MUZU SIGN UP FOURTH MAJOR
Music video website MUZU yesterday announced it had secured a licensing deal with Warner Music, meaning the music-specific video service now has all four major record companies on board which, with YouTube still premium-video-less given its ongoing licensing squabbles with both PRS For Music and Warner, is pretty damn exciting if you ask me.

As previously reported, music videos can be accessed on-demand via the MUZU.TV website, plus users can set up their own 'channels' and playlist the videos they like to watch. Those channels can then be accessed by a user's friends via their own MUZU channel, or by the user embedding their bespoke version of the MUZU player onto their own websites or social network profiles.

Labels, artists and media are also encouraged to set up their own channels and upload their own content, earning a share of advertising revenue whenever their original content is viewed, whether that is done so via their own channel, the central MUZU website, or if and when other users playlist their content onto their own personal players.

Confirming the licensing deal with Warner, MUZU CEO Ciaran Bollard told CMU: "This is great coup for MUZU users given we are one of the only video services to have deals with all four majors and strong support and representation from the independent sector. Warner has really embraced MUZU and truly recognises that a partnership is more than a license and will be working closely with us to co-market and syndicate the artist video content to drive new revenue opportunities".

Warner's Business Development Director, Noel Penzer, added: "The fact that music videos engage a huge, diverse and passionate online audience, covering a wide range of tastes and behaviour, makes a video platform built around music an attractive proposition to artists, labels, fans and brands alike. A highly flexible and easy-to-use site, MUZU is a first-class music experience which puts the relationship between fan and artist at its core. It enables people to interact with music content whilst ensuring that artists and their music companies share in the value created".

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C-MURDER PLEADS NO CONTEST TO ATTEMPTED MURDER CHARGES
As rapper C-Murder prepares to defend himself in his murder retrial later this year, yesterday he, erm, pleaded no contest to a totally separate set of attempted murder charges. Which means that even if he does successfully defeat the second degree murder charges he will fight for a second time this August, he could still be facing a decade in jail.

As much previously reported, C-Murder, who has sensibly adopted the moniker C-Miller since getting tangled up with all these murder allegations, his real name being Corey Miller, was convicted in 2003 for the 2002 murder of teenager Jefferson Parrish. However, the verdict in that trial was overruled after it was revealed the jury hadn't been told about a deal that had been done with a rather shady witness for the prosecution, whose testimony was arguably crucial to the final ruling. Since then Miller has been living under house arrest, and will face a retrial for the Parrish murder in August.

Meanwhile, Miller faced a totally separate set of charges relating to a separate earlier incident in 2001 when the rapper apparently pulled a gun on the owner of a Baton Rouge club after an altercation with a bouncer when he refused to be searched before entering the establishment. Miller can apparently be seen on a video recording pulling a gun on both club owner Norman Sparrow and the bouncer. The gun jams, however, and the prosecution argued that that was the only reason the two men weren't shot.

With a trial due to begin any time in relation to that set of attempted murder charges, Miller's legal people this week reached a plea deal with prosecutors in which the rapper agreed to plead no contest. It is thought the prosecution will agree to a ten year prison sentence as part of the deal. That said, some reports suggest time already service in prison and under house arrest, even though much of that relates to the other murder case, may be taken into account when sentencing, meaning any actual prison time might be significantly cut.

Meanwhile, the second Parrish murder trial is due to take place in August. It remains to be seen if the jury this time also finds Miller guilty, even without the dodgy witness who helped secure the guilty verdict first time round. If so, the sentence for the attempted murder charge will be almost irrelevant.

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GERMAN COURTS BAN DEPECHE MODE TICKET RESALES
So, here's an interesting development in the good old secondary ticketing story coming from Germany, where a court has banned a secondary ticketing website from selling tickets to the upcoming Depeche Mode tour in the country.

The promoter of said tour, one Marek Lieberberg, took ticketing portal Ventic, owned by Dutch company Smartfox Media, to court after they began reselling tickets for Depeche Mode gigs which they had bought off the promoter's company, or third parties. The lawsuit was based on the fact the terms and conditions attached to the tickets ban their resale, which, therefore, technically speaking puts Ventic, and any third parties they represent, in breach of contract. More than that, Leiberberg's legal people argued that because Ventic knew they planned to resell the tickets despite it being forbidden by the t+cs, and because they hid that intent from the official ticket sellers, they were also guilty of "fraudulent purchase".

