BRIAN MOLKO ADDED TO GREAT ESCAPE CONVERSATION LINE-UP
Brian Molko completes the In Conversation line-up at this year's CMU-programmed Great Escape Convention, which takes place in Brighton next week (10-12 May). The Placebo frontman will appear in conversation with 6music's Matt Everitt as part of a whole day of sessions presented by PRS For Music on 10 May, the first day of this year's Great Escape.

As Placebo embark on a summer of festival dates, Molko will discuss a decade and a half in the spotlight, his creative process, and the continued thrill of live performance. Plus, particularly relevant given the DIY theme that will appear elsewhere at this year's Great Escape Convention, we'll get some insights on Placebo's last album 'Battle For The Sun', which the band chose to self-release, striking up different licensing deals around the world, with very impressive results.

Confirming his interviewer role at the Great Escape Convention this year, Everitt told CMU: "There's something special about interviewing someone live in front of an intimate audience - especially when it's someone as fascinating, talented and unique as Brian. It's going be an opportunity for me to speak to a musician who rarely gives interviews, and to discover more about his career, his life and how he regards his music and the industry around him, as well as to hear some stories that may not be suitable for repetition anywhere else!"

For the third year running, PRS For Music will present a whole day of sessions at next week's Great Escape Convention. As well as the in conversation with Brian Molko, PRS For Music's Chief Economist Will Page will present a keynote session looking at where the British music industry is heading in 2012, with contributions from Universal Music Group's Olly Barnes, Live Nation Entertainment's Tim Chambers and sync expert Ruth Simmons from soundlounge.

Meanwhile, other PRS For Music-organised sessions will look at the PR battle for legislative reform over copyright and the second screening phenomenon in TV, while the Make It Happen panel will offer practical tips to three new bands. Full details about these and the whole convention schedule for 2012 is now online at escapegreat.com/conversations

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FULL GREAT ESCAPE CONVENTION SCHEDULE NOW LIVE
The Brian Molko In Conversation session is amongst the final additions to the line-up for this year's CMU-programmed Great Escape convention, the full programme for which is now live at escapegreat.com/conversations.

While CMU oversees the convention side of The Great Escape, a plethora of other great content partners will also host sessions. As well as PRS For Music's full day of events, there will be panels this year from ACUMEN, PPL, the Music Publishers Association, MusicTank, Record Of The Day, Generator, Teenage Rampage, IC Music, Made In Brighton and Institut Ramon Llull, the latter being this year's lead international partner for the whole Great Escape festival and convention.

Also just added to the In Conversation strand are legendary producers and musicians Lol Creme, Trevor Horn and Ash Soan, who will appear together in conversation as they prepare to release a new album from their collaborative group Producers. Between them, the members of this exciting collective have, over the past 40 years, scored over 200 hit singles and albums, which, we reckon, puts them in a very fine position to share some thoughts, advice and stories.

As previously reported, already announced for this year's In Conversation programme were Xfm's new music champion John Kennedy, who will be chatting to Jon Hillcock as the alternative station celebrates 20 years on air in London, and Domino Records' Richard King, who will talk to The Guardian's Alexis Petridis about his book exploring the history of British indie labels, 'How Soon Is Now'.

Meanwhile Michael Eavis and Rob da Bank will be reunited on the TGE stage for the first time in six years to lead The Great Festival Conversation. Da Bank will then continue the festivals debate with three of the UK festival community's most inspirational new promoters: Jo Vidler from the Wilderness and Secret Garden Party festivals, Simon Taffe from End Of The Road and Tom Baker from Field Day.

The In Conversation strand is, of course, just one component of The Great Escape Convention, which offers a packed programme of panels, debates, networking sessions and parties over three days in Brighton next week. As also previously reported, this year's programme will feature a series of sessions on the whole DIY thing, and another on the state of the music media in 2012.

Offering practical advice to any artists considering going it alone to keep more control over their artistic and commercial affairs will be ACUMEN Business Law's Josh Little, Republic Of Music's Mark McQuillan, Sentric Music's Simon Pursehouse, Create Spark's Debbie Ball, Good Lizard's David Riley, Music Glue's Joe Porn, Brownswood Music's Simon Goffe, Hi Road Studios' Jack Kingslake, 13 Artists' Angus Baskerville, Anorak London's Sinead Mills, The Weird And Wonderful's Steven Braines and DIY artists Adam Ficek and Chris T-T.

