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![]() CHRIS BROWN AGREES TO PLEA DEAL - PLEADS GUILTY TO ASSAULT Yes, America's top pop thugster Chris Brown yesterday reached a plea deal with prosecutors with minutes to spare before the first formal court hearing regarding those allegations that the R&B star beat up his then girlfriend Rihanna in the street after a post-party row half way through this year's Grammy weekend. Brown pleaded guilty to one count of assault, for which he will be sentenced to five years probation and six months community service. He'll also have to attend a domestic violence class. Presumably so he can do it better next time. Rihanna's legal man Donald Etra said the singer thought the plea deal was a "fair and just resolution" to the case, and at least the bargain means she won't have to go through the trauma of testifying against her ex. As part of the settlement Brown was also told to stay 50 yards away from his former girlfriend at all times, except at pop star events where such a rule may be impractical, so a ten yard exclusion zone will apply. Meaning that while the pop star may be able to throw a bottle in his ex-girlfriend's direction, he won't be able to throw any punches. Having confirmed a plea deal had been reached and therefore no trial would now take place, Judge Patricia Schnegg told Brown: "I think it's commendable that you took responsibility for your conduct, sir". Brown has previously been cautious of admitting to any violence in relation to the Rihanna altercation, saying simply that he was "sorry and saddened" by the incident. Such caution was probably for legal rather than PR reasons. Although he has now formally admitted beating up his former other half, from a career point of view at least he can try and draw a line on the incident, apologise and get on with his life, hoping a previous commitment to get counselling will reassure the public he won't ultimately beat up the next girl he hangs out with. Though, while his core fanbase have remained loyal throughout, whether Brown's mainstream pop career can ever completely recover from a violent altercation that led the news agenda in the US for a good week remains to be seen. -------------------------------------------------- PEREZ ATTACKED BY WILL.I.AM. MAYBE Perez, real name Mario Lavandeira, updated his Twitter followers shortly after the alleged incident happened, though mainly because he seemed to think that posting messages on Twitter was the correct way to contact the police (which I'm pretty sure it isn't, even in Canada). He said: "I was assaulted by Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas and his security guards. I am bleeding. Please, I need to file a police report. No joke". Followed by: "Still waiting for the police. The bleeding has stopped. I need to document this. Please, can the police come to the SoHo Met Hotel". Both men agree that earlier in the evening Black Eyed Pea Fergie had asked Perez why he'd written negative things about the group's new single, and that later Will.i.am approached him to discuss what was said in the conversation. It was around about then that Hilton got punched. Both have issued lengthy video statements explaining exactly what happened. In Hilton's version of events he is attacked by Will.i.am and his security guards. The Black Eyed Pea says that a group of fans who overheard the conversation did all the punching. Here's Perez Hilton's statement: perezhilton.com/2009-06-22-my-statement And here's Will.i.am's: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZcaiHgIIfY Now, given the high and mighty tone we've just taken when reporting on R&B thugster Chris Brown, it would be hypocritical of us to condone violence. And hitting out is never the right thing to do, even if someone's just slagged off your new single. But surely this can't be the first time Perez Hilton's been punched can it? And if you are going to tagline your website "Hollywood's Most-Hated Web Site!" surely people are going to occasionally slap you? If only for spelling website as two words. IRISH INDUSTRY SUES LEADING ISPS OVER PIRACY Over here, and in various other countries, the record companies and net firms are taking part in albeit slow going talks about the ISPs voluntarily taking on the pirates, in return for help launching their own all-you-can-eat digital music services, while both sides also lobby government about clarifying in statute an ISP's liabilities (or not) regarding monitoring and blocking the distribution of unlicensed content on the net. But in Ireland they've all just gone legal. The four majors are suing two telecom companies - BT and UPC, the latter owners of the Chorus and NTL ISP companies in Ireland - with claims that by failing to combat the online infringement of their customers, under Irish copyright law the net companies are themselves liable for infringement claims. It's an interesting area, of course, because the ISPs have been very keen from the word go to avoid liability for any illegal activity committed by their customers on their networks, and have normally successfully lobbied for exclusion from liability in