JOIN IN THE DISCUSSION: CAN FREE ONLINE MUSIC SURVIVE AND THRIVE?
Organised by Chinwag Live, the event this Wednesday in London is host to a great panel with the likes of Spotify, Frukt Music, SoundCloud, MediaCom and The Guardian. As music streaming services such as Last.fm, Spotify and We7 take off and new suppliers such as Virgin Media coming to the market we see the music industry provides one of the most dynamic and challenging environments for marketers. Can traditional radio advertisers make the leap to online audio ads? Or is it time the listener paid? Further details and tickets are available from http://chinwag.com/live/musicwhopays

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ONLINE MARKETING MANAGER AT ROUGH TRADE RECORDS
Online marketing manager for Rough Trade releases, and manager of the Rough Trade website.

Devising unique online marketing plans for our artist's releases in conjunction with the overall vision and plan for the campaign.

Overseeing & creating original content such as video and other bespoke assets to promote our music.

Ensuring the Rough Trade website and our audience is kept up to date with all the latest news about signings, releases, tours, interesting goings on, music, videos, sales messages.

Our ideal candidate will be passionate about music, a creative thinker and writer, possess HTML experience, HTML mailout coding knowledge & basic video editing and image editing skills.

CVs + covering letters should be sent to [email protected]. Please note this position is based in our London, UK office and the deadline for submissions is 15th July.

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HEAD OF DIGITAL AT COOKING VINYL
Cooking Vinyl (The Prodigy, Nitin Sawhney, Dolores O'Riordan, The Lemonheads) require an experienced digital manager to head up their expanding digital department.

The role requires a candidate with strong experience in all facets of digital including retail, marketing, mobile, advertising and promotion. Taking the leading role in developing and expanding the department, the candidate is expected to deliver exciting and targeted campaigns for the labels growing roster of artists as well as pushing the company forward as a whole with new digital initiatives.

Reporting to the Managing Director and Product Director, this is a great opportunity for an experienced candidate to help guide the digital future of one of the UK's biggest independent record labels.

Apply with CV and current salary to [email protected]

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POLICE CHIEF HASN'T RULED OUT FOUL PLAY IN JACKO INVESTIGATION
So, yes, look, we are still leading with Jacko. Sorry. Blame the head of the LAPD, Police Chief William Bratton, for refusing to rule out murder in his investigation into Michael Jackson's untimely death. He's not said that there's any reason to especially suspect foul play was behind the singer's cardiac arrest, but he did tell CNN: "Are we dealing with a homicide or are we dealing with accidental overdose? I don't have that information". Bratton says that the results of the coroner's toxicology tests will be key in deciding what routes of investigation to continue to pursue. As previously reported, it could still be a few weeks before the results of those tests are known.

Bratton told the news channel: "We are still awaiting corroboration from the coroner's office as to cause of death. That is going to be very dependent on the toxicology reports that are due to come back. And based on those, we will have an idea of what it is we are dealing [with]. So as we are standing here speaking, I can tell you I don't have that information".

A spokesman for the coroner's office repeated that there was no sign of foul play when they did the main autopsy on the singer shortly after his death, though they have admitted that there was "some prescription medication" in the singer's system. In his CNN interview, Bratton confirmed that Jackson's use of prescription drugs, and the people who supplied him with such medication, was at the heart of their investigation into the singer's death. Therefore if there was foul play, as Bratton is still willing to believe, it is most likely it would have taken the form of deliberately supplying Jackson with the wrong kind or an excessive dose of some sort of prescription medication.

The police chief confirmed reports that a search of Jackson's home shortly after his death had resulted in various prescription drugs being found. Bratton: "At the time of the death, with search warrants, we were able to seize a number of items from the residence where the death occurred and those will assist in the investigation".

Police have since been talking to various doctors who worked with or treated Jackson over the years to get an idea of what medications he was taking, and on what frequency. Other people who had close access to the singer will also be questioned as part of that investigation, to get a picture of how drugs played a role in Jackson's life day to day, and an idea of who it was who supplied and administered medication to the singer. Among those set to be interviewed are his former head of British security Matt Fiddes and one of his most high profile celebrity friends, UK-based Uri Geller.

