GOVERNMENT STILL AIMING FOR SPRING 2012 FOR DEA STRIKE ONE
Despite the copyright section of the Digital Economy Act being subject to a judicial review, the government say they are still on schedule to launch the three-strikes anti-piracy system the controversial legislation introduces next year, meaning warning letters could start to go out to suspected illegal file-sharers in early 2012.

As previously reported, both BT and Talk Talk are trying to get the copyright provisions in last year's DEA overturned in court on the basis that they conflict with European laws, and that parliament did not give the measures sufficient scrutiny before passing the Act.

The legal action has substantially delayed the instigation of a three-strikes system (or variation thereof), that will see suspected file-sharers sent letters telling them they, or someone using their IP address, is infringing copyrights, and warning them that their net connection may be squeezed or suspended if that continues. The DEA forces ISPs to send out said letters, and puts in place a basic framework for introducing punitive measures for those who ignore them.

Since the Act was passed last year OfCom have been reviewing exactly how this 'graduated response' system will work, though the judicial review has delayed that process somewhat. It was originally hoped a procedure would have been in place by late 2010 with the first letters going out around about now, but it seems likely the whole thing will be pushed back by up to a year. Nevertheless, the government insists progress is still being made, and says that October has been set as the final deadline for OfCom's code to be ready, with hopes to begin sending letters next spring.

A spokesman for the government's Department For Culture, Media And Sport told reporters yesterday: "[October] is the deadline [but] we would hope the code can be made before then and are still aiming to have the first notification letters go out in the first half of next year. Our principal concern is to establish a system that works and provides the UK's creative industries with the tools they need to protect their hard work and investment. We understand the urgency, but will not rush this important task".

Of course this all assumes the judicial review doesn't force the entire three-strikes system put in place by the DEA back to the drawing board.

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APPLE HAVE COVERFLOW RULING OVERTURNED
Apple has successfully appealed a previous patent ruling which said that its Cover Flow technology - which enables the swish virtual-shelf like display of files in various Apple systems, but most notably of albums in iTunes - infringed a patent owned by a company called Mirror Worlds.

The plaintiffs accused Apple of infringing one of its patents with Cover Flow three years ago, along with two other allegations of patent infringement relating to the IT giant's Spotlight and Time Machine features. An initial jury hearing found in Mirror Worlds' favour and ordered Apple to pay $625 million in damages.

But Apple appealed, and now an appeals judge has ruled that while Mirror World's patents are sound, the tech firm failed to provide sufficient evidence in court that Apple infringed them by creating Cover Flow etc.

Neither side in the dispute has as yet commented on the ruling.

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SOLICITOR'S TRIBUNAL TO CONSIDER ACS MAN IN JUNE
The Solicitor's Disciplinary Tribunal has set a date to initially consider complaints made against Andrew Crossley, the lawyer whose legal firm ACS:Law became synonymous with unpopular sue-the-fans style anti-file-sharing litigation.

As much much much previously reported, Crossley set up shop as an expert in such legal action, working for various smaller content owners - many owners of pornographic content - and sending out letters to suspected file-sharers on their behalf, insisting they pay damages for past copyright infringements to avoid being taken to court. Crossley took a commission on any damages paid.

The legal man was quickly accused of intimidating people into paying damages, especially where they were accused of illegally accessing porn, and that he had no intention of actually taking anyone who ignored the letters to court. Keen to counter his critics, a then bullish Crossley filed copyright infringement lawsuits against a handful of those who had failed to respond.

However, as soon as those cases reached court everything started to untangle, as it turned that, while Crossley may have been an expert in sending threatening letters to people, his knowledge of the intricacies of copyright law was less extensive. The cases collapsed, and the judge hearing them made various statements criticising the entire ACS:Law operation for trying, he reckoned, to operate outside judicial scrutiny.

Along the way, of course, ACS:Law's servers were attacked by the Anonymous gang, and in trying to deal with the attack the legal firm's IT man accidentally published personal information about thousands of suspected file-sharers in one of the greatest breaches of British data protection laws ever.

