WANTED: SENIOR PRESS OFFICER / ACCOUNT MANAGER
Get Involved are seeking an experienced Senior Press Officer / Account Manager with solid print and online contacts. Must have at least 2 years experience in house or within an agency with a proven track record of working diverse music campaigns. Experience of working events would be good but not a deal breaker...We are looking for someone special to join our vibrant West London offices. Must be hard working and results driven with a keen eye for a story and the ability to write engaging press releases. CVS to [email protected]

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OUTPOST OPPORTUNITIES

ONLINE ACCOUNT MANAGER
Our online department has handled campaigns as far reaching as Madlib, Red Stripe, Bomb The Bass and The Big Chill. We're looking for an online genius to take it to the next level. We'd expect you to live your life on the web in addition to displaying an excellent knowledge of music and consumer websites, social networking, video sites, seeding, viral campaigns and forums. A minimum two years proven online experience and a trainspotter's knowledge of music is required for this role. Web design skills and consumer PR experience a distinct advantage. £17k-£21k + bonuses.

RADIO PLUGGER
Looking after our key radio projects, you will have an outstanding knowledge of cutting edge music as well as possessing excellent radio contacts. You will be hardworking, motivated and intelligent with first-class writing skills and a good standard of computer literacy. With a flexible attitude and an eye for detail, you will be a confident team-player with a strong understanding of the inner workings of a radio station. A minimum of one years experience is required. The role will also include some TV plugging and press work.
£15k-£18k + bonuses

Both roles require event attendance outside normal working hours as well as a strong desire to search out new and exciting music/projects! Please apply in writing, including CV, to [email protected].uk clearly stating which role you are applying for.

FIND OUT HOW TO ADVERTISE HERE

BUSTA RHYMES DETAINED AT AIRPORT, BUT JUDGE DEMANDS HE BE FREED
Busta Rhymes was detained at London City Airport yesterday, as he arrived in the UK to play the Orange RockCorps gig at the Albert Hall tonight, a concert for young people who have been involved in voluntary projects.

UK border authorities initially planned to send the rapper back to Amsterdam, from whence he came, due to him having "unresolved convictions in the USA", but some last minute wrangling by the rapper's legal people led to a British judge ruling he be let into the country. That said, I think he's still being held at the airport, pending a court hearing this morning. All of which means organisers of the RockCorps gig have now lined up Ludacris as a stand-by should Rhymes not actually make it to the Albert Hall on time.

A statement on the Orange website reads: "He was initially denied entry to the country due to 'unresolved convictions in the USA'. His lawyer Philip Trott intervened and presented papers in support of Busta's case for entry. The immigration authorities repeated he was to be denied entry and made arrangements to fly him back to Amsterdam on a flight at 9.30am. Contact was made with the duty High Court judge, Mr Justice Flaux, who granted an injunction at 8.58am to prevent Busta being returned to Amsterdam. He is currently detained pending a decision on temporary admission by the immigration officer".

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INDIE BOSS SLAMS MYSPACE MUSIC
The indie community is being really rather vocal about the failure of MySpace to ensure they had the independents on board before launching their all-new music service which, as previously reported, went live in the States yesterday. Following criticism yesterday from Charles Caldas, the boss of indie label digital rights body Merlin, now the boss of the Beggars Group, Martin Mills, has stepped in. He says that not only have MySpace failed to get the indies on board, they made no attempts to do so either.

Mills says: "It is both disappointing and astonishing that MySpace, built on the music of independent artists and labels, should, now it has the majors as partners, choose to launch without those that have been at its heart, and whilst treating independents as second class citizens. The service's independent content, sadly, appears to constitute only the independent distribution arms of the majors by virtue of their deals with their parents, and [independent aggregator] the Orchard. We, however, believe that independent music and artists are worth every cent as much as that of the majors, and will not be supporting this potentially exciting new service until we see fair play".

So there you go. With all the hype surrounding MySpace Music yesterday we insisted our US correspondent get online and give us his review, which arrived last night thus: "It's rubbish and a bit pointless".