any new laws that specifically deal with net-based crimes or unlawful acts. Where copyright laws have been revised since the dawn of the internet, so in the US for example, 'safe harbour' clauses have normally been added to specifically restrict an ISP's liabilities for the infringing activity of their customers. In countries where copyright laws remain unchanged for the digital age, like the UK, the liabilities of the net firms have not generally been tested in court, mainly because few content owners are confident a judge would want to apply such liabilities to ISPs, in fear of opening the flood gates for claims, and in doing so making it impossible for net firms to operate. But the Irish record industry reckons they have their country's law on their side, and that because the ISPs have turned down the labels' approaches to collaborate on the piracy problem, that a judge may well find in their favour. Confirming legal action had been initiated, the MD of EMI Ireland, Willie Kavanagh, told Irish paper The Post: ''Under Irish copyright law, failure to do anything about illegal file-sharing makes UPC and BT part of the theft. We have sent both of these companies information which is proof positive that their systems are being used for illegal internet file sharing, and neither of them has been in any way co-operative with us about it. Therefore we have no other option than to sue them". A spokesman for UPC, meanwhile, told reporters: ''Should proceedings commence, UPC intends to vigorously defend its position in court. UPC will not agree to a request that goes beyond what is currently provided under existing legislation. There is no basis under Irish law requiring ISPs to control, access or block the internet content its users download. In addition, the rights holders' proposal gives rise to serious concerns for data privacy and consumer contract law". The latest label/ISP squabble in Ireland follows the previously reported out of court settlement between the record industry and major Irish ISP Eircom. Although the legal dispute was over various matters, the result was Eircom becoming one of the first ISPs in the world to agree to the controversial three-strike system which would see persistent file-sharers actually cut off. Insiders say that part of the record industry's three-strikes deal with Eircom was a commitment by the labels to try and make others in the net sector sign up to a similar anti-piracy programme, which may be part of the motivation behind the BT/UPC litigation. As far as I'm aware, while committing to a three-strike system, Eircom is yet to instigate any disconnections programme, though warning letters may have gone out. -------------------------------------------------- TEAM SPRINGSTEEN MAKE NEW TICKETMASTER ATTACK As previously reported, Bruce Springsteen hit out after he learned that Ticketmaster were promoting sale of his tickets on their ticket touting website Tickets Now, where tickets are, of course, sold at a considerable mark up. He was particularly angry because consumers were accidentally sent to Tickets Now to buy touted Spingsteen tickets whenever the main Ticketmaster server was too busy to sell fans official face value tickets - ie fans were being encouraged to buy touted tickets even though official tickets were still available. Some claimed it was in Ticketmaster's interest for touted tickets to be sold, because they earn money twice - one commission on the sale of the primary ticket, and another on the resale of that ticket via Tickets Now. Ticketmaster apologised for the cock up that sent Springsteen fans to the touting website when the primary site server was busy, offered various refunds to those who'd bought marked up tickets as a result, and pledged to be much more responsible with its promotion of Tickets Now via its main Ticketmaster website in the future, even when all primary tickets had sold out. As consumer groups had been expressing concern about Ticketmaster's ownership and promotion of Tickets Now for a while, Springsteen was seen by many as the champion of the consumer and the normal music fan over a major corporation out of control. But last week an American newspaper reported that, at the concert around which most of the ticketing cock ups occurred, the normal music fan was at a disadvantage not only because of Ticketmaster's interests in the secondary ticketing market, but also because Spingsteen and his management had kept back 2300 tickets for themselves, including over a thousand of the best seats in the house. While artists, managers and venues often keep tickets aside for friends and associates, the Newark Star Ledger claimed that the high number of tickets kept aside by Springsteen's people made it hard for fans to get good seats at the concert, and fuelled the touting market by reducing the number of tickets available to the public. The paper also claimed Springsteen and his people had broken a New Jersey state rule about the maximum number of tickets for a public event that management are allowed to hold back. After that story broke, Ticketmaster overlord Barry Diller told the New York Post "[Bruce Springsteen] has