Back in March, organisers of the Mercury Prize announced a decision to shift the ‘album of the year’ awards show back two months to November, with the shortlist announced in September so that people don’t get distracted from ranting about the judges’ selections by the festival season. Now some other changes have also been announced – the ceremony’s location will be shifted from Grosvenor House to The Roundhouse and it will all be broadcast on Channel 4, rather than BBC Two.

The change of venue will allow more table space to be sold to the labels of nominated artists, but also will enable more fans to be let in as well. So that’s nice for everyone. Though having three stages to allow back-to-back live performances seems unlikely, so Channel 4 will film the event differently.

Shortlisted artists will also be invited to perform their nominated albums at a series of one-off events in October, which will also be broadcast on Channel 4.

The shortlist will be announced at The Hospital Club as usual, on 12 Sep – though this event will move to the evening and be televised for the first time too. The actual Mercury’s ceremony will be held on 1 Nov, though most of it will be televised the next night.

Mercury Prize MD Dan Ford told CMU: “It’s essential that the Barclaycard Mercury Prize proposition evolves and continues to deliver exciting and engaging experiences that appeal to music fans. By providing access to a whole season of Barclaycard Mercury Prize live events, broadcast coverage and online content, we will be able to help even more people discover and experience the amazing range of new music that comes out of the UK every year – generating more interest in the shortlisted artists and albums than ever before. It’s fantastic news that we are in a position to move forward with these plans in partnership with Barclaycard as part of their ongoing support of music in the UK”.

I think Barclaycard might be involved.

Coincidentally, Popjustice also announced yesterday that its Twenty Quid Music Prize will now be awarded on 1 Nov, with the shortlist announced on 12 Sep.

No surprises really, but Adele was the double winner at yesterday’s Ivor Novello Awards, picking up the prizes for Most Performed Work and Songwriter Of The Year, the former shared with the marvellous Paul Epworth. PJ Harvey also received the Album Award, which is as it should be.

Here are the winners in full:

Best Contemporary Song: Lana Del Rey – Video Games (Lana Del Rey and Justin Parker)

PRS for Music Most Performed Work: Adele – Rolling In The Deep (Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth)

Best Television Soundtrack: The Shadow Line (Martin Phipps)

The Ivors Jazz Award: Stan Tracey

Album Award: PJ Harvey – Let England Shake (PJ Harvey)

Outstanding Song Collection: Gary Kemp

The Ivors Inspiration Award: Siouxsie Sioux

Best Original Film Score: The First Grader (Alex Heffes)

PRS for Music Outstanding Contribution to British Music: Take That

Best Song Musically and Lyrically: Ed Sheeran – The A Team (Ed Sheeran)

Lifetime Achievement: Mark Knopfler

Songwriter Of The Year: Adele Adkins

PRS for Music Special International Award: Jimmy Webb

BASCA Fellowship: Andrew Lloyd Webber

The shortlist is out for the first ever Scottish Album Of The Year Award, the sort of Scottish version of the Mercury Prize which was launched last month. An industry panel picked nine albums from the long list of 20 for the shortlist, while a 24 hour public vote selected the tenth shortlisted record. And the final ten are…

Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat – Everything’s Getting Older
Conquering Animal Sound – Kammerspiel
Happy Particles – Under Sleeping Waves
King Creosote & Jon Hopkins – Diamond Mine
Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
Mungo’s Hi Fi – Forward Ever
Remember Remember – The Quickening
Rustie – Glass Swords
Tommy Smith – Karma
Twin Atlantic – Free (public vote winners)

The overall winner will be announced at an event in Glasgow on 19 Jun, with that artist getting £20,000, while each runner up will get £1000.

Commenting on the shortlist, Caroline Parkinson, Director Of Creative Development for Creative Scotland, told CMU: “The SAY Award is a fantastic recognition and celebration of Scotland’s rich and diverse musical talent, as this shortlist confirms. We are a nation of music lovers, and the award is a brilliant way to connect these music lovers with our talented artists. Even better that the public, in this the Year Of Creative Scotland 2012, have had a say in the shortlist”.

Now, some might say that handing Fearne Cotton the Best Music Programme prize either makes a mockery of the entire Sony Awards enterprise or necessitates a radical reinterpretation of the word “best” by English speakers worldwide. Though, to be fair, once again the unstoppable Cotton has proven to aspiring young presenters who are both ambitious and shit that a lack of any presenting skills or musical knowledge need not hinder your career, which is nice.

Thinking about it, having handed the Best Sports Show prize to self-satisfied misogynists-for-hire Richard Keys and Andy Grey, perhaps the Sony judges just felt they should have a woman winning the Best Music Programme gong, and however much you may have all been rooting for Michael Buble to take that particular prize, even you will have to admit Buble is no woman.