Confirming he'd been approached by the police, Fiddes told the People newspaper: "Uri and I have been told we will be quizzed by detectives. We saw a lot of things and regularly met Michael's circle of doctors. We don't have anything to hide and will co-operate as best we can". Geller added: "I didn't live with Michael, but like Matt, the things I did witness were horrifying - and destroyed my hope for his future".

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LA TOYA: MICHAEL WAS MURDERED
Also talking up the conspiracy theory that Jackson was murdered is the singer's sister La Toya, who has told the News Of The World she believes her brother was killed in a plot to access his personal fortune. La Toya's comments follow previously reported remarks made by Jacko's father Joe Jackson, who was talking foul play within hours of his son's death.

The British tab quote La Toya as saying: "Michael was murdered. And we don't think just one person was involved. Rather, it was a conspiracy of people. I feel it was all about money".

La Toya claims there were sinister characters involved in Jackson's affair, who were, she alleges, trying to get access to the singer's personal fortune which, she says, despite all the debts, were worth up to a billion dollars. She adds that it was those people who got Jacko hooked on prescription drugs and those medications, she reckons, were putting her brother in great danger. She told the paper: "Michael was being inappropriately treated by people who got him hooked on drugs. I can't say who I believe is responsible as I don't want to jeopardise the police investigation. But not everybody had Michael's best interests at heart".

She confirmed the family had had a second autopsy done on Michael's body, claiming she personally instigated the independent examination. Although vague about the results of the second autopsy, she said people would be "surprised" by them. She continued: "I can say newspaper reports that there was methadone in his body are inaccurate. [But] he had many needle marks on his neck and on his arms, and more about those will emerge in the next few weeks. But nothing has changed my mind that this was murder and I won't give up until I find out what killed my brother".

Some reports suggest Michael was closer to La Toya than most of his other siblings, though she says the aforementioned shady characters tried to cut the singer off from his family in recent years. She also reckons they took stuff from his rented home in LA shortly after his death. "So many people had been through that house before I got there" she said. "Someone went in there and did a good job. It was very strange".

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CUSTODY HEARING FOR JACKO'S KIDS PUSHED BACK
A court hearing to discuss the custody of Michael Jackson's two eldest children has been postponed a week to allow talks between the singer's mother Katherine, who was given custody in Jacko's will, and his ex-wife and the two kid's (possible) mother Debbie Rowe.

Although there have been widespread reports that Rowe, who was cut off from her children when she divorced Jackson, is keen to get custody of Prince Michael and Paris, the nurse's lawyer has been very diplomatic when talking to the press. While a court battle over custody may be in the offing, it seems both sides would rather hammer out an agreement out of court, and today's scheduled hearing was postponed at the request of both parties.

Katherine Jackson's legal rep L Londell McMillan told the Associated Press: "We are pleased that the child custody hearing has been continued over until July 20th to further our progress and allow us to privately and amicably resolve this most important matter in a dignified manner for the benefit of the children first and all involved".

As previously reported, while Rowe definitely gave birth to Prince Michael and Paris, TMZ have claimed neither Jackson nor Rowe were actually the two children's biological parents. Whether those claims, or the confidential agreement between Jacko and Rowe which formally gave the singer full custody, will have an impact on Rowe's case, should she push for full custody, remains to be seen.

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LA COUNCILLOR CALLS FOR REVIEW OF JACKO MEMORIAL COSTS
The costs of last week's big Michael Jackson memorial bash are still causing much debate in Los Angeles. As previously reported, while AEG Live - the promoters of Jackson's axed O2 residency - covered the costs of the actual event itself, hosting it in their Staples Center arena, the city has picked up the tab for policing, traffic control and tidying up the streets, an exercise which somehow ended up costing $1.4 million.

With LA already in something of a financial crisis, all sorts of local politicians and journalists are kicking up a fuss about the cost of the big memorial bash. Presumably in a bid to placate the critics, the LA mayor's office set up a website where Jacko fans could make donations towards the city's costs related to the memorial, but most critics really want either AEG or the Jackson family to foot the bill, so they're still stressing.

Now one of the city's Councilmen, Dennis Zine, has called for a review of the city's costs associated with the event, requesting a full report on policing and traffic control expenditure. He told a city meeting on Thursday that he would be suggesting to the memorial's organsiers - so AEG and the family - that they might like to "reimburse the city to replenish the public safety and other critical funds".

