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JACKSON TO ANNOUNCE O2 SHOWS The star will appear at the venue tomorrow to make a "special announcement". Of course, the special announcement could be something entirely different, but the BBC's entertainment news team are claiming via their Twitter feed that they have had it confirmed that the gigs are set to go ahead. If this is so, then it'll be quite a summer of troubled stars at the Dome, with Britney Spears also performing eight nights at the venue in June. It will also be the first time Jackson has performed in London since he disappointed fans by singing just a few lines from 'We Are The World' at the World Music Awards in 2006. -------------------------------------------------- NEIL YOUNG SUPPORTS WARNER IN YOUTUBE DISPUTE As much previously reported, just before Christmas Warner pulled all its content from the video sharing website after the two companies failed to agree on new licensing terms. Insiders say that the record company, the first major to licence its music to YouTube back in the day, wanted to use contract renewal negotiations to increase the income it receives from the video service, but YouTube owners Google, who are struggling to make the market-leader video site actually pay for itself, refused. Young, who is signed to Warner's Reprise label, has posted a letter on his website saying that the major was forced to step back from YouTube because they were offered less good terms than their rivals. He admits that he recognises the value of YouTube for artists like him, but adds that he thinks it is unfair one label might be offered less favourable terms than another. He writes: "Warner Reprise records was one of the very first to embrace YouTube. YouTube was in its fledgling stages when Warner made an early deal to work with them. Today, other labels have made more lucrative deals for their artists at YouTube". Giving his support to the concept of YouTube, and expressing a little disappointment that he can no longer utilise the service, he continues: "Today's web world has created a new way. Artists today can go directly to the people. There is nothing standing between the artists and their audience. Freedom of expression reigns. [But] when that conduit is broken, the connection is weakened". But he clearly blames YouTube for the breakdown of their talks with Warner, adding: "If all artists were compensated equally, and the people decided who had the hits and misses by virtue of number of downloads and plays, there could be no grounds for disagreement that would cause the facilitator of the art to break the conduit between an artist and an audience. That is what has happened to Warner artists caught in YouTube's web. YouTube has a responsibility to respect the artists it facilitates and resist punishing them to make a business point". He concludes: "It is time for industry wide standards of artist's compensation on the web. Reprise and Warner Bros artists deserve what artists from other labels are getting. Let the people decide what constitutes success. Warner Bros and Reprise are looking for a level playing field. Until they get one, these problems may not go away. That is the essence of the issue between Warner Bros Reprise and YouTube". A YouTube spokesman, sort of missing the point of Young's argument, told reporters: "YouTube connects music, musicians, and fans. We have deals with all of the other major record labels and with musicians, songwriters, and other independent creative producers. It is the record labels' responsibility to represent and pay their artists". Perhaps Neil could have a word with Warner - who are, remember, shareholders in MySpace Music, like all the majors - about them adopting "industry wide standards of artist's compensation on the web" too, by giving the indies, via digital rights group Merlin, the equal equity stake in MySpace's music company they've asked for. -------------------------------------------------- ROBERT SMITH SAYS MORE ABOUT RADIOHEAD RELEASE Explaining that what he is questioning is the "dumb acceptance of the 'Freemart is the new paradigm - that's just the way it is' mantra", he goes on: "These idiot critics have tried very hard to turn my general point - a point I made using Radiohead's 'In Rainbows: pay what you want' marketing ruse [as an example] as it is the most widely known example - into a mock shock horror: 'how dare anyone question the famously independent and anti-capitalist Radiohead, they sell more 'product' than The Cure so their strategy obviously 'worked' (huh?!!)