MUSIC BUSINESS MODELS - MAKING MONEY, FINDING INVESTMENT
How to make money out of music - both now and in the future, with a look at alternative investment and revenue streams, and a new approach to monetising artists and their music. Wed 29 Jun

PROMOTING MUSIC - MEDIA, SOCIAL MEDIA & 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 13 Jul

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

LA REID TO HEAD UP REVAMPED EPIC RECORDS FOR SONY
As expected, former Island Def Jam Chairman LA Reid is heading in the general direction of Sony Music where, according to the Hollywood Reporter, he will become Chairman of a revamped Epic Label Group. Reid announced his was leaving his job at Universal's Island Def Jam in March, officially so he could dedicate himself fully to his new role as judge on 'X-Factor: USA'. Though - with his former Universal boss Doug Morris also heading to Sony, plus Sony's co-ownership of all things 'X' - it was widely assumed an executive role at Sony Music would follow in due course.

Reid will take over Epic following Amanda Ghost's brief time in charge there. It's generally accepted that the British singer-songwriter's year overseeing Epic, which ended late last year, was not especially successful, with few big commercial successes aside for from the mega-sales of the Michael Jackson catalogue, caused, of course, by him dying and not any clever management on Ghost's part. The Epic Group that Reid will lead will be bigger though, taking in much of the old Jive labels too, previously headed up by Barry Weiss who, of course, moved to Universal last December and is now leading Island Def Jam.

That fact will mean that the LaFace label, which Reid originally co-founded in 1989, will fall back under his leadership, and that he will be reunited with some of the artists he helped launch back in his days running LaFace and later Arista (originally a BMG label, and subsequently part of Sony), including Usher and Pink. The creation of the newly expanded Epic will see Weiss's former Sony division, the RCA/Jive Group, split up, and the exact distribution of artists to the new Sony units isn't clear. It's also not yet been announced which Sony label will handle the winners of the new 'X:USA' franchise, though with Reid judging on the show many now expect them to sign to Epic.

Although there has been no official confirmation, it is thought that Reid will arrive at Sony in early July, a few days after former Universal boss Doug Morris takes over as Sony Music CEO.

Epic UK, of course, is not directly linked to the US label of the same name, though it too is under new leadership, with the management of London-based indie Phonogenic now heading up the Sony imprint because - as is the fashion - its former boss Nick Raphael has leaped over to Universal UK where he is resurrecting the London Records brand.

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TWO MEN ARRESTED ACCUSED OF JOSS STONE MURDER PLOT
Police arrested two men on Monday morning outside the home of Joss Stone after neighbours reported seeing them driving suspiciously in the area. In their car, officers reportedly found swords, rope and a body bag, plus aerial photographs of Stone's home, near the village of Cullompton in Devon.

The two men, who had driven down to the village from Manchester, were originally arrested for possession of an offensive weapon and being equipped to steal. The charges were yesterday upgraded to conspiracy to rob and murder. The target, presumably, was Stone, or at least her home. The singer was listed as being worth £9 million in a recent Sunday Times Rich List.

Devon and Cornwall police chief investigator Det Insp Steve Parker told reporters: "The two men in custody had in their possession information relating to an individual in the Cullompton area and items that lead us to suspect that they may have intended to commit a criminal offence. Police enquiries continue and the men remain in custody. We're unable to say anymore at this time but I would like to thank the local residents for reporting the suspicious car".

In a statement yesterday, Stone said: "I'd like to thank everyone for their concern but I'm absolutely fine and getting on with life as normal while the police continue with their enquiries".

Stone is due to begin a European tour next month. It is not yet clear if she was actually at home when the two men were arrested.

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FORMER ROSEMOND ASSOCIATE ADMITS TO TUPAC ROBBERY
A former associate of Czar Entertainment chief Jimmy Rosemond has written an open letter to AllHipHop.com admitting to involvement in a 1994 robbery of Tupac Shakur at New York's Quad Studios, an infamous event in hip hop history that not only resulted in Shakur being shot, but also arguably escalated the feuding between rival hip hop gangs which led to the deaths of both Shakur and rival rapper The Notorious BIG later that decade.