AEG have basically said that they feel covering the costs of the event itself was a suitably grand gesture on their part, while the Jackson family have not as yet commented on the costs of the memorial event at all. There has been speculation that a DVD of the Staples Center show may be released. AEG top man Randy Phillips has admitted that that has been considered, though says any DVD release is not at the top of the music firm's agenda just at the moment, while adding that any such release would only happen with the Jackson family's agreement. But such a DVD release would presumably bring in some big bucks, so perhaps cutting the city into that project might be a way to placate those demanding LA tax payers.

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AMY WINEHOUSE BACK TO UK
Amy Winehouse has, according to reports, returned from St Lucia following her extended vacation on the Caribbean island, and the gossips are saying that it's because she's no longer welcome there. The Daily Mail quote a source as saying: "It seems she is starting to overstay her welcome. She's been banned from hotels, the bars don't want her there and locals see her as a nuisance when she's drunk".

If it's all true about the drunkenness, and the also reported lack of productivity, it's possible that it's the singer's label who've demanded she return, given that they're reportedly the ones footing the bill for the supposedly 'working holiday', on which she was meant to be recording her new album. The aforementioned source adds: "She's lonely and wants to get back to what she knows. But she has to knuckle down. She's on a very fine line with the label and has pushed them almost as far as they will go".

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JANI LANE CHARGED WITH DUI
Former Warrant frontman Jani Lane has been charged with driving under the influence, as well as involvement in a hit and run, in relation to a traffic incident which took place on 17 Jun, when the glam rocker allegedly hit a parked car in Los Angeles, and subsequently refused to take a sobriety test. The singer could be sentenced to up to six month in jail and a $1000 fine, if convicted.

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FAC WIN ISP AWARD
The Featured Artists Coalition was given the prize of Internet Hero at the annual awards of the Internet Service Providers' Association last week. The relatively new trade body for featured artists was presumably picked because of its vocal criticism of other parts of the music industry - especially the record companies - with regard to their past and current policies towards ISPs and the internet. In contrast, this time last year, record label trade body the BPI was nominated in the ISP award's villan of the year category.

The big current issue, of course, is three-strikes, the system that would force ISPs to cut off customers who continue to illegally access music online despite receiving two written warnings. Although three-strikes is not on the British government's agenda, it is - in one form or another - still supported by many in the record label domain. FAC are one of the few music business trade body's to have openly opposed the proposals.

The ISPA said they had given the award to the FAC "for recognising publicly that the focus of music companies should be the development of new business models for distributing content online rather than attempting to pass responsibility to ISPs to take action against users".

FAC Chairman and Blur drummer Dave Rowntree thanked the trade body for the award, noting: "What a surprise and honour! Winning this award is fantastic. I hope this shows that artists are willing to talk with ISPs about the challenges of adapting music industry business models to the digital age. We have to work together - the status quo is not good enough".

Many artists and some artist managers see internet firms - whether they be ISPs or online portals - as possible business partners, that can help them connect with fans and monetise their work. Those web companies who have struggled to reach or only reluctantly accepted deals with record companies to licence their music, which is most web companies, in turn are interested in forming direct relationships with the artist community.

All of which is genuinely exciting - there are certainly lots of opportunities for artists and their managers to consider, many of which cut out the traditional record companies and in doing so shift the balance of power in the wider music industry. Though, for those artists and managers hoping deals with net firms - or brands and advertising agencies for that matter - will solve all their problems, and enable them to cut out those pesky record labels, well, as Kylie wisely said, sometimes better the devil you know.

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DJ AWARDS NOMINATIONS OUT
The nominations are out for the DJ Awards, an Ibiza-based awards bash that takes place at the end of the summer season on the White Isle commending record spinners from all genres of dance music. This year's awards take place on 24 Sep at Pacha Ibiza. The final stage of voting is open to the public, who can now vote for their favourites from the shortlists below at www.djawards.com.

And the nominees are...

House: Laidback Luke, Erick Morillo, David Guetta, Steve Angello, Sebastian Ingrosso, Axwell, Fedde Le Grand, Bob Sinclar.

Techno: Richie Hawtin, Pig & Dan, Carl Cox, Ricardo Villalobos, Cristian Varela, Umek, Sven Vath, Luciano.

Trance: Ferry Corsten, Paul Oakenfold, Armin Van Buuren, Tiësto, Above & Beyond, Markus Schulz, Paul Van Dyk, Atb.

