ROUGH TRADE CO-FOUNDER BERATES SEXIST MUSIC INDUSTRY
Rough Trade co-founder Jeannette Lee accused the music industry of being far too male dominated this week, and she's right you know. And it's all horribly white at the top, too. And yet it's an industry that talks about diversity issues very rarely. At least the horribly white male dominated City agonises about its lack of diversity from time to time.

The famously low profile Lee was speaking at the Association Of Independent Music's previously reported Women In Entertainment event. As one half of the male-female double act behind the Rough Trade label and artist management empire, she says she has experienced first hand the sexism that exists in the music business.

According to Billboard, she told the event: "If I walk into a room with [fellow Rough Trade boss] Geoff [Travis], people assume I am his PA. I think men are threatened by women who are doing well, and sometimes when I walk into a board meeting, they don't know what to say to me".

Travis, also taking part in the event, added: "The industry still thinks of me as Rough Trade and don't think of Jeannette as my equal partner. It has something to do with old-fashioned sexism. It is inconceivable that Rough Trade would have been successful without her. Lennon had McCartney... Me, I had Jeannette Lee".

Lee admitted that her personal decision to keep a relatively low profile had partly led to her being written out of the Rough Trade story by many, but added that when men and women collaborate on music ventures there is too often an assumption it's the men who lead the operation. Lee also dealt with the myth that women had to be "flirty or bitchy" to succeed in the music business, adding a passion for music was most important and "just be good at your job".

Another panel at the same event noted that the industry had wider diversity issues than just gender discrimination. AIM's Remi Harris revealed that she had agreed to chair a new not-for-profit body called the Alliance For Diversity In Music and Media, explaining: "After ten years in the business, it's only recently that I have been comfortable being a black woman in this industry".

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MALCOLM MCLAREN DISPOSED OF
Malcolm McLaren's coffin, emblazoned with the legend "too fast to live, too young to die", was driven through the streets of north London in a horse-drawn hearse yesterday following a funeral service at St Mary Magdalene church in Camden, before being buried at Highgate Cemetery yesterday afternoon.

During the service, McLaren's former partner Vivienne Westwood told the congregation: "Unbelievably Malcolm is dead and I just wanted to say on this cruel, cruel day... get a life, do something with it".

Westwood and McLaren's son Joseph Corré read various tributes, including one from Steve Jones, in which the Sex Pistols guitarist joked about McLaren's alleged mismanagement of the band in the late 70s, writing: "Dear Malcolm, did you take the money with you? Is it in the coffin? Mind if I dig you up?"

Fans later turned out onto the streets of Camden to watch the procession go past, and McLaren's family encouraged others to take part in a "minute of mayhem" by listening to loud music for a minute at midday.

Mourners at the private funeral included members of The New York Dolls, Bob Geldof, Adam Ant, and Tracey Emin.

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ANTI-PIRACY EFFORTS IN KOREA SEEM TO BE HAVING SOME EFFECT
According to a report in The Economist, stats from one of the first countries to introduce a three-strikes system show that the crackdown on piracy has had some positive results on the local music industry.

While moves to introduce three-strike systems in New Zealand and France, and more recently here in the UK, have got more headlines, it was Taiwan and South Korea who first introduced a so called 'graduated response' system for tackling online file-sharing. And stats from the local office of the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry in the latter says that the South Korean record industry has seen sales rise 10% since the new anti-piracy system was introduced. Which, given the sales declines seen in most other territories, is pretty good going.

The Economist points out that there isn't a direct correlation between three-strikes and the sales increases. Record sales were starting to rise there prior to a net disconnection system being introduced for persistent file-sharers, partly because in a country where physical product piracy was always rampant, the opportunities of the net more quickly outweigh the threats (and some new legit digital services have launched there in the same period), and partly because three-strikes was just the latest in a string of anti-piracy measures introduced by South Korean regulators keen to attract Western entertainment companies to the country.

