FORMER WILCO MAN DIED OF OVERDOSE
Former Wilco guitarist Jay Bennett died of an accidental overdose of a pain killer, a coroner said yesterday.

As previously reported, Bennett died suddenly last month aged 45. It was known that the musician had been raising funds for hip replacement surgery, and there was some speculation he had been secretly suffering from general ill-health which may have caused his death.

However, that was not the case, rather the guitarist overdosed, accidentally it seems, on painkillers which he would have been taking to reduce pain stemming from his hip condition. He had previously written about being in pain on his blog, writing back in April: "As time has passed my mobility has continued to erode, to the extent that, for quite some time now, it has even been difficult to sit at the computer for more than just a few minutes".

As previously reported, Bennett's death came soon after he launched litigation against his former Wilco bandemate Jeff Tweedy claiming he was owed various royalties from his time in the band, and from his involvement in a documentary film which documented the breakdown in Bennett and Tweedy's creative partnership.

Bennet's family have not, as yet, responded to the coroner's report.

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SPECTOR MOVED TO "SENSITIVE NEEDS FACILITY"
Incarcerated former music producer Phil Spector has been assigned to a "sensitive needs facility" at California's Corcoran prison, which he was reportedly moved to on Monday. Spector is, of course, in jail after being found guilty of murdering actress Lana Clarkson at his Beverly Hills home in 2003. He maintains his innocence and plans to appeal.

The Corcoran prison has nearly 7000 inmates, but Spector will not come into contact with many of them having been assigned to the "sensitive needs facility". Experts say prisoners are normally put into such a facility for their own protection, normally because they have dropped out of a gang that has a presence inside. One prison officer says Spector's notoriety was probably behind the decision to exclude him from most other inmates. He will not have a cellmate in the zone where he resides.

Since his conviction Spector had been held at North Kern State Prison. As previously reported, the producer's young wife Rachelle Spector had been critical of her husband's treatment there, saying he had been treated "like a dog". She told the Associated Press on Tuesday that she was "relieved" Spector had now been moved to a new facility.

In related news, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections told the AP she didn't believe Spector's experience at the original prison was actually as his wife had described. Some of the mistreatment Rachelle Spector alleged had happened would violate prison policies and laws so, the spokeswoman said, were not likely to have occurred, though she admitted any formal complaints about mistreatment would be investigated.

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PEAS MANAGER CHARGED WITH ASSAULT
So, are you keeping up with this story? Here's a quick summary: Perez Hilton got punched by someone at the Cobra nightclub in Toronto after the MuchMusic Video Awards on Sunday. Hilton says it was Will.i.am. Will.i.am says it wasn't. After the attack Hilton attempted to call the police using Twitter. Both men issued lengthy video statements/rants on the subject on Monday.

Whether or not Will.i.am threw any punches or not is still to be ascertained. However, the Black Eyed Peas' manager, who Hilton also says hit him a few times, has been charged with assault. He will now have to appear at Toronto's Old City Hall on 5 Aug to face the charges.

Meanwhile, TMZ.com has posted a shaky video of the altercation which shows a grand total of nothing, although Hilton can be heard telling Will.i.am: "You're not a fucking artist ... you're a fucking faggot".

Hilton's use of the word "faggot" has prompted The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) to demand that the openly gay celebrity blogger issue an apology for using an anti-gay slur. In a statement the organisation said: "For someone in our own community to use it [the word "faggot"] to attack another person by saying that it is, quote, 'The worst possible thing that thug would ever want to hear', is incredibly dangerous. It legitimises use of a slur that is often linked to violence against our community. And it sends a message that it is OK to attempt to dehumanise people by exploiting anti-gay attitudes".

In response, Hilton, who briefly working in media relations for GLAAD before his blogging career took off, refused to apologise and expressed anger that the organisation had not automatically taken his side. He told TMZ: "I am saddened GLAAD chose to victimise me further by criticising me for how I non-violently dealt with a very scary situation that, unfortunately, turned violent. While I doubt I will get an apology from GLAAD, nor do I expect one, I would just hope people know how difficult it is to intellectualise a situation and think rationally when a thug disguised as a musician is screaming at your face and intimidating you. I am just very fortunate and grateful that nothing more serious happened to me".

