CMU Daily - on the inside Friday 19th October
yesterday's Daily - Daily archive

In today's CMU Daily:
- Part of Wolfgang's countersuit dismissed
- Prince sued over IT bills
- Britney loses visitation rights
- Sigel charges dropped
- Pirate Bay set up home at ifpi.com
- AC/DC get their dot com domain
- Teresa Brewer dies
- Two die as aspiring Aussie band's van crashes
- Bloc Party Kele on loving music and hating racism
- Nas reconfirms and defends Nigga album title
- Crow hits package
- HIM man approached re Bond theme
- Gabriel honoured at BMI awards
- Gabriel won't rejoin Genesis
- Trash In The City
- O2 get Led Zepp stuff for mobile
- Canadian Copyright Board rule on download royalties
- Aerosmith man's surgery to be on the telly
- No more Girls Aloud covers
- Bass on Timberlake hopes
- A-ha hate Take On Me

--------------------------------------------------

TOP BIT
Oh, oh, another busy week in the world of CMU, meaning no time to report on the fact that Linkin Park's Chester Bennington broke his arm during a gig in Australia last weekend after falling off the stage four songs in. But good old Chester carried on with the rest of the gig after strapping his broken arm up - well done him. And the band say the injury shouldn't effect their upcoming touring commitments, so there you go.

Talking of tours, Radiohead are reportedly planning a world tour next Spring, but there isn't time to tell you about that either. Presumably they need to tour to help pay for the recording of that album they all but gave away this month via the much hyped 'pay what you want' promotion. Though Bryce Edge of the band's management firm Courtyard admitted to Billboard this week that rumours the average price paid for the new Radiohead album by fans using the 'pay what you want' service was £4 were not far off the truth, which is more than I'd have probably thought. Though Edge also told Billboard rumours they'd sold 1.2 million copies of the download album were somewhat exaggerated, so they're probably not £4.8 million better off. So better get out there selling gig tickets then.

And more tours, and Ian Brown has said he is planning on doing a tour of UK prisons, aping Johnny Cash's famous jail concerts I suppose. Brown is reportedly keen to do some jail gigs to mark the tenth anniversary of him himself being sent to prison for threatened to chop off the hands of an air stewardess. Those of you not in prison can catch Brown on his current UK tour, or you could wait for the former Stone Roses' other live project in the making - a series of classical gigs on which he says: "I'm planning some classical dates where I can do things like 'FEAR'. It already has strings on it, but I'll get some other things re-scored as well. I'll get all the orchestra in Adidas tracksuits and I'll wear the dickie bow and the suit. That's what I'm planning for next year. I really like the idea of that.

Industry news we haven't had time to cover includes the news that "supply chain standards and solutions organisation" GS1 has agreed to deliver the music industry with a "license for single bar codes". I've no idea what that means, but according to the BPI, who are leading the bar code initiative with the Association Of Independent Music, it will " enable works to be identified and accurately tracked".

Media news, and we've kind of been ignoring the big story - that being the announcement by BBC bosses of how they plan to overcome a £2bn budget shortfall caused by the government's refusal to allow an above inflation licence fee increase. The solution is to fire a lot of people and sell TV Centre. As you no doubt know, unions NUJ and BECTU plan to strike if Beeb bosses go through with their threats to send out voluntary redundancy letters this weekend. Which will be fun.

The other big media story, of course, is that the review on dodgy phone ins at ITV has come in and shows that there were a lot more phone in rip offs than everyone thought. Michael Grade, of course, took on the top job at the third channel long after all these scams began, so he can sidestep responsibility for it all, and talk about past 'cultural problems' at the broadcaster that allowed such scams to happen - problems which, presumably he'd say, he's been fixing since taking over there.

With Grade off the hook most attention is on Ant & Dec following news that phone scams occurred on their 'Gameshow Marathon' and 'Saturday Night Takeaway' shows on which they were both presenters and Executive Producers. They claim the knew nothing of the dodgy phone ins, but some are questioning those claims, or argue that at the very least the Exec Producers were surely negligent to not know that such practices were going on. I suspect they regret ever insisting on the producer credits now.

