LIVE NATION RELOCATES LONDON FESTIVALS TO OLYMPIC PARK
Live Nation will move its central London festivals Wireless and Hard Rock Calling to the Olympic Park in East London, after ending its relationship with the Royal Parks.

Wireless, Hard Rock Calling and various other city centre events staged by Live Nation were previously hosted in Hyde Park. But, as previously reported, last year the live music giant ended its relationship with the Royal Parks organisation, claiming that demands made by both the park authority and Westminster Council, which has licensing authority over Hyde Park, made staging events their untenable. Though Live Nation's competitor AEG Live swooped in to snap up the rights to stage events at Hyde Park, and will do so this summer.

Live Nation will move Wireless and Hard Rock Calling east via a new partnership with the London Legacy Development Corporation. The promoter will stage its festivals in the North Park area of the complex built for last year's Olympics, as well as staging other concerts in the Olympic Stadium. Live Nation's concerts will sit alongside a programme of other sporting and entertainment events to be staged at the Olympic site this summer, ahead of a full opening of the complex to the public, under the name Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, in 2014.

Confirming the alliance, London Mayor Boris Johnson, who is also Chairman of the London Legacy Development Corporation, told CMU: "Our vision for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park has always been as a destination for world class sport as well as for major cultural and leisure events and last summer the world saw what an amazing venue we have created with our iconic stadium, sports facilities and new parklands. The confidence now shown by one of the world's leading live entertainment promoters to relocate two of its biggest music festivals from the centre of the capital is a ringing endorsement of our legacy plans. Along with the other major international sports events we have already secured this latest news proves that the park has a very bright future indeed".

Meanwhile Live Nation Europe's President Of Concerts, John Reid, added: "As the world's leading provider of music festivals and outdoor events, Live Nation is delighted to have won the inaugural contract for Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. In the coming weeks, we will unveil the headline acts for the first Wireless and Hard Rock festivals to be staged in London's new flagship venue, which promise to be the UK's blockbuster events of 2013".

Meanwhile, back on the West side of London, Barclaycard has been unveiled as headline sponsor of the events AEG Live will stage in Hyde Park over the next five years, in a sponsorship deal believed to be worth between £5-7.5 million. Barclaycard was previously sponsor of Live Nation's Wireless event in Hyde Park.

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NME AWARDS NOMS ANNOUNCED
Hey, Bob, Jill and especially Rufus, here, as requested, are the full list of nominees for this years NME Awards, that popular rock industry piss up that also finds time to deliver a slight if slurred nod of approval to the makers of NME-friendly tunes, aka indie rock and leafy urban.

If you buy the increasingly tedious 'guitar music's coming back' story arc, then by all means exclaim, "My, isn't there a load of great guitar-based music out there just now, all duly celebrated here by the New Musical Express". Meanwhile One Direction and Harry Styles can pat themselves on the back for achieving the ultimate of all achievements in Planet Pop, pissing off enough NME readers to get both Worst Band and Villain Of The year nominations. Well done 1D, this is it, you've truly made it.

Coming up, lists. But first NME Editor Mike Williams with his words: "The NME Awards is the highlight of the music calendar and the most rock n roll party of the year, so it's incredibly exciting to see such a wide range of artists nominated this time around".

And this: "Rightly so, all the early plaudits will go to Haim, Tame Impala, MIA and the legendary Rolling Stones who lead the way with four nominations each, but it's testament to the exquisite taste of the NME audience that artists as wide ranged as Frank Ocean, Jake Bugg, Pussy Riot and David Bowie are recognised too. To say it¹s shaping up to be a classic is a huge understatement!"

Best British Band: Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian, The Vaccines, Biffy Clyro, The Maccabees, The Cribs

Best International Band: The Killers, Tame Impala, The Black Keys, Odd Future, Crystal Castles, Foo Fighters

Best Solo Artist: Jake Bugg, Noel Gallagher, Florence Welch, Miles Kane, Grimes, Paul Weller

Best New Band: Alt-J, Peace, Palma Violets, Django Django, Alabama Shakes, Haim

Best Live Band: The Maccabees, The Cribs, Blur, Biffy Clyro, Foals, The Rolling Stones

Best Track: Arctic Monkeys - R U Mine?; Haim - Don't Save Me; MIA - Bad Girls; Foals - Inhaler; Palma Violets - Best Of Friends; Tame Impala - Elephant.

