JUDGE ALLOWS DIGITAL ROYALTIES CLASS ACTION TO PROCEED
In what could prove to be a devastating case for the major labels, a federal judge in California has given the green light for a class action lawsuit against Universal Music by a bunch of long established artists, led by Rob Zombie and the estate of Rick James. The music major had requested the case be dismissed.

As previously reported, this case is based on how pre-internet record contracts should be interpreted in the digital age. It's quite common in record contracts for artists to be given different royalty rates depending on revenue stream, usually to the effect that the royalty from record sales - where the label incurs more costs and risk - is quite a bit less than the royalty on so called 'licensing revenues', so when a recording is used commercially by another business.

Since digital music took off the labels have classified downloads as record sales and therefore paid artists, whose pre-internet record contracts do not specifically mention downloading, the lower royalty. But some artists argue that, because with download stores the label's costs and risks are almost non-existent, when a label makes its catalogue available to an iTunes type service it is a licensing deal and therefore the higher artist royalty should be paid.

This is not a new argument, and there have been previous attempts by heritage artists to sue for a bigger royalty cut on digital revenue, but those lawsuits have in the main been unsuccessful, judges ruling that, had downloads existed when the disputed contracts were originally agreed, it seems certain the label would have insisted the record sale royalty apply to download sales.

But then FBT Productions, the production house involved in the early Eminem recordings, which has a stake in those tracks, sued Universal over this issue and won. The major insisted the FBT case related to the specific wording of the production company's contract, and the precedent in that case did not apply to every other pre-download record contract. But Zombie, the Rick James estate and others did not agree and began new legal action earlier this year.

That litigation became a class action, so that all artists signed to Universal with pre-internet contracts could benefit from any positive outcome. It was that fact that Universal mainly relied on in its efforts to have the lawsuit dismissed. It argued that these were contract disputes between individual artists and the music company, and that each dispute would need to be considered separately, because there wasn't any "general harm" occurring that would justify a class action case being heard.

But lawyers for the plaintiffs disagreed, saying they believed Universal "engaged in a broad scheme to underpay numerous royalty participants, including formulating an opaque and artificial method for accounting for and paying its royalty participants for income derived from such licenses and engaging in a sustained public relations effort designed to convince the public that it had employed 'groundbreaking' and 'enlightened' accounting practices that actually benefited (rather than cheated) the Class". And a judge earlier this week said that those allegations were enough to justify this being treated as a class action.

As that ruling was being made, elsewhere it was announced Public Enemy's Chuck D was launching his own proceedings over the same issue. His legal rep told reporters: "Chuck D has been 'fighting the power' for over two decades and will continue to do so through this suit in order to help all musicians, including many legacy artists who are living on fixed incomes".

Universal maintains it is in the right on this debate, and that it will prevail in court. Certainly the company will be hoping the ruling in the FBT case is an anomaly, because experts reckon if it lost a class action on this issue it could cost Universal billions. And the other majors would be open to similar claims.

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LADY GAGA SETS UP CHARITY
Lady Gaga is setting up a charity to support "programmes and initiatives that deal with all aspects of empowering youth". The new organisation will be called the Born This Way Foundation, and will be overseen by the popstar's mother Cynthia Germanotta.

Says the Gaga: "My mother and I have initiated a passion project. We call it the Born This Way Foundation. Together we hope to establish a standard of bravery and kindness, as well as a community worldwide that protects and nurtures others in the face of bullying and abandonment".

The new foundation will partner with various other American organisations that work on so called "youth empowerment", including the MacArthur Foundation and the California Endowment, and the Berkman Center For Internet & Society, which focuses on the power of the internet as a means to promote change.

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BIEBER LOVE CHILD ALLEGER HAS "CREDIBLE EVIDENCE" SAY LAWYERS
While it's a great story that every tabloid journalist must wish to be true, I think most people assume that Mariah Yeater's claims, revealed yesterday, that Justin Bieber fathered her new born child during a super speedy shag backstage at a concert in LA just over a year ago, are as untruthful as they are amusing. But the 20 year old's lawyers insist there is "credible evidence" that Bieber is the father of their client's recently born child.