Meanwhile, considering the challenges and opportunities faced by the music press and radio industry in the digital age will be likes of Drowned In Sound's Sean Adams, This Is Fake DIY's Stephen Ackroyd, Vice's Dan Miller, The Line Of Best Fit's Josh Hall, The Times' Will Hodgkinson, Q's Paul Stokes, The Sun's Jacqui Swift, Daily Mirror's Gavin Martin, The Guardian's Chris Lawson and Caspar Llewellyn Smith, Juice 107.2's Daniel Nathan, Folder Media's Matt Deegan, Amazing Radio's Matt Jamison, podcasters Darren Hemmings and Matthew Young, and Xfm founder Sammy Jacob.

So, as you can see, rather a lot to be getting on with. Full details about the whole convention schedule for 2012 is now online at escapegreat.com/conversations, while the full Great Escape festival line-up is available at escapegreat.com/festival-line-up. You will also find an overview of the convention programme from CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke at www.thecmuwebsite.com/thegreatescape-overview/. And delegate passes, if you haven't already got one, are a bargain at £150 from escapegreat.com/buy-a-ticket/delegate-tickets.

See you in Brighton next week!

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APPLE INSISTS FBT CASE SUBMISSIONS SHOULD REMAIN A SECRET
In an interesting side show to the ongoing digital royalties battle in the US record industry, Apple Inc is trying to block various bits of evidence it provided to an earlier trial, including a deposition by the late Steve Jobs, from being made public, or even shared with plaintiffs in newer similar cases.

As much previously reported, various heritage artists with pre-iTunes record contracts with major labels are suing for a bigger cut of the monies record companies receive from download stores. The record companies claim that downloads should be treated as record sales, but some artists say download revenues should actually be treated as licensing income. The distinction is key because most artists are due a much higher cut of licensing revenue than they are record sale money.

The highest profile case based on this dispute so far was between Eminem collaborators FBT Productions and Universal's Interscope, relating to the producers' cut of Slim Shady download sales. FBT won, and a court hearing is pending to decide how much more digital money the production outfit should be receiving.

While Universal insists the FBT case does not set a precedent, a stack of artists with similar contracts are now suing for a bigger cut of digital money, and all four majors are facing such lawsuits. The main litigation now being pursued against Universal on the digital royalties issue is being led by Rob Zombie and the Rick James estate, and their lawyers have demanded to see various bits of evidence presented in the FBT Productions case to help them prepare their arguments.

Amongst the key evidence they want to see is submissions made by Apple Inc, including the deposition from the firm's founder Jobs. But the IT giant has hit out at the suggestion that evidence it provided for one case should be shared with lawyers involved in another, insisting that the information it submitted to the FBT court hearing included "highly confidential and proprietary trade secrets", and that the company provided such information on the condition it would only be shared with a small number of key people involved in FBT v Interscope.

Indeed it turns out that when that information was shared with the court during the FBT hearings, the judge insisted that nearly everyone present leave the courtroom, including a bunch of Universal Music staffers, so that only the jury and some key legal types and court officials got to hear what Jobs had to say. Which makes you wonder what exactly the late Apple chief had to share.

Apple Inc is now using the fact the judge treated its submissions with such sensitivity in the FBT hearings as justification for not sharing any of that information with lawyers involved in new digital royalty cases now. It adds that attorneys for the Zombie/James team have not demonstrated that the Apple evidence is essential for their lawsuit, adding that the new litigation is too broadly worded for the IT firm's previous submissions to be of use.

It remains to be seen if lawyers for Zombie et al continue to push for access to the Apple testimonies and, if so, whether anything within them will every actually be made public.

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JONAS BROTHERS SPLIT FROM HOLLYWOOD RECORDS
The Jonas Brothers have split from Disney's Hollywood Records after three albums and seventeen million sales over six years. No reason has been given for the split, though it is said to be amicable. The band have reportedly also bought back the rights to their master recordings and merchandising for an undisclosed sum.

Nick Jonas told The Hollywood Reporter: "This was a decision that we made as a group. Naturally, as with any partnership, when you do part ways, there is emotion tied to it. We've been blessed to have a lot of success with Hollywood and with Disney, but speaking on behalf of my brothers and our team, we're all looking forward to this next chapter. We're ready for that next step as a group, and being able to take our work with us was so important".

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CHERYL COLE DRAFTS LANA DEL REY
Cheryl Cole has drafted in Lana Del Rey for a track on her new album. Not because she's quite popular at the moment (which, despite what all you backlashers might say, she is), but because Chezza heard her ages before you did. In fact Cheryl had her early techno white labels and everything.

