OFFICE SPACE AVAILABLE IN SHOREDITCH
The Shoreditch Arch is a beautifully renovated railway arch situated behind Cargo night club on Rivington Street EC2A. It was unused until 2003 when it was transformed into stunning open plan office space and became home to the friendliest creatives in the whole of Shoreditch.

www.theshoreditcharch.co.uk

NME EDITOR KRISSI MURISON MOVES TO THE SUNDAY TIMES
Two and a half years after taking up position in charge of NME, Krissi Murison has announced that she is leaving in order to become Features Editor of The Sunday Times Magazine. A replacement will be announced at the music weekly "in due course", said IPC Media.

Murison originally joined the NME team in 2003 in a work experience position, working her way up to Deputy Editor, before leaving in February 2009 to become Music Editor of Nylon magazine in New York. Though she returned later the same year to take over the position of NME Editor from Conor McNicholas, who had been in the role for six years.

Once at the reigns, Murison reworked the magazine to offer more in depth articles and features with a cleaner design, which proved popular with many in the music industry. She also shifted the apparent target demographic from the younger audience the magazine had courted under McNicholas to a more mature one. However, the redesign failed to reignite the publication's circulation, which had fallen rapidly under McNicholas and continued to drop significantly despite Murison's improvements.

Announcing her departure, Murison said that her time with NME had been "exhilarating, inspiring and completely unforgettable".

Meanwhile NME Publishing Director Emily Hutchings added: "Everyone at NME is obviously sad to see a talent like Krissi go but due to her great achievements while working as editor she leaves NME in great health and the brand is stronger than ever".

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REST OF ORIGINAL GUNS N ROSES LINE-UP EXPECTED AT HALL OF FAME SHOW
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.

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TUNECORE BOSS HITS OUT AT GROOVESHARK
While Groovesharkmis now very much the enemy of all four major record companies, the digital music firm does still have licensing deals in place with some independent labels (not least Merlin, the body which represents the bigger indies). Meanwhile, Grooveshark bosses often insist their service has fans amongst the artist community. Which it might. Though I think it's fair to say some key players in the indie label and artist communities are as angry about the streaming service as the big corporates.

As much previously reported, Universal Music has been pursuing litigation against Grooveshark for some time. They believe that the digital company - which lets users upload music to its catalogue, and in theory removes unlicensed content if made aware of it, inline with its obligations under US copyright law - operates a deliberately shoddy content takedown system, so that it is able to make large amounts of copyrighted music available without a licence, but avoid liability for copyright infringement claims (in the US at least) by theoretically complying with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Though Universal's latest lawsuit actually focuses on allegations that Grooveshark has its own staff upload unlicensed content to its platform which - if true - would mean the takedown system the firm operates, shoddy or otherwise, wouldn't help the company avoid liability for infringement. Grooveshark denies the allegations, while Sony Music and Warner Music have backed their rival's litigation. Meanwhile EMI, which had licensed Grooveshark in settlement of an early lawsuit, has revoked that licence and begun new legal action.

But what about the indies and self-releasing artists? Well, now the boss of TuneCore, which represents self-releasing acts in the digital domain, has hit out at Grooveshark too, accusing the company of "knowingly and willingly using a legal loophole to steal from artists and songwriters".

In a blog post published yesterday, Jeff Price added: "Even worse, [Grooveshark bosses] try to defend themselves by having the attitude of 'hey, we love artists and all we are doing is trying to support them'. What a load of crap".

Noting that the digital service claims to have over 30 million users, Price continues: "When you have 30 million people coming to your website, you have a lot of web traffic. This means you can start making money by charging entities to advertise on your site. After all, you reach tens of millions of consumers. Just think of all the money Grooveshark makes by selling ads".

He continues: "There is just one really big, big problem: they don't get licenses and don't pay the artists, the labels and/or the songwriters for the use of the music that's making them tons of money. I can assure you, 99% of the hundreds of thousands of TuneCore artists whose music is in Grooveshark have not been paid a single penny".

Supporting the 'deliberately shoddy takedown system' accusations made by the majors, Price says that, far from supporting artists, Grooveshark exploits what amounts to a loophole in American copyright law to profit from music it doesn't pay for. "Some scumbag saw this legal loophole, and must have thought something like: My meal ticket is in. Here is a way to make a lot of money by using music without having to pay artists, labels or songwriters".

To say Grooveshark was actually set up to deliberately and exclusively exploit a copyright loophole for profit is almost certainly unfair, though Price's blog does confirm that people at all levels of the music industry, from the majors to the self-releasing grass root artists, do now believe that is what is happening at Grooveshark towers. Meaning the digital service may struggle to find any friends in the music community willing to speak in its favour once the major label lawsuits it now faces reach court.

