Apple not closing Beats Music, though a rebrand under iTunes could be on the cards
There has been some debate as to what it was that most persuaded Apple to part with $3 billion earlier this year to acquire big bad Beats. Did it really want to acquire the firm's shitty headphone technology? Or was it more interested in a brand that is well popular with the kids? Or was it the fledgling Beats streaming service that really got the Apple dudes excited?

Well, rumours running rife online last night suggested, just for a moment, that the latter definitely wasn't a factor, as TechCrunch announced that Apple was getting ready to shut the Beats Music service down. Which might explain, conspiracy theorists deduced, why there was no big Beats Music announcement at Apple's recent iPhone 6-launching press junket. Someone probably ought to prepare Beats' Gurner-In-Chief Ellen DeGeneres for the bad news.

Except, didn't Apple boss Tim Cook recently say in an interview with journalist Charlie Rose that he was a big fan of Beats Music, and that it had had an impact on his company's decision to acquire the wider Beats company?

As The Music Network noted last week, Cook remarked: "One night, I'm sitting playing with [the Beats streaming service] versus some others and all of a sudden it dawns on me that when I listen to theirs for a while, I feel completely different. And the reason is: they recognised that human curation was important in the subscription service. The sequence of songs that you listen to affects how you feel ... I couldn't sleep that night, so I was thinking 'we need to do this'".

So, all you Beats Music doom-sayers out there (what do you mean you were all asleep when this was being debated online last night), don't be getting ahead of yourselves. For starters, Apple's spokesperson is pretty adamantly denying the TechCrunch story. Meanwhile, insiders say that the Beats Music closure rumours likely stem from the fact discussions are being had about whether or not to reposition the streaming service under the iTunes brand. So technically Beats Music would cease, but the service itself would continue.

Apple, of course, already has a Pandora-style service operating in the US called iTunes Radio, and word has it that set-up now also sits under Beats Music CEO Ian Rogers. So behind the scenes the two services are becoming more closely aligned, and bringing the Beats Music catalogue and curation framework into the iTunes ecosystem would certainly expose it to a massive audience of music consumers, in the US and worldwide.

Some reckon that eventuality is now a given, and could kick in sometime next year. So if you prefer beats to tunes, I'd get streaming now while you can.

The Edge's Californian mega-estate given green light (kind of)
So-o. Staff at the California Coastal Commission have recommended that a flashy five-home development proposed by David 'The Evans' Edge - guitarist in STD-like rock pests U2 - go ahead, this following a five year debate over the fact that his initial plans weren't very environmentally-friendly.

Evans has had to adapt his blueprints for the multi-mansion compound after they were rejected by the CCC back in 2011, over fears the properties would destroy a large swathe of wild coastline, and ruin the seaside vistas from/of the area. Nor did organisation take kindly to the fact that Evans had tried to bypass environmental legislation and maximise the development by handing in five separate applications using five separate corporate names. It all looked a bit shady, basically.

Meanwhile, having initially opposed the plans, a State body called the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, which is meant to promote the use of Californian land for nature reserves and public spaces, changed its position on the property development, after Evans had, to quote the LA Times, "agreed to pay the conservancy $750,000 in cash so that it could purchase land, including an easement across the properties to extend the Coastal Slope Trail". Just a coincidence, no doubt.

Skipping aaaaaallllllll the way ahead to now, and following extensive negotiations between the CCC and 'Team The Edge', a settlement has been reached, though only on the condition that the development be downsized, plus the houses be simplified and, in the words of Evans' rep Fiona Hutton, "built to fit the natural contours of the hillside". Having given the whole thing its informal approval, the Commission's full panel will now take an official vote in October. I guess The Edge is hoping that they all have iTunes, and are massive fans of U2, and uninvited gifts. And Bono's. Big. Annoying. Face.

The CCC's Senior Deputy Director Jack Ainsworth says: "From day one, I had told these guys that the one way to get to approval. And here we are back at that same place many years later".

Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso sign to Universal
Two-thirds of Swedish House Mafia's former membership, Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso, have announced that they have signed to Universal for the release of their debut album as Axwell /\ Ingrosso. The deal has been done with Universal's Def Jam label in the US, though the record will be released through Virgin EMI in the UK.

Says Def Jam CEO Steve Bartels: "We are proud at Def Jam to have Axwell /\ Ingrosso choose us to be their label home. Their music is forward, innovative, invigorating and boundless. Def Jam has the artistry and energy of DJ culture within its pedigree, right there in our logo. This is a significant moment for all of us as at Def Jam".

The news comes shortly after the announcement that Irving Azoff's Azoff MSG Entertainment company has bought a 50% stake in Axwell and Ingrosso's management reps ATM Artists.

WhoSampled launches Android app
Bad news for iPhone owners everywhere, no longer will you be able to gloat about having access to the WhoSampled app, with its top sample, cover and remix tapping approach to music discovery (and, often, rediscovery). No, those Android using twonks are getting it too. And to think, Steve Jobs gave his life to stop shit like this from occurring.

So yes, the WhoSampled app is now available for Android-powered phones from the Google Play store, enabling Android phone users to track what music from the past has influenced and informed the pop tunes of today.

Or, in the words of the official blurb, "the app provides detailed information on songs, including what other songs have sampled them, what artists have covered music from other artists, and what remixes were then made for a track - WhoSampled allows users to explore the musical connections in their own music collection".

Commenting on the new app, WhoSampled CEO Nadav Poraz told CMU: "It's great to be going live on Android today, not only because of the breadth of the platform but because it's something our users have been requesting for a while now. The WhoSampled experience on Android brings even more personalisation to our music discovery path, allowing users to break down the DNA of the music they have stored on their Android devices and discover exciting new music as a result".

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We Are Hunted co-founder launches new SoundCloud-powered discovery service
A website that works out the 99 most played tracks on SoundCloud in the last month and then aggregates them into a lovely wall of images? What a wonder!

Or, rather, what a wonder.fm. It's the new music discovery service from Stephen Phillips, co-founder of We Are Hunted, the briefly popular music data and recommendation set up that was acquired by Twitter in 2012, mainly so the social network could morph it into something less good in 2013, and shut it down completely in 2014.

Discussing life since Twitter, and his new venture, Phillips told Gigaom: "I am an entrepreneur to my bones, so ultimately, the call of the wild came for me again, and here I am. I just couldn't help myself - I'm an obsessive music hacker!"

As for wonder.fm, he added: "My hope is that music fans seeking cool sounds outside the top 40 might find it a really fun app".

Wonder.fm, which pulls in audio from SoundCloud in a pretty seamless way, enabling you to play the top 99 at the click of a button, also allows you to delve a little deeper into SoundCloud data, with more functionality being planned. Which is all kinda cool; though long term success may be reliant on SoundCloud sorting out its licensing issues with the labels and publishers.

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YouTube adds realtime analytics
Google has added realtime analytics to its YouTube video manager dashboard, giving content owners the option to see how well videos are performing at any one moment in time, so if you've just paid someone to artificially bump up your YouTube stats, you can see if they're doing their job. No, I've no idea what I'm talking about either.

The new realtime reporting tab on the video dashboard enables content owners to see how well their vids have performed hour-by-hour in the last 48 hours and minute-by-minute in the last sixty minutes. The new functionality comes in response to calls from content owners for more up-to-date data, and Google promises to add future real-time functionality down the line.

So, YouTube channel managers, go enjoy your constantly refreshing analytic charts. Though don't get too distracted and forget to create any new content.

