EMI WILL NEED EVEN MORE TERRA FIRMA CASH IN 2011
Although EMI is performing better than it was, it is still not profitable enough to meet the terms of its loan agreement with the big bad Citigroup without further cash assistance from owners Terra Firma, or at least that's the conclusion of Maltby Capital, the vehicle through which the equity group actually owns the music company.

Of course, Terra Firma has already stumped up a bucket of cash to help EMI do just that for much of the next year but, according to the Financial Times, the music firm will need a "far larger injection of fresh equity" in 2011. Although this isn't news that will surprise anyone especially, it won't do anything to cheer up those Terra Firma financial backers who already have cold feet about EMI.

The big Beatles re-release programme and the success of new artists like Katy Perry helped lift EMI's fortunes in the last financial year, while reduced overheads and restructuring costs meant Maltby made a £512 million post-tax loss for the year overall, rather than the £1.57 billion loss made the year before. But the future of EMI is still uncertain.

Ideally Terra Firma needs to renegotiate its music company's mega-billions loan agreement with Citigroup, which is possibly something TF bosses could discuss with the bankers when they meet in court later this year to squabble over whether the bank gave the equity firm bad advice ahead of its purchase of the music major in 2007.

Meanwhile, given Terra Firma chief Guy Hands failed to secure two year's worth of back up funding for EMI from his investors earlier this summer - as he had originally hoped to do - presumably speculation will grow once again next spring that Citigroup is about to take control of EMI and sell it off to Warner Music and rival equity firm KKR.

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GROOVESHARK APP REMOVED BY APPLE AFTER UNIVERSAL COMPLAINT
The Grooveshark iPhone app has been pulled from Apple's app store just days after it was added because of a complaint by the UK office of Universal Music.

As previously reported, the mobile app from the sometimes controversial US-based streaming music service was initially rejected by Apple, presumably because some content owners had accused Grooveshark of infringing their copyrights. But last week the app, which takes the Grooveshark service mobile, was approved. However, it has now been removed from Apple's store because of, Grooveshark say, Universal UK's complaint.

In a blog posting yesterday, Team Groove said: "Earlier this afternoon, Apple sent us a letter notifying us that, due to a complaint they received from Universal Music Group UK, Grooveshark for iPhone has been, strangely, pulled from the App Store. This comes as an absolute surprise to us, and we are not sleeping until we figure out exactly how to fix this and get Grooveshark for iPhone back in the App Store".

While EMI and Merlin have entered into licensing deals with Grooveshark, Universal are suing the digital firm, though the lawsuit came out of Universal US so it's interesting that Universal UK have filed this complaint. Nevertheless, it is believed the complaint is related to the litigation.

The app will remain operational for those who have already downloaded it, and presumably it is still out there for anyone with a 'jail-broken' iPhones. Grooveshark made it available that way when the app was first knocked back by Apple earlier this year.

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BADU FINED FOR STRIP
Erykah Badu has been given six months probation and a $500 fine after being arrested for disorderly conduct for stripping in public while shooting the video for her single, 'Window Seat', in March this year.

As previously reported, the video, inspired by a similar striptease pop promo made by New York indie pop outfit Matt & Kim in their home city last year, was recorded in Dallas back on 13 Mar. In Badu's video the sequence finishes with the naked singer pretending to be shot dead at the spot where JFK was killed in 1963. Blue blood pours from her head to spell the word "groupthink" while a voiceover says: "People are quick to assassinate what they do not understand ... this is what we have become ... afraid to respect the individual".

Although the Badu video, seemingly filmed without a permit and with no extras in the crowd around her (Matt & Kim had both), caused some media coverage and shouts of abuse when filmed, it was after the event that a formal complaint was made to the police. Actually, lots of complaints were made to police once the video appeared on the net, but one came from someone who was actually there, and it is that complaint that was used as the basis for the disorderly conduct charge in April.

Badu later defended the video, telling 'The Wanda Sykes Show': "My point was grossly misunderstood all over America. JFK is one of my heroes, one of the nation's heroes. John F Kennedy was a revolutionary; he was not afraid to butt heads with America, and I was not afraid to show America my butt-naked truth".

