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![]() INTRODUCING LEYLINE PUBLICITY Leyline Promotions - better known as one of the capital’s leading independent promoters (The Remix, Kill All Hippies, Insomniacs Ball, Twisted Licks, Breaking Ground) - have created a new publicity department headed up by Nick Bateson and Adrian Leigh. The pair have worked on major campaigns including a-ha, Glade Festival, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Standon Calling Festival and Hervé amongst others. In addition to their wealth of experience in the live arena, Leyline Publicity now specialise in bespoke PR services including online and offline music and lifestyle press, radio plugging, brand development, digital marketing and blogging. For further information please contact: [email protected] or [email protected] t: 020 7575 3285 -- ADVERTISE WITH CMU - classifieds £120 per week, job ads £100 per week, banner ads £150 per week, leader box £200 per week - call 020 7099 9050 or email [email protected] for information or to book. back to top |
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FABULOUS TOWN HOUSE TO SHARE IN BRONDESBURY PARK NW6 Bright double bedroom with adjoining bijous living room and bathroom to let in a very large three bedroom luxury townhouse in Brondesbury Park NW6. The house has a large and spacious modern kitchen, large living and dining areas and a southwest facing garden with barbeque areas. There is free access to an onsite fitness complex with gym, full size heated swimming pool, Jacuzzi and sauna! The townhouse is situated in a beautiful private development with gated access and comes with a free off road parking space and visitor parking. Queens Park village is just a five minute stroll with lively pubs, deli's and eateries, a Sunday farmer's market and the park itself. Queens Park Station (Bakerloo) and Willesden Green (Jubilee) are both a five minute walk. The space is ideal for a professional single/couple. Rent: £795 pcm - includes internet/service charge. Call Adrian on 07971 555020 or email [email protected] -- CAMDEN FLAT Bright and airy top-floor two bedroom flat in large detached period house on Camden/Kentish Town Border (corner of Camden Road / Camden Park Road). Very well appointed, clean and well maintained, with superb sitting room including open fire and working shutters, modern kitchen with washer/dryer & full size fridge freezer, and modern bathroom with bath & great power shower. Large double bedroom (9'x15') with built in wardrobes, second double bedroom (7'6 x 11'). Plenty of storage space including large loft space. 10 minutes walk to Camden Town and Kentish Town tubes, 253, 29 and 390 buses are 30 seconds walk. Secure cycle storage in building. Secluded shared garden for use. Ideal for young professional couple/sharers. Unfurnished. Available 1st April. £1275 pcm. For more information or to arrange viewing, please email [email protected] -- NEW TO CMU - advertise any flats or rooms you are looking to rent out, or flats or rooms wanted, for just £25 a week. Call 020 7099 9050 or email [email protected] for information or to book. back to top |
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MANSLAUGHTER NOW AN OPTION: SPECTOR TRIAL UPDATE As much previously reported, the first time Spector was tried for the murder of Clarkson the jury reached a 10-2 deadlock in favour of conviction. Not enough for the court to pass a guilty verdict, a mistrial was declared leading to the second court hearing relating to the case that has been in full flow for the last few months. Media interest in the second case soon waned - including our own - when it became clear that both prosecution and defence would basically present the same arguments and, in the main, the same witnesses, to fight their respective cases. Again the prosecution wheeled in various former girlfriends of Spector who confirmed that the producer had a split personality, and was prone to switch, often late at night, from the charmer they loved to an angry man who made violent threats towards women, often involving guns. They presented the producer's former chauffeur, who was outside Spector's house the night Clarkson was shot, and who claims his former boss said the words "I think I killed someone" shortly after gun fire had been heard. And they relied on various forensic experts who claims blood splatters and the like proved Spector must have been holding the gun. The defence - although slightly more together under Doron Weinberg than the somewhat chaotic defence team who represented the producer first time round, and without the distraction of all those allegations that Spector's original defence attorneys