A Munich court backed Lieberberg's claims this week, and served an injunction ordering Ventic to stop the resale of tickets to the German leg of the Depeche Mode tour, which kicks off on 2 Jun (and will be going ahead, the band have just confirmed, even though their London show this Saturday is the latest to be cancelled as a result of frontman Dave Gahan's severe bout of gastroenteritis).

Welcoming the ruling, Frankfurt-based Lieberberg told Billboard: "This decision is the first small step toward the long overdue regulation of ticket sales and the restriction of black market trading. Our aim must be to prevent professional ticket auctions and unacceptable commissions that often come to a multiple of the actual price of admission. At stake here is not so much giving the artists a further share, but the protection of ticket buyers against dubious sources and excessive premiums".

Explaining the law behind the court's ruling, the legal man at VDKD, a German live music trade body which backed Leiberberg's lawsuit, Professor Johannes Kreile, is quoted by Billboard thus: "The courts deemed it proven that Smartfox had purchased or arranged for the purchase of tickets for the Depeche Mode tour from official ticket agencies whilst concealing its intention to resell them itself or through third parties. In doing so Smartfox had deliberately obstructed the MLK sales concept in contravention of competition law".

As much previously reported, the growth of online ticket touting, where individuals and agencies resell tickets for profit via auction websites or bespoke online ticket resale services, has pissed off many in the live music and artist management sectors. They argue resellers profit without making any investment in the artists or events the tickets are for, while music fans have to pay over the odds to get into gigs. Promoters also say that because people are sometimes forced to pay two or three times the face value of tickets for in demand events, they will subsequently go to fewer live music events each month or year, which is bad news for the wider and especially grass roots live music industry.

The UK government has expressed concern about consumers being ripped off by online ticket touts, either by simply being vastly overcharged, or especially when music fans pay for access to major events but then don't receive any tickets, often because some touts reduce their own financial risk by only buying tickets themselves once they have a guaranteed sale, which can backfire if the tout can't then buy any tickets either. However, while repeatedly calling on the live sector to protect consumers against more unscrupulous touts, government ministers have been less willing to introduce new laws to regulate the so called secondary ticketing market. Promoters argue that, other than introducing complicated and expensive new ticketing systems, often involving photo ID, there is little they can actually do to combat the rise of ticket touting.

Some promoters have decided to turn a blind eye to secondary ticketing, or to work with one or another secondary ticketing website on an exclusive basis, presumably in return for a cut of any resale commissions, and also in return for certain commitments to safeguard consumers. As previously reported, the UK Concert Promoters Association has also adopted an "if you can't beat em join em" approach by launching their own resale website, which they say protects the interests of promoters and fans more than any of the commercial ticketing auction services.

Nevertheless, some promoters continue to lobby for government regulation to restrict touting, and those people will be interested in the German court ruling which suggests there might be a way to use contract and competition law to at least restrict the operations of the biggest ticket resellers - though whether UK laws would prove so helpful is debatable. And even if they did, if action had to be taken against ever reseller for every tour, that wouldn't be an especially practical solution.

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WIRE LESS MANIC BECAUSE OF BACK SPASM
Manic Street Preacher Nicky Wire has told fans that if they think he's looking a little sedate on stage during his band's current tour, that's because he's trying to perform while nursing a prolapsed disc. He reported on the Manics website that at a gig in Llandudno this week he suffered a back spasm half way through the show and couldn't move as a result.

Wire: "Last night [my back] went into spasm on stage. This made it virtually impossible for me to move, let alone jump. I desperately want to carry on the tour but it will mean a combination of standing still, sitting down on stage, back braces and painkillers. As you know, standing still is utterly alien to me on stage. I don't want any sympathy but hopefully this will explain my lack of movement and general mood. Thank you for your understanding".

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CADENCE WEAPON NAMED POET LAUREATE
I know, you've only just got over the news that Duffy has been named Poet Laureate here in the UK. And now rapper Cadence Weapon has been awarded the title too; albeit for his home town of Edmonton in Canada (and yes, we do realise it wasn't that Duffy who got the title over here).