Anyway, it was the UK radio industry’s Sony Awards last night. Some shit people won, but 6music got Best Station, which is something worth getting on your desk and dancing about (unless you’re Huey Morgan, if his tweets last night were anything to go by). But don’t get so involved dancing to 6music that you then forget to tune into the Best [sic] Music Programme on British radio at 10am, will you?

Here’s your full list of Sony winners.

Breakfast Show Of The Year (under 10 million): Real Radio Breakfast with Gary and Lisa
Breakfast Show Of The Year (10 million plus): KISS Breakfast with Rickie, Melvin and Charlie
Best Entertainment Programme: Beryl and Betty, BBC Radio Humberside
Best Music Programme: Fearne Cotton, BBC Radio 1
Best Specialist Music Programme: David Rodigan, Somethin Else for BBC Radio 2

Best Speech Programme: Stephen Nolan, BBC News for BBC Radio 5 live
Best Comedy: Mark Steel’s In Town, BBC Radio 4
Best Drama: On It, Woolyback Productions for BBC Radio 4
Best Sports Programme: Keys & Gray, talkSPORT
Best News and Current Affairs Programme: 5 live Drive
Best Breaking News Coverage: PM, BBC Radio 4
Best Community Programming: Face To Face, National Prison Radio
Best Internet Programme: Science Weekly: Sounds Of The Space Shuttle – An Acoustic Tribute, The Guardian

Best Live Event Coverage: The Royal Wedding, BBC World Service
Best Interview: Eddie Mair interviews Julie Nicholson, BBC Radio 4
Best News Feature/Special: Child Of Ardoyne, Falling Tree Productions for BBC Radio 3
Best Feature/Special: Walking With The Wounded, Smooth Radio
Best Music Feature/Special: Feeling Good – The Nina Simone Story, Sue Clark Productions for BBC Radio 2

Best Competition: 2 Strangers And A Wedding, 106 JACKfm Oxfordshire & glide FM 107.9 Oxfordshire
Best Single Promo/Commercial: Geoff Lloyd’s Hometime Show – The Complaints, Absolute Radio
Best Station Imaging: BBC Radio 1Xtra
Best Use of Branded Content: Danny Wallace’s Naked Breakfast, Global Radio for Xfm
Best Use of Multiplatform/Social Media: Now Playing@6music, Somethin Else for BBC 6music
Best Promotional/Advertising Campaign: Wimbledon 2011, Fresh Air Production for BBC Radio Cross Trails for BBC Radio 2, 5 live & Local Radio

Music Radio Personality Of The Year: Chris Evans, BBC Radio 2
Music Broadcaster Of The Year: Jools Holland, BBC Radio 2
Speech Radio Personality Of The Year: Danny Baker, Campbell Davison Media for BBC Radio 5 live
Speech Broadcaster Of The Year: Victoria Derbyshire, BBC News for BBC Radio 5 live
The Sony DAB Rising Star Award: Luke Franks, Fun Kids
News Journalist Of The Year: Mike Thomson, BBC News for BBC Radio 4
Station Programmer Of The Year: Andy Roberts, KISS

Station Of The Year (under 300,000): KL.FM
Station Of The Year (300,000 – 1 million): 107.6 Juice FM
Station Of The Year (1 million plus): Radio City 96.7
UK Station Of The Year: BBC Radio 6music

The Special Award: Classic FM

The Gold Award: Nicholas Parsons

The 2012 Yearly Music Conference Awards, or YMCAs to its friends, were presented at a late morning gathering at The Great Escape on Saturday morning.

With the showcase festival and music conference season reaching its conclusion for another year, before heading to the fields for the big summer events the YMCAs is a chance to look back at the music convention year just gone (plus a sneaky way to justify vodka cocktails at 11am on a Saturday morning). And the winners were…

Categories with a public vote:
Best Delegate Bag: SxSW
Best Bar: Primavera Pro Bar
Best Hotel/Convention Bar: Nordic Hotel Forum, Tallin Music Week
Best App: BigSound
Best Export Office: Nordic Export Office
Best Networking, Event, Trip or Service: International Delegates Lounge, Canadian Music Week and Mikey’s Montreal Tour at M For Montreal (joint winners)
Best Award Show: Breakout West Awards
Best Regional/Smaller Awards: Novia Scotia Music Week

Categories picked by the YMCAs committee:
Incident Of The Year: Peter Briggs tearing tendons playing football during the ILMC’s Wembley Stadium trip
Punch Up Of The Year: Mark Meharry v IMPALA at Tallin Music Week
Convention Junkie Of The Year: Ruud Berends from Eurosonic

In addition to the main awards, the YMCAs Hall Of Fame was opened for business for the first time, and the following five things were inducted.

1. YMCAs at The Great Escape – For being the best music conference based awards event.
2. The Eurosonic Bag – For being consistently the best bag of the year.
3. Donna Close from Brighton & Hove City Council – For her constant support of The Great Escape.
4. Millie Millgate, Sounds Australia – For consistently great showcase events around the world.
5. Neill Dixon – For 30 years of Canadian Music Week.

