![]() |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NOTE: Make sure you 'enable images' to see this e-bulletin properly. WHAT IS THIS? You are receiving this e-bulletin because you are subscribed to the CMU Daily. Unsubscribe information is given at the bottom of this e-bulletin. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Visible Noise and DC Recordings are looking to recruit some new people:
LABEL MANAGER: Music Industry all rounder to look after the day to day running of two small but expanding independent labels - one rock and metal based and the other electronica. Duties would include liasing with Uk and European distributors, production, handling the 2 label online stores and other various duties involved with the running of small labels. NEW TECHNOLOGY, WEB AND ONLINE SPECIALIST: An experienced individual looking to expand their responsibilities in the mobile, digital and new technology sphere with an aim to setting up their own department, working across film, music and fashion. Experience of licensing and synchronisation an advantage. WORK EXPERIENCE: We are looking for young and enthusiastic people to help out at Visible Noise across press, promo, online. Please note these positions are unpaid and would require availability of at least 3 days a week. PLEASE SEND CVS AND COVERING EMAIL TO: [email protected] by 13 Oct. -- Advertise your jobs here: £100 for five editions - [email protected] |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
DESK SPACE TO RENT IN SHOREDITCH A bright Shoreditch third floor 4 desk unit, ideal for a start-up. You'll be sharing with 4 other small media enterprises (film, publishing, PR and design). The space comes with four desks, chairs and shelving units and is ready for you to move in today. Office has internet, wifi and is fully air-conditioned. In a very desirable location 5 minutes from Liverpool Street station and 10 minutes from Old Street station. Rent is £250 per desk, per month, including rates and service charge. Please contact [email protected] -- FILM PRODUCTION STUDIO TO RENT IN SHOREDITCH -- Advertise your stuff here: £120 for five editions - [email protected] |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() INDIES HIT OUT AT MYSPACE MUSIC AUSTRALIAN LAUNCH As previously reported, when MySpace originally launched their MySpace Music platform in the US last year there was a big backlash from the indie label community, who were critical of the Rupert Murdoch-owned social networking company for launching their new music offer without a Merlin deal in place. The lack of said deal means large amounts of indie label music is missing from the service. This despite MySpace co-founder Chris DeWolfe admitting that it was the indie labels who initially embraced MySpace's artist profile community, on which MySpace Music capitialises. The social networking giant's enhanced music service is backed by all four major record companies, all of whom have a stake in the MySpace Music division. It also carries music from some smaller indie labels and artists via deals with digital aggregators IODA and The Orchard. However, many key independent labels are not part of MySpace Music because of the lack of a Merlin deal. The independents argue that it is unfair that the majors were offered a stake in MySpace Music in order to get their participation, but no such deal has been offered to the indie sector. They add that, because the majors took up the equity offer, if they enter into a deal with MySpace Music without equity then their music is providing a tangible commercial benefit to their big competitors, while the indie's enjoy no commercial benefit from the majors' involvement. Given the outrage expressed by indie types when MySpace Music was launched in the US, it is perhaps unsurprising that the Australian indie label community have reacted badly to the arrival of the service down under last week. In a statement issued on Friday, the Australian Independent Record Labels Association said: "In not finalising an equitable deal with the most important independents in the world, including Australia's leading companies such as Shock, Inertia, MGM and Liberation/Mushroom, MySpace Music have shown, as they did with the launch of their US service, scant regard for the value of independent rights". It continued: "Approximately 30% of Australia's market share is independent. This includes artists like The John Butler Trio, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, The Temper Trap, Urthboy, The Herd, Midnight Juggernauts, Bertie Blackman, Adam Brand, Birds Of Tokyo, The Getaway Plan, Nick Cave, Sia, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, The Drones and thousands of others. None of whom are available for streaming on MySpace Music". Commenting for Merlin, the digital rights body's top man Charles Caldas told CMU: "MySpace Music's ongoing disregard for the value of independent repertoire is underlined again with this Australian MySpace Music launch. For MySpace, which has build its brand