WARNING LETTERS WON'T WORK, PAID-FOR ONLINE CONTENT NOT ATTRACTIVE
A new report from media lawyers Wiggin reckons that, in the majority of cases, sending warning letters telling people that their file-sharing is infringing copyrights, and that that's very naughty, won't actually stop said people from accessing illegal sources of content online.

The legal firm asked the question in their annual Digital Entertainment Survey. Only a third of internet users surveyed said they'd consider such a warning letter a deterrent, which is down from 70% last year, before the net firms started sending out such warnings.

As much previously reported, content owners in the music, film and TV industries have been focusing much of their recent anti-online-piracy efforts on the internet service providers, who, they argue, should take more responsibility for combating the piracy committed by their customers, especially if compelling licensed online content services, like Spotify or iTunes in the music domain, are available.

The net firms, in the main, don't like that idea, citing privacy issues, the implications of privately-owned companies taking on a pseudo-judicial role, the cost of monitoring and tackling infringers, and arguing that serial file-sharers will just use software that hides their file-sharing, or file-share off line copying large amounts of illegal content directly from device to device.

Nevertheless, under government pressure six ISPs entered into a memorandum of understanding with the music industry last year, a key part of which was a commitment to pass on warning letters to customers who the record companies believed were file-sharing. Said letters were sent.

The problem is, what is the deterrent if, as the Wiggin survey suggests, the average file-sharer will just ignore (or proudly display as a badge of honour) any cease and desist letters they are sent? Direct lawsuits against said customers are an option, but are costly and laden with PR issues for the content owners. Such lawsuits might be viable if it was thought a handful would prove a deterrent to everyone else, but I think its fair to say that the fact the Recording Industry Association Of America launched thousands of such lawsuits without having any impact on wider file-sharing statistics is proof that policy won't work.

As also much previously reported, the music companies want the ISPs to take action against those who continue to file-share after receiving warning letters - ultimately cutting off serial offenders. The net firms don't like that idea at all. The British government has made a lot of noise about the importance of cracking down on illegal file-sharing, and admitted ISPs might have to use "technical measures" as a deterrent, though it's been rather vague about what those measures might be and how they will be enforced. Ministers aren't expected to be all that much more specific about anything really in the final draft of their 'Digital Britain' report, which is due to be published this week - other than probably proposing to formalise the currently voluntary letter sending system.

Commenting on his survey, Wiggin litigation partner Simon Baggs told reporters: "The findings of this report show that letter-sending alone will not be enough and that much more needs to be done if there is to be a real reduction in unlawful file-sharing".

The ISPs, of course, also argue that the content owners have not done enough to provide compelling affordable licensed online services, and that that leads to people accessing unlicensed content instead. Though unless the content owners can find a way of making those services free-to-access - either by being advertiser funded or by hiding the costs by bundling them in with ISP subscriptions - then there is an argument many consumers would continue to use the free illegal services instead of the licensed ones.

Certainly the Wiggin survey, undertaken by Entertainment Media Research in association with paidContent:UK, is pessimistic about the chances of copyright owners successfully persuading punters to pay for online content. They say less than a half of those surveyed were keen on the idea of paying for any online content, though online TV services, if they were in high-definition or offered unlimited on-demand programmes, might persuade some to part with some cash, somewhere between £3 and £8.

That said, many people said they wouldn't pay for online content services even if all sources of free pirated content stopped - so it seems rampant piracy isn't the only challenge for content owners trying to make their online business models add up.

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CORGAN SELECTS NEW PUMPKIN
Billy Corgan, the last left standing member of The Smashing Pumpkins, of course, has apparently recruited a new drummer for the band.

The musician is nineteen year old Mike Byrne, of an Oregon band called Moses, Smell The Roses. Speculation began because he recently spent a short period working with Corgan and, according to his MySpace page, is "off for another couple of weeks at Pumpkin camp".

The speculation about Byrne's recruitment was sort of confirmed by Corgan, although he didn't name any names. But he did say on his blog that he'd found a drummer, and that he planned to "work with him some more before it becomes official".

Adding to that, Ben Spees, Byrne's existing bandmate, hinted via Twitter that it was Byrne that Corgan was talking about on his blog.