Cole told Capital FM: "I noticed Lana about a year ago. I was hearing these songs that were really fresh to my ear and amazing and I asked the guy who she was and he said: 'Watch out for her, it's a girl called Lana Del Rey'. It all happened really organically just like that. And then 'Video Games' came out and I fell in love with her as an artist as well, so yeah, she's super talented".

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TWIN SHADOW DETAILS NEW ALBUM
Pop auteur George Lewis Jr is to release a second album, the successor to 2010's 'Forget', under his Twin Shadow alias. 'Confess', as the new LP is titled, derives certain themes from a dawn outing Lewis Jr took on his motorcycle, having crashed one several years previously and not ridden since.

A quote from Lewis (read the much extended version here) relates the revelatory trip: "I pulled back slowly on the throttle with my right hand, and felt the bike start to come to life. My head was still crystal clear... nothing. The engine jack-hammered under my legs. I inched toward 100 on the speedometer and punched the last five. TON UP! My mind is filled with words. My heart is full of love. This is where I want to be. I want to stay here, and I want to tell you everything".

4AD won't release 'Confess' til 9 Jul, but in the mean time take a free copy of third-placed track 'Five Seconds' via this link: widgets.beggarspromo.com/fiveseconds/

Tracklisting:

Golden Light
You Call Me On
Five Seconds
Run My Heart
The One
Beg for the Night
Patient
When the Movie's Over
I Don't Care
Be Mine Tonight

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NAPALM DEATH AND CONVERGE TO RELEASE SPLIT SEVEN-INCH
An inter-generational duet of a distinctly metal ilk now, as Converge announce a split seven-inch set with genre veterans Napalm Death.

With each act taking responsibility for two tracks, Napalm Death will add value to the collaboration via 'Will by Mouth' and 'No Impediment to Triumph (Bhopal)', while Converge contribute new original 'No Light Escapes' plus a cover of Entombed's 'Wolverine Blues'.

The split will have a vinyl/digital release via Converge's label Concult, though the issue date is still tbc.

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BEIRUT ANNOUNCE AUTUMN TOUR
Look everyone, it's roving folk convoy Beirut, and they're bound for a venue reasonably near you! Well, that's dependent on whether you live either in London, Leeds or Glasgow. Or if you're attending this year's Field Day or Forbidden Fruit festivals, where they will also play.

Well anyway, here are the tour dates, which will mark over a year since the band released their third studio LP, 'The Rip Tide':

11 Sep: Glasgow, Barrowland Ballroom
12 Sep: Leeds, Academy
14 Sep: London, Hammersmith Apollo

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POLIÇA PLAN LIVE PATROL
Not satisfied with selling out a forthcoming June tour, ambitious electronica lot Poliça are looking to do the same with a new set of winter dates.

They've paired the news with the online release of French twosome Meridians' rather suave remix of 'Dark Star', as appears in its original form on the band's debut album 'Give You The Ghost'.

Download or listen to it here:
soundcloud.com/memphisindustries/polica-dark-star-meridians

Tour dates:

2 Nov: Glasgow, SWG3
3 Nov: Manchester, Sound Control
4 Nov: Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
5 Nov: Bristol, Thekla
6 Nov: Brighton, The Haunt
20 Nov: London, Heaven

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THE VOICE ANNOUNCES TOUR
Having distinguished itself from 'X-Factor' with some swivelling chairs and much lower standards, BBC One's 'The Voice' has now announced a cash-in tour to exploit the show's finalists. Well, it works for 'X-Factor', so why not?

Due to take place in September, tickets for the gigs will go on sale this Friday at 9am.

Tour dates:

12 Sep: Bournemouth, International Centre
13 Sep: Cardiff, Motorpoint Arena
15 Sep: London, O2 Arena
17 Sep: Brighton, Brighton Centre
19 Sep: Birmingham LG Arena
21 Sep: Glasgow, SECC Arena
22 Sep: Aberdeen, AECC
23 Sep: Newcastle, Metro Radio Arena
25 Sep: Liverpool, Echo Arena
26 Sep: Manchester, Manchester Arena
27 Sep: Sheffield, Motorpoint Arena

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FESTIVAL LINE-UP UPDATE

DOWNLOAD, Donington Park, Leicestershire, 8-10 Jun: Million Dollar Reload, The Mission and metal supergroup AxeWound widen the Download billing by a further three notches, and join The Prodigy, Metallica, Black Sabbath and the rest of the acts on the festival's line-up at large. www.downloadfestival.co.uk