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HOW UNLIMITED WILL COMES WITH MUSIC BE?
More digital controversies, and chatter continues about how exactly Nokia's much touted Comes With Music service, due to launch next week, is going to work. There has been much speculation about the Nokia proposition ever since it was first announced, because the basic idea - you can download as much music as you like over a 12 month period, and keep all the tracks at the end of it, and play them forever - seemed too good to be true. With the major record companies on board - currently Universal and SonyBMG - unlikely to be quite that generous, the consensus has been that either Nokia are prepared to take a considerable financial hit on this project in order to secure a place in the digital music market, or there has to be a big catch.

With Nokia denying that it plans to subsidise its download service, techie types have been trying to find the catch - how "permanent" are the downloads you get, and how "unlimited" is the number of tracks you can acquire?

The catch on the former maybe DRM. As previously reported, reports suggest digital rights management technology will be embedded on the free tracks that locks them to Nokia technology and, maybe more than that, to the specific handset and/or PC that the track is downloaded too. This would mean that, while in theory a user has permanent access to tracks they download, in practice once the handset and/or PC become redundant the music is lost.

With regards the latter, there was a very interesting article posted onto the Guardian's website yesterday which alleges that Nokia's definition of unlimited maybe 120. The Guardian say that SonyBMG recently revealed to the Music Managers Forum how the Comes With Music venture will work. It claims that the phone will have a wholesale price of £50, of which £31 will go to the record companies who provide the music. The labels will receive 25.8p per track downloaded, meaning that, unless Nokia are, in fact, planning on subsidising the service, then consumers will be limited to 120 tracks.

However, Nokia maintain that Comes With Music will offer unlimited access to music, and retailers set to sell the new product seem to under the impression that that is the offer also. The Guardian say that when they asked the Nokia press office for clarification they maintain that Comes With Music offers unlimited access to music, though would not specifically state that all the music accessed by handset owners will be free. At the end of the day they apparently promised to return with a full statement on the matter forthwith, and asked the Guardian's article be removed in the meantime.

All of which is very interesting. Comes With Music, it should be noted, is yet to confirm its deal with publishing collecting society MCPS-PRS, without which it won't be able to legally provide any music. How much of the £19 not going to the record companies out of fifty quid wholesale price will have to go to the publishers remains to be seen. Either way, if there is any truth in those figures, even if they only pay the publishers a few pounds per phone, it is hard to see how Nokia could break even on the handset.

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AC/DC NOT BUDGING ON ITUNES RESISTANCE
Following all that recent chatter about the possible benefits to established artists in not selling music via market leader download platform iTunes, Angus Young of AC/DC, one of the few remaining bands to not be available via the Apple service, doesn't seem to be in any rush to strike a deal with the computer firm. Not while iTunes insist albums be available to download track by track anyways. He told reporters recently: "We don't make singles, we make albums. If we were on iTunes, we know a certain percentage of people would only download two or three songs from the album. We don't think that represents us musically. Since iTunes came into existence, we've actually increased our back catalogue sales without being on the site. We were sternly warned by our management team and our record label that the complete opposite would be the case".

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SPEARS SINGLE DELAYED
The release of Britney Spears' comeback single 'Womanizer' has been delayed, apparently because the label felt it wasn't good enough and needed a bit more work. And unfinished version of the track was leaked earlier in the week when footage of Spears rehearsing in an LA studio was posted on YouTube, and the fans' reaction wasn't super, which is seemingly why the label decided it required some changes. The song was supposed to air for the first time on US radio on Monday, but didn't. A source says: "The label held the song back to make it as great as possible".

'Womanizer' is due to be released in the UK on 24 Nov, preceding the release of the Spears' sixth studio album 'Circus' by one week. Meanwhile, Simon Cowell has almost-confirmed previously reported rumours that she is to perform the new track on 'The X-Factor', saying: "Yes, I think Britney Spears is going to perform. We're absolutely thrilled to have her. She's a hugely talented person. Everyone wants to work with her because she's a star. The fact that she goes a bit crazy occasionally makes her more interesting. If she wants to shave her head before she comes on the show, she's welcome to. I don't care".