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NEW RECORDINGS ADDED TO NATIONAL RECORDING REGISTRY
A new batch of recordings has been added to the US Library Of Congress's National Recording Registry. The latest group contains some spoken word, such as a recording of Dylan Thomas reading 'A Child's Christmas in Wales', and Winston Churchill's iron curtain speech, as well as music. Amongst the pieces of music added to the archive are Carmen Miranda's 'O Que e Que a Baiana Tem?', 'Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen' by The Andrews Sisters, 'The Who Sings My Generation', John Lee Hooker's 'Boogie Chillen', and a recording of carols from Kings College Cambridge from 1954.

The recordings are nominated by members of the public, and decisions are made by the Librarian Of Congress and the National Recording Preservation Board. The archive now contains 275 recordings.

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MADONNA AND GUY NUDE PAINTING FINALLY SELLS
That hideous nude painting of Madonna and Guy Ritchie by Peter Howson has been sold.

As previously reported, the painting failed to sell at auction last month, possibly because people had seen it. However, someone did bid more than the £15,000 reserve price when it was offered by McTear's Auctioneers in Glasgow for a second time this week. Presumably the anonymous buyer plans to destroy it for the good of mankind. I mean, would you want this on your wall?

newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45828000/jpg/_45828694_madonnahowson226.jpg

Brian Clements from McTear's told the BBC: "We were very confident we would find the right buyer for 'Madonna And Guy' and we are delighted to have secured such an excellent price for the painting. Although we cannot divulge the name of the buyer, we can confirm that the painting will be leaving Scotland". Lucky Scotland.

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PATRICK WOLF ARRESTED
According to reports, and his Twitter account, Patrick Wolf was arrested in San Francisco on Monday because he spat in a bouncer's face when at the city's Slim venue for a performance on his US tour.

The singer Tweeted as followed: "Was arrested by san fran police for spitting in a bouncer's face in protection of myself. Was almost shot in the face by a policeman. WTF? was told by the policeman "take your shitty ass music out of this city and if you ever step off that tour bus you will be ***** Feeling very thelma and louise right now.. must sleep... not allowed off the bus or i will be shot by a policeman. this country is insane!!! btw. apparently my spit DEFINITELY contains hiv, swine flu and hepatitis that is why my spit is a deadly weapon according to police here!"

Well, to be fair, some pretty nasty stuff can be passed on that way. And spitting is a really nasty thing to do in my opinion. No offence, PW.

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BRAXTON IMPERSONATOR FREED
Trina Johnson-Finn, the woman who, as previously reported, was jailed in Suriname after a promoter passed her off as the real Toni Braxton, has been acquitted of any wrongdoing after a judge in the South American country ruled that it wasn't clear if she knew that she was being used to dupe fans into parting with their cash.

As previoiusly reported, Johnson-Finn has maintained from the start that she was only ever contracted as a tribute act, and had no idea that the concert she was hired to perform at was being marketed as an actual Toni Braxton gig. She and her husband Raymond Finn claimed to be the victims of local promoter Angel Ventura, who disappeared immediately following the event, which took place back in March, but has since been apprehended and is due to stand trial in July.

Johnson Finn spent three months in prison prior to her court appearance.

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GLASTO TICKETS DELAY MURDER TRIAL
Not really a pop courts story, but a murder trial being heard in a North London court has been postponed because one of the jurors has got Glastonbury tickets.

With the murder case set to run for weeks, and very probably through Glasto week (24-28 Jun), said juror asked to be excused from the case, but the judge refused and the trial began. But then the judge had a change of heart after someone seemingly explained to him what a big deal a trip to Glasto is - and, possibly, that a Glastonbury ticket is non-refundable and quite hard to sell on the secondary ticketing market because it has the ticket holder's name printed on it.

According to the Daily Mail, Judge Radford subsequently halted the trial and excused the Glasto fan, telling him: "If you had elaborated a bit more on what going to Glastonbury entailed I would have stood you down this morning. I think you perhaps presupposed a bit too much knowledge on my part. This is essentially a pre-booked holiday, and you have organised to go with friends. A new jury will be sworn in on Wednesday morning allowing the trial to begin".