been one of our most vocal critics on our ticketing policies and, while he's more than entitled to his opinion, it seems minimally fair-minded to point out that in the concert that created the battle, where Ticketmaster apologised for making a technical mistake, it seems that Mr. Springsteen held back from his fans all but 108 of the 1126 tickets closest to the stage". Diller probably should have let the matter lie. His comments have led to another attack from the Springsteen camp. His manager, Jon Landau, has posted a long message on the singer's website. He says that he and Springsteen were right to complain about the misdirection of the singer's fans to the Tickets Now service, and that the almost immediate response of Diller's colleague, Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff, who explained about the technical cock up and apologised, was proof of that. The fact the New Jersey District Attorney subsequently got involved and secured commitments from the ticketing firm about its promotion of Tickets Now, and that discussions about the affair took place in US Congress, was, he said, even further proof they were in the right. On more recent developments, Landau continues: "Last Sunday the Newark Star Ledger ran an article entitled 'Springsteen withheld best tickets from the public at NJ concert, records show'. This is the same article that the Star Ledger runs whenever we do a few indoor shows in New Jersey. It suggested that we were in some way responsible for the Ticketmaster/TicketsNow problem. On Friday Ticketmaster's Chairman attacked Bruce personally in the New York Post. In this article, Ticketmaster's Chairman deploys by implication Ticketmaster's new line: despite their apology, despite the consent decree with Attorney General Milgram, and despite their testimony in Congress, the ticket catastrophe was actually Bruce's fault". He responds: "The Chairman's spin is that it's flatly untrue. He is merely using the time honored tradition of blowing smoke to distract attention away from Ticketmaster's already acknowledged responsibility for their 'glitches'". Responding more specifically to the Ledger's story, though sneaking in another attack on Ticketmaster in the process, he continued: "Yes, we do hold significant numbers of tickets when we play New Jersey, New York and Los Angeles, as does every arena headliner. These holds are used by Bruce, his band members, and longtime members of his extended organisation, their families and close relations; by the record label for their staff, for reviewers, and for radio stations; by charities who are provided with tickets for fund raising purposes, such as special auctions; for service people who help us on a year-round basis; and for other similar purposes. Unlike some Ticketmaster managed artists [ie artists managed by the Ticketmaster-owned artist management firm Front Line], no tickets are held for high dollar resale on TicketsNow, or through any other means". He adds that the Ledger's article is inaccurate in saying that most of the 'best seats in the house' were held back. He explains: "The 2000 to 3500 tickets closest to the stage are on the floor and more than 95% of them go to the public, making the basic premise of the Star Ledger headline inaccurate. Secondly, with regard to seats held in the best sections on either side, we always blend guest seats with fan seats so that there are never any sections consisting entirely of guest seats". Concluding, Landau says: "These are our ticket practices, as they have evolved over more than 30 years of experience. Does anyone seriously imagine that any element of these practices caused Ticketmaster to redirect ticket requests to TicketsNow for the Izod Center shows? What would our incentive have been? It's not we who earned vastly larger sums when fans paid way over the face value of the tickets. It was Ticketmaster/TicketsNow. We have no interest in having an ongoing conflict with Ticketmaster/TicketsNow or anyone else. But we do get upset when we see fans being taken advantage of. So, when that stuff stops happening (and the Ticketmaster/TicketsNow problems surrounding our recent show in Washington D.C. shows that these issues are far from resolved) we will stop complaining. And when the facts cease to be misrepresented, we will stop explaining". DOVES AND BOOTS ALREADY MERCURY FAVOURITES MORE COMMODORES NEWS NEW SMD SINGLE FREE LADYTRON DOWNLOAD TO CELEBRATE REMIX ALL-NIGHTER SET EAVIS TO RETIRE IN 2011 He also revealed that he has already physically distanced himself from the festival, having moved out of the main house and Worthy Farm, where Emily now lives with her fiancé, Nick Dewey. Though he admitted he's not that far away and, even after retirement, probably won't quite be able to let it go. He said: "I'm living on top of the hill now, away from the farm. So [Emily's] taking over the house, which is nice. A new generation of Eavises can live here. [But] I still feel I have an important role to play. Even if I go I'll worry about the drains, the rubbish, the recycling. There will be a gradual process of her and Nick taking it