Read Price's blog here: blog.tunecore.com/2012/04/grooveshark-trolling-the-sea-of-artists-to-make-a-buck.html

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SCOTTISH ALBUM OF THE YEAR AWARD LONGLIST ANNOUNCED
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

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SKINNER RESURRECTS LABEL TO SIGN MAN LIKE ME
Mike Skinner has signed Man Like Me to his Beats label, which is news partly because - as those of you with a good memory will recall - Skinner shut down his record company in late 2007.

So The Beats label is back. And according to Music Week, the next Man Like Me single will come out on 28 May via it and Cartoon Records, with an album to follow, which will include a version of the duo's previous single 'London Town' reworked by Skinner himself.

Man Like Me are probably best known for their cover of Jona Lewie's 'You'll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties', made famous by an Ikea sync. Meanwhile, during its relatively short-lived former life, The Beats released early works from Professor Green and Example, which were both pretty good early finds on Skinner's part with hindsight.

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PHILCO FICTION SIGN TO SOMETHING IN CONSTRUCTION
CMU approved Norwegian trio Philco Fiction have signed a record deal with Something In Construction, which means their debut album, 'Take It Personal' this summer.

As well as this, the band have just been asked to support Neon Indian at Village Underground in East London on 6 Jun. They will also support Visions Of Trees at the near by Old Blue Last on 11 May, followed by two shows in Brighton for The Great Escape.

Now watch the video for album track 'Finally', it is good: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0lGxiWjZOU

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LIL WAYNE WORKING ON ALBUM OF LOVE SONGS
Lil Wayne has revealed that he is working on an album of love songs, which he wrote while in prison last year, entitled 'Devol'.

Of the title and content he told MTV: "That's 'loved' spelled backwards, and it's my version of love songs".

But what do you mean by your version of songs, Lil? "What I mean by my version of love songs is meaning they're not saying, 'I love you'. It's all material I did when I was locked up".

Oh, that's nice.

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MOONFACE STREAMS SIINAI COLLABORATION
Moonface, aka Wolf Parade's Spencer Krug, is streaming his new album, a collaboration with CMU approved Finnish act Siinai.

You can stream the full album, entitled 'With Siinai: Heartbreaking Bravery', on The Line Of Best Fit and read a track-by-track explanation from Krug: www.thelineofbestfit.com/2012/04/album-stream-track-by-track-moonface-with-siinai-heartbreaking-bravery/

Or, if you're pushed for time, just check out album track 'Headed For The Door' here: soundcloud.com/jagjaguwar/moonface-headed-for-the-door

You'll be able to catch Moonface and Siinai live at Cargo in London on 26 May.

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PAWS ANNOUNCE CASSETTE RELEASE
CMU approved Glasgow trio PAWS have announced their first release for FatCat Records, a limited edition five track cassette EP called 'Misled Youth'. The tape (which will come with a download code for the MP3s) will give a taste of what to expect from the band's debut album, due in the autumn.

Says frontman Phillip Taylor: "We recorded it by ourselves all in one day. We had a brand new bunch of songs and whenever we have new songs, we always try to record them as soon as we possibly can. With the exception of 'BAINZ', they were all written/completed in a week and recorded by the weekend. I think it's a good representation of what we are up to just now".

Speaking of 'BAINZ', check out the video for that here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBb7wdBdQpI

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QUEEN AND ADAM LAMBERT ANNOUNCE UK SHOWS
Following the cancellation of the Sonisphere festival last month, which they were due to headline, Queen and Adam Lambert have announced two shows at the Hammersmith Apollo in London on 11 and 12 Jul.

A spokesperson for the band explained: "Queen acted immediately in looking for an alternative venue in an aim to avoid disappointing all those fans who had so desperately looked forward to seeing them at Knebworth. Coming in the lead into the Olympics, most of the venues they first approached were unavailable, being taken as official London Games 2012 venues. As the setting of some of the band's best remembered concerts, the idea of returning to this historic Hammersmith venue really appealed to them".

Then Brian May butted in and added: "Somehow this feels right - The Odeon [that's what the Apollo was called back in 1879, kids] is a big part of our history, and its atmosphere is second to none. It's the perfect place to acknowledge our faithful fans, and will be a fitting return to our roots!"

Where Brian May goes, Roger Taylor follows. Hence, he said: "We had made up our minds to play in the UK this year, so play we will! Following the collapse of the Sonisphere organisation we didn't want to let down all those people expecting to see us live!"

Not wanting to be left out, Adam Lambert squeaked: "I'm so thrilled that Queen found a way to ensure that the fans will get to see this event this summer. I can't wait to be in London to perform with Queen for these incredibly special shows!"

Then everyone sat quietly and looked at the floor.

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BLOC PARTY ANNOUNCE TOUR DATES
Bloc Party reformed. You all remember that, right? Well not content with just working on a new album, they're now going to play some shows.

Says frontman Kele Okereke: "I know it's been a long two and half years since Bloc Party last performed in the UK. Well it seems that wait is over ... We will be playing choice cuts from our new record as well as some more familiar jams".