Former Rosemond friend Isaac Dexter, now in jail for unrelated crimes, has been linked to both the 1994 robbery and 1996 murder of Shakur before. In the new letter he admits to involvement in the former, saying Rosemond paid him $2500 to rob Shakur at the New York studio, with the promise he could keep any loot (mainly jewellery) with the exception of one ring, which the Czar chief wanted for his girlfriend.

Dexter writes: "In 1994, James Rosemond hired me to rob Tuac Shakur at the Quad Studio. He gave me $2,500, plus all the jewellery I took, except for one ring, which he wanted for himself. It was the biggest of the two diamond rings that we took. He said he wanted to put the stone in a new setting for his girlfriend at the time, Synthia Ried. I still have as proof the chain that we took that night in the robbery".

Dexter's admission, made on the day before what would have been Shakur's 40th birthday, follows a statement from Rosemond that claimed his former friend was now a police informant, speaking to the authorities from inside prison. According to The Smoking Gun, Rosemond is currently wanted by the US Drug Enforcement Administration and federal marshals in connection with his alleged leadership of a cocaine trafficking ring. Dexter denies speaking to the authorities about those allegations.

Elsewhere in the letter - which can be read in full on AllHipHop.com - Dexter implies he knows more about the murders of Shakur and Biggie in 1996 and 1997 respectively than he has previously been willing to admit, and while he says now is not the time to discuss those crimes, he implies he might do so at some point in the future, simply to give the mothers of the late rappers "some closure". That may be seen as a veiled threat to Rosemond, who Dexter would presumably implicate as being involved in the Tupac killing.

Dexter also alludes to past claims that Sean 'Diddy' Combs was linked to all this as well, and that any future admissions might include allegations about the Bad Boy Entertainment chief. He ponders: "Mr Rosemond, I ask you: Are you going to flip on Puffy when the feds get you? To save yourself like you have done in the past? Because that's what a rat does. So in closing, we shall see who the rat is, in the near future".

The Wall Street Journal says that the NYPD have confirmed to them they are investigating Dexter's new claims and may well interview him about them. Of course, many parties linked to this long running saga will probably doubt Dexter's reliability as a witness, but, with attention already refocused on Tupac and his sorry demise during what would have been his birthday week, the former Rosemond ally's admission is certainly well timed for maximum exposure.

Read Isaac's letter here:
allhiphop.com/photos/storage/1000.4112.22790236.AHHdexterissaacsstatement.jpg

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BASSHUNTER CLEARED OF SEXUAL ASSAULT
Basshunter, real name Jonas Altberg, has been cleared of sexually assaulting two women after a performance in Scotland last year.

As previously reported, the producer was accused of assaulting two female fans at Kitty's nightclub in Kirkcaldy where he was performing last December. He appeared in court last January to enter a not-guilty plea, before the full trial last month. He was acquitted on Tuesday at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.

Sheriff Maxwell Hendry said that evidence given by the two women was "riddled with inconsistencies and improbabilities", while criticising them for going to the papers before the police with their allegations. He added: "I consider in this case the witnesses were neither credible nor reliable. They ignored good advice given to them to contact police and instead contacted a newspaper before giving statements".

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ROOTS MANUVA DISCUSSES NEW ALBUM
Roots Manuva has been discussing his forthcoming new album, '4everevolution', which is due for release in September.

Speaking to Clash, he said: "It's a bit of a monster. We've been mixing it since Christmas and we're in the last stages. I've been recording since the age of fifteen and I'm just naturally getting a lot more fussy with the whole process. I actually started recording this record just after the 'Slime and Reason' tour, which ended in 2009".

