| CMU Daily - on the inside 2 Jun 2003 |
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In today's CMU Daily:
• Illegal file share service number one software download
• McCartney homecoming
• Madonna book due in September
• Football star's son to launch music career
• Death of the tangible format
• Live Review: A.R.E. Weapons, 28 May At The Camden Underworld
• Big names on sequel soundtrack
• Houston in Israel
• Review: Delays – Hey Girl
• Warner imprint dominates US charts
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CHART UPDATE
So, the (alleged) paedophile is still number one in the UK this week. After fighting off past competition from Justin Timberlake and Girls Aloud, R Kelly scores another week at the top of the chart posing the question – just who is it that is still buying this record?
Then again, with the main competition coming from Emma Bunton’s positively mediocre ‘Free’, Radiohead’s rather disappointing ‘There There’ and the S Clubs vomit-inducing ‘Say Goodbye’ it’s perhaps not surprising that R Kelly is still the best seller. Though you might have thought that Busta Rhymes and Mariah Carey’s collective fan base would have been enough to get their collaboration to the top spot. Anyways – R Kelly, S Club, Busta & Mariah, Radio Head and Emma Bunton fill the top 5 this week – in that order.
Elsewhere, Eurovision flops, Jemini, didn’t quite cash in on that ‘nul point’ as much as their record label probably hoped – going in at 15, with ‘Cry Baby’. As usual the really good stuff appears lower down the chart– Biffy Clyro with ‘Questions & Answers’ at 26, Skin with ‘Trash’ at 30, Shy FX & T Power ft Kele Le Roc ‘Feelin U’ at 34 and Turin Brakes at 35 with ‘Average Man’. Albums-wise Girls Aloud couldn’t quite compete with
Justin’s continued massive album sales. Mr Timberlake is still number 1, pop star girls are number 2, Evanescence continue their climb up the charts to 3, while the Busted boys hang in at 4.
New entries wise, what a week for new music: Led Zeppelin at 5, Shirley Bassey at 19, Small Faces at 24. Erm. Is anyone making new music anymore?
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ILLEGAL FILE SHARE SERVICE NUMBER ONE SOFTWARE DOWNLOAD
Well this is going to make the major label’s week. Sharman Networks, the company behind Kazaa, still enemy number one in the download wars, has announced its Media Desktop application is the most downloaded bit of software in the world. The facility, which Sharman is keen to stress is designed for the download of ‘licensed’ content, has been downloaded 229,513,316 times and has been the most popular download from Download.com for 55 consecutive weeks, putting it way ahead of the previous most popular shareware tool ICQ.
Sharman Network’s CEO Nikki Hemming told reporters: “We thanks users worldwide for embracing Kazaa Media Desktop. Our vision from inception was to develop and prove a model for the distribution of licensed content. Congratulations go to the entire Sharman team for an outstanding accomplishment. We will continue to innovate and deliver users the best possible experience, while expanding the choice of licensed content."
Major labels everywhere will be happier when they develop a fool proof tool to cut the choice of unlicensed content that can be downloaded with the Kazaa software.
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MCCARTNEY HOMECOMING
30,000 McCartney fans packed into the specially-built Kings Dock arena near Liverpool city centre on Sunday for the final date of the ex-Beatle's world tour after a secret performance at the (new) Cavern Club. After a tour that saw performances to more than two million people in the US, Mexico, Japan and Russia from what we hear the homecoming gig was quite something.
At one point Macca made comment to the news his second wife is pregnant. He told the crowd: "I'd like to dedicate this next song to someone very special in the audience. As you might have heard we had some very good news recently." He then launched into ‘My Lovin' Flame’, dedicating to his wife. McCartney went on to tell reporters he has officially made up with Yoko Ono after that falling out over how Lennon McCartney tracks should be credited.
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MADONNA BOOK DUE IN SEPTEMBER
Following the news earlier this year that Madonna was turning her hand to childrens literature, her publisher has now confirmed the first of five books - ‘The English Roses’ - will be published on 15 Sep. It will be published in 42 different languages in more than 100 countries. Word is the story is about friendship, jealousy, sleepover parties and fairy Godmothers.
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FOOTBALL STAR’S SON TO LAUNCH MUSIC CAREER
George Best’s son, Calum, has teamed up with Ben Ofeudu from Phats and Small to record an as yet unnamed dance track which apparently plagiarises quite a bit of Madonna's Vogue. Ben told reporters this weekend: "Calum's got a surprisingly good voice. He has a slight Los Angeles accent that sounds great on this record. Calum's really serious about his music and hopes people will take him seriously. With his looks I'm sure he will be able to sell a few records." Some high profile endorsement from his Dad might help.