Cadence Weapon, real name Roland Pemberton, was sworn in as the Alberta capital's chief poet at Edmonton City Hall on Tuesday and will officially become the third person to take on the post on 1 Jul, taking over from poet and academic ED Blodgett.

Pemberton told The Edmonton Journal: "By appointing me they're taking a chance. To me it represents an opportunity to change the view of Edmonton. If people see me as representing Edmonton maybe it will give them an overall different perception. I think that's a positive thing. And it's getting people talking. I'm excited. At first I thought, 'well, I don't know'. Poet laureate - whoa. Getting heavy. Do I need a staff, and a big grey beard? But then I actually starting thinking about what I do already, and most of my content is about Edmonton. Most of the music I've put together comes from a very specific regional source. And I feel like I can just expand that into the poetry as well. It's basically another outlet for the writing I'm already doing, and I can focus it even more now".

He added that he's ready for anyone who thinks he shouldn't be in the role: "If anybody has any problems, we'll have a poem battle. A poem-off".

Unfortunately, the first person to have a problem with Pemberton's appointment seems to be his predecessor, who told The Globe And Mail that he "didn't think that this was how a poet laureate was to be defined". Although the city's first Poet Laureate, Alice Major, said that she thought it was a "really interesting and wonderful appointment".

At his inauguration, Pemberton read a poem entitled 'Valley Girls', which is apparently a tribute to the river valley and the transience of youth. As Edmonton's Poet Laureate, a post he will hold for two years, Pemberton will be expected to reflect life in the city through a series of at least six poems and will receive an annual sum of $5000.

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GAGA SONG IS GAY ANTHEM OF THE YEAR
Lady GaGa has proved she's the chief pop icon of the moment as far as gay clubbers are concerned, with her chart topping song 'Just Dance' being named Anthem Of The Year at the Gay Times Reader's Awards. The song beat Britney Spears's 'Womanizer' and Lily Allen's 'The Fear' to take the prize. Elsewhere in the poll, drag star Lady Lloyd beat Scott Mills and Boy George to be DJ Of The Year.

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DILLINGER SIGN TO SEASON OF MIST
American experimental mathcore types The Dillinger Escape Plan, previously signed to US metal indie Relapse, have announced they have signed a new deal with another metal-specialising independent, French/American indie Season Of Mist. The indie will release Dillinger's fourth long player in partnership with the band's own label, Phonogetic Records.

Confirming the deal, the band's guitarist, Ben Weinman, is quoted by Blabbermouth thus: "It is becoming clear that as the music industry standard continues to morph and change on a daily basis, artistic and operational freedom has become a band's most valuable asset. 100% free of all previous contractual ties, Dillinger is in an amazing position to collaborate with some interesting partners which will continue to nurture the ethic that we have been doing our best to stay true to for over ten years now".

He continues: "While touring Europe in support of our record 'Ire Works', I had the pleasure of meeting Michael Berberian, distributor and owner of the independent record label Season Of Mist. It quickly became clear that we had very similar ideas about Dillinger's music and its place in the underground. Season Of Mist has always been a leader in releasing some of the most extreme and interesting metal and experimental music. We look forward to releasing our next full length effort in association with Season of Mist as the very first chapter of this new journey. Also, Michael's last name almost spells out Barbarian which Greg was really excited about".

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GENERAL FIASCO SIGN TO INFECTIOUS
The recently resurrected Infectious Records has announced its second signing - Northern Irish three-piece General Fiasco. Their deal with Infectious, run by former Warner UK chief Korda Marshall, follows a single release last year by London indie Another Music=Another Kitchen.

Confirming the deal, one of the band's managers, Jamie Oborne, told Billboard: "[This] felt like a natural step following the last twelve months of groundwork my co-manager Jimmy Devlin and I have undertaken with the boys. Korda's reputation speaks for itself and needless to say we are all very much looking forward to working with him and his team".

The band are currently working on a debut album before going out on a summer tour. Infectious, of course, was relaunched by Marshall earlier this year, with their first signing being Aussie band The Temper Trap, of whom I now own the official badge. I have my finger of the pulse, oh yes.

