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EMUSIC CHIEF STANDS DOWN
The boss of eMusic, and one of the most vocal executives in the digital music sector, David Pakman, has announced he is leaving both the independent download service and the digital music industry to become a partner in an unnamed venture capital firm. No replacement has been named as yet, though headhunters Barlow Group have reportedly been hired to find one.

Confirming Pakman's departure, eMusic chairman, and the President of its owners JDS Capital, Danny Stein told reporters: "While we're proud of David's success and the great team that survives him, we look forward to working with a new CEO who will take the company from $70 million of revenue to several hundred million of revenue".

Pakman joined eMusic as COO in 2004, becoming CEO in 2005. As one of the first download stores to offer an exclusively DRM-free MP3 download offer - albeit involving exclusively independent labels - Pakman was often called on for comment while the major record companies went through the final stages of their self-destructive insistence that digital rights management technology be attached to all of their music. Both Pakman and his download store, meanwhile, have remained credible names in both the digital and grass root music communities, despite disputes with some key indie labels over price point.

He is expected to stay with the download firm until the end of the year, and will continue to advise the company on a consultancy basis after that.

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PERHAPS THE LABELS SHOULD BE PAYING TO APPEAR IN GUITAR HERO?
The boss of gaming giant Activision/Blizzard has again hit out at the suggestion his company should be paying more to licence tracks for their 'Guitar Hero' game, this time going as far to suggest that perhaps the record companies should be paying them for the privilege of appearing.

As previously reported, Activision boss Robert Kotick previously spoke out after Warner Music chief Edgar Bronfman Jr suggested that, given the huge success of pretend-to-play-music games like 'Guitar Hero', the companies who make them should be more willing to share their profits with the companies who own the music without which the games would be a bit useless.

But Kotick disagrees, arguing the music firms are already benefiting from the new lease of life the 'Guitar Hero' franchise has brought to some of their back catalogue. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Kotick said: "When you look at the impact ['Guitar Hero'] can have on an Aerosmith, Van Halen or Metallica, it's really significant - so much so that you sort of question whether or not, in the case of those kinds of products, you should be paying any money at all and whether it should be the reverse."

Kotick's main argument regarding not paying hiked up licensing fees to the record companies is that it is the clever 'gameplay' of games like 'Guitar Hero' that hooks consumers, not the music that features. He continued: "The bulk of our consumers will tell you they're not purchasing the products based on the songs that are included. They're purchasing based on how fun the songs are to play when they're playing them".

The other majors have been less vocal about any desire to get a bigger cut of revenues generated by music-based gaming brands like 'Guitar Hero'. But given that Activision/Blizzard is now half owned by Universal Music parent company Vivendi, it would be interesting to see what would happen if tensions between the music and gaming companies do grow as 'Guitar Hero' et al most likely dominate in the upcoming Christmas market.

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MORE INDIE OUTRAGE AT MYSPACE MUSIC
Just in case there's any doubt about the matter, the independent sector remains mightily pissed off about MySpace Music.

As previously reported, the social networking firm launched its actually-a-bit-disappointing new music platform in the US last week, but without many of the key independent labels on board. The indies object to the fact that the all-new MySpace Music is run by a new subsidiary of the Rupert Murdoch-owned social networking company in which each of the four major record companies have an equity stake, which they were given as part of the licensing deal between the labels and the web firm. The indies argue that it is unfair that they are not being offered a similar albeit proportional equity stake in the new service in return for access to their catalogues, especially given that it was the indies who initially embraced MySpace and helped it become the primary social network site used by bands to communicate with their fans.

The newish global body established to negotiate digital rights for indie labels - Merlin - issued a statement on the day the new MySpace Music launched, remarking that: "It is incredibly disappointing that MySpace will launch their new service without having finalised a deal with the world's most important independent labels and artists. It certainly makes [MySpace co-founder] Chris DeWolfe's public statements, that the "indie bands are really the heart of MySpace", ring extremely hollow".

MySpace themselves yesterday moved to play down the growing anger in parts of the indie community, insisting that independent label music remained an important part of their music agenda. They also denied Merlin's claims that indies were being offered a bad deal, and stressed that there was some indie label content already available via their new service - via the indie distribution arms of their major label partners, and through a deal with independent aggregator The Orchard. But a string of other indie label execs quickly lined up to respond to MySpace's latest statement on the matter, and to share their concerns with the social network's expanded music preview and download offer.