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SOUNDGARDEN MAY MAKE A COMEBACK SAYS SHINEDOWN BLOKE
According to Brent Smith, the frontman of American rockers Shinedown, who apparently has insider knowledge on the matter, Soundgarden are definitely in talks regarding the staging of a comeback.

The band split back in 1997, of course, and frontman Chris Cornell subsequently formed Audioslave as well as embarking on a solo career. As previously reported, Cornell recently said that he would not "count out" the idea of reforming Soundgarden, despite his previous insistence that the band wouldn't reunite, because of his fear that the group wouldn't be able to "tap into the greatness we felt when we were on our game".

As also previously reported, the other three members of the band - Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd, and Matt Cameron - played a set together in Seattle earlier this year, and now word has it that a full reunion, including Cornell, is on the cards. That word, Smith says, is accurate

He told Kerrang! magazine: "There's talk of a reuniting of Soundgarden in the States soon. I know someone who told me that who is actually specifically in their organisation. Kinda told me that they're talking about it".

So, there you have it, someone specific Brent knows kinda said they were talking about it.

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OXFORD COLLAPSE COLLAPSE
US indie band Oxford Collapse have announced that they will split following upcoming live dates in New Jersey and New York.

The band say in a statement: "After eight years, 450 shows, and four albums, we've decided that we've reached the end of the line. To paraphrase The Grateful Dead, 'what a long, strange, eye-opening, stomach-bursting, heart-breaking, bittersweet, educational, enlightening, mind-numbing, 'why-are-we-doing-this-shit?' / 'who-gets-to-do-this-shit?,' absurd, amazing trip it's been'. To paraphrase another sage poet, 'you gotta know when to hold 'em and know when to fold em'".

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AUF DER MAUR CLUELESS ABOUT HOLE
As you may remember, Courtney Love was recently quoted (or perhaps paraphrased) as saying that what was previously her long-worked-on solo album would now be released as a Hole album, although only one other former member of the band, Melissa Auf der Maur, would be involved, contributing backing vocals for the recording, as well as returning as bassist when the group went out on tour.

But now Auf der Maur has said that she knows nothing about it. She told reporters in Toronto, where she was oin town for the North By Northeast music festival: "I actually don't know [about the reunion]. I have no idea. I arrived at North By Northeast and I heard that Hole were getting back together from people sending me links".

She added: "I am very proud of my time in Hole, I'm very grateful for my 'big sister' Courtney and the initial door that she opened for me in music and I have literally no comment, other than she and I have been in touch for the first time in a decade, and I know she's in the studio and I'm excited to hear what she makes. Whether it's Hole or Courtney, that's up to her to decide, I don't know. I'd say that it's all very new news".

She went on to say that she wouldn't consider it to be genuine Hole reunion without the presence of band co-founder Eric Erlandson - "There's no Hole without Eric", she's quoted as saying - and, asked whether she's up for reforming or not, responded with this: "Oh, I don't know. For me, I'm more curious about the legacy of Hole. I'm sort of dying for a best-of Hole. Objectively, as a woman musician, as a fan of the first two records that I wasn't even a part of, I think that every girl in the world needs a best-of Hole. I'm interested in making sure that gets tied up in a very classy way, because I think there's a lot to offer young women now and for the future, and that's the only thing I know".

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MINOGUE TO WORK WITH XENOMANIA
According to reports, Kylie Minogue is to work with production outfit Xenomania on her eleventh studio album, following the commercial disappointment of her previous LP 'X'. The producers have previously worked on material for a host of other pop acts, of course, including Girls Aloud, Sugababes and Sophie Ellis Bextor.

A source is quoted as saying: "Kylie has been a huge fan of Xenomania for ages. By working with Xenomania she hopes she can create a really coherent album which will connect her right back to the pop market".

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ME MY HEAD GIVE AWAY HALF OF NEW ALBUM
London indie rock types Me My Head are giving away their debut album for free. Or rather they're giving away half of their debut album for free.

In exchange for your email address, you can get the first six tracks from 'Salvation In No Mans Land' for nothing in MP3 format. The band also offer the files in WMA format, which presumably have some sort of DRM on them, because they are specifically encouraging file-sharers to spread those versions around a bit.

If you like what you hear, you can then buy the full album in physical form for whatever price you like (suggested is £3).