A Dallas city official yesterday said in a statement that Badu had paid her fine last week and would remain on probation until 11 Feb next year.

Watch the offending video here: youtu.be/9hVp47f5YZg

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INFECTIOUS SIGN CLOUD CONTROL
Infectious Music has announced its fourth signing since Korda Marshall relaunched the label. Cloud Control join Local Natives, General Fiasco and fellow Australians The Temper Trap on the indie's roster.

Speaking about his new singing, Marshall told CMU: "They're an amazing band. The album is a timeless collection of great songs and we are extremely proud of the fact that they have chosen to be with Infectious Music and that we managed to sign them in the face of stiff competition. Cloud Control are a great addition to our select roster and we have a strong plan set up for them for the next twelve months".

Promising it will be filled with layered harmonic pop, the band will release their debut album, 'Bliss Release', next year. A single will be announced shortly.

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AVRIL LAVIGNE FULL OF SONGS
Avril Lavigne has recorded enough new songs to fill two whole albums, she has revealed. Let's hope she picks out the best ones and makes one really good album, rather than spreading them all across two flabby ones, as has become popular in recent years.

She told her fansite, Avril Lavigne Bandaids: "I've been in LA working on the album. Trying some new stuff. Exploring. The thing with me, is that I write my own music and therefore, it takes me longer to put out records because I have to live my life to get inspiration. I have so much material at this point, for two records. I'm getting close".

We'd best hope she doesn't get too close, as she's just been diagnosed with strep throat, or the streptococcus virus, if you want get all fancy about it. Lavigne refused to stop working though, posting a picture of herself wearing a face mask to Twitter with the message: "In the studio with [producer] AlexDaKid. I've got strep throat, but I ain't stopping my thing!"

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THE DRUMS BEGIN WORK ON SECOND ALBUM
The Drums have started writing songs for their second album. In good news for fans of their eponymous debut, they told Clash in a new interview that they "don't want a whole lot to change". Bad news for those of you who thought 'The Drums' was quite annoying though, I suppose.

Anyway, here's what the band's Conor Hanwick had to say: "No, we don't want to do a whole lot of change. What's exciting us is songs, not stylistic stuff. Stylistically and sonically and production-wise, the album will sound pretty similar to this [first] one, just with new songs. If something new comes along and we think it feels good we'll go with it. We're not gonna shun anything new just because it's new, but at the same time we're firm believers in if it's not broke don't fix it".

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BELLE AND SEBASTIAN PREVIEW NEW SONG
Belle And Sebastian have announced that they will release their new album, 'Belle And Sebastian Write About Love', on 11 Oct through Rough Trade.

You can hear a track from it, called 'I Want The World To Stop', here: www.roughtraderecords.com/belleandsebastian/writeaboutlove/

As you all already know, because we told you, the band will be touring the UK in December, either side of their Bowlie 2 festival at Butlins in Minehead on 11 Dec.

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CRASS ANNOUNCE FEEDING OF THE FIVE THOUSAND REISSUE
Often left out of punk history, partly because their vision of anarchy wasn't as cartoon-like as that of The Sex Pistols, Crass nonetheless formed their own label in order to retain artistic control of their work, had their phones tapped and questions raised out them in parliament, once managed to get one of their songs given away with a magazine for teenage girls, and were responsible for releasing the first material by Bjork, then a fourteen year old fronting punk band KUKL.

Yeah, so, basically, Crass are quite interesting. Also, their music was good, which is what I've brought you all here to talk about today. The band have announced a series of reissues, apparently under the title 'The Crassical Collection', the first of which will be their 1978 debut 'The Feeding Of The Five Thousand'.

Remastered from the original tapes, the new edition of the album will come with a whole load of rare and unreleased tracks, a 64-page booklet featuring extensive liner notes from the band's Penny Rimbaud and Steve Ignorant, and a recreation of the original poster sleeve (shrunk down to CD size) as well as new artwork from Gee Vaucher (aka G Suss).

Later this year, the band will also re-release 'Stations Of The Crass' and 'Penis Envy', the latter a title The News Of The World once called "too obscene to print".

In September, frontman Steve Ignorant will also publish his autobiography 'The Rest Is Propaganda', through Southern Records.