Progressive House: Nick Warren, Sasha, John Digweed, John Dahlback, Hernan Cattaneo, Lee Burridge, Danny Howells, Eddie Halliwell.

Electro House: Deadmau5, Benny Benassi, Sander Van Doorn, Sebastien Leger, Eric Prydz, Mark Knight, James Zabiela, Layo And Bushwack.

Tech House: M.A.N.D.Y, Laurent Garnier, Funkagenda, Dubfire, Steve Lawler, Marco Carola, Radio Slave, Marco V.

Minimal: Michael Mayer, Steve Bug, Matthias Tanzmann, Adam Beyer, Loco Dice, Guy Gerber, Magda, Anja Schneider.

Deep House: Vincenzo, Phonique, Milton Jackson, Efdemin, Ben Watt, Charles Webster, Jimpster, Dennis Ferrer.

Downtempo & Eclectic: Mixmaster Morris, Jose Padilla, Nightmares On Wax, Gilles Peterson, Jazzanova, Theivery Corporation, Rob Da Bank, DJ Ravin.

Psytrance: Astrixm, Ace Ventura, Liquid Soul, GMS, Perfect Stranger, Infected Mushroom, Yahel, Skazi.

Best Newcomer: Anderson Noise, Minilogue, Riktam & Bansi, Popof, Gabe, Andy Moor, Ellen Allien, Hervé.

Breakthrough: Joris Voorn, Marcel Dettmann, Valentino Kanzyani, Dixon, Jamie Jones, Matthew Dear, Kaskade, Nick Curly.

International DJ: Armin Van Buuren, Sander Kleinenberg, Sasha, Tiësto, David Guetta, Carl Cox, Sven Vath, Erick Morillo.

Awards will also be give for outstanding and lifetime achievement, for best dance fest, and for the best night, resident, set and track of Ibiza season 2009.

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LIBERTINES PLOT REUNION
How many times do I have to say this? Bands: Do not reunite. Just don't, alright? Yeah, I'm talking to you, Carl Barat.

Barat said this to The Sun last week: "Lots of people have come up to me saying a reunion would be a good idea. And I do think so too. I'd love to do it. It was a good band. I don't want to just do gigs. I want to make new material. We haven't got a date yet but it will happen if Pete stays on his current trajectory. Pete's very keen and persuasive. He rings me up and tells me he going to keep on the straight and narrow".

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WHEN IS A HOLE NOT A HOLE?
When it doesn't contain Eric Erlandson, is the answer to that question. As previously reported, Courtney Love has said that she plans to release her new album under the name Hole, even though none of her former bandmates are involved. However, Erlandson says that there's no Hole without him. Not just in an egotistical sense, but legally too.

He told Spin: "We have a contract. She signed a contract with me when we decided to break up the band, which was like 2002 or something, so I really don't have comment on it except that I know my part in that band. The way I look at it, there is no Hole without me. To put it blunt. Just on a business level".

He's not taking any thing Love says too seriously, though. He continued: "Somebody told me and it just sounds like something... it just sounds like the usual. I love her a lot and I wish her the best, and I'm open to discussions regarding the real Hole, and if she has a solo album together, I think that's great. I think she should finish it and put it out and do that".

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SOUTHBANK CENTRE ANNOUNCE SUMMER HIGHLIGHTS
The Southbank Centre in London has announced it will stage a series of gigs in its various venues featuring a whole host of great bands and solo artists, including Laura Marling, Marianne Faithful, and Magazine. It all kicks off this Saturday with London art collective United Underground. It's happening in the summer and all the artists playing are good, so they've called the series 'Summer Highlights'.

Full details can be found at www.southbankcentre.co.uk, but here are the headliners for all the shows:

18 Jul: Queen Elizabeth Hall - United Underground
19 Jul: Royal Festival Hall - Greg Fulli and Mark Lanegan
19 Jul: Queen Elizabeth Hall - Emmy The Great
20 Jul: Royal Festival Hall - Marianne Faithful
20 Jul: Queen Elizabeth Hall - The Heritage Orchestra play the music of The Clangers
21 Jul: Queen Elizabeth Hall - Gurrumul
23 Jul: Queen Elizabeth Hall - Black Box Recorder
23 Jul: Purcell Room - Mary Gauthier
28 Jul: Queen Elizabeth Hall - Buffy Sainte-Marie
10 Aug: Royal Festival Hall - The National
11 Aug: Royal Festival Hall - Laura Marling
1 Sep: Royal Festival Hall - Magazine
13 Sep: Royal Festival Hall - Emiliana Torrini

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J TILLMAN ANNOUNCES TOUR
Fleet Foxes drummer J Tillman has announced a series of live dates, to follow the release of his sixth solo album 'Year In The Kingdom', out on 14 Sep via Bella Union.

