DUTCH PIRATE PARTY SUES ANTI-PIRACY BODY OVER WEB-BLOCK INJUNCTION
An interesting court battle could be brewing in the Netherlands where anti-piracy group BREIN is trying to uphold the web-block it secured against The Pirate Bay.

As previously reported, the Dutch rights group successfully secured a web-block injunction against the rogue file-sharing site in January, having previously convinced a court that the Bay was liable for the copyright infringement many of its users undertook. Two ISPs were subject to that injunction, Ziggo and XS4ALL, and the block has since been put in place. BREIN is now pursuing action to extend the injunction to other net providers in the country, thus blocking access to the file-sharing search service to everyone in the Netherlands who doesn't know how to circumvent such things.

The interesting court battle relates to that last point. Savvy file-sharers can always get around web blocks, though more mainstream net users won't know how to. In a bid to ensure that remains so, BREIN has also been monitoring groups that are providing easy links to circumvent the blockade, or advice for novices on how to do so, and ordering them to stop aiding the infringers.

Once such group helping Pirate Bay users reach the Swedish site is the local Pirate Party, which initially put up a 'reverse proxy' to aid those trying to access the Bay. BREIN secured a new injunction last week ordering that proxy be removed. The pro-file-sharing political body complied, but instead posted a protest page containing advice and links regards other ways to reach the Bay. BREIN subsequently demanded these be removed, though so far only the hyperlinks have been taken down.

Keen to fight back, the Pirate Party has now announced it plans to sue BREIN itself, in a bid to force a debate in court over last week's injunction issued against the Party, and maybe even the original web-block injunctions issued against Ziggo and XS4ALL earlier in the year.

According to Torrentfreak, the Dutch Pirate Party said: "By dragging BREIN to court, the Pirate Party finally has the chance to put forward arguments to strike the court injunction that was unilaterally imposed on it last Friday by the Dutch entertainment industry organisation".

It remains to be seen if these arguments stand up if and when the matter reaches the courtroom.

The issuing of web block injunctions on copyright grounds is becoming more commons in various jurisdictions, including in the UK where, following the precedent set in the movie industry's Newzbin assault last year, record label trade body the BPI is also currently going through the motions in a bid to force ISPs to stop their customers accessing The Pirate Bay.

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ST VINCENT AND DAVID BYRNE COMPLETE ALBUM
St Vincent and David Byrne have completed work on their much anticipated collaborative album, which is due for release later this year. The pair are also expected to tour together in support of the release, which is nice.

The project was seeded when the two musicians met at a charity show three years ago. Hitting it off, they began working together. "We just started writing and kept writing and writing", St Vincent, aka Annie Clark, told Rolling Stone this week. "It just evolved to become this much bigger thing".

Announcing that recording was complete, Clark, tweeted last week: "Whew! Finished recording the David Byrne collaboration and now off to Mexico City to celebrate".

That's a good call, Mexico City has many great attractions. I hope they had time to check out the Catedral Metropolitana.

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DEATH GRIPS ALBUM STREAMING
Having already taken the prize for the least likely major label signing of the year, Death Grips have made the first of two albums they'll be releasing through Sony/Columbia this year available to stream for free. As previously reported, 'The Money Store' is due for release on 23 Apr.

Speaking about signing to Sony Music, drummer Zach Hill told SPIN: "I've been playing music a long time and so I'm very familiar with, 'Don't believe anything until it's actually happening'. We just went down there and we took it with a grain... like we showed up laughing. Not in a pretentious way, but just having no expectations. Stefon [Burnett aka MC Ride] went straight into the bathroom and literally just ripped it, like graffiti, like tore into the stalls, carving DEATH GRIPS all over the stalls of the brand new Sony offices. That was before we even got in the spot".

Listen to 'The Money Store' here: soundcloud.com/deathgrips/sets/the-money-store/

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STAY+ PREMIERE SHORT FILM
Stay+ have premiered a short film taken from their previously reported audio/visual EP, which is due out via RAMP Recordings on 30 Apr.

The film, entitled 'The Buzzer' was directed by London director D E E R H E A D, and is, according to the info we've been given, "an eighteen minute montage depicting a possessive force named Arem - broadcasting over Russia's UVB-76 frequency, Arem influences the owner of the Tricorn Club to confuse and abuse his dancers".