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TYLER SUES BOGUS BLOGGERS
Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler has launched a lawsuit against several unnamed people who have apparently been impersonating him and his girlfriend Erin Brady in a series of blogs. In the suit, filed at the Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday, Tyler claims that the impersonators have been pretending to be him on various websites since 2007 and have posted "pictures ... intimate details about [his] private life, including [Tyler's] relationship with his girlfriend, his children and his mother". Which isn't very nice.

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METALLICA MANAGER RESPONDS TO CD QUALITY DEBATE
Metallica co-manager Cliff Burnstein says claims that the sound quality on the band's new album 'Death Magnetic' is pretty mediocre are just not true.

As previously reported, fans who have been chatting online say that the sound quality of the CD version of the album is noticeably poorer in quality when compared to the version available via the 'Guitar Hero' video game. As also previously reported, the sound engineer who mastered the final album, Ted Jensen, distanced himself from the CD release, implying that he too thought the sound quality was a bit rubbish, and blaming it on those who mixed the album at the studio.

But Burnstein told the Wall Street Journal this week that the fans' complaints have been "exaggerated" and that response to the CD version of the album had been "overwhelmingly positive". He added: "There's something exciting about the sound of this record that people are responding to".

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GUNS N ROSES CONSIDERED BEST BUY EXCLUSIVITY DEAL
Guns N Roses are apparently planning on following The Eagle and AC/DC by striking an exclusivity deal with a US retailer for the release of their new album 'Chinese Democracy'. The Eagle and AC/DC did a deal with Wal-Mart, meaning the supermarket giant got to sell their most recent albums first. GnR are likely to do a deal with Best Buy. None of which is really relevant to us except that the fact such deals are being negotiated means that perhaps 'Chinese Democracy' really is going to be released sometime soon. Word has it hell's been getting pretty chilly recently too.

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ULRICH SCHNAUSS REISSUES AND EP
Independiente have announced that they're going to reissue acclaimed Ulrich Schnauss albums 'A Strangely Isolated Place' and 'Far Away Trains Passing By'. The former will feature bonus tracks, while the latter will come with a bonus disc, and both remastered LPs will be released on CD and via download on 13 Oct. A new EP, 'Stars', is out this week, and is available via download only.

Here are the various tracklistings:

For 'A Strangely Isolated Place'...
Gone Forever
On My Own
A Letter From Home
Monday - Paracetamol
Clear Day
Blumenthal
In All The Wrong Places
A Strangely Isolated Place
Gone Forever (Robin Guthrie Remix)
On My Own (Robin Guthrie Remix)

For 'Far Away trains Passing By'...
Disc 1:
Knuddelmaus
Between Us And Them
... Passing By
Blumenwiese Neben Autobahn
Nobody's Home
Molfsee
Disc 2 (Bonus Disc):
Sunday Evening In Your Street
Suddenly The Trees Are Giving Way
Nothing Happens In June
As If You've Never Been Away
A Million Miles Away
Crazy For You
Wherever You Are

'Stars' EP ...
Stars (Edit)
Look At The Sky
Stars (Kunstlerpaar Dub)
Stars (Maps Remix)

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SINGLE REVIEW: Gallon Drunk - Bad Servant (Fred Label)
There's too much happy in today's alternative music. Whatever happened to the edgy paranoia of bands like Joy Division? I'm not saying Gallon Drunk are the second coming of the seminal Manchester band, I'm merely asking a question that needs answering. Fortunately, however, this London troupe are more than willing to inject a bit of unease amongst those pesky meddling scenesters. You're thrown straight in at the deep end, with a pounding drum track and a racing bassline accelerating away. Creepy organs and deranged saxophones enter the mix and the end result sounds something like The Go! Team fleeing through the desert with The Walkie Talkie man (iPod advert anyone?) duct taped up in the trunk. Frantic and forceful, this track is hell bent on mowing down any unsuspecting indie kids that get in their way. ME
Release Date: 13 Oct
Press Contact: Fifth Avenue PR [all]

Buy from iTunes
Buy from Amazon

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JAY-Z LOOKING TO SIGN JANET, JERMAINE AND FIDDY?
Following her departure from Universal's Island Def Jam earlier this week, rumour has it that former Def Jam chief Jay-Z is hoping to sign Janet Jackson to his new record label Roc Nation, his joint venture label with live music conglom Live Nation.

