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PROMOTING MUSIC - MEDIA, SOCIAL MEDIA AND MORE
How to build a profile for your artists - the state of the music media, traditional and new publicity techniques, social media and the future of music PR. Wed 1 Jun 2011

MUSIC RIGHTS – INSIDE & OUT
A beginner's guide to music copyright – everything you need to know about copyright law, licensing, monetising copyright, the fight against piracy and the future of the music rights industry. Wed 15 Jun 2011

For more information or to book visit www.theCMUwebsite.com/training

FILE-SHARING GRANDMOTHER GETS THREE YEARS PROBATION
The Scottish grandmother who was convicted of copyright crimes for sharing over 30,000 music files via P2P networks earlier this year has been sentenced to three year's probation.

As previously reported, Strathclyde Police investigated Anne Muir after receiving complaints from record label trade bodies BPI and IFPI. They raided her home in Ayr in 2008 and found over 30,000 files on her hard drive, which were being made accessible to others via the DirectoConnect P2P file-sharing network. She subsequently pleaded guilty to distributing content without a licence from copyright owners "to such an extent as to affect prejudicially the owner of the copyright".

Whereas bootleg CD operations are frequently pursued through the criminal courts, it is much more common for non-commercial file-sharing operations - however prolific - to be sued through the civil courts. However in this case, given the level of files being made available, the record industry successfully persuaded the police to step in.

Three years probation is a significant sentence - the Pirate Party has already called it "disproportionate" - though presumably judges shied away from substantial fines or a custodial sentence, as are common in criminal prosecutions against CD bootleg operations, because of the non-commercial nature of Muir's piracy. Her legal reps stressed in court that Muir did not specifically intend to profit, or to deny rights owners their profits, by file-sharing, rather she was suffering from depression and found her status on the file-sharing network she was part of gave her self-esteem.

Welcoming the ruling, a spokesman for the BPI told reporters yesterday: "Today the court has recognised that illegal file-sharing on a massive scale is a serious matter and has imposed a sentence aimed at preventing such behaviour in future. We would like to thank the Strathclyde police and the procurator fiscal service in Ayr for their diligent work on this investigation".

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AEG'S JACKSON DEATH LAWSUIT SCHEDULE FOR SEPTEMBER 2012
One of the civil cases relating to the death of Michael Jackson will not be heard in court until September 2012, the judge overseeing the case decided yesterday. By that time the much delayed criminal case against Doc Conrad Murray should have reached its conclusion, which could have an impact on this civil suit.

As previously reported, the late king of pop's mother Katherine Jackson is suing live music giant AEG Live - promoters of the fated Michael Jackson 'This Is It' residency at the O2 dome in London - because they paid the fees of Murray, the medic accused of causing the singer's death by negligently administering the drug propofol.

Mrs Jackson says that as Murray was hired by AEG to be Jackson's personal medic while he worked on 'This Is It' they should be held responsible for his death. There were also allegations that Murray had been told by AEG bosses to do "whatever it takes" to ensure Jackson was able to attend rehearsals for his London show, the implication being that meant pump him full of medication if necessary.

Murray, of course, denies responsibility for Jackson's demise, and there are reports his legal reps will claim either Jacko himself, or a mysterious third party, actually injected the shot of propofol that caused the singer's death. Katherine Jackson's lawyer Kevin Boyle yesterday admitted the outcome of the criminal trial, now due to take place this September, will have an impact on the civil case.

In particular, if Murray is found liable for Jacko's demise, then Mrs Jackson's case will centre not on what caused his client's son's death, but on the relationship between AEG and the doctor, specifically whether the medic was an employee of the live music firm. Boyle added that if their case did follow a Murray conviction, then any court hearing in the civil case would be much shorter.

That said, AEG Live's attorney Marvin Putnam played down the significance of the criminal trial on this civil case. While, obviously, an acquittal of Murray would be helpful to AEG, Putnam would argue that the company's legal arguments in the civil proceedings - that Murray was chosen by and reported to Michael Jackson directly, that AEG just picked up the bills, and therefore wasn't responsible for his actions - are strong whatever happens in the Conrad Murray trial this Autumn.