EASTLEIGH FESTIVAL OF MUSIC, Eastleigh, Hampshire, 24-25 May: Lanterns On The Lake, Treetop Flyers, This Is The Kit, Treacherous Orchestra, Alasdair Roberts & Mairi Morrison and Moulettes are amongst the acts poised to play at Eastleigh's premiere live music event, as also presents arts workshops and entertainment for all the family. www.thepointeastleigh.co.uk

MELTDOWN, Southbank Centre, London, 1-12 Aug: So, Meltdown's 2012 curator Antony Hegarty has just announced an initial list of acts for his 'Future Feminism'-themed edition of the festival. These include Marc Almond, Planningtorock, Buffy Sainte-Marie, CocoRosie, Joey Arias and cult NYC singer-songwriters Diamanda Galas and Laurie Anderson. Proceedings will also include a rare live sighting of Elizabeth Frazer, who will perform her first proper shows since departing the Cocteau Twins in 1998. Ex-Coil twosome Stephen Thrower and Ossian Brown, collaborating as Cyclobe, will also co-score four Derek Jarman shorts with the new venture from David Tibet (of experimental band Current 93), Myninerest. meltdown.southbankcentre.co.uk

RAMSBOTTOM FESTIVAL, Ramsbottom Cricket Club, Ramsbottom, Lancashire, 14-16 Sep: Friday headliners Inspiral Carpets rank topmost of the initial roster at this Ramsbottom-based fest, as will also host Janice Graham Band, Admiral Fallow, The Leisure Society, Seth Lakeman, Thea Gilmore and Idlewild's Roddy Woomble. ramsbottomfestival.com

SUPERSONIC, Custard Factory, Birmingham, 19-21 Oct: Artists selected to mark the event of Supersonic's tenth anniversary include Tim Hecker, JK Flesh, Dylan Carlson, Dope Body, Six Organs Of Admittance, Bohren & Der Club Of Gore, Flower/Corsano Duo, Carlton Melton, Goat, Lichens, Zeni Geva and Rangda, with a showcase by niche label Small But Hard also on the cards. www.supersonicfestival.com

THIS IS DIY, V22 Warehouse, Bermondsey, London, 5 May - 10 Aug: Having taken up temporary residence in a south London warehouse, non-profit arts collective This Is DIY will present acts including Maria & The Mirrors, Death Pedals, Joeyfat and Ed Wood Jr as part of a fourteen week programme of live music. thisisdiy.blogspot.co.uk

TRAMLINES, various venues, Sheffield, 20-22 Jul: Roska, Theme Park, Ifan Daffyd, Bwana and Grooverider are the latest attractions to be listed in association with this free-entry Sheffieldian fest, for which Roots Manuva, Benga, Ms Dynamite, Charli XCX and resident Toddla T are amongst the existing bookings. www.tramlines.org.uk

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AMANDA PALMER SMASHES KICKSTRATER TARGET
Amanda Palmer is planning to release a new solo album, publish an art book and go on tour of Europe and the US, for which she reckons she'll need $100,000. Having shunned the label system and gone independent back in 2010, Palmer started a campaign to raise the cash via fun funding service Kickstarter.

The deadline for reaching her target was set at 32 days, but when the project went live on Monday, fans stumped up the full $100,000 in just six hours. In fact, within 48 hours she raised almost £350,000 from over 6000 backers. A source told CMU that Palmer is expected to raise $500,000 by the time the funding deadline is reached on 31 May.

For more information on the project, go here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/amandapalmer/amanda-palmer-the-new-record-art-book-and-tour

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4AD ANNOUNCES PROMOTIONS AND LA OFFICE LAUNCH
4AD has had a bit of a reshuffle of its staff with former Head Of Communications Rich Walker moving into the role of General Manager of the label, while former Press Officer Annette Lee is now Head Of Press. Over in the A&R department, Ed Horrox is now A&R and Creative Director, whilst Jane Abernethy becomes A&R Manager.

In the US, overall label boss Simon Halliday is now officially based out of the company's New York office with a view to strengthening the Beggars label's North American profile, while Ben Gaffin, who recently joined the company from Warner Music, will head up a new LA office.

Speaking about the changes to the legendary label, which is currently enjoying success with artists such as Bon Iver, Grimes and St Vincent, Halliday told CMU: "We have had four very good years at 4AD and we want to ensure continued and increased growth by making some slight changes to our UK structure. This will allow our artists to reach greater heights in the coming years".

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DAVE RAJAN BECOMES EMI RADIO PROMOTIONS MANAGER
EMI has announced the appointment of Dave Rajan as Radio Promotions Manager, working across all departments and reporting to Senior Director of Radio Promotions Tina Skinner. Rajan joins the company from Hungry & Woods where he was a national radio plugger, working with artists including Tinchy Stryder, Example, Carl Barat, One Direction and Susan Boyle.