Bob Frank, President of Koch Records, the US's market leading indie label, told CMU: "Koch Records, the number one independent in the US for seven years running, has not been offered anything. MySpace has done a horrible job analysing the independent landscape. They can continue with their 'Orwellian' approach to their statements and press releases but that does not change the fact that they have given equity to the majors whilst treating the Independents as second class citizens in a seriously anti-competitive and arrogant manner".

Tom Silverman, the high profile founder and boss of Tommy Boy Records says: "Our lovers were cheating on us. Now we need to hire a great divorce lawyer. MySpace has been floundering lately already, and people have been moving toward Facebook and so on. This is going to accelerate that exodus. We can make a decision where we promote an artist, and we don't have to do it with MySpace. We've had a great relationship for a long time, but times change, and new technology comes along".

Back in the UK, and Simon Wheeler, chief digital man at Beggars Group, echoed comments made by Beggars boss Martin Mills last week in criticising the new service. He told reporters: "'We find the MySpace statement misleading at best, whatever MySpace has offered Merlin, and I am not party to those negotiations, it was not an equal opportunity to that which has been offered to the major labels, specifically on the point of equity in MySpace Music. MySpace has not made any offer to unsigned artists either as far as I am aware... If the opportunity that they refer to is to make your music available to stream for free, then that offer is open to anyone, if it is to include getting compensation for streaming of your music, then that is not open to anyone except the major label partners, their distributed labels and a token indie [The Orchard] at this point in time".

And elsewhere in Europe, the boss of German digital distributor Finetunes, Oke Gšttlich, said: "We embrace the idea of monetising online usage of music but can not understand why once again the majority of people who make music have been excluded from a global music deal. Although most of the musical content on [the existing] MySpace [music website] is from independent and unsigned artists, renumeration will be first spread... to the major labels. This is hardly fitting with the fact that it was mostly unsigned and independent artists who helped to build MySpace and turn it into the huge and vibrant community we know today. We'll see how sustainable the shared equity business of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp and the major labels really is. Perhaps artists will soon be telling their fans: "get the real me...not at MySpace".

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TRAVIS BARKER RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL
Travis Barker has been released from the Joseph M. Still Burn Centre at Doctors Hospital in Augusta, Georgia, following treatment for burns sustained when the Learjet he was travelling on crashed during take-off at a South Carolina airport on 20 Sep. As previously reported, his fellow crash survivor, DJ AM - aka Adam Goldstein - was released from the same facility on Friday.

Barker's release comes a couple of weeks earlier than expected, but according to the hospital's Beth Frits, he "left the hospital in good condition". The former Blink 182 star has headed home to Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, DJ AM has apparently changed his Facebook status to: "Adam Goldstein is the luckiest guy alive". As you'll remember, the two other passengers on board the jet, Chris Baker and Charles Still, died on impact, whilst the pilot Sarah Lemmon and co-pilot James Bland died from smoke inhalation and burns.

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SERIOUSLY, CAN WE STOP TALKING ABOUT THIS LED ZEP REUNION NOW?
Robert Plant has released a statement to confirm, once and for all, that he will not have any part in any Led Zeppelin reunion tour. So, can we stop talking about it now? Did anyone ever think it was going to happen? That said, Plant does suggest that, as reported last week, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham might tour together with one or more guest vocalists. But that won't be a Led Zep reunion. Even if they say it is. So, that's it, I will hear no more on the subject.

The statement reads: "Contrary to a spate of recent reports, Robert Plant will not be touring or recording with Led Zeppelin. Anyone buying tickets online to any such event will be buying bogus tickets. It's both frustrating and ridiculous for this story to continue to rear its head when all the musicians that surround the story are keen to get on with their individual projects and move forward. I wish Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham nothing but success with any future projects".

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BRYAN MORRISON DIES
Former Pink Floyd manager Bryan Morrison has died at the age of 66. He had been in a coma for more than two years following a polo accident.

Morrison began his career in music by managing bands whilst he was still an art student at St Martin's College. The first band of note he worked with was The Pretty Things before moving on to manage Pink Floyd. He subsequently also worked with the likes of T-Rex, Elton John, and Wham! Realising early on that there was money to be made from publishing music, he also set up his own company, Lupus Music.

In later years, his interest in polo took over, however. In 1985 he founded the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club, and it was there that the accident that ultimately claimed his life took place, when he was thrown from a horse back in July 2006.

He is survived by his wife, former model Greta van Rantwyk, and their two children.

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GARY GLITTER BANNED FROM TRAVELLING ABROAD
Gary Glitter has been banned from travelling to Spain via France, after Ashford magistrates' court granted a Foreign Travel Order requested by Kent Police last Thursday, it has been revealed. In order to obtain the order, police must prove that an individual is at risk of re-offending. Glitter, who did not attend the hearing, now has the right to appeal the ruling.