--------------------------------------------------

INTERNSHIPS N STUFF

INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES WITH EXCITING NEW INTERNET PROJECT
GraduateJobsNetwork is a new kind of careers and media company which offers gap-year students and recent graduates a unique way to launch their careers by working on the definitive graduate careers website. We are now recruiting students and recent graduates for a variety of internship programmes between now and Christmas, some full time, some part time. Among the experience you will gain is the following...

Editorial: researching and writing interviews and stories; sub-editing; Apple Mac skills.

Web & Design: operating a content management system; search engine optimisation; image processing; desktop publishing skills.

Sales & Management: running a media company; brainstorming sales leads; building a sales database.

Office Management: managing a company database; chasing payments; keeping accounts.

Marketing: writing press releases; making and phoning PR contacts; liaising with student media.

You will not be paid, but will receive a reference when you complete the programme, and will also have careers guidance from Taylor Bennett, a leading headhunting firm, including CV writing, job interview techniques and networking skills. We are based in Shoreditch, on the edge of the City of London and within easy reach of Spitalfields and Hoxton. The office is 10 minutes away from both Liverpool Street and Old Street stations.

To apply, fill in an application form at http://graduatejobsnetwork.com/gjnappforma.doc and submit it together with your CV as soon as possible to [email protected]

--------------------------------------------------

CMU FRIDAY TIPS

VIGSY'S LIVE TIP: Bajofondo Tango Club at the Roundhouse
Bajofondo Tango Club, who take on many styles of music, but mainly leftfield 'dance' on a Latin footing, is the project of Argentine film composer Gustavo Santaolalla, whose scores include those for the likes of 'Brokeback Mountain', 'Babel' and 'Motorcycle Diaries'. They rocked the Barbican at the La Linea festival over the summer - each track
worked the crowd big time until audience members clambered onto the Barbican stage to party for the last two tunes - no mean feat at the stiff lipped Barb, so I don't have much doubt that they will entertain us again in the same convivial manner... with support from LaXula who specialise in "Gipsy Goth Tangodelica".

Sunday 21 Oct, Roundhouse, Chalk Farm Road, London, NW1, doors 7pm, £20-£25, info from Nadia at http://www.roundhouse.org.uk

VIGSY'S CLUB TIP: Fabric Live's 8th Birthday at Fabric
Can it be that Fabric is 8??? Holy Schmoly!! And with a birthday line up like this I can see why this club is still rocking it. Room 1 breaks and moves from: DJ Craze, Adam Freeland, Scratch Perverts, Krafty Kuts and Joe Ransom, then Room 2 d 'n' b from the Metalhead himself Goldie plus Andy C, Brazil's DJ Andy, Drumsound & Simon Bassline Smith, and back in the day Metalhead J Majik. In the tiddler room upstairs we have the reliable Tayo, Skream, Ali B and nut nut Baobinga. Groovy

Friday 19 Oct, Fabric, 77a Charterhouse Street, London, EC1M, 9.30pm-6am, £15/12, info from http://www.fabriclondon.com, press from Clare Morgan/ Danna at Fabric PR

--------------------------------------------------

PART OF WOLFGANG'S COUNTERSUIT DISMISSED
More from the Wolfgang's Vault dispute.

As you may remember, a number of legendary bands, including Led Zeppelin, Grateful Dead and The Doors, sued the US based rock memorabilia website Wolfgang's Vault last year claiming the site was selling goods and streaming archive live content that infringed their copyrights. Owners of the site responded by filing a forty page countersuit earlier this year accusing the musicians and their labels, SonyBMG and Warner Music, of trying to "destroy a legitimate business" through the original litigation.

A judge in San Jose yesterday considered the counter claim and dismissed the bulk of it, ruling that it was "premature" to accuse the original litigation of economic harm because doing so assumed the original plaintiffs had won their case, which they have not as yet.

But the judge chose to not rule on two aspects of Wolfgang's Vault lawsuit - including claims Grateful Dead Productions have violated an earlier agreement with the site - so part of the counter-suit does still stand.

--------------------------------------------------

PRINCE SUED OVER IT BILLS
Elsewhere in the courts of pop, Prince has been named on a million dollar lawsuit relating to computer equipment that has, allegedly, not be paid for.

One Ian Lewis is suing Prince, his record label and fan club website over allegations the singer's people sourced several hard drives used for video production off him, but have never paid for them. Another $25,000 computer, which Lewis says he loaned Prince, was returned "in a broken and un-fixable condition".

