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FREED PUSSY RIOT MEMBER HAS "MIXED FEELINGS" ON RELEASE However, at the same appeal hearing her fellow band members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina had their original sentences upheld and therefore will remain in prison, pending further appeals. Reuters reports that upon leaving the court, Samutsevich said: "I have mixed feelings. I'm happy, of course, but I am upset about the girls". She was freed after her lawyer successfully argued that his client had not actually performed the protest song carried out by other members of the band on the altar of the Russian Orthodox cathedral in Moscow earlier this year, because she had been held back by security. It was the performance of that song, which was critical of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, that led to the hooliganism charges. In court the other two women argued that they should not be convicted on the grounds of religious hatred, as their protest was entirely politically motivated despite their choice of venue. Alyokhina told the court: "We did not want to offend believers. We came to the cathedral to speak out against the merger between spiritual figures and the political elite of our country". She continued: "I have lost all hope in our courts. We are in jail for our political convictions. Even if our sentences are upheld, we will not be silent. Even if we are in Mordovia or Siberia, we will not be silent, no matter how uncomfortable it is for you". Tolokonnikova added: "It's painful for me to hear that I am speaking out against religion. I have no religious hatred and never have. We'll be going to a prison colony while civil war is brewing in this country. Putin is doing everything to make this happen. He is setting people against each other". As previously reported, in an interview marking his 60th birthday, Putin told state-run TV channel NTV that the three women "got what they asked for", adding: "It was right that they were arrested, and the court's decision was right". After the hearing, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina's lawyer Mark Feigin said that Putin's comments had compromised the appeal, adding that his clients would continue to fight the conviction on procedural grounds. -------------------------------------------------- MCFLY BASSIST DISCUSSES ATTEMPTED SUICIDE The McFly bassist seemingly attempted to end his life in a fume-filled car as he battled with drink and drug addiction. But the suicide attempt failed, and the musician managed to overcome his demons in rehab, returning to the stage later the same year, and going on to win the 2011 series of ITV reality show 'I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here'. Poynter reveals more about that period in his life in a new combined autobiography by the band, 'Unsaid Things... Our Story', that is out this week. And he spoke candidly about the experience on Alan Carr's Channel 4 chat show, reportedly "drawing gasps" from the audience. According to The Mirror, Carr, after noting that Poynter had seemed different the last time he was on the comedian's TV show (during that period), asked if he felt better once he wrote about the suicide attempt. The bassist replied: "It's always good to reflect on that sort of stuff. I'm in a really, really good place now. It is quite easy to forget. It's quite therapeutic to go back, quite scary and a bit of an eye opener into how dark it can get if you take your foot off the gas and stop looking after yourself". COURT REJECTS ELTON JOHN'S LIBEL CLAIM OVER TIMES TAX AVOIDANCE REPORT The singer's financial affairs were referenced in a June report into the legal but arguably unethical schemes employed by some of the rich and famous to avoid paying taxes. The article claimed, incorrectly, that John had engaged the services of Ingenious Media chief Patrick McKenna to work as his accountant in regards to a tax avoidance scheme. The next day the paper admitted McKenna had never actually been John's accountant, and the following month it ran a second clarification stating that Ingenious had never offered to move money offshore for the singer. Nevertheless, John sued The Times for defamation, claiming that the articles were "severely damaging" to his reputation and charity work. However, Judge Michael Tugendhat disagrees, ruling that, contrary to John's claims, he does not believe that the average