A spokesman for Kent Police said: "Kent Police will do everything necessary to protect children in this country, or abroad".

As previously reported, Glitter, real name Paul Gadd, was released from a Vietnamese jail in August after serving 27 months for abusing two girls. He was deported back to the UK by Vietnamese authorities, though he didn't seem too keen to come back here. While in transit he attempted to gain entry to Thailand and Hong Kong, but was refused by officials in both countries. The fact that police applied for the Foreign Travel Order presumably means Gadd was planning to move elsewhere in Europe.

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MUSICIANS CONDEMN NEO-NAZI FESTIVAL
A number of artists, including Babyshambles, Billy Bragg, Reverend And The Makers' Jon McClure, Late Of The Pier, Dirty Pretty Things and Roll Deep, have signed a letter condemning a festival held in Somerset earlier this month in honour of Ian Donaldson, the late frontman of neo-Nazi band Skrewdriver.

Originally promoted as a "scooter and music festival", around 800 people descended on Redhill in Somerset for the event, organised by "white supremacist" record label ISD, many brandishing swastikas and other fascist imagery. Residents complained to police, but they said that they were powerless to stop it.

Ian Saunders, the manager of The Bungalow Inn, where the festival took place, denied prior knowledge of the event's political agenda, telling The Sun: "If I knew that this would happen I would never have allowed it".

The letter, written by Love Music Hate Racism, reads: "Anti-fascist musicians we were horrified to read that 800 fascists gathered in Somerset at the weekend for a rally and concert in memory of Ian Donaldson. Donaldson described himself as a 'Neo Nazi' and Skrewdriver, who raised funds for both the National Front and British National Party, were instrumental in setting up Blood And Honour, a network of bands promoting Nazi ideology through music. It will come as no surprise to anybody familiar with Skrewdriver that the footage of the weekend's rally shows Nazi flags and members of the audience seig heiling".

It concludes: "Rallies like the one that took place at the weekend stand for the ugly politics of racial violence and ultimately the politics of Hitler's holocaust and a desire for an all-white Britain. Events like this have no place in Britain".

Of course, if Babyshambles really want to hinder the fascist movement, they should offer to play future neo-Nazi events. While Somerset police said they were unable to stop the Redhill event, you'll remember that Wiltshire police were able to stop that Moonfest event back in August, on the basis Doherty would be on stage.

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RONNIE WOOD COULD FACE £50M DIVORCE
Ronnie Wood could be forced to pay as much at £50 million to his wife, Jo, if reports that she is seeking to divorce the Rolling Stones guitarist, because of his ongoing relationship with 20 year old Ekaterina Ivanova, are true.

A 'friend' told The News Of The World: "Jo has had enough of his behaviour. She feels humiliated, spurned and furious that her best friend has treated her like that. She has spoken with her legal team and they've made it clear she is in a terrifically strong position".

However, Jo herself didn't sound like she was about to embark on a bitter divorce battle when discussing the couple's separation with The Daily Mail: "We've been through too much together not to stay as friends whatever happens next. I'm still in touch with him and I've seen him. And despite everything I still really care for Ronnie. Everything is fine, and everything is going to be fine. The thing is, I spent so many years concentrating on Ronnie, dressing Ronnie, and looking after Ronnie, that suddenly I can now concentrate on me. So for example I have been dressing differently recently".

She added: "I've been going through a very tough time, so I guess a lot of the way I look is down to the stress. But also I have become completely obsessed with the gym. I think if you feel good inside, physically, that confidence really shows and I feel fantastic. I have been going as often as possible. I do find it very therapeutic and a great way to channel everything out".

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BRITNEY ASKS TO DELAY TRIAL ON DRIVING CHARGES
A lawyer representing Britney Spears has asked for a delay to the pop star's upcoming trial on the misdemeanour charge of driving without a valid licence. J. Michael Flanagan filed the request to the LA Superior Court yesterday. He has twice asked for the case to be dismissed, saying that the star should be allowed to pay a fine, and not be forced to face a criminal trial, especially in light of her recent difficulties, and the fact that her father is still in control of her personal and financial affairs. The charges relate to an incident back in August 2007 in which Spears was unable to produce a valid California license after hitting a parked car, and subsequently left the scene.

Elsewhere in Britney news, her ex, paparazzo Adnan Ghalib is reportedly attempting to sell that sex-tape featuring the singer again, which isn't very nice. As previously reported, he claims to be in possession of two hours of video footage of Spears wearing nothing but a pink wig, filmed while the pair were on holiday in Mexico earlier this year. Heat magazine quote him as saying: "There is such a tape, but I won't discuss prices for hypothetical enquiries. Unless there is a locked-in deal, I will go no further".