All in all there's a lot for the Solicitor's Disciplinary Tribunal to think about, even if Crossley has shut down ACS:Law and gone into hiding. The complaints against the legal man will be discussed at a 'pre-listing day' on 3 Jun. This is very much a prelim discussion though, where the tribunal considers whether to proceed with a full hearing and, if so, sets the dates for such a thing.

Given all the interest in the file-sharing community regarding the whole ACS debacle, I'm suspecting this sitting of the Solicitor's Disciplinary Tribunal will generate a lot more interest than usual.

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MTV ANNOUNCE O NOMINATIONS, GAGA AND TYLER LEAD THE FIELD
MTV have announced nominations for their inaugural and previously reported O Music Awards, and Lady Gaga and Tyler The Creator are out front with three nominations each. The new web-based gong-fest aims to celebrate digital music and music ventures online with categories such as Most Viral Dance and Best Music Hashtag Meme.

Gaga and Tyler are both mentioned in the categories for Most Innovative Artist and Must-Follow Artist on Twitter, but have also garnered a third nod each, Gaga for Favorite Animated GIF, Tyler for his remix of Lykke Li's 'Follow Rivers'. Other artists nominated include Justin Bieber, Arcade Fire, The Flaming Lips, and Kanye West.

Winners will be decided by a fan vote and the awards will be presented on 28 Apr, with the results being webcast through MTV's website and mobile phone apps.

Stressing the fact that this year's event will be very much a test-drive, Dermot McCormack, Head Of Digital Media at the MTV Music Group, said this: "Some elements of this will be experimental. If there is such a thing as a beta award show, this is it".

He added that he wasn't hugely concerned about audience figures in year one, but hoped that the event would have an impact on digital music culture: "We won't be judging by how many streams we do on several websites. We will be judging it by how much we can affect the conversation around digital music in the lead-up and beyond".

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J DILLA'S MOTHER ANOUNCES ALBUM
The mother of late hip-hop type J Dilla has revealed that an album is to be released later this year which will feature previously unreleased material from her son. Maureen 'Ma Dukes' Yancy has curated the LP, 'Rebirth Of Detroit', with the aim of promoting "unity within the city's hip hop" community. Dilla's work will be complemented by material from Detroit artists who collaborated with the producer in the past.

Yancy says: "This will bring together artists that have drifted away from one another and haven't been able to work with each other lately... It's a healing process for the city... for individuals it's going to bring back the love passion and the passion for the music and for what hip-hop has to offer... hip-hop is a culture, it's not a passing fancy. It's thriving and growing, in a wonderful way. It has a positive message and learning experience for all ages".

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BROKEN BELLS ANNOUNCE NEW EP
What, with pretentious-sounding side project Rome currently on the go with Jack White, you'd think in-demand producer Danger Mouse would have his dexterous digits in quite enough pies for the time being. But you'd be entirely wrong, because he's once again paired up with Shins' frontman James Mercer under the Broken Bells moniker for new EP 'Meyrin Fields'.

This latest offering from the duo is scheduled to come out on 18 Apr via Columbia to mark Record Store Day, and has the following four songs on it...

Meyrin Fields
Windows
An Easy Life
Heartless Empire

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LADY GAGA OFFICIALLY RELEASES 'BORN THIS WAY - COUNTRY ROAD VERSION'
Today will forever be remembered as the momentous day that pop provocateur Lady Gaga officially released the countri-fied rework of her smash hit 'Born This Way'. Yes, indeed.

Having unveiled the track on Twitter, an overwhelmingly positive fan response prompted Gaga to put out the 'Country Road' version of her song properly, with a portion of all proceeds going to support the Gay, Lesbian And Straight Education Network charity. Well that's nice of her.

And by slowing down the tempo and smothering the song in twanging guitars and rootsy harmonica blasts, she's almost managed to make it sound quite unlike Madonna's 'Express Yourself'. Almost.