Watch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN6E_7gOyRI

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NEW DOCUMENTARY HUNTS METALLICA DRUMMER
A new documentary called 'Mission To Lars' is to receive a limited release through Picturehouse cinemas in the UK this June. The film follows journalist Kate Spicer as she tries to help her brother Tom, who is diagnosed with Fragile X Syndrome, a form of autism, to achieve his lifelong goal of meeting Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. The film sees the pair travel from the care home in Exmouth, Devon where Tom lives on a road trip through America in search of the musician.

Says Kate: "We had this fantasy of hitting the road with Tom and recreating some of the magic of our teenage years cruising around in £100 cars, eating Burger King and listening to heavy metal on the tape deck. We thought it would be fun, bonding. We wanted to do something good for our brother. We were also sick of him endlessly asking".

All profits from the film will be donated to Mencap, and the soundtrack features contributions donated to the project by artists including Bob Dylan, Devendra Banhart and Blur, plus an original score written by Mike Lindsay from Tunng.

Watch the trailer for the film here: vimeo.com/38366274

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STATUS QUO TO STAR IN NEW FILM
Status Quo are currently filming their debut movie, described as "a 90 minute action caper", in Fiji. Really. Entitled 'Bula Quo!', it's scheduled for release next year and will also feature twelve new songs by the band. Direction is being handled by Stuart St Paul, who mainly works as a stunt coordinator but does also have a number of feature films (and a few music videos) under his belt too.

Frontman Francis Rossi told Press Association: "The one thing Quo fans know is to expect the unexpected. Of course, Rick [Parfitt] and I have already acted in Coronation Street, one of the biggest TV shows on the planet, so this should be no trouble at all - according to management".

Parfitt added: "Once I found out that we weren't going to be shooting anywhere cold, I was all for it".

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JACK WHITE TO STREAM NEW YORK GIG, ANNOUNCES UK SHOWS
With his debut solo album, 'Blunderbuss', now out, Jack White has turned his attention to the art of live performance.

First up, he's announced that he'll be streaming a show at New York's Webster Hall as part of the American Express Unstaged series. Directed by Gary Oldman (yes, that Gary Oldman), the performance will go live on White's VEVO profile - www.youtube.com/JackWhiteVEVO - at 2am UK time on 28 Apr.

If you want to see him in the flesh, though, you'll have to wait until June, when he'll be playing two headline shows in London ahead of an appearance at the Radio 1's Hackney Weekend on 23 Jun (that's also in London, sorry non-London people).

Here are the dates:

21 Jun: London, Brixton Academy
22 Jun: London, Hammersmith Apollo

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FRANK TURNER ANOUNCES UK TOUR DATES
Following on from his sold out show at London's Wembley Arena last week, Frank Turner has announced a three week UK tour for November.

Tour dates:

11 Nov: Nottingham, Rock City
12 Nov: Leeds, Academy
13 Nov: Liverpool, Academy
14 Nov: Swansea, Brangwyn Hall
15 Nov: Reading, Hexagon
17 Nov: Newcastle, Academy
18 Nov: Edinburgh, Picture House
19 Nov: Sheffield, Academy
20 Nov: Norwich, Open
22 Nov: Margate, Winter Gardens
23 Nov: Wolverhampton, Civic Hall
24 Nov: Leamington Spa, Assembly
25 Nov: Lincoln, Engine Shed
26 Nov: Oxford, Academy
28 Nov: Brighton, Corn Exchange
29 Nov: Southampton, Guildhall
30 Nov: Truro, Hall For Cornwall
1 Dec: Bath, Pavilion

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TUPAC PERFORMS AT COACHELLA VIA HOLOGRAM
Tupac Shakur might have been dead for eleven years, but that didn't stop him from getting up on stage and performing at the Coachella festival last weekend. Sadly, the technology for reanimating corpses is not yet quite up to scratch, and, given that Tupac was cremated, not much use anyway. Instead, those who gathered to watch Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg's set had to make do with an animated hologram.

Created by British company Musion, the performance uses the same technology that brought Gorillaz to the stage (amongst other artists and public figures), projecting footage onto angled glass so that it appears as if by magic in 3D. As well as Tupac, Nate Dogg also 'performed' at the show, along with a number of not dead artists. Plans are now reportedly being considered to take holographic Tupac on the road.