Times reader would have inferred that the singer was, or was reasonably believed to be, involved in tax avoidance from the broadsheet's report. After all, the judge noted, readers of that particular paper are "highly educated and better informed members of the public" (what's the betting Mike reads The Times?). Therefore, according to The Guardian, the judge concluded that, despite the factual errors in the Times piece, "the words complained of are not capable of bearing the meaning attributed to them by the claimant or any other defamatory meaning". It remains to be seen if John decides to appeal, perhaps by wheeling some Times-reading idiots into the court room. Now that would be fun. AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS NOMS ANNOUNCED - Overall most-mentioned artistes Rihanna and Nicki Minaj each have four nominations, while a slightly less acclaimed Justin Bieber and One Direction have two apiece. - Speaking of One Direction, they square off against Brit boyband rivals The Wanted in the Favourite Band, Duo Or Group - Pop/Rock category, a sure-to-be fascinating face-off until 1D win. - Adele, Kelly Clarkson, and Train are competing to be America's Favourite Adult Contemporary Artist, which sounds less like an awards category than a dance class. - The AMAs ceremony is happening in Los Angeles on 18 Nov. And that's all. Oh, bar the noms: Artist Of The Year: Justin Bieber, Drake, Maroon 5, Katy Perry, Rihanna. New Artist Of The Year: J Cole, fun., Gotye, Carly Rae Jepsen, One Direction. Favourite Male Pop/Rock Artist: Justin Bieber, Flo Rida, Pitbull, Usher. Favourite Female Pop/Rock Artist: Kelly Clarkson, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, Rihanna. Favourite Pop/Rock Band, Duo Or Group: fun., Maroon 5, One Direction, The Wanted. Favourite Pop/Rock Album: Justin Bieber - Believe, Maroon 5 - Overexposed, Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, One Direction - Up All Night. Favourite Rap/Hip Hop Artist: Drake, Nicki Minaj, Tyga. Favourite Rap/Hip Hop Album: J Cole - Cole World: The Sideline Story, Drake - Take Care, Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded. Favourite Male Soul/R&B Artist: Chris Brown, Trey Songz, Usher. Favourite Female Soul/R&B Artist: Beyonce, Mary J Blige, Rihanna. Favourite Soul/R&B Album: Chris Brown - Fortune, Rihanna - Talk That Talk, Usher - Looking 4 Myself. Favourite Alternative Rock Artist: The Black Keys, Gotye, Linkin Park. Favourite Adult Contemporary Artist: Adele, Kelly Clarkson, Train. Favourite Electronic Dance Music (EDM) Artist: David Guetta, Calvin Harris, Skrillex. -------------------------------------------------- STUDENT RADIO AWARD NOMS ANNOUNCED Here's your noms list people: Best Live Event or Outside Broadcast: Varsity 2012, RaW 1251am (Warwick); May Bumps 2012, Cam FM (Cambridge); Elections coverage 2012, CSR (Canterbury); Sherlock Holmes And The Hordes Of Dracula, Xpress Radio (Cardiff); The Forum Opening, Xpression FM (Exeter); The Torch In Sunderland, 107 Spark FM (Sunderland). Best Interview: Scott McGerty interviews Utah Saints, 107 Spark FM (Sunderland); Olivia with Ian Rankin, Fresh Air (Edinburgh); Scott McGerty Interviews the Far East Movement, 107 Spark FM (Sunderland); Rita Ora Interview, Mim Shaikh, LSRfm.com (Leeds); Anthony Horowitz Interview, John Wakefield, URY (York); My Boy Daniel, Ivan Lehane, 107 Spark FM (Sunderland). Best Student Radio Chart Show: Xpression FM (Exeter); Radio Sonar (Southampton); Forge Radio (Sheffiled); Hub Radio (Bristol). Best Technical Achievement: Clickteesside iPhone App, Click (Middlesbrough); S.U.R.F (Show Uploading & Recording Facility), BURST (Bristol); Bailrigg FM Field Switchboard, Bailrigg FM (Lancaster); Presenters First: A Unified Computing Experience, URY (York); OpenOB, Low-latency audio over IP for broadcast, Insanity (Egham); OCD Broadcast Content Management System, Insanity (Egham). Best Journalistic Programming: The Pulse: Whose Lenton is it?, URN (Nottingham); URY (York) Newshour, URY (York); Trent Talk, Fly FM (Nottingham); The Science Show, URN (Nottingham); The Pulse: The Truth About Taxis, URN (Nottingham); Sabbatical Elections 2012, 1449AM URB Best Speech Programming (Bath); Hello, I'm Half-Caste, Smoke Radio (London); How I Lost My Faith, RaW 1251am (Warwick); Beyond Silence: Saving the Sounds of Spring, IC Radio (London); In The Stalls, URY (York); The Fo' Show, Cam FM (Cambridge); There's A Hair In