UK MUSIC INDUSTRY SAW REVENUES DROP 4.7% IN 2010
So, come on, whose fault was it? How come the UK music industry's overall revenues were £189 million down last year? Was it you, Mr Record Label, for failing to embrace the future quickly enough, meaning the post-CD digital domain is five years behind were it should be by now? Was it you, Mr Music Fan, for stealing music on the internet instead of bloody well paying for it? Or was it you, Mr Promoter, for failing to persuade John Lennon to come back to life and do a nostalgia tour?

No, I know, it's Michael Jackson's fault. If he hadn't selfishly died, 2009's figures wouldn't have been so high, cos no one would have been re-buying all his records, and then 2010's more modest revenue haul wouldn't have looked so bad. Right, I'm glad we got to the bottom of that. Could Michael Jackson please go to the back of the class. And while you're there tell John we need him back on Planet Earth touring so next year's round up of the year in music and money making isn't so depressing.

Yes, so, PRS For Music has published its Adding Up The UK Music Industry report, its crack team of combat economists having crunched every number that could be crunched, and then some of the uncrunchable ones too (though it's possible some of those were later spat out). Overall, the report tells us, the wider British music industry generated £3.8 billion in money, 4.8% down on 2009, a year aided by the death of Jacko and the arrival on the scene of those big selling pop soul mates, Lady Gaga and Susan Boyle.

CD sales continued to decline, digital growth slowed, and even the live sector has peaked, its cash haul dropping 6.8%, despite everyone going on so much about how the future for artists - in terms of making money - is in live. So, gloomy gloomy. Though PRS For Music Chief Economist Will Page did point out that 2010 was a difficult year for all industries, and that the success of services like Spotify was helping that part of the digital pie grow more rapidly. So, not all doom and gloom.

And hey, it's sunny this morning. Well, it is in Edinburgh.

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SPOTIFY SUED OVER COOKIE USE
Following the news that Spotify is being sued over a patent, the company has now been dragged into another lawsuit, one mainly targeted against web analytics firm KISSmetrics, whose services the streaming platform have used. Spotify joins 20 KISSmetrics customers, including US TV streaming site Hulu, along with the company itself, as defendants on a class action suit.

A report on Wired's US site last week revealed that cookies left by KISSmetrics could not be blocked, continued to track web use in browsers set to private mode, and regenerated themselves if deleted - the latter function, made possible by exploiting Adobe's Flash plug-in, earned such tracking files the name 'zombie cookies'.

Hulu and Spotify both immediately announced that they were ceasing use of KISSmetrics for their tracking, Spotify issuing a statement to Wired which read: "We take the privacy of our users incredibly seriously and are concerned by this report. As a result, we have taken immediate action in suspending our use of KISSmetrics whilst the situation is investigated".

Meanwhile, KISSmetrics founder Hitten Shah told Wired on Friday morning: "We don't do it for malicious reasons. We don't do it for tracking people across the web. I would be having lawyers talk to you if we were doing anything malicious".

However, any further communication may have to come through lawyers, as the new lawsuit claims that the company has broken the US's Privacy Act and Electronics Communications Privacy Act, as well as trespassing on private property and violating unfair competition law. Anyone in the US who has visited any of the offending sites is able to join the class action, and may be due damages of up to $10,000 each if the defendants are ruled to have broken the law.

In a similar lawsuit last year, web tracking firm Quantcast settled out of court over its own undeletable tracking cookies, paying plaintiffs $2.4 million. One of Quantcast's clients was Hulu, who you'd have thought would know better by now.

ExtremeTech.com has the full legal document here: www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/complaint.pdf

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LIL WAYNE SUED OVER SONG THEFT
Lil Wayne has been accused of stealing another track from someone else. This brings his current total for lawsuits relating to song theft allegations and royalty disputes up to five. Although for a bit of variety, this time it's not over song that appears on his 'Tha Carter III' album.