I recommend you go and do it right about... now: www.musicglue.com/memyhead

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STONE ROSES SINGLES TO MARK 20TH ANNIVERSARY
As previously reported, The Stone Roses' eponymous 1989 debut album is to be reissued on 10 Aug to mark its twentieth anniversary. It's now been announced that five of the band's singles are also to be released in the lead up, at a rate of one a week from 6 Jul, on 7" and via download. The tracks to be released, which will come backed by previously unreleased material, are as follows: 'Elephant Stone', 'Made Of Stone', 'She Bangs The Drums', 'Fools Gold' and 'One Love'. A collectable box will be available alongside the first release, with space in it for each of the remaining singles.

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MORE JACKO TICKETS GO ON SALE
A limited number of tickets for Michael Jackson's upcoming O2 Dome shows have gone on sale. If you want them, you can register your interest at the below URL and they'll be handed out in some kind of lottery, or something.

www.michaeljackson.com/tickets/

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FLORENCE & THE MACHINE TOUR DATES
Good news, people. Florence & The Machine will be touring in September. And their debut album will be out on 6 Jul. What lucky people you are. Pre-sale tickets for the gigs are available from www.florenceandthemachine.net right now and will go on general release through www.gigsandtours.com tomorrow.

Tour dates:

17 Sep: Bristol, O2 Academy
18 Sep: Bournemouth, O2 Academy
20 Sep: Birmingham, O2 Academy
21 Sep: Leeds, O2 Academy
22 Sep: Glasgow, ABC
24 Sep: Newcastle, O2 Academy
25 Sep: Manchester, Academy
27 Sep: London, O2 Shepherds Bush Empire

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LITTLE BOOTS TOUR DATES
To be honest, I think I've overdosed on Little Boots' album. But by October I might be able to hack it again, so well done her for booking tour dates so late in the year. Tickets go on sale on Friday.

Tour dates:

21 Oct: Northampton, Roadmenders
22 Oct: Brighton, Concorde 2
23 Oct: Sunderland, University
25 Oct: Edinburgh, Picture House
26 Oct: Preston, 53 Degrees
27 Oct: Liverpool, O2 Academy
29 Oct: Cambridge, The Junction
30 Oct: Wolverhampton, Wulfrun Hall
31 Oct: Bristol, University

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OK, SO IT WILL RAIN AT GLASTO
OK, now the weather people are predicting a "heavy, thundery downpour" for Worthy Farm on Friday, ie the first full day of this year's Glastonbury Festival. I'm not sure if that's meant to be the monsoon originally promised, it sounds a lot less serious if you ask me. There are likely to be more showers during the weekend, though temperatures will remain as now, so quite warm. Basically you're going to need to take your entire wardrobe. It wouldn't surprise me if these weather people weren't predicting snow by the end of the week.

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BIG REUNION LINE UP STUFF
It may be Glasto week, but for those of you planning much further ahead than that, the initial line ups have been announced for this year's Big Reunion events, which take place at the Skegness Butlins complex in November and December.

Initial lines ups for the three Big Reunion events as follows...

20-22 Nov: Calvin Harris, Beardy Man, Eddie Halliwell, John O'Callaghan, The Wombats, Judge Jules, Westwood, Tall Paul and Eddy TM.

27-29 Nov: Tinchy Stryder, Ironik, The Wombats, Judge Jules, Westwood, Kklass and Eddy TM.

4-6 Dec: Dizzee, Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, Pete Tong, Ironik, The Wombats, Judge Jules, Westwood, Graeme Park, Micky Slim, Brandon Block, Utah Saints and, you guessed it, Mr Eddy TM.

Confirming this year's events, Big Reunion chief Ian Kaye told CMU: "Calvin, Tinchy and Dizzee have all had an amazing year already and with them all releasing albums later this summer they are only going to be in more demand. So naturally we are thrilled to get them confirmed to play at this year's Big Reunion".