... and anyway, Robert Smith is way too old to comment on contemporary culture" moment...'" The full rant is here, if you want to read it: thecure.com/blog/default.aspx?nid=20628. It's all in upper case, though, so don't say you weren't warned. -------------------------------------------------- FLAMING LIPS TRACK NAMED OFFICIAL SONG OF OKLAHOMA DEFENCE SUM UP: PIRATE BAY TRIAL UPDATE They again stressed that no infringing content is stored on or moves through the Pirate Bay's servers, a common defence in these kinds of trials and, technically speaking, a correct statement, though the record companies would argue it's an irrelevant point, because the Bay so blatantly helps the actual infringers infringe (and, arguably, profits from them doing so) that they should be considered active players in the infringement anyway. The defence team also again stressed that the Bay had legitimate uses, claiming the prosecution had failed to show that it was mainly unlicensed content that is shared by Pirate Bay users. And they again made the claim that the Bay is no different to other search engines - if they are guilty of infringement, they argue, so are Google. The legal men added that the prosecution had not presented any actual uploaders or downloaders who connect via the Pirate Bay's search engine during the trial, nor shown that those file-sharers' actions were illegal in their country of origin. They raised this point, presumably, because the court needs to be sure people who use the Bay's services are guilty of primary infringement in order to charge the owners of the BitTorrent tracker with the more abstract crime of 'authorising infringement'. And in regard to the damages situation, the legal men said the record companies and film studios had grossly exaggerated the Pirate Bay's advertising income, and equally overstated the sales they themselves lose as a result of file sharing. They reminded the court of academic witness Roger Wallis who said that the content industries at large benefited from the file sharing phenomenon, because it helped promote new artists and reduced the costs of distributing content. It's quite hard to predict how the court will rule on all this, because both sides have failed in some ways in presenting their side of the argument. The content owners embarrassingly dropped half their charges at the outset, and then relied in the main on the same old arguments and easy-to-question statistics. But the defence have, in my opinion, fared even less well. Their bullish "we're here to stick it to the man" attitude outside the court was replaced with questionable claims of ignorance regarding copyright laws and their role in enabling infringement when they took to the witness stand, plus all the usual defences used by P2P service providers, many of which have been previously rejected in court, albeit in other jurisdictions. Nevertheless, the Bay's spokesman Peter Sunde, a defendant himself of course, remained confident outside the courtroom. According to Ars Technica he said this: "A guilty verdict would 'be a huge mistake for the future of the Internet. It's quite obvious which side is the good side". Although a verdict was expected as soon as next week, it looks likely one won't now be reached until mid-April. NEW U2 ALBUM WILL EQUAL STONES RECORD Bono et al's new LP, their twelfth, will probably also be this year's fastest selling album so far. -------------------------------------------------- PROCUL HARUM TOP FUNERAL SONG CHART Anyway, The Bereavement Register, a body which tries to stop junk mail from being sent to dead people by logging deaths, has released their 'songs most played at funerals' charts for 2009, based on a survey of funeral directors and organisers, and the top tens by age group and then overall are as follows... Generation X/Y (age 20-44) Baby Boomers (age 45-69) I'd quite like Leftfield's 'Open Up'. And Caro CMU once said she wanted The Firm's 'Star Trekkin'. Yeah, come to think of it, I take back all my criticism of other contemporary music choices. UNIVERSAL PUBLISHING SIGN U2 COLLABORATOR CYPRESS HILL ARE IN THE STUDIO The hip-hop group's B-Real told Billboard.com: "We're mixing right now. It's gritty. It's aggressive. It's like hip-hop straight-up. We just felt like we needed to go back to that raw, gritty hip-hop sound but try to find a way to bridge it with what's going on now". back to top-------------------------------------------------- IMBRUGLIA VERY HAPPY WITH EX'S ALBUM CONTRIBUTION Imbruglia told Melbourne's Herald Sun: "He did some beautiful work on there actually. In fact one of the parts he wrote in one of the songs is my favourite two notes on the whole album. It sounds really weird but they run through the whole song, and it makes the whole song for me. [He's a] very clever boy". Asked