A round up of music and music business events happening in the next seven days...

Polaris winner announced. The winner of Canada's version of the Mercury Prize will be announced today. In line for the honour are Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Zaki Ibrahim, Metric, METZ, Purity Ring, Colin Stetson, Tegan & Sara, A Tribe Called Red, Whitehorse and Young Galaxy.

Reeperbahn Festival. Taking over Hamburg's Reeperbahn district from Wednesday to Saturday this week is the Reeperbahn Festival. We previewed a few artists we reckon you should be checking out if you're going (and even if you're not) in a playlist last week. Also not to be missed will be Dave Stewart's keynote speech, about which he said: "I'm gonna talk about the elephant in the room. Everyone talks about music from a music business perspective, I'm going to talk about a new world order from the artist's perspective and how that will change the business and who works in it".

Music 4.5 - Smart Radio: Are we moving towards the death of music radio? On Tuesday, Music 4.5's latest event will ask if streaming services spell the end for music radio as we know it. There will be a number of presentations and two panel debates, involving figures on both sides of the fence, including BBC Radio 2 and 6music's Head Of Music Jeff Smith and Deezer CEO Mark Foster.

MusicTank funding report launched. MusicTank will publish its latest industry report, called 'Easy Money? The definitive UK guide to funding music projects', this Thursday. The report was first unveiled via an interview with its author, Remi Harris, as The Great Escape back in May. The report will look at the various funding options available to artists and musical entrepreneurs, including grants, crowdfunding, loans, investment and sponsorship.

New releases. It's another busy week for your ears and wallets, with new albums from Drake, Kings Of Leon, Chvrches, Sting, Cher, Machinedrum, The Internet, Roy Harper, Mazzy Star and Jesu. There's also the new re-issue of Nirvana's 'In Utero', a Metallica live album, and a vinyl compilation of music from Studio Ghibli films, which is my pick of the week. Also there is a new EP from US Girls, a single from Mew in (free) app form, and a short film from Madonna being issued via BitTorrent.

Gigs and tours. Live music, eh? Well, if you want some of that you can get it this week from Paramore, Cloud Control, Julio Bashmore, Deptford Goth, Psychic Ills, Johnny Borrell, Peaking Lights and the returning Ja Ja Ja showcase night.

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LABELS SCORE SOME VICTORIES IN LONG-RUNNING VIMEO DISPUTE
A federal judge in New York has issued a summary judgement on a long-running dispute between the US record industry and video-sharing website Vimeo which, while actually finding in favour of the video site more than it finds against it, includes two significant victories for the record labels.

The US industry, led by Capitol (then part of EMI, now part of Universal), first sued Vimeo in 2009, claiming that the video site routinely hosted videos containing uncleared sound recordings and in doing so infringed its copyrights.

Unsurprisingly, Vimeo said that, while it did indeed routinely host unlicensed music on its site, it was cleared of liability because of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which provides a safe harbour for tech firms which inadvertently enable others to infringe providing they remove infringing content if made aware of it.

The Capitol lawsuit claimed that Vimeo's DMCA takedown system was insufficient in various ways, but in her summary judgement last week judge Ronnie Abrams did not concur, ruling that in the main the video firm did as much as it was required to do under the DMCA to remove infringing content when instructed to do so by rights owners (although the DMCA itself is pretty vague on the issue, numerous US courts have generally ruled that a very basic takedown system is sufficient to get the safe harbour protection).

However, Abrams has ruled that the copyright infringement claim relating to 55 of the 199 videos listed in Capitol's lawsuit can proceed to a full trial, because in those 55 cases staff members at Vimeo interacted with the offending video in some way, such as 'liking' them, commenting on them, or featuring them in curated playlists.

The suggestion here is that, while under the DMCA the Vimeo team isn't obligated to monitor all of the millions of videos uploaded to its system for copyright violations, their might be an obligation to remove copyright infringing material, even without a takedown request, if discovered by staff members through other activities.

Although Abrams is careful not to be drawn either way on this question, if a subsequent court was to rule that way, it could force other user-upload sites to rethink the ways their staff interact with uploaded content.

The other area where the labels prevail in the summary judgement, and this one without further deliberations in court, is the increasingly important issue of pre-1972 catalogue.