Production firm Done Deal Entertainment claims that portions of Wayne's track, 'Bedrock', a collaboration with Drake, Nicki Minaj and Lloyd for 2009's 'We Are Young Money' compilation, were in part made up of its own copyrighted material.

The company is seeking $15 million from Wayne and his labels, Young Money Records and Cash Money Records. The case will be heard on 12 Oct.

As previously reported, Wayne is already being sued by various producers who worked on 'Tha Carter III'. Bangladesh, Darius 'Deezle' Harrison, David Kirkwood, and Play-N-Skillz have all launched legal proceedings claiming that they are due unpaid royalties.

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MEAT LOAF DENIES FAINTING
Meat Loaf did not faint twice last week, it was only once. So he says, anyway. And I'm not sure why he'd lie about it.

As previously reported, the singer passed out on stage in Pittsburgh last week. He blamed his asthma and finished the show once he had recovered. Then on Tuesday, TMZ reported that he collapsed again following a performance at the New Jersey Balloon Festival on Sunday, producing a photograph of him breathing from an oxygen tank as proof.

But in a video message posted on YouTube explaining that he likes to keep his dressing room very hot (he doesn't explain why) and walking back into it after the show was a bit much. He added that he often lies on the ground and breathes pure oxygen to ease his asthma after a show, and just because he was doing so on Sunday didn't mean he'd fainted. Because he hadn't. So, there you go.

Watch Meat's message here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_PFQAbiz-U

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ROBBIE WILLIAMS WORKING ON NEW SOLO ALBUM
With his first (possibly last) tour back as a member of Take That complete, Robbie Williams has turned his attention back to his solo career, telling fans in a new blog post that he has "maybe 30" new songs almost ready.

He said: "I have (it seems) a mountain of songs to finish lyrics for. So many tunes are in a good shape now... maybe 30 knocking around and that's not including old ones that never made 'Reality Killed The Video Star'. The future's bright, I'm looking at my most consistent album to date. I have a month to tie up loose ends lyric-wise".

He added that, although he's not fully got back to up to full strength after his bout of food poisoning last month, which led to a Take That gig in Denmark being cancelled, he was happy with how the tour had gone, saying: "We all rose to the occasion and then some. We all took each other's thoughts and feelings into consideration, then acted upon those feelings. We all loved each other to the best of our abilities. For one wet wonderful summer we were five brothers bound together by the invisible strings that the universe conspires to pull when ready and when needed. And oh shit, was it needed".

Addressing a rumour that has followed the band around for the final portion of the tour, he also denied claims that the other members of the group had been annoyed by his tendency to swear on stage: "Were the boys unhappy with my [swearing] on this tour? Hell fucking no. There was a moment in the dressing room just before the cancelled Danish gig when Gary came into to see me and said: 'Don't worry I'll do your bit', then parodied my expletive-ridden statement of intent: 'Allow me to reintroduce myself! My name is Gary blinking Barlow!' Even whilst I was throwing up that brought a smile to my face".

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THE SHINS ANNOUNCE RETURN
The Shins will return from a hiatus next week, when they are due to begin a tour of the US. And the band have also announced that they will release their first album since 2008's 'Wincing the Night Away', next year. The album will be the first on frontman James Mercer's Aural Apothecary label (a division of Sony/Columbia in the US), the band having left Sub Pop in 2008.

The band's line-up has changed somewhat in recent years. In fact, James Mercer is now the only original member. As previously reported, keyboard player Marty Crandall and drummer Jesse Sandoval were replaced in 2009, the latter revealing that he had been fired for being unable to play the drum parts on new songs.

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TONY BENNETT TO DONATE ROYALTIES FROM AMY WINEHOUSE DUET TO CHARITY
Jazz great Tony Bennett is to release his cover of pop classic 'Body And Soul', the duet he recorded with Amy Winehouse earlier this year, as a charity single. He has confirmed that all proceeds from the collaboration will go to the Amy Winehouse Foundation, an addiction support organisation Mitch Winehouse has proposed to establish in his daughter's name.