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DMX IN COURT
DMX appeared in court in Phoenix yesterday, in relation to that previously reported missed court appearance, the result of his hospitalisation in Florida. The rapper, real name Earl Simmons, was in court for less than two minutes, but was still fidgety. The judge ordered him back to court on 7 Oct.

As I'm sure you'll remember, Simmons is facing five drugs charges, a felony theft charge, and animal cruelty charges. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said in a statement: "I said it before and I'll say it again, this guy is treating our legal system like a revolving door. This is an outrage. Is it because of his notoriety that he is continuously released by the courts? It is about time the revolving door stop and the cell door close".

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WINEHOUSE SAYS SHE'S "SO SAD"
Amy Winehouse has given a rare interview to The Daily Mirror, in which she admits that she's not really having much fun. She told the tabloid that performing with her 12-year-old goddaughter Dionne Bromfield at the Prince's Trust End of Summer Ball last Thursday really made her put things in perspective.

She said: "When I look at Dionne she reminds me of myself. I used to be this little girl who liked Celine Dion and singing, this beautiful sweet girl with innocent dreams. Look where I am now. Look what happened to my dreams. This isn't a life - I'm a mess, look at me. But this girl has everything ahead of her. She's so beautiful and she reminds me so much of myself. This beautiful happy girl, she is so much like I used to be. I don't want to leave her alone. I can't believe what has happened to me. I am so sad".

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SINGLE REVIEW: Tricky - Slow (Domino)
Once at the forefront of a blossoming UK trip-hop scene, and with a ton of critical and commercial success under his belt, Tricky continues his quest for solo recognition. For someone so determined to stand on his own feet as an artist, the decision to cover a Kylie song seems an odd one. It may be more of a remix than an actual cover; it sounds a lot busier than his previous stoner-swagger tunes, but has lost none of the in-your-face assertiveness that has made him such a figurehead to his peers. A chugging metal riff underlines twinkling sampling, providing an adequate accompaniment to this meeting of worlds. It seems telling, however, that in the 90s the mainstream was all over Tricky, yet now he has to chase their attention with this. ME
Release Date: 13 Oct
Press Contact: Domino IH [all]

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CARIBOU WINS CANADIAN MERCURY
Caribou, aka Dan Snaith, last night won the Polaris Music Prize, which is sort of the Canadian version of the Mercury Music Prize. Snaith took the award and the $20,000 prize that comes with it for his album 'Andorra'. Other Canadian artists who had been shortlisted for this year's prize included Black Mountain, Basia Bulat, Kathleen Edwards, Plants And Animals, Stars, Two Hours Traffic, The Weakerthans, Shad and Holy Fuck.

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JUNIOR SENIOR SPLIT
Junior Senior have announced they have split. In a posting on their MySpace last week, the Danish duo wrote: "We have decided in much peace and prosperity to put Junior Senior to rest and focus 100% on making music on our own. We have met so many amazing people around the world, experienced so many cool things, had so many crazy good times... so many we never even dared dream of. We are so happy we made you dance". Junior Senior caused quite a stir in the UK, of course, with their rather infectious 2003 hit 'Move Your Feet', though the album it came from, 'D-D-Don't Stop the Beat', was only a moderate success, and its follow up, 2005's 'Hey Hey My My Yo Yo' wasn't even properly released over here.

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SPINESHANK REUNITE
After five years of silence, metallers Spineshank have announced that they are back together and working on a new album with original frontman Jonny Santos, who quit the band in 2004 due to "musical differences".

The remaining members, Tommy Decker, Mike Sarkisyan, and Rob Garcia, vowed to continue after Santos' departure, and even went so far as to hire a new vocalist. But the band never released any of the much talked about new material they had been working on. In February this year, that new frontman, Brandon Espinoza announced on the band's official message board that he was also leaving, saying "The chemistry just isn't there".

Of the reunion, drummer Tommy Decker says: "All the bad blood and differences that led to the break up have all been put behind us. It feels right again, were not being pressured to write a single or look a certain way, were doing it because we want to".

Jonny Santos adds: "I think splitting when we did might have been a good decision. We were at a high point in our career, we ended it on our own terms".

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ULRICH REJECTS RUBBISH SOUND QUALITY CLAIM TOO
Metallica's Lars Ulrich has joined the debate about the sound quality of his band's new album, 'Death Magnetic'. As you'll remember, some of the band's fans have been complaining that the sound quality on the CD release of the new long player is a bit mediocre when compared with the version available for the 'Guitar Hero' game.