Tickets for each weekend are £159, including accommodation, and are on sale now. If you're looking for information and that kind of thing I'd check www.thebigreunion.com

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FESTIVAL LINE UP UPDATE

GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL, Worthy Farm, Somerset, 24 - 28 Jun: Hip hop superstars N.E.R.D have been revealed as the special guests set to play the Pyramid Stage this week at Glasto. N.E.R.D will perform on the Friday between Fleet Foxes and Regina Spektor. Headliners for this week's festival are, of course, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young and Blur. www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk

LATITUDE, Henham Park, Suffolk, 16 - 19 Jul: The Broken Family Band and Broken Records are the latest acts to be confirmed for Latitude festival next month. Mike Snow, Gurrumul and The Vaselines have also been added to the bill along with Manchester Orchestra, Alela Diane, Red Light Company and The Phenomenal Handclap Band. Pet Shop Boys, Grace Jones and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds are all set to headline. www.latitudefestival.co.uk

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SINGLE REVIEW: Three Trapped Tigers - 7/1 (Too Pure)
The Too Pure Singles Club is fast attaining a reputation as a one-stop hipster shop, with Three Trapped Tigers joining a series of releases that has previously included singles from Bear Hands and Pulled Apart By Horses. Both great bands, but it's Too Pure's latest additions that do most to maintain the label's eclectic and cutting edge reputation. A-side '7' begins with a spasmodic, space age jazz introduction which manically splices time signatures. Immediately there's a sense of nonchalant pride in their work, a sense that it's all too easy to create a piece of this complexity. And we're only just beginning. Soon it delves into cavernous bass overplayed by delicate harmonics. Then come the guitars, ferocious and futuristic. Eventually we're given a moment of respite and xylophones swoop in from various angles, but it isn't long lived before the fury of the electronics arise once more. It's a musical journey like the baddest rollercoaster in any theme park - exhilarating, but give it a minute before you indulge again. GB
Release Date: 6 Jul
Press Contact: Too Pure IH [all]

Buy from iTunes
Buy from Amazon

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VIRGIN MOBILE FEST USA GOES FREE
The Virgin Mobile Festival USA, which is a sort of spin off from the UK's V Festival, will this year be rebranded as the Virgin Mobile FreeFest. That, as you might have guessed, is because this year's event is going to be free.

35,000 tickets will be given away by the phone firm to music fans who wish to see the likes of Weezer, Blink 182, Franz Ferdinand, Public Enemy, Jet, The National, Girl Talk, The Bravery, The Hold Steady, St Vincent, Wale, Taking Back Sunday, Holy Fuck, Pete Tong, Danny Howells and Lee Burridge all perform, but without paying a penny.

Confirming the plans, the event's promoter, IMP's Seth Hurwitz, told Billboard: "The idea was to do something that nobody else is doing. It really comes from a sincere desire to make people happy".

Speaking for the phone firm, their marketing man Ron Faris said the event was a response to all the doom and gloom in the news caused by the recession. He said: "We wanted to put something out there that would put a smile on people's faces. That was the genesis around why we did this".

Previous Virgin Festival ticket buyers and Virgin Mobile customers will have the first crack at getting their hands on free tickets later this week, after which everyone will be able to apply via Ticketmaster. The ticketing giant will only charge festival-goers who want their tickets to be mailed out, those happy to collect them at the festival entrance won't have to pay a penny.

On that point, Hurwitz told the trade mag: "I'm pretty excited about seeing how many people really prefer to pay Ticketmaster to deliver their ticket. Convenience charges originated with people having the option to pay to have tickets brought to them, instead of them having to go to the ticket. So we wanted to get back to basics on that".

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PRS REPORT THAT TOP LIVE ACTS GENERATING RECORD REVENUES
The top end of the live industry is indeed doing very well, as I think most of us kind of knew already. I'm saying this with more certainty, though, because of the latest stats from publishing collecting society PRS For Music who, of course, monitor the live sector so that they can get the performance royalties due to the publishers and songwriters for songs performed at gigs, concerts and festivals.

According to PRS For Music, top music talent generated over £403 million in touring revenues in the UK last year, which is up 30% on 2007 when £331 million was made. The top touring acts in 2008 were: Spice Girls, Kylie Minogue, Elton John, Bon Jovi, Neil Diamond, Bruce Springsteen, Westlife, Madonna, Foo Fighters and Boyzone. Yes, even Boyzone, despite their recent half filled arena woes.