Iggy to deliver John Peel Lecture
On 13 Oct, the music world's favourite Iggy - so, that's Azalea, surely? - is going to give the John Peel Lecture at this year's Radio Festival, which takes place in Salford between 13-15 Oct. Choosing 'Free Music In A Capitalist Society' as a topic, Iggy follows in the footprints of past speakers Charlotte Church, Billy Bragg and Pete Townshend in taking the JPL stand.

Looking forward to the big day, Iggy says: "I've never given a lecture in my life, but on the day I'm going to attempt a discussion on the subject of free music in a capitalist society. This is a struggle which never ends".

So that can't got wrong. Paying respects to the late great Peel, the official statement continues: "I get the feeling that John was the kind of guy who would have done his job for nothing, as long as he felt great about it. So we have that in common. He's done a lot to give others a voice, and that's the most important gift you can give. Here was a person with strong opinions and enthusiasms who wasn't defined by any system, because of that his show became an exciting location, kind of like a shop that's a good hang. So it was a social as well as a musical phenomenon".

BBC Music Director Bob Shennan, meanwhile, is confident Iggy will "give a topical and thought-provoking speech which 6 Music listeners and BBC Four viewers will enjoy".

He's singling 6 Music and BBC Four out because the Lecture will be aired live on the former, and again on the latter on 19 Oct. And obviously, the Iggy we're talking about here is Pop.

Rixton announce debut album details
Manchester tykes Rixton have announced some details of their debut album, including its US release date. 6 Jan, if you must know. Oh, and its title, 'Let The Road'.

Produced by Benny Blanco, it features one song written by Ed Sheeran, but most of the tracks on the record actually started life in the back of a caravan that contained no Sheeran whatsoever.

Says the group's Jake Roche: "Let The Road is something we're incredibly proud of. Songs have survived six years to make it on this album, back when me and Danny were writing in the caravan having no idea where they would end up. We feel incredibly humbled to be able to share this with our fans, and we hope you enjoy listening to it, just as much as we enjoyed making it".

Following the album's release, the band will spend various-sized chunks of February, March and April next year touring the States as Ariana Grande's support act. On that, Roche added: "Being asked to be Ariana's special guest is a huge honour. We're massive fans of her and her incredible talent and we're so excited to play these prestigious venues all over America. We're also very excited to play some new songs that fans haven't had the chance to hear live yet".

Yes, it must have been particularly difficult to secure a support slot with one of their manager Scooter Braun's other priority acts. Anyway, before all of that, there's the little matter of Rixton's next UK tour, which begins next month. Here are the dates:

22 Oct: Oxford, Academy 2
23 Oct: Birmingham, Academy 2
24 Oct: Leicester, Academy 2
26 Oct: Manchester, Academy 2
27 Oct: Leeds, The Wardrobe
28 Oct: Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
30 Oct: Newcastle, Academy 2
31 Oct: Glasgow, Oran Mor
2 Nov: Sheffield, Academy 2
3 Nov: London, Koko
4 Nov: Southampton, Brook
6 Nov: Brighton, Concorde 2
7 Nov: Cardiff, CF10

And here, to round things off, is the video for their next single, 'Wait On Me', which is out on 9 Nov.

Tanya Tagaq wins Polaris Music Prize
Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq has been announced as the winner of this year's $30,000 Polaris Music Prize, with her album 'Animism'.

This year's runners up (let's call them losers) were Arcade Fire, Basia Bulat, Drake, Mac DeMarco, Jessy Lanza, Owen Pallett, Shad, Timber Timbre and YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN. They all get $2000 each as a consolation for not being able to write music that is good enough. And they also had a slap up meal, which is important to remember. No one can take that away from them.

Using her acceptable speech to raise awareness of Canada's indigenous culture, as did accordionist Geoff in his introduction to Tagaq's performance at the event, she called on Canadians to eat and wear seal, saying: "People should wear and eat seal as much as possible because if you can imagine an indigenous culture thriving and surviving on sustainable resource, wearing seal and eating it, it's delicious and there's lots of them. And fuck PETA".