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INDIE LABEL MARKET PARTNERS WITH AIM, ANNOUNCES MORE STALLS
The next Independent Label Market will again partner with AIM, having done so for last December's special event to help raise money for labels affected by the Sony DADC warehouse fire last August. As previously reported, and like the December event, the next one will be held at the Old Spitalfields Market in East London.

AIM CEO Alison Wenham told CMU: "AIM is thrilled to be supporting the next Independent Label Market at Spitalfields. As Record Store Day has shown, there is huge potential for fans, record shops and labels to meet up and celebrate great music. The next Independent Label Market has the potential to follow suit and become an annual fixture for music fans; a unique opportunity to purchase music directly from the people who made it".

Amongst the labels which will have stalls on the market this time Ninja Tune, Wichita, Fire Records, Critical Heights, Lanark Records, Full Time Hobby and XL. Also, Domino exec Richard King will have a stall for his book on independent labels, 'How Soon Is Now?' (which you'll be able to hear more about the previous Saturday when King does an In Conversation at The Great Escape).

The event will take place on 19 May. For more information, go to independentlabelmarket.tumblr.com

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DITTO MUSIC PROVIDES INDIE ARTIST VIDEOS TO VEVO
VEVO has announced a new partnership with digital distribution platform Ditto Music, giving thousands of independent and unsigned artists access to the platform throughout the US and Europe.

It opens up the option for smaller artists and labels to have a presence on the YouTube-powered video site, which began primarily as a home for major label content. As VEVO's big thing is that it has only premium content and therefore can sell advertising at a higher rate than YouTube itself, presumably participating artists and labels can earn more via the VEVO site than a conventional YouTube presence.

VEVO's president and CEO Rio Caraeff told CMU: "VEVO supports independent artists and we're thrilled to team-up with Ditto Music to help new acts reach global music fans".

CTO of Ditto Music Jay Kerr added: "We're really proud to be able to offer this. VEVO is an incredible service and this means that a whole new wave of indie artists will be able to take advantage of video monetisation".

More information from www.dittomusic.com

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BRUCE DICKINSON LAUNCHES AVIATION FIRM
Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson has announced the launch of a new company providing aviation training and maintenance based in Wales. Called Cardiff Aviation, the company will provide up to 1000 new jobs and includes Boeing amongst its clients.

Dickinson has worked as a commercial airline pilot for a number of years and was Marketing Director small airline Astraeus until last year when it went into administration. The singer said in November that he planned to try to save that company, but seemingly that has not been the case.

Announcing the new enterprise, Dickinson said in a statement: "We're coming into this enterprise with the knowledge we'll be bringing business to South Wales. A cautious projection is that we'd expect to create up to a thousand jobs within eighteen months based on the level of interest and commitment from aircraft manufacturers and operators. South Wales has long had an association with the aircraft industry and I am delighted I am able to play a small part in the continuation of that tradition".

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THE WANTED APOLOGISE TO CHRISTINA, TURN THEIR BACKS ON BRITNEY
The Wanted have backtracked a little after calling Cristina Aguilera a "total bitch" for apparently not enjoying a performance of one of their songs.

As previously reported, Aguilera was seemingly unimpressed with the Brit boyband when they performed on the US version of 'The Voice', on which she is a judge, Tom Parker from the band told Now FM: "[Christina] is a total bitch. She might not be a bitch in real life, but to us, she was a total bitch. She just sat there and didn't speak to us. She wouldn't even look at us".

But speaking to TMZ, Parker later admitted: "We shouldn't have said it, to be honest with you. We just think manners cost nothing, you know what I mean? The rest of the judges were really nice and she didn't look at us or even talk to us but we apologise for the comment but we get a bit frustrated. It's just common courtesy".

Having learned their lesson to think before they bitch, the group then went on to another interview engagement and promptly called Britney Spears out for what they deemed to be poor manners.

Although Siva Kaneswaran admitted that telling this story would mean breaching a "confidentiality thing", he explained to Fresh 102.7: "I was in the hallway with my tour manager. Basically we were looking with a laptop, trying to get wi-fi, facing the middle of the hallway. [Britney's] bouncers came down with her and told us to face the wall".

Parker, eager not to lose his status as chief popstress offender butted in: "As Miss Spears is walking through. We're like, come on!"

Kaneswaran finished the story forlornly: "We turned around and I faced a wall for about ten seconds until she got really far away".

And I think we can all learn something from that.

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