FOUR BIDDERS REMAIN IN EMI PUBLISHING CATALOGUE SALE
Four parties are still in the running to buy the EMI publishing catalogues being sold by Sony/ATV as a condition of their acquisition of the EMI publishing business. As much previously reported, the Sony publishing firm led a consortium to buy the EMI songs company, and agreed to sell off a small number of European catalogues belonging to its new acquisition - namely the Virgin and Famous UK catalogues - in order to get regulator approval for the deal.

An assortment of possible bidders came forward expressing interest in the song catalogues for sale, with nine submitting initial offers, but insiders say that only four parties are now still bidding. Bids are in from BMG, Because Music and a joint venture between Kobalt and the G2 Investment Group, while Warner Music is expected to submit an offer in the next 24 hours (even though technically the deadline for second round bids has closed).

The sale is being coordinated by lawyer John Branca, one of the executors of the Michael Jackson estate, which owns half of the Sony/ATV company.

back to top

LOUIS WALSH WINS DAMAGES FROM THE SUN OVER ASSAULT CLAIMS
Louis Walsh has been awarded 500,000 euros in damages from News International's News Group Newspapers in relation to that report in The Sun last year which accused the 'X-Factor' judge of groping a man in a Dublin club. The News Corp-owned company will also pay Walsh's legal costs of 180,000 euros, in a ruling made at the Irish High Court yesterday.

As previously reported, in June last year Leonard Watters told Irish police he was groped by Walsh in the toilets at a Dublin nightclub. The Sun reported the story, but less than a week later Watters admitted he had lied about the incident, and was himself promptly arrested and jailed for wasting police time.

Reading a statement from the company to the Dublin court, the Guardian reports, NGN's legal rep Eoin McCullough said: "The Sun published an article in its editions of 23 Jun 2011, in which we reported that Louis Walsh was being investigated in relation to a sexual assault on Leonard Watters. In fact, it transpired that Leonard Watters had made a false statement to [Irish police force] An Garda Siochána, and he has since been convicted in relation to this matter. The Sun fully accepts that the alleged assault did not occur in the first place and Louis Walsh is entirely innocent of any such assault. The Sun unreservedly apologises to Louis Walsh for any distress caused to him as a result of our article".

Walsh's lawyer Paul Tweed, said: "This is a prime example of what we would look to see come out of [the] Leveson [report, due to be published today]. We are not trying to gag the press or stop investigations, but if there was a strong body that we could have rung before to get them to stop the story for 24 hours, we could have provided proof that Louis wasn't even in the place at the time and all this would have been avoided. They gave us just a few hours [notice about the story], they were determined to run it".

Meanwhile, speaking outside the court, Walsh himself said that he was "relieved" the litigation was over, adding that he had informed the writer of the story, The Sun's celebs man Gordon Smart, that the allegations were false prior to publication but "no amount of pleading could stop them [from publishing the story]".

He said: "Gordon Smart called me and said 'you could be nicked for this'. I told him it was not true; it was totally totally not true, but they still ran the story. It has been a very traumatic experience for me. I will never get over it. I am very satisfied with this total vindication for me, but I remain very angry at the treatment at the hands of The Sun. I was absolutely gutted and traumatised that these allegations against me should have been published, particularly as I had made it clear at the time there was not one iota of truth in them, and was totally bewildered who would have made up this type of story".

back to top

RECORD OF THE DAY AWARDS PRESENTED
The great and the good of music journalism and PR amassed in Shoreditch last night for the Record Of The Day Awards.

Amongst the many gongs dished out were three presented in association with CMU, one championing up and coming music journalism talent, Best Student Music Writer, which went to Sam Briggs of York University, and two more celebrating the music publication and writer most popular in 2012 amongst the UK's student music writers, which went to Pitchfork and Alexis Petridis respectively.

