THE FUTURE OF LABELS, THE FUTURE OF EMI PUBLISHING, THE FUTURE OF THE STREAMING MARKET: SONY CHIEFS CHATTER
So, Sony types have been very mouthy this week, haven't they?

First up, Rob Wiesenthal, CFO of Sony Corp Of America, was speaking at a UBS Media Conference in New York. He covered a wide range of topics, but on music predicted that streaming services, such as Spotify, Rhapsody, MOG and Sony's rather lacklustre Entertainment Network, would truly take off once subscriptions were more routinely bundled into mobile phone fees.

He then postured that the major record companies of the future would operate much more like the major music publishers of today, a viewpoint that supports the now abandoned strategy of outgoing EMI boss Roger Faxon to more closely integrate his company's label and publishing businesses. Of course that's something Sony would struggle to achieve because while it owns the Sony record company outright, the conlgom's existing and new publishing concerns, Sony/ATV and EMI Music Publishing respectively, are joint ventures, thus preventing a merger of all of the Corp's music assets.

Meanwhile, when asked about Sony's decision to install the Android operating system on some of its portable devices, rather than a proprietary platform, Wiesenthal admitted his company was now much more willing to utilise other firms' software on its hardware, and had accepted the benefits of using open standards.

Elsewhere in Sony exec interview land, the chief of the conglom's aforementioned Sony/ATV music publishing business, Marty Bandier, has spoken to Music Week about his company's acquisition of EMI Music Publishing. As expected, the EMI pubbery will remain autonomous from Sony/ATV, it owning only 38% of the new purchase. That means the company will retain, for the time being at least, the EMI name.

Bandier is clearly pleased to have won the fight to acquire EMI, the publishing business he helped grow prior to jumping ship to Sony, though he was cautious when asked how successful the new Sony/ATV offshoot would be, saying: "I'll let you know in about two years! [This acquisition] could be ranked as the greatest accomplishment or it could be the worst".

Finally in Sony exec quotesville, more from Tim Schaaff, the boss of that aforementioned lacklustre on-demand content platform, the Sony Entertainment Network, who was asked about his buzzy competitor Spotify at a London press briefing earlier this week. According to Electricpig, Schaaff said he didn't believe Spotify - market leader in much of Europe, and now one of the highest profile streaming platforms in the US - would come to dominate the streaming content sector in the way iTunes dominates a la carte downloads, insisting all was still to play for in the streaming space.

Said Schaaff: "It's certainly not in the labels' interest to have one company dominate everything. That's not likely to happen, that doesn't happen in general. Spotify has been one of the first companies to be able to really make a statement about subscription services that has made sense to the consumer, but it's early days and we used to think that MySpace was going to dominate everything in social networking and they're gone. Things change very fast in this environment, and fashion changes quickly in this environment, and it'll be interesting to see how that plays out. We really are at the early stages here, and the question is how will the companies hold up over the long run".

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SATURDAYS' FRANKIE NEVER DID REHAB
The Saturdays' Frankie Sandford has spoken out about the time she recently spent in a private clinic, dismissing tabloid rumours surrounding both the so-called 'rehab' stay and her subsequent break from performing with the group. As previously reported, the singer told fans via Twitter that she'd "not been very well" in October, and then a spokesperson confirmed to Digital Spy that Sandford was receiving treatment at a private clinic.

Speaking to The Sun this week, Sandford said: "I was hospitalised, it wasn't rehab. I don't think there's anything wrong with rehab. It takes a lot of courage to enter facilities to try to beat any addiction or overcome issues, but mine is a medical condition. I will talk about it in detail one day soon, for the sake of my fans, as they want to know. But I will say it wasn't alcohol, drugs or an eating disorder. And the dark days are now behind me".

Which is good news. Let's just hope poor old Frankie, while busy recuperating, hasn't been paying too much attention to that cheeky Example chap, who's been telling the Daily Record that The Saturdays just aren't good enough to justify their place on the top floor of British pop (though, given that their new album recently entered the chart at 23 and then dropped out of the top 40 altogether, I'm not sure they're quite at the top).

