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STEPHEN GATELY DIES
Stephen Gately died this weekend, aged 33, in somewhat mysterious circumstances. The Boyzoner was on holiday in Majorca with his partner Andrew Cowles at the time of his death. Police were called to the apartment where he was staying at 1.45pm on Saturday afternoon, where he was found in his pyjamas in what investigators have described as a "strange position", almost "prayer like".

Although Gately had been out drinking with Cowles on Friday night there was nothing to suggest excessive alcohol consumption or drug use. Police also told The Times there was no suicide note, nor any signs of violence. It's hoped a post-mortem on Tuesday may throw some light onto what caused the pop star's sudden demise, meanwhile police are reportedly trying to establish whether the singer had had any medical conditions which may explain his death.

A statement from Gately's family ruled out both drugs and suicide, saying it was thought Stephen died of natural causes. Another representative said: "At the moment, it is not known how he died. There are no signs of suspicious circumstances".

Gately, of course, enjoyed much success as one fifth of Boyzone, taking the role as second singer behind Ronan Keating. The group scored six number one singles and four number one albums during their active period of 1993 and 2000. After the group split Gately attempted a solo career though with limited success. Probably best remembered is his track 'I Believe' which featured in the soundtrack to the film version of 'Billy Elliot'.

After being dropped by Polydor, Gately followed that other popular route for former teen pop stars, and enjoyed much success in various stage musicals. In 2007 his former bandmates put beside past grievances enabling a Boyzone reunion.

Perhaps the most memorable moment in Gately's career related to his personal life rather than his professional accomplishments. In June 1999 the singer came out via the pages of The Sun which led with the headline "Boyzone Stephen: I'm gay and I'm in love". Gately sold his story to the tabloid after hearing one of the band's former security guards was planning on flogging a story regarding the popster's sexuality. Despite having been slightly forced into revealing his sexuality, many in the gay community welcomed his honesty, he being the first British teen band star to come out while his group was still active.

At the time of The Sun story Gately was dating Eloy de Jong, who had been in the Dutch boy band Caught In The Act. They later split and Gately met Cowles via Elton John and David Furnish. The couple enterted into a civil partnership in 2006. In the months prior to his death Gately was working on a book project, a children's story called 'The Tree Of Seasons'.

Responding to the news, and paying tribute to their former bandmate, the rest of Boyzone issued a press statement as all four headed to Majorca to be closer to the investigation into Gately's passing. They said: "We are completely devastated by the loss of our friend and brother, Stephen. We have shared such wonderful times together over the years and were all looking forward to sharing many more. Stephen was a beautiful person in both body and spirit. He lit up our lives and those of the many friends he had all over the world. Our love and sympathy go out to Andrew and Stephen's family. We love you and will miss you forever, 'Steo'".

Boyzone manager Louis Walsh, who heard the news after Saturday night's edition of the 'X-Factor', and subsequently dropped out of the Sunday edition of the show, said: "I'm in complete shock. I was only with him on Monday at an awards ceremony. We don't know much about what's happened yet. We will rally around each other this week. He was a great man".

Also paying tribute was former Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern who told reporters: "The Gatelys are in my own constituency. I know the family, I know Stephen. Ronan Keating is a very good friend of my daughter's, my family. He [Gately] was with us the other night with his boyfriend Andy, he came to my book launch. It's just such a tragedy. Boyzone and Stephen have all been part of Irish life, and far wider than that, [for] the last fifteen years, and so successful, so it's a huge, huge tragedy. It's so sad. He was 33 years of age, fifteen years at the top, a fine musician. It's just a huge tragedy to Irish entertainment, Irish music and further afield as well".

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UK COMMISSION'S OPINION ON LIVE MASTER MAY IMPACT ON US RULING
Antitrust experts in the US reckon that the UK Competition Commission's report last week raising concerns about the proposed Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger makes it more likely that US authorities will also impose conditions on any joining of the two live entertainment giants.