As previously reported, in a signed affidavit seen by Star magazine in the US, Yeater claims that she was invited backstage after attending a Bieber show at LA's Staples Center in October 2010, where the young popster took her to a private area and announced he wanted to "fuck the shit out of her". She adds that the pop teen refused to wear a condom because it was his "first time" and "he wanted to feel everything". If the claimant is to be believed, the sexual liaison was short but effective. This has all come to light now because Yeater has asked the LA courts to force the pop star to take a paternity test.

Bieber's reps immediately denied all the allegations, telling reporters: "While we haven't yet seen the lawsuit, it's sad that someone would fabricate malicious, defamatory, and demonstrably false claims. We will vigorously pursue all available legal remedies to defend and protect Justin against these allegations".

The pop star himself took to Twitter to tell his fans he wouldn't comment directly on the allegations, saying: "All the rumors... the gossip... I'm gonna focus on the positives... the music. With this album ['Under The Mistletoe'] I'm giving [a] portion of the proceeds to charity ... I'm trying to help GIVE BACK... nothing will stop me from that focus. NOTHING. I'm going to ignore the rumors and focus on what is real. An opportunity to help by doing what I love. Judge me on the music! Love y'all!"

But legal reps for Yeater insisted yesterday their client has "credible evidence", though it's not at all clear what that is exactly. Once the Star report on the affidavit was out they told reporters: "[Mariah] is pursuing a modest and rightful claim. There is credible evidence that Justin Bieber is in fact the father of her baby. We call upon Justin Bieber and his attorneys to reach out to resolve this issue in a reasonable manner".

Yeater is certainly taking a risk with her claims. If she is proven to be lying through her teeth she would be guilty of perjury - because the claims are made in a signed affidavit - and would also likely be sued by Beiber for defamation.

And even if her claims were proven to be true, as she was nineteen and Bieber sixteen at the time of the alleged liaison, which took place in California where the age of consent is eighteen, she'd be guilty of having sex with a minor, sometimes referred to as statutory rape. California's rules on underage sex are amongst the most strict in the US, although there is a concession if - as here - the age difference is three years or less, making the charge a misdemeanour rather than a felony. But, crucially, in California, the age difference concession is not an actual defence and the albeit lesser charge would still stand.

According to Radaronline.com, Yeater's lawsuit against Bieber is due to be heard in court on 15 Dec.

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RICK ROSS BLAMES LACK OF SLEEP FOR SEIZURES
Rapper Rick Ross has claimed that medical tests show him to be "totally healthy" and blamed five years of not sleeping properly for the two seizures he suffered in quick succession last month.

As previously reported, as Ross travelled to a gig in Memphis recently, the plane he was on was forced to return to the airport from which it had embarked after he suffered a seizure. He received treatment from a doctor on the plane and then from paramedics back on the ground. Seemingly fine, he chartered a private jet and tried once again to get to Memphis, but that was also forced to land early when he suffered a second seizure.

Amid concerns that those incidents suggested Ross had some sort of serious illness, the rapper assured BET's '106 & Park': "It was [just] a case of me not getting enough rest, enough sleep".

See the full interview here: www.bet.com/content/betcom/video/106andpark/106guestrewind/106park806-rickross-audio-s1.html

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UNCUT MUSIC AWARD SHORTLIST OUT
The shortlist is out for this year's Uncut Music Award, the annual best album prize that last year went to that "exciting, inspirational and rewarding" long player, erm, Paul Weller's 'Wake Up The Nation'. So, let's be fair here, this is the music award that still has the power to surprise thanks to an imaginative interpretation of words like "exciting, inspirational and rewarding".

Eight albums are up for consideration, with the winner due be announced later this month, when the next issue of Uncut hits the high street. Here's the list, try and work out which one is the most "exciting, inspirational and rewarding", and then have a think about which one Team Uncut will consider to be the most "exciting, inspirational and rewarding".