The late in the day decision means the trial will have to start again with a new jury, something which could cost the criminal justice system several thousand pounds apparently. Perhaps they could have just moved the trial to Worthy Farm for the week - if any festival can accommodate a Court Of Justice Tent, surely its Glasto.

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LILY ALLEN TIRED AND JETLAGGED
Poor, poor Lily Allen is suffering from tiredness and jet-lag whilst on her world tour to promote second album, 'It's Not Me It's You'. She said via Twitter: "Lying in bed trying desperately to get some sleep, jetlag is no longer a joke. Fell over and hit my head last night, have an awful headache... I think I may be concussed". Ach. Let me tell you about sleep deprivation, Allen.

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MORE CASH PLEASE, WE'RE ROSES
There are those who think a full Beatles reunion is more likely than the Stone Roses getting back together. Not Mani, though. The Roses bassist reckons the only reason frontman Ian Brown and guitarist John Squire are holding out is because they haven't been offered enough money yet.

Mani told The Sun: "I've very nearly given up on it. Ian and John have to get it sorted out and take it from there. For all the morals and principles that people have, you wave fucking £20 million in front of somebody and they change their mind. You'll see how their philosophies soon change. John Squire always said he'd never sell out for the money. If he considers it selling it out that's fine, it's alright for people who've earned millions off the royalties. There's people digging their heels in. But morals and principles don't put food on the table though, do they? It has to be the four of us - definitely. But if it doesn't happen it's no skin of my nose, as I'm in Primal Scream and having the time of my life".

Back in March, responding to rumours a Roses reunion was imminent, John Squire issued this statement: "I have no desire whatsoever to desecrate the grave of seminal Manchester pop group The Stone Roses, 12.3.09".

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PENDULUM TALK ALBUM #3
Pendulum have revealed that they are looking to shift their sound again for their third album, which is currently in production. The Australian band annoyed many fans of their drum n bass-centric debut album by heading down a more rock orientated route for last year's 'In Silico'. But the annoyed amongst you might be placated by the news that the next instalment of Pendulum will be more electronic and perhaps even a little darker.

Speaking about the creation of 'In Silico', the time it took to make and the direction it went in, Gareth McGrillen, one half of the group's original duo with Rob Swire, told Data Transmission: "We struggled. Both Rob and I promised ourselves at the start that we wouldn't get 'second album syndrome', but we got it bad. People would often think, 'Oh it's cos they're on a major record label, that's why it's taking so long', but we didn't really have much outside pressure, it was mostly pressure we put on ourselves. I guess cos we had a bit of an identity crisis wrapped up in a nervous breakdown. That just perpetuated things and so it took even longer".

Things seem better this time around though. He continued: "This next one I think is just, well, exciting. We're really pumped for it. Collaborations are definitely going to be a bit of a thing on this album. [Rock] was a big influence on the last album, so that might not necessarily be the way forward on this one. But then the whole idea of this next one is twisting up that kind of stuff, like getting a guitar and using it in a really different way. We've been bang into dubstep from the beginning. We've produced quite a bit of it, but it's only really come out in DJ sets and stuff, so we're definitely keen to have some of those kind of tempos. We love exploring different tempos".

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MIKA TALKS ALBUM #2
Mika has revealed that his as-yet-untitled second album, due for release in September, will chronicle his teenage years.

He told BBC Newsbeat:: "The first album ['Life In Cartoon Motion'] dealt with my childhood. This album in a sense is kind of part two. I became fascinated with the idea that on the first record I referenced a lot of nursery rhymes and fairy tales. When you're a kid you just sing them and you love them and you're put to sleep with them. But when you're a teenager you read them again and you realise its all about babies dying and people chopping off each other's body parts".

Keeping that in mind (although I did just stop to imagine 'Grace Kelly' sung by an axe murderer), he revealed that two songs, 'Blue Eyes' and 'Toy Boy', which appeared on his debut EP, 'Songs For Sorrow', had been re-recorded and would act "as a bridge between first and second album".

He explained:"'Toy Boy' talks about life through the eyes of this little boy doll who wrestles for the affections of the boy that owns him. But he gets rejected and taken on by the mother who turns him into a voodoo doll for his father who has left her. It's sad because he ends up slightly dismembered with pins in his eyes dying in a cupboard".