The other winners were as follows:

Magazine Of The Year: Q
Digital Publication Of The Year: The Line Of Best Fit
Most Effective Music Coverage In A Newspaper: Guardian Guide
Best Online Content: Noisey
Best Blog: Crack In The Road
Best Music Book: Pat Long for 'The History Of The NME'
Idea Or Innovation Award: 405 Discovery

Editor Of The Year: James McMahon, Kerrang!
Record Reviews Writer Of The Year: Alexis Petridis, The Guardian
Live Reviews Writer Of The Year: Simon Price, The Independent On Sunday
Most Effective Breaking Music Writer Of The Year: Matt Wilkinson, NME
Business Writer Of The Year: Eamonn Forde
Feature Of The Year: Alex Marshall at The Stool Pigeon for 'Investigation: ATP'

Best In-House PR Person: Duncan Jordan, Bella Union
Best In-House Online PR Person: Roz Mansfield, Warner/Atlantic
Best Independent PR Person: Adrian Read, Inside/Out
Best Independent Online PR Person: Debbie Ball, Create Spark
Communications Person Of The Year: Adam White, Universal Music

Best In-House PR Department: 4AD
Best Independent PR Company: Dawbell

Best PR Campaign For An Established Act: Bat For Lashes (Anna Mears, Dog Day Press)
Best PR Campaign For A Breakthrough Act: Alt-J (Adrian Read & Caroline Beashal, Inside/Out)
Best PR Campaign For A Reissue: Blur - 21 (RMP and EMI)
Most Effective PR Campaign For A Live Event Or Festival: Cornerstone Agency for Converse Represent at The 100 Club

Outstanding Contribution To Music PR: Regine Moylett
Outstanding Contribution To Music Photography: Jill Furmanovsky
Outstanding Contribution To Music Journalism: Miranda Sawyer

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

MORE GREENER FESTIVAL AWARDS PRESENTED
The team behind AGreenerFestival have announced thirteen more events that have been given a Greener Festival Award for being nice to the planet beneath our feet, as all groovy festivals should be. The new list comes in addition to that published last month, and brings the total number of fests impressing Team Green this year up to 41.

Here are the latest additions:

Lightening In A Bottle (USA) - Outstanding
Latitude (UK) - Highly Commended
Rock The Green (USA) - Highly Commended
Symbiosis Gathering: Pyramid Eclipse (USA) - Highly Commended
Calgary Folk Music Festival (Canada) Commended
Leeds Festival (UK) - Commended
Reading Festival (UK) - Commended
Hadra Trance (France) - Commended
Sled Island (Canada) - Commended
Barclaycard Wireless (UK) - Improving
Hard Rock Calling (UK) - Improving
Milton Keynes Festival Fringe (UK) - Improving
T In The Park (UK) - Improving

And here is a quote from AGreenerFestival co-founder Ben Challis: "This year we saw a reduced number of events winning our award - 41 winners, down from 47 in 2011. The appallingly wet weather in the UK certainly had a negative effect, as did festival cancellations around the world, and the global recession didn't help either. But we are so proud of our winners, especially as some events had to battle against extreme weather just to stage their shows. All are worthy winners".

Four winners of Green Inspiration Awards have also been announced, for eco-initiatives that have particularly impressed the AGreenerFestival team. And those go to...

Boom Festival for their STAR waste water recycling scheme (Portugal)
Shambala Festival for their 'Surplus Supper Club' food recycling scheme (UK)
Food and farming alliance Sustain for their 'Good Food For Festivals Guide' (UK)
Open Air Festival for their on-site biodigesters (Czech Republic)

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

DAMIEN HIRST TO DESIGN A BRIT
You know how each year the BRIT award - that is to say the actual bit of metal winning song peddlers get to take home - is now designed by a different British artist? Well, next year's gongs will be created by Damien Hirst. I was planning a cow-related gag, but it turns out we don't have the budget. So insert your own here now.

Confirming this plan, BRITs boss David Joseph, he off of Universal Music, told CMU: "We are delighted that Damien will become the third extraordinary creative Briton to re-imagine the BRIT statue. He is truly one of the most important British artists ever and his unique vision will make winning a 2013 BRIT an even more special proposition".

James Corden will host the British music industry's big bash for the 425th year running when it takes place next February in that popular London venue, The Rubbish Tel Co. Yes, guess who had a run in with O2 last week. But I promise not to let that fact influence our coverage of the BRIT Awards. And the good news is, I don't have a Mastercard, so the chances of that company pissing me off are very low.

back to top

ADELE SELLS OVER TEN MILLION COPIES OF 21 IN THE US, NOT WORKING HARD ENOUGH SAYS LOUIS WALSH
Adele has now sold over ten million copies of her second album '21' in the US alone - in the UK it's shifted a further 4.5 million units. It's only the 21st album to pass the ten million US sales mark since Neilsen SoundScan began recording such data in 1991, so that's nice. What's more, it's the only album in the last decade to reach the ten million figure in less than two years. So many stats.