12 Sep: End Of The Road Festival
7 Oct: London, Garage
8 Oct: Manchester, Night and Day
9 Oct: Glasgow, Nice and Sleazy's
11 Oct: Leicester, The Musician

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LITTLE BOOTS ADDED TO UNDERAGE LINE-UP
Little Boots has been added to the line-up for the Underage festival, which takes place on 2 Aug at London's Victoria Park. Other new additions to the bill include Marina and the Diamonds, Golden Silvers, Kid British and Master Shortie, joining a line-up that already includes Santigold, Mystery Jets, Patrick Wolf and The Horrors.

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MISTABISHI PLAYS AN HP PRINTER
Mistabishi was SNAP Of The Day a few weeks ago, so you may remember that he recently released a track called 'Printer Jam', which cut samples of printers in between drum n bass beats. We liked it, as did computer manufacturers HP, who gave him one of their printers to cut into the mix.

Check out the new HP-enabled version of the track, renamed 'Print Job', on YouTube here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NE6331GTlEI

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PEREZ HILTON CONFIRMS WARNER MUSIC IMPRINT
Have we reported on this before? I think we have. Anyway, it's been confirmed that Perez Hilton is about to launch his own record label as an imprint of Warner Music. The blogging irritant has apparently confirmed the new venture to Entertainment Weekly magazine, saying: "I have an ear, which is really important in the music world - to be able to hear a hit and to be able to know who has a good song or not... I'm more than just an A&R person. I'm also a marketing person. I'm also a manager". Hilton is expected to announce his first signings later this month. I wonder if he'll be able to persuade Will.i.am to do them a remix.

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US APPEAL COURT REFUSES TO RULE ON CRB CONSTITUTIONALITY CLAIM
The US Court Of Appeals has declined to rule on a motion that questioned the constitutional status of the Copyright Royalty Board, the American institution that ultimately rules on copyright issues, mainly royalty rates, in areas where copyright owners are obligated to make their content available on a blanket licence arrangement. The Board's most high profile recent ruling was on internet radio royalties, in which if found in favour of the music industry, setting royalties which most web radio firms said were completely unrealistic.

Royalty Logic, a rights management agency, filed the motion as part of its appeal against the Board's aforementioned web radio royalty rates decision. Royalty Logic are opposed to a side ruling made by the Board in its consideration of the web radio royalties debate - a ruling which said that the US record industry's online collecting society, SoundExchange, should be the exclusive agency for collecting such royalties.

Royalty Logic say that no one organisation should have a monopoly in this domain, and that if private companies like themselves were able to operate in the web royalty space there'd be more competition, which would most likely mean more favourable rates for web radio stations, rather than those proposed by SoundExchange and rubber stamped by the CRB (though, as previously reported, SoundExchange itself last week agreed to lower rates than those set by the Board).

It was in its appeal against CRB's ruling favouring SoundExchange that Royalty Logic decided to question the constitutional status of the CRB itself. In a motion the rights agency argued that CRB judges should be appointed by the President, or the head of a department of the Federal Administration, or at least in a court of law. Because that is not currently the way it works, Royalty Logic said the Board was unconstitutional and its rulings should not, therefore, be binding.

But the Appeals Court refused to rule on the motion, partly, I think, because Royalty Logic didn't file the motion as part of their original appeal but three months later. The court said in a statement: "We need not resolve the dispute. As appellees point out, Royalty Logic has forfeited its argument by failing to raise it in its opening brief".

The US's National Music Publishers Association, while having its own concerns about the CRB, welcomed the Appeals Court's ruling on this matter, telling reporters: "Today's decision is a sigh of relief for the music industry, preventing what would have certainly been chaos in an already tenuous marketplace. While we are hopeful Congress will address any long term concerns regarding the Copyright Royalty Board, songwriters and music publishers are pleased the Board's recent rate decisions will remain as law".