Asked about his Twitter dissing of the girl group earlier this year, Example said: "The problem I had with The Saturdays is that they could be better. They could have better songs and be marketed better. Girls Aloud were an exciting girl group. The Saturdays don't offer anything. They seem like lovely girls but their management or record label are not good enough".

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BARBARA ORBISON DIES
Barbara Orbison, widow of Roy Orbison and a music industry player in her own right, has died aged 60 after losing her battle with pancreatic cancer.

German-born Orbison met future husband Roy at one of his gigs in the UK when she was seventeen and he was 32. They married in the US just nine months later. Barbara entered her husband's life at the end of a period of tragedy for the singer songwriter, who had lost his first wife to a motorcycle crash, and then two of his children in a house fire.

Barbara was widely renowned for firstly helping her husband to get his life back on track, and then for helping him restore his musical career, ensuring he enjoyed a creative renaissance in the last decade of his life, both as a solo artist and as part of the supergroup the Traveling Wilburys.

Roy Orbison died prematurely in late 1988, aged 52, after suffering a heart attack. Having managed the latter part of her husband's career, Barbera continued to protect and promote her husband's legacy after his death, including co-producing a four CD box set of all of his recordings released in 2008.

She also established her own music publishing company in Nashville called Still Working Music, through which she worked with a number of songwriters, including Taylor Swift, Billy Burnette and Tommy Lee James.

Aside from her music work, she also led a number of charitable projects, including a 1991 tribute show to her late husband that raised over a million to help the homeless in LA.

She is survived by two sons Roy Kelton Jr and Alexander, and her stepson from Roy's first marriage, Wesley.

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BLUR TO GET OUTSTANDING BRIT
Team BRITs are resurrecting the Outstanding Contribution To Music prize for next year's bash a whole year after axing it from the proceedings. Apparently research showed that somebody somewhere had been more outstanding than 2010 winner Robbie Williams after all.

And who was that? Well, the boys from Blur of course, and only partly because Alex James hosted the very best farm-based bankrupt festival this year. Yes, Damon and Graham and Dave and Al will be presented with a very special BRIT Award in February next year for all their many and various contributions to music.

And look, here's Damon Albarn himself delivering a lengthy response to the news that his band will become officially outstanding next year: "It's great to have recognition for all the work and all the heartache and all the joy that's gone into this band".

Voting in those BRIT categories chosen by industry and media types opened up yesterday, so if you're in the Academy get in there, those only slightly garish BRIT gongs designed by pop art icon Peter Blake can't go anywhere without your votes. The awards are due to be dished out on 21 Feb.

Elsewhere in BRITs news, it was confirmed earlier this week that independent production company Somethin Else will again coordinate coverage of the big awards show for the commercial radio sector, providing BRITs-related interviews and other flim flam to radio stations around the country. This year Somethin Else will also oversee the awards' website and social media activity, which will include a web redesign, video content and some quality tweets. Like, outstanding tweets. There really should be an award just for these tweets.

Somethin Else MD Steve Ackerman told Radio Today: "Music fans worldwide will be having online conversations around the show; our social media strategy and exclusive online content will feed into this buzz and create a richer experience for BRITs fans. Building on our recent successes using social media to compliment content on other platforms - whether it be around the season launch of a hit TV drama series, or reaching out to engage fans - we are really excited to apply our expertise to The BRITs 2012".

Elsewhere in Blur news, Alex James has been talking to the NME, confirming Albarn's recent remarks that the band are meeting up on a semi-regular basis and that new material could emerge from those meetings, with Al adding that the next such meeting will be over Christmas, and that any future output may be in EP rather than album form. He also said he finds Jeremy Clarkson very funny.

James on Blur stuff: "We're getting together for a Christmas drink next week which is nice. We still see each other all the time, more since we were all living out of a suitcase. We'll probably record again. May be an EP. Is there such a thing as an album [any more]? Does music have to come twelve tracks at a time?"

James on Clarkson: "I think he's really funny and says what he's thinking. I wish more bands would say the unsayable. He's sort of the best rock star we've got".