Learning the news, Adele said: "What an incredible honour. A huge, huge thank you to my American fans for embracing this record on such a massive level".

You'd think with all that success Adele might have earned herself a bit of a rest. Not so, says Louis Walsh. In fact, he thinks she's been downright lazy, using having a baby as an excuse for being so. Bad Adele. Walsh told Q: "If I [was managing] someone like Adele, no way would she not be working now. Fine, have a baby, but then get back out there before they forget who you are! She'd be on every other TV show and there'd be another album ready. Work the room! That's my philosophy".

To be fair, I think Adele's policy of being a little bit more difficult to pin down has been working alright so far. Did I mention the ten million albums thing?

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

MTV ANNOUNCES BRAND NEW FOR 2013 SHORTLIST
The publication date for the BBC Sound Of 2013 longlist is now less than two weeks away, but we already know who's going to be big next year, thanks to MTV, which has already announced its Brand New For 2013 shortlist. A few of the names on the list should be familiar to you, though others might not be, so pay attention. Tom Odell, by the way, is guaranteed a Mercury nomination next year, so there's one to write down as a one to watch.

Angel Haze
Disclosure
Ebony Day
Gabrielle Aplin
HAIM
K Koke
Kodaline
Little Nikki
Rascals
Tom Odell

Voting for the winner will open on 14 Jan at brandnew.mtv.co.uk with the public's top choice unveiled on 1 Feb.

back to top

BMG SIGNS FORMER ALISHA'S ATTIC SONGWRITER
BMG has signed Karen Poole, formerly one half of Alisha's Attic, whose recent songwriting projects have included working with Lily Allen on her next album, and with Greg Kurstin on the only slightly awful sounding 'Bridget Jones The Musical'.

Confirming the new publishing deal, Poole's manager Anna Carpenter told CMU: "You can't ignore what BMG are doing - working internationally across all their offices to deliver not just in the UK, but in Europe and the US too. Karen and I are delighted to be working with Kate Sweetsur and her creative team".

While the there mentioned Kate Sweetsur, BMG Chrysalis's Senior Creative Director, added: "Karen Poole is one of the UK's great top-line writers and we and the whole international BMG team are looking forward to working with her and with Anna to maximize her huge potential".

back to top

LOW TO RELEASE NEW LP
Low have chosen to mark their 20th anniversary by releasing an LP. Unlike many other artists marking anniversaries by releasing LPs, Low's LP 'The Invisible Way' will be 100% new and original, so that's nice and novel. Overseen by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy in his Chicago studio, it's set for release via Sub Pop on 18 Mar.

The band's Alan Sparhawk shares this concise summation of its themes: "It's about intimacy, the drug war, the class war, plain old war war, archaeology and love".

Now, view a very visible 'Invisible Way' promo trail.

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

THE DRUMS' JONNY PIERCE TALKS "SELF-INDULGENT" SOLO DEBUT
The Drums' own Jonny Pierce has been moonlighting as a solo artist; and now wants us all to appreciate that he has a self-penned and mastered debut LP on its way.

A modest Pierce, who is now 'teasing' the record via new track 'I Didn't Realise', has this to say: "Some might say it's strange for a man to bare his soul the way I do on this album, but I wanted to do something that exposed me for who I am even more so than anything I have done with The Drums... I wanted to be as self-indulgent as possible with this album. This is pop done the way I think it should be done".