Recorded in March of this year, 'Body And Soul' represents one of Amy's last known studio recordings prior to her as-yet unexplained death last month. The song will be released ahead of Tony's new album 'Duets II', which is due out on 20 Sep.

"She was an extraordinary musician with a rare intuition as a vocalist", said Bennett of his 'Body And Soul' partner. "When we recorded together she gave a soulful and extraordinary performance. I was honoured to have the opportunity to sing with her".

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PLAID UNVEIL DETAILS OF NEW LP
Warp-signed electronic pairing Plaid have announced that they will release new album 'Scintilli', their seventh studio work to date, on 26 Sep.

So painstaking was their two year recording process, the duo claim that each beat on the LP took, on average, an entire day to construct. "This labour intensive process will guarantee long lasting pieces of music that can withstand the restless tensions placed upon them by modern playback devices", they say.

Plaid also plan to tour around the album's release, hitting a trilogy of venues as follows:

3 Oct: Winchester, The Railway
4 Oct: Manchester, Soundcontrol
7 Oct: London, Village Undergound

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BLEEDING HEART NARRATIVE ANNOUNCE PLANS TO RELEASE NEW EP
CMU approved band Bleeding Heart Narrative have made the move to long-time affiliates Brainlove Records for a new EP titled 'Bison', which the London-based collective are set to release on 21 Nov. This will represent their first new material since last year's acclaimed album, 'Tongue Tangled Hair'.

As well as appearances at this year's Green Man, Southsea and SWN Festivals, BHN have live dates lined up on 7 Aug at Manchester's Islington Mill, and on 11 Aug at The Others in London.

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SHABAZZ PALACES ANNOUNCE LONDON CLUB SHOW
With their recently-released new album 'Black Up' garnering glowing reviews across the board, Sub Pop's first ever hip hop signing, the bold and splendid Shabazz Palaces, have put aside a single London date on their European tour. The one-man project of enigmatic avant-rapper Ishmael 'Butterfly' Butler, the Shabazz experience will be on show at Madam Jojos' weekly clubnight White Heat on 27 Sep.

For those wanting to brain up on the album before buying it, 'Black Up' is streaming in full here on Sub Pop's YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/watch?v=67cx9M2c51M

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PETER MURPHY TOUR DATES
Former Bauhaus figurehead and jobbing 'Twilight' actor Peter Murphy is to tour in support of 'Ninth', his first solo release in seven years.

Murphy recently put together a Powers Of Ten playlist for us. Check out his choices and listen to it in Spotify here: www.thecmuwebsite.com/article/peter-murphys-powers-of-ten-playlist/

Look now, here are the tour dates:

12 Oct: London, The Garage
13 Oct: Bristol, Academy 2
14 Oct: Glasgow, King Tut's
15 Oct: Leeds, Cockpit
16 Oct: Liverpool, Academy 2

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WILLY MASON TO HEADLINE END OF THE ROAD FESTIVAL TOUR
News-based consolation now for those not attending Dorset's rather good End Of The Road festival this year. Organisers of the event are despatching three roster residents to head out on a whistle-stop tour across the UK.

Appearing across four successive dates, guitar-toting folk nomad Willy Mason, harmonic trio The Staves and one-time The Low Anthem bluesman Daniel Lefkowitz will recreate their very own scaled-down End Of The Road happenings on these here dates:

6 Sep: Cardiff, The Gate
7 Sep: Nottingham, Glee
8 Sep: Brighton, Komedia
9 Sep: London, Union Chapel

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TRUCK FESTIVAL GOES OUT OF BUSINESS, REPORTS CLAIM
According to reports, poor turnout at this year's Truck Festival, which took place last month, may have sent the company that produce the event out of business.

US blog Brooklyn Vegan initially reported that the US version of the festival, Truck America, which launched last year, had been cancelled. Then yesterday afternoon eFestivals claimed to have been told by "a number of music/festival business sources" that the company had "gone bust".