over". -------------------------------------------------- GLADE RELEASE PRE-FEST DIGITAL ALBUM Here's the tracklisting: Underworld - Glam Bucket ALBUM REVIEW: Tobacco - Fucked Up Friends (Anticon) Buy from iTunes SPANISH CREATIVE INDUSTRY STEP BACK FROM THREE-STRIKE LOBBYING The Coalition Of Creators & Content Industries, which previously advocated the three-strike approach to combating online piracy like that being developed in France, has said it accepts that the Spanish government is unlikely to take the French lead in forcing the ISPs to actually cut off those who persistently infringe copyrights online. However, it says it will continue to lobby for 'technical measures' to be instigated against unrepentant file-sharers, including cutting net speed, a measure proposed as a possible deterrent against illegal file-sharing in the UK government's 'Digital Britain' report last week. The president of the Coalition, Aldo Olcese, admitted that the change in policy follows an announcement by the country's ISP trade body which said it would no longer negotiate with the creative industry body on the piracy issue, demanding the government be clearer on its policy on the issue first. Olcese says he wants to concentrate his efforts in tackling BitTorrent tracker services like the Pirate Bay, of which he reckons 200 now exist in Spain, and which, he says, encourage and facilitate wider online piracy. It's not clear whether that will be done through civil action against the people behind such services, or whether the Coalition hope for legislative clarity on the liabilities of the providers of search services that hone in on unlicensed music content. He did, however, tell reports that he was confident the Spanish government would make some moves in the near future to protect the creative industries from the ever growing amounts of online piracy in the country. -------------------------------------------------- GERMAN PIRATE PARTY ENTERS PARLIAMENT As previously reported, the German Pirate Party is similar to that in Sweden which came to mainstream attention during the Pirate Bay trial earlier this year. Although not officially linked to the rogue BitTorrent tracker, the Swedish Pirate Party spoke out in support of its founders. Buoyed by media interest in the trial, and their anti-copyright cause, the Swedish Pirate Party won seats in the European Parliament in the recent Euro elections, standing on a manifesto of wider internet freedoms. Their German counterparts also stood in the European election though didn't get enough votes to get them (anywhere near) any seats in the Euro legislature. Their sudden arrival in the actual German parliament, therefore, is quite a step forward. What it means for the music industry in Germany, who are increasingly calling on the government there to follow their French counterparts and crack down on internet piracy, I'm not sure. In power terms the Pirate Party still has little, but Tauss' defection will win them some media attention that could hinder the record industry's lobbying efforts. -------------------------------------------------- UNIVERSAL PRODUCTION FIRM APPOINTS IOW CHIEF TO F1 ROCKS ROLE Giddings will, according to the press statement, "construct a network of local promoter partners and create highly desirable content to benefit our media and broadcast packages, which will be tailored to maximise results in each territory". Confirming his involvement in the venture, he told CMU: "I've always said something is only worth doing if it's fun. This innovative project and the opportunity it represents to put on amazing shows was too good to pass up!" Paul Morrison, a partner in Universal's events business, and CEO of it, added: "We are pleased to strengthen the team with John joining us. His wealth of experience and knowledge will be a huge asset to All the Worlds and F1 Rocks and will no doubt contribute towards many memorable and successful events ahead. John is also a huge Formula 1 fan, which helps!" MYSPACE STAFF CUTS TO REACH UK -------------------------------------------------- SPOTIFY TO OFFER 'CD QUALITY' STREAMING Premium customers will get their music in the 320kbps Ogg format, which pretty much equates to CD quality, while the everyone else will continue to get 160kbps streams. Initially only popular tracks will be available in the high quality format, with the rest of the catalogue being converted in the coming weeks. Announcing the new service, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said: "Providing great sound quality has always been an important goal for us. Now, we're taking the next step in offering an unparalleled listening experience". And he's right, they are, though those of you listening to Spotify through cheapo computer speakers probably won't be able to tell the difference. Which may be the flaw in this method of persuading people to pay for premium Spotify. Unlike with high quality TV, the general population have, for the most part, not yet been convinced that high quality music streaming, and the hardware needed to properly receive it, is something they need to invest in. Possibly because there's more novelty value in being able to