The guy who mastered the album, Ted Jensen, fuelled the complaints by saying he too wasn't happy with the sound quality of the CD, but that he had done the best he could with the mix he was supplied by the studio which was, he said, set too loud, as, he argued, rock albums often are these days. But the metallers' co-manager Cliff Burnstein last week denied there was anything wrong with the CD release, and argued that the fans who were complaining were a very small minority, and that their complaints were being exaggerated by the media.

Now Ulrich has told Blender magazine that, in his opinion, there ain't nowt wrong with the CD album. He says: "Listen, there's nothing up with the audio quality. It's 2008, and that's how we make records. [Producer] Rick Rubin's whole thing is to try and get it to sound lively, to get it sound loud, to get it to sound exciting, to get it to jump out of the speakers. Of course, I've heard that there are a few people complaining. But I've been listening to it the last couple of days in my car, and it sounds fuckin' smoking".

Ulrich also reckons the level of fan complaints has been exaggerated, aided by the internet. He continues: "Listen, what are you going to do? A lot of people say [the CD] sounds great, and a few people say it doesn't, and that's OK. You gotta remember, when we put out '...And Justice for All', people were going, 'What happened to these guys, this record? There's no bass on it. It sounds like it was recorded in a fuckin' garage on an eight-track'. And now ...'And Justice for All' is sort of the seminal Metallica record that supposedly influenced a whole generation of death-metal bands. The difference between back then and now is the internet. The internet gives everybody a voice, and the internet has a tendency to give the complainers a louder voice".

Now, we've not always shared Ulrich's opinions on the old world wide web, but with regards that observation, he does have a point.

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THE ALIENS RELEASE NEW ALBUM AS 24BIT DOWNLOAD
More sound quality ramblings, and The Aliens have announced that their new album, 'Luna', released this week, will be made available in 24bit master-quality wav file, so that you can listen to what the band hear in the studio before it gets compressed down on to inferior sound receptacles like CDs, vinyl and, urgh, MP3s. Although, I should probably point out, if you don't have audio equipment that can process 24bit audio, it'll just sound like a run-of-the-mill CD. So, you might want to upgrade your stereo first.

John Cornfield, who mixed and mastered the album, jumped at the chance to re-master the album to open up the dynamic range that 24bit allows. He told CMU: "The current trend to make CDs extra loud is disturbing to most professional audio engineers and I'm sure to a lot of the record buying public. Compared to the 16bit master for CD production, the 24bit download will be a little lower in level but if you simply turn up the volume control you will enjoy a much less fatiguing listening experience with a greatly improved dynamic range".

The album will, of course, be available on CD, vinyl and standard download formats, but if you fancy some high quality audio and have £15 spare, head over to www.linnrecords.co.uk.

Of course, no audio recording can match up to the power and excitement of real, live music. So, maybe you'll want to head down to one of these gigs instead:

9 Oct: Edinburgh, Liquid Rooms
11 Oct: Manchester, Academy 3
12 Oct: Nottingham, Stealth
13 Oct: Bristol, Thekla
14 Oct: London, Hoxton Bar & Grill
16 Oct: Brighton, Digital
17 Oct: Liverpool, Academy 2
18 Oct: Newcastle, Other Rooms

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WILL YOUNG SAYS HE WANTS TO DO DANCE
Will Young has said that he'd like to do a dance album, but says he'd expect criticism for even having a go at a different genre. He told DS, in fact, that he has written a number of dance tracks over the years but has never released them. He's quoted as saying: "I'd like to do a double album - one side of chill-out songs, the other with more upbeat house songs. I think I'm going to put it out next summer and it'll be interesting to see how people react. I'm not afraid of trying different things, but I am slightly wary because people will say, 'Who does he think he is?'"

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COLDPLAY DENY RESIDENCY RUMOURS
Chris Martin has denied rumours that Coldplay are to play a residency at the O2. He told Absolute Radio that he didn't think his band were up to selling out the venue the way Prince did. "He sold out 21 nights," said the singer. "I don't think we could. You can't do that unless you've got impeccable facial hair. With my facial hair we could probably sell out five nights".

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ACTS ANNOUNCED FOR LITTLE NOISE
Acts have been announced for this year's Little Noise Sessions, and they include Keane, Kasabian, Stereophonics, Razorlight, Glasvegas, The Fratellis and Florence & The Machine. The acoustic sets will take place at The Union Chapel, all in aid of mencap, and organisers are expected to announce a special guest appearance - last year, you may remember, it was Bono and The Edge. The gigs take place from 8 - 18 Nov, and registration for tickets opens on 1 Oct. See www.mencapmusic.org.uk for more info.