As for who else appears on the album, he said: "I was rehearsing with Toddla T on Wednesday, he makes an appearance. Ben Westbeech is on a track, and I don't know if I'm allowed to say this, but I got Skunk Anansie on a track! I was recording in a studio and said to them as a joke: 'Can you come over and give me some vocals on this track?' And they came over and did it! It came out really well and made a lot of sense".

You can hear the first single from the new album, 'Watch Me Dance', here soundcloud.com/bigdadasound/roots-manuva-watch-me-dance

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RUFUS WAINWRIGHT MARKS BOXSET RELEASE WITH YOUTUBE TREASURE HUNT
Universal Music Catalogue has launched an online treasure hunt to mark the upcoming release of a Rufus Wainwright boxset.

The competition takes fans through a series of clues and links in Wainwright videos on YouTube, with those who make it through to the end getting the chance to win a pair of tickets to one of the shows the singer is playing at the Royal Opera House in July. The starting point is below.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfrpCGJzLg8

UMC's Sue Armstrong told CMU: "Rufus has a fantastic catalogue of videos and we were interested in exploring the idea of fans interacting with these on YouTube. The execution was simply recognising the potential of the tools already available within a branded YouTube channel and creating an end use. A treasure hunt is a concept people are familiar with and having fans follow clues based within Rufus' videos seemed like a new and interesting way of having them interact with the content. The idea was to create a fun way for fans to try to win a pair of ticket to see Rufus at the Royal Opera House in July!"

The 'House Of Rufus' boxset features all six of Wainwright's studio albums, plus two live albums, four CDs of rarities, four live DVDs and two feature length documentaries. Basically, everything you could ever want. It is due for release on 18 Jul.

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CHER LLOYD "HURT" BY SINGLE LEAK
'X-Factor' runner-up Cher Lloyd has said she is "hurt" by the leak of her debut single, 'Swagger Jagger', which is due out next month.

After the track appeared online yesterday morning, Lloyd tweeted: "I've never been this upset ever! I worked so hard, and people wanna ruin it for me, if you wanted to hurt me you've done a great job. Please don't do this to me. I wish I was at home with my family, I've been through enough this year".

She later posted a 30 second preview of the track to her official YouTube channel. That seems a little pointless when everyone knows they can find it in full elsewhere, but I'm going to link to the official clip anyway. Not because I feel that the leak is as anywhere near as bad as Cher says, or because I feel any sort of moral responsibility, just because I don't want to be blamed for you pulling your ears off in the event you do track down the complete song.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST9YHokymhU

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DEMDIKE STARE'S MILES WHITTAKER ANNOUNCES SOLO EP
Miles Whittaker, one half of dark techno duo Demdike Stare, has announce that he will release a solo EP, entitled Facets', via Modern Love on 18 Jul. The release follows Demdike Stare's 'Tryptych' compilation through the same label earlier this year, which collected together their first three albums.

The tracklist for 'Facets' is:

Flawed
Lustre
Primer
On The Fly

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ENTER SHIKARI ANNOUNCE TOUR DATES
Having cracked out the lazers at intimate London venue Dingwalls last night, Enter Shikari have announced a full tour of the UK and Ireland in October. Tickets will go on sale via the band's website on 22 Jun. They will also release a new live album on 11 Jul.

Tour dates:

5 Oct: Norwich, UEA
6 Oct: Oxford, Academy
7 Oct: Manchester, Ritz
8 Oct: Liverpool, Academy
10 Oct: Dublin, Academy
11 Oct: Belfast, Mandela Hall
13 Oct: Glasgow, Barrowlands
14 Oct: Newcastle, Academy
15 Oct: Birmingham, Academy
16 Oct: Sheffield, Academy
18 Oct: Bristol, Academy
19 Oct: London, Electric Ballroom
20 Oct: London, Electric Ballroom
22 Oct: Portsmouth, Pyramids
24 Oct: Cardiff, Coal Exchange
25 Oct: Nottingham, Rock City