My Soup, URN (Nottingham). Best Specialist Music Programming: Dance Revolution, 107 Spark FM (Sunderland); Mim Shaikh Presents The Shaikh World Show, LSRfm.com (Leeds); Coco Electro, URY (York); Fly FM Saves Guitar Music!, Fly FM (Nottingham); The Hip-Hop Show, URN (Nottingham); Guy Larsen's Gypsy Doodle, Nerve Radio (Bournemouth). Best Entertainment Programming: Weekday Breakfast with Scott, Jodie & Carl, 107 Spark FM (Sunderland); The Walktime Show, Tequila Radio (Cardiff); Dan and Murray, Pure FM (Portsmouth); The Chris Browning Show, Xpress Radio (Cardiff); The Tom Davies Show, RaW 1251am (Warwick); Drive Time with Richie Lee, 107 Spark FM (Sunderland). Best Marketing & Station Sound: Fly FM (Nottingham); 107 Spark FM (Sunderland); 1350AM GU2 Radio (Guildford); Purple Radio (Durham); Radio Sonar (Southampton); URN (Nottingham). Best Newcomer: Jenna Wild, CSR (Canterbury); Giles Gear, URN (Nottingham); George Page, 107 Spark FM (Sunderland); George O'Neill, URN (Nottingham); Abbie McCarthy, RaW 1251am (Warwick); Pete Robertson, Xpress (Cardiff). Radio Best Male: Ethan O'Leary, 107 Spark FM (Sunderland); Jon Jackson, Demon FM (Leicester); Sean Thorne, Xpress Radio (Cardiff); Matthew Hemmaty, Shock Radio (Salford); Tom Watts, Fly FM (Nottingham); Jon Holmes, Smoke Radio (London). Best Female: Rachael 'Coco' Cole, URY (York); Emma Bradshaw, URN (Nottingham); Hattie Pearson, Fuse FM (Manchester); Claire Chambers, Fly FM (Nottingham); Emma Real-Davies, Surge (Southampton); Erica Dancer, Demon FM (Leicester). Best Student Station: 107 Spark FM (Sunderland); URN (Nottingham); URY (York); Xpress Radio (Cardiff); Purple Radio (Durham); Cam FM (Cambridge). -------------------------------------------------- ASCAP LONDON AWARDS PRESENTED Taio Cruz was named Songwriter Of The Year for the second year in a row, based on the continued airplay success of two tracks from his 'Rokstarr' album (released in 2010 in the US) and his contribution to David Guetta hit 'Without You'. Meanwhile songwriter/producer Steve Mac picked up the Song Of The Year gong for co-penning a hit by American synthpop outfit Cobra Starship, 'You Make Me Feel', and Universal Music Publishing was declared Publisher Of The Year, having published the most songs being honoured for muchos airplay at the ASCAP event. ONE DIRECTION BREAK ANOTHER US CHART RECORD Because, you see, that's the highest position any UK group has ever entered into the main Billboard songs chart with a new track in the countdown's 54 year history. Only Elton John has bettered that achievement, going straight in at number one in 1997, though he had a dead princess to help him, so that shouldn't count. Although the Billboard chart takes sales and airplay data into account, it was shifting 341,000 copies of the 'Live While We're Young' single by download that assured the new 1D track such a high first week chart position, and surely that's what really counts. This is also the first week ever when two British acts have had brand new songs enter the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously, with Adele's Bond theme 'Skyfall' entering at number eight. So well done her. Though it's looking likely she'll be deprived a UK number one with the song by Swedish House Mafia this weekend. Unless MI6 to do the honourable thing and fiddle the figures behind the Official Chart Company's back, for the good of national pride and all. I mean, what are we paying those guys for anyway? BRIAN WILSON RESPONDS TO MIKE LOVE: "IT SORT OF FEELS LIKE WE'RE BEING FIRED" As previously reported, Love last week addressed rumours that he had fired Brian Wilson, Al Jardine and David Marks from the reunited Beach Boys in order to tour with his other founder-member-lite version of the group. He wrote: "I did not fire Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. I cannot fire Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. I am not his employer. I do not have such authority. And even if I did, I would never fire Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. I love Brian Wilson. We are partners. He's my cousin by birth and my brother in music". But, he added, a series of smaller shows had long been booked in for the other incarnation of The Beach Boys, who he has been continually touring with over the years, and those commitments necessitated the end of the 50th anniversary reunion tour that had involved other founder members. Taking that line-up