hid potentially crucial evidence - also relied in the main on similar evidence to the first trial. They questioned the reliability of the chauffeur's testimony (they say there was a noisy fountain and the driver's English wasn't brilliant, meaning he could have easily misheard), brought in their own forensic experts who say the blood splatters actually show Clarkson shot herself, and then went through various correspondences of the late actress to show she was depressed and maybe even suicidal. Weinberg, in an interesting move, also provided evidence that Spector, when grumpy, made threats to men as well as women - an admission of Spector's ability to flip personality wise, but also an attempt to reduce the impact of the misogyny claims against the producer. Closing arguments in the second case will be begin later today. It remains to be seen if this jury is able to reach a verdict. Given the 10-2 split, the prosecution clearly won the argument if not the case first time round, so it will be interesting to see if Weinberg's more cohesive defence case can turn that around. That said, it is possible that Judge Larry Fidler, aware how similar the two cases have been in terms of evidence presented, if not media interest and sideline dramas, is concerned that another deadlock may occur. That would explain why on Friday the judge told the jury they could consider the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. The jury first time round were not offered that option. Some have speculated that the two who opposed a guilty verdict last time may have been affected by the fact little discussion was made about Spector's intent during the trial, ie did he want Clarkson dead. The issue wasn't discussed because under Californian law it isn't a requirement that the producer intended to kill the actress in order to get a second degree murder conviction - ie an accidental shooting could still amount to murder if Spector had acting with sufficient negligence. His intent therefore was irrelevant. But juries often find the concept of a murder charge without an intent to kill a bit confusing. Offering the manslaughter option may go in the prosecution's favour. Although they have always pushed for the full murder conviction, and while in theory the burden of proof for manslaughter is the same as murder, a manslaughter conviction is, in reality, easier to secure. For Spector a manslaughter conviction would result in a lesser penalty, but it would be a conviction nonetheless. Closing arguments could last until Wednesday. -------------------------------------------------- KERRY KATONA DEPENDENT ON DRUGS The News Of The World claim that she's been binging on cocaine, amphetamines and anti-depressants. The one time pop star, as previously reported, recently discovered a millions-large hole in her finances, and found out that her other half had been helping himself which led to Katona's announcement that she was planning to file for divorce. They have since reconciled, however, God knows why. Anyway, NOTW claim that Katona has told friends: "Cocaine is the only way I can function. It's the only way I can get this sorted", and quote one of those so-called friends as saying: "Kerry is completely addicted to drugs. It is worse than ever and she is close to the edge. She takes them all day every day. She simply can't cope without her fix". -------------------------------------------------- MADONNA'S NANNY TOLD TO SHIFT A spokesman for the singer said: "I do not comment on household issues but I can assure you that David and Madonna's other two children are very well taken care of at all times". -------------------------------------------------- LATE OF THE PIER GET INTO AN ONSTAGE FIGHT AT SXSW The band's Sam Eastgate explained what happened: "The bouncers went behind the sound desk and grabbed Steve, our sound guy, right off the desk. They turned off the power but I found a guitar microphone that was on, used that for a bit, then all of a sudden the bouncer had one of us by the throat. I saw red. It was quite a big jump, because he's such a big bouncer. Someone grabbed me and threw me down the stairs". He added that he feels confident that fans won't judge them over the incident. "The crowd saw everything so they were really sympathetic", he said. "That's a good thing, I suppose, that they could see my frustrations translated into simple terms - as in the venue are fighting us, literally". Elsewhere in fights-happening-at-SxSW news, Iglu & Hartly's Jarvis Anderson was arrested in Austin on Thursday, after he allegedly assaulted a hotel security guard. According to the city's police department, the incident occurred when Anderson's bandmate