Still, the combined anti-piracy efforts have, according to government stats, seen the amount of illegal music files available online via South Korean websites and file-sharing networks drop a massive 92% in the same period that record sales have risen by 10%, so presumably the country's regulators and music industry chiefs are doing something right, even if, obviously, file-sharing does continue.

Though, The Economist adds, Korea doesn't necessarily provide a useful case study for Western countries going the three-strikes route. Partly because of the nature of the local music industry pre-internet, and partly because the argument "your piracy is damaging our country's cultural exports" has more effect there. The magazine concludes: "In France and Britain such arguments meet with shrugs, but in Korea they go down well".

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NOTORIOUS BIG LAWSUIT DISMISSED
A wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of the late Notorious BIG against the city of LA has been dismissed, though seemingly with the family's approval.

The lawsuit against the LA authorities, instigated by the family of the late rapper, real name Christopher Wallace, was originally filed in 2003, and was based on allegations the LAPD deliberately bungled its investigations into the 1997 murder of Biggie because some of its own officers had been involved in the shooting that killed him.

The legal action initially came to court in 2005, but as the case went through the motions it was revealed the LAPD had randomly 'found' crucial evidence lying in a drawer at the last minute, evidence that would have radically altered the Wallace family's case. The judge hearing the case declared a mistrial, and awarded the late hip hopper's family $1.6 million in damages as compensation for the police force's incompetence.

The LAPD subsequently put a new team onto investigating the unsolved murder, and the Wallace family launched their lawsuit anew. But a spokesman for both sides of the dispute said this week that that suit had now been dismissed because of concerns the litigation might hinder the LAPD's ongoing investigations into the rapper's death.

Legal reps for the Wallace clan seem to be saying they are happy for the litigation to take a back burner while the police are actively trying to solve the case, but they retain the right to reinstate legal proceedings if and when the authorities fail to pursue criminal proceedings in relation to the murder.

Wallace was just 24 when he was gunned down in one of the more violent moments of the hip hop community's famous feuding. Various hip hoppers and off duty or former LAPD officers have been linked to the murder over the years.

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MACY GRAY SUED OVER ALLEGED UNPAID PRESS REP FEES
Macy Gray is facing a lawsuit from an unnamed US PR firm, according to TMZ.com, over allegations she owes the press reps $43K. According to the gossip site, the outstanding account has been handed to a debt collection agency who have now filed legal papers at the LA County Superior Court.

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MUSICAL RICH LIST DOMINATED BY OLD MEN AND YOUNG LADIES
There might be a lack of women at the top of the music industry behind the scenes, but when it comes to young on-stage talent the ladies are dominating.

It's Sunday Times Rich List time again, and the list of wealthy UK music stars under 30 is very female dominated, with Charlotte Church, Katherine Jenkins and Leona Lewis tying for first place (each with an £11 million fortune), followed by Cheryl Cole (£10 million), Katie Melua (£10 million) and Joss Stone (£9 million). You have to go down to Craig David and his £8 million haul at seventh place to find a cock, in two senses of the word.

Though, unsurprisingly, when you open up the poll to Brit-based music types of all ages, the men reappear at the top of the heap. Warner Music boss Edgar Bronfman Jr, new to the Rich List following his decision to relocate himself in London town, comes top thanks to his £1.6 billion fortune, much of which comes from his family's former booze empire, of course. The other big bucks music men are one time Zomba Records owner Clive Calder, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Paul McCartney, Simon Fuller and Simon Cowell.

The Sunday Times Rich List is published on Sunday.

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THE FRATELLIS SPLIT. OR DON'T.
The Fratellis aren't working together right now. Which I think we already knew, but the band's frontman Jon Fratelli has confirmed it. This has lead many to report that the band have split up, though that doesn't actually seem to be what he said at all.

Writing on the band's official website, he said: "We really do appreciate the support and enthusiasm that you guys show to this band, as that's the case we want to keep you up to date with our plans. We have no plans to work together right now. Sometimes things just work out that way. Mince, Baz and I are working on music but not with each other for a while. Your passion is appreciated more than we will ever be able to say, we'll forever give our hearts and souls to music and to you guys who want to hear what we do".

