffalo Bar
6 Sep: Bestival
13 Sep: Leeds, Brundenell Social Club
10 Oct: Cambridge, Portland Arms
11 Oct: Chichester, The Chichester Inn
12 Oct: Reading, Oakford Social Club
15 Oct: Newcastle, The End
16 Oct: Glasgow, The Captain's Rest
19 Oct: Brainwash Festival
23 Oct: Brighton, The Freebutt
25 Oct: London, Brixton Windmill
26 Oct: Bristol, The Croft
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COLD WAR KIDS UK TOUR DATES
Cold War Kids have announced some UK tour dates to promote their upcoming second album, 'Loyalty To Loyalty', which will be released on 22 Sep.
Tour dates:
11 Aug: London, Bloomsbury Ballroom
12 Aug:
Brighton, Concorde 2
3 Nov: Birmingham, Irish Centre
4 Nov:
Glasgow, ABC
5 Nov:
Dublin, Academy
6 Nov:
Manchester, Ritz
7 Nov:
London, Astoria
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FLEETWOOD MAC TO TOUR IN 2009
Now, normally I'd not approve of any band reforming, but last time Fleetwood Mac did so it was pretty good, so I'm going to relax the rules a little for a moment. The band's Lindsey Buckingham has revealed that they will reform early next year for a tour and possible record some new material.
He said: "I think maybe there was even a sense that we would make a better album if we went out and hung out together first on the road ... Maybe even sowing some seeds musically that would get us more prepared to go in the studio rather than just going in cold. It takes the pressure [off] from having to go in and make something cold".
He also said that Sheryl Crow's recent claims that she would be joining the band are false. He said: "I think with Stevie [Nicks] ... maybe to some degree there was a little too much testosterone on stage when we went out in 2003, and I think the band was looking to kind of balance that out a little bit, [but Sheryl's involvement] just kind of lost its momentum".
Buckingham releases his latest solo album 'Gift Of Screws' on 16 Sep.
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CMU FESTIVAL WEATHER REPORT
Welcome back to another round of doom and gloom from Team CMU. Or perhaps not. It's boiling hot in our office today, as it was yesterday and things are looking pretty good for the weekend.
Ben & Jerry's Sundae On The Common, Clapham Common, London (Sat-Sun)
Well, here's something unusual for a CMU weather report - good weather. Beautiful weather, in fact. It'll be sunny with some cloud cover on Saturday and then nothing but direct rays of suns straight to your face on Sunday.
Clothing tip: Lots and lots of suntan lotion
www.benjerry.co.uk/sundae
Global Gathering, near Stratford-upon-Avon, Warks (Fri-Sat)
Look at this, more great weather! There'll be sun but cloud today, blistering sunshine tomorrow and light showers to soothe your burnt skin as you leave on Sunday. Nice.
Clothing tip: Not a lot
www.globalgathering.co.uk
The Secret Garden Party, near Huntingdon, Cambs (Fri-Sun)
There will be light showers today and tomorrow, which you might appreciate due the extremely high temperatures on the site. However, the heavy showers forecast for Sunday might be less welcome.
Clothing tip: Something from the fancy dress shop
www.secretgardenparty.com
Wickerman Festival, near Kirkcudbright, Galloway (Fri-Sat)
Another turn up for the books; a Scottish festival with pretty good weather. There'll be light showers today but temperatures of 25 degrees. It'll cool down on Saturday but there won't be any rain, so that's good.
Clothing tip: Wicker
www.thewickermanfestival.co.uk
WOMAD, Malmesbury, Wiltshire (Fri-Sun)
Sun, clouds, hot, light showers today and Sunday.
Clothing tip: Tie-dyed shorts
www.womad.org
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BRAGG BRANDS ISP LETTERS AS A WASTE OF TIME
Billy Bragg has dismissed that announcement that six ISPs are to begin sending warning letters to customers thought to be partaking in illegal file-sharing as "nothing more than a gesture".
Writing on the Guardian website he said: "New technology has made it possible for people to acquire music without going through the traditional route of buying objects in a shop. Rather than fighting this trend, the industry itself needs to find new methods of collecting royalties. What needs to happen is for the industry to reverse its priorities, put artists to the fore and pay them a larger share of the price in return for their support in the transition to new business models".