Ahead of tonight’s Sony Awards for radio brilliance, the nominations were announced last week for the British radio sector’s other big awards bash, the Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards, where the BBC is excluded allowing those from the commercial side of the business to have some winning glory.

Commenting on the shortlists, the boss of organisers RadioCentre, Andrew Harrison, told reporters: “The Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards are a great opportunity for our radio stations to showcase their work. We are delighted to have received our highest number of entries ever this year, with soe really fantastic entrants into our new Radio Station Event Of The Year category”.

While Head Of Client Relationships at sponsors Arqiva, Ben Hart, added: “Arqiva is an ardent supporter of the best of British broadcasting and, for us, commercial radio is no exception. Celebrating the best in radio is as important to us as ensuring it reaches listeners in the quality our broadcasters intended. I’d like to wish all the nominees the best of luck in this year’s awards”.

The awards will be presented in London on 4 Jul. Meanwhile, here’s some noms…

Presenter Of The Year (smaller stations): Greig Easton & Yasmin Zemmoura, Northsound 1; Matt Foister, Trax FM; Trevor Marshall, 106 JACKfm Oxfordshire

Presenter Of The Year (bigger stations): Christian O’Connell, Absolute Radio; John Suchet, Classic FM Danny Wallace, XFM

Programmer Of The Year: James Brownlow, 95.8 Capital FM; Ricky Durkin, Real Radio Yorkshire; Chris Pegg, Metro Radio

Newcomer Of The Year: Alun Cochrane, Absolute Radio; Emma Barnett, LBC 97.3; Eoghan McDermott, XFM

Journalist or News Team Of The Year: 106 JACKfm Hertfordshire, GMG Radio North West News Team, Radio Aire News

Breakfast Show Of The Year (smaller stations): Radio Aire Breakfast, Radio Aire; The Bay Breakfast with Danny Matthews, The Bay; JACK’s Morning Glory, 106 JACKfm Oxfordshire

Breakfast Show Of The Year (larger stations): The Christian O’Connell Breakfast Show – Absolute Radio; Des & Jennie at Breakfast – Capital Scotland; Real Radio Breakfast with Ewen & Cat – Real Radio Scotland

Feature Of The Year: Oldham Riots – The Legacy, Smooth Radio; Raoul Moat – One Year On presented by PC David Rathband and Kath Rathband, Metro Radio; Ronnie Wood – The Guests, Absolute Radio

Specialist Programme Of The Year: The Ronnie Wood Show, Absolute Radio, Music: Response with Mary Anne Hobbs, XFM; Matt Stocks, Kerrang!

Social Action Initiative: Walkathon 2011, brmb; Positive Mental Health Week, Cool FM; Cocaine Unwrapped, Real Radio North West

Station Imaging Award: 106 JACKfm Oxfordshire, The Capital Network, Kiss Network Imaging

Marketing Award: Absolute Radio, Faces for Radio & #NowPlaying; Capital FM Marketing; Touch FM, Pride of Stratford Awards 2012

Radio Station Event Of The Year: Absolute Radio Live – Absolute Radio; Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball – The Capital Network; Jagger & Woody ‘Beside the Seaside’ Tour – Real Radio Wales

Local Sales Team Of The Year: The Bay; Gem 106; Real Radio North West

National Sales Team of the Year: Absolute Radio; Bauer Media; Global Radio

Best Branded Content: Absolute Radio Live with Swiftcover.com, Spark; Arla Starbuck’s Frappuccino and Capital FM Summertime Ball, Carat; ‘Dangerous’ Dave Vs The Log Flume, Gem 106.

Best Creative Campaign: comparethemarket.com,VCCP; Honda – Do You Believe In The Power of Dreams? Wieden + Kennedy; Peppa Pig World at Paultons Park, Global Radio Creative

Most Effective Campaign: Autoglass Radio Effective Frequency Test – Starcom Mediavest; Heart & More Th>n 2011; Ikea ‘Happy to Bed’ with Absolute Radio

Advertiser Of The Year: Lloyds TSB, Unilever, Vodafone

Media Agency Of The Year: Mediacom, PHD, Mindshare

Station Of The Year (smaller stations): The Bay, Isle Of Wight Radio, MFR

Station Of The Year (smaller stations): 106 JACKfm Oxfordshire, Northsound 1, Radio Tay

Station Of The Year (larger stations): 95.8 Capital FM, Radio City 96.7, Absolute Radio

PPL Most Played UK Artist On Commercial Radio: Adele, Take That, The Wanted

PPL Breakthrough UK Artist On Commercial Radio: Ed Sheeran, Example, Jessie J

Former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Jack Sherman has criticised the band for apparently not allowing him or fellow ex-guitarist Dave Navarro to attend the group’s recent induction into the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame. Sherman appeared on the band’s eponymous debut album, while Navarro appeared on 1995′s ‘One Hot Minute’.