Commenting on the continued growth of the live industry, PRS's Barney Hooper said this: "It has already been noted that recorded music's share of consumers' disposable income is going down, while the share for live music is going up. The latest data from PRS data suggests that the longevity of the top acts is a factor in this. Between them, the top acts in 2008 have around 200 years of touring experience. More than ever, consumers want to see the legends of the industry in the flesh. This suggests that the value of touring will only continue to grow".

Of course, all of this is great news for those in the live sector, though more for those who get to work with big name artists on multi-million pound tours. Some in the grass roots live sector might tell you things aren't quite so rosey there, and that increasing costs and ticket prices at one of the market are having a negative impact on the other end, with fans spending lots of cash on one big concert every two months, rather than lots of little grass roots ones, or one moderately priced bigger one and then a couple of little ones too. Or something like that.

Even those at the upper end of the market will have some concerns regarding PRS's latest announcements regarding the live sector. Not because of the news they're all doing very well, but because of confirmation the collecting society is planning on reviewing its current royalty rate for tour promoters. Some in the live sector fear the society is considering compensating for the decline in mechanical royalties from the recording industry by edging up its performance royalty fees in the live domain.

Those big time tour promoters will no doubt want it to be known that while there revenues are booming, the costs of staging some of the mega-tours in that aforementioned top ten are also rocketing, so giving the publishers a bigger slice of the live pie isn't going to work. PRS may disagree. Fun times could be ahead.

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MAIL ON SUNDAY STEPS BACK FROM COVERMOUNTS
The Mail On Sunday's ambitions to be a serious music distribution platform are on hold, or at least that's how it seems. Music Week have spoken to the paper's newish MD Marcus Rich about his thoughts on music-based promotions, and he's not so keen on the sort of expensive and sometimes controversial covermount CDs that his predecessor oversaw.

As much previously reported, the Mail On Sunday led the way in the second era of the covermount, the period after all those terrible freebie compilations - greatest love songs, best rock ever, eighties hits - that came with pretty much every weekend newspaper for a couple of years earlier in the decade.

The Mail's later CDs generally involved partnerships with specific artists, including some spectacular live collections from Brian Wilson, Blondie, The Stranglers and Duran Duran (yeah, OK, I was involved in those so might be a bit biased regarding their spectacular-ness, but they really were leagues ahead of everything that had gone before, honest guvnor).

The Mail subsequently formed an alliance with marketing promotions agency Upfront and started breaking new ground by covermounting full albums rather than promoitonal hits collections, including some brand new albums, most notably the UK release of Prince's 'Planet Earth' and later the new one from McFly, 'Radio:Active'.

While arguably good for established artists, who would get a nice upfront cheque, big publishing pay out and lots of free publicity for other endeavours, the full album covermounts pissed off some in the record industry, who had always had a love hate relationship with the covermount CD to start with. Labels, and in particular high street music retailers, felt the Mail were providing a platform that enabled artists to cut them out of the equation, and meant they missed out on involvement in (and revenues from) what could be the year's biggest releases.

Former Mail On Sunday MD Stephen Miron, now at Global Radio, was unrepentant about such things and didn't seem too bothered about addressing the concerns of tetchy record industry types. When the paper announced it was setting up its own record label to aid future original release covermounts it seemed like the paper really was positioning itself to compete with the tradiational record companies and retailers.

But then Miron moved on, the newspaper industry suddenly realised it had no money and bosses at papers like the Mail started to discover that covermount releases, while perhaps providing a one week spike in circulation, didn't result in long term sales boosts. And so we get new MoS MD Marus Rich telling Music Week that the record label plan could well be shelved, and that covermounts are likely to be fewer moving forward.

He told Music Week: "We are always looking at ways to improve marketing efficiency. Each promotion will be analysed in terms of its marketing potential and promotional effect. They [CD covermounts] are relatively costly but then all marketing channels are".

Rich also seems keen to mend any damaged relationships between his paper and the record industry, if only because, of course, music companies are also advertisers. He concluded: "The relationship with the music industry concerns me because they are also advertisers. It is very important that the entertainment category works with and supports the media".

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FATHERS' DAY RESULTS IN RECORD SALES BOOST
Ah, good old Fathers' Day. Not only does this made up celebration of dads help keep the greetings card industry in business, it's also proving to be pretty useful to the record industry too. More so than Mothers' Day, because the pesky flowers industry has less of a look in on this one, whereas on the day of mums they're always there stealing our money with their silly daffodils and tulips and whatnot.