who else had helped with the album, she replied: "I've got some Chris Martin songs that have come in at the last minute [which are] really cool. So that's been really exciting. I'm a very lucky girl". NEW EELS ALBUM DUE THIS SUMMER The new album, 'Hombre Lobo', will be released by Vagrant Records on 2 Jun. Hurrah! -------------------------------------------------- JIMMY EAT WORLD LIVE ALBUM -------------------------------------------------- CORNELL TO STREAM NEW ALBUM FOR LIMITED PERIOD The former Soundgarden/Audioslave star says of the album: "Musically, this is the most ambitious thing I've been a part of. It's almost like a movie soundtrack". It's out on 10 Mar in the US and 23 Mar in the UK. JARVIS COCKER ANNOUNCES UK TOUR DATES Tour dates: 10 Jun: Blackpool, Empress Ballroom -------------------------------------------------- N-DUBZ ADD DATES TO SOLD OUT UK TOUR 27 Mar: Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall -------------------------------------------------- GONG ANNOUNCE 40TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR 19 Nov: Bristol O2 Academy FAITH NO MORE TO HEADLINE DOWNLOAD Live Nation VP of Promotions Andy Copping told reporters: "Faith No More were the band that started the whole alternative music scene. To have them play for the first time in eleven years exclusively at Download is amazing! They had so many huge hits, I can't wait to see the set list - 'We Care A Lot', 'From Out Of Nowhere', 'Epic', 'Falling To Pieces', 'Midlife Crisis', 'A Small Victory', 'Digging The Grave' and not forgetting their awesome covers of Black Sabbath's 'War Pigs' and The Commodores' 'Easy'. They are one of my favourite bands of all time and being able to see them headline at Donington will be unbelievable. This is like the second coming of Christ!" And as if Coping planning their entire setlist and comparing them to Jesus wasn't enough already, Kerrang! editor Paul Brannigan added: "Faith No More were not only one of the great rock bands of the 90s, but also one of the greatest rock bands ever. A hugely entertaining thorn in the side of mainstream rock throughout their 17 year history, the band's unique, eclectic and uncategorisable sound has been a massive influence on every forward-thinking rock band of the past 20 years and their return is a huge cause for great celebration. I couldn't be more thrilled that they're back". The band join a line-up already bulging with big names, including Slipknot, Def Leppard, Korn, Marilyn Manson, Whitesnake, Limp Bizkit, Pendulum, ZZ Top, Mötley Crüe, The Prodigy, Dream Theater, Trivium, Killswitch Engage, Billy Talent, Dragonforce, Buckcherry, Anvil, The Blackout and Devil Driver. -------------------------------------------------- EAVIS SAYS JAY-Z HELPED GIVE GLASTO NEW LIFE Eavis also spoke about plans for the 2010 festival, which will mark the event's fortieth anniversary. "We're talking to lots of bands at the moment about that" she said. "We want to have a band from every year on the Pyramid Stage over the weekend. And we'll have a lot of the biggest performances on some of the tiniest stages, so we're gonna do something really special for our 40th anniversary". -------------------------------------------------- SNOWSIDE CANCELLED The festival's Rupert Wood said in a statement yesterday: "It is with deep regret that due to circumstances beyond our control we have been left with no other choice but to cancel with immediate effect Snowside Festival, due to be held in Nassfeld Austria between March 23-29th 2009". He added: "A huge effort has been maintained right throughout the campaign to successfully produce our first Alpine festival however due to certain unforeseen factors including the current economic climate, the pound-euro exchange rate resulting in rising costs, the knock on effect is that ticket sales have been too low. All these factors combined have contributed towards us at Snowside having to make this very difficult decision. Under the circumstances we are unable to proceed any further this year. We will continue to pursue our ambition to hold a festival in the region next year". -------------------------------------------------- ATP V THE FANS II, Minehead, 8-10 May: Recent SSQ answerer Casiotone For The Painfully Alone has been fan selected for the fest, while Team ATP have added Grouper, Nico Muhly and Sian Alice Group to the line up. www.atpfestival.com THE GREAT ESCAPE, Brighton, 14-16 May: The Maccabees, White Denim, James Yuill, The XX, The Brute Chorus, Dan Black, Magic Magic and School Of Seven Bells all added to Kasabian headlined bill. www.escapegreat.com EDEN SESSIONS, Bodelva, Cornwall, July: Razorlight to play on 9 Jul, join programme