Following widespread reports that the band were no more yesterday, he added via Twitter: "If someone asked you if you fancy some scrambled eggs and you replied: 'Not just now', that doesn't mean you'll never fancy them, does it!"

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VAMPIRE WEEKEND WORKING ON NEW MATERIAL
Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig has revealed that the band are already working on new material, following the release of their second album, 'Contra', in January.

Koenig told BBC 6music: "There's preliminary conversations and definitely we started talking about the next album as soon as we finished this one. Physically, a lot of our energy and our time is going to be taken up by touring but little by little we'll start to do stuff. We'll still be releasing music in other ways, we have a few little things we've worked on that'll come out this year".

He added that the success of 'Contra' has taken them completely by surprise, saying:"I'm amazed that we even chart anyway, frankly. A bunch of knuckleheads like us. Selling records is never really part of our plan, it can't be your objective, playing shows and having people care about your music has to be your objective, to have people psyched to buy your record the week it comes out - it's amazing. No matter how confident you are it's a fear every band has when you are successful with your first album, you have got all sorts of psycho people who are waiting for you to mess up, I feel like we are out of the woods now".

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DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL GETS OFFICIAL RELEASE
The long-awaited release of 'Dark Night Of The Soul', that collaboration between Danger Mouse and the late Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse, featuring guests including The Flaming Lips, Gruff Rhys, Julian Casablancas, Black Francis, Iggy Pop, Suzanne Vega and Vic Chesnutt, will finally be released in July via EMI/Parlophone.

The album was shelved almost a year ago due to an unspecified legal dispute with EMI. Despite this, Danger Mouse started selling the artistic products designed to accompany the album - a book and poster of David Lynch photos - along with a branded CDR stamped with the words: "For Legal Reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will" - the implication being that fans should look for the already leaked album on P2P networks. But now, finally, after months of talks, the album proper will see the light of day on 12 Jul.

The album, of course, will now also possibly be the final new release from Linkous, who committed suicide in March. His family have issued a statement, which reads: "Mark felt that it was an honour to be able to collaborate with so many of the artists on this record. His time and dedication to this project was immense and his hopes for its release are finally being realised. We are glad that people will now be able to hear these songs and know the beautiful gift that Mark shared with all of us through his music".

Danger Mouse added: "I told Mark that we'd worked things out with EMI back in January and he was very happy that the album was finally going to be released this year. Mark meant a great deal to a lot of people and I'm grateful to have made music with him and to be a part of his legacy".

For more info, check out: www.dnots.com

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DELAYS NEW ALBUM AND TOUR DATES
Delays have announced that they will release a new album, entitled 'Star Tiger, Star Ariel', on 21 Jun via Lookout Mountain Records. The first single, 'Unsung', will be released a week earlier.

You can download the album's opening track, 'Find A New Home (New Forest Shaker)', from the band's website now: www.thedelays.co.uk

Explaining the album's sound, frontman Greg Gilbert told CMU: "The first album sounded like the sun, the second album like a club, 'Everything's The Rush' was a festival, but this album sounds like roots beneath the city shaking the buildings at night. This record is about being lost, and the dream of being found. It is our most personal record, and, more than anything, is a soundscape for our home".

You can catch the band live in May and June. Here are the dates:

2 May: London, The Cuban Bar (Camden Crawl)
4 May: Folkstone, Leas Cliff Hall, Folkstone (supporting Doves)
17 May: Southampton, Joiners
18 May: York, Duchess
19 May: Edinburgh, Cabaret Voltaire
20 May: Dundee, Doghouse
22 May: Leicester, Sumo
23 May: Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach
25 May: Stockton, Arc
28 May: Bristol, Louisiana
29 May: Coventry, Kasbah
30 May: Oxford, Academy
1 Jun: Nottingham, Bodega
3 Jun, London, Water Rats
4 Jun: London, Water Rats
5 Jun: Hatfield, Forum
7 Jun: Norwich, Arts Centre
8 Jun: Cambridge, Haymaker

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GREAT ESCAPE ANNOUNCES MADE IN BRIGHTON INITIATIVE
The Great Escape has announced a new initiative, called 'Made In Brighton', to celebrate the many excellent creative types who reside in Brighton and Hove, where, of course, the festival also takes place.