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OASIS TO CLOSE ELECTRIC PROMS
Oasis have announced that they will play the final night of the BBC Electric Proms at the Roundhouse in Camden on 26 Oct, with support from Glasvegas. The show, which will coincide with the release of the band's new album, 'Dig Out Your Soul', and will also see them joined by the Crouch End Choir for a number of songs.

Noel Gallagher said: "We are doing the Electric Proms, and we're doing it with the Crouch End Choir as well. There's 50 odd of them". But Why, Noel? "Because some of the songs on the album have got a 50 piece choir on them". Oh right. He added: "Ennio Morricone uses them for his spaghetti western stuff in England, so I'm already looking forward to that because I've never played the Roundhouse and I've never done the Proms".

Tickets go on sale today from www.bbc.co.uk/electricproms

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KAISER CHIEFS TOUR
Kaiser Chiefs have announced a UK tour in support of new album 'Off With Their Heads'. Tickets go on sale Friday, and the dates are as follows:

22 Feb: Nottingham, Trent FM Arena
23 Feb: Sheffield, Arena
24 Feb: Birmingham, National Indoor Arena
26 Feb: Edinburgh, Corn Exchange
27 Feb: Aberdeen, AECC Arena
28 Feb: Newcastle, Metro Radio Arena
2 Mar: Manchester, Evening News Arena
3 Mar: Liverpool, Echo Arena
4 Mar: Cardiff, CIA
6 Mar: London, Wembley Arena

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ALBUM REVIEW: James Yuill - Turning Down Water For Air (Moshi Moshi)
I like it when an artist's genre comes up as 'unclassifiable' on my iPod. Ninety percent of the time it means that what I'm about to hear is special and something that should be separated from the rest, because it can't be pigeon-holed. James Yuill is the bastard free-spirited child of Donovan and Aphex Twin, and 'Turning Down Water For Air' is a beautiful patchwork of folk, electronica and surprises. Clocking in at just over forty minutes long, this 12 track LP, James' second release, is the music that Wes Anderson dreams of - sensitive, carefree and comforting but at the same time breathtakingly quirky in its trinket-toy electronic tones. What also makes this album special is its cohesion: you cannot predict what is around every corner, however each sound is carefully yarned together in delicate consistence. 'Head Over Heels' and 'Breathing In' has echoes of a despondent Elliot Smith, while first single 'No Pins Allowed' and 'No Surprise' take sound in completely different directions, upbeat and unique in their pounding, Squarepusher-esque experimental electronics. 'How Could I Lose?' is lo-fi perfection and its use of strings is haunting; yet another surprise in the boxful of tricks that is 'Turning Down Water for Air'. TW
Release Date: 13 Oct
Press Contact: Darling Department NW [all]

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SMIRNOFF ANNOUNCES PROMOTER BURSARIES
Vodka types Smirnoff have announced a new initiative, called Night Vision, to discover, support and celebrate up-and-coming club promoters - and it has kicked off in Manchester. Launched earlier this month, Night Visions aims to provide an online advice and resource forum to anyone organising a night, as well as offering a two tiered bursary scheme for rising promoters across the country.

In the first stage of the programme, Smirnoff will be offering contributions of £10,000 to four Manchester-based promoters, with a London-based scheme to follow in 2009, and ten monthly bursaries of £2,000 to be awarded to promoters from anywhere the UK, to help pay for the overheads of their nights.

Playing a key part in this will be a panel of Night Vision experts, made up of local nightlife luminaries which, in Manchester, include Sam Kandel, co-founder of the Warehouse Project, Justin Crawford and Luke Cowdey of Unabombers, Lee Taylor of Manchester-based Flux Magazine, and Carolyn Gamble, special events manager at Urbis. The experts will offer tips and advice to aspiring promoters via the Night Vision section of the Smirnoff Original Nights Facebook page (www.facebook.com/smirnofforiginalnights), as well as judging which promoters will benefit from the Night Vision bursaries.

Applications for the Night Vision bursaries can be submitted via the dedicated Facebook page after becoming a fan. The closing date for applications for the Manchester bursaries is this Friday, when the experts will select the four most progressive and forward thinking initiatives to each receive £10,000. The resulting nights will form a season of events in Manchester throughout November that will culminate in Smirnoff's own take on an original night; Smirnoff Electric Cabaret, taking place at Manchester Academy on 27 Nov.