I'm still thinking about axe murderers. Apparently I shouldn't be, though; Mika insists that his new material is actually quite upbeat. He said: "I think that is very much a sign of someone's teenage years because in order to be truly joyful you have to let your barriers fall down. As we get older we construct those barriers a lot more solidly and it's a lot harder to get rid of them. So that kind of fragile no holds barred totally unselfconscious joy is very much something that was present in my teenage years".

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THE SATURDAYS TALK ALBUM #2
Yes, the occasionally musical product endorsers The Saturdays have said they are "really excited" about the prospect of recording their second album. And apparently it's going to be a "progression" from debut long player 'Chasing Lights'.

Saturday girl Millie King told Digital Spy: "It's a similar sound. We've got a lot of people that like our sound at the moment so we didn't want to go too different. But it is a progression. Your second album always needs to be".

Fellow make up seller Frankie Sandford added: "We're taking some time out because we're on tour at the minute. But we're going to get back to it in July and the whole month is pretty much for the second album".

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ARCTIC MONKEYS NAME NEW ALBUM
The new Arctic Monkeys album will be called 'Humbug' and will be released on 24 Aug. The names of some of the songs on it will be 'My Propeller', 'Crying Lightning', 'Dangerous Animals', 'Secret Door' and 'Fire And Thud'. Imagine that.

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OASIS TO RELEASE BACK CATALOGUE ON SPECIAL EDITION VINYL
Oasis have announced that will re-issue their back catalogue on special edition heavyweight vinyl next month via their own Big Brother label. That's 'Definitely Maybe', '(What's The Story) Morning Glory?', 'Be Here Now', 'Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants', 'Heathen Chemistry', 'Don't Believe The Truth' and current album, 'Dig Out Your Soul', as well as b-sides album 'The Masterplan'.

All will come with new artwork and sleevenotes and will be individually numbered. A limited edition boxset of all eight albums will also be available. You can get your hands on them on 13 Jul.

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REVEREND STARTS LEAKING AT NEWS OF BNP WIN
Reverend & The Makers frontman Jon McClure has leaked an anti-BNP track, 'Manifesto/People Shapers', taken from the band's forthcoming second album, in light of the news that the far right piggy bank pedlars have won a couple of seats in Europe.

Download it here.

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FANFARLO SELL ALBUM FOR $1
Baroque poop troupe Fanfarlo are making a special edition of their debut album, 'Reservoir', with four extra tracks, available to download for $1 from their website until US Independence Day, 4 Jul. They're not American, but that's beside the point. After that date you will be able to buy it in physical form at more profitable prices.

Get it at www.fanfarlo.com

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COLDPLAY BULK UP WEMBLEY SHOWS
Coldplay are adopting the old 'if you don't like this, maybe you'll like the next one' policy for their upcoming Wembley Stadium shows this September. Support for both shows will now be White Lies, Girls Aloud and Jay-Z. Oh, and I think Coldplay will be playing too. But they might as well not bother. You'll be able to find out if they do or not on 18 and 19 Sep.

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MANILOW TO PLAY PROMS IN PARK
Barry Manilow has said that an appearance at the BBC's Proms In The Park will be his only UK gig this year. The singer will appear alongside Katherine Jenkins at the event, which will take place on 12 Sep, hosted by Terry Wogan, and which will also feature performances from Icelandic tenor Garoar Thor Cortes and the BBC Concert Orchestra.

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DOWNLOAD ANNOUNCE SECRET BANDS
As previously reported, Download got a bit nervous about the two 'secret' acts performing at this year's festival and decided to announce their names early after it became apparent that fans were expecting AC/DC and Led Zeppelin. It's close though. Really close. In fact, I think I'd rather see Enter Shikari and Thunder. Really, I would. What a shame I don't have tickets.

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STUDENTS DRIVEN OUT OF CORNWALL
The Beach Break Live festival, which plays host to 10,000 students every summer, has been forced to move out of Cornwall after complaints from locals.

This year's Beach Break Live was planned to take place in St Agnes from 16-19 Jun on the same site that many other events, including the Surfers Against Sewage Ball, have been held before. However, the festival had its licence revoked on 27 May by the County Council, after local residents raised concerns over safety and traffic.