Best Dancefloor Anthem: Mosca ft Katy B - What You Came For; Calvin Harris ft Florence Welch
Sweet Nothing; Psy - Gangnam Style; MIA - Bad Girls; Kanye West/Jay-Z - In Paris; Solange -
Losing You

Best Album: Frank Ocean - Channel Orange; Jake Bugg - Jake Bugg; The Maccabees - Given To The Wild; Alt-J - An Awesome Wave; The Vaccines - Come Of Age; Lonerism - Tame Impala

Best Re-Issue: Manic Street Preachers - Generation Terrorists; Blur - 21; Prodigy - The Fat Of The Land; Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights; Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness; Ian Brown - Collected

Best Music Video: Grimes - Oblivion; MIA - Bad Girls; David Bowie - Where Are We Now?; Arctic Monkeys - R U Mine?; Haim - Don't Save Me; Tame Impala - Feels Like We Only Go Backwards

Best Festival: Reading & Leeds Festivals, T In The Park, Bestival, Primavera, Latitude, Isle Of Wight

Best Small Festival: Swn, The Great Escape, Field Day, Festival No.6, End Of The Road, Constellations

Best TV Show: Breaking Bad, Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy, Fresh Meat, Sherlock, The Thick Of It, Doctor Who

Best Film: The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey, Ted, Ill Manors, The Dark Knight Rises, Skyfall, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

Best Music Film: Searching For Sugar Man, LCD Soundsystem: Shut Up And Play The Hits, Hit So Hard The Life & Near Death Story Of Patty Schemel, Marley, The Rolling Stones: Crossfire Hurricane, Led Zeppelin: Celebration Day

Best Book: David Byrne - How Music Works, Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace, Mike Skinner - The Story Of The Streets, Tim Burgess - Telling Stories, The Rolling Stones - 50, Peter Hook - Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division

Best Twitter: Muse (@muse), Fred Macpherson from Spector (@fredmacpherson), Theo Hutchcraft from Hurts (@theohurts), Alana Haim from Haim (@babyhaim), Wiley (@eskidance), MIA (@miauniverse)

Best Fan Community: Muse, Hurts, 30 Seconds To Mars, Manic Street Preachers, The Killers, Enter Shikari

Music Moment Of The Year: David Bowie returns, The Stone Roses play Heaton Park, Olympics Opening Ceremony, The Rolling Stones play London's O2 Arena, Green Day's secret set at Reading Festival, Pussy Riot's punk prayer

Hero Of The Year: David Bowie, Bradley Wiggins, Pussy Riot, Barack Obama, Frank Ocean, Dave Grohl

Villain Of The Year: David Cameron, Harry Styles, Skrillex, Psy, Fred Macpherson, Azealia Banks

Worst Band: One Direction, Muse, Mumford & Sons, Alt-J, Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran

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THE POSTAL SERVICE SEEM TO BE REUNITING
Formed by Death Cab For Cuties' Ben Gibbard and producer Dntel in 2001, The Postal Service existed for all of one album before going their separate ways. And a great album it was too, appropriately titled 'Give Up', it also spawned the song 'Such Great Heights'. There's something nice about the compactness of the project's brief life. The last thing anyone would want is for them to reunite.

Actually, there seem to be lots of people online who think them getting back together is a very good thing indeed, and those people are now getting all excited about a redesign of the Postal Service website and Billboard's discovery that the duo will reunite to play Coachella this year and re-release 'Give Up' to mark its tenth anniversary. Fools. If you can't get to Coachella then there will apparently be some other tour dates too, after which they will hopefully give up again.

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MIS-TEEQ REUNION STILL A POSSIBILITY
The long-threatened Mis-Teeq reunion may be drawing closer, according to the band's Alesha Dixon.

She told Metro: "We are speaking and we're having a meeting. It's like all these bands reforming are just jumping on the bandwagon but I'd be quite happy to go in the studio for a year with the girls and just work on a new record. I am so up for doing something with the girls. I have been for a long time. I don't think anybody has actually filled the gap since Mis-Teeq left, which is quite worrying as I thought we were opening doors for people".