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WOOLLIES RESPONDS TO CREDIT CLAIMS
Woolworths yesterday issued a statement responding to reports some of its suppliers, including record companies who supply CDs to its entertainment distribution arm E-UK, had withdrawn some or all of its credit facilities. Those rumours follow the high street retailer's admission earlier this month that it had made just under £100 million in losses in the first half of its current financial year, although it was the high street store bit of the company that was struggling more so than its distribution company.

Anyway, responding to the crunched credit reports, Woollies said yesterday: "The Board of Woolworths Group is comfortable with the financial and cash position of the Group. We continue to work closely with suppliers and credit insurers in what is clearly a difficult environment for the retail and wholesale sectors. While it is true that some credit insurers are tightening terms of trade, we are trading as normal with our suppliers and will continue to do so. EUK continues to work closely with all of its customers and suppliers to ensure a successful Christmas period for all parties".

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EMI APPOINT NEW MARKETING CHIEF FOR US
EMI announced another senior appointment from outside the music industry yesterday as Howard Handler, currently marketing chief for Virgin Mobile US, was confirmed as the major label's new marketing chief for North America. Handler will head up all of the major's marketing, advertising, press and plugging, video production, digital promotion and tour support activity for all of the major's US artists and labels.

He'll report to Sam van der Feltz, EMI's President of Global Marketing, who said yesterday: "Howard brings a perfect combination of experience to this role. He has successfully enhanced brand equity and built businesses for world-reknowned names in entertainment, sports, new media and consumer products. His creativity, experience, relationships and leadership will be extremely valuable to us as we increase EMI's focus on the consumer and help artists create more powerful connections with their fans".

Prior to Virgin Mobile, Handler headed up college marketing firm Burly Bear Network, and before that held a senior marketing role at the US's National Football League. Much of his previous marketing work has been primarily targeted at the youth market, while he does also have some music credentials having previously worked in a marketing role at MTV.

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UMG APPOINT NEW LEGAL VP IN US
More major label appointments, and the Universal Music Group has appointed Jeffrey Harleston to the job of Senior VP Business & Legal in the US, where he will report to the major's global Exec VP Business & Legal Michael Ostroff. It's an internal promotion, Harleston having most recently been Exec VP and GM of the major's Geffen Records division.

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BMI APPOINT NEW EUROPE ARTIST/LABEL LIAISON MAN
And more appointments involving American music, though this one in the UK, if that makes sense. American performing rights body BMI has announced the appointment of Simon Aldridge to the job of Senior Exec, Writer & Publisher Relations for Europe. He will be based at BMI's London office, and report to Brandon Bakshi, who said yesterday: "Simon was a natural choice for BMI with his background in music publishing and A&R. His experience in the creative process will be a huge asset for our songwriters, composers and music publishers, and he will play an integral part in our continued outreach to the European songwriter community". Aldridge has previously worked in A&R roles at Sony/ATV, Perfect Songs and Windswept Publishing.

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NORWAY PUSH FOR MORE ITUNES INTEROPERABILITY
Remember how, when the majors were still insisting their music be only sold with digital rights management technology attached, everyone stressed about how Apple were locking consumers to iTunes and the iPod because the former was the only place you could buy DRMed music that would work on the latter? And that DRMed music bought on the former only worked on the latter?

Well, even though the whole debate seems less important now that everyone is starting to sell MP3s of major label music - which will also play on your iPod - consumer rights regulators in Norway are still stressing about the fact that DRM-ed tracks bought via iTunes, the market leader download store, still only work on iPods, and not other digital music devices.

The country's Consumer Ombudsman, Bjoern Erik Thon, has now said he plans to take the IT firm to the country's Market Council in a bid to force them to properly open up the iTunes Store to digital music players other than their own iPod. Thon says that previous discussions with Apple regarding interoperability have not come to much, and that he now hopes the Council will force the iPod maker to change its policies on the matter.

He told reporters: "No progress has been reported by iTunes since our meeting in February. This is a matter of great principal importance". The Associated Press report that Apple has until 3 Nov to respond to Thon's latest action, and the Council should consider the complaint next year.

Apple have previously threatened to withdraw from European markets where regulators force it to open up its music store or digital rights management codec to rivals.

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HOUSE OF REPS APPROVE WEBCASTER ROYALTY DISCUSSION EXTENSION
The US's House Of Representatives have passed a bit of legislation that gives internet radio companies and the US music industry's digital royalties body SoundExchange more time to negotiate new royalty agreements.