After a short time in limbo, organisers this morning confirmed they were shifting the event across the country to ort Lympne Safari Park in Kent.

Regarding the problems with the original site, Gareth Cooper from Outgoing Travel, one of the festival's backers, said: "I think Cornwall is going to have problems getting trust from any event promoter in the future. It does not look good. Cornwall needs this business in the recession and a few individuals that have upset it have let down many people".

In a statement, Cornwall Council said that various new sites in the county had been considered for the event but that "no feasible alternative" had been found. It added: "The council is supportive of well-organised large music events within the county which meet the relevant planning and licensing criteria and there has been a history of a number of such events which have been successful. The council, its officers and members are keen to be involved in early pro-active discussion with event organisers on all future occasions."

Cornwall Police added that anyone who turns up at the original site will not be welcome and will be chased away with stick (well, probably not that last bit). Mid Cornwall Commander Supt Julie Whitmarsh said: "While it is extremely unfortunate for those who have purchased tickets, we now know this event will not go ahead [here]. We are working with Cornwall Council and other partners to ensure visitors do not congregate on the site and that no unauthorised events take place in the area".

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SINGLE REVIEW: The Rumble Strips - Not The Only Person (Universal/Island/Fallout)
Take a hit making producer, mix in an award winning violinist and garnish it with Devon's finest (sorry, Muse fans!) and the outcome is one fine piece of music. 'Not The Only Person', the first single to be taken from The Rumble Strips' highly anticipated second album 'Welcome To The Walk Alone', has been produced by none other than the 'King Of Brass' Mark Ronson. This can only be a good thing since he has the ability to bang out catchy songs left right and centre. However, what makes the track really stand out are the strings arranged by Owen Pallet who has previously worked with Arcade Fire on both 'Funeral' and 'Neon Bible', and also with The Last Shadow Puppets. So, no pressure then! However, it all works and, despite the above names' involvement, everything we love about the Strips has been kept intact. Lead singer Charlie Waller comforts us with the song's hook "You're not the only person to get it wrong, it's alright" and you know it is! His voice is as wonderful as ever and enhanced by a 60s-esque set up, it's very likeable. A welcome return by the boys. SD
Release Date: 29 Jun
Press contact: Island Records IH [all]

Buy from iTunes
Buy from Amazon

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US INDIE RECORD SHOPPERS SURVEYED
Eighty percent of independent record shop customers in the US say recommendations from friends are an important factor in any record purchase, which is nice. The survey of just over a thousand customers by the Association Of Independent Music Stores also found that 80% of indie music fans will buy records by bands they have seen and enjoyed live, while 39% reckoned radio may also influence their music buying habits. Newspapers and TV influenced just 16% and 15% respectively.

Asked about their digital music buying, iTunes dominated. 85% said they'd bought music from the Apple store, compared to 23% for Amazon MP3. 14% were signed up to eMusic, while 6% used US-based indie-biased online music store Insound, and 5% said they used Real's music platform Rhapsody. Another 5% said they used Warner Music backed digital platform Lala.com.

With regards streaming content, 70% said they accessed music via YouTube, 62% via MySpace and 46% via personalised radio service Pandora. Imeem was named by 7% and Playlist by 5%.

The now defunct ad-funded download service Spiral Frog (which was still operational at the time of the survey) wasn't ticked by any of the respondents, nor was the much hyped (at one point) ad-funded file-sharing service Qtrax. Neither of those services are probably aiming for the indie record shop customer but still, a score of zero's gotta hurt. Well, it won't hurt the Frog. At least death spared him that.

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GERMAN PUBLISHERS WANT PIRACY ACTION
Back to combating online piracy for a paragraph or two, and the German Music Publishers Association has called on their country's government to act on file-sharing, arguing Germany is behind other key European countries in developing measures to stop internet piracy, most likely by forcing the internet service providers to play a more proactive role.

The other European country they'd most like their politicians to follow is, of course, France, who are in the process of putting in place the much talked about three-strike system which will see serial file-sharers who fail to heed official warnings lose their internet access.