He uses the UK radio system as an example of possible new ways to earn money from music, both through ad-funding and licence fees. He concludes: "In an ideal world, such royalties or the blanket licence fee would not be paid to music companies themselves but to an independent collection agency that would pay the money directly to artists. The music industry treats the internet as a threat, whereas for artists it gives us an opportunity to get closer to our audience than ever before. We must be very, very careful that we don't alienate those fans and make it impossible for the next generation of singer-songwriters to have viable careers".
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SOME QUOTABLE QUOTES FROM MR MCBRIDE
I think we promised you some coverage of that recent MusicTank conference on the future of music marketing this week, and as this week is nearly over we better get on with it.
As previously reported, the event was called 'Meet The Millennials', and saw Terry McBride, the boss of Canadian music firm Nettwerk, and a panel of other industry types, advise aspiring singer songwriter, James Yuill on how to build and engage with his audience, and how to make money out of his music making.
Here, for those that missed the session, here are of McBride's most quotable quotes...
On the role of the album in the digital age: "The way consumers consume music - they don't consume it as groups of ten or twelve songs on a piece of plastic, they consume it as songs".
On staggering releases around the world: "The minute a piece of music is released now it is a worldwide release, so holding back on releasing it in, say Japan, even if you want to coincide the release with a tour there is, frankly, not commonsensical. It's already in Japan. The minute you release it, it is public property and you cannot control it. What you can have fun with though is all the pieces you haven't released yet and when and how you release them".
On new online revenue streams for artists: "There are new revenue streams to be had out there. For example YouTube. Every time a video is played on YouTube it creates income for both the master owner and for the publisher. So creating assets specifically for YouTube can really work. That's what I call 're-evaluating free'. We are doing that and it is proving very profitable. Take Avril Lavigne - there's about a $2,000,000 cheque waiting for her for all of her YouTube visits".
On using your fans as one big focus group: "Start asking your fans questions like 'hey I'm thinking of doing this, what do you think?' Just post it on your MySpace, and you will get load of ideas back... you'll get a brainstorming session with 3000, 4000, maybe 5000 people. That's invaluable".
Take note people. Yuill - at whom the advice was specifically aimed - certainly has. His manager Amul Batra told CMU this week: "For James, the event was as near to a total success as possible. Following from all of Terry's advice, James has already set up an mp3 blog, has added Google Analytics, we are in the process of crowd sourcing live visuals and we are working on a plan to get fans to vote for each of the remixes for 'No Pins Allowed'. We are just getting up to speed again after Latitude and will be having a team meeting in the next week or so to properly digest and make some concrete plans".
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UNIVERSAL REVENUE DOWN, SORT OF
Universal sales down, Napster revenues up. See, strange things do happen. The world's biggest music company, Vivendi's Universal Music Group, saw their sales drop to 1.02 billion euros in the last quarter, though before you anti-Universal types start celebrating, I think a lot of that was down to exchange rates, or something like that. Digital sales were up 33%, and that coupled with a rise in licensing income helped compensate for the latest drop in physical CD sales.
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NAPSTER REVENUES UP
And onto Napster, who say European revenues were up 23% during the last financial year, which ended on 31 Mar. The digital music firm - the long term success of which many have started to question - doesn't give much specifics about its latest financials, but says it delivered 400 million tracks last year, including streams, subscription downloads and paid-for downloads. It also claimed that its bias towards a subscription offering - which have never competed very well in the digital music space - is starting to pay off, because the whole subscription thing, they reckon, is starting to gain momentum.
Napster Europe Sales & Marketing VP Thorsten Schliesche is quoted thus: "Napster is demonstrating strong traction and growth in Europe reflecting a very dynamic market for digital and mobile music. The Napster brand is exceptionally well-known across Europe, and our fiscal 2008 growth rates mark an exciting time for the company and digital music in Europe as a whole. We plan to continue expanding into Europe both by growth in existing markets and by opening up new territories to broaden Napster's reach".