As much previously reported, sound recording copyrights in the US that originate from before 1972 are protected by state rather than federal law, which has led many rights owners to argue that provisions in the DMCA - as a piece of federal law - do not apply, so that the safe-harbours assured by efficient takedowns are not available.

And on that issue, Abrams is with the labels, which poses interesting challenges for Vimeo et al, which in theory are now obliged to automatically remove any recordings uploaded by users that originate from before 1972.

Vimeo is yet to comment.

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MIA TAKES ONGOING DISPUTE WITH NFL OVER 2012 SUPER BOWL SHOW PUBLIC
Remember when MIA brought America to a stand still by raising her middle finger during a performance at the Superbowl? No, me neither, but a quick scan of the CMU archives confirms that in early 2012 MIA did indeed ruffle a few feathers by making the "obscene gesture" while singing a song at the US's big annual kick around.

To be fair to Americans everywhere, despite broadcaster NBC and Super Bowl owner the NFL deeply distancing themselves from the finger lift, which MIA said was a spur of the moment thing and not pre-planned, the incident didn't generate anything like the outrage Janet Jackson's nipple reveal did at the same event in 2004. And unlike in 2004, American media regulator the FCC didn't wade in with multi-million dollar fines, and so the story fizzled out. Or so we thought.

But it turns out that the NFL cared deeply about the finger moment, and shortly after the incident began legal action because MIA's contract with the Super Bowl makers included a clause that said the singer acknowledged "the great value of the goodwill associated with the NFL and the tremendous public respect and reputation for wholesomeness enjoyed by the NFL" and that she would "ensure that all elements of [her] performance, including without limitation wardrobe, shall be consistent with such goodwill and reputation".

Believing MIA to have breached that clause, the NFL has seemingly been pushing for damages and a full apology ever since, albeit behind closed doors through an arbitration process agreed in that original contract. But, says the American sports body, as that process has gone through the motions the singer has not been playing ball at all.

Specific gripes in a letter recently submitted to the International Centre For Dispute Resolution by the NFL's legal reps include MIA allegedly "challenging the arbitration clause in the agreement, failing to pay her share of the costs of arbitration, failing to attend mediation, failing to consummate a settlement-in-principle achieved, using video clips of her Super Bowl performance to promote her business endeavours and refusing to take responsibility or apologise for her actions which were broadcast worldwide".

Quite where this dispute is heading legally speaking isn't clear, but MIA's people are seemingly keen to make the matter public. Noting some of the political issues on which MIA routinely comments, especially those occurring in her family's home country of Sri Lanka, the singer's lawyer Howard King told The Hollywood Reporter last week: "She is going to go public with an explanation of how ridiculous it was for the NFL and its fans to devote such furore to this incident, while ignoring the genocide occurring in her home country and several other countries, topics she frequently speaks to".

King also told reporters: "Until now, we had reluctantly remained quiet in the hopes of not becoming subject to the whims of 28 rich NFL owners who wanted to crush this brown, outspoken young lady, especially since they are making her life miserable for the cost of a 30 second spot in one of this weekend's secondary games. But ultimately, we could not be forced into the type of public apology demanded by the NFL".

He went on: "Of course, the NFL's claimed reputation for wholesomeness is hilarious in light of the weekly felonies committed by its stars, the bounties placed by coaches on opposing players, the homophobic and racist comments uttered by its players, the complete disregard for the health of players and the premature deaths that have resulted from same, and the raping of public entities ready to sacrifice public funds to attract teams".

This dispute, we suspect, will rumble on for some time.

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2DAY FM BROKE LAW IN AIRING MIDDLETON HOSPITAL PRANK CALL, SAYS AUSSIE MEDIA REGULATOR
The Australian radio station that aired a prank call to a hospital in London while it was caring for a then pregnant Kate Middleton "broke the law", according to a report by the Australian Communications And Media Authority.

As much previously reported, the prank call on Southern Cross Austereo's 2Day FM station became global news last December, with presenters Mel Greig and Michael Christian pretending to be the Queen and Prince Charles respectively. But the story took a tragic turn when one of the nurses tricked in the call, Jacintha Saldanha, took her own life shortly afterwards.

The UK's Crown Prosecution Service decided not to press charges after investigating the incident, but the media regulator in Australia has seemingly concluded that Southern Cross Austereo did break Australian laws by airing the prank phone call without first getting the consent of those who featured in it.