And with that, this is Pierce's (apparently) exemplary pop hit 'I Didn't Realise'.

back to top

WILD BEASTS TO PLAY SMOTHER IN LONDON, ONCE
Wild Beasts are playing just one London show this year, and will take it as an chance to recite their 2011 LP 'Smother' in its entirety, to the very last note. Tickets to this most rare of live occasions, as will transpire at The Lexington on 7 Dec, are only available via a lottery closing on 3 Dec. Apply to win the chance to buy into the show via this link.

back to top

-------------------------------------------------

UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA SHARE EURO LIVE DATES
Jagjaguwar-signed pop oddities Unknown Mortal Orchestra have published dates for a European tour they're taking in the new year. It features but one British stopover, at London's Cargo on 5 Feb, tickets for which fans can fight over from Friday via this link.

back to top

-------------------------------------------------

VERONICA FALLS TO TOUR
Veronica Falls - whose just-detailed sophomore LP 'Waiting For Something To Happen' the world is well... waiting on - are going to be touring straight after that record's 4 Feb release.

Savour the tour's six dates after a look at the video for the band's new single 'Teenage'.

8 Feb: London, Shoreditch Church
14 Feb: Norwich, Norwich Arts Centre
15 Feb: Leeds, Brudenell
25 Feb: Sheffield, Harley
26 Feb: Glasgow, CAA
27 Feb: Newcastle, Cluny

back to top

FESTIVAL LINE-UP ADDITIONS
So, take note shipmates, the theme for Bestival 2013 is HMS Bestival. Meanwhile, in the line ups domain, Sonisphere's French edition has just acquired Slayer (and Korn), who join Iron Maiden, Motörhead and the like. The Barcelona-based Sonar (which also has editions in Reykjavik, Cape Town, Tokyo and Sao Paulo next year) adds Kraftwerk and Pet Shop Boys, who'll each be presenting special technologically-advanced live sets... an AV 3D one, in Kraftwerk's case. Croatian electronica fest-by-the-sea Soundwave, meanwhile, names Bonobo, Kelpe, Om Unit and funk-philanderer Craig Charles amid its first wave of artists. This is a summary of the specifics:

SONAR BARCELONA, various venues, Barcelona, Spain, 13-15 Jun 2013: Kraftwerk, Pet Shop Boys, Two Door Cinema Club, Lindstrøm & Todd Terje, Vatican Shadow, Fantastic Mr Fox, Hot Natured, Baradien, Eduard Escoffet. www.sonar.es

SONISPHERE FRANCE, Snowhall Park, Amnéville, France, 8-9 Jun 2012: Slayer, Korn, Bring Me The Horizon, Children Of Bodom, Epica, Amon Amarth, Marillion, Sabaton, Dragonforce, Headcharger, Dagoba. fr.sonisphere.eu

SOUNDWAVE, Tisno, Croatia, 19-21 Jul 2013: Bonobo, Kelpe, Submotion Orchestra, Om Unit, Riot Jazz, Channel One Soundsystem, Kutmah, Anchorsong, Kidkanevil, Yungun & Mr Thing, Craig Charles, Eliphino, Rich Reason, Gilla, Mikey J. www.soundwavecroatia.com

back to top

WILL.I.AM LAUNCHES IPHONE CAMERA THING
So, I imagine at some point in your life you've thought to yourself, "Yeah, the iPhone's all well and good, but it would be much better if it looked like a shit camera from the 80s". Then you probably wept into your hands because you knew in your heart that this was a dream that could never be a reality. But it can. Stop your crying. It can. Will.i.am has once again looked deep into your soul and given you the thing you most desire.

Yep, Will.i.am has launched a new range of iPhone accessories known collectively as i.am+ foto.sosho (just trips off the tongue, doesn't it), which will not only make your iPhone look like a shit camera from the 80s, but also enhance the picture taking and photo editing capabilities of the phone. It also adds a slide out keyboard, further ensuring that your phone will no longer easily fit into your pocket.

Essentially, the i.am+ foto.sosho is a camera into which you dock your iPhone. This then gives you a fourteen megapixel camera to play with, along with an app on which you can tart up your photos. Users will also be given a profile page on www.i.am where their can share their awesome shots.

Will told The Daily Telegraph: "We have our own sensor and a better flash. You dock you phone into our device and it turns you smartphone into a genius-phone. We take over the camera".

Selfridges, which will exclusively sell the devices - starting at £199 - from 6 Dec, went one step further and claimed that it will "turn your iPhone into a fashionable camera". That's right, a fashionable camera. Oh, at last.

In the unlikely event the you want one of these things, you can register your interest here.