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INFADELS TO HEADLINE NEXT INSOMNIACS BALL
CMU favourites Infadels have just been added to the bill for the next edition of the Insomniacs Ball, which will take place at the Corsica Studios in Vauxhall, London on 5 Jun (running all night into 6 Jun, obviously). Infadels are added to a line up that already includes Everything Everything and Hook And The Twin, plus DJ sets from Late Of The Pier, God Don't Like It, Cocknbullkid and Ezra Bang. Tickets are a mere £12.50 - more info at www.myspace.com/insomniacsball

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JAMIE T-OUR
Jamie T is going to get up on stage and make music and stuff. And release an extra play thingy. He's a cool guy. The 'Sticks And Stones EP' is out on 29 Jun, with the preceding gigs as follows...

11 Jun: Leeds, Cockpit
12 Jun: Cambridge, Junction
13 Jun: Northampton, Roadmender
14 Jun: Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
16 Jun: Newcastle, Stage 2
17 Jun: Aberdeen, Moshulu
18 Jun: Edinburgh, Studio 24
19 Jun: Coventry, Kasabah
21 Jun: Bristol, Tehkla
23 Jun: Manchester, Moho
24 Jun: London, Electric Ballroom

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FESTIVAL GOERS NEED TO SHUN THE CAR MORE
God, you're a lot of petrol guzzling world threatening maniacs aren't you? Well, you might not be, but two thirds of the UK's festival-goers are. And I thought tree hugging, not tree slaughtering, was meant to be part of the hippy festival experience.

New research from Julie's Bicycle, the body which aims to make the music business more eco-friendly, has found that while many festival promoters have been trying to make their events more green in recent years, over two thirds of festival-goers attending music events within or near cities or towns still travel there by car. And 60% of those going by car had two or less people in the car.

With the carbon emissions of all those cars one of the main polluting factors of any one music festival, the report recommends the festival sector work together to develop ways to encourage more festival-goers to find alternative ways to get to an event. Suggested methods include working with local travel operators and local authorities to offer bespoke public transport, and developing information resources to help those choosing to shun their cars plan their trip. Making sure Network Rail don't shut down the main rail connection to a festival on the very weekend it takes place - as often happens with the Reading Festival - might also help.

As previously reported, AGreenerFestival.com has teamed up with VirtualFestivals.com to offer festival-goers with tips for being more eco-friendly when attending music events.

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SPRINGSTEEN HAD NEVER HEARD OF GLASTO
Everyone wants to play at the Glastonbury Festival at some point in their career, don't they? Well, everyone except this year's headliner Bruce Springsteen, it would seem, who apparently had never heard of Britain's uber-fest. Or at least his agent hadn't. Bloody Americans.

Glasto co-organiser Emily Eavis told 6Music: "It's been our mission for quite a long time to get Bruce. I thought it was quite unlikely, especially when the agent said, 'Glaston-what?' We put together a document for him and spoke to his people a lot and they were really up for it. He's never done a festival before so we didn't expect him to know much about it. The pack included quotes from lots of different people, musicians who have played etc".

Eavis added that another difficulty in securing the likes of Springsteen is the growth in big-budget one-off gigs that offer phenomenal sums of money to premiere league artists. Eavis says that these days "it's quite hard to understand why you should play a festival for not much money when you're being offered quite a lot to go elsewhere. We put together some information and said 'This is what happens, this is all the money that goes to charity'. Pretty quickly he said: 'Yes'. It's amazing".

Springsteen will headline the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury on 27 Jun. Elsewhere in Glasto news, Eavis also revealed that one more "huge band" will play this year's festival, but their involvement will be kept a secret until the day. She told the Beeb: "There's a really top surprise on The Park which will definitely not come out because otherwise we'd have a health and safety issue. You can start guessing".