When Jackson announced she was leaving IDJ after just one album there was speculation one of the multi-million dollar deals that brought Madonna, Nickelback, Shakira and Jay-Z himself to the live music firm's new 360-degree Live Nation Artists division may be on the horizon - though Live Nation boss Michael Rapino had previously said just four of those deals would be done in phase one, and, as those of you like to count will have already spotted, those four deals are in the bag. But a Janet Jackson deal with Roc Nation, which presumably wouldn't be so costly for Live Nation, might be more realistic.

Rumour has it Jay-Z, who this week announced he was launching an imprint to Roc Nation with acclaimed pop production duo Stargate, is also keen to sign up Jackson's boyfriend Jermaine Dupri, though it's not clear if he wants Dupri, who is currently President of Island Urban, on board as an artist or in an executive role, or both. In addition to that, Jay is reportedly also talking to 50 Cent's people, Fiddy being out of contract with Universal's Interscope later this year.

All this really comes from a source quoted by US website MediaTakeOut, who said: "Jay Z approached 50 Cent earlier this year and now he's talking to Janet [Jackson] and Jermaine Dupri. It seems like a difficult task to get so many big artists under one roof, but I wouldn't put anything past [Jay Z]".

It's not clear if artists signing to RocNation would have an exclusively record label relationship with Jay's new company, or whether deals would encompass other aspects of an artists' work - like live and merchandising - on the lines of the other deals done by Live Nation Artists.

In not 100% unrelated news, Music Week has reported that legendary producer Bob Ezrin is no longer heading up the recordings division of Live Nation Artists. He had been set to coordinate the live music firm's first dabblings into the recordings domain (when that eventually happens - all four signings to date still have recording commitments to their old labels), but that no longer seems to be the plan. Live Nation apparently said in a statement: "Bob Ezrin is no longer with Live Nation. We remain committed to creating unique distribution opportunities for the recorded music of all of our artist partners on the Artist Nation roster".

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PROTEST SIGNS TO BENEFIT WAR CHILD
Chuck D, Billy Bragg and Jarvis Cocker are among the stars whose hand written protest placards are set to be auctioned via eBay in aid of War Child. The placards, each conveying different messages, were created for Under The Radar magazine's 'protest issue', and you can see lots of pictures here: undertheradarmag.com. The auction starts on 30 Sep, ahead of the release of third War Child album, 'Heroes', which is out on 24 Nov via Parlophone, and features the likes of Duffy, The Kooks and Beck covering some time honoured classics.

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KEVIN SHIELDS RESUMES WORK ON MBV ALBUM
Kevin Shields has resumed work on the long-awaited third My Bloody Valentine album, work on which originally began in the mid-nineties, but was aborted in 1997 after Island got fed up with him living in isolation and not delivering anything to them. Recalling that abrupt end, he told the New York Times: "That was it. It was like the plug was pulled, 'No money for you anymore'". But, he says, having finally gone back to his original work he's been pleasantly surprised: "I realised that all that stuff I was doing in 1996 and 1997 was a lot better than I thought".

He also spoke about the band's seminal 'Loveless' album, and how his outlook has changed since the recording of that album nearly pushed Creation Records to bankruptcy. He said: "It was a very, very damaged time for everybody. [But] I definitely don't think you need to suffer to be creative. I've written some of my best songs when I've been happy".

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KINKS REUNION POSSIBLY NOT AS POSSIBLE AS RAY CLAIMS
As we reported a couple of days ago, The Kinks' Ray Davies recently told the BBC that he felt a reunion was very much on the cards, and that the band are "three quarters of the way" towards it, explaining that his brother Dave was the "stumbling block", on account of his ill-health in recent years.