Speaking to Billboard, Sherman said that the decision to exclude him and Navarro “was probably the band’s and not the Hall’s”, adding that the exclusion was for “whatever reasons they have” and “it’s really painful to see all this celebrating going on, and be excluded … I’m being dishonoured; and it sucks”.

However, the band’s lawyer Eric Greenspan has denied the exclusions were down to the band themselves, saying: “It’s not a decision made y the band. It’s made by the Hall Of Fame. They determine which of the members, through [a band's] career, get inducted”.

More details about the networking sessions at this year’s CMU-programmed Great Escape Convention have been announced. As well as the packed schedule of panels, debates and interviews that take place during the UK’s premiere music business conference, there are also numerous opportunities to meet, network and do business with other delegates from all over the world.

Three networking sessions will focus on different strands of the industry, with Meet The Distributors (Thursday am), Meet The Agents (Thursday pm) and Meet The Bookers (Friday am). Leading players from the UK distribution, booking agency and gig promotion sectors will be on hand to meet with those delegates interested in these services. Each session will include an hour of formal speed meetings, and an hour of informal networking open to all. For more information and to sign up, anyone with a Great Escape delegates pass should check this page here.

In addition to that little lot, for UK delegates there is UK Trade & Investment’s International Networking Sessions on Friday afternoon. As the official blurb says: “Meet a label from Japan, an agent from the States or a festival promoter from China – over 20 key international industry reps are on hand to talk about their markets and how to do business there”. Delivered in association with the Association Of Independent Music, UK-based TGE delegates interested in participating in this session should e-mail creative@ukti.gsi.gov.uk.

Finally, on a digital theme, this year’s convention programme will include a Digital Pitch Party and Digital Demo Party. At the former on Thursday afternoon, various companies who offer digital services for artists and labels will each make an elevator pitch and take questions via Twitter. Each pitcher will also bring a drink of their choice to the party which they believe represents their company. Once all the pitching is done, more informal networking will take place as all the drink is drunk.

The Digital Demo Party on Saturday afternoon will offer a more relaxed environment where both consumer-facing digital platforms and those offering digital tools for artists and labels can demo their products. Look out for more information of those companies taking part at in the next few days at www.escapegreat.com/networking

Finally from the TGE desk today, the shortlists are out for the Yearly Music Conference Awards. As previously reported, with The Great Escape taking place towards the end of the city-based showcase festival season, and as the music industry prepares to head to the fields for the big summer events, the YMCAs look back at the year just gone. Presented at a ticket-only brunch as part of the final day of the convention, the awards are also a chance for those agents, managers, bookers, business owners and export offices who visit many of these events, not to mention the people who organise them, to come together to eat, drink and be merry, and discuss the highs (and lows) of the music year.

The YMCAs committee has selected the shortlists for all of this year’s prizes, and wants the input of music types to decide the winners of eight categories. Shortlists and details of how to vote are online at www.theCMUwebsite.com/ymcas.

The CMU-programmed Great Escape Convention takes place next week from 10-12 May in Brighton, along the 300 artists+ Great Escape festival. For the full convention schedule click here, and for the full Great Escape festival line-up click here. You will also find an overview of the convention programme from CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke here. And delegate passes, if you haven’t already got one, are a bargain at £150 and available right here.

Kerrang! has announced the nominees for its annual awards. You Me At Six lead the pack with five nominations, including two for Best Single, plus a Best British Band nom for the fourth year in a row. What fun.

The band’s frontman Josh Fransceschi said: “To be up for Best British Band four years in a row is just insane. Plus the people at the awards are going to think there’s a problem with the slide show when our two songs come up in a row [for best single]!”

Kerrang! editor James McMahon added: “The Kerrang! Awards remains the most important date on any rock star’s calendar. What’s most exciting about this year’s nominations is how strong the new bands categories are. Of course, you could have said the same thing when You Me At Six were included in said categories a few years ago, and look where they are now. Much is made of how fun and debauched the Kerrang! Awards are. I prefer to see them as proof of how strong the rock scene is”.

Here are the nominations in full:

Best British Newcomer: While She Sleeps, Yashin, Fearless Vampire Killers, Don Broco, Hawk Eyes

Best International Newcomer: Motionless In White, Tonight Alive, Falling In Reverse, Of Mice and Men, Reckless Love

Best Single: You Me At Six (feat Oli Sykes) – Bite My Tongue, You Me At Six – No One Does It Better, Young Guns – Bones, Black Veil Brides – Rebel Love Song, Falling In Reverse – The Drug In Me Is You

Best Video: Falling In Reverse – The Drug In Me Is You, Mastodon – Curl Of The Burl, Motionless In White – Immaculate Misconception, Paramore – Monster, Bring Me The Horizon – Alligator Blood