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FESTIVAL LINE UP UPDATE

DOWNLOAD, Donington Park, Castle Donington, 12 - 14 Jun: The final line up for the metal fest has been announced and includes In Case Of Fire, Hardcore Superstar, Symphony Cult, The Crave and Billy Boy On Poison. Bleed From Within, Sleepcurve and Sabbat have also been confirmed, along with Blackhole, New Device, Outcry Collective, Tripswitch, The Ghost Of A Thousand plus many more added to the Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage. www.downloadfestival.co.uk

GUILFEST, Stoke Park, Surrey, 10 - 12 Jul: Toploader have been confirmed to play the Main Stage at this year's Guilfest along with The Charlatans, Athlete and Linda Lewis. Ginger, Lisa Hannigan, Neck and Simon Friend are also set to play. www.guilfest.co.uk

LATITUDE, Southwold, Suffolk, 16 - 19 Jul: Datarock, Marnie Stern, iLiKETRAiNS, Wildbirds And Peacedrums and 65 Days Of Static have all been announced for this summer's Latitude, joining previously confirmed Pet Shop Boys, Grace Jones and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. www.latitudefestival.co.uk

READING & LEEDS, Little Johns Farm, Reading, Branham Park, Leeds, 28 - 30 Aug: Little Boots, Lethal Bizzle, Crystal Castles, Passion Pit, Metronomy and Frank Turner are among the latest acts confirmed for Reading and Leeds this year. The Airborne Toxic Event, The Virgins, Manchester Orchestra and Dananananakroyd have also been added to the bill. www.readingfestival.com, www.leedsfestival.com

OFFSET FESTIVAL, Hainault Forest, Essex, 30 - 31 Aug: The Futureheads, Kap Bambino, The Ghost Of A Thousand and Good Shoes have all been confirmed to play this year's Offset Festival, joining previously confirmed The Horrors, The Slits, A Certain Ratio and Future Of The Left. www.offsetfestival.co.uk

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ALBUM REVIEW: Cursive - Mama, I'm Swollen (Saddle Creek)
"Don't wanna live in the now, don't wanna know what I know", insists Cursive frontman Tim Kasher, in an opening track that promises this album will be as harsh, confrontational and aggressive as its brilliant predecessor 'Happy Hollow'. Alas, this isn't quite the case. 'Mama, I'm Swollen', Cursive's sixth offering, is a disappointingly subdued affair. It packs lyrics that are as robust and spiteful as Cursive will ever get - "I've been disciplined by religion, by fear/so I can't quite seem to keep my thoughts pure/I've a hunger for the deviant and a thirst for worst" - but, unfortunately, they lack any real sort of delivery, and fall short of genuine conviction. Kasher just seems too... well, smug and satisfied, rather than discontent and irritated. 'We're Going To Hell' is passive-aggressive and airy, and while there are brighter, more pleasing moments on the album, such as the frustrated lull of 'Mama, I'm Satan', the disappointing unfortunately outweighs the good. With a lack of clear direction and a second-rate sort of laziness that ties the album together, this is a sub-standard turn from a usually-stellar band who are definitely at their best when angry - and expressing that emotion to its fullest. TW
Release Date: 1 Jun
Press Contact: Triad Publicity [all]

Buy from iTunes
Buy from Amazon

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PRS FOR MUSIC: NEW RATES CLARIFICATION
By the way, well done to those of you who spotted our, erm, deliberate mistake in yesterday's CMU Daily. The new PRS For Music rates for streaming music services are, obviously, 0.085p per stream, down from 0.22p, and not what we said in yesterday's CMU Daily, where a slip of the decimal point would have been good news for songwriters but would have pretty much bankrupted every streaming music service. Which was never our intention. Well, it would have been nice to make songwriters a hundred times richer. They might have bought us a cup of tea to celebrate. Maybe even a slice of cake too.

As previously reported, the songwriter collecting society announced the not insignificant cut in its per-stream royalty rate yesterday, though upped its revenue share demands from 8% to 10.5%, which is relevant to the more profitable streaming music operations, if such a thing exists. Whether the cut in per-stream fees will satisfy YouTube, or any other streaming services who have left or resisted entering the UK market because of PRS's royalty rates, Pandora for example, remains to be seen.

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PPL APPOINTS NEW MEMBER SERVICES HEAD
Talking of collecting societies, recording rights society PPL has appointed a Head Of Member Services, which is a new role designed to help the body better service the needs of both its record label and performer members. And the person appointed into that new job is Penny White, who joins the collecting society from Sainsbury's, where she was Head Of Online Customer Services. Whether that means PPL members will now be able to request to get their royalty payments delivered to their door in an orange van, possibly in the form of groceries, I don't know. It would be a nice touch.