The same LA judge is also overseeing the other civil case relating to the death of Michael Jackson. His father Joe is suing Murray directly, of course.

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UNIVERSAL PUBLISHING TO REPRESENT MACGOWAN SONGS
Universal Music Publishing has announced a new worldwide agreement with Shane Macgowan which will see the publisher representing the one time Pogue's songs catalogue, which includes his 50% of the seminal Christmas favourite 'Fairytale Of New York'.

Universal Publishing UK Deputy MD Mike McCormack told CMU: "Shane Macgowan is a rare talent and has amassed a fantastic body of work over the last 25 years or so. This new agreement is a real coup for UMPG and it is very rewarding and exciting to be involved with one of the greatest songwriters of his generation".

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SECRETLY CANADIAN SIGNS PORCELAIN RAFT
Here's some good news. We've been waiting ages for Porcelain Raft, aka Mauro Remiddi, to sign to a label for his debut album, and now he's signed to one of the coolest out there, Secretly Canadian.

He joins a roster that includes Yeasayer, Here We Go Magic, jj, Jen Lekman, Magnolia Electric Co, and more.

Details of the forthcoming album are yet to be announced, but you can listen to a new track, entitled 'Amateur's Feeling', here: soundcloud.com/dojagsc/amateurs-feeling-by-porcelain

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BJORK ALBUM WILL COME WITH AN APP PER TRACK
The forthcoming new Bjork album 'Biophilia' will have an app-party edition which will come with a separate app for each of the songs on the album, all held together by a 'mother app'. App-tastic, hey?

The apps will let fans "interact with the song as well as associated visuals", and the man charged with the task of making them, Scott Snibbe, told The Guardian: "Bjork's put herself way at the forefront here by saying: 'We'll release this album and these apps at the same time and they're all part of the same story'. The app is an expression of the music, the story and the idea".

As previously reported, Bjork will present a theatrical multi-media performance of her new songs at the Manchester International Festival next month.

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SKREAM ANNOUNCES NEW EP
Dubstep bloke Skream has announced that he will release a new EP next week. He doesn't hang about, does he? Actually, the four tracks on the EP have been doing the rounds a bit in recent months, so those with their ear to the ground will have heard them. But they'll also have dirty ears. From having their ears on the ground. Because the ground is dirty. Keep up, will you?

Anyway, the EP comes out on 6 Jun on double twelve-inch via Skream's own Disfigured Dubz label. The tracklist is this:

Hats Off
Heavy Hitter
Rigging
Sea Sick

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HUDSON MOHAWKE ANNOUNCES NEW EP
Hudson Mohawke has a new EP coming out. That's exciting. It's called 'Satin Panthers' and it'll be out on Warp in 1 Aug.

If you pre-order the EP from Bleep.com, you get to download second track 'Thunder Bay' straight away. Or you can just wait and listen to that track now on SoundCloud instead, here: soundcloud.com/hudsonmohawke/thunder-bay. It depends if you can handle the possibility that you might at some point be without an internet connection and therefore unable to listen to it. I'm not sure I could handle that, it's a pretty amazing track.

The tracklist looks like this:

Octan
Thunder Bay
Cbat
All Your Love
Thank You

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HELLA ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM
Rock experimentalists Hella have announced that they will release a new album, entitled 'Tripper', on 30 Aug via Sargeant House. I am excited about this. It's four years since last album 'There's No 666 In Outer Space', in which time drummer Zach Hill has collaborated with pretty much every musician in the known universe as well as releasing a solo album, but they're just as good as ever, as this MP3 of the album's opening track 'Headless' will attest: www.sargenthouse.com/hella/01_Hella_2011.mp3

Here is the album's tracklist (in my head I wrote that in a high pitched voice, but you won't be able to tell that. I'm not sure why I did it, nor why I'm telling you):

Headless
Self Checkout
Long Hair
Yubacore
Netgear
Kid Life Crisis
On The Record
Furthest
Psycho Bro
Osaka

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NOISE OF ART 2011 AND METISSAGE LAUNCH PARTY
Cross platform cultural collective Noise Of Art will officially announce their upcoming programme of London events at a launch party at Big Chill House on 10 Jun. As well as the shows that will be announced on the night, there will be details of Metissage, a pan European celebration of street art and cultural diversity, which will take place in London, Rome and Paris.