to such smaller venues wasn't viable, he added, concluding: "Like any good party, no one wanted it [the 50th anniversary tour] to end. However, that was impossible, given that we had already set up shows in smaller cities with a different configuration of the band ... It is not feasible, both logistically and economically, for the 50th anniversary tour to play these markets". In his response, Wilson wrote in the LA Times: "As far as I know I can't be fired - that wouldn't be cool. [But] what's confusing is that, by Mike not wanting or letting Al, David and me tour with the band, it sort of feels like we're being fired". He continued: "Mike kept saying throughout the tour, 'The whole is greater than the sum of its parts', and both Al and I agree, which made us all think that he wanted to continue. We originally started out with 50 shows, but the success and the demand kept growing and we obliged. No one knew in the beginning that this was going to be so rewarding and popular with our fans. Once we got cooking we were all stoked!" Claiming that Love's alternative Beach Boys tour meant the original-member-line-up had had to turn down shows at the likes of Madison Square Garden and The Hollywood Bowl, as well as a return to the UK, Wilson adds that he and Jardine are of the opinion that the fans get a better show when they are involved. He concluded: "It's Al and my opinion that all of us together makes for a great representation of The Beach Boys. While I appreciate the nice cool things Mike said about me in his letter, and I do and always will love him as my cousin and bandmate, at the same time I'm still left wondering why he doesn't want to continue this great trip we're on. Al and I want to keep going because we believe we owe it to the music". -------------------------------------------------- SPACEGHOSTPURRP QUITTING "SHADY ASS RAP GAME" Writing via Facebook, a disillusioned Purrp says: "I had a good year this year, and showed niggas I can still be successful by myself. [And] it was good to see a lot of celebs be on my wave this year, it was cool as fuck... but [now] it's all bout my Raider Klan fam. I won't be doing this shit no more, I learned a lot about this shady ass rap game... it's like monkey see monkey do, and I'm not that type of dude". He rambled on: "I never wanted be the perfect lyricist or best beat maker, I wanted to be me and I'ma still be me... just not in the shady ass rap shit... I'm to real for it and when I say real I mean to ME... not nobody else... I'm done... GET READY FOR MY KLAN TO TAKE OVER". TORO Y MOI NAMES NEW RECORD And Bundick has been speaking about his design for the new Toro Y Moi long player, the sequel to last year's lauded 'Underneath The Pine', to Interview Magazine. He's quoted as saying: "I was trying to make a pop record. People will be like, 'What is he doing?' I'm just trying to make sincere pop music that's not all processed and bubblegum. Underground isn't always relevant; I want to see what's popular, then put my own spin on it". Tracklisting: Harm in Change -------------------------------------------------- DUCKTAILS DETAILS ENSEMBLE LP Having named Joel Ford, Daniel Lopatin, Cults' Madeline Follin, Outer Limitz's Sam Mehran and - naturally - Real Estate as guest collaborators back in June, he's since named the record 'The Flower Lane'. It's set for release via Domino on 28 Jan, and this is its title track. And now a tracklisting: Ivy Covered House YEASAYER SHARE REVISED LIVE DATES The rescheduled UK dates are thus: 2 Dec: Glasgow, The Arches The band have also set back the release of their new 'Fragrant World' single 'Reagan's Skeleton', meaning it now won't be out till 26 Nov. ------------------------------------------------- SAUNA YOUTH AND COLD PUMAS TO CO-HEADLINE TOUR In that same style, here are dual SoundCloud extracts from the above long players, as are individually labelled Sauna Youth's 'PSI Girls' and Cold Pumas' 'Sherry Island'. And the tour dates: 25 Oct: Kingston, The Cricketers FESTIVAL LINE-UP ADDITIONS LE GUESS WHO, Utrecht, Holland, 29 Nov - 2 Dec: Matthew Dear, Lapalux, Cate Le Bon, FIDLAR, Bersarin Quartett, The Allah-Las, Chris Cohen, Dam Mantle, AmenRa, Mala In Cuba, Team Ghost, Chain and the Gang, Old Apparatus, Palmbomen, Night Beds, Sinkane, Oathbreaker, Erin Lang & The Foundlings, Land Observations, St Paul Psycho, Man From The South, Birdt. www.leguesswho.nl PINKPOP, Landgraaf, The Netherlands, 