see every wrinkle on 'Last Of The Summer Wine' than being able to hear the bassist fart halfway through your favourite song. BAUER DO DEAL WITH SEATWAVE Confirming the deal, Joe Cohen, CEO and Founder of Seatwave, told reporters: "A partnership with Bauer Media couldn't be a better fit with Seatwave. With an unwavering focus on the fans, together we will provide a safe and secure marketplace for all Bauer's Media's customers to buy and sell tickets with absolute peace of mind". Bauer's digital ticketing manager Caroline Young added: "Bauer Media recognised the consumer demand for a safe and secure fan to fan ticket exchange, which is exactly what Seatwave offer. Aloud.com is delighted to have them on board". -------------------------------------------------- SETANTA ON THE BRINK As you probably know, the Irish-owned sports TV firm Setanta has been on the brink for a while now, its financial woes becoming big news as it began to default on its payments to the Premier League and Scottish Premier League for rights to broadcast live football matches. Yesterday the Premier League announced it had broken off its deal with the independent channel and had awarded all the live matches previously owned by Setanta to ESPN, who plan to broadcast them in the UK via both the Sky and Virgin networks. The Disney-owned sports operation will not only get the games reserved for Setanta this year, but will also take over the struggling broadcaster's agreement with the English football league from 2010 to 2013. Elsewhere the Scottish Premier League have confirmed they are in talks with other broadcasters, and back in Ireland the island-wide football competition sponsored by the channel, the Setanta Sports Cup, is on hold. Commentators say that the sports broadcaster will now almost certainly move into administration, with reports suggested Deloitte are ready to move in to review the company's affairs, may be with a view to winding it up. There had been concerns that if Setanta went down it could take some middle size football clubs with them, given they very much rely on their telly rights money in order to pay their ball kickers their silly wages. It's not clear if the ESPN deal means such ramifications will be avoided. -------------------------------------------------- X-FACTOR AUDITIONS TO HAVE AUDIENCE Whether judges will have to feign surprise when the picked-because-they're-bad contenders get wheeled in front of them for a second time I'm not sure. Or perhaps producers will pick new freak show contenders from the Glasgow wannabe crowd, to be put through the ordeal of a televised audition and subsequent Cowell slating. After all, which of the hopefuls slagged off first time round would want to go through the process again? Well, the really desperate might perhaps. Or those who believed a studio audience at the audition might play to their advantage. A spokesman for the show admitted yesterday: "We are still fine tuning our plans, but we aim to be back up in Scotland at the end of the month. We are working out how we are going to do it, but it does look like everyone who auditioned will come and audition again". TOTAL ROCK WORLD ALBUM CHART 1. Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown (Warner Bros) PAGE AND WHITE CRITICISE GUITAR HERO White said: "It's depressing to have a label come and tell you that ['Guitar Hero'] is how kids are learning about music and experiencing music". He added that while he would never want to dictate how people consume music, that "if you have to be in a video game to get in front of them, that's a little sad". Page said that he can't see playing the game can teach anything significant about playing an instrument, adding: "You think of the drum part that John Bonham did on Led Zeppelin's first track on the first album, 'Good Times Bad Times'. How many drummers in the world can play that part, let alone on Christmas morning?" -------------------------------------------------- DITTO ON NEW ALBUM Here's what she said: "This record is much more about gayness. We come from the post-riot grrrl scene, and when you're suddenly in the UK Top 40, it's a really rad platform. We were so isolated as kids - we had to scrape the surface until we found something cool. Without bands like Nirvana and Sonic Youth, we'd have been lost. I just hope what we do inspires some totally nerdy boy with glasses in some remote village, or some fat girl who's been told she's ugly, to form a band. Happiness is so close - it starts when you get the fuck out of school!" -------------------------------------------------- HILSON DENIES DIG AT BEYONCE The singer told Newsbeat that in fact she was having referencing a number of different people. "I'm not hating Beyoncé or anyone else for that matter" she said. "I was addressing some people who tried to turn me off. I used lyrics from a popular Beyoncé song ('Irreplaceable'). I sampled "to the left, to the left" but it was nothing to her or about her. Now that I listen to it, I understand where it was coming from. The song's really about how long and hard I fought to get where I'm at". |
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