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FOO FIGHTER HAWKINS ON DOCUMENTARY RELEASE
Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters has told the NME that he is not happy about the upcoming release of his band's new documentary film, even though he thinks it's good and that we'll all enjoy it.

Speaking about the feature, 'Back And Forth', which will be screened at selected UK cinemas this week and then released on DVD, the drummer explained: "I wish we wouldn't put the fucking movie out to be honest because I'm not really comfortable with the public sort of openness, I'm really not".

But he added: "Trying to look at it from the outside and judge it and have some sort of perspective, I think it's actually way more interesting than I thought a movie about us was going to be. I think it's done well and yes, I think because there's points where you do feel uncomfortable, that's what makes it interesting for people. Any rock documentary or any documentary, the centrepiece is the hard part, the painful part."

He continues: "We almost broke up and I almost died and all those crazy things have happened. And that's what people want. If they're gonna watch a fucking movie about you they don't just want some guys sitting around and going, 'Ooh, it was really great and then we were all so happy and then we played this show and things just got better and we made lot of money.' That would be boring and unrealistic."

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METRONOMY REVEAL ADDITIONAL UK TOUR DATES
As they gear up for the release of third album 'The English Riviera' on 11 Apr via Because Music, quirky electro quartet Metronomy have added a host of new stops to their UK tour. Support throughout the April shows will come from rising MC Ghospoet, with Summer Camp and Duologue also dropping in for London-based dates.

The tour will run as follows:

14 Apr: Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
15 Apr: Norwich Waterfront
16 Apr London, Shepherds Bush Empire
17 Apr Portsmouth, Wedgewood Rooms
19 Apr: Brighton, Digital
20 Apr: Oxford, O2 Academy 2
21 Apr: Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach
22 Apr: Wakefield, The Hop
24 Apr: Newcastle, O2 Academy 2
25 Apr: Edinburgh, Cabaret Voltaire
26 Apr: Aberdeen, The Tunnels
27 Apr: York, The Duchess

20 Sep: Southampton, Talking Heads
21 Sep: Leeds, Cockpit
22 Sep: Sheffield, Leadmill
23 Sep: Glasgow, Oran Mor
24 Sep: Liverpool, Kazimier
26 Sep: Manchester, Academy 3
27 Sep: Birmingham, HMV Institute
28 Sep: Bristol, Trinity

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GARETH GATES ANNOUNCES LIVE RETURN
Doe-eyed 'Pop Idol' alumnus Gareth Gates is to stage a spectacular "don't call it a comeback" comeback show on 29 Jun at Heaven in London.

Fresh from surprising audiences of the acclaimed 25th Anniversary 'Les Miserables' tour with his superior lung capacity, Gareth will appear with the backing of a full live band to perform his glory day hits - so mainly cover versions like 'Unchained Melody' and 'The Long And Winding Road' - as well as some exciting (apparently) new material.

Well, you can't knock the guy for trying.

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KILLAFLAW TO TOUR
With their new single 'Happy Daze' out this week, featuring remixes from Losers, Zero B, Misk and Mskr-nt, electro-blues duo Killaflaw have announced a series of tour dates to promote it.

Tour dates:

9 Apr: London, Brixton Jam
20 Apr: London, The Bowery
30 Apr: Masquerade Ball
10 May: London, Hoxton Bar & Grill (supporting Hyper)
21 May: Liverpool Sound City (venue tbc)

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FESTIVAL LINE-UP UPDATE

1234 FESTIVAL, Shoreditch Park, London, 09 Jul: This lastingly-trendy London fest welcomes The Raveonettes, Black Strobe, Sound Of Rum and Joe & Will Ask to its diverse bill, which prior to these latest bookings already featured Black Lips, Peepholes and Becoming Real. www.the1234shoreditch.com/