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ROCK N ROLL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES ANNOUNCED
The 2012 round of inductees to the US Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame have been announced, with Guns N Roses, Beastie Boys, Donovan, Laura Nyro, Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Small Faces lined up to take their places. Late Blues guitarist Freddie King will also be inducted as an "early influence".

Non-performers also due to be celebrated at the induction ceremony on 14 Apr are music mogul Don Kirshner, producer Glyn Johns and engineers Cosimo Matassa and Tom Dowd.

More details at www.rockhall.com.

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REZNOR THINKING ABOUT NEW NINE INCH NAILS MATERIAL
With his soundtrack for David Fincher film 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' done and dusted, Trent Reznor has said that he plans to begin work on new Nine Inch Nails material in the new year. Or at least material that might end up being for Nine Inch Nails.

Speaking to Zane Lowe on his Radio 1 show, Reznor said: "I need to commit to doing something different, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to return to [Nine Inch Nails] at some point. But I find myself pushed and pulled back into the same routine of album, tour, album, tour, album, tour, while a list of things I'd like to try and do in life sits untouched on the table. [But] I plan on spending a good portion of this year coming up writing with [Nine Inch Nails] in mind. Let's see what happens".

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SLEIGH BELLS DETAIL NEW LP
Having unleashed a loud yet uninformative teaser trailer earlier this week, Sleigh Bells have now peeled back another layer from the mystery package that is their second album 'Reign Of Terror'. That is, they've set its release date for Valentines Day of next year, published the tracklisting, and announced news of a joint tour with Diplo.

Though, unfortunately, that tour is only visiting venues in Florida, which isn't really of much consequence to us non-US citizens now, is it? Still, good to know what we're missing.

Tracklist:

True Shred Guitar
Born To Lose
Crush
End Of The Line
Leader Of The Pack
Comeback Kid
Demons
Road To Hell
You Lost Me
Never Say Die
DOA

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LADYHAWKE RETURNS
Remember Ladyhawke, aka Kiwi alt-popstress Pip Brown, who was last seen promoting her eponymous debut album a few years ago? Well, she's just about ready to release second LP 'Anxiety', and has unveiled a teaser trailer featuring part of its title track. Watch that below.

Recorded in France with long-time producer Pascal Gabriel, Ladyhawke's latest is due out on 19 Mar 2012. There's even a tracklist, look:

Girl Like Me
Sunday Drive
Black, White & Blue
Vaccine
Blue Eyes
Vanity
The Quick & The Dead
Anxiety
Cellophane
Gone Gone Gone

bcove.me/tvt5wakp

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CHEMICAL BROTHERS ANNOUNCE CINEMA RELEASE FOR TOUR FILM
The Chemical Brothers have announced that they will screen their new concert film 'Don't Think' in cinemas in the new year. There will be screenings in 20 cities around the world, including London, on 26 Jan, before going on general release in the UK on 3 Feb.

Filmed at this year's Fujirock Festival in Japan, 'Don't Think' was directed by long term Chemical Brothers collaborator Adam Smith and is apparently the first ever concert film to be made with Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound, which was mixed by The Chems themselves.

Says Smith: "After eighteen years of working on The Chemical Brothers' live show we have finally captured it on film; you could almost say it's eighteen years in the making. The aim was to create a different type of concert film for a different type of show. I wanted to capture what it is like to experience the show from right in the middle of the crowd as well as showing and combining the visuals featured in the show with the footage we captured on this one night; to see how the music and visuals emotionally affect and connect with the audience. Over the course of the film, we are taken on a journey through the psychedelic trip that is the Chemical Brothers live experience".

Chemical Brother Tom Rowlands added: "In the recording of a single show - a single night on a Japanese mountainside - Adam Smith has managed to capture the atmosphere of a very special festival appearance. Come see how it feels to feel, be overwhelmed, intoxicated, swoonerated. Surrender to the void".

You can see the trailer here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=21UItm9UCr0

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OLYMPICS GIGS: UNDERWORLD SCORE WHILE ISLINGTON OBJECTS
Underworld have been booked to score the music for the opening ceremony of next year's London Festival Of Mega-brand Sponsorship, aka the Olympics. This possibly isn't a surprise given film director Danny Boyle - a previous collaborator with the Underworld guys of course - is overseeing the big opening bash of the London games.