Sam Martin took off his clothes and stood on a bench in the sixth floor lounge of the Hilton Garden Inn. When security guards arrived to move Martin, or to tell him to put his clothes back on, the apparently also half naked Anderson rushed at one and punched him three times in the face. The singer claimed that he thought the guard had physically attacked his band mate, which was why he reacted as he did. He was charged with assault on a public servant and bail was set at $7,500. It's not clear if or when he was released, or whether it affected the band's subsequent SxSW sets. BIG DAMAGES FOR RAINED OFF TOUR This particular lawsuit relates to a concert that was due to take place in Honolulu in 2007 at the start of an American tour. The show, and the tour for that matter, was cancelled at the last minute and promoters of the Hawaii show, Click Entertainment, argued that the last minute cancellation had cost them $1.5 million and caused furthered damage to the company's reputation. They also argued that they had since found out none of Rain's entourage had applied for visas ahead of the show suggesting that, despite the last minute cancellation, they never intended to come to the gig. A US court found in Click's favour, ruling that Rain, his agency JYP Entertainment Co and two South Korean promotion companies were guilty of both breach of contract and fraud. Nearly $5 million of the damages payment are punitive, with Rain himself and JYP ordered to pay half each. A legal rep for Click told reporters last week: "That was the best we certainly could've hoped for under the circumstances. I hope they send a message that people can't do the kind of things that this entertainer and his agents did. I think he received very bad advice... The decisions here were just horrible". It's thought the ruling will prompt other local promoters in the US who had been due to host other gigs on Rain's cancelled tour of the country to take similar legal action. Rain's lawyer John Crocker argued that his client acted with good intent, and pointed out that Click's deal was actually with an American company called Revolution Entertainment, who held the rights to the singer's live activity in the US, and not with Rain or JYP directly. He said his client did fully intend to do the US tour - and Rain himself testified to that effect - and that the cancellation was out of his control. He added that other circumstances - such as a trademark dispute regarding the use of the name Rain in the US - had also had an impact on the tour plans, and also argued that Click had failed to build a proper stage for the singer. Commenting on the court's ruling on the matter, Crocker told reporters: "We're obviously very disappointed with the jury's decision in this matter. We maintain our position that both JYP and Rain fulfilled all their obligations with regard to the Hawaii performance. We will continue to vigorously defend them, wherever these promoters bring these baseless lawsuits". EDDY CURRENT SUPPRESSION RING WIN AUSTRALIAN MUSIC PRIZE Here's who was on the short list: Apocalypso - The Presets -------------------------------------------------- SID VICIOUS TOPS CONTROVERSY POLL Anyway, here's the top ten: CHAMBERLIN LEAVES PUMPKINS A statement posted to the band's website on Friday read: "The SMASHING PUMPKINS' guitarist, singer, songwriter and founding member Billy Corgan has announced that drummer Jimmy Chamberlin has left the group. Chamberlin joined the band Corgan founded in Chicago in 1988 and played on all their albums except Adore (1998). Corgan will continue to write and record as SMASHING PUMPKINS with plans to head into the studio this spring." According to reports, recent gigs have been a bit tense, with Corgan apparently berating his audience from the stage, which doesn't sound very nice. DURAN DURAN WORKING WITH MARK RONSON -------------------------------------------------- BIG BOI PROMISES NEW OUTKAST ALBUM The hip hop star is quoted as saying: "As soon as Dre finishes his solo record, we'll get the Kast cranking. Since we've both been working with Organized Noize on our solo projects, we hear different records and be like, 'Well, we're gonna keep this one for the Kast album'. We're cooking up tracks, all right. Never stop. That's an everyday thing." Big Boi appeared at SxSW last week and previewed tracks from his own upcoming solo album, 'Sir Lucious Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty', which is due for release this summer. NIRVANA VINYL REISSUES PLANNED Ahead of officially announcing the re-releases at SxSW this weekend, ORG's Monti Olson told Billboard: "We spoke to Mike Davis at Universal Music who we do a lot of business