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FESTIVAL LINE-UP UPDATE

GUILFEST, Stoke Park, Guilford, 15-17 Jul: Guilfest HQ has added another batch of names to this year's diverse roster, including acoustic folk starlet Kate Rusby, Funeral For A Friend, Skindred and Dinosaur Pile-up. Levi Roots will also appear in his musician guise on the festival's Vive Le Rock stage, joining a jam-packed existing bill featuring the likes of Razorlight, James Blunt, Chipmunk, Echo & The Bunnymen and Noisettes. www.guilfest.co.uk

ØYA, Middelalderparken, Oslo, Norway, 9-13 Aug: The latest reinforcements drafted in to further strengthen an already-sturdy Øya bill include Glasser, Okkervil River, The Antlers and Low. Festival goers will also get to witness the world premiere of a new collaborative production by Pantha Du Prince composer Lars Petter Hagen, who will perform "a work of acoustic percussion for a carillon of 64 bells". This news joins the archive concerning such previously-announced acts as Kanye West, Fleet Foxes, Pulp, James Blake, Wu Lyf, Warpaint and Twin Shadow. www.oyafestivalen.com/pages/eng/

RELENTLESS BOARDMASTERS, Watergate Bay, Cornwall, 10-14 Aug: Oh look, it's those pesky reggae-metallers Skindred again, adding themselves to the Boardmasters bill, bold as brass. Ex-Busted lad Charlie Simpson, DJ Hyper and Easy Star Allstars also feature amongst the recent announcements, joining such musical heavyweights as Fatboy Slim, Eliza Doolittle, Klaxons, Sub Focus, Art Brut, Crazy P, Cloud Control and Bombay Bicycle Club at this beach-tastic bash. www.relentlessboardmasters.com

STATION SESSIONS, St Pancras International, London, 15 Jun - 29 Jul: Line-up announcements for this year's track-adjacent Station Sessions bash are just like trains, you wait ages and then lots arrive at once. Or is that buses? Well, anyway, here are some fresh acts on tonight's Station Sessions bill, as curated by fellow fest The Eden Sessions: Cornish band Crowns and Liverpool's Thomas J Speight. That was a bit anti-climactic, wasn't it? Oh well, here are some more performers for later dates: Nerina Pallot, Kids In Glass Houses, Stealing Sheep, Bastille and Laurel Collective. Check the website for specific scheduling times, I give up. www.stationsessions.com

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JOHN ROBB TO CALL ON GOVERNMENT TO PRESSURE US OVER MUSICIAN VISAS
Music journalist and Goldblade frontman John Robb will next week meet with Culture Minister Ed Vaizey alongside Labour MP Kerry McCarthy to call on the government to pressure the US to sort out its ever-complex visa system, which he reckons is constraining the ability of British musicians to travel and work in America.

Says Robb: "The special relationship between the UK and the USA has been the backbone of international post-war pop culture. The shared influences, pool of creativity and flow of ideas have been crucial to what is one of the biggest industries in the world. But that flow is currently being hampered by the expensive and unworkable US visa situation for British bands. And it's a situation that is getting worse".

Expanding on the problem, Robb continues: "In the past few years the American visa situation has tightened up and become far more expensive til we have a situation where getting a British group into America can cost up to £2700, and that's not counting travel and accommodation expenses for bands outside London who have to travel for the eight o'clock in the morning London American Embassy interview. The forms that have to be filled in are very difficult to understand and lots of the money has to be spent on an American agency processing the forms. There have been endless examples of British bands, some very high profile, having to reschedule or cancel tours in the last year. And if a visa application fails, they don't get any of the money back".

He adds that things are much simpler the other way round: "American bands find it far cheaper and easier to travel and work in UK. What we need is a fairer and friendlier system that will break down the barriers, and let us do what we want to do, which is play music".