The ACMA report is yet to be made public, but has come to light because of legal action being taken by the 2Day FM owner which is seemingly trying to stop the regulator from publishing the report at all, arguing that it has no power to rule that the media firm broke the law. Southern Cross Austereo says only a court can reach a criminal finding, and the Australian Federal Police are already investigating the incident.

As also previously reported, although both presenters went off the air after Saldanha's death, Christian subsequently returned on a show on another Southern Cross Austereo station, and was somewhat controversially declared 'Top Jock' by the media firm back in June.

Greig, meanwhile, has not returned to the airwaves and is suing the broadcaster for failing to provide a safe workplace, presumably on the grounds it should have cleared the prank call before allowing it to be aired. It's now thought she'll also give evidence to the London inquest into Saldanha's death.

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WILL.I.AM COUNTER SUES IN I AM DISPUTE
Will.i.am has filed a countersuit against Pharrell Williams in the ongoing dispute over who has the right to say "I am".

As previously reported, legal reps for the two stars started firing pot-shots back in June when reports first circulated that Will.i.am was planning to sue Williams over his plan to register various trademarks around his I Am Other brand, which the Black Eyed Pea reckoned would conflict with his I Am fashion line.

It turned out that Team Will.i.am hadn't actually sued, but had filed an objection with the US trademark registry. But then Williams' lawyers did sue, seeking court confirmation that the producer's I Am Other activities did not infringe any of Will.i.am's IP rights. The Black Eyed Pea's new countersuit responds to that.

Most notable in the countersuit is a section that lists some of William's past alleged IP run-ins, an attempt to seemingly portray Pharrell as someone with little respect for other people's trademarks or copyrights. Which you might say is a little pot and kettle, given the various copyright claims against Will.i.am's work over the years, but there you go.

Included in this list is William's label being called Star Track (a rip off of 'Star Trek', Will.i.am says), and his use of the Pink Slime mark (very close to Mattel's Slime trademark). It then goes on to note the previously reported claims being made by two parties against Robin Thicke's ode to rape 'Blurred Lines', which Pharrell co-wrote, produced and guest on.

There are two plagiarism claims in relation to 'Blurred Lines', one with the estate of Marvin Gaye and the other with Bridgeport Music in relation to a track it owns by George Clinton and Funkadelic. Though Clinton himself has criticised Bridgeport's claim over 'Blurred Lines', unlike when Will.i.am lifted his track '(Not Just) Knee Deep' for Black Eyed Peas release 'Shut Up'. As Billboard notes, that time Clinton himself sued, though the case was settled last year.

If this one ever gets to court, it could be fun.

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AEG OPPOSES BIGGER COURTROOM FOR CLOSING ARGUMENTS IN JACKSONS CASE
Lawyers for AEG Live have reportedly hit out at plans to move the final stages of the much previously reported Jacksons v AEG legal battle into a bigger court room to accommodate more press.

The legal squabble between the Jackson family and the live giant, in which the former claim the latter should be held liable for the 2009 death of Michael Jackson, reaches its very final furlong this week.

So far the long-running legal battle has occurred in a relatively small LA courtroom, limiting the number of journalists allowed to watch the proceedings. That, coupled with a ban on TV cameras, as arguably contributed to there being less of a media circus around this trial, despite some juicy revelations and testimonies, especially during the case for the Jacksons.

Seemingly court authorities have decided that for closing arguments a bigger courtroom will be used to accommodate more of the press, but AEG's legal team argues that a sudden increased media presence could influence jurors, as well as putting more emphasis than there should be on closing arguments.

According to RadarOnline.com, Team AEG last week filed a motion with the court that said: "Counsel for defendants were quite startled - and concerned - when the court informed the parties that the court intended to conduct closing arguments in the large courtroom, rather than in [the room] where the entire trial has been held. We write to ask the court to reconsider [because] the conspicuous increase in media presence that will necessarily accompany the move could have a substantial and prejudicial effect on the jury".

As a compromise AEG has seemingly suggested that the final stage proceedings of the case be screened in another room for journalists. It remains to be seen what happens.

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BOYZONE MAY HAVE TO AXE GATELY FOOTAGE FROM LIVE SHOW BECAUSE OF DISPUTE WITH ESTATE
Boyzone have reportedly run into conflict with the Stephen Gately Estate over their upcoming 20th anniversary tour, which could result in plans to include footage of the late boy band singer in the new live shows being scuppered. The group may also not be able to include previously unreleased recordings of Gately singing on a new album.