on the breadth and diversity of its music, to launch a service without the valuable global independent repertoire Merlin represents is disappointing enough, but to launch without offering the repertoire of any of the major Australian independents shows an enormous arrogance towards the Australian independent community". He continued: "As a result, Australian consumers are being presented with a significantly inferior offering via this launch, with a gaping hole left by the local and international companies that have been excluded. For MySpace Music Australia to be successful, the artists we and our Australian members represent must be onboard, and their absence will be instrumental in turning the most active music fans away from the service". Speaking as a key player of the Australian indie label scene, the MD of the Shock Group, Marcus Seal, told CMU: "Whilst MySpace has played a role in providing access to a diverse range of Australian artists' music, it has generated huge advertising revenue without any recompense to those from whom it has profited. Shock has worked with thousands of emerging Australian artists and we're deeply affronted at MySpace's appalling attitude to this most creative sector of the artistic community". Finally, the chair of the Australian Independent Record Labels Association, Rubber Records owner David Vodicka, hit out at the number of Australian politicians who welcomed the arrival of MySpace Music to the country last week, without noting the lack of Australian independents on there. A number of key political types have even provided personal playlists for MySpace Music to publicise at launch. Vodicka: "It is extremely disappointing that Australia's leading politicians have provided their tacit endorsement of this new service, without regard to the rights of Australian independent creators and content owners. Small business within the Australian music industry is the big loser here". -------------------------------------------------- PIRATE BAY LISTING REMOVED FROM GOOGLE BY MISTAKE Speculation was heightened because, when you searched for 'piratebay.org', there was a note at the bottom of the Google search result page explaining that the main search result had been removed as a result of a DMCA takedown claim. However, as word of the takedown spread around the blogsphere, some reckoned Google had made a mistake because the search engine still linked to pages within The Pirate Bay site, just not the home page. Which didn't sound like a serious effort to block access to the file-sharing search service. And it subsequently transpired over the weekend that Google had, indeed, made a mistake. An unnamed company had, as it happens, included the piratebay.org home page in a takedown notice but - as the page in itself doesn't host any unlicensed content - Google would normally ignore the takedown request, on the probably correct assumption such an order wouldn't stand up in court. But on this occasion they failed to do so, accidentally applying a block to the main Pirate Bay URL. Taking down the block this weekend, the search engine told reporters: "Google received a [DMCA] takedown request that erroneously listed thepiratebay.org, and as a result, this URL was accidentally removed from the Google search index. We are now correcting the removal, and you can expect to see thepiratebay.org back in Google search results this afternoon". Google, and others, have previously complained that when content owners issue takedown orders under the US copyright act they frequently list links and websites that are not, in fact, infringing any copyrights, or certainly not the copyrights of the content owner issuing the takedown claim. That claim has been listed by some as to why the three-strikes system for combating illegal file-sharing should not become law, or at least as to why the record companies should pay for the administration of any such system. Because if three-strikes became law, some argue, the content owners would make frequent incorrect claims against web users, which those administering the system - ie internet service providers - would have to weed out from the legitimate claims, or run the risk of innocent web surfers having their net access suspended because of false allegations of file-sharing. -------------------------------------------------- PIRATE BAY ACQUISITION LOOKING INCREASINGLY UNLIKELY As previously reported, ever since GGF announced its intent to acquire the controversial file-sharing service there has been much speculation as to the company's ability to fund its multi-million takeover, and to transform it into an record company approved product. What was meant to be GGF's final deadline to complete the acquisition passed at the end of last month, and now all has gone quiet. This, in itself, is significant, because when previous deadlines have passed, or doubt been thrown on the deal, GGF boss Hans Pandeya has been quick to tell the media his plans to acquire the Bay were still on track, whatever the gossipers may say. It