However, the administrator of the message board on Dave Davies' website has posted a mildly cryptic comment, which sort of implies that his reluctance to reunite has nothing to do with the stroke he had in 2004, and more to do with the fact that he just doesn't want to do it. I mean, one can't be sure who the administrator is, I suppose, but as it's an official website, presumably it's either Dave himself or someone close to him?

The comment is these lyrics, from 1976 Kinks track 'No More Looking Back':

No more looking back,
No more living in the past.
Yesterdays gone, that's a fact,
Now there's no more looking back.
No more looking back.
No more living in the past.
Yesterdays gone, that's a fact.
Now there's no more looking back.

So, there you go.

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ROCK THE BELLS TAKES IN EUROPE
Travelling hip-hop fest Rock The Bells is coming to Europe this autumn, and bringing the likes of Mos Def, Nas and De La Soul with it. The tour, presented by SanDisk and promoted by Guerilla Union and Live Nation, will begin on 31 Oct in Prague, and continues to Amsterdam on 1 Nov, Stockholm on 4 Nov, Birmingham on 6 Nov, Paris on 10 Nov, and Manchester on 12 Nov.

Rock The Bells founder Chang Weisberg told Billboard.com back in April, "we are continually trying to push the envelope so we can continue to support these artists and their careers globally", so you can see where he was going with that.

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HAYSEED DIXIE FRONTMAN ANNOUNCES SOLO SHOW
Hayseed Dixie frontman John Wheeler will perform a solo show at Bush Hall in London on 20 Nov, featuring a mixture of songs and stories.

Says Wheeler: "Nine years of continuous travelling with a band like Hayseed Dixie makes for a lot of very strange encounters with people and situations. I've come to believe that only the truth is truly funny. I definitely could have never dreamed most of this stuff up".

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THE WALKMEN SEEK BRASS SECTION
The Walkmen, who release their new album, 'You & Me', via Fierce Panda on Monday, are seeking trumpet and trombone players to play with them at their upcoming show at ULU in London on 28 Oct. The New York-based band need numerous paid musicians to play on five songs during their set. Those chosen will be provided with sheet music and MP3s of the songs, and should be available for sound check at 12:30pm on the day of the gig, as well as for the show itself. If you're interested, email [email protected] with your contact details, including where you're from and which instrument you are able to play.

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VOLCANO! RELEASE FUNNY/SCARY NEW VIDEO
Leaf Label avant-rockers volcano! have just put a new video for their song 'Africa Just Wants To Have Fun' on YouTube. Depending on how you look at it, it's either very funny, or very disturbing. Or somewhere in between. I guess it depends on your opinion of men in their pants dancing in the rain. Well, see what you think: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFVpCFOOA2o

As previously reported, the band are in the UK and Ireland for some live dates in November. See MySpace for the latest additions: www.myspace.com/volcanoisaband

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ALBUM REVIEW: Attic Lights - Friday Night Lights (Universal/Island)
Imagine 'Friday Night Lights' as a fantasy dinner party: Teenage Fanclub, Brian Wilson, The Postal Service and Camera Obscura are all invited. Oh, what a delightfully twee time we would have! Recorded in Glasgow in the autumn of 2007, the debut LP of Glaswegian little-knowns Attic Lights is a fantastical mix of power pop and ever so polite indie, with sweet, bashful lyrics like "if you smile at me, I'll smile back". Aww. Album opener 'Never Get Sick Of The Sea' is a carefully crafted pop song with enough "ba ba bas" in it to scare some sheep right out of Shetland, and truly paves the path for the rest of the album - inoffensive, uplifting and catchy, but most importantly, well made. Easily heard is the involvement and wider influence of strings-arranger Bjorn Yttling - of Peter, Bjorn & John; 'Wendy', the album's lead single, has a big, big sound to it, opulent in its orchestral structure, and is as rich as any track from 'Pet Sounds'. 'Friday Night Lights' is cute, well-mannered, and comfortable - a bit like one of those jumpers your granny would knit you when you were wee. Not very cool back then, but an eventual twee-as-fuck wardrobe staple that suddenly becomes essential wearing in your mid-twenties and beyond. TW
Release Date: 13 Oct
Press Contact: La Digit