with and he thought it was a great idea. Ultimately [Nirvana's management] Michael Meisel and John Silva approved it. We had worked with them on Beck's 'Odelay Deluxe' project and they thought we were the right company to do something this special. [Leading audio engineer] Bernie Grundman remastered the recordings specifically for us. To our knowledge this is the first time 'Unplugged' has ever come out on vinyl. They might have done a limited promotional thing but I doubt it". Although vinyl re-releases will always be a niche interest product, Nirvana fans are an obvious audience for such products, so this set of special editions could be good for everyone, including Primary Wave who will get a cut of the royalties due to the Kobain estate. -------------------------------------------------- FREE JANE'S ADDICTION, NIN & STREET SWEEPER TOUR EP Each band has provided two unreleased tracks. Oh, and the Jane's Addiction tracks are produced by Trent Reznor. Oh, and it's available in MP3, FLAC, lossless M4A, and 24bit studio quality WAV formats. And it's all free. I think I said that already, but it's worth mentioning again after all that. To download it, just go to www.ninja2009.com and try not to weep too openly. MIA REPLACES AMY AT COACHELLA -------------------------------------------------- LOVE MUSIC HATE RACISM HEADS TO STOKE Confirming the event, Love Music Hate Racism spokesman Lee Billingham told reporters: "Love Music Hate Racism is proud to be working in partnership with Stoke City FC and Stoke-on-Trent City Council to bring our national event this year to the Britannia Stadium on May 30th. Love Music Hate Racism is about celebrating what we all have in common - and music has always been a powerful force for bringing people and undermining the division and misery that racism can bring to our communities". He continued: "The festival at the Britannia will be the most exciting music event that Stoke has ever seen! Some of country's biggest bands and DJ's will join with top local performers in a fantastic day that will have something for everyone. The event will involve thousands of people in Stoke itself, from schools and colleges to community organisations and music venues, but will also show those from outside the city who join us on the day that the majority of people in Stoke prefer living, working and enjoying themselves together to racism and division". The line up for the event is tbc, though the likes of The Libertines, Kasabian, The Enemy, Bloc Party, Doves and Estelle have supported past Love Music Hate Racism events. -------------------------------------------------- ALL TOMORROW'S PARTIES, Butlins, Minehead, 15-17 May: Wire, Times New Viking and The Bronx all added to The Breeders' curated ATP. www.atpfestival.com GLASTONBURY, nr Pilton, Somerset, 26-28 Jun: Doves to headline the John Peel tent. www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk WOMAD, Charlton Park, Wiltshire, 25-27 Jul: Soloman Burke to headline, plus Ethiopiques, Fat Freddy's Drop, Nneka, Oumou Sangare, Rokia Traore, Darbar Morchang Party and Gypsies of Rajasthan all confirmed for world music fest. www.womad.org ONE LOVE FESTIVAL, Blackstock Farm, Hellingly, 21-23 Aug: Saxon Sound System, Macka B and ALBUM REVIEW: Whitest Boy Alive - Rules (Bubbles) Buy from iTunes SXSW DEBATES: ARTIST FAN CONNECTION IS THE KEY Well, the importance of social media was perhaps unsurprisingly talked up at a session called 'Fan Based Marketing', with some of the experts on the panel saying success increasingly relied on artists connecting directly with their fans, and that meant artists managing their own social network artist pages and, if nothing else, utilising social networking phenomenon of the moment - Twitter - which is, after all, probably the simplest online communication device available to artists since the dawn of the internet. According to Billboard, Don VanCleave, formerly of the Coalition of Independent Music Stores, and now with the Artist Organisation, said one of his acts, reggae musician Matisyahu, has very high fan interaction, especially through Twitter, and that, VanCleave says, is directly leading to new sales. He also recommended utilising fan recommendation technology - equipping fans with merchandise or ticket selling widgets - so that artists who connect with fans then connect with those fans' friends, further widening their potential market. On the same panel, Jo Lenardi of Seattle indie Barsuk Records also talked up more direct fan communication for artists, though not only through the wonders of modern social media. She said she increasingly encourages newer artists to man their own merchandise stands at gigs, not only