There has been no official confirmation or denial as yet - and Truck's UK Twitter and Facebook accounts continued to post reviews of the recent event yesterday. A PR rep told CMU that they were unable to comment on the situation at this time.

If these reports are true, it seems likely that the company has gone into administration, which may mean that it can still recover from any financial problems. Hopefully that's the case. You can hear exactly why Truck is brilliant in the latest CMU podcast, an interview with founder Robin Bennett from this year's Great Escape convention: www.thecmuwebsite.com/podcast/

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SINGLE REVIEW: Hyde & Beast - Never Come Back (Tail Feather Records)
Hyde & Beast are a facially hirsute duo, perhaps better known as The Futureheads' Dave Hyde and Golden Virgins' Neil Bassett. If you're expecting a jilting Futureheads-esque, call and response, post-punk aping affair on debut single 'Never Come Back', however, think again.

Interspersed with strident brass and sweet percussive embellishments, the song meanders and curls, somehow held together perfectly with its mumblingly catchy chorus.

Borrowing a hefty haze of wistfulness and languor, the guitar flourishes are unashamedly indebted to the Velvet Underground's Loaded-era output. But rather than dirtying their deft fingers with junk and detritus a la Reed, Hyde & Beat take The Kinks for inspiration, removing their songs form the NYC gutter and into England's green and pleasant village greens. EG

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CMU CONTRIBUTES TO MIXCLOUD'S CELEBRATION OF CURATION
CMU is one of a whole host of people and companies from across the industry to take part in this year's Mixcloud Celebration Of Curation, contributing mixes and spoken word content to the site. Amongst the other contributors are Mary Anne Hobbs, The Guardian, Channel 4, Xfm, Last.fm, Beatport, and Domino Records.

For our contribution, CMU Editor Andy Malt put together a mix of fifteen of his favourite tracks that have appeared in the CMU Approved column so far this year. This includes artists such as Three Trapped Tigers, Bastille, The Agitator, Bleeding Heart Narrative, Team Me, LA2019. Listen to the mix here: www.mixcloud.com/cmu/celebration-of-curation-best-of-cmu-approved-2011/

And check out the full range of content on offer here: www.mixcloud.com/campaigns/celebration-of-curation-2011/ New additions will continue to be added until next Friday.

Also in Mixcloud news, the user-generated online radio service has launched a new rock category, in an attempt to boost the number of rock podcasters out there - an area apparently not so well represented as others in the podcasting community. Amongst those signed up to post content on the site are Rock Sound, Classic Rock and Thrash Hits. But the site's PRS and PPL licenses, and free to use status, mean that anyone can upload their own online radio shows and mixes legally.

Mixcloud told CMU: "The excitement of discovery and sharing is what got Mixcloud started, and whether you're the biggest magazine in the world, the presenter of a local radio show or a teenager making mixtapes in your bedroom, we want to create a community where you can create and share the music that gets you up in the morning. The rock scene's the most vibrant it's been for a decade, but hasn't really gotten its head around podcasting, and we want to create a space where not only can normal fans interact with one another, but also learn how simple and easy it is to make and share content legally".

Check out some rock audio here: www.mixcloud.com/categories/rock/

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KASABIAN DON'T REGRET SLAGGING OFF OTHER BANDS, BUT WILL STOP
Kasabian frontman Tom Meighan has got a mouth on him, hasn't he? Some of his highlights include calling Justin Timberlake "midget with whiskers who is just trying to be black" and referring to Pete Doherty as "a fucking tramp". But he's sorry now, and he's going to stop saying such things about fellow musicians.

Speaking to Xfm, Meighan said: "We're lovers of all music - and I'm not just saying that to be civil. I'm past slagging bands off. I'm sorry, I don't regret it, but that's life. I was a kid".

In 2009, Meighan admitted that the fact that the band had "slagged everyone off" in interviews around their debut album had earned them a reputation that they weren't entirely happy with.

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