Performers at the party will include techno producer Tim Wright with the London debut of his new disco-tech project, Viewer, which features vocalist AB Johnson, neo house duo Dec Shoes, and the classic house-influenced Ursa Minor. They will be joined by contemporary dance troupe, The People Pile.

Having just curated two shows at SPOT Festival in Denmark - both collaborations between Dec Shoes and Faroe Isles-based band Orka and The People Pile - Noise Of Art have also announced that they will programme an 'Attack The Block Party' event as part of this year's Latitude Festival in July. Inspired by Joe Cornish's recent film, the show will feature performances and DJ sets from Xpress 2, Si Begg, Lighthouses, AutoKratz, Dec Shoes, Ben Osborne, The People Pile and more.

For more information, go to www.noiseofart.org.

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PHOSPHORESCENT UK TOUR DATES
Following a performance at Barcelona's Primavera festival, country-influenced rock types Phosphorescent are back in the British Isles with a show in Dublin tonight, plus further UK dates leading up to a London show at Heaven on 7 Jun.

To mark the occasion, the band have made a track from their 'Ghost Lights' EP, a cover of Leonard Cohen's 'Hey That's No Way To Say Goodbye', available to stream here: soundcloud.com/dojagsc/phosphorescent-hey-thats-no

Tour dates:

2 Jun: Dublin, The Workman's Club
3 Jun: Glasgow, Stereo
4 Jun: Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
5 Jun: Norwich, The Arts Centre
7 Jun: London, Heaven

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FESTIVAL LINE-UP UPDATE

ATP CURATED BY JEFF MAGNUM, Butlins Holiday Centre, Minehead, 2-4 Dec: A rare performance from Boredoms, plus sets by The Fall, Low and Michachu & The Shapes, are all on the cards at the Jeff Magnum-curated edition of ATP. Already on the billing alongside Jeff's band Neutral Milk Hotel are acts including Fleet Foxes, Robyn Hitchcock and Yann Tiersen. www.atpfestival.com/events/jeffmangum.php

BEAUTIFUL DAYS, Escot Park, Devon, 19-21 Aug: Funny pianist man Tim Minchin heads up the latest additions to this year's breathtaking Beautiful Days bill, with Kissy Sell Out and The Low Anthem also featuring highly amongst the recent announcees. The existing line-up stars I Am Kloot, Alabama 3, Gentleman's Dub Club and Stereo MCs. www.beautifuldays.org

BEN & JERRY'S SUNDAE, Clapham Common, London/Heaton Park, Manchester, 23-24 Jul: Brand new bookings for this ice cream-themed fest are Maximo Park, who will headline across both London and Manchester sites on respective days. Also set to appear are the great Gary Numan, indie upstarts Little Comets, and Sound Of Rum. www.benjerry.co.uk/sundae/

LIVE FEST, The O2, London, 23 Jul: The Hoosiers are the final act confirmed to play at this massive indoor festival, which is also set to host the likes of N-Dubz, Tinchy Stryder, Roll Deep, Tempa T and Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip. www.livefest.co.uk

T IN THE PARK, Balado, Scotland, 8-10 Jul: Ex-Gossip Girl brat Taylor Momsen is to front her band The Pretty Reckless at T this year, which will also see Frankie & The Heartstrings, Hudson Mohawke and Cherribomb take to the stage. The Fancy Dress Friday theme has also been announced: retro 80s. A towering existing roster includes Arctic Monkeys, Coldplay, Foo Fighters, The Strokes, Beyonce, Pulp, The Script and Plan B. www.tinthepark.com

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ALBUM REVIEW: Seasick Steve - You Can't Teach An Old Dog New Tricks (Play It Again Sam)
I want to go out drinking with Seasick Steve. I just have to get that out of the way first, before I even begin to express how great this record is. 'You Can't Teach An Old Dog New Tricks', the fifth studio album from the Californian blues legend who rose from obscurity late in life after an appearance on 'Later' - is swampy, DIY-sy, dive-bar goodness down to the very last note.