Fellow Boyzoner Shane Lynch told The Sun: "The tour is 100% a celebration of our relationship with Stephen - it's meant to be a party for us guys where we can remember him. We can never leave our Steo out. But unfortunately for us guys, you have Stephen's estate in the background and it's very difficult to take his image on board".

He went on: "Even though he was part of Boyzone, I don't know to what extent we can involve him in the show. The estate has their say and sometimes it's a bit difficult to come to a compromise of what we can and can't use. Some people have different ideas of what's right and what's wrong. I don't want to pinpoint any individual - I just call it the estate".

It is thought that Gately's widower Andrew Cowles has given his permission for the use of footage of the singer at the upcoming Boyzone shows, and that it's members of Gately's family who are behind the block, possibly because they believe the Estate should benefit from the shows, and a financial deal has yet to be reached.

Gately, of course, died aged 33 in 2009 while in Majorca.

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THE KILLS SLAYING FIFTH LP
Last spotted making tracks with The Dead Weather, Allison Mosshart is now also writing and taping as part of The Kills again.

The band, Mosshart's collaboration with Mr Kate Moss Jamie Hince, are said to be working on a fifth LP to follow 2011's 'Blood Pressures', also confirming four shows in the States.

Whilst those aren't a lot of good to anyone not living in the US, this just-premiered tour documentary charting a 2011 Kills set at the Paris Olympia is.

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JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE INFLICTS TKO
Just FYI, Justin Timberlake added a new track to his 'singles I've released' cache last week, and its name was/is 'TKO' aka 'Technical Knockout'.

One thing it isn't is a Le Tigre cover, and one thing it is, is a song with lots of 'love is like boxing' motifs and a welterweight Timbaland 'beat'.

So, that's all grand. Acting as a first taste of JT's catchily-titled new LP, 'The 20/20 Experience 2 Of 2', I give you 'TKO'.

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TUPAC FILM UNDERWAY
It looks like the long-mooted Tupac film might finally have financing and a script, which is nice if you're into rap biopics.

Whilst facts on the feature - detailed via Deadline and since confirmed by its makers Morgan Creek - are scarce, with a cast and director still TBA, the $45 million flick will, apparently, start filming in Atlanta in February 2014. Deadline reports Tupac's mother Afeni Shakur and hip hop mogul LT Hutton will co-produce, and that Morgan Creek has secured the rights to use Tupac's music as a soundtrack.

The film isn't the only adaptation of Tupac's life and times on its way; a Broadway musical called 'Holler If Ya Hear Me' was confirmed earlier this year.

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WILEY/DAPPY'S MIND-MEETING CANCELLED
Wiley's Dappy-'pimped' 'Meeting Of The Minds' trek, aka the six hybrid live dates the pair were set to headline later this year, has been wiped.

Wappy's reps haven't explained the cancellation, meaning it might be related to ticket sales. I'm not saying anything.

Any fans that did pay to see the greatest 'Meeting Of The Minds' since Frost/Nixon can get their quids back if they so wish.

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RUN THE JEWELS PLAYING BRIXTON DATE
Rap types El-P and Killer Mike will pitch their Run The Jewels collaboration at a one-off show in London this winter.

The place is Electric Brixton, the time; 26 Nov at, oh I don't know, shall we meet outside at 8pm to be safe?

Essential advance listening is, naturally, Run The Jewels' debut LP, which is still up as a free download here.

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FAT FREDDY'S DROP THROW OCTOBER SHOWS
New Zealand septet Fat Freddy's Drop will be here, in England, this time next week to play the first in a series of live sets. Starting at the Oxford Academy on 1 Oct, the trip wraps on 5 Oct at London's Brixton Academy.

Catch the dates, and a vid to match FFD's new 'Blackbird' LP track 'Clean The House', as they fall:

1 Oct: Oxford, Academy
2 Oct: Bristol, Colston Hall
4 Oct: Manchester Academy
5 Oct: London, Brixton Academy

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FESTIVAL LINE-UP UPDATE: LE GUESS WHO, FREEZE AND UNSOUND
Today's FLUU brings updates via three very different but equally appealing winter festivals; LDN EDM/extreme skiing event Freeze; Poland's too-cool Unsound; and Netherlands quest Le Guess Who.