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WALE AND JERRY SEINFELD COLLABORATE
Jerry Seinfeld is to appear on rapper Wale's new mixtape, the follow-up to his 'Mixtape About Nothing' and 'More About Nothing' releases, which both reference the comedian.

In an interview, Seinfeld said: "I got the call from Wale and DJ Omega here, they called me to come in. I had to be here. If I'm gonna do this, these are the guys I'm gonna do it with. And now I did it, and that's it".

Admitting that he didn't know a great deal about Wale before the collaboration was suggested, he later found out that his wife was a big fan, explaining: "I said to my wife, 'I'm doing this thing with this guy Wale'. She said, 'Wale is my favourite hip hop artist anywhere, I have every single thing...'"

He continued: "Somehow she missed anything that had anything to do with me, but she has every other cut, everything else he's done. I said, 'Just type in Wale and me [into Google], see what comes up'. And of course a whole bunch of stuff came up. But it's unbelievable, we're living together, she's into him, he's into me and I didn't know about the whole thing".

Watch the whole interview here.

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DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN FRONTMAN DISCUSSES NEW ALBUM
Dillinger Escape Plan frontman Greg Puciato has been speaking to Revolver about the band's currently-in-production new album, which is due for release later this year.

He said: "We have eleven [songs]. Sometimes we go in and have everything 80% done and we're trying to wing it as we go. This time, everything was really fixed. We really had most of the T's crossed and the I's dotted ahead of time. It feels really confident as a band to be like, 'Yeah, we're gonna go fuck shit up'. That's a good feeling. We've actually never had a leftover song. We said, "Let's not fuck around and spend all this time learning all these weird rhythms and trying to make everything faster, more aggressive, trickier, and all that stuff if we're just gonna throw it out. Let's figure out early on if it sucks and just get rid of it".

On the album's sound, he said: "We made a really conscious effort this time to try to do some different stuff. I feel like, as any band that's put out a bunch of records, we have our patterns, even if our patterns are a little harder to decipher. We've made a really deliberate, conscious effort to be like, 'The first song is gonna start differently than any Dillinger record because every Dillinger record starts with like a train wreck and 'Aaahhhh' right away' ... We have to make effort to be like, "This is what we would normally do. Let's deliberately not do that." It's actually made everything a lot more interesting for us. Those little things make a difference. We push each other creatively.

Puciato also revealed that there will be some guests on this album, but wouldn't yet reveal who: "[In the past] we've had Brent [Hinds, Mastodon guitarist] on [2007 album] Ire Works' 'Horse Hunter'. I think this time people are gonna be like, 'What the fuck?' about some of the people".

Read the full interview here.

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COLDPLAY, BLACK EYED PEAS AND MORE CONTRIBUTE TO TINNITUS AWARENESS COMPILATION
First announced in his CMU column last year, details of Eddy Temple-Morris and the British Tinnitus Association's new compilation, 'I Am The One In Ten', have been announced. Put together to raise awareness of tinnitus, which affects one in ten people in the UK, all the artists (or at least one member of each band) who have contributed tracks to the album suffer from the condition. Amongst those who have contributed are Coldplay, Black Eyed Peas, DJ Fresh, Adam F and Embrace.

Says Temple-Morris: "I'm so happy that Chris Martin has given this his blessing, with Coldplay on board, at last we have a real chance to get through to government now... this record could be a game changer"

As well as the musicians involved having tinnitus, Temple-Morris and the BTA have attempted to ensure that everyone at each stage of the process also has personal experience of the condition, from mastering engineers to PR people, and a key member of the label team who put the record out (talks with possible label partners are ongoing, if any label out there is interested). I'm pitching in by writing this while trying to ignore the constant ringing in my ears. It's hoped that this will help to highlight just how widespread this problem really is, and to encourage investment into research and awareness campaigns for it.

Speaking of which, Tinnitus Awareness Week this year will take place from 4-10 Feb, more information about which can be found here.