Robb says his lobbying efforts are being supported by the Musicians' Union, Association Of Independent Music and the Association Of British Orchestras, and that he has taken input from UK Music, UKTI and the Traffic Control Group in preparing for the meeting.

McCarthy, who joined John Robb on his politically-focused Question Time panel at last month's The Great Escape, adds: "Since I first raised this issue in Parliament in March, I was surprised by the responses from right across the UK music industry. They confirmed that this is a real difficulty for musicians and that it is becoming more and more critical. We hope the government will speak up on behalf of British musicians to encourage USCIS [the US Citizenship and Immigration Services] and the US Embassy to address this issue".

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EMI RESURRECTS IRS RECORDS
EMI US has announced it will relaunch IRS Records, the label originally co-founded by artist manager and British label operator Miles 'brother of Stewart' Copeland in 1979. EMI distributed records released by the independent label in its latter years before it closed in 1996, and I'm guessing as a result of that deal EMI somehow ended up owning the name. Back in the day IRS was known for releasing records by The Go-Gos, The Alarm, The Buzzcocks, John Cale, Dead Kennedys and the early REM albums.

The all new IRS Records will be run by New-York based Crush Management, which currently manages the careers of the likes of Train, Panic! At the Disco, Travie McCoy and Gym Class Heroes, and Chiddy Bang, among others. Crush Management's Jonathan Daniel and Bob McLynn previously worked on creative projects with the boss of EMI's Capitol/Virgin Label Group Dan McCarroll when he was an Exec VP in EMI's publishing division.

Confirming the new partnership, McCarroll told reporters: "We are thrilled to be able to bring back the IRS Records brand, and we believe that EMI and Crush will be able to recapture some of the spirit of adventure and excitement that the original label brought with it. Jonathan and Bob are incredibly talented guys with a real love for music. They believe in genuine partnership, and they're up there with the smartest in the business. The combination of their team with EMI's talented global staff will be a real force to be reckoned with".

Speaking for Crush, Daniel added: "Things sure have changed since mixtapes were made with actual tape. One thing remains true - we still love rock n roll. We want IRS Records to recapture the spirit of artistic freedom its original groups like REM and the Dead Kennedys represented. To quote the immortal words of Joe Strummer: 'the future is unwritten'".

Initial signings to the all new IRS will be announced in the coming months.

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EMI BOSS JOINS AD INDUSTRY'S PANEL CONSIDERING BAILEY REVIEW
The CEO of EMI UK is set to join a panel set up by the Advertising Association that will respond to the previously reported Bailey Report, the government commissioned review of the "commercialisation and sexualisation of children", which called on the media, advertising, music and fashion industries to step up their voluntary codes to ensure the kids are not exposed to overly sexual imagery.

The panel will focus in particular on Reg Bailey's concerns regarding overly sexualised advertising campaigns that may be seen by children, and not his suggestion that music videos come with film style age ratings. So presumably EMI boss Andria Vidler is there to share her experiences of how the music business - and her former employers in the radio sector - are dealing with similar issues.

Says Vidler: "Engaging and communicating with young people across digital platforms is now a critical part of our day-to-day business and this panel is a great forum for EMI to share the benefits of our experience with the other members while also learning from their experiences. It's vital we stay up to date with the concerns of parents and ensure that we continue to inform and empower them".

As previously reported, record label trade body the BPI pre-empted the Bailey Review by announcing it was revising its 'parental advisory' guidelines in a bid to create standards for digital content platforms to follow with regards possibly unsuitable for kids music-based content. The music business hasn't really responded as yet to the proposal age-ratings be introduced for all music videos.

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SOUNDCLOUD ANNOUNCES SIGN-UP LANDMARK, NEW INVESTMENT
Audio-sharing platform SoundCloud yesterday announced it now has over five million users worldwide - you see, we told you that once the CMU podcast was on there things would flourish (soundcloud.com/cmu in case you wondered). The digital firm says it is currently signing up 20,000 new users a day to the service. The comapny also announced that it had received new investment from A-Grade, the investment fund set up by Ashton Kutcher and Madonna managing Guy Oseary.