Best Album: You Me At Six – Sinners Never Sleep, Enter Shikari – A Flash Flood Of Colour, Young Guns – Bones, Black Veil Brides – Set The World On Fire, Mastodon – The Hunter

Best Live Band: You Me At Six, Black Veil Brides, Asking Alexandria, Enter Shikari, My Chemical Romance

Best British Band: You Me At Six, Bullet For My Valentine, Asking Alexandria, Lostprophets, Iron Maiden

Best International Band: 30 Seconds To Mars, My Chemical Romance, Evanescence, A Day To Remember, letlive

Best TV Show: The Big Bang Theory, The Walking Dead, Game Of Thrones, American Horror Story, Misfits

Best Video Game: Skyrim, FIFA 12, Mass Effect 3, Gears Of War 3, Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Best Film: The Hunger Games, The Woman In Black, The Inbetweeners, The Muppets, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Best Comedian: Greg Davies, Russell Howard, Tim Minchin, Noel Fielding, Bill Bailey

Tweeter Of The Year: Danny Worsnop (Asking Alexandria), Jono Yates (Blitz Kids), Sean Smith (The Blackout), Hayley Williams (Paramore), Mark Hoppus (Blink 182)

Hottest Female: Hayley Williams (Paramore), Tay Jardine (We Are The In Crowd), Amy Lee (Evanescence), Lzzy Hale (Halestorm), Jenna McDougall (Tonight Alive)

Hottest Male: Ben Bruce (Asking Alexandria), Andy Biersack (Black Veil Brides), Ashley Purdy (Black Veil Brides), Alex Gaskarth (All Time Low), Matt Bellamy (Muse)

Villain Of The Year: Justin Bieber, Simon Cowell, Ronnie Radke (Falling In Reverse), Lou Reed, One Direction

Hero Of The Year: Ronnie Radke (Falling In Reverse), M Shadows (Avenged Sevenfold), Jared Leto (30 Seconds To Mars), Mario Balotelli (Manchester City), Rou Reynolds (Enter Shikari)

Best Festival: Download, Hevy Music Festival, Reading and Leeds, Slam Dunk, Hit The Deck

The first GIT Award was handed over to Loved Ones on Friday night. The Liverpool quartet were deemed to be the best act to have come out of the city in the last twelve months, winning against strong competition from eleven other nominees, including Bang On and former Coral guitarist Bill Ryder-Jones.

Founder of the award, Liverpool Echo journalist Peter Guy said: “This is a special time for Liverpool – not just the music scene, but the city as a whole – we’re leading the way as visionaries, creating some of the finest art, music and innovative happenings in the world – and the musicians gathered here tonight are at the forefront of what is a new, flourishing time for music within the city”.

Listen to the release which won it for Loved One, their debut single ‘Are You Hiding Out In Hell?’, here:

The Music Week Awards ceremony took place at The Brewery venue in London yesterday, with XL the biggest winner taking away four awards, if you include the lifetime achievement trophy (or The Strat, as they insist on calling it), which was handed to the company’s founder Richard Russell.

The winners in full are as follows:

High Street Retail Brand: HMV
Online Retail Brand: iTunes
Independent Retailer: Sound It Out Records
Non-Retail Digital Music Service: Spotify

Live Music Venue: Shepherd’s Bush Empire

Radio Station: 6music
Radio Show: Steve Lamacq, 6music
TV Show Featuring Music: Later… with Jools Holland

Promotions Team: Atlantic
Sales Team: PIAS
Distribution Team: Proper Distribution

Catalogue Marketing Campaign: Rhino for The Smiths Complete
Artist Marketing Campaign: XL Recordings for 21 by Adele
PR Campaign: Purple PR for 21 by Adele
Music & Brand Partnership: Converse & Cornerstone for Converse Gigs @ The 100 Club

Publisher Of The Year – Singles: EMI Music Publishing
Publisher Of The Year – Albums: Universal Music Publishing
Independent Publisher: Kobalt
Manager Of The Year: Jonathan Dickins, September Management
A&R Award: XL Recordings

Independent Record Company: Bella Union
Record Company: XL Recordings
The Strat: Richard Russell, XL Recordings

Adele and Paul Epworth lead this year’s Ivor Novello nominations with four each, mainly for songs they worked on together.

Epworth appears twice in the Best Song Musically And Lyrically category, both for writing ‘Rolling In The Deep’ with Adele, and for Florence And The Machine’s ‘Shake It Out’, which was penned with Florence Welch and Kid Harpoon. Adele also gets a double chance of winning in the PRS For Music Most Performed Work category with ‘Rolling In The Deep’ and ‘Someone Like You’, which was written with Dan Wilson, both shortlisted. Both also appear together in the category for Best Album.

Elsewhere, Lana Del Rey, Nero and James Blake battle it out for Best Contemporary Song, and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood is in the running for Best Original Film Score with his soundtrack for ‘We Need To Talk About Kevin’.