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DEATH OF THE TANGIBLE FORMAT
The days of bulging mail sacks and over sized jiffy bags may be nearing an end. EMI;’s Candian division have just transferred the latest single from Canadian artist Jersey from recording studio to record label to radio stations across Canada without using a CD, a tape or even a bit of vinyl. Rather they used the Musicrypt's Digital Media Distribution System (or DMDS) to transport the music securely over the net.
Announcing the move Deane Cameron, President of EMI Music Canada, told reporters, "It is exciting to participate in the development of new advances for our industry. We believe that this is the future of how we as a music company will deliver music to radio and internally." It remains to be seen how quickly the system takes off here and in the US. Presumably record execs are weighing up the risk of tracks getting into the ether against the cost of all those CDRs and envelopes. In the meantime, more info on the DMDS technology at http://www.musicrypt.com
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LIVE REVIEW: A.R.E. Weapons, 28 May at the Camden Underworld
Are they for real? Are they posers? Are they really from Connecticut with trustfunds and former careers in finance? Does it really matter when they have a song called ‘Fuck You Pay Me’? A.R.E Weapons fit nicely next to Andrew WK in the ‘don’t think to much about it’ category of rock. They’ll never come close to changing the course of modern music, but their live show certainly provides 40 minutes of entertainment. The 3 of them line up side by side with no drummer and no backdrop. Manager/knob twister, Paul Sevigny rides the drum machine in a Versace hoodie, Brain (no that’s not a typo, he calls himself that) screams, raps, swigs JD from the bottle before passing it to the crowd and generally rocks out like the missing link between KRS-One and the singer from Ratt. Meanwhile, Matt bashes riffs on his guitar under a mane of curly hair before discarding the instrument entirely to jump into the sparse but fist pumping crowd. With contrived lyrics about pregnant teens named Janie, ‘Hey World’ is unbearable. They somehow manage to make up for it with at least 3 songs about New York, the best of which‘New York Muscle’ even starts with a little Biggie Smalls sample. A little bit of hip hop, a little bit of metal, and a bunch of Vice magazine style downtown fashion attitude means they’ll be flavour of the minute once more. So catch them while you can and enjoy the hype. AS
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BIG NAMES ON SEQUEL SOUNDTRACK
The soundtrack to the sequel to ‘Charlie’s Angels’ – called ‘CA: Full Throttle’ - will include new material from Nas, Pink, and Nickelback on its soundtrack.
Tracks include ‘Angels ... the Flyest’ from Nas (who recorded the track with the Neptunes' Pharrell Williams), Pink's ‘Feel Good Time’ (most likely to be released as a single), Kid Rock's cover of Elton John's ‘Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)’, David Bowie’s rerecording of his 1974 hit 'Rebel Rebel, Electric Six's ‘Danger! High Voltage’ and for a bit of nostalgia Bon Jovi's ‘Livin' on a Prayer’ and MC Hammer's ‘U Can't Touch This’. The film and soundtrack will be out this summer.
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HOUSTON IN ISRAEL
Whitney Houston and husband Bobby Brown are on a ‘spiritual retreat’ to Israel, whatever that means. Although not officially work Whitney’s publicist admitted the singer is considering shooting a Christmas special and recording a Christmas album during her stay there.
Either way they seem to like the place, after a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon the couple told a press conference: "It's home. It's a friendship we've never had with any other country.”
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REVIEW: Delays – Hey Girl (Rough Trade)
This is indie in terms of grandness. Move over you twee Belle and Sebastians and Mouldy Peaches these are big ass boys with orchestra’s, guitars and voices in tow. Unfortunately, this flies right past me, no matter how big they want their voices to soar. It’s a 2/5 record, whilst holding down a tune it lacks any charisma or charm to make it worthwhile. And in these heady times, who needs that? DH
Release date: 7 Jul
Press contact: Cool Delta [all]
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WARNER IMPRINT DOMINATES US CHARTS
While their parent company is going through tough times (and even a&r honcho Madonna isn’t doing as well as usual) the Maverick label is doing better than ever over in the US. The Warners imprint has two of the topfour albums in this week’s US chart, including The Deftones' eponymous new album (2) and the Matrix Reloaded soundtrack (4). The last time the label saw this much action was in the mid 90’s when Alanis Morissette and Candlebox went multi-platinum. Guy Oseary, who started at the label when he was just 16 seemed happy: "I'm just thrilled for the people I work with. I still don't take anything for granted. This placeis my heart and soul. I think what we've accomplished as a small label in the current marketplace is remarkable."