Confirming all this, SoundCloud boss Alexander Ljung said: "It's totally awesome to welcome Guy and Ashton into the SoundCloud family, especially this week as we celebrate such a significant user milestone. A-Grade are joining our mission to get everyone creating and sharing sound in their everyday lives, and with their knowledge and passion for new technologies and using social media to reach and influence people all over the world, their support will be invaluable".

Oseary added: "SoundCloud is truly amazing and we look forward to working with the company. We believe sound will be a key part of the web and a cornerstone of how people express themselves online".

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SHAZAM ADDS LYRICS
Music identifying flim flam Shazam has added a new bit of functionality that allows users to see the lyrics to songs they have identified via the mobile-based digital service.

The new lyrics option, called LyricPlay, is available to premium customers, and utilises technology Shazam acquired when it bought a company called Tunezee earlier this year.

Shazam says it has expanded and honed Tunezee's lyrics catalogue and service before integrating it with its own platform.

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CATCH MEDIA ADDS ANDROID TO ANYWHERE
Catch Media, the company behind the Play Anywhere digital music service being sold by Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy, has announced the platform is now compatible with portable devices using the Android operating system, meaning it can now be used with most smartphones and tablets, it already working on Apple and Blackberry devices.

Play Anywhere is a sort of digital locker come streaming service, with scan and match functionality like Apple's recently announced iCloud will eventually offer. The service scans your music collection, matches tracks with songs in the Catch Media library, and then gives you streaming access to those songs from any device.

As previously reported, Carphone Warehouse announced it would offer Play Anywhere in the UK last summer. There are now plans to roll out the service in the US this year, with the record companies on board.

Catch Media top bloke Yaacov Ben-Yaacov says this: "With 400,000 new Android devices activated every single day, increasing 'My Music Anywhere's' compatibility to all Android phones and tablets opens up the service to thousands of new users as well as allowing established customers to access their music on even more of their devices. We look forward to launching a similar service across the US over summer".

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IQ EDITOR TO HIT 26 FESTIVALS IN 30 DAYS
Editor of live industry magazine IQ, Greg Parmley, will next week begin an attempt to set the world record for attending the highest number of music festivals in 30 days. Jumping on the back of a motorbike, he'll make his way around Europe, hitting 26 festivals as he goes. Starting at Glastonbury next week, he'll travel around Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Slovenia, Italy and Switzerland, before finishing in London at High Voltage on 23 Jul.

Parmley told CMU: "I was trying to think of an excuse to get out of the office and onto a motorbike for a few weeks, and then I started joining the dots around festivals in Europe. No one's ever attempted to visit this many before, although there may well be a good reason why not! I've always been a huge festival fan but I may have gone a little overboard this time..."

You can follow his progress at www.facebook.com/RidetoLive2011

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FOO FIGHTERS RIDER LEAKS
Following the publication of Katy Perry's slightly dubious rider, The Smoking Gun has got its hands on another one, albeit one that's knowingly funny. Actually, the Foo Fighters' rider even makes reference to The Smoking Gun in its pages.

By page two, the document has already announced that the provision of the wrong type of water will result in "the worst, most violent display of hatred and dispassionate agony since Rodney King got his Hyundai up to 115 miles an hour" and warns that when it comes to food "rock stars love flavour almost as much as they love talking to themselves". It also states that fans should not be allowed to bring garden gnomes into the venue.

Read the full production rider here: www.thesmokinggun.com/file/foo-fighters-rider-11

But it doesn't end there. The rider's pièce de résistance is the 'Catering visual enhancements and activities' section, which provides information on how the band and their crew like their food to be prepared, in the form of activities such as colouring in and a wordsearch. See it in all its patronising glory here: www.thesmokinggun.com/file/foo-fighters-2011

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