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ASCAP DOUBLE-DIP WITH A BIT OF MAHALO LITIGATION
US publishing collecting society ASCAP is reportedly suing Mahalo.com, a US search engine which includes human input (a bit like a cross between Google and Wikipedia), because it includes video clips, presumably featuring the music of songwriters and publishers represented by ASCAP, but has no licence to do so.

It's an interesting case, though, because all the videos on the Maholo.com site are embedded YouTube videos, and as YouTube has an ASCAP licence, surely the search engine doesn't need a licence too. If they did, wouldn't that mean pretty much every blog in the world would need a licence as well?

The collecting society has been keen to distinguish Maholo.com from your average blogger embedding YouTube pop videos onto their website though, telling reporters: "ASCAP does not offer licenses to - or require licenses from - those who simply make their personal blogs available on purely noncommercial websites. Mahalo.com is a larger venture than simply a personal blog, and therefore ASCAP is engaged in discussions with [owner Jason] Calacanis concerning the use of ASCAP members' music on the site".

But YouTube say they don't believe any site that embeds their videos - however big, however commercial - should need an ASCAP licence, because the content is licenced on the source site. They are accusing ASCAP of 'double dipping'. A YouTube spokeswoman blogged on the issue this weekend: "We have become aware of yet another misguided effort on the part of ASCAP to double-dip - this time by pressuring third-party websites which embed YouTube videos to pay royalties to ASCAP. We believe there is no legal basis for ASCAP's position because YouTube itself is currently licensed by ASCAP pursuant to its application made under the antitrust consent decree that governs ASCAP's operations".

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EU TELCO COMMISSIONER SAYS PIRACY IS A WAKE UP CALL
Viviane Reding, who goes by the title of EU Telecommunications Commissioner, has told a conference in Brussels that widespread internet piracy is a "vote of no-confidence" by consumers in existing content industry business models. That fact, she said, should be a "wake up call" for policy makers.

Speaking at an event organised by think tank The Lisbon Council, she said: "Growing internet piracy is a vote of no-confidence in existing business models and legal solutions. It should be a wake-up call for policy makers. Are there really enough attractive and consumer-friendly legal offers on the market?"

She continued: "Does our present legal system for intellectual property rights really live up to the expectations of the internet generation? Have we considered all alternative options to repression? Have we really looked at the issue through the eyes of a 16 year old? Or only from the perspective of law professors who grew up in the Gutenberg Age?"

Of course Reding's opinions are basically those of the industry she represents - the internet service providers - and while it is true that the content industries do need to re-evaluate their business models, and to be fair most now are, widespread internet piracy is also proof that many people will steal something rather than pay for it if they genuinely believe they can get away with it.

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CD BABY REVAMP ETAIL SITE
The online distribution service for independent artists and labels, CD Baby, this weekend revamped its own retail website, introducing single track downloads, artist pages and a new online system for uploading content.

Because of the transaction costs associated with single track downloads, the service has had to alter its commission rate on tracks sold that way via the CD Baby website, so that it will now charge 25%, though the old 9% commission will apply to sales it facilitates via other online music services like iTunes and Amazon MP3.

Confirming this, an email from the CD Baby people to their customers reads: "The credit card fee we pay to our bank whenever a customer makes a purchase on cdbaby.com ranges from 27 cents (for a single) to over 50 cents (for an album or CD sale) per transaction. Clearly, at our old rate of 9% of 99 cents, we'd actually be losing money on every single download transaction. That's not a good business model. We've been praying daily that the banks would choose the philanthropic path and waive all their credit card processing fees, but alas, reality persists. And that's why the new retail fee structure is necessary".

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FORMER GCAP BOSS ON ITV TOP JOB SHORTLIST
The former and somewhat shortlived boss of radio firm GCap, Fru Hazlitt, is reportedly on a shortlist of four people for the top job at ITV. As previously reported, current Exec Chairman at ITV, Michael Grade, is set to step back from the day to day running of the struggling commercial broadcaster.

Hazlitt, who was at Virgin Radio before taking over at GCap, where she instigated quite a bit of restructuring before being pushed out by the Global Radio takeover, reportedly sits on an ITV shortlist alongside former BSkyB chief Tony Ball, the former boss of German media giant ProSiebenSat Guillaume de Posch, and an existing ITV exec John Cresswell.