Order the new version of 'The Feeding Of The Five Thousand' and check out the full tracklisting at the Southern online store, here: www.southern.net/eu-shop/index.php?main_page=product_music_info&products_id=7027

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RUSTIE ANNOUNCES FIRST WARP EP
Glasgow (now London-based) producer Rustie has announced details of his first release since signing to Warp Records earlier this year. The 'Sunburst' EP will hit stores on 4 Oct, and sees him spanning everything from prog rock to techno, which is nice work if you can pull it off.

Currently working on his debut album, due for release next year, Rustie will be headlining Koko on 4 Sep, with support from Dimlite, Tokimonsta and Paper Tiger, and a DJ set from Paul White.

'Sunburst' tracklist:
Neko
Dragonfly
Beast Nite
Chew
Hyperthrust

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JIMMY EAT WORLD ANNOUNCE TOUR DATES
Jimmy Eat World will be in the UK for some UK tour dates for November. These will follow the release of the band's new album, 'Invented', on 27 Sep.

Tour dates:

13 Nov: Norwich, UEA
14 Nov: Bristol, Academy
19 Nov: Glasgow, Barrowlands
21 Nov: Birmingham, HMV Institute
22 Nov: Manchester, Academy
23 Nov: London, Brixton Academy

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I LIKE TRAINS CALLETH UNTO THE DEEP
I Like Trains have announced a special one-off show at The Deep in Hull, the world's only submarium (that's a big aquarium to you and me), to preview tracks from their forthcoming second album, 'He Who Saw The Deep'.

Frontman Dave Martin said: "We're all extremely excited for our show at The Deep in Hull. It will be a totally unique experience to be playing up close and personal with the sharks, eels and swordfish. I've been a few times, but keep finding more weird and wonderful sea creatures to marvel at. This way we get to spend an evening looking around, with the added bonus of playing a gig to our biggest fans. It doesn't get much better than that!"

Tickets for the gig, due to take place on 14 Oct, will be sold through the band's Pledge Music page at www.pledgemusic.com/projects/iliketrains. There are only 100 of them though, so you'd best hurry.

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FESTIVAL LINE-UP UPDATE

SWN, Various venues, Cardiff, 21 - 23 Oct: Egyptian Hip Hop, Truckers Of Husk and Young Rebel Set have all been added to the Swn line-up, along with Attack + Defend, Drains, Among Brothers, Brandyman, Mitchell Museum, Samoans, The Gentle Good, The Keys and Tom Williams & The Boat. www.swnfest.com

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EP REVIEW: DJ Zinc - Crackhouse Volume 2 (Bingo Bass)
Ben Petitt, aka DJ Zinc, rose to fame with DJ Hype and the gang in the mid-nineties, and created the monstrous jump up jungle anthem 'Super Sharp Shooter'. With his benchmark track '138 Trek' he showed that drum n bass, house and garage were only a few beats apart, and this drew him across the divide. Nowadays Zinc only DJs his take on house music, and in that vein he's back with his second 'Crackhouse' EP.

Of the seven tracks here, early Prodigy-styled 'Old Flame' is definitely the stand out, it really rocks. Also worth a listen are 'Gtac', which starts with a Euro-house feel before going into a Zinc standard bassline, and 'Let's Go' and 'Love To Feel', which feature guest appearances from grime rapper JME and Jamie George respectively.

Less good is 'Gimme The Camera', which is just a bit annoying, while 'Mouthful' is also rather weak. Things improve a little with the trippy drippy ambient cut 'Huh?' which wraps things up, but it's not on the same level as 'Old Flame'. If you download the digital version of the EP you'll also get a bonus track in the form of a DJ Marky remix of 'Wile Out', which is a nice little roller but nothing to write home about.

All in all, there are a couple of interesting moves and grooves on 'Crackhouse Volume 2', and it documents where Zinc is on the map today, but sadly several misses are included. PV

Physical release: 26 Jul
Press contact: Run Music

Buy from iTunes
Buy from Amazon

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ANORAK STAGE WIN-A-CAMPAIGN COMPETITION IN AID OF OXFAM
Music PR firm Anorak are offering a full service media campaign to a label or band as part of a fundraising initiative for the relief effort in Pakistan, where over 20 million people have been affected by the recent flooding.