As previously reported, the UK Competition Commission last week raised concerns about the LiveMaster proposals. Most of those concerns revolved around a complaint made by German ticketing giant CTS Eventim, who recently entered into a ticketing partnership with Live Nation, and who were planning on using that partnership as a platform for entering the UK ticketing market for the first time. CTS seem to be saying that if Live Nation and Ticketmaster merge they won't launch in the UK. That, of course, would result in less choice for UK music fans.

Although UK officials' concerns related mainly to an issue specific to the British market, it's known that competition authorities in the UK and US have been communicating on this issue, and it's thought the former's concerns will influence the latter. Kevin Arquit, an antitrust lawyer and former director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau Of Competition, told Billboard that while the US was in no way obliged to follow the lead of their UK counterparts: "The fact that the UK regulators acted puts the US more on the spot".

The UK authority is looking into measures Live Nation and Ticketmaster could take in order to alleviate their fears that a combined Live Master would be anti-competitive, and it's thought US officials may insist on similar action. That is likely to include selling off some businesses in some territories, or committing to sell a certain portion of tickets for a certain number of Live Nation tours and events through rival ticketing agencies.

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NEW FAN-FUNDING PLATFORM IN BETA
Following the news last week that Public Enemy were planning on utilising the fan-funding model for their next album - perhaps the most high profile act to date to propose paying for a new long player by encouraging fans to contribute - news this week of another online platform for raising such funding.

The latest addition to the fan-funding domain is called Pledge Music, and has been set up by a musician who, while interested in the concept of utilising fans to fund music projects, wasn't happy with the fund-raising services currently out there. His solution was to create his own. And with that new platform now in beta, Benji Rogers now has the funding in place to release a new album through his band Marwood.

Speaking to CMU about the new venture and how it came about, Rogers says: "The idea for Pledge Music was born at my mother's flat, on an air mattress sometime in the middle of 2008. I had been on the road with my band Marwood on and off for around nine years and was getting tired of playing great shows, selling a good amount of CDs and still having no money. In my head I saw a way [utilising the internet] to determine my own musical career [by better engaging with the fans who came to our live shows]. I looked for it online and it wasn't there and so decided to build it".

He continues: "I approached my best mate Rupert with the idea as he knew how to build websites and he basically said 'I want in'. I then called another old mate, Jayce, who was also the only other person I knew who had been to business school; he loved the idea and said that he wanted in too. Then on a trip to Amsterdam, and after a few cocktails, I met Jann, who kindly bought the rest of the drinks as a business expense and announced that he wanted 'in on the plan' and that he was a lawyer. So that's basically how it all came together. I wanted there to be a way that people like myself who just want to make music could do so without accumulating huge amounts of debt".

Giving the basic lowdown on his new platform, Benji explains: "We have devised Pledge Music to be transparent and open. We have designed Pledge Music to be beneficial to all involved. Musicians will get the funding and promotional support that they need, the fan will get the music that they want at the price that they want to pay, the studios will get paid half up front and half on delivery, and charities [will also benefit]. In effect we have sought to create a system in which nobody loses".

The site is now in beta. More details of the differences between it and other fan-funding platforms already on the market, such as the one Public Enemy will use, Sellaband, will be announced in the coming weeks before a formal launch.

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BAY THREE DENY OWNERSHIP IN DUTCH CASE
In yet another amusing development in The Pirate Bay saga, a lawyer representing the three men behind the rogue BitTorrent tracker has denied they in fact own the file-sharing service. The legal man was speaking in a Dutch court in response to that previously reported court ruling that fined the men behind the tracker 30,000 euros a day for every day they continued to offer their BitTorrent search engine to web-users in the Netherlands.

Lawyer Ernst-Jan Louwers said on Thursday that Peter Sunde, until recently the voice of The Pirate Bay, had never had a stake in the service. His co-founders, Frederik Neij and Gottfrid Warg, had once owned it - the lawyer said - but sold it in 2006. Any liability for the thirty grand a day fines, he therefore implied, lay with the Bay's current owners. Under questioning, however, Louwers was not able to prove any sale took place in 2006, and wouldn't say who the service was sold to.