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CHART UPDATE
As expected, Michael Jackson's memorial service last week continued to keep interest in his music at an all-time high. So, Florence & The Machine, who were on track to have the number one album in the early part of the week, end up, like La Roux last week, in the number two position. In fact, interest has remained at such a high level that Jacko has managed to shift 600,000 records for the second week in a row, meaning that since his death he's sold over 1.5 million singles and albums in the UK alone.

Let's just concentrate on the top ten albums for now, where Jackson continues to hold the number one spot with 'The Essential Michael Jackson'. 'Off The Wall' is at three, 'Thriller' is at four, 'The Motown Years' is at five, former number one, 'Number Ones', is at seven, and the 25th anniversary edition of 'Thriller' is at number nine. So that's six Jacko albums in the top ten in total. One of them twice.

Florence & The Machine not only knock La Roux off the number two spot, but also steal the record for the highest first week sales of a debut album this year, which the rubbish 80s-influenced duo only managed to keep hold of for a week. La Roux are now at number six, two positions ahead of this week's second highest new entry, Cascada.

The only other new entries in this week's album chart are Kings Of Leon with a box set of all three of their albums, The Benny Andersson Band with 'Story Of A Heart', and the Neil Hannon-fronted Duckworth Lewis Method with their eponymous debut album.

Over in the singles chart, there's also a whole lot of Jackson. A few tracks have dropped out of the top 200, but he's still got 46 singles in there, 11 of which are in the top 40. 'Man In The Mirror' remains the highest charting single, slipping from number two to number three this week. The only new Jackson single in the chart this week is, thanks to that memorial service, his version of 'Smile'.

New entries among the singles come from Chipmunk with 'Diamond Rings (feat. Emili Sande)' at six, Arctic Monkeys with 'Crying Lightning' at 12, and VV Brown with 'Shark In The Water' at 38.

The weekly shuffling of Michael Jackson records is curated by The Official Charts Company.

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FATBOY AND ZOE PREGNANT AGAIN
Fatboy Slim, aka-as-you-all-know Norman Cook, and his Radio 2 DJ wife Zoe Ball are expecting a second child, a sibling for Woody, who is eight. Ball announced the news via her show, telling listeners: "I've got some lovely news for you all actually. I'm having a baby".

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DUNCAN JAMES SAYS HE'S BISEXUAL
Duncan James has been using his private life to generate publicity for the upcoming Blue reunion. Sorry, no, I mean, pouring his heart out to a tabloid because he's no longer ashamed of who he is. Either way, he's revealed that he's bisexual.

The singer told News Of The World: "I'm bisexual. I've been in loving relationships with men as well as women - and I'm not ashamed. But even though I fancy men, I still fancy women too. I was living a secret life. I went through a process of asking: 'What the fuck am I? Am I gay? Am I straight? Am I bi?' That's why I was so frightened about talking. Now, in my early 30s, I know who I am and I'm proud of who I am. I don't want to hide anymore".

So, that's nice.

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KINGS OF LEON DRUMMER CRITICISES AMERICA'S TASTE IN MUSIC
Kings Of Leon drummer Nathan Followill has criticised the music taste of the citizens of their home country, saying that US types are too into their rap and teeny pop acts. It's not all negative, though, he praises UK audiences for actually liking music.

The musician says this: "Most music gets ignored in the States unless it's hip-hop or Hannah Montana or Disney music like the Jonas Brothers. Kiddy pop or hip-hop, that's pretty much what America is. You may turn on the radio and you hear maybe one out of 10 songs that you'd consider decent. The UK is more open to all kinds of music. The fans are just insane in the UK - they are music lovers. You have kids going to shows to see the bands, not going to a show to be seen there".

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STOP IT WITH THE HALLELUJAHS, PLEASE, SAYS COHEN
Leonard Cohen has said that he wishes people would stop recording versions of his song 'Hallelujah', because it's become too ubiquitous, and gets put on too many TV and film soundtracks.

Cohen told The Guardian: "I was reading a review of a movie called Watchmen that uses it, and the reviewer said, 'Can we please have a moratorium on Hallelujah in movies and television shows?' and I kind of feel the same way. I think it's a good song, but too many people sing it."

So, come on. Honour the man's request, singing types.

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