because it drives more fans to the t-shirt/CD stand, but because it helps build more long lasting artist-fan relationships. All of this is easier, presumably, if you happen to be working with literate artists who have something interesting to say outside their lyrics and tunes. Which isn't, it has to be said, all artists. -------------------------------------------------- SXSW DEBATES: IS LICENSED P2P THE FUTURE? As previously reported, some argue that no legit a-la-carte download service, or subscription-based or ad-funded streaming or all-you-can-eat download service, is ever going to truly compete with the concept of P2P file sharing among young net users. Therefore, rather than continuing with trying to stop file-sharing, through litigation against those who assist in it (LimeWire, The Pirate Bay etc) or who actually do it, or by lobbying for the controversial three-strike rule to be applied to internet access, record companies would be better off trying to find a model that makes P2P pay. The most likely model is the ISP file-sharing levy. The system is not without its problems though. Do you apply the levy to all, which content owners have a right to a share of the money, how is content sharing monitored and royalties distributed, and does such a system completely degrade the value of music? Most of those issues were raised by panellists at the SxSW 'Is Collective Licensing For P2P File Sharing A Future Source For The Music Industry?' debate. Warner consultant Jim Griffin was there to talk about his previously reported Choruss project, which will introduce the levy system within the college sector in the US, whereby universities will pay a content levy (passed onto students through their fees) meaning that students using their college internet connections can file-share legally. Some speculate that Choruss, if it works, could be a forerunner of a more mainstream P2P levy platform. Griffin, though recognising the possible future development of Choruss, wouldn't be drawn on specific future plans. Others on the panel had concerns about the 'collective licensing for P2P' model. McGill University's Sandy Pearlman wondered if a licensing system based on tracking file sharing was already outdated, raising the growing 'dark internet' and the growth of device-to-device sharing as possible problems. Music lawyer Dina LaPolt worried that however good tracking and royalty distribution systems might be, the system would never be perfect and emerging talent would lose out. Meanwhile, Rick Carnes, President of the Songwriters Guild of America, argued that giving a green light to all file sharing, even if there was a levy income attached, was not desirable, because to the consumer it gave the impression all music should be free. According to Billboard he told the session: "If music is free, you don't get music that is good, you get music that is free". -------------------------------------------------- FORMER PINNACLE CLIENTS GO TO SRD -------------------------------------------------- LASTMINUTE ANNOUNCE DOME PARTNERSHIP MOVE TO PER-STREAM SYSTEM BEHIND PRS/YOUTUBE SQUABBLE Music Ally says that the existing PRS/YouTube deal, which was done in the early days of the video service, saw the royalty society take a lump sum from the Google owned video site. Given the subsequent success of YouTube as a music video destination, PRS reckon Google got a very good deal. They now want a per-stream fee so to share in that success. That changes the nature of the deal for Google quite a bit, though it's not clear whether Google are resisting the move to a per-stream deal completely, or just the per-stream rates PRS are proposing. The change in system would explain why songwriter data was raised as an issue in the PRS/YouTube fallout. As previously reported, it's rumoured YouTube want PRS to hand over its membership database so they can pay songwriters direct, while PRS want YouTube to hand over their viewing stats and a cheque so they can distribute the money. Premium music videos are still inaccessible on YouTube in the UK as the PRS/Google stand off continues. -------------------------------------------------- BUZZNET GETS MILLIONS MORE TO SPEND Buzznet, the previously reported blog aggregator which has bought up various music blogs in the last year or so, including Stereogum, Idolator, Just Jared and Absolute Punk, has just raised $12.5 million in new investment from private equity groups like Anthem Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Redpoint Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures. As previously reported, an existing Buzznet investor includes Universal Music. I'd like to think that investing in music-based