Prince's people are yet to comment.

--------------------------------------------------

BRITNEY LOSES VISITATION RIGHTS
Oh dear, little ole Britney has lost her rights to visit her two children for failing to comply with orders made by an LA court.

As previously reported, Ms Spears lost custody of her children to ex-husband Kevin Federline after she went just a little bit loopy. She was, however, allowed to visit her children every other day and spend one night a week with them, providing she was supervised. But an emergency hearing in the LA courts on Wednesday ruled that Spears visitation rights should be halted "pending Ms Spears' compliance with the court orders". It isn't clear which orders Spears is failing to comply with, but presumably she knows. It isn't the first time Judge Scott Gordon has criticised the singer for failing to comply to court orders in her long running custody battle with the Fed.

The custody case will return to court on 26 Oct, the day after Britney is due in court to face those hit and run charges relating to the previously reported incident where she bumped her car into another vehicle and failed to stop.

--------------------------------------------------

SIGEL CHARGES DROPPED
Prosecutors withdrew their charges against Beanie Sigel yesterday after the rapper resolved his previously reported dispute with a rental car firm.

As previously reported, an arrest warrant was put out for Sigel after he failed to return a rental car and the company that had rented it him reported it stolen. An associate of the rapper returned the car, originally due back with the rental firm on 13 Aug, on 5 Oct, but by that time an arrest warrant had already been issued.

But all outstanding fees relating to the rental have now been paid, and prosecutors decided to withdraw their charges at a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday. Sigel's attorney, Fortunato N Perri Jr, welcomed that decision, saying the whole case had been "essentially a misunderstanding between the two parties".

--------------------------------------------------

PIRATE BAY SET UP HOME AT IFPI.COM
You have to hand it to the much previously reported BitTorrent service The Pirate Bay, they know how to piss off the record industry in an amusing way.

The file sharing service, which offers access to buckets of illegal content, has acquired the URL http://www.ifpi.com, which you might expect to be the home of the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry, the record industry's global trade body which has been trying very hard to get The Pirate Bay closed down. The domain's new owners have put up a holding page that reads 'International Federation Of Pirates Interests', with a promise that a whole site is "coming soon". The trade body's website, of course, is http://www.ifpi.org.

It's not clear if the IFPI ever owned their .com address, and if they did, why they let it lapse. The current owner of the domain registered it in late January, and seemingly then passed it on to The Pirate Bay. Word has it the trade body is accusing the file sharing service of cyber squatting and plan to go to the World Intellectual Property Organization in a bid to stop them from using the web address. But The Pirate Bay apparently plan to fight the claim - of course.

--------------------------------------------------

AC/DC GET THEIR DOT COM DOMAIN
Talking of cyber squatting, AC/DC have won the ACDC.com domain from a porn site who used the address to point unwitting fans to all sorts of dodgy nonsense (of all persuasions, presumably).

After years of fans who type in the .com address when trying to access the rock band online being taken to the porn service, now said fans will get to the official home of Young brothers et al, just in time to find out about the band's new live DVD release 'Plug Me In'.

A spokesman for the band said one of the reasons they worked so hard to win back the domain was because they have a lot of young fans who would be unwittingly stumbling on the porn site. The spokesman told news.com.au: "The young fans are so net savvy it [going to acdc.com] is the first thing they do. The push to get it back came predominantly because they knew there were a lot of younger fans coming through".

Referencing their 1976 album 'Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap', the band said in a statement: "ACDC.com is now serving its proper master and we assure you that the dirty deeds being done dirt cheap will now be of an entirely different variety. Feel free to visit us from work, school or, for long-time visitors to the site, from the usual privacy of your basement".

--------------------------------------------------

TERESA BREWER DIES
US fifties pop star Teresa Brewer has died in New York aged 76 after suffering from a neuromuscular disease. Brewer enjoyed numerous chart hits in the US in the fifties, working at one time with Tony Bennett and later embarking on a film career. However, she scaled back both her music and movie work in the sixties to bring up her family, though returned to performing in the seventies working with the likes of Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and Wynton Marsalis. Among her hits were 'Gonna Get Along Without You Now', 'You'll Never Get Away' and 'Till I Waltz Again with You'.