According to Billboard, at the Association's annual conference the trade body's president Dagmar Sikorski praised the French for "combating the illicit use of music by taking a series of measures ranging from the issue of warnings through to a ban on internet access", and urged his own country's politicians to act sooner rather than later because "Germany is on course towards becoming a land of paradise for internet piracy".

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EK AND MESSAGE FOR MPA AGM
Talking of music publishers getting together and putting the world to rights, the UK's Music Publishers Association has announced it will hold its Annual General Meeting at the PRS For Music HQ in London on 25 Jun, and that Spotify main man Daniel Ek and Music Managers Forum chair and Radiohead manager Brian Message will be among the speakers at the event.

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IS SONY ABOUT TO BUY INTO IODA?
Rumours rumours. Gossipers are saying Sony Music is about to buy a not insignificant stake of independent digital content distributors IODA, or the Independent Online Distribution Alliance. Whether any Sony shareholding will necessitate a rebrand to the None Quite As Independent As We Once Were Online Distribution Alliance I don't know.

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INGROOVES DISTRIBUTE AND MARKET NEW SPINAL TAP
Digital distributor INgrooves has confirmed it is handling the global digital distribution and marketing of the all new Spinal Tap album, 'Back From The Dead', which is being released on the 25th anniversary of the cult movie's release, and to coincide with those previously reported Glastonbury and Wembley reunion shows. The new release sees the spoof band "re-visit" and "re-imagine" 'This Is Spinal Tap', the 1984 soundtrack to the original movie. There are some new tracks too.

Among the digital marketing whatnot will be an iPhone app, a YouTube promotion encouraging user-generated videos to Spinal Tap songs, and a video channel include promotional clips and never-before-seen footage from the original movie.

Confirming their involvement in the project, INgrooves top man Robb McDaniels told CMU: "INgrooves is thrilled to be working with Spinal Tap and to be bringing their iconic songs and new promotional video material to a new and old generation of music and satire lovers. David, Nigel and Derek have helped define rock music over the past 25 years, and have inspired millions to overcome adversity and deal with life's challenges with grace, dignity and panache".

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AEG PROBABLY NOT A VEVO PARTNER
There have been rumours that live music giant AEG Live might be about to get involved in Universal Music's latest digital music venture VEVO, though insiders are denying the tour promoter and venue owner is looking to take a stake. It is thought that Universal plan to sell tickets and merchandise via VEVO (which we're now officially writing in capitals, because they seem to) and I think that was partly behind the idea that the major might look to do a partnership deal with AEG. Though Hits Daily Double say the rumours of an alliance began when American Universal and AEG execs were seen socialising at major basketball game recently, possibly because prominent music business lawyer and deal-maker Joel Katz was also working the room at the time.

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ERICSSON'S PLAYNOW PLUS GOES LIVE IN AUSTRIA
Sony Ericsson's rival service to Nokia's Comes With Music (which is a bit better in my opinion, but perhaps that's because they're PR machine is so much better) has launched in Austria. It's already live in Switzerland, Sweden and Singapore.

As previously reported, Ericsson's PlayNow Plus is like Comes With Music in that it provides unlimited access to a vast catalogue of music bundled in with the cost of the handset, which can be downloaded to handset or PC.

Like the Nokia service there are various digital rights management enabled restrictions on the transfer of the free music though, crucially, users get 100 DRM-free MP3s to keep every six months, the idea being they can preview new music using the unlimited but DRMed service, and from that previewing pick the 100 tracks they want to keep forever. Which has a certain nice ring to it.

The service has gone live in Austria through a partnership with Orange.

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TWITTER TO VERIFY CELEB ACCOUNTS
Twitter has said it will introduce a 'verified accounts' programme to combat the issue of individuals pretending to be celebrities on the service. While some fake celeb Twitter accounts are obviously a joke, some are normal or tedious enough to be believable. Some agents and managers are now complaining that the social networking phenomenon isn't doing enough about people pretending to be their clients on the service, and one prominent baseball manager filed a lawsuit when a Twitterer started pretending to be him. It's not entirely clear how the verified accounts system will work, and whether it will be a formalisation of the existing celebrity verification system here in the UK, whereby Jonathan Ross phones a celeb in question to ask them if it's genuinely them tweeting.