that already includes Kasabian (4 Jul), Oasis (14 Jul) and The Kooks (18 Jul). www.edenproject.com/sessions/ GREEN MAN FESTIVAL, Glanusk Park, Brecon Beacons, 21-23 Aug: British Sea Power, Bon Iver, Wilco, Wooden Ships, Peggy Sue and 6 Day Riot all added to bill. www.thegreenmanfestival.co.uk OXEGEN, Punchestown Racecourse, County Kildare, Ireland, 10-12 Jul: Manic Street Preachers, TV On The Radio, The Game, Crookers, Of Montreal and Friendly Fires all added to The Killers, Snow Patrol, Kings of Leon and Blur headlined line up. www.oxegen.ie ALBUM REVIEW: Various Artists - Fabric 45: Omar S - Detroit (Fabric Records) UNIVERSAL FINANCIALS - THIS TIME ACTUALLY FOR THE YEAR 2008 Apologies to any Vivendi shareholders reading CMU who might have wondered how Universal Music had suddenly managed to lose 408 million euros - because, yes, the world's biggest music company actually had pre-tax profits of 686 million euros in 2008, despite a slight fall in revenues. That means profits for 2008 were up 9.9% on 2007, which is rather unfashionable, don't they know posting record-breaking losses is in vogue at the moment? I don't see any Universal execs getting a job at a bank, they'd never pass the "ability to piss away millions" test. As previously reported, revenues and profits in quarter four were down on 2007, but the mega-sales of some key earlier-in-the-year releases, like Duffy's debut 'Rockferry', the mega-mega-seller 'Tha Carter III' from Lil Wayne and the non-chart listed 'Mamma Mia!' soundtrack, all helped ensure revenues were healthier for the whole year. As also previously reported, a boost in digital revenues (up 31% for the year) plus Universal's recently expanded interests in music publishing, merchandising and management all helped with the profits increase, as did subtle but significant cuts in overheads, including headcount. Parent company Vivendi posted profits of 4.95 billion euros, up 4.9% on the previous year, with revenues also up, 17.2%, to 25.3 billion euros. The conglom's CEO, Jean-Bernard Lévy, said in a statement: "We reached the goals that we set in the beginning of 2008. Despite an unstable environment, our business units' operating performances were excellent". -------------------------------------------------- 19 ENTERTAINMENT PROFITS UP -------------------------------------------------- SEATWAVE SAYS SECONDARY TICKETING BOOMING Seatwave founder and CEO Joe Cohen said this: "The huge rise in transactions is evidence that the secondary market is filling a genuine customer need. Our open marketplace is lowering prices, increasing transparency and providing greater choice and opportunity, allowing real fans the chance to attend the events that matter to them". -------------------------------------------------- FAC RESCHEDULE LONDON MEETING Explaining the purpose of the meeting, the FAC say on their website: "This will be an opportunity for us to discuss how we can promote our rights and those of our fans. Acting alone, artists' voices will not be heard. Acting together, we can be a powerful force. Our rights are our power. By strengthening featured artists' rights, asserting our interests and fighting for what's fair, the future can be ours". The meeting is for featured artists only. Interested featured artists should check the body's website for more information - www.featuredartistscoalition.com. -------------------------------------------------- BLOCKBUSTER ON THE BRINK, MAYBE THREE MYSPACE EXECS DEPART MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe reportedly confirmed the departures in an internal memo, and encouraged staff there to make an effort to get to know the company's more recently appointed senior execs. The memo apparently goes like this: "[Co-founder] Tom [Anderson] and I want to reiterate how passionate we are about MySpace - we love the people, the product, and we believe in the future of the company. I encourage everyone to get to know our executive team as they are an enormously capable group of professionals from successful media and internet powerhouses such as eBay, Yahoo!, MTV, and Symantec that will lead our company into its next phase". The reason for three senior execs departing in one go isn't clear, though it's possible one of them actually tried to use their website one day and realised just how frustratingly rubbish it is, despite its popularity. Joking aside, rumour has it that some senior technical types at MySpace are increasingly frustrated at the general shoddiness of their website, which has come about because such a big network has been built on the company's original social networking framework, which was never great. The inadequacies are all the more