LARMER TREE, Larmer Tree Gardens, Dorset, 13-17 Jul: Larmer Tree organisers have added a host of bizarre-sounding acts to their festival roster, with Batacuda Sound Machine, Watcha Clan, GaBLé, Sheelanagig and Tinderbox the oddest names amongst the recent announcements. They are taken into the fold alongside an existing line-up that's topped by Seasick Steve, Imelda May and Jools Holland's Rhythm & Blues Orchestra. www.larmertreefestival.co.uk/

LATITUDE, Henham Park Estate, Suffolk, 14-17 Jul: Glasvegas, Seasick Steve, Iron & Wine and hotly-tipped folk youngsters Dog Is Dead are fresh on the Latitude billing, joining an existing line-up of acts including Suede, The National, The Cribs, Echo & The Bunnymen at the sumptuous countryside bash. www.latitudefestival.co.uk/2011/

LOVEBOX, Victoria Park, London, 15-17 Jul: First ladies of alt-pop Beth Ditto, Jessie J and Santigold are accompanied by Architecture In Helsinki, Hudson Mohawke and Flying Lotus as the latest group of acts announced to perform at this year's Lovebox weekender. They will head to the London-based bash alongside previous announcees like Snoop Dogg, Lykke Li, Kelis, Scissor Sisters and Robyn. www.lovebox.net/

V FESTIVAL, Hylands Park, Essex/Weston Park, Staffordshire, 20-21 Aug: Roughing things up at the festival season's most pristine of pop events will be Lostprophets, Good Charlotte and Kids In Glass Houses. Noisettes, The Wanted and Dionne Bromfield complete this most recent raft of line-up introductions, joining mismatched co-headliners Arctic Monkeys and Eminem plus Rihanna, Plan B, Glasvegas and Ellie Goulding on a stellar bill. www.vfestival.com/

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BOOKINGS BEING TAKEN FOR NEXT ROUND OF CMU TRAINING
Bookings are still being taken for the next round of CMU Training courses, which kick off next Wednesday, 13 Apr, with the popular Music Rights: Inside & Out seminar.

Says CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke, who runs the courses: "Anyone who writes, records, distributes, markets or sells music is in the copyright industry, so it's probably important to know what exactly that means. Copyright law is no light topic, but I think we do manage to deal with it in a straight-forward, engaging way on this course - certainly we've had hugely positive feedback from past attendees".

He continues: "So, if you want to know how copyright exists, how it can be turned into money, why we have collecting societies, what the difference between mechanical and performing rights is, and why 2013 is a significant year for the British record industry in copyright terms, come on this course!"

There are a handful of spaces still left on the course, which runs on Wednesday 13 April in Shoreditch - each place is £95 plus VAT (so £114). Bookings are also being taken for our next courses on music PR (20 Apr) and music business models and artist deals (4 May). Make your booking via www.thecmuwebsite.com/training/

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KANYE WEST TO DESIGN SOME SCARVES
According to reports, Kanye West is to design a range of scarves inspired by 2010 album 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy', backed by Mathias Augustyniak and Michael Amzalag, designers at Parisian firm M/M.

Each one of the five planned designs is inspired by images commissioned for the LP's album cover, and only fifty will be made of each design. They'll be sold via Mmparis.com and the Colette boutique, in the French capital.

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FLAVOR FLAV DENIES BOUNCING PAY CHEQUES AT CHICKEN RESTAURANT
Public Enemy's Flavor Flav has denied allegations his previously reported move into fried chicken selling is already experiencing financial difficulties. As previously reported, the hip hopper opened the first branch of Flav's Fried Chicken in Clinton, Iowa in January. The launch got a lot of press attention, but this week the fast food restaurant was back in the news for the wrong reasons, with a number of employees telling reporters that their pay cheques had bounced.