The celebration of local talent will kick off with a pre-festival party at the Jam venue in Brighton on 12 May, the night before the main event gets underway. Playing the gig will be Pope Joan, Sweet Sweet Lies and singer Sophie Madeline.

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FESTIVAL LINE-UP UPDATE

BENICASSIM, Valencia, Spain, 15-20 Jul: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Broken Bells and Love Of Lesbian are amongst the latest additions for the Spanish fest, along with Peter Hook's 'Unknown Pleasures' performance and DJ sets from Graeme Park, DJ Pierre and Justin Robertson. www.benicassimfestival.co.uk

THE GREAT ESCAPE, various venues, Brighton, 13-15 May: Angus & Julia Stone, Cornershop and Rolo Tomassi are amongst the latest acts to play at The Great Escape next month. Also added to the bill are Tinie Tempah, The Joy Formidable, Pulled Apart By Horses, Alex Metric, Silver Columns and Feldberg. www.escapegreat.com

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ALBUM REVIEW: Various Artists - DJ Kicks: Juan Maclean (!K7)
The 'DJ Kicks' series invites artists working in electronic music to create their own mixtape, if you like; a compilation of past and present tracks but also with their own original work. DFA signed Juan Maclean follows in the footsteps of such diverse predecessors as Carl Craig, Annie and Hot Chip but his selections are uniquely his own.

He starts with the Ian Breno dub remix of 'Happy House', the twelve minute epic closing track from his superb 2009 album 'The Future Will Come'. It's completely unrecognisable from the original, dispensing with Nancy Whang's vocals, save for brief snippets in the opening seconds, and the standard DFA production. This segues into 'Spaghetti Circus' by Still Going, a DFA signed act that features deep, soulful vocals and the retro house template that Juan Maclean and other bands on the label have nailed.

German techno makes an appearance with Berlin's Andre Crom and Florian Meindl, whose 'Ebony' and 'Here Today Gone Tomorrow' lend an early morning comedown vibe to proceedings, whilst the likes of the Ibiza-based Sardinian producer Jee Day ('Like A Child') add a Balaeric edge to this compilation.

Juan Maclean clearly knows his electronic music though and sources the best, most cutting edge stuff around from all over the world; American, Argentinian, Australian and British DJs and producers all contribute. Those familiar with Juan Maclean's previous material, and/or previous compilations in the 'DJ Kicks' series, should anticipate this release with great enthusiasm. KW

Physical release: 26 Apr
Press contact: Darling Department

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SMOKES FIRM PULL OUT OF KELLY CLARKSON SPONSORSHIP
Indonesian cigarette makers Djarum have pulled their sponsorship of a Kelly Clarkson gig in Jakarta after the previously reported outrage, led by US anti-smoking groups, after the fag brand's logo appeared on posters for the concert.

Earlier Clarkson said that she had not be aware of the cigarette firm's involvement in the Jakarata show, but that if she now refused to work with the event's promoters because of the sponsor she would let down all her Indonesian fans because the gig would surely be cancelled. She also added that smoking is "super cool" and that with cigarettes just 65p a pack in Indonesia, they're a nice cheap hobby for kids to have. No, not really. Though I bet that's what she was thinking.

Anyway, while she was rambling about all this on her blog, the show's promoter was busy negotiating the cigarette firm out of its partnership with the Clarkson show, Djarum presumably not happy with all the bad press their involvement was delivering, in a territory where cigarette firms are not considered representatives of the Antichrist by default.

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PPL MAKE APPOINTMENTS
Recording rights collecting society PPL announced the appointment of a new Head Of TV Licensing yesterday, who will have nothing to do with TV licences, but lots to do with licensing music to TV programmes. Aman Khullar's background is telly rather than music, though, having had legal and commercial roles at TalkbackThames. Khullar's appointment coincides with an internal promotion for Iestyn David to the role of Head Of Radio Licensing.