is thought that while the GGF board has reluctantly agreed to back Pandeya's Bay acquisition plans, he is still some way off having the 60 million kronor he has promised to pay for the website. It's thought some two million has been raised through private investors, but that still means GGF or Pandeya will need to stump up the other 58 million. Pandeya has previously said he'd personally cover any shortfall, but much of his fortune is reportedly tied up in GGF stock, which has questionable value since the company was de-listed from the main Swedish stock exchange. Plus it's been reported that the business man is about to have his assets frozen, in relation to that previously reported bankruptcy claim against GGF by a former employee. Adding to GGF's problems, Zero Paid report that Peerialism, another Swedish software company, and a key partner in the Bay acquisition project, have backed out of the venture because of funding concerns. All in all, it's not looking good for the big Pirate Bay deal. -------------------------------------------------- EDWYN COLLINS VS THE MAN She was responding, really, to all the recent debate on the music industry's attempts to stop illegal file-sharing, whether by suing the likes of The Pirate Bay out of business, or by lobbying for the three-strikes system to become law. She also explains why Collin's biggest hit, 'A Girl Like You', isn't on his MySpace profile. We're going to republish the entire blog, which, ironically, probably violates her copyright in the piece, but hopefully she won't mind, and it is a very interesting article... She wrote: "At the beginning of this year I noticed that Edwyn's MySpace had gone bit wonky and I tried to upload the tracks back on to the music player. His most famous track, which he owns the copyright in, as he does for most of the music he's recorded in his life (preferring to go it alone than have his music trapped "in perpetuity" to use the contract language of the major record company) is called 'A Girl Like You'. It's quite famous. Lo and behold, it would not upload. I was told Edwyn was attempting to breach a copyright and he was sent to the Orwellian MySpace copyright re-education page. Quite chilling, actually". "I naturally blew my stack and wrote to MySpace on his behalf demanding to know who the hell was claiming copyright of Edwyn's track? Which, incidentally, he always made freely available for download on MySpace, something which amazed his followers. Eventually, after HUGE difficulty, I was told Warner Music Group were claiming it. I found a nice lawyer guy at Warners, [who were] very apologetic [and] promised to get it sorted, but all these months later it isn't. That is because MySpace are not equipped to deal with the notion that anyone other than a major can claim a copyright". "Warner's were one of the lead petitioners in the attempt to put those three stoner lads in Sweden in prison recently, remember. 'A Girl Like You' is available FOR SALE all over the internet. Not by Edwyn, by all sorts of respectable major labels whose licence to sell it ran out years ago and who do not account to him. Attempting to make them cease and desist would use up the rest of my life. Because this is what they do and what they've always done". "And it's not just majors. If I had a fiver for all the dodgy indie labels we've been involved with I'd have £35 or thereabouts. (Exceptions: Heavenly and Domino.) Andrew Loog Oldham said that getting ripped off (by the industry) was your entrance fee to the music business of the sixties, so get over it. He's right and things have not changed. We are very over it, but nonetheless aware of who the biggest bootleggers around are. It's not the file-sharers. Personally, we've always loved bootlegs. Even when Edwyn was really skint at the fag end of the eighties, I remember being in Camden market and seeing some tapes of a couple of his shows on sale. I tried to buy them but the stallholder somehow knew who I was and said 'free to the management'". "I failed to see how that guy selling tapes of Edwyn or even U2 or anybody on the list of signatories [on FAC's recent statement] could harm their career. But anyway, this is not really an argument worth having. The gig's up. You might as well take a position about when you want the sun to come up in the morning. It's over. Now let's get on with working out a wonderful new way for music lovers to enjoy music for free or for a small subscription that makes it legal and easy to hear ANYTHING and allows the artist to reap the rewards of such freedom of access. Viva la revolucion!" You can read Grace's blog here: -------------------------------------------------- A LOAD MORE JACKO We all know that Jackson left this earth with a fair few debts to his name, but so far those creditors have had no one they can chase as the singer's affairs were left in the air post death. But, as of Friday, executors John Branca and John McClain were given the powers to do deals with those owed money from the Jacko fortune, which is said to