The full list of artists involved in the compilation, all of whole have contributed rare or exclusive tracks and remixes (remixers, of course, have tinnitus too), are as follows:

Coldplay
Black Eyed Peas
DJ Fresh
Embrace
Adam F
Zinc
Chicane
London Elektricity
Dc Breaks
Alex Metric
Freakpower
The Cooper Temple Clause
Drumsound & Bassline Smith
2bad Mice
Deadly Avenger
Freq Nasty
Mistabishi
Hiatus
Losers
Subsource
Benin City

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ALUNAGEORGE GIVE ALBUM DETAILS, COLLABORATE WITH DISCLOSURE
AlunaGeorge will release their debut album, 'Body Music', on 3 Jun via Universal/Island. That's quite a long way away, but you can enjoy the "subject to change" tracklist for the album and the video for latest single, 'You Drums, Your Love'm below. The duo are also playing an album launch show at Electric in Brixton on 20 Jun, don't forget.

You Know You Like It
Just A Touch
Your Drums, Your Love
Attracting Flies
Body Music
Bad Idea
Friends To Lovers
Superstar
Kaleidoscope Love
Outlines
Diver
Be Your Boo

The duo's Aluna Francis has also just added vocals to the new Disclosure single, 'White Noise', which is due for release on 17 Feb and is very good indeed.

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SIMON COWELL AND HARRY HILL WORKING ON X-FACTOR MUSICAL
Simon Cowell has revealed that he is in the early stages of creating a spin-off 'X-Factor' musical with comedian Harry Hill. There's a chance it might not happen though, so don't worry yourself too much yet.

Speaking to Metro, Cowell said: "First of all we just want to find out if it will work or not. We're going to see a workshop on it in a couple of weeks' time. What I'm hearing from a couple of people who have seen it is it's very funny and very good. This will be the moment we decide whether we'll be in or out".

He added: "Musicals are not our business but I'm going to approach it like I would a TV show. They've spent a long time doing this. From the very first time I met Harry Hill he was absolutely besotted with this idea, so we'll see".

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MØ ANNOUNCES SECOND LONDON SHOW
Danish pop hope MØ has announced a second London show, in addition to her previously reported upcoming performance at Elektrowerkz on 28 Feb. Her second trip will take her to Cargo on 14 May. Tickets for the first show are sold out, but you can still secure entry to the second here.

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MUSICTANK LIVE COURSE KICKS OFF NEXT WEEK
The previously reported 2013 edition of MusicTank's live music training course kicks off next week. Once again led by Andy Inglis, the programme will include guest speakers Dave Newton of WeGotTickets, Ruth Barlow of Beggars Group, Carina Jirsch of Schoneberg Concerts, and more.

Announcing the latest edition of 'Get Plugged In' last year, Inglis told CMU: "Over three days we'll cover every major aspect of the business, getting plenty of dirt and grime under our fingernails as we dig around for the truth behind the headlines and the bottom lines behind the deals".

The three full-day sessions take place on 29 Jan, 5 and 12 Feb. Tickets for the three-day programme are £299, or £239 for MusicTank members and £199 for students. For more details and to book, go here.

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AEG SALE TALKS ONGOING, SAYS AEG CHIEF
The boss of the Anschutz Entertainment Group, Tim Leiweke, has told Billboard that the much reported sale of the live entertainment major is well under way, but that talks are taking longer than expected because of the number of parties interested in bidding for the firm.

The Anschutz Company announced its intent to sell its entertainment business, which owns and operates a network of venues worldwide, including London's O2 dome, as well as having extensive interests in sport (especially in the US) and owning the AEG Live tour and festival promotions business, last September.

Current owner Phillip Anschutz has indicated that he wants to sell the AEG company to a buyer that intends to keep it together as one business, preferably under the current management team led by Leiweke. It's been speculated that the AEG business in its entirety, with all it real estate interests, could fetch in the region of $7-8 billion.

Speaking to Billboard, Leiweke said: "We're gonna get there. Unfortunately, it's taking longer because more people were interested than we ever imagined, so there has been a lot of time and energy spent with a lot of different people looking at the company".

While not wishing to comment on who specifically has shown an interest in the firm, he did indicate that he and the Blackstone Group, who are coordinating the sale, have narrowed the field somewhat. He added: "We're getting down to the final straws here, the kind of people and companies interested are very good, and they share our vision for the future of the company. Now it's just trying to get Mr Anschutz and [potential buyers] together on the right deal".