Opening with the world-weary 'Treasures', listeners could be fooled into thinking that this is a sombre affair, a broken-down-Johnny-Cash, weathered and sad, but beautiful. The album kicks off soon after that note though with the soaring 'You Can't Teach An Old Dog New Tricks', 'Don't Know Why She Loves Me But She Does' and the absolutely fantastic, frenzied blues of 'Back In The Dog House', a song I found incredibly hard to take off of repeat. 'Party' is a lot of fun too, slide guitar used aplenty, hard and musically vivid.

"It's a funny thing getting old because you just feel young still", he tells us on 'Days Gone'. "But your body don't feel young no more". Steven Wold may be an old man with old habits, but it's these habits that allow him to bash out the goods. It's strange to think his first studio album was only released a mere seven years ago. Let's hope that the next seven years bring five more. TW

Physical release: 30 May

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GEORGE CLINTON TO DISCUSS AFROFUTURISM AT BRITISH LIBRARY
Funk legend George Clinton is set to take part in an event linked to the British Library's current science fiction exhibition, Out Of This World, later this month.

Clinton will be in conversation with one time Labelle member Nona Hendryx discussing the "afrofuturistic imagination" and "lavish science fiction inspired stage shows, costumes and concept albums" their respective bands created in the 1970s. The conversation will take place at the British Library in London on 18 Jun, more at this URL:

www.bl.uk/whatson/exhibitions/outof/events/event121922.html

As previously reported, Clinton was recently admitted to hospital for treatment for a staph infection in one of his legs, but according to his Twitter feed he left the medical facility last weekend and is now ready to "board the Mothership for a tour".

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IMPALA CALLS FOR REVIEW OF VAT ON MUSIC
"Why is there VAT on records but not books?", you might muse on occasion. Well, pan-European indie label trade body IMPALA has been musing just that, and has now called for a reform of the sales tax system regarding cultural goods in a submission to a European Commission consultation.

IMPALA says that in different European countries VAT breaks are given to different kinds of cultural products, but sometimes not online, and that the variations and inconsistencies just confuse consumers. In its submission to the EC, the trade body told European political types that "all cultural goods and services should be eligible for a reduced VAT rate within harmonised limits - at the very least, the discrimination between music and books should be removed", while calling for a moratorium on VAT rates online in Europe.

IMPALA Chair Helen Smith told CMU: "In turbulent times for artists and the music sector, vital changes to the VAT system are needed, today more than ever. Europe's VAT system needs to be logical and serve true European values".

Of course, the UK music industry has its own VAT issues, with that good old loophole that allows online sellers to sell CDs VAT free if they are based on the Channel Islands, giving them a 20% advantage over mainland operations. As previously reported, moves are afoot to close that loophole - that also stems from European tax law - possibly by publishing a list of products that will not be eligible for the off-shore tax exemption moving forward, a list which would include CDs.

But if VAT was taken off all records, then the unfair advantage enjoyed by offshore mail-order websites would also disappear. Though the idea of persuading national governments to give full VAT exemption for all recorded music products is probably unrealistically ambitious, whatever the situation with books - the publishing sector benefiting from the fact that the VAT exemption on the written word also applies to newspapers, who no government would take on with tax reform.

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BPI TO TAKE PARENTAL ADVISORY SCHEME DIGITAL
We're very responsible here at CMU, you'll notice every edition of our weekly podcast carries the 'explicit content' label in iTunes, and just because editor Andy Malt likes to say "fuck" occasionally. But you know, you gotta protect those poor kids from all things nasty. Why won't anyone think of the children?

Well, the BPI is thinking of the children. It is going to update the guidelines of its Parental Advisory Scheme, which is behind those 'explicit content' stickers we are all used to seeing on CDs, so that it covers songs and videos on services like Spotify and YouTube. Although some digital services already have their own systems for marking content that might be unsuitable for the very young or easily offended - such as the aforementioned 'explicit content' marker in iTunes - there is no consistent policy on the matter across the digital sector.

Says BPI top dude Geoff Taylor: "We think it is important for parents to get the same standards of guidance and information online as they get when buying CDs or DVDs on the high street. We are updating our scheme for the digital age to ensure that explicit songs and videos are clearly labelled".