--------------------------------------------------

TWO DIE AS ASPIRING AUSSIE BAND'S VAN CRASHES
The guitarist with an aspiring Australian band called Electric Jellyfish has died after the band's van crashed while on tour in the US. The band, from Melbourne, were driving from Detroit to New York while on their first American tour. Reports suggest the crash occurred after the van's driver swerved to avoid a dear. Guitarist Hayden Sweeney and his American wife Bridget were killed, while other band members Adam Camilleri, Michael Beach and Pat Lias were all injured. The band had hoped that the self-funded tour would help expand their fanbase abroad and perhaps pave the way to securing a recording contract.

--------------------------------------------------

BLOC PARTY KELE ON LOVING MUSIC AND HATING RACISM
Bloc Party's Kele Okereke has been talking to the NME about his own experiences of racism as part of the music mag's tie up with the Love Music Hate Racism initiative.

Discussing the first time he himself encountered racism, he said: "The only thing I can remember is when I was around four years old and I was in a playground and some kid made a comment. That was the first time I realised I had different coloured skin to other people... as a four year old realising that you're different, realising that although you live in this country there are certain avenues and doors that are closed to you".

Commenting on the Love Music Hate Racism campaign against the recent regrowth of the British National Party, he continues: "I was told about the situation with the BNP handing out racist music outside schools and I thought that was a really abhorrent thing because young minds are impressionable. Anything that I could do to try to stem that is completely fine with me. We live in a bubble in London that isn't the same as certain parts of the rest of the UK and you can't forget that. There are places we've played in the UK where they really don't see non-white faces".

The current NME comes with a free Love Music Hate Racism CD on the cover, which is a rather good quite frankly. And there's a load of bonus tracks available to download from LMHR website too. It's all certainly worth loving music and hating racism for.

The tracklisting on the CD is as follows...

The Enemy - Fear Killed The Youth Of Our Nation
Lethal Bizzle - Babylons Burning The Ghetto
Roll Deep - Racist People (Vocal Remix)
Helsinki - Ampersand
The View - Fireworks & Flowers
Hard-Fi - We Need Love (Wrong Tom Mix)
MIA featuring Afrikan Boy - Hussle
Bloc Party Vs Diplo - Where Is Home? (Diplo Remix)
Carbon/Silicon - The Networks Going Down
Natty - If I...
Babyshambles - Stone Me - What A Life!
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly - If I could Build You A Tower (demo)
The Charlatans - Blank Heart, Blank Mind
Dirty Pretty Things - 9 Lives
Albert Hammond Jr - Cartoon Music For Superheroes

The bonus download tracks are...

Blood Red Shoes - Cant Find The Door
Manu Chao - Tristeza Maleza
Mecca 2 Medina - Who The Cap Fits
Akala - Electro Livin
Nine Black Alps - Burn Faster
Biffy Clyro - Love Has A Diameter
New Young Pony Club - Ice Cream (The Hooks Remix)
Billy Bragg - The Big Lie (Featuring Ian McLagan)
Maximo Park - Nosebleed
Statik - Summer Nights (Featuring Tom Paddington, Ears, Scorcher)
Fionn Regan - Campaign Button
The Noisettes - Shame
Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit - Cold Bread (Engine Room Demo)
Skream - Chest Boxing

More at http://www.nme.com/lovemusichateracism

--------------------------------------------------

NAS RECONFIRMS AND DEFENDS NIGGA ALBUM TITLE
While we're on racism, shall we have the old 'are racist words racist if used by members of the community the racism of the words is targeted at'? No, perhaps not. It is Friday morning after all. But a quick update on plans by Nas to title his next album 'Nigga' despite all the outrage in the US of late of the use of the 'n' word in hip hop.

Nas announced at a gig last week that he would be releasing a new album called 'Nigga' later this year. But then Fox News cited a source at his label, Def Jam, saying there were no plans to release a new Nas album this year, and that the major would be unlikely to release an album called 'Nigga' in the current climate (political, not metrological).

But then a spokesman for both Nas and his label confirmed the new album would be called 'Nigga', and in an interview with MTV in the US the rapper himself has again confirmed the title, and said the CD will be out on 11 Dec.