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NEW IPHONE PREVIEWED
Apple has unveiled the all new iPhone, in case you're interested in these things. It's called the iPhone 3G-S, the 's' standing for speed I think. Or possibly 'longer battery life' in some weird language. Anyway, Apple's Phil Schiller, who previewed the phone on Monday, says the new device will have both better battery life and faster loading times for apps, web pages, games and the like. A cut and paste function, phone-wide search function and internet tethering (allowing you to use your iPhone as a modem) will also be introduced.

The phone will be available in the UK via O2 from 19 Jun. It has to be said that most of the UK iPhone users who blog about these things concentrated less on the new functionality of the 3G-S and more on the news that if they want to upgrade their iPhone straight away they'll have to buy themselves out of their current O2 contract first. That's pretty standard mobile phone practice, but last time there was a new iPhone, O2 let geeky users upgrade straight away without penalty, a nice gesture that's now backfiring. O2 say this is because the original 2G iPhone handset was not subsidised, while the 3G and 3G-S are. The fact that internet tethering will cost users another £15-£30 on top of their monthly tariff has come in for some stick too.

Existing iPhone users can download a new operating system from 17 Jun which will also offer many of the new features (including the longer battery life, according to O2).

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MYSPACE'S ORIGINAL UK CHIEF LEAVES
One of the founding members of the MySpace UK team is leaving the flagging social networking giant to go and work for LA-based advertising technology firm Rubicon Project. Jay Stevens, although MySpace's first London-based exec when recruited in early 2006, has actually been LA located since last summer. It's not clear if Stevens' exit is linked to all the other senior executive departures that have taken place at the social networking company recently as that Rupert Murdoch fella tries and make his rather expensive internet toy make money.

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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. [4] Lacuna Coil - Spellbound
2. [1] The Chapman Family - The Kids Are Not Alright
3. [2] Baddies - Holler For My Holiday
4. [5] Placebo - For What It's Worth
5. [3] The Joy Formidable - Whirring
6. [NE] The Rumble Strips - Not The Only Person
7. [6] Enter Shikari - Juggernauts
8. [NE] Manic Street Preachers - Jackie Collins Existential Questiontime
9. [10] Taking Back Sunday - Sink Into Me
10. [7] The Blackout - Children Of The NIght

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

Billy Talent - Rusted From The Rain
Hollywood Undead - Young
Jack Penate - Be The One
Marmaduke Duke - Silhouette
The Maccabees - Can You Give It

More at www.myspace.com/mtvtwo

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LAMBERT IS GAY SHOCKER
As much speculated, American Idol runner up Adam Lambert has spilled to Rolling Stone magazine about being gay. As previously noted, it's not really an 'outing' as such, because he has never denied being gay or tried to hide it, but it is the first time he's spoken about it at length. He told the magazine: "I'm proud of my sexuality. I embrace it. It's just another part of me".

On the subject of 'American Idol', and the fact that he was put in a room with the show's winner Kris Allen, he added: "I was like, 'Oh, shit, they put me with the cute guy'. Distracting! He's the one guy that I found attractive in the whole group on the show: nice, nonchalant, pretty and totally my type - except that he has a wife. I mean, he's open-minded and liberal, but he's definitely 100 per cent straight".

He also explained that although he has never denied his sexuality, in particular when pictures of him kissing an ex emerged in March, he didn't make a big announcement about it because he didn't want to distract from his singing. "Going into 'Idol,' I assumed, 'OK, people are going to talk,"' he said. "I mean, I've been living in Los Angeles for eight years as a gay man, I've been at clubs making out with somebody in the corner. But photographic evidence? Didn't count on that. Wasn't ready for that. I'm an entertainer, and who I am and what I do in my personal life is a separate thing. It shouldn't matter. Except it does. It's really confusing".

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VV BROWN NOT KEEN ON COOL
The somewhat buzzy VV Brown has said that she's not keen on being called 'cool'. She told Take 5 magazine: "I hate trendy, pretentious sub-cultures. I don't want to associate with a group who feel they are the cool kids. I ask, what is cool? You go into Hoxton, supposedly this cool area of London, and there are people conforming and basically just wearing a costume. To me, being cool is about individuality and being yourself. So if people say I'm cool, I have to take it as a compliment".

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