14-16 Jun 2013: Green Day. www.pinkpop.nl ROCK WERCHTER, Rotselaar, Belgium, 4-7 Jul 2013: Green Day. www.rochwerchter.be SUPERSONIC, Custard Factory, Birmingham, 19-21 Oct: Justice Yeldham, Gnod, Free School, Six Organs Of Admittance, Merzbow, Savage Pencil. www.superosnicfestival.com DIZZEE RASCAL ASKED TO VOICE COCO POPS MONKEY Dizzee tweeted yesterday: "REAL TALK! I've just been asked to do the voice over for the Coco Pops monkey! I always wanted to be the Milky Bar Kid... Oh well!" Whether or not the rapper, currently working on his next album while also about to appear on Calvin Harris's new long player, would consider the gig isn't clear, though the hastag he used on the photo - "#thisracismiskillingmeinside" - possibly suggests not. READING BOOKER PENGELLY DEPARTS FESTIVAL REPUBLIC, HADDARD JOINS IN LATITUDE ROLE Confirming Pengelly's departure, Festival Republic chief Melvin Benn told CMU yesterday: "To say he will be missed by me and the rest of the team is an understatement and my thanks would be too gushing to write down and be acceptable to him! However, true to form from Neil, the festival comes first, and he will stay on through October and in an advisory and consultative role until March next year, to support his replacement who will pick up the challenge and excitement of booking the bill and the bands at the world's greatest twin site music festival". Pengelly's replacement will join the company next month, but is still to be announced. Though Benn added: "My sorrow at seeing Neil go is tempered only by the confidence I have in welcoming his replacement to the FR team and the excitement I have in working with him to shape the next chapter at Reading and Leeds". However, we do know for certain the name of another new recruit at Festival Republic, who will join the company on 31 Oct and have a particular focus on the firm's Latitude festival. Natasha Haddad joins the company from the MAMA Group, where she worked on various festivals, including Wilderness, Lovebox and especially The Great Escape, as well as promoting gigs for the current incarnation of Mean Fiddler (now part of MAMA rather than Benn's business, of course). Confirming her new role, Haddad told CMU: "I am very excited to be joining Melvin and the Latitude team at Festival Republic. The past five years working with The Great Escape and the wider MAMA team across many different events and festivals have been invaluable, and I wish them all the best for years to come, however I can't wait to start working on the music programme at Latitude for 2013 and onwards". And Benn added: "I am very pleased to be welcoming Natasha into the Festival Republic team and I look forward to working together on our vision for the eighth edition of Latitude and beyond. Natasha is well qualified having programmed a number of events and festivals in her previous roles and her addition to the team will, without a doubt, help to keep Latitude the unique and innovative event it already is". -------------------------------------------------- KICKSTARTER TO LAUNCH IN UK THIS MONTH Kickstarter, of course, is not specifically set up for music-based projects, unlike other crowd-sourcing/pre-sale platforms such as Pledge Music, though it has been used by a lot of music-types in the US, not least Amanda Palmer who raised the $1.2 million to finance her current album and tour via the service. Plans to launch Kickstarter properly in the UK were first announced in July. -------------------------------------------------- TONY LINKIN JOINS BIG MOUTH Confirming his new role with Big Mouth, Linkin told CMU: "After the untimely death of Rob Partridge and the demise of Coalition PR I needed to take a breather and stretch my legs outside of PR. 'I may be gone a while', and I was, though not as Mick Jones said, 'to become a monk'. [But] the grass isn't always greener, and ultimately I missed the high highs and low lows of working as a PR. But it's a small world and I have decided to re-enter the fray with my old muckers Steve and Jak, with the second half still to play". -------------------------------------------------- AZOFF JUNIOR TO JOIN CAA MUZU ANNOUNCES MUSIC VIDEO APP FOR NEW WINDOWS OS MUZU boss and co-founder Ciaran Bollard told CMU: "Developing one of the first music video applications on Windows 8 gives MUZU.TV a unique opportunity to take advantage of [the operating system's] huge scale and reach. Our goal is to provide