Confirming the appointment, PPL Exec Director Peter Leathem told CMU: "Penny is a very experienced customer service professional and I am delighted that PPL will benefit from her experience of many years of providing excellent customer service in the highly competitive retail environment".

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MET POLICE AUTHORITY TO DISCUSS FORM 696
As you receive this edition of the Daily, a meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority will be underway where the controversial Form 696 is due to be discussed.

The MPA supervises London's police force, and according to Music Week, one of its members, Christopher Boothman, who has worked with the Notting Hill Carnival and other music events, is expected to raise the issue of the form, which promoters of live music in London are now expected to fill out as part of the licensing process. The form has been criticised for asking far too much information about performers, and for very specific genre information which many suspect is used by the authorities to guess what kind of ethnic demographic will attend an event. Boothman is expected to ask police commissioner Paul Stephenson to justify the form, which a parliamentary select committee recently said should be abolished.

UK Music chief Feargal Sharkey has also written to Boris Johnson, who as Mayor Of London chairs the MPA, urging him to take up the issue of the form with police chiefs.

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PRIME ANNOUNCE NEW LABEL DEALS
Prime Direct Distribution has announced deals with three new labels, US based Soulshine and Large Music, and Italian indie Ego Music. Prime will handle UK distribution for all three labels. A statement from the indie distributor said: "We are pleased to announce these exciting new additions to our label roster - proving once again that we're the market leaders in what we do".

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SAMSUNG PARTNER WITH BEBO FOR MUSIC PROJECTS
Samsung Mobile have signed up as sponsors of music activity organised by social network Bebo, and will support a new Samsung Bebo live music night at the Gibson Guitar Studio in London, featuring live performances from established and up and coming bands. The first one will be next week with White Lies and The Maccabees expected to play. Footage from the shows is expected to be presented on the Bebo website.

Confirming the deal, which promotes Samsung's music phone range The Beat Edition, the technology company's UK Marketing Director Mikah Martin-Cruz told reporters: "We are an innovative company that pushes the boundaries of technology to entertain and improve people's lives. The scale of this partnership is a first for Samsung and is testament to how seriously we take social networking and the need to pioneer new ways of engaging our core audiences. We will work closely with Bebo, the music industry and our network partners to use these platforms to build closer artist fan relationships".

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BANNISTER SAYS PRE-RECORDING ROSS IS NOT A SOLUTION
Former Radio 1 chief Matthew Bannister has said that Radio 2's decision to pre-record the Jonathan Ross radio show in a bid to ensure he doesn't say anything that might piss off more sensitive listeners is "odd in a number of ways".

Speaking to Radio 4's 'The Media Show', Bannister, who was at one point tipped to take over at Radio 2 after former chief Lesley Douglas was forced to resign after the Ross/Brand Sachsgate debacle, said: "I think it is the safety-first choice. The issues behind the Ross-Brand affair were about the balance of power between the broadcaster and talent. It is another example of the BBC saying 'We are in charge here, not the talent'".

But, according to the Guardian, Bannister continued: "I am not sure if it is a long term solution to sorting out the balance of power between the BBC and talent because you can't pre-record most of your music radio. This is a sticking plaster solution".

Asked why more of the station's music output couldn't be pre-recorded, Bannister argued that non-live music radio shows were "less spontaneous and less exciting", adding: "Once you have taken the decision to pre-record a music radio sequence, it does make a change to the show and to the adrenaline that not only the presenters but the guests feel. If you are recording it, you can go back and retake stuff. You don't have that sense that every word you say on air counts. The audience will have a subtly different reaction to it. Somehow you can tell when a show has been produced a day before or a week before. [And] one of the joys of listening to Jonathan Ross has always been for me anyway to listen to him walk the tightrope between what is acceptable and what is not acceptable".

Of course, another problem with pre-recorded shows on BBC radio these days is that after various 'scandals' over non-live Beeb shows encouraging listeners to text in when, in fact, there was no point, presenters of pre-recorded programmes that might appear live, or which usually are live, have to keep on stressing the fact they're not actually there as the programme airs. Whether the Ross show, now a permanently pre-recorded affair, will have to follow that rule isn't clear.