obvious because many of MySpace's competitors in the social networking domain operate much better platforms. Insiders say that those frustrations, coupled with Kapur et al's departure, are having a serious effect on morale of the Rupert Murdoch owned social networking company - and the somewhat lacklustre response to the US launch of the revamped MySpace Music, which the social networking company had previously been touting as big big news in the world of digital music, hasn't helped. The fact DeWolfe felt the need to reaffirm his own commitment to the company seems to back up those rumours. Still, while Facebook and increasingly Twitter dominate in the world of true social networking, it has to be said MySpace does still lead when it comes to band-fan networking so, while the new look MySpace Music may itself have been a bit disappointing, there is still surely some potential for MySpace to take a good slice of the digital music pie longterm. ITV ANNOUNCES CUTBACKS 600 jobs will go, mainly in Leeds where the broadcaster plans to close its studios, what was once the home of ITV franchise Yorkshire TV. The network's £1 billion programme budget will be cut by £65 million this year, online businesses Friends Reunited and Scoot will be sold, and it's network of ITV local web services will be scaled back. The board is also recommending holding back one dividend payment to shareholders. The big cut in the programme budget may mean ITV will look to renegotiate its costly deals with big names like Ant & Dec and Simon Cowell, possibly reducing fees in return for releasing them from 'golden handcuff' arrangements which stop them working for rival broadcasters. The telly firm also confirmed it is considered its options regarding its bit of the Freeview network - its SDN company - which is profitable but which could bring in some useful extra cash if sold (such as deal would not effect ITV's channels on Freeview, which aren't even broadcast on ITV's bit of the Freeview network). Announcing the cost saving programme, Grade told reporters: "Current conditions in the advertising market are the most challenging I have experienced in over 30 years in UK broadcasting. Our priorities have to be aligned to the changed economic context. The [ITV] board therefore recognises that the 2012 revenue targets set in 2007 are no longer appropriate and we are focusing on our core business as a producer-broadcaster, on reducing our costs and on cash generation". MTV2/MYSPACE CHART 1. [2] Oasis - Falling Down Meanwhile, added to the list for viewer voting this week are... Fightstar - Mercury Summer More at www.myspace.com/mtvtwo UNIVERSITY CREATES BEATLES MA -------------------------------------------------- NOEL GALLAGHER HOPES FOR A CONTINUING CRUNCH Not sure whether this was a joke or not. Probably. He no doubt realises that whilst his own lifestyle is unlikely to be changed by a worsening economic climate, other people might lose jobs, homes, everything. Right? -------------------------------------------------- LINDSAY LOHAN'S DAD SAYS JUDAISM IS A PHASE Anyway, The Daily Mail quote Michael Lohan as saying: "She's exploring Judaism right now. She's explored the Church of Scientology, she tried Kabbalah, and now this. I think it's just another phase. But either way, she's involving God in her life, and I'm happy about that". Lohan Senior works as a minister, apparently having 'found god' after nearly dying in a car accident five years ago. -------------------------------------------------- JAY KAY'S FERRARI DAMAGED back to top MCGEE ARGUES WITH ENO? 'Eno' responded yesterday with a simple, "Fuck off, wanker". To which McGee responded: "Morning Brian, wondered when you would wake up. When are you going to make a decent record again it was 1972 was the last one cunt". Eno refused to respond again, despite a barrage of insults from McGee. Although whether or not Eno ever responded in the first place is in some doubt. Calvin Harris recently revealed that he had asked Eno which of a number of Twitterers claiming to be him was real at the recent Music Producers Guild Awards, where the former picked up the Best Remixer gong and the latter picked up the Joe Meek Award for Innovation in Production. Eno replied that he was not signed up to Twitter and that all of them were fake. Something Harris pointed out to McGee following his tirade. Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite also called the authenticity of Eno's account into question, but McGee insisted that it really was the producer he was lambasting. McGee has now gone back to regularly announcing how much swearing he's done on Twitter. |
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