Bill Callahan - Apocalypse
Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Bon Iver - Bon Iver
Josh T Pearson - Last Of The Country Gentlemen
Radiohead - The King Of Limbs
Paul Simon - So Beautiful Or So What
Gillian Welch - The Harrow & The Harvest

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COLDPLAY GO TO NUMBER ONE IN THE US
Coldplay's 'Mylo Xyloto' album has gone straight to number one in the US, selling 447,000 copies in its first week, the third largest single week sales of 2011.

But Chris et al shouldn't get too smug about this just yet. Their record is way off Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way', which managed 1.1 million first week sales (albeit thanks to a loss making promotion by Amazon), and Lil Wayne's 'Tha Carter IV, which reached 964,000. It's also a way off the band's previous two albums. Both also debuted at number one, with 2005's 'X&Y' selling 737,000 copies in its first week, and 2008's 'Viva La Vida' managing 721,000.

Meanwhile, back in the UK, Florence And The Machine's new album 'Ceremonials' is on track to knock 'Mylo Xyloto' off the top spot. According to the Official Charts Company, the new FloMac LP shifted over 50,000 copies on its first two days on sale. And it's on Spotify.

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THE CURE TO RELEASE BESTIVAL HEADLINE SET FOR CHARITY
Sunday Best has announced that it will release The Cure's headline set from this year's Bestival as a live album on 5 Dec. Proceeds from the sale of the record will go to the Isle Of Wight Youth Trust.

Said Robert Smith: "We had such a great time in the Isle Of Wight at Bestival that we wanted to release this show as a way of thanking fans and islanders alike. Bestival IS the best!"

Meanwhile, Bestival and Sunday Best boss Rob da Bank added: "Since I was fifteen and backcombing my hair, donning my sisters eyeliner and singing the lyrics to 'A Forest' into my hairbrush I've had an unhealthy fascination with The Cure. To say it reached its peak at Bestival 2011 is an understatement, as after seven years of pestering I not only landed The Cure to headline Bestival, but now appear to be putting out one of their live records on my own record label. How strange!"

He added: "For any of the 50,000 who were at Bestival and saw all or some of the two and a half hour set, this live album will transport you back. For fans of The Cure who didn't make it I know this will be a legendary addition to your Cure collection!"

The full tracklist is as follows.

CD One:

Plainsong
Open
Fascination Street
A Night Like This
The End Of The World
Lovesong
Just Like Heaven
The Only One
The Walk
Push
Friday I'm In Love
Inbetween Days
Play For Today
A Forest
Primary
Shake Dog Shake

CD Two:

The Hungry Ghost
One Hundred Years
End
Disintegration
Lullaby
The Lovecats
The Caterpillar
Close To Me
Hot Hot Hot!!!
Let's Go To Bed
Why Can't I Be You?
Boys Don't Cry
Jumping Someone Else's Train
Grinding Halt
10:15 Saturday Night
Killing Another

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NEW DJ FOOD
Ninja Tune's DJ Food project will release their new album, 'The Search Engine', a full eleven years after the collective put out its last LP, 'Kaleidescope'. Collaborators including Natural Self, JG Thirlwell, 2econd Class Citizen, Dr Rubberfunk and PC are amongst those to join longstanding DJ Food resident, Strictly Kev (aka Kevin Foakes), on the record, which is scheduled for release on 23 Jan.

Stricly Kev's philosophy regarding the LP runs something like this: "The way we live every day is helped by search engines of many shapes and sizes. Some people think they control and influence how we work and play. In this case, though, 'The Search Engine' could be something waiting to be found out in the vastness of space..."

If that's got you interested, five sections of 'Magpie Music', the bit of the album contributed to by 2econd Class Citizen, are being made available via the net, one per day this week. Though, keen to embrace the spirit of the project, there is no one website were you can access all the tracks, so you'll have to use a search engine to find the track segments instead. They are called 'Finders Keepers', 'They Turned Their Faces Down', 'A Positive No', 'Eye of the Needle' and 'No More Stars'.

We've managed to track down the song's opening stretch, 'Finders Keepers', so stream that here: soundcloud.com/ninja-tune/dj-food-magpie-music-1-finders

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SUNN O))) TO REISSUE ØØ VOID
Sunn O))) have announced that they will re-release their second album, 'ØØ Void', via Southern Lord on 28 Nov. Originally released in 2000 through Rise Above, the album has been out of print in the UK for eight years.