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NEW WEEKEND APPOINTMENTS AT RADIO 2, PLUS MITCHELL JOINS XFM
Staying with Radio 2, and the station has just announced some new signings for its weekend breakfast strand, with Zoe Ball taking over an early slot on Saturdays (6-8am), and Emma Forbes on Sunday (5-7am). The latter will take over from Pete Mitchell, the former Piccadilly Radio and Virgin Radio presenter, who is set to return to local radio in Manchester having been signed up to present the breakfast show on Xfm Manchester.

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FORMER CHRYSALIS COLLEAGUE TO JOIN RILEY AT LDC
Phil Riley has announced he will be joined by a former Chrysalis Radio colleague at his new Midlands-based radio firm.

As previously reported, a Riley-led consortium last week bought eight local radio stations in the Midlands off Global Radio, who were forced to sell the stations by the Competition Commission in return for approval of their purchase last year of GCap. Riley's new company is called LDC Midlands, and he has appointed former Chrysalis Radio exec David Lloyd as Group Programming & Marketing Director. Riley will return to commercial radio after a very brief stint with the BBC.

Riley and Lloyd both previously worked at Chrysalis Radio, which was bought out by Global Radio back in 2007.

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MTV2/MYSPACE CHART
It's the MTV2/MySpace chart, based on votes by MTV2 viewers on MySpace. The top ten this week is as follows...

1. [7] Everything Everything - Photoshop Handsome
2. [5] Baddies - Holler For My Holiday
3. [6] Placebo - For What It's Worth
4. [8] Enter Shikari - Juggernauts
5. [4] The Blackout - Children Of The Night
6. [3] The Chapman Family - The Kids Are Not Alright
7. [NE] Lacuna Coil - Spellbound
8. [1] The Joy Formidable - Whirring
9. [10] You Me At Six - Finders Keepers
10. [NE] Taking Back Sunday - Sink Into Me

Meanwhile, added to the list for viewer voting this week are...

Florence & The Machine - Rabbit Heart
Jamie T - Sticks And Stones
Manic Street Preachers - Jackie Collins Existential Question Time
The Enemy - Sing When You're In Love
The Killers - The World We Live

More at www.myspace.com/mtvtwo

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MEG WHITE MARRIES
White Stripe Meg White has reportedly married fiancé Jackson Smith at a double wedding held in the back garden of Jack White's Nashville home. Meg reportedly tied the knot with Jackson, son of Patti Smith and the late MC5 guitarist Fred 'Sonic' Smith, at the same time The Raconteurs bassist Jack Lawrence married his girlfriend Jo McCaughey. Celebratory ice creams all round I say.

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LISTEN TO CALVIN'S MUSIC, IT'LL CHEER YOU UP
Calvin Harris reckons a depressed Britain needs more dance music to cheer it up. He's slightly biased of course, I mean, I reckon that what depressed Britain really needs is more insightful and occasionally irreverent music news - that'd sort everyone out. But for Harris dance music is the solution.

To be fair, what Harris was saying is that a depressed nation would be better off listening to cheerful dancey songs rather than angsty indie rock. Speaking to the Beeb, Harris said: "Things [in the charts] got very depressing, things got very boring with indie band after indie band - it became known as indie-landfill. There's no more accurate description for the state that music was in. I think people have just realised they just want to have fun for a while. I think the summer's coming around... we're in a recession, people want to have fun, people want to forget about their worries. I love happy music".

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ALLEN TO GUEST IN NEIGHBOURS
Lily Allen is set to make a cameo appearance in 'Neighbours' later this year, despite previously claiming to be more of a 'Home & Away' fan. The soap's makers, Aussie network Channel 10, says Allen will guest on the show when she is in Melbourne on tour later this year.

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CHRIS BROWN DEFENDS HIMSELF IN NEW VIDEO
Chris Brown has released a video informing us that he "ain't a monster" and that he's working on his new album. Which is nice of him. Chris Brown, of course, if currently facing charges of beating his ex-girlfriend Rihanna unconscious in the street.

In the video he says: "I just wanna say what up 'cause I ain't been out there, but a new album's gonna be coming soon, called 'Graffiti'. I'm about to drop a single this summer for y'all, we ain't going nowhere. Everybody that's been haters, they always been haters. All my real fans, I love y'all, I ain't a monster".

You better all go watch the video message at this URL, you wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of Chris now, would you? Especially all you haters. www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHxOzNkKRtI

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