Buy from iTunes
Buy from Amazon

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SONYBMG WIN MOBILE AWARD
SonyBMG won the prize for Best Music Label at the Mobile Entertainment Awards in London last night, recognised for their work in, well, mobile entertainment I guess. Song name provider Shazam won the prize for Best Music Service Provider, while Apple won Best Handset and O2 Best Operator, both mobile firms active in the music space of course. Nokia Exec VP Anssi Vanjoki won an Outstanding Contribution To Mobile Entertainment prize, possibly for confusing everyone with his company's Comes With Music thing.

Commenting on the awards, Tim Green, Executive Editor of Mobile Entertainment magazine, said this: "The mobile content market has had another blistering year, turbo-charged by the collective drive of Nokia, Apple, Google and others to take mobile rich media into the mainstream. We're delighted that nearly 400 execs came together last night to help us celebrate the industry's amazing progress. Congratulations to all the winners".

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UNIVERSAL PLANNING VIDEO PLATFORM
Universal is reportedly planning its own online music video portal, which would mix music videos with other artist-related content. According to Billboard, Universal would operate its own service in addition to licensing its content to other video sites like YouTube. Universal's proprietary video platform may be open to other labels too.

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B&H APPOINT NEW SYNC MANAGER
London based classical publishers Boosey & Hawkes have appointed Lucy Heyman, previously of the Show Me How To Play educational website, to the role of Digital Sync Manager in their sync team.

Boosey & Hawkes' Head Of Consultancy, Natasha Baldwin, to whom Heyman will report, said this: "We have seen our sync activities in the digital space grow hugely in recent times and it was time to get someone in who could specialise in this area. Lucy comes to us with a wealth of online experience and has some great ideas about how we grow our digital sync business. We already have great relationships with the key digital marketing agencies and Lucy is going to be instrumental in developing our offering moving forward".

Although B&H is a market leader in classical music, it also represents some pop and rock music in the sync domain.

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SISTER RAY MAY BE BOUGHT AS A GOING CONCERN
Look at this, some possibly happy news for the end of the week. Music Week reports that London's Sister Ray record shop, which went into administration at the end of July, may as yet be sold as a going concern, meaning the Berwick Street music store would continue to trade. Andy Pear of administrators Tenon Recovery says two parties maybe interested in buying the shop as a whole, one of which has existing retail interests.

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MUSIC WEEK TO CARRY TIXDAQ SECONDARY TICKETING STATS
Talking of Music Week, you'll remember that the trade mag is having a revamp next week, yes? As part of that, they will have an expanded live section, in a bid to persuade those working in the live industry that they should be buying what is traditionally the record industry's trade mag too.

As Music Week is all about the charts, that means they'll be running some new live industry charts too, and they announced yesterday that they'll be including data from the previously reported Tixdaq, which monitors the good old secondary ticket market - something those working in the live industry just love to bits.

Confirming the tie up between the ticket sales monitoring site and Music Week, Tixdaq founder Will Muirhead told reporters: "We are delighted Music Week recognises the value of Tixdaq industry standard data to the live entertainment business. These charts are just the beginning of a whole suite of data services we will launch over the coming months".

Music Week main man Paul Williams added: "The advent of Tixdaq's weekly charts is an important step forward for the music industry. While the record business has had weekly charts for more than 50 years, until the arrival of Tixdaq, the live music business has had no agreed benchmark of success. We are delighted to be featuring Tixdaq data across Music Week's various platforms".

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CAPITAL RADIO GETS NEW LOGO, AGAIN
Capital Radio has a new logo. Yeah another one. I've not checked, but I think this is the 419th logo Capital Radio has had this year. And following the lead of Channel Five earlier this week, Capital will also shun the all-lower-case logo of old for a brand new all-upper-case logo. Though I suppose if any brand is going to do its bit for the furtherance of capital letters in the world of logos, then it should be Capital Radio. The new logo will be accompanied by a new slogan. They've shunned by suggestion of 'Capital Radio - not as shit as it used to be' and gone for 95.8 Capital FM - London's number one hit music station'.