Watch Tupac at Coachella here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jucRWjtrcgU

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FESTIVAL LINE-UP UPDATE

1234 Shoreditch, Shoreditch Park, East London, 1 Sep: 1234 counts down to its launch date with news of initial bill fixtures Iceage, Frankie Rose, SCUM, Dirty Beaches, Visions Of Trees, Eagulls, Bleeding Heart Narrative and Arrows Of Love, with other artists still to be announced. Hip hipster hurrah! www.the1234shoreditch.com

2000TREES, Upcote Farm, Withington, Gloucestershire, 12-14 Jul: Guillemots will headline the Saturday night of this year's 2000trees festival, while Three Trapped Tigers will close the show on the Thursday. They join a raft of other new recruits to the festival's line-up, including The Futureheads, who will play two sets, SCUM, Summer Camp, Lucy Rose, Fixers, Sonic Boom Six and Gunning For Tamar. www.twothousandtreesfestival.co.uk

CAMDEN CRAWL, various venues, Camden, London, 4-6 May: New additions The Cribs, Spector, Clock Opera and Francois & The Atlas Mountains complete an overall Crawl bill that also features Death In Vegas, Alabama 3, Glasvegas, The Futureheads, Gaz Coombes, Actress, Sway, And So I Watch You From Afar, and so very many more besides. www.thecamdencrawl.com

LATITUDE, Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk, 12-15 Jul: Brand new booking Rufus Wainwright is to soundtrack Sunday's live lunchtime slot at this year's Latitude, thus proving the crowning glory on a line-up also starring Bon Iver, Elbow, Paul Weller, Lana Del Rey, Wild Beasts, Bat For Lashes, Janelle Monae and Laura Marling. www.latitudefestival.co.uk

REDFEST, Robins Cook Farm, Red Hill, Surrey, 20-22 Jul: "Redest is gonna go off - we are real excited to be playing this one", enthuse brand new festival supremos Foreign Beggars, who replace ex-headliners The King Blues following the latter band's split. Existing roster residents also include Modestep, Young Guns, Clemen Marfo & The Frontline, Deaf Havana, Kids In Glass Houses and Missing Andy. www.redfest.co.uk

Y-NOT FESTIVAL, Matlock, Derbyshire, 3-5 Aug: Staged amidst the pleasant panoramas of the Peak District, Y-Not's 2012 edition is now set to host British Sea Power, Pulled Apart By Horses, Little Comets, Slow Club, Skinny Lister and The Good Natured. This lot share roster room with the previously confirmed likes of Summer Camp, The Subways, The Pigeon Detectives and main stage headliners The Wombats. www.ynotfestivals.co.uk

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SYCO PROMOTES COO
Sony Music's Syco division has promoted its COO Charles Garland to the role of worldwide CEO. He replaces Ellis Watson, who departed Simon Cowell's TV and music company over a year ago - the CEO post has been empty ever since. A former exec at 'Idol' producer 19, Garland joined Syco last spring after a few years running his own band-brand-partnerships agency.

Confirming the appointment, Cowell told reporters: "Syco is a global business operating across 167 countries, working alongside the world's most important commercial clients and talent. I want to build on that success to ensure that Syco is one of the most important and respected entertainment businesses in the world. I have a fantastic team of people at Syco and wanted someone they respected and trusted".

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LIVE MUSIC ACT TO BECOME LAW IN OCTOBER
The Live Music Act, the bit of private members' legislation that will remove the licensing obligations of those organising smaller or unamplified gigs in England and Wales, will go live on 1 Oct it has been confirmed.

As previously reported, the Act was passed by parliament in January and got royal assent in March. Some had hoped that the removal of licensing obligations for smaller gig promoters, that were originally introduced by the 2003 Licensing Act, would happen before the upcoming Jubilee and Olympic festivities, but supporters of the legislation have said they'd rather the new system be launched properly, than see it rushed and misunderstood.

Ahead of an event in Westminster to celebrate the Act becoming law, UK Music CEO Jo Dipple told CMU: "This act will reverse the damaging effect the Licensing Act had on live musical performances in the UK".

She continued: "Our most successful musicians, Joy Division, The Sex Pistols and the Rolling Stones all learnt their trade and earned their livings in small clubs and bars. Reversing over zealous licensing regulations will create new opportunities for British artists. The Rose & Crown in Totteridge Park and The Constitution in Camden Town will be - thanks to this Act - full of music and seedbeds for talent. Tomorrow's headline acts will grow from these seedbeds which is great for music lovers and for the wider UK economy".

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YOUROPE PUBLISHES FESTIVAL CONTRACT STANDARDS
YOUROPE, the pan-European festivals organisation, has been giving some consideration to artist contracts and riders, and after workshops in Groningen, Hamburg and London has published a set of standard contract terms for "the engagement of artistes and performers". It's hoped the proposed standards will help both artists and promoters, and remove the risk of nasty surprises for both sides.