Director Of Licensing Tony Clark told CMU: "The broadcast media is a dynamic environment providing new opportunities for our broadcast customers and new challenges for collective licensing. With Aman and Iestyn heading up our Broadcasting, Online And Mobile Team, I am confident that PPL can deliver the repertoire and new rights the media is seeking whilst growing revenues for our record company and performer members".

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MOSHI MOSHI LAUNCH DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION OFFER
The wonderful Moshi Moshi are launching a new digital subscription offer which will let people download MP3s of all the indie label's new output for an annual fee of just £25.

The offer will include releases via the label's singles club and album tracks so, for example, if you signed up on 1 May you'd get access to the new Hot Club De Paris EP, which is out on 24 May. Music will be made available to subscribers via a members-only download platform the Friday before official release.

To launch the venture, the label will randomly place five gold discs into the vinyl distribution of the Hot Club De Paris EP - Moshi Moshi's 100th release - and the fans who buy those discs will get lifetime membership to the club.

In celebration of the launch of the new service, and the 100th release, we have invited Moshi Moshi co-founder Stephen Bass to compile a Powers Of Ten Spotify playlist, and you'll be able to enjoy that via today's CMU Weekly. Huzzah.

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PANDORA LINKS UP WITH DA BOOK
US streaming music service Pandora has launched a new Facebook widget that enables users to share data between their accounts on the two services. It means Pandora will be able to recommend music based on the artist pages users are fans of on the social network.

Pandora founder Tim Westergren blogged this week: "This quickly brings your Facebook friend list into Pandora along with your Facebook profile picture".

But knowing how sensitive web users can be about being forced into such data-sharing, he added: "This is entirely optional. Even though we're excited about the new dimension this adds to Pandora, we want to be very respectful of your privacy. If you don't want to bring your Facebook world into Pandora, just opt out. It will disappear forever. Period".

Pandora, of course, is not available to UK users, unless you're very nifty at faking your IP address, because they have struggled to secure a PRS licence they can afford.

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JOE JACKSON NOT IMPRESSED WITH CIRCUS DEAL
Although Michael Jackson's mother Katherine has publicly endorsed the late king of pop's estate's decision to do a deal with Cirque du Soleil, which will result in a Jacko themed circus show, his nutty father Joe Jackson isn't very impressed with the idea. Perhaps he's pissed off that's he not been asked to play the grumpy clown, despite his excellent credentials for such a role.

Gossip site PopEater.com quotes the Jackson patriarch as saying of the Jacko estate/Cirque du Soleil deal: "That's something else, isn't it? I won't see it".

Jackson Snr has, of course, been all but pushed out of his late son's affairs since the popster's death last year.

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YOU WAIT ALL DAY FOR ONE NEW OASIS, AND THEN...
So, Noel and Liam Gallagher have split, but in the interest of fairness, they're both going to look after the kids. Or, rather, their former bandmates. I'm not sure how well this divorce analogy is working, and it doesn't even link with the bus metaphor in the headline at all. Anyway, let's get on with the story.

As previously reported, Liam Gallagher has already enlisted former Oasis guitarist Gem Archer and bassist Andy Bell to join him in his post-Oasis band, which will sadly not be called Oasis 2.0. However, according to gossip website Holy Moly, Noel's solo band will also feature Archer and Bell in its line-up, which could make things interesting.

Rumours that Liam spends rehearsals bad-mouthing his brother to the two musicians, while Noel just sobs uncontrollably and drinks too much wine are based on stereotypes of divorced parents and are an attempt to bring this report to a humorous conclusion.

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COURTNEY NOT CHANGING NAME
A spokesperson for Courtney Love has said that the musician is not changing her name, despite comments made in a recent interview with the NME. Love said that her current stage name "oppresses" her and claimed she would from now on be known as Courtney Michelle.

However, when asked if this was genuinely the case, a rep told Gossip Cop: "Not at all. She said it metaphorically".

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