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DAMON ALBARN OPERA TO HIT LONDON
Damon Albarn's opera 'Doctor Dee' will be performed at London's Coliseum next summer. The shows will take place on 25-26 and 28-29 Jun, plus 4, 6 and 7 Jul. Tickets will go on sale on 4 Nov.

And because he just can't sit down for five minutes, Albarn debuted a new band with Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, called Rocketjuice And The Moon, last weekend. And he'll be reviving The Good, The Bad And The Queen for two shows in London next week.

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LABRINTH TOUR
Pop producer Labrinth has just announced his debut headlining tour, which should be of interest to all those who enjoyed that nice bit of singing he did at the end of The Collective's Children In Need single 'Teardrop'.

2012 dates as follows:

23 Feb: Birmingham, Institute Library
24 Feb: Liverpool, Academy
25 Feb: Manchester, Academy 2
26 Feb: Glasgow, ABC2
28 Feb: Leeds, Metropolitan University
29 Feb: Oxford, Academy
1 Mar: Bristol, Academy
2 Mar: Cardiff, University Solus
4 Mar: Norwich, Waterfront
5 Mar: London, Koko
8 Mar: Brighton, Concorde

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FRIENDS PLAN TWO-DATE TOUR
Buzzworthy Brooklynites Friends are to exude their customary aura of absolute cool during a couple of UK dates next year. Take a glance at those before checking out the video for the CMU Approved band's latest single, 'I'm His Girl', here: youtu.be/O5VNumNJyqE

6 Feb: Manchester, Deaf Institute
7 Feb: London, Lexington

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SONY CORP SEES LOSSES GROW
Sony Corp lost a neat £216 million in the most recent financial quarter, leading the electronics and entertainment giant to revise its year-end estimates to a £719 million loss. It will be the fourth consecutive year that the conglom has made a loss overall.

Currency fluctuations continue to cause problems for the Sony empire, which invariably sees its international revenues reduced once converted into the frequently strong Japanese Yen, and natural disasters in both the firm's home country and Thailand have impacted on operations adding to costs. Though disappointing performances in some Sony divisions are also partly to blame for the company's overall losses, lower than expected TV sales being a particular problem this year.

Apple remains a major thorn in Sony's side, stealing market share in PCs, smartphones and music devices, and, of course, Sony's own efforts to strengthen its position in the cross-device digital entertainment space were hindered earlier this year by the embarrassing security breach of its servers, causing private data of those signed up to the Sony gaming and entertainment networks to spill.

Although not the biggest concern in the wider Sony empire, the firm's music company saw sales decline 6.6% year on year for the most recent quarter, with revenues of $1.34 billion. The company blamed continued declining album sales, especially outside the US, for the revenue drop. The biggest selling artists for the major during the quarter were Beyonce and Adele, the latter - signed to indie XL of course - being distributed by Sony's Columbia in America.

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PHONEPAYPLUS TO SUPPORT IFPI'S ANTI INFRINGEMENT EFFORTS
PhonepayPlus is the latest payment services organisation to ally with the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry and the City Of London Police to stop websites that exist primarily to infringe copyrights from taking payments from users.

As previously reported, the IFPI has been lobbying credit card firms and such like for some time to not take payments on behalf of unlicensed online content sellers, many of whom are based in jurisdictions where it is hard for content owners to sue, but which sell digital products into Europe and elsewhere. The idea is that if credit card companies et al stop taking money on behalf of such websites, said copyright infringing businesses will not be able to operate.

Visa, Mastercard and Paypal are already working with the IFPI and the City Of London Police in this domain, and PhonepayPlus is the latest body to join in. It doesn't actually operate payment services itself, but it is the regulator of companies that enable businesses to charge for services via a customer's mobile or landline bill. The regulator will pass on information about copyright infringing services to its members and, when asked for specific help by the IFPI and City Of London police to investigate and prevent infringing operations, will act "to the full extent of their powers".