Later she added: "We've been doing it our own way without backing down artistically or conforming, so to be recognised in this way and have so many people latch on makes me feel the world is tolerable. There's so much hurt in the world and within indigenous cultures with colonialism. Canada is in a desperate need for repair and I think a lot of people are tired of living this way and just to have people understand where we're coming from makes me have hope that we can move forward and expose the true history of Canada".

You can see Berner's introduction and Tagaq's incredible performance at last night's ceremony here, and her acceptance speech here. Or you could just watch the whole four hour show here.

Katherine Jenkins, Charli XCX, OxforOxford and more

Other notable announcements and developments today...

• Popera star Katherine Jenkins is going to present a second, twelve-week series of her 'Classic FM Collection' show. It'll begin airing on 5 Oct at 2pm. "I can't wait to be back on air!", she exclaims.

• The release date of Charli XCX's gobby new LP 'Sucker' has got shoved back, or forward, from 21 Oct to 26 Jan 2015. Apparently it's because her label want to make all the cash they can off XCX's hit single 'Boom Clap', as she explained yesterday via Twitter: "It's all COOL nothing's WRONG the album's DONE but it's just no one really knew 'Boom Clap' would do as well as it's doing...".

• The Quietus has announced that the next release through its record label will be a new single from The Charlatans. The track, 'Talking In Tones', is the band's first release since the death of drummer Jon Brookes last year, and precedes a new album. Listen here.

• Andy Stott will release the follow-up to his acclaimed 'Luxury Problems' album in November. Titled 'Faith In Strangers', it will be released through Modern Love on 17 Nov. Listen to a track from it, called 'Violence', now.

• Popular metal types Marmozets are streaming a new track called 'Hit The Wave'. It'll appear on their debut album, 'The Weird And Wonderful Marmozets', which is out on 29 Sep. Listen here.

• Machinedrum will release his tenth album, 'Vapor City Archives', on 17 Nov through Ninja Tune. The album will conclude the producer's year-long 'Vapor City' project with a collection of all new recordings. Listen to one such recording, 'Only 1 Way 2 Know', here.

• Influential death metal band At The Gates have released a new song, their first in nineteen years. They will release a new album, 'At War With Reality', through Century Media on 27 Oct. Listen to the single here.

• OxfordOxford, the new festival so Oxford-based its organisers named it twice, has been cancelled because of "poor local ticket sales". It was meant to go ahead this weekend, featuring sets by Katy B, Klaxons and Gaz Coombes. Refunds are available.

• Pop weirdo Mr Ariel Pink has this week listed a new headline show at London's Scala on 17 Nov. Tickets go on sale this coming Friday, via this link. Pink has also released the video for his CMU-approved track 'Put Your Number In My Phone', the lead single to his new LP 'Pom Pom', which is arriving on the night of the Scala date.

Paul McCartney's Meat Free Monday pledges to be presented to the UN today
Paul McCartney has called on the public to join him in supporting the Meat Free Mondays campaign, ahead of today's UN Climate Summit in New York.

The campaign was launched earlier this month by Paul and Stella McCartney and David Cameron's energy and climate advisor Greg Barker, and aims to highlight and do something about the fact that our reliance on meat for food globally has arguably become unsustainable.

And while McCartney himself would probably prefer it if we all just went vegetarian, his campaign points out that if everyone cut out meat on just one day of the week - a Monday, say - it would go some way to making a difference. Maybe this week we'll not run the Beef Of The Week column in recognition (though that does go out on a Friday, so probably wouldn't please Macca).

Anyway, ahead of today's meeting of world leaders to discuss how they're not going to bother saving the human race from certain extinction while there's still oil money to be made, McCartney last week made a new plea for support. Some might say that the video in which the plea is made is slightly shoddy, but as well as raising awareness, it also shows off the wide array of accents Macca can do (if not control). He sort of does a rap too.

Watch it here.