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

DEADMAU5 LIGHTS UP WHOLE LONDON SQUARE WITH NOKIA
So, rather than turning one side of a big fat tower block into a cinema screen, the latest London-based collaboration between phone firm Nokia and that Deadmau5 chap saw all the buildings in a little square in Southwark come to life with an audio-visual-now-buy-our-bloody-phones-all-you-iPhone-using-bastards extravaganza.

Unless you were one of the 250 people who got access to the show live, or one of the savvy net users who thought to Google your way to Nokia's live stream, you'll have to wait for the official post-event video to be put online to see quite how it all turned out. That's imminent.

In the meantime, look, we got a quote for you from the mouse man himself, you lucky lucky people you. Remember when everyone had a Nokia phone? Happy days. Let's read the DJ's words then go play Snake: "Playing Millbank Tower was an incredible experience, so it's great to be back in London to team up with Nokia again. The new show was a totally different concept from last year, but equally inspiring and technically challenging".

back to top

VEVO HAS PAID $200 MILLION TO RIGHTS OWNERS, SAYS VEVO
Music video service VEVO has paid over $200 million to rights owners since being set up in 2009, or so said its boss man Rio Caraeff at a Business Insider conference in New York this week. Although co-owned by Sony Music and Universal Music, VEVO licences content from a wide range of labels and publishers, sharing ad revenues with its content partners.

According to Caraeff, VEVO now "generates more money for the music industry than any other service focused on music video", and that, he says, is because of the high quality of the content, compared to video sites where a lot of content comes from unofficial sources. Added the VEVO chief: "The audience that loves music should be treated and valued the same way as the audience that loves the Super Bowl, and revenue should flow as such".

Although still best known for its YouTube-powered element, where VEVO content sits on the Google video site's platform, VEVO has also been rapidly expanding the other access points to its service, making its videos available via other partners, as well as its own apps and VEVO.com website.

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

SOUNDROP OPENS UP TO THIRD-PARTY DEVELOPERS
Soundrop, which allows Spotify users to gather together (virtually) and play songs to each other, has opened up its platform to third-party developers. Given that Soundrop is already a third-party Spotify app, does that make them sixth-party developers? I don't know. But Soundrop has bundled its APIs and a JavaScript library to create a Software Development Kit, so that other people can integrate Soundrop functionality into their own Spotify apps

People like David Guetta, who has already had an Soundrop-enabled Spotify app made for him by the helpful folks over at EMI, allowing users to vote their favourite songs from his catalogue up to the top of a playlist, amongst other features. Imagine, a playlist that only played David Guetta's music. Eesh. Still, it gives you an idea of the possibilities of the SDK, so go and take a look.

Soundrop founder and CEO Inge Andre Sandvik told CMU: "We're enabling the next generation of music apps to be social by design. Soundrop is the perfect tool to create a more engaging app, and the SDK and platform make the whole process less stressful, easier and, we hope, a lot more fun".

Josh Saunders, Head Of Technical And Creative, EMI Music added: We are always looking for new ways to team up with innovative digital partners and the opportunity to work with the Soundrop SDK within the Spotify client on David Guetta's artist app was a very exciting proposition. We strive to innovate with all our artist apps and this live data-driven approach in David's artist app has taken things to the new level with regard to fan engagement".

More information here.

back to top

ZAYN MISSED OUT ON ONE DIRECTION'S JOHNNY DEPP PARTY DUE TO NERVES
While the rest of One Direction were jamming with Johnny Depp in his home studio earlier this month, Zayn Malik was sitting in his hotel room sobbing into the curtains. Or something. He didn't go anyway, that's the point I'm trying to get to. He was too nervous.

Malik told The Sun: "I was too nervous to go. I am a massive, massive fan and I didn't want to embarrass myself so I let the boys go without me. Hopefully, there will be a next time. The boys said he was totally cool. I kind of regret it for sure and the lads said I was a scaredy cat. Some of our fans get so excited or nervous when they meet us and that's how I was at the thought of being with Johnny. But instead of lapping it up and enjoying it, I ran the other way".

Amazingly, there is no 'Zayn Malik looking sad' Tumblr that I can link to here. I can however inform you that Googling for such a thing brings up some rather alarming fan fiction.

back to top