our users with access to the best music video service and experience wherever and whenever they choose". Meanwhile Microsoft's Caroline Phillips added: "MUZU is a really exciting application for Windows 8. It demonstrates the potential and opportunities that Windows 8 presents for developers to create the next generation of applications across multiple devices". -------------------------------------------------- PANDORA BOSS REVEALS SOME FIGURES Says Westergren: "For over two thousand artists Pandora will pay over $10,000 dollars each over the next twelve months (including one of my favourites, the late jazz pianist Oscar Peterson), and for more than 800 we'll pay over $50,000, more than the income of the average American household. For top earners like Coldplay, Adele, Wiz Khalifa, Jason Aldean and others Pandora is already paying over $1 million each. [And] Drake and Lil Wayne are fast approaching a $3 million annual rate each". That's presumably what is being paid to each artists' respective labels and publishers, and the acts themselves will likely be receiving quite a bit less, depending on their contracts and past earnings. But still, it's further proof that the streaming sector is paying ever bigger sums of money into the music business, and Westergren seems keen to tell us all that his company in particular is very much pro-artist. Of course it's assumed bigger artists and rights owners are benefiting most from services like Spotify, because the major labels have almost certainly secured better deals than the little guys (which is why they never join in with the "streamers underpay" ranting), though as Pandora licences all of its rights via collective licensing organisations rather than labels and publishers direct, presumably the monies are distributed in a fairer fashion to those artists whose music is played. So, well done Tim. Though, that said, while the Pandora chief was keen to be seen as an artist champion this week, he was also calling for his licensing costs to be lowered. As an online radio service Pandora has to pay royalties to both music publishers and record labels (the latter via SoundExchange), whereas FM radio services in the States only have to pay the former under the current copyright system. Added Westergren: "It's hard to look at these numbers and not see that internet radio presents an incredible opportunity to build a better future for artists. Not only is it bringing tens of millions of listeners back to music, across hundreds of genres, but it is also enabling musicians to earn a living. [But] since Pandora accounts for just 6.53% of all radio listening in the US, it seems fundamentally unfair that other forms of radio that represent much larger shares of US radio listening pay substantially less to artists". ADAM BUXTON AND EDITH BOWMAN TO PRESENT 6MUSIC SHOW Buxton said: "I've missed being on the radio so I'm delighted 6music have let me back into the Big British Castle for a few weeks, albeit without Joe who is busy slaving in a dream factory somewhere. To stop me from shrivelling up with loneliness Edith Bowman is going to join me which I'm very excited about as she's intelligent, professional, Scottish and a woman; qualities I value highly and in which Joe was almost entirely lacking. I just hope she doesn't mind occasional shouting and stupidity". Bowman added: "I'm a big fan of 6music and what it stands for so I am really excited to be joining the team and to be working with Adam. It's going to be incredible fun although I know I will have my work cut out trying to keep up with Adam's dance moves. It's also great to have two radio homes, with Radio 1 where I am continuing my Review Show and now 6". And now, here is an amazing music video to celebrate. SARAH BRIGHTMAN TO VISIT INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION After completing her next tour in 2013, Brightman will embark on six months of training with the Russian space agency Roscosmos before heading to the International Space Station at a yet to be announced date. At a press conference in Moscow yesterday, she said: "This voyage is a product of a dream, my dream. Finally it can be a reality. I am more excited about this than anything I have done in my life to date". It's not clear what setlist her performance in space might look like, but if it doesn't feature this then I think we'll all be very upset. |
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