Says Underworld's Karl Hyde: "We want to leave people with a musical memory of the show rather than a purely visual one. It's a great honour to be asked to do this and we're taking it very seriously - it's certainly not something we'll get the chance to do again".

Elsewhere in Olympics news, Islington Council has criticised plans by Live Nation - which is staging various entertainment events around London during the Olympic period - to stage a ten day Jamaican-themed festival in Finsbury Park from 3-12 Aug. Although one day and weekend events are routinely staged in the North London park, the council says the length and scale of the proposed event are "excessive" and will have a big impact on the local transport infrastructure and community.

Finsbury Park actually falls under the remit of Haringey Council, so it's that local authority that will consider Live Nation's licence application for the proposed event, but the Islington authority says it will have the biggest impact on their communities who live near the park, and have therefore lodged an official objection to Live Nation's proposals.

The Haringey Independent also quoted a couple of local residents who expressed concern about what an event of this scale would mean for the local community, who would lose use of a big chunk of the park during the summer holidays, as well as having to tolerate noise and a strained public transport network.

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GUIDED BY VOICES CANCEL FESTIVAL PERFORMANCES
Guided By Voices have announced that they are cancelling their planned performances at ATP's I'll Be Your Mirror festival in London next May and Primavera in Spain in June. As previously reported, the band reformed almost a year ago and are due to release a new album, 'Let's Go Eat The Factory', in January.

A statement on frontman Robert Pollard's website explained: "Unfortunately, Guided By Voices are cancelling their appearances at Primavera and ATP I'll Be Your Mirror, due to personal reasons. The band apologises for any inconvenience and disappointment, and thanks Primavera, ATP and the fans for their long term support".

Somewhere along the way some wires got crossed, with both ATP and Primavera initially announcing that the band had actually split. However, this is not the case, according to their label, Fire Records, which issued a statement yesterday saying: "Guided By Voices have not split up and continue to work on new material together. In addition to the album release of 'Let's Go Eat The Factory' for January, the band are at work on another album, 'Class Clown Spots A UFO'. Robert Pollard will also be releasing a solo record in March called 'Mouseman Cloud'".

'Let's Go Eat The Factory', the band's first album in a decade, is due to be released on 1 Jan. Listen to a track from it, 'Doughnut For A Snowman', here: soundcloud.com/firerecords/gbv-doughnut

Meanwhile, for ATP fans, we should note that organisers have announced that The Afghan Whigs will replace Guided By Voices on the I'll Be Your Mirror line up next May.

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FESTIVAL LINE-UP UPDATE

FIELD DAY, Victoria Park, London, 2 Jun: Held in the lush and leafy surrounds of East London's Victoria Park, next year's Field Day roster will feature such first additions as headliners Franz Ferdinand, Beirut and Metronomy. The Vaccines, AfroCubism, Gold Panda and SBTRKT are also fresh on the line-up, as are the less established likes of Outfit and Zulu Winter. www.fielddayfestivals.com

FLOW FESTIVAL, Suvilahti, Helsinki, Finland, 8-12 Aug: Set to book-end the bill at Finland's Flow next year, Bon Iver will appear on the festival's first day, while fellow first fixture Björk will close proceedings with her live 'Biophilia' spectacle. www.flowfestival.com

OPTIMUS ALIVE!, Lisbon, Portugal, 13-15 Jul: Metronomy, alt-rock outfit Mazzy Star and festival headliners Florence And The Machine are the latest acts added to next year's Optimus Alive! listings, finding space next to previously announced bill-toppers Radiohead. www.optimusalive.com/en

ØYA, Medieval Park, Oslo, Norway, 7-11 Aug: Øya organisers have announced they'll usher in the festival's tenth anniversary with 2012 bookings led by Björk and The Stone Roses. The bill so far also boasts tipped rappers Azealia Banks and Yelawolf. oyafestivalen.no/english/

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BASCA ANNOUNCES PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SESSIONS
The British Academy Of Songwriters, Composers and Authors earlier this week announced two new events being staged as part of their professional business development programme in 2012, both aimed at songwriters or composers looking to take more control of their own business affairs.