But Flav says there are no problems and everyone on his staff has now been paid in full. He told Iowa's WQAD television, "Let me say this - being that this is a new up-and-running business there was a couple glitches, ya know, with the credit card machine, ya know what I'm saying. Right now we've got that fixed and there's nothing else that's going to bounce ever... I'm not worried about that [the claims] because it's not true information... Maybe these are people that's probably just jealous of me being here and probably wanting to see me out... but yes, we do have money in our accounts..."

He added: "This business has been successful and it's gonna even grow bigger... You're going to have people bad mouthing you and trying to take you under... but can't nothing take your boy Flavor Flav down... And employees are paid, in full".

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ABSOLUTE RADIO POSSIBLY UP FOR SALE
According to reports, The Times Of India Group is looking to sell its UK radio business, which consists mainly of Absolute Radio.

TIML Radio Ltd owns a national AM licence, a London FM licence and various digital licences on which Absolute and its digital spin-offs operate. It acquired them, of course, from SMG back in 2008, they having operated Virgin Radio on the company's frequencies.

There is a slightly complicated hierarchy of companies and holding companies involved in Absolute - so the licences are owned by TIML Radio and run by Times Infotainment Media, who in turn outsource the running of the stations to Absolute Radio International Consultancy. I'm not sure which of those is actually up for sale.

Absolute Radio's spokesman said he had no comment on the reports at this time.

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BAUER RADIO REVAMP THE HITS
Bauer Radio are revamping their digital station The Hits, with a new logo and station imaging, a new app, plus a load of new shows, including a new breakfast show hosted by James Everton. There are also plans to share promotions and some content with other Bauer owned music brands, including Kerrang!, Mojo and Q.

And look, we've only gone and got a quote from Bauer's Music & Content Director Ric Blaxill, who told CMU: "April is a really exciting time for The Hits Radio, with Katy Perry, Katy B and The Wanted exclusives. The Hits is characterised by the connection our listeners make with the station's music and our commitment to playing more hit music than any other station. These changes will ensure we continue to deliver the great hit music the station is famous for, developing the station's targeted entertainment programming, and broadening its appeal".

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MOBY FED UP OF SUPERSTARS
I wonder if the superstars are fed up of Moby? Well, we may never know, now, as it looks like he'll be steering clear of them, for the time being at least. The, er, superstar musician has explained that he has no desire to work with bigger names at the moment, because they are all too full of themselves, and what have you.

Moby told OK! TV: "I've worked with all sorts of random people - everybody from Metallica to Britney Spears to Ozzy Osbourne to Michael Jackson to the Beastie Boys. I've got a really strange CV. It's interesting - I work with a lot of these disparate, different people to learn what it's like to work with random people".

He went on: "At this point, I mainly just like working with my friends. When you work with famous people, there's 50 other people in their entourage, a sense of entitlement and arrogance. If you work with your friends, they come over, you make music together, you make spaghetti, you watch 'The Simpsons', you go out and have a drink. It's a much more relaxed experience than trying to work with rock stars. Rock stars are a pain in the ass".

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GLEE'S MURPHY REGRETS KINGS OF LEON OUTBURST
Ryan Murphy of 'Glee' fame has told Hollywood Reporter that he regrets calling Kings of Leon "self centred assholes", as previously reported.

The TV type explained: "I didn't speak with as much clarity as I would have liked. Who am I to say 'Fuck you?' That's not what I meant. I completely understand when artists don't want a show or another artist to interpret their songs. I respect that. It's their personal work and I'd feel the same way. We get turned down all the time and I've don't fight it or even go back after a rejection."

Murphy also had a response to Dave Grohl's also previously reported angry comments about the hit show and its creator, in which the Foo Fighter hit out at Murphy for dissing artists who refuse to license their music for the TV show. Murphy: "I've never felt that if you don't give 'Glee' your music there's something diabolical about you. I think Kings Of Leon are cool as shit. The Foo Fighters are brilliant. We'd love to do one if their songs, if they were ever interested. But if it's not their thing, then OK".

I think that's Murphy bringing to an end all previous rock star v Glee bitching. Which is no fun whatsoever.

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