include everyone from lawyers to security firms to stylists. Although Jackson's debts were substantial, it's increasingly thought that, with the various new deals Branca and McClain are putting in place, most can be paid off without having to sell the late singer's biggest asset, his half of the Sony/ATV publishing company. In related news, TMZ.com have reported more on the Jackson clan's efforts to remove McClain and especially Branca from their executor roles. As previously reported, while the Jackson family are working with the two administrators of their late son/sibling's estate, they are also trying to have them removed. Both men were appointed based on a 2002 will, and the Jackson clan say that Jacko had fired Branca since the will had been written. Branca, while admitting his professional relationship with Jackson had been on and off, argues that he had started working with the singer again just prior to his untimely demise. TMZ report that not only is Branca saying that, but the legal man has a contract signed by Jackson just eight days before his death rehiring his services, which will presumably weaken the Jackson family's attempts to remove him. Which is possibly why Branca has so far made no efforts to block the family's moves to make a formal challenge to his status as an executor. Finally in Jacko news, the Heal The World Foundation which, as previously reported, is being sued by the singer's estate, has dismissed the legal case against it. The Heal The World Foundation was launched last year, utilising the name of Jackson's own 1990s charitable organisation. Although the body is vague about its relationship with the late singer, it clearly implies it has links to him. The Jackson estate say there is no link whatsoever, and the charity is inappropriately using his name and image, and they are taking legal action to stop them. Responding to the legal claim, the Foundation says they are friends of the Jackson estate, and that they therefore don't understand the litigation. According to TMZ, a spokesman for the charity said this: "This suit has not been brought against the charity to 'protect' Mr Jackson, his estate, his legacy and certainly not his humanitarian aims as has been claimed. You don't 'protect' yourself from a friend and we are no adversary". JAPANESE FILE-SHARERS SETTLE COPYRIGHT LITIGATION -------------------------------------------------- EMINEM APPLE DISPUTE SETTLED OUT OF COURT LIBERTINES REUNION OFF Barat told the BBC last week: "I'm too busy [for a Libertines reunion] next year. Maybe the year after that. See how it goes. When it needs to happen, it will fall into place. It's more a way of life than a band for me. I'm not going to jump up there and play the songs for some money - if it feels right then it will fall into place". SPIRIT FORM RELATIONSHIP WITH GUERCIO Spirit will also work with Guercio on new projects, in particular a venture that will tell the story of the Caribou Ranch studio complex the producer set up in the seventies in the Rocky Mountains. Among the artists to record there, other than Chicago, are Stephen Stills, Supertramp and Elton John. -------------------------------------------------- UNIVERSAL SIGN ELVIS' GRANDSON FREE BEAK> DOWNLOAD Converse to the protracted way in with Portishead albums are written and recorded, Beak>'s debut was recorded in twelve days, completely live in one room with no overdubs, and edits only employed to improve arrangements, rather than repair mistakes. You can get an idea of how it turned out on 'I Know', which you can download here.
PALOMA FAITH ANNOUNCES TOUR DATES Tour dates: 17 Nov: Liverpool, O2 Academy MUSICTANK LIVE MUSIC LICENSING SHOWDOWN UPDATE The evening will come in two halves. The first will focus on 696, and the other impacts of the 2003 Licensing Act on live music at a grass roots level. UK Music boss Feargal Sharkey, a vocal opponent of 696, will lead the proceedings, joined by Chief Inspector Adrian Studd, one of the people behind the police-penned form which is used by local authorities in London in their licensing of live music events, and not with controversy. The second part will look at noise abatement issues, and will be led by Kent Davis, the landlord of a Birmingham venue recently hit with a noise abatement order. He will be joined by Lisa Lavia, head of the Noise Abatement Society. Also on the panel for the live music debate will be Dominique Czopor, owner of Guildford venue The Boiler Room and founder of we:Live; Philip Doyle, licensing advisor to both the Home Office and DCMS select committee; Diane Baxter of the Musicians' Union; Mark Duval, leader of policy development for local councils organisation LACORS; and musician and independent campaigner John King. This all takes place on 13 Oct at the HQ of PRS For Music in London. Booking info is online at www.musictank.co.uk/events -------------------------------------------------- ITC ANNOUNCE UNSIGNED LINE UP INGROOVES ANNOUCE MORE RETAILER PARTNERSHIPS SKY SONGS HOLDING PAGE UP DESERT ISLAND DISCS