As far as I can remember, neither Sunde, Neij nor Warg claimed to have sold the Bay in 2006 during their high profile combined criminal/civil copyright infringement trial in the Swedish courts earlier this year. Given prison sentences were on the cards then as well as unpayable fines, you'd have thought they'd have tried that defence had it been an option. Though the three men did, in that trial, try to portray the Pirate Bay enterprise as a chaotic coalition of online friends rather than a formal business.

Stichting Brein, the Dutch copyright organisation pursuing the case against the Bay, was not convinced by Louwers' arguments for circumventing liability. They did admit, however, that they had served papers against a Seychelles-registered company called Reservella which they say owns the Piratebay.org domain. However that company, they argue, is run by Neij, so doesn't count as the alternative owners claimed by the Bay Three's lawyer.

As an interesting aside, while the Piratebay.org domain is indeed registered to a company called Reservalle, the admin contact for which is Neij, his colleague Sunde says this is not a Seychelles-registered company at all, and simply a name used by his fellow Bayer when registering domain names. I think he's basically saying that while the Bay is not owned by him and other guys, nor is it owned by a Seychelles-based company run by Neij.

Moreover, he is accusing Stichting Brein of making up the Seychelles company to try and make it appear that Neij, at least, cannot avoid liability on ownership grounds. If said allegations were proven to be true that would seriously hinder the copyright body's standing in court, even if judges remain sympathetic to their infringement claim. You can read Sunde's allegations on his blog here...

blog.brokep.com/2009/10/08/fail-in-nl/

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SOULJA BOY ARRESTED
Rapper Soulja Boy was arrested last week for his involvement in a late night party at an abandoned house in Georgia. I think the rap star, real name DeAndre Cortez Way, is claiming the party was actually a video shoot, which it may well have been.

Either way, the local authorities were seemingly unaware of plans to use the abandoned property for some late night partying/video shooting, and showed up there after receiving complaints from locals. It didn't help that the forty people involved in the party/shoot fled as soon as police arrived. Way returned to the property to explain what was going down and was promptly arrested and charged with obstruction. He was bailed the next day.

Hope they got it all on camera - that would make a great video.

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WINEHOUSE ALBUM NEXT YEAR
Amy Winehouse's new album is expected to be released next year. Hmm, maybe "expected" is too strong a word. Let's start again. Amy Winehouse's label, Universal/Island have said that Amy Winehouse has started work on a new album and that it might be completed by next year.

The label's co-president Darcus Beese told the BBC: "I've heard a couple of song demos that absolutely floored me. Hopefully we'll have her album next year".

Winehouse, as I'm sure you all know, appeared on 'Strictly Come Dancing' on Saturday night singing backing vocals for her goddaughter (and the first signing to her new record label) Dionne Broomfield. Though the stars of the show seem to have been Amy's breasts, if certain media outlets are to be believed.

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WILSON COMPLETES UNFINISHED GERSHWIN
Brian Wilson has been asked to complete two pieces of music by George Gershwin, which the composer was working on at the time of his death in 1937. It is hoped that they will be finished in time to appear on a new compilation of Gershwin music next year.

Gershwin's great nephew and trustee of the George Gershwin family trusts, Todd Gershwin told the Los Angeles Times: "George for his time was a visionary. He certainly crossed genres and musical lines, tried things that hadn't been done before and Brian Wilson has done exactly the same thing".

Wilson added: "[I'm] thrilled to death. I'm proud to be able to do it. Hopefully I'll be able to do them justice". Although he added that it was taking a little while to get to grips with the material: "I can't decipher the verse from the chorus from the bridge, so I'm going to try to insert some new music into them. I might even write some music for an introduction".

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NEW JACKO TRACK ONLINE
The new Michael Jackson song 'This Is It' was released to UK radio stations this morning after it appeared on the late singer's official website at midnight New York time. We assume the song would have been released to promote Jacko's O2 residency, called 'This Is It', had he not snuffed it.

The song will now appear on the official soundtrack to the movie documentary about the preparations for the fated O2 show. It will be the only new track on the album, which is basically another hits package. There will be two versions, the one currently online, where Jacko is backed by his brothers, and another orchestral version. The second disk of the album will also include a recently unearthed Jacko poem called 'Planet Earth'.