The full list of nominations is here:

Best Song Musically And Lyrically: Adele – Rolling In The Deep (Adele and Paul Epworth), Florence And The Machine – Shake It Out, (Paul Epworth, Kid Harpoon and Florence Welch), Ed Sheeran – The A Team (Ed Sheeran)

Best Contemporary Song: Nero – Promises (Joseph Ray, Daniel Stephens and Alana Watson), James Blake – The Wilhelm Scream (James Blake and James Litherland), Lana Del Rey – Video Games (Lana Del Rey and Justin Parker)

Best Original Film Score: Life In A Day (Harry Gregson-Williams and Matthew Herbert), The First Grader (Alex Heffes), We Need To Talk About Kevin (Jonny Greenwood)

Best Television Soundtrack: Leonardo (Mark Russell), Page Eight (Paul Englishby), The Shadow Line (Martin Phipps)

PRS For Music Most Performed Work: Adele – Rolling In The Deep (Adele and Paul Epworth), Adele – Someone Like You (Adele and Dan Wilson), Take That – The Flood (Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Owen and Robbie Williams)

Album Award: Adele – 21 (Adele and Paul Epworth), Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow (Kate Bush), Pj Harvey – Let England Shake (PJ Harvey)

More details have been announced for the inaugural GIT Award, the “Scouse Mercury Prize” set up by music blog Getintothis in recognition of Liverpool’s best new music. The final twelve have been chosen from over 381 entries and the overall winner will be announced by John Robb at a ceremony on 27 Apr.

GIT Award founder and chair of judges, Peter Guy, told CMU: “The first GIT Award shortlist highlights the wealth of new musical talent within Merseyside. The artists are ambitious and inventive, emotional and passionate, funny and profound. They evoke a sense of time and place, providing a wonderful snapshot of Merseyside’s varied sonic landscape proving why Liverpool is still the centre of the music universe”.

Here’s that shortlist again:

Bang On
Ex-Easter Island Head
Forest Swords
Loved Ones
Miss Stylie
Mugstar
Outfit
Ninetails
Bill Ryder-Jones
Stealing Sheep
The Tea Street Band
Esco Williams

In the end Axl Rose wasn’t the only no show at the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony this weekend, though Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, who has been battling cancer in recent years, probably had a better reason for pulling out of the event.

The rap trio had hoped to perform at the Hall Of Fame bash, but issued a statement confirming Yauch would not be able to attend shortly before the show. The statement said, simply: “Beastie Boys regret that Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch will be unable to join Mike ‘Mike D’ Diamond and Adam ‘Adrock’ Horovitz at the band’s induction into the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame. Mike, Adam and Adam are truly grateful for the honour but with only two of the three Beastie Boys attending, they will unfortunately not be able to perform at the ceremony”.

At the event, Diamond and Horovitz, joined by longtime DJ Mixmaster Mike, read out a statement from their absent bandmate which thanked the Beastie Boys fanbase, noting “this induction is as much yours as it us ours”.

Also not in attendance was Rod Stewart, whose old band The Faces were also being inducted. He had planned to perform with his former bandmates at the induction but had to pull out due to illness. Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall who, as previously reported, has been performing with a reformed Faces in the last couple of years, flew in to take Stewart’s place.

Rose, of course, announced last week that he would not attend the Hall Of Fame bash, nor did he want to be inducted in his absence, seemingly unhappy that the awards show’s bosses expected him to appear on stage with other members of his band’s original line-up. In the end three fifths of that original line-up (Duff McKagan, Slash and Steven Adler – Izzy Stradlin was also a no show, though he issued a thank you via McKagan’s blog) joined ‘Use Your Illusion’ drummer Matt Sorum to accept the Hall Of Fame honour, even if the band’s eternal frontman didn’t want any part of it.

While some have criticised Rose for knocking back the Hall Of Fame induction, he did have one supporter this weekend in the form of Kiss drummer Eric Singer, who told Powerline.com: “I don’t know Axl that well, but he should do what he wants. I don’t always agree with the choices he makes or how he goes about it… [but] I think it’s pretty cool that he’s not only thumbing his nose at [the Hall Of Fame bosses], but that he’s giving them the middle finger. I think it’s cool. It’s like: ‘Who the fuck are you guys to dictate what should and what shouldn’t be?’ He kind of has a voice for a lot of people who think the whole thing is kind of a joke”.

Axl Rose may have confirmed that he’ll be a no-show, but the rest of the original line-up of Guns N Roses are expected to be in the house this weekend to accept the honour of having their former band inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame.

As previously reported, Rose this week published an open letter announcing he would not attend the Hall Of Fame induction, seemingly unwilling to share a stage with his former bandmates, and requested he not be inducted in his absence.