Listings of the latest additions to all three are as writ...

FREEZE, Clapham Common, London, 27 Nov - 1 Dec: Madeon. www.freezefestival.com

LE GUESS WHO, Utrecht, Holland, 28 Nov 1 Dec: Ty Segall, Ólafur Arnalds, Yo La Tengo, Mark Lanegan, Damien Jurado, Destroyer, Linda Perhacs. leguesswho.nl

UNSOUND, Krakow, Poland, 13-20 Oct: Copeland, VIsionist, Beneath, Lee Gamble b2b Miles Whittaker, Chino, Eltron John, Daniel Drumz, Ptaki, Lutto Lento, DJ Olivia. www.unsound.pl

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INSANE CLOWN POSSE FESTIVAL FACES BANKRUPTCY, AS RAP DUO ARE SUED BY FORMER PUBLICIST
Insane Clown Posse didn't have a great week last week. First the rap duo's former publicist launched a lawsuit against them, alleging that she had been sexually harassed by other members of staff at their label, and had been asked to obtain illegal weapons for photo shoots, amongst other things. Then reports emerged that the Posse's seemingly popular annual Gathering Of The Juggalos festival is actually struggling financially.

According to The Southern, a number of creditors are complaining that they have not been paid in relation to services provided for this year's edition of the festival, while others who have received cheques say that they've bounced. Debts are thought to reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Patrick Gail, the owner of one company owed money, Event-Tex, said in a statement that his company had never had problems with the event in the past but a cheque for $54,000 this year had not cleared. He added: "In conversation with many of the other vendors who were contracted for the event, it has been learned that none of them have been paid. The total amount owed from our discussions with the vendors exceeds $300,000".

Following those reports, the duo's label, Psychopathic Records, issued a statement to The Associated Press saying: "Putting on a five day music festival this ambitious is a very time consuming and expensive process. Unfortunately, in our attempt to provide the best possible event for our fans, expenses exceeded estimates and expectations, which we had not previously planned for. The company putting on the event, Juggalo Gathering Inc, has no intention of turning its back on these financial obligations and is in the process of preparing a plan to take care of all vendors. We thank all of our vendors for their understanding".

Earlier last week, Psychopathic Records was already in the news after the company's former publicist Andrea Pellegrini launched a lawsuit alleging that she and others employed there had been the target of various incidents of abuse and other dubious activity at various points since she starting working for the firm in 2009.

According to TMZ, this includes being told by a colleague that he had a "fat cock" and that "he'd like to fuck her", and later being given a dildo as a gift by the same colleague after she changed her Facebook status to 'single'. She also says that she was refused access to private toilets at the Gathering Of The Juggalos and was instead forced to use shared facilities "often full with naked male strangers".

Her lawsuit is specifically suing for wrongful termination of her contract, as well as seeking damages for "fright and shock" suffered while working for ICP, as well as "horror, outrage and indignity".

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JEFF TOIG JOINS SOUNDCLOUD
SoundCloud has announced the appointment Jeff Toig as its new Chief Business Officer. Toig was founder of Muve Music, the US-based mobile music service recently acquired by AT&T. In his new role he will be based in Soundcloud's US office.

Soundcloud founder and CEO Alex Ljung told CMU: "We want to recruit remarkable people in the industry to help drive our business forward. Jeff's strategic vision, leadership experience and mobile expertise will be incredibly valuable to SoundCloud, our employees, our users and our partners. He will play an important role as we continue to build our global company".

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ARRESTS MADE AFTER RIHANNA POSTS SLOW LORIS PIC
Rihanna has inadvertently caused two people to be arrested in Thailand after she posted a photograph of herself with a slow loris to Instagram.

"Look who was talkin dirty to me!" the singer wrote under the picture, which showed her posing with the rare animal on her shoulder. This (the photograph, rather than the caption) alerted Thai police to the fact that the animal was being held in captivity illegally, resulting in two men being arrested.

In a statement, Phuket district police chief Weera Kerdsirimongkon said: "Authorities were alerted to the picture and last night police arrested the two individuals who brought out the loris as a photo opportunity for tourists. It's like a cat-and-mouse game. But this time it's bigger because a celebrity like Rihanna posted the picture and there were more than 200,000 likes from around the world".

Two slow lorises were confiscated from the men, who now face a fine of up to £800 and up to four years in prison.

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