You can hear the new track at www.michaeljackson.com (well, in theory, I could only get the first 30 seconds to play then it collapsed).

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NEW ANIMAL COLLECTIVE ALBUM DUE
Not content with releasing one album this year, Animal Collective will apparently be releasing a second before the year is out. According to reports, the follow-up to January's 'Merriweather Post Pavillion', entitled 'Fall Be Kind', will be released by Domino on 7 Dec

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KYLIE SET FOR VEGAS RESIDENCY
Kylie Minogue has just embarked on her first ever North American tour, and she's apparently going down so well that they've decided to keep her. According to her sister, Dannii Minogue, she's been asked to add a Las Vegas residency to the end of the tour.

Dannii told The Mirror: "The response from her shows in America have been phenomenal. They love her out there. She was nervous about going over for the first time, but it has gone better than she expected. She has now been asked to take the show back to Vegas and extend it as a residency over there. I'm so proud of her. Kylie's show is perfect for Vegas, it's so theatrical. She has loved performing out there".

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BROADCAST ANNOUNCE UK TOUR DATES
Broadcast have announced their first UK tour dates since 2005 to promote their new album with The Focus Group, 'Broadcast And The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age', which is out via Warp on 26 Oct. The band will perform the soundtrack to the film 'Winer Sun Wavelengths', selections from 'Witch Cults...' plus new songs from their own forthcoming album. And, as if that wasn't enough already, they'll be selling a new tour-only EP, 'Mother Is The Milky Way'.

Tour dates:

5 Dec: London, The Coronet
6 Dec: Bristol, The Cube
7 Dec: Cardiff, Chapter Arts Centre
8 Dec: Manchester, Deaf Institute
9 Dec: Glasgow, Stereo

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THE VERY BEST ANNOUNCE LONDON SHOW
Following the release of their debut album, 'Warm Heart Of Africa', last month, The Very Best (aka Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit) have announced a live date at the ICA in London next month. 30 Nov, to be precise. Tickets will set you back £8.50. Bargain.

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SINGLE REVIEW: The xx - Islands (Beggars/Young Turks)
The xx have had a lot of buzz about them this year. I distinctly remember trying to squeeze into their tent at Offset and eventually giving up - which was rather sad. I'm only 5'2". This kind of buzz usually makes me edge away - slowly - and while I'm not doing that right now, I admit that I am sort of dithering around the periphery. 'Islands' incorporates a kind of apathetic tone, in vocal stylings as well as instrumentation. And while it is foremost a good, melodic little pop tune, the drone of it sounds like something you'd just expect from a contemporary indie band, and, despite the press at large being in love with how 'different' this band are, 'Islands' is a little disappointing, ultimately predictable, and, if I may, kind of boring. TW
Physical release: 26 Oct
Press Contact: XL IH [all]

Buy from iTunes
Buy from Amazon

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DRE AND IOVINE LAUNCH TOP SOUND QUALITY LAPTOP
Dr Dre and Interscope man Jimmy Iovine have announced a partnership with HP to create a laptop with killer sound. The HP ENVY 15 Beats laptop is being produced through a partnership between the computer firm and Iovine/Dre's Beats Electronics venture, which developed those special Dre approved headphones I'm pretty sure we once mentioned. The new laptop will retail for a sweet $2,299 and will come with a free set of Dre headphones, so you can truly experience just how good the soundcard is. Probably best download some FLAC files to get the best out of the new PC.

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[PIAS] LAUNCH DIGITAL MARKETING AGENCY
Indie distributor and label group [PIAS] has just announced the launch of a new pan-European digital marketing agency to be called, hey, tell you what, guess. Go on, guess. No? Yeah, it was a tricky one for a Monday morning. It will be called [PIAS] Digital Marketing. Yeah you're right, you'd never have got that. Not in a million years.

The new agency will be led by Darren Hemmings, who joins [PIAS] from the Virgin Group. It will offer all of the following: campaign strategy, creative marketing partnerships, mobile marketing and interaction, data management and international co-ordination, all informed by extensive performance metrics. Some of those services will be offered through partnerships with other companies, including digital ad people Silence Media. At launch the new agency will work with the likes of Tiesto, Placebo, The Temper Trap and Thomas Dybdahl.