The first event will look at the logistics of managing your own career, and at the service providers which can help in that process, while the second will focus on the specifics of self-managing publishing rights, and the different contractual relationships that are on offer from companies operating in the music publishing sector.

The evening events will take place on 24 Jan and 27 Mar respectively. More info and a booking form are available at this here URL: www.basca.org.uk/news/basca-launches-new-professional-business-development-programme/

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COOKING VINYL MAKES NEW APPOINTMENT TO EXPAND ROCK ROSTER
Cooking Vinyl yesterday announced the appointment of Phil Hopwood who will be charged with the task of strengthening the independent's rock and metal roster. He will also work on rock releases already in the label's schedules, including new albums from The Cult and Marilyn Manson.

Hopwood has most recently worked for EMI's merchandising business, but previously spent ten years as a freelance label manager and record industry consultant, and before that a similar length of time working for the music distribution company that morphed into Vital, and later [PIAS]. During his time at Vital he worked alongside the company's then MD Mike Chadwick, who now heads up Cooking Vinyl's sister company Essential Music & Marketing.

Confirming the appointment, Cooking Vinyl co-founder Martin Goldschmidt told CMU: "We're excited to have someone with Phil's knowledge and passion to help Cooking Vinyl realise our rock ambitions. We've known Phil for many years, and it's great to have him join the team".

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DEEZER ANNOUNCES EXPANSION PLANS
French streaming music service Deezer, which arrived in the UK a couple of months back of course, has now announced plans to expand its operations into "over 200 countries" by June of next year.

And that plan begins today with launches in Ireland and The Netherlands, and a promise to be live in the rest of Europe by the end of the month. It will then hit another 79 countries, including Canada and much of Latin America, Australasia and Africa by the end of February. Plans are then a bit sketchy, though there's a pledge to add another 115 countries to the pile by the end of June 2012.

Perhaps more interesting, in its announcement yesterday the company said that it "had chosen not to focus on the USA and Japan, which only represent 25% of global music consumption, due to market saturation and low growth forecasts".

Which is a slightly odd thing to say, given that a 25% share for just two countries is significant, and demonstrates that these are actually two very valuable markets. Possibly Deezer realises its slightly disappointing product would struggle to compete against superior services already live in these territories, particularly the US with the likes of Spotify, Rdio, MOG and Rhapsody.

Deezer's announcement also informs us that it's now four years since the company "invented music streaming". Given that it was founded the same year a five year old Last.fm was sold to CBS, a year after the Spotify company was incorporated, and many years after the likes of LAUNCHcast and Pandora first began to popularise streaming music, that claim is laughably wrong in several ways.

Also, even if you count all disputed territories as stand alone nations, it's very hard to identify more than 198 countries in the world.

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RADIO 1 ANNOUNCES SPECIALIST REJIGS
Radio 1 announced some rejigs to its specialist show output yesterday, the first big schedule changes since Ben Cooper took over as Controller at the nation's favourite.

First up, dubstep dudes Skream and Benga will get the late night slot on Fridays, with two hours in the BBC station's prime dance music slot, a show that will follow both Annie Mac and Pete Tong's weekly weekend outings in the schedule.

The other announcements related to the 2-4am specialist show slot, which is slightly less of a graveyard in the days of the listen-anytime iPlayer. First up Friction (and that's the drum n bass DJ, not the hip hop DJ with an extra k, or the former-Radio-1-now-Asian-Network Friction either) will get that slot on a Monday morning, with 1Xtra hip hop champion Charlie Sloth on Tuesdays and Toddla T on Fridays.

There will also be a new show on Thursday nights at midnight called the Radio 1 Residency which will see a roster of DJs hosting a week in turn, including Heidi, Chuckie and Kutski. This will be in addition to the station's established residency show for newer DJ talent, In New DJs We Trust, which will continue to air at 9pm on Thursdays with a new batch of DJs to be announced in the new year.