Said Rose: “Taking into consideration the history of Guns N Roses, those who plan to attend along with those the Hall, for reasons of their own, have chosen to include in ‘our’ induction (that, for the record, are decisions I don’t agree with, support or feel the Hall has any right to make), and how (albeit no easy task) those involved with the Hall have handled things… no offence meant to anyone but the Hall Of Fame induction ceremony doesn’t appear to be somewhere I’m actually wanted or respected”.

At the Revolver Golden Gods metal awards show in LA on Wednesday night, which took place shortly after Rose’s statement was published, Slash – there to pick up the Riff Award and to play with Alice Cooper – refused to comment. But Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider, who was interviewing his fellow metallers on the red carpet (well, technically the black carpet), was more forthcoming with his opinions.

Said Snider: “Someone just told me that it’s official Axl is not gonna sing at the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame, and I said it’s crap. I said, if he can’t put this stuff aside for an event like that, for a recognition like that, to do the cool thing, and just in respect of what you guys have done, I think it’s totally screwed up”.

But all Slash would say to Snider about the whole Hall Of Fame debacle was “I’ll be there”. Duff McKagan, Steven Adler and Matt Sorum are also all expected to be on hand to received the Hall Of Fame honour this weekend, which will be handed to them by Green Day. Also set to be inducted this year are Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys, The Faces and the Small Faces, Laura Nyro and Donovan.

The longlist for the first Scottish Album Of The Year Award was announced at the Wide Days conference in Edinburgh yesterday. As previously reported, the Mercury-style gong will hand over £20,000 to the Scottish band deemed to have released the best album of 2011, while nine runners-up will receive £1000 each.

Chief Executive of Creative Scotland, which is running the award in partnership with the Scottish Music Industry Association, Andrew Dixon told CMU: “In such a nation of music lovers, it’s no surprise that The Scottish Album Of The Year Award is such an eclectic and entertaining list and brimming with talent. In this ‘Year Of Creative Scotland’, the awards are a brilliant way to raise the profile of our musicians. Congratulations to all of the artists!”

Here’s the longlist in all its glory:

6th Borough Project – One Night In The Borough
Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat – Everything’s Getting Older
Bwani Junction – Fully Cocked
Chris Stout’s Brazilian Theory – Live In Concert
Conquering Animal Sound – Kammerspiel
FOUND – Factorycraft
Fudge Fingas – Now About How
Happy Particles – Under Sleeping Waves
Jonny – Jonny
King Creosote & Jon Hopkins – Diamond Mine
Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
Mungo’s Hi Fi – Forward Ever
Muscles Of Joy – Muscles Of Joy
Remember Remember – The Quickening
Richard Craig – Inward
Rustie – Glass Swords
Steve Mason & Dennis Bovell – Ghosts Outside
Tommy Smith – Karma
Twin Atlantic – Free
We Were Promised Jetpacks – In The Pit Of The Stomach

While one time Guns N Roses bassist Duff McKagan has been saying how much he is looking forward to his former band being inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame, hoping that the induction ceremony could go off without a hitch, and fantasising that it might result in a happy on stage reunion for the band’s original line-up, Axl Rose has issued a public statement saying he won’t attend the induction event, and doesn’t want to be inducted in absence either.

Writing in his ESPN column, McKagan said earlier this week: “We are not a band any more, and haven’t been for some time. We are all still alive and well, but there has been some muddy water that has gone underneath the bridge. But water, muddy or otherwise, does indeed flow past and forever away, and I have nothing but the best of memories and highest level of love and admiration and feelings of brotherhood with all of those dudes. Seriously”.

He continued, somewhat optimistically: “I, too, now hope that we can just play a couple of songs there, and just sort of throw the microphone down on the stage and walk off. The rock n roll world would be set ablaze once again and we could make a bunch of fans happy and sated to some degree”. Though he noted that tensions still existed between his former bandmates, so perhaps the best he could hope for was the night going off “without a hitch”.

Well, we know for certain Rose won’t be having any run-ins with his former bandmates, because he won’t be there. In a long open letter published last night, the band’s frontman wrote: “When the nominations for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame were first announced, I had mixed emotions, but, in an effort to be positive, wanting to make the most of things for the fans and with their enthusiasm, I was honoured, excited and hoped that somehow this would be a good thing”.

“Of course I realised as things stood, if Guns N Roses were to be inducted, it’d be somewhat of a complicated or awkward situation. Since then we’ve listened to fans, talked with members of the board of the Hall Of Fame, communicated with and read various public comments and jabs from former members of Guns N Roses, had discussions with the president of the Hall Of Fame, read various press (some legit, some contrived) and read other artists’ comments weighing in publicly on Guns and the Hall with their thoughts”.

“Under the circumstances, I feel we’ve been polite, courteous, and open to an amicable solution in our efforts to work something out. Taking into consideration the history of Guns N Roses, those who plan to attend along with those the Hall for reasons of their own, have chosen to include in ‘our’ induction (that, for the record, are decisions I don’t agree with, support or feel the Hall has any right to make), and how (albeit no easy task) those involved with the Hall have handled things… no offense meant to anyone but the Hall Of Fame induction ceremony doesn’t appear to be somewhere I’m actually wanted or respected”.