Labels and bands are encouraged to put £100 into the pot in aid of Oxfam's work in Pakistan. One of the labels and bands that does so will then be picked out of a hat and win a full campaign from Anorak, including press, radio, TV and online work.

A spokesman for Oxfam told CMU yesterday: "Over 20 million people are affected by the floods in Pakistan. The British public have been generous but we still need more funds. Anorak's innovation to offer their services is a clever way of volunteering and fundraising in one go".

To enter the competition go to www.justgiving.com/anorakoxfampakistan/

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"THE PIRATE BAY REALLY SUCKS", SAYS SUNDE
Former Pirate Bay spokesman Peter Sunde has said that it's time for the rogue file-sharing service to make way for new technology. Speaking at the Campus Party 2010 in Mexico, Sunde said that The Pirate Bay is essentially a redundant technology, but its user base nevertheless continues to grow, hindering the development of newer systems.

Towards the end of his talk, Sunde told the audience: "The Pirate Bay should die, really. Nobody works on The Pirate Bay, it's just there and it works all the time. And it's still growing. If you see the site, nothing has happened in five years and still more and more users are using it, which is bad. We need some form of new technology. So, that's kind of the future for The Pirate Bay, hopefully dying, and being replaced with something better of course, because the Pirate Bay really sucks".

Watch Sunde's talk here: youtu.be/jvyqo25tgWM

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NOKIA REBRAND COMES WITH MUSIC
Nokia's rather rubbish all-you-can-eat download service Comes With Music is being rebranded under the phone firm's Ovi brand. Moving forward it will be known as Ovi Music Unlimited on a global basis.

Dressing up the rebrand as a good thing, rather than an admission that the Comes With Music offer has been resolutely dismissed by most critics and music fans, Nokia said in an email to customers this week: "We are excited to tell you that Comes With Music will soon be part of Ovi. Along with the new name and sleek new look that is easier than ever to use, with Ovi Music Unlimited you'll still have access to millions of free tracks, plus, easier way to brows, search and download music".

Although one of the first all-you-can-eat services to market, Comes With Music uses DRM that locks tracks to the device it is downloaded to, making the whole thing rather unattractive to most consumers.

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BAUER MAN BLAMES MUSIC FOR POOR MAGAZINE CIRCULATION
Stuart Williams, the executive director of Bauer Media, which is responsible for publishing music magazines Q and Kerrang!, has blamed the music industry for the recent dip in circulation of most print music publications.

Williams told Music Week: "It's been a really quiet year for music releases. Apart from Lady Gaga there have been very few bands coming back into the limelight. Readers want to find out about new and exciting bands and if there aren't any out there for us to cover then we can't blame readers for not wanting to spend money on our titles".

Ha ha hahaha ha ha hahahahaha aha ah aha ahahaha haha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaa.

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MANSON AND WOOD SPLIT
Marilyn Manson and Evan Rachel Wood have reportedly called off their engagement. The pair began dating in 2006 and split a couple of times before getting engaged in January. But now they've split up again.

People.com reports that after splitting up with Wood, Manson then went out and had dinner before going clubbing. A source told the website: "They just broke off their engagement, and he needed a night out with friends".

Manson has previously been married to burlesque performer Dita Von Teese and engaged to actress Rose MacGowan. Oh, if only he could find that one special gal, settle down in the countryside and get involved with the parish council, like he's always dreamed of.

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JEDWARD BANISHED TO THE JUNGLE
Jedward have announced that they will take part in the next series of rubbish ITV 'reality' TV show 'I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here'.

Edward Grimes told The Mirror: "Yeah, we are going to the jungle. I would so go into the jungle. I am sick of the way there are so many trees and no one ever climbs them. We need to climb those trees, we need to discover what is up there, we need to live with the monkeys".

His brother John added: "Everyone goes in there and just talks all day - people should be going around the jungle".

According to the Mr Paparazzi gossip blog, the twins have accepted a mere £10,000 (between them, I think) to appear on the show because their manager, Louis Walsh, is keen to keep them in the public eye for as long as possible.

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