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A FOX IS BREAKFAST KING OF THE CAPITAL (NOT CAPITAL)
It was RAJAR day yesterday, with the latest radio listening figures released. Most media attention has centred on the ongoing battle to be the biggest breakfast show in London. And it seems Neil Fox on Magic is the king of capital breakfast shows - he having conclusively (to the extent anything with RAJAR's slightly made up ratings can be considered conclusive) beaten both Heart's Jamie Theakston and Capital's Johnny Vaughan.
Capital - who, of course, chose Vaughan for their breakfast show in favour of Fox, who was with them at the time the position became vacant - had to make do with third place in the breakfast show race, despite the high profile and expensive recruitment of Denise Van Outen as Vaughan's co-host, bringing Johnny and Denise back together in the breakfast slot for the first time since the 'Big Breakfast'.
RAJAR measure shows' success in various ways - including reach and audience share - and Fox won on all counts. He told reporters yesterday: "I couldn't be more chuffed, this is probably the greatest RAJAR result of my career. London is such a competitive market and the breakfast show is such a coveted crown to be gained. We are number one on reach and on share. Bloody amazing. This is the tip of the iceberg. We are in a good place right now".
It was good news all round for the Bauer owned Magic, they retaining their position as the most listened to commercial station in London. Heart was second and Capital third - though at least Capital beat Bauer's Kiss this time, the yoof station having beaten it in the RAJARs.
In the wider breakfast show race, Terry Wogan's Radio 2 breakfast programme remains the most listened to nationwide.
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SINGLE REVIEW: Late of The Pier - Hearbeat (EMI/Parlophone)
If nothing else, being part of Nottingham based Late of The Pier has given its members a great excuse to give themselves ridiculous names and sing equally ridiculous lyrics. "Pineapple pieces in brine/fucking around with your mind", Jack Paradise sings to Rouge Dog Consuela's dance drum beat in 'Heartbeat'. Aside from warning about the dangers of buying dodgy Del Monte, 'Heartbeat' is blissfully simple so-called 'nu rave'. The short, loping synth riff is a cut above previous efforts, and while certainly not genius is definitely catchy. 'Heartbeat' may not be treading new or exciting territory, but it's a worthy addition to a genre that deserves a better name than the one it's got. RL
Release Date: 4 Aug
Press Contact: Darling Dept [all]
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NO JESSICA SIMPSON SEX TAPE FOR YOU
There is no sex tape featuring Jessica Simpson and former husband Nick Lachey, so just stop talking about it, okay? Her spokesperson has told TheCelebrityTruth.com that there is "no truth" in these rumours. Those rumours, just to bring you up to speed, are that a sex tape featuring that Jessica Simpson and her former reality TV co-star Nick Lachey has fallen into the hands of those very same people who released the infamous Anderson/Lee tape and numerous other celebrity videos of an adult nature. A source told The Daily Star: "Jessica is horrified her name and sex tape are being mentioned in the same sentence. She's always been a girl of high morals and principles". Yeah, totally.
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KAISER CHIEFS TOLD NOT TO PLAY PUB
The Kaiser Chiefs recently tried to fob a hotel bar off with an impromptu gig instead of leaving a tip. Tight bastards. According to The Sun, the barmaid at The White Hart Hotel in Cornwall turned them down because they might wake up other guests.
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PLANT ANGRY AT PAGE
Robert Plant is reportedly angry at Jimmy Page after the Led Zeppelin guitarist failed to acknowledge his bandmate when accepting the award for best live act at last month's Mojo Awards. Page apparently made a lengthy speech but did not mention Plant, who was on tour with Alison Kraus at the time. It's unclear whether he mentioned any of the other members of Led Zeppelin, either.
A source told The Sun: "Robert was really disappointed that he didn't merit a mention. The award was for the band's performance, so he thought he should have at least been thanked".
Perhaps, given that the award was indeed for the band's performance, Page thought it would have been weird to go around thanking the people who were being given it. He might as well have thanked himself, in that case.
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ESTELLE THINKS SHE'S JAY-Z
Estelle has told The Mirror that she is the female version of Jay-Z. I can't see how she would have come to that conclusion, but that's what she said. She told the paper how excited she was that the rapper has started using a sample of her single 'American Boy', which originally featured Kanye West, in his live set. She said: "I am the female version of Jay-Z. And I thought, 'When Jay-Z knows who I am, when he wants to work with me, then I'll have made it.' Everyone else could go to hell".
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