Says IFPI's Frances Moore: "PhonepayPlus is making a welcome proactive commitment to help us tackle digital piracy. Pirate websites hoping to use phone payment services as a replacement for the credit card facilities withdrawn from their sites will find they are unable to do so. These illegal businesses that rip-off artists, songwriters and record producers are finding it ever harder to continue to ply their lucrative trade".

Paul Whiteing, CEO of PhonepayPlus, added: "As a proactive regulator, we are pleased to be working with IFPI to ensure that we stop before it starts copyright infringement using the PRS [premium rate service] payment mechanism. Although we have not seen problems in the UK PRS market where copyright infringement is concerned, we want to pre-empt such problems before they start. We are working with PRS providers and the trade bodies who represent them to make sure a clear message goes out - there is no place in the UK PRS market for illegal content that infringes copyright".

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MY BLOODY VALENTINE'S KEVIN SHIELDS LAUNCHES LABEL
Reclusive My Bloody Valentine frontman Kevin Shields has launched a new record label with Le Volume Courbe's Charlotte Marionneau, called Pickpocket.

The first release on the label will be an EP by Marionneau's band. Shields told the NME: "I was like 'I'll just get rid of a few pedals that I've had lying around for ten years and we'll start a label'".

It's as simple as that.

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OUTPOST REJIGS
Music PR company Outpost Media has announced the promotion of Johnny Beverton and Mel Ruben to more senior roles within the company, and the appointment of a new publicist, Ed Melech, who formerly worked in-house for Universal's Mercury Records.

Confirming the appointments, Outpost MD David Silverman told CMU: "I'm pleased to announce the deserved promotions of Johnny and Mel within Outpost and the appointment of former Mercury Records publicist Ed Melech to Account Manager, whose experience handling PR for The Killers, Kanye West and Metallica have made him one of the best in the business".

The rejig at Outpost comes as Account Director Ben Smith leaves the company to pursue new projects.

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TUNECORE LAUNCHES PUBLISHING ADMIN SERVICE
TuneCore, the US-based digital distributor for unsigned and self-releasing bands, has set up a new division that will help such artists also administrate their publishing interests.

The new TuneCore Songwriter Publishing Administration Service, headed by former Bug Music EVP Jamie Purpora, will help its artists manage their relationships with the publishing royalty collecting societies and seek other licensing deal, including syncs, presumably putting them in a similar territory to UK-based Sentric Music.

The new service will initially be open to artists already using TuneCore to distribute their recordings to digital music services, but will eventually be available as a stand alone offer. A few hundred songwriters are already using the publishing admin service, including one celebrity client, Mr Trent Reznor.

Confirming that, having used TuneCore to distribute his recordings for six years he has now signed up to the company's publishing service, Reznor wrote this week: "When TuneCore reached out to tell me about their new big idea - adding transparency and straightforwardness to the murky waters of publishing administration (which to me is a world as boring and convoluted as it sounds) - I was very interested. If they could pull off what they did with distribution on the publishing administration side of things, this could be a pretty big deal - it could be another important tool that further empowers the musician/songwriter directly".

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X-FACTOR USA RECOMMISSIONED
Fox TV in the US has commissioned a second series of 'X-Factor'. I suspect Simon Cowell is absolutely thrilled with the news, because I know he loves making the show and is always thankful to Fox and its sponsors and all the fans for supporting the programme. Let's see what he's got to say for himself, shall we?

"I am absolutely thrilled with the news", says Si. "I have loved making the show and I want to thank Fox, our sponsors and most importantly the fans for supporting 'The X-Factor'".

See, I know that Cowell man inside out, I do.

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DAVE GROHL NOT ON JACKSON RECORD
There are a lot of records that feature guest drumming by Dave Grohl. However, Michael Jackson's posthumous 'Michael' album is not one of them, despite being listed in the credits for the Lenny Kravitz produced 'I Can't Make It Another Day'.

Grohl told Red Bulletin: "That was messed up actually. Lenny Kravitz - who I only met once - called and asked if I want to play drums on a track. I said, 'sure', played drums on it and I never heard from them again. On the sleeve notes it says 'Michael Jackson featuring Lenny Kravitz and Dave Grohl' but they didn't use any of my recordings. Dude, that's not cool".

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