He told MTV's website: "[People] shouldn't trip off the title; the songs are crazier than the title. We're taking power from the word. No disrespect to none of them who were part of the civil rights movement, but some ... in the streets don't know who [civil rights activist] Medgar Evers was ... they know who Nas is. And to my older people who don't know who Nas is and who don't know what a street disciple is, stay outta this conversation. We'll talk to you when we're ready. Right now, we're on a whole new movement. We're taking power from that word".

So that's you anti-N-word types told then.

--------------------------------------------------

CROW HITS PACKAGE
Hurrah for Sheryl Crow, and hurrah for the news that a Sheryl Crow hits package is coming out on 12 Nov. Actually it's a hits and rarities package, with the tracklisting as follows.

CD1
All I Wanna Do
Always By Your Side (w/Sting)
Soak Up The Sun
My Favorite Mistake
The First Cut Is The Deepest
Everyday Is A Winding Road
Leaving Las Vegas
Strong Enough
Light In Your Eyes
If It Makes You Happy
Run Baby Run
Picture (w/Kid Rock)
C'mon C'mon
A Change Would Do You Good
Wildflower
Sweet Child O' Mine
Tomorrow Never Knows
Try Not To Remember

CD2
Chances Are (alternate version - b-side 'Soak Up The Sun')
You've Not The One (b-side 'Soak Up The Sun'")
All By Myself (from 'Run Baby Run' promo)
Run Baby Run (live with Eric Clapton and orchestra)
Where Has All The Love Gone (three different versions - acoustic version/iTunes Originals version/Rockhouse remixes)
The Difficult Kind (two live versions - live at Budakon (on Japan LP) and live from Abbey Road)
Leaving Las Vegas (live at Budakon)
Rock and Roll (live at Budakon)
Safe and Sound (live at Budakon)
You're An Original (live at Budakon)
Solitaire

Press info from PPR.

--------------------------------------------------

HIM MAN APPROACHED RE BOND THEME
The James Bond music men have reportedly approached Ville Valo of Finnish metallers HIM to record the theme for the next 007 movie, possibly ending speculation that Amy Winehouse would be asked to record the next Bond theme. According to the Star, Bond soundtrack writers David Arnold and Don Black approached Valo at the BMI Awards in London on Tuesday and sounded him out about working on the title song for the next film. One of those sources told the tab: "David Arnold and Don Black were in deep conversation with Ville on the night. They love the song that won him an award. They think he has just the right ear to write a classic Bond hit with them".

--------------------------------------------------

GABRIEL HONOURED AT BMI AWARDS
Oh yes, the BMI Awards in London on Tuesday. This was the event where, as previously reported, Peter Gabriel was given an Icon Award for, well, being an icon I guess. Oh, and for his "influence on generations of music makers". Other winners at the event, honouring artists who have enjoyed muchos airplay in the US in the last year, were KT Tunstall, who won awards for her hits 'Black Horse And The Cherry Tree' and 'Suddenly I See', Natasha Bedingfield who took prizes for 'Single' and 'Unwritten', and James Blunt who won the Internet Award for that 'You're Beautiful' warble.

--------------------------------------------------

GABRIEL WON'T REJOIN GENESIS
Peter Gabriel, by the way, has no plans to get involved in the current Genesis reunion. I wasn't aware anyone expected him to, but apparently there had been rumours he might rejoin his former band at some point. But asked if he would by Planet Rock Radio, he said: "I don't think so... I don't have any ideological objections, it's just at the time ... I had other things I wanted to do. You have to think twice about making a big time commitment to something that is backward looking".

--------------------------------------------------

TRASH IN THE CITY
It's In The City this weekend, as you probably all know, and here's a quick plug for a previously mentioned band who will be playing not once, not twice, but four times at the convention. I talk of Trash Fashion, who have the following ITC performances. We like them, you should go look at them...