The dates are as follows:

19 Jun: Glasgow, Garage
20 Jun: Manchester, Ritz
21 Jun: London, Koko

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THE WALKMEN ANNOUNCE LONDON SHOW
The Walkmen will play a one-off show at London's Village Underground on 12 Jun, partly to promote new album 'Heaven', partly to celebrate the tenth anniversary of their debut album, 'Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone'.

You can watch a trailer for the new album right now. Look, here it is: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QTziS8bvi0

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BUSDRIVER HITS THE UK NEXT WEEK
US rapper Busdriver will be in the UK to play a trio of shows next week, which is very good news indeed.

Busdriver released his latest album, 'Beaus$Eros' earlier this year, and chatted about it with CMU back in January. Read the interview here: www.thecmuwebsite.com/article/qa-busdriver/

Tour dates:

20 Apr: Birmingham, The Rainbow
21 Apr: London, Bull & Gate
22 Apr: Brighton, The Hope

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LIVERPOOL SOUND CITY ANNOUNCES KEYNOTE
Organisers of Liverpool Sound City announced yesterday that Andrew Mains, COO of music app specialists Mobile Roadie, will deliver a keynote as part of the event's convention this year. Having previously worked at both Topspin and Universal Music, Mains will be discussing the future of all things app like.

The Liverpool Sound City festival and convention, and for the first time this year an Expo event, take place on Merseyside from 17-19 May. More at www.liverpoolsoundcity.co.uk

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FORMER WARNER BROS BOSS LAUNCHES JOINT VENTURE WITH UNIVERSAL
The former boss of Warner Bros Records in the US, Tom Whalley, has announced a new alliance with Universal Music, in the form of a joint venture. The veteran label exec will launch a new company called Seven Four Ent in partnership with Universal Republic Records.

There have been rumours for a while that Whalley, who before his decade at Warner had a stint at Universal helping grow the Interscope label in the 1990s, would return to the mega-major. Some reckoned he would head up EMI's Capitol division (another of his former employers) if and when Universal's acquisition of its rival is cleared by competition regulators. Billboard reckons that could still happen down the line, but for the time being Whalley's focus will be his new joint venture.

Meanwhile the trade mag quotes Universal boss man Lucian Grainge as saying: "As we continue to expand opportunities for new artists and their music, Tom and his label are a natural fit. His renowned ability to spot new talent and work in true partnership with artists complements the creative vision that [we at Universal share]".

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EMI NORDICS LAUNCHES INNOVATION LAB
EMI's Nordic division yesterday announced the launch of an Innovation & Insight team and Innovation Lab to "help develop and promote innovative solutions and operational best practices throughout the region and which can be shared throughout EMI Music". The new team will be headed up by Stockholm-based Paul Sonkamble.

Confirming the new division, EMI Music Nordics Chairman Stefan Blom told reporters: "The Nordic countries have long been at the forefront of innovation both creatively and commercially in music and so by forming our new Innovation & Insight team and Innovation Lab we're creating a structure and resource that will enable us to further develop our best-in-class capabilities and ensure that EMI Music continues to provide our artists with the smartest, fastest and most effective service possible".

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COURTNEY'S DAUGHTER SAYS TWITTER SHOULD BAN HER MOTHER
Courtney Love's daughter Frances Bean Cobain has proposed Twitter ban her mother from the micro-blogging platform to stop her from spouting nonsense. Of course Love did once ban herself from the social network, partly after being sued for defamation in relation to some particularly bitchy tweets, but she subsequently returned.

And recently she's apparently been using her Twitter account to accuse her late husband's former bandmate Dave Grohl of trying to seduce her nineteen year old and currently engaged to be married daughter. Grohl then took to Twitter to deny the allegations, which he called "upsetting, offensive and absolutely untrue".

And Frances herself - who usually ignores her estranged mother's more random remarks - also felt the need to clarify things, saying via the tweets: "While I'm generally silent on the affairs of my biological mother, her recent tirade has taken a gross turn. I have never been approached by Dave Grohl in more than a platonic way. I'm in a monogamous relationship and very happy. Twitter should ban my mother".

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BEEF OF THE WEEK #106: PRESIDENT OBAMA V KANYE WEST
In election year, Barack Obama must reckon siding with Jay-Z is more of a vote winner than joining the Kanye West camp. Not that there's really any need to take sides when it comes to friends and collaborators Jay-Z and Kanye West, and presumably a cynical politician, if asked to pick between the two rappers, would answer "I like 'Watch The Throne' the best".

But Obama picked Mr Z this week when asked which rapper he preferred, reaffirming his opinion that West is a "jackass". Albeit a talented jackass. Said the Prez: "Jay-Z [is my favourite]. Though I do like Kanye. He's a Chicago guy, smart. He's very talented".

Reminded that, after West's infamous stage invasion at the 2009 MTV awards event where Taylor Swift had won over Beyonce, he had called the rapper a "jackass", Obama clarified: "[Well], he is a jackass. But he's talented [too]".

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