The move follows various criticism of late - albeit mainly from certain tabloids - for the increasingly raunchy nature of some pop videos or performances being aired on prime-time TV, and YouTube for that matter.

As previously reported, XL Recordings chief Richard Russell recently told The Guardian he was slightly concerned about the increased trend of pop labels, especially in the US, sexing-up their artists and videos, especially with female stars, in order to flog records, noting that often such activities are covering up the fact the music being pumped out by such acts is a bit mediocre.

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MACKED MERGES WITH LISTEN UP
Digital PR company Macked has announced it is merging with another music promotions agency, Listen Up. The combined company will offer radio, club and online promotional services.

James Mack, the former Fabric publicist who launched Macked last autumn, told CMU: "We are very happy to have amalgamated with Listen Up in order to provide the most inclusive service possible and are looking forward to working with an even broader range of clients in the future".

Listen Up Director Luke Neville added: "Having already built a company that provides bespoke radio and club promotions and podcast production, it was a natural progression to help our growing roster of clients develop their online presence. This means we can provide a 360 degree promotions service for all of the artists, record labels, and events that use Listen Up".

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MIXCLOUD LAUNCHES IPHONE APP
Mixcloud, the funky website that lets DJs upload mixes or radio shows to the net, safe in the knowledge they are covered by the web service's PPL and PRS licences, has launch an iPhone app, meaning you can now access content from the Mixcloud platform on your Apple smartphone.

The digital firm said in a statement: "[The new app] not only means that you have access to some of the hottest DJ mixes, radio shows and podcasts on the go, but with 100s of thousands of Cloudcasts available, you can travel from Hackney to Harlem on our instantly accessible content".

Among the people making content available via Mixcloud are Moby, DJ Premier, John Digweed and Carl Cox, while indie label Tru Thoughts and the Red Bull Music Academy programme are also 'cloud-casters' on the platform.

The app will be available for free for a time.

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FIRST COMMUNITY STATION ARRIVES ON RADIOPLAYER
Manchester-based Gaydio has become the first community radio station to launch on Radioplayer, the cross industry online listening platform for UK radio, which includes both BBC and commercial stations. Any OfCom licensed radio station is eligible for a placing on the Radioplayer website, the overseers of which have kept pricing low so that more grass roots stations can afford to participate.

Confirming their involvement, Gaydio's Station Director Toby Whitehouse told Radio Today: "Weʼre really excited to be making another UK radio first by joining Radioplayer, which has become the standard method for listening to UK radio online".

Radioplayer recently announced that 5.7 million people made use of the platform last month. On that achievement, Andrew Harrison of commercial radio trade body RadioCentre, who is also Chairman of Radioplayer, told reporters: "This is a really encouraging first set of figures for Radioplayer as it starts to grow a solid listener base. We look forward to building on this very positive foundation to create something that serves both industry and listeners alike".

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GAGA: AMAZON WAS RIGHT TO SELL MY ALBUM FOR A DOLLAR
Lady Gaga reckons Amazon MP3 got it right when it sold her new album 'Born This Way' for 99 cents, because let's face it, it's not that great an album is it?

Though, needless to say, that wasn't her reasoning. Rather, she seems to be suggesting - as others have too - that digital music, priced, as it is, in line with physical product, is just too expensive, ie the digital revolution, having removed so many of the costs associated with physical content products, should have made music (and film and books for that matter) a lot cheaper to buy.

Asked by the Wall Street Journal whether she thought the digital version of her new album was worth more than a dollar, Gaga said: "No. I absolutely do not, especially for MP3s and digital music. It's invisible. It's in space. If anything, I applaud a company like Amazon for equating the value of digital versus the physical copy, and giving the opportunity to everyone to buy music".

That said, and possibly to save her label from calls to sell all digital albums for a dollar moving forward, she did note that the Amazon deal was part of a marketing push for the web firm's new digital locker service, and therefore once you included the value of that promotion, the album was really selling for a higher cost, even if the consumer only paid a dollar.

Said the Gaga: "It also wasn't really 99 cents, because Amazon paid the difference on all of those purchases as part of their promotional campaign for one of their new services. I think it's amazing and it was a really nice surprise and I felt honoured that they chose my record to be part of it".

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