ARRIVES ON THE IPLAYER Radio 4 controller Mark Damazer wrote on his blog last week: "We have always had good relations with the family of the programme's founding father - Roy Plomley - but the programme was conceived in a pre-digital age and so we needed to work out with the family how to make the programme available online as well as for its two transmissions. We have now sorted it all out and we have plans to make the website an all-singing, all-dancing affair - encouraging people to compare their choices with the choices of castaways, looking at the most selected tracks etc, etc. And we will end up podcasting 'Desert Island Discs' too". Commenting on who he'd like to see pick their desert island tunes on future editions of the show, Damazer added: "I still yearn for Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Bill Clinton, George Bush, Barack Obama, Madonna, Arsene Wenger etc, etc. Stay tuned. We're trying". -------------------------------------------------- 5LIVE APOLOGISE OVER MISTAKENLY AIRED SWEARY JAZZ REMARKS Said producer says: "Oh shut up, that fucking trumpet, drives you mad, fucking Stanley Clarke". The good news is there is now a website that stores all these sweary slip ups for prosperity - http://www.radiofail.tk. Check out the 5Live one and then skip down to my personal favourite - the flustered Heat Radio news reader who thinks the station is airing a pre-recorded report and not her sweary ramblings. CHART UPDATE The album chart is far more exciting. There are new entries galore over there, including a brand new number one from Paramore, who get the always commendable job of knocking Madonna off the top. Flanking Madge at number three is Newton Faulkner, who is closely followed at four by Barbara Streisand, and then the fourth new entry in this week's top ten, Ian Brown with 'My Way'. Continuing on, Paloma Faith is new at 14, followed by Basshunter at 16, Alice In Chains at 19 and Michael Bolton at 20. And yes, keen-eyed readers, Michael Bolton was a new entry last week, this is another one. 'The Ultimate' sits at number 20 this week, while last week's number 19, 'One World, One Love', has slipped out of the top 40 and down to 45. Right, enough Michael Bolton talk. Let's talk about something more interesting. The next new entry down the list is the new record from The Nolans, 'I'm In The Mood Again', which is billed as "the ultimate night in". I guess that assumes you don't have access to a piece of string to play with, which I reckon would make a more fun night in than a collection of covers and new versions of old hits by The Nolans. Still, more interesting than Michael Bolton, I guess. The final run of new albums in the chart are, Hockey's collection of crimes against music, 'Mind Chaos' at 33, Lynyrd Skynyrd's first album of new material in over six years, 'God & Guns', at 36, and Zero 7's newie, 'Yeah Ghost', at 39. Every Sunday, the charts are frantically scribbled onto the backs of Kit Kat wrappers and driven round to Radio 1 by The Official Charts Company. PETER HOOK ADMITS JOY DIVISION FAKERY Hook told Xfm: "Bernard [Sumner]'s signature is much more valuable than mine, because he never signed anything! And I did have a reputation for doing Ian Curtis's autograph for a long time. There's some guy in the Northern Quarter who had 'An Ideal For Living' up and it was signed by all four members of the band and dated. I went in and said, have you not noticed that the date is after Ian died? He went, 'Oh no!' It was me, I did them as a joke! In very poor taste. It was up there for £200, so my name is now mud among collectors". |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SUBSCRIPTIONS>> CMU Daily is a free daily e-bulletin for people working in the music industry and music media, delivered direct to your PC each morning. If you want to stop receiving this e-bulletin click the 'unsubscribe' button below and follow the instructions. If any of your colleagues want to receive the CMU Daily tell them to email their name, company, job title and email to [email protected]. If you would like to recieve the CMU Daily as a text email, send a blank email from the email address you are registered at to [email protected]. MEDIA PEOPLE>> If you are looking for an independent quote on anything to do with the music business, or you need someone to come on your TV or radio show and talk music business, then we can help. There's nothing we don't know about. Email requests to [email protected] or call 020 7099 9050. CMU is published by and (c) UnLimited Media - www.unlimitedmedia.co.uk Send news stories to [email protected]. If we don't respond directly, we do apologise, only we get sent hundreds of emails a day and don't have time to respond to every one of them. However we do check every email sent to the musicnews email address, and do pull out stories that we feel are relevant to our readers. Send CDs for review to CMU, UnLimited Media, 221-222 Shoreditch High Street, London, E1 6PJ. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||