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HMV ACCEPTING GIFT VOUCHERS AGAIN
HMV administrator Deloitte has announced that the faltering retailer's stores will now start accepting gift vouchers from today. As previously reported, there was much controversy about the decision to stop accepting gift vouchers as soon as HMV called in the administrators, even though that is fairly standard practice when retail firms go into administration.

Many customers felt that they had been duped because HMV continued to sell the vouchers over the Christmas period and all the way up to the company falling into administration a week ago, even though the company's directors knew the firm was on the brink, and there was therefore a real chance vouchers could not be redeemed. HMV vouchers being a popular Christmas gift only added to the disappointment and anger.

In a statement yesterday Deloitte's Nick Edwards said: "The ability of administrators to honour gift vouchers will depend on the specific circumstances of each case. Since our appointment as Joint Administrators on Tuesday afternoon, we have been urgently assessing the company's financial position. I am pleased to confirm that, having concluded this assessment, we are able to honour gift cards".

He added: "I can also confirm that all money raised by HMV for various charities [including through sales of the Justice Collective single] will be paid in full. We recognise that both of these matters have caused concern for individuals and organisations affected and are pleased to have reached a positive outcome. We will continue to assess the longer term options for the business whilst continuing to trade. I am hopeful this process will result in the business continuing as a going concern".

Currently promotional vouchers and loyalty cards are still not being accepted in stores, and are unlikely to be during the administration.

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EBAY TO MOVE UK TICKET RESELLERS OVER TO STUBHUB
Auction site eBay is phasing out its ticket resale service in the UK in a bid to push users over to the British version of StubHub, the eBay-owned secondary ticketing service that launched over here last March.

Despite the likes of Viagogo and Seatwave being most associated with the British secondary ticketing market, more tickets are actually resold in the UK via eBay than any of the specialist sites. By relocating that activity over to StubHub, eBay will be hoping to give its ticketing brand an edge over its more established specialist resale competitors in the UK.

eBay will start proactively promoting StubHub from this week, and will start redirecting ticket sellers and buyers over to its bespoke site in early spring.

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BILLBOARD REVAMPS
US music industry trade magazine has undergone a revamp with its latest issue, with a new logo, new look and some new features. A revamp of the trade mag's online output will follow in due course.

Commenting on the revamp, Billboard Editorial Director Bill Werde told his readers in the latest edition: "The music industry is a dynamic place, and this book will serve your information needs more than ever, going deeper into the trends, technologies and ideas shaping your decisions. If you don't learn something that will help your business in every issue, we aren't doing our jobs".

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LUPE CAUSES A FIASCO AT INAUGURATION SHOW
If you're booked to play a gig in Washington to mark the reinauguration of Barack Obama as President of the USA, it's probably safe to assume the people booking you aren't expecting a set overtly critical of the Prez.

But given Lupe Fiasco has previously criticised Obama's foreign policy and called the Commander In Chief a "terrorist", the people organising the Start Up Rock On show last weekend probably shouldn't have assumed the rapper would respect those expectations.

According to Josh Rogin from The Cable, writing on Twitter, Fiasco launched into a diatribe against the President midway through his set at the Washington show, and refused to move on to a less controversial song, meaning that his extended version of 'Words I Never Said apparently ran for at least half an hour (exactly how long depends on who you ask) until a bunch of security guards bundled the rapper off stage.

Of course you might wonder want happened to Fiasco's First Amendment rights in the middle of this customary celebration of American democracy, though if he really did perform the same song for 30 minutes, perhaps security were trying to enforce the Eighth Amendment and protect the audience against "cruel and unusual punishments".

That's not quite how organisers from Hypervocal put it, but almost. In a statement, the website said: "Lupe Fiasco performed at this private event, and as you may have read, he left the stage earlier than we had planned. But Lupe Fiasco was not 'kicked off stage' for an 'anti-Obama rant'. We are staunch supporters of free speech, and free political speech. This was not about his opinions. Instead, after a bizarrely repetitive, jarring performance that left the crowd vocally dissatisfied, organizers decided to move on to the next act. Lupe Fiasco repeated the one song for more than 40 minutes".

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