Anyway, according to record label trade body the BPI and those Official Charts Company people, albums sales last week in the run up to Father's Day were up 21.9%, with compilation sales up 43.5% thanks to inspired titles like 'Dad Rocks' and 'Dad's Jukebox' and 'Really Couldn't Be Bothered Dad, So Here, Have This Shit CD'. Best Of CDs from Dad's favourite artists like Bruce Springsteen, George Harrison, Mike Oldfield and Meat Loaf (apparently) were also up.

Commenting on the Dads Day record sales boost, BPI boss Geoff Taylor told reporters: "This Father's Day boost to sales illustrates that the CD remains a great 'digital music product' for which there is still strong demand, and which makes a perfectly priced gift for special occasions".

(He means 'digital music product' in the sense of a music product that uses digital technology, of course, which a CD does. As opposed, I suppose, to the more common modern use of the 'digital' word to mean music provided online for download or stream. Because if you use that definition the quote sort of doesn't make sense).

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MORE ON THE MYSPACE INTERNATIONAL CUTS
More details now about the cuts at MySpace International, the non-US part of the social networking company. As previously reported, the global division is being considerably downsized following the departure of its chief Travis Katz. Bosses at the social firm confirmed yesterday 300 non-US jobs would go, in addition to the 30% cut of American head count announced last week.

The newish top man at MySpace, Owen Van Natta, who has been swinging the axe big time since taking over at the Rupert Murdoch owned web company in April, confirmed yesterday: "As we conducted our review of the company, it was clear that internationally, just as in the US, MySpace's staffing had become too big and cumbersome to be sustainable in current market conditions".

It's not clear what the cuts will mean for MySpace's UK operation, though London will remain as one of the firm's main global offices, alongside Berlin and Sydney, meaning most of the downsizing may come elsewhere - MySpace also has offices in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Sweden and Spain. MySpace's Chinese operation and its JV company in Japan will not be affected.

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KERRANG! RADIO CUTS AFFECT ON-AIR TALENT
The latest axe-swing within the Bauer radio empire could see up to twenty jobs go at the Birmingham outpost of the Kerrang! radio operation. Nearly half of the station's 43 staff could be cut, a downsize big enough to impact on on-air talent.

Confirming redundancies were a cert, a spokeswoman for the station told the Birmingham Post: "We are extremely proud of Kerrang! which is celebrating its fifth birthday and was last month named the Sony Station Of The Year 2009. However, the current challenging economic climate means we are proposing to reshape the team at Kerrang! Radio to meet its long-term potential. We are currently discussing these proposals with staff and until this process has concluded there will be no further comment".

It was already known there were plans to relocate the station's news team to Manchester, where it would be merged in with Bauer's North West news team, who produce news content for the group's Manchester stations. It's thought two of the existing four Kerrang! news team members will be offered roles in Manchester, while two will definitely go.

Confirming that the cuts will hit on-air names, one daytime presenter, lunchtime host Emma Scott, issued a statement last night via her own production company confirming she and her producer Jase Burns would leave the station. She said: "I've had an amazing time at Kerrang! and achieved so much more than I could ever have imagined. I would have liked to have stayed another year, but the radio station has had to make these cut-backs in order to survive. I'm going to enjoy some time off this summer with my family, and then plan my next move! It's been an awesome ride and I'm so lucky to have been at Kerrang! Radio for the past 5 years". Emma says her show will continue to air for another fortnight, which probably means a new post-cuts schedule will be launched in mid-July.

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NEW PUBLISHER FOR NME AND UNCUT
Magazine firm IPC have announced that Faith Hill will take on the role of publisher for its two main music titles NME and Uncut. Though we're not talking the famous country singer here, but an existing IPC staffer who most recently fulfilled a publisher role at IPC's women's mags Southbank division, where she oversaw the never dull Hair, Wedding and Wedding Flowers titles.

In her new job, which she began this week, she reports to IPC's music mags Publishing Director Paul Cheal, who says this: "Faith's drive, energy and ambition, coupled with her IPC Southbank experience, will help us to ensure that NME remains at the forefront of multi-platform media development".