21 Oct, 8pm: Club Powwow's ITC All-day event at The Aqua Bar
21 Oct, 11.30pm: Record of the Day 5th Birthday party at the Midland Hotel
22 Oct, midnight: Klastic Plaxon ITC Special at Saki Bar
23 Oct, 6pm: Urban Outfitters, 41-43 Market Street

--------------------------------------------------

O2 GET LED ZEPP STUFF FOR MOBILE
Following the news Verizon Wireless has done a deal to get Led Zepp music for ringtones and mobile music shenanigans in the US, news today that O2 has done a similar deal for the UK. As the venue that bears their name is hosting the much hyped reunion gig, I suppose that makes sense. The deal will give O2's UK customers exclusive access to a range of Led Zepp ringtones, should they want them. David Dorn of Warner division Rhino, who did the deal with the phone firm, said this: "In a country that contains some of the group's most fervent fans, both long standing and new, we are very pleased to be working with O2 to offer for the first time a range of exciting mobile music experiences created from Led Zeppelin's legendary catalogueof recordings".

--------------------------------------------------

CANADIAN COPYRIGHT BOARD RULE ON DOWNLOAD ROYALTIES
Canada's Copyright Board has ruled on what publishing royalties should be paid to the Society Of Composers, Authors And Music Publishers (Socan) on download sales made between 1996 and 2006, bringing to an end a decade long dispute between the recording and publishing sectors. Though commentators reckon neither side will be happy with the result and so the decision could be appealed.

The dispute, echoing the similar long running digital copyright dispute that rumbled on here in the UK for a while, centres on the publishing sector's claim that they should receive a larger cut of digital music revenues than they currently do with physical music sales because the record labels' costs are less in manufacturing and distributing the music.

Socan were pushing for a much higher rate than physical royalties, at one point 25%, though during the Copyright Board hearing they gave clear indications they would settle for a royalty much lower than that, though not as low as the 3.4% awarded by the Board this week.

But the record labels were looking for something much less than even the 3.4% that was awarded. They already pay a 7.9% royalty to mechanical rights body the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency, and were hoping to keep the total publishing royalty - ie the amount paid to CMRRA and Socan - within the 8% figure, to keep the royalty inline with that due elsewhere (Japan is 7.7%, UK 8% and US 9.1%). The Board ruling means they will have to pay a total publishing royalty of 11.3%.

The Canadian Recording Industry Association argued that pushing up the publishing royalty would have a negative impact on legal download services, driving consumers to illegal sources of music online, but the Board didn't accept that argument.

It remains to be seen if either side now appeal the ruling. Meanwhile the Board now needs to consider the royalty rates for this year, which have not been set pending the 1996-2006 ruling.

--------------------------------------------------

AEROSMITH MAN'S SURGERY TO BE ON THE TELLY
Aerosmith man Steven Tyler is set to appear on the 'Today Show' in the US later today and on the National Geographic Channel's 'Incredible Human Machine' over the weekend, to discuss his recent laser surgery to repair his vocal chords. It seems the surgery was cutting edge, hence the desire to discuss it on television. In fact they even filmed the surgery being done, and plan to show clips of it. Which sounds lovely.

--------------------------------------------------

NO MORE GIRLS ALOUD COVERS
Cheryl Cole has said Girls Aloud have decided to never record another cover version. So we just need to get them to decide to never record original songs too and we'll be job done. No, only joking. Past Girls Aloud covers have included 'Walk This Way', 'Jump', 'I Think We're Alone Now' and 'I'll Stand By You' but there'll be no more. Cole told the Star: "There's not one single cover on our new album. We don't need to do them any more. You get fed up of it, and so do the fans. You can never better the original".

--------------------------------------------------

BASS ON TIMBERLAKE HOPES
Former N-syncer Lance Bass is still holding out for a reunion of the US boy band including that Justin Timberlake fella. I think he'll be holding out for a while. Bass recently admitted he felt "completely betrayed" when Timberlake quit N-sync in 2004 to pursue his by then rather successful solo career. But in an interview with GQ US he says: "I'm proud of him. There's no anger, but there's disappointment. We were starting to get respect - and Grammy nominations. And he kind of took that respect to get past the boyband stigma. Hopefully, he'll throw us a bone and do another N-Sync album or a song, because the rest of us loved it. It was our life - touring, making albums".

--------------------------------------------------

A-HA HATE TAKE ON ME
A-Ha's Magne Furuholmen has revealed that the band hate their most popular hit 'Take On Me'. He's told journalists: "We've done better songs. It's great to be recognised, shame it's Take On Me".

yesterday's Daily - Daily archive

© UnLimited Publishing | subscribe at www.theCMUwebsite.com/daily