ad-funded content platforms which provide quality editorial content and well-thought-out recommendations, rather than just distributing tracks, is a safer bet, though I'm not sure how a blog-based media business will ever make back the sort of money that has been invested in Buzznet to date. But what do I know? Actually, on this kind of thing, quite a lot. IDOL EMPLOYEE CLAIMS SWEAT SHOP CONDITIONS The lawyer representing the plaintiffs told reporters: "There's no Hollywood glamour for the below-the-line people who work on 'American Idol' and other reality shows, who are grossly underpaid, worked 24/7 and receive no rest or meal breaks and no health coverage contrary to California labour laws". A Fremantle Media spokesperson refused to comment on the lawsuit. -------------------------------------------------- BAUER CUT JOBS IN DIGITAL RADIO DIVISION The move will streamline Bauer's digital radio operations and will see up to fifteen jobs go from the division, though the media company says it hopes to redeploy as many affected as possible elsewhere in the group. The media firm said in a statement: "We are immensely proud of both Q Radio and Heat Radio. We will be announcing new spring-summer programming schedules in due course and our commitment to the stations and the quality programming they deliver remains the same as ever". Q and Heat Radio will still have a smaller London facility for recording sessions and interviews. CHART UPDATE NATASHA BEDINGFIELD WEDS -------------------------------------------------- EDDIE VEDDER ON KURT COBAIN Vedder told The Sun: "I don't think Kurt understood us at the time, but we became friends and I'm glad we had some of the great conversations we had, that I'm always going to keep up here". He continued: "I don't talk too much about him in respect to Krist [Novoselic] and Dave [Grohl] and I know he said that early stuff about not liking us. But there's a couple of complimentary things that he said in public about me as a human being, which I'm proud exist. But if Kurt were around today, I know he'd say to me, 'Well, you turned out OK'". -------------------------------------------------- THE EDGE BOTHERS HIS NEIGHBOURS IN MALIBU Oh dear. -------------------------------------------------- FORMER X-FACTOR WINNER CRITICISES COWELL As previously reported, Jackson was dropped by Sony Music last week, despite an upcoming tour, because of disappointing sales of his debut album 'Right Now', and amid rumours Cowell's team didn't try so hard on making a success of his long player because they didn't believe he should have won the talent show. Brookstein was dropped within eight months of his win. Writing on his blog, Brookstein said: "If they cared anything about Leon they would have announced his departure after his tour and not before it, they would have kept his fans informed, his website up-to-date, and not put comments from Simon into the press saying: 'nice guy but not gonna set the world on fire, Rhydian should have won'". He continued: "It reminds me of his 'G4 were the real winners!' I'm surprised he allows the public to vote when they've only got it right once in four years. When they spent their money deciding Leona Lewis had more 'X' than the ice skater Ray Quinn. Phew, tough choice". |
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SUBSCRIPTIONS>> CMU Daily is a free daily e-bulletin for people working in the music industry and music media, delivered direct to your PC each morning. If you want to stop receiving this e-bulletin click the 'unsubscribe' button below and follow the instructions. If any of your colleagues want to receive the CMU Daily tell them to email their name, company, job title and email to [email protected]. If you would like to recieve the CMU Daily as a text email, send a blank email from the email address you are registered at to [email protected]. MEDIA PEOPLE>> If you are looking for an independent quote on anything to do with the music business, or you need someone to come on your TV or radio show and talk music business, then we can help. There's nothing we don't know about. Email requests to [email protected] or call 020 7099 9050. CMU is published by and (c) UnLimited Media - www.unlimitedmedia.co.uk Send news stories to [email protected]. If we don't respond directly, we do apologise, only we get sent hundreds of emails a day and don't have time to respond to every one of them. However we do check every email sent to the musicnews email address, and do pull out stories that we feel are relevant to our readers. Send CDs for review to CMU, UnLimited Media, 221-222 Shoreditch High Street, London, E1 6PJ. |
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