As previously reported, US Congress had set a deadline for a voluntary agreement to be reached between the webcasters and the labels, otherwise copyright regulators would prescribe a settlement. Despite initial disagreements, both sides say their negotiations are now getting more positive, but that they need more time to hammer out the details. Several congressmen duly proposed last week to extend their deadline.

Pandora boss Tim Westergren, who is involved in the negotiations, claimed at the weekend that the National Association Of Broadcasters, who represent traditional radio stations, were trying to stop the deadline for agreement from being postponed because they wanted the Copyright Board to enforce a royalty arrangement that the webcasters say isn't viable, because that would weaken the webcasters who are, of course, competitors to the NAB's members.

Whether that was true or not I don't know, but the House Of Reps nevertheless agreed to extend the deadline until 15 Feb next year. So, that's nice.

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BSKYB LOSE APPEAL OVER ITV SHARES
BSkyB has been told it must sell over 10% of its stake in ITV after losing its appeal to a previous Competition Commission ruling.

As previously reported, BSkyB appealed the earlier Commission ruling that it must reduce its 17.9% stake in the terrestrial commercial broadcaster to less than 7.5% after it was ruled that Sky having such a big stake in one of its main competitors, while not in breach of media ownership rules, was, nevertheless, anti-competitive.

The Appeal Tribunal found it favour of the original Commission ruling yesterday. Not only that, but it expressed sympathy to claims from Sky's rival Virgin Media that even a 7.5% stake may be too much, and requested the Commission reconsider the question of whether Sky should have a stake at all in ITV, in particular focusing on points Virgin argue the Commission failed to consider first time round.

Some reckon Sky will appeal again, though cynics argue that the satellite broadcaster is now resigned to the fact it will have to give up its ITV stake, but that they want to delay the share sale as long as possible because the commercial telly firm's share price is currently a lot lower than when they bought into the company, and even if they start a bidding war for their ITV stake (and several buyers are known to be interested) they would lose millions on what they paid back in 2006.

Sky said in a statement yesterday: "We will review the judgement carefully and decide on next steps in due course".

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ARCHER SAYS JAY-Z SHOULD GROW UP
Oasis bassist Gem Archer has said that Jay-Z should grow up instead of slagging off Noel Gallagher via the medium of rap. Which is a bit rich, given Gallagher's propensity for slagging off anyone and anything via the medium of his mouth. But there you go.

Anyway, as you might just recall, Gallagher criticised Glastonbury earlier this year for booking Jay-Z for the event, instead of a rock band, and the rap star responded in a track entitled 'Jockin' Jay Z' with the lyrics "That bloke from Oasis said I couldn't play guitar/ Someone shoulda told him I'm a fuckin' rock star/ Today is gonna be the day that I'm gonna throw it back to you/ I'm living life as a rocker..." Actually, now that I've read the lyrics, he's not really slagging Gallagher off that much, really, is he?

But here's what Archer thinks: "It's like eight-year-old girls in the schoolyard, running off and writing ditties like that. Grow up! But rappers love a ruck. It's what they do. They set out to have a fight and it's there in their lyrics. They love biffo".

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DANNII DENIES JEALOUSY CLAIMS
Dannii Minogue is a bit bothered about these tabloid claims that she issued an ultimatum to The X-Factor's producers over the fact that she's not getting as much airtime as Cheryl Cole, and is jealous, and all that. She's so bothered, she's issued a statement denying the ultimatum, and the notion that she is envious of her fellow judge. "I'm not jealous", she says. "I'm not furious. There are no pre-live show crisis talks and there are no ultimatums... I love being a part of The X Factor and we [the judges] are all having so much fun this year".

So that's you told.

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MOSS PAINTING FAILS TO SELL, THEN SELLS
A self-portrait by Kate Moss, painted in lipstick with extra blood added by Pete Doherty, failed to sell at auction on Saturday. However, it was snapped up afterwards by an anonymous buyer, who paid £33,600 for it.

A self-portrait by Doherty also failed to sell at the auction. No anonymous buyers wanted that one.

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JANET GETS A LAP-FULL
Can no one control their stomachs these days? Only the other day we were reporting on some clothes that Amy Winehouse had been sick on, now Jermaine Dupri has been sick on his fiance. Which is only newsworthy because his fiancŽ, of course, is Janet Jackson. Dupri reportedly vomited onto Jackson's lap at his 36th birthday party at the Tenjune nightlub in New York, which was also attended by Ne-Yo, Busta Rhymes and Ice-T. None of whom were sick on Janet Jackson, as far as we know.

One partygoer told The New York Post: "[He] vomited in Janet's lap. Ms Jackson bolted out of the scene and sped off in her chauffeured Maybach".

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