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SUN EDITOR TO HEAD UP NEWS INTERNATIONAL
Sun editor Rebekah Wade has been promoted and will become CEO of News International, Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper business, which, of course, owns The Sun, the News Of The World, The Times, The Sunday Times and thelondonpaper. She will report to Murdoch's son James, who has been heading up his father's UK newspaper business of late in his role as CEO of News Corp Europe & Asia. A new Sun editor will be announced later this summer.

Wade, who has worked at News International for two decades, spending three years as News Of The World editor before taking over at the Sun in 2003, confirmed her new appointment telling reporters: "Our titles are among the best in the world thanks to an unrelenting focus on high quality journalism that connects with its readers. "At such a crucial time for the newspaper industry, I am honoured to have the opportunity to work with the exceptional team here and believe that we have an exciting future".

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SETANTA IS NO MORE
So, following our report yesterday morning that sports broadcaster Setanta was looking administration in the face, yesterday afternoon it, erm, fell into that face? Yeah, I'm regretting this metaphor now.

Anyway, the sports telly firm went into administration after rescue talks with possible new investors faltered. The impact in the UK was immediate. The two main Setanta channels went off air immediately, while its sports news channel, a joint venture with Virgin Media actually operated by ITN, was switched off at 6pm. The firm's 200 UK staff will be made redundant, while the future of the 60 staffers at ITN that worked on the sports news service is unknown; the news firm said it was consulting affected staff and hoped to redeploy as many of them as it could elsewhere in the company.

As expected, Deloitte have come in as administrators. A spokesman for them told reporters: "We can confirm that no further monthly subscriptions or direct debits will be accepted from customers of the UK business". The firm's Irish and North American services were still running last night, seemingly because they both make a slight profit and Deloitte are more confident they can find a buyer for them.

As previously reported, the English Premier League announced earlier this week that it had reached a deal with Disney-owned US sports broadcaster ESPN to take over Setanta's football contracts. Reports suggest ESPN have agreed to match the financial commitments previously made by Setanta (minus what Setanta had already paid) meaning that the League and the clubs it represented shouldn't be hit by a loss of telly revenues, as had been feared.

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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. [2] Lacuna Coil - Spellbound
2. [1] The Chapman Family - The Kids Are Not Alright
3. [4] The Joy Formidable - Whirring
4. [NE] The Twang - Barney Rubble
5. [NE] Maximo Park - Questioning Not Coasting
6. [3] The Maccabees - Can You Give It
7. [6] Jamie T - Sticks N Stones
8. [RE] Papa Roach - Lifeline
9. [7] Kings Of Leon - Notion
10. [8] Taking Back Sunday - Sink Into Me

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

Gossip - Heavy Cross
Green Day - 21 Guns
Linkin Park - New Divide
The Killers - A Dustland Fairytale
The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition

More at www.myspace.com/mtvtwo

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TULISA N-DUBZ ON THE FESTIVAL CHALLENGE
I really want to see N-Dubz play live, so I might have to get whichever edition of Wireless they're playing into my diary. Oh yes, and blag a ticket. Must remember to do that. Anyway, N-Dubz's Tulisa has told Radio 1 that while she's looking forward to her group's festival appointments she finds playing such events a bit nerve racking compared to performing for rooms full of dedicated fans.

Tulisa told Newsbeat: "I like festivals because I find them a challenge. You've got thousands of people there and they're not all there to see you. It's about winning the people over who are there to see a different act and making them walk away saying, 'I went there to see so and so, but you know what, I really loved the N-Dubz performance'. It's just a wicked vibe to have that many people in one place - performing for them".

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TAKE THAT CHAT ABOUT STUFF
Take That's Howard Donald has said that he'd find it pretty hard if Take That were to split again, having previously admitted that he felt suicidal the first time they broke up back in 1996. He reportedly told Time Out: "I think if it was all to end when the tour finishes on July 5, and it all went disastrously wrong, then it would be very hard".

He also said that he regretted admitting in past interviews that he and Robbie Williams had engaged in "wanking competitions" back in the early days of the group, but Jason Orange commented: "Those are dead funny anecdotes. They might follow us around, but only for a laugh. I think the more serious revelations are like what you were saying about how you felt afterwards. Real feelings".

Yeeuch, wanking competitions. I didn't hear about that the first time around. If he hadn't mentioned it now, I'd never have known.

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