As is also traditionally the case when new logos are designed, a senior exec at the company issued a nonsense statement linking the new logo to the station's current aims. Richard Park of Capital's new owners Global Radio told reporters that the new logo's "simplistic and vibrant design reflects the iconic status of 95.8 Capital FM as it moves forward as an important part of Global Radio".

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VIRGIN RADIO PREPARES FOR ABSOLUTE RELAUNCH
Talking of radio station rebrands, ahead of its relaunch as Absolute Radio next week, Virgin Radio is looking back at its fifteen years on air under the Virgin brand with a retrospective show today hosted by Russ Williams, the only consistent voice on the national commercial station throughout its time on air. The show will revisit the station's history, past presenters, and discuss its logo and website from over the years. Then it all goes Absolute on Monday morning.

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AIKEN THANKS FANS FOR SUPPORT
Former American Idol star Clay Aiken has thanked fans for their support, following his previously reported decision to come out. As you will recall, he admitted to a recent edition of People magazine that he was gay, despite having recently been made a father, saying that he "cannot raise a child to lie or hide things".

Aiken wrote on his website on Wednesday: "Suffice to say, for the first time in recent memory, I am speechless. I'm so proud to know and love all of you. My family is so much larger than [his baby son] Parker, [Parker's mother] Jaymes, mom, [brother] Brett, etc. It extends to each of you. And I couldn't be more blessed".

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MASSIVE SECURITY FOR MCCARTNEY
Paul McCartney performed a well-received concert in Israel yesterday, under the protection of a team of 5,000 security guards. Which is probably what you'd expect, really, given the circumstances, but just to put it in perspective, this apparently dwarfs the operation put in place when president George W Bush visited the country.

As you'll remember, threats were made against McCartney, who insisted on playing the concert, despite pleas from activists asking him to cancel. On the level of security employed, one 'insider' is quoted as saying: "No one is taking anything for granted. The level of security is unlike anything we've seen. Everything is being done to ensure that this passes peacefully and without incident".

The cost of the operation, it's claimed, is £1.5 million, to be split between the show's promoters and the Israeli government. Which is a lot of money to keep one man safe, even if he is a former Beatle.

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DOHERTY TO SELL MOSS PAINTING
A self-portrait by Kate Moss with added blood from Pete Doherty will go up for sale at auction this weekend. Moss is understood to have painted the piece with lipstick in 2005 or 2006, while Doherty added the inscription "Who needs blood when you've got lipstick?" in, er, his own blood.

The piece from Doherty's private collection will go up for auction at Lyon & Turnbull on Saturday, and is expected to raise over £30,000.

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WINEHOUSE RETURNS VOMIT-STAINED CLOTHES
Amy Winehouse has been blacklisted by Harvey Nichols after she returned some clothes she had borrowed from the store covered in vomit. Nice. The Mirror reports that the company has now banned the singer from borrowing clothes from them again and slapped her with a £25,000 bill for the damaged items.

A source told The Mirror: "Unfortunately, while wearing one of the frocks, she went on an all-night bender. She ended up in the loos, where she was violently sick. Let's just say it wasn't pretty. She eventually couriered them back on Monday, but didn't wrap them separately. So sick had gone on all the clothes. Even worse, green, furry mould had developed on some gowns, making them unwearable".

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BORRELL WANTS LYRICS TATTOOED
We all know that Johnny Borrell is one of the least egotistical people in this industry, and he's proved it again by revealing that he wants to get some lyrics tattoed on his skin. His own lyrics, mind, no rubbish. So, you will soon be able to see Borrell with "I met a girl, she asked me my name, I told her what it was" emblazoned across his chest. No, not really, I'm sure even he realises those lyrics are terrible. He actually wants a line from Razorlight's new single, 'Wire To Wire' inked: "She lives on Disillusion Row". Who wouldn't want that tattoed? I'm getting it on my forehead as soon as I've finished writing this.

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