The rejig means some of Radio 1's specialist show old guard are departing, including Judge Jules, Gilles Peterson and Fabio & Grooverider, and the not quite so old guard Kissy Sell Out. Judge Jules will continue to DJ in the clubs, though is also planning to finally put his legal training to work with entertainment law firm Sheridans. Meanwhile, Peterson is known to be talking to 6music about a possible new show there.

Commenting on all this lot, Cooper told CMU: ''It's important that Radio 1 continues to develop new talent and the station keeps evolving for our young listeners. These changes to our evening schedule will strengthen the range and depth of the specialist music offering on the network".

On the departing talent, he added: "We'd like to thank Jules, Gilles and Fabio & Grooverider for over a decade of hard work and commitment to music at Radio 1, and also to Kissy Sell Out for his contribution over the last three years. All are incredibly talented and we wish them the very best for the future".

In sort of related news, Tim Westwood has been talking about the future of Radio 1 sister station 1Xtra, the urban focused channel on which he provides - according to the 1Xtra website - "hot joints and humour" every day from 4pm. He was asked if he thought his station would ever be lined up for the axe like 6music and the Asian Network both were when BBC bosses were looking for quick and easy cost saving measures (though not that easy as it turned out, of course, given listener protests ensured both digital stations were saved).

But Westwood is certain 1Xtra would never even make it on the list for axing. He told Digital Spy: "I think 1Xtra is the most listened to young station on the BBC. It's bringing young people in. I think it's very important. We provide a very real and important role because there are no commercial stations on a national level doing urban music and supporting UK artists. A lot of these British artists have now risen to the top of the charts through 1Xtra - Wretch 32, Tinie Tempah - artists that we helped break and create a fanbase for".

So that's good news. At least someone has now convinced Westwood people are actually listening to his 1Xtra show. He seemed less certain back in March of last year...

radiofail.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/tim-westwoods-famously-honest-rajar-fail/

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STRONGROOM STUDIOS TO LAUNCH RADIO STATION
East London studio Strongroom has announced it is launching its own online radio station which will include programmes from various record labels, music magazines, promoters and arty types, most based in and around Shoreditch, where the Strongroom complex is situated.

Strongroom Alive will launch next February, initially broadcasting on FM and Freeview for a month, and then via the net. Partners providing programmes include: Vice Magazine, Clash Music, Ross Allen, Moshi Moshi, 1234 Festival, Wang, Ninja Tune, Pure Evil Gallery, Product 250/YMC, The Child of Jago, Black Rat Gallery and Dazed & Confused.

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PLANET ROCK ANNOUNCES NEW BREAKFAST HOST
Digital rock station Planet Rock has announced a new recruit for its breakfast show in the form of Paul Anthony, who most recently worked for rival rock station Rock Radio, recently rebranded Real Radio XS by owners GMG Radio of course. Prior to that Anthony worked for two decades in local commercial radio, possibly most notably for Signal Radio in Staffordshire.

Confirming that Anthony will take over Planet Rock breakfast on 3 Jan, the station's Programme Director Trevor White told reporters: "Paul is a great fit for us - he is exactly the talent we've been looking for and he is ready to take breakfast to its rightful place at Planet Rock. He brings an encyclopaedic knowledge of rock, unbridled enthusiasm and a contact book that reads like a who's who of rock music".

Anthony himself added: "For me this is like winning the lottery. If you are a rock fan, Planet Rock is the only place to be - and for once the timing was right for both of us. I am really looking forward to waking up the entire UK with the best music in the world. It doesn't get much better than that".

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BON IVER'S FITNESS REGIME REVEALED
I can't tell if this is a joke or not. Just look at Justin Vernon and his bandmates working out backstage. Surely it's a joke. But Rogcity Fitness, which posted the video below to promote a new fitness DVD release, seems to be a real company run by fitness instructor Jeff Rogers, with a website featuring testimonials from people other than Vernon. Also, the message in the video is actually very positive and would be a weird thing to mock.

Anyway, the Bon Iver main man says in the video: "When I started doing it, there was just a lack of... hating it ... Just, like, the word 'workout' sort of sucks. It doesn't make you feel good, it's sort of, like, dorky, or something. [But] when I started working out with Jeff I just felt so good".

Watch for yourself here: vimeo.com/33296092

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