Confirming the new launch, Hemmings told CMU: "[PIAS] Digital Marketing is a dedicated service that provides labels and clients with a comprehensive digital marketing solution. Rather than focussing purely on an album product cycle, we seek to work with all elements of an artist's activities, such as live and merchandise. This maintains a more consistent approach to artist/fan interaction making this service as relevant to managers as it is to labels. Until now the majority of digital campaigns have been PR-led with strategy coming as an afterthought. Our belief is that campaign strategy and architecture is the key, with PR following that lead as one constituent part of the process".

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NEW OWNERS AT BATH VENUE
Bath venue The Moles Club, which Andy says is "quite good", has new owners. It has been bought by a company called I Like The Sound Of That, who have been running the club for the last three months. They hope to start offering live music at the venue seven days a week.

The company's Ric Yerbury told Music Week: "This is an incredibly exciting acquisition for us. Moles has an amazing reputation as a cutting-edge live music venue spanning over 30 years. Both Sybil and I are looking forward to picking up that legacy and creating something fresh and new for music fans in Bath and beyond".

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SKY SONGS TO LAUNCH THIS WEEK
Sky will this week launch Sky Songs, its much previously reported online music service, which, as expected, will include unlimited streaming and a certain number of MP3 downloads for a monthly subscription fee. Basically pretty much the same deal as Napster launched last week, though they are offering a ten track a month package for £6.49 and a fifteen tracker for £7.99.

Here is what Sky's COO Mike Darcey has to say: "Our music partners bring an outstanding catalogue and unrivalled expertise that complements Sky's strengths in content distribution. Sky Songs will reach out to consumers who want legitimate digital services offering choice, ease of use and great value. Offering legal access to digital music is a vital step in combating illegal downloading".

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CHART UPDATE
Why have just one new entry at the top of the singles chart when you can have two? That's what I always say. Well, let's pretend I do for the purposes of the opening sentence of this week's Chart Update. Chipmunk has gone straight to number one this week, closely followed by The Saturdays, who are in at number two. Last week's number one, Taio Cruz, has dropped down to number four.

Other than that, the top ten is pretty dull, so let's not talk about it. Let's talk about Daughtry, who are up 28 places to number eleven, just ahead of this week's highest new entry outside the top ten, Whitney Houston, who's at twelve with 'Million Dollar Bill'. There's then quite a gap before another new entry makes an appearance, Mumford & Sons at 24. Next is Jason Mraz at 30, and then it's Daniel Merriweather who is apparently 'new' at 35. Though I'm not sure you can really call a single that spent a very long time in the top ten earlier this year new exactly.

Readers of the CMU Weekly might remember a recent editorial where I said I was looking forward to the day when the album chart was full of old people, because the young folk were busy elsewhere putting out records that were too cool and exciting to be classed as traditional 'albums'. Well look, it's happening. Well, the chart's filling up with old people, anyway. I'll have a look for all the cool and exciting new music formats later. Barbara Streisand is a new number one, Madonna is at number two, Cliff Richard & The Shadows are are number four, Vera Lynn is at number five, Chris Rea is a new entry at eight, as is Andy Williams at ten. In fact, the only people under thirty in the top ten are Paramore and Dizzee Rascal.

Outside the top ten, the new entries are a little more youthful. Mumford & Sons are at eleven, deadmau5 is at nineteen, followed by Tiesto at 20. Kiss - who are definitely not youthful - are at 24, also not spring chickens are Air at 36, and the positively geriatric Backstreet Boys are at 39.

The charts are compiled by old people for old people at the Official Charts Company

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LOVE DELETES TWITTER ACCOUNTS
Courtney Love has reportedly deleted her Twitter accounts, which is terrible news for fans of long incomprehensible rants delivered over 40 consecutive Tweets. Her last Tweet reportedly read: "Twitter, its been real but your fifteen minutes are up". Which was uncharacteristically literate, minus one apostrophe.

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