Explaining the need for such standards, which will be used by opted-in YOUROPE-affiliated festivals, music lawyer Ben Challis, who consulted on the terms, told CMU: "I found it interesting that there was such widespread and legitimate concern amongst YOUROPE's members about artiste contracts and in particular artiste riders, which often arrived at the last minute with demands that could never be met by a festival".

He continued: "If it was a matter of providing caviar, Stolichnaya, Bollinger and a bowl of M&Ms with the brown ones removed, or puppies in an all white dressing room, it would be concern enough, but serious issues relating to security, safety, payment terms, curfews, noise limits, force majeure, cancellation and insurance obligations are often now included in artiste riders on terms that have never been discussed, let alone agreed".

Challis concluded: "I am sure the recent weather related tragedies in the USA and Belgium have focussed minds - and concerns over one-sided and inappropriate contract terms were repeatedly raised at the recent International Live Music Conference and the International Production Meeting in London. The new YOUROPE standard terms are designed to make it clear where responsibility lies, and in particular what each party is expected to take responsibility for and insure, on a fair and reasonable basis".

Festivals participating in the standards at launch include: Oya Festivalen Norway (Norway), Melt! (Germany), Openair St Gallen (Switzerland), Summerdays Festival (Switzerland), Winterthur Musikfestwochen (Switzerland), Italia Love Wave Festival (Italy), Sziget (Hungary), Exit Fest (Serbia), Inmusic (Croatia), Bergenfest (Norway), Selector (Poland), Live Music Festiva (Poland), Opener (Poland), Rockwave Festival (Greece), Heitere Festival (Switzerland), Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland), Woodstock Festival (Poland), Gurtenfestival (Switzerland), Slottsfjellfestival (Norway), Dognvillfestivalen (Norway), One Love Festival (Turkey), Dia De La Music (Spain), Pohoda Festival (Slovakia) and 10 Giorni Suonati.

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KERRANG! LAUNCHES ROCK CHART
Kerrang! is teaming up with the Official Charts Company to launch it's very own rock chart taking in sales data, and TV and radio airplay. The chart will then be aired on the Kerrang! TV and radio stations, and published in the magazine and on the website. So, very multimedia.

Says Dave Young, Director Of Programming at Kerrang! TV: "The Official Kerrang! Rock Chart cements Kerrang!'s position as the UK's bible for rock music, at last giving both rock fanatics and the music industry a long-missing essential barometer of what's hot on the scene".

He continued: "The new chart is another perfect example of how Kerrang! consistently works as multiplatform media brand, sharing and amplifying creative ideas and then relaying them to millions of passionate followers accessing those ideas 'anytime-anyplace'. In that spirit we look forward to marching onto the Kerrang! Awards - it's going to be a noisy summer!"

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CHANNEL M SHUTS
The Guardian has shut its Manchester-based local TV station Channel M, part of the media firm's former bid to develop very locally focused television programming.

Channel M was initially linked to the Guardian Media Group's other Manchester-based media, such as the Manchester Evening News and City Life, but after the newspaper group sold its regional newspapers the TV service was more closely linked to the GMG Radio division. The operation has been scaled back significantly in recent years, so that only three people will lose their jobs as part of the closure.

Confirming the demise of Channel M, GMG Radio CEO Stuart Taylor told reporters yesterday: "We've been in a holding pattern with Channel M for two years awaiting the outcome of the government's future plans for local TV. Sadly, we don't feel they provide us with the framework needed to grow Channel M into a profitable business that delivers the quality service viewers and advertisers expect from GMG. I want to thank Channel M Controller John Furlong and his team for all they have done through this difficult period".

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KURT WAS RECORDING SOLO ALBUM WHEN HE DIED, SAYS HOLE GUITARIST
Hole guitarist Eric Erlandson claims that Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain had been working on a solo album before he died.

Speaking to Fuse about his new book, 'Letters To Kurt', Erlandson said: "[Kurt] was headed in a direction that was really cool. It would have been his 'White Album'. That's really what he was going towards, a solo album but working with different people. I was really excited about some of the stuff he was working on. I got to see him play it in front of me. That's why I was really sad [when he died]. I was like: 'Oh man, not only are you cutting off a life, but a message to the world, a musical path is just left with ... Bush and all this other stuff [laughs]. He was cut short. Who knows where the music would have gone".

Some of the demo recordings for the album were amongst tracks included in the 2004 Nirvana boxset 'With The Lights Out', said Erlandson, but he hopes for a full release at some point: "I'm not in control of things. I just wish something would come together. I think the fans would be a lot happier. If nobody ever hears those songs, except for like three people, then ... that's the way it goes".

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