“For the record, I would not begrudge anyone from Guns their accomplishments or recognition for such. Neither I or anyone in my camp has made any requests or demands of the Hall Of Fame. It’s their show not mine. That said, I won’t be attending the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction 2012 ceremony and I respectfully decline my induction as a member of Guns N Roses to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. I strongly request that I not be inducted in absentia and please know that no one is authorized nor may anyone be permitted to accept any induction for me or speak on my behalf. Neither former members, label representatives nor the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame should imply whether directly, indirectly or by omission that I am included in any purported induction of Guns N Roses”.

So there you have it. Read McKagan’s full column here, and Roses’ full letter here.

The Scottish Music Industry Association, in partnership with Creative Scotland, has launched its own equivalent to the Mercury Prize and will next week unveil a longlist of 20 outstanding Scottish albums released in 2011.

Like the Mercury, the winner of the Scottish Album Of The Year Award will receive £20,000, while nine runners-up will take home a grand each too. There will also be no entry fee for the award, opening up the floodgates to any old shite. No, I mean it’ll allow artists of any size to enter, regardless of their budget. Even really bad ones.

Creative Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary Fiona Hyslop told CMU: “The launch of the Scottish Album Of The Year award is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate Scottish music and musicians. In the ‘Year Of Creative Scotland’ this new award further cements our international reputation as a hugely talented and creative nation”.

Stewart Henderson of SMIA added: “This award has the potential to be about so much more than just one winning album: it’s about fostering a greater sense of solidarity within Scotland’s music industry; it’s about the album’s enduring relevance as an art form and it’s about reinforcing the importance of retail and the invaluable role Scotland’s music fans play in sustaining the creativity of our artists”.

For more information, and to see the full list of judges, go to www.sayaward.com

It was the Canadian music industry’s big awards bash this weekend, and while quite a few of the country’s big hitters were no shows (Justin Bieber was too busy getting covered in slime at Nickelodean’s Kid’s Choice Awards to pick up his Fan Choice Juno), plenty of prizes were nevertheless dished out.

And Bieber, Michael Buble and Drake’s absence meant more time could be spent enjoying host William Shatner’s reliably corny gags and the wonderful news that Leslie Feist was being declared Artist Of The Year.

Here’s the main winners from Juno weekend, plus a link to the full list of winners on Toronto.com:

Single Of The Year: The Sheepdogs – I Don’t Know
Album Of The Year: Michael Buble – Christmas
International Album Of The Year: Adele – 21.

Artist Of The Year: Feist
Group Of The Year: Arkells
New Artist Of The Year: Dan Mangan
Songwriter Of The Year: Dallas Green
New Group Of The Year: The Sheepdogs
Juno Fan Choice: Justin Bieber

The nominations for this year’s big radio awards bash – the Sony Radio Academy Awards – were announced on Friday, and while you might rightly wonder if it’s really worth giving over any brain space to an awards venture that suggests Fearne Cotton might be the host of the best music programme on British radio, these are still the UK radio industry’s biggest awards.

And to be fair to Cotton (which isn’t something we say often), at least she’s not a sad old misogynist, like fellow nominees Richard Keys and Andy Gray, nominated for the talkSPORT show they launched after being fired by Sky Sports. Anyway, here are the noms for the main music show categories, while you’ll find the full list of nominated programmes and stations at www.radioacademyawards.org/nominees/.

Best Music Programme: Fearne Cotton (Radio 1), In Tune (Radio 3), In:Demand Scotland (Bauer Radio Scotland), Michael Buble (Magic 105.4), Steve Lamacq (6music).

Best Specialist Music Programme: Another Country with Ricky Ross (BBC Radio Scotland), David Rodigan (Somethin Else/Radio 2), Friday Night Is Music Night (Radio 2), Music: Response (Xfm), The Ronnie Wood Show (Somethin Else/Absolute Radio).

Best Entertainment Programme: Adam & Joe (6music), Beryl And Betty (BBC Radio Humberside), Boogie & Dingo’s Big Saturday Show (Bauer Radio Scotland), Frank Skinner (Avalon/Absolute Radio), Real Radio Breakfast (Real Radio Yorkshire).

Breakfast Show (10 million plus potential audience): 5 Live Breakfast (5 Live), Heart Breakfast (Heart London), KISS Breakfast (Kiss FM), Chris Evans Breakfast Show (Radio 2), Christian O’Connell Breakfast Show (Absolute Radio).

Breakfast show (less than 10 million potential audience): Adam Tomlinson (BBC Radio York), BBC Essex Breakfast (BBC Essex), Juice FM Breakfast (Juice FM), Porridge (National Prison Radio), Real Radio Breakfast (Real Radio North East).